Waking up in a bar

At Luau Larry’s, a bamboo and wicker watering hole at Avalon Harbor, a dozen people who had spent the night in sleeping bags under decorative neon signs were rolling up their bags this morning and venturing out to assess the damage.

Manager Alex Villagra, 38, opened up the bar Thursday night for anyone who needed a place to crash and made cold sandwiches for the hungry and tired.

"Usually on the island, we don’t talk about fire," Villagra said. "But all people wanted to know last night was this: Is the fire going to hit town or not? I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ But inside I was worried."

-Louis Sahagun in Avalon