Barbara Bustetter Falk’s Tribute to Los Angeles

Barbara Bustetter Falk was born in Los Angeles 1928 and lived there until the early 1950’s.  She had, in many ways, a magical childhood.  Barbara and her identical twin, Beverly, were in Hollywood movies as young children and exposed to all the glamor of the time. Her grandparents lived in the nearby lush and pastoral Laurel Canyon.  “Laurel Canyon,” an early painting of Barbara’s, depicts a serene day in her childhood with family members in a place she loved. 

When Barbara was in her early 20’s, the intrigue of New York City inspired her to leave home and she ventured east to New York and Connecticut, where she lived until 1978, when she moved to Tucson, Az.  Barbara was highly intelligent and extremely curious.  She loved to read about art, history, and current events, both to satisfy her thirst for knowledge and to gain inspiration for her paintings.

 “Fire in the Hollywood Hills,” painted in 1981, portrays frantic residents fleeing from a horrific blaze with their pets and belongings.  This painting later proved to be prophetic.

In the 1980’s “Fire in the Hollywood Hills,” “City of Angels,” “Laurel Canyon,” and several other paintings were transferred to Los Angeles for an exhibit.  Subsequently they were stored by family members who resided in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

In 2022, Barbara asked her daughter, Jenifer, to bring the California paintings back to her home in Tucson.  In April of 2023, 12 of Barbara’s paintings returned to Tucson.  In January of 2025, the homes where the paintings had been displayed for over 40 years were destroyed by fire identical to the one Barbara depicted in “Fire in the Hollywood Hills.” 

Barbara is gone now, but she paid tribute through her work to a city she adored, a city that brought her much happiness in life.  This page is in honor of Los Angeles and all its inhabitants who love it and sacrificed for it.