We used to be a proper country. With the stress of flying already at an all-time high, the last thing we should be worried about is someone’s stanky leg all up in our armrest. We should be concerned about real problems. Like “Will the plane fall apart in mid-air?”, “Is our pilot drunk?”, “Will my luggage make it to my destination?” Not “When was the last time this stranger washed their socks.”
Unfortunately that’s what happened to Redditor, Top_Particular_741. We’re not entirely sure which airline this occurred on, but it’s safe to say even Spirit wouldn’t allow this bush league behavior. After posting a photo of the limb, the internet went full mob-mentality.
A powerful storm taking aim at California starting Thursday could bring the strongest blizzard of the winter for the Sierra Nevada, potentially dumping 5 to 12 feet of snow at elevations 5,000 feet above sea level.
“Even by Sierra standards, this is shaping up to be a highly impactful, major winter storm,” the National Weather Service office in Reno said. “If these snow totals hold, this will easily be the biggest storm of the season.”
That includes the possibility of 1 to 3 feet of snow for communities along Highway 395 in Mono County, with Mammoth Lakes and June Lakes potentially getting nearly 4 feet of snow. There’s a strong chance of 4 feet of snow along the Sierra crest around the Tahoe Basin, and more than 3 feet in places like South Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and Tahoe City, forecasters said.
Winds on the ridge tops of California’s mightiest mountain range “could easily exceed 120 mph,” and “could lead to blizzard conditions with near-zero visibility at times.”
Forecasters urged people to take advantage of calm weather through Wednesday to prepare ahead of the incoming storm. They warned travel is expected to be nearly impossible from about 4 a.m. Thursday through Sunday morning. “If you attempt to travel, be prepared for whiteout conditions & extended road closures. Bring extra food, water, & warm clothing,” the National Weather Service office in Sacramento posted on social media.
Yosemite Valley could see snow showers on Saturday, the weather service office in Hanford said. “Snow may be heavy at times.”
For Los Angeles County, the storm is expected to bring a slight chance of rain late Friday, becoming likely on Saturday and possibly lasting through Sunday morning.
That storm could bring 0.75 to 1.5 inches of rain to the coast and valleys, and 1 to 3 inches in the mountains. But there’s also the possibly of a more dry scenario, with as little as 0.25 to 0.5 inches of rain in the coast and valleys, and 0.5 to 1 inch of rain in the mountains.
The weekend storm will be a cold one for L.A. County; there could be a dusting of snow in some areas at elevations below 3,000 feet. “This will likely be the coldest air mass we’ve had in some time with frost/freeze concerns possible for sheltered valleys Sunday and possibly a bit more widespread into Monday morning,” the weather service office in Oxnard said.
Rain could return to the San Francisco Bay Area starting late Thursday and continue through Saturday.
“Overall it’s just going to be nasty outside with cold temperatures, gusty wind and periods of moderate rain,” the National Weather Service office in Monterey said. “That being said, the actual impacts look mostly minor with wind gusts in the 25-35 mph range and only a moderate amount of rainfall, spread out over a few days.”
Winds could be a problem in the Sacramento Valley. Forecasters warned of winds gusting from 35 to 55 mph that could trigger power outages, especially from Marysville in Yuba County and northward.
Five U.S. Marines aboard a helicopter that went down during stormy weather in the mountains outside San Diego are confirmed dead, a Marine commander said Thursday.
It was the second fatal crash for Marines in Southern California involving a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion, a heavy lift helicopter, in the last six years. The Marines said an investigation into the latest crash is underway.
Authorities say the aircraft vanished late Tuesday while returning to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego after a routine training mission to Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nev., northwest of Las Vegas. The helicopter was flying into treacherous weather in California, which had been inundated with three days of relentless rain.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I share the loss of five outstanding Marines from 3d Marine Aircraft Wing and the ‘Flying Tigers,’” Maj. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte, commander of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said in a statement.
The names of those killed will not be released until 24 hours after next of kin are notified, officials said.
“To the families of our fallen Marines, we send our deepest condolences and commit to ensuring your support and care during this incredibly difficult time,” Borgschulte said. “Though we understand the inherent risks of military service, any loss of life is always difficult.”
Those aboard the flight were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, according to the Marines.
In a statement, President Biden said he and First Lady Jill Biden “extend our deepest condolences to their families, their squadron, and the U.S. Marine Corps as we grieve the loss of five of our nation’s finest warriors.” He also thanked the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary-Civil Air Patrol, and other federal, state, and local agencies for helping in the search and recovery efforts.
“Our service members represent the very best of our nation — and these five Marines were no exception,” Biden said. “Today, as we mourn this profound loss, we honor their selfless service and ultimate sacrifice — and reaffirm the sacred obligation we bear to all those who wear the uniform and their families.”
As the Marines were flying back to their base Tuesday night, visibility was poor because of snow, rain and gusty winds, according to meteorologist Philip Gonsalves with the National Weather Service in San Diego. Those conditions would have been in play for most of the night and into the morning, Gonsalves said.
The craft was discovered Wednesday morning near Pine Valley, in the Cuyamaca Mountains an hour’s drive from San Diego. The Marines said an effort to recover the remains of the five has begun.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection received word about the missing helicopter at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday and began the search in the area of Lake Morena, but their efforts were hampered by heavy snow and mud, officials said.
In 2018, four Marines died in a helicopter crash 15 miles west of El Centro. The crew flew out of a base in Twentynine Palms as part of a training exercise on April 3 on the same type of heavy-lift helicopter that was reported missing Wednesday, according to a news release from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
Two years after the crash, the families of the four Marines sued the manufacturers who supplied parts to the military. A Marine Corps investigation into the crash ruled out pilot error and pointed to a bypass valve as the root cause of the crash, the news outlet Marine Corps Times reported when the lawsuit was filed.
A major atmospheric river storm bringing heavy rains, high winds and significant snow barreled into northwestern California early Wednesday and is expected to move south across the state over the next 48 hours.
Statewide, officials are bracing for potential widespread flooding, dangerous travel in the mountains and even power outages.
