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  • From timber wars to cannabis crash: Scotia’s battle to survive as California’s last company town

    SCOTIA — The last time Mary Bullwinkel and her beloved little town were in the national media spotlight was not a happy period. Bullwinkel was the spokesperson for the logging giant Pacific Lumber in the late 1990s, when reporters flooded into this often forgotten corner of Humboldt County to cover the timber wars and visit a young woman who had staged a dramatic environmental protest in an old growth redwood tree.

    Julia “Butterfly” Hill — whose ethereal, barefoot portraits high in the redwood canopy became a symbol of the Redwood Summer — spent two years living in a thousand-year-old tree, named Luna, to keep it from being felled. Down on the ground, it was Bullwinkel’s duty to speak not for the trees but for the timber workers, many of them living in the Pacific Lumber town of Scotia, whose livelihoods were at stake. It was a role that brought her death threats and negative publicity.

    Julia “Butterfly” Hill stands in a centuries-old redwood tree nicknamed “Luna” in April 1998. Hill would spend a little more than two years in the tree, protesting logging in the old-growth forest.

    (Andrew Lichtenstein / Sygma via Getty Images)

    The timber wars have receded into the mists of history. Old-growth forests were protected. Pacific Lumber went bankrupt. Thousands of timber jobs were lost. But Bullwinkel, now 68, is still in Scotia. And this time, she has a much less fraught mission — although one that is no less difficult: She and another longtime PALCO employee are fighting to save Scotia itself, by selling it off, house by house.

    After the 2008 bankruptcy of Pacific Lumber, a New York hedge fund took possession of the town, an asset it did not relish in its portfolio. Bullwinkel and her boss, Steve Deike, came on board to attract would-be homebuyers and remake what many say is the last company town in America into a vibrant new community.

    “It’s very gratifying for me to be here today,” Bullwinkel said recently, as she strolled the town’s streets, which look as though they could have been teleported in from the 1920s. “To keep Scotia alive, basically.”

    a woman stands on the street in front of a building with the words Town of Scotia written on it

    Mary Bullwinkel, residential real estate sales coordinator for Town of Scotia Company, LLC, stands in front of the company’s offices. The LLC owns many of the houses and some of the commercial buildings in Scotia.

    Some new residents say they are thrilled.

    “It’s beautiful. I call it my little Mayberry. It’s like going back in town,” said Morgan Dodson, 40, who bought the fourth house sold in town in 2018 and lives there with her husband and two children, ages 9 and 6.

    But the transformation has proved more complicated — and taken longer — than anyone ever imagined it would. Nearly two decades after PALCO filed for bankrupcty in 2008, just 170 of the 270 houses have been sold, with 7 more on the market.

    “No one has ever subdivided a company town before,” Bullwinkel said, noting that many other company towns that dotted the country in the 19th century “just disappeared, as far as I know.”

    The first big hurdle was figuring out how to legally prepare the homes for sale: as a company town, Scotia was not made up of hundreds of individual parcels, with individual gas meters and water mains. It was one big property. More recently, the flagging real estate market has made people skittish.

    Many in town say the struggle to transform Scotia mirrors a larger struggle in Humboldt County, which has been rocked, first by the faltering of its logging industry and more recently by the collapse of its cannabis economy.

    “Scotia is a microcosm of so many things,” said Gage Duran, a Colorado-based architect who bought the century-old hospital and is working to redevelop it into apartments. “It’s a microcosm for what’s happening in Humboldt County. It’s a microcosm for the challenges that California is facing.”

    a power plant in a rural setting

    The Humboldt Sawmill Company Power Plant still operates in of Scotia.

    The Pacific Lumber Company was founded in 1863 as the Civil War raged. The company, which eventually became the largest employer in Humboldt County, planted itself along the Eel River south of Eureka and set about harvesting the ancient redwood and Douglas fir forests that extended for miles through the ocean mists. By the late 1800s, the company had begun to build homes for its workers near its sawmill. Originally called “Forestville,” company officials changed the town’s name to Scotia in the 1880s.

    For more than 100 years, life in Scotia was governed by the company that built it. Workers lived in the town’s redwood cottages and paid rent to their employer. They kept their yards in nice shape, or faced the wrath of their employer. Water and power came from their employer.

    But the company took care of its workers and created a community that was the envy of many. The neat redwood cottages were well maintained. The hospital in town provided personal care. Neighbors walked to the market or the community center or down to the baseball diamond. When the town’s children grew up, company officials provided them with college scholarships.

    “I desperately wanted to live in Scotia,” recalled Jeannie Fulton, who is now the head of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau. When she and her husband were younger, she said, her husband worked for Pacific Lumber but the couple did not live in the company town.

    Fulton recalled that the company had “the best Christmas party ever” each year, and officials handed out a beautiful gift to every single child. “Not cheap little gifts. These were Santa Claus worthy,” Fulton said.

    But things began to change in the 1980s, when Pacific Lumber was acquired in a hostile takeover by Texas-based Maxxam Inc. The acquisition led to the departure of the longtime owners, who had been committed to sustainably harvesting timber. It also left the company loaded with debt.

    To pay off the debts, the new company began cutting trees at a furious pace, which infuriated environmental activists.

    A view of the town of Scotia, sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

    A view of the town of Scotia and timber operations, sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

    (The Pacific Lumber Company collection)

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    Redwood logs are processed by the Pacific Lumber Company in 1995 in Scotia, CA.

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    Redwood logs are trucked to the Pacific Lumber Company

    1. Redwood logs are processed by the Pacific Lumber Company in 1995 in Scotia, CA. This was the largest redwood lumber mill in the world, resulting in clashes with the environmental community for years. (Gilles Mingasson / Getty Images) 2. Redwood logs are trucked to the Pacific Lumber Company in 1995 in Scotia, CA. (Gilles Mingasson / Getty Images)

    Among them was Hill, who was 23 years old on a fall day in 1997 when she and other activists hiked onto Pacific Lumber land. “I didn’t know much about the forest activist movement or what we were about to do,” Hill later wrote in her book. “I just knew that we were going to sit in this tree and that it had something to do with protecting the forest.”

    Once she was cradled in Luna’s limbs, Hill did not come down for more than two years. She became a cause celebre. Movie stars such as Woody Harrelson and musicians including Willie Nelson and Joan Baez came to visit her. With Hill still in the tree, Pacific Lumber agreed to sell 7,400 acres, including the ancient Headwaters Grove, to the government to be preserved.

    A truck driver carries a load of lumber down Main Street

    A truck driver carries a load of lumber down Main Street in Scotia. The historic company town is working to attract new residents and businesses, but progress has been slow.

    Then just before Christmas in 1999, Hill and her compatriots reached a final deal with Pacific Lumber. Luna would be protected. The tree still stands today.

    Pacific Lumber limped along for seven more years before filing for bankruptcy, which was finalized in 2008.

    Marathon Asset Management, a New York hedge fund, found itself in possession of the town.

    Deike, who was born in the Scotia hospital and lived in town for years, and Bullwinkel, came on board as employees of a company called The Town of Scotia to begin selling it off.

    Deike said he thought it might be a three-year job. That was nearly 20 years ago.

    He started in the mailroom at Pacific Lumber as a young man and rose to become one of its most prominent local executives. Now he sounds like an urban planner when he describes the process of transforming a company town.

    His speech is peppered with references to “infrastructure improvements” and “subdivision maps” and also to the peculiar challenges created by Pacific Lumber’s building.

    “They did whatever they wanted,” he said. “Build this house over the sewer line. There was a manhole cover in a garage. Plus, it wasn’t mapped.”

    two people look through doorways of rooms being converted into apartments

    Steven Deike, president of Town of Scotia Company LLC, and Mary Bullwinkel, the company’s residential real estate sales coordinator, examine a room being converted into apartments at the Scotia Hospital.

    The first houses went up for sale in 2017 and more have followed every year since.

    Dodson and her family came in 2018. Like some of the new owners, Dodson had some history with Scotia. Although she lived in Sacramento growing up, some of her family worked for Pacific Lumber and lived in Scotia and she had happy memories of visiting the town.

    “The first house I saw was perfect,” she said. “Hardwood floors, and made out of redwood so you don’t have to worry about termites.”

    She has loved every minute since. “We walk to school. We walk to pay our water bill. We walk to pick up our mail. There’s lots of kids in the neighborhood.”

    The transformation, however, has proceeded slowly.

    And lately, economic forces have begun to buffet the effort as well, including the slowing real estate market.

    Dodson, who also works as a real estate agent, said she thinks some people may be put off by the town’s cheek-by-jowl houses. Also, she added, “we don’t have garages and the water bill is astronomical.”

    But she added, “once people get inside them, they see the craftsmanship.”

    Duran, the Colorado architect trying to fix up the old hospital, is among those who have run into unexpected hurdles on the road to redevelopment.

    A project that was supposed to take a year is now in its third, delayed by everything from a shortage of electrical equipment to a dearth of workers.

    “I would guess that a portion of the skilled workforce has left Humboldt County,” Duran said, adding that the collapse of the weed market means that “some people have relocated because they were doing construction but also cannabis.”

    He added that he and his family and friends have been “doing a hard thing to try to fix up this building and give it new life, and my hope is that other people will make their own investments into the community.”

    A year ago, an unlikely visitor returned: Hill herself. She came back to speak at a fundraiser for Sanctuary Forest, a nonprofit land conservation group that is now the steward of Luna. The event was held at the 100-year-old Scotia Lodge — which once housed visiting timber executives but now offers boutique hotel rooms and craft cocktails.

    Many of the new residents had never heard of Hill or known of her connection to the area. Tamara Nichols, 67, who discovered Scotia in late 2023 after moving from Paso Robles, said she knew little of the town’s history.

    But she loves being so close to the old-growth redwoods and the Eel River, which she swims in. She also loves how intentional so many in town are about building community.

    What’s more, she added: “All those trees, there’s just a feel to them.”

    Jessica Garrison

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  • Photos: SoCal driver finds live great horned owl lodged in car grille. Raptor extraction follows

    A Southern California driver made a startling discovery Sunday morning when they found a live bird of prey stuck in the grille of their car.

    The bird, whose head was peeping out, was a great horned owl, authorities said. An officer with Santa Barbara County Animal Services was called to a residence in the 1000 block of Amethyst Drive in the town of Orcutt around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. At least four firefighters from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department helped with the bird’s rescue, the department told The Times.

    “This is the first time we had an owl, that I’m aware of, entangled in a vehicle,” said Scott Safechuck, a public information officer for the county Fire Department. “Usually it’s a cat, or sometimes we have cattle that get onto the highway.”

    Firefighters carefully cut away portions of the grille as they tried to extract the owl on Sunday.

    (Santa Barbara County Fire Department )

    Authorities do not know how long the owl was stuck but say it may have happened Saturday. The removal operation took about 30 minutes, after which the owl, which had sustained injuries, was taken to the Wildlife Care Network, a wildlife rescue center in Goleta.

    An employee at the wildlife network said that each animal the center helps receives a series of tests, such as CT scans and X-rays, upon arrival. The organization did not immediately provide an update on the owl’s status.

