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  • Exploring Chinatown for Food Friday
    Two hands hold sandwiches made of baguette and filled with shredded carrots, cucumber, and a redish meat item.
    The special and Vietnamese cold cut sandwiches from Bánh Mì Mỹ Dung.

    Today in How To LA: 

    We visit Chinatown for Food Friday; plus, an LAist reader asks how to cool a home, and we break down some weekend plans.

    Top Story: Every week on Friday we'll give you ideas on what to eat, where to go and what to cook — plus the people and stories behind the dishes. For our first installment, we head to Chinatown for some Cheap Fast Eats.

    More news you need to know:

    • Hurricane Hilary could be heading straight for Southern California in the coming days, bringing with it the potential for major rains and flooding — here’s what you need to know.
    • We recently reported on how “cool pavement,” which uses a reflective coating to deflect heat, could help lower temperatures in cities. An LAist reader posed this question: Can these “cool coatings” also cool our homes
    • Native plant and pollinator populations are in decline in Southern California. Some groups, like the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, are working to change that.

    Thank Gab, it’s Food Friday (or TGIFF)! 🎉 Wait, what is Food Friday? Every week, we'll give you ideas on what to eat, where to go and what to cook — plus the people and stories behind the dishes.

    Dining in dynamic Chinatown

    About How to LA Newsletter

    This is the web version of our How To LA newsletter. Sign up here to get this newsletter sent to your inbox each weekday morning

    For our first installment, we head to Chinatown for some Cheap Fast Eats with associate food editor Gab Chabrán. Chinatown has seen lots of change throughout its history as one of the most dynamic neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

    From various immigrant communities who call the area home to a couple of chefs who like to tinker to create their next great dish, it's an area that offers a wide range of cuisines. The selections reflect both old and new Chinatown restaurants to give you a sense of what it's like to dine in the area.

    My words cannot do it justice — so I will give you a taste of Gab’s selections (and you’re going to have to read the rest here!)

    • Long Family Pastry - 715 N Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 — At Long’s, the special chicken bun is a crowd favorite. You can also get your fill of shumai dumplings, taro, and turnip cakes to enjoy at home, the perfect parting gift to yourself for future dim sum cravings.
    • Perilla L.A. - 1027 Alpine St. BLDG E, Los Angeles, CA 90012 — Anyone who’s been to a Korean barbecue restaurant knows that one of the best things, aside from the glistening cuts of meat grilled in front of you, are the side dishes like kimchi, rolled egg or marinated okra to accompany your meal.

    If you want to read the rest of the Cheap Fast Eats series, you can see them all here. Or if you’d rather listen to him talk about delicious food, check out his regular segment on How to LA.

    Speaking of How to LA, the hard-working team that brings fresh stories to your inbox (and your ears) got some really nice recognition this week:

    The team won an Online Journalism Award for Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Ongoing Series for its three-part series, “Finding Home con DACA.” The series documents host Brian De Los Santos’ first visit to Mexico since he left at 2-years-old, using what’s known as “advance parole” to clear the trip with immigration officials. It’s an intimate portrait of finding oneself when caught between two countries.

    If you haven’t listened to the stories, you can listen to them here or read the series - part 1, part 2, and part 3. Big congrats to the whole team for this win!

    We’re here to help curious Angelenos connect with others, discover the new, navigate the confusing, and even drive some change along the way.

    More news

    (After you stop hitting snooze)

    *At LAist we will always bring you the news freely, but occasionally we do include links to other publications that may be behind a paywall. Thank you for understanding! 

    • Hurricane Hilary could be heading straight for Southern California in the coming days, bringing with it the potential for major rains and flooding — here’s what you need to know.
    • We recently reported on how “cool pavement,” which uses a reflective coating to deflect heat, could help lower temperatures in cities. An LAist reader posed this question: Can these “cool coatings” also cool our homes
    • Native plant and pollinator populations are in decline in Southern California. Some groups, like the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, are working to change that.
    • After a series of high-profile, violent retail thefts, grocery store and pharmacy workers are demanding that state lawmakers require more stringent workplace safety measures.
    • The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured a stunning new image of what scientists call a pair of actively forming stars, but what really caught everyone’s attention — and went viral on the internet — was a mysterious shape resembling a punctuation mark.

