The Brief

There’s not much left of 17126 Avenida de la Herradura in the Pacific Palisades' Highlands neighborhood. A charred file cabinet a few feet from where the front door probably was. Some blackened cans of paint strewn about what was likely the front yard. Five neighboring homes on the cul-de-sac look similarly obliterated.

But at the end of the street, there’s still an ocean view.

"This is the first publicly listed and closed property in the Palisades," said Richard Schulman, standing outside what used to be a 2,500 square foot ranch house. "This closed for $1.2 million."

Schulman listed the property Jan. 15, barely a week after the fires started. The sale closed in late February.

If you’re wondering how in the world a lot with 9,900 square feet of rubble fetches over a million dollars? It's the Palisades.

"This is one of the most beautiful places to live in the world," said Schulman. "You're in a totally secluded part of L.A., but you're still in the city."

Before the fires, Schulman estimates the property could have sold for upwards of $2.5 million. He listed the property for $999,000, based off a rough calculation of the value of the underlying land. But it’s not like there were other burned down comps he could find on Zillow.

"This hasn't been done before here, so we're trying to guess along the way and try to get the best answer," said Schulman, who has worked in West Los Angeles real estate for 21 years. While he's completed difficult sales before, including fire-damaged properties, he had never been involved in selling a property quite like this.

Schulman settled on a price he thought would drum up interest. But he wasn’t sure exactly how much demand there would actually be.

Terri Bromberg, the seller, also had her doubts.

"I couldn't imagine anybody wanting to buy a completely destroyed, burned up property," Bromberg said.

Bromberg, 69, is an artist and associate professor at Santa Monica College. She lived at the Herradura property for 20 years, the last few with her daughter Rosie Galanis and son-in-law Kenneth.

While Bromberg was at work when the fires came, Rosie and Kenneth had to wait hours to make their escape. Abandoned cars were blocking the only exit route.

At first, Bromberg wanted to rebuild. When she told her daughter she was looking into contractors, Rosie started crying.

"When she brought that up I just broke down, and I was like, 'We go back and rebuild for what? For this to happen again?'" said Galanis.

That $999,000 listing price meant Bromberg would likely be selling the home for less than the $1.5 million she and her late husband paid for it 20 years ago. Even with insurance, Bromberg would be taking a financial hit.

But she had made her mind up that she was going to relocate. Within a week, she had made a successful bid on a new home in Santa Monica. Selling the Palisades property for whatever it was worth would hopefully help restore some of the savings she had to deplete for the new house.

"Our decision was mostly an emotional one," said Bromberg. "We don’t want to live back there again, we want to relocate."

Realtor Richard Schulman posted 17126 Herradura on the MLS with pictures of the house before the fires. He knew the pool of buyers would be mostly wealthy developers and investors offering all cash, but didn't know how deep the pool would be.

"We had over 60 inquiries," said Schulman. "We had a stack of offers. I think we had six offers over the list price."

Because access to the Palisades was restricted, all of those offers came without buyers seeing the actual property.

Joe Solamany is the agent who represented the winning bidder, an L.A.-based investor who declined to be interviewed.

"We did a lot with Google Street view, we did a lot of other stuff," said Solamany.

There's no house on the lot that sold and no neighborhood to speak of around it. But the ocean views and the hope that Palisades will return attracted multiple offers.

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Ted Soqui

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CalMatters

)

Solomany's client was able to see the property during a 15-day escrow. The plan is to build a new house that the investor can either sell or eventually move into, although it may be a while before construction starts.

Investors like the one Solamany represents are betting that in five to seven years, demand to live in the Palisades will be stronger than before the fires. They believe new fire-hardened homes and infrastructure will convince potential buyers it’s less risky now.

"Because this risk was there before and if you even go back to other places, that in the past, they had fire or what have you, after a while, people start going back," said Solamany.

As a condition of the sale, Solamany's client has accepted responsibility for debris removal from the property. The seller Bromberg will also have a few weeks after the closing date to recover any personal items from the property that may still be there, although her visits so far haven't yielded much.

Schulman already has three other Palisades listings, including a townhome that was part of a larger complex completely destroyed by the fires. It looks like a bomb got dropped on the property.

The asking price: $750,000.

"It's a dream of what this will be in the future," said Schulman. "What you're buying is the view of this hillside here and the trees here, and how this is going to look when it's done."

Schulman said he’s already got plenty of interested buyers eager to get into the Palisades for less than a million.

Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall presented the nominees for the 83rd Golden Globes this morning. You can watch the announcement above and read the full list below. The Golden Globes awards ceremony will be held on Jan. 11, hosted by Nikki Glaser.

Best motion picture – drama

Frankenstein (Netflix)
Hamnet (Focus Features)
It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
The Secret Agent (Neon)
Sentimental Value (Neon)
Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)
 

Best motion picture – musical or comedy

Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Bugonia (Focus Features)
Marty Supreme (A24)
No Other Choice (Neon)
Nouvelle Vague (Netflix)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
 

Best motion picture – animated

Arco (Neon)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (Aniplex, Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Elio (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
 

Cinematic and box office achievement

Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
F1 (Apple Original Films)
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures)
Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Weapons (Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema)
Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
 

Best motion picture – non-English language

It Was Just an Accident (Neon) - France
No Other Choice (Neon) - South Korea
The Secret Agent (Neon) - Brazil
Sentimental Value (Neon) - Norway
Sirāt (Neon) - Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Willa) - Tunisia
 

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – drama 

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love)
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
Julia Roberts (After the Hunt)
Tessa Thompson (Hedda)
Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture – drama

Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams)
Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein)
Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine)
Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)
Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy 

Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good)
Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)
Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)
Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy 

Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
George Clooney (Jay Kelly)
Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice)
Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture

Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine)
Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)
Amy Madigan (Weapons)
Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role in any motion picture 

Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
Paul Mescal (Hamnet)
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly)
Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)
 

Best director – motion picture

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)
 

Best screenplay – motion picture

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell (Hamnet)
 

Best original score – motion picture 

Alexandre Desplat (Frankenstein)
Ludwig Göransson (Sinners)
Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another)
Kangding Ray (Sirāt)
Max Richter (Hamnet)
Hans Zimmer (F1)
 

Best original song – motion picture

"Dream as One" – Avatar: Fire and Ash
"Golden" – KPop Demon Hunters
"I Lied to You" – Sinners
"No Place Like Home" – Wicked: For Good
"The Girl in the Bubble" – Wicked: For Good
"Train Dreams" – Train Dreams
 

Best television series – drama 

The Diplomat (Netflix)
The Pitt (HBO Max)
Pluribus (Apple TV)
Severance (Apple TV)
Slow Horses (Apple TV)
The White Lotus (HBO Max)
 

Best television series – musical or comedy

Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX on Hulu)
Hacks (HBO Max)
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
The Studio (Apple TV)
 

Best television limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television

Adolescence (Netflix)
All Her Fault (Peacock)
The Beast in Me (Netflix)
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Dying for Sex (FX on Hulu)
The Girlfriend (Prime Video)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a television series – drama 

Kathy Bates (Matlock)
Britt Lower (Severance)
Helen Mirren (Mobland)
Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us)
Keri Russell (The Diplomat)
Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a television series – drama 

Sterling K. Brown (Paradise)
Diego Luna (Andor)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)
Mark Ruffalo (Task)
Adam Scott (Severance)
Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a television series – musical or comedy 

Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This)
Ayo Edebiri (The Bear)
Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building)
Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face)
Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)
Jean Smart (Hacks)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a television series – musical or comedy 

Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Glen Powell (Chad Powers)
Seth Rogen (The Studio)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television 

Claire Danes (The Beast in Me)
Rashida Jones (Black Mirror)
Amanda Seyfried (Long Bright River)
Sarah Snook (All Her Fault)
Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex)
Robin Wright (The Girlfriend)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television 

Jacob Elordi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)
Paul Giamatti (Black Mirror)
Stephen Graham (Adolescence)
Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story)
Jude Law (Black Rabbit)
Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me)
 

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role on television 

Carrie Coon (The White Lotus)
Erin Doherty (Adolescence)
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
Catherine O'Hara (The Studio)
Parker Posey (The White Lotus)
Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus)
 

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role on television 

Owen Cooper (Adolescence)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Walton Goggins (The White Lotus)
Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus)
Tramell Tillman (Severance)
Ashley Walters (Adolescence)

Best performance in stand-up comedy on television

Bill Maher (Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?)
Brett Goldstein (Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life)
Kevin Hart (Kevin Hart: Acting My Age)
Kumail Nanjiani (Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts)
Ricky Gervais (Ricky Gervais: Mortality)
Sarah Silverman (Sarah Silverman: Postmortem)
 

Best Podcast

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Wondery)
Call Her Daddy (SiriusXM)
Good Hang with Amy Poehler (Spotify)
The Mel Robbins Podcast (SiriusXM)
Smartless (SiriusXM)
Up First (NPR)
Copyright 2025 NPR

Fire survivors are calling for longer timelines on mortgage forbearance and better policy to stop credit hits as the expiration of mortgage protections looms nearly a year after the most destructive fires in L.A. County history.

