The Brief

After a contentious summer of 2020 for the Magic Castle, Carly Usdin felt like they’d started to find their footing at the club again: They found a community of progressive members and was excited to apply for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

So when Carly got an emailed grievance claiming that their online criticism of Castle leadership and the environment, combined with “their obvious hate,” were grounds for removal, they wanted to fight back.

Carly Usdin in 2023.

(

Natalie Chudnovsky

/

LAist

)

The grievance process at the Castle is simple. For $50, any member can file a grievance against another. If the Grievance and Ethics Committee finds the grievance valid, the $50 is returned to the member. If the grievance is found invalid, their money is lost.

“I'm a stubborn person,” says Carly. “And when it comes to matters like this, I can be petty. I wanted nothing more than for them to lose $50.”

Carly spent the next month preparing for their hearing, taking screenshots of the different relevant social media posts and writing out responses to each grievance point in a 12-page document. Their argument rested on the idea that pointing out the flaws of an institution didn’t mean that you hated it — quite the opposite.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

“If you don’t do everything in your power to change the things you love to make them better, then how can you actually love those things?” Carly wrote in their response document. “So long as I am a member, I am committed to making the AMA [Academy of Magical Arts] and the Castle a place where all are welcome and all feel welcome.”

In Carly’s recollection, there were a dozen people at their hearing. It took place on Zoom, because it was still the thick of the pandemic. After an introduction, one of the members who filed the grievance spoke, and then it was Carly’s turn to state their case. In some ways, it was a moment that mirrored their Castle audition — a tricky performance for established magicians who would decide Carly’s fate. And once again, Carly walked away unsure whether they’d been deemed worthy.

The decisions: the Castle’s and Carly’s 

In December 2020, Carly got the phone call from the grievance committee and was told they could remain a member.

But they’d also gotten another piece of news from the Castle. Carly would not be included in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the committee they were most excited about seeing to fruition at the Castle.

Carly was satisfied they’d defeated the members who’d filed the grievance — the two men wouldn’t get their $50 back. But Carly was no longer interested in remaining a member of the Castle.

“The only thing that was gonna keep me in,” Carly says, “was if I knew I had a place to be heard. My pettiness was satisfied … those guys didn't get me kicked out, but now I'm going to leave.”

At the beginning of 2021, Carly chose not to pay the annual dues, effectively ending their Castle membership.

For Carly, the loss of the membership, and all the magic, hope and community that it represented, hit hard. But in some ways, it was also a relief.

“I don't have to have that ethical conflict of, ‘Why am I supporting this place?’” says Carly. “And like, sure, this is a place for magic. This is not a place for politics. But also, any space I enter, the people there, and me, we all have to reckon with who I'm perceived as, who I am. And the thing that became very clear to me over the last few years is that I won't go along with anything anymore.”

Another controversy for the Castle

 
In December 2020, the L.A. Times published an explosive investigation into allegations of sexism and racism at the Magic Castle.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

L.A. Times reporters spoke with 12 people — staff, members and guests — about their experiences. One woman guest described how she was called up to the stage by a performer who tried to touch her chest during his trick. A former cook said racial epithets were common in the kitchen.

One waitress alleged she was sexually harassed and then fired when she reported it to management.

Kayla Drescher, Carly’s friend and professional magician, was quoted in the piece, too, describing one infamous staircase where if you sat underneath, at the bar, you could see up someone’s skirt.

After a long summer of internal tensions and social media call-outs, it was a big deal for the Castle to receive bad press from L.A.’s biggest paper, and for its own members to share the secretive institution’s dirty laundry.

The Castle did take some corrective action after the L.A. Times article. They sent us a long list, which included an internal review, the hiring of a new general manager, the creation of a new human resources director position and a sensitivity and sexual harassment training for the board of directors, trustees and staff. The infamous staircase got some slats installed. One controversial painting was removed.

And then in May 2021, after more than a year of being closed for COVID, the Castle reopened.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee

The Castle told us that of the 30 people interested in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, 20 were interviewed by the board and ultimately nine selected, including Kayla Drescher.

Kayla Drescher performing magic.

(

Courtesy of Kayla Drescher

)

Kayla said that in the first year of the D&I Committee’s existence, she pushed through one victory: making the dress code gender-neutral.

“I personally rewrote the dress code,” Kayla says. “So men can wear dresses and skirts, women can wear pants and suits. And if you’re neither of those things, you can wear whatever the hell you want.”