    Wait... one more thing

    Let’s plan for the weekend

    The former Korean boy band Wanna One dance in unison onstage in L.A. at KCON 2017. Lights and confetti are seen in the image.
    The now-disbanded KPOP group Wanna One performed at KCON in L.A. in 2017. Now the celebration of Korean pop culture and music returns this weekend to downtown L.A. for more performances, activations and shopping.
    (
    Greg Doherty/Getty Images
    /
    Getty Images North America
    )

    This week felt longer than usual, or maybe that’s just me feeling the heat wave as I write this, so I am looking forward to the weekend. And while I realize that some of us may end up staying home to avoid the potential effects of a very rare tropical cyclone, others may still be looking for some weekend plans. So here are my three picks, and you can see the full list right here.

    EVENT ONE: KCON LA, downtown L.A. — The largest gathering for Korean entertainment and culture fans returns to L.A. this weekend. The daytime portion of KCON takes place at the L.A. Convention Center and the concert takes place at the Crypto.com Arena.

    • Related: We have a podcast about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles, with host Vivian Yoon.

    EVENT TWO: 818 Day, Canoga Park — Celebrate the San Fernando Valley and all its 818-ness this weekend with My Valley Pass and Valley Relics Museum. And, it’s FREE!

    EVENT THREE: Zoo Friday Nights - Finale, Griffith Park — Summer’s almost over, and the popular zoo series comes to an end this week. There will be live music, games, food trucks and more.

    Help Us Cover Your Community

    Got something you’ve always wanted to know about Southern California and the people who call it home? Is there an issue you want us to cover? Ask us anything.

    Have a tip about news on which we should dig deeper? Let us know.

  • Brush fire sends smoke up over 405
    Smoke rises from a brush fire on a hillside in an aerial photo.
    Smoke rises from a brush fire near the Getty Center on Sept. 9, 2026.

    Topline:

    Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.

    What we know so far: As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above.

    Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.

    This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:

    Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.

    As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above.

    The fire broke out as Southern California endures high heat and record-breaking humidity.

    The basics

    • Acreage: 5 acres as of Wednesday evening
    • Containment: Unknown
    • Structures destroyed: None reported
    • Deaths: None
    • Injuries: Unknown
    • Personnel working on fire: Unknown

    Listen to our Big Burn podcast

    Listen 39:42
    Get ready now. Listen to our The Big Burn podcast
    Jacob Margolis, LAist's science reporter, examines the new normal of big fires in California.

    Fire resources and tips

    Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide

    If you have to evacuate:

    Navigating fire conditions:

    How to help yourself and others:

    How to start the recovery process:

    What to do for your kids:

    Prepare for the next disaster:

  • Sponsored message
  • The tropical storm leaves coastal destruction
    A rocks closed sign is posted in a beach near rocks.
    Recent storm surges already have damaged Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach.

    Topline:

    Southern California is reeling from the destruction left behind by Tropical Storm Marie.

    Damages in Dana Point: Six homes were red-tagged when high tides pummelled the coastline. Don Russel, the Capistrano Bay district general manager, said it's possible two other homes will be red-tagged (critically damaged) after high tide activity Tuesday night. Around five homes were yellow tagged (structural damage), he said. Workers are lining the shoreline with large boulders about the size of a small office desk when waters recede, but efforts to armor the beach have been hampered by the tides, Russel added.

    Malibu felt the effects too: In Malibu, a large sinkhole formed on Sea Level Drive, prompting authorities to declare a local state of emergency. Five homes were red-tagged — meaning they are uninhabitable — and residents from around 30 homes were evacuated. Evacuees can find temporary shelter at the American Red Cross at Malibu High School.