The system is the first of back-to-back storms that forecasters say could cause perilous conditions through next week, depending on the severity, strength and speed of the storm systems.
This first storm is expected to be relatively fast-moving, dumping excessive rain and heavy snow primarily on Wednesday and Thursday before moving out of the area, a scenario officials hope will help minimize damage.
Here’s the latest on when Californians can expect to see the storm’s impact:
Wednesday morning
After a dangerously windy night for much of the state’s northwest corner — and a high wind warning advisory remaining through 1 p.m. for much of the North Coast — showers began in Northern California early Wednesday.
Rainfall is expected to pick up throughout the day across the North Coast, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley, with much of the region under a flood watch through late Thursday or early Friday.
An impactful storm system will bring rain and wind to the area today and tonight. Minor flooding of streams and roadways is expected along with the potential for downed trees and power outages. Stay safe and use caution during your commute today. #cawxpic.twitter.com/JA6f1roNE2
But dangerous winds remain a major concern, with the National Weather Service issuing a high-wind warning for much of the North Bay and Central Coast through Thursday afternoon.
“Given saturated soils, downed trees and resulting power outages are likely,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office warned on X.
In the northern Sierra Nevada and other high peaks above 6,000 feet, heavy snowfall is expected to begin Wednesday morning, with a winter storm warning in effect through at least Friday. As the storm develops, snow levels are expected to drop through the rest of the week and snowfall rates could reach up to 2 inches an hour, according to the weather service. Up to 3 feet of powder is possible at the highest peaks.
Wednesday afternoon
As the storm moves south and east, much of the Sacramento Valley will enter a flood watch through at least Thursday evening, with forecasters warning of minor concerns, including ponding on roads and flooding along small streams or in poor drainage areas.
Dangerous surf also will become a growing concern, with weather officials in the Bay Area warning of waves up to 26 feet high.
Thursday morning
By Thursday morning, showers will continue across Northern California, but the storm will take aim at Southern California and the Central Valley.
The heaviest rain in Los Angeles and Ventura counties is expected Thursday, with up to 2 inches in most areas — though only moderate rainfall rates are likely. Currently, no flood advisories have been issued for the regions.
However, a winter storm warning will be in effect beginning early Thursday for the Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino county mountains, including the San Gabriels, where the highest elevations could get up to 2 feet of snow. A few inches of snow are possible as low as 4,500 feet, and forecasters are warning that “travel may be difficult to impossible,” including along the 5 Freeway corridor.
Rainfall amounts of two to three inches in the Sierra Nevada below 5,000 feet and adjacent foothills may cause flooding and mudslides Thursday. Moderate to heavy rain may lead to nuisance flooding in the San Joaquin Valley Thursday. #CAwxpic.twitter.com/wZhJNsYfv4
The southern Sierra expects heavy snowfall beginning late Wednesday and into Thursday — from 1 to 4 feet, depending on elevation — but heavy rainfall in the foothills could cause flooding and mudslides, the National Weather Service warned.
Farther south and east, across much of Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, a flood watch will go into effect Thursday morning and run through Friday. With a slight chance for thunderstorms all day Thursday, forecasters warn that “excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.”
Storm thread time! 🧵🧵🧵
🌧️⛈️ Flood Watch in effect for all areas from the coast to the deserts Thursday morning through Friday morning. The best chances for the heaviest rainfall and thunderstorm activity look to be 9am-3pm Thursday, so plan accordingly!!#CAwx (1/4) pic.twitter.com/CqandGNJAv
Showers and bands of heavy rain will continue across southwest California, from the coast to the mountains.
Forecasters say snow levels will begin to drop Thursday night to about 4,500 to 5,000 feet, though heavy snow is not expected in those areas.
Friday
Much of the wind, flood and winter storm advisories will expire Friday, though lingering showers will remain in both Northern and Southern California.
Weekend
Saturday is expected to be a bit of a reprieve from precipitation — but officials say it won’t last long.
A second strong, wet storm, more focused on Southern California, is expected to bring more rain and snow, beginning as early as Sunday and lasting until midweek.
Weather officials are urging motorists to avoid the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountains this weekend as another system of heavy mountain snow began moving through the region Saturday morning.
The snow will continue through early Sunday with accumulations up to 2 feet above 6,000 feet elevation and 4 to 8 inches above 3,000 feet, said Sara Purdue, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
On Saturday morning along Interstate 80 — the popular route to Lake Tahoe — snow was accumulating up to 1 inch per hour and expected to increase up to 2 inches per hour later in the day, according to the weather service. Wind gusts are forecast to top 50 miles per hour in some areas, Purdue said.
She said travelers should expect dangerous driving conditions with slick roads and near white-out conditions at times. Motorists should be ready for road closures and carry tire chains, extra warm clothing, food and water if venturing into the area.
The newest storm system comes after one skier was killed and another guest was injured Wednesday when they were buried in an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe resort, officials said. It occurred at about 9:30 a.m. above the G.S. Gully area of the KT-22 peak, the resort said in a statement.
The skier who died was identified Wednesday night by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office as 66-year-old Kenneth Kidd, a resident of both Point Reyes and the Truckee Tahoe area.
Hours before that avalanche, forecasters had warned that the risk of an avalanche in the area was “considerable” for a portion of the central Sierra Nevada, encompassing all of Lake Tahoe and much of the surrounding mountains.
A Level 3 threat indicates “dangerous avalanche conditions” that could lead to “small avalanches in many areas; large avalanches in specific areas,” and warns that “natural avalanches [are] possible; human-triggered avalanches likely.”
Even if you didn’t feel the ground move beneath your feet during Friday morning’s 4.2 magnitude SoCal earthquake, or the 4.1 shaker that rattled nerves (if not windows) on New Year’s Day, you might have felt those quakes — in an emotional sense — precisely because you missed out on them entirely. And that could mean you’re a “never-feeler.” That’s what we’re calling residents of the Southland who don’t realize when the earth is moving beneath their feet.
