August 4, 2025 • 30 mins
This week on Whyte Noise: Michael and Ryan are joined by Ryan’s husband, James McCarten, to unpack the highs, lows, and WTF moments of summer beach rentals—from a toilet disaster in the Hamptons to the chilling true crime case of Carla Lucia Stefanik, who vanished during a vacation in Costa Rica.
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Subscribe and Watch on YouTube
Connect with Us: Michael Judson Berry | Ryan Wilder
Theme: “Happy Dance” by Mr. Smith is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License. “Running Fanfare” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The plumber goes into this bathroom and mind you were
all sitting at the dining table that's maybe ten feet
away from this bathroom, and it sounds like construction. And
the next thing you know, you look out and he
has the toilet flipped out of the bathroom into the
hallway on the floor. It was funny. Of the couple,
the one that was a little more lighthearted and fun
(00:22):
He looks at me and he goes, do we get
to laugh about this yet?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I was like, I was like absolutely, And I
think everyone thought it was over. I don't.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We're back. Sometimes you just need a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh I needed a minute. It's been a little rough.
I was just sharing with you. It's been a lot going.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
On, but you're a survivor and you're gonna make it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It makes me happy to be back here with you
and our super special guest today. I feel like it's time.
It's finally time that everyone gets to meet my better half.
This is my hobby, this is James.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Hello, I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He said so enthusiastically.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I actually I said it before I got on. I said,
I'm very excited for this, So.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It did make me giggle. He's standing here and he's like,
do I need to do research? And I'm like, have
you listened?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, because I love that. A few people have said that,
like even Allison said that when she was on She's like,
do I have to do something for this? And I
was like, no, don't worry, You're fine.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I'm just stible, tricky. I like to be prepared for
God's sake.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
You know exactly, And you know what, we appreciate the effort.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I almost felt like setting out a requirement, being like, yeah,
you need to research this, like right now?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Could you imagined?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Although I think James is inherently prepared.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, it's in my real house too. Yes, what we're
doing to discuss I think.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So the topic is beach rentals or summer beach rentals.
And fun fact about James is that on the side
he does he does rentals in real estate, so you
might know a little something about this.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You're kind of an expert.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Sometimes I know some things just to schmuck some time stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
So I'm excited to learn about summer beach rentals or
just to see what it made you think of Ryan.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I did some soul searching, and you know what's funny
is like I didn't come up with anything that I like,
I thought about a number of like family vacations. Oh well, actually,
now that I said that, I did, although I'm not
going to talk about that. There's some We had this
one family vacation at a summer beach rental where my
sister wasn't there, and she was not there because of
(02:38):
a relationship that created a lot of drama and the family.
I'm not gonna say a whole lot more because she
listens and I'm not gonna talk about that crap. But
it was also the same one where my mom found
a note in my dad's wallet from the other woman.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Oh I didn't hear that story the note wallet, whoa.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was hands down like one of these. It was
like like the last family beach trip I think we've
ever all taken together. I mean, well, because my family
basically fell apart not long after. That's the only like
real beach rental personal story that really comes to mind,
and it's just negative. So I ended up going down there.
I did my typical like research, and I focused on
(03:24):
a beach town that's special to me, and I feel
like that answer is gonna end up being pretty obvious
venice in California. Oh, how'd you know exactly? I love
muscle beams with ass.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Definitely nowhere in New Jersey. Yeah. I briefly thought about
doing a family one too, because beach Reental makes me
think of one time when we went to the Hampton's
and my mom discovered what fireball whiskey was because a
bunch of college kids had rented the house right before
us and they left all their like half drunk bottles
of booze just in the freezer and we were just like, ugh,
and it was clearly like college kid alcohol, you know,
(03:58):
it was like cheap, cheap vodka. And then fireball and
my mom was like what is this? And Elson and
I were just started laughing and we were like, that's
fireball and she was like what's that? And we're like, oh,
you should try it, And so we did fireball shots
with Liz and.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
She was like, it's not bad, No, it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Which I thought was very funny, but that's not I
just had to go in a different direction as well,
like I feel like it's.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
An unpopular opinion and maybe I'm a little bit biased,
but I'm not the biggest fan of the Hamptons.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Nah me, neither.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I think it depends because there's a lot. There's what east, north, south, southwest,
there's a bunch of Hampton's right.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
The West Hampton is like, from my understanding, the least
hoity toity, if you will.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I thought the West Hampton was a very reasonable hotel
chain provided by Marriott.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
No, which would never be in the Hamptons.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I got bondboard points there, I swear.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Okay, well, I'm I'm curious to see now what your
beach rental stories. Oh but James, you get to choose
who goes first?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, who goes first?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Ooh, I feel like I do you listen a lot?
I think Michael should go first.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Oh yay, I never go first.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah. See that's why I know.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I knew he's going to do that.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I chose right, thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I don't need to use my bitch beconde spray on you.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'm a bitch, but I have a resting bitch base
at time, so you could spray it on my face
so the restling bitch base goes away.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That would be like doing nothing better. It would be
like spraying mace at a New York City rat. Then
I feel like restling bit would be like right on,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Like everyone's like, why is James always so upset? And
I'm like, no, that's just his face. He's just relaxed.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
All right, you ready? I am all right, ready set go, Okay.
I don't know if I can fit this in ten minutes.
We're going to see so summer beach rentals. Like I said,
originally I was going to talk about my family's stuff
in Hampton's. One time we went brought our dogs, the
dogs got out, we lost them for like a day.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It was wild.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
No, but actually I discuided to go in a different route.
Is a beach rental horror story because I love true crime.
So this is the story of Carla Lucia Stephonic, who
had a really bad thing happened to her at her
beach rental.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Do you know this person?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I do not. I just found her story.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Stephanic in a relation to a least Stephonic.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh I don't know. I don't think so. So her
name's she was born in Venezuela. I don't know her personally.
I just came across her story. So she was born
in Venezuela and then moved when she was eighteen to
Tampa with her mother and her brothers, her father. Her
parents I think were divorced. Her father stayed in Venezuela,
but they had a very good relationship. She got a
job eventually working in insurance, but her real love was travel,
(06:51):
and she would like travel in like social media. She
wanted to be I think a travel influencer. So she
traveled a lot, especially alone, and would always like really
document it. Her other big love was her birthday. She
always did big birthday trips. So when she was thirty five,
you know, going up to her thirty six birthday, she
decided to take a trip to Costa Rica with her
sister in law who's also like her best friend, this
(07:11):
woman in April. When did this happen? Just out of interest,
this happened? Oh not that long ago, I want to say,
like twenty seventeen or no. Oh okay, So after twenty twenty,
like within the last few years.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Oh wow, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So she goes to Costa Rica with her best friend
and sister in law April. She's having great time. She's
constantly posting on social media how much she loves Costa Rica.
