Walking Altadena
Memory, Care, and Public Pedagogy in Post-Fire Altadena
Year: Spring 2026
Walking Altadena is a UCLA student research project exploring how walking, archival research, storytelling, and community engagement can support public memory and care-centered recovery in Altadena after the Eaton Fire.
The project brought together student work from two courses in UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design: Spatial Justice and the City and the Urban Humanities Capstone: Care, Place, and Performance. Both courses began from the seed of Altadena’s historic home tour archive, a long-running annual tour, housed at the Altadena Historical Society. Its programs, maps, house narratives, and logistical records demonstrated how local built and cultural heritage was made public through walking, storytelling, and volunteer labor. After the Eaton Fire, this archive became a starting point for asking how walking—moving together in time and place—might again support civic gathering, public memory, environmental awareness, and care-centered recovery.
Students examined Altadena’s built, natural, and cultural heritage as living, embodied, and relational. Homes and gardens root neighborhood memory and care. Streets and pathways embody patterns of access, investment, and vulnerability. Burned landscapes and cycles of regrowth make visible multi-species relationships of risk and regeneration. Through archival research, critical mapping, spatial and environmental analysis, and engagement with community partners, students explore how place-based research can become a public tool for narrating local histories, co-creating knowledge, and imagining collective futures.
The project was exhibited on May 30, 2026, at Bob Lucas Memorial Library. Presented through maps, zines, and participatory multi-media works, these projects demonstrate diverse ways of learning through place—by walking, reading, sensing, practicing, and performing systems of care already present in the community. The exhibition also functioned as a space for sharing and feedback, inviting the public to respond to the projects as prototypes for future community-stewarded walks through Altadena.
Community Acknowledgements
Credit
Dr. Yang Yang, Dr. Dana Cuff, Claire Nelischer, Doğa Tekin, Alexa Vaugh, students of AUD 133/289, UHI 2025-26 cohort
Partner
We extend our sincere thanks to Melissa Aldama and the Altadena Historical Society for their generous guidance throughout this project, from early conversations and archival orientation to supporting students’ visits to the AHS collections. Their care and knowledge made it possible for students to engage Altadena’s histories with greater depth and responsibility. We are also grateful to Professor Michelle Caswell for offering thoughtful feedback on archival practice and ethical interpretation. We deeply appreciate the insights shared by our partners and friends in Altadena, including Winston Thorne, James Farr, Alma Cielo, and Adrian Scott Fine. Finally, we thank the Bob Lucas Memorial Library for hosting this exhibition and for offering a public space where students, community partners, residents, and guests can gather in conversation around memory, care, and recovery in Altadena.
Courses and Teams
AUD 133/289: Spatial Justice and the City
Instructors: Professor Dana Cuff, Dr. Yang Yang
TA: Alexa Vaughn
Students: Erick Alavez, Georgie Ampudia, Alanis Baez, Jordan Brenninkmeijer, Beverly Chan, Delilah Dehan, Gage Garduno, Jaiden Gilbert, Omar Gonzalez, Anna Grose, Samantha Heatlie, Jordan Herbst, Harry Huh, Sara Kaplan, Calisa Kellett, Cameron Kursel, Sihui Lin, Nathan Logan, Remi Messier, Jenel Nguyen, Isabel Rubin-Saika, Keily Sarica, Jiaqi Shen, Pang Shen, Sam Swenson, Jack Townsend, Alanis Velazquez, Ellie Wiygul, Ari Zhou
UP289/AUD289: Urban Humanities Capstone—Care, Place, and Performance
Instructors: Claire Nelischer, Doğa Tekin
Students: Icaro Carvalho, Evan Eshel, Isabel Filson, Hugo Fortin, Anthony Garcia, Lynn Hur, Skijler Hutson, Chunyi Lee, Alexander Morris, Abhijeet “Moodzi” Mudgerikar, Serafin Olguin, Ayanna Rose, Shiyue Shen, Anna Shoemaker, Sarahy Torres, Hardy Wang, Heidi Yang, Kathy Zhang
Projects
Urban Humanities Capstone: Care, Place, and Performance
Handling the Record: A Communal Archive in Progress
Evan Eshel, Isabel Filson, Hugo Fortin, Serafin Olguin, and Sarahy Torres
After Image
Chunyi Lee, Skijler Hutson, Anna Shoemaker, Heidi Yang, Ayanna Rose
Spatial Justice and the City
Two Tales of Lake Ave.
Alanis Baez, Anna Grose, Harry Huh, Remi Messier
Moving Memory
Beverly Chan, Alanis Velazquez, Cameron Kursel, Nathan Logan
Regrowth in Your Backyard: Rooted Recovery in Altadena
Georgie Ampudia, Keily Sarica, Gage Garduno, Jordan Herbst
Exotic Farmland and Super King: An Ever-Changing Evolution and Reimagining of West Altadena
Jack Townsend, Omar Gonzalez, Jordan Brenninkmeijer
LIFE//REGEN, BIO//REMEDIATE
Abhijeet “Moodzi” Mudgerikar, Alexander Morris, Hardy Wang, Kathy Zhang
Persist and Return: Altadena Neighborhood Native Plant Care Guide
Icaro Carvalho, Lynn Hur, Anthony Garcia, Shiyue Shen
Altadena Soils: Life, Death, Beauty, Danger
Isabel Rubin-Saika, Delilah Dehan, Jaiden Gilbert, Samantha Heatlie
Printed Lifelines: The Press as Infrastructure in Altadena
Ari Zhou, Erick Alavez, Jenel Nguyen, Sihui Lin
Japanese Histories of Altadena
Calisa Kellett, Sara Kaplan, Ellie Wiygul, Sam Swenson
Everyday Restaurants and Community Life in Altadena
Pang Shen, Jiaqi Shen