Faced with numerous complaints about broken streetlights that have plunged neighborhoods into darkness, two Los Angeles City Council members unveiled a plan Friday to spend $65 million on installing solar-powered lights.
With 1 in 10 streetlights out of service because of disrepair or copper wire theft, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Eunisses Hernandez launched an effort to convert at least 12% of the city’s lights to solar power — or about 500 in each council district.
Broken streetlights emerged as an hot-button issue in this year’s election, with council members scrambling to find ways to restore them. Councilmember Nithya Raman, now running against Mayor Karen Bass, cited the broken lights as an example of how city agencies “can’t seem to manage the basics.”
By switching to solar, the streetlights will be less vulnerable to theft, said Yaroslavsky, who represents part of the Westside.
“We can’t keep rebuilding the same vulnerable systems while copper theft continues to knock out lights across Los Angeles,” she said.
Three other council members — Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez and Hugo Soto-Martínez — signed on to the proposal. All five are running for reelection.
Miguel Sangalang, director of the Bureau of Street Lighting, said there are 33,000 open service requests to fix streetlights across L.A., although some may be duplicates. The average time to fix a streetlight is 12 months, he said.
Repair times have increased because of a rise in vandalism, the department’s stagnant budget and a staff of only 185 people to service the city’s 225,000 streetlights, he said.
About 60,000 street lights are eligible to be converted to solar, according to Yaroslavsky.
Council members also are looking to increase the amount the city charges property owners for streetlight maintenance. Yaroslavsky said the assessment has been unchanged since 1996, forcing city leaders to rely on other sources of money to cover the cost.
Last month, Soto-Martínez announced he put $1 million into a streetlight repair team in his district, which stretches from Echo Park to Hollywood and north to Atwater Village. Those workers will focus on repairing broken lights, hardening lights to prevent copper wire theft and clearing the backlog of deferred cases.
On Monday, city crews also began converting 91 streetlights to solar power in Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park. Hernandez tapped $500,000 from her office budget to pay for the work. The shift to solar power should save money, she said, by breaking the cycle of constantly fixing and replacing lights.
“This is going to bring more public safety and more lights to neighborhoods that so desperately need it and that are waiting a long time,” she said.
In recent years, neighborhoods ranging from Hancock Park and Lincoln Heights to Mar Vista and Pico Union have been plagued by copper wire theft that darkens the streets. On the 6th Street Bridge, thieves stole seven miles’ worth of wire.
Yaroslavsky and Park spoke about the problem Friday at a press conference in the driveway of a Mar Vista home. Andrew Marton, the homeowner, pointed to streetlights around the block that have been targeted by thieves.
Many surrounding streets have been dark since shortly after Christmas, Marton said. He has changed his daily routines, trying not to walk his dog late at night and worrying for the safety of his family.
He said he reported the problem to the city and was told it would take 270 days to fix. He then reached out to Park, who contacted the police department, he said.
A couple of neighboring streets had their lights restored, he said, but his street remains dark at night.
Park said she and Yaroslavsky identified $500,000 in discretionary funds to pay for a dedicated repair team to fix streetlights, either by adding solar or by reinforcing the existing copper wire, in their respective Westside districts.
The charred remains of the historic Pacific Palisades Business Block cast a shadow over a once-bustling shopping district along West Sunset Boulevard.
Empty lots littered with debris and ash line the street where houses and small businesses once stood. A year since the Palisades fire roared through the neighborhood, only a handful of businesses have reopened.
The Starbucks, Bank of America, and other businesses that used to operate in the century-old Business Block are gone. All that remains of the Spanish Colonial Revival building are some arches surrounding what used to be a busy retail space. The burned-out, rusty remnants of a walk-in vault squat in the center of the structure.
Nearby, the Shade Store, the Free-est clothing store, Skin Local spa, a Hastens mattress store, Sweet Laurel Bakery and the Hydration Room are among the many stores still shuttered. Local barbershop Gornik & Drucker doesn’t know if it can reopen.
“We have been going back and forth on what it would take to survive,” co-owner Leslie Gornik said. “If we open, we have to start over from scratch.”
Hundreds gathered around Business Block on the anniversary of the fire on Wednesday to witness a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the families who lost loved ones. Photos of those killed from the neighborhood were placed at the Palisades Village Green next door.
The Palisades fire burned for 24 days, destroying more than 6,800 structures, damaging countless others and forcing most of the neighborhood’s residents to move elsewhere. About 30 miles northeast, the Eaton fire burned more than 9,400 structures. Combined, the fires killed 31 people.
Remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block, which was completed in 1924 and burned in the Palisades fire.
The few businesses that are back in Palisades serve as a beacon of hope for the community, but owners and managers say business is down and customers haven’t returned.
Ruby Nails & Spa, located near the Business Block, was closed for eight months before reopening in September. Now business is only half of what it was before the fires, owner Ruby Hong-Tran said.
“People come back to support but they live far away now,” she said. “All my clients, their houses burned.”
Ruby Hong-Tran, owner of Ruby Nails & Spa in Pacific Palisades, says her business is half of what it was since reopening.
It took months to clean all the smoke damage from her shop. The front is still being fixed to cover up burn damage.
The firestorms destroyed swaths of other neighborhoods, including Malibu, Topanga, Sierra Madre and Altadena, where businesses and homeowners also are struggling to build back.
Some are figuring out whether it is worth rebuilding. Some have given up.
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation estimated last year that more than 1,800 small businesses were in the burn zones in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, impacting more than 11,000 jobs.
Businesses say they often have been on their own. The Federal Emergency Management Agency tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clean up debris at private residences, some public buildings and places of worship — but not commercial properties.
Business owners had to clean up the charred debris and toxic waste on their properties. Many had to navigate complicated insurance claims and apply for emergency loans to stay afloat.
Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt’s Palisades Hardware, said damage to her store was limited, and insurance covered the cleaning, so she was able to open quickly. The store reopened just one month after the fire.
Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt Palisades Hardware, in front of of the store in Pacific Palisades.
Still, sales are 35% lower than what they used to be.
“In the early days, it was bad. We weren’t making anything,” Maravilla said. “We’re lucky the company kept us employed.”
The customer base has changed. Instead of homeowners working on personal projects, the store is serving contractors working on rebuilding in the area.
An archival image of the area in Pacific Palisades hangs over the aisles in Anawalt Palisades Hardware, where business is down despite a customer base of contractors who are rebuilding.
Across the street from the Business Block, the Palisades Village mall was spared the flames and looks pristine, but is still closed. Shop windows are covered with tarps. Low metal gates block entry to the high-end outlets. The mall is still replacing its drywall to eliminate airborne contaminants that the fire could have spread.
All of its posh shops still are shut: Erewhon, Lululemon, Bay Theater, Blue Ribbon Sushi, athletic apparel store Alo, Buck Mason men’s and Veronica Beard women’s boutiques.
Mall owner and developer Rick Caruso said he is spending $60 million to reopen in August.
The need to bring back businesses impacted by the fires is urgent, Caruso said, and not just to support returning residents.
“It’s critical to bring jobs back and also for the city to start creating some tax revenue to support city services,” he said. ”Leaders need to do more to speed up the rebuilding process, such as speeding up the approval of building permits and stationing building inspectors closer to burn areas.”
Pedestrians walk past the Erewhon market in Palisades Village that plans to reopen this year.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Wednesday, on the anniversary of the fire, Caruso sent three light beams into the sky over the mall, which met in one stream to honor the impacted communities of Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Malibu.
The nighttime display will continue through Jan. 31.
Business Block’s history dates to 1924, when it served as a home for the community’s first ventures. In the 1980s, plans to tear it down and build a mall sparked a local uprising to save the historic symbol of the neighborhood’s vibrancy. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984.
Tiana Noble, a Starbucks spokesperson, said the landlord terminated the company’s lease when the building burned down. Bank of America said it secured a new lease to rebuild nearby.
Business Block’s fate is still unclear. Some people want to preserve its shell and turn it into a memorial.
This week, it was ringed by a fence emblazoned with the words “Empowering fresh starts together.”
Caruso said the ruins should be torn down.
“It needs to be demolished and cleaned up,” he said. “It’s an eyesore right now and a hazard. I would put grass on it and make it attractive to the community.”
Twisted and scorched remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block still are there a year after the fire.
A short walk from the Business Block and near a burned-down Ralphs grocery store is the Palisades Garden Cafe, one of the few places in the neighborhood to get food and drink. The small, vibrant cafe was closed for two months after the fire, during which the employees went without pay.
Manager Lita Rodriguez said business is improving, but misses the regulars.
“We used to get tons of students and teachers who live and work here,” she said. “Our customers are mostly contractors now.”
This Arlington house won the Interlochen’s Findlay Award in 2018. The award, named for founder Bob Findlay, is reserved for residents who have decorated in the neighborhood’s annual Christmas lights display for more than 30 years.
City of Arlington
In this Arlington neighborhood, the Interlochen Christmas tradition has lived on for 50 years, but some neighbors have run out of holiday cheer.
Every year, the same Arlington neighborhood puts on Arlington Interlochen Christmas Lights for anyone to drive through and admire between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. for the week and a half leading up to Christmas Day. Traffic follows a set course through the neighborhood that lasts about an hour to complete.
This year, nearly 200 houses were completely decked out with inflatable Santas, candy cane arches and every color Christmas light imaginable.
The widely renowned tradition draws roughly 100,000 people each year. In 2024, Interlochen was the only Texas Christmas light spectacle to make People magazine’s top-rated neighborhood holiday decorations.
Some residents of the neighborhood are less thrilled about people crowding onto their streets. The main concern is not the onslaught of cars, it’s the attitude of the drivers.
One woman, appalled by the discourtesy, took to Facebook for a “not so gentle reminder” that people who live in the neighborhood need to get home.
“I don’t know if it’s because it’s really hot right now and people AREN’T in the Christmas season, but please let the residents of Interlochen get in their neighborhoods!!!! SO many people tonight were driving really stupid and not allowing us residents in! We put up a lot of lights and pay a lot in electricity for the Christmas spirit, and then you rip it away.”
Most places the event is advertised, directions specifically state visitors must stay to the right along the Intelochen Christmas Lights route. This way, emergency vehicles and residents can pass through without trouble.
In a comment on the original post, someone said it’s always been a nuisance trying to get home during the week and a half of Interlochen Christmas. Her suggestion? “Just move far away.”
Another woman said this year was the worst in the four years her family has participated.
“I couldn’t even pull into my own driveway the other evening,” she said in a comment. “There are people in bicycles weaving in between cars (dangerous) selling LED things and necklaces stopping traffic. I got ‘laughed’ at when I told them it was causing issues. So … I doubt very seriously that we will participate in this next year.”
It’s a sentiment that resonated with more than a few residents.
“I quit decorating for this reason,” another homeowner commented. “Not going to give me my courtesy, then I won’t give you one either.”
Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.
Commissioner Manny Ramirez cut the ribbon on Shelton Ranch Road as the sun came up Dec. 18, 2025. Residents of the Vista Ridge neighborhood on Tinsley Lane have been halted for hours at a time because of the trains blocking the one entrance to their community.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
In far north Tarrant County, there’s a road so new it’s not even on navigation apps yet. But Shelton Ranch Road is the relief the Vista Ranch neighborhood has been asking for since 2015.
Because of a major rail yard less than a mile from the cluster of houses along Tinsley Lane, residents frequently get trapped by the trains traversing the only entrance to their neighborhood in unincorporated Tarrant County west of Haslet.
Clint Magee, a resident of Vista Ranch since the neighborhood opened in 2005, said the trains could halt traffic for 30 minutes up to eight hours.
“That really opened our eyes to the potential for a medical emergency to be realized,” Magee said. “You can’t come back from that.”
When Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a Fort Worth Republican, was voted into office in 2022, one of the first things he did was parse through the files of complaints. Tinsley Lane’s was an inch thick, he said.
Up until that point, there was only a “back-of-the-napkin contingency plan” if emergency responders ever needed to get into the neighborhood. Firefighters, police and ambulance crews would have had to use an old oil and gas path that — no one had a key to — if the need ever arose.
“Knock on wood, we had never really had any known significant medical events due to the train,” Magee said. “But it’s not an if. It’s a when this is truly going to happen. As the community grew and the residents got a little older, and the health issues became more apparent, you had to have an opportunity to get those folks the care they needed if they did need it.”
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Once Ramirez read the thick file of complaints, he got a contingency plan in place and began to work on the permanent solution.
After two and a half years, Shelton Ranch Road became the reality residents had begged decades for. On Thursday morning, the commissioner and his director of field operations Doug Deweese cut the ribbon to officially open the freshly paved road. The 1.2 mile track runs north to south connecting Tinsley Lane to Peden Road.
Commissioner Manny Ramirez cut the ribbon on Shelton Ranch Road as the sun came up Dec. 18, 2025. Residents of the Vista Ridge neighborhood on Tinsley Lane have been halted for hours at a time because of the trains blocking the one entrance to their community. Rachel Royster rroyster@star-telegram.com
Deweese said the road crew busted their tails to have it completed within seven months of the final approvals being secured. That’s “lightning fast” in road work, one Precinct 4 staff member said.
The neighbors who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony were thrilled to see the road opened Thursday morning. For Deweese and his stalwart crew, that meant a lot.
“Road builders never get thanked,” Deweese said. “Because if you have a road, and it has a pothole or something in it, people are always griping and complaining about the pothole. But when you go out to fix it, they don’t understand. You don’t just go out and throw some dirt in it. You have to grind it up and rebuild … But the people that came by here were happy, so it was a good morale boost for the employees to hear something positive.”
Deweese said the road crew were happy to trade ruthlessly aggressive drivers for the wild hogs, coyotes and deer they’d come across in the quiet of Vista Ranch.
Commissioner Manny Ramirez cut the ribbon on Shelton Ranch Road as the sun came up Dec. 18, 2025. Residents of the Vista Ridge neighborhood on Tinsley Lane have been halted for hours at a time because of the trains blocking the one entrance to their community. Rachel Royster rroyster@star-telegram.com
Though it rarely gets recognized, Ramirez said the most important thing a commissioner can do is improve mobility, because that’s what is important to the folks who live in Tarrant County.
“We’re working on our roads and bridges every single day,” Ramirez said. “It’s a critical piece of what we do, and probably, again, it’s what touches the lives of the residents most. And I’m just proud to be able to be a part of it.”
Ramirez said though the road is only two lanes now, there are plans to expand it for more developments coming down the pipeline.
Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.
Fancy grocer Erewhon will return to Pacific Palisades in an entirely rebuilt store, as the neighborhood’s luxury mall, owned by developer Rick Caruso, undergoes renovations for a reopening next August.
Palisades Village has been closed since the Jan. 7 wildfire destroyed much of the neighborhood. The outdoor mall survived the blaze but needed to be refurbished to eliminate contaminants that the fire could have spread, Caruso said.
The developer is spending $60 million to bring back Palisades Village, removing and replacing drywall from stores and restaurants. Dirt from the outdoor areas is also being replaced.
Demolition is complete and the tenants’ spaces are now being restored, Caruso said.
“It was not a requirement to do that from a scientific standpoint,” he said. “But it was important to me to be able to tell guests that the property is safe and clean.”
Erewhon’s store was taken down to the studs and is being reconfigured with a larger outdoor seating area for dining and events.
When it opens its doors sometime next year, it will be the only grocer in the heart of the fire-ravaged neighborhood.
The announcement of Erewhon’s comeback marks a milestone in the recovery of Pacific Palisades and signals renewed investment in restoring essential neighborhood services and supporting the community’s long-term economic health, Caruso said.
A photograph of the exterior of Erewhon in Pacific Palisades in 2024.
(Kailyn Brown/Los Angeles Times)
“They are one of the sexiest supermarkets in the world now and they are in high demand,” he said. “Their committing to reopening is a big statement on the future of the Palisades and their belief that it’s going to be back stronger than ever.”
Caruso previously attributed the mall’s survival to the hard work of private firefighters and the fire-resistant materials used in the mall’s construction. The $200-million shopping and dining center opened in 2018 with a movie theater and a roster of upmarket tenants, including Erewhon.
“We’re honored to join the incredible effort underway at Palisades Village,” Erewhon Chief Executive Tony Antoci said in a statement. “Reopening is a meaningful way for us to contribute to the healing and renewal of this neighborhood.”
Erewhon has cultivated a following of shoppers who visit daily to grab a prepared meal or one of its celebrity-backed $20 smoothies.
The privately held company doesn’t share financial figures, but has said its all-day cafes occupy roughly 30% of its floor space and serve 100,000 customers each week.
Erewhon has also branched out beyond selling groceries.
Its fast-growing private-label line now includes Erewhon-branded apparel, bags, candles, nutritional supplements and bath and body products.
Erewhon will also open new stores in West Hollywood in February, in Glendale in May and at Caruso’s The Lakes at Thousand Oaks mall in July 2026.
About 90% of the tenants are expected to return to the mall when it reopens, Caruso said, including restaurants Angelini Ristorante & Bar and Hank’s. Local chef Nancy Silverton has agreed to move in with a new Italian steakhouse called Spacca Tutto.
In May, Pacific Palisades-based fashion designer Elyse Walker said she would reopen her eponymous store in Palisades Village after losing her 25-year flagship location on Antioch Street in the inferno.
Fashion designer Elyse Walker announced the reopening of her flagship store at the Palisades Village in May.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“People who live in the Palisades don’t want to leave,” Walker said at the time. “It’s a magical place.”
Caruso carried on annual holiday traditions at Palisades Village this year, including the lighting of a 50-foot Christmas tree for hundreds of celebrants Dec. 5. On Sunday evening, leaders from the Chabad Jewish Community Center of Pacific Palisades gathered at the mall to light a towering menorah.
A total of 6,822 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, including more than 5,500 residences and 100 commercial businesses, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Caruso said he hopes the shopping center’s revival will inspire residents to return. His investment “shows my belief that the community is coming back,” he said. “Next year is going to be huge.”
