Los Angeles – What It’s Really Like Now

This is the true California. You’re
going to love it. It’s looking pretty
rough down here these days. High-end
groceries. One of the most expensive
streets in the world. We’re coming up on
where some of the riots were. And one
sole man out here. You got to be rich to
live out here. One job will change your
life. Yeah. $300,000 job. You finish it
in one week. I mean, iconic Venice
Beach. He’s going to do hotcots for you
guys. What? Get on. Yes, you are. Los
Angeles mall. So empty. Everybody here
has a different story. Everybody here
has a different past. Everybody here has
a different future. If they fix it, bro,
there’s no money for the government no
more. I always believe in my little
conspiracy. Sunset Boulevard. Totally
empty. Probably the one time in its
history. Still smell the charcoal. It’s
like the fire pig and chose what it
wanted, you know. And these are the
Venice Canals. Little bit of a different
look. We’re going to jump to the other
side of the tracks.
Good morning, guys, from high above
downtown Los Angeles through the haze.
Can barely see it. It’s been in the news
a lot lately. It’s a very much
misunderstood place. It’s a beast of a
city. So, the goal today is to get into
different neighborhoods, talk to
different people, get all sorts of types
of perspectives to get a better
understanding of what America’s second
most populated city is like. Now, let’s
do this.
[Music]
Here we are, Rodeo Drive. Known as one
of the most expensive streets in the
world for those high-end shoppers, this
is the place. And not long ago, it was
fields, farm fields. It was right at the
turn of the century that it turned into
commerce. Obviously, didn’t start like
this. It started a little more simple
with hardware stores and more middle
class community type stuff.
This is the Mayborn Hotel. Oh, okay.
Right here is the sweet garden if you
follow me. Oh, you’re an ambassador.
Yes, sir. Oh, nice. I’m Jose. My
pleasure to meet you, sir. Peter, Jose,
nice to meet you. And uh this is one of
the unique hotel that they have in
Beverly Hill. Do you love it? Beverly
Hills. I love everything about
California. How’s crime right now? Is it
pretty? Crime to be honest with you,
sir. Crime is everywhere. Even in our
own backyard. Even in Beverly Hills.
Most likely, sir. le less of it here
then less but you know it’s unexpectedly
they sneak behind things you never know
but Beverly Hills police department they
on track and they they will make sure
that they don’t they don’t mess around
exactly sir so yeah a lot of people
don’t understand that Beverly Hills is a
separate city from Los Angeles totally
different police department different
they don’t play games
to talk to you great appreciate it my
pleasure to All right guys before we
really jump into this video I want to
explain to many outside of the region
And people here know this, but most of
the country and world doesn’t. There’s
the city of Los Angeles, 3.8 million
people. Then you have LA County, roughly
10 million people in 88 cities. And then
you have greater metro LA. So you’re
going to include in Riverside County,
Ventura County, Orange County, and now
we’re up to 18.8 million people. Now
when you take that number 17 million
people is the size of Finland, Norway
and Denmark roughly 17. Greater LA metro
area is bigger than the population of
those three countries. When we talk
about economy, it’s on par with
Indonesia, with Switzerland, with the
Netherlands. We’re a bit early here.
That’s why nobody’s sitting down yet.
Bit early for lunch. Yeah, Switzerland.
And that to me was surprising. I mean,
they have less people, but still, that’s
such an economic powerhouse. So, when
people say LA, quite often they’re
wrapping it all into LA County in the
cities within LA County, like Santa
Monica, Malibu, Beverly Hills.
What’s up, you guys? Wait, you guys live
here? No. Where you from? Ireland.
Ireland. Ireland. Some Irish
perspective. How is it? What do you
think? We’ve only been here 2 days, but
it’s good. Yeah, it’s a lot warmer in
Ireland. Are you guys drinking yet? Not
yet. Not today yet. We will never. What
do you think of this 21 and over BS in
America? You’re not having it, huh? We
are 21, so we don’t mind. Oh, you are?
Okay. Okay. Okay, cool. We get away with
it. Go ahead. All right, guys. Thank
you. Cheers. Yeah. Take care. Here’s
some budget food in here. Have you been
here? Okay, guys. This is See you.
This is a high-end grocery store. So,
let’s check out what this is like. It’s
called Arowan.
Believe I got that right. Very famous
place.
$10 brownie.
Got all sorts of cheeses.
This is If you want designer groceries,
high-end groceries. Look at this place.
You get your Wagu New York steak.
$63.
About I’d say four meals in there.
[Music]
December they’re going to have the the
$20 uh strawberry. What? What? What’s so
special about them? They come from
Japan. Japanese strawberries. Yeah. 20
bucks. Yeah. For one.
Thank you.
Got some expensive snacks here. Some $5
dense nutrient bars. Some fruit.
And guys, we’re going to do what I love
to do best, which is jump to the other
side of the tracks. Nothing like the
juxipositions
to make it interesting. So, get in the
car, cruise downtown.
[Music]
[Music]
Well, guys, you can see the difference
outside of Beverly Hills and what the
sides of the roads look like here. I
don’t even know what neighborhood we’re
in, but on the way to downtown and uh
got to say, just getting on that
on-ramp,
it’s quite grubby and trashy.
All right, this is LA for you. traffic.
And you got to love this about
California. You can, if you’re a
motorcycle rider, the cars don’t like
it, but you can go legally between the
cars. And it comes from an old law, and
it’s because I used to have a motorcycle
when I lived in California. It was
something around
motorcycles would overheat if they were
sitting in LA traffic. And so, correct
me, whoever knows this better than me,
correct me if I’m wrong here, but the
motorcycles were therefore allowed to go
between the cars so they could keep air
going around the engine. So, they went
over here.
Look at his camera, bro. Yeah, this is
the big deal. Is he serious? That is too
cute. It is cute. Um, not me, the
camera. But you were telling me, okay,
all the bathrooms, they don’t let you go
around here. They don’t. And I don’t
know why. It’s [ __ ] They lie and
say that they’re out of order, but
they’re not. I told them to go around
the corner and whip it out. That’s That
was your advice. And he said he ain’t
doing that. He going to hold it. Okay.
Your gas is crazy expensive. Yes, very
expensive. You got to be rich to live
out here. You do, huh? What’s rent like?
10,000.
Take care.
All right, guys. It’s just trying to
take a roadside urination break and uh
it’s becoming quite challenging. So,
none of the gas stations will let me in.
And here’s another neighborhood. I don’t
know where we’re at. I’m guessing north
of downtown a little. Look at these
trees. That’s beautiful.
Like she said, you got to be rich to
live here. Not everyone’s rich
obviously, but the prices on uh gas or
housing, I mean housing is it’s one of
the most expensive I believe in the
country. What is it? New York, San
Francisco,
and then LA, something like that.
So, the thing with this city to pull
together all these neighborhoods is a
lot of driving. So, the camera’s off
most of the time.
It’s looking pretty rough down here
these days. Little historical context,
Skid Row has always been bad. I remember
being at the Greyhound station up here
when I was 18. It was pretty sketchy,
but it’s gotten worse. I would say there
are a lot of organizations down here
providing food, providing the basics to
get by. So, looks like something going
on there. No chance foundation. I’ll
check that out. Actually, you can see
here we have a shower stop van.
So, the shower trailer will pull up, tap
into the water,
and
the shower.
I mean, does the leadership look at
this? Do they ever drive down here? Do
they understand what’s going on?
Imagine the kids that got to grow up in
this. That’s rough.
[Music]
Got the cautions on. Parked in the red.
And I’ll probably get a ticket for a
legal park.
You guys come out here once a week. So
we come out here? Yeah. Once a week.
Every other Yes, sir. We pickles. You
pickle. Uh so every other Thursday down,
man. Every other Thursday we come out
here. We set up. We got uh dog food. We
got hygiene. We got food. We got We just
come out once a week. and uh every other
Thursday. How’s the situation right now?
It’s what you make of it. Everybody here
has a different story. Everybody here
has a different past. Everybody here has
a different future. So, what our thing
is, we’re the No Chance Foundation. We
take the people who feel like they have
no chance and we try to give them a
chance. You work for MTA? Yeah, I work
for MTA. I used to drive the two the the
720. We used to come up this way all the
time, this way, and then Fifth Street.
So, for seven years, I used to come down
here. Then, growing up, I had family
down here. Still now, I got family out
here somewhere. So, tough to get them
off. It’s a choice. Some of them want
to, some don’t. There was a stop on um
MacArthur Park. Okay. I talked to a guy
u his wife had passed away. She was
living in the tent. When she passed
away, they found $300,000 in their tent.
And that’s all from panhandling over the
years. So when I asked him, “Bro, why
won’t you just go do something?” He
don’t want they don’t want the
responsibility of to play by the rules.
They want to get what they can and how
they and how they get it. So, everyone
here can get housing through the city.
Yeah. You go to the mission, you apply
for it, they got places where they can
go shower, they can go live there. All
they have to do is abide by the rules.
Be in by a certain time, get a job. Some
don’t. And that’s where people from the
outside can’t understand like it’s a
lifestyle here. It’s a social world,
right? It’s a community. It’s it’s
community. So, here they there there’s
there’s programs and there’s things that
help these people here and they don’t
want to do it. Some of them really like
the luxury of not having to do
something. Like my brother right here,
he’s sitting under the tree. He doesn’t
have the care in the world. We come up
here, we feed him, we give him clothes
and stuff. They have no reason to do
anything. So some of them, they like the
fact that that goes on, but we not here
to judge. We’re just here to give that
helping hand. Do you find anyone really
happy? Like genuinely happy. Have you
met anyone out here? Yeah. If you walk
down Fifth Street, there’s another park
on Fifth and St. Julian. If you walk up
there, if you walk down Seventh Street,
okay, majority of the people you see
will be laughing, we’ll be joking, we’ll
be having fun. So even right here. So
the next street over there’s a street
full of mobile homes. Yeah. About eight
of those mobile homes there’s kids that
live in there. If you go walk down that
street right now, you will see the kids
outside playing. They have no care in
the world. They have no
responsibilities. You can’t we live with
the the the stress of paying rent,
paying bills, going to work, taking care
of kids. They don’t have that. We got a
bag. We got a bag and and they like
that.
So you were saying down here recently
it’s changed. It’s changed due to the to
the to the Trump administration. The
raids. The raids. Yeah. They haven’t
been cuz like like they’re literally
like the Home Depot and all the stuff
that’s down this way or whatever. You’ll
see them gearing up going straight
through here like 20 cars deep to go do
a raid or whatever. So it’s not like as
prevalent as out there down here, but
I’m guessing like a lot of people are
pretty much scared to be down here or
whatever. So you notice a difference?
Yeah. It’s just not a lot of vendors
down here. The bus stops are clear. Like
there’s not as much people on the bus
and everything. It’s a whole different
ball game right now. Interesting. Yeah.
A lot of people living in fear like just
to be, you know what I mean? They’re
staying low. Yeah. Staying way low. If
they have a job or whatever, then
they’ll probably take a chance to go to
work. But as far as that, okay, so
watching the protest on TV, you saw the
Whimos burning and whatnot,
people were saying those are the
illegals. I’m like, no, they’re not cuz
the illegals are hiding, right? Yeah.
No, the people that are protesting are
aren’t illegal because most of those if
you’re protesting and you’re illegal,
then you’re going to go to jail. So, it
makes sense not to, you know what I
mean? Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I was
thinking. I get both ends of it, but
it’s like Yeah. What’s your take on the
situation? I I mean it’s supposed to
country is based on immigrants anyway.
