If there is one site in Los Angeles that enshrines the spirit of the great German-speaking emigration of the 1930s and 1940s, it is the house of Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger, now known as the Villa Aurora. After Marta's death, the home was purchased by the German government as a residency site for writers and artists. Thousands upon thousands of Lion's books remained in place, together with his and Marta's furniture and a host of other artifacts, including Franz Werfel's desk and a couch that had belonged to Hanns Eisler. (The Feuchtwangers' papers and their most valuable books are at the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library at USC.) I went to the villa twice last season to attend observances of the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg. When the Palisades Fire erupted on Tuesday, the Villa Aurora initially seemed doomed; reports from the neighborhood association suggested that every house on the high-climbing Paseo Miramar road was burning down. Then, on Wednesday, an intrepid neighbor on an e-bike sent in a video showing the structure astonishingly intact. Other observers confirmed as much; the photo above was taken yesterday. The house remains in danger, with Santa Ana winds returning early next week, but, for now, it has made a miraculous escape โ as it did in 1961, when Marta defended her home against the Bel-Air Fire. With so much devastation all around โ see the post below โ there's no reason to celebrate. Yet the provisional survival of the Villa Aurora is, as the Feuchtwangers' neighbor Thomas Mann would say, a light in the night. The Mann House, for which I serve on the advisory board, is also safe for the moment.