Kayla says that otherwise, the first year was rough going. A lot of time was spent trying to convince other members of the committee that there were problems, she said, and ideas seemed to go nowhere.

“It just felt like we were banging our head up against the wall for nothing,” Kayla says.

Then in 2022, internal elections led to a shakeup in leadership and Kayla became the new head of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. It was a moment when she thought she could turn things around, and she started by inviting new people to join, including magician Paul Draper.

Draper recalled that in its second year, the committee was working to define itself and prioritize which goals to bring up to the board. Kayla says she felt good about the new iteration of the committee, but when it came time to take action, they ran into a wall.

The problem, according to both Kayla and Paul, was that the D&I Committee didn’t have any real power. It was set up as an advisory committee, presenting recommendations to the people actually in charge of the Castle, the board of directors.

“And so it very quickly became, ‘Well the fire from the L.A. Times article has died down, do we really need to do any of this?’” Kayla says.

LAist tried contacting all the members of the Castle’s 2022 D&I Committee. Besides Paul and Kayla, no one wanted to speak on the record.

We also asked the Castle’s general manager, Hervé Lévy, who joined in 2021, about these issues.

Unlike the folks on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Lévy is a paid employee of the Castle. He says he’s been working to create a better culture there, as well as clearer systems for people to report incidents. He is also openly gay and says that he felt embraced by the Castle right away.

When we asked why the D&I Committee’s recommendations were not implemented, Hervé said that the committee's vision lacked clarity.

“It was not presented the right way,” says Hervé. “So yes, they were turned down because the ideas weren’t that great. And you know what? You don't wanna implement bad ideas.”

When we asked which ideas he felt needed improvement, Hervé could not immediately provide an example.

The brick wall

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

LAist was provided a list of priorities the D&I Committee drafted for the Castle’s board of directors in August 2022. Recommendations included the implementation of a DEI calendar, as well as goals for the future, like including more information about a more diverse array of magicians in its building tours.

One of the D&I Committee’s recommendations was that booked performers be required to take a training — according to Kayla, she wanted to require the same sensitivity and sexual harassment trainings that staff received. The document’s stated reason for the training is because “there have been many reports or issues surrounding sensitivity from magicians performing all over the Castle,” and also suggests an implementation plan.

Magician performers at the Castle are booked a week at a time, and are often coming from all over the country to perform in the space. Kayla felt that this kind of training was important to get different performers on the same page about appropriate language and interactions.

She felt this would help prevent problematic patter, sexual harassment and other incidents like the ones reported on in the L.A. Times, and that happened to her and Carly at the Castle.

Kayla was also going to get a rare chance to make a presentation to the Board of Directors in the fall of 2022 — but she and another D&I Committee member would get exactly 20 minutes, so she decided to focus on a few concrete recommendations, including the one about harassment and sensitivity training.

When she presented to the board, Kayla says she immediately felt dismissed. Following that presentation, Kayla decided not to renew her Magic Castle membership.

“Every time something happens, whether it be at the Magic Castle or in the industry, a layer of a brick gets put down, and for now you can just easily step over that layer of brick,” says Kayla of the prejudices she’s faced in the magic world. “And eventually the layers get taller and taller. You have to climb over it, or somebody has to help you. But eventually the wall gets so big, it's just not worth your time. And that is what happened with me and my Castle membership.”

When we asked Lévy about the training recommendation, he initially said that it would be “very complicated to do training for someone’s who’s here for only a week,” and that instead the Castle has a phone call with performers about language and not touching guests — not a “formal training,” but “setting expectations.”

General Manager/COO of the Magic Castle Hervé Lévy in the Magic Castle, on Oct. 13, 2021.

(

Valerie Macon

/

AFP via Getty Images

)

When we asked in March 2023 whether Hervé would want to implement a formal training, he said he would and that it’s “definitely coming.”

When we checked in October 2023, the Castle told us they still hadn’t implemented a training for booked performers, but were working to roll out a training in January 2024. They also said they did not intend to require training for members. A Castle rep said that policies about appropriate behavior are “clearly defined” for members when they join and “reiterated from time-to-time in internal communications.”

Still on the D&I Committee

The last time we talked to Paul Draper in March 2023, he was still on the D&I Committee.

He said it was still slow going. For example, the committee wanted to get a spot in the monthly emailed newsletter, so they could tell other members about their work and highlight lesser-known magicians.

The first article was just going to be an introduction. He said it took 10 months of meetings, revisions and back-and-forths before the introduction was included in the emailed newsletter.