    “It’s infrequent that things like this happen,” Safechuck said. “It’s remarkable the owl was still alive.”

    The great horned owl is considered the largest owl in North America, according to the Santa Barbara Audubon Society. It can weigh as much as 5½ pounds with a wingspan of nearly 5 feet and have large, powerful talons. According to the National Audubon Society, this owl species is not endangered.

    Santa Barbara County Fire assisted Animal Control with the removal of a horned owl in the front grill of a vehicle.

    It took about 30 minutes to free the injured owl, which was taken to a Goleta wildlife rescue, authorities said.

    (Santa Barbara County Fire Department )

    Jasmine Mendez

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  • Can you survive a wildfire sheltering at home? For one community, L.A. County Fire says it may be the only option

    Dozens of Topanga residents gathered in the town’s Community House to hear Assistant Fire Chief Drew Smith discuss how the Los Angeles County Fire Department plans to keep Topangans alive in a fierce firestorm.

    In the red-brick atrium, adorned with exposed wood and a gothic chandelier, Smith explained that if a fire explodes next to the town and flames will reach homes within minutes, orchestrating a multi-hour evacuation through winding mountain roads for Topanga’s more than 8,000 residents will just not be a viable option. In such cases, Smith told attendees at the town’s Oct. 4 ReadyFest wildfire preparedness event, the department now plans to order residents to shelter in their homes.

    “Your structure may catch on fire,” Smith said. “You’re going to have religious moments, I guarantee it. But that’s your safest option.”

    Wildfire emergency response leaders and experts have described such an approach as concerning and point to Australia as an example: After the nation adopted a similar policy, a series of brush fires in 2009 now known as Black Saturday killed 173 people, many sheltering in their homes.

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    Some in the bohemian community of nature lovers, creatives and free spirits — who often pride themselves on their rugged, risky lifestyle navigating floods, mudslides, wildfires and the road closures and power outages they entail — are left with the sinking realization that the wildfire risk in Topanga may be too big to bear.

    Water tanks called "pumpkins" are available to helicopters to be used during a fire

    Water tanks called “pumpkins” are available to helicopters to be used during a fire at 69 Bravo, an LAFD Command Center along Saddle Peak Road in Topanga.

    They see the shelter-in-place plan as a perilous wager, with no comprehensive plan to help residents harden their homes against fire and no clear, fire-tested guidance on what residents should do if they’re stuck in a burning home.

    “Do we need to have some way of communicating with first responders while we are sheltering in place? Would the fire front be approaching us and we’re just on our own?” asked Connie Najah, a Topanga resident who attended ReadyFest and was unsettled by the proposal. “What are the plans for helping people through this season and the next season while we’re waiting to have widespread defensible space implementation?”

    No fire chief wants to face the scenario of a vulnerable town with no time to evacuate. But it is a real possibility for Topanga. Smith, speaking to The Times, stressed that the new guidelines only apply to situations where the Fire Department has deemed evacuations infeasible.

    “If we have time to evacuate, we will evacuate you,” Smith said.

    Emergency operations experts say not enough has been done in their field to address the very grim possibility that evacuating may not always be possible — in part because it’s a hard reality to confront. It’s not a small problem, either: Cal Fire has identified more than 2,400 developments around the state with at least 30 residences that have significant fire risk and only a single evacuation route. Topanga is home to nine of them.

    “We’re pretty isolated. We’re densely populated. Fuel and homes are intermixed. It’s an extremely dangerous area.”

    — James Grasso, president of the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness

    Recent fires, including the 2018 Camp fire in Paradise and Woolsey fire in Malibu, have made the issue too hard to ignore.

    In Topanga, Najah has a ham radio license so she can stay informed when power and cell service inevitably go down. The elementary school relocates out of town during red-flag days. A task force including the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness, the Fire Department and other emergency operations agencies publishes a Disaster Survival Guide and distributes it to every household.

    “The survival guide was born out of necessity,” said James Grasso, president of TCEP, who also serves as a call firefighter for the county Fire Department. “We’re pretty isolated. We’re densely populated. Fuel and homes are intermixed. It’s an extremely dangerous area, particularly during Santa Ana wind conditions.”

    The guide had instructed residents to flock to predetermined “public safe refuges” in town, such as the baseball field at the Community House or the large parking lot at the state park, to wait out fires. If residents couldn’t make it to these, there were predetermined “public temporary refuge areas” within each neighborhood, such as street intersections and homes with large cleared backyards, that provide some increased chance of survival.

    But when the Fire Department determined the spaces were not capable of protecting the town’s entire population from the extreme radiant heat, it pivoted to sheltering in place — the last and most dangerous option listed in the old guide.

    A woman seated in a car points at photographs in a binder.

    Connie Najah, a 16-year resident of Topanga, points out photographs from the Topanga Disaster Survival Guide of places that were once considered “public safe refuges” to be used during a fire.

    The survival guide’s old plan was consistent with what emergency response experts and officials have argued across the globe, but it failed to meet typical safety standards for such an approach.

    In a March report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, researchers who spent years investigating the response to the Camp fire recommended a network of safety zones and temporary fire refuge areas as a strategy to keep residents alive.

    The report argued that, due to tightly packed combustible structures amid an accumulation of flammable vegetation, “nearly all” communities are “unsuitable” for sheltering in place.

    David Shew, a trained architect and firefighter who spent more than 30 years at Cal Fire, said that for a shelter-in-place policy to be viable, a community would need to undertake significant work to harden their homes and create defensible space — work that has not been done in most California communities.

    It’s “not really safe for people to just think, ‘OK, I’ve done nothing but they told me to just jump in my house,’” he said.

    And once a house ignites, suggestions that Smith offered up at ReadyFest like sheltering in a bathroom are of little use, said Mark Ghilarducci, a former director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

    “Under certain circumstances, your home could potentially provide a buffer,” he said. But if a house is burning and surrounded by fire in the wildlands, “you’re in a position where you are essentially trapped, and your bathroom’s not going to save you.”

    Smith said, however, that the Fire Department had done its own analysis of the Topanga area and determined that the fire dynamics in the area are too extreme for Topanga’s proposed public shelter spaces to be effective.

    “There is no way that we can 100% eliminate the fire risk and death potential if you live in a fire-prone area.”

    — Drew Smith, assistant fire chief at the Los Angeles County Fire Department

    During hot, aggressive fires like the Woolsey, Franklin and Palisades fires, Smith said, “for 30 to 100 people, you need a minimum of clear land that’s 14 acres, which is 14 football fields.” Many of the safety areas in the survival guide, such as an L.A. County Public Works water tank facility, are barely larger than 1 acre.

    The department argues sheltering in place, although far from guaranteeing survival, eliminates the risk of residents getting trapped on roadways, unable to see, with almost no protection.

    “There is no way that we can 100% eliminate the fire risk and death potential if you live in a fire-prone area,” Smith said.

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    a man walks towards a baseball field

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    a woman stands on a parking lot

    1. Topanga resident James Grasso, president of Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness, walks toward a baseball field that was once declared a public safe refuge to escape to during a fire at the Topanga Community Center. 2. Connie Najah stands on a portion of Peak Trail that was at one time considered a public temporary refuge area during fires in Topanga.

    Regardless of what residents (or emergency response experts) think of the department’s approach, the safest thing residents can do, experts say, is to always, always, always follow the department’s orders, whether that’s to evacuate, find a safety zone or shelter in their homes. The department’s plan to keep residents alive depends on it.

    Still, the history of shelter-in-place policies — and their more aggressive companion, “stay and defend,” which involves attempting to actively combat the blaze at home — looms heavy.

    After more than 100 bush fires swept through southeast Australia in 1983, killing 75 people in what became known as Ash Wednesday, Australian fire officials adopted a “stay or go” policy: Either leave well before a fire reaches you, or prepare to stay and fend for yourself. If you’re living in a high fire hazard area, the philosophy goes, it is your responsibility to defend your property and keep yourself alive amid strained fire resources.

    Around the same time, California considered the policy for itself after dangerous fires ripped through the Santa Monica Mountains, Ghilarducci said. State officials ultimately decided against it, choosing instead to prioritize early evacuations. Cal Fire’s “Ready, Set, Go!” public awareness campaign became the face of those efforts.

    In 2009, an explosive suite of brush fires broke out, yet again, in southeast Australia and seemed to confirm California’s worst nightmare: 173 people lost their lives in the Black Saturday tragedy. Of those, 40% died during or after an attempt to defend their property, and nearly 30% died sheltering in their homes without attempting to defend them. About 20% died while attempting to evacuate.

    Afterward, Australia significantly overhauled the policy, placing a much greater emphasis on evacuating early and developing fire shelter building standards.

    Nearly a decade later, California confronted its own stress test. The Camp fire ripped through Paradise in the early morning on Nov. 8, 2018. The time between the first sighting of the fire and it reaching the edge of town: one hourand 39 minutes. The time it took to evacuate: seven hours.

    Among the miraculous stories of survival in Paradise were the many individuals who found refuge areas in town: a predetermined safety zone in a large, open meadow; the parking lots of stores, churches and schools; a local fire station; roadways and intersections with a little buffer from the burning trees.

    But the same day, the intensity of the Woolsey fire in the Santa Monica Mountains — similarly plagued with evacuation challenges — unsettled fire officials. It’s in these conditions that Smith doubted Topanga’s refuge sites could protect residents.

    Stuck without many options, the Fire Department began slowly thinking about refining the policies that proved disastrous for Australia. The Palisades fire brought a renewed urgency.

    Just a month before ReadyFest, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone stirred anxiety among emergency response officials when he appeared to endorse a stay-and-defend policy, telling KCAL-TV, “We’ve always told people that when the evacuation order comes, you must leave. We’ve departed from that narrative. With the proper training, with the proper equipment and with the proper home hardening and defensible space, you can stay behind and prevent your house from burning down.”

    The department later clarified the statement, saying the change only applies to individuals in the Santa Monica Mountains’ community brigade who have received significant training from the department and operate under the department’s command. (The brigade is not intended as a means for members to protect their own homes but instead serve the larger community.)

    Now, residents worry the policy to shelter in place is coming without enough preparation.

    A worker holds a stop sign on a road with one lane blocked by traffic cones.

    A worker stops traffic that has been reduced to one lane on a portion of Topanga Canyon Boulevard for underground cable installation Nov. 19.

    A Times analysis of L.A. County property records found that roughly 98% of residential properties in Topanga were built before the state adopted home-hardening building codes in 2008 to protect homes against wildfires.

    However, a significant number of Topangans have opted to complete the requirements regardless. Various fire safety organizations in the Santa Monica Mountains have visited more than 470 of Topanga’s roughly 3,000 residential properties to help residents learn how to harden their homes. These efforts are, in part, why the National Fire Protection Assn. designated the mountain town as a Firewise Community in 2022.

    There are some relatively simple steps homeowners can take, such as covering vents with mesh, that can slightly reduce the chance of a home burning. But undertaking a comprehensive renovation — to remove wood decks, install noncombustible siding and roofing, replace windows with multipaned tempered glass, hardscape the land near the house and trim down trees — is expensive.

