WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:02.919 This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI 2 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.839 AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand 3 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.280 on the iHeartRadio app. 4 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:10.640 Well, we were. 5 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.839 Talking about that two hundred year old condom at the 6 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:19.120 Amsterdam Museum and the history there from nine eighteen thirty. 7 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:24.160 Los Angeles is not often in the same conversation of history. 8 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:29.440 We make distinctions between our city and going to just 9 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:36.240 the East Coast for a juxtaposition of buildings and appreciating 10 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.640 history and what still remains. Of course, going to Europe 11 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:42.840 and the like anywhere else on the globe is a 12 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.640 totally different ballgame. But there is quite a bit of 13 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:51.159 history in Los Angeles. Maybe it's not preserved as well 14 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.280 as it is in other places. But Nathan Marsak is 15 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:01.920 an author from Los Angeles and celebrates all of the 16 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.400 history of Los Angeles architecturally and the like. 17 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:08.920 That exists or that has tragically. 18 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:10.719 Been lost in some situations in a lot of cases, 19 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:15.319 and Nathan has helped expanded has helped expand a book 20 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:19.439 that was originally put out by photographer Arnold Hyland. Nathan 21 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:22.280 is joining us now to talk about this. First question, Nathan, 22 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:24.879 are you currently wearing a bow tie. 23 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.599 Thanks for having me on, And the answer is incredibly No, 24 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:33.439 I'm wearing a long, regular necktie, but it is from 25 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:34.239 the nineteen. 26 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:36.280 Thirty Are you wearing pants? 27 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.120 No, we live in a zoom era now, and so 28 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:42.840 I'm just in like my pajama shorts, but then a 29 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:44.519 full suit on top. 30 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:46.959 Yes, that's the way to do. I like the honesty. 31 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:51.719 Let's talk about Arnold Hyland originally who put out this 32 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.560 book Los Angeles before the freeways. How did you find 33 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.760 out about this guy? And how did you fall in 34 00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:58.760 love with this book? 35 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.159 You know, I'll tell you I've always loved old buildings 36 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:04.000 and I've always loved Los Angeles. Those are my two 37 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.799 great passions in life. And so I was in a bar. 38 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.879 I moved to Los Angeles in the mid nineties. I'm 39 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:11.919 a Santa Barbara boy originally, and it was in a 40 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.199 bar and I'm near Central Library because I used to 41 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.400 go there to try and you know, pick up librarians. 42 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:19.400 And one of the old rummies he says to me, 43 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.759 you know, kid, you like old la out that window 44 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:23.560 right there that was all mansions and I'm like no, 45 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.080 it's like yeah, and all the buildings down here, you know, 46 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:29.199 they used to have finials and turrets and gargoyles on them. 47 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:30.960 I'm like, come on, and they're like And there was 48 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.479 a guy, it was Arnold Highland, and he took photos 49 00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:35.680 in the fifties and he put out books about it. 50 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:37.919 And I said, well, I'll go to Barnes and Noble 51 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:39.479 and find these books. And they're like, yeah, you know, 52 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:42.240 good luck because the only printed a couple hundred copies 53 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.520 of each one. So I got obsessed and I kind 54 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.520 of made it my mission to find these book. One 55 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.520 was he had two books. One was called Bunker Hill, 56 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:52.080 a Los Angeles landmark, and one was called Los Angeles 57 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.039 Before the Freeways. It comes out in nineteen eighty one, 58 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.080 six hundred copies. I finally find the book, and I 59 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:59.120 would kind of drive around with it like a like 60 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:02.159 a weird Phantom Thomas guide, you know, like on my 61 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.759 lap graving around downtown. I'd be like, like, look at 62 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.400 that giant, crazy building, and then I would look at 63 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.159 and be like, oh, and it's a parking lot now. 64 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.400 And so I started to sort of develop this idea 65 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.800 about what's old like in the nineteen fifties, if you 66 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.000 were walking around downtown, was nothing but Victorian buildings. There 67 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:21.400 had been a giant building boom in the eighteen eighties 68 