When we brought up the pace of change to Hervé, he said changes happen slowly in order to account for everyone’s opinions.

“So yes,” he said, “it's gonna be slow process, but we need to do it right.”

We asked to interview the new head of the D&I committee who replaced Kayla, but he declined.

We checked in with the Castle one last time in October 2023 to see if any new D&I Committee recommendations had been implemented. They had none to report.

A different perspective on the Castle 

While we spoke off the record to other former Castle members whose experiences of the Castle were similar to Kayla and Carly’s, we also spoke with several members whose interactions with the Castle were overwhelmingly positive and who felt that the Castle did make meaningful changes after 2020.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

Georgia Lyle is one of those members. Georgia is a retired physics teacher, magician and a trans woman. Like Carly, she initially came to magic by way of the Castle, when her friend invited her for a night out at the club.

Georgia was in her 50s and exploring her gender identity and starting to experiment with feminine gender expression. She still remembers what she wore that first night at the Castle — a silver dress that went just below the knee.

“I was very self-conscious,” says Georgia. “I would go to a showroom and I would very intentionally go to the back row because I didn't want to get called upon. And the thing that struck me was that at the Castle, everybody was very nice. Everybody treated me really well and nobody made a fuss over me.”

Georgia started going to the Castle more frequently, eventually taking lessons and finally passing her audition and becoming a member. The membership card held special significance, because it was her first piece of ID with her correct name.

Georgia is actively involved at the Castle now, performing, teaching and giving tours. And for Georgia, the Castle is a place of acceptance.

“I find that I have never been treated badly in the club,” says Georgia. “My feeling as a trans woman is that the club provided me the experience that I wanted, which was basically the ability to be myself. And I'm respected because of the things I do. I'm respected because I do magic.”

After the summer of 2020, Georgia felt that the Castle owned up to its issues. So did magician and mentalist Michael Gutenplan.

“I personally have never had problems with homophobia or being discriminated against because I'm gay in the magic world,” says Michael. “But I think the older members of our magic world sometimes need a reminder that the world has changed … I feel that there are people that want the world to instantly change for their benefits, and I wish it would, but the truth is, change takes time.”

When asked about other members’ experiences of sexism and racism, both Georgia and Michael said that they hadn’t personally had bad experiences at the club. During the summer of 2020, on that members-only Facebook group, there were other members who offered their experiences as counterpoints to members who said they’d had problematic ones.

We asked Hervé how he thought about how to prioritize feedback — how to take the bad experiences of the few seriously. He said that he takes everyone’s experiences very seriously.

We also asked Georgia about how she grappled with how Carly’s experience was so different from her own.

“That is a dilemma,” she says. “Because you know, I have my perspective, but it's the perspective of somebody who's older and I'm imposing, so I think there's a lot of people who would not do things with me that they might do with somebody who's younger and more attractive,” says Georgia. “I think most people who are or were members of the Magic Castle had a fairly major investment in becoming a member. You don't do it lightly. So if they are feeling uncomfortable, that definitely needs examination.”

Kayla and Carly today

Carly Usdin in 2023, with all their decks of cards.

(

Natalie Chudnovsky

/

LAist

)

Kayla Drescher moved to Chicago and now performs at the Chicago Magic Lounge.

“There are posted signs everywhere that tell you what to do if you wanna report bad behavior,” says Kayla of her new performance space. “There's a team meeting every single day that reminds people to use non-binary gender inclusive language as a performer … then when something does happen, like we had a drunk guest who got a little bit handsy, and that guest was asked to leave.”

Kayla says she’s found a different, more progressive magic community, elsewhere.

Carly Usdin’s suitcase of magic stuff.

(

Natalie Chudnovsky

/

LAist

)

Meanwhile, it’s been three years since Carly left the Castle. And even longer since they’ve done any magic tricks.

During the last interview for this story, in their home, Carly pulled out dusty boxes of magic materials: pieces of rope, sponge rabbits, white handkerchiefs, books on magic and over two dozen different decks of cards.

Carly said that enough time had passed between them and their Castle days that they mostly just felt nostalgic.

“I miss doing this a little bit,” says Carly, as they glance at the cards. “When I go to put all this away later, I'll maybe leave one deck out.”

This is a digital companion piece to Imperfect Paradise: The Castle. To listen to the audio version of this episode, click here. 

