The Brief

For years, Bob Hughes had been eyeing a corner lot just down the street from his San José office, where he runs a building firm.

The single-family property at Lantz and Foxworthy avenues — shrouded by trees and sitting on just under 12,000 square feet in a quiet residential neighborhood near Cambrian Park — seemed ripe for development. So when he got the opportunity to purchase it, Hughes immediately began thinking about how to split the lot.

“The original house here was just covered with foliage all across the front — large trees and plants,” he said. “You couldn’t even see the house.”

Now, nearly three years later, Hughes is a few weeks away from becoming the second developer in the state to successfully take advantage of a new law that allows homeowners to sell ADUs as condos.

The first, on Josefa Street near San José’s downtown by developer AlphaX RE Capital, got its official certification from the city in a public ceremony on Thursday. Standing in front of a white backyard cottage with a sloping roof, Mayor Matt Mahan said the home represented “history in the making.”

“ADUs are affordable by design and growing in popularity across the state. And now, they can offer the most accessible form of homeownership, as well,” he said. “We are offering a proof of concept for California and hope that other cities follow San José’s lead.”

The law, AB 1033 by former San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, went into effect in 2024 and allows cities to opt into the new rules. San José became the first city last year to adopt them. Since then, at least a handful of other cities have followed, including Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and San Diego. Berkeley planning officials expect to put forward an ordinance in September to allow condo sales.

Robert Hughes, a long-time developer from the South Bay, stands outside of a condominium for sale in San José on Aug. 13, 2025.

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The goal, supporters say, is to encourage more affordable ownership opportunities in a state where just 15% of households could reasonably afford to purchase the median-priced single-family home, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Rafael Perez, board chair of the Casita Coalition, which championed the law, lauded California for making significant strides in permitting new ADUs — with over 30,000 permitted last year, representing a quarter of California’s projected housing stock.

But early iterations of the law had prohibited selling them as condos, with some exceptions. Two surveys, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and the South Bay Cities Council of Government, found that about 65% of ADUs are offered as long-term rentals, either on the private market or to family and friends for free.

“ADUs weren’t moving the needle on homeownership as much as we would like,” Perez said. “ADU condos open up that door of possibility.”

But so far, city officials in Santa Monica and Santa Cruz, which adopted their versions of the law in October and January, respectively, said they had not yet received any applications. In San José, just two developers have filed applications to convert ADUs to condos — though, on Thursday, AlphaX committed to completing dozens more.

The paucity of enthusiasm — either from other cities looking to implement it or other property owners hoping to take advantage of it — isn’t entirely surprising, several observers said.

For owners with mortgages, the conversion not only requires securing lenders’ approval but also potentially devaluing the existing home, since condos are typically valued less, said Martina Davis, a planning division manager for the city of San José.

“If you have a big mortgage, your bank might not be OK with that,” Davis said. “Or you may look at it and say, ‘Wait, hold on, I need to retain the full value of the house.’”

Anecdotally, Davis said most of the interest in converting ADUs to condos in San José has come from developers for whom those obstacles may not apply. Though Hughes said the newness of the law, along with some of its provisions, has presented its own challenges.

The kitchen at 2985 Lantz Ave. in San José on Aug. 13, 2025.

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Unlike traditional condos, the law requires the ADU to receive a certificate of occupancy before undergoing condominium mapping — a process that’s taken Hughes about six months of precious time sitting on two vacant homes. And after San José officials certify the units as condos, they’ll need approval from the county, as well.

“I’ve got a lot of money tied up here,” he said. “I want to hurry this along.”

For AlphaX, the decision to use the law was more of an experiment to test whether it could work. The company had already purchased the lot and had renters living in both the main home and ADU.

“We are not afraid to be the pioneer,” said Jia Li, the company’s chief asset manager. “If you solve this problem, or we explore the options, then there’s all these other opportunities that could come.”

But Jane Lin, chief investment officer for AlphaX, said it’s a model they think has promise. “At the end of the day, it’s just providing more housing. It’s one possible solution to help create more housing.”

