The Brief

Since the game’s launch about a decade ago, you might be among the hundreds of millions of people who’ve taken to the streets to catch an elusive Detective Pikachu, a Snorlax, a Mewtwo or some other rare Pokémon.

At Arizona State University’s branch in downtown L.A., students are learning how to use the technology behind Pokémon Go, in concert with other tools, to create 3D models that document the aftermath of L.A. County’s recent wildfires.

The Eaton and Palisades fires wrought incalculable loss. Some people lost loved ones. Thousands lost their homes and places of worship. And many lost priceless mementos.

Which means the ASU initiative has two purposes: Its models can be used by wildfire survivors to make their insurance claims, and “on a public information level, [they allow us to] fully grasp the destruction and what it means for these communities,” said Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the school’s Narrative and Emerging Media program.

Using personal experience to guide the project

The project is led by program director Nonny de la Peña, who’s largely considered a pioneer in virtual and augmented reality.

Professor Nonny de la Peña speaks to students in the Masters in Narrative and Emerging Media program at Arizona State University Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA on March 27, 2025.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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During the pandemic, de la Peña stored all her work materials in her home studio — including her computers, storage drives and other essentials. She also put up photos of her children to brighten up the place. Two years ago, the battery of her electric bicycle exploded and burned that studio to the ground. In an instant, everything was gone.

But when de la Peña sifted through the rubble, she found that a few things had survived: an old love letter from her husband, charred but still legible; and, “bizarrely,” a card addressed to her son. It was signed by Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. “The Force will be with you always,” it read.

As news of the 2025 fires’ devastation made headlines, de la Peña recalled an ongoing fight she’d had with her insurance company after her studio burned down. At one point, the company tried to deny a sofa she listed in her claim. But de la Peña had a photo of its remains, so she was able to get compensated.

Because of this experience, de la Peña knew that having records of the aftermath would “be important in ways that people can't imagine.”

She also knew that having a record could bring closure, once fire victims began “to piece together memories and process what's happened to them.”

Before officials lifted the evacuation orders, de la Peña and her students headed out to the affected areas.

Sifting through the rubble  

Clad in hazmat gear, the team flashed their press passes to get past police lines in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. As they made their way through the streets, they avoided debris and were careful not to step on protruding nails.

The four-camera rig used to capture images converted into 3D scenes using a technique called "Gaussian splatting."

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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The team members carried a rig with four cameras: one at the top of the pole, one at the bottom, and two on the sides. Buschhorn explained that the rig is meant to help capture images of the same place from different angles, simultaneously.

The images they captured were fed to their phones, then organized using artificial intelligence. De la Peña and her students stitched thousands of these images together to create the 3D models.

The process relies on two software companies in particular, Polycam and Snaniverse, she said. Snaniverse is owned by Niantic Inc. — the same company that created Pokémon GO.

That may “seem kind of odd,” de la Peña added, “but it all stems from the idea that the world isn't flat, so we shouldn't be representing it flat.”

The team captured images of intersections, landmarks, homes, cars, and many small objects, including dolls, bicycles and figurines that residents used to decorate their yards and gardens.

Nonny de la Peña, director of the Narrative and Emerging Media program at Arizona State University's Los Angeles Campus.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the Narrative and Emerging Media program at ASU in Los Angeles, teaches fellow students how to use a four-camera-rig to create 3D scenes using a technique called "Guassian splatting."

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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For de la Peña, it was especially tough to walk through the affected areas, where at least 30 of her friends have lost their homes. This includes her son’s cello teacher, whose home her family visited every weekend for six years. It also includes the home of a friend who threw de la Peña a baby shower, along with the house in Altadena where, just over a year ago, de la Peña kissed her late friend goodbye.

When they first started creating the 3D models, de la Peña added, a lot of people still could not enter the area, “so we could provide them imagery of their homes when nobody else could.”

Training to go in the field 

Buschhorn, the graduate student, has gained enough experience to teach others how to use the camera equipment and software.

In late March, she walked fellow students through best practices for capturing quality images, under de la Peña’s supervision. They also gave students guidance on how to avoid disasters when they’re out in the field.

Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the Narrative and Emerging Media program at ASU in Los Angeles, teaches fellow students.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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“Make sure all your batteries are charged [and] SD cards are cleared,” Buschhorn warned. “Always bring a hard drive and computer with you. ... These files start to get large pretty quickly.”

During that day’s lesson, de la Peña briefly interjected to emphasize the importance of getting images from every angle.

“If you wanted to paint [a] table red,” she said, by way of example, “you'd have to get the paint everywhere.”

The software, Buschhorn added, is “trying to identify the different textures, the lighting, the color — and all of those form together to then create your 3D model.”

Buschhorn moved from Austin to Los Angeles for undergrad.

“To see the place that I have grown and developed so much in the past couple years hurting so much” was devastating, they said.

She was glad to have the skills to create a record of the wildfires’ impact, to help communities as they rebuild.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.