    A report from the community development research nonprofit Headwaters Economics found a complete home retrofit using affordable materials costs between $23,000 and $40,000. With high-end materials that provide the best protection, it can cost upward of $100,000.

    “We’re not the only rural community. All over the state, people are having to deal with this.”

    — Connie Najah, 16-year resident of Topanga

    Many Topangans have taken up the challenge, anyway. Grasso, who lost his home in the 1993 Old Topanga fire, has slowly been hardening his property since the rebuild. He’s even built a concrete fire shelter against a hillside with two steel escape doors and porthole windows.

    Researchers have found comprehensive home hardening and defensible space can reduce the risk of a home burning by about a third, but not bring it down to zero. (Albeit, none have tested Grasso’s elaborate setup.)

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    Nancy Helms stands on top of "dwarf carpet of stars," a succulent plant that surrounds a large area of her home as a fire prevention method on Rocky Ledge Road in Topanga.

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    Ryan Ulyate uses metal sculptures of plants and cactus outside his home in Topanga. He has eliminated any brush or flammable plants near his home and surrounds it in gravel to prevent his home from catching fire.

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    Ryan Ulyate shows a vent opening that he covered with metal filters to prevent embers from entering his home if a fire occurs in Topanga.

    1. Nancy Helms stands on top of “dwarf carpet of stars,” a succulent plant that surrounds a large area of her home as a fire prevention method on Rocky Ledge Road in Topanga. 2. Ryan Ulyate uses metal sculptures of plants and cactus outside his home in Topanga. He has eliminated any brush or flammable plants near his home and surrounds it in gravel to prevent his home from catching fire. 3. Ryan Ulyate shows a vent opening that he covered with metal filters to prevent embers from entering his home if a fire occurs in Topanga.

    Wildfire safety experts hope the state someday adopts building standards for truly fire-proof structures that could withstand even the most extreme conditions and come equipped with life-support systems. But any such standards are years away, and the L.A. County Fire Department has to have a plan if a fire breaks out tomorrow.

    For Grasso, fire risk is a risk like any other, like the choice to drive a car every day. In exchange for the beauty of living life in Topanga, some folks will learn to accept the risk and do what they can to mitigate it: Harden a home, fasten a seat belt. Others — especially those unable to take the drastic steps Grasso has been able to — will deem the beauty of life in Topanga not worth the risk of getting trapped by flames.

    “The amount of money it takes to get to this point is too cost-prohibitive for us at this moment,” Najah said. “It’s really a tough place to be in. … It’s not going to be easy, and we’re not the only rural community. All over the state, people are having to deal with this.”

    Times assistant data and graphics editor Sean Greene contributed to this report.

    Noah Haggerty

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  • ‘I am cautiously optimistic’: Eatonville residents discuss future of historic Hungerford property

    The story continues on a multi-year development for the historic town of Eatonville. Except this time, there’s a new chapter in the history of the town, with a new partnership in Dr. Phillips Charities.”The town of Eatonville is finally able to say we are getting ready to show real progress,” Mayor Angie Gardner said. Gardner announced progress for Eatonville during a public meeting at the Denton Johnson Community Center on Friday.Residents and visitors discussed the future of the Historic Hungerford Property.”The town of Eatonville is finally able to say we are getting ready to show real progress,” Gardner said.”I am cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless, and I say that because we still have an opportunity to be at the table,” Bruce Mount Jr. said. The Orange County School Board voted unanimously to transfer the 117-acre parcel to Dr. Phillips Charities, which includes a $1 million down payment to bring the master plan to life. At least three residents expressed concerns about outside involvement.”We could have bought this land ourselves. We should be the one with the MLU with the school board saying this is what we want to do with our land. Nobody else needs to come here and do that,” said Kingg Mack Bertrand, who lives in Eatonville.Jean Jones Alexander countered, “We can’t go back. We can’t snatch that property back. We need to get it together. We really do. We need to learn how to work together.”The town’s master plan calls for affordable housing, education, health care, cultural preservation, and long-term economic development.”With this master plan, we’re going to have new development and that’s going to create more jobs and employment,” said Theo McWhite, a resident of Eatonville.”No doubt there will be more input meetings as well as many more steps to this plan because it is a 25-year plan,” said GPB.Terry Prather, Dr. Phillips Charities Board chair, said, “Now there’s probably 100 steps we have to take from design, development, building an infrastructure for our team.””I feel real good about where we are right now, and it has been a mood shift, a mood shift, and it’s a great mood shift,” Gardner said.Town leaders reminded the public, this is not just about a master plan for the Hungerford property; it’s a master plan for the entire town.Updates on developments can be found on Hungerford.townofeatonville.org and envisioneatonville.com.

    EATONVILLE, Fla. —

    The story continues on a multi-year development for the historic town of Eatonville.
    Except this time, there’s a new chapter in the history of the town, with a new partnership in Dr. Phillips Charities.

    “The town of Eatonville is finally able to say we are getting ready to show real progress,” Mayor Angie Gardner said.

    Gardner announced progress for Eatonville during a public meeting at the Denton Johnson Community Center on Friday.

    Residents and visitors discussed the future of the Historic Hungerford Property.

    “The town of Eatonville is finally able to say we are getting ready to show real progress,” Gardner said.

    “I am cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless, and I say that because we still have an opportunity to be at the table,” Bruce Mount Jr. said.

    The Orange County School Board voted unanimously to transfer the 117-acre parcel to Dr. Phillips Charities, which includes a $1 million down payment to bring the master plan to life. At least three residents expressed concerns about outside involvement.

    “We could have bought this land ourselves. We should be the one with the MLU with the school board saying this is what we want to do with our land. Nobody else needs to come here and do that,” said Kingg Mack Bertrand, who lives in Eatonville.

    Jean Jones Alexander countered, “We can’t go back. We can’t snatch that property back. We need to get it together. We really do. We need to learn how to work together.”

    The town’s master plan calls for affordable housing, education, health care, cultural preservation, and long-term economic development.

    “With this master plan, we’re going to have new development and that’s going to create more jobs and employment,” said Theo McWhite, a resident of Eatonville.

    “No doubt there will be more input meetings as well as many more steps to this plan because it is a 25-year plan,” said GPB.

    Terry Prather, Dr. Phillips Charities Board chair, said, “Now there’s probably 100 steps we have to take from design, development, building an infrastructure for our team.”

    “I feel real good about where we are right now, and it has been a mood shift, a mood shift, and it’s a great mood shift,” Gardner said.

    Town leaders reminded the public, this is not just about a master plan for the Hungerford property; it’s a master plan for the entire town.

    Updates on developments can be found on Hungerford.townofeatonville.org and envisioneatonville.com.

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  • VIDEO: New Jersey man dances at town hall meeting to protest property tax hike

    Mhm Mr. Tilly, I started your time. Um, How was everyone’s weekend?

    VIDEO: New Jersey man dances at town hall meeting to protest property tax hike

    Updated: 6:01 AM PDT Sep 6, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Americans are famous for our creative dissents against taxes — just take the Boston Tea Party. Last week, a New Jersey man carried on the tradition at a town meeting by dancing to express his response to a property tax hike.In a video livestreamed on Cranford TV-35, Will Thilly, a candidate for the Cranford township committee, gets out of his seat and dances his way up to the podium. An official tells him, “I started your time,” and Thilly holds up his finger as he continues dancing.He pauses to grab a bottle of water and pieces of paper before asking the audience about their weekends. “Did you know I could do the backspin? Anybody?” he says. “Wanna see me do the backspin? No? I’m gonna do the backspin.”After proceeding to do so and unsuccessfully motioning for the audience to applaud, Thilly jumps into his remarks.”Well, why did our taxes go up so much? We were told the referendum was going to bring it up for an average household about $400,” he says. “And mine went up, like, 900 bucks. I think we were told, like, that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up, like I said, 400 bucks on an average assessed home.””So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did much more than that,” he goes on. “And what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”Thilly then moonwalks back to his seat.”Thank you, Mr. Thilly,” Cranford Mayor Terrence Curran then says, according to NBC. “I like the interpretative dance.”Cranford is a town of less than 25,000 people as of the 2020 census, located 18 miles southwest of Manhattan. Thilly’s campaign website says he is running to “tell you the truth, to fight for what you need, and to defend our Town and schools,” explaining that he opposes “$150 million in 30-year tax exemptions to billionaire developers” for a development in his town.

    Americans are famous for our creative dissents against taxes — just take the Boston Tea Party. Last week, a New Jersey man carried on the tradition at a town meeting by dancing to express his response to a property tax hike.

    In a video livestreamed on Cranford TV-35, Will Thilly, a candidate for the Cranford township committee, gets out of his seat and dances his way up to the podium. An official tells him, “I started your time,” and Thilly holds up his finger as he continues dancing.

    He pauses to grab a bottle of water and pieces of paper before asking the audience about their weekends.

    “Did you know I could do the backspin? Anybody?” he says. “Wanna see me do the backspin? No? I’m gonna do the backspin.”

    After proceeding to do so and unsuccessfully motioning for the audience to applaud, Thilly jumps into his remarks.

    “Well, why did our taxes go up so much? We were told the referendum was going to bring it up for an average household about $400,” he says. “And mine went up, like, 900 bucks. I think we were told, like, that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up, like I said, 400 bucks on an average assessed home.”

    “So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did much more than that,” he goes on. “And what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”

    Thilly then moonwalks back to his seat.

    “Thank you, Mr. Thilly,” Cranford Mayor Terrence Curran then says, according to NBC. “I like the interpretative dance.”

    Cranford is a town of less than 25,000 people as of the 2020 census, located 18 miles southwest of Manhattan. Thilly’s campaign website says he is running to “tell you the truth, to fight for what you need, and to defend our Town and schools,” explaining that he opposes “$150 million in 30-year tax exemptions to billionaire developers” for a development in his town.

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  • 5 dead, dozens injured after tour bus with about 50 people crashes in New York State, officials say

    A vacation to Niagara Falls ended in tragedy on Friday as a tour bus with about 50 passengers heading back to New York City crashed into a ditch, killing five people and injuring dozens.Officials believe most of the passengers were not wearing a seat belt, as multiple people were also ejected from the bus, which sustained heavy damage in the incident, said New York State Police spokesperson James O’Callaghan.“We believe there is a child that is a fatality,” he said.And translators are headed to the scene to assist police in the investigation, as most of the passengers were Indian, Chinese or Filipino, he said at a news conference.Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo received 24 patients and 20 are being treated, it confirmed at a Friday afternoon news conference.Video below: NY State Police Trooper James O’ Callaghan discusses bus crashAs the investigation unfolds, it’s not yet clear why the crash took place, O’Callaghan said, but he added authorities have a “good idea” of what caused the bus to roll over after losing control, without offering further details.The bus was driving at full speed and did not hit any other vehicles, but lost control from the median onward, O’Callaghan said.Helicopters, ambulances and law enforcement swarmed the crash site, where the bus was seen on its side with many people gathered around it.A list of the passengers provided by the bus company confirms there were 52 people on board, including the driver, police said in a statement.“Several witnesses observed the bus lose control, enter the median, then cross to the southern shoulder and overturn,” the state police said in a news release.The state’s department of transportation is trying to help people get off the interstate as some remain stranded due to the incident, O’Callaghan said. The state Thruway is currently closed in both directions near the crash site, state police say.“It’s a very volatile scene. We have vehicles going the wrong way on the 90,” he said, describing the area as “highly traveled.”The driver is “alive and well” and working with authorities, O’Callaghan said, and some victims were taken to the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the crash as “tragic” and said first responders are “working to rescue and provide assistance to everyone involved” in a post on X.CNN has contacted the U.S. embassies for the Philippines, China and India for comment.

