Starting with the innovative use of artificial intelligence in spotting unreported vegetation fires in remote Southern California, Michael explores how technology is enhancing wildfire detection and response. He then shifts to the escalating issue of open-air drug markets in San Francisco, discussing Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s call for 100 drug-related arrests each night to disrupt the city's entrenched drug trade. The conversation continues with Obreanna McReynolds, co-owner of Burden of Proof in South Pasadena, who talks about the emerging trend of non-alcoholic beverages and the motivations behind opening her shop. Later, Michael reflects on the legacy of Japanese American internment through a conversation with Ron Mukai, a descendant committed to teaching lessons from his family's past at his East LA Jiu Jitsu gym. The hour wraps up with an analysis of U-Haul's latest migration trends, revealing California's surprising rank in the nation's relocation landscape.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you tonight
till nine o'clock. Thanks for sticking with us on this
first Saturday night of the new year. Southern California. It's
a nice day. It's been a nice stretch of days, really,
but maybe there is such a thing as too much
(00:28):
of a good thing. We're now in our fourth month
of what I guess is supposed to be a little
rainy around here, starting to show signs of a drought.
According to the La Times, they report the last time
LA recorded rainfall over a tenth of an inch May fifth,
(00:49):
but that was when downtown LA received just zero point
one three inches of rain, and that tenth of an
inch is the threshold thats who look at this sort
of thing typically consider helpful for plants and a reduction
of the risk of wildfire. They quote Ryan Cattel of
(01:11):
the National Weather Service and ox Nard is saying it's
safe to say this is one of the top ten
driest starts to our rainy season on record. Basically all
the plants are as dry as they normally are in October.
Typically our wet season out here is from mid fall
to spring. We get most of our rainfall or precipitation
(01:35):
in December to February. But right now the forecast is
showing that that's just not happening, so little hope that
a needed storm could develop in the next few weeks.
The Times rights and the California Landscape right for wildfire,
don't we know it, and never far from chronic water
shortages is paying the price. The Times notes that much
(01:56):
of the region, including the majority of La San Bernardino riverside,
Orange and San Diego Counties, has fallen into moderate drought
conditions according to the US Drought Monitor website map that
was released just this week, so already before the drought
report came out, southern California was considered to be abnormally dry,
(02:19):
so keep an eye on that sort of thing. Meanwhile,
there is some help in finding wildfires, and it's something
we've heard a lot about recently, both good and bad.
It's artificial intelligence. ATLA reports that a vegetation fire in
a remote part of Orange County was burning unreported and
unnoticed last month until officials were pinged by AI. The
(02:44):
Orange County Fire Authority posted to x or Twitter on
Friday to talk about this. They say, at about two
o'clock in the morning on December fourth, you see San
Diego's alert to California Camera Networks. AI alerted the FA
of an anomaly spotted on video footage. The network has
several cameras located across high risk areas, all in southern California,
(03:08):
and it turned out to be a vegetation fire and
Blackstar Canyon east of Irvine Lake. And after AI alerted
the fire cruise, they were able to contain the blaze
to less than a quarter of an acre, keep homes
and people safe. So now we've got AI working on
our behalf in a good and positive way. Let's go
up to the Bay Area now, which is facing similar
(03:30):
problems to La and La County and surrounding areas with
homelessness and criminality and drug use in public areas. One
of the supervisors and San Francisco County has had enough.
He put out a press release and he says it's
an aggressive plan to clean up the streets. He represents
(03:53):
District six of San Francisco County. His name is Matt Dorsey,
and in this spress release, he says he wants to
see one hundred arrests per night. He also called for
court mandated treatment for these drug users. One of his
quotes and the press release says, as we begin the
new year, new approaches are urgently needed to restore order
(04:15):
to our streets, to diminish San Francisco's attraction as a
destination city for drug use and drug dealing, and to
make life saving interventions and behavior that's deadlier and more
costly than ever before. Kroon covered this story. Let's hear
a little clip from that report might be that.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
A criminal justice intervention is the intervention.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
They need to save their life. I trust San Francisco
to do this the right way.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Supervisor Matt Dorsey is looking to Prop. Thirty six, which
was enacted to law by voters in November, to arrest
drug users. The goal is to force people into detos
and rehabilitation. Dorsey says, the previous laws we're not working.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
What we're enabling in our city is hurting our economy,
it's hurting our residents, hurting our neighborhoods.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Friday, Dorsey sent a letter to law enforcement agencies, asking
them to see if they could arrest up to one
hundred drug users every night in the city, specifically off
Sixth Street in the Tenderloine. The proposal is turning heads, though,
with incoming Supervisor Jackie Fielder calling the strategy not serious,
and the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness says Dorsey's proposal
(05:21):
is a copy of Project twenty twenty five criminalizing people
who are addicted.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So you hear a lot of the arguments against this
policy position presented by Supervisor Matt Dorsey right here in
La So you don't have anybody in elected positions right
now of any significance anyway at the County Board of
Supervisors or at the La City Council, for example, saying
anything similar to what San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey is saying.
(05:46):
But you certainly have the organizations who express concerns all
the time about the criminalization of homelessness. But I can
tell you there is a lot of criminality taking place
because of the homelessness. So it would be interesting to
see if this type of conversation moves south to La County,
And is that something you'd like to see. We'd like
(06:07):
to hear from you. You can pull up the iHeartRadio app,
click on that talkback button, and we'll play some of
your comments on that issue. We'll play some of your
comments about the perception of downtown Los Angeles after that
latest shooting that took place at the attempted murder target
at seventh and fig.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And we'll play those comments.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
But Supervisor Matt Dorsey says, several members of the community
have contacted him, you know, they want to see change,
and he wants to see this plan implemented around downtown
San Francisco. You've seen the images of downtown San Francisco.
It kind of looks worse than a heart area. It's bad,
(06:47):
It's terrible. It's bad here though, too. So he singled
out this part of San Francisco's sixth Street as an
area where the city's drug problem is especially bad. The
San Francisco Police Department has estimated that two hundred people
use drugs in a quarter mile stretch of that street
(07:07):
each night. What does a quarter mile think about one
lap around the track that circles your high school football
field and then put two hundred people on that track
doing drugs, Dorsey says, he's a recovered addict. He's not
coming out of left field with this criticism.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
He says, he's a recovered adict.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
He believes the city's current practices just move drug users
around the city and it leads to enablesm and what
he calls neglectful cruelty. Does that sound familiar? La County?
A lot of similarities between LA and San Francisco right now.
It is interesting to see that San Francisco voters put
(07:55):
their mayor out of office and put a new one in.
