Jordan Cole
White Lodge
- Sep 22, 2022
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No idea where David Lynch lives, but is he doing ok what with all the fires? Anyone know anything? Pretty terrifying time.
Updates on Lynch and the fires?
- Thread starter Jordan Cole
- Start date
Dustoff
RR Diner
- Apr 12, 2022
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Indeed! And all that artwork... It's a catastrophe no matter how you look at it.
sneakydave
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
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sneakydave
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
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I
Stavrogyn
White Lodge
- Apr 12, 2022
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If you're a writer, you can just pick up your laptop or notebooks and run, but an artist... I can't even imagine how people must be feeling.
Stavrogyn
White Lodge
- Apr 12, 2022
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I'm wondering: those houses that burned to the ground, I guess they weren't made of bricks and mortar? I know that the US mostly has different practices than Europe when it comes to building materials, but I always assumed that expensive mansions such as those would opt for masonry.
If such a fire reached a house made of bricks, that would also be catastrophic, but I don't think that the house would literally burn to the ground. The furniture would be gone; walls and floors would turn black (I know it firsthand because I spend a few months each year in a house that survived a fire); but the building itself would remain standing - it would "just" need a thorough renovation.
What I'm basically asking is: how come those wealthy Hollywood people didn't own better houses?
If such a fire reached a house made of bricks, that would also be catastrophic, but I don't think that the house would literally burn to the ground. The furniture would be gone; walls and floors would turn black (I know it firsthand because I spend a few months each year in a house that survived a fire); but the building itself would remain standing - it would "just" need a thorough renovation.
What I'm basically asking is: how come those wealthy Hollywood people didn't own better houses?
AXX°N N.
Waiting Room
- Apr 14, 2022
- 386
- 895
Well, they owned better houses for the clime. Everything's relative and a trade-off. My understanding, as someone who has lived in both the south and the north, is that houses in desert-type environments are built to let heat out, whereas houses in the north are meant to keep heat inside. I had terrible problems with sound intrusion down south, and once a freakishly uncommon bit of cold weather blew in, tons of people's pipes froze and burst because they simply weren't weatherized for the opposite of the expected circumstance. And the electrical infrastructure also went belly-up. Meanwhile up north, I can't hear my neighbors a peep and I've seen much colder temps than I've ever seen, and yet everything runs smooth. Even sub-par houses here were built to withstand extreme cold.
I don't quite have the full picture, though. I'm seeing a lot of people refer to LA homes, and USA homes in general, as cardboard. And I've seen situations where a home is expensive but, all things considered, not terribly well-built. A place like LA is expensive, but a lot of that has to do with location. Expensive elsewhere at the same price bracket is probably better quality. But then there's the phenomenon of McMansions across the nation, which I'm not sure is a uniquely American thing or not.
Anyone else have insights?
Stavrogyn
White Lodge
- Apr 12, 2022
- 795
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That's exactly what people have been saying ever since I can remember. It has always been a recurring joke: "American houses are made of paper." (Of course, this is not a moment to be making jokes - I'm simply trying to paint a picture of what the general perception is.)
What I also always found strange is that even though the US has tornados, which we don't, they mostly build houses that clearly have no chance of withstanding them. I guess they're more affordable?
Mr. Reindeer
White Lodge
- Apr 13, 2022
- 950
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I think that's all probably pretty accurate. It's also worth noting that a lot of homes in L.A. were built in the mid-twentieth century during the boom in Hollywood, by newly-wealthy film people, who, let's just say...may have been more mindful of aesthetic concerns than practical ones. These are creative people we're talking about, after all. One final significant consideration is that wood is used in many L.A. buildings because it can better withstand earthquakes than other materials, a not-unimportant consideration...but obviously, it doesn't fare so well in fires.
Stavrogyn
White Lodge
- Apr 12, 2022
- 795
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That had also crossed my mind. But then again, I lived through two major earthquakes in 2020 - the first one in a building from the early 50s, and the second one in a building from 2015 - and in both cases, the buildings were shaking like crazy, but since both of them were made of materials that could withstand both fires and earthquakes, there was no real damage.
I could understand ordinary people owning "sub-par houses", but if I were a wealthy Hollywood figure, I would rather own a smaller house that could basically withstand a nuclear war than a mansion that could fit one hundred guests... Some buildings did manage to survive, such as this house in Malibu:
Did David Lynch's house survive? It was made of concrete, right? If I'm not mistaken, it looks like a bunker?
It's a shame that a tragedy of this proportions had to happen.
Jordan Cole
White Lodge
- Sep 22, 2022
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- Thread starter
- #16
First job of the detectives investigating: Look into who lives in that house!
Mr. Reindeer
White Lodge
- Apr 13, 2022
- 950
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He has three houses all next to each other. My understanding is that that particular fire was contained relatively quickly (compared to some of the others anyway) and didn’t reach his houses. His complex is no longer in an evacuation zone, but I’m sure the air quality all over L.A. is not great for him.
- Apr 12, 2022
- 281
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Aside from it clearly being an architectural blight upon the landscape even before these tragic fires, that house, or condo building, or whatever it is, must have some serious problems, what with having been surrounded by all of that heat and smoke. I wouldn't be surprised if it will need to be completely gutted, wiring and all, if it's even salvageable in the first place.
Its still impressive. It seems that we often see some standout structures like this in the aftermaths of natural disasters. I wonder what accounts for its relatively intact appearance.
Here's hoping that Lynch's home(s) and art are unscathed, and that, to echo Mr. Reindeer, he got out of dodge before the smoke was too much of an issue.
- Apr 12, 2022
- 77
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Lesli Linka Glatter Loses Home in L.A. Fires
The DGA president and top TV director-producer is just the latest high-profile figure to see her house destroyed by the wildfires across southern California.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
AXX°N N.
Waiting Room
- Apr 14, 2022
- 386
- 895
Horrible. Not the last of the TP family to be affected I imagine.
I wonder if this will have a lasting and significant change on the industry. It's already at economic cross-roads, and perhaps this will cause many to break from LA as a currently unsustainable locale. I know the history of LA isn't without elemental warts, but it's now far from the magnetic clime that once persuaded the establishment of an entire medium's output.
I myself just moved from a place that became too ravaged to bear anymore, except from water, not fire. One of the places I was considering was New Mexico, the elevation of which produces sustained mild weather. Interestingly, they've had a slowly growing film industry crop up there ever since Breaking Bad. Perhaps it's the next Hollywood?
I wonder if this will have a lasting and significant change on the industry. It's already at economic cross-roads, and perhaps this will cause many to break from LA as a currently unsustainable locale. I know the history of LA isn't without elemental warts, but it's now far from the magnetic clime that once persuaded the establishment of an entire medium's output.
I myself just moved from a place that became too ravaged to bear anymore, except from water, not fire. One of the places I was considering was New Mexico, the elevation of which produces sustained mild weather. Interestingly, they've had a slowly growing film industry crop up there ever since Breaking Bad. Perhaps it's the next Hollywood?
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