So that’s my my spill. But it’s it’s the
law kind of it’s the law. But I mean,
right, you know, it’s catch 22 and it
just gets totally polarized. It’s going
to get worse as far as the the process
and stuff. I believe. You think so?
Yeah. It’s calm right now, right? It’s
been calm like lately cuz I guess that
you know the the initial push is like
real like real strong and hard. So it
hasn’t been at least down here it hasn’t
been like that cuz there’s still like a
lot of the influx like the Venezuelans
and Guatemalans and stuff that came over
with that little deal where they got the
money to come over. They’re still here.
So how did you guys feel about them
getting the money to come over? I mean I
it doesn’t really affect me because I
work. So, it’s like I don’t you know
what I mean? I can understand how some
others are like upset about it. Like if
they’re trying to get benefits and then
you have someone else just come and they
just get this lump sum of money, you
give them all this stuff, but it’s like
they almost got the wool pulled over
their eyes because it’s like you’re here
now. It’s like you’re not a citizen and
now you’re in threat of going back to
wherever you’re from. It’s like you got
that little chump change or whatever.
Now you got to go back. You know what I
mean? So, yeah. Did you grow up around
here, sir? I grew up like uh by Shaw
High School. I went to Chrisaw High. I’m
working out here. Crunch shop. Okay.
What are you doing out here? I’m just
working. I work. We service the
restroom. Oh, okay. How’s it? That in
itself is a show. Yeah. If that toilet
could talk,
that’d be the best interview you’ve ever
given your life right there. So, you’re
you’re you’re cleaning. You’re keeping
everything together. Well, thank you for
doing what you did. Yeah.
[Music]
A lot of drugs going on.
What a smell. And you see the city
workers out here. These guys are
cleaning up. And it’s a wild scene. And
as the guy was saying back there, you
got families living out of these RVs.
And this is the world they’re growing up
in. No. How you doing, sir? Not right
now.
Yeah, the street just
you got this woman over here with a
grocery cart
and then you got this guy down here near
the post and been down here long enough
sort of becomes normal and uh it’s not
this is a problem. I’ve made sort of
gave up on making these types of videos
in the last year or so that
needs to come out and be shown that uh
this is unacceptable. That’s just a huge
huge endeavor and I think cities across
the country
uh just would rather have it like this
than try to really go deep on the
problem. I mean when you go deep on the
problem this is a big big topic.
No one really grew up well here. a few
maybe but the average person didn’t you
know have a great childhood they have
serious problems that’s what leads to
the drugs usually and that’s what
creates this so
interesting place then you got this
Regal hotel being
renovated
that’s wild
have three um uh buildings that were
rehabbing you know there’s OD that was
that was kind friends with the guy that
was in front of a ODed.
It’s just bad. It’s sad. A murder on
Saturday right down San Julian. What
What’s this going to be? Hotel SRO.
Single room occupancy. One room. Um and
they share restrooms and showers. Okay.
So, city housing basically. City. That’s
what it is. Yeah, that’s what it is. So,
over the last two years, worse than two
years ago or pretty much the same? Well,
I live on, you know, I live on a loft in
downtown on Sixth and Main. So, I I I’ve
been around for a while and with the
fentanyl uh uh situation, I absolutely
think it’s gone worse for sure. A lot
like this lady, she’s like retirement
age, you know, as a country, this should
be one of the top issues. I think it is.
Of course. Of course. It’s not going
anywhere. Listen to me. We’re spending
billions in these wars that have nothing
to do with what they say they’re for.
And look at our look at our community,
man. It’s just it’s just sad. It really
is. I I I me and my wife um volunteer at
the midnight mission every Thursday. I
mean cuz we I just we try to have to
that’s the only way things are going to
change, man, is is giving back and
attempting. So my theory tell me where
you think I’m wrong here. I’m sorry I’m
holding you can kick me out of here. You
got work to do. But uh I I put time into
Kensington, PA, which is the worst
probably worse than this. I’d say next
level up. This is about second worst.
Okay. It’s number two. Silver medal.
Yeah. Uh the law doesn’t work in the
sense that we can’t remove people from
the streets in these places from my
understanding. Right. So they have to
voluntarily want to go and when you’re
in the drugs, you’re not going to want
to go. And when you’re getting given
stuff to live, you’re going to survive.
Food, clothing, they give them
everything. Health care. So then it’s
never going to go away. It’s a
reoccurring. So we need to we need to
toughen up right a little as a as a
culture and be like, “Okay, these people
are having problems. We need to take
them into rehab, into housing. They
can’t be on drugs.” Yeah. Job training.
Some are never going to get anywhere,
but some might come through, right?
Yeah. No, they it it works. These
programs work. I like I said, I I me and
my wife uh me and my wife uh volunteer
at the Midnight Mission. And so, uh you
know, they have a drug rehab program
there, an educational program there.
There’s people that that really want it,
you know what I mean? for whatever
circumstances in their life, they they
they turn to drugs and alcohol and then
then they they turn their life around
and and are trying to do something now.
So, there’s not enough of these
programs. That’s what I’m saying. The
rehab, right? Yeah. Yeah. And mental
health. Mental health. You see people
screaming all day. It’s It’s the saddest
thing in the world, though. It really
is. These are government buildings. So,
we get paid pavilion wage because it’s
for the homeless. You get paid what
wage. So it means like when I would
usually make 30 bucks, I’m making 70
something now an hour. So this is a job
you want to be doing. Oh man. Because
it’s for government. So but it’s this is
city of LA. City of LA. And they’re
going to put who in here? Homeless.