She wants to move there, so she decides to stay
Nextra day. Originally, she's supposed to fly home the day
before her actual birthday, and they were going to do
a little celebration at home. She decided she'd rather stay
and fly home on her birthday, so she changed her
flight to stay extra day, just on her own. So
(07:48):
the day before, she drives April to the airport in
their rental car, sends her off. She returns the rental
cars the rentals up takes an Uber back to a
different airbnb that she books, called Villa La May's apartments
like a beach apartment, you know, the little like we
get a little house basically and a little gated community. Apparently,
she the uber driver that drove her there like they
(08:09):
really hit it off. He agreed to pick her up
later and take her on a tour of the town.
He took her shopping, brought her back. He was supposed
to they were going to go to a jazz club later,
but the weather got really bad, so she canceled. She
did schedule him to come pick her up the next
morning to take her to the airport. The family says
as the night went on, her WhatsApps started to become fewer,
but she her last WhatsApps were just basically saying that
(08:31):
she lost power. The storm is really bad. There was
no drinkable water, and she was getting really thirsty and
she was going to ask the security guard to go
out and get her bottles of water, and then her
phone just stopped. And then the next day was her birthday.
She wasn't answering any birthday calls, any birthday text messages,
no birthday posts, which was really weird for her. Her
best friend went to pick her up from her flight
(08:51):
in Fort Lauderdale. She never got on the plane. So
then the family calls Costa Rican authorities and they're like,
where where is Carla? Where's our daughter? And they were
very because they're a very afraid of like hurting their tourism.
They were like, oh, nothing, it's fine. People misflights all
the time. After like a day, they're like, something's very wrong.
Costa Rican authorities still aren't doing anything, so they don't
(09:12):
want to hurt their tourism reputation. So the family turns
social media and they create a where's Carla Facebook page,
which very quickly went viral because she was gorgeous, like
she was in fitness, she's really curvy, she was tall,
absolutely stunning. So the media picked up on this. They're like,
gorgeous woman disappears in Costa Rica. So Costa Rican authorities
are sort of like pressured into investigating. They go. It
(09:35):
turns out the security staff and the owner of the
place claim that they saw a dark car can pick
her up at five point thirty in the morning with
her suitcases to leave, and they this is also like
a day and a half later. Somebody's also already moved
into her room, and that guest says, like the room
was immaculate, but there's a really strong stench of bleach
(09:56):
and vinegar and it was actually like really off putting.
They were like, nope, she left at five thirty, and
the family was like, this is insane. That's eight hours
before her flight, and she famously was late for everything.
She They joked she would be late for her own funeral,
like never was on time. And then the uber driver
showed up at eight thirty and he was like, I
came to pick her up a schedule. Then she wasn't here.
They told me she'd already left, which he thought seems
(10:17):
strange because they thought he thought they were friendly. So
Kostriaka authorities still aren't really doing anything, and the staff
you know, keeps the story together that she left at
five thirty. So her father and her brother in law,
who's like another close friend, fly there together and they're
pushing authorities. They finally get the FBI involved, and they
bring dogs to come and search, and they find the
(10:40):
dogs zero in on one spot that wasn't cleaned where
they find blood and bodily fluids. Oh, and then the
family's not there, But then the dogs end up going
to This is six days after she's disappeared. By the way,
the dogs two hundred yards away find her body wrapped
in a plastic sheet, pretty gnarly, like really decomposed because
the weather had been really bad. She had been staffed
(11:00):
like aggressively stabbed many times to the point where like
it broke her spinal cord. And they said also like beaten,
like severely beaten around the head, the arms, like she
had a lot of injuries, but like the stabbing was
like crazy violent, and they said because of bodily fluids,
they think there was also a sexual assault as well.
Oh Jesus so, but the authorities weirdly are very lazy
(11:21):
about this, and the family again has to again go
to social media and pressure them to do anything. Finally,
this maid calls in and says she got a call
from this one security guard whose name was his first
name is Bismarck Martinez was his name. Bismarck Martinez's mother
in law had called the maid because they were friendly,
and said that she was scared for her life because
he confessed to his wife, her daughter that he had
(11:42):
murdered a woman at the villa. So she's now afraid
because her son in law's murderer. So they go and
get him. Side note, he was an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua,
Like he was there illegally already, and he was already
kind of a sketchy dude. He was the security guard
on call when she said, I'm going to go ask
somebody for a bottle of water. Also side note, the
owner was wicked sketch. Turns out he had been shut
(12:03):
down in twenty twenty because he had his permits were
all out of date and he had reviews for being
aggressive and rude with people, and the staff agreed that
he was like a really nasty guy. Anyway, Authorities eventually
arrest the security guard and they go to trial. And
they think what happened was he actually cut the power
to her villa and went in saying that he would
(12:25):
fix her light and tried to sexually assault her. They
say that the family assumes that she fought back because
she was big. She was two hundred pounds, like she
was a tall, thick, really muscular woman. She really put
up a fight and that's why it was such a
violent murder because she was as big as him. Kind
of jeez, and that she like really put up a
one hell of a fight. And they said during the
(12:45):
trial he was awful, like he didn't think they were
going to get him because they found there was DNA
under her fingernails, but it didn't match him, so he
figured he was going to get off, and his behavior
in court was like horrible, like he was grinning, he
was like making faces at the family. And then they
tested the bodily fluids in it matched his DNA, so
he ended up getting found guilty, but the Costa Rican
(13:06):
authorities really played it down, so he only got like
basic homicide, not first degree murder because they didn't want
it to be bad for again for tourism, so he
only was sentenced to sixteen years in jail max and
they never actually got the owner because they were like,
he couldn't have done it by himself. She was a
big woman and it was monsooning outside and he managed
to drag her two hundred yards into the bushes, so
(13:29):
he must have had help and especially cleaning the room.
And they think it was the owner because when they
questioned him, he couldn't keep a story straight, like he
claimed that he had never met her. Meanwhile, they said
he was the one who checked her in. They said
he had another interaction with her that they could prove.
But he ended up only getting a fifty thousand dollars
fine for like negligence for hiring an illegal immigrant and
(13:50):
that was all he got. And the villa it's still open.
They changed its name to Villa Buena Vista and you
can still go there, oh my. And then that same week,
two women from New York said that they had a
similar experience. That they were there, there was a bad
storm and somebody cut the power to their villa, and
then a security card came at two am demanding that
(14:11):
they leave so he could come in and fix the power.
