Photo courtesy of Caitlin Doran
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
When evacuating her house in the Alphabet Streets on January 7 due to the Palisades fire, Caitlin Doran made sure to retrieve one of her most treasured items: a framed Pali Life feature about her and her TikTok celebrity tortoise Tiptoe that ran in the Palisadian-Post in March 2021.
“My fiancé actually ran into the house while it was on fire to save that article for me,” Doran shared. “I’m so happy to have it.”
Doran said that she got Tiptoe out early that day, between 3 and 3:30 p.m.
“Unfortunately, all the homes are going, including the one we worked on for three months prior,” she continued. “The brand-new house was built with Lee Ford (my grandpa) in his workshop on 1117. The house made it to 1118 … but it is beyond gone. There’s a video of it on my social media pages—it’s the one that starts with me bawling, but it’s just been a week.”
It took less than one year for Doran and Tiptoe to attract 3.5 million followers on TikTok and an additional 80,000 on Instagram. She released a coloring book titled “A Day in the Life of Tiptoe” three and a half years ago.
The two had since become celebrities—not just on social media but around their neighborhood, as they were frequently stopped by curious fans on their morning walks around the block.
Doran is now 28 and Tiptoe is 23. She got him when she was 7 and she gave him his name because “when he walks he goes up on his tip toes.”
“We have Grandma, Bopa, Mom, Dad, Tiptoe, three dogs and a cat living at my house in Marina Del Rey,” she said. “I’m renting over here and thank goodness because we’re all holding it down here as we figure out our next steps, we learn and get through all of the insurance headaches. My parents and grandparents will be moving in together in Westchester until it’s safe enough for us to rebuild, bigger, better and stronger.”
Doran said Tiptoe is adjusting fine to his new situation: “He’s been a champ, but we’re just doing our best to get his needs met right now.”
As for Doran, the long-term goal is to go home. For her, that is the Palisades.
“I want to raise my kids in the Palisades, so the dream is to bring the Palisades back to what it used to be,” she said. “There’s nothing like it.”
Tiptoe first graced the pages of the Palisadian-Post in a piece written by Junior Reporter Gavin Alexander in 2020. In the next four months after that story was published, Tiptoe and Doran gained over one million additional followers.
A fifth-generation Palisadian, Doran went to Palisades Charter Elementary, Paul Revere Charter Middle and Palisades Charter High schools. She earned an undergraduate degree in special education and rehab, and a master’s in special education and applied behavior analysis.
Tiptoe is a sulcata, one of the largest tortoise species in the world. Doran has chronicled his life through hundreds of videos: “He’s with me for life,” she said.
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