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:23.960 because of the new railroads, and Hyland knew that this 69 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.800 stuff was starting to disappear, so he got obsessive about 70 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.479 photographing it. I would have done the same thing if 71 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:31.840 i'd been around that time. And so I got this book, 72 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.360 and I eventually said, you know what, someday, I'm going 73 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:34.960 to reprint this. 74 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:38.879 You go to the south, you go to the East coast, 75 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.439 and there are mansions that exist the way they existed 76 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.280 in the eighteen hundreds or before then. We don't have 77 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.639 that in Los Angeles. And the way that you described 78 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.080 the Brunson Mansion, which was once on the corner of 79 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.400 Fourth and Grand, I find to be fascinating. And the 80 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.400 fact that we lost that is just heartbreaking. Could you 81 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.479 talk a little bit about the Brunson Mansion? 82 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:05.639 Oh, I certainly could. So. If you know downtown, if 83 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:10.159 you've been to Bunker Hill, those two big matching eighties Granite, 84 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:13.599 you know Reggian era muscular buildings, the Wells Fargo Center, 85 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:15.639 originally the Clark Center, that's what the Brunton Mansion was. 86 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:18.680 North and Grant, and there was a judge. His name 87 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:21.759 was Brunson. He was very rich, and he built a 88 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.920 like eighteen thousand square foot mansion, the kind of stuff 89 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.879 you think about knob Hill in San Francisco. This Bunker 90 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:31.800 Hill was like our knob Hill, and it had finials 91 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.839 and it had turrets and frescoes inside and stained glass 92 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.800 and freezes. And it only lasted till like nineteen seventeen 93 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:40.439 because somebody said, you know what we need here, We 94 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:42.959 need a parking lot and a garage. Because of Los 95 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.519 Angeles entered the age of the automobile, people were like, 96 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:48.959 all these funny old buildings, you know, they're they're falling down, 97 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.199 they're pointless. We don't like them, Like, get rid of it. 98 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:55.079 We need parking lots. And that's sort of what Los 99 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.000 Angeles is known for all over the world. You know. 100 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:59.120 I've been all over the world and people always say like, oh, 101 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:01.399 you're from La. What did they tear down you know, yesterday? 102 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:03.000 And I'm like, uh, you know, thanks a lot. 103 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:05.000 Yeah. 104 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.519 It's like I brought up Parker Center the other day. 105 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:12.439 I got some crap about it because it's a dated reference. 106 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:17.920 But Parker Center is another piece of history that even 107 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.000 cinematic history alone that we. 108 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:25.199 Lost well, I know, I kind of got into the 109 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:26.560 old LA thing and part and I know you were 110 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.360 mentioning Perry Mason. It's like super noir. Everyone loves old 111 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.040 Noir La. Everyone's seen you know, Black Dolly and stuff 112 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.839 like that. Parker Center, designed by Welton Beckett, opened in 113 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.480 nineteen fifty five, super important, super progressive for the way 114 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.160 in which it changed policing and the way we jailed people, 115 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:47.079 Like the cells had rubber matts and it had glass 116 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:50.000 walls instead of bars, and the city was so hot 117 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:54.079 to tear it down. And what's there now? Nothing still 118 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:56.079 a parking one. Yeah, not even a parking one. It's 119 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:58.560 like it's fenced off. So they destroyed it as some 120 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.600 sort of you know, performative justice for criminals, and it's 121 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:03.360 I was just rolling my eyes and you know what 122 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:05.959 they say, When it's gone, it's gone. And it breaks 123 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.399 my heart that we are still, especially now with you know, 124 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:12.000 the housing push all down around USC where there used 125 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.680 to be incredible craftsman homes, those are falling left and right. 126 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.800 We're really watching, especially in the last five years, we're 127 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.560 watching the city disappear before our eyes. 128 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:21.720 I love the spirit we don't learn. 129 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:22.399 We don't learn it. 130 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:24.199 No, we are big dumb animals. 