Women from burned Altadena Senior Center use Zumba class to heal, build unity

Community is not in a place, but it's in the people. That's what a group of women from Altadena have learned in the aftermath of the Eaton fire.  

Losing the Altadena Senior Center devastated their friend group and now Zumba is bringing them back together.  

"Community, and exercise and everything," said Diana Lee, an Altadena resident. "We help each other."

Lee is a longtime member of the senior center, which was one of the many casualties of the wildfire.

"We could not believe we lost our center," Lee said.

She is among a group of a dozen women, a special friend group that formed three years ago at the center.  

"We made a group, and we call ourselves Las Señoras de las Mesa Redonda, The Ladies from the Round Table," Lee said.

Before sunrise on Jan. 8, Lee said she and her family and so many of their friends and neighbors rushed to escape the flames. Four of the women in this group lost everything in the fire and one of them said losing the senior center hurt almost as much.  

"I would just cry because we used to meet all five days of the week and have lunch together," said Nelly Head, an Altadena homeowner. "We cried. It was like losing our home, too."

With their center in ruins, the Ladies of the Round Table have found a new temporary home in a Zumba class at the Villa Parke Community Center in Pasadena.  

"It helps. One of our friends was getting down and really depressed so I went and picked her up and brought her," Head said. "After she said that was the first night, she was able to sleep."

Head is like many people in the Altadena community who raised their family in the home they lost.

"It means everything for me because I lost my house of 30 years," Head said. "We are eight people in my family and Altadena is very precious for me."

Los Angeles County's Department of Aging and Disabilities said it's committed to rebuilding the Altadena Senior Center once cleanup at the site is complete.