    PEMBROKE, N.Y. —

    A vacation to Niagara Falls ended in tragedy on Friday as a tour bus with about 50 passengers heading back to New York City crashed into a ditch, killing five people and injuring dozens.

    Officials believe most of the passengers were not wearing a seat belt, as multiple people were also ejected from the bus, which sustained heavy damage in the incident, said New York State Police spokesperson James O’Callaghan.

    “We believe there is a child that is a fatality,” he said.

    And translators are headed to the scene to assist police in the investigation, as most of the passengers were Indian, Chinese or Filipino, he said at a news conference.

    Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo received 24 patients and 20 are being treated, it confirmed at a Friday afternoon news conference.

    Video below: NY State Police Trooper James O’ Callaghan discusses bus crash

    As the investigation unfolds, it’s not yet clear why the crash took place, O’Callaghan said, but he added authorities have a “good idea” of what caused the bus to roll over after losing control, without offering further details.

    The bus was driving at full speed and did not hit any other vehicles, but lost control from the median onward, O’Callaghan said.

    Helicopters, ambulances and law enforcement swarmed the crash site, where the bus was seen on its side with many people gathered around it.

    A list of the passengers provided by the bus company confirms there were 52 people on board, including the driver, police said in a statement.

    “Several witnesses observed the bus lose control, enter the median, then cross to the southern shoulder and overturn,” the state police said in a news release.

    The state’s department of transportation is trying to help people get off the interstate as some remain stranded due to the incident, O’Callaghan said. The state Thruway is currently closed in both directions near the crash site, state police say.

    “It’s a very volatile scene. We have vehicles going the wrong way on the 90,” he said, describing the area as “highly traveled.”

    The driver is “alive and well” and working with authorities, O’Callaghan said, and some victims were taken to the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the crash as “tragic” and said first responders are “working to rescue and provide assistance to everyone involved” in a post on X.

    CNN has contacted the U.S. embassies for the Philippines, China and India for comment.

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  • Behold West Town’s New Tavern-Style Pizzeria With an Edge

    Behold West Town’s New Tavern-Style Pizzeria With an Edge

    West Town’s new pizzeria replacing Parson’s Chicken & Fish is here at long last. Dicey’s Pizza & Tavern has kept busy over the last week inside the former Parson’s at 2109 W. Chicago Avenue. Parson’s owners did a light remodel, matching the decor to the original Dicey’s that opened in 2022 in Nashville.

    Dicey’s specializes in Chicago thin-crust pizza, commonly known as tavern style. Though the pizzeria debuted in Tennessee, owners Land & Sea Dept. are a Chicago company known for Parson’s, Cherry Circle Room, Lonesome Rose, and other local restaurants and bars. Dicey’s pizza is razor-thin without the puffs customers can find on the edge of some Chicago crusts. Dicey’s uses cup-and-char pepperoni cups which start on one of its specialty pies, Peppy Boy (pepperoni, hot honey, mozzarella, parmesan, oregano, spicy tomato sauce). There’s also a classic sausage and giardiniera. For now, it’s dine-in and pick-up only.

    Dicey’s takes over the former Parson’s space.

    Three slices of Chicago pizza on a dish and a glass of beer.

    3 pizzas on a table.

    The vegan Earth Crisis (left), Pep Boy (center), and sausage and giardiniera.

    A close up of a sausage and giardiniera pizza.

    The crust is very thin and crunchy.

    A bowl of tots, a plate of Buffalo wings, and a salad.

    Tater tots, chicken wings, and salads are also on the menu.

    A vegan pizza without cheese is called Earth Crisis, a nod to the hardcore band from Syracuse, New York that’s famously straight edge and vegan. The pizza comes piled with tomato sauce, eggplant, roasted onions, chili flakes, basil, lemon, and olive oil. Dicey’s decor strays from Chicago tradition with motorcycles and skeletons (vaguely reminiscent of Twisted Spoke). It’s more of an edgy feel versus red and white tablecloths, and that makes the inclusion of a somewhat obscure hardcore band fit with the environment. Land & Sea co-owner Cody Hudson says the company’s art director, Drew Ryan, would wear Earth Crisis shirts at the office, and when it came to figuring out names for pizzas, the idea presented itself. Ryan also helped organize a hardcore show on the patio at Dicey’s in Nashville, which led to a collaboration with Nashville vegan bakery Guerilla Biscuits.

    But West Town, full of families, might not be the scene for hardcore. Don’t sweat it. Dicey’s has high chairs, even ones that are tall enough for high-top tables. Three pinball machines from Logan Arcade on the first floor, and a trio of vintage arcade cabinets on the second-floor ledge that houses an additional bar and more seats ideal for a large group. There are only two TVs in the space, which means this isn’t a sports bar. The old fireplace, a holdover from the old Old Oak Tap days, remains on the first floor.

    On the beverage side, there’s a mix of local beer and natural wines. There’s also frozen cocktails — they’re still using the machines left over from Parson’s. Some wine bottles are also available to go in a cooler in the back of the restaurant. The restaurant is also near All Together Now, one of the best wine stores in town, so that’s an option for carryout.

    Other standouts are juicy Buffalo wings, tater tots, and salads. A sign near the bathrooms declares that “you can win friends with salads,” a poke at the old Simpsons gag, and perhaps a sign of confidence in Dicey’s salad game.

    Dicey’s certainly talks a good game — they snagged space in an Esquire story last year about tavern pizza. But Chicago, no matter what Jerry Reinsdorf may say, is no Nashville. There’s more competition here. See if Dicey’s can walk the walk in the photos below.

    Dicey’s Pizza & Tavern, 2019 W. Chicago Avenue, (773) 697-3346, open 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday; 11 a.m. to midnight on Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, order pickup via Toast

    The exterior of Dicey’s.

    The patio remain instact.

    The exterior of Dicey’s with large windows.

    Dicey’s is family friendly until the sun sets.

    The interior of Dicey’s Pizza.

    The space has done through a light remodel.

    The center bar at Dicey’s.

    Folks will recognize the fireplace from the Old Oak Tavern days.

    The cooler behind is for to-go drinks and stocked with bottles and cans of wine.

    The all-season room as three pinball machines from Logan Arcade.

    In the background, the stairs to the second-floor landing can be seen.

    “WWF Superstars,” “Battletoads,” and “Super Mario Bros.” can be played.

    A bar with stools and tables on the other end.

    Ashok Selvam

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  • Inside Old Town’s Demure, Yet Mindful Modern French Fortress

    Inside Old Town’s Demure, Yet Mindful Modern French Fortress

    Gavroche, a modern French restaurant from Jason Chan — one of the city’s most beloved industry figures — debuts in Old Town. The narrow space has been transformed into a cozy, yet comfortable 32-seat restaurant with a chef’s counter. The counter won’t be activated immediately as Chan says he hopes to provide guests with an omakase-style option.

    The chef’s counter service could include a la carte choices like hamachi nicoise, duo of foie gras, and turbot au four beurre blanc. Chan, who opened restaurants like Juno, Kitana, and Butter, says he scanned every menu from every French restaurant in Chicago. For the most part, they were the same, filled with classic fare. While Garvroche will honor the classics, Chan says there’s a new for contemporary cuisine to mimic what’s going on in Paris this minute. He’s brought on Mitchell Acuña to executive his vision. The chef is an alum of Boka, North Pond, and Sixteen. Chan is eager to see Acuña take chances and to give diners something they don’t expect. Chan tells Eater that Gavroche will either fill a nostalgic niche for customers who miss French haunts like Bistrot Margot — the French restaurant that closed nine years ago a few blocks south on Wells Street — or they’ll break new ground and draw a crowd excited to for something new.

    Classic opera cake is among three desserts on the menu from star pastry chef Christine McCabe. Beyond working at Charlie Trotter’s, McCabe has started a few bakeries including the Glazed & Infused doughnut chain and Sugar Cube, a sweets stall collaboration with Chan out of Time Out Chicago Market food hall.

    Chan says he isn’t done and has some ideas — perhaps a speakeasy-style bar that goes beyond just a gimmick entrance. For now, tour his latest and check out the menu. Old Town once more has a French restaurant, as Gavroche is open.

    Gavroche, 1529 N. Wells Street, open 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily, except closed on Tuesday.

    The garage door remains for better weather.

    It’s an eclectic space.

    A back wall with wine and a chandelier.

    A framed oval picture and two empty candle holders

    A bankers light with a book underneath mounted on a brick wall painted white.

    The wall of a bathroom with framed photos.

    The wall of a bathroom with framed photos.

    Ashok Selvam

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  • Opinion: How a California community helped prevent the Bridge fire from destroying their town

    Opinion: How a California community helped prevent the Bridge fire from destroying their town

    On the evening of Sept. 10, things looked bad for the mountain ski town of Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles. Driven by extreme fire weather, the Bridge fire, which had started on the other side of the mountain range, grew from just a few thousand acres to 34,240 acres that day, and was spreading toward the town. By the next morning, it had reached Wrightwood’s boundaries.

    This could have been a catastrophe, like the Camp fire in 2018, which claimed dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes in the northern Sierra Nevada town of Paradise. Instead, out of more than 2,000 residences in Wrightwood, 13 were destroyed by the Bridge fire. It’s tragic that homes were lost, yet the fact that more than 99% of residences survived and all of the people were safely evacuated is a significant wildfire success story. What explains it?

    In recent years, Wrightwood got very serious about community fire-safety measures. Long before the Bridge fire began, the local Fire Safe Council held educational events, coordinating with multiple agencies and governments. They promoted the importance of simple “home hardening” measures to make homes more fireproof, such as sweeping pine needles and leaves off of roofs and installing modern exterior vents that prevent flaming embers from entering houses. They preached about the effectiveness of “defensible space,” advocating that residents prune grasses, saplings and lower limbs immediately adjacent to their homes. And they created an evacuation plan.

    The Bridge fire is still burning, but slowly being brought under control. It’s currently 71% contained, with some zones still under evacuation and evacuation warning. As it threatened Wrightwood, wildland firefighting teams prioritized the kind of direct community protection the town had been preparing its residents for, rather than focusing on remote wildland areas, and trying to stop a wind-driven fire that could not realistically be stopped.

    They found that most homes in the town had defensible space, thanks to pruning done by owners. Firefighters concentrated aerial drops of fire retardant and water adjacent to the community, to keep the fire from entering the town. And they helped people evacuate, following the plan the townspeople had made.