    Evac orders lifted: Evacuation orders were lifted in Long Beach, where the storm resulted in flooding. No homes were red-tagged, but the boardwalk between 63rd Place and 68th Place remains closed to the public.

  • Court filing alleges officer assault was withheld
    A concrete sign reads "Long Beach Police North Station" in front of a building with a peaked roof overhang and U.S. flag on a tall pole.
    Officers from the Long Beach Police Department responded to a March 2025 report of an armed robbery just blocks away — the arrest that followed is now at the center of allegations the department concealed one officer's assault conviction.

    Topline:

    A prominent attorney working on a low-level criminal case in Long Beach is alleging the police department there concealed an officer’s assault conviction for years — potentially calling into question the legitimacy of hundreds of cases.

    What the defense uncovered: Scott Sanders, who exposed the Orange County jailhouse snitch scandal, is the court-appointed attorney in a case where the defense was trying to depose a Long Beach Police Department officer.

    In a series of court motions, Sanders raised questions about why the officer arrested a man who was bald when the alleged victim described a man with long dreadlocks. When the defense tried to the subpoena the officer after he left the force, an investigator discovered that the now-former officer had been convicted in an assault case in Georgia while employed with the Long Beach Police Department.

    Why that matters: In a landmark 1963 case, Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court established that law enforcement has a legal responsibility to disclose such information to defendants. Lack of disclosure could call into question the legitimacy of other cases involving the officer and the Long Beach Police Department.

    Keep reading... for the full in-depth report on this case.

    A prominent attorney working on a low-level criminal case in Long Beach is alleging the Police Department there concealed an officer’s assault conviction for years — potentially calling into question the legitimacy of hundreds of cases.

    Scott Sanders, who exposed the Orange County jailhouse snitch scandal, made the allegations in a series of motions filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court to force disclosure of police records and dismiss charges against Lonnie Jacobs, 47, his court-appointed client.

    Jacobs is facing felony charges after Long Beach police said they found a small bag of cocaine tucked inside his sock while he was held at a jail following an arrest in March 2025. Jacobs has pleaded not guilty to the charge of bringing a controlled substance into a jail, which could carry a sentence of up to four years in prison.

    At issue is the arrest that landed Jacobs in that cell in the first place — which Sanders argues in court filings was based on misrepresentations of now-former Long Beach police Officer Erik Suarez.

    According to the defendant’s motion to dismiss, Suarez resigned from the Long Beach Police Department in June.

    In a filing made Sept. 8, the defense attorney said an investigator discovered that Suarez had been convicted of a misdemeanor in the beating of a man outside a Waffle House in Marietta, Georgia in 2019. He had initially been charged with felony assault.

    At that time, Suarez had served on the Long Beach force for two years.

    LAist attempted to contact Suarez by calling a phone number connected to him in public records. A man who answered said he was not Suarez, but asked what the story was about and said he would check with Suarez about contacting LAist.

    In a recent court filing seeking more information about Suarez’s conduct, Jacobs’ defense asserts that the Long Beach Police Department knew about the conviction, but never disclosed this information to defendants or the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

    That’s information Jacobs’ attorney argues was potentially exculpatory, and that withholding it amounts to a major violation of criminal defense laws. In the landmark 1963 case Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court established that law enforcement has a legal responsibility to disclose such information to defendants. In Jacobs’ case, for example, the Sept. 8 filing said information about Suarez’s arrest and subsequent conviction could have been used to impeach him as a witness, as well as in other cases Suarez touched as a police officer.

    The Long Beach Police Department has not yet responded to LAist’s emailed questions.

    “The actions of the LBPD demonstrate a complete disregard to the danger Officer Suarez presented to the community and to the due process rights of defendants,” according to the motion to force disclosure. “The concealment of Officer Suarez's arrest and prosecution enabled [LBPD] to hide mandated discovery related to Officer Suarez’s conduct from what have likely been hundreds of defendants during the nearly seven-year period between the time of Officer Suarez’s August 2019 arrest and June 2026.”