Midterms coverage: Live results | What to know | Stories around the country
Stay connected: NPR Politics Podcast | NPR Politics newsletter | NPR app

Democrats appear poised to retake control of the House on Tuesday. If they do, will their majority be built upon a blue wave or a tiny trickle? A previous NPR analysis found both parties spending deep and wide in a competitive landscape that spans 70 districts, ranging from longtime tossups to newly-competitive seats in deeply conservative areas.

Republicans came into Election Day with a narrow 218-214 seat advantage in the House and facing severe headwinds as the party in power. This midterm cycle has also seen a record number of departures from Congress, and polls show voters aren't happy about things like the economy and the ongoing war in Iran.

So what separates a good night for Democrats from a blue wave that sees dozens of House seats change hands? Here's NPR's cheat sheet to four types of House races to watch as results come in:

Early polls closing

The first results of the night with national implications will likely be from Kentucky's 6th Congressional District (KY-06) and Indiana's 5th (IN-05), two districts where polls close first (in the 6 p.m. ET hour) and whose 2024 margins for President Trump (15 and 17 points, respectively) could act as a preview for how much voters have soured on Republicans.

Democrats and Republicans alike have spent heavily in the Kentucky race, where Democrat Zach Dembo faces Republican Ralph Alvarado, so the increased investment is worth noting as a factor on the outcome. If Democrats flip one or both of these races, then it will likely be a long night for the GOP.

Florida also counts and reports its votes quickly, and is home to more than a half dozen races that are viewed as toss-ups or slightly favor one party or the other, so as these districts have projected winners there will be more insight into other races across the country.

Like the Kentucky contest, both parties have spent significant sums in races like the open seat in FL-22 with Democrat Pia Dandiya facing off against Republican Casey Askar and incumbent Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz versus Republican Scott Singer in the newly-redrawn FL-25 race.

Other races to watch: FL-27, NC-11, SC-01, VA-01

Last-minute big spending

In the final seven days of the midterms, a handful of House races have seen more than $10 million in ad spending, according to data from AdImpact. It's a sign of where both parties think the saying "It all comes down to turnout!" is more than a cliche. That includes districts in Michigan, such as MI-07, where progressive Democrat William Lawrence is challenging incumbent Republican Tom Barrett in a seat that Trump carried by just over one percent in 2024 and the open MI-10, where Democrat Christina Hines faces Republican Mike Bouchard.

New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in NY-17 could be one of the rare Republicans who holds on to his seat thanks in part to his party's ad spending advantage in the closing stretch against Democrat Cait Conley.

Three of Iowa's four House races, IA-01, IA-02 and IA-03 are on the list of most expensive, in part because of the competitive governor and U.S. Senate races that are also on the ballot and driving up turnout.

Other races to watch: CO-08, PA-01, WA-03, WI-03

Redistricting

This year's Supreme Court decision rolling back part of the Voting Rights Act led to many Republican-led states redrawing their House maps to eliminate districts that favor Democrats in a typical election year – but this year is not typical.

Now, the political environment has deteriorated so much that seats like AL-02, held by Democrat Shomari Figures, OH-09 held by Democrat Marcy Kaptur and NC-01 held by Democrat Don Davis are all considered toss-ups at best and favoring the Democrats at worst for Republicans.

In Texas, Latino voters seem poised to swing back to Democratic candidates and could prevent Republican Eric Flores from flipping the seat held by Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in TX-34 or Tano Tijerina from unseating Democratic incumbent Henry Cuellar in TX-28.

Other races to watch: CA-22, FL-09, FL-14, TX-35

The outer edges of the map

As results continue to be reported, one thing to watch is how far into conservative communities the increased support for Democrats can go.

One race that has received a surprising amount of ad attention is in Arkansas's 2nd district (AR-02), where incumbent Republican Rep. French Hill faces a well-known challenger in Democrat Chris Jones. By the time polls close, closer to $10 million will have been spent in the final months on the Little Rock-based seat that Trump carried by 15 points in 2024.

There are also many districts in states that redrew their maps where the Republican gerrymander could backfire, like Ohio. In both OH-10 held by Republican Mike Turner and OH-15 held by Republican Mike Carey, Trump won by closer to 10 points in 2024. They're also in a state with competitive governor and Senate races and stretch between the suburbs and exurbs of Dayton and Columbus with an electorate that could swing away from the GOP.

The margin in North Carolina's Senate race, where former Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to win against former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, could determine if races like NC-03 are in play as well too. Rep. Greg Murphy's district absorbed more Democratic-leaning voters after the latest map redraw.