And they wouldn't let him in because they had read
that a woman had disappeared, and then like obviously the
next day they laughed and they were like, thank god
we laughed because that could have been them too.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Oh my god, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
That it was just I don't know how much time
I have. I went through it quickly because I was like,
let me make sure I have enough time. There were
all these things like the guests who checked in the
next day literally said he saw that security guard washing
a pair of women's sneakers, like in an outdoor synk.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
That is that's that's some that's some crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Isn't that a yeah? And that's that's the story of
poor Carla Luccia Stephanic.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I feel like this would make a hell of a documentary.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, I would. I know.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I didn't find a documentary. I just found a lot
of news articles and like YouTube videos.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Well Ryan loves documentaries, I know.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I was like, there's got to be a true crime.
No really, just googled Summer Beach rental murder true crime
and I was like, there's got to be And I
went through a couple but hers I was like, okay,
this is like this is wild. And her poor father,
he said, like they came there and they were looking
for her things and he was like, little did I
know she was laying two hundred yards away, and like, oh,
it's so sad.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
That's why you have to check your reviews and do
your research when you go and find your vacation rental.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
They said the reviews were actually really bad when you've
had they were just buried because Airbnb kind of buried them.
And it did cause a whole thing with Airbnb of
like you should really vet your places better.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Well that's a thing. I mean.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Their defense was they can only do so much, and
that was basically their thing. They were like, we're.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
They're not regulated like realestate agents are. Real estate agents
are held to a much higher standard. I'm not a
fan of a lot of other real estate agents because
they don't act like they should sometimes. I mean a
lot of them follow the code of Artists that National
Realtors Association has a code of ethics that you have
to follow, and it's great they have it. And this
dates have their own set of rules too. So if
(16:03):
you want some more surety and you want some better
you know, backing on it, if you will use a realtor.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Because thee to females traveling alone.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Yes, not trying to sell realtors. But like Airbnb doesn't
have to follow the same standard. So if you want
to vacation rental and you're doing it for a longer period,
I would always go with the realtor. If you don't
know the area.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You've ended up making me think about some stories that
actually I can share Now is it?
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Why did murder trigger this for me?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
James? Take notes? You know what?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Maybe I'm gonna take I'm going to take a quick
diversion and I'll tell a couple I'll tell a couple
of stories.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Now, Okay, listen, it's your ten minutes. Ye are are
you ready?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I think I'm ready?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
All right, let's do this and go.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I was actually I have a whole bunch of history
on kind of how the idea of going to the
beach and being at a house of the beach started.
Maybeble go through it really quick. It actually started with
the Romans, and the Romans would have beach villas in
Pompeii and Hercule Herculaneum, Did I get that right? Herculaneum
Herculaneum right? They would they would leave the city.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
By the way, me correcting him, un spelling and pronunciation.
Doing that a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's why you have a partner.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But it was funny. Post the Romans and the fall
of the Roman Empire, nobody went to the beach or
went to the beach to have fun for twelve hundred years,
and it wasn't until the seventeen hundreds that British doctors
basically started to push sea bathing as a remedy for
amy miny ales. You had gout go to the sea.
(17:49):
You have skin issues, go to the sea. And I
guess there's some truth in that, because salt water is good,
is actually good for salt for you know, your your skin.
It was funny in the seventeen hundred while the worst
that we're put down is that it became morally acceptable
access and it was because they had these things called
bathing machines, and essentially what they were was a little
(18:10):
hut on wheels. So you would go in your full regalia,
your heavy dress or whatever. You would go into your
little beach. You would change into your woolen bathing suit
and then they would push the little house out into
the ocean and you would step up the stairs and
be able to bathe for whatever period of time that
you wanted and then go back in the little house,
change back over, and then they would pull you back
(18:31):
into the shore. So you know, God forbid anyone see
your shoulders or ankles. It's then in the eighteen and
nineteen hundreds that resorts started to pop up, so like
Kate May, it was one of the ones that was
listed Asbury Park was founded in eighteen seventy one. That's
where we are now a very well known Jersey Shore
beach town. And this was driven by the railroad boom.
(18:53):
By the railroad boom, so it made it easier for
people to traverse from places like Philadelphia and New York,
et cetera, and be in the various short towns that
we're here. And really the whole thing had its biggest
boom post World War Two because the GI Bill created
upward mobility, so there were better jobs and more money.
Cars were everywhere so easier to get around. And then
(19:14):
really the eighties and nineties led to where we are today,
which is, you know, basically it's like a real estate
gold rush. Everyone not just not doing it just to
have a place at the shore, but also because it's
a good investment and provides rental income. And then in
two thousand and eight we got Airbnb, which kind of
changed like the entire market, Like we had talked about
(19:35):
it a little bit more. And this is where I'm
going to go off script and share some other stories.
But basically, the area that we're in, we're in the
New York City metropolitan area. I would argue that there's
really two key places, three key places where people from
the metropolitan area go to the shore or go to
the beach or do beach rentals to get away.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I'm curious because I may have a differing opinion.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's the Hamptons, which we already talked about, Fire Island
and the Jersey Shore. Fire Island.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, that's where the gays go.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Some straight people go there. Now, Yeah, there's plenty of
straight place, is there. I mean, it's absolutely a place
for summer beach rentals.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah it is, Yeah, it is. I guess you're right. Yeah,
all right.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Anyway, so this this made me think of, like, prior
to having our place at the shore here where we
live now, we would go to various other places in
people's homes. And this makes me think of this incredible
trip that James and I took to the Hampton's.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
James, do you know what the trip of which he speaks.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yes, and and and and it involves a toilet.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Oh, so.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
I will preface. I will preface. Moral of this story
is beware of what you flush.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So we're invited up to our I want to say,
it's like Fourth of July weekend that we're invited to
go up. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was fourth of July. Wen.
We're invited to our friends' homes and the Hamptons, and
like you know, we're like gracious guests, so we like
buy up a whole bunch of liquor and different foods
and things to take, and like we're there, we were
(21:12):
supposed to be there like Thursday through Sunday. We're there
with a group of their friends. And I don't know
if you remember this, James, but like, like I want
to say, of the couple that with the other couple
was there, one of them was like really cool and
the other one was very stuffy.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
But of course leading up to the fourth of July
the weather was absolutely shit, so we couldn't be in
the pool. We were crowded around in the dining room,
like playing board games at the table, and of course
this one ventures off to go use the restroom and
(21:52):
does not choose to go to the restroom that's like
upstairs and approximate to the room that we're staying in. No,
he chooses to go to the one that's basically in
the hallway next to the kitchen, next to the dining room.
I suddenly start to realize that something is wrong when
he doesn't come out, and basically I kind of go
(22:16):
over to the door and I'm like, I'm like, babe,
I'm like are you Are you okay? And he opens
up the door and he's like, Ryan, it's like backed up.