    Jacobs’ attorney alleges in the filing that Long Beach has an “unwritten policy” to keep information that could be used to impeach its officers in personnel files protected from public disclosure.

    “The potential systemic consequences are enormous,” the filing argues.

    Summer Lacey, the criminal justice and police practices director at the ACLU of Southern California, called the circumstances outlined in the case “very problematic.”

    “Not just to the individual,” she said, “but to the entire community.”

    Lacey said the information about Suarez’s conviction should have been known to the prosecutors, so they could vet the reliability of the evidence presented by law enforcement, and turned over to the defense at the outset of the case.

    A spokesperson for L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in an emailed response to questions that they could not comment on what information they disclosed to Jacobs’ defense.

    The District Attorney’s Office said it has a “collaborative relationship with the Long Beach Police Department,” and that the department does disclose material to prosecutors that is allowed under California law.

    “Generally speaking, if our office had any such Brady material regarding an officer, we would have been legally obligated to turn that over to the defense.”

    Lacey said if prosecutors did not have access to Suarez’s criminal record, the scope of people affected could be wide.

    “We don't know how many cases are impacted by the potential unreliability of statements from the arresting law enforcement officer,” Lacey said. “This could impact people who have already pled guilty, who maybe are currently incarcerated, who are awaiting sentencing, or who are, like I said, incarcerated pretrial on other cases.”

    In an interview with LAist, Sanders said the case raises three troubling issues: There’s the concealment of evidence leading to Jacobs' initial arrest, Suarez’s 2019 assault that was never disclosed, and the question of whether the Long Beach Police Department has concealed Brady material in other cases.

    “If that's your modus operandi, we've got an enormous problem here,” Sanders said.

    The underlying arrest that led to allegations about concealing an assault 

    A quiet intersection with a palm tree, traffic signals, and street signs for 52nd Street and Atlantic Avenue under a clear sky.
    Long Beach police responded to the intersection of 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard after a man reported being held at gunpoint, with the robber driving away in the van he was repossessing.
    (
    Megan Garvey
    /
    LAist
    )

    Just after 7:45 p.m. on March 18, 2025, Suarez and his partner Dylan Kelley responded to a call reporting a person with a gun at the intersection of 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard in Long Beach.

    The alleged victim, identified in the filing by his last name, Ochoa, told the officers that he was attempting to repossess a black Dodge Sprinter van when someone threatened him with a gun, took the keys and drove off with the van.

    Police later tracked down the van and detained Lonnie Jacobs and his brother, Lamar Jacobs.

    According to court records, at the scene officers only presented Lonnie Jacobs to Ochoa.

    Before seeing him, Ochoa stated that the suspect had braids, and body camera footage detailed in the court filing shows him gesturing to show long hair around his shoulders.

    While looking at photos of the suspects in the van, Ochoa identified Lamar Jacobs. “That’s him! With the dreads!,” Ochoa is recorded saying on body camera footage.

    Body camera footage shows Suarez confirming this description. “You said he had dreads? Can you remember if he has dreads?,” Suarez asks. The footage shows Ochoa nodding to confirm.

    But Ochoa then identified Lonnie Jacobs in person, telling officers he recognized Lonnie Jacobs’ chain and ripped jeans as matching the person who pulled a gun on him earlier that night.

    Jacobs’ court filings state that body camera footage shows both he and his brother wore the exact same chain, and they both wore ripped jeans that night.

    In an interview with a detective for the District Attorney’s Office in August 2026 that is included in court filings, Ochoa said he was positive he identified a man with braids during the show-up.

    Lonnie Jacobs is bald.

