The Brief

In 1985, the Shaquille O'Neal of movie rental stores opened in Dallas, Texas, with an supersized inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes and a computer system to keep track of checkouts.

In two decades, that one standalone Blockbuster Video in the Lone Star State had ballooned into a chain of 9,000 outlets, only to collapse over the course of the 2010s with just a single store currently remaining.

But the memories live on — of the Friday night visits, of strolling through displays upon displays of DVDs, of that distinct Blockbuster smell of popcorn and carpet cleaner and plastic cases. All that is to say, the memories of actually having to exert effort, darn it, to watch a rental from the comfort of your sofa.

"I think that people just remember when there was more 'third spaces' — places that weren't home or work that they can go and be with people, and the experience of actually being able to peruse things in a physical space. I think we've lost a lot of that from streaming," said Alyssa Kollgaard, a video game developer in Los Angeles. "I've heard that a lot from people that they feel like, oh, coming home from the bus, I'd be so excited to see what's new and to check out a movie and to grab a snack and to bring something back."

To pay tribute to that experience, Kollgaard and her husband built and installed a little pantry box, painted in the video store's signature blue and yellow, in front of their Sun Valley home near the corner of Wicks Street and Wealtha Avenue. Inside their Little Free Blockbuster are boxed candies, books, and more than 70 movies on DVD for the community to take, watch, share, and (maybe) return.

"Some things probably will never get returned, but that's totally OK," she said. "The [film] that is the most popular, that people have commented on a million times, is that I have the extended edition of Lord of the Rings in there, and Reefer Madness, surprisingly, is one that people are excited about also."

The majority of the DVDs on offer are from Kollgaard's vast personal collection, which she and her husband have been amassing for years. Others come from sources like her friends, or from her Buy Nothing group. Since the recent grand opening of the movie pantry, Kollgaard says she's already been getting fresh inventory.

"I've had a lot of drop offs and donations and swap outs," she said. "I have a back stock of people who have donated things that are ready to get circulated out there as things get taken."

Kollgaard's Little Free Blockbuster isn't the only one in the L.A. region. There's long been one in Los Feliz and she said she learned of a new entry in Reseda that opened just days before hers. These franchises are part of a larger national Free Blockbuster movement that started in 2019 in L.A. to bring movies to different communities, much like what Little Free Library did with books.

For Kollgaard, she's already thinking about expanding the experience. She is adding a guest book for people to note down what they rent out, and in the future, there could even be the ultimate in Blockbuster accoutrements.

"I'm going to try and print out membership cards for people who want them just for fun," Kollgaard said.

In the meantime, she's focused on keeping her DIY video store stocked and curated.

"I am trying to find things that aren't available on streaming or that are kind of cult classics and interesting that people maybe haven't experienced before," she said.

When the Station Fire roared through the Angeles National Forest in 2009, Colleen and Jason Warnesky could see it from the front porch of their Altadena, Calif., home. Eleven years later, the family witnessed the Bobcat Fire from the same spot as it became one of the largest fires in Los Angeles County history.

Their house remained standing after both close calls. So when the Eaton Fire struck more than 3 miles away in January 2025, they were certain they'd again remain unscathed.

"We couldn't imagine how it would get from all the way over there to our house," Colleen Warnesky told NPR, as she pointed to the lush mountains on a recent Sunday afternoon.

Fifteen months later, the couple is pacing around the fenced-in dirt lot that was once the site of their 1,400 sq. foot home. So far the land has been cleared of all toxins, and they're waiting on the city to approve drainage permits before construction workers can start pouring the foundation

The Warneskys are among the dozens of families in the immediate neighborhood who have opted to rebuild with manufactured homes. They were swayed by a local program launched by city-LAB UCLA, a center founded by the University of California, Los Angeles' Architecture and Urban Design Department, which included a showcase of six prefab housing options and a guide to help navigate the process and secure financing.

The spate of wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods fueled by man-made climate change that have plagued vast swaths of the country in recent years is changing the housing industry. That's because people like the Warneskys, who are seeking to rebuild in disaster-prone regions, are searching for greater peace of mind. As a result, they're turning away from stick-builds and embracing prefabricated homes that are made using materials that are fire-resistant and can withstand extreme weather, and that are now considered standard, and are often more affordable.