    Wrightwood’s success in keeping most of its homes safe demonstrates that focusing directly on at-risk communities, rather than on forest management activities out in the wildlands, is a significant way to protect towns from wildfires. We have seen the grim results of logging vast areas of remote forest under the guise of “thinning” and telling communities that these zones would act as fuel breaks, preventing wildfires from reaching towns. Paradise, Greenville (destroyed in the Dixie fire in 2021) and Grizzly Flats, which is still rebuilding after two-thirds of it was lost to the Caldor fire that same year, are all examples of the fallacy of this approach.

    Yet there are those who would ignore examples like Wrightwood and want to double down on the failed strategies of the past. The most dangerous current example is the deceptively named Fix Our Forests Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). If passed it would roll back bedrock environmental laws and allow for clear-cutting — taking out most or all trees in an area — and logging of mature and old-growth trees on federal public lands. The bill is wrong on the science.

    While certain forest management practices, such as controlled burns and prescribed natural fires, are important wildfire management tools, there is growing consensus among ecologists and climate scientists that “thinning” and other logging activities do not curb wildfires and more often tend to intensify their behavior and effects. Some of the Forest Service’s own scientists are now criticizing their agency for the failures of the old approach, noting its ineffectiveness and urging a direct focus on community protection. Other Forest Service scientists are reporting that denser forests tend to burn less intensely in wildfires because of their shadier and cooler microclimate, while “thinned forests have more open conditions, which are associated with higher temperatures, lower relative humidity, higher wind speeds, and increasing fire intensity.”

    We cannot afford to go backward and stubbornly repeat costly mistakes, as the Fix Our Forests Act would do. Vulnerable communities need officials to take heed of examples like Wrightwood and begin prioritizing community wildfire safety over logging industry profits.

    Chad Hanson is a wildfire scientist with the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute and the author of “Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate.”

    Chad Hanson

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  • A Contemporary Spin on French Cusine Heads to Old Town

    A Contemporary Spin on French Cusine Heads to Old Town

    Jason Chan wants to fill a void in Old Town, one that’s existed for nine years after Bistrot Margot closed along Wells Street. Chan, one of the most beloved figures in Chicago’s restaurant scene, is known for his love of martial arts almost as much as his affability. He’s now opening a 32-seat French restaurant in October at a space a few blocks from Bistrot Margot.

    Old Town may have a French bakery in La Fournette, but Margot’s closure left the neighborhood without a French restaurant — the closest a mile north in Lincoln Park at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ Mon Ami Gabi. Chan will rectify that when he opens Gavroche late in September at 1529 N. Wells Street. Chan’s travels over the last two years have sent him to Japan, Italy, and Spain, but he says his time in Paris left the biggest impression. While in France, Chan says he witnessed a culinary revolution that spun away from the bistros Chicagoans associate with French food.

    “Of all the places, what I really loved the most were just tiny mom-and-pop, the 20- or 30-seat restaurants that had maybe five employees,” Chan says.

    Gavroche — also a character from Les Misérables — will offer a “contemporary, modern version of French food” without “the heavy creams and butters and seven mother sauces,” says Chan. The menu will have about 18 items with seven daily specials. About four of the specials will be classic dishes, what most envision when they crave French food, Chan says. Chan says he made a spreadsheet of Chicago’s 17 French restaurants and found most of them had the same menus. One way of distinguishing a menu is embracing how African influences have impacted French cuisine. All in all, Chan wants his new restaurant to disrupt with innovation: “Bistro is not rocket science,” he says.

    The menu at Gavroche will include dishes like charred French radishes with salted butter, fennel pollen, and a warm demi-baguette; a “niçoise” hamachi sashimi with egg yolk confit, seasonal vegetables, petit lettuce, pickled pearl onion, and white anchovy vinaigrette; and turbot au four beurre blanc with Polanco caviar and smoked crème fraîche beurre blanc.

    There will be a four-seat counter. There are no plans for a tasting menu, but if Chan sees one of his chef friends or someone he knows who would appreciate something a little extra, he’ll seat them at the counter and curate a menu omakase style: “It would kind of be like a secret deal that’s not a secret,” Chan says.

    Chan took a corporate job during the pandemic, and found love — he’s engaged. His fiance, Heather Blaise, is also a designer and is working on the restaurant, the former Old Town spinoff of Fish Bar. Chan’s resume includes serving as the general manager of Kitana, giving the chain someone with deep Chicago roots. He also opened Juno, the sushi restaurant in Lincoln Park. He’s worked for several restaurant groups, including DMK, and opened Butter in 2005 in West Loop. He comes from a legacy of restaurants as his parents ran several restaurants around Chicago, including a Jewish deli in Lakeview, an Irish pub in Andersonville, and a coffee shop in the Loop. Chan independently developed a love for French cuisine, working in the mid-’80s at L’Escargot in the Allerton Hotel off the Mag Mile. His parents pushed him away from working in the kitchen, wanting him to enter the professional ranks as a doctor or attorney. They gave Chan the least desirable jobs hoping he would be repulsed when he was a youngster. It backfired.

    “Buddy, when you’re when you’re in a 3,500-square-foot Irish pub by yourself, and it’s Saturday morning and you’re pissed because all your friends are in pajamas, eating cereal, and watching cartoons, and you’re cleaning a fucking restaurant bar,” Chan recalls. “After three months of crying and hating it every time I did it, I would pretend I was a chef when I was in the kitchen, I would pretend I was the manager when I was sweeping the floor.”

    While Chan serves as the inspiration for the restaurant, he’ll delegate cooking responsibilities to Mitchell Acuña. Chan was impressed by Acuña’s willingness to learn, and the chef worked at Boka, North Pond, and Sixteen. Chan spoke with Sixteen chef Nick Dostal who gave Acuña his endorsement as the two worked together at the Trump Tower restaurant when it was worthy of a Michelin star. Also joining the team is pastry chef Christine McCabe. McCabe worked at Charlie Trotter’s and worked with Chan prior, most recently at their Time Out Market Chicago stall, Sugar Cube. Chan says the pandemic led to the sweet shop’s demise just when the sweets shop began to find traction in 2020. McCabe will bake the breads and eventually be in charge of upcoming brunch and lunch menus.

    Reservations will only be accepted for groups of six or more — Chan wants to encourage walk-ins. He also wants to offer late-night dining. They have a 2 a.m. liquor license and intend to make use of it. He’s also sowing the seeds for more projects. He loves the history of Prohibition and says he has an idea for a speakeasy bar, one that eschews gimmicks for a genuine slice of history. He also has an idea for a fast-casual restaurant.

    Gavroche, 1529 N. Wells Street, planned for late-September opening.

    Ashok Selvam

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  • My town became environmentally conscious and so did I

    My town became environmentally conscious and so did I

    Growing up, I realized that children are a product of their environment, so let me tell you a little bit about mine: I grew up in Secaucus, N.J., a town called “the Jewel of the Meadowlands.” My suburban hometown exists within a large ecosystem of wetlands, the Meadowlands, through which the Hackensack River flows. But with post-agricultural pig farm effluent and debris from New York’s train station decay being dumped into the area, the Meadowlands became a jewel in need of polishing.

    Secaucus is working to recover the natural marshes by designating them as protected so fewer apartment complexes can be built and begin to sink a few years down the road, which has happened in the past. The town became environmentally conscious, and existing within that environment, I did the same.

    In high school, I worked with the Secaucus Environmental Department for over three years as part of the Next Generation Community Leaders, or NGCL, program created by the Lindsey Meyer Teen Institute. Little did I know just how much this experience would influence my life. Throughout that time, I learned about climate change, the planet’s environmental challenges, and the actions we need to take to reduce our footprint. I helped implement a plastic bag and Styrofoam ban, designed a food waste composting system at my high school and local gardens and created eco-friendly living PSAs. I canvassed to promote eco-friendly living and educated residents on how to compost at home.

    I also certified local businesses as “green,” depending on whether they followed practices set by the Sustainable Jersey network. These practices included recycling, reducing food waste, not using Styrofoam, etc. My contributions to the environmental department helped Secaucus to earn recognition from Sustainable Jersey as a Silver Certified Community.

    That experience showed me how local actions can create change. By educating residents in Secaucus, we altered their behaviors, if even slightly, to be more environmentally conscious. Residents began to grow produce in the community gardens, compost at home and reduce their plastic bag usage. I witnessed how humans responsible for harming the planet have the potential to make changes to fix it and make it better for future generations. From that day forward, I carried that responsibility with me.

    I will be honest: I don’t know the current status of those projects I worked on in Secaucus. I hope that residents are still composting at home and that those businesses continue their green practices.

    I began my journey into learning about sustainability at USC with a major in industrial and systems engineering and a minor in law and public policy. Although these are not fields directly tied to the climate ecosphere, my advocacy in Secaucus made me realize that a systematic mindset and policy knowledge would be strong tools with which I can effect change within both the government and private sector in advocating for larger-scale sustainability solutions. With the opportunities provided by USC, I knew I could get involved in environmentalism and sustainability without having to be an environmental science major.

    A view of a smoke-spewing refinery at sunset

    “We have canvassed [local] youth … and discovered that their top environmental priorities are cleaner air, green spaces and green buildings,” says Alyssa Jaipersaud, a member of the L.A. County Youth Climate Commission.

    (Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

    If you asked freshman Alyssa what her ultimate career goal was, she would have said, “Facilitate systemic change within the bureaucracy through ecological and climate-preservation policies to make society more sustainably conscious.” I wrote this on an index card and kept it in my backpack throughout college to constantly remind me of the goal because being an environmentalist can be discouraging, given the current climate.

    Since then, I think I would have made freshman Alyssa proud. I was accepted into the USC Student Sustainability Committee and became a mentor to new members. The SSC acts as a representative for the student body within the Presidential Working Group for Sustainability. We work on projects such as getting reusable takeout containers in dining halls, ensuring ongoing campus construction is adhering to green practices, and creating a central physical space where sustainability-minded students can gather.

    As a member of the SSC, I ensured that sustainability would become a standard educational practice at USC and change student behaviors toward respecting their environment. I continued my education at USC by pursuing a master’s in sustainable engineering, and I have earned the distinction of a National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholar by focusing on sustainability.

    Alyssa Jaipersaud in a rose garden.

    Alyssa Jaipersaud poses for a portrait at Exposition Park Rose Garden.

    (Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

    My environmental pursuits have culminated in my becoming a Los Angeles County Youth Climate commissioner in the world’s first such organization. We have canvassed the youth in L.A. County and discovered that their top environmental priorities are cleaner air, green spaces and green buildings.

    Now, as a member of the legislative committee, I track all federal and state measures that relate to these priorities and bring them to the attention of the county Board of Supervisors so that they can weigh in on whether the legislation should be amended, supported or rejected. We are working actively to support legislation currently going through the U.S. Senate that would call for establishing opportunities for youths to be involved in policy development so they can ensure a healthy environment for their future and those to come.

    Since children are a product of their environment, we should help future generations have a good environment to live in. With the environment constantly changing due to global warming, future generations will have a chance only if we work to make the world sustainable starting today. Instead of forcing future generations to learn how to survive to fix the environmental mistakes we are making today, they should have the opportunity to live without the repercussions of the past.