It's like really backed up.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
And for the record, at that point, I was like,
I knew, wasn't me. I didn't really give a shit.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, clearly you did.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
I mean I did give one, but I didn't give
a shit. But like it it was clearly backed up before.
But I'll let you finish the story, okay. So it's
not your fault, no.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
No, And I agree. I don't think it was James's fault.
I do think it was something prior to him. But
like I'm like, oh my god, I've got the pluger
and I'm like, I'm like, it won't go, it will go.
I'm like, I was determined to get it to like
clear water at the very least.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
It wasn't a big one, so it was it was
pretty ea.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I mean, you'm embarrassed. I'm like, I'm like hyper hyper embarrassed,
and I have to give to James. James is like,
you know what this happens, like whatever, and I'm like,
I've got to go tell the host that their toilet
is now and the main part of the house is
no longer functioning. So like I walk out and I
think I find Patrick and I'm like, I'm like, hey,
(23:30):
we clogged your toilet. James like it's clogged, Like we
I can't.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Choice of words, you should say, your toilet is clogged whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Who knows what I said. Actually, I'm just going off
of what I barely remember at this point. And Patrick's like, oh, well,
it's a holiday weekend. There's no way we're going to
get a plumber out here. It's going to be impossible,
and like and he's like, on top of it all,
it's going to be ungodly expensive. I guess it'll just
have to wait well, an hour later, a plumber pulls
(24:02):
up and I'm like, oh god. And the plumber goes
into this bathroom and mind you, we're all sitting at
the dining table that's maybe ten feet away from this bathroom,
and it sounds like construction. And the next thing you know,
you look out and he has the toilet flipped out
(24:22):
of the bathroom into the hallway on the floor. I'm
like yeah, like and I'm I am like mortified. I'm
probably like sweating, and like there's like banging and it's
like insane. And it was funny. Of the couple, the
one that was a little more lighthearted and fun he
looks at me and he goes, do we get to
(24:43):
laugh about this yet? And I was like, I was
like absolutely on top of like working with them, Like
we didn't know them that well, like we knew them
well enough, but like I was like, good, They're gonna
go back to work and be like, yeah, Ryan blew
up our fucking house. But like the plumber came and
apparently he went down into the basement and actually determined
(25:04):
that the clog was somewhere much further down the pipe
and ends up tapping the pipe wherever the thing was,
and it loosens and you could literally hear all the
dreams in the house, like the whole house was clearing,
and then it was kind of like over, although it
continued to be a little bit awkward. So the next
morning they got up with their friends and they went
(25:26):
to brunch like without us, although I think they were
going to brunch with the friends' parents or something like that,
so I'm not really sure it was like appropriate for
us to go anyway, but it did kind of feel
like they ditched us. But I have to say, you
and I like put on our bathing suits. We figured
out how the pool audio worked, and we hopped into
the pool and floated around, and they arrived and there
(25:48):
we were floating in the pool. Actually I saw the
picture the other day of us floating in the pool.
But the whole thing was so traumatic that the night
of the fourth we looked at each other and like,
it felt weird and it felt awkward, because I think
it did get a little weird and a little awkward,
and I'm like, you know, if we just go home
(26:10):
this evening, we won't face any traffic tomorrow. And James
is like, yeah, let's get the fuck out of here.
I'm like, all right, let's get the fuck out.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Of here between the traffic and you being uncomfortable. Yeah,
like it was in the right mind to go. Like, honestly,
I knew it wasn't fucking me, and that tap on
the drain way down was like yeah, like I didn't
really care because if it was me and I did
take a huge one and did stuck it up with something,
then it probably would have felt worse.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
But you knew it wasn't your fault. In fact, you
did them a favor.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Unfortunately though, Like that's not how it works, Like you
don't get to be the last guy in the restroom
and not be like I didn't do it. Like in
other words, I agree, I don't think you did it,
but like, unfortunately you're the guy that got stuck with it.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Hey, you get delta shitty hand sometimes.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
In life, Right, did you work hard on that one?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Sometimes I pick a good things, as I said.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And actually to this day will still be like, hey, Jams,
are you headed to the Hamptons.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Yeah, I guess they don't know how to use toilets
out there, and the Hampton's properly, it's only like pee
poop and your toilet paper that should be going in there.
Maybe sometimes the other bodily fluids if it's bad, but
still like or it's that time of a month, but
nothing else should be going in there.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
More advice for people who are renting places, right.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yes, oh yeah, oh yeah. And actually landlords, I think
with toilet paper, yeah, landlords charge people for that if
they had to go out. Like I had a landlord
once in Jersey City. The person was flushing wipes and
tampons and the plumber pulled them out of the drain
and it was like within their their apartment, their section
(27:40):
of the drain, and they charged them a couple thousand
dollars for it. So if you're a renter, don't do that.
Make sure it's what I said that should go in
the toilet.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That is one of the most disgusting things to me,
Like I can't deal with the concept of extracting something
out of a drain, Like I feel like once it's
in the drain, it's just like it's untouchable at that point. Like,
and I have deep respect for plumbers that deal with
this stuff on a daily basis because.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I would bar, well, that's all you have me. I mean,
you know, we have we we have several friends and
family that use our homes and come over and stay
with us, and the dreams get clogged with with hair
like in the you know, the tub of the shower,
and he.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Does it and then he's like, oh, look at this,
and I'm like, oh, you think about it too much.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
See you dwell You're dwelling.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You're dwelling, Ryan, it's dwelling on it.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, James, you have you've got the hard part.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Oh. I know I do have the hard part. But
it's pretty easy though. I think in this this instance,
I think you win, right. Oh, thanks, Yeah, it's it's
that story is is epic. Despite the murder story, that's pretty.
But the poop story the toilet, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It's that's that's fair.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I kind of knew a poop story would win with James,
kind of like how you knew we.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Had my friend Alyssa on and I know that she
loves Starlight Express. Yes, so I cheated and just talked
about that. Oh. Also, real quick, I forgot Carla just
to make sure I have it all correct that she
was murdered in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Still, that's fairly recent Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yeah, that's yeah, it's pre pandemic.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So James, what's our like, what's our next topic? What
are we talking about next week?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah? I have a lot of ideas in my mind,
I really do. I'm going to stay away from stem.
She has a lot of stem in the past. I'm
stay away from that. I was thinking along the lines
of food. We're going to do one of Ryan's favorites. Actually,
Bobka yum. I'm like, yes, I figured you'd enjoy that too.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Do you like cinnamon vodka or do you like chocolate vodka?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Cinnamon is is the best I've yet to come by.