Manufacturers are meeting that demand with innovative and safer alternatives. Many companies are designing prefab houses that can withstand category 5 hurricane winds — up to 250 mph — earthquakes, hail storms, massive snowfall and fire. Depending on customizable preferences, prices can vary from below $100 per square foot to over $500 per square foot, excluding land. But even those prices often fall under traditional on-site building costs in many parts of the country.

"We're working with Honomobo, which is one modular company out of Canada. And then the people across the way are working with another company called Bevy House. And then there's a whole set of three families on Harriet that are working with a third modular company," Warnesky said, pointing out various vacant or half-built lots in the neighborhood.

"It was a combination of factors," Warnesky said, explaining why they have opted to forgo a traditional build. After losing everything, and the stress of dealing with the seemingly endless insurance paperwork, they had decision fatigue. The idea of picking something out of a catalog that would arrive fully built seemed like a lifesaver.

"But a big part of it was also safety," Warnesky clarified. She added, "I think that we both felt early on, if there was a way to make it so that we had less to worry about if another fire happened in the future," we'd go with that.

For their own house, which will largely consist of glass, steel and concrete, the Warneskys said they bought a package that is specifically designed for a wildland urban interface environment, known as WUI. These are areas where real estate developments and infrastructure butt up against wildland vegetation.

Jason Warnesky described some of the features of the old, post-WWII-built home. It was modest but comfortable. It had a redwood deck that spanned a big section of the backyard, he said.

"I would suspect that was probably one of the first things that went up on our house," he said.

"We won't do that again," his wife added.

The building prefab business

The Manufactured Housing Institute reports that as of 2024, nearly 21 million people in the U.S. live in manufactured or mobile homes. And manufactured homes made up more than 9% of new home starts in the same year. Meanwhile, consumer prices have remained largely unchanged over the past three years, making them increasingly attractive to first-time buyers.

The same study noted that three U.S.-based companies account for about 83% of the nation's market share. Most of those sales are happening in states with nearly annual flooding, hurricane or wildfire disasters — Texas, Florida and California.

Given the escalating climate risks across the country, Harrison Langley, CEO of MDLR Brands, believes that traditional on-site building is unsustainable. His company has built single-family prefabricated homes, apartment buildings and commercial structures in the Bahamas following 2019's Hurricane Dorian and in California, Tennessee and North Carolina.

"The building materials space is run by dinosaurs," he told NPR. "The way we've been building for the last 100 years really hasn't changed. But the materials have gotten less strong. A two-by-four is no longer two-by-four. It's smaller."

The company offers manufactured kit homes as well as custom-designed projects that are built using composite structural insulated panels. Each one has a 30-minute fire rating, meaning "you could hide behind this wall without the heat coming through for 30 minutes," he explained, adding that the panels can be hardened even further by using a cement board on top of the panels. "That could give you about an hour to get out of a building," Langley added.

Another bonus is that the panels are also more elastic than a wooden frame, making the houses better capable of withstanding earthquakes. And, he said, because the panels have an exterior fiberglass layer, they can stand up to category 5 hurricane winds. (Third-party certifiers test it by shooting a two-by-four traveling at 170 mph, Langley explained.)

According to Langley, America has been on the cusp of embracing modular and prefabricated homes for some time. But, he believes, the growing ubiquity of accessory dwelling units is serving as "proof of concept" for potential clients. "People are used to seeing them now," he said.

Beyond a boxy modular style

For some people, the reluctance to embrace a modular or manufactured build has less to do with costs and more to do with style. Or a perceived absence of it.

Across the street from Colleen and Jason Warnesky are Linda and Liam Mennis. They also lost their 1940s 1,600 sq. ft. home in the Eaton Fire. Initially, they were thinking of going with a traditional stick-build home, but after a discussion with their architect, they learned they could design a customized manufactured home.

"We couldn't do a cookie-cutter house," Mennis told NPR. "We didn't want to pick something from a catalog that would look exactly like somebody else's house."

A home designed by California-based Bevy House. This, nearly 8,000 square foot Malibu project is a partial rebuild, as a large portion of the home was lost in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. It was one of the first homes to receive occupancy post fire.

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Bevy House

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They're now working with Bevy House, whose tag line is, "The conventional home building process is broken. We're the solution." Instead of boxy structures, they take personalized architectural plans and figure out how to make them modular so they can be fabricated at their facilities and put together on site. A majority of the company's builds are installed in California, and they've worked with several fire victims.