    I witnessed the negative effects of a mistreated environment in my hometown, and I want to make sure future generations aren’t suffering from the consequences of what we are doing. With a sustainability mindset, local changes can influence the politicians and create the systemic change needed to get the biggest offenders under control. One of the significant steps is behavioral changes, which can begin locally and be brought by people not even studying in the environmental field, just like me.

    Alyssa Jaipersaud earned a bachelor of science in industrial and systems engineering with a minor in law and public policy at USC and is also completing a master’s of science in sustainable engineering. She is setting her sights on a full-time role in the sustainability industry either as a consultant or practicing engineer.

    Alyssa Jaipersaud

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  • David Pisor Faces Foreclosure Suit Over Aya Pastry in West Town

    David Pisor Faces Foreclosure Suit Over Aya Pastry in West Town

    As the new owner of Etta Collective attempts to distance itself from the bankruptcy filings of former owner David Pisor, the banks are pressing forward with efforts to collect debts. Records show Pisor has defaulted on the $1.4 million mortgage for the West Town building that houses Aya Pastry.

    Wintrust Bank has filed a lawsuit against Pisor and also lists his former business partner, Jim Lasky, in the complaint. Lasky’s attorneys have reiterated that their client has been long removed from Aya’s operations stemming from an acrimonious split between the parties in 2023. The two also founded Maple & Ash in Gold Coast and Etta. The latter had multiple locations while a Bucktown restaurant remains open under the new ownership of a Texas tech company. Johann Moonesinghe is the founder of InKind and took over Aya Pastry earlier this year after he won an auction for Etta Collective’s assets. Moonesinghe is now the tenant at 1332 W. Grand Avenue and tells Crain’s he’d be interested in buying the Aya building if it were made available. In Scottsdale, Arizona, an Etta outpost was recently sold to RDM Hospitality, an Austin, Texas company. The restaurant will relaunch in late September with renovations and a new modern Italian menu, according to a news release.

    Back in Chicago, Aya Pastry’s namesake, acclaimed pastry chef Aya Fukai, left the bakery in 2023, but her name remains on all the branding. Fukai, who worked with Laksy and Pisor at Maple & Ash, opened the bakery with the pair in 2017. Her recipes also remain and several local coffee shops stock their pastry cases with doughnuts and croissants from the bakery. Fukai isn’t listed as a defendant in Wintrust’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, September 10 in Cook County circuit court. Pisor kept Fukai’s departure quiet while dealing with the fallout from separating from Lasky. Over the summer, Lasky and chef Danny Grant announced expansion plans for the bar inside Maple & Ash, called Eight Bar. There’s hope of opening multiple locations across the country, and the duo has plans for Maple & Ash and Eight Bar combo in Miami. The steakhouse holds the cachet of being one of Restaurant Business Online’s highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country and tops in Chicago.

    Last year, several former Etta workers protested, citing lapses in healthcare coverage and other operational concerns with Pisor. Meanwhile, Pisor tells Crain’s that he looks forward to resolving the matter concerning Wintrust quickly, describing the bank’s lawsuit as a baseless attack and a “technical default.”

    Ashok Selvam

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  • Fire threatens Southern California ski resorts. Will they make it to winter?

    Fire threatens Southern California ski resorts. Will they make it to winter?

    A number of Southern California’s most popular ski resorts are under threat from wildfires that are burning across the mountains that skiers glide down.

    At the Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood, staff desperate to save the popular skiing spot turned on snowmakers to keep flames from the Bridge fire at bay.

    The fire, which has charred 49,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest, exploded in size late Tuesday, burning homes and sending flames barreling through the trees toward Mountain High’s chairlifts. Despite the harrowing visuals captured on the resort’s cameras, all the main lifts and buildings survived with “little to no damage,” the resort wrote on social media Wednesday.

    “Thank you to all the employees and fire fighters for their hard work. Our hearts go out to the Wrightwood families that may be suffering. We are with you!” the resort wrote in the post.

    Ski resorts in the Big Bear region, meanwhile, were hoping to remain standing as the Line fire raged nearby, putting the mountain community on edge. The blaze, which started last week, has already charred more than 34,000 acres and was 14% contained Wednesday.

    Crews were staging equipment on the hills at Snow Summit and Bear Mountain and trying to create defense perimeters around buildings, chairlifts and other improvements, resort spokesman Justin Kanton said as he sat in his office on the property, socked in by smoke.

    At Snow Valley in Running Springs, which was closest to the fire’s front line, workers were using snowmaking guns to saturate the grounds in an attempt to keep embers from taking hold, Kanton said.

    The resorts have suspended operations until further notice.

    A nine-year resident of Sugarloaf, just south of Big Bear City, Kanton, 44, said he enjoys the bountiful nature and the varied weather. But he says he’s seen large fires encroaching on the peaceful community with increasing frequency.

    “It’s one of the few places in Southern California where we actually get four true seasons,” he said. “Unfortunately it looks like, more and more, we’re starting to have a fifth season, which is fire season.”

    Big Bear Mountain Resort, which operates the Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and Snow Valley resorts, reported its snowiest February on the mountain since at least 2000. The snowy winter, which helped plants grow, was followed by a hot and low-rainfall summer, which dried them out.

    As Kanton sat in his office Wednesday, he watched as ash particles rained down from the sky. Usually, he can see across to the north shore of Big Bear Lake from his window, but on this day his view was obscured by haze. The west end of town was under an evacuation order, and the rest was told to prepare to evacuate if conditions worsened.

    Kanton said he was prepared to leave town if needed and would probably head to Palm Springs to stay with friends. There’s currently just one way out — down winding Highway 18 into Lucerne Valley — so he hopes, if it comes to that, people will be patient and not panic.

    “These things can escalate pretty quickly, especially given the weather conditions we’ve had,” he said.

    Big Bear Lake City Manager Erik Sund is hopeful the fires that have burned in the valley in recent years, including the Radford fire in 2022, will help mitigate the current blaze by cutting down on available fuel for the flames.

    He’s still concerned about the damage to roads, though, given that all routes in and out of town have been shut down except for Highway 18. In addition to creating a potential choke point in an emergency, the closures hamper residents who commute to work and tourists who want to take advantage of Big Bear’s hiking trails and other attractions.

    “After this fire gets behind us, the next thing we’ll be doing is assessing all of those things,” he said. “Because before you know it, it’ll be winter, and we’ll want to welcome visitors.”

    Times staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report

    Alex Wigglesworth, Summer Lin

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  • Arami, West Town’s Sushi Destination, Will Close After 14 Years

    Arami, West Town’s Sushi Destination, Will Close After 14 Years

    Japanese food wasn’t always seen as belonging on the same fine dining stage as other foods in Chicago, which is why Arami’s 14-year run in West Town has been remarkable, coinciding with how the perceptions of Americans have changed. As one of the first restaurants along a stretch of Chicago Avenue now crowded with restaurants, Ty and brother Troy Fujimura’s restaurants set a standard with hot and cold options with top-notch sushi, noodles, and skewers.

    That run will close at the end of August as Arami’s final service will come on Saturday, August 31. Fujimura says he notified his workers on Wednesday, August 14.

    “We struggle like any other restaurant — especially a small restaurant — and [it’s hard to] kind of make ends meet without having to compromise,” Ty Fujimura says. “So we’re in that position now where I think the restaurant, I know the restaurant has run its course.”

    There’s a pattern for the Fujimuras who earlier this year sold his first restaurant, SmallBar, in Logan Square. There are personal and family struggles that Ty Fujumura didn’t want to share. Despite the support of regulars, Arami has struggled since the pandemic began in 2020. Chef Joe Fontelera departed to pursue his dream of spotlighting Filipino food and opening Boonie’s Filipino Restaurant. Not that scrambling was anything new for Arami. Two years in, opening chef and partner BK Park left the restaurant abruptly in 2012 (he would later open Juno in Lincoln Park). The Fujimuras closed the restaurant for two weeks to reload. In 2016, a fire kept the restaurant closed for a month. Even more recently, the Fujimuras brought back a fan favorite rehiring chef Nelson Vinansaca, their former sushi chef who moved to Ecuador five years ago. Vinansaca brought stability, but apparently, it hasn’t been enough.

    Fujumura says if anyone is interested in buying a turnkey restaurant, he’d be interested in selling the business. But right now, he feels a sense of relief. Arami could also be considered a pioneer as one of the first upscale restaurants on a stretch of Chicago Avenue that now includes Brasero, Forbidden Root, All Together Now, and more. Fujimura says he’s been wrestling with the decision to close the former Michelin Bib Gourmand staple for about a month.

    “It might sound weird, but I’m really happy — I’m happy because now we have time to celebrate,” Ty Fujimura says. “We can celebrate this restaurant with our friends and our family. You know past employees, people that haven’t been there yet. — there are so many experiences that people have shared there whether it’s memories made for birthdays, anniversaries, or what have you.”

    The restaurant opened just before sushi omakase became trendy and has hosted several celebrities including Blackhawk players, musicians, and actors. It was also where sports reporter Darren Rovell complained about surcharges.

    “I’ve been waffling back and forth… I could restructure my lease and maybe do a little fund raise, and do some changes at the restaurant,” he says. “But you know what? That sounds like I’m rescuing this restaurant. The restaurant doesn’t need to be rescued. This restaurant needs to be retired,”

    Fujumura has been reexamining his role in the restaurant industry. He remains a partner at Lilac Tiger, the reimagined Wazwan in Wicker Park with food from James Beard Award nominee Zubair Mohajir. Midway International Airport still has an Arami location, and he’s hopeful of opening one at O’Hare International Airport. His company, Fujimura Hospitality, runs the food service at the Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club at Montrose Harbor, and he runs Rockwell Bottle Shop in Lincoln Square. But it’s been challenging during the pandemic. He swung hard and relocated Michelin-starred Entented from Lincoln Square to a new space in River North. Pandemic-era dining restrictions crushed the restaurant which has since closed and is now home to Obelix.

    “After doing this now for well over two decades, it’s that time to catch your breath, that time to be in your own element, and inside your head… those times are far and few in between,” Fujimura says. “I feel no one’s going to give me that, no one’s going to make that time for me — I need to make that time for myself.”

    Arami, 1629 W. Chicago Avenue, closing Saturday, August 31.

    Ashok Selvam

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  • California history reduced to ash with Borel fire’s destruction of Havilah

    California history reduced to ash with Borel fire’s destruction of Havilah

    HAVILAH, Calif. — 

    There was gold in these hills.

    Hidden in the rugged Sierra Nevada amid sprawling pine forests, Havilah was once a bustling mining town where stamp mills pulverized rock from the region’s mines and prospectors panned for precious metals in the late 19th century.

    In its heyday, the town’s main drag featured saloons, dance halls, inns and gambling houses. Townsfolk witnessed midday gunfights, manhunts for wanted murders and stagecoach robberies, and they wagered gold dust on horse races, according to Los Angeles Times archives.

    But for nearly a century, long after the feverish search for gold subsided, Havilah had been considered something of a ghost town, with only about 150 residents. Foundations were all that remained of most of its historic buildings when fire swept through the town July 26.

