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Des Ennuis

@desennuis.bsky.social
98 followers 337 following 74 posts

Observing the interaction of Los Angeles development, history, and Angeleno identity. The story of the housing crisis can be read through the fires. *Note: I wrote the last line was in response to the Arthur Aslanian landlord arson, but it was prescient.

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David Wagner @dwagner.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
A real estate agent who calls himself “Mr. La Cañada” has been sentenced after facing one of first criminal price gouging charges filed in the wake of last year’s Los Angeles County fires. However, the price gouging charge isn't the one that stuck. Read more in my @laist.com story:
laist.com
LA real estate agent will pay $20K and face probation in post-Eaton Fire rent hike case
Mike Kobeissi was charged after a couple displaced by the Eaton Fire said they were told the rent on a La Cañada Flintridge property he listed had increased by 38%.
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Holy shit Cape Verde!
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
The Carvalho (LAUSD Sup) FBI investigation is breaking everyone’s brains. Is it retaliatory because of PHBAO and his refusal to cooperate with ICE? Is it legit because he actually is super shady in many ways, even got sued by our last superintendent for misuse of funds? Or a bit of both?
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Comics Outta Context 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @comiccontext.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Fred from Mystery Incorporated stands with arms crossed standing directly next to a smug man in hat and suit and tie. Fred says, "All of this sounds VERY EXPENSIVE.This is a LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOOD. The people who live here CAN'T AFFORD apartments like those! If you tear down their homes, where are all the POOR PEOPLE supposed to live?" The man replies, "I guess they'll just have to move to the SUBURBS like everyone else."
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Marketplace @marketplace.org · 06/01/2026
On a single street in Altadena, 15 houses were total losses after the Eaton Fire. One year later, our own David Brancaccio gives us an update on how he and his Altadena neighbors are rebuilding: www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...
youtube.com
How David Brancaccio's Altadena neighbors are rebuilding, one year since the Eaton Fire
YouTube video by Marketplace APM
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LAist @laist.com · 05/11/2025
Trying to understand how much your rent can go up? For tenants in Southern California, it’s confusing. To sort it all out, we’ve put together a short guide on rent control laws across Southern California. ✍️&📸 David Wagner
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LAist @laist.com · 11/11/2025
🛍️ What do you remember about Valley Plaza? 🛍️ The North Hollywood mall is getting partially torn down after being declared a public nuisance after years of neglect, but it was once a thriving icon of modern shopping. 📷 Cato Hernández/LAist
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
The critical need to protect JPL from the approaching fire appears to have diverted public safety resources from West Altadena, and likely contributed to the enormous loss of life and structures there.
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
JPL appears to be lying by omission about what many first responders, lab staff and public servants know to be true about the dangerous conditions on their property.
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Please read with care, and seek help if you need it. esotouric.substack.com/p/jpl
esotouric.substack.com
Critical Safety Concerns at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an open letter from independent researcher Shelby Eidson
Gentle reader,
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
We are publishing her letter in the public interest, recognizing that its contents are extremely disturbing and will likely exacerbate the trauma that Eaton Fire survivors are living with and cause upset to members of the wider San Gabriel Valley and scientific communities.
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
But today, Shelby Eidson sent a letter to JPL’s Director David Gallagher, NASA’s Acting Director Sean Duffy and to NASA’s General Counsel Iris Lan that lays out the public safety concerns her work reveals.
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
To our surprise, JPL’s social media accounts posted in our comment section with an extremely strong denial; we updated our post to direct concerned readers to their response.
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
On 9/29, we were reading the agenda for the LA County Supervisors’ 9/30 meeting for the first airing of the McChrystal Group’s after-action reviews on the Eaton and Palisades Fires, and spotted something alarming in the public comment section (see pages 2-3). file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos...
file.lacounty.gov
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
This is probably the toughest document we've ever published, and we do so recognizing it will contribute to Eaton Fire survivors' trauma. Critical Safety Concerns at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an open letter from independent researcher Shelby Eidson. esotouric.substack.com/jpl
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Ward Q. Normal (he/him) @wardqnormal.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
10th Anniversary Edition of NeuroTribes. To say that seeing the first copy of this was bittersweet is an immense understatement.