You now have a county supervisor coming out with this
type of strong language. Here in La we heard some
strong language from newly elected District Attorney Nathan Haffman about
that shooting at the target, making sure there was a
gun enhancement added to those charges. He says he hopes
it deters people from committing the crimes. He says it
(08:17):
was something that was not used in the previous four
years under his predecessor, George Gascon. Is there a shift
afoot in California from those who make policy. We'll have
to wait and see, because of course, there will be
folks who push back against these policies. Organizations like you
(08:40):
heard in that report from KRON San Francisco Aids Foundation
CEO Tyler Turmer said in a report that reports of
an initiative advocating for mass arrest along the sixth Street
corridor as a pathway to treatment or detox are deeply
concerning and counterproductive. So what is the alternative status quo?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Nothing? Should the streets stay the way that they are.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
We know how much money has been thrown at these
parts of both cities La San Francisco, and all you
have to do is take a walk around and see
whether results or to your satisfaction. I'm very curious to
(09:35):
see what happens in twenty twenty five in California, both
in local government and state government. That's what I'm going
to be most curious about as a journalist here at KFI,
watching LA City Council, watching La County Board of Supervisors.
Does the language change, do the passions get inflamed? Do
we have more debates among the members who so often
(09:58):
just vote together on everything.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
That's what we have to see.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And when it happens, or if it happens, or if
it doesn't happen, you'll hear those reports right here on KFI.
Thanks for joining us tonight on this Saturday evening, the
first of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Hope your year is off to a great start.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Coming up next, we're going to talk to one of
the co owners of this new business in South Pasadena.
It's I don't want to call it a liquor store.
That's not what it is. It's a bottle shot, Okay.
So picture a liquor store with all the beautiful bottles
that you would expect to see, but there's no alcohol
in there. It's not a stunt. This is not something
just for dry January. This is a proper business that
(10:40):
she and her husband hope lasts a long time, I imagine.
So we'll hear from her coming up. Then after that,
we're going to talk to a guy out of East LA.
His family was among those Japanese Americans who were interned
during World War Two. All those families were released from
those internment camps eighty years ago this week, and so
(11:01):
we're going to talk to him about why he thinks
it's important to talk about the past in that way,
especially to all of his young Latino neighbors in East LA.
And then later this hour, we heard that the population
was shifting in California that maybe we were getting some
more people after the mass exodus, during the pandemic and
(11:24):
after the pandemic. Some stats from U HAUL suggest otherwise.
I'll tell you where we rank. That's coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you till
nine o'clock tonight. If you want to send me any messages,
you can follow me on the social media platforms Mike
Monks LA, m I C M O nks LA, M
I C M O nks LA. There's a new bottle
shop in South Pasadena, but you're not going to find
(11:59):
your face favorite booze. It's a non alcoholic bottle shop
called Burden of Proof. It's owned by Dean Peterson and
Obrianna McReynolds. Obriona mc reynolds, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us today.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
My understanding is that Burden of Proof is the first
non alcoholic bottle shop in South Pasadena. I guess if
I'm opening a business, I'm doing some research on demand
before I do that.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So if you're the first, have you identified that there
is demand for this.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Well, you know, when you're starting a business, it's sort
of one of a kind. You're going on hunch a lot.
But there is an incredible growing demand just across basically
all demographics for non alcoholics. The non alcoholic beer Athletic
Brewing is the top seller at Whole Foods compared to
(12:55):
all other beers. So this category is definitely on the right.
As far as choosing South Pasadena, my partner and I
we started the business together. We're both in our late thirties.
We're starting to slow down, We're starting to sort of
reconsider our relationships with alcohol and what you know, maybe
(13:16):
operating in a low level hangover for a couple of
years holds us back from doing And our hypothesis was
that South Pasadena is such a community and family focused
place where you know, folks are maybe moving a little
bit east, slowing down a little bit, and anywhere there
are people sort of entering that next phase of life,
(13:37):
especially parents. I think this demand is extra high because
you just want to like be present, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So we hear about dry January every time the new
year rolls around a time where people maybe take a
break from drinking alcohol. What are your recommendations for folks
who are thinking about exploring that.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
M Well, I say entree level non alcoholics. Stick with
what you know you like, so think about Okay, maybe
I'm a cocktail person or maybe I'm a red wine person.
I would say those are the places to start, just
because those are familiar flavors that you can sort of
(14:20):
track down. At burden of proof, we always have some
bottles open to sample too, so I know it can
be very intimidating to get to this space and have
no idea what something's going to taste like. So I
think that education and getting to taste piece is really important.
So start with what you know, and then I would
invite people who are feeling a little more courageous to
(14:43):
perhaps level up to something new and unfamiliar. So there's
a lot of what we call analogs in the NA space.
So that's like the one to one non alcoholic whiskey, beer, wine.
But then there's also this whole category of drinking that
aren't necessarily trying to replicate a specific alcoholics version, but
(15:06):
just kind of be their own thing. Maybe scratch the
itch that you know, if you're craving a whiskey, maybe
you want something you're slowly sipping, you know, in front
of the fireplace. There are a whole category of brigs
that will kind of help you scratch whatever itch it is,
but without you know, being imitating something else. So I
(15:26):
think start with what you know and then experiment, you know,
with some unfamiliar things, because I think that's the most exciting,
uh category in this space, because there's so much room
for creativity and if you're not like aiming for a
specific target, you're just building something that's going to taste
(15:47):
really good.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So is this anything like people who maybe dip their
toes in vegetarianism but they really want to eat something
that looks like a sausage.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
Yeah, totally. So people have absolutely compar heard it. It's
sort of like, Okay, if you're dipping your toe and vegetarianism,
do you want the veggie burger that's got all that
you know, meat, feel and flavor? And some people say yes,
And so I would say, okay, go for an in
a analog and non alcoholic bear, a non alcoholic whiskey.
(16:19):
Some people are like, no, I'm dipping a toe in
vegetarianism because I don't want to eat meat. I don't
want that flavor. So in that case, like okay, have
a delicious grain bowl or something, And that's sort of
where I would steer people to try one of these
just standalone spirits. A big part of them is functional beverages.
(16:40):
So those are ones with adaptogens, new tropics that kind
of make you feel a little something, which is what
people miss. Yeah, So I mean that's a good way
to think about it, Like meatless Monday, maybe we could
try Dry January.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Our guest is Obriona mcreynold's co owner of the new
non alcohol bottle shop called Burden of Proof. It can
be found in South Pasadena, especially as we head into
dry January, where people maybe take a break from drinking
alcohol for about a month. You hinted at this moment ago, Obrianna.
Your husband, Dean Peterson, who owns this shop with you.
(17:17):
You'll met during the pandemic and drinking was a big
part of the pandemic as people were staying home. It
was a lot of what people were posting on social
and how they were getting through and coping with this
very weird time.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
In our lives.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
What impact did that have on you and your relationship
with alcohol today.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean we were well
stocked during the pandemic. Dean and I had our first
date on Zoom summer twenty twenty, and then our relationship
kind of developed from there. And like you said, there
is nothing to do but drink, So every time we
would spend time together, it was, you know, just the
(18:01):
natural thing to have a six pack of cider or
a bottle of one. So when coming out of the pandemic,
Dean had a medical diagnosis and had to stop drinking
kind of overnight, and then I, you know, cut back
out of solidarity. And I think we had both expected
to feel really deprived or like, ah, the world's opening up,
(18:25):
but I guess we can't participate, you know, not going
to go to a party again, not going to go
to a bar again. But it was actually kind of
the opposite. I was surprised by just how good I felt,
and I think I realized during the pandemic I had
been lightly hung over for years and years, so it
(18:47):
wasn't necessarily like a giving up of something, but kind
of opened our eyes to this space and then we
got really into actually discovering and exploring and tasting all
the products that were coming out around that time. And yeah,
now I'm just so happy to never be hungover again.
