The LA fires scorched the Palisades Rec Center. But staff wouldn’t let the fires win.

Alive! photos by Summy Lam, and courtesy Rec and Parks

T

he Palisades Recreation Center began the new year – as so much of Los Angeles did – getting ready for a year of robust activity and relevance.

That changed on January 7, as fires of historic ferocity devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena, and parts of the Hollywood Hills, West Hills, Encino, Studio City, and other locations.

Much of the Palisades Rec Center was consumed by fire, and all of it was closed, affecting hundreds of families. Four part-time City employees at the Center and one full-time staff member lost their homes. Directors remained on site during the fire before evacuating, witnessing firsthand the chaos and destruction.

“The Palisades Recreation Center is the heart of our town—a gathering place for joy and connection,” Sr. Director Jasmine Dowlatshahi, Club Member, wrote to Alive! “Many parents have shared that their children inquired about the park’s condition before even asking about their own homes.”

Pali Rec Center carries on, even while it’s closed. Its 70 basketball teams and numerous art classes relocated to other City Rec Centers. T-shirts with a message of resilience were created. Support Camps were established. Trophies, banners, violins, Pokémon cards and other items lost in the fires are being replaced. And plans are being designed to create a brand new Rec Center in the place of the ashes.

The story to be written about the Palisades Rec Center during January 2025 won’t be just about destruction – it will include revival in the spirit of its ongoing mission to serve. 

The Club thanks all in the West Region of Rec and Parks who made this feature possible. •

Champions: The Palisades Minors All-Star team, with coaches and staff. The tournament was held at Oakwood Rec Center in Venice. From the Fires, A Championship After the fires, Palisades Rec Center continued its more than 70 youth sports teams at other City locations. One of those teams – the Palisades Minors All-Star team – won a championship representing their devastated neighborhood. The championship took place at Oakwood Rec Center in Venice, where Pali Rec Center staff created a pop-up remote rec center. “Oakwood Rec Center was nice enough to open their doors and let us set up shop there,” said Jasmine Dowlatshahi, Pali Rec Center Sr. Director. “We took our minor co-ed league to the all-star City Championship,” she continued. “On April 11, they won – champions of the whole City! After everything that had happened to them, they still went out there and gave it their all. The coaches lost their homes. Nobody skipped a beat. “I’m so proud of them,” she said. Congratulations to the Palisades Minors All-Star team, its coaches, staff and parents. And a huge thanks to the Oakwood Rec Center for welcoming them in. •

 

More Than Just a Park

On April 16, Club CEO Robert Larios and Alive! editor John Burnes interviewed four Rec and Parks employees at the Palisades Recreation Center who were directly affected during and after the fires that devastated Pacific Palisades Jan. 7. They are: Jasmine Dowlatshahi, Sr. Director, 26 years of City service, Club Member; Kim Van Duzer, Administrative Intern, 7 years; Tony Murphy, Recreation Specialist, 14 years; and Ramon Cerrillos, Principal Recreation Supervisor, West Region, 31 years of City service, Club Member.

Alive!: Thanks everyone for joining us today. It’s been a challenging time for you. Before we get into it, tell us how you started with the City.

Jasmine Dowlatshahi: I started with Recreation and Parks when I was a teen. I was volunteering and then hired as a Summer Camp Counselor. Moving up after college, I became a full-time employee as a Recreation Coordinator. Shortly after that, I became a Facility Director and then a Sr. Facility Director. I have managed more than 10 centers, including Studio City Rec Center, Shadow Ranch Rec Center, Northridge Rec Center, and Cardenas Rec Center in Panorama City. Next I opened Chatsworth Rec Center after it had been closed for 10 years. After COVID, I worked at Reseda Rec Center as a Sr. Director. Then I moved over to the westside, and I’ve been at Palisades Rec Center ever since.

I have dedicated my life to Recreation and Parks, and it’s truly my passion. Being a Park Director is about so much more than just managing a space; it’s about creating places and fostering relationships that create a community in many ways.

Ramon Cerrillos: Similar to Jasmine, I started as a youth in the department as a Rec Assistant. I became a Facility Director and then a Sr. Director. I did an article in Alive! a few years ago when I was in charge of PlayLA.

That’s right. I know that article. That’s an excellent program.

Ramon: I was promoted to Principal Recreation Supervisor II here in the west for the last two years, which oversees the Palisades area.

Tony Murphy: I’ve been with Palisades Rec Center for 13 years. I started off as a summer Counselor, and then I’ve been doing mostly all youth sports for the 13 years that I’ve been here managing the refereeing schedules, scorekeeping, coaching, all that. I’ve been working with youths for about 34 years, and 31 years of it as a school teacher, too.

Kim Van Duzer: I’ve lived in the Palisades for 35 years and raised three boys there. The three boys played all the sports at the Palisades Rec Center. When I became an empty nester, I decided to get a job at the Rec Center as a way to give back to the community and stay a part of the community.

And you lost your home in the Palisades due to the fires. 

Kim: Yes.

That’s really tragic. We’ll talk about that a little later.

A Normal Busy Winter Day

In general terms, describe the Palisades Rec Center before the fires, on what would have been a normal day.

Jasmine: We were done with our fall season of basketball and flag football. We had participated in Flag Football All-Stars. We were starting the winter season. It’s our biggest  basketball season of the year with a City-Wide All-Star tournament at its conclusion. We had 78 teams; we had conducted evaluations, a week of drafts, had coaches’ meetings, and organized the teams. The park also had a vibrant bocce league and tennis program. We were conducting a pilot pickleball program. We were holding many classes like Tai Chi, ballet and Toddler Clubhouse as well as our Park Advisory Board meetings; they were working on remodeling our playground and restrooms to make them ADA compliant. The park was as busy as ever!

Tony: We had just finished up flag football, and we had gone through all of the evaluations for basketball. We were accommodating probably, what, 750 kids?

Jasmine: Yes, I would say 750. We had all our uniforms ready. We had just had our first day of practices on Monday the 6th, and we were giving out the uniforms. Some of the kids were really excited because JJ Redick [LA Lakers coach and neighborhood resident]   had joined our minor league, and some of them were going to have him as their coach. That weekend we were supposed to have our opening day. 

Kim: The Rec Center is the heart of the Palisades. It’s where I watch the community gather. The bocce courts were a huge, thriving social event for the neighbors of all ages. It’s a great place for the seniors to find something to do and find their community, and stay social and engaged. Three schools came on a regular basis for the kids to practice their sports. It was a very engaging Rec Center that was always busy from opening to closing. It was completely filled with kids and adults using every inch of that park. That’s what it was leading up to the fire.

Tony: Palisades is the home to Pacific Palisades baseball. It’s the main baseball youth program in Palisades. So that’s where their home field was. Also AYSO soccer, which is huge. They used one of the main fields at the Rec Center.

Jasmine: Kim also managed a lot of permits for events, like birthday parties. We had them every weekend.

Kim: Yes.

Ramon: In the West Region, Citywide season is one of the biggest seasons annually. We were trying to be as organized as we could be.

Jasmine: We had Daisy Garcia, an Emergency Facility Director, working with us at the time. There was so much going on. She left after the fires because she unfortunately lost her family home in Altadena. We were grateful for her assistance.

Tennis Center Clubhouse: Before and After The Palisades Tennis Center, run by a vendor on the Rec Center campus, before the fires. The Rec Center’s subcontracted tennis center clubhouse was destroyed. The white structure in the foreground previously stood upright. Club CEO Robert Larios and Sr. Director Jasmine Dowlatshahi outside the destroyed tennis center clubhouse.

The Center of the Palisades

Kim said that the Center was the activity hub of the neighborhood. Hearing you mention all that you had going on, I don’t doubt it. Describe the Palisades Rec Center’s relationship to the Palisades.

Jasmine: When I first started working at Pali, the town quickly took me in. Pacific Palisades is a small town in a big city. Everyone knows each other, and it’s very friendly. It’s a little piece of heaven. I had printed on our camp shirts “Pacific Palisades: Where the mountains meet the sea.” Every day on my drive to work I got to a point where I’d drive along the ocean and it instantly made me happy; then I’d drive into the mountains and felt comfort. It’s a place where you would let your kids run around and you wouldn’t worry about it. In fact, I have two little boys who are involved in our basketball programs. At the park they were surrounded by friends who became like family. They may walk to the Palisades Garden Cafe after their game. We knew everybody who worked there, and we knew everybody along the way; it was that kind of a place. To see all of that taken away so quickly was just really hard.