    The fast-moving Borel fire, which has scorched nearly 60,000 acres as of Friday, destroyed some of the last vestiges of Havilah in just 24 hours, including a replica courthouse, which served as a small roadside museum for decades.

    Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.

    Roy Fluhart, whose ancestors had homesteaded in the area around the Great Depression, had tried to preserve the town’s rich history. As president of Havilah’s historical society, he and his relatives helped curate the courthouse with historic documents and photographs, antique mining tools and other artifacts from the region’s past.

    “We lost everything,” Fluhart said. “The sad part is, the museum was an archive, and it’s lost now. Son of a gun. … We didn’t really have time to get anything out.”

    It wasn’t just the town’s history that was lost.

    Havilah resident Bo Barnett, wearing the same clothes he had on when fleeing , recounts escaping the Borel fire. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Bo Barnett, whose house was destroyed, managed to escape with his dogs and the clothes on his back. Barnett, whose wife died a month ago, expressed remorse that he didn’t have time to collect her ashes.

    “Fire was raining down upon us,” Barnett said, as his eyes welled with tears. “I wasn’t sure what I was driving into. My tires were melting on the road. It was horrible.”

    Gov. Gavin Newsom, who spent much of his childhood in the sparsely populated mining community of Dutch Flat in Placer County, lamented the loss of a fellow gold rush community on Tuesday. Wearing aviator sunglasses and a ball cap, he toured the wreckage in Havilah, walking up to the remnants of the town museum and pulling a novelty Uncle Sam coin bank from the blackened rubble.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom finds an Uncle Sam coin bank in the rubble of the Havilah museum.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom toured Havilah after the fire, finding an artifact in the wreck of the courthouse museum.

    “Towns wiped off the map — places, lifestyles, traditions,” Newsom said at a news conference. “That’s what this is really all about. At the end of the day, it’s about people, it’s about history, it’s about memories.”

    In recent years, devastating wildfires have obliterated some of California’s gold rush towns, erasing the history of one of the most significant eras in 19th century America. Havilah joins the likes of Paradise and Greenville, small communities that saw influxes of prospectors, followed by population exodus and, more recently, devastation.

    Havilah credits its origin to Asbury Harpending — a Kentuckian who plotted to seize California and its gold to support the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1864, Harpending, indignant after his conviction for high treason, ventured to present-day Kern County’s Clear Creek region. He found deposits of gold and christened the area Havilah, after a gold-rich land in the book of Genesis.

    Although Harpending had no land rights, he established a sprawling mining camp and sold parcels to incoming miners in what many believed could be a second gold rush. In 1866, Havilah became the seat of the newly established Kern County, a title it held for eight years until Bakersfield became the principal city. He stayed only two years but made a fortune: $800,000.

    “I was literally chased from absolute poverty into the possession of nearly a million dollars,” Harpending wrote in his autobiography. “I discovered a great mining district and founded a thriving town. And if the matter of paternity is ever brought up in court, it will probably be proved to the satisfaction of a jury that I am the father of Kern County.”

    Newspaper clipping: Duel to death in Havilah. Two men slain in pistol fight on street.

    A 1905 article in the Los Angeles Times details a shooting reminiscent of a Wild West film.

    (Los Angeles Times archive / newspapers.com)

    As gold became harder to find, people deserted Havilah, and its buildings fell into disrepair. Those who remained attempted to commemorate the community’s mining legacy and pioneer heritage. In 1966, for the centennial of Havilah’s founding, residents finished building the replica courthouse. They later built a replica of the town’s schoolhouse, which doubled as a community center.

    Historical markings along Caliente-Bodfish Road indicate buildings that once existed: barbershop, a blacksmith, the Grand Inn and a livery stable. Some large plaques also pay tribute to historic events such as the last stagecoach robbery in Kern County in 1869, in which a gunman made off with $1,700 in coinage and gold bullion.

    Wesley Kutzner, a historical society member and Fluhart’s uncle, helped build the replica courthouse alongside his parents and other locals. Although the historical society couldn’t afford fire insurance, Kutzner said he has resolved to clean up the property and rebuild, the same way the community did nearly 60 years ago.

    “The plan is to rebuild,” Kutzner said. “It’s going to be a community effort. It’s going to be a tough road home, but we’ll get it done.”

    One resident who plans to rebuild is Sean Rains. He left Bakersfield two years ago and moved to Havilah with his girlfriend and their pit bull, seeking the tranquility of the mountains. Rains, a miner and countertop fabricator, had also been one of the few people holding onto hope of finding buried treasure in Havilah.

    In his front yard, Rains kept a shaker table and other equipment to sift soil for flecks of gold.

    It was “nothing to make us rich,” he said, but he did find some.

    “They say it’s everywhere,” Rains said. “It’s just a matter of whether it’s enough to make it worth your while.”

    1

    Sean Rains inspects his shaker table next to the rubble of his home and a burned pickup truck.

    2

    American flags on a chain link fence with charred scenery in the background.

    3

    Canisters of film lay melted on the Havilah museum floor.

    1. Sean Rains moved to Havilah two years ago and had taken up panning for gold with a shaker table in his frontyard. 2. A roadside scene in Havilah. 3. Film canisters lay melted on the floor of the Havilah museum, just some of the artifacts lost in the Borel fire.

    Rains was also recruited into the historical society. He read old letters in which a sheriff had remarked that the town’s only pastimes were robbing stagecoaches and horse racing. Another recalled how pioneers hauled their carriages over the mountainous terrain by rope.

    The historical society had recently installed a water hose at the replica schoolhouse. Because Rains lived nearby, he was asked to help defend the schoolhouse if there was ever a fire.

    “I gave them my word,” he said.

    So once Rains saw fire crest the mountaintop behind his home and swiftly descend into the valley, he rushed next door to start up the schoolhouse’s water pump. He sprayed down the building and extinguished embers under its front porch.

    He eventually turned his attention to his own one-story house, dousing it until the trees in his yard caught fire. He, his girlfriend and their dog sped away in his pickup truck.

    “It was licking our heels on the way out of here,” Rains recalled. “It was right on top of us. The winds were crazy in that thing, going in all different directions. It was sucking branches right off the trees. The whole mountain was engulfed.”

    Rains returned to town the next morning, walking along Caliente-Bodfish Road to see what was left of Havilah.

    The valley’s pines and oaks were charred, and much of the landscape was covered in white ash. Rains’ two-bedroom home was burned to its cobblestone foundation. Two cars he had been restoring were scorched husks. His two ATVs were reduced to skeletal frames.

    The schoolhouse survived.

    The replica of the Havilah schoolhouse, untouched by flames.

    The Havilah schoolhouse — after the fire.

    Tony Briscoe, Robert Gauthier

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  • That’s hot: Needles dethrones Phoenix as hottest U.S. city in July

    That’s hot: Needles dethrones Phoenix as hottest U.S. city in July

    A town of 5,200 just inside the California border along Route 66 now boasts a scorching new record — the hottest monthly average temperature in the country.

    Needles averaged 103.2 degrees in July, surpassing Phoenix‘s highest average temperature last July of 102.7 degrees, according to the Arizona State Climate Office. In an X post, the department ceded the unfortunate title to Needles.

    The post also referenced two other cities, Palm Springs and Blythe, and welcomed them to the club of cities with average temperatures of at least three digits for an entire month.

    “Welcome?” the post said.

    Jan Jernigan, the mayor of Needles, was not surprised by her town’s achievement, saying: “We probably did [beat the record], quite easily.”

    The heat is a part of the town’s culture. When the City Council hosts meetings, it offers guests a basket of Red Hots candy with a sign that reads, “Needles is Red Hot,” Jernigan said.

    The heat is ingrained in Needles’ culture. City officials offer Red Hots candy at public meetings, with a sign reading “Needles is Red Hot.”

    (Courtey of Jan Jernigan)

    Needles has learned to hold city events early in the morning to avoid the worst of the heat, Jernigan said. A food distribution event this morning started around 5 a.m. and lasted only until 8 a.m., she said, before temperatures became oppressive.

    The town, also known for references in the “Peanuts” comics as the home of Snoopy’s brother Spike, still draws tourists and residents alike to its three beaches on the Colorado River where they can try to beat the summer heat, said City Manager Patrick Martinez. The city has spent $8.4 million in grants to improve infrastructure, including updating parks, he said.

    “You’ve [got to] be waist-deep in the Colorado River” to stay cool in Needles, he said.

    In late June, the region’s intense heat was partly to blame for an unusual brush fire that broke out near Needles, burning 70 acres and destroying one structure. It crossed into Arizona and burned 143 acres there. Martinez said the infrastructure upgrades included beach cleanups that will help reduce the risk of future wildfires, especially during a wildfire-prone summer. This year’s hot weather has contributed to fires burning 30 times as many acres statewide as last year.

    To fight the heat, the town operates a senior center that provides water and a cool place for people to gather. It is equipped with a generator and can be opened during an emergency if power outages put residents in danger of overheating, Martinez said.

    Jernigan said the most recent improvements to Needles’ infrastructure aren’t the end of the story. “We still have a long way to go,” she said.

    Sandra McDonald

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  • Photos: Boral fire burns over 38,000 acres, destroying the community of Havilah

    Photos: Boral fire burns over 38,000 acres, destroying the community of Havilah

    The 38,000-acre Borel fire in Kern County has leveled the tiny, historic mining town of Havilah. The fire ignited Wednesday in the Kern River canyon and spread rapidly as it met with strong winds, officials said. It ran through Havilah on Friday night and razed almost the entire town, appearing to spare only a few buildings.

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Breckenridge Mountain is obscured by smoke from the southeastern flank of the Borel fire near the community of Twin Oaks.

    Breckenridge Mountain is obscured by smoke from the southeastern flank of the Borel fire near the community of Twin Oaks.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    The Iron Mountain Hand Crew moves to the front as dozens of firefighters manage the southeastern flank of the Borel fire.

    Members of the Iron Mountain Hand Crew move to the front as dozens of firefighters manage the southeastern flank of the Borel fire near the community of Twin Oaks.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, killing livestock and leaving many residents homeless.

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, killing livestock and leaving many residents homeless.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    The Borel fire devastated the town of Havilah, leaving many residents homeless.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Robert Gauthier

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  • Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town with no addresses, says the time has come to add house numbers

    Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town with no addresses, says the time has come to add house numbers

    After decades of resistance, Carmel-by-the-Sea is about to address some of its residents’ biggest frustrations.

    Quite literally.

    The moneyed little town, where homes and businesses have no street addresses, soon will have numbers assigned to its buildings, forgoing a cherished local tradition after too many complaints about lost packages, trouble setting up utilities and banking accounts, and other problems.

    The Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council approved establishing street addresses in a 3-2 vote earlier this month, with proponents citing public safety concerns and the need to abide by the state fire code, which requires buildings to be numbered.

    “Do we need to wait for someone to die in order to decide that this is the right thing to do? It is the law,” said Councilmember Karen Ferlito, who voted in favor of addresses.

    Rather than street numbers, residents in the town of 3,200 have long used directional descriptors: City Hall is on the east side of Monte Verde Street between Ocean and 7th avenues. And they give their homes whimsical names such as Sea Castle, Somewhere and Faux Chateau.