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Koreatown resident Scott Lyness was well aware that the city of Los Angeles was looking to tackle its food waste problem.
While bicycling to work, he saw the growing number of green trash bins popping up on curbs. He read the notice sent to his home instructing residents to expect green bins to be delivered at some point.
Still, Lyness was not prepared for what came next: 13 green bins deposited earlier this month outside the apartment building he manages on New Hampshire Avenue.
That’s on top of the three bins that the city delivered the previous week at a smaller building he also manages next door, and the two green bins that those properties were already using.
Lyness, 69, who works as a project manager at USC, said the two buildings don’t have anywhere near the room to store so many full-size cans — and don’t generate enough organic waste to fill them. He’s tried to have his tenants contact city offices to say they don’t need them. He said he’s even thought about throwing them into the street.
“Our neighborhoods are being inundated with green waste bins,” he said.
City officials are working furiously to get Angelenos to separate more of their food waste — eggshells, coffee grounds, meat bones, unfinished vegetables, orange peels, greasy napkins — to comply with SB 1383, a state composting law passed in 2016. They’ve even implemented Professor Green, an online chatbot that can help residents decide what can and can’t go in the green bin.
SB 1383 requires that 75% of organic waste be diverted away from landfills by the end of the year and instead turned into compost. Food and other organic waste sent to landfills is a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane has a global warming potential about 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
To reach that goal, crews from L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation have deposited huge numbers of 90-gallon green bins in front of some apartment buildings, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and larger buildings that have been grandfathered into the city’s curbside trash collection program.
Scott Lyness, 69, stands near green waste bins outside the apartment building he manages in Koreatown.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Residents are already familiar with the green bins, which were long reserved for lawn clippings and other yard waste but now are the destination for food scraps as well.
Most large apartment buildings in L.A. have been spared from the recent round of green bin deliveries, since they participate in recycLA, the city trash franchise program that relies on private waste haulers.
Sanitation officials say that Angelenos who prefer smaller, more manageable containers should fill out a form to get a 30- or 60-gallon replacement. They point out that the bins are part of a much larger effort by the city to reach its zero-waste goals and “lead on sustainability.”
Most of the green bins’ contents are taken to a facility in Bakersfield, where the resulting compost can be used by farmers, said Heather Johnson, a sanitation spokesperson.
“While some may find [the bins] inconvenient at the moment, in the short term they will result in more diverted waste and cleaner air,” Johnson said in an email.
Despite those serious intentions, Angelenos have been poking fun at the “Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025,” as journalist and podcaster Alissa Walker framed the situation on Bluesky. Walker recently shared a photo showing what appeared to be 20 green bins in front of one property, right next to a discarded sofa.
“This one is probably my favorite,” she wrote. “I like how they lined them all up neatly in a row and then left the couch.”
Green organic waste bins outside an apartment building in Koreatown.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
After Walker urged others to send in pictures, Silver Lake resident Tommy Newman posted a photo on Bluesky showing eight bins outside an eight-unit building, just south of Sunset Boulevard.
“Unless they are running a juice bar in there, how could they possibly create this much organic waste on a weekly basis?” wrote Newman, who works at a county housing agency.
Over on X, another observer summed up the absurdity in a different way. “LA gave every multi family unit a green bin due to a bureaucratic fever dream about composting,” the person wrote. “I have 5 personally.”
In recent months, L.A.’s sanitation agency has sent teams of “ambassadors” into neighborhoods to educate residents about the need to throw food in the green bins.
That means keeping food out of the 60-gallon black bins where residents have been accustomed to dumping most of their garbage, which ultimately winds up in landfills. Recyclable items, including glass and aluminum, will continue to go into blue bins.
The changes were also spelled out on fliers sent out by the city last summer, with a clear warning in all capital letters: “Unless we hear from you immediately, we will deliver a 90-gallon green container to your residence.”
Lyness saw those alerts and knew about the change. But he contends that most people would have missed the news or thrown the fliers away. Depositing an inordinate amount of bins around town is just not the way to encourage people to properly dispose of their organic waste, he said.
The city’s new food-waste program, which is projected to cost $66 million a year, is one reason the City Council approved a huge increase in trash fees earlier this year, in some cases doubling them. Each 90-gallon green bin costs the city $58.61, tax included, though residents are not being directly charged for the recent deliveries.
Sanitation officials say they have delivered more than 65,000 green bins across the city, with 4,000 to go. For residents waiting for them to be removed or replaced with a smaller bin, only 1,000 orders can be carried out in a regular workday, those officials said.
Around the corner on North Berendo Street, Lyness’ neighbor Lucy Alvidrez agreed that the green bins were troublesome while dragging in her black bin Thursday afternoon.
“They sure got carried away with it,” she said, pointing across the street to an apartment building with about two dozen green bins on its front curb.
Alvidrez, 69, who has lived in the neighborhood for two decades, never had an issue with trash collection until the city dropped off four green bins, one for each unit in her building. She was more fortunate than Lyness: sanitation workers took two of the bins back, upon request.
Alvidrez said she would prefer that the city “spend our money feeding the homeless” instead of purchasing bins that no one needs, she said.
A dozen green organic waste bins occupy a street in Koreatown..
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Nearby, Lyness opened a neighbor’s green bin, which was filled to the brim with trash that wasn’t compostable and should have gone in a black bin. If no one knows what to put in the green bins, nothing is going to improve, he said.
We choose this year’s winner of the Best Restaurant in Memorial.
Best Restaurant – Memorial: Bar Bludorn
With a year under its belt, Bar Bludorn has settled right into Memorial like it was always meant to be there. From chef Aaron Bludorn (yep, that Bludorn), this neighborhood tavern nails the sweet spot between easy-going and luxe. Come for Sunday Brunch or Martini Happy Hour, stay for the crave-worthy dry-aged Tavern Burger and Country Ham Beignets that disappear way too fast. The hits keep coming with Lamb Ragu Pappardelle, Ora King Salmon in green curry and an Ice Cream Sandwich stacked with churro, cajeta and pecans.
We choose this year’s winner of the Best Heights Brunch.
Best Brunch – Heights: Squable
Squable doesn’t shout about its brunch, but it doesn’t have to — the food speaks for itself. The menu runs from a cloudlike Dutch baby with maple butter to beef-fat tater tots topped with salmon roe. Fried chicken gets a spicy lemon-pepper kick, the confit egg yolk carbonara is rich and savory, and the French cheeseburger might be the best in town. Pair it with a green chile Bloody Mary or a Casablanca Carajillo and settle in. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bluesky is adding a dislike button as a way to signal the kind of posts you don’t want to see in your Discover feed. The experiment is part of several new ideas Bluesky is exploring to a improve conversations on its platform.
The new experiments Bluesky is running are primarily built around the notion of “social proximity.” The company says it’s aiming to build a system that maps your place in a “social neighborhood” of “people you already interact with or would likely enjoy knowing.” By prioritizing replies and posts from the people in your general “neighborhood,” the company believes it can make conversations “feel more relevant, familiar, and less prone to misunderstandings.” Following that logic, the beta test of the dislike button (which sounds private, rather than public-facing) will “help the system understand what kinds of posts you’d prefer to see less of,” but could also affect reply rankings in your threads and in the threads of other people in your social neighborhood.
The social platform already offers a way to limit replies to only people who follow you, as Bluesky CTO Paul Frazee noted in a recent post, but the company doesn’t “want to make that the only option.” Bluesky is also experimenting with adjusting how the Reply button works by making you see the whole thread first when you tap the button, rather than dumping straight into a new blank post. Combined with a new model for detecting bad replies, the company thinks it’ll improve the general social climate.
Charitably, these tweaks sound like another way Bluesky is trying to give users more control over what they see on the platform, in the same way it does with things like notifications. Less charitably, you could read the “social neighborhood” concept as a way to entrench users in their “filter bubble” rather than address larger moderation issues.
Recently, Bluesky has been criticized by users for failing to remove the accounts of people who allegedly violate the company’s community guidelines. Ensconced in a social neighborhood, those critics wouldn’t necessarily see offensive posts, nor would a poster see their critics. That might lead to less conflict overall, but it could also impact more productive forms of disagreement in the process.