Everybody who lives there cares about their town and is very involved with it. They have traditions, and their entertainment is the park–that’s where they go to socialize and see their friends.

Tony: For the 13 years I’ve been there, I’ve seen kids who have been playing since they were young, who are in college now. I’ve gotten to know a lot of families. I’ve been to Halloween, carnivals, all-star games; I’ve been in the Fourth of July parade. Even though I don’t live in the Palisades, I still feel like a big part of it.

Kim: My friends grew up at the Rec Center, and now they’re in their 60s. Generations of people who have stayed in the Palisades still talk about the memories of the Rec Center.

Jasmine: The Palisades Garden Cafe, a neighboring cafe to the park, reopened in March. When I walked in, everybody was crying. Even the workers were telling me that this is their family. They’ve watched these kids grow up since they were little. While we were inside it all felt like old times and nothing had changed. Then once you glance or step outside it’s back to this new reality. Everything all around it is completely destroyed.

Ramon: From the management side, we’re in support of the staff at the Pali Rec Center and Jasmine. It’s a very vocal community who loves their park, that’s very involved. They have an extensive Park Advisory Board that’s one of the best that we have in the City.

Jasmine: Since the fires, we’ve still been having Park Advisory Board meetings via Zoom. We’re having them monthly now, which is more often as we feel it’s an important time to keep all updated and get community input and concerns.

January 7

Tell us about the day of the fire, January 7. What were you doing, how did you react, and how did you feel that day?

Jasmine: [Emergency Rec Director] Daisy [Garcia] and I were at the Rec Center along with two of our Rec Assistants, and we noticed the fire was starting on the hill above the park. Smoke was starting to come through, and I could tell that within two hours or so the park would be engulfed in smoke. My phone started going off constantly with concerns and questions. I let our part-time staff go home by 11 a.m. Daisy and I [the full-time staff] stayed. I called the Emergency Management Dept. to update them about the fire and that I had released staff. They were under the impression that our park was going to become an evacuation site. I quickly sent them videos so they could see for themselves that the smoke would be overtaking the park shortly. Four planes were in the air fighting the fire. Daisy and I evacuated by 1:30 p.m. There wasn’t anyone else at the park by that time except our mailman. We left signs on the door that read, “We’re closed today 1/7 due to the fire.” We canceled all the practices and I told staff not to come in. 

We never in a million years thought the fire would go farther than the hillside. We didn’t think it was going to come into town. The wind was very strong; it was a fire windstorm. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The sky was quickly changing. It was pure pandemonium in the streets. The traffic signal lights were already off. Police were directing traffic going down to Temescal Canyon. Daisy and I followed one another out down to Sunset Boulevard toward the 405 Freeway and Brentwood. It was gridlock. We didn’t know it at the time but the street was packed with parents who were trying to get their kids out of school only to be told to go to another location in Brentwood to pick them up off-site. It was a lot of confusion and frustration. We were there in traffic for about two and a half hours. It was a moment I’ll definitely never forget.

 

We finally made it to the Freeway where Daisy and I parted ways. It was another two hours until I made it home. I live in the west part of the San Fernando Valley. Once I got home and turned on the news, I saw that the fire was hitting landmarks that were very familiar to us. I started getting phone calls and text messages more and more rapidly. I started seeing people we knew on the news. I was so worried about our park families’ homes and wellbeing. I started getting text messages about the park being on fire. Kim’s house was in jeopardy.

Friends sent me clips. We saw the park burning. It was really hard to watch. You pour a lot of love and a lot of yourself into it. I consider my park an extension of my home. It was hard to see everything burning down, and I couldn’t do anything about it. The park burned for four days until it was finally put out.

The hardest part for me that night was putting my kids to bed – before I knew anyone’s house was lost. They were crying their eyes out. They said that the park made them the happiest. I said to them, “I’m going to do whatever I can to rebuild that park as fast as possible.” I didn’t believe it when I said it, but I put it out there.

