Help the Cullen's after Losing their Home to Palisades Fires

Our entire family was impacted by the Palisades fire (6 adults, 3 new grandparents, 1 newborn baby, 6 cats, 2 dogs).

We had 4 homes in the Palisades, each of which was bought over 3 decades ago. There was a duplex near Palisades Charter High School, which John, Brooke, Logan, Weinkei, and 4 cats just recently moved into. A mobile home where Kathryn, Adam, their newborn baby Victoria, and 2 dogs lived. And Scott and Margaret's single-family home in the alphabet streets, with 2 cats. Additionally, Adam's mother, Dianne, was living at a property in Alta Dena, where Kathryn and Adam tried to seek refuge. All 5 homes were destroyed along with almost all of our belongings and irreplaceable items like the artwork of our grandmother, Joanne Cullen, and countless childhood photos by our father, documenting a 1990's upbringing in the Pacific Palisades.

Right now, there are 6 of us living in a hotel in Venice with a signed lease for an apartment near Westwood so Brooke can continue her PhD program at UCLA. We were lucky and had our application expedited so we'll be able to move in early.

Kathryn and Adam are still in need of an apartment. One of their dogs is large, making it a challenge to persuade a landlord to let them rent. Dianne is moving back to Florida.

We have all our basic needs covered thanks to help from local donation centers, friends, and lawyers who provided pro bono legal advice. We are still navigating the complexities of FEMA and insurance.

Our family lived in the Palisades before the Palisades became what it is today. Our grandmother, Joanne Cullen, moved to the Pacific Palisades in following her sister Lois, who had moved to California to study at UCLA. Joanne was a prolific artist known well by the Pacific Palisades community. Most of her completed works of art were destroyed in the fire. Joanne was a long-time member of the Pacific Palisades art association and served as president for many years. Her husband, Joe Cullen, was a school psychologist with LAUSD and teacher at Canyon Charter Elementary School, the second oldest school in Los Angeles county. Scott, their son, continues to work despite being 70 and a new grandfather. He was raised in the Pacific Palisades, and taught PE at Marquez Elementary School. He, like his father, loved the beach and took up surfing at an early age at state beach and surfed the second jetty just north of Will Rogers Lifeguard headquarters. Scott and his wife Peggy had their first date at Vittorio Restaurant in the Pacific Palisades. In early January of 2025, they celebrated 35 years of marriage at their home in the alphabet streets with all of their children and their children’s partner’s.

Before the fire, Scott volunteered countless hours maintaining numerous gardens in Pacific Palisades, traveling from garden to garden on a bike that is now destroyed. In 2021, Scott was honored as a “Golden Sparkplug” at the Community Council awards celebration for his work re-vitalizing the median garden on Bowdoin street across the street from Palisades Charter High School.

Scott and Peggy’s children, Kathryn, John, and Brooke, also lost all their belongings to the fire. Growing up, John and Kathryn were often the only two members of the Rustic Canyon swim team. After years of swim practice, John became the captain of the swim team at Palisades Charter High School, a lifeguard at the Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center, and now an LACo Ocean Lifeguard. He has now served 10 years in that role working summer weekends alongside his full-time job at LegalZoom and master’s program. Kathryn, who spent countless hours at the Palisades Library (and methodist during the library rebuild) is now a lawyer and mother. Brooke is pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology at UCLA, the institution that brought our family to California. Her research seeks to improve treatments for anxiety and depression.

Putting into words our loss is impossible. We are truly devastated and do not know what the future brings. We’re grateful for any support.