SIGNIFICANT FLOODING EVENT BACK TO YOU. THE MAYOR OF TITUSVILLE HAS DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER WIDESPREAD FLOODING. HE SAYS FIRST RESPONDERS GOT MORE THAN 450 CALLS AS NEARLY 15IN OF RAIN FELL OVERNIGHT. WESH TWO JUSTIN SCHECKER JOINS US LIVE NOW FROM SINGLETON AVENUE IN TITUSVILLE. JUSTIN, YOU’RE OUTSIDE AN ANIMAL HOSPITAL THAT IS CLOSED TODAY. THAT’S RIGHT. THE SINGLETON AVENUE ANIMAL HOSPITAL WAS CLOSED TODAY BECAUSE THE PARKING LOT PARKING LOT WILL TAKE A LOOK. IT LOOKS AND FEELS MORE LIKE A POND. IT’S ABOUT ANKLE DEEP RIGHT NOW, THE WATER. BUT EARLIER IT WAS SO BAD THAT THE PET OWNERS AND HOSPITAL STAFF COULD NOT ACCESS THIS BUILDING. IF WE PAN OVER TO MY RIGHT HERE ON THE ROADWAY, THERE’S STILL SOME STANDING WATER. AT THIS HOUR. WE SEE A NUMBER OF TOW TRUCKS OUT AND ABOUT. MOVING VEHICLES BECAME ABANDONED OVERNIGHT AND IN THE NEARBY NEIGHBORHOODS. THE CLEANUP IS JUST BEGINNING. I HAD BINS WITH CHRISTMAS STUFF HERE THAT WE RUSHED INSIDE BECAUSE THEY’RE LIKE 30 YEAR OLD ORNAMENTS. I DIDN’T WANT TO LOSE THEM. CHELSEA BAILEY SAYS SHE MANAGED TO DRIVE HOME IN HER JEEP SUNDAY EVENING AS THE WATER FROM THE INTENSE RAINFALL STARTED TO RISE IN HER NEIGHBORHOOD. BUT WHEN IT GOT SO BAD, NOBODY COULD MAKE IT THROUGH. THERE WAS NOBODY THAT COULD HAVE COME TO THE RESCUE. THERE WAS A SHELTER IN PLACE AND A DO NOT DRIVE. THIS TITUSVILLE HOMEOWNER TELLS US SHE JUST HAD HER POOL CLEANED A FEW DAYS AGO. NOW IT IS FILLED WITH RAINWATER, DIRT AND DEBRIS. MY POOL OVERFLOWED DRAMATICALLY AND SO LIKE WE HAD IT COMING IN FROM THE FRONT AND THE BACK. AND SO THE FLOORS WERE LITERALLY LIKE LIFTED AND LIKE THERE’S STILL WATER SEEPING UP, EVEN THOUGH I’VE SQUEEGEED 18 TIMES AS SHE TRIES TO DRY OUT THE FLOODED FLOORS INSIDE HER HOME, RICHARD ZYDOWICZ ARRIVED AROUND NOON TO FIX HER GARAGE DOOR. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM PEOPLE HAVE OUT HERE IS THE WAKE OF THE WATER OF PEOPLE DRIVING THROUGH. A LOT OF THESE DOORS GOT PUSHED IN BECAUSE PEOPLE JUST DROVE THROUGH HERE AS FAST AS THEY CAN, AND THEY THEY’RE RUINING PEOPLE’S HOUSES, HE SAYS. THE FLOODING THAT OVERWHELMED NEIGHBORHOODS AND CAUSED CARS TO BE ABANDONED ON ROADS OVERNIGHT IS UNLIKE ANYTHING HE’S SEEN. THIS AREA OF BREVARD COUNTY IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS. WHAT IS YOUR PLAN FOR THE REST OF THE DAY? THE REST OF THE DAY, JUST GO AROUND, GET PEOPLE’S DOORS OPENING AND BACK BACK ONLINE. WHILE SHE KNOWS THE CLEANUP WILL TAKE SOME TIME, BAILEY SAYS SHE’S NOT SURE IF HER HOUSE IS PROTECTED BY FLOOD INSURANCE. AND I’M HOPING THAT ONCE EVERYTHING’S DRIED AND THE POWER IS BACK ON AND WE CAN SEE HOW BAD IT IS THAT IT’S NOT THE WORST. AND BACK OUT HERE, LIVE AS LONG AS THEY CAN SAFELY GET INTO THE BUILDING. THE SINGLETON AVENUE ANIMAL HOSPITAL IS HOPING TO REOPEN TOMORROW. MEANWHILE, THE TITUSVILLE MAYOR SAYS THEY’RE MOBILIZING ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES TO BEGIN THE RECOVERY PROCESS. AND THEY’RE ALSO REACHING OUT TO LEADERS IN TALLAHASSEE TO BRING IN ADDITIONAL SUPPORT. COVERING BREVARD COUNTY. LIVE IN TITUSVILLE.
Titusville residents speak out after neighborhoods flood from heavy downpours
Residents in Titusville are still dealing with impacts after nearly 15 inches of rain fell in 18 hours, causing road closures and damage.
People living in Titusville are dealing with widespread flooding after nearly 15 inches of rain fell overnight, according to the mayor of Titusville.The heavy rainfall has left many roads underwater, with some areas experiencing severe damage, such as a portion of Parrish Road crumbling due to water erosion between Titusville and Mims. Residents are expressing their concerns about the storm’s impact. Sean Evans, who lives near Harrison Street, said, “The flooding was just really, really crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that ever.”Many roads remained impassable on Monday. Some drivers attempted to navigate through the flooded streets, creating wakes, while others were unable to proceed. The Sherwood neighborhood in Titusville resembled a river after a nearby pond overflowed.Tom Holley, who has lived in the neighborhood for decades, said he has never seen it get this bad. “I had 4 inches in my garage, which it’s never gotten in, in my garage before,” Holley said.Residents are concerned about the possibility of more rain exacerbating the flooding. Lindsey Lengefeld, who also lives in Sherwood, said, “I would hate for more rain to bring the waters of higher. I know a lot of the neighbors — they had water come all the way up to the door.”The mayor of Titusville reported receiving more than 450 calls for service Sunday night, all of which were addressed. Efforts to manage the flooding and assess the damage are ongoing, with the county also working in some areas.
TITUSVILLE, Fla. —
People living in Titusville are dealing with widespread flooding after nearly 15 inches of rain fell overnight, according to the mayor of Titusville.
The heavy rainfall has left many roads underwater, with some areas experiencing severe damage, such as a portion of Parrish Road crumbling due to water erosion between Titusville and Mims.
Residents are expressing their concerns about the storm’s impact. Sean Evans, who lives near Harrison Street, said, “The flooding was just really, really crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that ever.”
Many roads remained impassable on Monday. Some drivers attempted to navigate through the flooded streets, creating wakes, while others were unable to proceed.
The Sherwood neighborhood in Titusville resembled a river after a nearby pond overflowed.
Tom Holley, who has lived in the neighborhood for decades, said he has never seen it get this bad.
“I had 4 inches [of water] in my garage, which it’s never gotten in, in my garage before,” Holley said.
Residents are concerned about the possibility of more rain exacerbating the flooding.
Lindsey Lengefeld, who also lives in Sherwood, said, “I would hate for more rain to bring the waters of higher. I know a lot of the neighbors — they had water come all the way up to the door.”
The mayor of Titusville reported receiving more than 450 calls for service Sunday night, all of which were addressed. Efforts to manage the flooding and assess the damage are ongoing, with the county also working in some areas.
CHICAGO — Since the Trump administration announced its intention to accelerate and forcefully detain and deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area is a split screen between everyday life and a city under siege.
As many people shop, go to work, walk their dogs and stroll with their friends through parks, others are being chased down, tear-gassed, detained and assaulted by federal agents carrying out immigration sweeps.
The situation is similar to what occurred in Los Angeles in summer, as ICE swept through Southern California, grabbing people off the street and raiding car washes and Home Depots in predominantly Latino areas, while leaving large swaths of the region untouched.
Take Sunday, the day of the Chicago Marathon.
Some 50,000 runners hailing from more than 100 countries and 50 states, gathered downtown to dash, jog and slog over 26.3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and city streets.
The sun was bright, the temperatures hovered in the upper-60s, and leaves of maple, oak, aspen and ginkgo trees colored the city with splashes of yellow, orange and red.
Demonstrators march outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
It was one of those rare, glorious Midwestern fall days when everyone comes outside to soak in the sunlight, knowing the gloom and cold of winter is about to take hold.
At 12:30, Ludwig Marchel and Karen Vanherck of Belgium strolled west along East Monroe Street, through Millennium Park. They smiled and proudly wore medals around their necks commemorating their marathon achievement. They said they were not concerned about coming to Chicago, despite news stories depicting violent protests and raids, and the Trump administration’s description of the city as “war torn,” a “hellhole,” a “killing field” and “the most dangerous city in the world.”
“Honestly. I was mostly worried that the government shutdown was somehow going to affect my flight,” said Marchel. He said he hadn’t seen anything during his few days in town that would suggest the city was unsafe.
Another man, who declined to give his name, said he had come from Mexico City to complete the race. He said he wasn’t concerned, either.
“I have my passport, I have a visa, and I have money,” he said. “Why should I be concerned?”
Dozens of residents in the quiet, leafy neighborhood of Albany Park had gathered in the street to shout “traitor” and “Nazi” as federal immigration agents grabbed a man and attempted to detain others.
According to witness accounts, agents in at least three vehicles got out and started shoving people to the ground before throwing tear gas canisters into the street. Videos of the event show masked agents tackling a person in a red shirt, throwing a person in a skeleton costume to the ground, and violently hurling a bicycle out of the street as several plumes of smoke billow into the air. A woman can be heard screaming while neighbors yell at the agents.
Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical sprays, plastic bullets and flash grenades.
Deirdre Anglin, community member from Chicago, takes part in a demonstration near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
Since Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” was initiated more than six weeks ago, roughly 1,000 people have been arrested or detained.
At the ICE detention facility, in Broadview — a suburb 12 miles west of downtown — there have been daily protests. While most have been peaceful, some have devolved into physical clashes between federal agents or police and protesters.
In September, federal agents shot pepper balls and tear gas at protesters peacefully gathering outside the facility. On Saturday, local law enforcement forced protesters away from the site with riot sticks and threats of tear gas. Several protesters were knocked to the ground and forcefully handcuffed. By the end of the evening, 15 people had been arrested.
Early Sunday afternoon, roughly two dozen protesters returned to the site. They played music, danced, socialized and heckled ICE vehicles as they entered and exited the fenced-off facility.
In a largely Latino Chicago neighborhood called Little Village, things appeared peaceful Sunday afternoon.
Known affectionately by its residents as the “Midwestern capital of Mexico,” the district of 85,000 is predominantly Latino. Michael Rodriguez, a Chicago city councilman and the neighborhood’s alderman, said 85% of the population is of Mexican descent.
On Sunday afternoon, traditional Mexican music was being broadcast to the street via loudspeakers from the OK Corral VIP, a western wear store.
Demonstrators protest near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
Along East 26th Street, where shops and buildings are painted with brightly colored murals depicting Mexican folklore, history and wildlife — such as a golden eagle and jaguar — a family sat at a table eating lunch, while two young women, in their early 20s, laughed and chattered as they strolled west toward Kedzie Avenue.
Rodriguez said that despite appearances, “people are afraid.”
He said he spoke with a teacher who complained that several of her elementary-school aged students have stopped coming to class. Their parents are too afraid to walk them or drive them to school, hearing stories of other parents who have been arrested or detained by ICE agents at other campuses in the city — in front of their terrified children.
Rodriguez’s wife, whom he described as a dark-skinned Latina with degrees from DePaul and Northwestern universities, won’t leave the house without her passport.
At a barber shop called Peluqueria 5 Star Fades Estrellas on 26th, a coiffeur named Juan Garcia sat in a chair near the store entrance. He had a towel draped over the back of his neck. He said his English was limited, but he knew enough to tell a visitor that business was bad.
“People aren’t coming in,” he said. “They are afraid.”
Victor Sanchez, the owner of a taco truck parked on Kedzie Road, about a half-mile south of town, said his clientele — mostly construction workers and landscapers — have largely disappeared.
“Business is down 60%,” he said to a customer. “I don’t know if they have been taken, or if they are too afraid to come out. All I know is they aren’t coming here anymore.”
Rodriguez said that ICE agents have arrested people who live in his neighborhood, but those arrests took place outside the borders of his district.
“I think they know this is a well-organized and aware neighborhood,” he said. “I think they’ve cased it and decided to grab people on the outskirts.”
JERUSALEM — As Israel seeks to excise Hamas from Gaza, it’s empowering militias led by the Palestinian group’s enemies, assisting and providing them with military support in an attempt to present them as an alternative to Hamas’s rule in the enclave.
The policy appears to date back to late last year, when Israel targeted local police forces in Gaza, justifying such attacks by saying that any government entity in Gaza is affiliated with Hamas; the result was chaos in parts of the Strip.
In the ensuing security vacuum, a 32-year-old Palestinian tribesman named Yaser Abu Shabab emerged with some 100 of his clansmen to control aid routes near the Kerem Shalom crossing, a critically important aid conduit at the Gaza-Israel boundary.
Aid organizations accuse groups like Abu Shabab’s of looting aid convoys, having ties to extremist groups and exacerbating famine in Gaza.
In May, Jonathan Whitall, then director of the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories, said in a news briefing that “criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces,” have been “allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom border crossing.”
A month later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged his government, following the advice of security officials, had “activated” clans in Gaza to work against Hamas.
“What’s bad about it?” he said in a video statement. “It’s only good and it only saves the lives of Israel Defense Force soldiers.”
Abu Shabab has since styled his group into the so-called “Popular Forces.” Soon after Netanyahu’s address, Abu Shabab released a statement of his own denying receiving any arms from Israel. But other posts touting the group’s security and aid operations show him working in areas under the full control of the Israeli military, and reports from Israeli media say he has received Kalashnikov rifles from the military.
Abu Shabab’s group may have been the first to make itself known in Gaza, but other militias have since cropped up, activists say, operating in various parts of the Strip in concert with the Israeli military.
One of the more prominent examples is led by Hussam Al-Astal, 50, a former officer in the Palestinian Authority’s security service who was accused by colleagues in the Palestinian Authority and Hamas of collaborating with Israel in the 1990s and of assassinating a high-ranking Hamas official in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
His group, which calls itself “The Strike Force Against Terror,” has cemented its control over Qizan Al-Najjar, a village south of Rafah, which Astal describes as a haven for those opposed to Hamas.
“Today in my area, we have no war,” Astal said in a phone interview Friday, adding that others are expected to come and that anyone entering the area was vetted for ties to Hamas.
“If you come here, you’ll see children playing. We have water, electricity, safety.”
Smoke rises from buildings following heavy Israeli attacks as Palestinians continue to flee northern Gaza toward the south.
(Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Astal made his comments the same day Hamas announced that it will accept parts of the Trump administration plan to end the war which began when Hamas forces invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas agreed to release hostages and largely give up its governing role in Gaza, which it has controlled since 2007.
In a video posted in September, Al-Astal promises to pay $50 dollars to anyone who kills a Hamas fighter.
“Every Hamas member I will personally throw in the trash heap. Hamas’s rule is ending,” he says.
On Friday, Al-Astal’s group was involved in one of the bloodiest instances of intra-Palestinian fighting in the enclave, when a Hamas unit attacked a neighborhood in Khan Yunis in a bid to arrest members of a prominent clan accused of collaborating with Israel.
In the ensuing firefight, five clansmen were killed, local sources say. Al-Astal said his forces assisted in fighting Hamas “using our special methods.” He did not elaborate on what those methods were, but the Israeli military released footage later on Friday showing it targeting Hamas militants it said were attacking a neighborhood in Khan Yunis; it said in a later that it killed 20 gunmen.
Reports on social media said 11 Hamas members were killed, and their bodies were dragged through the streets of Khan Yunis. One video taken by local activists and posted on the messaging app Telegram shows the camera lingering over bloodied corpses lined side-by-side on the ground.
Palestinians continue to flee to the southern regions with their belongings following Israeli airstrikes and ground assaults in Gaza Strip on Oct. 3.
(Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images)
It wouldn’t be the first time Israel has tried to create alternative governance structures in Palestinian communities. Between 1978 and 1984, it formed the Villages League, which aimed to dismantle the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization by relying on prominent Palestinians, giving them incentives in return for their cooperation as a more pliant authority. The initiative failed.
Around the same time, Israel empowered Palestinian Islamist groups including Hamas, hoping they would serve as a counterweight to the PLO and leftist, secular Palestinian factions that were prominent at the time.
Being seen as cooperating with Israel remains a black mark in Palestinian society. The families of both Abu Shabab and Al-Astal issued statements disowning them.
Al-Astal refused being characterized as a traitor, saying family members, including his sister, were killed by Israeli bombs. But he makes no secret of what he called coordination with the Israeli military, from whom he has received water, food and military equipment.
“Hamas says I’m a traitor because I coordinate with Israel,” he said.
“What do you think I’m coordinating? How to evacuate someone who is sick; how to provide food, water and services.”
Not all clans have been receptive to Israel’s overtures.
Last month, said Nizar Dughmush, the head of a prominent tribe in Gaza City, he was contacted by a militiaman who claimed he was an intermediary from the Israeli military.
“He said the Israelis wanted us to take charge of a humanitarian zone in Gaza City, that we should recruit as many of our family members as we could, and they would provide logistical support, like arms, food and shelter,” Dughmush said.
But Dughmush refused their offer, saying his family were civilians, and that though they were not affiliated with Hamas, they had no interest in being “tools of the occupation.”
Two days later, Dughmush said, Israeli warplanes began pounding the tribe’s neighborhood, killing more than 100 members of his clan. Dughmush claims Israeli forces entered the neighborhood 48 hours later and systematically destroyed every house.
“All of this is vengeance against us because we refused to cooperate,” he said. Two other clans, Dayri and Bakr, were approached in a similar fashion and had their areas attacked after rejecting Israel’s offer.
“I’m talking to you now as a displaced person, along with what’s left of my clan, all of us spread out in different parts of Gaza,” Dughmush said.
Al-Astal, who considers himself a longtime foe of Hamas, is unapologetic in his choices, which he sees as essential in a post-Hamas Gaza.
“There’s no place for Hamas here,” he said.
“We’re the new administration, and we’re the future.”
Spider-Man and a Hollywood tour guide were having it out.
They stood right outside Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard, arguing about whether ABC was right to yank the host’s TV show off the air last week after he commented on the political response to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.
