LA fires Ep#66

[00:00:00] Do you smell smoke? Yeah, I'm just smoking a cigarette. That's one huge fucking cigarette. You could burn a whole town down with that goddamn thing. Hello and welcome to Shit I Told My Hairdresser. Jack, how are ya? Hi Jason. I'm okay.

[00:00:29] I'm just uh, here. Ready to move back to LA? No, and you know why. Yeah. So if I had any kind of urge to move back there and weather where I'm at now is real cold and I don't like it. Yeah, well down there is real hot. I've yeah, it's a little too hot.

[00:00:50] So the times I've thought about moving back there, I usually pass, you know, and now after the fires, I don't think I want to live there ever. Hard pass. Ever again. And part of the reason is, so like a lot of my house calls, a lot of my clients lived up in the Palisades and Malibu. Yeah, exactly. And their homes are going, I think. Yeah.

[00:01:19] Pelair was okay. I think it was, yeah. And Beverly Hills and all that. So like, so those who don't know the layout of Los Angeles, you know, you got the rich neighborhoods, the really rich neighborhoods like Beverly Hills. Everyone knows. Yeah. Bel Air is above Beverly Hills there. There's others around it, you know. And then the Palisades is like, maybe like the Beverly Hills family version near the beach. Correct.

[00:01:49] Near enough. And that is what is totally gone. It's done. That city's done. So, yeah. And most of the people who lived up there are the ones who ran Hollywood. Hollywood's, I'm wondering, they're not rebuilding there for a long time anyway. It's going to be a while, that's for sure. Yeah. And I'm kind of wondering what's going to happen, what impact this is going to take on the city of Los Angeles.

[00:02:17] I mean, we were there for the housing crisis in 2008, and that was a shit show. I mean, for a lot of people in the industry, I mean, Hollywood made like a hundred less movies a year, which it's weird how that impacts like everyone around, you know.

[00:02:36] And I remember even the rents in downtown Beverly Hills where people were getting like 34 to 40 bucks a square foot went down to three bucks a square foot for the retail spaces, which is like unheard of for downtown Beverly Hills. Which is sort of what it should have been anyway, you know. Correct. Yes. It just shows you like how inflated it all was, really. And so like these fires, you know, some of these homes are a multi-million dollar huge homes.

[00:03:05] Some of them by famous architects, you know, it's like they're gone. So like a lot of these people, they had a lot of things like they had a lot of art hanging up. Yep. So like, I wonder how many Picassos are gone. Rembrandts. I know it's true. Things like that. Yeah. Those are gone. They're not taking anything. And if someone didn't loot them already, though, you know, have you heard about that? Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. And they had video of it. People leave it to Los Angeles.

[00:03:35] All right. To go through and have a major catastrophe happen. And during this, people are going through and looting these houses as there's fires raging all around them. Well, I mean. I just wanted to what their parents did in the, you remember the Rodney King riots? You know, they burned Koreatown and then looted everything.

[00:04:00] And so they were heading up towards Beverly Hills and there was like a wall of police right there. That's probably what's happening now, you know. Oh, there's video of it all over. People say houses, they had surveillance. Yeah. And they show these people just going inside there and just going and going into the houses and just looting, just taking it. Yeah. So. Yeah. Create an opportunity and someone's going to take it. Right. Yeah. Why not?

[00:04:27] And crazy thing is a lot of these people who lived in the palisades have left. They've either, they have another place like in New York, maybe. True. Or somewhere in Europe. And some of them even had, they lived in Beverly Hills. And so there's second home, beach house in Malibu. I know. So they lost their beach house, you know.

[00:04:52] So that was, I know when I explained to clients that I had people in LA that they would have their house, their normal house. That's like 14,000 square feet, five stories, you know, in, in, uh, Bel Air. But then they would have their summer home literally 10 miles away in Malibu. And people are like, wait, wait, what? I go, yeah. Well, it's a different world and it's a beach, you know. It's like. Yeah.

[00:05:18] Because it's 10 degrees warmer at this location up the hill than it's 10 degrees cooler down the hill. So we'll go there for the summertime. Sure. Yeah. Why not? And, and it's, uh. So they're 10,000 square foot summer home. So some of these people, like I'm thinking of like one client I had, that's his only home is. Yes. So like he lived on the beach. Uh, his house is like a, some famous architect built it. He loved it. You know, it's a bachelor pad, you know?