Following the destructive 2018 Woolsey Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, they built one of the first homes to receive occupancy post-fire, according to their website. It's a Spanish revival, five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, nearly 8,000-square-foot spread that features custom reclaimed beams. The project was a partial rebuild, as a large portion of the original home was lost in the fire. 

For Mennis and his wife, it was a streamlined process. After finalizing a design plan, he said, Bevy House "makes sure they can break it up into modules" in a 3-D rendering system, and they get started on production.

Prefab's past

The idea of creating aesthetically pleasing and affordable modular homes on a mass scale is not a new one. Seventy-seven years ago, famed architects and furniture designers Ray and Charles Eames, came up with a modernist blueprint for a system composed of inexpensive and off-the-shelf materials from industrial and commercial catalogs that could be easily assembled. Their own iconic home and studio space, Case Study No. 8 house, served as a model of what could be done.

Eames Office has partnered with Spanish office furniture brand, Kettal, to produce a universal modular system that will eventually include the option to build a customized home. The Eames Pavilion was unveiled last week at the Triennale di Milano.

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Eames Demetrios, director of the Eames Office and chairman of the Eames Foundation, has revived his grandparents' dream. Together with Spanish office furniture brand Kettal, Eames Office rolled out the Eames Pavilion system last week at the Triennale di Milano exhibition in Italy. It is a modular, pre-fabricated kit that uses aluminum frames with interchangeable glass, wood, and composite panels. The initial product is only for a single room that can serve as an office or studio space. But by 2027, Demetrios said, it will expand to allow for customizable configurations of single or multi-level dwellings.

"What is wonderful about it is it isn't a copy of the Eames House," Demetrios told NPR. "It's not a facsimile. But it certainly has the spirit of it. And when you look closely, you realize that it's something that is different, which is really trying to create a system out of it."

The kits will be on the pricier side of prefabricated homes, but Demetrios said they intend to keep costs below $500 per square foot. Clients will also have options to swap out materials that may suit the building site better, he added. Because it is a modular system, Demetrios explained, "as innovations happen it is possible to include those in a more dynamic way."

He added: "I'm predicting in about five years we'll have houses that people will almost not be able to tell are from the same system. And I think that that's part of the power of it. And that's part of the opportunity of it."
Copyright 2026 NPR

The alleged gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where President Donald Trump and other top administration officials were gathered, is set to make his first appearance in court today.

Cole Allen, 31, is slated to be arraigned in federal court. Police have not formally identified Allen as the suspect, but NPR confirmed his identity with two people familiar with the investigation who aren't authorized to speak publicly.

Allen faces charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.

Authorities said Allen charged through a security perimeter at the Washington Hilton, where the annual event was taking place, before being stopped and arrested by law enforcement. One Secret Service agent was shot in his protective vest and not seriously injured.

Video from the event shows Secret Service agents surrounding Trump and Vice President Vance and ushering them out of the room after shots rang out. Journalists and other attendees can be seen crouched under tables as federal officers swarmed the ballroom.

At a White House press conference shortly after the shooting, Trump said he recognized the dangers of his position as president.

"I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it's a dangerous life. I think I'm — I think I handle it as well as it can be handled," Trump said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning that the suspect is believed to have been targeting administration officials.

What happened?

Just after the dinner began around 8 p.m. ET, the suspect allegedly attempted to breach a security barrier inside the Washington Hilton near the ballroom where the correspondents' dinner was being held.

Trump on Saturday night posted a video on social media appearing to show a man sprinting through a security checkpoint, with agents then turning and pointing their weapons in his direction. Those inside the nearby ballroom could hear muffled pops.

"Tonight we saw exactly what our brave men and women do each and every day to protect our protectees," Secret Service Director Sean Curran said Saturday evening. "And that individual, when he charged a checkpoint, was apprehended. It shows that our multi-layered protection works."

The suspect was believed to have acted alone, and two firearms and multiple knives were recovered, the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement on social media.

Trump said after the shooting that he wanted the dinner to continue, but later said he decided to leave at the request of law enforcement, adding that the organizers told him the event would be rescheduled.

Weijia Jiang, a CBS News journalist who is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, called Sunday's shooting a "harrowing moment" and said the WHCA board would meet to "assess what happened and determine how to proceed."

Who is Cole Allen?

Before the shooting, Allen allegedly sent his family members what the White House is calling a manifesto, stating he wanted to target members of the Trump administration, a White House official told NPR.