    His attorney argued this fact is inconsistent with the description and should have disqualified Jacobs as a suspect, or at least warranted more questioning. Furthermore, he alleges Suarez failed to correct another officer at the scene who questioned why Ochoa didn’t see the hairstyle of the man who allegedly pulled a gun on him.

    By this point, Ochoa had already described the suspect as having braids to Suarez and Kelley, according to the body cam footage, but Suarez did not correct the other officer.

    “He couldn’t tell by the haircut,” Suarez said, adding he said “everything happened too fast.”

    Jacobs’ defense alleges Suarez’s response was “actively misleading his fellow officers.”

    Furthermore, body camera footage also shows Suarez agreeing with another officer who expressed doubts that Lonnie Jacobs was the one who brandished the firearm.

    Police officers in uniform stand together at night, illuminated by bright lights with a crowd visible in the background.
    A still of officers discussing the potential suspects on the night of Lonnie Jacobs' arrest. A court filing by his defense said officers, including Erik Suarez, expressed doubts that he was the correct person.
    (
    Long Beach Police Department
    /
    L.A. County Superior Court
    )

    “Yeah I think it was him, too,” Suarez said, referring to Lonnie’s brother Lamar. Lamar Jacobs was never charged in connection with the case.

    In filings to the court, the District Attorney’s Office said the officers had probable cause to arrest Jacobs because he was in the van described by the witness and matched at least some of the characteristics of the suspect.

    How that led to the Georgia case coming to light

    Once Jacobs’ defense reviewed the body cam footage, they began attempting to depose Suarez in the case. Although Lonnie Jacobs was never charged with threatening Ochoa, the arrest led to the charges of bringing drugs into a jail. If the initial arrest was illegitimate, the drug case would go away.

    The court scheduled a hearing earlier this year to discuss the evidence, but the Long Beach Police Department told Jacobs’ defense that Suarez was out of the country.

    The defense subpoenaed Suarez through the Police Department again and on June 15, the department told the team that Suarez had resigned.

    An investigator for Jacobs’ defense searched for his address to subpoena him at home. That search, according to the court filing, uncovered the assault charges in Georgia in 2019, two years after he joined the police force in Long Beach.

    In the motion to dismiss the charges against Jacobs, his defense argues it is “plausible” that Suarez resigned from the police force out of concern he may have been questioned about his alleged misconduct that led to Jacobs’ arrest.

    “However, it is also now apparent that Officer Suarez has been living with another secret that may also have propelled a decision to abandon his police officer position,” the defense wrote.

    Through discovery, Jacobs’ attorney said in court filings they learned that Suarez had traveled to Georgia where he watched the Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on Aug. 17, 2019.

    According to an incident report attached to court filings, a witness saw Suarez wearing a Dodgers jersey in a Waffle House, “talking shit” and arguing with the victim.

    “Suarez then walked up to the table where the victim was seated and began punching him in the face until the victim was left unconscious on the ground,” the filing describes. According to the incident report and other filings from that case, Suarez continued to punch the victim while he was unconscious.

    The most recent filing from Jacobs’ defense says Suarez was arrested walking away from the restaurant.

    According to a description of the crime by Barry Morgan, a Cobb County assistant solicitor general, Suarez “caused the victim significant injuries, including orbital fracture, fracture of the maxillary sinus, traumatic orbital hematoma, and concussion.”

    A memorandum from a solicitor general to a district attorney refers a battery case for prosecution, citing injuries to the victim.
    A memo details injuries caused by Erik Suarez in a 2019 assault. A grand jury indicted him on two felony counts. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and served a year of probation.
    (
    Cobb County Superior Court
    /
    via L.A. County Superior Court filing
    )

    “Defendant beat the victim while the victim was on the ground, apparently unconscious,” the description explains. “This should be aggravated battery.”

    On April 1, 2021, a grand jury indicted Suarez on two felony counts of aggravated battery, accusing him of “seriously disfiguring” the victim and rendering his right eye useless.