We know you’re out there, and we’re reminded of your curious existence every time we head to our social media feeds for a post-quake group freakout and you’re over in the corner dutifully reporting “#earthquake — didn’t feel it.” Is it a skill? A learned condition? Wizardry? We want to know more.
To that end, we’re hoping that all you still-earthers and quake-nots out there will take a few minutes to fill out the form below to tell us how you feel about not feeling the earthquake everyone else felt — even the person in the next room. How do you react when that happens? What do you do when you realize you didn’t feel a quake? Do you consider this a blessing, a curse or a medical malady?
We may share your experiences in a future story, so be sure to include your name. Now let’s get shaking!
The Los Angeles area is heading for a wet end to the year, with rain showers forecast for later this week, raising the possibility that Rose Parade attendees might need a poncho or umbrella on New Year’s Day.
This week will be overcast, and a light storm is expected to arrive in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties by Wednesday, dropping a quarter of an inch of rain or more, according to the National Weather Service. Los Angeles and Ventura counties could receive a quarter of an inch of rain Friday heading into Saturday and likely clearing up by Sunday.
Last week, a winter storm drenched Southern California and dropped a month’s worth of rain in some areas. The latest storm passing through the region this week pales in comparison.
“Not even close. This is not even in the same realm as that one,” said meteorologist Mike Wofford of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard. “This storm system will be much weaker.”
Temperatures are expected to drop to below normal for most areas heading into the weekend, hovering around the 60s in the coastal and valley areas and the 50s in the Antelope Valley.
Forecasts are still too far out to determine what the weather holds for New Year’s Day in Southern California. But there is still a slight chance of rain for the Los Angeles region, including right over the Rose Parade route in Pasadena — though it should not be anything close to the downpour that drenched the area in 2006, raining on the parade for the first time in 51 years.
Los Angeles Unified School District band director Tony White remembers that soggy parade route — it rained when his students got off the bus and kept going all while they marched down Colorado Boulevard.
“That was a tough parade,” said White, who has led the district marching band for the last 22 years.
This year, 330 students will march with the L.A. Unified band and will likely start getting prepared by 2:30 a.m., White said. A bit of rain shouldn’t be too much of a problem; brass instruments, cases and drums made of wood can take a beating during a rainy march.
“There’s excitement and enthusiasm from students whenever they participate. They see the people cheering them on,” White said. “If it rains, we’ll make the best of it.”
Another group gearing up for the parade, rain or shine, includes a shiba inu with an underbite, a Chihuahua, a pug, a Pomeranian, and a mixed pit bull terrier. The dogs will ride aboard the Pasadena Humane Society’s first Rose Parade float in 20 years, said President and Chief Executive Dia DuVernet.
“We’re ordering rain ponchos for the dogs just in case, and even for the humans too,” DuVernet said.
The timing of a New Year’s Day storm is still uncertain, Wofford said; the rain could arrive later Monday after the parade is over, but the forecast will become clearer heading into the weekend. The Rose Parade sets off at 8 a.m., followed by the national semifinal Rose Bowl Game between Michigan and Alabama at 2 p.m.
“You can’t rule out that there could be some light rain during the parade,” Wofford said.
Southern Californians will also be under a high surf warning or advisory over the next few days, depending on where they live. Residents along northwest- and west-facing beaches can expect to see large swells, reaching 3 to 5 feet in Los Angeles County on Wednesday, but giving way to much larger swells starting Thursday with some waves around 10 to 15 feet, and peaking around 15 feet and over Saturday. Surfers along the Central Coast might also spot waves around 13 to 15 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
Hermosa, Santa Monica, Venice, Dockweiler and Redondo beaches will be among those with the most wave activity, said Kealiinohopono “Pono” Barnes, spokesperson for the L.A. County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division.
“This will be the first relatively big swell event of the year,” Barnes said.
The widespread high surf is expected to coincide with high morning tides on Thursday, bringing an increased threat of coastal flooding and beach erosion and flooded beach-side parking lots. The advisories and warnings will end Saturday or Sunday, depending on the location, so residents are advised to stay up to date with their local areas or Los Angeles County lifeguards.
Coupled with the high surf, large tidal swings are expected to reach around 5.5 feet. Anyone heading out to the beach this weekend should check in with an on-duty lifeguard, officials said.
“Let them know you’re there and the lifeguard can point you in the direction of the best spot to put you in the water,” Barnes said.
Moderate swimmers should be cautious when heading to the water during the advisories this weekend.
“You should swim, surf or board within your abilities,” Barnes said. “This may not be the best time to try and flex your skills.”
While many families spent Thanksgiving watching football in their living rooms, some lucky few spent it watching killer whales punt a sea lion 20 feet into the air in Monterey Bay.
About 120 people aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch boat Thanksgiving morning witnessed a rare sighting of a pod of killer whales hunting sea lions in the bay. A few minutes into the encounter, one whale punted a sea lion almost 20 feet into the air, a common hunting tactic used by killer whales to slow down and exhaust its prey, marine biologist Colleen Talty said.
Although many people on the boat were excited to lay eyes on the killer whales, some raised concern about the well-being of the sea lions, according to a photographer on the boat who called the scene “bittersweet” but a necessary part of nature.
“Of course you feel bad for the sea lion, but you have to remember it’s nature and without sea lions, the pod wouldn’t survive without the food,” photographer Morgan Quimby said.
Talty, who has seen a sea lion punt “multiple times” in her six years of working at Monterey Bay Whale Watch, said witnessing such a moment is quite rare.
“You have to be at the right place at the right time,” Talty said. “You could even get the hunt when they’ve already punted the sea lion, because oftentimes that’s done in the beginning of the hunt when they’re first trying to get the sea lion exhausted, separate it if it’s in a group.”
Based on the behavior of the four whales, Talty said it was a training session for the new calf in the pod that was learning how to hunt with its mother, grandmother and aunt.
“Once they successfully killed a sea lion, the members of the pod took turns displaying attack maneuvers and behaviors to further instruct their newest pod member on how to hunt,” Monterey Bay Whale Watch said Friday on Facebook.