[00:05:48] Um, but. I went, I went to a party at his house. I remember. Oh, that's right. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a cool place. Not huge. No. No. Didn't need to be. But it's just perfect. I had to knit. It was really cool. Because it's right on the water. Yes. Not technically Malibu, but it's right there. It's that whole strip of houses. So that's gone. That's his only home. And. That's who I feel bad for. It's the people who.

[00:06:16] You know, lost everything. You know, regular. Only house. Yes. And that is all gone. And they'll have to figure out something else. You know, like I wonder where did they go? These insurance companies are not really helping. Because let me tell you, a lot of them are pulling out of California. Because the prices are high, but they didn't even cover fire. So that is going to devastate LA. That's for sure. My mom has property in San Diego.

[00:06:43] I remember telling her, if you have any trouble down there, you better come out of pocket. Otherwise, your insurance company is going to drop you or you're going to be paying through the roof for insurance. So it's just, it's a, you know, there's your catch, isn't it? You know, either you come out of pocket. Hopefully you have the money to do it. Or you don't have anywhere to come back to. And that's going to be the case for a lot of people in LA. Sure. Well, where did they go now? So they will shy away from like any house up in the hills.

[00:07:13] They could move over to Beverly Hills, you know, or somewhere like that. Chances are they're not going to do it again. Because fires happen. Everyone knows it happens. They just, they didn't think it would happen to them. Right. And so where did they go to the flats? Are they going to live in Hollywood? No way. There's junkies walking around and they don't want to be near that. I know, right? It's. They need to be sheltered somewhere. They will leave LA, I think.

[00:07:39] And so you remember when 9-11 happened and there was a mass exodus out of New York. Oh, absolutely. So like a lot of them moved to LA. And the reason I know that is they were a lot of my clients, you know, some of them were, they were looking for hiring salons. And then I worked at Chris McMillan's salon and they're like, yeah, I have to New York. I'm out of there, you know?

[00:08:07] So they hated LA, by the way. They all did. Yeah. They just like to talk shit about it. It's like they hated to be there. They say it's not a real city because it's not all stacked up on each other, you know? Right. Oh, I remember. They left after about. Slow things were. Yeah. They left after about 10 years, but they had to be in a major city. At the time, there was no remotely working situations.

[00:08:37] Now there is. So they don't have to be in LA. I'm talking about Hollywood as the industry, the business of Hollywood, making movies and TV and everything. So. Yeah, they can be away. They don't have to go to New York. They can go to Atlanta, Vancouver. I feel bad for the people who, you know, their businesses burned down or just the everyday workforce. Well, yeah. In Los Angeles. Those are the people who are going to, they're going to be devastated.

[00:09:07] That's for sure. Because, I mean, you not only had, you know, 2020 where COVID happened, then you had the writer strike, which a lot of people were out of work, you know? And the thing about this is like, oh, that affects the writers. No, it affects a lot of people. It affects all of Hollywood. All that affected us, you know? It really did. And so, like, here's what those fires, those homes and businesses burned, you know? So there's coffee shops, there's schools, there's teachers, you know?

[00:09:37] There's probably hair salons, you know? There's hairdressers who don't have anywhere to work. Yeah. But I don't have any clients around right now. Right now. Well, they'll probably still be around. I'd be staying with friends or the Bear of the Hills Hotel. I know that place is packed right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of work going around. There's, like, not a vacancy available. You know the price of the rooms is, like, quadrupled. Yeah, exactly.

[00:10:03] And people are, like, subletting their hotel room to people or something. Anything to make a little money, you know? They have a salon, I think, right? Don't they have, like, a nail salon? It's a nail salon, yeah. But not, like, actual proper hair. It's a spa. Yeah. You know, but there's no hair salon inside there. If anyone's using it right now, they just lost. You know they are. This is L.A. Oh, listen. You know they are. I've noticed. This is just a place to stay for them.

[00:10:33] Yeah. Right now until they go to their other home. Right. You know? Well, some of them don't have a second home, you know. If you're staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, more than likely, you probably do. Well, I don't know. If you're paying that, I don't know. Where's your second home then? Why aren't you there? Yeah. And so there's actually some salons who are offering complimentary blowouts to the victims of the fires who have lost homes or directly affected by them.