Homeless. If they want to go in. Yes. If
they want to go. But they don’t because
they want to be in the streets. That’s
why Skid Road. It is how it is. If they
fix Skid Road, there’s no money for the
government no more. So if they’re rid of
the homeless, there’s no money for the
government. So that’s why they have them
out here. They bring bathrooms for them.
They bring food. They If you come Oh, if
you actually would have came earlier,
they massage their feets right here for
the homeless. I’m not lying. They
massage their feet. What massage? Did
you get one? I wish I would have, man. I
work hard. I don’t even get one. Uh they
get food. So, does that is that crazy
for you that you know that you’re set
this will probably be really nice. It’ll
all be redone and then a lot of the
people out here won’t even want to go in
there. No, because they got to be
drug-free or they got to follow the
rules or like they got to come inside
before a certain time. So, like after
10:00 they can’t come back out, but they
don’t want that. So, they rather be out
here in the streets. But it’s all a
revolving door. Everything is a money
from somehow cuz the government says,
“Okay, we give the homeless.” But the
homeless, they don’t get it. The
government steals it. So, you feel me?
And this is the government’s real
estate. Yes, sir. And it’s all it is.
It’s that that one right there,
government. That one government. All
these that you see a ski road is all
government buildings.
All right, guys. We’re moving on to the
next neighborhood. And I just want to
take a quick break to talk about the
sponsor of today’s video. We are
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Everything’s got an angle, including
this video, right? Including my work.
You know, why am I choosing these
locations? Well, I want to show you just
position. I want to show you the
wealthy. I want to show you the down and
out. We’re going to go to where the ice
riots were or one of the places. And it
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There’s no one journal that has the
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That’s why you need ground news. Ground
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vantage plan. Now, back to the story.
We have city hall. Beautiful building.
[Music]
Take care, you guys. Have a good one.
You found it. I found it. Yeah, I found
the restroom. Thank you. You’re welcome.
Okay, so the mall, no one’s at the mall
anymore. No, they it was shops when we
first started working here and then they
started closing down like since How many
years ago? We started working here in
2022 and the shops that were along that
little row right there, they just
started closing like the Sabaros, the
Quiz.
They do all the whole farmers market
right here on Wednesdays. Wednesdays.
Okay. But it’s still open down here.
Just nobody’s here.
It’s like the one or two shops that you
see down there and that’s it. Thank you.
Look at this. This is really
interesting.
Cool architecture. Well, brutalist8s
architecture, which I like. Maybe it’s
70s.
Look at this. There’s no one really
here.
The Los Angeles Mall. So, I’m sure back
in the day when malls were a big thing,
everyone would come out. families, kids.
Look at this. We’ve got a pay phone.
Still working.
Look at this place. This is right in the
city.
Civil and human rights and equity
department.
Sears shoe repair.
LA Dot, Department of Transportation.
Okay, so we got some government stuff
here.
Sparrow’s left. Quiznos’s moved.
Immigration attorneys.
So empty.
Okay, so we’re coming up on where some
of the riots were.
Depending on who you talk to, it was not
a big deal at all or it was a huge deal.
I find reading from both sides super
fascinating. How words are used,
how they decide to use photos, how the
person looks in the photos
are always being played to some degree.
So, here’s where they were. I can see
there was graffiti all there. We’ll go
over there. They cleaned it up.
There’s a lot of open air drug usage
here.
in the park.
Such beautiful architecture though. Look
at this. Those out there from LA that
have lived here for most of their lives
or all of their lives, when do you think
were the best years of the city? Like
when these places that are structurally
beautiful but energetically pretty heavy
with people doing drugs, like when was
it different here? Love to know. and
everything goes in a cycle. I don’t like
doing the doom and gloom. This won’t be
like this forever. I feel like this
problem will come to a head. There’ll be
a change in policies and in the culture
and things will cycle around again.
That’s how things always work.
Constantly moving in a cycle.
And we want to get back up to a higher
point, right? Isn’t that the goal? But
then when you get up there, you’re gonna
go right back down again eventually.
How you doing, sir? Hi. Were you here
for the the event? Yeah. Were you
selling hot dogs? Yeah. You remember the
protest here? How was it?
Not bad. Yeah, it’s okay. But it’s good.
Mhm. Can I show the papaya? Mhm.
Oh, nice. So, was was business good
during the riot? Mhm. Thank you.
All right. Gracias. Okay. Gracias. Take
care. All right. So, I think I
understood him right. He said he was
operational here, but probably not right
when uh things really kicking off here.
But you can see all the graffiti
underneath. Barely there though. They
did a pretty good job of getting rid of
it. And so interesting that the event
kicks off and then goes back to normal
life not much long after and then it
could kick off again. Who knows?
Another
big riot was over here. As you can see,
the uh graffiti cleanup crew hasn’t done
the same work back here. Wow.
All right. So, there’s still a bit of a
presence here in front of the building
and one sole man out here. Sir, do you
have anything to say?
Uh, but I there’s only one of me at the
moment, but I
I’m not protesting the Marines at all.
They’re just Americans doing their job
like anybody else. But I’m protesting
Trump’s ice raids. That’s why I’m here
at that detention center. As my sign
says, I feel like uh immigrants are an
important part of our country’s future,
if nothing else, simply for the reason
that in the United States, as in almost
every other wealthy country in the
world, people aren’t having a whole lot
of kids anymore. In fact, without
immigration, our population would
already be in decline. No, we’re we’re
lucky that we can turn on the spout as
much as we want, really, right? And at
this point, we’re basically turning it
off is what it seems like. Okay. So, the
first raid on the six was in the Garmin
district. They had a warrant for the
business, right? They were laundering
money. Yeah. Like that was Are you for
that? Let’s say in cases where there’s
evidence of like actual criminal
activity, like they’re actually
committing fraud or theft or violence. I
mean, then, you know, I believe that
actual crime. Absolutely. That we have a
a responsibility to prevent that. Okay.
