The Brief

On a trip to his Costco in Hawthorne one day, Dustin Bartz had an epiphany. While perusing the meat aisle, he noticed American Wagyu ground beef selling for $5.99 a pound. That’s when the wheels inside Bartz's mind began turning.

Smash burgers, he thought.

Bartz’s business had been struggling at this point. His barbeque pop-up suffered a series of financial setbacks and wasn’t attracting enough customers.

This was back during the pandemic when certain foods became scarce, prices began to rise, and chef-driven pop-ups became popular due to so many chefs and cooks being out of work because of restaurant closures.

“I wrote a post on my Instagram after I was broke again and trying to make money,” Bartz said.

Bartz’s inspiration was brilliant in its simplicity: Use the pop-up model to address the food cost pinch we were all struggling with.

A restaurant, or a pop-up, didn’t need to charge much to be successful, he said.

Dustin Bartz of Bartz BBQ puts some smash into one of his popular smashburgers.

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And that’s how his $6 smash hit smash burger was born. It would become a crash course in restaurant economics for Bartz, as well as his followers on IG. Bartz even went as far as to post the actual prices he pays for goods and services and show how he passes on those savings to customers when he pops up weekly outside of the Alondra Park golf course in the city of Lawndale.

When I visited Bartz's pop-up, giant plumes of smoke from the burgers blew onto the sidewalk. That smoke came from the fat of the burgers and was so thick at the time that it left the lenses of my glasses grease-stricken and my clothes smelling of grilled beef.

$6 smash burger math

Here’s the breakdown of how Bartz makes money on a $6 burger: For each working day, Bartz buys 30 to 50 pounds of rich Wagyu beef at a time from Costco. Smashburgers being what they are — impossibly thin, crispy edges from the drippy, fatty beef — he produces four burgers per pound — adding cheese and occasionally adding some of his signature brisket or pulled pork with his signature sauce for a little bit of personal touch. (Bartz still sells his barbecue, primarily for preorder and based on availability.)

A brisket burger and single smash burger from Bartz BBQ.

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So, let’s do the math. It all means he can sell burgers for $6 — while other pop-ups charge $10 or more per burger — and still turn a profit.

Word soon got out after his Instagram post, followed by a brief mention by L.A. Taco, and people started to come in droves.

He was soon selling almost 1,000 patties each day throughout the weekend.

What is equally impressive is how Bartz keeps the line moving. He doesn’t want to be one of the pop-ups known for their hour-plus wait time.

So he keeps his menu tight (fewer offerings mean customers can quickly peruse it, which saves on food costs). That allows him to take 10-12 orders simultaneously, so each order only takes around five minutes.

$25 an hour for staff

Bartz is proud of his $6 burger price point. But what makes him prouder is that he pays all his employees a living wage of $25 an hour. (The downside of selling his burgers at lower prices is that customers aren’t always inclined to tip well, so he wanted to ensure the employees are adequately compensated.) He also adds a $1 tip for every sale for an added tip to his employees.

Bartz is staggeringly specific when breaking down the $6 smash burger cost across his social media accounts, which he does daily, like the self-promoting town cryer.

Dustin Bartz demonstrates how smashburgers get their name.

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“The $6 burger is because that's the price it should be,” he said, as if everyone understands the economics of restaurants, one of the most notoriously tricky industries in America, evidenced by the fact that nearly 50% of all ventures go bankrupt.

Conventional wisdom, Bartz explained, can be broken down by a 30-30-30-10 rule of thumb: “You're supposed to have 30% max food cost, 30% labor cost, and 30% other costs, including your rent and whatever else.” Follow that method, and then the owners get to keep 10%, Bartz said.

But his economics are different: “I don't have the rent because we're just popping on the side of the road... So I keep 40%.”

Why the radical transparency?

Bartz seems hellbent on providing a certain level of radical transparency when it comes to helping his customer base understand the cost of his food. Why? Because it irritates his competitors, and he gets a kick out of it.

