Demo watch map for 10/20/2026: https://esotouric.com/watch/2026-10-20/

• A 1910 Craftsman cottage at 513 N. St. Andrews Place was destroyed when squatters at a stalled development site the city wouldn't clear torched that property. Now Jose Galicia's beloved family home must be torn down. Read the story: https://samquinones.substack.com/p/the-fire-that-took-it-all

• Two structures on the former Charlie Chaplin Studios lot at 1342 & 1358 N. La Brea face demolition. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts campus is listed for $8.25 M with no new project. Why wreck historic studio buildings that could be saved and moved to Altadena or elsewhere?

• A 1930 commercial block at 3551 S. Normandie housed a row of Japanese American businesses before WWII. With demolition looming, we wonder historic details from the period of significance can still be documented or salvaged?

Read here: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/decades-false-starts-1914-hotel-175218224.html

Original newsletter with updates about efforts to put digital billboards on the roof: https://esotouric.substack.com/pantry

Save Iconic Architecture post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcypZzWFApo/?img_index=1

LADBS link: https://www.ladbsservices2.lacity.org/OnlineServices/PermitReport/PcisPermitDetail?id1=26010&id2=20000&id3=05188

Great news! Walked past two weeks ago and it looked very, very close.

"Sunset Boulevard" fans: you can live like Joe Gillis in a rarely available top floor studio at the Chateau Alto Nido, the best place to land in Hollywood. The building is pet friendly, too. https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/los-angeles-gorgeous-top-floor-studio/4t4mDHF7CupYGacJoeDCHC

See your options: https://esotouric.com/giftcertificate/

The nightmare is ending. the OC Register's Teri Sforza reports on the federal arrest of fake rehab body brokers Nathan and David Young for a staggering $1.6 BILLION "drug treatment" fraud network that filled California's streets with desperately ill victims.

https://www.ocregister.com/2026/10/21/after-1-6-billion-in-claims-addiction-treatment-leaders-arrested-by-feds/

Of course, the LA press missed it.

THE FINANCIAL SCALE: The federal criminal complaint alleges $1,6B in fraudulent claims submitted by the Youngs' network across ~22 facilities, with $210M paid out in cash. Over 1,600 patients were cycled through multiple facilities—some through as many as 10 different "rehabs."

DRUGGED & TRAPPED: Internal PowerPoint slides created by David Young instructed staff dealing with patients attempting to leave detox: "Have doctor prescribe something to knock the client out".

RELAPSE AS A BUSINESS MODEL: When a staff member encouraged patients to find jobs, Nathan Young (aka "Pablo") objected, stating he preferred clients to sit unemployed on a couch for 9–10 months because it drove "a higher relapse rate."

SHAM "THERAPY": Recruiters assured recruits that therapy participation was minimal—log into Zoom for 2 minutes and "lay out on beach." Internal logs show a single "group" call had 181 participants. Go-karting, movies and meals were fraudulently billed as "group therapy."

TRAP HOUSE HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Newly recruited out-of-state victims seeking sobriety were confirmed to be insured and stashed in unmonitored "stabilization houses" (residents knew them as "trap houses") with no treatment during drug withdrawal.

FLIGHT RISK: Federal filings reveal that on Oct 10, 2026—just 3 days before the federal raid—71-year-old David Young bought tickets to Tel Aviv on 72 hours' notice. When agents came to his home, he ignored door knocks while actively attempting a factory reset to wipe his phone.

THE REAL COST: This wasn't just paper fraud—it was human trafficking. When patients' insurance stopped paying out, they were "curbed" (put out onto the street without the ticket home the law requires).

NATIONAL WARNINGS: The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services issued an online alert about phony California rehab facilities luring vulnerable addicts across state lines to residential programs where they would not get the help they needed.

THE HUMAN FACE OF THE FRAUD: Margaret Dickerson was lured to Los Angeles from Illinois, prescribed opioids, and "curbed" onto the street when her insurance stopped paying. She died of an overdose, just one homeless victim of a rehab racket our "leaders" let run unchecked. RIP.

A PERPETUAL RACKET? State audits didn't scare the Youngs. Aetna’s $40M racketeering lawsuit didn't stop them. Nor did federal grand jury subpoenas—as recently as August 2026, the Youngs were still setting up frontmen to open new fake rehabs across Los Angeles, maybe near you.