Other races to watch: NC-09, NY-21, TN-09, WA-05

Copyright 2026 NPR

Election Day is here, and with it comes your last chance to vote in the 2026 general election.

So far, a lot of people have cast ballots. Early voting turnout in L.A. and Orange counties has been higher than the previous midterm cycle in 2022.

The ballot is hefty, asking you to choose among dozens of candidates and weigh in on important local and statewide measures, from a new governor to a billionaire’s tax. L.A. voters will choose who will be mayor and the city attorney, decide on Superior Court judges, school bonds and much more.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Where to vote on Election Day

All vote centers are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday for in-person voting or to drop off your vote-by-mail ballot — in L.A. County, there are more than 600 to choose from. Remember: If you’re in line to vote by 8 p.m., stay in line. You’re legally allowed to cast your ballot if you get in line by the 8 p.m. deadline.

Tip: You aren’t required to bring your vote-by-mail ballot with you — those get voided during the check-in process.

• Find an L.A. County vote center near you (with wait times)
• Find an Orange County vote center near you (with wait times)

If you haven’t registered yet or you’re worried you’ll have an issue, election workers can help you. California allows same-day registration. (Check your registration status here.) If you register at the same time that you vote, you’ll cast a provisional ballot. Officials will verify your registration information and count all ballots of voters who are eligible.

You can also drop your ballot in an official ballot drop box anywhere in the state before 8 p.m.

• Find an Orange County drop box near you
• Find an L.A. County drop box near you
  

If you prefer to mail your ballot in, just make sure it’s postmarked by Tuesday. No postage is required. (Pro tip: If you’re mailing your ballot, take it into the post office to ensure it’s postmarked on time. It'll be counted as long as it arrives within 7 days of Election Day.)

You can also designate another person to return your completed ballot, as long as they aren’t paid. Make sure they fill out the envelope as directed for another person returning your ballot.

Get a free ride to vote in LA

L.A. Metro offers free rides until 11:59 p.m. All buses, trains, Metro Micro and Metro Bike Share services are covered. The promotion on Bike Share covers a 30-minute ride with the code “110326.” LADOT Transit, which includes DASH and Commuter Express rides, is also free.

Here’s a map of ballot drop boxes near Metro stations.

(

Metro

)

Lyft is offering discounted rides with the code “VOTE26.” You’ll get 50% off up to $10.

What to do if you can't get to your local vote center

Not to worry — if you’re out of town, you can drop off your ballot at an official ballot drop box or polling location anywhere in California. It will be routed to the correct county. There’s no need to drive back to the vote center closest to where you live.

The same goes for voting by mail. Remember: If you have a vote-by-mail ballot, you can get it postmarked at any post office. As long as it’s postmarked by Tuesday and arrives within 7 days of Election Day, it will be counted.

What to do if you make a mistake on your ballot 

If you make an error on your vote-by-mail ballot, you can draw a line through it and make your correction.

You can also go to any vote center, request a new ballot and vote in person.

How to sign your ballot

Make sure to sign your ballot envelope with the signature that matches what your county registrar has on file, which is probably the signature on your driver’s license or state ID. Otherwise, your ballot might get flagged. If that happens, you’ll be notified by mail and will have a chance to fix it.

What to do if you come across an unfamiliar ballot item

It’s not required to vote on every item. If you haven’t had time to research, it’s OK to skip a race or ballot measure you’re unsure about — or several of them if you like. Whatever votes you do cast will still be counted, even if parts of your ballot are left blank.

You can also check out our voter guides.

What to expect after polls close

Follow LAist’s Voter Game Plan. We’ll keep you updated as results come in after 8 p.m.

When will my ballot be counted?

Keep in mind that in tight races particularly, the winner may not be determined for days or weeks after Election Day.

Election results will start posting shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m.

(

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk

)

In L.A. County, the first batch of results released includes vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day (8:30 to 8:45 p.m.), followed by early votes cast at vote centers before Election Day (8:45 to 9:00 p.m.), then votes cast in-person on Election Day. This process is expected to wrap up in the early hours of Nov. 4. Then, additional results will be released following a schedule you can see on the county's site. In California, ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 3 are counted toward the results as long as they arrive within seven days of the election.

County election officials must certify election results by Dec. 3.

Track your ballot

You can track the status of your ballot here:

• Voters in L.A. County
• Voters in Orange County

If your mail-in ballot is rejected for any reason (like a missing or mismatched signature), your county registrar must contact you to give you a chance to fix it.

