Palisades housekeeper struggles to find work after fire

Via de Las Olas was once a scenic drive in Pacific Palisades, perched above Will Rogers State Beach, offering sweeping views of ocean and sky. Now it resembles an archaeological site of its former self.

“There were beautiful homes here, people would walk with their dogs in the morning when I would get here,” said Amalia Atayde, recalling as she gazed at the street. “I would park and stand here and watch the ocean. It was beautiful.”

Now there were charred trees, excavators and weeds sprouting from cracked foundations where multimillion-dollar homes once stood.

The neighborhood embodied wealth and privilege in Los Angeles, but for 49-year-old Atayde, a housekeeper, it only represented one thing — opportunity.

“We could always come here and there would be work,” she said.

In January, when the wind-driven Palisades fire swept through the area, killing 12 and destroying thousands of buildings, it uprooted families from the community and eliminated jobs for hundreds of general contractors, gardeners, pool cleaners and housekeepers.

Since then, Atayde and dozens of service workers have been showing up at the Malibu Community Labor Exchange, waiting for work to return so they can earn money and pay for groceries, rent and bills.

She said two of the homes she once cleaned were destroyed in the fire. A third house, an Airbnb rental, is still standing. But with tourism down, there’s been very little work.

That’s left her unable to pay her monthly $1,500 rent, forcing her to surrender her room at the apartment she shares with her brother.

“I’m sleeping in the living room,” she said. “The owner of the Airbnb rental lets me stay twice a week in the back guesthouse.”

Amalia Atayde holds a flower plucked from outside a home she used to work at.

She said she is not the only one struggling. Some of her companions at the labor exchange have returned to their countries due to grim employment prospects and an aggressive campaign by the Trump administration to deport undocumented immigrants. Some workers are homeless and afraid to leave the area should work return. Other workers are unable to afford the bus fare and come only when they can afford it.

After two of the most destructive fires in the state’s history, The Times takes a critical look at the past year and the steps taken — or not taken — to prevent this from happening again in all future fires.

Why hasn’t Atayde left to find work elsewhere? She said it comes down to both pay and work opportunities — the labor exchange also caters to Malibu homeowners. Beverly Hills, she said, lacks a labor center where house cleaners can easily find work. In other parts of L.A., she said, jobs are not as plentiful.

So she and others are waiting for Pacific Palisades to start rebuilding and for the jobs to return.

“I have hope,” Atayde said. “It will get better.”