Well, okay. I’m going to run something
past you. Tell me what you think. This
is like a very generalistic statement. I
feel most Americans, 95%
someone rapes a child, causes a crime,
like kills someone, they’re all for them
getting deported, right? Someone’s been
here 5 10 years, they’ve worked hard,
they’ve paid into the system. Well, not
so many are into that those people
getting deported. And then the dreamers,
nobody, maybe 5% are all for like a
someone that came as a kid, you know, 50
years ago should get deported. So the
problem is the conversation, it’s like a
sliding scale. Yeah. Right. And one side
goes extreme and the other side goes
extreme. But I really feel like 80%
of Americans are sort of on a similar
page with this.
Most people on the right, some
definitely don’t want any immigrants,
but I would say most are totally like
legal immigration. They’re totally for
legal immigration. Oh, absolutely. I get
that. The problem in my mind is that
they made it very, very difficult to
come here legally. Like when my
ancestors came in the late 19th, early
20th century. Oh, it’s totally
different. It was extremely easy. Yeah.
Well, that’s the conversation cuz if if
we make it easy like that,
half of India is here tomorrow
and then rent prices are through the
roof, right? Potentially, yes. I mean,
that’s a possibility. But I mean, I feel
like that there has to be some kind of
middle ground between
as few as we’re letting in now and
letting in literally everybody. Yeah. Is
how I would feel about that. Yeah. So la
I’ve been at the border over the last
four years. That was wild. I mean, the
cartels controlled it completely. Gosh,
it was it was a nightmare. And now
nothing’s getting through there. So it’s
everyone’s on like a our media too
doesn’t doesn’t shake out any of this
stuff in a fair way. Like it’s either
one direction or the other. Yeah. But
honestly, most Americans are good people
and they’re willing to have a
conversation. I think so. It’s just
we’re in this social media landscape
where it’s just rage bait, get angry.
Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Well,
thanks for the conversation. I’m just
making a video on LA. I appreciate that.
This is a nice part of downtown. I’ve
always wanted to go in this library. So,
we’re going to take a quick peek, check
it out before we get out to the coastal
areas.
How you doing, sir?
[Music]
What a stunning building. There are so
many floors and rooms. This place is
absolutely massive. And LA has so many
treasures, architectural treasures.
The Getty name is such a big name here
in Los Angeles.
J. Paul Getty, big oil baron. And then
where does the money go? It goes down to
the kin. And well, it can go into
beautiful buildings like this or it can
go into politicians pushing influence.
You know, I actually got Oh, look at
that.
Actually had a billionaire reach out to
me once to get involved in San Francisco
politics.
And that’s how it works, right? They
sort of stay behind the scenes and
fund people with the ideology they want
to move forward.
And that’s how they pull the levers of
power. Gordon Getty funded Gavin Newsome
in his business endeavors and political
endeavors. A lot of oil money, which is
interesting, right? Getty money is
deeply entrenched in the politics of
California, that’s for sure.
All right, so we’re heading towards the
Palisades. For those that don’t know,
mega fire came through here and I don’t
know what we can get through. I’m sure
some of it’s closed off, but I just want
to show you guys what it looks like. I
haven’t seen it yet for myself. Get a
little look and then get out to the
beach.
Look at that flag. So, it looks like
that was burnt down.
I’m actually doing a whole video on this
topic tomorrow, so it’ll be on the next
week’s video. Oh, there you go. New roof
or burnt roof.
Reconstruction.
And the Palisades
in greater LA is one of the nicest
neighborhoods. The ocean’s not far.
Beautiful homes, beautiful landscaping,
and yeah, it’s ocean basically to the
left and then mountains up to the right.
So, this guy did okay. And then his
neighbor didn’t and their neighbors
definitely didn’t.
All right. Looks like all the debris’s
been removed, at least up here,
but nothing
being built yet.
Look at this. This is
the one thing that’s made for fire. The
chimney always stands.
Palisades Recreation Center. Rebuilding
our community. Palisad strong.
And whoa, look at that.
Just roasted right through that steel.
The math learning center is still open.
But look how empty it is.
No people, hardly any cars.
Sunset Boulevard totally empty. Probably
the one time in its history
that it will be like this. I’m sure a
year from now it’ll get busier and then
after more so,
but this is it, guys.
Nobody around.
Look at how fast nature comes back.
It just rip through here.
January 7th,
right in the middle of winter.
Still smell the charcoal.
Look at this.
A lot of these stuckco buildings seem to
do okay. And you can see here the trees
burnt, but it didn’t get the building so
much.
Bricks, stucco,
any metal
is all good. And then some stuff that
looks like a tinder box over there with
all the wood decking material and
whatnot, but it’s totally fine.
[Music]
You’re doing this work out here. We’re
doing the work here. We’re doing the
site training for this uh client. Pretty
much wrapping up, you know, the major
cleanup,
removing the last of the concrete and,
you know, whatever roots and turf was in
in this side. So, So, how’s it been
overall? It’s been crazy. Uh, it’s been
hard with just trucking alone, you know,
the amount of trucks that we have to get
and then it’s certain areas that we can
only dump. So, no one’s rebuilding yet,
right? It’s just clearing the lots
there a little bit. Yeah. Okay. There’s
clients that have gotten u their final
permit, their finals done. Okay. So,
they they have the demolition and the
cleanups done approved by the city and
it’s done. Now, they can do their
building.
All day long, huh? You working long
hours? 5 to nines, brother. 5 to nine.
Well, we Well, sometimes it’s six to
seven, but still long hours, you know.
Yeah. Is there a shortage of workers for
all this work or are there plenty? You
guys need you need guys out here?
