‘A full-on neighborhood emergency’

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, March 24 and it will be oppressively bright out by the afternoon, with a high of 87 in the city and 91 in the Valley.

In today’s edition we have an excerpt from an L.A. Material exclusive revealing how a city crackdown on sex trafficking in South L.A. helped redirect the problem into affluent Hancock Park-adjacent enclaves, a look at Bill Cosby’s latest legal tribulations and the rest of the L.A. news you need to start your day.

Larchmont and Windsor Square are among L.A.’s most idyllic neighborhoods — quaint and walkable, where the tree-lined streets have Craftsman homes that can cost upwards of $5 million.

But residents in this exclusive enclave between Hancock Park and Koreatown say they are increasingly exasperated by a robust nightly sex trade that has grown more intense in recent months — and more disturbing — due, in part, to actions of Los Angeles City officials. 

Some residents recount being awoken by the sound of sex outside their home. Others say they have witnessed fights between sex workers and their customers, or johns. 

The signs of it are everywhere across the landscape of well manicured lawns and hedges: Used condoms. Clumped up tissues. The shiny torn foil of Trojan wrappers scattered about the curbs. 

“The amount of biohazard debris is disgusting,” said Sam Uretsky of Larchmont, who described the situation to L.A. Material as “a full-on neighborhood emergency.”

Teams of outreach workers have been called in to the area by government leaders, and are now attempting to address the neighborhood’s complaints while focusing on helping the women involved in the trade. “They are still somebody's daughter, somebody's sister, potentially somebody's mom, and they are worthy of love, dignity and respect – not the scum of LA,” said Perla Landa, a lead crisis case manager.

City officials told L.A. Material that the uptick in sex traffic in the Larchmont neighborhood followed a crackdown on another prostitution corridor along Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles. For the last few years, police and local prosecutors have led an aggressive takedown, targeting traffickers, johns and hotel operators with civil and criminal penalties. 

But in trying to address the trade on Figueroa, city officials may have inadvertently created a rare municipal example of exporting a problem from a poor neighborhood into a rich one. 

Nearly five years ago, Bill Cosby was released from prison after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court threw out his sexual assault conviction. At the time, the former “Cosby Show” star had been serving a three-to-10-year sentence; he was freed after the state’s High Court ruled that officials had violated his due process rights, because a prosecutor broke an agreement not to charge him.

But on Monday, a Los Angeles-area jury found the comedian once known as “America’s Dad” liable for sexually assaulting and drugging a different woman in 1972. The civil case is one of several that Cosby, now 88, has faced. He has been accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women; Cosby has denied the allegations. 

A California law, approved in 2022, is what enabled 84-year-old Donna Motsinger to file her civil case over an assault that happened more than half a century ago. The law opened up a three-year “look back” window where plaintiffs could file claims that otherwise would have been long past the statute of limitations for such suits.

DEBATE FIASCO: Amid accelerating controversy, USC announced late Monday night that it was canceling a gubernatorial debate planned for Tuesday evening. The university had faced ferocious backlash for excluding all candidates of color from the debate stage, with many critics railing against the selection process.

LOCKING IN THE GERONTOCRACY: If Democrats take back the House in November, Rep. Maxine Waters, 87, plans to return as chair of the House Financial Services Committee. "I am Auntie Maxine,” Waters told Politico. “I don’t know who’s got more energy, more concern. And so, Maxine Waters seems to be doing alright.” (Waters, who has been in Congress for 35 years, is also facing an upstart Democratic challenger this year.)

BUFFED, WAXED AND READY: A vivid New York Times photoessay goes inside the “Baywatch” reboot’s open casting call, from a Vegas Chippendales veteran flaunting his hairless pecs to a 20-year-old waitress who touched up her highlights before hopping on a flight west from Missouri. 

OFF THE MENU: Neighbor complaints have gotten a classic “stinky” tofu dish banned from a Taiwanese restaurant in San Gabriel, in a sprawling local saga. 

GOODBYE, BURRO: The family operating a longtime Olvera Street photobooth, which features a sarape-wearing stuffed donkey, is being evicted after a lengthy legal battle, KTLA reports. 

OFF MESSAGE: If you wanted to hear what the three participating mayoral candidates (Adam Miller, Nithya Raman and Rae Huang) had to say at their first debate, you were largely out of luck if you were watching the event livestream. Technical issues garbled much of the audio, leaving viewers increasingly frustrated in the comment section. (Organizers sent out a full, ungarbled version of the video later Monday night.)

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, @dap finds an A-lister taking advantage of artichoke season in #celebritysightings.

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Funny” by Anna Kamieńska, translated by Stainsław Baranczak and Claire Cavanagh.