Special Episode Part 3 Los Angeles Fires: Housing Wars
The Unspeakable Podcast
Meghan Daum
4.8 • 784 Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been three weeks since my house burned to the ground in the Los Angeles wildfires. Here are some thoughts on rent gouging, couch surfing, and the lifestyles of the rich and unhoused.
A note on this photo. I took it from Farnsworth Park in Altadena on New Year’s Day, one week before the fire. That thing in the sky is the Goodyear Blimp hovering over Rose Bowl Stadium during the game.
Earlier dispatches.
January 9: The First 24 Hours
January 16: The Immaterial World
How to help? Become a paying subscriber to this podcast on Substack or leave a donation of any amount in the tip jar. Your support is deeply appreciated.
Visit The Unspeakable on YouTube.
Learn about The Unspeakeasy, a community for freethinking women.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, everyone. This is Megan. I'm recording this on Monday, January 27th. It's been nearly three weeks |
| 0:08.5 | since the fire is here in Los Angeles, and I have been not exactly couch surfing, but guest room |
| 0:15.5 | surfing since then. I have just now landed in a friend's guest house. It's a one-room studio apartment in their backyard |
| 0:24.7 | with a bed and a sofa and a kitchenette. And I am so happy to be here. Before I tell you more |
| 0:32.6 | about what's going on with me and update you on the situation here in L.A., especially the housing situation, |
| 0:39.0 | my favorite topic, so we're going to talk about that. A little bit of housekeeping. |
| 0:43.8 | I have been a guest on a couple of podcasts recently, not related to the fires. These were |
| 0:49.6 | appearances that were lined up well before then. But you can hear me on Josh Zepts's uncomfortable conversations, |
| 0:58.1 | for one, and also Mike Peska's The Gist. The conversation with Josh was recorded about |
| 1:03.5 | 36 hours maybe before my house burned down. And we were talking about a subject that I'm sure |
| 1:10.0 | my subconscious is still obsessed with, |
| 1:12.4 | even though I actually haven't really thought about it for weeks. And that is the culture wars. |
| 1:16.7 | We talked about kind of the state of things with the new Trump administration. We talked about |
| 1:21.8 | what I'm doing with the unspeakies. I think, you know what, I don't even remember what we talked about, |
| 1:26.0 | that it feels like another lifetime. With Mike Peska, that was recorded shortly after the fires, we talked about |
| 1:35.8 | the Me Too movement, among other things. We talked about what I was doing with the unspeakee and sort of |
| 1:40.9 | what's going on with women. And those two are really two of my favorite podcasters. |
| 1:47.1 | They're both just so incredibly smart and talented. And it was a privilege to be on with them. |
| 1:51.5 | So check out the gist and uncomfortable conversations if you're not sick of my voice. |
| 1:56.6 | Anyway, let's see. Here I am. I can finally put my stuff down. All this random stuff people have |
| 2:05.2 | been giving me over the last three weeks, donated clothing, pet supplies, all that kind of stuff, |
| 2:12.3 | which is essentially in shopping bags so I can put it down and have some privacy and even resume the regular podcast |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -62 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Meghan Daum, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Meghan Daum and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.