Million guys. Yeah, you could use a
million. Well, I did need a million. Now
it’s getting slower, you know, but you
know, a lot of the contracts, a lot of
the clients and the lots have been
getting done. So now it’s really kind of
a fight to get clients, you know, since
there’s so many comp so much competition
going on out. Oh, really? Yeah. So now
it’s really getting like, okay, who can
give me the better bid and uh who can
get it done faster? Okay. So the client
actually has options right now if they
want to rebuild.
Are are guys from all over the country
coming in here or is it just So all the
country. So they’re coming in from like
Utah and Tennessee. Tennessee. Uh
Oregon. We’re working we work for some
lady that lived in Oregon. She was like
I came down here for the fires. And then
her brother has his company. That’s his
company. Yeah. Coming here from Texas.
So they’re coming from So they’re all
coming in for the opportunity. Yeah. Cuz
if someone gets a good insurance payout,
they got the money. Change your life.
You know, one job will change your life.
Really? Yeah. $300,000 job. You finish
it in one week. I mean, one week.
We’ve been We’ve done houses in 3 days.
Yeah. I’ve done 100,000
job in like a couple days. Yeah. Are you
serious? Yeah. But then you get another
job where somebody wants to do the whole
lot for 30k. So, so you guys are just
cleaning lots. Just clearing lots. Yeah.
I’ll ox I’ll grade and put pipe in the
ground if they want that too. But right
now, they’re just only only letting us
do this. Clear lots. So, Army Corps of
Engineers isn’t doing this. I thought
they’d be No, they’re still doing this.
They’re doing this, too. But the client
will hire you cuz you’re quicker or
something or what? No, they’ll hire us
because it’s we’re just a private
contractor. So, Army Corps of Engineers
hit you with, “Oh, it’s free. It’s free.
It’s free.” But everyone’s thinking that
they’re going to get a bill down the
road. You know, that’s what people
think. Uh I mean, nothing’s usually free
from the government. you know, going to
pay it back one way or another. Do you
guys live around here? No, I live
Riverside. I live in Montre. Riverside’s
what, an hour and a half commute?
Traffic 4 hours. But we got a house. We
got We stay in a Airbnb out here. So,
you rented a place just be out here.
Yeah. So, the trades, I mean, if you’re
in the right trade right now, it’s good
out here. Mhm. If you do a fire like cut
fire line on a fire in the dozers and
the excavators that are all fully with
the fire department, they they pay cash
like 750 a day cash.
Fire department. Yeah. Just to cut a
fire just to go and cut so the fire is
not spreading to the neighbor. I mean,
this is some of the priciest real estate
in the world. Yeah. There’s been $20
million homes that I’ve done right here
demoed.
There’s people that they assume that
because you’re in the palace, they have
money. But I’ve heard of people here in
the lots here that have had issues or
threatened to put lean on their on their
houses because they don’t have the money
to clean the lot, right? They got
inherited that home. Just cuz they have
a house out here doesn’t mean they have
the income.
Some people are super wealthy, some
aren’t. Some some people were just
inherited the property. Yeah. So, how’s
it work? Like a house like that just
didn’t even get touched, huh? Yeah. Luck
of the draw. Yeah. It’s like it the fire
pig and chose what it wanted, you know?
Look at this viewpoint. This is one of
the most stunning viewpoints in the
city, I would say.
And you have the beach right there.
All right, guys. Want to show you this
before we get to Venice Beach. And these
are the Venice canals.
And Venice, as you might imagine, is
named after Venice, Italy. Little bit of
a different look, but uh they’re going
for a similar theme here. Living on the
water. And we got the boats and the
bridges.
So yeah, this came about in the early
1900s with gondilas and gondelers.
Some Italian style architecture
sprinkled in here, so I’ve been told.
How you doing? Do you live around here?
Yeah, it’s nice, huh? Best. Yeah. You
love it? So, yeah. So, is it great? Mhm.
Cool. Do you take a boat around and
cruise around or Not very often,
honestly, but the walks in the evening
with the dog are the best. Is it a tight
community? Uh pretty yeah I mean
everybody talks to everyone. There’s no
like big mostly it’s like no big walls
so you can just like their neighbors and
basically they do like art events every
year. There’s like a cute little like
Santa thing where everyone decorates
their kayaks and stuff. So it’s right
everything’s in the open here. A this is
cool. Cute homes right next to the
water. How you doing? Hi. How are you?
Hey. Nice dog. Yeah. So there there were
gondilas and gondelers,
a miniature railroad. So I read and then
out in front of us is Venice Beach where
we’re going to go. So even in Venice
here, you have all these different
realities cuz you’re going to see Venice
Beach, which is totally different than
here. But this is cool. Very ornate and
walkable and eclectic.
Different architectural styles.
Smells so good here.
A little bit of salt.
Salty smell. And then all these flowers
and all this guy’s landscaping stuff
like that. How you doing? Yeah, it goes
for ways. So you see the bridges here
both directions.
Here we are. iconic Venice Beach. And
this place is always an interesting
visit.
Sort of a countercultural place in the
60s and the 70s. It was in ruins in the
50s and then the 60s and 70s
countercultural.
And now it’s this.
I’ve been coming here forever.
Hey,
it’s
a wild trip out here.
We got some tents out. The tents were
crazy during the pandemic here and they
sort of went away and I don’t know it’s
just that saw a couple. So, we got the
roller skating rink here. Sun dipping
into the Pacific soon and this very
famous skate park. This is always a cool
scene.
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
What do you usually See
[Music]
if I can find Derek.
I’ve met up with him a few times over
the years. He’s always got good insight.
But I don’t hear him.
Excuse me, sir. Do you offer parking? Do
you do you offer parking? Sir, do you
offer parking? Mr. Santa Pete Peter, I
need parking. VIP here is the world
reowning
agent. No, no, unprofessional.
