The Brief

Growing up, Eleu Navarro says he and his family dealt with food insecurity a lot. They came to the U.S. from Mexico in the early ‘70s.

“As a child and my other siblings, it was our job to either recycle cans or dumpster dive,” he told LAist.

Navarro says the experience made him realize that he wants to do his part to help others. Now, as the program director for Growing Hope Gardens, he’s helping fight food insecurity.

Every week, he and hundreds of other organizations partner with the North Hollywood nonprofit Food Forward to pick up fresh produce that feeds the community.

Gleaning at the markets

Eleu Navarro is a program director for Growing Hope Gardens, a nonprofit that maintains food gardens and teaches people how to grow food.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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At the Santa Monica Farmers Market, Navarro picked up hundreds of pounds of free food. This kind of gathering is called gleaning, which is when excess food in public areas gets harvested.

That produce helped Growing Hope Gardens, a nonprofit that runs food gardens in Los Angeles County, feed more than 50 families in Santa Monica and residents at a workshop in Boyle Heights.

“ We make sure that whatever we glean from here doesn’t go to waste,” he said.

This is Food Forward’s farmers market recovery program, one of multiple ways they rescue good produce and get it into the hands of needy residents. On this day, dozens of boxes were stuffed with romanesco broccoli, fennel, white cauliflower, rainbow chard, artichokes, kale and more.

The nonprofit’s system is simple. Volunteers show up to markets in L.A. and Ventura counties with boxes and distribute them to farmers who’ve joined the program. Then, as the market nears closing time, they put in whatever produce they’d like that didn’t sell.

Samatha Teslik, Food Forward’s community programs director, said the boxes get collected, weighed, sorted and picked up within the hour. Weighing is how they track how much gets donated, which ends up as a tax write-off for farmers later on.

 On a good day, the Santa Monica Farmers Market alone yields upward of 5,000 pounds. On a slow day, they still get at least 1,000 pounds of fresh produce.

“ There is a little bit of physicalness to it for sure,” she said. “But we work really hard to provide a fun and engaging experience for our volunteers so that they leave feeling really good and want to come back.”

Volunteer Josh Debuque works with others on the team to weigh each box on a scale.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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On this visit, Growing Hope Gardens was one of three partners picking up donated produce.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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Helping Angelenos

Food insecurity affects about 1 in 4 L.A. County households, according to Food Base L.A. Largely low-income residents struggle with this, since it’s often tied to economic issues, but recently, more higher-income residents are also experiencing food insecurity.

Most of Food Forward’s fruits and vegetables goes to L.A. County, according to founder Rick Nahmias. He said they make it clear that the goods need to get passed along to someone who’s self-identified as being food insecure. They don’t check tax returns or citizenship.

“That produce can end up in soups at a soup kitchen,” he said. “It can end up in grocery bags being given out in MacArthur Park. They can go into boxes being given to veterans.”

A box of broccolini donated by Milliken Family Farms.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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A box of rainbow chard also donated by Milliken Family Farms.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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Residents can sign up to be part of the glean team at farmers markets or become a backyard harvester. These volunteers pick fruits from registered trees on private property, as well as public and commercial orchards. The minimum age for farmers market recovery is 12, while kids as young as 5 can join the backyard harvest program.

“Whether food waste is a big issue for you, food insecurity or just wanting to do something good in this world where sometimes we’re not feeling super great,” Teslik said, “[it’s] an hour-and-a-half to two hours where you can really make a tremendous impact.”

Two new studies have identified an alarming connection between exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy and autism in young children.

The unprecedented findings suggest the neurological consequences of breathing smoke are more profound than previously thought.

The research builds on a robust body of evidence that shows wildfire smoke is supremely unhealthy — about 10 times worse than inhaling car exhaust and other pollution emitted by burning fossil fuels. The ultra-fine particles that trees and vegetation release during combustion penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, exacerbating preexisting conditions like asthma and, recent studies suggest, damaging internal organs.

In recent years, researchers have also begun to suspect that conflagrations — like the ones that leveled swaths of Los Angeles County last year — affect neurological health, but the effects of smoke on brain development are comparatively poorly understood. Two new studies shed light on the complicated web of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to autism spectrum disorder, building on previous research that found connections between the developmental disability and exposure to air pollution in genera

The first study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology, analyzed data on more than 200,000 children born in southern California between 2006 and 2014. It found that those born to mothers exposed to 10 or more days of smoke in their third trimester had a 23% greater risk of being diagnosed with autism by age 5. Pregnant women who endured between six and 10 days saw a 12% higher risk of such a diagnosis in their kids.