Monterey Bay Whale Watch has seen this particular family of killer whales, known as the CA51As, in the bay for over 30 years and across four generations of whales, Talty said.
A killer whale punts a sea lion almost 20 feet into the air, a common hunting tactic used by killer whales to slow down and exhaust its prey.
(Morgan Quimby Photography)
Quimby was on the boat Thursday morning and caught the rare sighting on camera. The erratic movements of the whales made it challenging for her to photograph them, so she decided to focus her lens on one of the four or five different groups of sea lions in the water. The pack of sea lions she had her camera focused on happened to be the one the killer whales went after.
“Any time there are killer whales in the area, I’m constantly ready, following them, tracking them with my camera, trying to make sure I don’t miss any of the shots, any of their behavior,” she said.
The hunting session began around 10:30 a.m. and went on for almost two hours before the whales’ movements slowed down and they finished feasting, Quimby said.
“They’re so family driven and intelligent, so to be able to watch them teaching this several-month-old calf how to hunt and how to survive is just such a special and intimate moment that we were lucky to witness,” she said.
Walk past the street-facing 1990s duplex and beyond a 1920s Sears Roebuck kit bungalow, and an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, rises before you at the end of the property. It’s a slim, two-story rental clad in inexpensive white vertical corrugated metal.
Only then do you realize this single Venice lot has four rental units.
With Southern California in desperate need of housing and state and federal laws constantly evolving to make permitting ADUs easier, the detached home by architects Todd Lynch and Mohamed Sharif of Sharif, Lynch: Architecture feels like a harbinger of what’s to come.
“When the city encouraged us to increase housing, I thought of the Venice property,” said owner Ricki Alon, who had previously worked with the architects and builder Moshon Elgrably on another project. “Given the unique site constraints, I didn’t believe they could do it. I was worried it would be too crowded and negatively affect the small guest house.”
The two-bedroom ADU was built five feet from an existing duplex and four feet from the property line.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Alon was hesitant at first, but after a persuasive Zoom call with the architects, they all agreed that a fourth unit would add value to the bustling community.
“We viewed it as a challenge and a way to transcend ADUs in an SB9 world,” Sharif said, referring to Senate Bill 9, the 2022 state law that allows homeowners to convert their homes into duplexes on a single-family parcel or divide the lot in half to build another duplex for no more than four units.
Alon loved their initial sketches despite her skepticism, and the project moved ahead.
“It’s taught me how to think differently about how things are arranged and how I store things,” Henry Schober III said of his 13-foot-wide rental.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The large windows in the living room overlook the courtyard and give the ADU an open and airy feel.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“We decided to go as high as possible,” Sharif said of the eventual design, a slim, two-story ADU built on what was previously a driveway. Slipped into the lot, the 1,200-square-foot ADU, or IDU as the architects like to refer to the infill dwelling unit, was built an inch from the 1920s bungalow, five feet from the duplex and four feet from the property line.
Resting a few feet from a dingbat apartment to the south, the ADU is lifted off the ground to preserve two parking spots in the alley and a swimming pool in front. “Its entire width is dictated by that two-car side-by-side dimension,” said Sharif, who teaches in the undergraduate and graduate design studios at UCLA. Lifting the volume to preserve the pool also created shade and an open space that all residents could share.
“They refused to get rid of it,” Alon said of the water feature. “They insisted on building around it.” Today she admits it was the right decision. “Now, when you walk in, you experience a wonderful, absolutely lovely environment. I’m glad they did not listen to me,” she added with a laugh.
The narrow living room, seen from the staircase, and the first-floor office and en-suite bathroom. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Even though you can’t see the rental from the street, the ADU has enormous curb appeal and a touch of glamour. A Midcentury-style Sputnik pendant light hangs outside the front door, giving it an elegant feel, and the white cladding gives it a distinctive quality from the other rentals, which are clad in orange metal and gray siding.
The driveway before Sharif, Lynch: Architecture added a two-story ADU alongside a bungalow, right, and duplex, in back.
(Sharif, Lynch: Architecture)
Up a short flight of stairs, the front door opens to the ground floor and the two-story entry, which features a compact first-floor bedroom, study and en-suite bathroom.
“We wanted every room to have a bathroom to suit roommates,” Sharif said.
Tenant Henry Schober III, a 38-year-old attorney specializing in data privacy, uses the ground floor as his office and a bedroom for out-of-town guests.
“It’s a place that I’m comfortable spending a workday in,” said Schober, who goes to the office once or twice a week. “I don’t feel like I’m trapped in my house.”
Tenant Henry Schober III takes advantage of the ADU’s rooftop deck, which offers panoramic views of Venice. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
An overhead view shows the ADU’s proximity to the modern duplex and bungalow.
(Steve King Architectural Imaging)
Up the stairs to the second floor, the main living area and kitchen measure just 13 feet wide; large windows and operable skylights add light and cross-ventilation throughout the linear floor plan.
“The windows make you feel like you’re in an amazing penthouse in SoHo,” Alon said. “It gives the room a great energy.”
The rest of the second floor houses a powder room, bathroom and bedroom. Because of limited space, there was no room for a formal dining room. However, Schober said that’s easier to maneuver than the limited storage, which has taught him to think differently about how he stores and displays things.
The pool was preserved to create a communal area for all tenants.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“I eat at the long breakfast bar, and when I have people over, I use the common space or the roof deck,” he said.
The home’s two floors feel like three, Lynch said, “because of the way the stairway draws one upward through the IDU and then because of how the roof steps up again.”
The roof deck serves as another outdoor room, further expanding the living space. From the rooftop deck, Schober has panoramic views of Venice, not to mention ample room for a dining table, barbecue and sauna.
After renting an apartment temporarily a few blocks from the beach, Schober was still determining whether he wanted to rent another apartment in Venice.
The master bedroom on the second floor.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“It originally turned me off to Venice,” he said. “The price points were so high. It felt like people were paying for the ZIP Code. Landlords were asking five grand for an apartment next to a parking lot.”