Peter, man, I missed you, bro. How are
you? I’m doing an LA video right now.
Okay. And I’m like, my goal is to make
it to Venice Beach by sunset. And we’re
here. And we’re here. Let’s go. Talk to
me. Can you walk? Can you walk? Man, can
we walk? I’m kind of by myself, but we
can go with a small story of it. Okay. I
love you, man. and going crazy out here.
Look. Oh, look at my artwork I do now.
So, this is every week I’m going to do a
different I do a different message and I
do the hopscotch. Everybody’s loving the
Hopscot. So, I’m trying to bring a
little bit. I’m trying. But today’s
message is stop war, start love. That’s
what we about. Everybody, man. Want
that? It’s one planet. We all got to
live here together, man. How is your
wife? Wife’s great. Wife is great. Hey,
you do the best work ever. We know. We
know who’s behind the real behind. You
haven’t lost your edge, have you OG? I
haven’t, man. I can’t, bro. It’s It’s
like People are loving you. It’s It’s
It’s It’s an orbit you’ve created. It’s
an orbit. It’s I’m trying. That little
bubble right there. That’s mine. That’s
mine because of you, bro. No, I I swear
it’s like they Hey, you were in a video
with Peter and can we take a picture?
Well, you’re going to get a going to get
a freshen up this next week when my wife
edits this. Oh, good, bro. Give me the
lowdown. Okay. I haven’t been to LA for
a couple years. I I I start in Beverly
Hills. Mhm. I went downtown. I went skid
row. So, Beverly Hill to Skid Row.
That’s as opposite as you get, right?
And I saw I touched on Palisades a
little. I’m over here. I did the canals
cuz canals are cool. And then I’m here.
Give me the update cuz I haven’t talked
to too many locals today. They have
given the county of Los Angeles away,
bro. To to
not just the homeless, to the people.
There’s more people out here with mental
issues now than it is dang near drug
dealers, drug addicts, you know, bro.
It’s like they are letting them out and
they’re walking around. Bro, it’s bad.
Really? It’s worse than 2 years ago.
It’s worse as far as the straight the
talking to themselves to where they’re
going to a point and that’s either the
sleep deprivation or not taking their
meds, bro. I mean, we getting a lot of
those. And they lacked the laws as far
as, you know, selling things. People
are, man, they fighting out of here over
spaces, bro. Man, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
OG, we’re trying cuz I remember pak
pandemic. It was really bad. Then a year
or two later, it got better. All right.
And now you’re saying it’s sliding back
a little. It’s slide back because the
police are like hands off. Bro, it’s
bad. It’s put Okay. So, San Francisco’s
coming around and I thought LA would be
following. I would think if LA would do
when we talked last Yeah. They were
starting to, you know, that was before
they started tightening up on the laws
and got scared. What these cops are
scared of, losing their pension, man.
It’s the It’s the Everybody got a
camera. They can’t really arrest no one
without Right. So, some guy comes at
him. They get in an altercation, right?
Someone’s losing their minds. put your
hands on the ground and I get you down
and I do this and then you drop and then
we see the video then and then it posts
and then the they’re going to go for
that post or whatever somebody posted
and said before they even talk to the
officer and then officer is going to be
written up and then they got to do an
investigation. Cops don’t want to go for
that and then their pensions jeopardized
maybe. Would you want to be a cop for 18
years and then go through the pandemic
then come out to if somebody say you you
you called me a name? You hurt my
feelings. I want to file a complaint
against you. Okay. But pe I’ve talked to
a lot of people actually off camera
today. They’re like we’re over the BS.
We need to we need to toughen up. No
more this.
So people are feeling that, right?
They’re feeling it and it’s just it’s so
scary, bro. Everything everybody’s
crazy. It’s more to what I told you
before. It’s that big table saying,
“Let’s see how much the American people
will take. We’ll keep throwing at them.
Let’s go down to the bare minimum.” But,
okay, OG, listen. And I’m not clowning
LA cuz I love LA. But there are certain
places where they don’t let this BS fly
at all. Santa Monica is one of them.
Santa Monica’s fine got better. But you
have to realize this is property. I
always believe in my little conspiracy
theory. Guess if I true. Here’s what I’m
saying. If you were a homeowner in the
Palisades, and we come to you, your
house, the most expensive house was 26
million, which was Steven Spielberg,
Hollywood is dead. But if I come to you
as a government, as a state, and say,
“Hey, we want to buy your house. You
have two years to move out. We’re going
to give you 50 million, but we’re going
to build a new smart city so you can
start doing your movies again.” Stephen,
how about that? We’re going to build a
whole brand new glass smart city. That’s
what you’re feeling. That’s what you’re
thinking. What are they going to build?
They’re going to build the same old
house. No, they’re going to make it new
and improved. I say in 5 years, maybe
close to the Olympics, you’ll see
building where that city look like
Miami. It’s prime real estate. They will
change the traffic of the airport right
over here. Come see the new LA, the
smart city.
Everybody want to go to California, see
the smart city, wouldn’t they? So OG,
how can we get a smart city? We need
land. We need land with a view.
A lot a lot a lot of people have your
views here. A lot of people guys you
talk to or not. Yeah. People people keep
saying uh I’m like bro what else they
going to do over there? You know what’s
interesting in Skid Row today? They’re
say they’re remodeling this whole
building that was bought by the city.
All right. And look, you can’t get
people off Skid Row to get into free
housing cuz they want to do drugs.
That’s the problem. And so now the city
owns that building paid by the taxpayer.
Bro, they got by your tax dollars. They
got a multi-billion million dollar
highrise graffitied up. What type of
city? You know, it would have probably
took $5,000 worth of paint to paint that
over the city. Come in there in three
days. A one job, a week, a week job.
