The Brief

A large explosion at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo Thursday night rocked South Bay neighborhoods and sent flames towering into the air that were visible for miles.

By Friday morning, the fire was out, but concerns remain about how air quality was and continues to be affected.

And then, there are gas prices. The disruption at the refinery and necessary repairs are likely to boost the cost of a fill-up, though by how much is not yet clear.

The effect on air quality

The good news? The winds appeared to be in Los Angeles’ favor this time, said Suzanne Paulson, UCLA atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor. When the explosion occurred, winds were blowing offshore, keeping pollution away from communities. And because of relatively windy conditions through the day, Paulson said the smoke from the fire will dilute more quickly.

“None of the data indicate that the smoke impacted the city last night,” Paulson said in a statement. (Though water quality advocates warn that once the pollution settles, it could harm sea life.)

The South Coast Air Quality Management District said pollution levels were elevated near the refinery overnight, but those had settled by morning.

It’s also not yet clear how much planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions were emitted. Refineries are required to report these emissions to the state, though not in real time. In 2022, the El Segundo refinery emitted more than 3 million tons of greenhouse gases — about the same amount of pollution as 761,501 gas cars driving for one year — making it one of the top industrial emitters in the state.

South Coast AQMD said Thursday’s pollution was mainly volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. The agency told LAist it monitored a maximum one-hour average of VOCs at 300 parts per billion, which is far below levels that are considered a major risk to health — though long-term exposure to VOCs, which are in a variety of household products and spew from car tailpipes, is not considered safe.

The agency did not specify which types of VOCs, stating most are non-toxic, but it urged nearby residents to stay indoors with windows and doors closed and to run a HEPA air purifier if they see smoke or smell any odors.

People watch a fire burn at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo on Thursday. A big explosion sparked the fire about 10 p.m.

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Public health experts told LAist that knowing the specific type matters because not all VOCs affect health in the same way.

Benzene, for example, is a VOC and carcinogen that often leaks from oil infrastructure. It’s considered a public health risk when inhaled at low levels for more than eight hours, said Seth Shonkoff, executive director of science and energy think tank PSE Healthy Energy, and a researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Chevron said that “no exceedances have been detected by the facilities fence line monitoring system.”

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any, said Kyle Ferrar, a researcher with FracTracker Alliance, a nonprofit that investigates leaks and associated health risks from oil and gas sites.

“The monitors that are in place are not typically placed in a way that is able to really see the difference between upwind and downwind,” Ferrar said. “So, number one, we need much more thorough, much more robust fence line monitoring to start.”

The 1,000-acre El Segundo refinery site has 18 fence-line monitors that detect 17 chemical compounds, including benzene.

Residents who live near refineries can sign up for air quality alerts from these facilities here and view data from the fence-line monitoring systems at refineries here. You can submit complaints to the AQMD about air quality concerns and odors here.

A firefighting crew continues to put out a fire at the Chevron Products Company El Segundo Refinery in El Segundo.

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What the fire could mean for gas prices

The El Segundo refinery is California’s second-largest and supplies about one-fifth of all vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in Southern California.

Although early estimates predicted spikes of up to 95 cents per gallon across the West Coast, that estimate has since declined.

Matt McClain, a petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, said prices are likely to go up 5 to 15 cents per gallon in the coming days.

“ As we learn additional information, there needs to be a little bit of room for some tweaking,” McClain said.

How long it takes Chevron to repair the facility and restart production will be the biggest factor in how much gas prices rise.

The timing is especially rough because gas prices normally tend to spike in the fall, when refineries schedule maintenance operations across the state. To make up for these supply issues, the state often has to import oil from Asia, which is more expensive.

Meanwhile, McClain warned not to rush to fill up the tank to avoid a price increase.

“It’s going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” McClain said. “The more pressure you place upon the supplies that are out there, then that could have a faster impact as far as a rising price.”

The Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington will close by the end of the year.

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The big picture

California has 13 refineries, six of which are in L.A. County. Phillips 66 in Wilmington and Carson will be winding down operations by the end of this year.

Oil production in the state has been on the decline since the 1980s, when the state had around 40 refineries. That trend is largely a result of California policy to clean up the industry and phase out fossil fuels, the burning of which worsens local air quality and heats up the planet. That reduction in production, though, has also been a factor in increasing gas prices.

Jamie Court with Consumer Watchdog said there are ways to protect consumers in that transition that have not been implemented.

Following record gasoline price hikes in 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special session to address the issue.

In 2024, Newsom signed a law requiring refiners to maintain minimum inventories of fuels and to have supply plans during maintenance or production outages, yet the California Energy Commission has yet to draft rules for this law.

In 2023, Newsom signed a law to penalize price gouging in the case of oil companies making excessive profits during these types of disruptions, but the Newsom administration put that penalty regulation on hold early last month.

“By backtracking on these rules or slow-walking these rules, the governor's put us all in a position where if gas prices climb, there's nothing we can do about it,” Court said. “ If this refinery doesn't come back online in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, consumers are going to feel it at the pump and we will be without the protections that the governor promised us in the last two years.”

