Good morning. It’s Monday, March 30th. Expect one of those cloudy spring days where it doesn’t feel like you need sunscreen, but you should probably put it on anyway — UVs will be high in the afternoon.
In today’s newsletter, we have the stories of entertainment industry workers who have taken on other jobs during the slowdown, an update on Saturday’s “No Kings” protests, and a look at what’s on the docket around L.A. this week.
Longtime Hollywood workers are picking up new gigs to stay afloat.
Sarah Lind has worked steadily as an actress since she was a teenager, but three years ago, as work became scarce, she took a “survival job” at a bra boutique. (Alex Zaragoza / L.A. Material)
“I was seeing the money accumulate.”
“Whatever we were having in our mind, we did it.”
“I was by no means killing it or rich, but it was a living.”
They’re creatives who’ve accumulated a solid body of work in Hollywood: an actor who’s done eighty episodes of TV, a writer who’s staffed on multiple prominent shows and published a book, set designers who worked on major productions, including Bad Bunny’s halftime show.
But since the slowdown in production that has impacted every facet of the entertainment industry, they’ve all had to take on entirely new jobs to make ends meet.
“It makes you feel like you didn't exist.”
“I'm just watching my savings account dwindle every month.”
“I should be able to rent a little apartment and make my pot of beans.”
L.A. Material contributor Alex Zaragoza spoke to seven entertainment professionals about the survival gigs they’ve taken on, the jobs they used to have, and how it feels to pivot from a career path that once felt set.
The detours they’ve taken follow some very divergent roads: teaching kids how to swim, working at a bra store, and making decorative chainmail armor. These new jobs, in addition to not being the ones they’d planned for, are often difficult and come with their own risks.
“I feel like I'm working all the time and on a hamster wheel.”
“I thought I would never go back to this job.”
“We have no fucking idea how to run a restaurant.”
They got into specifics about their financial realities — both in their current jobs and their Hollywood careers. Several have children, the trunk of their decision trees.
They’re trying to make the best of what they’re doing now, and most said that they’re happy to have jobs at all. Some of them are discovering satisfaction in their new work.
“I try to find the joy in it.”
“I feel like I'm providing something that is really necessary for kids.”
“We are from countries that are always in crisis. We don’t have any fear to reinvent ourselves.”
A lot has been written about productions fleeing to other states and countries, followed by now-former Angelenos seeking more opportunities in the business and a lower cost of living. But all of these Hollywood workers are doing everything they can to stay in L.A. — and they’re holding out hope that they can get back into the work they came here to do.
“I can't allow myself to give up quite yet.”
“I know the possibility is one job away. I'm not going to give up.”
“I love it here in Los Angeles. I don't want to leave. My whole life is here.”
For the full story of seven people sharing their experience — one that thousands of people in L.A. are going through right now — read Alex Zaragoza’s entire piece here:
THE WEEK AHEAD
MONDAY: Los Angeles city offices will be closed for Farmworkers Day, which until last week was known as Cesar Chavez Day.
TUESDAY: Confusingly, the state celebrates the same holiday (Farmworkers Day, née Cesar Chavez Day) on Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY: Passover begins at sundown Wednesday. And for those looking to pre-order their seder feasts, Eater LA has a very exciting list of options. (Wednesday is also April Fool’s Day, so warily eye anything you read online.)
THURSDAY: Some of Glendale’s best Armenian kabobs will make it to the Westside when the new Neighborly multi-restaurant kitchen opens on San Vicente Blvd. in Brentwood, in partnership with Mini Kabob and other vendors.
SATURDAY: Across the county line, the two most prominent Republican gubernatorial candidates, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and commentator Steve Hilton, will face off in a debate moderated by Richard Grenell and hosted by the Lincoln Club of Coachella Valley.
READING MATERIAL
THE NEW COLOSSUS: On Saturday evening, in the aftermath of the anti-Trump “No Kings” protests taking place across the city, more than 70 protestors were arrested as LAPD officers declared an illegal assembly outside the Federal Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, shooting tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd. Among the most-photographed arrests: a woman dressed like the Statue of Liberty. Adam Rose, Secretary of the LA Press Club, also reported multiple detentions of journalists.
A DREAM DEFERRED: Variety has the scoop on TEDx Beverly Grove, a March 14th event that cost $154 a ticket and promised to convene business luminaries like Rick Caruso, but was actually held at “a black box theater on Santa Monica Blvd. next to a 7-11” and ultimately not attended by Rick Caruso. The event’s host was reportedly “served with legal papers by a process server before he took the stage for opening remarks.”
SONG OF MYSELF: In other mid-performance process serving news, comedian Learnmore Jonasi was served onstage at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Blvd. last week for making jokes about the English translation of the lyrics of “Circle of Life,” the song from Disney’s The Lion King. Jonasi, whose routine claims that the opening lines of the song translate to “Look, there’s a lion / Oh my God,” is being sued for $27 million in damages by the song’s composer, Lebo M.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN: A cyberattack on L.A. Metro locked employees out of their accounts for much of last week, disrupting TAP card reloading, bus and rail arrival time tracking, and other core functions. TAP reloading has reportedly been restored, but according to Security Affairs, the hacker group Worldleaks claims to have stolen 160 GB of city data.
RAW MATERIAL
For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, @Chris Rider offers an after-hours glimpse into the life of a delivery robot:
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