It’s gone. It’s It’s security. They let
it stay. Why? Cuz they want to bring the
city down to its bare knuckles. So,
you’re you’re not loving Karen Bass
anymore. You had hope in the beginning.
You had hope, bro. It’s bad, bro. It’s
bad out here, man. All right. Sorry. I
got to get you back here. No. Yeah, I’m
I’m close. I got to All right, man. You
You know, you my people. But you know,
they they used to just Hey, brother. How
you doing, man? Good to see you, man. We
out here. What’s up, brother? Good to
see you, neighborhood. I see you. Hey,
I’m here to interview real quick. Let
get right back with you. Hey, what’s up?
You good? Yeah, man. Love you, bro. Hey,
guys. Take your time. If you see
anything you need, let me know. Where
Where am I sending people to? Cali Shore
Customs in the B Hotel. 1217 Ocean Front
Wall. The most beautiful building here.
The tall white one. OG. This is my
brother. He’s going to do hopscotch for
you guys. Watch. Get on. Yes, you are.
Oh my god. Yes, you are. It’s not about
how you do it. It’s about you doing it.
I don’t even Come on. Come on. It’s the
one, two, three. Hold on. Let me just
go. Keep going. Come on. You athlete.
You can do it. Look at your wife gonna
be laughing at this video. Look at her.
this guy here. Don’t do this to me, bro.
I love this guy. Don’t do this to me. I
love you, man. So, business doing okay?
It’s hanging on. Hanging on. Yes, we’re
we’re getting some tourists and like I
said, it’s not as as big as we wished it
would be. You have to realize a lot of
people are not really feeling California
right now just because of the things
that’s happened within the last year.
Not just with the riots, but you got to
realize the smash and grab incidents.
We’ve had the bad luck for any type of
retail service. People don’t want to go
out shopping when people are running out
to stores and stuff. Even though it’s
not happening in this type of area, but
a person at home seeing that on the news
is not feeling it. So, we still got
that. Then we had the riots. We got that
going on where people are not, you know,
feeling like it’s just like, wow, what
the hell? Would you want to go to a
place? You know, it’s like the ones that
are coming, they just like, wow, it’s
not as bad as we thought. Yeah. Well, I
know how big LA is. That’s what it is.
They don’t understand. I’ve spent all
day driving just shooting this video and
I I I’ve touched a small part of it. LA
County is massive. Massive. Right. So, I
get it. You see a riot, you want to
bring your family out on a vacation and
you don’t want to deal with BS. You just
don’t you don’t want to deal with that.
That’s understandable. But, but I would
I would tell people and I was going to
finish the video with this. I would tell
people don’t let that scare you from
coming out here. There’s a lot of cool
stuff going on. There’s a lot of cool
stuff to do. [ __ ] beach. The
beach is great. No, we’re still we’re
still getting down now. We’re still
having fun on the weekend is it’s it’s
getting packed. But, you know, where I’m
coming from as far as the retail
service, people are not shopping now.
Everybody’s, you know, holding on to
those dollars. They’re out. They’re
having fun, but they’re still, you know,
as far as
the finances, you know, it ain’t it
ain’t happen. But it’s okay. But that’s
across the board. You can go to
Huntington Beach and they will say the
same thing, you know, and those are
people with money in Huntington Beach. I
didn’t hit that store. It It’s very
clean and you don’t see people on drugs
anywhere. They don’t play around. They
don’t play because it’s, you know, it’s
more so where money is and Republicans
and and their law is different. You know
what I’m saying? They’ll stop it at the
border because you have Hermosa to get
to before that. Right. We love Venice.
Venice is the realest beach out here
because you come out here to be
yourself. But we’re looked at as a hood
beach, okay? Compared to Huntington. You
know, people go out there to see the
valley volleyball championships and
things of that nature. You know, it’s a
good time in Huntington, but this place
this place, this is where you’re going
to love it. This is where people fall in
love with. This is the true California.
Venice Beach is a It’s an It’s an icon
and it’s a vibe. It’s a vibe. We’re just
on a slump right now. We going to be
back this summer like live and direct in
front of the V Hotel with me doing
hopscotch talking crazy. I’m doing it
all, baby. You know I got your back. You
have a lady these days. Um, no. I’m I’m
actually I’m You say I look good. I’ve
come to at peace. I’m at peace right
now. You know, I want to do No, the
reason I’m doing this for the people.
And you did this for me because it
taught me to get out of myself and be a
people person more than I’m already.
Yeah, bro. But like when people when
people, you know, like, hey, Peter D,
you look great. So, it’s like it’s not
an image to keep up, but it’s like,
okay, I should carry myself a different
way as far as, you know, people seeing
me and being, you know, in the caliber
of you. You know what I’m saying? Well,
they love you, man. I swear to God, they
love you. Anyways, I don’t know. We
walked up. That’s our guy. Yeah. They
live in his beach. There you go. See?
Be careful. Yes. Prices. That’s cute.
That’s finished beach.
What a day. I’ve been going since 9 this
morning. It’s 8:00 now. And as OG Derek
just said, you go a few beaches down
Hermosa,
totally different vibe. And so I tried
my best today to show you guys different
parts of LA County. And tomorrow I’ll be
getting up here to the Palisades, but
way more in depth. got a guy that knows
a lot about what’s going on up there.
He’s going to get us in. That will be
the next video after this one. And then
a video
about 26 miles off the coast here. And a
lot of people in LA don’t even know what
exists out there and most of the country
doesn’t. So, I’ll keep that as a bit of
a surprise. Some of you do know, and I’m
sure you’ll put it down below. But cool
adventure today. And no, again, that was
a sliver. I hate saying that because I
say it all the time, but it’s impossible
to capture the full scope of this place.
I could spend the next year making
videos every single day and still not
get it all. So, thanks for coming along
on that journey. Until the next one.
[Music]