Like that's just the best thing. I feel like a.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Cracked code for sure. What has the response been, how's
business been?
Speaker 6 (19:14):
It's been really busy. Like I alluded to, starting a
business is just positing a number of hypotheses and then
being like, well, okay, we made an educated guest. Let's
see if that's correct. And so far, one month into business,
it definitely feels like we made the right choice. South
(19:36):
Pasadena is really responding. I mean, it's such a community
that loves small business. But we've had so many families
come in, people bring their kids, people bring their parents
and grandparents and really spread the word. And my most
exciting piece is like seeing repeat customers come in, so
(19:58):
we have regulars and people are just so excited. There
are multiple people who walk in and just sort of
say something along the lines of, oh my god, I
didn't know this could exist, And that's exactly what we
were hoping to create, just a place where people who
maybe don't drink for whatever reason can walk in and think,
(20:19):
oh my god, I can have everything here instead of Okay,
where's my little tiny shelf in the grocery store. I
can choose from these three options. Yeah, and it seems
like it's really resonated. So we're excited for dry January
and also revamping the back of the store really quickly
so we can have more storage space and be sure
(20:41):
to keep everything in stock.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Obrionna McReynolds is co owner of Burden of Proof along
with her husband Dean Peterson, that can be found in
South Pasadena, where it is hailed as the city's first
non alcoholic bottle shop. Obrianna cheers to you and Dean.
Best of luck and best wishes in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Thank you you too, Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
And up next.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Eighty years ago this week, Japanese Americans who were taken
into custody during World War Two and forced to live
in internment camps were released. Some of those families returned
right here to southern California. We'll talk to the descendant
of one of those families about why he feels like
he needs to keep the story alive.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
KFIAM six forty and live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News with you until nine
o'clock tonight. Eighty years ago this week, the Japanese Americans
who were taken into custody during World War Two and
forced to live in internment camps while our country was
at war with Japan were released. The Mukai family came
back to their home in East La. They had been
(21:49):
there decades before the internment and have been there in
the decades since. Ron Mukai is a descendant of those
folks who were interned. He's built a commercial center there.
He operates e La Jiu Jitsu. This week he told
his family story. Ron Mukai, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us today.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It's been eighty.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Years since the release of all of those Japanese Americans
who were interned. How did the story of that time
get told in your family?
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Well, my dad was eight when he went into camp.
He was eleven when he got out, so it wasn't
so much being released. It was after he was released
what they went through. And then for me as a
kid growing up seeing how those events shaped his life,
shaped the man who he was, how he viewed the world,
(22:44):
so to speak, and what was it. Well, obviously when
he got out he was mad, and he suffered a
lot of prejudice. People would call him a jap. So
it made him fight a lot. It made him very
loyal to his friends, It made him very committed to
(23:08):
being successful, and and also too, he was a very
strong person. He never considered himself a victim. He always
talked about it like it was something unfortunate that happened.
But hey, it's life, and it happened, and this is
you know, if life it gives you lemonade, if life
(23:29):
gives you lemons to make lemonade. So well, these are
people who always took it as.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I was just going to say, these are people who
live right here in California and then were told to
go live in a very specially designated place that might
not have been entirely comfortable for them or warranted. I'm wondering,
did it change the way this place felt like home
to them?
Speaker 7 (23:53):
No, I don't think so. Because when they came back,
they came back to East LA and they opened their
store and they just sort of picked up with their life.
If you know Japanese, they won even to get the
first generation or even the second generations.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
To talk about it.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
It's not like something they talked about every day. The
first generation didn't even talk about it at all. So
my grandparents never talked about it. It's like some bad
thing that happened that you just never talked about. For
my dad and his generation, they would talk about it,
but not in terms of you know, those people, It's
(24:33):
just something unfortunate that happened. Then they had to make
the best of it. So I don't think it embittered
them towards East LA in general. Maybe individuals in EASTLA,
but my dad and my mom's family they both loved
and they made their life here, and they had businesses
here and friends, and they weren't embittered in general towards La.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Now, so how did you learn about it in what contacts?
Speaker 7 (24:59):
Well, growing up, I always knew that my dad and
his family went to camp. They'd always tell stories about
being in camp. My dad would always talk about how
cold it was. I know he had artifacts, you know,
like petrified woods they picked up in camp, things like this,
and then just talking about their experience when they got home.
(25:20):
My dad would always talk about people calling him a
Jap and how he had to fight a lot, but
it was always tempered with all the good things in life,
like they never really dwelt on the fact that this,
you know, changed the course of their life forever and
they were negatively impacted. It's almost like something bad that
happened and it's okay. Now they're living their life and
(25:43):
they're doing just fine.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
We're talking with Ron Mukai, whose family has a long
history in East la and some members of his family
were part of those Japanese Americans who were in turn
during World War Two here in the United States, your host,
what you're calling a teachable moment? What is teachable in
(26:05):
your view about the lessons from eighty years ago.
Speaker 7 (26:11):
I think that one is that when things happen, that
it's important to not view it as US versus them. So,
for example, in World War Two, it was them the Japanese.
And if you understand that's not an easy statement, because
(26:33):
I'm sure they might have had some disloyal Japanese, but
there were many people that were very loyal and just
wanted to be residents or citizens of the US, and
their lives. So I think one is to not view
things in terms of us versus them. I think that's
a very dangerous statement. But then on the other side,
it's important to not see yourself as a victim and
(26:57):
to not live your life from the viewpoint of being
a victim. So things I learned from my parents and
my grandparents, where even though unfortunate things happen to them,
that this is still It's America. It's the greatest country
in the world. And if you work hard, if you're
a person of excellent character, if you surround yourself with
(27:19):
excellent people, you can do whatever you want to do.
And I think that my dad's life and our family
we've benefited tremendously from that can do attitude. And you know,
I'm still here in East LA. I run a nonprofit
jiu jitsu school called East l A Jiu Jitsu. And
this is the values that I'm stealing in my students.
It's like, we are not victims. We are not the
(27:42):
poor brown people that need a hand out. We are
capable individuals and if we have excellent character and we
work hard, we can do anything. And I think that's
what we're showing. We're showing the world that these kids
from EASTLA can do anything that they want to do.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And you are a black belt belt in jiu jitsu,
and you do have a lot of Latino students, your
family is Japanese, your wife is a Latina, you speak Spanish.