131 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:27.079 I love the spirit with which you talk about the 132 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:31.480 older architecture and the passion were you. Did you use 133 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.759 that to talk to Arnold Hyland's family about reissuing the 134 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.240 book and expanding upon it. 135 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:41.360 Absolutely. They were very type fisted about his legacy and 136 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.279 about the negatives that existed, and I really had to 137 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.759 sort of prove myself. I started writing about bunker Hill, 138 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:49.959 especially around two thousand and five for a blog called 139 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:53.639 on bunker Hill, and that's when I reached out to them, 140 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:56.279 And it took about ten years before I convinced them 141 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.800 that I wasn't. You know, anyone who has an archive 142 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:00.759 always thinks, oh, you know, we're gonna a million dollars 143 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.519 at it. I hate to say it, folks, but no, 144 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.879 you put out a book like this, you do it 145 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:10.480 for the love. And once they realized that I was 146 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:15.240 completely obsessed, they said, okay, kid, you know, here's the negatives. 147 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:17.720 Go to town. And then I went to very important 148 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:22.160 Angel City Press, Dean and Titan of Great La Publishing. 149 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:24.319 They also put out my book on bunker Hill called 150 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.279 Bunker Hill Los Angeles and ACP was like, we love 151 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:32.519 this idea, let's reprint this book. And everyone wonders, like, 152 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.319 who wants to sit and look through you know, one 153 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:38.240 hundred and fifty photos of old building like eighteen eighties 154 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.199 buildings in the nineteen fifties downtown. And it has been 155 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:43.480 selling really well. People really eat it up, They love it. 156 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.800 They If I can make people as enthusiastic as I 157 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:47.279 am about it, then I've done my job. 158 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:50.319 We're talking to Nathan Marsak. Nathan, can you hold on 159 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:51.319 for another segment? 160 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.360 Absolutely awesome. I have some more questions. 161 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:55.319 I also want to find out if you ever picked 162 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:57.639 up that librarian or librarians. 163 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:59.199 I think everyone wants to know. 164 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.560 I'll tell you I was not terribly successful, but I 165 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.040 wasn't totally unsuccessful. 166 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.199 Oh go, that's excellent. T tell you the story. Gary 167 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:08.120 and Shannon will continue. 168 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.079 You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI 169 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.920 AM six forty. 170 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.279 Live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. 171 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.800 We're talking with Nathan Marsak, who has put out a 172 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:25.160 reissue of a book, Los Angeles Before the Freeways, Building 173 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:28.800 on what Arnold Hyland put together back in the eighties, 174 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:32.000 which was a collection of his photos of some of 175 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.519 the greatest architecture that La has ever seen. Granted it's not, 176 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.559 you know, six hundred years old, like the tavern in 177 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.320 Scotland or something like that, but it is important to 178 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:43.080 know kind of where. 179 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.360 We were one hundred and ten years ago, and it's 180 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:46.440 hard to imagine. 181 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.639 It wasn't until that Angelina Joe Lee movie Changeling I 182 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:53.720 think twenty years ago something now, fifteen twenty years ago 183 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.559 where it shows all the orchards out where several freeways lie, 184 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:02.039 that you think of Last Angels having a history before 185 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.919 the freeways, because so much of it has been lost 186 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.320 as well, we don't have those museums of mansions that 187 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:11.559 once were in downtown La anymore. 188 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:15.840 Nathan, you said the family gave you that Highland's family 189 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:19.879 gave you access to his negative so his entire collection 190 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.559 of photos. Was there anything surprising that you saw in 191 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.039 the negatives that you didn't see in the original book. 192 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.639 Oh very much so. I should mention that the original book, 193 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.960 as published in nineteen eighty one by Dawson's Books, has 194 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.559 one hundred and fifteen images in it, and this new version, 195 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:40.919 the expanded version with bigger, larger, lush pictures, one hundred 196 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:44.480 and forty three images. Wow, because he shot in like 197 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.879 the one twenty format. Each each strip of negatives was 198 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:51.600 three shots, So each shot from the book had two 199 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:54.440 other shots next to it, and usually those were like 200 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:57.360 it's a house, It's like, let's say it's the Brussau Mansion, 201 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.399 and it's like two other versions of that. But once 202 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.519 in a while he turn around and shoot something across 203 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.159 the street. And in a lot of cases, those are 204 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:05.679 the ones that just blew my mind. That was stuff 205 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:08.200 that no one had ever photographed before. So I was 206 00:10:08.519 --> 00:10:11.080 just thrilled to be able to put about thirty forty 207 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:13.120 images like that in the book that no one's ever 208 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:13.759 seen before. 