The Brief

In early December, husband and wife team Tyler and Ashley Wells opened their new restaurant, Bernee, on Mariposa Street in Altadena.

It was their dream restaurant, envisioned after a successful run with their Los Feliz restaurant, All Time. A back-to-basics menu that changed daily, with most of the food prepared on an open wood-burning hearth.

For the first few weeks, the restaurant was a success, packed every night. Their personal lives did not go as smoothly — during this time, Ashley and Tyler decided to part ways as a couple.

Tyler moved into a small backhouse on the east side of Altadena, overlooking Eaton Canyon. But he would only spend a total of four nights there, because on Jan. 7, while he was at the restaurant, the Eaton Fire began sweeping through. His was one of the first houses to burn down.

The restaurant survived. But with smoke damage, and a hardware store next door filled with hazardous materials, it wasn’t safe to reopen.

“It was a heavy moment, and I felt helpless,” Wells said. “My first instinct was to accept that I was done in L.A., the restaurant wouldn't reopen, and I had no house. It felt like the universe was trying to tell me something,” he said.

Heavy smoke engulfed the block where their restaurant, Bernee, was located. Despite the devastation, the building remained standing.

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Courtesy Tyler Wells

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Before the fires, he’d been working 17-hour days at the restaurant, an intensity he had brought to his previous time at Handsome Coffee Roasters in downtown L.A. and All Time. While he loved what he had built, the loss of his marriage and now the community made him realize he needed to slow down, reassess his life, and make a change.

The Ecology Center

The change Wells sought appeared about 70 miles south, at a place called the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano. The 28-acre, regenerative, and organic-certified farm was founded by Evan Marks in 2008. Wells and Marks already had an established relationship, with Wells regularly purchasing produce from the farm and hosting occasional dinners.

“ The first time I set foot on this place, it changed me,” Wells said.

Wells had always been impressed by the scope of the operation, with fresh produce sold daily to the public, and served at a cafe and a restaurant space. Apprentices also learn the fundamentals of growing and harvesting organic produce, as well as running a farm stand.

When Marks learned that Wells was struggling, he called him regularly to check in. Realizing he had nowhere to go, Marks offered him a residency at the center, where he could live on the grounds.

Diners enjoy meals at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, where Chef Tyler Wells has been hosting his summer dinner series.

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Danielle Evonne Photography

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Courtesy The Ecology Center

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An open fire is utilized to cook sustainably-caught local fish, two aspects of Chef Tyler Wells' culinary practice at The Ecology Center.

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Danielle Evonne Photography

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Courtesy The Ecology Center

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It would take some convincing on Mark's part to get Wells to admit that he needed help, despite the humbling experience he had just gone through. Still, Wells understood that if he was going to make a change, he had to take a chance.

“ The moment when the universe just sat me down and said, 'No, you can't. You're physically unable to do anything. You don't even own pants.' The love that I was forced to receive and ultimately submit to changed my life, and that was from this farm,” Wells said.

He made a home for himself in a tent between two orange trees. Slowly, the residency evolved into him hosting an ongoing dinner series three days a week throughout the summer.

He said it was some of the most challenging work he’d ever faced as a chef, with the food cooked over an open fire in the fields, and an abundance of produce each week forcing him to constantly modify the menu.

But, he added, it ultimately helped him grow his skills and develop a closer connection to the land.

" I think there's a maturity and a confidence in my cooking that has never been there before,” he said.

The Farm Lettuce Caesar salad from Chef Tyler Wells's summer diner series at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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Locally caught swordfish served with blistered cherry tomatoes and summer squash.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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When I visited the Ecology Center recently, I had the chance to try some of his dishes. A massive Caesar salad made with little gem lettuce that had been picked that morning, accompanied by a beautifully creamy dressing. A locally caught swordfish topped with blistered cherry tomatoes and a summer squash salad finished with salsa verde.

It was a perfect summer meal in a place that felt like a blend of a chaparral oasis and a modern commune, with the sun setting over the hills and the Grateful Dead playing on the outdoor sound system.

“It's almost, man, this is spiritual. This farm is turning me into a hippie, and I grew up straight edge punk rock on a skateboard,” Wells reflected. “Sometimes I'll just feel some ingredients that need to go together…. my intuition, I think my mind is so clear, it's so uncluttered with other things."

