Letters to the Editor: The employees were as good as the pancakes at Original Pantry Cafe
I stand in solidarity with the staff and their union for fighting for stability and job security. Such a shame that an agreement couldn't be reached, but again, we see that profit triumphed over people. The dedicated and hardworking staff and servers, many of whom worked there for decades, made the restaurant what it was.
For my family, the Original Pantry was a staple. My dad had been a patron for over 50 years, and he made me a regular for the past 20. Like countless Angelenos and tourists, I'll miss the Pantry's pancakes, portions and, most of all, the people.
Tyler Renner, San Diego
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
How downtown Los Angeles became a boarded-up ghost-town with hoards of drug-smoking vagrants and dozens of shuttered storefronts
LOS ANGELES — Downtown in the City of Angels is looking more and more like a ghost town. The famed Los Angeles neighborhood has become a shadow of its former glory — with rows of boarded up shops, chain stores leaving in droves and hoards of drug-using vagrants sparking major safety concerns for shoppers and business owners alike. The Post can reveal that there are more than 100 vacant storefronts in the area's Historic Core, which was the rip-roaring heart of the downtown shopping and entertainment district. Advertisement 17 A homeless encampment seen in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2025. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 A map of business closures in the Historic Core of LA. Donald Pearsall / NY Post Design The area's Art Deco buildings and lavish theater marquees are still there, but they now overlook busted windows, boarded-up storefronts, and throngs of homeless people smoking drugs from glass pipes in broad daylight. Advertisement Around one-third of commercial spaces sits empty, according to research firm Avison Young — a higher vacancy rate than Detroit. Even the most stalwart businesses are being driven out by crime, record-high rents and an ever-shrinking pool of Angelenos with any reason to be downtown, according to business owners. 'Many historical independent restaurants are struggling under the weight of these issues and have already closed, while those remaining are fighting to survive,' wrote the LA's oldest eatery, Cole's French Dip, when it announced its forthcoming closure. And it's not just mom-and-pop joints — chain stores have also been closing downtown locations at a disastrous clip. Macy's shuttered earlier this year as part of a massive corporate downsizing, leaving downtown without a department store for the first time in 150 years, according to LA Magazine. 17 Cole's French Dip announced its closure in DTLA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Advertisement 17 A barefoot homeless man seen walking outside of Cole's French Dip. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Retailers Vans, Theory, Paul Smith and Acne have also vacated the nabe. In 2022, Starbucks closed one of its downtown locations, citing safety concerns. Other big-name brands like the Adidas and Apple stores fell victim to looters — both during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 and the anti-ICE protests this summer, though they continue operating. Each month, the streets of downtown get a little emptier — save for the homeless wandering into downtown from Skid Row in ever greater numbers. Advertisement 'They're coming all the way up to Spring Street now,' said one barber who works in the city's 'Historic Core.' The day before speaking to The Post, the barber, who asked not to be named, had to call the cops when a homeless man stormed into the shop and barricaded himself inside. 'Everything is different now,' he said. 'You used to have people partying in the street. Students would come in from the colleges. They'd get a haircut and go out and have fun.' 17 Homeless people sleeping in the entranceway of a shuttered storefront in DTLA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 A homeless man pushing a cart outside of the Hotel Barclay. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 An abandoned storefront seen in DTLA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Before the pandemic, downtown LA was in the middle of a renaissance the likes of which it hadn't seen since the Roaring Twenties, when playboys and flappers perused the boutiques and glittering movie palaces of Broadway Street, according to historian William Deverell, author of 'Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles.' 'There was a high-water mark around 2015 to 2020. It was a period of energy and redevelopment in the Arts District, in addition to the Historic Core,' Deverell said. But COVID-19 dealt a blow that downtown is still reeling from — and not just because people stopped going out. Advertisement 17 Protesters looting and vandalizing a Starbucks in downtown LA during the BLM protests on May 29, 2020. AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa,File 17 National Guard troops protecting a boarded up business in LA on June 6, 2020. Photo byRioters smashed and looted dozens of shops and restaurants during the BLM protests, and many businesses either never reopened or went under within the year. Today, many street-level businesses leave their windows boarded up as a standard precaution. And some of the neighborhood's most famous landmarks have become the biggest eyesores — including the empty former headquarters of the Los Angeles Times and the boarded-up Morrison Hotel, featured on the cover of the namesake Doors album. A skyscraper sits empty: The abandoned 677-foot Oceanwide Plaza tower has become a giant playground for hooligans and vandals. Advertisement 17 The abandoned Oceanwide Plaza seen on Aug. 16, 2025. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 Graffiti seen on the side of Oceanwide Plaza. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Down on the ground, criminals run roughshod, locals complain. Violent crime is down in the city overall, but downtown LA feels like a huge exception, said the owner of Benny Jewelry Behzad on Broadway. Advertisement 'It's been a 180-degree change here,' said Benny, adding that he's been held up at gunpoint twice in recent years. Benny said his real problem is rent, which has gone up 2-5% each year since the pandemic. 17 Burn marks seen on the windows of the Morrison Hotel in LA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 A fence seen outside the abandoned LA Times headquarters. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Advertisement He isn't alone: Commercial rent in downtown reached a record high this year, with businesses shelling out almost $50 per square foot just for office space, according to Avison Young By comparison, the average office rent in downtown Manhattan in New York City is $57 per square foot, and nearly $90 per square foot in Midtown — areas that have seen a boom from post-pandemic return-to-office policies. 'Landlords need lower rents instead of just holding onto empty spaces,' said Michael Backlinder, whose coffee shop features one of the only outdoor dining spaces left on Broadway. 'Landlords need to understand they aren't sitting on a gold mine,' he said. 17 A closure message on the marquee of The Mayan seen on Aug. 16, 2025. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 A message to customers outside of The Mayan. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Yet Backlinder believes downtown remains a decent place for those who live there, thanks to a core of local watering holes, community art galleries, yoga studios and other services catering to neighborhood folk. Glen Proctor, who moved from New York with his husband after the pandemic, said they like the quieter streets — even if those streets come with graffiti and hooligans. 'Our life from New York is much more relaxed,' he said. 'It can get crazy with the unhoused around, but you get a lot more space for something you would pay a lot more for in Hollywood.' 17 A homeless person sleeping on a bench at a bus stop in DTLA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post 17 A homeless person sleeping outside of an abandoned building in DTLA. Ruaridh Connellan for NY Post Proctor and his husband aren't alone: More Angelenos are choosing to live downtown rather than vie for space in ritzier neighborhoods. Apartment occupancy is currently around 90%, according to the DTLA Alliance, which is higher than pre-pandemic levels. Backlinder believes neighborhood is due for a comeback, but it won't get one by trying to be the next Greenwich Village. 'After the pandemic, you had corporate stuff coming in, high-end retail. High-end retail is what people buy online. We need landlords to activate the streets and invest in services for the people who live here.' But for downtown to change, the city has to invest in it — and change the faded perception of the nabe. 'Everyone thinks people are dying downtown, but that's not the case,' he said. 'People just need to talk more positively.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
How did the Rams become L.A.'s most valuable sports franchise, soaring past $10 billion?
A decade ago, the languishing St. Louis Rams were ranked dead last in the NFL with a franchise valuation of $930 million. Today, according to Sportico rankings released Wednesday, the Rams are valued at $10.43 billion, second only to the Dallas Cowboys at $12.88 billion. The Rams, owned by developer Stan Kroenke, saw a 34% value increase from a year ago, tying them with the New York Giants for the biggest year-over-year jump. 'As we enter our 10th season back in Los Angeles, Stan Kroenke's vision to create the world's greatest sports and entertainment district at Hollywood Park — and to build one of the NFL's greatest stadiums — continues to help build the profile of the Rams and the NFL,' said Kevin Demoff, president of team and media operations for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. 'While these rankings may reflect that, the focus remains on building great teams and a district that Angelenos can enjoy, more than focusing on valuations.' The Rams join the Lakers as the city's second sports franchise with a valuation of at least $10 billion. The Chargers, who are tenants at the Kroenke-owned SoFi Stadium, are 21st on the list at $6.2 billion, one spot up from last year. The valuations are based on the team itself, along with any businesses and real estate holdings related to the team. David Carter, principal at The Sports Business Group and adjunct professor of sports business at USC, said teams are usually valued based on a multiple of their annual revenue, and that valuation also takes into account the likelihood of future revenue growth. 'For Kroenke and the Rams, this has always meant monetizing SoFi in as many ways possible, while simultaneously positioning the venue as a global leader in sports and entertainment. Having accomplished this, and with the team's strong fan bases — both traditional and corporate — the recipe is in place to continue to achieve high valuations, especially when you also consider the team's competitiveness of late.' Attaching a number to these teams is largely an academic exercise, because the only true test comes when they are sold — and those sales are rare. Three NFL franchises have changed hands in the past 10 years: the Washington Commanders (2023), Denver Broncos (2022) and Carolina Panthers (2018). Writes Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen: 'Scarcity is a major driver in pushing team values higher, as more billionaires are minted each year and franchises are rarely added.' Check back soon for updates on this developing news story.
