For years, there have been rumors that a cult lived on a secluded property at the end of Fair Oaks Boulevard in the San Gabriel foothills bordering Altadena. There are tales of nudist orgies and lavish parties attended by the likes of artist Andy Warhol, jazz musician Charlie Parker and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman.

Since 1946, Zorthian Ranch has been a haven for artists and creatives who want to escape the constraints of city life and find happiness in rural paradise. The ranch's founder, Jirayr Zorthian, transforms discarded items into works of art. After his death in 2004, his family inherited the legacy and the property continues as a kind of outdoor museum, displaying art by both established and emerging artists.

But last week, the Eaton Fire ripped through the building, leaving mostly ash in its wake. Jirayr's son Alan Zorthian, who manages the ranch, worked alongside others to save the 40-acre estate and its eclectic collection of sculptures and art.

The ranch has experienced wildfires in the past. The superintendent is equipped with firefighting equipment, hoses and standpipes, and has ready access to water from various locations on the property. But the storm, driven by hurricane-force winds, proved too fast and unstoppable. The fire destroyed all but two buildings on the estate - the main house where Alan grew up and a medieval residence known as "The Greenhouse".

But gone were Allen's one-bedroom cottage, his father's studio, the various barns and outbuildings that supported the farming operation, and countless works of art.

"I don't know if I could repeat 57 years of work," Allen, 66, said this week, referring to the years his father worked to establish the ranch. He said a steel container that housed some of his father's artwork survived, but he was afraid to open it; the casing showed signs of heat damage.

“I started to feel sad about the cultural infrastructure we were losing,” Allen said. "But when I look around, I see what other people have lost. I mean, our entire region has lost everything."

The Eaton Fire devastated swaths of the Altadena community of 42,000 residents after erupting on Jan. 7, destroying more than 4,600 structures and killing at least 16 people. In some areas, entire houses were razed to the ground. Historical landmarks such as the Rabbit Museum, the Pasadena Waldorf School and the Zane Gray Estate were destroyed.

Zorthian Ranch encapsulates a wild slice of Altadena: a brazenly bohemian scene covered in forest that attracts artists, scientists, and musicians. Bears, coyotes and mountain lions are frequent visitors. Bee hives, pig pens and horses coexist. On a clear day, the ranch offers nearly panoramic views of downtown Los Angeles and Catalina Island.

Allen evacuated the property in the early hours of January 8, leaving behind important documents and nearly all of his belongings. He was forced to abandon his Jeep after the wooden bridge connecting the upper and lower ranches burned down. He escaped by crossing a deep ditch filled with embers and ashes.

"That's a barn," he said, pointing to a pile of rubble. The office where he worked on construction projects is gone. Near the ruins of his father's former art studio, he bent down and picked up a broken piece of white masonry board. It's all that's left of a painting his father made after his acrimonious divorce from his first wife.

The painting, titled "Divorce," depicts Girard's former mother-in-law in an unflattering light and was not available as part of a divorce settlement while Girard and his ex-wife were still alive. exhibit. But after their deaths, the painting hung in a multipurpose room that doubled as a gift shop.

"There's nothing left," Alan said in defeat. He dropped the piece, which hit the ground with a sharp crack. "It's all over."

Jirayr Zorthian and his family fled the Armenian Genocide when Jirayr was 11 years old. They ended up on the East Coast, and Jirayr eventually received a scholarship to study fine arts at Yale University. He served in the army during World War II, and after his Turkish language skills were no longer needed, he was tasked with conducting propaganda. He painted a 157-foot mural titled "Illusions of Military Intelligence Training." A photocopy of the mural survived the fire.

(In 1945, Jirayr and his first wife, Betty Williams, purchased 27 acres in the Altadena foothills. After their divorce, Zotian retained the land and continued to expand along the rugged foothills. He and I Len's mother, Dabney, was married, and the couple ran the Zorthian Children's Ranch summer camp together for more than 25 years.

They would host alcoholic parties with friends and fellow craftsmen, and Girard would dress in a robe and play the role of "Zor-Bacchus" while naked women would feed him grapes. They are famous for hosting the Duda Parade Queen Trials, a disrespectful reference to the Pasadena Rose Parade.

For Allen, growing up on a ranch meant learning how to live off the land. He fed the pigs and horses and helped at summer camp. Feynman even helped him with his algebra homework, he recalled. But when he was 21, a trip to Europe exposed him to life outside the ranch, and he headed to San Diego to study architecture.

After the death of both his parents in 2006, he returned to the ranch and managed it with his sister, Alice. Over the years, their father developed a perspective on American wastefulness, accumulating discarded objects and finding ways to channel them into his art. The house is littered with telephone poles, car doors, old trailers and broken concrete.

Allen said he was determined to create a "museum without walls" that would showcase art created at the ranch. His daughters, Julia and Caroline, spent weekends and summers there, running around the estate decorated with intricate sculptures and meeting people from all over the world.

Julia, now 29, said: “The place itself is like a magical deep maze, filled with nooks and crannies of strange objects that can be enjoyed by anyone willing to walk through them.”

She moved to the ranch when she was young, and when the ranch fell into a period of financial instability, she dropped out of college to help her father manage the ranch. She said they needed to find a way to stay true to their roots while creating a viable business.

In recent years, the family converted the property into a working farm. They run four gardens, grow pumpkins, potatoes, watermelons and oranges, and sell honey. A community of about 20 people live and work at the ranch as docents, holding painting and yoga classes. Airbnb became a major source of income as artists rented out buildings on the property, including Jirayr's former art studio.

To keep the ranch going, the family launched a GoFundMe. So far, they've raised just over $100,000, along with notes from people who remember their time there.

But Allen said he has been fielding calls from real estate agents competing to acquire area residents and develop their land. The family is determined to preserve the land and return the ranch to its former glory. As Allen sifted through the debris, he saw a strip of molten aluminum.

"I guess we gotta make art with this damn fire," he said.