Bernee becomes Betsy

Wells is now wrapping up his time at the Ecology Center and has shifted his focus back to his original dream. He’s now the sole owner of Bernee and he has been busy reimagining it.

It has a new name — Betsy, his mother’s name — but it's at the exact location on Mariposa Street, just across the street from the recently reopened Miya Thai. 

Betsy is set to open on Saturday, Aug. 30, marking a homecoming for both Wells and his staff. He’s brought back 12 members of his original team, including the entire front-of-house and kitchen staff.

Chef Tyler Wells and Joey Messina, a member of the original Bernee staff, who's returned to help lead the kitchen at Betsy.

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Skandia Shafer

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Courtesy Tyler Wells

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The menu is similar to Bernee, but with a stronger emphasis on sustainable seafood, another unexpected result of his time at the farm.

“I never had these deep relationships with fishermen, and now we do,” he said. “It’s just so exciting to me to know when it came out of the ocean, who caught it. Just the freshness and the quality are unbelievable."

Although he initially planned to wait until late fall to open, after talking with his staff and other community members, reopening now just felt right.

“The town feels good, and this crew is ready, and I couldn’t risk tearing that apart,” said Wells.

Take accountability and move forward.

Those were the two points Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime Moore hit repeatedly when speaking with LAist’s Larry Mantle this week.

On taking accountability, Moore said hazardous conditions and decisions made before the Palisades Fire erupted a year ago meant “our firefighters never had a chance” to arrest the fire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.

On moving forward, he emphasized that reform is already in the works.

“Things have changed since the Palisades Fire, and we're going to continue making big changes in the Los Angeles Fire Department,” said Moore, who was selected for the LAFD top job by Mayor Karen Bass in November.

Here are three takeaways from the interview, which aired on AirTalk on Tuesday.

1. Staffing decisions hampered fire response

The LAFD uses a so-called pre-deployment matrix to set firefighter staffing levels ahead of high-risk weather.

According to the department’s after-action report, however, staffing levels on the day the Palisades Fire began fell short of the LAFD standard for extreme weather conditions. The National Weather Service had warned of low humidity, high winds and dry vegetation, what it calls a “particularly dangerous situation.” It’s the highest level of alert the agency can give.

Despite the high risk, the LAFD report said the decision not to deploy more firefighters in advance was in part made to save money.

Moore said Monday that the department has updated its policies to increase staffing for especially hazardous conditions, but he said he doesn’t believe additional resources would have stopped a fire of the magnitude that leveled the Palisades.

To suppress that kind of fire, he said, the department would need to pre-deploy resources across the city’s vast geography — to places like Baldwin Hills, Franklin Canyon, the Hollywood Hills, the Palisades, Porter Ranch and Sunland-Tujunga.

Moore said the department has already made new policies to call for more resources when the Weather Service issues a “particularly dangerous situation” alert.

2. LAFD is mostly an urban firefighting department

Moore referenced a key finding of the after-action report regarding a lack of training in wildland firefighting, which contributed to confusion and struggles to effectively utilize resources during the fire.

Wildland fires pose a number of challenges that are different from what firefighters face in urban environments. Those include the need to coordinate a large number of resources over vast areas, all while dealing with fast-moving flames that can rapidly tear through dry plants and structures.

The department found in its report that fewer firefighters were trained in fighting these wildland fires in recent years and that “leaders struggled to comprehend their roles.”

Some leaders in the department had “limited or no experience in managing an incident of such complexity,” the report said. And some reverted to doing the work of lower positions, leaving high-level decision-making positions unfilled.

“What we're doing now is really furthering that training and reinforcing that education with our firefighters so that they could be better prepared,” Moore said on AirTalk.

3. Changes to the after-action report

Early versions of the after-action report differed from the version released to the public in October, a fact that was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. The Times also reported that Battalion Chief Kenneth Cook, who wrote the report, wouldn’t endorse the final version because of the changes.

Moore acknowledged to the L.A. Board of Fire Commissioners at a Jan. 6 meeting that the report had been watered down.

“It is now clear that multiple drafts were edited to soften language and reduce explicit criticism of department leadership in that final report,” Moore told the commissioners. “This editing occurred prior to my appointment as fire chief, and I can assure you that nothing of this sort will ever again happen while I am fire chief."