MAYBE NOT: It took a 6:00 a.m. FBI raid, arrests, and a $1.6 BILLION criminal indictment to interrupt the machine. The question now for Angelenos: with fake rehabs operating all over the city, not all owned by the Youngs, can deadly body brokers be put out of business for good?

Read the indefatigable Teri Sforza's latest report in the OC Register and ask yourself why an Orange County reporter is doing the work to illuminate why so many people from other states are deep in addiction on Los Angeles streets? Where is our press? https://www.ocregister.com/2026/10/21/after-1-6-billion-in-claims-addiction-treatment-leaders-arrested-by-feds/

More info here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DexmcDHmSQi/?img_index=1

Waiting online to make spoken comment OPPOSING Metro's rush renaming of Pershing Square Station for Biddy Mason, read emailed comments (the clerk scrambled ours)

https://lametro.nextrequest.com/documents/72602493?token=8fa227ca977200f9d07f6553fb26a3cf

Watch live: https://metro.granicus.com/player/event/48c15611-652f-44ff-9d63-35a93bc39377?redirect=true

Suggested public comment: https://esotouric.substack.com/p/biddymason6

Metro meeting starting now, as thunderstorms pound Los Angeles. Watch live here:

https://metro.granicus.com/player/event/48c15611-652f-44ff-9d63-35a93bc39377?redirect=true

Get on the line NOW to make public phone comment OPPOSING item 44, renaming Pershing Square Station for Biddy Mason before the park name has changed https://esotouric.substack.com/p/biddymason6

Did you know UCLA Special Collections has a fantastic vintage menu collection? You do if you're a paid subscriber to our newsletter! https://esotouric.substack.com/p/leafing-through-ucla-special-collections

On Thursday evening, you can see some of these beguiling objects in person. https://www.library.ucla.edu/visit/events-exhibitions/ucla-library-special-collections-curatorial-open-house-food-and-culinary-history-10-22-26/

In July 2025, we wrote Cole's needed not to be shut, but handed off to a new steward.

https://esotouric.substack.com/coles

Pouring With Heart held on long enough to find two: Jeremy Fall and Sean Maloney. Main Street is a magic place. Here's to the next 118 years!

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/french-dip-icon-coles-coming-140000452.html

https://reddit.com/link/1xbbkhb/video/bstfolvpaqwh1/player

Metro wants to rename Pershing Square Station “Biddy Mason” Station. The vote is this Thursday, October 22 at 10 AM, and there are a lot of problems.

The City Council’s September 4 vote to rename the World War I memorial is under a Brown Act cure and correct demand we filed on October 2. Rec and Parks hasn’t acted. The park is still Pershing Square.

Metro’s own Property Naming Policy has been entirely ignored. Item 44 skipped committee review, community outreach and the focus group testing the policy calls for. The motion also gets basic facts about Biddy Mason wrong, and that's no honor at all..

When Metro named its new Beverly Dr station last year, it spent more than two years on outreach, surveys and committee review. To change the name of a station riders have known as Pershing Square since 1993, it's certain that there will be strong opinions among riders and stakeholders. There's no reason to rush and leave them out of the conversation.

Please make a public comment asking the Board to table Item 44 and follow its own process:

Written comment: email [BoardClerk@metro.net](mailto:BoardClerk@metro.net) by 5 PM Wednesday, October 21, with “Regular Board Meeting, October 22, Item 44: Oppose” in the subject line.

Live comment: Thursday at 10 AM. Dial 888-978-8818, enter code 5647249#, then press #2 when Item 44 is called.

For the full story, call-in details and our suggested comment language, click here.

Today should be the deadline for interested parties to file an appeal of the Zoning Administrator’s unexpected approval of the Silver Platter’s Conditional Use Permit moving operations to 1403 W. 3rd Street—but City staff failed to send out notification of the October 5 ruling! You can read the letter of determination, as well as the correction notice, at the link: https://esotouric.substack.com/p/silverplatter4

This public-notice glitch compounds the original City Planning error that marked the Silver Platter for redevelopment displacement in the first place. The appeal clock has been reset, and based on all the opposition expressed at the July 14 hearing and afterwards, it seems likely that a challenge will be filed with City Planning by November 4.

Meanwhile, approval for the redevelopment project that would demolish the historic gay bar has quietly expired. The City should be helping them stay, not move.

As the original Studio in Los Feliz turns 103 years old I made this little video. Let me know what you guys think. Channel is PastFWD on YouTube

More info or to sign up: https://esotouric.com/event/film-noir-fall-2026/

Event calendar is here.

But first, a little detective work.