What Is It? Fire Survivors

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Howard Yonet with some of the survivors of his collection.

One of Circling the News most popular features What is it?  is an “antique roadshow” of items that Howard Yonet has collected over a lifetime.

Yonet was born in Brooklyn in 1934 and attended Brooklyn College. He went to Baylor Medical School and then returned to do an internship at Bellevue Hospital. Yonet completed his residency at the Manhattan V.A. and the Montefiore Hospital. During this time, he went skiing in Vermont and the Catskills, and while traveling found barns filled with early American pieces. This led to his interest in American Antiques.

In 1965, he married Daniele, who was originally from Nancy, France. During the Vietnam War, Yonet was drafted as a medical officer and stationed in Landstuhl, Germany (1966-1969).

The family settled in Pacific Palisades in 1970 and Yonet practiced general radiology until 2006. He continued to acquire antiques and collectables at estate and garage sales and the Salvation Army Store. His home and his lovely collection of antiques and curiosities burned during the Palisades Fire.

His son Henri wrote, “I’ve gone back to the house several times (at least 10 now), to try and recover some of the items that may have survived.” He sent photos of his dad at the rental he’s staying in after the fire with some of his surviving collection.

“There are even fish in the lower pond that survived, so I’m netting them up as much as possible,” Henri said.

Earlier Howard had written “I can’t tell you how touched I am that you mentioned my “What Is It?” and that you are restarting them. You should have up to #154 and that could give you enough for another two years. Sadly, there was enough in my collection for an additional two years, but they’ve gone up in smoke.”

Next week, CTN will continue documenting Yonet’s collection.

This is all that remains of the Yonet house in the Marquez neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.

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