Gizmodo
7 days ago
- Gizmodo
Illegal Price-Gouging Runs Rampant After Disasters. The LA Fires Proved It
Last January, a series of massive wildfires broke out across the Los Angeles area, fueled by high winds and dry temperatures. The fires raged for weeks, incinerating entire neighborhoods in the wealthy Pacific Palisades and in middle-class Altadena. They killed at least 30 people and destroyed at least 10,000 homes. As the embers cooled, thousands of displaced Angelenos scrambled to find new housing in a rental market that was already among the nation's toughest. They scoured Zillow and Airbnb for units they could afford on short notice. What they found were sky-high prices gouged by property owners and real estate agents rushing to capitalize on the surge in demand. Dawn Smith and her family had rented in Altadena for nine years. After their home burned in the Eaton Fire, she combed through online listings for a similar alternative. But options were $10,000 a month or more, triple what she had been paying before the fire. Eventually, she found a smaller place in Sherman Oaks, more than an hour away, for a still-astonishing $7,800. Her renter's insurance would cover the difference for a few months, but not for the whole term of the lease. Now, as her insurance comes close to expiring, she and her husband are trying to figure out where to go next. 'The prices were insane,' she told Grist, 'but because we had to find somewhere, we rented.' Controversies over price-gouging play out all over the country in the wake of natural disasters as victims scramble for essential goods. Officials in New Jersey went after price-gouging gas stations after Hurricane Sandy; officials in North Carolina went after scam contractors after Hurricane Florence; and Florida prosecutors said they received more than 100 complaints after last year's Hurricane Milton. Most states have laws that prohibit such behavior, but they are difficult to enforce in the chaos of disaster, and some economists contend that they can backfire and cause shortages or hoarding. But housing is a special case. Overpaying for water or gasoline might be difficult, but overpaying for a rental apartment is a long-term commitment that can lead to bankruptcy or eviction down the road. Concerns about price-gouging of rental apartments have appeared after numerous recent wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise and the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder. But prosecutors and public officials have largely failed to deter or punish this illegal behavior. Two days after wildfires broke out in Los Angeles last January, tech founder Edward Kushins and real estate agent Willie Baronet-Israel allegedly hiked the price of a home they were renting out in the waterfront city of Hermosa Beach by 36 percent, likely an increase of more than $1,000. The city is about 15 miles from the Palisades burn zone. A month later, California attorney general Rob Bonta sued the two, citing a state law that makes it a crime to raise prices for food and shelter during an emergency by more than 10 percent. If found guilty, Kushins and Baronet-Israel would face fines of up to $10,000 and as much as a year in prison. But the Hermosa Beach listing was just one of thousands that were spiking in price. According to a Washington Post analysis of listings data from the firm RentCast, the average rent in the L.A. area rose by 20 percent in the two weeks after the fire — double the maximum allowable increase under California law. The home-rental company Airbnb also allowed users to raise prices above legal limits on more than 2,000 properties, despite its assurances that it would block such behavior, according to prosecutors. This lack of enforcement is common after disasters. But this time, it triggered an unprecedented campaign for stricter regulation of housing prices — and one that got results. 'The minimal enforcement that has happened has totally sent a signal,' said Chelsea Kirk, a tenant advocate who organized against price-gouging after the L.A. wildfires. 'Landlords expect that enforcement does not exist.' Three dozen states and the District of Columbia have laws that prohibit merchants from price-gouging during an emergency, but unlike California, which prohibits hikes of more than 10 percent, many of these laws are vague, prohibiting 'excessive' or 'unconscionable' increases without specifying what that means or what goods are covered. 'The laws are all over the place,' said Teresa Murray, the lead consumer advocate at the Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit that focuses on consumer protection. Furthermore, enforcement of these laws is minimal — the government can't be everywhere all at once after a hurricane or flood, and most disaster victims aren't aware of their rights and don't track or call out violators. The stakes are even higher when it comes to housing, which is already in shortage across the country. Around half the nation's tenants are rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Wildfires and hurricanes often destroy thousands of homes in quick succession, exacerbating supply crunch in local housing stock. Research from across the country shows that landlords often hike prices after major fires and floods. Asking prices for rental apartments increased by 25 percent after the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, for instance, and by 44 percent in Lahaina following the 2023 Maui wildfires in Hawaiʻi. The increases even hit existing renters: More than a quarter of renters in Boulder said they saw hikes of more than 10 percent after the 2021 Marshall Fire, and a study of multiple flood events found that inexpensive apartments see hikes of 5 percent on average after a flood. These hikes hit low-income households hardest, forcing them to relocate or cut down on other expenses. This same dynamic was on display in Los Angeles earlier this year following the Palisades and Eaton Fires. One of the people who tested this market was Blanca, a woman who lived in an apartment building in Altadena, and who declined to give her last name because of her immigration status. The Eaton Fire destroyed her business and caused significant damage to the apartment complex where she and her husband lived. Even though their unit was intact, the building lacked water, gas, and electricity. Blanca and her husband looked for other apartments, but all the available units they found were far too expensive, some thousands of dollars above what they had paid in Altadena for the same amount of space. They couldn't afford anything like what landlords were asking, so after a few weeks, they moved back to their unit in the damaged complex and lived there paying rent in unsafe conditions for months. 