209 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:17.559 What do you think about Los Angeles's time with the 210 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:21.399 street cars? Do you see us ever returning to any 211 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:22.519 sort of. 212 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.799 That you know we are they're trying to re engineer 213 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.320 Los Angeles to be Manhattan. You know, you can build 214 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:35.159 as big as you want without zoning if you're near 215 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:38.200 a bus. And then they're building without parking. They're like, 216 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.320 everyone's just gonna ride, you know, public transit and have 217 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.279 bicycles from now on. We're Los Angeles, damn we always 218 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.879 I think dams aren't it. We were built around the automobile. 219 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:49.919 We're an oil town and God blessed the street cars. 220 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.879 But the narrative that there was a conspiracy by big 221 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:57.360 oil and big tire, big road to destroy the street 222 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.440 cars is false. That's actually it's actually not true. It's 223 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:03.559 great and Rodgers rabbit, But we like bringing back Broadway. 224 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:06.039 Huizar tried to put street cars back on Broadway. I 225 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.039 don't know if that's ever gonna happen. And don't get 226 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:09.759 me wrong, if I could go back in time and 227 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.679 ride the you know, the yellow car out to the 228 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.200 Orange Groves, you know, or or ride the red car downtown, 229 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.200 that'd be amazing. But I think we, you know, we 230 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.000 can't even build a bullet train. Come on, it would 231 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:25.159 cost a billion dollars in studies to find out if 232 00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:27.720 we could have street cars in Los Angeles. So I'm 233 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:29.519 gonna go ahead and say that that day has passed. 234 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:32.639 I just love that era though, and that idea of 235 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.440 getting around l A and vibrant. 236 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:36.440 Yeah exactly. 237 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.519 Oh yeah, I'm an old New Orleans boy. My family's 238 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:42.519 from there, and so I ride, you know, the street 239 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.639 car up and down St. Charles Avenue. Yeah, I know 240 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.399 it and it's there's just nothing better than that. And 241 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:49.840 I just don't know if it would totally translate to 242 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:52.000 LA And I would love to be proven wrong, you know, 243 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:53.960 twenty years from now, I'd love to have a nice 244 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.039 street car cruising down. But you know, when I moved 245 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:59.399 to Highland Park thirty years ago, we didn't have the 246 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.919 gold Line, and you know, it was just empty tracks. 247 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.200 So we're slowly putting back public transits. Uh. 248 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:10.000 Is there a specific landmark or neighborhood or building that 249 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.159 you think is most at risk right now? 250 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:17.159 Oh, that's an excellent question. Well, I don't have to 251 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:21.279 tell you how heartbreaking the fires were in January. But 252 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:24.039 the stuff that the sort of areas we're tearing down 253 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.519 right now, just in spades, is like Koreatown and Westlake, 254 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:33.200 that area, like around MacArthur Park, so many incredible buildings 255 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.480 between there and like down towards USC, so many incredible 256 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.519 built like mostly houses built in the turn of the century, 257 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.720 turn of the last entries, like around nineteen oh five, 258 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:45.360 and I'm just watching them go left and right. They're 259 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:51.399 being demolished for these you know, six story gray boxes 260 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:54.240 that have that are absolutely featureless, that are built to 261 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:56.960 the edge of the property on either every side because 262 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:58.919 there's no more zoning in Los Angeles. They call it 263 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.480 a density bonus. It's not a density bonus. It's the 264 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.399 zoning variant. And I've probably seen there's probably been a 265 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:10.919 thousand important houses demolished and commercial structures demolished since I 266 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:13.039 started tracking them around twenty twenty one. 267 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.600 So did you marry a librarian? 