Can you share with us how the Japanese or the
Asian American cultures have blended with the Latino American culture
in East LA and how that relates to the message
(28:20):
you just said about not using an US versus them mentality.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Yeah. So I think back in the day what people
don't realize with East LA is a lot of people
lived in East LA. Basically, my dad's best friend's name
was Rosario a Legio. He was an Italian guy. So
there were Jews, there was Italians, there was Mexicans, there
was Japanese, there was Chinese. There was all kinds of
different people living on this side, and they all work together. So,
(28:47):
for example, I just told the story the other day,
both my grandma's on the Japanese side and the Chinese
side spoke Spanish. I think they might have spoken Spanish
before they spoke English because their market. A lot of
the people that went there on on my Japanese side
were predominantly Mexican, so my grandma learned to speak Spanish
I think before she learned to speak English.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Ron Mukai is the operator of East La Jiu Jitsu.
His family has a long history in East La. He
is also the descendant of family members who were interned
in Wyoming during the Japanese interment of World War Two,
right here in America. Ron, thank you so much for
sharing the story with us today. We do appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And coming up next, what do you think you Haul
Dana has to say about people moving to California? What
do you think California ranks one through fifty based on
U haul rental data.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
We'll have that for you next.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here with you for
the last few moments of the eight o'clock hour on
this first Saturday night of twenty twenty five in La.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
I hope you going to have a good night. I
hope you've had a good night with us for the
past couple of hours.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
The company U haul that a lot of people will
turn to when it's time to move across town or
across the country has come out with its annual data
that indicates where people are moving, basically where they go
and rent U haul equipment for a one way trip,
and based on that data they get an idea of
(30:29):
what are desirable places where is some growth taking place
And it's not California, So the narrative continues. California experience
the greatest net loss of do it yourself movers in
U haul equipment and ranks number fifty for the fifth
(30:52):
consecutive year. This analysis from you Haul is based each
year on a state's net gain or loss of customers
who use one way U haul equipment in a calendar year.
They call it the U Haul Growth Index and it's
compiled from over two and a half million one way
(31:15):
U haul truck and trailer and U box moving container
transactions and then the company puts us out every year
and it's fun to look at. But the state that
topped the U haul Growth Index is one that did
so for the first time at South Carolina and then Texas,
North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee rounded out the five leading
(31:37):
growth states. The rest of the top ten Arizona, Washington, Indiana, Utah,
and Idaho. Proud to say, Kentucky came in at number
twenty five, so we're in the bottom of the top half.
Not a bad place for the old Bluegrass state. My
old Kentucky home that you hal also puts out some
interesting stats in the middle of the year.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
They do this midyear report.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
They call it the Midyear Migration Trends where they break
down the largest metro areas and where people are coming
from to those areas. And while Los Angeles is interesting
to look at, it's more interesting to me to look
at the metro areas where people from Los Angeles are
(32:24):
moving to. But first, the top states for arriving U
haul customers outside of California to LA. Number one is Nevada,
two is Arizona, three is Texas. So is it true
that everybody from California is moving to Texas? Looks like
some people are doing it backwards. And they also break
(32:47):
it down by metro areas. So what cities basically are
people coming from to LA on one way trips? Vegas
is number one, Phoenix is two, and then Dallas Fort
Worth is number three. Houston is number seven, in Austin
(33:07):
is number nine. So yes, some people are coming from
Texas to Los Angeles of all places. But what's happening
on the flip side of that? What does it look
like for Angelinos or Californians heading to the lone star
(33:28):
state for Houston, California ranks number three as the top
origin state for folks who are renting a U haul
piece of equipment with no intention of coming back, and
then La ranks number seven for the top origin metro
(33:48):
areas headed to Houston. But that's just one city. I'll
also note a city that's not in Texas. Phoenix, California
is the number one state moving to Phoenix, and Los
Angeles is the number one city moving to Phoenix. San Antonio, Texas,
California number one headed to San Antonio. LA is the
(34:12):
third most likely origin metro for folks who have rented
a U haul piece of equipment on a one way
trip to Texas. And then there's Dallas Fort Worth. We
saw that people from Dallas Fort Worth are moving to LA. Well,
of course the reverse is true and probably in bigger numbers.
California ranks fourth as the top origin state for those
(34:36):
arriving in Dallas Fort Worth with U haul equipment, and
LA ranks in at number six for the city of
origin for folks moving there. And then there's Austin. The
LA of Texas, California number one is the top origin
state moving to Austin, and LA the number one city
(34:59):
for the top origin metro area for arriving U haul
customers in Austin.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
So there you have it.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
If you're planning a U haul trip, they're gonna track
it and you might be part of this data that's
released next year. So what will it show? Will it
show that you stayed in California? Will it show that
you've moved to Texas, Indiana, South Carolina?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
We'll talk about it next year.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I suppose the good news for me and not many
of you, is that the Bengals managed to beat the
Pittsburgh Steelers tonight, which keeps their playoff hopes alive. And
now I just need a couple of things to take
place tomorrow. I think Brigina's on my side here. She
looks like a Bingles fan. She never said it. She's
got Bengals fan vibe, she's got good energy, and that
is Bingles fans vibe and uh.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
I.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Just just say go, just say who dada? Yes, yes,
all right. And then unfortunately our producer Matthew Toffler is
a big Dolphins and as part of the Bengals scheme
to get into the playoffs, the Dolphins have to lose.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
And Matthew, I know that's gonna be hard for you,
but are you going to give me this? Keeping my
fins up over here?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
And then our board operator, our technical producer, Roo Cortes,
he's a Chiefs fan, and the Chiefs have a role
to play here as well.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
They've got to beat the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah, but you know they're stuck on the last I
heard they were on the tarmac it was iced over
and they couldn't fly out.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Wait stop, that was like three hours ago. What's the deal.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I haven't gotten an update. And I was, you know,
kind of locked in your show, so I didn't want to,
you know, get distracted. I saw you eating a burrito.
You couldn't get an update on this? I was, well,
you know that I was running the audio and I
didn't want to. You know how these computers are, I'm
not gonna mess with it. I was like, let it
do its thing. It's it's running audio. But yeah, I
heard they were stuck on the tarmac. Well if they
they being who the Broncos or the Chiefs? The Chiefs. Yeah,
(36:55):
I thought the Chiefs were hosting this game. No, it's
a it's an away game in Dinver, I thought.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
H Well, regardless, I'm if I'm to understand correctly, the
Chiefs are benching their starters because they're shoe ins for
the playoffs. They're a good team, and so I guess
it's a strategy to keep your best players on the
bench that they don't get hurt in the last regular
season game ahead of the playoffs starting. So anyway, I
know that doesn't matter to LA sports fans as much
(37:21):
as it matters to me. I'm being very selfish here
in the last couple of minutes of this program tonight.