“I like Kimmel!” said the Spider-Man impersonator, who wore pink Nike sneakers and leaned in close so he could hear through his thin, face-covering costume. “What he said is free speech.”
A tour bus drives past what was Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Sept. 18, 2025.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Todd Doten, a tour agent for Beverly Hills Tours of Hollywood, pushed back. He said he believed broadcasters are held to a different standard than private citizens, and that the Federal Communications Commission — which pushed to get Kimmel’s show canceled — “has somewhat of a point.”
The men verbally sparred beside singer Little Richard’s cracked star on the Walk of Fame. Then Doten patted the selfie-hawking superhero on the back and they parted ways amicably.
The scene on Friday afternoon captured the Hollywood that Kimmel embraced and aggressively promoted: Weird, gritty and surprisingly poignant.
Ever since he began filming at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in 2003, Kimmel has been one of the famed neighborhood’s biggest ambassadors. He drew tourists to the storied Hollywood Boulevard, which — despite being home to the Academy Awards, TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame — has long struggled with crime, homelessness and blight. He used his celebrity to help homeless youth and opened a donation center on his show’s backlot for victims of the January wildfires.
And he filmed many a sketch with Hollywood itself as the bizarro backdrop — including one returning bit called “Who’s High?” in which he tried to guess which of three pedestrians was stoned.
Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater a day after ABC pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely over comments he made about the response to right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s death.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Now, locals and entertainment industry officials alike worry what will happen if Kimmel’s show permanently disappears from a Hollywood still struggling to recover from the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 and the COVID-19 pandemic that literally shut the neighborhood down. While his suspension has sparked a roiling debate over free speech rights nationwide, in this neighborhood, the impact is more close to home.
“A hostile act toward Jimmy Kimmel is a hostile act toward Hollywood itself and one of its great champions,” former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times on Friday.
“Hollywood is both a place and an idea. It’s an industry and a geography. Jimmy is always big on both. He actually lives in Hollywood, at a time when not a lot of stars do.”
Miguel Aguilar, a fruit vendor who often sets up near Kimmel’s theater, said Friday that business was always better on the days “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” filmed because so many audience members bought his strawberries and pineapples doused in chamoy. He was stunned when a Times reporter told him the show had been suspended.
“Was it canceled by the government?” Aguilar asked. “We used to get a lot more customers [from the show]. That’s pretty scary.”
A man holding a sign advertising at a nearby diner said he worried about Kimmel’s crew, including the gaffers and makeup artists.
“How many people went down with Kimmel?” he asked.
And Daniel Gomez, who lives down the street, said he feared that nearby businesses will suffer from the loss of foot traffic from the show, for which audience members lined up all the way down the block.
“Tourists still will come to Hollywood no matter what, but a portion of that won’t be coming anymore,” Gomez said as he signed a large canvas outside the theater on which scores of fans and free speech advocates wrote messages about the show being axed.
Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s pretty bad that he got shut down because of his comments,” Gomez added. “Comedians should be free to say whatever they want.”
In a joint statement, a coalition of Hollywood labor groups including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said the kind of political pressure that Kimmel faced as a broadcaster “chills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans.”
“At a time when America’s film and television industry is still struggling due to globalization and industry contraction, further unnecessary job losses only make a bad situation worse,” the statement read.
During his monologue Monday, Kimmel made remarks about Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of fatally shooting Kirk. He said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Ingrid Salazar protests outside of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” studio on Thursday.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
While Kimmel’s remarks could be interpreted in different ways, Kirk’s supporters immediately accused the talk show host of claiming Robinson was a Trump ally, which many of Kimmel’s supporters reject. Kimmel himself has not publicly responded.
Kimmel also mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was coping with the killing of his close ally.
Nexstar Media Group responded on Wednesday, saying it would pull the show from its ABC affiliate stations because of Kimmel’s comments. Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, then announced it would suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely.
Nexstar’s decision to yank the show came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, threatened to take action against ABC and urged local ABC affiliate stations to stand up the network.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
He also targeted late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them “total losers.” He pressured NBC to cancel their shows, writing: “Do it NBC!!!”
The president this summer praised CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” after this season, writing on Truth Social on July 18: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Pedestrians walk across the street from the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” theater a day after ABC has pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
While the show is in limbo, it is unclear what will happen to Kimmel’s iconic theater in the historic former Hollywood Masonic Temple, a neoclassical 1921 building fronted by six imposing columns.
Disney owns the building, as well as the adjacent 1920s office building that contains the El Capitan Theatre and the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop. Kimmel’s production company, 12:05 AM Productions, occupies four floors — 26,000 square feet — in the six-story office building, according to real estate data provider CoStar.
Disney did not respond to a request for comment.
Garcetti, who long represented Hollywood on the L.A. City Council, said Kimmel was a major advocate for renovation of the old Masonic lodge and other revitalization Hollywood projects.
And after the Oscars returned for good to the Kodak Theatre (now Dolby Theatre) across the street in 2002 after several years outside of Hollywood, Kimmel “helped usher in what I call Hollywood’s second golden age, when the Academy Awards came back and people saw actual stars in nightclubs and restaurants,” Garcetti said.
When Garcetti was showing off the city to officials with the International Olympic Committee years ago in an effort to host the Games, Kimmel met their helicopter on the roof of a Hollywood hotel to brag about the neighborhood.
Jimmy Kimmel, host and executive producer of the late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” celebrates as he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan. 25, 2013.
(Reed Saxon/Associated Press)
At the 2013 Hollywood Chamber of Commerce ceremony awarding Kimmel a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Garcetti quipped: “When you came here to Hollywood Boulevard, this place was full of drug dealers and prostitutes, and you welcomed them with open arms.”
Kimmel joked that his parents brought him to the Walk of Fame as a 10-year-old and left him there to fend for himself.
“I’m getting emotional,” he said during the ceremony. “This is embarrassing. I feel like I’m speaking at my own funeral. This is ridiculous. People are going to pee on this star.”
Kimmel’s star is by his theater, near the stars for rapper Snoop Dogg — and Donald Duck.
On his show in May, pop star Miley Cyrus told Kimmel she developed a serious infection after filming on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year, where she rolled around on the sidewalk. Part of her leg, she said, started to “disintegrate.”
“Have you been to the Walk of Fame in the middle of the night?” she asked.
“I live here,” Kimmel said.
“I thought it was my last day,” Cyrus responded.
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside Kimmel’s theater in recent days, decrying the suspension of his show.
The cancellation occurred right after Dianne Hall and Michael Talbur of Kansas City got tickets to a live taping of the show and traveled to Los Angeles. So, they attended a protest Thursday instead.
Hall said she was expecting Kimmel’s monologue “to be something rude toward the [Kirk] family” but was surprised when she actually listened to it.
“I kept thinking, ‘Surely something bad was said for him to get fired,’ ” Hall said. “But it was nothing like that.”
Hollywood resident Ken Tullo said he’s “not a protesting type of guy, but enough’s enough” and he did not want his daughters to grow up with a fear of speaking freely.
“The current administration cannot laugh at themselves,” Tullo said, “and they don’t want anybody else to laugh.”
Times staff writer Roger Vincent contributed to this report.
A 911 call released Tuesday shows how frantic a couple was as they were trapped inside a car sinking in a canal in Florida.Listen to the 911 call in the video player above. Investigators said the couple was driving in a remote section of northwestern Martin County when they were hit by another car, sending them off the road where they landed upside down in the canal.The other car did not stop.The woman in the car was able to get to her phone and call 911.“Please! We need you!” she said to the dispatcher.The woman, whose name has not been released, explains the situation to the dispatcher who asks if the car is sinking.“Yes!” the woman replied. “That’s what it feels like. The car is sinking, sir.”“Where’s the water now?” the dispatcher asked.“We’re in the ditch outside,” she said.“Is the water in the car and how high is it?” the dispatcher asked.“It’s up to my stomach,” she said. “We don’t know how much time we have!”The woman explained to the dispatcher that the power in the vehicle was out, and they could not open the doors nor the windows.“How far in the water are you?” the dispatcher asked.“We’re deep in the water!”“And there’s no way to get that window down?”“No. We tried everything! We’re scared!”After about 10 minutes, the call appears to drop.“You still there, sir? Ma’am?” the dispatcher asked.There was no reply.Deputies arrived a short time later and were able to bust out the car’s windows and pull the couple to safety.Both people were injured, but investigators said both are expected to recover.The sheriff’s office said they are still looking for the other driver involved in the crash.
MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. —
A 911 call released Tuesday shows how frantic a couple was as they were trapped inside a car sinking in a canal in Florida.
Listen to the 911 call in the video player above.
Investigators said the couple was driving in a remote section of northwestern Martin County when they were hit by another car, sending them off the road where they landed upside down in the canal.
The other car did not stop.
The woman in the car was able to get to her phone and call 911.
“Please! We need you!” she said to the dispatcher.
The woman, whose name has not been released, explains the situation to the dispatcher who asks if the car is sinking.