Her company on Thursday said it hoped to complete another 85 ADU condos over the next year, which could be built for existing homeowners on lots they already own, or on lots the company purchases. Once it secures the land, Lin said, “ADUs go up fast.”

In Seattle, about 60% of all ADUs were sold as condos in 2024, according to a city dashboard. Nick Welch, a senior planner at Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, said those figures may be even higher this year because the share of ADU condos has been rising, indicating strong demand for more affordable homeownership options.

According to a city report analyzing data from 2023, the median ADU sold at about 60% of the price of the associated main home and about half as much as a new, detached home.

“Plenty of people want to buy homes and are priced out of the market,” Welch said. “ADUs — just by virtue of being smaller and having a smaller lot area — are obviously sold for less than a new 4,000 square-foot single-family home. And so there’s plenty of demand for that type of ownership housing.”

However, Perez sees scenarios where existing homeowners could also benefit from converting their home and backyard cottage into condominiums. The law makes it possible to access their home’s equity, without taking on additional debt, he said. “They can sell off the ADU and with the proceeds, pay off what was left of that mortgage and be mortgage-free, right?”

The main home property associated with the condominium for sale at 2985 Lantz Ave., in San José, on Aug. 13, 2025.

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Or, they can sell to a family member. “For families that are seeing displacement, the ability to create an entry point in the backyard that’s more affordable than the homes they can’t afford is also a way that people are able to stay in the state.”

Hughes said he already has a buyer for the ADU he built in San José. The three-bedroom, two-bath, nearly 1,200 square-foot home will go for just under $1.6 million, as soon as the condominium map is approved.

The primary home, with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and nearly 2,900 square feet, is listed for more than $3 million.

While certainly not cheap, Hughes said, “No place in San José is, though. I mean, realistically, they are not.”

Hughes had the advantage of starting with a relatively big lot, which allowed him to build two units with separate entrances and utilities, making them more akin to single-family homes than condos.

“It’s unique because it’s on the corner, and the lot was big enough that I could build a 1,200 square-foot ADU,” Hughes said, noting that most lots will be smaller and have shared utilities. “It’s going to be down in a lower price range just by the size. So, therefore, it is creating that affordable home for somebody to go in there.”

More typical is the lot on Josefa Street, where AlphaX is recording the city’s first ADU-condominium-conversion map. The main home takes over most of the lot, with the ADU at the rear of the property. The two homes share a long driveway.

Lin said she wasn’t sure whether the company would ultimately sell the units as condos or continue to rent them out.

“It’s just the beginning,” she said. “So that’s why we’re all very happy and very excited to try.”

Los Angeles County has exotic wild animals roaming about, such as wild parrots and peacocks. But what about camels?

No, we’re not talking about that ancient camel found in the La Brea Tar Pits — these animals were brought over for a U.S. Army experiment.

How camels got into our military

We’re going back to the mid-1800s, before gas-powered automobiles changed the way we travel. The U.S. was on the brink of civil war and in the middle of westward expansion.

Typically, the army relied on mules and horses as beasts of burden, but in the new states and territories, they had a hard time hauling supplies over long distances. That was especially true for the Southwest’s dry deserts and mountains.

Meanwhile, camel brigades (also known as Camel Corps) were already in use in armies around the world. These were made up of camel drivers who ferried supplies, transported troops and conducted military cavalry operations.

Great Britain and India used the animals in the 19th century, according to London’s National Army Museum. The Imperial Camel Corps was also established during World War I, with British, Australian and New Zealand forces in the Middle East.

The Camel Corps caught on in America around the 1850s, according to the Army Historical Foundation. The idea bubbled up to Maj. Henry C. Wayne — a camel fan himself — who recommended their use to a skeptical War Department and Congress.

After some years of political finagling, they gave the experiment $30,000 in funding in 1855 (about $1 million today). The money was used to buy 74 camels from the Mediterranean and put them into military service.

The Los Angeles arrival

They were brought over on the Navy store ship USS Supply and went to Texas first, to Camp Verde. As the camels got used to their new home, the time came for one of their first test missions. The federal government planned to build a wagon road to connect the eastern U.S. to the California/Arizona border.