During the Fire The Palisades fires approach the Palisades Rec Center.

It was hard to sleep that night while I knew the town was hurting and the Rec Center was on fire. What else was on fire? Is her house okay? Is his house okay? Is this place okay?

The next day, I learned about the rest of the town. It was devastating. All the schools, all our park families’ homes, the hangout spots, the library, the churches, the grocery stores, and the park. Everything we knew in the Palisades was gone. Never could I have imagined that a whole town would be gone. Five of our staff lost their homes, including Kim and Daisy.

I wrote an email to check in with all of my 78 coaches. I wanted to know how they were doing. I put in a lot of hope. “Listen, we’re going to come back,” I tried to write. “We’re going to come back stronger. We’re going to build a Rec Center that’s state of the art. And we’re going to do it fast because we don’t want these kids to age out of recreation sports.”

I wanted to continue our winter basketball league more than anything. I knew how important it was to so many, and I wanted to keep a sense of normalcy alive. So many lost their homes, but somehow everyone was in a positive state of mind and concerned with the park. I couldn’t believe it: concerned about the park after their losses. They had it in their heart to think about the park and think of ways to help. Palisades people offered so much support; they started banding together, and they made it their mission to bring back the park. They have been doing so since.

Who told you to evacuate?

Jasmine: My supervisor, Kortley Norris. She told me to leave at around 1 o’clock.

What did you do after the fire?

Jasmine: Right after the fire, the City created a support camp to aid the families that were affected by the fires–they couldn’t take their children to school, and they had a lot of things that they needed to tend to. The City created free camps at Mar Vista Rec Center and Oakwood Rec Center, and the City also opened up shelters for the people who couldn’t find a place to stay at Stoner Rec Center or Westwood Rec Center. Our staff worked at Mar Vista with the support camp. It’s where I got to see my families for the first time, and it was very emotional for all of us. Once they dropped their kids off, the parents would go outside, talk, trade notes and release [their emotions]. It was hard to see the parents hurting. This offered a great opportunity for our community to reconnect. A lot of people donated their time and their service to the support camp.

When was your first time back?

Jasmine: Probably about three weeks after the fires, so Tuesday, January 27th. The big gym was destroyed; I went to empty out the small gym that survived and collect the salvageable items. That was a very difficult trip for me. For all of us on our first time back, it was devastating, and it’s hard to comprehend. I’m a sensitive person and very empathetic. I have made many strong relationships in the Palisades. To see all the homes destroyed, the shells of hundreds of cars, trees and the mountains blackened and everything – and I mean everything – gone, I didn’t even know where I was when I was driving around. It was hard to breathe for a few days after that, too. I don’t know if it was psychological, but it took a lot out of me.

I’m sure.

Jasmine’s First Return Sr. Director Jasmine Dowlatshahi’s first visit back to the Pali Rec Center a few weeks after the fires.

 

Jasmine: But that’s why I wanted to continue our sports leagues. I knew that was something that could help with this tragedy and help all of us.

I checked in with my staff of 18 at the time. Like I said, five of them lost their homes. We had to make sure that they had employee assistance and everything they needed. The ones who were able to work were given hours at other parks immediately.

Parents wanted to help. One started a GoFundMe campaign for the part-time staff. Navigating all of that was a job within itself. Running the leagues remotely kept us busy. It was unbelievable. The minute we decided we wanted to do it and we got approval from Rec and Parks, we got brand new uniforms and equipment from PlayLA because ours were destroyed in the fire.

Oakwood Rec Center was nice enough to open their doors and basically let us take over. We created a pop-up Pali Rec Center at Oakwood Rec Center, so we’re there on the weekends for practices and games. We have girls’ games on Sundays. It’s been really great.

Tony: I was teaching elsewhere on that day, so I didn’t know about it right away. I was scheduled to come in from my school to the park. Jasmine texted me and said not to come in because of the fire. I didn’t know the extent of the fire until I got home and watched the news about the Palisades and Altadena. It wasn’t good. I was kind of lost in space because I was trying to get a sense of reality, of what was really going on.

Have you been back?