After the Eaton and Palisades fires, hundreds of mortgage companies promised to let borrowers delay their monthly payments for 90 days. In September those protections were extended and enhanced when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 238 into law. That allowed survivors to request forbearance for up to 12 months, without requiring full repayment at the end of the forbearance period.

Ever since, fire survivors have said some mortgage lenders are not adhering to those rules.

“We have heard feedback that there is widespread activity that goes to show that a lot of banks and a lot of mortgage services are not actually complying with 238,” said Assemblymember John Harabedian, who wrote the law.

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation told LAist it has received more than 200 complaints from L.A. fire survivors “related to issues such as credit reporting, forbearance terms and insurance payouts.”

Harabedian said his office has been receiving calls as well.

“ A lot of people who rightfully deserve forbearance are not being given it, or to the extent that they're being offered forbearance, they're being tasked with things that are illegal under the law, like negative credit reporting, lump sum payments, et cetera,” Harabedian said.

He said holding companies accountable remains a challenge, since that requires survivors to report the issues they’re experiencing.

“It should not be incumbent on the borrower to have to educate a financial institution that's licensed and operating in the state of California that this is the law,” Harabedian said.

Loopholes

Aimee Williams, a housing rights attorney for the legal aid nonprofit Bet Tzedek that is working with fire survivors, said she has seen many clients benefit from the passage of AB 238. But big loopholes remain. She said the law doesn’t mandate the protections and there is still little transparency from many mortgage lenders about how their mortgages work and what people’s rights are.

“It's a step in the right direction, but outside of an overhaul of the law and providing something standard that all mortgage services need to follow, it's going to continue to be a bit of a mystery for people,” Williams said. “And unfortunately, we're going to continue to see people being surprised by demands for payment or threats of foreclosure.”

That’s what happened to Tamara Carroll, whose Altadena home survived the Eaton Fire. With smoke and other damage, though, it took more than eight months for her to safely return.

Tamara Carroll assesses damage to her patio from the Eaton Fire earlier this year.

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Noé Montes

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LAist

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She entered forbearance for the first three months after the fire while she lived in a Burbank hotel and took some time off work to cope with the stress. She said she extended that forbearance another three months when she was still displaced and sorting out her finances. Then she got a call — she was in active foreclosure.

“I literally screamed,” Carroll said.

The state policy urging lenders to extend those protections up to a year had not yet gone into effect, but Carroll said she got no warning or explanation that she could go into foreclosure if she continued with her forbearance, which is required by state and federal law.

A spokesperson for Carroll's lender, the Rocket Mortgage-affiliated Mr. Cooper,  said they didn't have any record of her asking for an extension. She says she did request one over the phone. The spokesperson said the company has fully complied with AB 283.

Without the extension, Carroll was told she’d have to pay about $18,000 — to make up for the last six months of forbearance plus additional fees — to get back in good standing, she said. Carroll used insurance money that she was going to use to replace her roof, which was damaged in the fire, to pay off the bank.

“I just feel like they took advantage of me,” Carroll said. “I was so emotionally battered from the fires … so I just didn’t have the energy to fight an institution that really didn’t care.”

A call for better policy 

As temporary housing insurance dries up, the challenges are only mounting for fire survivors. Many are paying rent on top of mortgages for homes that no longer exist or are still uninhabitable.

One Palisades couple is leading the charge for stronger mortgage protections — Rachel Jonas and Rob Fagnani lost their home in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood, where they had planned to raise their two young children. Now they’ve relocated to Fagnani’s parents’ house in Tennessee as they work to rebuild, which they expect to take at least another year.

“We want to be back in L.A., and we want to be in L.A. for the future,” Fagnani said.

Rob Fagnani, left, and Rachel Jonas, in front of where their Palisades home stood, are calling for policy changes.

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Courtesy of Rob Fagnani and Rachel Jonas

)

While they don’t have to pay rent, they still have a substantial mortgage and are underinsured, so they decided to enter forbearance as they figure out how to finance their rebuild. Fagnani’s finance background gave him the tools to dig deeply into mortgage and insurance policy.

After talking with dozens of colleagues and friends in the mortgage and finance world, he and Jonas decided to organize their neighbors around mortgage policy reform for disaster survivors.

