Palisades, the first certificate of occupancy<\/a> was issued recently for a \u201cshowcase\u201d home that was built to market the work of the development company. Meanwhile, Palisades resident Craig Forrest, who lost everything in January, thinks his new house could be finished within a week or so, although he might not move in until the new year because the contract on his Santa Monica rental runs through December.<\/p>\nSo what\u2019s the secret for him and others who have managed to rebuild in the same calendar year as the fires? In Forrest\u2019s case, he said, the recipe included \u201cfortitude, guts, will, strength, pushing through, making fast decisions, and having the financial wherewithal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having three teenagers was also a factor, Forrest told me. He said that rather than sink in despair, he chose to remain optimistic and keep moving to \u201cshow them what you do when something this traumatic and dramatic happens to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the case of Jun Li Lujan, she had an insider\u2019s edge. She builds houses for a living.<\/p>\n
![\"Ted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764248891_779_\")
<\/p>\n
Ted Koerner, 67, prepares to feed his dog Daisy May. Koerner plans on having friends over for Thanksgiving. \u201cThe accomplishment alone is just getting home,\u201d Koerner said.<\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a contractor, a designer and a project manager for many years, she knew what to do and how to do it quickly. \u2026 She\u2019s a force of nature,\u201d said her husband, Bobby Lujan, a musician and brother of the late Chicano artist Gilbert \u201cMagu\u201d Lujan.<\/p>\n
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who attended an open house at the Lujan residence on Tuesday, told me that bureaucratic hurdles and other challenges have hampered rebuilding efforts. But she met neighbors of the Lujans who were encouraged by their rapid return.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives people hope,\u201d Barger said. \u201cNext week, two homes are going to get certificates of occupancy. One leads to two, leads to five, leads to 10. I feel like we\u2019re on that road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koerner had Daisy as a motivator, along with a figure-things-out mentality from running an investigations and fraud-prevention company that deals with government agencies and multiple businesses. And he knew he didn\u2019t want to live in limbo any longer than he had to, especially after staying in an Old Pasadena hotel for several weeks with other evacuees.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single person in the building was a victim,\u201d Koerner said. \u201cEvery time the elevator opened \u2026 there were people standing there, leaning against the wall, sobbing. And I mean openly sobbing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landlords in the area were gouging renters, Koerner said, and he briefly considered living in his car before one of his employees offered a La Crescenta space that had just become available.<\/p>\n
Koerner was told by an Army Corps of Engineers official to pour his new foundation as soon as the contamination was cleared, even if he hadn\u2019t gotten an insurance check yet. You don\u2019t want to be \u201cnumber 2,200 in line,\u201d Koerner was told.<\/p>\n
![\"Ted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764248891_995_\")
<\/p>\n
Ted Koerner, 67, sits in the front yard of his newly built home with his dog Daisy May in Altadena.<\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
That was good advice, and it fit Koerner\u2019s personality. He\u2019s not one to waste time overthinking things, which is best illustrated by his philosophy that a house is a house, not a museum to one\u2019s creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, are you going to spend nine days deciding what color toilet?\u201d Koerner said. \u201cOr are you just going to pick one and live with it. It\u2019s a toilet. It\u2019s not a trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koerner robbed his retirement fund to front the start of construction and said that once insurance payments are added up, he\u2019ll be a few hundred thousand dollars in the hole. But he\u2019ll be home.<\/p>\n
Whenever there was a pause in the county\u2019s permit machinery, Koerner said he let everyone up to and including the governor\u2019s office know about it. He said U.S. Rep. Judy Chu and Barger \u2014 one of whose staffers called Koerner \u201ctenacious\u201d \u2014 helped keep things moving.<\/p>\n
Koerner also credits building manager Jossef Abraham of Innova Creative Solution for understanding that this was not simply about building a house. It was about getting a 67-year-old man struggling mightily with displacement, and a dog on her home stretch, back where they needed to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were here on Sunday for six hours, just us, and I brought a bed for her and I fed her here,\u201d Koerner said. \u201cAnd when I laid down on the floor next to her \u2026 she leaned over and started catching the tears, one at a time, as they were rolling down my cheek.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koerner stood in his new kitchen, going through everything and everyone he\u2019s grateful for this holiday season. The longtime friends who offered support, the new friends he made in La Crescenta near his temporary home, his builder and his therapist, who taught him \u201chow to let things flow through and get behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m first and foremost grateful that Daisy has been strong enough to hang in there,\u201d Koerner said. \u201cShe has just stayed with me, and that is an answer to a daily prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koerner and Daisy May frolicked for a while in his new office, which had a golden glow in the morning light.<\/p>\n
Daisy seemed to have turned back the clock and had that expression dogs get, mouth open and eyes aglow, when it looks like they\u2019re smiling.<\/p>\n
Koerner looked like he was celebrating a double holiday \u2014 Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one.<\/p>\n
steve.lopez@latimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A month or so ago, with construction crews still plugging along, Ted Koerner lost sight of the finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5759,7,9,8,42319,3288,42322,1073,42321,16280,42320,592,42318,15398,4610,315,68,2601],"class_list":{"0":"post-72152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-altadena","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-daisy-may","13":"tag-fire-survivor","14":"tag-forrest","15":"tag-home","16":"tag-jun-li","17":"tag-neighbor","18":"tag-new-house","19":"tag-people","20":"tag-ted-koerner","21":"tag-thanksgiving","22":"tag-thing","23":"tag-time","24":"tag-tuesday","25":"tag-victim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}