But it’s also great for business. Commenters on Instagram say things like, “Bro, it was the best burger I ever had,” and, “It's so so so rad to have watched your BBQ business just explode. So well deserved. Keep making the best food on the planet.” He’s also become a quasi-celebrity of sorts as a result. He’s recently become the de facto caterer of the legacy hip-hop group Cypress Hill and even became a regular on their podcast, Dr. Greenthumb Show.

Dustin Bartz and a co-worker prepare smashburgers for lucky customers.

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While selling his $6 burgers, he’s hoping to bring people's attention to other food vendors and what they're charging. He’s even gone as far as to recreate others' dishes on his Instagram stories to show precisely how much it cost (and how much he says customers are being overcharged).

Trolling aside, Bartz said he just committed to showcasing better business practices. Another example Bartz mentioned is paying his employees liveable wages.

“I figured if you offer 'em 25 bucks an hour, I can afford that. So then I get a better pool of people that wanna work for me,” Bartz said. And that “better pool” of employees makes him a better business.

Learning on the job

“I've never worked in a restaurant or a kitchen or anything until I started doing this thing,” he said. However, his employees have plenty of professional restaurant experience and help teach Bartz the ropes of running a successful operation. “I learned a whole lot,” Bartz added.

So, are the burgers good? Biting into one of his burgers does feel like a revelation, especially given the price. If you opt for the double, which comes out to $12, the two smashed patties that are hot off the flat top meld into each other due to the high-fat content, creating little pools of fat that spill out on the patty, creating perfectly craggy edges, topped with gooey slice of American cheese and pickles on a soft bun.

I would urge you to try one for yourself to judge.

Bartz’s smash burgers are a good reminder that quality doesn’t necessarily need a hefty price tag.

At the end of the day, Bartz said there’s no secret, which is why he’s so mystified that others continue to overcharge.

Pay people well, sell a quality product, and keep an eye on the bottom line.

That’s it, he said.

“I figured out a way to get my food cost down to two bucks on the burger,” he said. “And, I don't know if it's the best-smash burger, and I've never said anything like that, but I know that people like it and the price makes it so it's almost a no-brainer.”

So many of us have stories about secret shows, celeb sightings and special guests showing up at the intimate Hotel Cafe over the past 26 years. The venue’s Instagram has a bevy of famous well-wishers popping into the chat. So it’s truly the end of an era as the iconic night spot hosts its final shows at the Cahuenga location, wrapping things up with a party called Last Dance at the Hotel Cafe featuring Sara Bareilles and many more on Friday.

But if you can’t score a ticket, fear not, because there’s plenty more music on the agenda for this weekend. Licorice Pizza’s Lyndsey Parker recommends Friday shows St. Lucia at the Fonda; Santigold at the Bellwether; Alejandro Sanz at the Greek; and Desert Daze’s Microdazing at the Bellwether, featuring various DJs, including KCRW’s Travis Holcombe and Beastie Boys producer Mario C. Saturday, Demi Lovato is at the Forum, friend-of-LAist Flea plays the Fonda and the big Japanese music festival Zipangu is at Brookside at the Rose Bowl, featuring Atarashii Gakko!, Ado and many more. And on Sunday, Echo & the Bunnymen are at the Greek, and Father John Misty plays the Fox Theater in Pomona.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at historic Santa Monica music store and venue McCabe’s Guitar Shop, find out what gets left behind at Metro’s Lost & Found and get tickets for next week’s LAist x Moth StorySlam at Los Globos.

Events

Los Angeles Old Time Social

Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16 
Velaslavasay Panorama 
1122 W. 24th Street, University Park
COST: SUGGESTED $20; MORE INFO

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Corey Burns

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Los Angeles Old Time Social

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The 16th annual Los Angeles Old Time Social celebrates the vibrant old-time music scene in Southern California. A kickoff concert on Friday is followed by a full day of activities on Saturday, May 16 at The Velaslavasay Panorama in West Adams. Attend workshops and jams for banjo, fiddle, guitar, singing and dancing. The event is capped off on Saturday night with a big square dance and musical cakes from 7:30 to 10 p.m. No experience or partner is needed. The square dance caller walks everyone through the moves before every song, so it’s easy to follow along in a fun and no-pressure environment.