Some changes were small but telling. A section titled “Failures” later became “Primary Challenges.”

Moore told LAist that changes between versions “ made it easier for the public to understand,” but an LAist review found the edits weren’t all surface-level.

In the first version of the report, the department said the decision not to fully pre-deploy all available resources for the particularly dangerous wind event “did not align” with their guidelines for such extreme weather cases. The final version said that the initial response “lacked the appropriate resources,” removing the reference to department standards.

The department also removed some findings that had to do with communications.

One sentence from the initial version of the report said: “Most companies lacked a basic briefing, leader’s intent, communications plan, or updated fire information for more than 36 hours.” That language was removed from the final report.

LAist has asked the Fire Department for clarification about why these assertions were removed but did not receive a response before time of publication.

Olympic organizers announced Tuesday that registration to buy tickets will run through March 18, with sales beginning in April. LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said that locals will get the first bite at the apple.

The registration period opens 7 a.m. Wednesday.

" Our host city communities here in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to be a part of a local presale," Hoover said outside the Coliseum while surrounded by Olympic athletes from Games past. "With our thanks and as part of our commitment to making sure that those who live and work around the games, where the games will take place, can be in the stands and cheer in 2028."

Olympic organizers also provided more details on ticket prices for the first time. One million tickets will sell for $28 a pop and around a third of tickets will be under $100, according to LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman.

That means the majority of tickets to the Olympic Games will run into triple digits. If the World Cup is any indication, some tickets could get astronomically pricey.

Interested fans can go to LA28.org to register. Those who are selected will get an email with a time slot to purchase tickets.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors took a step toward banning ICE from unlawfully operating on county-owned property and to post signage designating those spaces as “ICE Free Zones.”

The board unanimously approved the motion at Tuesday’s meeting, directing staff to draft the policy.

The draft could include requirements for county employees to report to their supervisor if they see unauthorized immigration activity on county property.

The city of Los Angeles passed a similar order last July, which strengthened protocols that prohibit ICE from operating on city-owned property. The agenda staff report points to an “ICE Free Zone” ordinance passed by the city of Chicago in October.

Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis co-authored the motion.

Horvath said the county will not allow its property to be used as “a staging ground for violence caused by the Trump administration."

Solis added that their action as a board could have a ripple effect on other city councils and local governments.

“Even though it's taken us this long to get here …I think it's really important for our communities to understand what we're saying is you don't have the right to come in and harass people without a federal warrant,” Solis said. “And if you use our property to stage, then you need to show us documentation as to why.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in an X post that the county cannot exclude federal agents from public spaces.

"Anyone who attempts to impede our agents will be arrested and charged, including county employees," Essayli said in the post. "We have already charged more than 100 individuals for similar conduct."

Since June, ICE raids have ramped up across the nation, heavily targeting certain immigrant communities like those in Los Angeles.

The motion directs the draft to include language that prohibits all types of ICE operations on county land, including staging and mobilizing without a warrant.

The motion cites an incident on Oct. 8, when county officials say federal agents raided the Deane Dana Friendship Park and Nature Center in San Pedro, arresting three people and threatening to arrest staff.

The motion also requires that the county post 'Ice Free Zone' signage on all of its properties.

Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center of Human Rights and Constitutional Law, told LAist the policy is enforceable under Fourth Amendment case law.

“You have to make sure that when you post that signage … that means that you routinely, or semi-routinely, assess who's coming in to the property, so that you can control access,” Perez said. “But if ICE shows up with a warrant, with a subpoena, then all bets are off, and they can enter into the property and do what they need to do.”

Perez said the county has moved “incredibly” slow on this issue.

“It's embarrassing that the county is moving six months later, given how we've been facing violent, aggressive, invasive and illegal raids now for so long here in Southern California,” Perez said, adding that local governments have not been fast or creative enough in protecting immigrant and refugee communities.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, one of the region’s largest immigrant advocacy groups, supports the motion.

"We do not want our county resources being used for federal immigration enforcement activities, which disrupt, uproot, and terrorize our communities,” Jeannette Zanipatin, policy director for CHIRLA, said in a statement. “It is important for all public spaces to be really safe for all residents.”

County staff have 30 days to draft a plan to implement the new policy.