The Secretary of War at the time required the land surveyor to take 25 of the camels on the expedition in 1857, according to the foundation. These “ships of the desert” ended up thriving where horses and mules couldn’t.

The camels could carry a 700-pound load with ease, traveling up to 40 miles a day. They ate off the land and could go over a week without water. After the camels completed the job, the army sent them to L.A. in 1860.

This was for another test to see if camels could be used for mail delivery. They were essentially racing against mules to see who could get from Camp Fitzgerald (a short-lived Civil War camp in L.A. County) to the Colorado River fastest. What the army didn’t realize was that speed wasn’t the camels’ strong suit — several died from exhaustion.

A historic marker on the L.A. Times' old building in downtown Los Angeles on September 30, 1967. The plaque mentions that the area was used as a "corral for camels from Fort Tejon", which is one of the places the animals were sent to in California.

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As the Civil War continued, the camels’ future became uncertain. The army was tired of the experiment and the money it cost. The camels were never officially designated as the U.S.’s “Camel Corps” and thus given no real purpose. In California, they essentially floated around L.A.-area outposts, such as the Los Angeles Quartermaster Depot in downtown, Culver City’s Camp Latham and the Drum Barracks in Wilmington.

The U.S. Army eventually sold the camels in California for about $50 each ($1,000 today) in 1864, according to the foundation. These noble animals, roped into what many called a failed military experiment, ended up as circus attractions and on ranches as pack animals. Some were even let loose.

The last of California’s “Camel Corps” is believed to be Topsy. After the experiment shut down, she was used in the Ringling Brothers Circus and movies.

Topsy was eventually sold off to what’s now the Old Zoo in Griffith Park, according to the Natural History Museum, which found her bones. She died there in 1934 at approximately 80 years old.

A new space celebrating the art of autistic and neurodiverse youths has opened on Abbott Kinney Boulevard in Venice, amid the trendy coffee shops and boutiques.

Called “Limitless,” the space is a project of Help Group, a nonprofit that has served people in Los Angeles with autism and mental health challenges for 85 years.

“What art does is it allows people to have a voice who can’t communicate typically. It gives you an insight into who they are as a being,” Susan Berman, CEO of Help Group, told LAist.

Berman said the prime Abbott Kinney real estate was a gift from a board member. Help Group is using the square footage for a community space and gallery to feature neurodivergent artists.

Among the artists included is Noah Remis, 15, whose piece “I <3 NY” incorporates watercolor over the titles of famous musicals like Hamilton and Sweeney Todd.

“Those are different musicals that I know and love,” Remis said.

“Some I saw on Broadway. Just so you know, I also put Cats on there just to anger my dad,” he joked. He said his dream is to act on Broadway.

Noah’s dad, Rich Remis, might not be a fan of Cats, but he is a fan of seeing his son’s love of theater expressed in his painting.

“To hang it up in a gallery with everyone else’s work, it just really adds a special weight to it that I think is certainly not lost on Noah,” he said.

Noah, in response, added: “Don’t get emotional.”

Noah said he hopes other kids will be inspired by his work and maybe even take it home.

Berman, who’s been with Help Group for more than four decades, said she has big plans for the space, which opened last week.

“Our plan is for the community to see the gifts that our neurodiverse artists have, not only in their art but as human beings,” Berman said.

Tanaka Day, an epic meet-and-greet of people with the Japanese surname, is happening the weekend of Sept. 19 and 20 at — wait for it — Tanaka Farms in Irvine.

"I'm the idea guy around here," said proprietor Glenn Tanaka — aka Farmer Tanaka — who dreamed up the inaugural event. "Some of them [were] pretty good, some turned out OK."

For this one, 400 people from across the country RSVP’d, bonded by a Japanese surname that is one of the most common in the U.S. — and one that speaks to the history of Japanese immigration that first brought laborers here starting in the late 1800s.

Glenn Tanaka runs the family Tanaka Farms in Irvine.