But when he saw the two-bedroom ADU, he changed his mind. “When I walked in, I thought, ‘I’m going to live here,’” said Schober, who is originally from Philadelphia and moved to Los Angeles from Switzerland.
“The apartment and the secluded feel changed my attitude,” Schober said. “You get the convenience of Venice and access to all the restaurants and shops, but you’re not in the thick of things. I lived in San Francisco for a decade, Europe for six years. I view the apartment as an oasis in a neighborhood that is not as transformed as others.”
Schober said the strength of the architects’ vision is that the unit is quietly tucked away in a congested neighborhood. “Since you are set back from the street, there is no foot traffic,” he added. “It doesn’t feel like I am living among a bunch of units. There is little street noise, and you would never know you live a stone’s throw from Lincoln Boulevard.”
Stairs lead up to the rooftop deck.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Perhaps most impressive, the ADU defies the notion that you can’t have parking, privacy and quality of living, including a swimming pool, on a tight infill lot with other properties.
In a sense, Schober said, “It seems the solution to the housing crisis is building up.”
“There is a community feeling, and people know each other,” Sharif said. “They sit around the pool, and it’s very intimate and private.”
After a 10-month building process, the team completed the project this spring at a cost of approximately $410 per square foot.
Looking back, Alon is grateful that she moved forward with the project.
“It’s not just a unit that brings value to the property,” she said. “It enhances the entire property for everyone. Adding housing in this condensed community is important, but this team made it something beautiful that people will enjoy. You don’t have to add a huge amount of square footage to add quality of living.”
A lucky cat figurine sets the tone inside Henry Schober III’s two-bedroom ADU in Venice.
When architect Simon Storey’s clients took him to a steep lot of undeveloped land for sale in Silver Lake, he advised them to pass. Storey’s firm, Anonymous Architects, is used to building on difficult sites, but he knew this particular lot would be especially challenging.
“It’s more difficult and more time-consuming,” says Storey.
The lot lingered on the market for a few years and then the asking price dropped. That’s when Storey and his wife, Jen Holmes, decided they were willing to take on the difficult ground-up construction.
Sloped lots typically require excavation and complicated and costly foundations, and have issues ranging from erosion to drainage to landscaping. It’s not for the faint of heart.
“It’s such a huge pain. But I proved myself right: It wasn’t easy,” he says.
The stairs and dining area inside Simon Storey and Jen Holmes’ home in Silver Lake. The stairs were inspired by a floating staircase in Storey’s previous home dubbed Eel’s Nest.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Storey and Holmes bought the 2,900-square-foot lot in 2017 for $92,000 and started to plan their home. The land was not just steep — a grade of 33% — but also long and narrow. (For comparison, the steepest street in Los Angeles, Eldred Street in Highland Park, has the same slope.) The couple bought the land from entrepreneur Judd Schoenholtz, who bought the lot in a trust sale. Ironically, Schoenholtz was considering how to build on it and had looked at some of Storey’s other houses for inspiration. “Simon is probably the only one who could figure it out,” he says with a laugh.
Working within the constraints of a narrow lot was familiar to Storey, who had previously built his own home in Echo Park, a compact but elegant structure whose 960 square feet exceeded the 780-foot-lot it was built on.
Storey’s previous home, dubbed Eel’s Nest after the slender homes typical of dense neighborhoods in Japan, was a study in efficient urban living. He found ways to enlarge the space, just 15 feet wide, through the clever use of windows and skylights, high ceilings and a floating staircase that did double duty as a light well.
Storey and Holmes wanted to take the best parts of Eel’s Nest and the lessons learned from living in that space for more than a decade and apply them to this new project, which they called the Box. Once again the constraints of the lot dictated the design. “We had no choice but to go right up to maximum width and stick with it for the entire building,” explains Storey.
Simon Storey stands in his home office with a wall shelf of miniature models.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
An aerial view of the Box.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The result is a long building that spans just 18 feet across and 100 feet long. Yet adding just three more feet than their previous house makes a dramatic difference. “Every inch makes an outsize difference. I don’t think of it as being a narrow building,” says Storey.
Storey wanted the house to be as utilitarian as possible. He chose a corrugated cement panel typically used for farming and industrial buildings in Europe as a siding material above the two-story concrete base.
With the structure built three feet from the property line, the couple were constrained by city code in the amount of windows allowed on the side of the building. As a result, the windows are arranged in a horizontal expanse, providing panoramic views of the hills in Silver Lake and Echo Park.
The entrance to the house is set back another five feet, allowing double-height windows that span two stories, bringing in more light. The floating staircase from Eel’s Nest makes another appearance in the Box, across from the entrance. A narrow walkway on the top floor connects the front and back of the house but allows light to filter in on both sides to the floor below. The skylight in Eel’s Nest also reappears in the Box, bringing more light into the shower in the primary bathroom.
Custom panels hide parts of the interior, including the bathrooms.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
With a workshop sitting between the ground-floor garage and the two main stories of the house, Storey and Holmes were able to construct all of the cabinetry, millwork and even features like their stair treads on-site. “Anything made of wood we built ourselves,” says Storey.
Holmes, who works in development at LACMA but was an art student in college, found her sculpting skills came in handy. “I knew how to weld but didn’t do it for 20 years,” explains Holmes, who took a half-day welding class at Gearhead Workshops in Torrance to brush up on her skills.
In fact, much of the construction they did themselves, as a budgetary consideration but also to ensure the level of detail met their standards. Weekends, holidays and vacation days for nearly three years were spent working on the house.
The couple estimate they spent 5,500 hours working on the house, not including the hours spent on planning, designing and general contracting, and saved about $520,000 in construction costs based on pricing from comparable projects Storey has worked on.
Jen Holmes designed the kitchen to her specifications. She wanted to cook and entertain for parties of four or 20.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I’d take naps on a furniture blanket on the floor or in the car,” says Holmes, who became a regular at the nearby Whole Foods to pick up meals before they had a working kitchen. “Everyone [who works] there knows me and I know all of them.”
