Altadena community members came together on Sunday after a local restaurant's Día de Los Muertos altar was vandalized overnight.
Maggie Cortez, who owns El Patron on Lake Avenue, arrived in the morning to find broken glass, damaged decorations and debris covering the floor outside of the restaurant just hours after Halloween and one day before the Mexican holiday.
"Everything was broken, tables up and down. All the food," Cortez said.
Her restaurant's cameras caught a lone man on the nearly three-hour destructive rampage beginning just after midnight.
"It makes me really sad, because I've been here 17 years and nothing like this has happened," Cortez said.
She immediately posted the videos and photos to social media, and a short time later, members of the community began arriving to offer their support.
"If someone had done this to my altar, I would be incredibly upset," said Elena Miranda. "To hear that this place was vandalized just made me really upset, and I wanted to do what I could to help."
Police are now searching for the person caught on the surveillance video.
Cortez said she's beyond grateful for her community and the way they showed up to help her clean and rebuild her ofrenda, just like the city has done since the Eaton Fire.
"We're always together, no matter what happens," she said. "Altadena Strong and we're never going to give up."