'The place has not even been inspected, and many people have returned since February,' said Blanca in Spanish. 'But there was nowhere else to go.' In the first days after the fire, California attorney general Bonta trumpeted the state's price-gouging ban several times — not only could landlords not raise prices by more than 10 percent, they also couldn't list new units for more than 160 percent of typical market value. But property owners seemed either not to know about the law, or not to care. Bonta has sent more than 750 warning letters since the fire to property owners who may have price gouged, but has initiated only four lawsuits, and so far not obtained a conviction. The city attorney of Los Angeles has filed a few of its own lawsuits, including against Airbnb, but the district attorney for much larger Los Angeles County has not filed a single price-gouging case. Legal nonprofits say they can't pick up the slack because they need a named victim in order to sue a landlord, and most disaster victims don't have the knowledge or resources to pursue litigation. 'We have been a little bit disappointed, I will say,' said Rodney Leggett, the director of litigation at the Housing Rights Center in Los Angeles, which has sued a few property owners over the post-fire price gouging, including the company that owns the historic Villa Carlotta apartments in Hollywood. 'We have gotten complaints of people seeing price gouging, [but] we have gotten relatively few … people saying, 'I am actively being price gouged.' I think a big part of that is it's really hard for people to track and to know the sort of price changes that have occurred.' But the epidemic of price-gouging in L.A. after the fires has also triggered new progress on the difficult issue of enforcement. As Zillow flooded with overpriced homes, a group of tenant advocates began an unprecedented crowdsourcing campaign to track and shame price-gougers. Kirk, a policy advocate at the progressive nonprofit Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, was seeing numerous instances of price hikes, but she knew that Bonta's office and local prosecutors lacked the capacity to track and sue every landlord who was posting high-priced units. Kirk partnered with Lauren Harper, a data analyst and fellow tenant advocate, and together they took enforcement into their own hands. Forming a new organization called The Rent Brigade, they created a spreadsheet that scraped Zillow for apartment listings that violated the price-gouging laws, and also encouraged fire victims and volunteers to submit proof of gouging. In the first few weeks after the fire, volunteers submitted more than 1500 examples. Mike Nemeth, the head of communications for the California Apartment Association, the state's biggest landlord lobby, told Grist that most landlords tried their best to comply with the law. 'The California Apartment Association takes seriously the legal and ethical obligations of rental housing providers during declared emergencies,' he said. 'Most housing providers want to do the right thing, and our role is to help them navigate complex rules when it matters most.' Thanks in part to the Rent Brigade's pressure, local officials in Los Angeles are now trying to step up enforcement. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in July to create a new system for penalizing price spike activity. Instead of waiting for a prosecutor or a legal nonprofit to file a court complaint against a landlord, the local government could slap the landlord with an administrative fine, the same way it would punish a restaurant with cockroaches in its kitchen or a driver who parked near a fire hydrant. The fines could reach up to $1,000 per day, with an additional $500 per day for failing to cooperate with county investigations. Jamie Court, president of the advocacy firm Consumer Watchdog, said this kind of ordinance could be a model for how to enforce price-gouging laws. 'This is desperately needed as a deterrent and to let people know that price gouging is not up to prosecutorial discretion,' he told Grist. 'People need to know every violation could result in a fine, not just the few prosecutors choose to prosecute.' Los Angeles County's price-gouging ban will lapse at the end of August, so the new rules will only apply the next time California declares an emergency for a fire, flood, or other calamity. But during the last months of the ban, Kirk and other advocates noticed something unexpected — and concerning. The rush of new housing demand from the fire had ended, but many landlords were still listing new units well above fair market rate. The L.A. housing supply, Kirk and Harper concluded, was so limited that price gouging had become a normal part of the market. Even in the absence of a major shock like the fire, landlords were still asking for exorbitant rents, and tenants were still paying them. The emergency declaration was only going to last for an arbitrary period of a few months, but the overall housing picture was as bad as ever. 'When the fire started, we were seeing a lot of these units coming online for absurd prices from people who don't usually rent, maybe knowing that people coming from the Palisades would be able to afford those kinds of things,' said Harper. 'But the further that we get from the fires … I think it's reflective of just high rents.' This article originally appeared in Grist at Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at