“Most people are underinsured. Everyone's trying to free up cash. Most people already have too much debt anyway, and they don't want to add on additional debt,” Fagnani said.

So they built a website and a platform to help neighbors easily send letters to their representatives to call for more comprehensive federal mortgage protections for disaster survivors across the country.

Their asks include:

• Extending the forbearance period for two to three years.
• Add deferred payments to the end of the loan term at current interest rates, with protections to avoid damage to credit scores and foreclosure pressure. 

“Many people are maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars short, and those couple hundred thousand dollars are the difference between them being able to square the economics,” Fagnani said. “So this is a way to do that without forcing families to take on more debt.”

Their efforts are gaining traction — Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park highlighted their advocacy in her newsletter last month. Mayor Karen Bass recently called on banks to voluntarily extend their forbearance relief for an additional three years. And some lenders are voluntarily doing the same — Bank of America announced it will offer up to three years of forbearance to fire survivors, though most people will have to modify their loans, which can hurt their credit.

Williams, the lawyer, said a standard at a federal level is “a great idea,” though she doubts the current Congress will be open to it. Mortgage-relief legislation proposed by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) earlier this year did not pass.

“Forbearance is not supposed to be … you'll be able to pay everything in full after the period ends,” Williams said. “It really gives you breathing room to figure out what to do next to make your long-term financial plans while trying to stay on top of your short-term financial security.”

We lost a titan of the Los Angeles architecture world this week with Frank Gehry’s death, but fortunately, he left this city with several indelible marks. To honor his memory, I’d suggest heading to Walt Disney Concert Hall and taking the self-guided audio tour of the incredible space that he designed; the tour takes you through the gardens, the auditorium itself and all kinds of nooks that you wouldn’t find on your own. It’s free and available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

In music this week, Licorice Pizza recommends modern rock gods the Struts doing a special acoustic performance and Q&A at the Grammy Museum on Monday night. On Wednesday, Postmodern Jukebox plays the Grove of Anaheim, and Danity Kane are at the El Rey; Thursday, breakout UK pop star Luvcat is at the El Rey, while Ben Folds plays the Blue Note. And Tom Petty & Heartbreakers guitar legend Mike Campbell plays with his band, the Dirty Knobs, at the United Theater.

Elsewhere on LAist.com, you can get the skinny on Metro’s water taxi plan for the 2028 Olympics, learn the secrets behind Stranger Things' special effects and food and culture writer Gab Chabrán eats L.A.’s most expensive tamale so you don’t have to.

Events

Will Butler & the Stereophonic cast

Thursday, December 11, 4:30 p.m. 
Amoeba Music
6200 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Julieta Cervantes

/

Courtesy Broadway in Hollywood

)

I recently saw the Tony-winning play for 2024, Stereophonic, in London and loved it. The story of the making of a record by a Fleetwood Mac-esque band in Northern California in the '70s is imaginative and transportive. Lucky for us, it’s coming to L.A. this week. To celebrate the opening, the show’s composer, Will Butler (Arcade Fire), and members of the cast will be performing a free in-store show at Amoeba in Hollywood. Don’t miss it — or the show, which is at the Pantages through Jan. 2.

Jonathan Richman

Monday, December 8, 7 p.m. 
Sid the Cat Auditorium
022 El Centro St., South Pasadena
COST: $39.25; MORE INFO

The Sid the Cat team said they long dreamed of a basketball court with their logo in the middle, but due to space issues they settled on a pickleball court.

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Courtesy Sheva Kafai

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Perhaps the most anticipated new venue amongst the indie music set, Sid the Cat Auditorium just opened in South Pasadena with a great lineup of artists headlining throughout the next few weeks. Check out singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman, cofounder of influential punk band Modern Lovers, with Tommy Larkins on the drums. Read more about the spot’s history — and future — here.

Hot Chocolate Nutcracker

Through Sunday, December 14
Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center
1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach
COST: $54.59; MORE INFO

Debbie Allen dance academy EB RECITAL 2024

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LEE TONKS PHOTOGRAPHY

)

There are so many Nutcrackers to choose from in the next few weeks, but it’s always a great time and a fun twist on the original to see Debbie Allen's version, Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, which is celebrating its 15th year on stage. Really want to splash out? There’s also a special star-studded performance and gala on Dec. 11.