[00:11:02] Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've seen that. I don't know if that's really on my mind. What do you think about that? If my house just burnt down, I don't know if my hair would be... I'd be wearing a hat. You know, I'd be sunglasses. I mean... You know, the LA incognito look, you know, baseball cap. Well, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. That's like you want to... Because here's what's happening. I'm noticing is some of these clients I've had or just people I follow, these actors who

[00:11:31] I like or don't like. I follow them too. Sure. Because I like to say what they're up to. Because I do know who they are. Some of them are ridiculous. Some of them are very nice people. And so they have been posting reels of themselves saying, so just to let everyone know, I know you're wondering, I'm okay. So my house is okay.

[00:12:00] You know, I survived. Meanwhile... Oh, that's really good to know. I'm so glad to hear that. They live like 20 miles away from the fires. They just wanted to be... Relevant for a moment. Yeah. They're using this tragedy to make it about them. You know, they're not getting attention. This is who they are, Jason. It's the city of opportunities. And this is an opportune moment to take. You know what I mean? So why not? We're so glad you're okay.

[00:12:30] That's really good. I'm glad you're good. Hey, but I don't know who was asking. So like if anyone... Right. So the ones who are posting, it's like, hey, I lost my home. Yeah. The reason that they're doing it is people are asking or they are wondering whether it's news or whatever, you know, and they're letting them know we're okay. We lost our home. So we're staying with friends or whatever. They're not having their hair done. You're right. They're wearing the baseball caps or whatever.

[00:13:00] But if I saw somebody posting how they're okay, put their hair done, they just lost their home, but they had just gone to get a complimentary blowout. Yeah. Oh, good. What is wrong with them? How about you taking a hairstylist that actually needs a bit of income? You know what I mean? And maybe you have lost their hair salon or their clientele or something like that. Maybe that is happening. I hope so. I really hope so. They're not letting us know about it.

[00:13:26] What I think is happening is they're just like those actors who are saying they're okay when no one really asked about them. They just want to make money off of something horrible. Every opportunity. Every single one, right? Every missed opportunity. And we're back. All right, guys. If you haven't done it already, if you don't mind, go through and smash up those likes.

[00:13:56] Give us a rating on wherever you get your podcasts. Help us grow. If you don't mind, other people can kind of hear it. Hear those podcasts. And do it like it's your job. Like it's a real emergency. All right? Get down there and give us those emergency likes immediately. Speaking of emergencies. Speaking of emergencies, right.

[00:14:20] Needing your hair done last minute because your house burned and your hair tools with it. That's a legit emergency, I think. That's legit. Yeah. I agree. I would accept that as like, okay, let me move someone around. You know, you need it done. Yeah. Maybe. What else is a legit one? Like I've heard a lot of people claim emergency and some of them are, some of them aren't.

[00:14:50] I know. What's a real hair emergency? So like, I've thought about this. Okay. Job interview. Last minute. You know, you want to look good. I get it. Yeah. So like, hey, they hold me back. I'm going to go meet with them. I really need my haircut. You know, I need this job. That's legit. Especially if their hair was fucked up. Like a wedding. I've had people who had their hair fucked up just before their wedding. That's legit. Yeah.

[00:15:20] So this has happened multiple times. Like someone will call in or just even walk in. If I know this one and they have had a bad haircut that same day. Just. And they're like, you know, I don't like it. It's awful. And I don't want them touching my hair again. Can you fix it? Yes. You're like, yeah, it is. Yes, I can. You look terrible. Sit down. It'll cost you. No, I had.

[00:15:50] Well, speaking of weddings, though, I had a client. Brian or daughter didn't have an appointment. Right. Brought her in and she had two pigtails and one was missing. So, and the woman was getting married the next day. And her daughter was going to be the flower girl in the wedding. Okay. We was going to get herself ready for the wedding. And she took a pair of scissors, decided to give herself a haircut and just took off one of the pigtails. Okay. Fricking genius. So she came in with just one and that was it.

[00:16:18] And I remember the girl, the receptionist was like, can you do it? I'm like, oh, hell yeah, I'm doing this. I'm like, absolutely. It's the best thing ever. Yeah. It was awesome. You know, and that is a legit hair emergency, you know? Yeah. And the kid who put Vaseline in there in his hair. Okay. Well, that's really just like using enough shampoo. Salons have enough shampoo. Get that out. So it didn't come out. It didn't come out. It didn't come out.