A chocole that's like really good, like you know, like
or you can you know? The sister dessert is like ruggola. Right,
So chocolate ruggle us is better because it's not like, yeah,
it's more proportioned.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Well, thank you, James's to see you.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Thanks James, of course you too.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Love you both.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
No, I love you too.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh gross grows. Okay, we'll be back for bodka.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
It's okay.
The plumber goes into this bathroom and mind you were
all sitting at the dining table that's maybe ten feet
away from this bathroom, and it sounds like construction. And
the next thing you know, you look out and he
has the toilet flipped out of the bathroom into the
hallway on the floor. It was funny. Of the couple,
the one that was a little more lighthearted and fun
(00:22):
He looks at me and he goes, do we get
to laugh about this yet?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I was like, I was like absolutely, And I
think everyone thought it was over. I don't.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We're back. Sometimes you just need a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh I needed a minute. It's been a little rough.
I was just sharing with you. It's been a lot going.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
On, but you're a survivor and you're gonna make it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It makes me happy to be back here with you
and our super special guest today. I feel like it's time.
It's finally time that everyone gets to meet my better half.
This is my hobby, this is James.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Hello, I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He said so enthusiastically.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I actually I said it before I got on. I said,
I'm very excited for this, So.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It did make me giggle. He's standing here and he's like,
do I need to do research? And I'm like, have
you listened?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, because I love that. A few people have said that,
like even Allison said that when she was on She's like,
do I have to do something for this? And I
was like, no, don't worry, You're fine.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I'm just stible, tricky. I like to be prepared for
God's sake.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
You know exactly, And you know what, we appreciate the effort.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I almost felt like setting out a requirement, being like, yeah,
you need to research this, like right now?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Could you imagined?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Although I think James is inherently prepared.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, it's in my real house too. Yes, what we're
doing to discuss I think.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So the topic is beach rentals or summer beach rentals.
And fun fact about James is that on the side
he does he does rentals in real estate, so you
might know a little something about this.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You're kind of an expert.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Sometimes I know some things just to schmuck some time stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
So I'm excited to learn about summer beach rentals or
just to see what it made you think of Ryan.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I did some soul searching, and you know what's funny
is like I didn't come up with anything that I like,
I thought about a number of like family vacations. Oh well, actually,
now that I said that, I did, although I'm not
going to talk about that. There's some We had this
one family vacation at a summer beach rental where my
sister wasn't there, and she was not there because of
(02:38):
a relationship that created a lot of drama and the family.
I'm not gonna say a whole lot more because she
listens and I'm not gonna talk about that crap. But
it was also the same one where my mom found
a note in my dad's wallet from the other woman.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Oh I didn't hear that story the note wallet, whoa.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was hands down like one of these. It was
like like the last family beach trip I think we've
ever all taken together. I mean, well, because my family
basically fell apart not long after. That's the only like
real beach rental personal story that really comes to mind,
and it's just negative. So I ended up going down there.
I did my typical like research, and I focused on
(03:24):
a beach town that's special to me, and I feel
like that answer is gonna end up being pretty obvious
venice in California. Oh, how'd you know exactly? I love
muscle beams with ass.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Definitely nowhere in New Jersey. Yeah. I briefly thought about
doing a family one too, because beach Reental makes me
think of one time when we went to the Hampton's
and my mom discovered what fireball whiskey was because a
bunch of college kids had rented the house right before
us and they left all their like half drunk bottles
of booze just in the freezer and we were just like, ugh,
and it was clearly like college kid alcohol, you know,
(03:58):
it was like cheap, cheap vodka. And then fireball and
my mom was like what is this? And Elson and
I were just started laughing and we were like, that's
fireball and she was like what's that? And we're like, oh,
you should try it, And so we did fireball shots
with Liz and.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
She was like, it's not bad, No, it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Which I thought was very funny, but that's not I
just had to go in a different direction as well,
like I feel like it's.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
An unpopular opinion and maybe I'm a little bit biased,
but I'm not the biggest fan of the Hamptons.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Nah me, neither.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I think it depends because there's a lot. There's what east, north, south, southwest,
there's a bunch of Hampton's right.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
The West Hampton is like, from my understanding, the least
hoity toity, if you will.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I thought the West Hampton was a very reasonable hotel
chain provided by Marriott.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
No, which would never be in the Hamptons.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I got bondboard points there, I swear.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Okay, well, I'm I'm curious to see now what your
beach rental stories. Oh but James, you get to choose
who goes first?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, who goes first?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Ooh, I feel like I do you listen a lot?
I think Michael should go first.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Oh yay, I never go first.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah. See that's why I know.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I knew he's going to do that.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I chose right, thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I don't need to use my bitch beconde spray on you.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'm a bitch, but I have a resting bitch base
at time, so you could spray it on my face
so the restling bitch base goes away.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That would be like doing nothing better. It would be
like spraying mace at a New York City rat. Then
I feel like restling bit would be like right on,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Like everyone's like, why is James always so upset? And
I'm like, no, that's just his face. He's just relaxed.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
All right, you ready? I am all right, ready set go, Okay.
I don't know if I can fit this in ten minutes.
We're going to see so summer beach rentals. Like I said,
originally I was going to talk about my family's stuff
in Hampton's. One time we went brought our dogs, the
dogs got out, we lost them for like a day.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It was wild.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
No, but actually I discuided to go in a different route.
Is a beach rental horror story because I love true crime.
So this is the story of Carla Lucia Stephonic, who
had a really bad thing happened to her at her
beach rental.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Do you know this person?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I do not. I just found her story.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Stephanic in a relation to a least Stephonic.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh I don't know. I don't think so. So her
name's she was born in Venezuela. I don't know her personally.
I just came across her story. So she was born
in Venezuela and then moved when she was eighteen to
Tampa with her mother and her brothers, her father. Her
parents I think were divorced. Her father stayed in Venezuela,
but they had a very good relationship. She got a
job eventually working in insurance, but her real love was travel,
(06:51):
and she would like travel in like social media. She
wanted to be I think a travel influencer. So she
traveled a lot, especially alone, and would always like really
document it. Her other big love was her birthday. She
always did big birthday trips. So when she was thirty five,
you know, going up to her thirty six birthday, she
decided to take a trip to Costa Rica with her
sister in law who's also like her best friend, this
(07:11):
woman in April. When did this happen? Just out of interest,
this happened? Oh not that long ago, I want to say,
like twenty seventeen or no. Oh okay, So after twenty twenty,
like within the last few years.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Oh wow, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So she goes to Costa Rica with her best friend
and sister in law April. She's having great time. She's
constantly posting on social media how much she loves Costa Rica.