Tony: No, because of the safety hazards. I know it’s going to be very hard the first time I do. I wasn’t the guy who drove down Sunset – I drove through all the residential streets every time I came to work, to be part of the community. It’s going to be a shock not seeing them.

Kim: I had been moving out of my house because I’m recently divorced.

Back in 2021, the Rec Center acted as an evacuation site for a different fire in the Palisades. We didn’t take it too seriously at the time. People just left and stayed overnight in Santa Monica or nearby and came right back the next day. Nobody took anything of value because nobody thought it was going to be that serious.

We’ve never experienced this type of serious fire and serious evacuation.

It was hard to get updates. So somebody said, check your Ring camera to see what’s happening. My Ring was disconnected, which meant it was gone.

It’s a loss that’s so complex. It’s one thing to lose a house, but it’s another thing to lose your community. That’s what people are really struggling with, because you can build a house in a year or two, but then what? When will the community be restored? Why be in a rush to build a house if you have no community to go back to?

How did you feel when you went back to the Rec Center? 

Kim: I was surprised that it was still standing. It looked like a bomb fell on the rest of the Palisades, with everything reduced to ash. There was almost nothing left. But to see the Rec Center standing, was surprising.

Ramon: We started getting calls from Jasmine saying they were evacuating. We originally thought that the fire wasn’t going to reach the park. The City has never had a park burned. It wasn’t in our mind. We thought it was going to act as an evacuation center, and we were getting ready for that. But then at night it became apparent that the firestorm burned everything down. Our focus was on our staff there and to monitor how they were doing mentally and emotionally. This was really hard on them, on Jasmine and Daisy. After that, our next step was to open up the camps at Mar Vista and at Oakwood, and then continue the sports leagues at Robertson and Oakwood.

I saw the area maybe 10 days after that. The gym still had smoke coming out of the top. The brick building was still standing, and Firefighters were still out there monitoring. The horror of seeing the damage was devastating. That park is one of the most beautiful parks in the City. To see it the way it was devastating. There’s a real sense of peace in the canyon there. Just to see all that gone and the community at a loss was devastating in a recreation sense.

I felt grief. All the kids who played sports there had something to accomplish. It’s very important to these kids who play there. Thinking of them not being able to do that hurt a lot. Being in recreation for a number of years, you know how important these leagues are. I felt like, wow, when is this park going to come back, and what are we going to do? Then Jasmine said that she wanted to play Pali’s seasons at Oakwood and Robertson, and we got busy opening those doors. Now you can see a lot of the parents breaking down and hugging Jasmine and the staff members for what they’ve done for the families. It’s a step of normalcy back into their lives.

Mission Intact

Your response was more than just continuing the sports leagues, right?

Ramon: Absolutely. We sprung into action for the Emergency Service Worker program. We opened up Westwood and Stoner Rec Centers as places where folks could go and shelter. Staff members went there from our district.

We also opened up the Mar Vista Rec Center and the Forward camp. It was all hands on deck. The other Rec Centers paused their seasons so that we could all wait for Palisades to begin. We moved our Citywide tournament; we did not want to exclude them. Some of our programs require personal information like birth certificates and things like that. But a lot of the Palisades families lost those documents in the fires. So we had to get creative to not have excuses why we wouldn’t let them in if they wanted to play.

Jasmine: A lot of different City agencies helped to make our program successful. Rec and Parks’ PlayLA, a huge Olympic-funded program to fund youth sports in LA, also stepped up. PlayLA has an option where you can pay $10 to do any sports program in the City if your family income is below a certain threshold. That’s to make sure everyone has an opportunity. They could be in the Olympics someday! Well, that was something that was not needed at Palisades Rec Center; everyone was paying full price. But after the fires, I spoke with Ramon, and he made it so our park could utilize the $10 option because people had lost everything. Nobody [in the Palisades] thought they would ever be in this position, but now they are, and the City was able to help.

Kim: When the fires were happening, somehow people were still in the community taking pictures. News agencies were getting pictures. I was staying in denial until I saw the first picture of the Rec Center burning down. I sent that photo to Jasmine, and I felt like it almost broke her.

