A shrine grows on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood

After 13-year-old Julia Siegler was killed so tragically on February 26th when she was hit by two cars while running across Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood to catch a school bus, friends and stranger alike left flowers, mementos and messages in her memory at the corner of Cliffwood Avenue. The tradition is familiar to anyone who's driven along freeways or roadways where fatal accidents have taken place, but this is much bigger, and growing.

March

More than a month later, the memorial to Julia has become a living shrine, with flowers arrangements replaced by a tended nursery of live potted flowers new teddy bears, candles, messages and signs arranged, and visitors in the small triangle at that dangerous corner into the dark hours of the night.

February 27

It's gotten us thinking that maybe this unusual and unlikely garden of reflection amidst the upscale neighborhood can become a permanent shrine, with street markings to slow traffic on that stretch, giving drivers pause to think about what might be ahead as they drive a little too fast while juggling cellphones and lattes.