She wants to move there, so she decides to stay
Nextra day. Originally, she's supposed to fly home the day
before her actual birthday, and they were going to do
a little celebration at home. She decided she'd rather stay
and fly home on her birthday, so she changed her
flight to stay extra day, just on her own. So
(07:48):
the day before, she drives April to the airport in
their rental car, sends her off. She returns the rental
cars the rentals up takes an Uber back to a
different airbnb that she books, called Villa La May's apartments
like a beach apartment, you know, the little like we
get a little house basically and a little gated community. Apparently,
she the uber driver that drove her there like they
(08:09):
really hit it off. He agreed to pick her up
later and take her on a tour of the town.
He took her shopping, brought her back. He was supposed
to they were going to go to a jazz club later,
but the weather got really bad, so she canceled. She
did schedule him to come pick her up the next
morning to take her to the airport. The family says
as the night went on, her WhatsApps started to become fewer,
but she her last WhatsApps were just basically saying that
(08:31):
she lost power. The storm is really bad. There was
no drinkable water, and she was getting really thirsty and
she was going to ask the security guard to go
out and get her bottles of water, and then her
phone just stopped. And then the next day was her birthday.
She wasn't answering any birthday calls, any birthday text messages,
no birthday posts, which was really weird for her. Her
best friend went to pick her up from her flight
(08:51):
in Fort Lauderdale. She never got on the plane. So
then the family calls Costa Rican authorities and they're like,
where where is Carla? Where's our daughter? And they were
very because they're a very afraid of like hurting their tourism.
They were like, oh, nothing, it's fine. People misflights all
the time. After like a day, they're like, something's very wrong.
Costa Rican authorities still aren't doing anything, so they don't
(09:12):
want to hurt their tourism reputation. So the family turns
social media and they create a where's Carla Facebook page,
which very quickly went viral because she was gorgeous, like
she was in fitness, she's really curvy, she was tall,
absolutely stunning. So the media picked up on this. They're like,
gorgeous woman disappears in Costa Rica. So Costa Rican authorities
are sort of like pressured into investigating. They go. It
(09:35):
turns out the security staff and the owner of the
place claim that they saw a dark car can pick
her up at five point thirty in the morning with
her suitcases to leave, and they this is also like
a day and a half later. Somebody's also already moved
into her room, and that guest says, like the room
was immaculate, but there's a really strong stench of bleach
(09:56):
and vinegar and it was actually like really off putting.
They were like, nope, she left at five thirty, and
the family was like, this is insane. That's eight hours
before her flight, and she famously was late for everything.
She They joked she would be late for her own funeral,
like never was on time. And then the uber driver
showed up at eight thirty and he was like, I
came to pick her up a schedule. Then she wasn't here.
They told me she'd already left, which he thought seems
(10:17):
strange because they thought he thought they were friendly. So
Kostriaka authorities still aren't really doing anything, and the staff
you know, keeps the story together that she left at
five thirty. So her father and her brother in law,
who's like another close friend, fly there together and they're
pushing authorities. They finally get the FBI involved, and they
bring dogs to come and search, and they find the
(10:40):
dogs zero in on one spot that wasn't cleaned where
they find blood and bodily fluids. Oh, and then the
family's not there, But then the dogs end up going
to This is six days after she's disappeared. By the way,
the dogs two hundred yards away find her body wrapped
in a plastic sheet, pretty gnarly, like really decomposed because
the weather had been really bad. She had been staffed
(11:00):
like aggressively stabbed many times to the point where like
it broke her spinal cord. And they said also like beaten,
like severely beaten around the head, the arms, like she
had a lot of injuries, but like the stabbing was
like crazy violent, and they said because of bodily fluids,
they think there was also a sexual assault as well.
Oh Jesus so, but the authorities weirdly are very lazy
(11:21):
about this, and the family again has to again go
to social media and pressure them to do anything. Finally,
this maid calls in and says she got a call
from this one security guard whose name was his first
name is Bismarck Martinez was his name. Bismarck Martinez's mother
in law had called the maid because they were friendly,
and said that she was scared for her life because
he confessed to his wife, her daughter that he had
(11:42):
murdered a woman at the villa. So she's now afraid
because her son in law's murderer. So they go and
get him. Side note, he was an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua,
Like he was there illegally already, and he was already
kind of a sketchy dude. He was the security guard
on call when she said, I'm going to go ask
somebody for a bottle of water. Also side note, the
owner was wicked sketch. Turns out he had been shut
(12:03):
down in twenty twenty because he had his permits were
all out of date and he had reviews for being
aggressive and rude with people, and the staff agreed that
he was like a really nasty guy. Anyway, Authorities eventually
arrest the security guard and they go to trial. And
they think what happened was he actually cut the power
to her villa and went in saying that he would
(12:25):
fix her light and tried to sexually assault her. They
say that the family assumes that she fought back because
she was big. She was two hundred pounds, like she
was a tall, thick, really muscular woman. She really put
up a fight and that's why it was such a
violent murder because she was as big as him. Kind
of jeez, and that she like really put up a
one hell of a fight. And they said during the
(12:45):
trial he was awful, like he didn't think they were
going to get him because they found there was DNA
under her fingernails, but it didn't match him, so he
figured he was going to get off, and his behavior
in court was like horrible, like he was grinning, he
was like making faces at the family. And then they
tested the bodily fluids in it matched his DNA, so
he ended up getting found guilty, but the Costa Rican
(13:06):
authorities really played it down, so he only got like
basic homicide, not first degree murder because they didn't want
it to be bad for again for tourism, so he
only was sentenced to sixteen years in jail max and
they never actually got the owner because they were like,
he couldn't have done it by himself. She was a
big woman and it was monsooning outside and he managed
to drag her two hundred yards into the bushes, so
(13:29):
he must have had help and especially cleaning the room.
And they think it was the owner because when they
questioned him, he couldn't keep a story straight, like he
claimed that he had never met her. Meanwhile, they said
he was the one who checked her in. They said
he had another interaction with her that they could prove.
But he ended up only getting a fifty thousand dollars
fine for like negligence for hiring an illegal immigrant and
(13:50):
that was all he got. And the villa it's still open.
They changed its name to Villa Buena Vista and you
can still go there, oh my. And then that same week,
two women from New York said that they had a
similar experience. That they were there, there was a bad
storm and somebody cut the power to their villa, and
then a security card came at two am demanding that
(14:11):
they leave so he could come in and fix the power.
And they wouldn't let him in because they had read
that a woman had disappeared, and then like obviously the
next day they laughed and they were like, thank god
we laughed because that could have been them too.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Oh my god, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
That it was just I don't know how much time
I have. I went through it quickly because I was like,
let me make sure I have enough time. There were
all these things like the guests who checked in the
next day literally said he saw that security guard washing
a pair of women's sneakers, like in an outdoor synk.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
That is that's that's some that's some crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Isn't that a yeah? And that's that's the story of
poor Carla Luccia Stephanic.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I feel like this would make a hell of a documentary.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, I would. I know.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I didn't find a documentary. I just found a lot
of news articles and like YouTube videos.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Well Ryan loves documentaries, I know.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I was like, there's got to be a true crime.