Alicia Rivera, a community organizer with nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, based in southeast L.A. and Wilmington, said the explosion is “a reminder about how dangerous it is to live close to refineries.”

Her grandson lives near the El Segundo refinery, and her sister lives just a few blocks away from the Torrance refinery, which was the site of a dangerous explosion in 2015.

“ It seems like we can't get away from refinery exposure,” Rivera said. “ Serious accidents can happen at any time, especially here in Southern California where most of the refineries are located.  We cannot afford to continue to degrade our environment just to continue using fossil fuels. We need to switch to alternative energy that is safe and that is long lasting.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced several significant rule changes for the 99th Oscars, including AI protections for actors and writers as well as expanded eligibility for international films.

In a statement to NPR, the Academy on Saturday said the changes are in response to listening to the global filmmaking community and addressing barriers to entry in its eligibility process.

The Academy added that its rules and eligibility standards have always evolved alongside technologies such as sound, color, and CGI, and that AI is no different. Awards rules and guidelines are reviewed and refined each year.

A blow for Tilly Norwood 

Among the most noteworthy changes, the Academy now explicitly states that only roles, "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" are eligible for Acting awards. In other words, AI creations like the much-hyped Tilly Norwood cannot hope to win a Best Actress Oscar anytime soon.

Particle6, the production company behind Norwood, did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment on Saturday about its creations' ban from consideration. In March, Norwood commented, "Can't wait to go to the Oscars!" in an Instagram post announcing its newly released music video.

The Academy also requires screenplays to be "human-authored" and said it reserved the right to investigate the use of generative AI in any submission.

Meanwhile, qualifying flesh-and-blood human actors can now be nominated for multiple performances in the same category if those performances get enough votes to land in the top five. So, someone like Anne Hathaway, who has five major movies scheduled for release in 2026, could now theoretically sweep the nominations – though that outcome seems extremely unlikely.

"If an actor has an extremely prolific year, might we even see someone swallow up three of the five nominations?," wrote Deadline's awards columnist and chief film critic Pete Hammond about the changes. "Probably won't happen, but it's now possible."

Under previous rules, an actor could only receive one nomination per category. If they had two high-ranking performances in Best Actor, for example, only the one with the most votes would move forward.

International films prioritizes filmmakers over countries

While international films can still be the official selection of their countries, now they can qualify by winning the top prize at a major international festival such as the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at Venice, or the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

Historically, countries "owned" the nomination, and only one film per country was allowed. The new rules allow multiple films from the same country to compete if they are critically acclaimed, and it shifts the honor from a geopolitical entity to the filmmakers themselves.

Largely positive response

The changes have prompted a largely positive reaction from the film community on social media, such as on the popular The Shade Room entertainment and celebrity-focused Instagram feed, where commenters widely praised the "human-only" move to protect creative jobs.

The Academy's Awards Committee oversees the rules in tandem with branch executive committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee.

The rules are scheduled to go into effect next year, covering films released in 2026.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Los Angeles changes fast, and oftentimes that means some of the architectural relics of our shared past get swept up and paved over in all the "progress." (RIP Garden of Allah.)

But there are still places where you can find ruins that tell a tale, like a long-forgotten speakeasy reputedly for old Hollywood near La Crescenta.

The ruins are still there 

On a recent afternoon, author and local historian Mike Lawler led me just beyond the boundary of Crescenta Valley Park. Joggers like me might have seen an old, towering stone arch shrouded by bushes there — and wondered what lies beyond.

Turns out there was once a place called the Verdugo Lodge back there and Lawler has spent years excavating its history.

A car speeds away from the lodge onto New York Avenue. The stone archway that still stands can be seen in the background.

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“It was a very high-end speakeasy for a time,” Lawler, who also helps run the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley, said. “An amazing thing. And all the ruins are still here, just like this arch.”

Lawler said we don’t know exactly when the lodge was built, but we do have some of the picture starting in the late 1920s. The place was set up kind of like a timeshare where people bought 10 x 10 foot ‘tent lots’ that gave them access to on-site amenities. There was a golf course, stables, trout stream, a swimming pool — and a lodge with gambling and alcohol.

“The Crescenta Valley in the teens and '20s was a hotbed of moonshine, prostitution, all that stuff," Lawler said. "It was a quiet little community. But in all these canyons up here, stuff was going on. Illegal stuff!”

We don’t have a full guest list, but Lawler said it’s likely at least a few Hollywood types had gone up to the lodge to circumvent Prohibition era laws.

In some ways, it was kind of like the original glamping. Lawler said patrons probably weren’t doing much sleeping, though.

“They might have been unconscious!” he said with a chuckle.

Lawler led me to a road that swooped around a meadow. We passed by a massive swimming pool nestled into the hillside.

Once known as the “Crystal Pool,” it’s now empty and fenced off, with pitch black locker rooms below.

The exterior of the locker rooms for the old Crystal Pool.

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We continued our journey up the hill and eventually arrived at a cascading stone stairway.

And at the top, the big show: overgrown with orange monkey flowers and goliath agaves lies the foundation of the old Verdugo Lodge, with lofty stone fireplaces the only guardians keeping the surrounding oak trees at bay.