That official also said Allen's sister had spoken with law enforcement, telling them her brother had a tendency to make radical statements and had alluded to a plan to do "something" to fix the world's problems.

According to his sister, Allen purchased two handguns and a shotgun that he stored at his parents' home without their knowledge.

Additional details about the suspect began to emerge in the hours after the attack.

A LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Allen describes him as a "mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth." According to the LinkedIn page, Allen worked as a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a tutoring service that offers testing prep for high school students. He received a "teacher of the month" award from the company in December 2024.

One of his students, Jason, a 17-year-old who NPR is identifying only by his first name because he is a minor, said "you wouldn't expect [Allen] to be plotting some crazy, evil plan to kill the president." Jason added: "He was just quirky because he was a just really smart guy."

Movses Janbazian, pastor at Pasadena United Reformed Church, told NPR he knew Allen years ago as a "good guy" and "quiet." Allen attended weekly church services while he was a student at California Institute of Technology, according to Janbazian.

"He was faithful in his attendance, and he was always friendly and courteous to everyone," Janbazian said. "He was in a very competitive school, and so we didn't get to see him much because he was always working, doing homework."

"Every interaction we had with him was great," Janbazian continued.

Janbazian also said the news is still "very surprising" and he doesn't "know what to think." Allen was not involved in the church outside of worship, he added.

"No secret handshakes or anything," Janbazian said. "Just — he would come. He would hear the gospel. He would worship. He would go home."

Federal Election Commission records show that Allen donated $25 to the fundraising platform ActBlue in October 2024, earmarked for Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben, Ryan Lucas, Lydia Calitri, Steve Futterman, Deepa Shivaram and Ava Berger contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Orcas, the lovable black and white marine predators, have taken over 10,000 square feet of the Natural History Museum of L.A. County.

Orcas: Our Shared Future, which opened Sunday, includes floor to ceiling screens that play orcas swimming in the wild and a life-size replica of Ruffles.

He was one of the first orcas Alisa Schulman-Janiger, lead research biologist for the California Killer Whale Project, saw in the wild back in the 80s.

“It’s not him but it represents him," she said. "And I can actually go back in time and replay: I was standing here and my boyfriend who became my husband was standing next to me... seeing them under us foraging for fish."

Schulman-Janiger, who is also a research associate for the museum, said there was a sighting of these giants — the largest members of the dolphin family — in our local waters just this month.

“In the Channel Islands,” she said. “I just looked at some photos today sent to me by one of the naturalists... and she saw at least 16 different orcas.”

About the exhibition

There are 140 original artifacts and specimens to see and experience at the immersive show, including sculptures and masks by Indigenous artists of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Fred DeNisco, an orca expert from British Columbia who goes by ‘The Orca Man’ on social media, said he fell in love with orcas at the age of three, while watching 1993’s Free Willy in the back of a mini-van.

An original 'Free Willy' VHS clamshell on display at the Natural History Museum of LA County

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He’s followed the exhibition all over the U.S. and Canada.

“It is just so unique in the breadth of topics that it covers, both in indigenous relationships with orcas, the research and more particularly our human relationship and the tumultuous relationship that has in media and captivity and even whale watching,” DeNisco told LAist.

And in case you’re wondering, the exhibition does include an original clamshell for a VHS copy of Free Willy, the film that inspired a generation of orca-lovers like DeNisco.

How to go

You can check out Orcas: Our Shared Future through April 25, 2027.

Museum hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles
Phone: 213.763.DINO (3466)

Ticket info is at the Natural History Museum website. Note: There is an additional fee for the exhibition ($12 for adults, $6 for children)

LAist is one of the Natural History Museum’s media partners for the exhibition, Orcas: Our Shared Future.

I’ve loved reading your reactions to the new LACMA David Geffen Galleries. Here are just a few of the many responses we received; most were positive, but there were some smart criticisms as well:

“The architecture by Peter Zumthor and the uniquely designed way of displaying the collection across time and place was brilliant! The joy is in finding the connections.” —Marlan

“Time and place braid together in a continuum unleashed from the strictly defined spaces typical of an encyclopedic museum. Truly radical in the best way possible.” —Bianca

“The art seemed to be presented in an almost random order, as if they took LACMA's collection like a deck of cards, shuffled them twice, and then just hung everything in the resulting order.” —Steve