No really, just googled Summer Beach rental murder true crime
and I was like, there's got to be And I
went through a couple but hers I was like, okay,
this is like this is wild. And her poor father,
he said, like they came there and they were looking
for her things and he was like, little did I
know she was laying two hundred yards away, and like, oh,
it's so sad.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
That's why you have to check your reviews and do
your research when you go and find your vacation rental.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
They said the reviews were actually really bad when you've
had they were just buried because Airbnb kind of buried them.
And it did cause a whole thing with Airbnb of
like you should really vet your places better.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Well that's a thing. I mean.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Their defense was they can only do so much, and
that was basically their thing. They were like, we're.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
They're not regulated like realestate agents are. Real estate agents
are held to a much higher standard. I'm not a
fan of a lot of other real estate agents because
they don't act like they should sometimes. I mean a
lot of them follow the code of Artists that National
Realtors Association has a code of ethics that you have
to follow, and it's great they have it. And this
dates have their own set of rules too. So if
(16:03):
you want some more surety and you want some better
you know, backing on it, if you will use a realtor.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Because thee to females traveling alone.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Yes, not trying to sell realtors. But like Airbnb doesn't
have to follow the same standard. So if you want
to vacation rental and you're doing it for a longer period,
I would always go with the realtor. If you don't
know the area.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You've ended up making me think about some stories that
actually I can share Now is it?
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Why did murder trigger this for me?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
James? Take notes? You know what?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Maybe I'm gonna take I'm going to take a quick
diversion and I'll tell a couple I'll tell a couple
of stories.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Now, Okay, listen, it's your ten minutes. Ye are are
you ready?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I think I'm ready?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
All right, let's do this and go.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I was actually I have a whole bunch of history
on kind of how the idea of going to the
beach and being at a house of the beach started.
Maybeble go through it really quick. It actually started with
the Romans, and the Romans would have beach villas in
Pompeii and Hercule Herculaneum, Did I get that right? Herculaneum
Herculaneum right? They would they would leave the city.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
By the way, me correcting him, un spelling and pronunciation.
Doing that a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's why you have a partner.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But it was funny. Post the Romans and the fall
of the Roman Empire, nobody went to the beach or
went to the beach to have fun for twelve hundred years,
and it wasn't until the seventeen hundreds that British doctors
basically started to push sea bathing as a remedy for
amy miny ales. You had gout go to the sea.
(17:49):
You have skin issues, go to the sea. And I
guess there's some truth in that, because salt water is good,
is actually good for salt for you know, your your skin.
It was funny in the seventeen hundred while the worst
that we're put down is that it became morally acceptable
access and it was because they had these things called
bathing machines, and essentially what they were was a little
(18:10):
hut on wheels. So you would go in your full regalia,
your heavy dress or whatever. You would go into your
little beach. You would change into your woolen bathing suit
and then they would push the little house out into
the ocean and you would step up the stairs and
be able to bathe for whatever period of time that
you wanted and then go back in the little house,
change back over, and then they would pull you back
(18:31):
into the shore. So you know, God forbid anyone see
your shoulders or ankles. It's then in the eighteen and
nineteen hundreds that resorts started to pop up, so like
Kate May, it was one of the ones that was
listed Asbury Park was founded in eighteen seventy one. That's
where we are now a very well known Jersey Shore
beach town. And this was driven by the railroad boom.
(18:53):
By the railroad boom, so it made it easier for
people to traverse from places like Philadelphia and New York,
et cetera, and be in the various short towns that
we're here. And really the whole thing had its biggest
boom post World War Two because the GI Bill created
upward mobility, so there were better jobs and more money.
Cars were everywhere so easier to get around. And then
(19:14):
really the eighties and nineties led to where we are today,
which is, you know, basically it's like a real estate
gold rush. Everyone not just not doing it just to
have a place at the shore, but also because it's
a good investment and provides rental income. And then in
two thousand and eight we got Airbnb, which kind of
changed like the entire market, Like we had talked about
(19:35):
it a little bit more. And this is where I'm
going to go off script and share some other stories.
But basically, the area that we're in, we're in the
New York City metropolitan area. I would argue that there's
really two key places, three key places where people from
the metropolitan area go to the shore or go to
the beach or do beach rentals to get away.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I'm curious because I may have a differing opinion.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's the Hamptons, which we already talked about, Fire Island
and the Jersey Shore. Fire Island.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, that's where the gays go.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Some straight people go there. Now, Yeah, there's plenty of
straight place, is there. I mean, it's absolutely a place
for summer beach rentals.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah it is, Yeah, it is. I guess you're right. Yeah,
all right.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Anyway, so this this made me think of, like, prior
to having our place at the shore here where we
live now, we would go to various other places in
people's homes. And this makes me think of this incredible
trip that James and I took to the Hampton's.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
James, do you know what the trip of which he speaks.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yes, and and and and it involves a toilet.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Oh, so.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
I will preface. I will preface. Moral of this story
is beware of what you flush.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So we're invited up to our I want to say,
it's like Fourth of July weekend that we're invited to
go up. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was fourth of July. Wen.
We're invited to our friends' homes and the Hamptons, and
like you know, we're like gracious guests, so we like
buy up a whole bunch of liquor and different foods
and things to take, and like we're there, we were
(21:12):
supposed to be there like Thursday through Sunday. We're there
with a group of their friends. And I don't know
if you remember this, James, but like, like I want
to say, of the couple that with the other couple
was there, one of them was like really cool and
the other one was very stuffy.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
But of course leading up to the fourth of July
the weather was absolutely shit, so we couldn't be in
the pool. We were crowded around in the dining room,
like playing board games at the table, and of course
this one ventures off to go use the restroom and
(21:52):
does not choose to go to the restroom that's like
upstairs and approximate to the room that we're staying in. No,
he chooses to go to the one that's basically in
the hallway next to the kitchen, next to the dining room.
I suddenly start to realize that something is wrong when
he doesn't come out, and basically I kind of go
(22:16):
over to the door and I'm like, I'm like, babe,
I'm like are you Are you okay? And he opens
up the door and he's like, Ryan, it's like backed up.
It's like really backed up.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
And for the record, at that point, I was like,
I knew, wasn't me. I didn't really give a shit.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, clearly you did.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
I mean I did give one, but I didn't give
a shit. But like it it was clearly backed up before.