I thank you for indulging me. I'm glad you've stuck
with us for the past couple of hours. Hey, it's
the first Saturday of twenty twenty five. We hope to
be with you for many more to come, and as always,
stick with KFI for the latest news. I'll be with
you all week long, filling in the newscast and doing
the best I can. You know who's back at work
(37:43):
this week. Coming up the La City Council and the
LA County Board of Supervisors, so I'll be keeping an
eye on that for you and bringing you the latest
news from La City Hall and the Board of Supervisors
meeting after their long holiday break.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Stay tuned for that.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Also, Revisionist History is coming up next big thanks to
Brigitta de Caasino in the newsroom. I thanks to Row
Cortes on the board and our producer Matthew Tofler. I
hope to see Matthew a little sad next week, but
I don't hope that too much. That's not really that
big of a deal. In the meantime, we'll be back
here next Saturday, hopefully talking a
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Lot more KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you tonight
till nine o'clock. Thanks for sticking with us on this
first Saturday night of the new year. Southern California. It's
a nice day. It's been a nice stretch of days, really,
but maybe there is such a thing as too much
(00:28):
of a good thing. We're now in our fourth month
of what I guess is supposed to be a little
rainy around here, starting to show signs of a drought.
According to the La Times, they report the last time
LA recorded rainfall over a tenth of an inch May fifth,
(00:49):
but that was when downtown LA received just zero point
one three inches of rain, and that tenth of an
inch is the threshold thats who look at this sort
of thing typically consider helpful for plants and a reduction
of the risk of wildfire. They quote Ryan Cattel of
(01:11):
the National Weather Service and ox Nard is saying it's
safe to say this is one of the top ten
driest starts to our rainy season on record. Basically all
the plants are as dry as they normally are in October.
Typically our wet season out here is from mid fall
to spring. We get most of our rainfall or precipitation
(01:35):
in December to February. But right now the forecast is
showing that that's just not happening, so little hope that
a needed storm could develop in the next few weeks.
The Times rights and the California Landscape right for wildfire,
don't we know it, and never far from chronic water
shortages is paying the price. The Times notes that much
(01:56):
of the region, including the majority of La San Bernardino riverside,
Orange and San Diego Counties, has fallen into moderate drought
conditions according to the US Drought Monitor website map that
was released just this week, so already before the drought
report came out, southern California was considered to be abnormally dry,
(02:19):
so keep an eye on that sort of thing. Meanwhile,
there is some help in finding wildfires, and it's something
we've heard a lot about recently, both good and bad.
It's artificial intelligence. ATLA reports that a vegetation fire in
a remote part of Orange County was burning unreported and
unnoticed last month until officials were pinged by AI. The
(02:44):
Orange County Fire Authority posted to x or Twitter on
Friday to talk about this. They say, at about two
o'clock in the morning on December fourth, you see San
Diego's alert to California Camera Networks. AI alerted the FA
of an anomaly spotted on video footage. The network has
several cameras located across high risk areas, all in southern California,
(03:08):
and it turned out to be a vegetation fire and
Blackstar Canyon east of Irvine Lake. And after AI alerted
the fire cruise, they were able to contain the blaze
to less than a quarter of an acre, keep homes
and people safe. So now we've got AI working on
our behalf in a good and positive way. Let's go
up to the Bay Area now, which is facing similar
(03:30):
problems to La and La County and surrounding areas with
homelessness and criminality and drug use in public areas. One
of the supervisors and San Francisco County has had enough.
He put out a press release and he says it's
an aggressive plan to clean up the streets. He represents
(03:53):
District six of San Francisco County. His name is Matt Dorsey,
and in this spress release, he says he wants to
see one hundred arrests per night. He also called for
court mandated treatment for these drug users. One of his
quotes and the press release says, as we begin the
new year, new approaches are urgently needed to restore order
(04:15):
to our streets, to diminish San Francisco's attraction as a
destination city for drug use and drug dealing, and to
make life saving interventions and behavior that's deadlier and more
costly than ever before. Kroon covered this story. Let's hear
a little clip from that report might be that.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
A criminal justice intervention is the intervention.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
They need to save their life. I trust San Francisco
to do this the right way.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Supervisor Matt Dorsey is looking to Prop. Thirty six, which
was enacted to law by voters in November, to arrest
drug users. The goal is to force people into detos
and rehabilitation. Dorsey says, the previous laws we're not working.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
What we're enabling in our city is hurting our economy,
it's hurting our residents, hurting our neighborhoods.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Friday, Dorsey sent a letter to law enforcement agencies, asking
them to see if they could arrest up to one
hundred drug users every night in the city, specifically off
Sixth Street in the Tenderloine. The proposal is turning heads, though,
with incoming Supervisor Jackie Fielder calling the strategy not serious,
and the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness says Dorsey's proposal
(05:21):
is a copy of Project twenty twenty five criminalizing people
who are addicted.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So you hear a lot of the arguments against this
policy position presented by Supervisor Matt Dorsey right here in
La So you don't have anybody in elected positions right
now of any significance anyway at the County Board of
Supervisors or at the La City Council, for example, saying
anything similar to what San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey is saying.
(05:46):
But you certainly have the organizations who express concerns all
the time about the criminalization of homelessness. But I can
tell you there is a lot of criminality taking place
because of the homelessness. So it would be interesting to
see if this type of conversation moves south to La County,
And is that something you'd like to see. We'd like
(06:07):
to hear from you. You can pull up the iHeartRadio app,
click on that talkback button, and we'll play some of
your comments on that issue. We'll play some of your
comments about the perception of downtown Los Angeles after that
latest shooting that took place at the attempted murder target
at seventh and fig.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And we'll play those comments.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
But Supervisor Matt Dorsey says, several members of the community
have contacted him, you know, they want to see change,
and he wants to see this plan implemented around downtown
San Francisco. You've seen the images of downtown San Francisco.
It kind of looks worse than a heart area. It's bad,
(06:47):
It's terrible. It's bad here though, too. So he singled
out this part of San Francisco's sixth Street as an
area where the city's drug problem is especially bad. The
San Francisco Police Department has estimated that two hundred people
use drugs in a quarter mile stretch of that street
(07:07):
each night. What does a quarter mile think about one
lap around the track that circles your high school football
field and then put two hundred people on that track
doing drugs, Dorsey says, he's a recovered addict. He's not
coming out of left field with this criticism.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
He says, he's a recovered adict.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
He believes the city's current practices just move drug users
around the city and it leads to enablesm and what
he calls neglectful cruelty. Does that sound familiar? La County?
A lot of similarities between LA and San Francisco right now.
It is interesting to see that San Francisco voters put
(07:55):
their mayor out of office and put a new one in.
You now have a county supervisor coming out with this
type of strong language. Here in La we heard some
strong language from newly elected District Attorney Nathan Haffman about
that shooting at the target, making sure there was a
gun enhancement added to those charges. He says he hopes
it deters people from committing the crimes. He says it
(08:17):
was something that was not used in the previous four
years under his predecessor, George Gascon. Is there a shift
afoot in California from those who make policy. We'll have
to wait and see, because of course, there will be
folks who push back against these policies. Organizations like you
(08:40):
heard in that report from KRON San Francisco Aids Foundation
CEO Tyler Turmer said in a report that reports of
an initiative advocating for mass arrest along the sixth Street
corridor as a pathway to treatment or detox are deeply
concerning and counterproductive. So what is the alternative status quo?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Nothing? Should the streets stay the way that they are.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
We know how much money has been thrown at these
parts of both cities La San Francisco, and all you
have to do is take a walk around and see
whether results or to your satisfaction. I'm very curious to
(09:35):
see what happens in twenty twenty five in California, both
in local government and state government. That's what I'm going
to be most curious about as a journalist here at KFI,
watching LA City Council, watching La County Board of Supervisors.
Does the language change, do the passions get inflamed? Do
we have more debates among the members who so often
(09:58):
just vote together on everything.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
That's what we have to see.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And when it happens, or if it happens, or if
it doesn't happen, you'll hear those reports right here on KFI.
Thanks for joining us tonight on this Saturday evening, the
first of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Hope your year is off to a great start.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Coming up next, we're going to talk to one of
the co owners of this new business in South Pasadena.
It's I don't want to call it a liquor store.
That's not what it is. It's a bottle shot, Okay.
So picture a liquor store with all the beautiful bottles
that you would expect to see, but there's no alcohol
in there. It's not a stunt. This is not something
just for dry January. This is a proper business that
(10:40):
she and her husband hope lasts a long time, I imagine.
So we'll hear from her coming up. Then after that,
we're going to talk to a guy out of East LA.
His family was among those Japanese Americans who were interned
during World War Two. All those families were released from
those internment camps eighty years ago this week, and so
(11:01):
we're going to talk to him about why he thinks
it's important to talk about the past in that way,
especially to all of his young Latino neighbors in East LA.
And then later this hour, we heard that the population
was shifting in California that maybe we were getting some
more people after the mass exodus, during the pandemic and
(11:24):
after the pandemic. Some stats from U HAUL suggest otherwise.
I'll tell you where we rank. That's coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you till
nine o'clock tonight. If you want to send me any messages,
you can follow me on the social media platforms Mike
Monks LA, m I C M O nks LA, M
I C M O nks LA. There's a new bottle
shop in South Pasadena, but you're not going to find
(11:59):
your face favorite booze. It's a non alcoholic bottle shop
called Burden of Proof. It's owned by Dean Peterson and
Obrianna McReynolds. Obriona mc reynolds, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us today.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
My understanding is that Burden of Proof is the first
non alcoholic bottle shop in South Pasadena. I guess if
I'm opening a business, I'm doing some research on demand
before I do that.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So if you're the first, have you identified that there
is demand for this.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Well, you know, when you're starting a business, it's sort
of one of a kind. You're going on hunch a lot.
But there is an incredible growing demand just across basically
all demographics for non alcoholics. The non alcoholic beer Athletic
Brewing is the top seller at Whole Foods compared to
(12:55):
all other beers. So this category is definitely on the right.
As far as choosing South Pasadena, my partner and I
we started the business together. We're both in our late thirties.
We're starting to slow down, We're starting to sort of
reconsider our relationships with alcohol and what you know, maybe
(13:16):
operating in a low level hangover for a couple of
years holds us back from doing And our hypothesis was
that South Pasadena is such a community and family focused
place where you know, folks are maybe moving a little
bit east, slowing down a little bit, and anywhere there
are people sort of entering that next phase of life,
(13:37):
especially parents. I think this demand is extra high because
you just want to like be present, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So we hear about dry January every time the new
year rolls around a time where people maybe take a
break from drinking alcohol. What are your recommendations for folks
who are thinking about exploring that.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
M Well, I say entree level non alcoholics. Stick with
what you know you like, so think about Okay, maybe
I'm a cocktail person or maybe I'm a red wine person.
I would say those are the places to start, just
because those are familiar flavors that you can sort of
(14:20):
track down. At burden of proof, we always have some
bottles open to sample too, so I know it can
be very intimidating to get to this space and have
no idea what something's going to taste like. So I
think that education and getting to taste piece is really important.
So start with what you know, and then I would
invite people who are feeling a little more courageous to
(14:43):
perhaps level up to something new and unfamiliar. So there's
a lot of what we call analogs in the NA space.
So that's like the one to one non alcoholic whiskey, beer, wine.
But then there's also this whole category of drinking that
aren't necessarily trying to replicate a specific alcoholics version, but
(15:06):
just kind of be their own thing. Maybe scratch the
itch that you know, if you're craving a whiskey, maybe
you want something you're slowly sipping, you know, in front
of the fireplace. There are a whole category of brigs
that will kind of help you scratch whatever itch it is,
but without you know, being imitating something else. So I
(15:26):
think start with what you know and then experiment, you know,
with some unfamiliar things, because I think that's the most exciting,
uh category in this space, because there's so much room
for creativity and if you're not like aiming for a
specific target, you're just building something that's going to taste
(15:47):
really good.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So is this anything like people who maybe dip their
toes in vegetarianism but they really want to eat something
that looks like a sausage.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
Yeah, totally. So people have absolutely compar heard it. It's
sort of like, Okay, if you're dipping your toe and vegetarianism,
do you want the veggie burger that's got all that
you know, meat, feel and flavor? And some people say yes,
And so I would say, okay, go for an in
a analog and non alcoholic bear, a non alcoholic whiskey.
(16:19):
Some people are like, no, I'm dipping a toe in
vegetarianism because I don't want to eat meat. I don't
want that flavor. So in that case, like okay, have
a delicious grain bowl or something, And that's sort of
where I would steer people to try one of these
just standalone spirits. A big part of them is functional beverages.
(16:40):
So those are ones with adaptogens, new tropics that kind
of make you feel a little something, which is what
people miss. Yeah, So I mean that's a good way
to think about it, Like meatless Monday, maybe we could
try Dry January.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Our guest is Obriona mcreynold's co owner of the new
non alcohol bottle shop called Burden of Proof. It can
be found in South Pasadena, especially as we head into
dry January, where people maybe take a break from drinking
alcohol for about a month. You hinted at this moment ago, Obrianna.
Your husband, Dean Peterson, who owns this shop with you.
(17:17):
You'll met during the pandemic and drinking was a big
part of the pandemic as people were staying home. It
was a lot of what people were posting on social
and how they were getting through and coping with this
very weird time.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
In our lives.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
What impact did that have on you and your relationship
with alcohol today.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean we were well
stocked during the pandemic. Dean and I had our first
date on Zoom summer twenty twenty, and then our relationship
kind of developed from there. And like you said, there
is nothing to do but drink, So every time we
would spend time together, it was, you know, just the
(18:01):
natural thing to have a six pack of cider or
a bottle of one. So when coming out of the pandemic,
Dean had a medical diagnosis and had to stop drinking
kind of overnight, and then I, you know, cut back
out of solidarity. And I think we had both expected
to feel really deprived or like, ah, the world's opening up,
(18:25):
but I guess we can't participate, you know, not going
to go to a party again, not going to go
to a bar again. But it was actually kind of
the opposite. I was surprised by just how good I felt,
and I think I realized during the pandemic I had
been lightly hung over for years and years, so it
(18:47):
wasn't necessarily like a giving up of something, but kind
of opened our eyes to this space and then we
got really into actually discovering and exploring and tasting all
the products that were coming out around that time. And yeah,
now I'm just so happy to never be hungover again.
Like that's just the best thing. I feel like a.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Cracked code for sure. What has the response been, how's
business been?
Speaker 6 (19:14):
It's been really busy. Like I alluded to, starting a
business is just positing a number of hypotheses and then
being like, well, okay, we made an educated guest. Let's
see if that's correct. And so far, one month into business,
it definitely feels like we made the right choice. South
(19:36):
Pasadena is really responding. I mean, it's such a community
that loves small business. But we've had so many families
come in, people bring their kids, people bring their parents
and grandparents and really spread the word. And my most
exciting piece is like seeing repeat customers come in, so
(19:58):
we have regulars and people are just so excited. There
are multiple people who walk in and just sort of
say something along the lines of, oh my god, I
didn't know this could exist, And that's exactly what we
were hoping to create, just a place where people who
maybe don't drink for whatever reason can walk in and think,
(20:19):
oh my god, I can have everything here instead of Okay,
where's my little tiny shelf in the grocery store. I
can choose from these three options. Yeah, and it seems
like it's really resonated. So we're excited for dry January
and also revamping the back of the store really quickly
so we can have more storage space and be sure
(20:41):
to keep everything in stock.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Obrionna McReynolds is co owner of Burden of Proof along
with her husband Dean Peterson, that can be found in
South Pasadena, where it is hailed as the city's first
non alcoholic bottle shop. Obrianna cheers to you and Dean.
Best of luck and best wishes in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Thank you you too, Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
And up next.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Eighty years ago this week, Japanese Americans who were taken
into custody during World War Two and forced to live
in internment camps were released. Some of those families returned
right here to southern California. We'll talk to the descendant
of one of those families about why he feels like
he needs to keep the story alive.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
KFIAM six forty and live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News with you until nine
o'clock tonight. Eighty years ago this week, the Japanese Americans
who were taken into custody during World War Two and
forced to live in internment camps while our country was
at war with Japan were released. The Mukai family came
back to their home in East La. They had been
(21:49):
there decades before the internment and have been there in
the decades since. Ron Mukai is a descendant of those
folks who were interned. He's built a commercial center there.
He operates e La Jiu Jitsu. This week he told
his family story. Ron Mukai, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us today.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It's been eighty.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Years since the release of all of those Japanese Americans
who were interned. How did the story of that time
get told in your family?
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Well, my dad was eight when he went into camp.
He was eleven when he got out, so it wasn't
so much being released. It was after he was released
what they went through. And then for me as a
kid growing up seeing how those events shaped his life,
shaped the man who he was, how he viewed the world,
(22:44):
so to speak, and what was it. Well, obviously when
he got out he was mad, and he suffered a
lot of prejudice. People would call him a jap. So
it made him fight a lot. It made him very
loyal to his friends, It made him very committed to
(23:08):
being successful, and and also too, he was a very
strong person. He never considered himself a victim. He always
talked about it like it was something unfortunate that happened.
But hey, it's life, and it happened, and this is
you know, if life it gives you lemonade, if life
(23:29):
gives you lemons to make lemonade. So well, these are
people who always took it as.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I was just going to say, these are people who
live right here in California and then were told to
go live in a very specially designated place that might
not have been entirely comfortable for them or warranted. I'm wondering,
did it change the way this place felt like home
to them?
Speaker 7 (23:53):
No, I don't think so. Because when they came back,
they came back to East LA and they opened their
store and they just sort of picked up with their life.
If you know Japanese, they won even to get the
first generation or even the second generations.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
To talk about it.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
It's not like something they talked about every day. The
first generation didn't even talk about it at all. So
my grandparents never talked about it. It's like some bad
thing that happened that you just never talked about. For
my dad and his generation, they would talk about it,
but not in terms of you know, those people, It's
(24:33):
just something unfortunate that happened. Then they had to make
the best of it. So I don't think it embittered
them towards East LA in general. Maybe individuals in EASTLA,
but my dad and my mom's family they both loved
and they made their life here, and they had businesses
here and friends, and they weren't embittered in general towards La.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Now, so how did you learn about it in what contacts?
Speaker 7 (24:59):
Well, growing up, I always knew that my dad and
his family went to camp. They'd always tell stories about
being in camp. My dad would always talk about how
cold it was. I know he had artifacts, you know,
like petrified woods they picked up in camp, things like this,
and then just talking about their experience when they got home.
(25:20):
My dad would always talk about people calling him a
Jap and how he had to fight a lot, but
it was always tempered with all the good things in life,
like they never really dwelt on the fact that this,
you know, changed the course of their life forever and
they were negatively impacted. It's almost like something bad that
happened and it's okay. Now they're living their life and
(25:43):
they're doing just fine.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
We're talking with Ron Mukai, whose family has a long
history in East la and some members of his family
were part of those Japanese Americans who were in turn
during World War Two here in the United States, your host,
what you're calling a teachable moment? What is teachable in
(26:05):
your view about the lessons from eighty years ago.
Speaker 7 (26:11):
I think that one is that when things happen, that
it's important to not view it as US versus them. So,
for example, in World War Two, it was them the Japanese.
And if you understand that's not an easy statement, because
(26:33):
I'm sure they might have had some disloyal Japanese, but
there were many people that were very loyal and just
wanted to be residents or citizens of the US, and
their lives. So I think one is to not view
things in terms of us versus them. I think that's
a very dangerous statement. But then on the other side,
it's important to not see yourself as a victim and
(26:57):
to not live your life from the viewpoint of being
a victim. So things I learned from my parents and
my grandparents, where even though unfortunate things happen to them,
that this is still It's America. It's the greatest country
in the world. And if you work hard, if you're
a person of excellent character, if you surround yourself with
(27:19):
excellent people, you can do whatever you want to do.
And I think that my dad's life and our family
we've benefited tremendously from that can do attitude. And you know,
I'm still here in East LA. I run a nonprofit
jiu jitsu school called East l A Jiu Jitsu. And
this is the values that I'm stealing in my students.
It's like, we are not victims. We are not the
(27:42):
poor brown people that need a hand out. We are
capable individuals and if we have excellent character and we
work hard, we can do anything. And I think that's
what we're showing. We're showing the world that these kids
from EASTLA can do anything that they want to do.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And you are a black belt belt in jiu jitsu,
and you do have a lot of Latino students, your
family is Japanese, your wife is a Latina, you speak Spanish.