Notably, the study found that average wildfire smoke concentration across the entire pregnancy or individual trimesters had no material effect on autism diagnoses. What did make a difference was the number of days a person in their third trimester inhaled the pollutant. Even one day of exposure had an effect.

“The more you get exposed the worse it is,” said David Luglio, a postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University and the lead author of the study. “But we can’t necessarily answer why that is the case.”

Luglio said he hopes future research will help untangle why prolonged inhalation made such a big difference. Future studies may also help refine these results by incorporating information on how much time the subjects spent outside during fires and whether they wore masks that help filter particulate matter.

The second study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment International, examined a much bigger sample — some 8.5 million births in California between 2001 and 2019. It, too, found a link between wildfire smoke exposure and autism diagnoses, though its different methodology yielded more nuanced results. When researchers looked at average smoke exposure across all births, the association was relatively weak. But among women who experienced intense smoke episodes — particularly those in the top 10th percentile of exposure — the link was substantially stronger. And it was strongest in people who live in where population centers meet undeveloped land and are not exposed to very high levels of general air pollution normally.

In women in the highest percentile of wildfire smoke exposure who otherwise lived in areas with relatively little background air pollution — such as car exhaust and urban smog — the odds of having a child diagnosed with autism were 50% higher than among those with lower wildfire smoke exposure. The researchers adjusted their analyses for non-wildfire related sources of air pollution.

“It’s a really huge study,” Rebecca Schmidt, a professor of public health at UC Davis and the paper’s lead author, said, referring to the many millions of records her team analyzed. The earlier study was also quite large, she said, a sign that both findings are well-founded. “There’s more evidence when there’s replication of similar findings,” she said.

Autism spectrum disorder affects one in 31 8-year-olds in the United States. The extent to which the neurological condition, which researchers widely agree is largely determined by genetics, may also be influenced by environmental factors remains an active area of research. In recent years, as wildfires have burned with more severity and frequency in some parts of the world, researchers have been considering their affect on the disorder.

At the same time, public interest in autism and its causes has mounted since the late 1990s, when the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet published what was later found to be a fraudulent paper that claimed to find a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and one of the world’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, has long championed that theory. Under his leadership, the agency has radically remade the childhood immunization schedule, stacked an expert vaccine safety panel with his skeptics, and wound down mRNA vaccine development, among other moves that public health experts say undermine confidence in vaccines and threaten disease elimination status.

There is no credible evidence that vaccines cause autism.

Even the two studies on autism and wildfire smoke do not indicate that wildfire smoke specifically causes autism. Credible experts who study the disorder, including the authors of these studies, agree that a diagnosis is very likely the result of several factors working in tandem.

“All we can point out is this association in the third trimester,” Guglio said. “It takes other people down the line to investigate those pathways more directly.”

More than a dozen houses that were slated to be demolished as part of a failed effort to extend the 710 Freeway have sold, and several of them have gone for thousands of dollars above asking price.

All net proceeds from the sales will go toward developing affordable housing in the city, according to Pasadena Housing Director Jim Wong.

The historic homes, which sat vacant for decades, were put on the market as-is by the city of Pasadena last fall. According to the listings, a few of the homes were uninhabitable.

But that didn’t dissuade buyers.

The 13 houses sold for between $750,000 to more than $3.4 million, with the average purchase price around $1.5 million.

“We are very pleased with the outcome,” Wong told LAist. “These critically needed dollars will enable the city to address the affordable housing shortage in Pasadena.”

How we got here

The properties were set to be demolished decades ago to extend the 710 Freeway through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno.

Caltrans ended up purchasing hundreds of homes to make way for the extension, but construction was never completed.

The section of the 710 Freeway was built in the early 1970s and displaced thousands of residents when their homes were destroyed, according to Pasadena.

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City of Pasadena

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City Manager's Office

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The project faced legal challenges and widespread opposition from residents who objected to how the freeway would impact their communities, particularly by displacing thousands of residents and destroying homes and businesses.

Several of the homes were put up for sale last year, including some properties earmarked for affordable housing in the L.A. neighborhood of El Sereno. Caltrans invited private and public groups to submit their interest in the El Sereno homes, which were slated to be auctioned off last summer.

