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Nearly four months after wildfires reduced thousands of Los Angeles-area homes to rubble and ash, some residents are starting to rebuild.In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, construction workers recently began placing wooden beams to frame a house on a lot where only a charred fireplace remains standing. In the seaside city of Malibu and foothills neighborhood of Altadena, many land parcels where homes once stood are being cleared of debris.Hundreds of homeowners have sought city or county approval for new home designs and other permits to eventually rebuild or repair damaged homes, though few have gotten the green light to break ground.Some 17,000 homes, businesses and other structures burned to the ground in the Jan. 7 fires. It’s uncertain how much will be rebuilt.Many homeowners will not be able to afford it, even those with insurance. Some are still trying to figure out whether it’s safe to return to their properties, given limited data on the degree to which toxins from the fires, including lead and asbestos, may have permeated their land. Roughly 400 land parcels are already for sale in the fire-ravaged areas.Facing overwhelming loss and the chaos that comes with sudden displacement, those looking to rebuild must navigate an often confusing and time-consuming process. In most cases, it will take years for them to rebuild.LA issued its first building permit nearly two months after the fires started. It took more than seven months before the first building permit was issued following the Woolsey Fire in 2018.“Putting this in context of other disasters, the speed is actually probably faster than expected,” said Sara McTarnaghan, a researcher at the Urban Institute who studied the aftermath of urban wildfires in recent years in Colorado, Hawaii and California. Resolving to rebuild in Altadena Kathryn Frazier, a music publicist and life coach, had lived in her four-bedroom, three-bath house in Altadena for 10 years and raised her two children there. After her home burned to the ground, she was in shock and questioned whether it made sense to come back.But after conversations with neighbors, she became determined to rebuild.“I’m not leaving,” Frazier said. “That’s what kept coming up for everybody, and the more we all talked to each other the more we were all like ‘hell yes.'”She is making progress. Frazier hired a crew to clear the property of debris and she is nearly through the first phase of permitting, which involves getting county review and approval for her new home’s design. The next phase before receiving approval to begin construction includes reviews of electrical, plumbing and other aspects of the design.Frazier, 55, is rebuilding her home without major changes to its size or location in order to qualify for an expedited building permit approval process.“We are hoping to be building by June or July, latest,” she said. “I’ve been told that maybe by February or March of 2026 we could be back in our home.”For now, Frazier is getting quotes on windows, skylights and other home fixtures in hopes of locking in prices before they go up as more construction projects ramp up, or in response to the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war.“I’m doing things like scouring Home Depot, finding slate tiles that look modern and beautiful, but they’re actually really cheap,” she said. Recreating a home in the Palisades DeAnn Heline, a TV showrunner, knows what it’s like to build her dream house from the ground up.She waited more than two years for construction to be completed on the five-bedroom, eight-bath home with ocean views. Once the project was done, her husband vowed to never build another house. The family lived there for six years before it was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.“It was ash. There was nothing,” Heline said.The couple, who have two daughters, have lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. They couldn’t imagine giving up and not rebuilding.“Not only are we building another house, we’re building the exact same house again,” Heline said, noting the new home will have some upgrades including fire-resistant materials and sprinklers for the exterior of the house.Recently, they cleared debris from the land where the house once stood, a particularly onerous task because the home featured a large basement into which much of the structure collapsed as it burned.Heline isn’t sure when construction will begin, but figures it could be two or three years. She wonders, however, what the neighborhood will look like by then.“What are you going back to? You’re going back to a moonscape? Are you there and no one else is on your block, or are you going back to a construction zone for many more years?” she said. Banding together as a community The Eaton wildfire destroyed many of the more than 270 historic Janes Cottages in Altadena, including the three-bedroom home Tim Vordtriede shared with his wife and two young children.The family had only lived in the roughly 100-year-old house for three years.“We just loved the storybook cottage and the vibe, and of course the grander vibe of Altadena,” he said. “It was perfect.”Vordtriede, 44, has decided to rebuild, but not just yet. For now, he is using his experience as a construction project manager to help others who also lost their homes.He co-founded Altadena Collective, a group providing assistance with home designs and guidance on how to navigate the complex and lengthy approval process for rebuilding permits. Of the roughly two dozen clients that the group is serving, at reduced cost, three are in the early stages of the permitting process.Even after projects reach shovel-ready status, homeowners will have to wait perhaps more than a year before they can move in, he said.“My first statement when anyone walks in the door is: We’re not here to help you design your dream home,” Vordtriede said. “This isn’t a dream time. This is a nightmare, and our job is to get you out of the nightmare as soon as possible.” Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer
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Many industry insiders and cinephiles alike predicted that Joel Souzas Rust would simply remain unfinished, that its only legacies would be the tragic death of 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, which occurred on set, and the complicated legal proceedings that followed. However, despite Souza’s own misgivings, he completed the project. The Western film will see a limited U. S. release on roughly 150 screens beginning today (Friday, May 2) thanks to Falling Forward Films. Souza has been making the press rounds to explain this decision, which he says the Hutchins family supports, despite her mother making comments to the contrary. Here’s a recap of the tragic events and a look at why filmmakers have decided to release it now. What happened on the set of ‘Rust’? According to Vanity Fair, Souzawho both wrote and directed Rustfirst got the idea for the film in 2019 when driving around with his two sons. He worried about what would happen to them if he weren’t around to raise them. He could not have known how close that would be to coming true. When speaking to the Guardian, he mused, I wish I never wrote the damn movie. Souzas regret stems from a series of bad decisions that led to a prop gunheld by actor Alec Baldwindischarging a live round on, October 19, 2021, outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baldwin maintains that he did not pull the trigger, while a forensic report found otherwise. The bullet that killed Hutchins went through her chest and lodged in Souzas shoulder, inches away from his spine. He recovered, but has said that the joint still acts up, a physical reminder of the trauma of that day. How did the legal fallout impact the film? There were many debates over who exactly was responsible for the loss of life. Assistant director Dave Halls took a plea deal after failing to check the prop, resulting in six months of probation. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who served as the films prop armorer, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2024. The same year, charges against Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter were dismissed due to evidence being mishandled, as Reuters reported. Souza was never prosecuted. Why is ‘Rust’ being released now? At the time of the tragic events, only half of the movie was completed. Even Souza had doubts about finishing it but says he ultimately wanted to share Hutchinss final work with the world. We worked very closely together,” Souza explained to Vanity Fair. “The work she was doing was her best work, and for it to just vanish . . . After initially speaking out against the producers of the project, Hutchinss husband, Matthew, reached a settlement and joined as an executive producer in 2022. Another reason Souza wanted to complete the film was so Hutchins’s son Andros could see his moms work. Filming resumed on April 20, 2023. Bianca Cline stepped in as cinematographer to help finish Hutchinss vision. Souza not only dedicated the movie to Hutchins but also gave her second billing, which is not a standard industry practice. Souza maintains that the family wanted the film finished. However, Hutchinss mother, Olga Solovey, has taken issue with Baldwins actions after her daughters death. She reportedly refused to attend the films 2024 premiere at the Camerimage Film Festival. Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death, Solovey revealed in a statement to Deadline last year. Given that Rust is only getting a limited release in a reported 150 theaters, it is unlikely that ticket sales will amount to a big profit. (A typical movie opens in around 2,000 to 4,000 theaters.) It is also being simultaneously released on streaming services Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home thanks to Decal Releasing. According to reporting from the New York Times, this is to maximize profits, which are going to Hutchinss husband and son as part of the settlement. What is ‘Rust’ about? In a bitterly ironic turn of events, the plot of the film centers on an accidental shooting. Lucas Hollister, played by Patrick Scott McDermott, believes he is shooting a wolf that is threatening his home, but the bullet from his rifle instead kills a neighboring rancher. Because Lucas and the rancher had a disagreement, no one believes it was not intentional. The young boy is imprisoned until his grandfather, Harland Rust, played by Baldwin breaks him out. The parallels to real life are not lost on Souza. The movie is about what its about: the consequences of violence,” he explained to the Guardian. “Theres a real anti-gun aspect to it.” While Rust might not be a commercial success, the larger conversation it continues to spark about safety and accountability could be its greatest legacy.
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Vacation rental platform Airbnb on Thursday forecast second-quarter revenue largely below Wall Street estimates and signaled softening demand in the U.S. as an erratic trade policy hammers consumer sentiment and sparks worries over growth. Shares of the company fell more than 6% after the bell, set to add to the year-to-date decline of about 7%. The company expects second-quarter revenue between $2.99 billion and $3.05 billion, the midpoint of which is below analysts’ estimates of $3.04 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Over the last two months, Delta Airlines warned travel demand has “largely stalled”, while hotel operator Hilton indicated travelers were in a “wait-and see” mode, as President Donald Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs take a toll. Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz said on an earnings call that guests were booking trips closer to the check-in date, indicating that the booking window was growing shorter. Booking window refers to the number of days between the reservation date and actual arrival and a shorter booking window points towards increased consumer uncertainty and caution in travel spending. Nights and experiences booked during the first quarter rose 8% to 143.1 million on a global basis. Excluding North America, bookings were up 11% from a year earlier. The U.S. comprises a vast majority of the San Francisco-based company’s North America business, which contributes about 30% to nights booked on its platform. Airbnb said it expects average daily rate, or the rental revenue earned for an occupied room per day, to remain flat in the second quarter and core profit margin to be slightly down from a year earlier. It also expects moderation in the year-over-year growth rate of the nights booked in the current quarter from the first. Total revenue for the first quarter rose 6% to $2.27 billion, compared to analysts’ estimates of $2.26 billion. However, net income slumped 41.7% to $154 million due to higher headcount, write-downs of certain historical investments in privately held companies and lower interest income. Aishwarya Jain, Reuters
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