If you come across any other challenges, be sure to let us know. We have reporters out across L.A. County, along with staff standing by to answer your questions.

Editor's note: A version of this story was first published in 2022, and we continue to update it for subsequent elections.

Altadena artist and muralist Austin Scott is painting a portrait in a courtyard outside the Union Center for the Arts in Little Tokyo. As a steady stream of people walk in, he sketches some details of the face of a woman holding a bouquet of flowers. She wears a wide-brimmed purple hat, her eyes are closed, her face tilts upward toward sunbeams.

Her name is Evelyn McClendon. The retired Pasadena school bus driver was the first victim whose body was found in the rubble of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.

“It’s going to be a portrait of her face made up of little portraits of all the other faces of the people we lost in the fire,” Scott says.

Something like a memorial, he says, for the 19 people who perished.

Altadena muralist and artist Austin Scott paints a portrait of Evelyn McClendon, the first identified victim of the Eaton Fire.

(

Erin Stone

/

LAist

)

In front of the building entrance, as people eat tacos and chat, Emeka Chukwurah starts the music.

“Can you see it? We rising up,” he raps as his father, Onochie, and members of their band play drums, guitar and traditional African instruments. They specialize in Nigerian highlife fusion music.

Chukwurah lost his Altadena business, Rhythms of the Village, in the fire. The store sold goods sourced from countries across Africa and hosted drum, dance and Nigerian language classes.

They’re finally about to reopen in a temporary space.

“What we went through is life-changing. It was very traumatic,” Chukwurah says. “But to turn something so traumatic into triumphant moments like these and create new memories, I'm truly grateful for how far we have come.”

Emeka Chukwurah lost his business, Rhythms of the Village, in the Eaton Fire. He's close to reopening in a temporary space.

(

Erin Stone

/

LAist

)

Putting real experiences on stage

The idea for tonight’s play was born after the Eaton Fire, when photographer Gayle Nicholls-Ali and her husband, Rasheed, returned to Altadena after a trip to the Bahamas. Their home and community of 30 years were gone.

So they sought out their displaced neighbors. Gayle photographed them. The two collected more than 20 hours of interviews. After the fire, during mutual aid efforts, they happened to meet Sunder Ganglani, the artistic director for Cornerstone Theater Company. With Ganglani’s help, they turned the interview transcripts into the play’s script.

Union Center for the Arts is the theater home of East West Players, considered the nation's first Asian Pacific American theater company.

(

Mykle Parker

/

Mykle Parker

)

“And so the four speakers on stage, all of whom are fire survivors, end up speaking around 20 different people, you know, from every walk of life,” Ganglani says.

Eventually, the nonprofit Extreme Weather Survivors, which connects disaster survivors with each other, got in touch as well. The play became a part of a national tour of similar events hosted by disaster survivors across the country ahead of the midterms.

On this October evening, the crowd settles into the seats of the David Henry Hwang Theater. Gayle Nicholls-Ali takes the stage to applause.

“Tonight is a chance to see one another more fully, to feel something together, to remember that we still belong to Altadena even if we're not living there right at the moment,” she says.

The show begins

The lights go down. Four actors walk onto the stage, one by one.

“My name is Rasheed. My name is Francesca. Shakira. My name is Sam. Darina. My name is Sunny.”

As they speak the stories, Nicholls-Ali rotates pictures of the people she interviewed, projected onto sheets hung behind the actors.

The performers onstage during "From Ashes We Gather."

(

Mykle Parker

/

Mykle Parker

)

The building that houses this theater — the Union Center for the Arts — has been privy to some of the biggest events in Los Angeles history. It was a church for Japanese Americans before their mass incarceration during World War II, then a community center for Black Americans during the Great Migration. It was witness to racial attacks known as the Zoot Suit Riots, and was damaged by the Northridge earthquake.

Today, the art space and theater continues to be a place to process pain, to find refuge.

Like the actors in the play. All of them are fire survivors.

Their voices become a chorus with phrases repeated by survivors.

“Driving back to Altadena for the first time was really chimney after chimney after chimney…”

“They killed 19 of our neighbors.”

“This is our generational wealth. We don't want to lose that.”

The questions they were constantly asked: “How are you? Where are you? What's going on? Were you affected?”

Rasheed Ali performs the piece he composed for the play.

(

Mykle Parker

/

Mykle Parker

)

At the close, the actors exit one by one. Rasheed Ali is alone on stage. The musician and composer sits at the keyboard and plays a piano piece telling the story of Altadena before, during and after the fire.

