Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
13,500 Dingbat Apartment Buildings Across L.A. Need Earthquake Retrofitting
A dingbat in Glendale. (Photo by Britta Gustafson via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
()
City inspectors have released a list of 13,500 apartment buildings across Los Angeles that are in need of earthquake retrofitting.The L.A. Times reports that these wood-frame structures, called "soft-story" buildings, became popular in postwar L.A. Also known as "dingbats," these boxy, midcentury buildings described as "an inhabitable parking structure" were an inexpensive counter to Craftsmen-style homes and bungalows. But many of them were shoddily built, and might not be able to withstand The Big One (or, a not-so-Big One for that matter).
According to the Times, building officials "sifted through tens of thousands of city records and walked block-to-block to identify" dingbats they believed to be unsound, and informed the owners that they needed to retrofit their buildings.
"Tenants should know, if they're renting an apartment, how safe those apartments are," Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, said.
But it ain't cheap, and some of those costs will be passed on to those tenants, too. In January, the L.A. City Council voted to allow landlords pass on half of the costs associated with seismically retrofitting a potentially unsafe building to their tenants.
Support for LAist comes from
Of the buildings on the list, more than 3,200 buildings are in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Times' analysis, while there were many buildings listed around Hollywood and Koreatown, more than half of the 13,500 buildings listed were either in the Valley or on the Westside in places like Venice, Mar Vista, and Palms, where 90 addresses in 6 blocks were found on the list.
"I drove down Palms Boulevard, and I was just blown away," beloved seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said. "It's just apartment after apartment after apartment."
You can find out if your building is on the list by entering in your address here on this handy graphic from the Times. Good luck.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist