How You Can Help Me Recover
From the Sunset Fire in my Hollywood Neighborhood ... and All the Others
The fires in my beloved Los Angeles, my home, have escalated from something that happens to other people to my existential disaster. The environment of Blade Runner 2049 is no longer science fiction. It’s now just another day. For fellow humans in Los Angeles County, So Say We All.
Sunset Fire
The Sunset Fire is now a grey icon on the Watch Duty app. I’m back home after a mandatory evacuation on Wednesday night. But my city and my world is dramatically different. Not unlike during the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes, I’m in crisis. As I type, looks like the Archer Fire is new. Winds are forecast to pick up again in days. Will 100-mile an hour Santa Ana winds blow another ember into what’s left of Runyon or the Hollywood Hills above me? Who knows.
Work Shut Down
What I do know is that the event enabling a gig I had planned for Monday suddenly left town for Arizona. Productions are shutting down. What seemed like a new regular gig for me for the next 8 weeks included. For how long? Great question.
Like many of my non-celebrity industry colleagues, I’m already on fumes. I may share more of the backstory in “My Sunset Fire Story”. Unlike many, I did not lose my home. Yet. I share a studio apartment with another dude. It’s not been great for my mental health. It’s been getting worse. Since before the fires. Now I can’t get out to work on set. And we are encouraged to stay indoors, due to air quality and emergency responder access. Others have it much worse. I see GoFundMe’s raising tens of thousands of dollars within hours for people who lost a home they owned. As little as $5,000 or even $2,000 would change my life. I have no retirement. I have no savings. I have little available credit.
I do have an ebay store with mostly books and collectibles. I have a long-term business plan that often sources items that others donate. But it takes time. I have much more I can list from my storage unit in North Hollywood. But it is all long-tail stuff. It does sell, but it takes weeks and months, not days. Instead of listing more print ads the last few days, I’ve been just dealing. With Armageddon.
Not Leaving LA
I lack the desire or luxury to leave Los Angeles. I’d like to continue listing and shipping orders for my ebay store. I need a safe place to photograph items and complete listings. I need daily access to my storage unit in North Hollywood. I need a commute on the Metro train that accommodates my rolling suitcase. It’s like an SUV for pedestrians. When it’s heavy enough, escalators and elevators are preferable. So being close to Metro B (Red) Line stops is crucial. When productions start up again, I need to be in LA so I can respond YES to the availability request from my show. As background, I usually get only 12-24 hours notice.
This post is a work in progress, so if you believe I should survive and recover in Los Angeles, please keep checking back. No pressure here. As Ferris Bueller would say, “If you have the means”. Or you might know someone. Or have something of value you wouldn’t miss. If you need help yourself, please ask. Use my post here as an example to create your own. Communication is critical.
Willing to Help
Last night I was planning on volunteering today and this weekend. I’m now signed up with World Central Kitchen and It’s Bigger Than Us. But then my Monday gig left town. And I realized my acting stand-in gig may not pick up again early next week. So instead of volunteering to help others, I’m focusing on replacing the income I now expect to lose in the upcoming weeks. And create some financial buffer. Once a few of my needs are met, I’d like to pick up volunteering. My town is under attack. Strangers have already helped me. I’m eager to pay it forward.
But I Need Help
But I must put the Eagle Scout in me on time out for a moment. And ask for help. We all created climate change with our choices as consumers and as a civilization. We all stubbornly refused to make Universal Basic Income law. We all ceded power to billionaires frightened they can’t get more. Those choices we all made gives me, and everyone else flirting with poverty, the bold mandate to ask for help. Even beg for it. Without qualification.
There are resources available. Mutual Aid LA has a phenomenal sheet of help and how one can donate, volunteer or offer help. Many celebrities in my industry have shared it on social media. And looks like Entertainment Community Fund might respond. As I have time, I will investigate all these resources. Bear in mind that more forms and qualifying questions and required documents slows the process. It took quite a bit of time last night for me to complete intake forms just to get on a volunteer list for 2 orgs. Look, I get how some of that qualifying is necessary. But this is a disaster. We need less friction in getting help to people in crisis. Filling out forms should not be a barrier to getting help. I will prioritize my own mental health over bureaucracy. We need to learn more from the pandemic and other disasters. If we had Universal Basic Income, so much of this wouldn’t even be necessary.