A man with blond/gray short hair and beard, wearing glasses and a pink shirt, holding up a copy of the book NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman.
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Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Anyway, yay for walkable cities with solid public transit! Boo for the developers who might set half the working class LA neighborhoods on fire in order to do it
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
File under: Empty Los Angeles. 5418 Franklin Avenue is a cute 6-unit 1920s/1950s complex with two family sized 3 bedroom units, on the market for $1.8M. It is 50% vacant, like too many rent stabilized buildings in walkable Los Angeles neighborhoods. www.loopnet.com/Listing/5418...
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Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
File under: Empty Los Angeles. The El Nido Hotel at 1042 N Wilcox contains 38 RSO units. It is completely vacant and can be yours for $5.2M--more than $2M more than it sold for last year with 15 tenants. www.compass.com/listing/1042... The depravity of Scott Wiener pushing #SB79 on LA.
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Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Hoping this new density law won’t help what I saw developers do in city hall this week and get approval from LA city planning/council to knock down SEVEN rent stabilized apt buildings in order to build a luxury high rise in E. Hollywood w/only 16/139 affordable units while displacing 50 residents
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
LA sues Airbnb, accusing rental platform of price gouging after January fires laist.com/news/housing...
laist.com
LA sues Airbnb, accusing rental platform of price gouging after January fires
The short-term rentals company disputes the allegations and says it will continue to support the city's recovery efforts.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Anyway. I have two book projects on my desk right now but I'm thinking I might like to edit an anthology of alt-weeklies, 1970s-90s. I'd exclude the Village Voice, which is well-represented elsewhere. Alts from San Diego, LA, Boston, DC, Seattle; Cleveland, Albany, Denver...
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
What started as a search for some of my first publications has led me to reading through the San Diego Reader of the early 1990s. It is, overall, astonishingly good. But then, there were alt-weeklies like it across the U.S. Almost all gone or hollowed out. Nothing has replaced them.
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
In the very hotel they were staying at…. “…the agents were staying here and questioning the workers–the workers that were cleaning their rooms, the workers that were making their food. They were questioning them and asking for their ID and in a very aggressive way.” lamag.com/news-and-pol...
We got alerts that ICE was staying in some of the hotels here in Pasadena,” said Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center. “Organizers and community members went around to verify, and we identified that in the AC Hotel, the Westin and in Hotel Dena, there were immigration agents. In the AC hotel, we got word from a staff member that the agents were staying here and questioning the workers–the workers that were cleaning their rooms, the workers that were making their food. They were questioning them and asking for their ID and in a very aggressive way. So that's why our community organizers came here to say we don't want ICE here. We brought elected officials and urged them to not let any ICE agents here.
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Glendale Extremist News @glendaleextremists.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Big update! The city of Glendale has officially TERMINATED its contract with ICE. www.glendaleca.gov/Home/Compone...
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City of Glendale ICE Detainee
Holding Contract Terminated
Post Date:
06/08/2025 7:09 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2025
City Media Contact: Domenica Megerdichian,
Assistant to the City Manager
Email: Communications@GlendaleCA.gov
Phone: (818) 550-4314.