Lawler takes out a floorplan that one of the former owners drew up for him.

“This is what it was laid out like on the inside. So a dancehall, and band stand on that side... And then upstairs was the gambling,” Lawler said.

Lawler had in hand a copy of a Los Angeles Times article from 1933 he found. The headline reads: “Revelers Flee in Lodge Raid.”

“The police that raided it were here at 3 o'clock in the morning. And there were still 500 people here. And they said it was the classiest joint they had ever raided... Anyway, people were diving out of windows and everything,” Lawler explained.

In a ruin like this, covered with moss and overgrowth, the imagination can run wild, too.

The archway that still stands outside of what's now known as Mountain Oaks.

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Lawler pointed out a questionable door jam below the old dancefloor that’s been cemented over.

“That is a door. So what is behind there? So there’s a room in there that got walled in for some reason,” he said.

What we do know is that, sometime after the raid, the tawdry Verdugo Lodge and the surrounding land were purchased and then renamed Mountain Oaks by the Kadletzes — an entrepreneurial family who had run everything from a Turkish bath to a mini golf course. Over the next few decades, the family would rent the place out to local groups for recreational retreats.

The future of Mountain Oaks 

After they sold it in the ‘60s, Lawler said Mountain Oaks faced a “nightmare” of development threats. Over the years, some of the subdivided "tent lots" had been combined and sold off, Lawler said. A dozen private homes now stand on these pieces of land, next to the ruins of the Verdugo Lodge.

A map showing the Mountain Oaks public property acquired by The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA).

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Last year, with help from the City of Glendale, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant among other funding sources, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) put up $6.1 million to acquire 33-acres of the land — not including the private lots where the homes stand — so the public can continue to roam the meadow and ruins.

Paul Edelman, MRCA's director of natural resources and planning, said his group will continue to manage the land, doing things like brush clearance, trash pickup and sign maintenance. And he said there are no current plans to remove the ruins or make any major changes to the property.

“If somebody comes up with a grand idea where they can find some funding for us to do something to enhance it, we’re always open to it,” Edelman said.

The purchase was good news for local preservationist Joanna Linkchorst.

“I grew up directly up the hill. But I always saw the sign that said ‘private property’ and didn’t really think about it until several years ago when I finally asked Mike. And he said, ‘Oh yeah, we got a resort speakeasy down the street,’” Linkchorst said standing among the oaks and overgrowth.

Linkchorst, who founded the group Friends of Rockhaven to preserve another nearby historic site, said it’s been amazing to see all of the decaying structures that were still hiding out at Mountain Oaks.

“There’s almost like these little ghosts in your head as you imagine what it was like when there was a beautiful wood floor and there was a second floor that people came jumping out of,” Linkchorst said.

Now, let’s check in to the Overlook Hotel.

That’s the fictional place Stanley Kubrick brought to life in his 1980 film The Shining, loosely based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name.

A local architect who hails from South Pasadena meticulously crafted a 3D model of the iconic space so Shining fans everywhere never have to check out.

‘I just couldn’t stop’ 

At his day job, architect Anthony Chieh mainly works on residential and boutique commercial spaces. But over the course of five months, he spent his nights meticulously recreating a virtual replica of the Overlook Hotel from the film that first scared him when he was 12.

Of course he started with the deeply haunted Room 237. That’s where Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, has a terrifying encounter with a ghostly woman.

Chieh's 3D rendering of Room 237

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“But once I started, I just couldn’t stop,” Chieh told LAist.

“I ended up modeling the Colorado Lounge, and then after that I was thinking maybe I should make the lobby and then arriving to the Gold Room, and then Grady’s bathroom.”

“It’s like a rabbit hole,” he said.

Users who download Chieh’s free 3D model can fly through all of those spaces, immersed in atmospheric sounds and music from the film.

“It’s interesting to dive into these kind of fictional environments and try to make sense of it,” Chieh said. “And the hope is people will get a different perspective once they’re in there.”

Kubrick’s take on the Overlook was famously inspired by real hotels like the Timberline Lodge in Oregon and the Ahwahnee in Yosemite. But the interiors you see in the film were created on sound stages in England.

“Real architecture, physical buildings, are built for people to live. And for movies, these are more meant to express the emotional aspect of things. It’s a psychological construct,” Chieh said.

In a recently published video essay on YouTube, Chieh dives deep into those psychological constructs and how, as he puts it, “Kubrick designed the Overlook Hotel not as a backdrop, but as the film's true villain.”

How spaces scare 

Chieh said during the monthslong process he was reminded of the power of architecture and design in the real world too – whether it’s an uncomfortably repetitive carpet design or a claustrophobic hallway.

“A physical construct can affect your emotion,” Chieh said.

“You can use it in a way to make people feel comfortable and you can also use it in a way to create fear.”

Chieh's 3D rendering of the Torrance's apartment in 'The Shining'

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What’s next for this architect moonlighting as a 3D modeler?

Chieh says he’s thinking about giving the spaceship from “2001: A Space Odyssey" the virtual treatment next. Or maybe turning to a local non-fictional space, like the Stahl House.

That is, of course, if he can ever escape the Overlook.