Other expenses included $300,000 for the foundation, more than three times what it would have cost for a similarly sized project on a flat lot, and about $20,500 for geology consultants to survey the slope. All together the project came in at roughly $1.3 million. However, the average homeowner shouldn’t expect such a deal. Acting as his own architect, general contractor and builder helped Storey and Holmes save considerably. Additionally, every hillside lot presents its own hidden expenses — and what a house costs to build is often very different than its market value in competitive L.A.
Before they started on the cabinets, the pair worked on sealing the envelope of the house to ensure better air quality and circulation. They meticulously identified every gap in the framing stage, foaming and caulking the gaps to improve efficiency.
Windows throughout the Box provide views of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Storey had to figure out clever ways to add windows within city codes due to the property’s layout.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Simon Storey and Jen Holmes built their window frames and cabinetry themselves, picking out the lumber to sift out unwanted marks.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Once that was complete, they set about building their own window frames and cabinetry. The two handpicked all of their own lumber from Bohnhoff Lumber Co. in Vernon, a decision Storey says is key to guaranteeing high quality. “It was a cost issue but also a quality issue. There is a shocking level of inconsistency when you don’t pick it yourself.” The natural wood provides a calming contrast to the industrial materials used on the exterior.
Most of the casework is a mix of red and white oak. With construction of the house happening during the pandemic, the cost of white oak saw a precipitous rise. Storey and Holmes began to introduce red oak as an accent material, though the effect is still monochromatic. “I don’t want to live somewhere austere, but I like things that are minimal,” says Holmes.
Simon Storey and Jen Holmes on the second floor of their home.
All of the cabinetry and woodwork is custom, designed to suit the couple’s needs. Separating the kitchen and living room is a multipurpose room-within-a-room that includes a custom pantry on one side and cabinetry to house their record collection and stereo on the other.
“Every element of the house has a function,” says Storey. The focus on utilitarian design is a carryover from Eel’s Nest. “We are squeezing as much utility into the building as possible.” Appliances, primarily Fisher & Paykel, are hidden behind custom wood panels, as are closets and bathrooms.
With four bedrooms and three bathrooms, the house was designed to be flexible enough to adapt to changing needs. Planned prior to the pandemic, Storey’s design called for his office to occupy the back of the house, with living spaces in the front. However, the office can easily be converted into a guest suite for relatives or visitors that includes a kitchenette and a private entry.
The Box at dusk.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As a passionate cook, Holmes programmed the layout of the kitchen to her specifications. The sink is placed in a central island, facing the views. “Every party I go to, people end up in the kitchen,” says Holmes. “I wanted it to be comfortable to cook in but also a place to entertain. We can have four or eight or 20 people here and it doesn’t feel too big or too small.”
While Holmes wanted the kitchen to be as functional as possible, Storey wanted the kitchen to not look like a kitchen at all. “The fridge and freezer vanish. Nothing screams ‘kitchen.’ We had competing objectives but managed to merge into a perfect solution,” he says, adding, “It’s a good allegory for marriage.”
Soon after Jude Francis moved into his new three-story Tustin townhouse in 2012, he attended an open house at his famous neighbor across the street: the city’s twin blimp hangars.
Seventeen stories tall, as wide as a football field and over 1,000 feet long, the wooden structures were built by the Navy in World War II to house dirigibles assigned to patrol the Pacific Coast. The Marines took over during the Korean War, storing military helicopters there until shutting down the facility in 1999.
By then, the hangars had become a beloved part of the Orange County landscape. For decades, they were the tallest buildings in the area, towering over a county that went from agriculture to suburbia to today’s metropolis of nearly 3.2 million people. The elegantly curved behemoths were visible by plane when landing at John Wayne Airport, from the 55 Freeway and for miles around.
They got the Hollywood treatment in films like “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and the 2009 reboot of “Star Trek.” As surrounding neighborhoods developed, people got a better view of the fenced-off hangars, inspiring a new generation to fall in love with them and reigniting a question that city, county and military officials had long avoided:
What the hell would O.C. do with these white elephants?
Francis got a glimpse of the future when he and other residents attended the open house.
“They had a grand plan of how they were going to keep one and convert the other one into ice rinks and duck ponds,” said the tech consultant. “And I thought, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to live next to heaven.’”
We stood near his residence on a recent morning, looking onto a small version of hell.
Residents watch a stubborn fire burning the North Hangar at the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin on Nov. 7. The structure was still smoldering a week later
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
On Nov. 7, the North Hangar caught fire. Firefighters tried to put out the flames before deciding the sheer size of the structure made the task too dangerous. So they let it burn.
The hangar’s roof had completely collapsed. The top edge of the wall that once held it up was jagged and blackened. Worse, the inferno had spewed toxic substances like asbestos and nickel. Tustin schools were planning for remote learning through the week; eight nearby city parks were closed indefinitely.
A squadron of men wearing half-face respirators and covered in flimsy personal protective equipment from head to foot vacuumed every crack of the parking lot at nearby Veterans Sports Park. A plume of black smoke puffed up from the hangar’s ruins.
“This is horrible,” Francis said, shaking his head. His roof and gutters had been clogged with ash and debris. “They should’ve done something to develop it. They did nothing.”
Next to us, Tom Hammer (“like the tool”) narrated videos that he was recording for his brother-in-law in Michigan. The retired fourth-grade teacher had driven up from San Clemente that morning with his black Chihuahua, Lola. His late father had served at the air station, as had his brother-in-law, who “was crying his eyes out,” Hammer said. “I was too busted up to come earlier. That’s my childhood there, burning up in flames.”
That was the first sentiment felt by many Orange County residents when news of the fire hit. The Tustin blimp hangars were our version of the Watts Towers: beloved architectural marvels of a bygone time that we drove past but rarely stopped to visit.
A week later, sadness had turned to anger.
Authorities still have no idea when the fire will die down, but demolition will be the next step. The hangar shouldn’t have suffered such an ignominious end.