At the end of the night, some special guests take the stage, including Zaire Calvin, the brother of Evelyn McClendon, whose portrait was being painted earlier. He performs a rap he wrote with his cousin. The show ends with Medusa, who grew up in Altadena and is a hip-hop legend who has collaborated with icons like Tupac Shakur, Erykah Badu and Common.

A healing moment

Gayle Nicholls-Ali thanks the crowd at the end of the show. At left, Zaire Calvin looks on.

(

Mykle Parker

/

Mykle Parker

)

After the show, as everyone packs up, Rasheed Ali is reflective.

“For me, it was a breakthrough,” he says. “The fire has a paralyzing effect on your creativity.”

Gayle Nicholls-Ali feels the same.

“I have not been able to feel creative because this fire is like a big knot in your stomach that you can't get rid of,” she says. “And so this helps to unknot the knot.”

Not just for her and Rasheed, she hopes, but for their community too.

Los Angeles County quietly stopped handing out syringes and pipes at the county’s flagship services hub in Skid Row in August, and has now terminated the contract of the nonprofit that ran harm reduction programs there, the Department of Health Services told LAist.

The pause — which county officials said is temporary — began in August, “in part due to concerns that community stakeholders and local businesses raised to County leadership,” according to a statement provided to LAist by Thomas Lynch, a spokesperson for the county’s Department of Health Services.

The changes come amid a growing cluster of HIV cases in Skid Row and mounting pressure from the Trump administration and neighboring businesses on L.A. programs that distribute drug paraphernalia. Critics argue the programs enable drug addiction and contribute to crime in the area.

The goal of these programs is to keep people who use drugs alive and free of infections like HIV and hepatitis, while working to connect them with services including treatment.

In late August, the county Department of Public Health identified a cluster of HIV cases among people who live in and around Skid Row. As of Sunday, 15 people had been linked to it, 11 of them women, according to Becky Schlikerman, a spokesperson for that department.

In a statement, Schlikerman said both substance use and sexual transmission are being investigated as possible factors, and that the department is working with street medicine teams and harm reduction groups to expand HIV testing and prevention in the area.

“There is an active HIV outbreak in Skid Row, so reducing safe injection supplies to people who use drugs in this moment seems particularly dangerous,” said Ricky Bluthenthal, distinguished professor of population and public health sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

The Skid Row Care Campus still distributes naloxone — the opioid overdose reversal drug — wound care supplies and safe sex supplies, Lynch said, but “distribution of syringes and pipes is currently on pause.”

He also said they have not set a date for syringe services to resume, that the pause applies only at the campus, and that staff are referring people to syringe programs elsewhere.

The state lists 24 authorized syringe services programs in L.A. County, according to the California Department of Public Health. Two are based in or next to Skid Row.

Harm reduction services are provided across much of L.A. County, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Darren Willett, director of the Center for Harm Reduction in Skid Row, in September of 2021.

(

Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

/

via Getty Images

)

Provider layoffs 

The county has also terminated its contract with Homeless Health Care Los Angeles effective Tuesday, county officials said. The county announced the change in an Aug. 28 statement, the same month the syringe and pipe pause began.

Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, one of L.A.’s best-known harm reduction providers, notified the state in September that it would permanently lay off 134 workers — including 117 employees at the Skid Row Care Campus — effective Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to state Employment Development Department records.

“Right now, HHCLA is being forced to say goodbye to some deeply valued staff and reduce services that some of LA’s most marginalized rely on every day,” the nonprofit wrote in an Instagram post in late September.

In the same post, Homeless Health Care Los Angeles said its jobs program for people in Skid Row “no longer exists.” The nonprofit said the program offered “real income, real pathways forward for people too often shut out of opportunity.”

The county is bringing in nonprofits St. Joseph Center and LA Community Health Project instead, officials said. Meanwhile, Social Model Recovery Systems will expand its existing services and Wesley Health Centers will continue providing healthcare on site.

In statements provided to LAist, L.A. County's health services and homelessness departments described the shake-up as “contractor changes” made as part of an effort to “strengthen operations.” Officials are updating campus protocols, “strengthening on-site safety” and expanding substance use treatment and healthcare, according to those statements.

County officials said they are committed to a transition that avoids disruption for people using the campus.

“Providers are hiring from within the Skid Row community and have worked hard to retain staff who were working for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles,” Lynch told LAist.

Those providers have hired more than 80 people so far, and nearly 90% previously worked for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, according to the department.

Representatives for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles did not respond to repeated requests for interview or comment.

The nonprofit has worked in Skid Row since the 1980s and ran the campus’s harm reduction and overdose response programs. It celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

A group of Skid Row community members and laid-off campus workers calling itself the Skid Row Coalition for Community Safety has launched a campaign saying L.A. County is “playing politics with people’s lives.”

“Supervisor Hilda Solis and LA County chose to cowardly abandon the recommendations of public health experts and the Skid Row community,” the group said in a statement on its website.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who represents the area and authored the 2022 motion that created the Skid Row Action Plan, told LAist in a statement that the decision to end Homeless Health Care Los Angeles’ contract was made jointly by the county’s health services and homelessness departments.

“Some services have been paused to allow the incoming provider to onboard staff and establish operations,” Solis said. “This is a necessary part of coordinating the transition.”

“I am proud of the Skid Row Action Plan and its commitment to expanding low-barrier services, health care, and pathways to housing,” Solis’ statement continued. “That commitment remains unchanged.”

Solis completes her final term next month and is on Tuesday’s ballot running for California’s 38th Congressional District, which covers parts of eastern Los Angeles and Orange counties but not Skid Row.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis. Solis represents Skid Row and authored a 2022 motion that created the Skid Row Action Plan.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

Criticism of the campus 

The Skid Row Care Campus opened in spring 2025. County officials call it the first community-designed homeless services hub in the nation.

The campus logs more than 2,700 visits a day, a count that includes repeat visitors, according to the county. It costs about $26 million a year to operate. Funding is secured through June 2027. The budget for the following fiscal year has not been finalized.

The campus in the heart of Skid Row drew scrutiny this year. In May, Fox 11 aired a segment featuring Estela Lopez, executive director of the Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District, who called the campus a “meth mansion.” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told the TV station she was concerned about problems at the campus.

LAPD responded 693 times to the two blocks around it between January and late May, and recorded four homicides there in the first four months of 2026, according to LAPD figures first reported by Fox 11.

On Oct. 8, federal agents and LAPD officers carried out a drug sweep dubbed “Operation Save Skid Row,” centered about a block from the campus. Federal prosecutors charged 28 people and arrested 23, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In July 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to stop funding “so-called ‘harm reduction’” efforts. In April, federal health officials barred grantees from using federal money for pipes and drug test strips, on top of a longstanding ban on federal funds for syringes.

L.A. County officials have not said whether federal policy played a role in the pause. The campus is funded through opioid settlement money, Medi-Cal managed care plans, the state and the county — not federal grants, according to officials.

County officials and employees have credited harm reduction programs with helping drive down overdose deaths, which fell 6% in 2025 — the third straight annual decline — according to the county Department of Public Health.

A person walks past an encampment of unhoused people in the Skid Row community. Skid Row is home to thousands of people who are either experiencing homelessness on the streets or living in shelters.

(

Mario Tama/Getty Images

/

Getty Images North America

)

Harm reduction’s track record

Harm reduction programs including needle and syringe exchanges started in L.A. more than three decades ago in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. L.A. County declared a local public health emergency in 2000 to authorize syringe exchange under a new state law, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

People who use fentanyl in L.A. have increasingly shifted from injecting it to smoking it, according to a 2025 study co-authored by Bluthenthal, with USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Bluthenthal called the recent syringe and pipe distribution pause at the Skid Row Care Campus “obviously a setback.”

“Harm reduction programs, through providing social and material support, have been one of the most consistent pathways to treatment for people who are currently using illicitly purchased drugs,” he said.

In a statement on the pause, officials at L.A. County’s Department of Health Services said people who receive syringe services are three times more likely to reduce or stop using drugs and five times more likely to enter substance use treatment.

John Raphling, an organizer with the Los Angeles Community Action Network based in Skid Row, said his group is “extremely concerned that the county is cutting these services” and that Skid Row residents “were not at all consulted.”

“Harm reduction services, like those provided by Homeless Health Care, help save lives, prevent the spread of disease, and allow people to survive and work through their recovery,” Raphling said.

Some Skid Row residents see it differently — including Don Garza, who has lived in the neighborhood for 27 years and resides in a single-room-occupancy building there.

“It’s not helping anyone,” Garza told LAist. “It exponentially accelerates the overdose deaths.”

“The part of harm reduction that we still need is the overdose prevention, but without the pipes and the needles,” Garza said. “We still need the Narcan because Skid Row is not going anywhere, and people are still gonna OD, and they're gonna die.”