How To LA

Episodes

Listen • 50:06

Listen • 50:06

This Old House Radio Hour: Designing for Disaster: How Los Angeles Builds Back Smarter + Saving The Outsider’s House + Four DIY Fixes: Chimneys, Circuits, Ceilings, and Steam

This week on This Old House Radio Hour—what does it mean to rebuild not just homes, but entire communities?

Sunset Magazine editor-in-chief Hugh Garvey joins us to discuss the magazine’s special issue devoted to the rebuilding of Altadena and Pacific Palisades in the wake of January’s devastating wildfires. Sunset, a voice in California architecture for over 125 years, has assembled an extraordinary coalition of architects, planners, artists, and historians. Together, they offer not just a plan, but a call to action—for fire-resilient homes, culturally grounded design, and a West that can weather what’s coming.

Then we travel from the hills of Los Angeles to the streets of Tulsa, where Danny Boy O’Connor—from House of Pain—takes us inside his remarkable second act. After bottoming out, he bought a run-down house for $15,000... and it just happened to be the house from The Outsiders. What followed was a full restoration, a pilgrimage, and a new life. We take a tour of the Outsiders Museum and meet the community that made it possible.

Later, Cheap Old Houses is back—Ethan and Elizabeth Finkelstein spotlight a dreamy 1870s Victorian in Fredonia, Kentucky and an off-the-grid cabin on federal forest land in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, both for under $100,000.

Plus, another round of House Rules, our listener-powered game that tests your home renovation know-how. And in The Simple Fix, we show you how to find a stud in your baseboard—without breaking the wall.

And as always, we’re taking your calls. Got a house problem, project hurdle, or just need a little advice? Call us at (877) 864-7460.

All that and more, coming up on This Old House Radio Hour.

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Listen • 16:51

Listen • 16:51

We're Baaaaaack! Introducing The Basic Girl Pumpkin Spiced Special

#165: Pumpkin spiced lattes. Yoga pants. Uggs. Cozy blankets. Hot spiked cider...

Today, How To LA is getting real basic, real fast by celebrating a true basic girl's favorite season: fall AKA the spooky season.

Follow along as host Brian De Los Santos and producer Megan Botel channel their inner fall basic girls and map out a festive, thematic, spooky SZN LA day that we should ALL try out.

Our Best Basic Girl Fall Suggestions:
1. Starbuck's pumpkin spiced latte

2. Superba pumpkin milk latte

3. Mr. Bone's Pumpkin Patch

4. Carved at Descanso Gardens

Spooky SZN bars:

1. Beetle House LA (Hollywood)

2. Potions & Poisons (Koreatown)

3. The Cauldron (Buena Park)

4. Lily Rose (DTLA)
Listen • 25:53

Listen • 25:53

Holding Nury Martinez Accountable In 'Nury & The Secret Tapes'

#164: Today, we're joined again by friend of the pod Antonia Cereijido, host of the LAist Studios podcast Imperfect Paradise, to talk about Part 3 of their latest series: “Nury & the Secret Tapes.”

It’s an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the L.A. City Council tape scandal that rocked Los Angeles, and became national news, a year ago.

On the secretly recorded tapes, then-L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo, Kevin De León and labor leader Ron Herrera talk candidly, making racist and demeaning comments about colleagues, Black political power, Indigenous people, and even a councilman's child.

In the latest episode, Antonia presses Nury about the racist and hurtful things she said on the tapes.

Voices heard in this episode: Nury Martinez, former L.A. City Council President; L.A. City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson; Tanya K. Hernández, comparative race law expert at Fordham University School of Law; Manuel Pastor, professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at USC.
Listen • 11:13

Listen • 11:13

LA’s Victorian Past Is Alive In Angelino Heights: REDUX

#34: We're revisiting one of our favorite neighborhoods – deemed the best place to trick or treat in LA – in honor of Spooky Season. This episode first aired on November 15, 2022.

In our latest trip through one of LA's neighborhoods, we hook up with HTLA listener and reader Andrea Martinez Gonzalez to take a tour of Angelino Heights, one of the oldest areas in the city. It's got some of the coolest and most diverse architecture around from Victorians to Craftsmans but, like so many places in LA, this once middle class enclave has become extremely unaffordable. Come check it out with us. And if you'd like to tell us what neighborhood to visit next, let us know here.

Guest: Andrea Martinez Gonzalez, HTLA listener and Angeleno Heights resident
Listen • 15:20

Listen • 15:20

The Fight Over Rent Control: Yesterday And Today

#163: You know the saying...the rent is too damn high! No place is that truer than in L.A. In recent years there's been different measures happening in cities across the county to try and manage extreme rent hikes. It's a battle that goes back decades in the city of L.A., beginning with the onset of U.S. involvement in World War II. LAist's LA Explained Reporter Caitlin Hernández gets into the history with HTLA host Brian De Los Santos, and talks about where things stand today in L.A.

Guest: Caitlin Hernández, LA Explained reporter for LAist.
Listen • 46:29

Listen • 46:29

HTLA Presents: Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes: Part 2

This is How To LA – the podcast that helps you navigate this city. I’m Brian De Los Santos. We’re back with the 2nd episode from Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes – an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the biggest political scandal in recent Los Angeles history.

To better understand the scandal and the painful issues of race and politics it raised,
in this episode, Imperfect Paradise’s host Antonia Cereijido explores:
How former council President Nury Martinez’s background influenced her political views and ambitions?
The tensions between what Nury represented before…and after the scandal.
Antonia also examines the divisions within the L.A. City Council in the months leading up to the secret-recorded meeting
Here’s Imperfect Paradisehost Antonia Cereijido –Nury & The Secret Tapes: Part 2.

Go to Hellofresh.com/50imperfect and use code 50imperfect for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months!

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
Listen • 17:14

Listen • 17:14

Cheap Fast Eats #10: Gardena

#162: Bowling, bento & burgers, oh my! That's right, it's time for another Cheap Fast Eats, and you know what that means... LAist food editor Gab Chabran is taking Brian on a culinary tour of delicious (and wallet-friendly) meals and snacks. This time they're in Gardena, and they're hitting up everything from Hawaiian diner-slash-bowling alleys to walk-through burger windows.

Restaurants visited: Gardena Bowl, Tokyo Central (Gindaco USA and Tenkatori USA) and Pitburger
Listen • 12:40

Listen • 12:40

What You Need To Know About Getting The New Covid Vaccine

#161: I know it doesn’t really feel like it yet, but the colder months are coming. And sorry to say but that means more people getting sick – with colds, the flu, and COVID – in LA. That comes with spending more time indoors, and doing the whole holiday travel thing.

Already there’s been a bump in reported COVID cases, especially as people return to the office in person.

To get a sense of what to expect this fall, and find out all we need to know about the new COVID vaccine, we spoke to LAist senior health reporter Jackie Fortíer.
Listen • 23:01

Listen • 23:01

Moving The Needle On Sustainable Fashion in LA

#160: As we've told you, L.A. is the the epicenter of fast fashion in the US, but there's a lot of people here working to make the industry more sustainable. We'll talk about what sustainable fashion is, who is doing it and what is means for the garment district downtown.

Today, How To LA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Megan Botel head downtown to chat with Mary Price, founder of the sustainable fashion brand Ocean + Main, at her design studio. After working for larger fashion companies for decades, Mary started a small brand that makes its clothing hyper-locally, all within a few blocks in downtown’s Fashion District.

Guests: Mary Price, founder and creative director of Ocean + Main; Tracie Tung, assistant professor of fashion design and merchandising at Cal State Northridge