It, along with its sibling, had stood empty for nearly 25 years, as local, county and Navy authorities dallied on what to do with them. Ever-changing plans were proposed to demolish both, keep one, or keep both, but money always got in the way. A section of the North Hangar’s roof collapsed in 2013, but Navy officials did little more than make sure it didn’t break any further. A 2017 Orange County grand jury urged action before the hangars decayed even more.
A disaster cleanup crew picks up potentially toxic debris from the still-burning WWII-era blimp hangar at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Hammer brushed his foot on the lawn and kicked up white shards. “Light this with fire, and it burns like a lantern,” he said.
“I hate to say it, but it had become an eyesore,” he continued. Near the bottom of the smoldering North Hangar were long-abandoned, boarded-up barracks surrounded by dead, overgrown grass. A flimsy fence was all that kept the public away.
“I’m old and fat, and I could get over that fence,” he joked, before getting serious and gesturing at Francis.
“From my father to me to this gentleman, we’ve been saying ‘Do something.’ Either fish or cut bait. Either do something, about it or knock it down. People wanted to do something. But …”
He stopped to emphasize what he was about to say: “They never did anything with it.”
It’s usually about a minute-long drive from Veterans Sport Park down Valencia Avenue to the intersection of Kensington Park Drive, which offers the best place to see the other side of North Hangar. Street closures forced me to go through residential streets instead. People walked their dogs wearing masks and sunglasses while 18-wheelers followed by trucks flashing hazard lights rumbled past.
I parked in a nearby shopping plaza and made my way to the outdoor patio of a Sweetgreen, where Andirondack chairs sat empty. The downed hangar looked even worse from here.
The eastern wall was completely gone, revealing timber arches that reminded me of an exposed rib cage. The hangar’s huge door, which weighed over 100 tons, leaned off its steel rails and seemed a Santa Ana wind away from collapsing.
The obvious comparison would’ve been to a decomposed beached whale, or one of the destroyed alien spaceships from “Independence Day.” But my mind went to Percy Bysshe Shelly’s “Ozymandias,” the immortal poem about hubris told through the scene of a shattered statue.
Soon after the air station’s closure, Tustin officials allowed luxury neighborhoods with gag-inducing names like Levity at Tustin Legacy and Amalfi Apartments to spring up near the hangars. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy sent letters to local homeowners associations two years ago warning that the groundwater under their homes might hold toxic chemicals from the military past.
The destroyed North Hangar represents the folly of Orange County, a place that romanticizes its past while letting it rot if there’s no profit to be made. Now, residents are suffering.
A disaster cleanup crew picks and vacuums up potentially toxic debris from the still-burning WWII-era blimp hangar at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station on Monday. Orange County Fire Authority personnel remained on the scene keeping watch on the blaze, with one firefighter telling KTLA-TV Channel 5’s Annie Rose Ramos that all they could do was let it burn out.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The air began to sting my eyes and throat as Irvine resident Rebecca Flores and her son, Christian, took photos of the scene.
“This is a worst-case scenario,” she said. “No one knows what’s going to happen.”
“They’re not holding press conferences. They’re not doing much of anything,” said Christian, who works at a nearby retailer and said his colleagues were afraid to show up. “They’re just letting it burn.”
Before us, a row of workers with vacuums slowly walked down Valencia like crime scene investigators. Next to them was Legacy Magnet Academy, a middle and high school built in the style of the hangars. It was closed.
Rebecca kept brushing debris from Christian’s shoulders. We all wore facemasks. Hers bore a Stars and Stripes-style logo of The Punisher, a Marvel superhero popular among law enforcement supporters.
“I don’t like wearing masks,” Rebecca said, before offering a laugh. “But I’m wearing one for this.”
Sunset Boulevard might be getting its own orb-like structure that doubles as a billboard and broadcasting space, but the project is not trying to be the next Sphere. The Las Vegas venue has its ginormous globular eye on it.
The proposed project was previously named “The Sphere,” but its legal spokesperson, Wayne Avrashow, told The Times his clients were contacted by representatives of Sphere in Las Vegas, “who informed us that there was the potential of conflict and confusion.”
Avrashow said his clients would, as a result, change the name of the project, though they haven’t yet landed on a new moniker.
“We will do that internally and in consultation with the city,” Avrashow said.
In a statement to The Times, Sphere Entertainment said, “We will defend our products against any entity that purposefully tries to steal our IP and trade off of Sphere’s worldwide recognition.”
Similar names aside, Sphere is a dome-shaped structure and Vegas’ newest performance venue, and the West Hollywood project is spherical in shape. Sphere’s outer shell is an LED screen that displays images of a blinking eyeball, the Earth and artificial-intelligence-generated art by Refik Anadol.
The Las Vegas building reaches 366 feet high and 516 feet wide. The West Hollywood structure would be a great deal smaller, at 49 feet in diameter.
If approved, the new structure would sit between the Pendry West Hollywood and Best Western hotels on 8410 Sunset Blvd.
The project is still in its early stages. It’s undergoing review by the city of West Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard Arts & Advertising subcommittee.
Included in the proposed development are three billboards. Two would be placed on the surface of the circular structure, replacing two digital billboards currently at the site; the third is described as a “discreet vertical billboard.”
According to the project documents, the orb would be built onto an existing apartment building whose entrance is on De Longpre Avenue, which runs parallel to Sunset Boulevard.
The proposed glass sphere would have “exterior pedestrian-oriented amenities and interior spaces built around broadcasting in real time.”
The structure itself would have three levels and hover eight feet above a privately owned public-oriented plaza at the ground level, with an existing basement level below.
It’s proposed that two of the three levels house a green room and rooms for broadcasting and podcasting.
The next steps for the project are further review by the Arts & Advertising subcommittee in January, where applicants are expected to provide information on topics including potential light pollution from the project and how the building would be maintained.
Then the project eventually would go before the city planning commission and City Council.
The Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake damaged roadways across Los Angeles. But nowhere was the impact felt more acutely that on the 10 Freeway just east of Culver City.
The earthquake knocked out two freeway bridges, at La Cienega and Washington boulevards. It cut off what was central Los Angeles’ key east-west traffic corridor.
Round-the-clock repairs got the Santa Monica Freeway opened in less than three months — in what officials described as record time, giving L.A.’s quake recovery an important boost.
The fire that damaged the 10 Freeway a few miles east this weekend — again closing the roadway indefinitely — has brought comparison to 1994.
“For those of you that remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans worked around the clock to complete the emergency repairs to the freeways, and this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort,” Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday.
It remains unclear how badly damaged the freeway hit by Saturday’s fire is and how long it will take to fix.
Here is a review of that epic 1994 repair effort from the pages of The Times.
A race against time
Officials knew right away they needed to get the freeway operating as soon as possible.
Some economist said the freeway collapse was one of the most costly impact of the Northridge quake.
With an average of 341,000 vehicles a day using the roadway, they said, the extra time it took goods to get to their destinations and workers to get to their jobs cost millions in lost production and wages.
Reporting at the time suggested the closure cost the economy $1 million a day.
The freeway collapse pushed traffic onto crowded surface streets between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles, as frustrated commuters sought alternative routes. Detours caused delays of 20 minutes or more.
How was the freeway repaired?
An accelerated construction effort — one spurred by round-the-clock work — led to reopenings ahead of schedule. In the case of the 10 Freeway, which saw two sections flattened by the quake, contractor C.C. Myers Inc. finished the project 74 days ahead of schedule, allowing it to reopen in April— about three months after the quake knocked it down. The company had been offered a $200,000 bonus for every day the work was finished ahead of schedule, The Times reported.
The price tag on the project rose from the original bid of $14.9 million to nearly $30 million.
It was an intense process.
The damaged structure was torn down, roadways were cleared and the rubble hauled away.
Shafts up to 50 feet deep were drilled for piles, concrete was poured for columns and piles. This took about three weeks.
Ironworkers created a frame of steel that was later covered with concrete. Because the structures were 600 to 700 feet long, construction of the bottom slab and vertical wall supports began on one end as the structures were erected at the other end.
Once formed, the top deck was surfaced.
After waiting five days for the concrete to cure, tension was applied to metal strands, called tendons, which were placed in the concrete to add strength to the structure.
Although the freeway was deemed safe from collapse, experts said the bridge abutments needed even more strengthening with the installation of pilings to avoid damage in a future quake.
Steel rings were placed around the columns during construction to further strengthen them. The rings were inserted around the rebar before concrete was poured.
On each of the two bridges, four pilings 4 feet in diameter and as much as 80 feet deep were attached to the sides of each abutment.
For the second time in three years, a rare and otherworldly-looking black anglerfish was found at Newport Beach’s Crystal Cove State Park, showing up on Friday the 13th with its gaping mouth, jagged, translucent teeth and spiny dorsal fin.
Officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife identified the aquatic creature as being a Pacific footballfish, one of 200 species of anglerfish worldwide.
The Pacific footballfish at Crystal Cove State Park is the second case of the species washing ashore in three years.
(California State Parks)
The female specimen is roughly 14 inches, measuring from mouth to tail fin, according to Michelle Horeczko, a senior environmental scientist supervisor with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“There are only approximately 30 or so specimens that have been collected of this species globally, which makes this find valuable and may add to what is known about their life history,” Horeczko said in an email.
The difference between the female and male version of the footballfish is noticeable.
The female’s dorsal fin protrudes far from the body. At the end of its first spine is a glowing bulb that functions as a lure and resembles a small lantern guiding the fish in the darkness of the deep sea. That bioluminescent tip is not for vision, but rather attracts prey that spot the glow.
The female fish can grow to 24 inches, according to state park officials, while the male fish is rarely bigger than an inch.
The fish generally lives well below the surface, as far as 3,000 feet down, according to state park officials.
Seasonal lifeguard Sierra Fockler found the deceased but intact footballfish on Oct. 13 at 2:30 p.m. while walking near the lifeguard headquarters building on Moro Beach, located within Crystal Cove, according to state parks officials.
The carcass was handed over to fish and wildlife personnel, who examined the specimen at the Marine Field Lab at the AltaSea campus in San Pedro.
Seasonal lifeguard Sierra Fockler found the footballfish while walking near the lifeguard headquarters building on Moro Beach at Crystal Cove.
(California State Parks)
The footballfish was turned over to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, “so that the specimen can be preserved and available for scientific research,” according to Horeczko.
The museum took possession of the last footballfish discovered at Crystal Cove in May 2021 and displayed it in its “New Discoveries” exhibit that year.
Dr. William Ludt, the museum’s associate curator of ichthyology, or fish studies, told Spectrum One News in 2021 that he was excited about the discovery because “it’s an extremely rare specimen.”
“Having one wash up in the condition that it’s in is extraordinary,” Ludt said.
Horeczko said not enough information exists to determine why these fish beached themselves.
Another footballfish came ashore in December 2021 in Encinitas.
“It is unknown what causes these fish to strand, or why we have had two in recent years at this location,” Horeczko said.
WASHINGTON—Crouching down with a large magnifying glass to his eye, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reportedly exclaimed, “A clue!” Friday after finding footprints on the House floor matching President Joe Biden’s shoes. “I say, this footprint appears to be identical to the ones found in the Oval Office, leading me to deduce they can only belong to one man,” said McCarthy, donning a houndstooth deerstalker hat and motioning to his sidekick to follow closely behind as he traced the footprints into the shadows of the U.S. Capitol. “Look there, my good man, the interloper has led us to the statuary but then appears to have disappeared into the gardens. We may need to fetch the bloodhound lest the trail turn cold. I say, Gaetz, I have a hunch that pursuing this lead will have us wrapping up this impeachment inquiry in no time at all.” At press time, a candle-holding McCarthy let out a scream after he and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bumped into one another while both inching backwards through a dark and mysterious Capitol hallway.
A few days ago I posted this photo. Some brave souls ascended a peak above town in the middle of the night and cut in a thousand foot dong visible for miles.
Welp, the decided risk a heli drop ski patrol to wipe it out. But after several hours at max altitude they only managed to give it hairy balls and a dick vein before admitting defeat.