Citv of Glendale ICF Detainee Holdina Contract
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Raphael Mimoun רפאל מימון @raphmim.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Her name is Rosie: "A lot of vendors are undocumented and can't be here today. So those of us who can, we gotta show up"
Woman grills hotdogs
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Ironically, for all the talk of government efficiency, the whole point of ACL was that supposed to be one centralized organization to promote community living. Now, its services risk being scattered around bureaucracies. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
Warnings over DOGE cuts to organization that keeps elderly people in their homes
Former employees of the Administration for Community Living say they fear it is being ‘broken up for spare parts,’ Eric Garcia reports
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
One former employee told me that ACL is being "broken up for spare parts." Some programs up for elimination? -State developmental disability councils -Protection and Advocacy organizations -Programs to stop old people from falling www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
Warnings over DOGE cuts to organization that keeps elderly people in their homes
Former employees of the Administration for Community Living say they fear it is being ‘broken up for spare parts,’ Eric Garcia reports
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
New from me: Most people have not heard of the Administration for Community Living. But it's a vitally important Institution to keep people with disabilities and elderly people in their homes. And RFK Jr. and DOGE are targeting it. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
Warnings over DOGE cuts to organization that keeps elderly people in their homes
Former employees of the Administration for Community Living say they fear it is being ‘broken up for spare parts,’ Eric Garcia reports
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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
"For many years, #SisterCorita ran the Immaculate Heart College art school at Franklin and Western in #Hollywood. Under Corita's leadership, the high-visibility corner transformed into a community center..." @awalkerinla.bsky.social: www.torched.la/when-you-can... #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM
torched.la
When you can't find the words
When the news renders you speechless, you can always find a response that Corita already ripped from the headlines
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
All cash…the vultures are feeding laist.com/news/housing...
laist.com
House burned to the ground by Eaton Fire in escrow for $550,000
The house was listed for $450,000. Its listing agent expects escrow to close early next week.
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David Wagner @dwagner.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Homes in L.A. were still smoldering when Zillow rents started to spike. Volunteer rent gouging sleuths quickly started tracking the data. They found 1,343 listings that appear to have broken the law. My @laist.com story is the first to report on their findings.
laist.com
How widespread is post-fire rent gouging? These volunteer sleuths analyzed the data
Here’s what “The Rent Brigade” found after combing through 1,343 Zillow posts that appear to have broken California’s ban on post-fire price gouging.
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Liam Dillon @liamjdillon.com · 18/01/2025
I was getting lots of questions about what happens to wildfire-affected homeowners' property taxes so I wrote up a guide. Things are complicated in California because of Prop. 13 but the simple answer is you'll pay the same as you did before — even if you move www.latimes.com/homeless-hou...
latimes.com
How to get property tax relief if your house burned in the fires
Explainer for people's property taxes after a wildfire
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Helping families displaced by the Eaton fire find a rental is a challenge. Many Altadena homes had 4+ bedrooms & housed multi-generational families. There are very few rentals big enough to accommodate, and tend to be 3-4 story townhomes w/stairs, ruling them out for the elderly family members.
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Liam Dillon @liamjdillon.com · 22/01/2025
NEW: California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has announced the first charges for price gouging in the wake of L.A.'s wildfires. He's accusing a La Canada Flintridge real estate agent of allegedly raising prices of his rental by 38% — far in excess of the 10% limit. www.latimes.com/homeless-hou...
latimes.com
California attorney general charges L.A. area landlord with alleged price gouging in wake of wildfires
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced charges against a La Cañada Flintridge real estate agent for allegedly raising the price of his rental by 38% after L.A.'s wildfires.
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Des Ennuis @desennuis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Yes that famous gen-x artist Jirayr Zorthian who moved to Altadena in 1945…
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Alliance for Housing Justice @aforhj.org · 14/01/2025
🚨 30+ organizations urge LA County officials to act: “We need rapid policy change to prevent spikes in rents and evictions, and ensure stability as our County moves forward” ✍📰 @rebeccaburns.bsky.social
inthesetimes.com
As Fires Rage, L.A. Activists Put Price-Gouging Landlords on Notice
Tenant organizers see signs of illegal disaster profiteering on Los Angeles rental sites while 100,000 evacuees seek temporary or permanent lodging.
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Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Rental housing prices in L.A. are spiking as historic fires burn, forcing thousands of residents to scramble to find a new place to live.
laist.com
Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
For one listing, rent jumped nearly 86% since September. In an interview with LAist, the agent said she told her client, “People are desperate, and you can probably get good money.”
