Magic Bus: VW Van Survives Palisades Fire

Of all the horrors of the LA fires, the loss of life and immense loss of property, happy stories have been few and far between. Scrolling social media coverage from around Los Angeles has been harrowing, walls of flames engulfing entire mountains and destroying (mostly) everything in their path. Aside from the inspiring stories of community action towards relief efforts, there haven’t been too many bright spots…one notable exception being a magical blue VW bus that has been making viral rounds on Instagram.

Nicknamed “Azul”, which is Spanish for “blue”, the 1977 Type II Volkswagen Bus miraculously survived while parked on a street where all of the surrounding homes were destroyed. Upon hearing the news, Martin said, “There’s magic in that van. It should have been toasted but here we are.” The now-iconic van was once home to Martin for over a year while he studied mechanical engineering at UCSB and saved rent by living inside the van and fixing her up… read more >