In Altadena, it had become the hot ticket among the preschool set.
But when Geoff and Kikanza Ramsey-Ray first bought the two-acre property at the edge of town in 2008, it was a shambles. The home was a rental for over 30 years and the grounds were woefully neglected. Yet the couple saw promise. Nestled against Angeles Crest national forest, with a mountain view and on a road with few other homes, the place felt protected and perfect for their vision: an early education center called Village Playgarden.
The Ramsey-Rays, who met in the early 1990s when Kikanza was a lead organizer for LA’s Labor Community Strategy Center and Geoff decided to write his dissertation on the center, had married in 1997 and quickly became parents. As things do with children, their passions changed, and the couple’s career paths turned toward education.
Kikanza in particular had a grand vision to bring together a diverse community of families in the historically Black community of Altadena. The couple developed a school that borrowed from Waldorf and included nature-based experiential learning and non-violent communication.
Eventually the school served up to 40 families and was particularly proud of its diversity. “The worst part of the year was having to decide who got one of the coveted spots,” said Geoff. “There were so many families who wanted in and so many we wanted, but we couldn’t accommodate everyone. We always ended up with a long wait list.”
No wonder. With enormous TLC, hard work and plenty of volunteers, Village Playgarden morphed into not only a kid’s paradise but a reprieve for parents who also loved to walk the grounds, work the gardens and socialize with other parents after drop-off.
Over the years, the grounds gained multiple education buildings and outdoor classrooms, a small farm where children learned about planting and harvesting vegetables, an orchard of 30 fruit trees, chickens, goats and even a playground with a hand-built pirate ship, annexed from a neighbor. Besides the school, the Ramsey-Ray family also created their own homestead that housed their family, and at times also Kikanza’s grandmother, mother and godmother. This all became the backdrop of many public events.
“We wanted to be a model of how to build a multiracial, multigenerational true community,” said Geoff.
Village Playgarden was, in fact, one of the only things they knew about Altadena when Casey Wojtalewicz and his partner Ally Walsh started looking for a home. “We just kept hearing about this school,” said Wojtalewicz. The couple, who own Canyon Coffee in downtown LA and Echo Park, was able “by the skin of their teeth” to purchase a home in Altadena in 2021, just two months before their son Sonny arrived. Last year they snagged a spot at Village Playgarden, and Sonny began his school adventure. Four days a week, Wojtalewicz drove the few miles between his house and their new oasis.
“The first thing that appealed to us about the school was so much of it was outdoors,” said Wojtalewicz. “But then we met the teachers, and they are such warm people but also just kind of badass, you know?” His family felt supported and a part of something bigger than themselves. As did Danielle Neal, a fourth-generation Altadenian, with son Omni. “The school is more than a place of education and childcare for us,” said Neal. “For my family, it’s our community.”
Kikanza had been diagnosed with uterine cancer in late 2022 and families, friends, former students and teachers rallied. Unfortunately, she lost her battle in March. One of the last major events Village Playgarden hosted was a celebration of Kikanza’s life, where about 450 people showed up. Later, volunteers created a meditation garden surrounded by a grove of pines in her honor. Geoff, a potter, threw an urn and installed a special cabinet that held his wife’s ashes. It was completed just a month ago.
‘Organizing around a vision for Altadena’
On the night of 7 January, the Eaton fire took almost all of this. At least a dozen current Village Playgarden families, including the Neals, also lost their homes and the community lost many of its beloved locally owned businesses.
Geoff evacuated with his mother-in-law, Kikanza’s godmother and whatever else he could, but it didn’t amount to much more than clothes, a laptop, birth certificates and passports. Relatives in the San Fernando valley took them in. Two nights later, Geoff woke panicked. “I had massive anxiety and I just thought: ‘What am I going to do? Everything we built, everything we loved, gone in an eye blink. I cried for about three hours.’”
Their kids – one now attending Spelman College in Atlanta, another traveling in Thailand and the youngest a high school senior – all took it rather stoically. “My youngest son is a straight shooter and he said: ‘Face it, Pops, we’re cursed. First Mom and now this.’ But I told him maybe it looks that way now, yet we are definitely not cursed in terms of character, family and community. We still have all that. And, besides, I saved his favorite mountain bikes.”
Village Playgarden parents soon rallied too, encouraging Geoff to launch a GoFundMe, which has now raised nearly $105,000. By Friday, Geoff had reached out to the department of social services, which licenses early ed centers, for advice. He had even contacted some commercial realtors. His siblings, with business acumen, are on their way from Michigan and Oregon to help scout temporary locations to reopen the school, which he said he hoped to do within two months.
When he was finally able to survey his Altadena property, he saw his eldest son’s beloved 2002 black Lexus IS300 had become melted metal. The orchards and farm were torched, nine structures, including his 1960s ranch-style home, were destroyed. He had left the gates open when he evacuated and now there were no signs of the animals.
What remains?
The oak trees, which Geoff said “must’ve laughed” at this fire. Also: an empty chicken coop, a stand of cacti and the 17 pine trees in Kikanza’s memorial garden. The urn that once held her ashes lay cracked on the ground.
Yet there’s no time for despair, Geoff promises. For a moment he thought about calling it quits, but that thought was fleeting. Too many friends in the community have been in touch. “We are already organizing around a vision for Altadena – a more sustainable future,” said Geoff.
