Fire at abandoned home spread to his house. A Larchmont man is determined to rebuild

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Set us as preferred Juan Galicia stood in front of the ruins of his Larchmont home, the burned-out frame of a 1910 Craftsman.From the front steps, he spoke about what this house had meant to him and his family.

For 18 years, this was his home, where his three children grew up, where one of his sons got married in the front yard and a grandchild was born.On March 8, the house went up in flames after fire spread from an abandoned home on an adjacent lot, said Galicia, a contractor and pastor.

Seeing his place in its current state has dampened his spirits but not his determination to rebuild.“I don’t know how long it’s gonna take me to [rebuild], but I am,” Galicia said.The issues Galicia is facing in Larchmont are not unique to his neighborhood.

Within Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez’s district, which includes Larchmont, the city is keeping track of five to 10 properties that are in similar condition and facing similar problems, said Nick Barnes-Batista, a spokesperson for Soto-Martinez.The lot next to Galicia’s has been on the city’s radar since at least late January, Barnes-Batista said.

Amid California’s housing crisis, any empty lot in a residential neighborhood is an opportunity to add much-needed shelter, either a single family home or an apartment building.Recently in West Hollywood, a pack of coyotes began occupying an abandoned condominium construction site.In North Hollywood last year, neighbors complained that an empty apartment building had turned into a drug den.

It was eventually torn down.It has not been easy for Galicia.

While he’s trying to rebuild, he’s had to fend off transients who trespass onto his property on a regular basis.Meanwhile, he claims the city has done little to keep trespassers out of his home or the neighboring abandoned lot or to help him find the re...