[00:16:48] No, you just have to cut it. It didn't come out. We were trying to comb it out and trying to shampoo it over a wet Vaseline does not come out. They actually had to go through and take them to the ER to get something to like get it off his head. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you don't want to block in the pores and stuff like that. That's a real emergency. It was bad. It was really, really bad. That's not a hair emergency at that point. Right. It's a hair emergency plus. Yeah. But it was like an entire jar of Vaseline. This kid put on his hair. He want to look like his dad.

[00:17:18] Best thing I've ever seen. Did he look like dad? No. Okay. Well, the mission failed. So like last minute things, you know, like I have had somebody call up and I need to be squeezed in. I got a last minute invitation to the Oscars. Yeah. Okay. That's a big deal. Fair enough. Presenting or anything. They're just going along with, they want to experience it.

[00:17:46] This is like someone who normally wouldn't go to something like that. Things like that usually happen last minute, you know? So, and it's on a Sunday. So if you're not doing anybody like right then, that's one of those. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of those like, Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Yeah. Busy. And the answer was yes. I was already doing hair. So I'm squeezing in another one. And that's that.

[00:18:13] If somebody were to call me up, it was like, Hey, my family's in a scandal right now. I get to go on CNN and clear my name. Can you do my hair? Sure. Sure. Yeah. Sure. Why not? I'm going to meet you at this CNN building in Hollywood then. So I can watch it. I got a phone call from an agent asking if I could squeeze someone in immediately.

[00:18:41] And I was like, sure. And then she like put it on the phone with the manager and the manager. All I see was the eyes get kind of big. And she's like, I'm clearing us a couple of spots out and you're doing this girl's hair. I'm like, okay. And it was from the TV show Mad Men. And they asked the hairstylist to go through and go through and add some texture to those girls' hair. One of the actresses hair was like one of the main characters. Yeah. And they completely trashed it.

[00:19:09] And it was in the middle of shooting. Okay. As they were doing it. Yeah. And so I had to go through and fix. So that was a legit one. I had to go through and fix her haircut. And they had to change the script where she went to the hair salon and got her hair changed. And her shoulders a bit. That's a huge amount of stuff. It was going to cost a lot of people a lot of money, you know, if they didn't go through and get this hair fixed. Yeah. Cause it was like right in the middle of shooting.

[00:19:37] So we had a writer there rewriting the script. Wow. Yeah. It was crazy. But that's less. I think that's pretty legit. And people have no idea what happens behind the scenes sometimes. Exactly. Sometimes it's something stupid. Like some fucking hairdresser dresses up, you know. Yeah. And that's actually happened also. I've had last minute things like I have a huge event. Maybe it's awards. And my hairdresser didn't show up.

[00:20:07] Yeah. Or canceled last minute. You know, they're fucked up on drugs or something, you know, or passed out in the bushes in a park. Yeah. And it's like, no, I'll do it. Sure. Sure. It'll cost you. Or they canceled to do someone bigger than that person or whatever. You know what I mean? That's happened too. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe not to me. I've seen it happen. And I've seen that person who's not as famous show up anyway.

[00:20:38] Oh, yeah. Yeah. We talked about that. Yep. That was like on one of the first shows we did. Yeah. Yeah. That was a huge deal. I can't say who. But what are the most ridiculous reasons people have saying it's a hair emergency, but it's really not? Yeah. They just, their assistant didn't make an appointment for them or they didn't have an appointment. And it's the weekend. But it's the weekend. That's always it. But they have a reason.

[00:21:06] They have to go to something or be seen. It's usually like dinner. Yeah. But they've called it a hair emergency. I was like, yes. Where are you going? You know? Oh, I'm going to go to this place. I got to get my hair done. I was like, what's on that menu that you've got to? Yeah. That's that amazing. You know, is that like a dinner interview or like, no, it's just out. No, they're just going out. Going out and they don't have an appointment. That's usually what it is.

[00:21:36] Or I'm, I'm going away for the weekend. My boyfriend's taking me out for the weekend to Santa Barbara or New Mexico. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. What? Not an emergency. I got to get in. I have to get in. You do. Well, you know, I mean, literally on the phone, I got to get in or they're blowing up your phone. I have. Can you stay late? No. Get your hair done in Mexico then, wherever you're going. You know? Exactly. Go to the blow dry bar. Shit, man.