    There is no home mail delivery. Locals pick up their parcels at the downtown post office, where, many say, serendipitous run-ins with neighbors are an essential part of the small-town charm.

    For more than 100 years, residents fought to keep it that way, once threatening to secede from California if addresses were imposed. They argued that the lack of house numbers — along with other quirks, such as no streetlights or sidewalks in residential areas — added to the vaunted “village character.”

    “We are losing this place, day by day and week by week, from people who want to modernize us, who want to take us to a new level, when we want to stay where we are,” Neal Kruse, co-chair of the Carmel Preservation Assn., said during the July 9 City Council meeting at which addresses were approved.

    Carol Oaks stands in front of her home, which is named “Somewhere” and has no formal address. Carmel-by-the-Sea will soon number its homes and businesses.

    (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

    The debate over street numbers has simmered for years and intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people began shopping online more frequently and struggled to get their packages delivered.

    Some residents and tourists worry that if they have an accident or a medical issue, emergency responders will have trouble finding them. Others have had trouble receiving mail-order prescriptions and medical equipment.

    “This is a life-and-death situation in my life and my family,” resident Deanna Dickman told the City Council. “I want a street address that people can find on GPS and get there, and my wife can get the medication she needs.”

    Dickman said her wife needs a shot that comes through the mail and must be refrigerated. If she can’t get it delivered, she has to travel to an infusion center and get her medication every 30 days “so she can breathe,” Dickman said.

    Dickman once had her own temperature-controlled medication “tossed over a fence a block away.” The property owner was not home, and it spoiled.

    Resident Susan Bjerre said she once needed oxygen delivered to her house for someone who had just gotten out of the hospital. The delivery driver could not find the residence, so she said: “I will be in the street. I will wave you down.”

    “This is going to sound really snarky, but I think people who oppose instituting an address system don’t realize how inconsiderate they are to everyone else,” Bjerre said.

    Another speaker, Alice Cory, said she worried that implementing addresses in Carmel-by-the-Sea — long a haven for artists, writers and poets — “would just make us another town along the coast.”

    In the one-square-mile town, “the police know where everybody is,” and fire officials get to people quickly because there are so few streets, she said.

    “Let’s keep it that way, and let’s keep the sweetness of this little town, because people know Carmel for a reason,” she said.

    A man, woman and fluffy white dog sit at a booth at a farmer's market.

    Neal Kruse, center, with Karyl Hall and her dog, Bubbles, chat with a resident at the Carmel Preservation Assn. booth at a farmers market. Kruse and Hall worry street addresses will hurt the town’s character.

    (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

    Emily Garay, a city administrative analyst, told the council that while local authorities might be familiar with Carmel-by-the-Sea’s unconventional navigational practices, other emergency responders — such as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or Monterey County’s contracted ambulance provider — might struggle to quickly figure out where people live.

    The California Fire Code requires buildings to have and display addresses. But Carmel-by-the-Sea has not enforced the provision.

    “I believe, as a professional firefighter for over 37 years [with] a lot of experience in emergency response, that if the question is, ‘Is it more advantageous to have building numbers identified?’ Yes, absolutely,” Andrew Miller, chief of the Monterey Fire Department, told the council.

    Residents opposed to street addresses have said they fear that numbering houses would lead to home mail delivery — which, in turn, could trigger the closure of the Carmel-by-the-Sea post office.

    In January, David Rupert, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service told The Times that the post office had “been serving the local community since 1889” and there were no plans to close it. (The lobby for the post office was red-tagged this spring after a septuagenarian crashed her red Tesla through the front windows.)

    Garay said addresses would not trigger home delivery.

    Before voting against addresses, Mayor Dave Potter said he was “concerned about the fact that we’re kind of losing our character of our community along the way here” and that it had become the nature of the community “to fight over little things.”

    But Ferlito said she had received “piles of emails from residents” who wanted addresses and worried about being found in a crisis.

    “If we’re saying we will lose our quaintness because we have an address, I think that’s a false narrative,” she said. “This is more than quaintness. This is life emergencies.”

    Hailey Branson-Potts

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  • 16,000-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara County prompts evacuations near vineyards, Neverland Ranch

    16,000-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara County prompts evacuations near vineyards, Neverland Ranch

    A wildfire in the mountains above Santa Barbara County’s Santa Ynez Valley has exploded to more than 16,000 acres, prompting evacuations near vineyards and Neverland Ranch.

    The Lake fire was sparked near Zaca Lake on Friday afternoon just before 4 p.m. and quickly spread through dry grass, brush and timber, officials said. The fire was zero percent contained on Sunday.

    The Sheriff’s Department expanded the evacuation area Saturday night along Figueroa Mountain Road near Neverland Ranch, once owned by the pop star Michael Jackson. More ground crews were dispatched to the area.

    “Our goal is to keep [the fire] away from all those structures,” said Kenichi Haskett, the public information officer assigned to the firefighting operation. “It’s going to continue to grow.”

    The fire was burning in the mountains above Foxen Canyon Road, where there are more than a dozen vineyards. Several wineries north of Los Olivos were closed Sunday after fire officials cut off access to the road.

    But there was no need to evacuate, said Ashley Parker, co-owner of Fess Parker Winery.

    Though she could see the glow at night north of the winery, the wind appeared to be taking the fire farther north, away from populated areas, Parker said.

    The threat level was low enough that the youngsters were simply entertained by the fire helicopters sucking water from the vineyard reservoir, she said.

    “My nieces and their husbands live on the ranch,” Parker said. “All the kids were getting a real thrill out of it. Those helicopter pilots are really amazing. So lucky to have great fire crews.”

    The fire was fueled by low humidity and hot inland temperatures. When the fire started, a red flag warning was in place because of gusty winds. The wind has now calmed down, but temperatures remain high.

    “With less wind, they can get aircraft in there to drop retardant,” said Joe Sirard, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “But it’s life threatening heat for these firefighters.”

    He said the humidity was still in single digits in some areas of the fire, especially in the highest elevations. The cause of the fire is unknown.

    Amid scorching temperatures, crews continued to battle several wildfires in inland areas across California. The largest is the Basin fire in Fresno County, which started June 26. The fire, which has burned 14,027 acres, was 60% contained on Sunday.

    Crews also gained the upper hand on the French fire, which began on the Fourth of July and briefly threatened the town of Mariposa outside Yosemite National Park. The 908-acre fire, which temporarily triggered mandatory evacuations and closed State Route 140 leading into the park, stands at 60% containment.

    The weather service has issued an excessive-heat warning until 9 p.m. on Wednesday for inland valleys from Cuyama in San Luis Obispo County down to the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County. Forecasters say the highs along this stretch of inland California are expected to range from 106 to 116 degrees.

    The relentless heat shattered records in some parts of the state on Saturday. Palmdale tied its all-time record of 115 degrees. Death Valley set a new record for July 6 with a high of 128 degrees.

    On Saturday, a cooling trend prompted the weather service to call off excessive-heat advisories and warnings in many of the coastal areas.

    In Los Olivos, vineyard managers said they were optimistic the fire would soon be contained. Parker said she expected her winery to reopen Monday.

    “I really do believe the firefighters knocked it back and that area is going to be up to speed in a day,” she said. “The last thing I want to do is encourage people not to come. The town of Los Olivos is in good shape. Businesses are open. People are having a good time.”

    Adrian De La Cruz, who works at Petros Winery closer to town, said customers were being seated indoors because of the air quality.

    “The smoke is getting really bad today,” he said. “Yesterday it was raining ash.”

    He said one fire patrol officer stopped by, but he did not have time to talk to him.

    “We were busy,” he said.

    Melody Petersen, Doug Smith

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  • Japanese Pastries Take Center Stage in West Town

    Japanese Pastries Take Center Stage in West Town

    As business names go, it doesn’t get more on the nose than Puffy Cakes. Recently opened in West Town, the bakery and coffee shop specializes in Japanese cheesecake, which features a fluffy texture that’s a cross between a souffle and brioche French toast.

    Chicago, like other major cities, has been experiencing a major bakery renaissance. From favorites like Mindy’s Bakery, Kasama, Publican Quality Bread, Good Ambler, Justice of the Pies, and Loaf Lounge to upstarts like Swadesi, Umaga Bakehouse, Sugar Moon, and Loba Pastry, satisfying a sweet tooth in Chicago has never been easier or more delicious. And the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

    When Julian Coltea and his Puffy Cakes partners began delving into a dessert-focused business, they knew they had to do something different.

    “There are so many places in Chicago that make great cookies, pies, and classic American desserts,” says Coltea. “We wanted to go beyond that and expand to something else.”

    Hokkaido cheese tarts
    Fluffy Cakes

    A matcha drip.
    Fluffy Cakes

    That something else turned out to be Japanese cheesecake, which is lighter and less sweet than its American counterpart. “We really wanted to make it our primary focus and bring the dessert, which I think is delicious, to the masses,” he adds.

    Prior to opening in June, the Puffy Cakes baking team went through rounds of experiments to perfect the recipe and achieve the desired jiggly texture. (Turns out, folding in the egg white meringue by hand is crucial, says Coltea.) The airy cream cheese batter is placed in ramekins that are then baked low and slow in a water bath.

    Available in three flavors — traditional, matcha, and ube — the 4-inch cheesecakes are designed for one to two people. Additionally, 6- and 8-inch versions are available via advance ordering. Housemade sauces are available for those who want to add a touch more sweetness. Signature sauces include caramel drizzle, dark chocolate, matcha, Nutella, and strawberry with additional flavors in the works. Look for candy toppings to be offered soon.

    Japanese-style cheesecake
    Fluffy Cakes

    Cakes in different flavors.
    Fluffy Cakes

    Beyond the Japanese cheesecakes, which are baked fresh daily, Puffy Cakes also features a handful of other desserts. Petite Japanese cheese tarts include a mixture of three cheeses (cream cheese, mascarpone, and Parmesan), housemade seasonal fruit jams, and fresh fruit toppings. The menu also features traditional baked tarts, including a recent lemon blackberry meringue tart with a bruléed Italian meringue dome. A curated list of macarons will soon be joined by a selection of Asian-inspired cookies.

    To ensure none of its leftover cheesecakes goes to waste, Puffy Cakes crafted a bread pudding. Cut-up pieces of a mix of their cakes are baked like a traditional bread pudding before being topped with different garnishes that might include pecans, white chocolate, and walnuts.

    A partnership with La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Puffy Cakes offers specialty coffee drinks, including cold brew on tap.

    The interior design of Puffy Cakes includes a few couches, round tables, and a banquette on one side of the cozy 950-square-foot space, accented with hues of red, yellow, and black. Lantern-like light fixtures hang overhead. A fireplace will keep things toasty when winter arrives.

    “We’re a dessert shop first,” says Coltea, “but from the beginning, we knew we wanted to serve high-quality coffee and make this a really warm, inviting place for people to come and hang out or work.”

    Puffy Cakes, 1651 W Chicago Avenue, open 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and closed Mondays.

    Lisa Shames

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