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One of them was Glenn's grandfather, Takeo Tanaka, who put down farming roots in California that span four generations and counting — Glenn's father George Tanaka, Glenn himself, and Glenn's son Kenny, whose three children are a regular presence at the farm.

"Tanaka literally means middle of the rice field," he said — farmers, essentially. And because many early immigrants were from farming villages, he added, "a lot of Tanakas came over."

The 69-year-old figured, why not bring as many of them together as possible — to hang out, tell family stories and help fill in the tapestry of the Japanese American immigration experience united by the surname.

One example is how the incarceration of Japanese Americans in camps during World War II had touched those who worked and owned farms — and ended up having to sell their holdings on the cheap.

Already, stories are flooding in. Tanaka said different siblings from one Tanaka family had sent in their experiences.

One brother read them and wound up learning new things about the family.

"What's really good to know is I've helped create families that talk," Tanaka said. "Because now they're asking, 'What did, you know, great-grandmother do?'"

That ocean breeze is just not cutting it in schools in Torrance and Long Beach as Southern California reels from a heat wave.

Parents have taken to social media, created petitions and are proposing a bond measure in order to address the sweltering classrooms as temperatures hit triple digits in some areas.

Only 25% of Torrance Unified classrooms have air conditioning, according to a district spokesperson. And while 90% of Long Beach Unified schools have air conditioning, the schools without air conditioning have to bear this heat spell until the end of 2027 when new air conditioning will be in all classrooms.

What are schools doing to beat the heat?

In Long Beach, the district says there are portable fans in classrooms without AC and the district has installed heat-blocking window covers.

"The things that we do immediately and have been doing for several years, hydration stations,” Keith Butler, the deputy superintendent at TUSD, told the school board early this week. “So our nutrition services freezes blocks of ice, puts them into containers with water, and students are — and staff are able to rotate through and at least get ice water.”

There is also a classroom rotation system so everyone gets a turn in cooling zones, he said.

Can schools close on extreme heat days?

Eric Mitchell, a spokesperson for LBUSD, told LAist, “The District will not close schools because of extreme weather unless the City of Long Beach Public Health Department or a state-authorized emergency response agency directs it.”

Baillie echoed his words adding that a state-declared emergency allows schools to close temporarily without needing to make up teaching time. School funding is dependent on attendance and instructional time.

If a local emergency is declared, school districts, she said, must consult with labor unions to adjust the school schedule to either extend the school year or move to a student-free professional development day.

“Our district is actively discussing creating union-approved ‘weather days’ that would provide a mechanism to adjust the schedule,” Baillie said. “Thresholds would be part of that discussion and might focus on when national weather alerts elevate a heat advisory to an extreme heat event, as they did this week.”

So how can Torrance get ACs in the classroom?

School districts like Torrance pay for facility upgrades like new ACs through district issued bond measures. A school district takes a loan and the people in that city pay back that loan through an increase in their property taxes. That is because there is no specific state allocation of funding for major upgrades or construction. Most of the money schools get from the state is spent on instruction and other student services. There have been some occasional grant programs, like CalShape, but no ongoing source of funding.

This week, a petition to get TUSD to place a bond measure on the ballot to fund ACs has already garnered over 1500 signatures.

But, Baillie said, “Third-party polling completed earlier this year showed a willingness to vote for additional future bonds; however, when specifically asked about the costs of specific bonds to fund the $520 million needed to upgrade the electrical systems and install AC at all 34 campuses, polling showed there would not be enough support (bonds require 55% +1 of voters in an election) to pass a bond for AC.”

And so the bond measure was not placed on the upcoming ballot.

Butler, the deputy superintendent, explained during this week’s school board meeting that parents cannot simply donate an AC unit.

“ One [reason] is it's not super effective to have a typical window unit from a home that would be trying to cool a 960 sq. ft. classroom with 27 students and a teacher, maybe an instructional aide,” he said. “But the bigger issue is the ones that are large enough to really do that, the room has to have a large electrical load, and our electrical system within our buildings where most of them were built in the 1960s, it's just not meant to handle what it does.”

LAist reporter Mariana Dale contributed to this article.