[00:22:03] Like if I hear, yeah, I have a hair emergency. Can you get me in? I was like, what's going on? You know, did you mess it up? Barney's is having a 50% off sale. We're going out of business. So I'm going to go and I need my hair done. No. I miss Barney's. That's me too. I still have a lot of things I bought there. I lived right there. You know, how did you actually? That's not an emergency though. No.

[00:22:34] No, it's not an emergency. It's just the stupidest shit. Not legit. People will kind of like make up or, you know. Yeah. There are certain times that, yeah, you need to go through and like, hey, I burnt plastic into my hair. That actually did happen. Yeah. Okay. That's an emergency. That's legit. Put her curling iron down on her bathroom counter next to a plastic bottle. It melted the plastic bottle. She picked it up and then went to curl her hair and she melted the plastic into her hair. So it was sticking up. Yeah.

[00:23:03] This white little plastic thing in the middle and her hair was sticking straight up into the air. That's an emergency. After I got done laughing at her, you know, because that's the funniest shit I've ever seen. I actually had to take a flat iron and kind of lightly melt it a little bit and start peeling it out, you know, a little bit at a time. It literally took me like four hours to do. It was insane. She didn't want to have a cut. Like you have to scrape it out, like warm it up just enough and then scrape it out. And then scrape it out. Yeah. So do you use your nails or? Everything.

[00:23:32] Whatever I could, whatever I could use. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah. But that, that's legit. You know what I mean? That is legit. You know what I mean? But it's just like some of these people, it was like that the emergency was that it was Friday night and they needed to get in. The emergency is. And they're screaming at their front desk. Well, yeah. Yeah. That's when it's not cool. And, and it's like, it's not their fault that they don't think ahead. You know, that's really all it is. Come up with a better lie.

[00:24:01] You know, that you didn't make an appointment. Come up with a better lie. You know, not that you're going to some party. Somebody walks in and goes, I'm totally irresponsible. I feel like a piece of shit. I'd have more respect for you. I look like a piece of shit. I need my hair done. Will you do it? I'll do your hair. Sure. Yeah. I'd have way more respect for that. Because if you don't do their hair, it may actually get worse. You know, they're in a horrible mood. They feel down about themselves.

[00:24:29] They're either going to hurt themselves or someone else. If they don't have their hair done. I don't want to go out and look at you being ugly, you know, because I might hurt myself if I look at, have to look at you being all ugly if I go to the same restaurant. Right? So. This is true. So, yeah. So I guess that would be something for me as well, too. So that's a legit one that I guess is mental health. But just because you're recording at Capitol Records that night, you know what I mean?

[00:24:56] And it's like, I don't know, eight o'clock and you found a recording. You knew ahead of time. You know, that was Courtney Love. I remember she had her assistant blowing up my phone and blowing up the front desk. Because, you know, she's recording that night at Capitol Records. She decided she was going to record. See, she's one that's like shows up and is like, oh, I look like shit. And there's people around looking at me. I should get my hair done. Don't you guys have a salon in Capitol Records? No. Yeah.

[00:25:26] It's called the toilet. Just dunk your head in the toilet. You'll probably look better that way. You're Courtney Love. Of course, that's what you look like. You literally just got your hair dunked in the toilet. That's mean. It's that time for some shitology. Jack? If your meth lab explosion in your basement does not qualify you for free hair services,

[00:25:54] you had better walk in that salon smelling like you've been roasting hot dogs over the campfire. And there's no questions asked. And if you don't have a legit hair emergency, we suggest that you become a better liar to make sure that you actually get your hair done. Jack and I will now be giving courses on how to do so. We're going to be offering them every 7th Thursday of the month, starting on February 30th. We'll be focusing on maintaining composure, controlling your body language, making eye contact,

[00:26:24] speaking confidently, and weaving the truth of your lies in to create a better narrative. Basically, it's an acting class. And if none of that works out, drop yourself to the floor and throw a hissy fit. And I mean a good one. There you go. And with that, stay shitty. Hey, listener persons. If you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or Amazon Prime Podcasts,

[00:26:53] or wherever you get your favorite shit. It definitely helps out our algorithm. Also, check out our shitty posts on Instagram at shititoldmyhairdresser, where you can give us a follow and like some of our content. If you'd like to get your story on our podcast, go to our website at shititoldmyhairdresser.com. You can leave us a voicemail using the green mic icon, or send us an email. And if you like us, tell 10 of your friends. And if you hate us, tell 20. And remember, stay shitty, listener persons. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. And if you like us, we'll be right back.