“Yes!” the woman replied. “That’s what it feels like. The car is sinking, sir.”
“Where’s the water now?” the dispatcher asked.
“We’re in the ditch outside,” she said.
“Is the water in the car and how high is it?” the dispatcher asked.
“It’s up to my stomach,” she said. “We don’t know how much time we have!”
The woman explained to the dispatcher that the power in the vehicle was out, and they could not open the doors nor the windows.
“How far in the water are you?” the dispatcher asked.
“We’re deep in the water!”
“And there’s no way to get that window down?”
“No. We tried everything! We’re scared!”
After about 10 minutes, the call appears to drop.
“You still there, sir? Ma’am?” the dispatcher asked.
There was no reply.
Deputies arrived a short time later and were able to bust out the car’s windows and pull the couple to safety.
Both people were injured, but investigators said both are expected to recover.
The sheriff’s office said they are still looking for the other driver involved in the crash.
He said “settlement brings security” and that “it is time for Jewish settlement in Gaza,” calling the plan “a symbol of our faith and vision.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir intends to establish a seafront neighborhood for police officers in the Gaza Strip after the total defeat of Hamas, he announced on Monday at a state police excellence ceremony ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
Ben-Gvir framed the idea as part of a broader effort to strengthen the Israel Police and argued that Jewish settlement enhances security, according to his remarks at the event.
“On the eve of the New Year, we gather to thankIsrael’s police officers, who stand on the front line day and night,” Ben-Gvir said, praising their courage and dedication. “The people are with you, the state is with you,” he added.
Ben-Gvir cited recent investments in police housing, listing projects in Sderot, Beersheba, Beit Shemesh, and Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood. He said the goal is to continue expanding housing solutions for officers as part of a wider resources push for the force.
Looking ahead, Ben-Gvir said he is “already planning the next neighborhood for police in one of the most beautiful places in the Middle East,” adding that after “finishing the decision in Gaza,” he aims to build “a luxurious police neighborhood facing the sea.” He said “settlement brings security” and that “it is time for Jewish settlement in Gaza,” calling the plan “a symbol of our faith and vision.”
Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speak during a ceremony at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, September 15, 2025 (credit: OREN BEN HAKOON/FLASH90)
Ben-Gvir’s history of tough Gaza stances
Ben-Gvir has repeatedly advocated reshaping Israel’s post-war policy in Gaza, including opposing ceasefire initiatives and promoting a tougher stance on the Strip, according to prior Jerusalem Post reporting. In July 2025, he rallied right-wing allies to block a proposed Gaza ceasefire framework.
His call for Jewish resettlement in Gaza echoes statements he has made since the early months of the war and into 2024, when he argued the “time is right” to incentivize Palestinian emigration alongside renewed settlement.
He reiterated those themes during public appearances in 2025, including a controversial US trip, where he spoke about a fully Jewish Gaza.
A deputy encountered a stolen vehicle in Fayette County after observing it disobeying a traffic signal and immediately leaving, according to Fayette County Sheriff’s Deputy David Bivens.
News Center 7 previously reported that the pursuit started in Fayette County before 4 p.m. and continued west on U.S. 35 through the eastern parts of Greene County.
The chase ended in a neighborhood near the area of Maumee Drive and Bellbrook Avenue.
Two adults and two juveniles were taken into custody, Deputy Bivens told News Center 7.
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The vehicle exited into a residential neighborhood after exiting off U.S. 35 westbound.
The OnStar system electronically disabled the vehicle. It slowed and came to rest in the yard of a residence, Deputy Bivens said.
No injuries were reported.
Deputies continue to investigate and are working on criminal charges.
Two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call were shot and killed in Utah, and a man was taken into custody after bystanders persuaded him to drop the gun, authorities said Monday.The officers were identified as Sgt. Lee Sorensen, 56, and Officer Eric Estrada, 31, of the Tremonton-Garland Police Department.A sheriff’s deputy and a police dog also were shot and wounded in their car as they arrived to help at a neighborhood in Tremonton on Sunday night. The deputy from Box Elder County was released from the hospital Monday and the dog was hospitalized in fair condition, police said.“These officers are definitely heroes,” Police Chief Chad Reyes in neighboring Brigham City said at a news conference Monday morning.When police respond to domestic disturbance calls, “we really don’t know what we’re walking into,” he said. “And they are one of the most dangerous events that we can be dispatched on.”Police received multiple 911 hang-up calls from a home in the city. A single officer from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department arrived first and was speaking to someone at the home when the man came out with a gun, police said in a news release. Reyes said he believed the man lived at the house.“The male opened fire on the officer, striking and killing the officer,” the news release said. A second officer from the department who responded “was immediately fired upon by the same male suspect” and was killed, it said.After the officers were shot, bystanders persuaded the man to put down his weapon, police said. Up to 50 officers from multiple agencies responded. SWAT teams arrived to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.The ranch-style home was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape Monday. A trampoline and a blue children’s pool could be seen on the front lawn.Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened “a terrible and tragic night.” He posted online that he joined the state in mourning the loss “of these courageous law enforcement officers” and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in their honor.The suspect was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said. The names of the wounded deputy and the suspect have not been released.Sorensen had served 17 years as a law enforcement officer and received multiple honors for his service to the community. He had recently been promoted to sergeant and was supposed to be sworn into his new role on Friday, the department said.Estrada had worked in the jail in Box Elder County and as a patrol officer before joining the Tremonton-Garland Police Department. His colleagues described him as a dedicated father and husband who loved being on patrol so he could interact with people in the community.Tremonton, which has about 13,000 people, is about 75 miles north of Salt Lake City at the junction of Interstates 15 and 84. It advertises itself as “a favorite midway stop for vacations” to destinations such as Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It also calls itself “Utah’s City of Murals” with a walking tour featuring 18 works of public art.___Editor’s note: The story has been updated to correct the first name of the police chief to Chad.___Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed reporting from Salt Lake City.
TREMONTON, Utah —
Two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call were shot and killed in Utah, and a man was taken into custody after bystanders persuaded him to drop the gun, authorities said Monday.
The officers were identified as Sgt. Lee Sorensen, 56, and Officer Eric Estrada, 31, of the Tremonton-Garland Police Department.
A sheriff’s deputy and a police dog also were shot and wounded in their car as they arrived to help at a neighborhood in Tremonton on Sunday night. The deputy from Box Elder County was released from the hospital Monday and the dog was hospitalized in fair condition, police said.
“These officers are definitely heroes,” Police Chief Chad Reyes in neighboring Brigham City said at a news conference Monday morning.
When police respond to domestic disturbance calls, “we really don’t know what we’re walking into,” he said. “And they are one of the most dangerous events that we can be dispatched on.”
Police received multiple 911 hang-up calls from a home in the city. A single officer from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department arrived first and was speaking to someone at the home when the man came out with a gun, police said in a news release. Reyes said he believed the man lived at the house.
“The male opened fire on the officer, striking and killing the officer,” the news release said. A second officer from the department who responded “was immediately fired upon by the same male suspect” and was killed, it said.
After the officers were shot, bystanders persuaded the man to put down his weapon, police said. Up to 50 officers from multiple agencies responded. SWAT teams arrived to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.
The ranch-style home was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape Monday. A trampoline and a blue children’s pool could be seen on the front lawn.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened “a terrible and tragic night.” He posted online that he joined the state in mourning the loss “of these courageous law enforcement officers” and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in their honor.
The suspect was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said. The names of the wounded deputy and the suspect have not been released.
Sorensen had served 17 years as a law enforcement officer and received multiple honors for his service to the community. He had recently been promoted to sergeant and was supposed to be sworn into his new role on Friday, the department said.
Estrada had worked in the jail in Box Elder County and as a patrol officer before joining the Tremonton-Garland Police Department. His colleagues described him as a dedicated father and husband who loved being on patrol so he could interact with people in the community.
Tremonton, which has about 13,000 people, is about 75 miles north of Salt Lake City at the junction of Interstates 15 and 84. It advertises itself as “a favorite midway stop for vacations” to destinations such as Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It also calls itself “Utah’s City of Murals” with a walking tour featuring 18 works of public art.
___
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to correct the first name of the police chief to Chad.
___
Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed reporting from Salt Lake City.
Twenty-five years from today, Santa Ana winds will scream through Los Angeles on a dry autumn morning, turning a small hillside campfire into a deadly, fast-moving blaze.
At that moment, the city will spring into action.
Los Angeles knows how to weather a crisis — or two or three. Angelenos are tapping into that resilience, striving to build a city for everyone.
Satellites will team up with anemometers, pairing live aerial footage with wind patterns to tell firefighters exactly where the fire is going. Fleets of autonomous Black Hawk helicopters and unmanned air tankers will fill the skies, dropping fire retardant in the path of the flames.
Wearable technologies will guide us in the city below: “ALERT: A wildfire has been spotted 2.4 miles from your location and will reach your location in approximately 43 minutes.” Angelenos will receive a live satellite map of the blaze’s trajectory and directions for a safe evacuation.