Jasmine: I felt helpless. A lot of my friends were asking me, “Which park are you going to work at now?” It doesn’t work like that; you have to continue fostering the relationships that you’ve built. I felt helpless, but that didn’t last very long. The Palisades community was not going to let this be the way that it ended. They were going to stick together and rebuild. They formed WhatsApp groups and banded together, no matter where they happened to be sheltering or living.

I couldn’t believe how much people really cared about the park. I loved it too, but I didn’t know that other people felt that way. So I drew a picture of my dream Rec Center with all that our park would need. Every time I would see somebody, I would pull it out of my pocket and show them the picture. When I showed it to the community and to leaders like [then-Recovery Czar] Steve Soboroff. Just a few months after the fire JJ Redick created a foundation, LA Sports Strong, and rebuilding the park is the first project he wants to work on. Mayor Karen Bass and [developer] Rick Caruso came together with other organizations to form a foundation to rebuild our park.

Was anything saved from the gym?

Jasmine: Yes. After the fires, a lot of the families asked us if we had pictures of the kids from their teams and trophies that they hadn’t picked up yet. I went back to the park to find those things; some had survived. When I returned them to the family, they would cry their eyes out. What we couldn’t recover, I reordered trophies. They had lost everything. That would help them start to recover.

All the banners that hung from the gym’s walls were lost in the fire, but one corner survived. Our trophy case survived. I gave the banners to our banner company, and they have all been remade and waiting to be hung in our new gym.

Tony, how did you feel?

Tony: I definitely felt a loss in the aftermath. I got to see these kids I used to see throughout the week. I got to know them. Not only did they lose their park, they lost their schools, their supermarkets, and all the places they frequented. I tried to support them and their families emotionally when I got to see them afterward. That’s the best I could do.

The Center – what was left of it – became a kind of hub for recovery efforts, for press conferences, things like that.

Jasmine: We jumped in and did what we needed to do. We were inundated with requests from people who wanted to use the park for something specific, like press conferences. It wasn’t part of my job, specifically, but now it is. It was time to be adaptable and flexible and do what I needed to do for that community. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them.

Our small gym [that survived] is being used right now as a command post where neighborhood people can get their utility needs taken care of. The LADWP is there. ITA has erected a cell tower there, and they also erected the largest American flag you’ve ever seen in your life. The Palisades is flattened out now, and you see this flag from everywhere. The firefighters told me that they love seeing the flag. They can see it from their station and it gives them a lot of hope.

Through a couple of grants, we’ve started rebuilding our playground; that will be the first thing that we’re remodeling. It’s going to have a fire truck and first responder theme to thank the heroes who worked to save the Palisades as much as they could. It’s going to be beautiful. Other than that, nothing is set yet. We’re really excited about our partnerships with the LA Sports Foundation and the LA Parks Foundation.

Are there specific plans to rebuild Palisades Rec Center?

Jasmine: There is so much support coming through. The LA Parks Foundation has opened up an account for the park, and people have been donating to that. We have the LA Strong Foundation, led by resident JJ Redick; that’s new, and we’re working out a partnership with them right now. I don’t have any more to add to that right now, but we are very optimistic that we will come back stronger, better and state of the art. The future is bright.

What started as a feeling of devastation has changed to excitement, positivity and hope. We’re going to come back so strong. We’re going to be the best rec center ever. What’s the most important is that we stayed a community even when we didn’t have one.

That’s powerful. Sports can be therapy, as the mission of the Rec Center carries on.

Tony: Yes. It’s very good to have that outlet for the kids, but I think it was also very good for the parents, too. Because of the fires, a lot of the parents didn’t see each other until the sports leagues. Seeing their emotional embraces after the fire was huge for them, and for the kids. It was more than about the competitive spirit of playing a sport. It was those connections, those relationships.

Jasmine: This was not just a park. It’s so much more. I created T-shirts that say “Pali Rec Resilience, Strength and Unity.” That became a logo for us. We gave them out to everyone, and everyone wore them with great pride.

A park coach and father requested the names of the kids who had lost their sports memorabilia in the fires. He then presented them each with signed jerseys of great NBA players. That was a beautiful moment to witness. The kids and their parents were beyond happy and started to smile again.