    Right before trial, Suarez pleaded guilty in November 2022 to reduced misdemeanor charges of battery, was ordered to stay away from the victim and Cobb County, and was ordered to take anger management classes. He was sentenced to 12 months, which he was allowed to serve on probation.

    According to Jacobs’ defense, “Suarez’s actions in Georgia triggered immediate reporting responsibilities related to his employment” with the Long Beach Police Department.

    The court filing explains that the Long Beach police manual requires officers to inform their watch commander when they are arrested by another department or under a criminal investigation.

    It’s not yet clear when the department learned about Suarez’s arrest. But Jacobs' defense argues that if the department learned of the arrest between 2019 and 2026, “this would have clearly triggered Brady responsibilities in this case and numerous others.”

    That information is relevant to the case against Jacobs, the filing argues, because “it is entirely logical that the same officer who beat a victim into unconsciousness and then cavalierly walked from the scene would just as thoughtlessly arrest a man for whom no probable cause existed — concealing that the victim previously identified another suspect who possessed features irreconcilable with the defendant’s culpability.”

    When does law enforcement need to disclose misconduct? 

    While law enforcement has a legal requirement to proactively disclose Brady material that could help defendants build their case, California law exempts most police personnel records from disclosure, except under certain circumstances including findings of unnecessary use of force and misconduct while on the job.

    Jacobs’ defense attorney, in the Sept. 8 filing, alleges Long Beach police purposefully placed evidence related to Suarez’s conviction in his personnel file, where it could be protected from disclosure.

    He wrote this “enabled the agency to hide mandated discovery related to Officer Suarez’s conduct from what have likely been hundreds of defendants during the nearly seven-year period between the time of Officer Suarez’s August 2019 arrest and June 2026.”

    Furthermore, the filing argues “there is every reason to believe that the hiding of Brady evidence extends far beyond Officer Suarez’s conduct and is the product of a long-established undisclosed policy designed to conceal Brady evidence.”

    The filing points to a June 2021 news article wherein a spokesperson for the LBPD told reporters that it does not maintain a formal list of officers whose case involvement triggers Brady disclosures, but that it “continues to comply with its obligations to share such information.”

    By that time, Suarez’s assault case was nearly two years old and, according to Jacobs’ defense, had never been disclosed.

    How to reach me

    If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is Jbennett.18.

  • How fire survivors can prep their properties.
    A wide shot of a fire-scarred property with mulch on top of it.
    Composted organic mulch on Lydia Whitlock's Altadena property helped prevent erosion after rain.

    Topline:

    The El Niño climate pattern is here and, in Southern California, that can mean heavy rain in the winter. For the thousands of people who lost their homes and businesses in the Eaton and Palisades fires, there are some additional concerns.

    Why it matters: Open dirt lots are prone to flooding and erosion, and that soil can still be contaminated with toxic metals, which can wind up downstream with rain.

    Keep reading...for some tips and resources on how fire survivors can prepare.

    The El Niño climate pattern is here and, in Southern California, that can mean heavy rain in the winter — which is why experts say now is the time to prepare and make sure you’re signed up for emergency alerts. But for the thousands of people who lost their homes and businesses in the Eaton and Palisades fires, there are some additional concerns.

    With no trees or vegetation with roots to hold soil together, open dirt lots are prone to flooding and erosion. That soil can still be contaminated with toxic metals, which can wind up downstream with rain.

    But there are ways survivors can prepare their properties, according to experts LAist spoke with, including understanding how water is flowing in your area, applying organic mulch to bare soil, and diverting water from structures and foundations.

    Organic composted mulch ftw

    Natalie Levy, a soil scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, has been studying how organic mulch can help prevent erosion and reinvigorate soil on fire-scarred properties in Altadena since last year.

    In a pilot project, she and a group of 14 Altadena property owners applied 1 to 2 inches of compost "erosion-control blankets" to their lots. The mixture needs to be a combination of fine-screened compost and larger, coarser, composted mulch.

