Patty Scanlon was at a flea market in Pasadena, California, when she came across a box of old photos for sale.
“I look at the first one, and it’s this black-and-white photo of a woman with her baby. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh wow, she has such a lovely face,’” said Scanlon, who is an actor and an artist.
Scanlon bought the box of photos for $20 and brought them home Sunday afternoon, hoping to use them to inspire a future painting. But as she looked closer, Scanlon realized she recognized the woman in the photos.
It was actress and television personality Ricki Lake.
Scanlon posted some of the photos on Instagram, asking her followers whether anyone knew how to contact Lake. The caption read: “I think she may WANT these. She may not have copies!”
Scanlon was right, Lake didn’t have copies. In fact, Lake thought all of her old family photos and mementos had been lost when her house burned down nearly a year ago in the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles.
Lake — known for starring in the 1980s cult classic Hairspray and later for her daytime talk show and other roles — fled her Malibu home in January as the fire approached. She had almost no time to pack anything and remembered standing paralyzed in front of her closet with the minutes ticking by. She didn’t think to grab her dozens of family photo albums.
When the house burned down, Lake lost photos of her grandmother and most of the childhood photos of her two sons. They’re now in their 20s and were born before smartphones and cloud storage.
“I was devastated,” Lake said. “These pictures really, really bothered me, that I didn’t have them anymore.”
Lake said she also felt lucky to be alive and had to make peace with losing nearly all of her possessions.
“We have our lives, we have our dog, we had insurance, we can rebuild,” Lake said. “It could have been worse. Like, that’s what I recognize.”
A friend of Lake’s saw Scanlon’s post on Instagram and texted it to her as Lake was getting into bed Sunday night.
“I recognized the picture right away,” Lake said. “I was like, ‘That’s my kid, that’s my kid.’”
The next day, Lake and Scanlon connected on the phone and then on Instagram Live, where Lake was able to see more of the photos. Lake still doesn’t fully understand how they ended up in a box at a flea market, but thinks they were among photos she sent to the mother of her ex-husband Rob Sussman when the kids were little. The two women lost touch, but Lake speculated that maybe the photos were donated by accident or ended up in an estate sale when her former mother-in-law was moving.
“I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Lake said of the childhood photos of Milo, who is now 28.
Scanlon wanted to get the photos to Lake as quickly and safely as possible. She packed them up and shipped them across the country from Los Angeles to New York, where Lake now lives. They are supposed to arrive early next week.
“I’m not religious per se, but I do believe in karma,” Scanlon said. “It’s basically a miracle that these pictures were found.”
Scanlon, who often goes to flea markets in search of old photos to inspire her, said she and Lake have been texting since they connected. Lake said she is going to commission Scanlon to paint her portrait.
“She’s very talented, and I look forward to the day when she does do that portrait of me,” Lake said. “And we’re going to be friends forever. I made a friend for sure.”
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