PlutoTV: Holidays are Brutal Rage Room

Thursday, December 11, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Rage Ground
120 E. 11th St., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE WITH RSVP; MORE INFO

I am always hesitant to share marketing activations, but this one is too clever (and fun) not to include. If you’ve never been to a rage room, they are expensive but cathartic ways to get your pent-up frustration out via smashing glass, car windows, throwing hammers — you name it. The holidays can definitely spark anger, so put your holiday stress to bed before seeing your family by signing up for a free rage room session, thanks to PlutoTV’s “The Holidays are Brutal” collection of shows.

A Christmas Carol

Through Monday, December 22
Independent Shakespeare Company 
ISC Studio 
3191 Casitas Ave., #130, Pasadena
COST: $33.50; MORE INFO

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Grettel Cortes

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Courtesy Independent Shakespeare Co.

)

Another Christmas Carol? Well, yes, but this one is told from the author’s perspective. Your dear narrator is Charles Dickens himself, played by Independent Shakespeare Company actor David Melville. It's the show's 20th time being performed at the Independent Shakespeare Company.

Robert Rauschenberg at Gemini G.E.L.: Celebrating Four Decades of Innovation and Collaboration

Through Friday, December 19 
Gemini G.E.L.
8365 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Gemini G.E.L.

)

As a titan of American art and precursor to the pop art movement, Robert Rauschenberg often collaborated with art publisher Gemini to create unique works and oversized prints. In this new show celebrating 40 years of projects, you can see prints like "Booster," a six-foot, scanned X-ray image of the artist himself.

Guest chef dinner with Chef Joe Hou

Monday, December 8 
Charcoal Venice 
425 Washington Blvd., Venice
COST: $125; MORE INFO

Chef Josiah Citrin’s Charcoal celebrates its 10th anniversary with a one-night-only guest chef dinner featuring Chef Joe Hou, Chef de Cuisine at the Michelin-starred Angler in San Francisco. The menu includes highlights from both chefs, including grilled meats and seafood that honor Charcoal’s adherence to cooking over a live fire.

8 Nights at Birdie G’s 

December 8 to 11
Birdie G's
2421 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica
COST: $125; MORE INFO 

Santa Monica favorite Birdie G’s has its final flutter on Dec. 20, but before then, you can get your fill of Hanukkah specials during their "8 Nights at Birdie G’s" promotion. This week features a variety of guest chefs, including Jordan Kahn (Destroyer) and Chris Cosentino (Koast Maui).

Happy hour at Broken Spanish Comedor

Every Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 6 p.m. 
Broken Spanish Comedor
12565 Washington Blvd., Culver City
COST: VARIES, MORE INFO

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Courtesy Peridot Photos

)

Just in time for post-work happy hour before the holidays, Ray Garcia’s Broken Spanish Comedor has launched a new happy hour from 5 to 6 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, featuring a curated selection of food and drinks ranging from $5 to $15, including $10 craft draft margaritas, palomas and wine.

On a recent rainy afternoon, a handful of students gathered in a small UCLA classroom to pore over autopsy reports and death records.

They took turns presenting different cases, sharing what they’d gleaned from documents about people who died at the hands of police. After an overview, they honed in on the reports’ details.

As part of the university’s BioCritical Studies Lab, the significance of the students’ work extends far beyond the classroom.

Terence Keel, a professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Institute for Society and Genetics, founded the lab in 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. After watching police take Floyd’s life, Keel wondered how many others died under similar circumstances.

Together, Keel and his students have produced multiple reports about in-custody deaths. Through this work, the professor has learned that every day in the U.S., about five people die in jail or during arrests.

The reports, coupled with conversations with community activists and people who’ve lost loved ones across the country, underpin Keel’s new book, The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence.

How a lab discussion uncovers details

This recent class session started by examining a San Diego case involving a man who died in 2020 after being tased by police three times.

One student said it was “pretty shocking” that no officers faced liability. Another brought up the difference between what was stated in the autopsy report and the San Diego district attorney's account.

In the latter, the student noted, “It says that [an] officer put his left knee on [the man’s] upper back and neck. ... That provides a lot more context as to why [the man] became unresponsive.”

Not only was that detail left out of the autopsy report, another student added, “But on page seven, it says, ‘It does not appear that the officers at any time significantly placed their weight or pressure on the decedent’s head, neck or torso’ — which directly goes against what you just read.”

“Did anyone notice, on Page 5 of the [autopsy], the contributing factor to death was ‘atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,’” Keel asked the class. “What did you all make of that?”

The lab secures autopsy reports and death records through public records requests. Students are assigned at least one case per week. They’re tasked with coding these cases, following a strict protocol. As they answer questions provided by their instructors, the students input the data in a survey for the lab’s Coroner Report Project.