Kim: Jasmine has to get 100 percent credit for doing that. She knows every single player. She knows everybody by name. She knows their parents. She has a relationship with everybody at that park. She didn’t miss a step with this fire. She just regrouped, reorganized and got the kids at those other two Rec Centers to have some sense of normalcy and support. The signup desks featured a lot of hugging and crying, and we had art therapists there for the kids, too.

Jasmine: I love working for the City and seeing how we all come together during these unprecedented times. I’ve worked for the City since the Northridge earthquake and worked with FEMA. Then with COVID, all our Rec Center closed; we opened homeless shelters, and suddenly I was a homeless shelter manager. I thought that was tough, but this was something else.

If you could send a message to the LA City community or future generations of Angelenos about the importance of the Rec Center, what would it be? 

Kim: The Rec Center is for everybody – children, families, seniors. It fulfills everyone’s needs. That’s important.

Tony: It connects to its residents, its people. Whether it’s through basketball, seniors, pickleball – no matter where your community is, if you can fit the needs of that community, you can make it a safe haven. We can spread that through all our parks in LA City. That would be great.

Jasmine: It had a feeling like you were home and you were surrounded by family and friends; it’s a comforting place. And it was always filled with people.

These fires impacted all of Los Angeles, in one way or another. Our city has changed forever. Driving home, I drive through Malibu, and it’s heartbreaking. It’s hard to see our city hurting so badly. But I know our people here are strong, and they’re not going to let this be the way that this story ends. There’s no way.

I want to hope that it will be a quick turnaround. Also, we have the Olympics coming up, and that’s a really big incentive for us to get moving. I’m very hopeful, and I’m excited for our future.

Ramon: I can see that the community involvement at Palisades is a model for the rest of the parks. As City workers, if we could go volunteer and get involved with our parks, it helps create a community.

A Passion for Parks

What do you love about what you do? 

Jasmine: Watching the kids grow up is really great. I’ve been a Park Director for 25 years. My dream was always to be able to watch my own kids in the gym, and now I am able to do that.

I love that my work is not redundant. It changes every day. I get to work closely with the community and I have great relationships with so many. I have an ear to the community, and I know what they want at their local park and the types of sports or events they would like. When you can make that a reality, it’s really beautiful to be able to facilitate.

I love all things LA, and working for the parks was one of my dreams. As a little girl, I used to go hang out with the Park Director at my local park and ask him everything about his job. I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do what I love for my entire life.

Tony: Sports. I grew up in the Rec and Parks system, so that connection to sports has always been number one priority. Sports kept me out of trouble growing up.

I also love being a school teacher and connecting to youths, whether they’re small or even as teenagers, that’s something that I’ve always been able to do professionally. Being a part of Palisades for the last 13 years, my meaning comes from the community, the kids and the parents. Building a connection with them has been a huge part of my life.

Kim: My kids are in their 30s, and if you ask them about the happiest times of their life, it’s their memories of the Palisades Rec Center. Being around kids when they’re experiencing some of the happiest moments of their lives, I feel grateful for that.

Jasmine: In my opinion, there is nothing better than watching youth sports. My favorite thing ever!

Kim: Like T-ball. It’s so fun to watch them try to hit it. Their parents get so excited thinking that their kids are going to be professional baseball players because they can hit the ball off the tee on the first swing!

Ramon: At the executive level, we’re a little removed from the park. I envy the Rec Center staff because that’s what I used to love about the park when I was in my own community. With our management team, with Sonia Young Jimenez, our Superintendent of the West Region, we help the parks in every way we can – uniforms or money or fixing things for them, things like that. When people walk to the park and feel like they’re part of that park, we might be behind the scenes, but we feel like we’re a big part of that.

Jasmine, Kim, Tony and Ramon, thank you for sharing your stories with us. We celebrate all that you do for Los Angeles.

Jasmine: Thank you and thank you for sharing our story.

Kim: Bye.

Ramon: Thank you.

Tony: Thank you. •

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BEHIND THE SCENES Club COO Summy Lam (front) photographs Jasmine Dowlatshahi, Sr. Recreation Director, Palisades Recreation Center, in the burned–out shell of the center’s main gym.