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Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS @thanh-neville.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
I hate how our LA tragedy is getting politicized. I am blocking more-than-expected folks who write nasty comments on my feed. #LAfires
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
I got this book in 2003 at Pages on Queen St. First went to LA in 2001 and was obsessed. Slept w fold out map of city next to bed for months after. This anthology introduced me to John McPhee, Mike Davis. Collects Didion on LA in one place. Robert Towne's preface/postscript to Chinatown. Fantastic.
Book "Writing Los Angeles - A Literary Anthology" edited by David L Ulin
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Reuters @reuters.com · 10/01/2025
While the fires that have devastated celebrity neighborhoods near Malibu have caught the world's attention, a similar size blaze in Eaton Canyon, north of Los Angeles, has ravaged Altadena, a racially and economically diverse community reut.rs/3PuoYXv
reut.rs
Far from Hollywood's wealth, Los Angeles fire survivors feel forgotten
In the close-knit Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, where rows of neat bungalows once nestled in the shadow of the San Gabriel mountains, smoldering ruins and the skeletal frames of burnt out cars now lie.
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Gary Dauphin @ebogjonson.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
The mental picture a lot of people have of fire threatened "interface zones" is of mansions on hills, but the map of the Eaton Fire is a terrifying proxy for the map of northeast Los Angeles' Black enclaves
bet.com
Eaton Fire Devastates Historic Altadena, Displacing Black Families and Destroying Legacies
While celebrity losses grab headlines, the Eaton Fire has destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in Altadena, displacing Black families who’ve shaped the community for generations. Here's a brief history o...
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Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 09/01/2025
What’s even more uncanny: Octavia Butler lived — and is buried — in Altadena, the location most devastated by the Eaton fire.
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Melissa Gomez @melissagomez.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
"Landlords see it as a headache, a needless trend of cyberbullying that exacerbates well-meaning efforts to find tenants. Renters see it as a higher calling — a form of resistance and a way to call out overpriced listings." www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
Landlords beware: Rent-shamers are calling out overpriced listings online
As rents rise, tenants are banding together on social media and shaming landlords and real estate agents for asking too much for listings.
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
1. The conventional explanation for food deserts—that these places are too poor or too rural to generate enough spending on groceries, or too Black to overcome racist corporate redlining — fail to grapple with a key fact: food deserts didn’t used to exist. My new piece in The Atlantic.
theatlantic.com
The Mystery of Food Deserts
They didn’t materialize around the country for no reason. Something happened.
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Los Angeles Times @latimes.com · 27/11/2024
Copper thieves cut phone service to this this SoCal suburb. With spotty cell service, this retired couple was concerned about being cut off during an emergency, but getting answers was not easy.
latimes.com
Copper thieves cut off this SoCal suburb's phones for months and the bills kept coming
Hacienda Heights has been without landline phone service for six months due to copper wire thefts. Some schools' power lines also have been cut.
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 27/10/2024
So Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who owns the LA Times and was responsible for the paper not making an endorsement? He was in talks with Trump in 2017 about a role overseeing US healthcare if the ACA had been abolished. h/t @amyalexca.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2017/01/24/t...
statnews.com
Biotech billionaire in talks with Trump about a senior health care role, sources say
The biotech mogul has been in talks with the Trump administration about the possibility of serving in a senior role overseeing the US health care system.
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Few people understand the McMahons and the effect they have on the American body politic than @josie.zone. She warns that everyone should fear what Linda McMahon could do as Secretary of Education. theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Theatrics, hatred and Linda McMahon: how pro wrestling explains Donald Trump
The ex-WWE CEO and likely incoming education secretary doesn’t seem like a threat. That’s what makes her one
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LAist @laist.com · 18/11/2024
The number of red-tagged homes in Rancho Palos Verdes due to land movement has increased from two to 18 after city officials began inspecting properties as part of a buyout program. The inspections also resulted in 34 properties being yellow tagged, meaning they have been moderately damaged.
ow.ly
Number of red-tagged homes in Rancho Palos Verdes rises to 18
Land movement. however, has slowed to an average of 3.3 inches a week
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