When the city of South Pasadena put five of the homes on the market last fall, the properties attracted thousands of potential buyers. Most sold for thousands above asking — even with boarded up windows, damaged floors and peeling paint — with the costliest going for nearly half a million dollars more.

One of the former Caltrans homes in South Pasadena.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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The former Caltrans property at 216 Fairview Avenue.

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Makenna Sievertson

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The former Caltrans property at 225 Fremont Avenue.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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The former Caltrans property at 225 Fremont Avenue.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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The former Caltrans property at 216 Fairview Avenue.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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But unlike the South Pasadena properties, people didn’t get to scope out the Pasadena homes in person. There were no public open houses or broker tours allowed — virtual viewings only.

How much the Pasadena homes sold for

Most of the properties were sold as offered, including a four-bedroom, two-bath duplex on Pasadena Avenue. The house, which is more than a century old, was purchased for $750,000, according to city officials.

One property was purchased for nearly double the asking price.

A six-bedroom, four-bath house on State Street sold for more than $3.4 million, according to city officials. The house, built in 1912, was on the market for $1.75 million.

Five of the houses ended up selling for thousands over offer, including two on State Street that were represented by Bill Podley, a broker associate with the real estate company Compass.

Podley told LAist last October that most of the homes were in poor condition after sitting empty for so long. Some had paint peeling from the walls and holes in the floors, for example.

“These properties are not for the faint of heart,” he said. “Because you're really buying something you're not too totally certain as to its condition.”

The interior of 1112 S. Pasadena Ave., a six-bed, three-bath home.

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Courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

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What’s ahead for affordable housing

Pasadena also purchased four smaller, non-historic homes from Caltrans that were not on the market. Those properties may be renovated for affordable homeownership housing.

The city is required to fund three affordable units with the net sales proceeds from every property it purchased from Caltrans. Wong confirmed the 13 homes that were sold, in addition to the four non-historic ones set aside, will generate at least 51 units of affordable housing.

Pasadena officials have to use the proceeds for affordable housing by the end of this year. The city can extend the deadline if needed, subject to state approval, according to Wong.

There are other homes that have been or will be sold to their tenants, according to the city. Some will also be sold to nonprofits.

There's a difference between a good peach and a perfect one. The good ones make it to your local farmers markets. The perfect ones are too ripe to survive the trip; for those, you have to be standing under the tree. That's the idea behind the Masumoto Family Farm's Adopt-a-Tree program, now accepting applications through March 15.

Now in its 23rd year, the program allows teams of up to 12 people to harvest certified-organic fruit directly from the farm over two summer weekends.

Most participants are friends, neighbors, coworkers and families from urban and suburban areas, many returning year after year.

"So many folks are very disconnected from their sources of food," said Nikiko Masumoto, a fourth-generation Japanese American farmer and author. "We are trying to provide different portals of entry for folks to ask questions and wonder and be curious, and then get to experience themselves a slice of farm life."

This year brings a restructured format with two tiers: Junior ($950 for roughly 250 to 300 pounds of fruit) and Senior ($1,750 for roughly 500 to 600 pounds). How many individual peaches is that? It's hard to say — Masumoto said some Elbertas last year clocked in at over a pound each, while others were closer to a quarter pound.

The Masumotos recently added Baby Crawford peaches to the program — a grafted heirloom variety that helps buffer against climate-driven shifts in their Elberta peach and Le Grand nectarine ripening cycles.

If you’re new to the program

Fair warning — the Masumotos are upfront that this is a sweat-equity commitment, not a leisurely farm visit. Expect potentially 100-degree heat and a full morning of picking.

Teams also need to hold three weekends open — the last in July and the first two in August — because the farm won't know the exact harvest dates until mid-July.

David "Mas" Masumoto holds a freshly picked peach at the Masumoto Family Farm.

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Nikiko Masumoto

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Courtesy Masumoto Family Farm

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"We are not centering this around human ease," Masumoto said. "It's about the fruit and what the trees are telling us."

New applicants must attend a virtual info session before applying. The remaining session is on Feb. 24. The farm must turn away applicants each year — they intentionally keep the program small to preserve the community feel.

For those who want Masumoto fruit without the full commitment, the farm also runs a low-key drive-through where you can order a flat of peaches online and pick them up at the farm.

For more information, visit masumoto.com/adopt-a-tree. Applications are due March 15. Questions can be directed to nikmasu@gmail.com.