TOPANGA : Canyon Community Dodges 2nd Bullet

After narrowly escaping the brunt of last fall’s wildfires, residents of Topanga Canyon weathered the Northridge earthquake with severe damage only to about 20 homes and widespread inconveniences.

“I don’t know anyone who didn’t have something break,” said Marty Brastow, a local realtor and member of the Topanga Canyon Town Council. “But, overall, I’d say we’ve been pretty lucky recently.”

Several hillside homes on Topanga Skyline Drive and Portage Circle Drive have been deemed uninhabitable, said Eric Nelson, who lives on Portage Circle. Nelson’s 1986 Isuzu Trooper also was damaged when a propane tank dislodged from a home on the hill above his garage.

“It was one of those 300 or 500 gallon types,” Nelson said. “It broke loose, rolled down a hill, broke a retaining wall and smashed into my car. It’s probably a good thing that it did, or it would have rolled into my house or my neighbor’s house.”

At Top O’ Topanga mobile home park, the loss of running water and natural gas strained some residents’ nerves, said Bea Feldman, who lives in one of the 224 dwellings. The Gas Co. estimated that the park would be without gas until late next week.

“A lot of people are definitely testy from having to use the temporary toilets in the cold,” said Feldman, 57.

Others, she said, are pitching in to help.

“We have an emergency committee that has been making rounds with walkie-talkies, making sure people are all right and have their medications,” Feldman said.

The rest of the canyon was without water for about two days and without electricity for more than a day after the Jan. 17 quake, said Dale Robinette, board member of the Topanga Canyon Town Council.

Several large boulders fell onto Topanga Boulevard, which cracked in several places but was open to traffic.

“Our damage was very patchwork,” Robinette said. “As with the capriciousness of the firestorm, disaster struck with no rhyme or reason we mortals would understand.”