This week, crews began to demolish what was left of a home on Las Alturas Road in Santa Barbara that started to slide down a hillside last May.
Demolition crews say the house was still full of furniture, clothing, and other items because the family wasn't able to safely enter and gather their possessions. But in the rubble, workers have found items they hope to return to the family.
"You'll find pictures, you'll find things underneath the house," said backhoe driver Scott Dye.
Between old Christmas lights and under broken concrete, Dye and his crew are finding memories -- snapshots of a family's life in a place they called home.
"We probably found about, I would say about 50 of them," Dye said, referencing a stack of photos. "And strips of old camera film."
Another worker showed off what appeared to be a sketchbook.
Demolition crews have made quick work removing the two-story home that was red-tagged in May after it cracked in half and slid several feet below the road in a landslide.
"It's really sad to see, but it had to happen. They had to tear it down," said Ilyce Dawes, neighbor.
Jan Luc, 86, and her two adult sons were forced to evacuate the property, leaving behind most of their possessions.
"You could see through the windows that there were all these items still in the house, and you couldn't go back in because it was totally unstable," said Paul Zink, neighbor.
Luc's husband built the home 40 years ago, according to neighbor Jan Campbell, who says that since the disaster, Luc and her sons have been living in a hotel. Campbell set up a GoFundMe to help the family with housing costs.
For now, Dye hopes the small mementos demolition crews have recovered will give the family some hope.
"They'll be able to take some of those and make them into something," he said.
The city hired Papich Construction for demolition, lot grading, and road repair, which is expected to be completed in February.