    "Think of this coarse composted mulch as a protective blanket," Levy said. "Your strategy here is you're reducing rainfall hitting bare soil directly.  We're really trying to slow the movement of water down and give it more opportunity to infiltrate."

    The larger pieces of mulch dissipate the energy of rainfall, while the finer compost can break down and help nourish the soil over time, Levy said.

    The pilot analyzed 14 properties before and after significant rains last year. Levy found the properties with organic mulch had less erosion.

    "Instead of a mass of soil that had fallen off of the edge of the parkway, we saw very clean curbs and less actual sediment in that storm drain," Levy said.

    Lydia Whitlock was one of the participants in the pilot. A UC Master Gardener, she wanted to find more natural ways to clean her soil and prevent erosion after her home burned in the Eaton Fire. She worked closely with Levy and later contacted local native plant and nature-based stormwater capture experts, Hardy Californians, who connected her with a local landscaper to spread 645 tons of organic mulch across more than 128,000 square feet of her and her neighbors' properties.

    A large truck dumps mulch on an open property.
    A truck dumps organic composted mulch on Lydia Whitlock's property in Altadena.
    (
    Courtesy Lydia Whitlock
    )

    "Seeing how tended for and cared for the land looked as opposed to how it had looked as just bare dirt, it really felt like, oh, I'm taking a step towards coming back home," Whitlock said.

    She was especially pleased with a neighbor’s property across the street, which had a steeper slope.

    "After the first rains post-mulch, we noticed that she had almost no soil movement whatsoever," Whitlock said.

    The county paid for the mulch to be applied for this pilot, but Whitlock said she hopes there's a broader effort and additional support from local authorities ahead of the rainy season, which officially starts mid-October. Many of the lots covered in the pilot have now been uncovered as rebuilding continues, Whitlock said.

    "It was encouraging to get this done," she said, "but at the same time, 14 lots feels like a drop in the bucket compared to how many still-empty dirt lots there are around Altadena."

    Resources and tips

    Where to find organic composted mulch in the L.A. area: 

    • The Association of Compost Producers has a map of local compost producers, including the city of L.A.’s free mulch program

      • When applying mulch on fire-affected properties, be sure to wear personal protective equipment — at least an N95 mask and gloves, and don’t bring dirty clothes and shoes into a home. 
      • You can see Natalie Levy’s video on properly applying organic mulch here.
    • Fire survivors who are already working with a building contractor should speak with them about protecting the property from rain because some protection strategies may require crews and equipment

    • L.A. County residents in recent burn areas can call (800) 933-0930 for free engineering advice, or visit ready.lacounty.gov/rain for rain prep tips and to download the Homeowners Guide for Flood, Debris and Erosion Controlto better understand their flood risk and identify practical measures they can take. 

    • Hardy Californians will also provide phone consultations and assistance in prepping your property.

    Other ways to prepare your property 

    Meanwhile, Parker Davis, founder of Hardy Californians, said there are other affordable ways to prep your property ahead of potential significant rain. The group has been working closely with fire survivors on natural soil remediation strategies, as well as erosion control and water capture.

    In most cases, on properties with moderate to minimal sloping, he said, residents shouldn’t be all that concerned.

    "In general, the moderately-sloped [properties], they can help themselves," Davis said.

    However, Davis emphasized, people right against recently burned hillsides do need to prepare for more significant mudflows and potential evacuations.

    "People should really start preparing now," he said. "Crews are going to get busy, and once things get wet, then there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

    Here are some other ways to prepare your property, according to Davis:

    • Filling and placing sandbags now
    • Staggering chain link fences on sloped properties can help capture debris
    • Creating channels to redirect water from construction areas (though be sure to coordinate with neighbors if you can’t direct to a public storm drain)
    • Apply jute on exposed soil under mulch on hillsides. That can also be used in combination with natural material wattles (some are made with plastics, which Davis doesn’t recommend, as it can contaminate soil and water)