But I'll let you finish the story, okay. So it's
not your fault, no.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
No, And I agree. I don't think it was James's fault.
I do think it was something prior to him. But
like I'm like, oh my god, I've got the pluger
and I'm like, I'm like, it won't go, it will go.
I'm like, I was determined to get it to like
clear water at the very least.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
It wasn't a big one, so it was it was
pretty ea.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I mean, you'm embarrassed. I'm like, I'm like hyper hyper embarrassed,
and I have to give to James. James is like,
you know what this happens, like whatever, and I'm like,
I've got to go tell the host that their toilet
is now and the main part of the house is
no longer functioning. So like I walk out and I
think I find Patrick and I'm like, I'm like, hey,
(23:30):
we clogged your toilet. James like it's clogged, Like we
I can't.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Choice of words, you should say, your toilet is clogged whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Who knows what I said. Actually, I'm just going off
of what I barely remember at this point. And Patrick's like, oh, well,
it's a holiday weekend. There's no way we're going to
get a plumber out here. It's going to be impossible,
and like and he's like, on top of it all,
it's going to be ungodly expensive. I guess it'll just
have to wait well, an hour later, a plumber pulls
(24:02):
up and I'm like, oh god. And the plumber goes
into this bathroom and mind you, we're all sitting at
the dining table that's maybe ten feet away from this bathroom,
and it sounds like construction. And the next thing you know,
you look out and he has the toilet flipped out
(24:22):
of the bathroom into the hallway on the floor. I'm
like yeah, like and I'm I am like mortified. I'm
probably like sweating, and like there's like banging and it's
like insane. And it was funny. Of the couple, the
one that was a little more lighthearted and fun he
looks at me and he goes, do we get to
(24:43):
laugh about this yet? And I was like, I was
like absolutely on top of like working with them, Like
we didn't know them that well, like we knew them
well enough, but like I was like, good, They're gonna
go back to work and be like, yeah, Ryan blew
up our fucking house. But like the plumber came and
apparently he went down into the basement and actually determined
(25:04):
that the clog was somewhere much further down the pipe
and ends up tapping the pipe wherever the thing was,
and it loosens and you could literally hear all the
dreams in the house, like the whole house was clearing,
and then it was kind of like over, although it
continued to be a little bit awkward. So the next
morning they got up with their friends and they went
(25:26):
to brunch like without us, although I think they were
going to brunch with the friends' parents or something like that,
so I'm not really sure it was like appropriate for
us to go anyway, but it did kind of feel
like they ditched us. But I have to say, you
and I like put on our bathing suits. We figured
out how the pool audio worked, and we hopped into
the pool and floated around, and they arrived and there
(25:48):
we were floating in the pool. Actually I saw the
picture the other day of us floating in the pool.
But the whole thing was so traumatic that the night
of the fourth we looked at each other and like,
it felt weird and it felt awkward, because I think
it did get a little weird and a little awkward,
and I'm like, you know, if we just go home
(26:10):
this evening, we won't face any traffic tomorrow. And James
is like, yeah, let's get the fuck out of here.
I'm like, all right, let's get the fuck out.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Of here between the traffic and you being uncomfortable. Yeah,
like it was in the right mind to go. Like, honestly,
I knew it wasn't fucking me, and that tap on
the drain way down was like yeah, like I didn't
really care because if it was me and I did
take a huge one and did stuck it up with something,
then it probably would have felt worse.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
But you knew it wasn't your fault. In fact, you
did them a favor.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Unfortunately though, Like that's not how it works, Like you
don't get to be the last guy in the restroom
and not be like I didn't do it. Like in
other words, I agree, I don't think you did it,
but like, unfortunately you're the guy that got stuck with it.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Hey, you get delta shitty hand sometimes.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
In life, Right, did you work hard on that one?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Sometimes I pick a good things, as I said.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And actually to this day will still be like, hey, Jams,
are you headed to the Hamptons.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Yeah, I guess they don't know how to use toilets
out there, and the Hampton's properly, it's only like pee
poop and your toilet paper that should be going in there.
Maybe sometimes the other bodily fluids if it's bad, but
still like or it's that time of a month, but
nothing else should be going in there.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
More advice for people who are renting places, right.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yes, oh yeah, oh yeah. And actually landlords, I think
with toilet paper, yeah, landlords charge people for that if
they had to go out. Like I had a landlord
once in Jersey City. The person was flushing wipes and
tampons and the plumber pulled them out of the drain
and it was like within their their apartment, their section
(27:40):
of the drain, and they charged them a couple thousand
dollars for it. So if you're a renter, don't do that.
Make sure it's what I said that should go in
the toilet.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That is one of the most disgusting things to me,
Like I can't deal with the concept of extracting something
out of a drain, Like I feel like once it's
in the drain, it's just like it's untouchable at that point. Like,
and I have deep respect for plumbers that deal with
this stuff on a daily basis because.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I would bar, well, that's all you have me. I mean,
you know, we have we we have several friends and
family that use our homes and come over and stay
with us, and the dreams get clogged with with hair
like in the you know, the tub of the shower,
and he.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Does it and then he's like, oh, look at this,
and I'm like, oh, you think about it too much.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
See you dwell You're dwelling.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You're dwelling, Ryan, it's dwelling on it.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, James, you have you've got the hard part.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Oh. I know I do have the hard part. But
it's pretty easy though. I think in this this instance,
I think you win, right. Oh, thanks, Yeah, it's it's
that story is is epic. Despite the murder story, that's pretty.
But the poop story the toilet, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It's that's that's fair.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I kind of knew a poop story would win with James,
kind of like how you knew we.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Had my friend Alyssa on and I know that she
loves Starlight Express. Yes, so I cheated and just talked
about that. Oh. Also, real quick, I forgot Carla just
to make sure I have it all correct that she
was murdered in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Still, that's fairly recent Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yeah, that's yeah, it's pre pandemic.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So James, what's our like, what's our next topic? What
are we talking about next week?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah? I have a lot of ideas in my mind,
I really do. I'm going to stay away from stem.
She has a lot of stem in the past. I'm
stay away from that. I was thinking along the lines
of food. We're going to do one of Ryan's favorites. Actually,
Bobka yum. I'm like, yes, I figured you'd enjoy that too.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Do you like cinnamon vodka or do you like chocolate vodka?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Cinnamon is is the best I've yet to come by.
A chocole that's like really good, like you know, like
or you can you know? The sister dessert is like ruggola. Right,
So chocolate ruggle us is better because it's not like, yeah,
it's more proportioned.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Well, thank you, James's to see you.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Thanks James, of course you too.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Love you both.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
No, I love you too.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh gross grows. Okay, we'll be back for bodka.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
It's okay.
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