Will Rogers' Great-Granddaughter to Newsmax: Rogers Ranch Loss 'Devastating'

The infamous Will Rogers Ranch was gutted on Tuesday by the Palisades fire, a "devastating loss" to the Los Angeles community that is still very fresh and numb, Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, the great-granddaughter of the onetime vaudeville performer who rose to fame as a syndicated newspaper columnist, "cowboy philosopher," radio personality, and movie star, tells Newsmax.

"It's a place where the community would go and get away. It nestled in Los Angeles. It was just kind of a hidden gem, kind of like Central Park for the west side of L.A.," Rogers-Etcheverry told Newsmax TV's "National Report."

"It was 186 acres, hiking trails, horseback riding. The only remaining polo field in the Los Angeles area where polo was active during the season. … It's a little too early to tell the future. We were able to get a lot of the collection out of the house. We got some artwork out before it burned. Some bronzes — but everything else had to be left behind."

The livestock on the property were all evacuated, she told Newsmax, but "a lot of the neighbors around the park that were supporters of the ranch lost all their homes. They were all dear friends of ours."

Rogers-Etcheverry, the Rogers family representative, said her family is "going to put on our Will Rogers shoes and do what Will would do. "We're going to try to bring people together. That's what he did for the world. He brought everybody together during national disasters. He would have been the first one there wanting to help," she added.

"Our Will Rogers Ranch Foundation is accepting donations to help those people that were part of our community with Will Rogers State Historic Park. We're going to help with transportation costs, help with housing, help with just the basic necessities."

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