People in threatened neighborhoods will quickly run through to-do lists: close vents, check on neighbors, etc. Some renters and homeowners will arm fire-retardant sprayers on their roofs and jam valuables into fireproof ADUs tucked in their backyards. Others will have outfitted their super-smart homes with technology that cuts down on decision-making for an even quicker get-away. Apartment safety teams will follow their well-rehearsed plans to ensure evacuation.
Then, everyone will follow their community evacuation plan by driving their electric vehicles or ride-sharing to safety, eased along by a steady flow of green lights programmed by the city to divert all traffic away from the fire. Fleets of self-driving vans will circle back through the neighborhoods, picking up any stranded residents.
Michael Kovac’s house stands among burned homes in Pacific Palisades.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The scenario might seem improbable, but according to firefighters, architects and futurists, it’s a realistic outline of what L.A.’s fire defense could look like in 2050.
Devastating fires have pummeled Southern California in the last several decades, shifting the public conversation from fire suppression to fire preparedness and mitigation as governments begrudgingly acknowledge the disasters as regular occurrences. In the wake of the deadly January fires that burned through Altadena and Pacific Palisades, many people are wondering: Can we truly fortify our city against a firestorm?
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Architect Michael Kovac thinks we can. Kovac, a Palisades resident whose clients include celebrities, built his home to be fire-resistant knowing that, at some point, it would be subject to a firestorm.
Michael Kovac designed his home in Pacific Palisades The house is clad in fiber cement; the roof is made of fireproof TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin); the deck is made with specially treated wood for fire resistance; and a fire suppression system in the back of the house sprayed fire retardant onto the vegetation.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
On Jan. 7, his entire street burned, but his house survived. Now, it serves as a blueprint for fire resistance. “We built it to be able to withstand a small fire,” Kovac said. “We never imagined our whole community would be erased.”
Kovac’s home is wrapped in fire-resistant fiber cement-panel siding. The green “living” roof is topped with grass and more than 4 inches of fire-resistant soil. The windows feature three panels of quarter-inch glass, which lessen the possibility of breakage in the face of scorching temperatures and protect the interior from radiant heat — one of the primary ways fires can enter a home.
Before fleeing the fire, Kovac loaded all his valuables into a room wrapped in concrete and equipped with a fire door capable of keeping out smoke and flames for three hours. He monitored the blaze from afar using security cameras. As the flames approached, he activated three sprinklers that sprayed fire retardant along the perimeter of the property, keeping the fire at bay.
Fire-proofing safeguards generally aren’t cheap. Fire-proof doors run from a few hundred dollars into the thousands, and fire-retardant sprinklers can cost tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the system. But Kovac also installed some DIY upgrades for next to nothing, including dollar-store mesh screens on all his vents to block embers from entering — another frequent cause of fires spreading.
Every improvement helps, but the harsh reality of the next 25 years is that across L.A., older structures that don’t comply with modern fire codes will burn. The collective hope is that by 2050, they’ll be replaced by fire-resistant homes, adding a herd-immunity defense to neighborhoods.
“The 1950s housing stock in the Palisades — smaller, older homes more vulnerable to fires — are all gone. I’m sad because I enjoyed the texture they brought, but whenever one burned, it made it likelier that the home next to it would also burn,” he said. “Now there’s a clean slate, so the neighborhood we build next will be more fire-resilient.”
The front garden at Michael Kovac’s home is filled with succulents and native plants and covered in volcanic rocks instead of mulch.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Ken Calligar has the same hope.
“The housing replacement cycle is slow. It upgrades every 50 years or so, with 2% of homes being replaced per year,” said Calligar, the chief executive of resilient building company RSG 3-D. “But large-scale incidents like fires or earthquakes are an opportunity for a migration to a better system.”
Calligar’s company creates insulated concrete panels that are made with fire-retardant foam sandwiched between two wire-mesh faces, which are, in turn, wrapped in concrete.
The future of fire mitigation, he said, boils down to building with non-combustible materials.
“In California, 98% of homes have wood frames. All those homeowners have a future tragedy on their hands,” he added. “You can’t knock down all of California and start new, but you can mitigate portfolio damages by making new parts of the portfolio better.”
In addition, Calliger said, “By 2050, Californians should have a fire-proof place to store their assets in case of a fire. That way, you at least have something to get back to.”
Some home builders and designers are offering fire-resilient designs as demand continues to grow in the wake of the fires. KB Home recently unveiled a 64-home fire-resilient community in Escondido equipped with covered gutters, non-combustible siding and defensible space. The Santa Monica-based architectural firm SweisKloss offers fire-rated glazes and foam-retardant sprayers on its custom-built designs. By 2050, experts say, the vast majority of home builders will offer fire-resistant homes.
There’s a reason so many California homes are built with wood: It’s relatively cheap. There are plenty of futuristic building materials — including graphene, hempcrete and self-healing concrete, which is capable of repairing its own cracks after damage — but they’re not cost-efficient for most home buyers. Even traditional concrete, which stands up to the elements better than wood, runs roughly 20%-50% more than wood for home building, and building a fire-resistant home adds tens of thousands of dollars to the building cost, according to most experts.
For Daniel López-Pérez, the solution is a return to wood. Mass timber, specifically.
In addition to being a professor of architecture at the University of San Diego and a futurist, López-Pérez is the founder of Polyhaus, a home-building startup that says it can assemble a house in three days. To prove it, he put together a small prototype in his La Jolla backyard over a weekend in February. The 540-square-foot ADU is wrapped in 60 mass timber panels made of three 1.5-inch layers of plywood sealed together.
With traditional wood construction, the wood, studs and insulation leave plenty of room for oxygen, which fuels fires. With mass timber, the three layers are sealed with no air gaps, making them much more fire-resistant. When exposed to fire, the mass timber charcoals and burns a half-inch every hour — so a 4.5-inch panel would last six or seven hours before fully burning, he said.
The 540-square-foot Polyhaus ADU was assembled over a weekend in Daniel López-Pérez’s back yard.
(Daniel López-Pérez)
“It’s like in forest fires where big, old-growth trees survive by charcoaling. The exterior chars, but the inside survives.”
Mass timber is a new trend in fire-proofing; in this year alone, there are multipleconferences across the country dedicated to the engineered wood.
Lever Architecture, a firm with offices in Portland, Ore., and L.A., has helped pioneer the use of mass timber in the U.S. Among Lever’s projects are mass timber buildings for Adidas and the Oregon Conservation Center in Portland — and a mixed-use office/retail building at 843 N. Spring St. in Chinatown.
Though his backyard prototype is his only model so far, Polyhaus has been flooded with inquiries after the January fires. He’s been telling customers that he can put a unit up in six weeks from start to finish, with 540-square-foot units running $300,000 all-in.
For López-Pérez, the future is also about using new technology, such as the robotic arms that assemble panels, to get more out of the stuff we’re already using.
“By 2050, we’ll be mixing ancestral materials with high-tech solutions,” he said. “Think Star Wars: a lightsaber in a cave.”
In the meantime, he suggests that instead of tearing down the 1950s tinderbox houses strewn across L.A.’s fire-prone hills, we should tack mass timber panels onto their exterior or interior to give firefighters hours, instead of minutes, to try to save homes once they catch on fire.::
Mass timber is one of multiple approaches that would make Brian Fennessy’s job easier. Fennessy, who serves as fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, has been fighting wildfires for 47 years. But over the last few decades, as blazes penetrate deeper into cities, he’s dealing with a different kind of problem: urban conflagrations.
Wildfires burn forests or brush, but urban conflagrations are fires that burn through cities. They’re becoming more common, and the toxic fumes released when homes burn present new dangers to his squad. “These are typically wind-driven fires, and they’re driving smoke into the lungs of firefighters,” he said. “We do blood draws, and early testing shows higher levels of heavy metal.”
Firefighters have a 14% higher chance of dying from cancer than the general population, according to a 2024 study, and the disease was responsible for 66% of career firefighter line-of-duty deaths from 2002 to 2019.
He hopes 2050 brings more safety precautions for his team, such as personal respirators for every firefighter and fleets of trucks that share their location in real time for better communication between departments, and he imagines fleets of drones flying alongside firefighting aircraft.
He’s also optimistic about funding and said he’s never seen so much legislative interest in putting money toward fire services as he has in the wake of the January fires. The Los Angeles Fire Department is one of the few city departments poised to gain new hires under Mayor Karen Bass’ $14-billion spending plan released in April, which proposed adding 227 fire department jobs while cutting 2,700 jobs in other departments.
A few weeks after the January fires, a California Assembly bill was introduced to explore the use of autonomous helicopters to fight fires. The choppers, including Black Hawk helicopters traditionally used for military operations, can be remotely programmed to take off, find fires and drop water where it’s needed. By 2050, experts hope firefighting stations will have entire fleets at their disposal to limit risk to pilots during shaky weather conditions.
In March, Muon Space launched a low-orbit satellite designed to detect wildfires early. By 2030, the company expects to have a fleet of 50 satellites circling the globe.
“The next few years are a pivotal moment for both fire services and citizens,” Fennessy said. “We have to get it right.”