As LAist's Roy Lenn notes, the Old Time Social serves as a lead-up to the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival on Sunday, May 17 at King Gillette Ranch.

David Lebovitz book signing x Now Serving

Saturday, May 16, 10 a.m.
Friends & Family Bakery
5150 Hollywood Blvd., East Hollywood
COST: FROM $30; MORE INFO

Chocoholics and ice cream fiends will know pastry chef David Lebovitz’s work well. The Paris-based dessert king is in town promoting his cookbooks, The Great Book of Chocolate and Ready for Dessert with a special event at Friends & Family. His ice cream book is the bible for anyone who's tried their hand at making ice cream at home, and his other desserts also stand up to the test. Yum.

The Giving Trees

Saturday, May 16, 3:30 p.m. 
John Rowland Mansion 
15959 E. Gale Ave., City of Industry
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The John Rowland Mansion is the oldest extant brick building in Southern California, and has a unique history that the House Museum has recently been instrumental in preserving. Spend some time at the Greek revival building with the whole family for The Giving Trees, a reading of children’s books to trees (with gratitude to Shel Silverstein!) in the garden at the permanent installation Let’s Make a Garden From Old Wounds.

Celebrity-Owned Private Collection Arcade and Pinball Auction

Sunday, May 17, 9 a.m. preview
Captain’s Auction Warehouse
4421 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim
COST: FREE TO PERUSE; MORE INFO

File this one under weird and wonderful. Head down to Anaheim to check out (and maybe bid on) your next game room addition. Ryan Adams — yep, that’s the one, former Mr. Mandy Moore and indie rocker royalty of the early 2000s — is apparently a big arcade collector, and he’s auctioning off much of his collection. There’s a wide range of arcade games and pinball machines on view to the public, plus opportunities to play, meet collectors and see the warehouse.

Red Bull Soapbox Race

Saturday, May 16, 11 a.m.
Gloria Molina Grand Park
200 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

Daredevils will have a field day at Red Bull’s Soapbox Race, which will transform Grand Park into a cinematic racecourse, where 30 teams, selected from more than 400 applicants, will compete with gravity-powered, homemade crafts for ultimate bragging rights.

Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers: Day of Black Docs

Saturday, May 16, 12 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 
American Film Institute
2021 North Western Ave., Los Feliz
COST: FROM $23; MORE INFO

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Check out documentaries from Black filmmakers that “explore themes of social justice, self-determination, and community, highlighting the revolutionary leaders and movements that can help inform our present moment.” The day includes three feature-length films and one short film, with two that focus on L.A. history. Q&As will be moderated by journalist and AirTalk film critic Tim Cogshell.

Balboa Island Art Walk

Sunday, May 17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
South Bayfront Promenade
Newport Beach
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Is there a more idyllic corner of SoCal than Balboa Island? Stroll the promenade and enjoy the art and the views at the 31st annual Balboa Island Art Walk. There’s live music and more than 90 artists showing their work with an ocean backdrop.

AAPI Market at Yama Sushi Marketplace

Through Saturday, May 30 
Various locations (West L.A., San Gabriel and Koreatown)
COST: VARIES, MORE INFO 

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A rotating lineup of makers featuring Asian-owned brands is popping up at Yama Sushi Marketplace throughout May. This weekend, Omiso founder Ai Fujimoto will be sampling her yuzu miso paired with Yama’s black cod; also available for purchase as a frozen item. On May 30, DoShop Cookies will be available with baker Thy Do sampling her fan-favorite cookies, debuting new flavors and hosting a raffle.

A group of volunteers in Hollywood say they are conducting their own homeless count in the area next week because they don't trust the results of the official regional one.

The effort is organized by Hollywood 4WRD, a coalition of nonprofit service providers, businesses and residents. About 60 volunteers, mostly staff from Hollywood service provider organizations, are expected to fan out across 30 census tracts Tuesday.

Results will be made public a week later May 27, according to organizers.