Thank you for reading. Huge thanks to those who have already helped or simply reached out to see how I’m doing. We can get through this. But we need a massive wave of mutual aid and fresh thinking. Find and build your team. Or join one. LA is a town of strangers no longer. We desperately need non-celebrity everyday people just like you. Take an honest inventory of your resources, skills and bandwidth. Get more rest. Drink more healthy fluids. Check-in with and (if you can) hug your loved ones. Sometimes taking care of yourself is the best thing you can do to be of service to others. This crisis will still be here tomorrow. No act of kindness is too small. It all adds up. Ask yourself: What CAN I do? I believe in us.
How You Can Help Me, for your consideration:
Donate
Venmo (fee free)
Cash App (fee free)
PayPal (I’m charged a fee)
Patreon - Artist Basic Income (we lack Universal Basic Income). This provides a documented regular income that might help me with future housing rental prospects.
GoFundMe - legacy Artist Basic Income
Support My Small Business
ebay Hollywood 90028 store
Lt. Frank - hire my improv comedy character for your Super Bowl party or other event.
Substack - choose a paid subscription to encourage my writing
Who Do You Know Can Offer…?
Spare Room or Space
for my mental health and/or as a work space. My current living situation is a shared studio. I have a roommate who sits 10 feet away from me right now. He rarely leaves. I can’t do what I need to do on my laptop, for my recovery and to conduct my ebay business here for another week. At a minimum, I need some breaks. Who do you know with a spare room or space? This would be for hours, not necessarily overnight. More options means the burden rests not just with one person. If five people offered the right space for just 4 hours, that is 20 hours that would transform my life in the next week. The ideal location would have these characteristics:
within 10-15 minute walk of Metro B (Red) Line - especially Hollywood/Highland, North Hollywood, or Studio City Universal - I have no car or driver’s license, but I am an expert at using public transportation daily (with the occasional rideshare)
desk or table or work area where I can set up a laptop, a 16”x16'“x16” lightbox and file box
high-speed internet - WiFi or ethernet
electricity
well-insulated and sealed from outside air, with air conditioning and working indoor air filters
Pets - Yes, yours, under the right circumstances. I have no pets myself. I’ve been hired to pet sit in Beverly Hills in the past. Right now, I’d love to pet a groovy dog or have a curious cat rub against my leg. I realize everyone believes their kids and pets are the best and are well-behaved. For my ebay work, minimal hair in the environment is best. Dogs and cats who won’t jump on me or the items I’m photographing for ebay are preferred. No birds.
House Sitting Opportunity
Many are leaving town during the fires. Perhaps you’d like a reliable and trusted person to check in on your place or stay there while you are gone. Emergency services are maxed out. Looting and other crime is a growing concern. I could serve as your eyes and ears and a visible presence. Thieves often are cowards seeking the path of least resistance. The presence of a six-foot-tall dude might be deterrent enough. Your need for that might pair well with my need for a private space to work & recover.
Mental Health Professional
The kind celebrities pay $500+/hr for. But you're willing to do it pro bono. Or navigate my LA Care. I struggle with multiple traumas since childhood. Also depression, anxiety and suicide ideation. The fires have created a situation where I’m forced to spend much more time at home, where I lack privacy, which overall remains a toxic environment for my mental health. Therefore, telehealth or Zoom calls are not an option. Until my housing situation or access to private safe spaces changes, I must come to your office, in person.
Attorney, Real Estate
Seeking a Martindale AV-rated caliber real estate attorney willing to offer their services pro bono, on behalf of a renter with mental health needs and limited financial resources seeking a new housing situation. Services would include reviewing AirBNB type rental agreements as well as short-term and long-term lease agreements and other legal documents. Find predatory language harmful to tenants, and re-write contract to protect renter. Conduct background checks and investigations to screen prospective landlords for history of predatory actions.
Real Estate Professional
Seeking an artist-friendly professional who recognizes the value a working improv actor and union actor bring to the “Hollywood” and “Los Angeles” locations that is the Realtor’s stock in trade. It was volunteers from the LA Tenants Union that got me temporary housing within minutes of a mandatory evacuation. Not a real estate professional. Time to step up Los Angeles Realtors! I invite you. You have the real estate contacts. You know Los Angeles. This town is changing dramatically. Housing was already scarce. Affordable or not. Now housing supply is shrinking rapidly. Demand is skyrocketing. Prices will rise. Corporate predators are already circling the smoldering neighborhoods, waiting to grab land for pennies on the dollar. The deck was already heavily stacked in favor of money and real estate owners. Non-celebrity working actors like me desperately need your help. Are you a predator? Or a helper?