Properties with cultural significance in the world of entertainment, like the high school burned down by the title character in the 1976 horror classic “Carrie,” have been scorched by the California wildfires.
School officials said Palisades Charter High School incurred “significant damage” as firefighters spent a third grueling day trying to contain the flames that had engulfed nearly 30,000 acres of Southern California by midday Thursday.
In addition to being the site where Sissy Spacek’s “Carrie” character unleashed her supernatural powers on her teenage tormentors, Palisades Charter High School was featured in the Lindsay Lohan remake of “Freaky Friday,” the MTV series “Teen Wolf” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” music video. Famous alumni include Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, film and TV producer J.J. Abrams, musician will.i.am and NBA coach Steve Kerr.
Cowboy Will Rogers’ famous ranch house and other historic buildings around it were also lost to the wildfires, according to California State Parks officials. The sprawling 31-room abode once located on 359 acres in the Pacific Palisades was donated to the state’s parks department in 1944. The property appeared on the big screen in the 1975 Barbra Streisand film “Funny Lady.”
The Topanga Ranch Motel, once owned by newspaper mogul and “Citizen Kane” inspiration William Randolph Hearst, was also lost to this week’s blaze. It had been used in several movies and TV shows, including the 1970s detective series “Mannix” and the 1991 Bridget Fonda film “Leather Jackets.”
The bungalow-style motel was built in 1929 and once “provided an inexpensive seaside holiday vacation retreat for families and writers,” according to the state’s parks department. It had been unkempt over the past few decades, but plans were recently put in place to restore roughly 20 cabins for public use.
Mansions owned by movie stars including Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Anna Faris have reportedly burned to the ground. Influencer Paris Hilton and television host Ricki Lake lost their Malibu homes to the blaze.
Popular entertainment venues including the Hollywood Bowl and TCL Chinese Theatre were threatened by the spreading flames but remained largely unharmed Thursday. Employees at both venues were sent home.
With News Wire Service