The neighborhood count comes amid growing questions about the accuracy of the official regional homeless tally.

The city of L.A.'s unhoused population decreased by 5.5% between 2023 and 2025, according to official estimates from the annual count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. But a 2025 analysis by the RAND Corporation found that LAHSA undercounted people living outside in certain areas, including Hollywood.

Hollywood 4WRD executive director Brittney Weissman said the organization’s own experience volunteering for the LAHSA count this year raised even more questions about accuracy.

“Our experience was so confounding, perplexing and inefficient that we've been really deeply questioning the value, utility and accuracy of the count for a couple of years now,” Weissman said.

Organizers said the Hollywood count will use methodology developed by RAND researchers, who ran their own professional counts in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice from 2021 until earlier this year.

That research effort, known as LA LEADS, has since lost funding.

“If LA LEADS was continuously funded into the future, we would not be doing this effort,” Weissman said. "Because it's no longer funded, we felt we needed to take our own initiative to understand the lay of the land here.”

What's at stake?

More than $300 million in federal and county dollars are allocated annually based on homeless count results. That includes $220 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and nearly $100 million from L.A. County's Measure A sales tax.

LAHSA conducted its most recent official homeless count in January. The agency said it hopes to release the results this summer but has not confirmed a release date.

In her reelection campaign, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass takes credit for reducing homelessness in the city. The official count underpinning her claim is the same one RAND found was missing nearly a third of unsheltered people in key neighborhoods.

Weissman said Hollywood service providers need to know now whether more people are living in vehicles or sleeping outside, so they can adjust how they're doing outreach.

Organizers timed the May 27 release to influence budget negotiations still underway at City Hall, according to Weissman.

She noted that Bass' proposed budget does not include funding for Safe Parking LA, a program that allows unhoused Angelenos to live legally in their vehicles within sanctioned parking lots.

"If we find that vehicular homelessness is on the rise here and we need it badly, this gives us evidence with which to petition decisionmakers for that resource in our community," she said.

What RAND found

RAND's LA LEADS project ran bimonthly counts in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice from 2021 until this January.

Comparing LAHSA’s official counts to its own, a RAND report found the 2025 homeless count captured 68% of the unsheltered population across those three neighborhoods.

RAND found the population of unsheltered people in Hollywood dropped 49% in 2024, a decline it linked to the city’s Inside Safe program. But the official LAHSA count still captured only 81% of what RAND found in the neighborhood.

The people being missed were mostly vehicle dwellers and “rough sleepers” — people living with no shelter, RAND said.

Skid Row's official tally fared worse, capturing 61% of what RAND found there.

Hollywood 4WRD said its methodology follows RAND’s LA LEADS methodology, which the group said is more precise than LAHSA’s approach.

Each census tract will be covered by at least two independent volunteers, a quality-control measure that helps organizers flag areas that might need to be recounted.

Volunteers will also use pens and paper to record their observations, instead of a mobile app. LAHSA has used an app for its count since 2022 and has acknowledged repeated technical problems with it.

The unofficial homeless count this month is limited to Hollywood, unlike LAHSA's countywide effort. Weissman said she hopes the effort will encourage other neighborhoods to check their own local data.

Topline:

Why it matters: In Los Angeles, you can't get more local than a Tommy's Burger. Consuming the smothered burger — its signature beanless chili dripping through the to-go wrapper — is a rite of passage for many. Eight decades in, the original stand is still standing at Beverly and Rampart.

The details: Friday, noon to 8 p.m. only, you can get 80-cent chili cheeseburgers (limit three per person) at all Southern California and Nevada locations. The anniversary celebration at the original downtown L.A. location includes the Belmont High School Marching Band, a DJ and a resolution from Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez , who represents the area, honoring 80 years of business in California.

The backstory: Tommy Koulax opened the original stand at Beverly and Rampart in 1946. This week, the iconic SoCal chain, which spawned many competitors, celebrates 80 years across all 32 of its locations — and you're invited. Daughter Cynthia Koulax will be greeting the community Friday, alongside CEO Dawna Bernal and CFO Richard Hicks.