268 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:19.840 I married an archaeologist. 269 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.679 Okay, same kind of thing, and I love like, I. 270 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:27.080 Love trust me. I had a very lengthy stretch of 271 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:31.360 you know, brainy girls with glasses and drinking problems, but 272 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:35.840 that's what I like, and I like. But but then 273 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.559 I met this too little archaeologist and she's a little 274 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.000 more sane and sober, so I said, okay, you know 275 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:43.399 you're the one, and we've been together ever since. 276 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:45.039 Well, you got to know your limits. 277 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:48.120 Exactly. You gotta know at some point you've got to 278 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:49.159 you got to grow up. 279 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:50.960 And yeah, oh there is that too. 280 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.039 By the way, Nathan's going to speak about the book 281 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:56.440 coming up Los Angeles before the Freeways, part of the 282 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.200 Marine North of lecture series for the La City Historical 283 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:03.559 Society coming up on Sunday. That's June eighth Sunday afternoon 284 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:06.519 at the Tape Auditorium at the Central Library. 285 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:09.360 Rife with librarians. I'm sure and. 286 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:12.080 Oh it's like I'm like, it's in a candy store. 287 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:12.519 Oh my god. 288 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:13.720 Yeah. 289 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:15.759 You can find out more when you go to La 290 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.519 lacityhistory dot org. The events page on there is going 291 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:22.399 to have more about Nathan and that. That talk coming 292 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.320 up again Los Angeles before the Freeways, the Tape Auditorium 293 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.679 at the Central Library coming up on Sunday afternoon at 294 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:29.440 two Apart. 295 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:31.120 Nathan, that was so much fun. Thank you so much 296 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:32.039 for joining us. 297 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.240 You guys are the best. Thank you, thanks so much. 298 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.480 You bet all right, coming up more stuff including I 299 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:39.440 don't talk about that. 300 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.639 Let's talk about the elderly treehouse when we come back. 301 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.559 You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI 302 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:47.720 AM six forty. 303 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.039 FBI and Port Authority police have arrested a guy at 304 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:55.440 JFK Airport and Queen's overnight in connection with their investigation 305 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.519 into the bombing of that fertility clinic and Palm Springs. 306 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.879 He was a They believe that he may have been 307 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.080 supplying materials for the bomb. 308 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:05.559 That was used. 309 00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:10.039 He was a guy from Washington State, private payrolls increased 310 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.440 far less than expected in May. Adp national employment reports 311 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.320 showed this morning a new potential warning sign for the 312 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:21.000 direction of the economy and air quality in the Midwest 313 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:25.960 and the East really bad, but for no reason of ours. 314 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.039 Out of control wildfires in Canada is producing a bunch 315 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.519 of smoke that is pouring to the south, and there's 316 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:37.519 a plume of dust that originated from the Sahara over 317 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.480 in Africa that's tracking west across the Atlantic Ocean. They're 318 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.480 saying that the dust could collide with the smoke sometime 319 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:50.000 someplace around the South this week, causing unhealthy air quality 320 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.279 and very hazy, dull skies during the day. But of 321 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.960 course gorgeous sunrises and sunset. 322 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.639 It is Wednesday, so don't forget. Let us know what 323 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:03.080 you are watching. I'm a big fan of adults on 324 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.840 Hulu right now. We're also going to be talking to 325 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:09.480 Justin Worsham. We're going to be talking parenting coming up 326 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:12.320 in about an hour from now. Research showing that most 327 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:15.399 consider their dad to be a top life mentor. 