Licorice Pizza has your music picks for the week, including post-hardcore band La Dispute at the Belasco, indie-folk star Cut Worms at Pacific Electric and rock en español sensation Julieta Venegas at the Grammy Museum — all on Tuesday. Wednesday, Charlie Puth is at the Forum, dream-pop trio Sunday (1994) is at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, singer-songwriter and breakout The Voice contestant Carol Ades plays the Troubadour and Latin rock band Zoé plays the first of two nights at the YouTube Theater. Thursday, Chet Faker plays the Novo, Maro is at the Fonda, King Tuff plays Sid The Cat Auditorium and a cappella legends Take 6 begin their four-night residency at the Blue Note.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can get a first look at the new Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, find out more about this King Taco’s historic designation, and grab your tickets for Wild Card with NPR’s Rachel Martin live at the Crawford on May 2.

Events

Enormous Things

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28 and 29
Elysian Theater
1944 Riverside Drive, Elysian Valley
COST: $25; MORE INFO

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Courtesy The Elysian

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A more up-my-alley musical has never before landed in my Instagram feed. Do you, like me, enjoy modern art and showtunes more than almost anything else? Enormous Things — a musical about Claes Oldenburg where Jeff Koons is the villain — might also be for you.

Just Sing 

Thursday, April 30, 7:30 p.m. 
Laemmle NoHo 7
5240 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood
COST: $14.50; MORE INFO

Fans of Pitch Perfect will want to check out this local real-life story. Just Sing follows the USC a cappella group SoCal VoCals as they make their way to the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in New York City. Co-directors and cinematographers Angelique Molina and Abraham Troen will host a Q&A following the screening.

Japanese Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium

Monday, April 27, 7:10 p.m.
Dodger Stadium 
1000 Vin Scully Ave., Elysian Park 
COST: FROM $70; MORE INFO 

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Japanese superstar Yoshiki will perform at the Dodgers vs. Marlins game ahead of his headliner performance at Disney Hall in July, marking Japanese Heritage Night at the stadium. Get there early to hear the music, enjoy Japanese food specials and grab your special game jersey.

Old Woman Naked

Wednesday and Thursday, April 29 and 30, 7:30 p.m. 
The Broadwater Second Stage
6320 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood 
COST: $45; MORE INFO 

Acclaimed author Pamela Redmond is no stranger to using her own life for inspiration for her beloved fiction, like Younger (which later became the hit Freeform show) and Older. But baring all — emotionally and physically — onstage? That’s new territory for the 72-year-old. First performed in New York to a sold-out one-night-only crowd, Old Woman Naked digs into the truth about aging, sexuality, feminism, motherhood and coming into your own. An additional date of May 17 has just been added.

Comedy, at Night 

Tuesday, April 28, 8:30 p.m. 
UCB Franklin 
5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood
COST: $20; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy UCB Comedy

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Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silverman and many more bold-faced comedy names join this showcase at UCB Franklin, hosted by Nate Odenkirk and Ari Mostow.

Double Chin pop-up 

Monday, April 27, 9 a.m. until sold out 
Petitgrain Boulangerie 
1209 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica 
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

Double chin? More like double yum. Get in line early for this pop-up at Petitgrain, featuring Leah Chin-Katz’s popular pastries and jams.

Glowworm Full Moon Night Hike 

Thursday, April 30, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.  
Gabrielino Trail, Western Trailhead
915 Ventura Street, Altadena
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Rattlesnakes sleep at night (right?), so head out for a late-night hike to see the rare California pink glowworms that come out this time of year in the Altadena foothills. Intrepid hiker Jason Wise (Journeyman) leads this nature-filled evening with L.A. Rises.

Screening: Dead City Punx 

Thursday, April 30, 7:30 p.m.
Brain Dead Studios
611 N. Fairfax Ave., Melrose 
COST: $18; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Gold Atlas

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Dead City Punx exhibit 

Through Saturday, May 30
Beyond the Streets 
434 N. La Brea Ave., Mid-City
COST: FREE, MORE INFO 

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Punk in Los Angeles is far from dead. Dead City Punx, whose shows have shut down streets and seen fans start fires, are the focus of a new documentary and gallery show at Beyond the Streets. Dead City Punx (trailer here) tells the story of the band that built a following through “chaotic, illegal outdoor shows during the pandemic — complete with bonfires, fireworks, graffiti and clashes with law enforcement — ultimately sparking a movement that challenged what DIY and punk culture mean today.” Produced by Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, the film and gallery show are out now.