Every December, the federal government releases a report that reveals the number of homeless residents in each state and across the country.

It’s now May and the report, which compiles data from a homeless census known as the “point-in-time count,” is nowhere to be found.

That’s a problem because the report dictates how funding is allocated in California and beyond. It also shapes policy decisions and provides the country’s main barometer for how the homelessness crisis is being managed.

The five-month delay is leaving public officials, policymakers and advocates scratching their heads. California has filled the gap by tallying its own data, showing a 9% drop in the number of people sleeping outside. But unlike the official federal report, California’s analysis leaves out information such as the race, age and mental health status of the people who are counted. And without the full federal report, there’s no way to tell where California stands compared to other states.

“It’s a big deal,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, spokesperson for the National Homelessness Law Center. “This is, by what I can tell, the latest any point-in-time count has ever come out, including the years where it was delayed during COVID.”

'Point-in-time' count

For the past two decades, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has required local regions to take a census of their homeless populations every other year in a massive undertaking called the point-in-time count. Volunteers go out on foot over a day or two in January and count every person they see living outside. People sleeping in shelters are tallied as well. Counters also conduct surveys of a sample of unhoused people, collecting extra data on people’s race, age, gender, time spent homeless, medical and mental health conditions and more.

The count isn’t perfect (volunteers can easily miss people, and different counties use different methods), but it’s a key tool policy makers use to measure changes in the population.

Each jurisdiction (which is known in HUD parlance as a “continuum of care” and typically is made up of a county and the cities within it) must submit their count to HUD by the spring. They also release their local data to the public. Meanwhile, HUD verifies the data, tallies the total count for each state and for the country as a whole, submits a public report to Congress and uploads more detailed data on its website.

While there’s no legal deadline, that report usually comes out in December of the year of the count. In 2021 and 2020, when COVID disrupted counts, the reports came out the following February and March, respectively.

It’s unclear why the 2025 report still isn’t out. The report is so much later than usual that some counties, including San Francisco, already released their 2026 count data.

HUD refused to comment.

“It is perplexing that HUD has not released this information,” Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in a statement to CalMatters. “Perhaps the Trump administration is afraid to release clear data that demonstrates California’s strategies for addressing this issue are actually extremely effective.”

What California's data show

California’s data does point to a reduction in homelessness, suggesting the state’s methods are starting to work. Data provided by the Newsom administration, and echoed by an independent analysis, show a 4% overall decrease between 2024 and 2025, and a 9% drop in people sleeping in tents, on the sidewalk, in cars or in other places not meant for habitation.

That data comes from the 30 California continuums of care that counted their street homeless populations last year. The remaining 14 that counted this year instead (they’re only required to count at least every other year) are not included.

“I think it shows that the headwinds in California continue to be very strong and continue to push more people into homelessness,” said Alex Visotzky, senior California policy fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “but the investments to build up the response to homelessness have made a really big difference and are moving people out of homelessness faster than ever before.”

That runs counter to President Donald Trump’s platform, which holds California up as an example of failed homelessness policy. California follows a principle called “housing first,” which prioritizes getting people into housing immediately and then addressing their other needs (such as mental health and substance use help). The Trump administration wants to end housing first, which it says isn’t working, and instead withhold housing until people enroll in addiction treatment or other programs.

California also uses most of its federal funds to pay for permanent housing, which experts say is the most effective way to end someone’s homelessness. The Trump administration recently tried to divert that money to temporary shelters where people stay for a limited time.

California's homelessness strategy

California is one of 19 states suing the Trump administration over that change. That case is ongoing, but, in a win for the states, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s changes.

A drop in homelessness in California would have a significant impact on the country’s overall homeless population. Nearly a quarter of all unhoused Americans lived in California as of 2024 — a total of more than 187,000 people, according to the most recent HUD report.

The New York Times found homelessness also dropped in other places around the country last year, including Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Florida and Maine, which it found points to a nationwide reduction.

If homelessness dropped nationwide in 2025, it would be the first time in eight years. In 2024, the national count hit 771,480 — an 18% increase from the year before.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.