328 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.960 We'll dig into that as well. Well. 329 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:27.960 Benito Flores is upset that his home in El Serena 330 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.519 was being taken away from him. He says that the 331 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:36.759 home was illegally seized after its owner, the Department of Transportation, 332 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:38.879 left at vacant. He'd been allowed to stay for a 333 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.600 few months, but with Zen told he had to go 334 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.360 to this nearby home owned by the agency. But now 335 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.919 that clock has ticked too far down on that home 336 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:49.559 as well. 337 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:50.840 Well. 338 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:56.360 Over the months, he has Benito sawed wooden two by 339 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:00.919 fours to use as a brace between the front door 340 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:03.480 and an anterior wall to make it harder to breach. 341 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:09.240 He has bolted shut the metal screen door. He has 342 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:13.319 secured the entrance. He has retreated into a wooden structure 343 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.480 that he has built twenty eight feet high in an 344 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:18.680 ash tree in the backyard, a treehouse. 345 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:19.319 I have a question. 346 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.839 This goes back to the screwdriver from last week, the 347 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:26.119 slotted versus flathead. Yeah, what other kind of two by 348 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.640 fours are there besides wooden? 349 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:29.680 Why did they write. 350 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.559 That that is redundant? You're right, Chris Little is somewhere 351 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:35.960 losing his freaking mind anyway. 352 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.359 Well, I guess you could have a you have a 353 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.160 metal stud I don't know. 354 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:43.720 Yeah, you're right, it's so redundant wooden two by fours. 355 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:46.079 You know what, Let's get this author who wrote this 356 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.480 in the La Times, Liam Liam Dylan, Let's get on 357 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.279 the horn. 358 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:58.960 No, it turns out that Benito then retreated to that 359 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.880 wooden structure in the backyard. If the police wanted to believe, 360 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:04.640 they're going to have to go up to his treehouse 361 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:05.519 and get him. 362 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.079 He says, I planned to resist as long as I can. 363 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.279 It's six feet tall, three feet wide. 364 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:13.880 They say it represents the last stand for Benito and 365 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:18.000 a larger protest that has captured the national attention. Starting 366 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.200 in March twenty twenty, he and a dozen others occupied 367 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:27.519 empty homes owned by Caltrans. They were acquired was this 368 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.799 imminent domain acquired by the hundred and a half century 369 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:37.119 ago for the freeway expansion that never happened, for. 370 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:41.480 The original high speed rail plan, the idea of that 371 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:45.359 something is never going to happen. The agencies have continued 372 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.359 to offer referrals for permanent housing. They've offered financial settlements 373 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:51.680 of up to twenty thousand dollars if group members would 374 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.960 leave voluntarily. The evictions would have been a last resort, 375 00:18:55.039 --> 00:19:00.359 but they would be required by law. Basically, Tina Booth, 376 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.720 director of Asset Management for the Housing Authority of the 377 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.119 City of La which is operating the program on behalf 378 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.079 of Caltrans, says, we just don't have any authority to 379 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:10.000 operate outside of that. 380 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:13.240 Unfortunately, this is one of those things that you'll find 381 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:17.839 a lot with people who get older. They don't understand 382 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.160 that there are rules and the hoops that they have 383 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.400 to jump through, and I get it. Caltrans wants to 384 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.160 sell this guy's home and a bunch of other empty 385 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:30.799 houses in Elserino to public or nonprofit housing providers, which 386 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.039 would make them available to people like Oh, I don't know, Benito, 387 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.440 low income residents for rent or purchase. 388 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:37.200 He says. 389 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:40.279 Evicting him makes no sense because the properties intended to 390 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:43.319 be used as affordable housing that he qualifies for. Yes, 391 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:45.599 and you still have to jump through all the hoops. 392 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.279 You still have to do all the paperwork. 393 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:47.519 You know. 394 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:51.519 It's not as easy as just saying, well, I qualify 395 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:53.400 for what you want to do here with this, with 396 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.599 this house or this property. It's just not that Unfortunately, 397 00:19:56.599 --> 00:19:59.000 it's not that simple anymore. It may have been at 398 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.359 one point, it's not that way. There's too much red tape. 399 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.720 The way that Benito says it is they are out 400 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:10.200 of options, that his treehouse, as much as a form 401 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.839