Before the Eaton fire nearly wiped out the entirety of Altadena, the town was a mecca for
restored old cars, trailers, motorcycles, and funky junk. Those vehicles were often passed from one generation to the next.

But the January fire took that history and so much more, ripping away people’s
homes, communities, livelihoods, and generational wealth.

But, in an effort to preserve what was lost, Dave Stone, a resident of nearby Pasadena, wanted
to make sure the stories of Altadena lived on and did not disappear as the community rebuilds.

Stone’s mission was in part inspired by the Environmental Protection Agency spray painting the charred remains of cars with “Not Ev” to delineate between gas-powered cars and electric vehicles that had burnt. Stone is on a mission to remember Altadena’s cars, homes, and the stories of over 500 community members on his Instagram @not_ev_altadena.

The University Times spoke to Stone at the sixth-month anniversary of Altadena Cars and
Coffee, a weekly event he started, which has brought together old car enthusiasts and those
from Altadena, who lost their vehicles.

What initially inspired you to do the Not EV project after the Eaton Fire?

I never looked at it as a project. It felt to me as more a form of my expression and my feelings…
I didn’t lose my home or my cars or my employment. I lost the neighborhood that I love so much.

And then I just started taking more photos of cars and more photos of cars. It became like a
very intimate thing for me. And before this not necessarily like a big car guy.

I always needed a solution to the problem. The problems were the burnt car images. The
solution was something else to do with them that could help other people.

What has been your favorite story to tell out of hundreds you’ve told?

I have some favorites in some part because they were earlier on or they helped shape this for
me and then people I have become close to.

But Danny Robinson lost his [1986] Corvette. He had it for a week before the fire came and he
never drove it. And because…. he needed to work on it and it was his dream car.
He always wanted this car and the fire came and took it.

He said, “I had a dream and that’s better than most men.” And I was like,” that’s really sweet but
that’s the worst ending of any story I’ve ever read in my life. How does the story not end with him getting his car back? [Robinson got a Corvette in the end with the support of the Altadena
community.]

What inspired you to start the Altadena Cars and Coffee events on Saturdays? Was it about supporting local coffee shops or fostering a sense of community when we’ve all lost so much? Or both?

I realized probably two or three weeks in, what I had done. Yesterday, I was at this lot with these
two brothers and they were from here and they were like, “Dude, you have no idea how rad that
is. We have so many friends who go almost every Saturday and what that means to the
community and all the car people here, they’re like, it’s insane what you did, and they’re so
grateful and so thankful.”

In what way are you going to continue documenting Altadena, now that the cleanup is
nearly done? Is it the rebuilding process, or documenting as people reconstruct their
garages and their car collections?

Somebody asked me early on and even towards the end of all the cars being here, “all the cars
are gone. What are you going to do now?” It’s never about the cars. It was always about the
people. There’s never just a car on its own. There’s always people next to their cars smiling.
Because it’s about that, that’s the story.

And then I’m going to tell stories about the rebuilding process. And tell stories about people who
have houses that made it, but it’s filled with ash and soot and the walls have cyanide in it. I’m
going to tell those stories.

What are some of the most promising things that you’ve seen happen as the
rebuilding process gets underway? What do you look forward to in this new Altadena?

I think some of the most promising things that I’ve seen are how people are able to come
together to look after each other. We have to think about the new Altadena… I still have to wrap my head around that.