In his new book, Keel describes the obstacles he faced in securing these records.

The professor says “a part of [him] had to perish” to write the text — the part of him that “wanted to believe America was growing into our best values and evolving beyond the primitivism of our past.”

“I am grateful for this loss,” he writes.

Before conducting his research, “I could not imagine how often these deaths occurred, how they were hidden from the public or the sheer magnitude of lethal police violence,” Keel adds.

“I hope you lose a part of yourself,” too, he tells readers, “and gain in return the ability to see the humanity of the people we are socialized to forget.”

Keel’s students already are heeding the call.

What kinds of students participate

The professor's students span majors from the humanities to life sciences. Many of them are pre-med. Grace Sosa, a former student, is the lab’s assistant director and co-leads class discussion.

“We welcome the feelings that come up — the rage and the sadness and the anger — all that stuff,” Sosa said. “The data collection that we do is important, but it's also important to never lose sight of the fact that every single one of these deaths should not have happened. And that should make us feel something.”

This approach sits well with students like Stepheny Nguyenle, a recent graduate who continues to be part of the lab.

“More than anything,” she told LAist, “I joined because I wanted to learn and grow alongside a group of people who believe in a better world, where human dignity takes precedence.”

For others, the lab is an invitation to take what’s learned and probe the world around them.

Senior Zaia Hammond (center), a Human Biology & Society major and African American Studies minor, said Keel's lab has helped her become more empathetic toward others, especially incarcerated people.

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Julia Barajas

/

LAist

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“[T]his is the first time I've ever looked at an autopsy report,” said sophomore Ellie Portman, who's now prone to scrutinizing news media. “We [grow up thinking] that whatever is in an autopsy report is correct and whatever the police do is right. ... This lab has taught me the importance of asking questions and being curious,” she said.

Junior Manhoor Ahmad also said the lab “has really taught me to go deeper.”

“I pay attention to the layers behind every incident: the police tactics used; the medical vulnerabilities of the person involved; how force escalates; the stress on the body; and the role that institutions play in framing these [deaths] as unavoidable,” she said.

How the community has been involved

When Keel launched the lab, a local woman named Helen Jones helped guide discussions.

Jones, a Watts native, lost her son in 2009. His name was John Horton III, and he was 22 years old when he died inside Men’s Central Jail in downtown L.A. authorities said he died by suicide in solitary confinement. But in Jones’ view, his body told a different story.

When Horton’s body was being prepared at a mortuary, Jones noticed wounds, bruises and scrapes across his body.

In his book, Keel notes that Horton “had no record of mental illness and was not under suicide watch when he was taken to prison.” Plus, when his family received the lab results, “they revealed that [Horton] had sustained recent injuries to his abdomen, adrenal glands, skeletal muscles in his lower back and kidneys.”

In the autopsy report, the coroner ascribed Horton’s death to “hanging and other undetermined factors.” But if Horton was alone in his cell, his mother wondered, how did those internal injuries occur?

Keel met Horton’s mother in 2020. At the time, she was a community organizer with Dignity and Power Now, a grassroots organization based in L.A. that’s working toward prison abolition. The experience of losing her son pushed Jones to become well-versed in death records. When Keel’s lab took off, she’d bring records of people who’d lost their life in custody and share her insights with his students.

Jones “had a wealth of knowledge and expertise about the faults and virtues of our death investigation system that would have taken decades for most academics to acquire,” Keel says in his book.

Through Jones, Keel and his students learned about “how death investigators weaponized details about the criminal history of the deceased, or their troubles with substance abuse or, even worse, their health history, making the case that they were going to die regardless of the actions of police.” Jones drew the lab’s attention “to the places in the autopsy where illegible handwriting, unchecked boxes, missing files and vague language obscured or distorted what happened to the victim and why.”

Keel’s lab and book also have been shaped by other families who’ve grappled with in-custody deaths. Out of necessity and desperation, he said, these families likewise taught themselves how to read autopsy reports, using anatomy books, along with legal and medical dictionaries.

Keel hopes his book finds its way to people who think in-custody deaths are an issue from which they’re far removed.

“[T]here is a perception that [this] is a Black and brown problem,” Keel told LAist. “But when you look at the data, look at the raw numbers, white Americans are the largest group in the nation being killed by police. ... And when you look at all of the people who are dying in custody, every single demographic in [the U.S.] is represented.”

Disclosure: Julia Barajas is a part-time law student at UCLA.