Can you share with us how the Japanese or the
Asian American cultures have blended with the Latino American culture
in East LA and how that relates to the message
(28:20):
you just said about not using an US versus them mentality.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Yeah. So I think back in the day what people
don't realize with East LA is a lot of people
lived in East LA. Basically, my dad's best friend's name
was Rosario a Legio. He was an Italian guy. So
there were Jews, there was Italians, there was Mexicans, there
was Japanese, there was Chinese. There was all kinds of
different people living on this side, and they all work together. So,
(28:47):
for example, I just told the story the other day,
both my grandma's on the Japanese side and the Chinese
side spoke Spanish. I think they might have spoken Spanish
before they spoke English because their market. A lot of
the people that went there on on my Japanese side
were predominantly Mexican, so my grandma learned to speak Spanish
I think before she learned to speak English.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Ron Mukai is the operator of East La Jiu Jitsu.
His family has a long history in East La. He
is also the descendant of family members who were interned
in Wyoming during the Japanese interment of World War Two,
right here in America. Ron, thank you so much for
sharing the story with us today. We do appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And coming up next, what do you think you Haul
Dana has to say about people moving to California? What
do you think California ranks one through fifty based on
U haul rental data.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
We'll have that for you next.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here with you for
the last few moments of the eight o'clock hour on
this first Saturday night of twenty twenty five in La.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
I hope you going to have a good night. I
hope you've had a good night with us for the
past couple of hours.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
The company U haul that a lot of people will
turn to when it's time to move across town or
across the country has come out with its annual data
that indicates where people are moving, basically where they go
and rent U haul equipment for a one way trip,
and based on that data they get an idea of
(30:29):
what are desirable places where is some growth taking place
And it's not California, So the narrative continues. California experience
the greatest net loss of do it yourself movers in
U haul equipment and ranks number fifty for the fifth
(30:52):
consecutive year. This analysis from you Haul is based each
year on a state's net gain or loss of customers
who use one way U haul equipment in a calendar year.
They call it the U Haul Growth Index and it's
compiled from over two and a half million one way
(31:15):
U haul truck and trailer and U box moving container
transactions and then the company puts us out every year
and it's fun to look at. But the state that
topped the U haul Growth Index is one that did
so for the first time at South Carolina and then Texas,
North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee rounded out the five leading
(31:37):
growth states. The rest of the top ten Arizona, Washington, Indiana, Utah,
and Idaho. Proud to say, Kentucky came in at number
twenty five, so we're in the bottom of the top half.
Not a bad place for the old Bluegrass state. My
old Kentucky home that you hal also puts out some
interesting stats in the middle of the year.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
They do this midyear report.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
They call it the Midyear Migration Trends where they break
down the largest metro areas and where people are coming
from to those areas. And while Los Angeles is interesting
to look at, it's more interesting to me to look
at the metro areas where people from Los Angeles are
(32:24):
moving to. But first, the top states for arriving U
haul customers outside of California to LA. Number one is Nevada,
two is Arizona, three is Texas. So is it true
that everybody from California is moving to Texas? Looks like
some people are doing it backwards. And they also break
(32:47):
it down by metro areas. So what cities basically are
people coming from to LA on one way trips? Vegas
is number one, Phoenix is two, and then Dallas Fort
Worth is number three. Houston is number seven, in Austin
(33:07):
is number nine. So yes, some people are coming from
Texas to Los Angeles of all places. But what's happening
on the flip side of that? What does it look
like for Angelinos or Californians heading to the lone star
(33:28):
state for Houston, California ranks number three as the top
origin state for folks who are renting a U haul
piece of equipment with no intention of coming back, and
then La ranks number seven for the top origin metro
(33:48):
areas headed to Houston. But that's just one city. I'll
also note a city that's not in Texas. Phoenix, California
is the number one state moving to Phoenix, and Los
Angeles is the number one city moving to Phoenix. San Antonio, Texas,
California number one headed to San Antonio. LA is the
(34:12):
third most likely origin metro for folks who have rented
a U haul piece of equipment on a one way
trip to Texas. And then there's Dallas Fort Worth. We
saw that people from Dallas Fort Worth are moving to LA. Well,
of course the reverse is true and probably in bigger numbers.
California ranks fourth as the top origin state for those
(34:36):
arriving in Dallas Fort Worth with U haul equipment, and
LA ranks in at number six for the city of
origin for folks moving there. And then there's Austin. The
LA of Texas, California number one is the top origin
state moving to Austin, and LA the number one city
(34:59):
for the top origin metro area for arriving U haul
customers in Austin.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
So there you have it.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
If you're planning a U haul trip, they're gonna track
it and you might be part of this data that's
released next year. So what will it show? Will it
show that you stayed in California? Will it show that
you've moved to Texas, Indiana, South Carolina?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
We'll talk about it next year.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I suppose the good news for me and not many
of you, is that the Bengals managed to beat the
Pittsburgh Steelers tonight, which keeps their playoff hopes alive. And
now I just need a couple of things to take
place tomorrow. I think Brigina's on my side here. She
looks like a Bingles fan. She never said it. She's
got Bengals fan vibe, she's got good energy, and that
is Bingles fans vibe and uh.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
I.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Just just say go, just say who dada? Yes, yes,
all right. And then unfortunately our producer Matthew Toffler is
a big Dolphins and as part of the Bengals scheme
to get into the playoffs, the Dolphins have to lose.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
And Matthew, I know that's gonna be hard for you,
but are you going to give me this? Keeping my
fins up over here?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
And then our board operator, our technical producer, Roo Cortes,
he's a Chiefs fan, and the Chiefs have a role
to play here as well.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
They've got to beat the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah, but you know they're stuck on the last I
heard they were on the tarmac it was iced over
and they couldn't fly out.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Wait stop, that was like three hours ago. What's the deal.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I haven't gotten an update. And I was, you know,
kind of locked in your show, so I didn't want to,
you know, get distracted. I saw you eating a burrito.
You couldn't get an update on this? I was, well,
you know that I was running the audio and I
didn't want to. You know how these computers are, I'm
not gonna mess with it. I was like, let it
do its thing. It's it's running audio. But yeah, I
heard they were stuck on the tarmac. Well if they
they being who the Broncos or the Chiefs? The Chiefs. Yeah,
(36:55):
I thought the Chiefs were hosting this game. No, it's
a it's an away game in Dinver, I thought.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
H Well, regardless, I'm if I'm to understand correctly, the
Chiefs are benching their starters because they're shoe ins for
the playoffs. They're a good team, and so I guess
it's a strategy to keep your best players on the
bench that they don't get hurt in the last regular
season game ahead of the playoffs starting. So anyway, I
know that doesn't matter to LA sports fans as much
(37:21):
as it matters to me. I'm being very selfish here
in the last couple of minutes of this program tonight.
I thank you for indulging me. I'm glad you've stuck
with us for the past couple of hours. Hey, it's
the first Saturday of twenty twenty five. We hope to
be with you for many more to come, and as always,
stick with KFI for the latest news. I'll be with
you all week long, filling in the newscast and doing
the best I can. You know who's back at work
(37:43):
this week. Coming up the La City Council and the
LA County Board of Supervisors, so I'll be keeping an
eye on that for you and bringing you the latest
news from La City Hall and the Board of Supervisors
meeting after their long holiday break.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Stay tuned for that.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Also, Revisionist History is coming up next big thanks to
Brigitta de Caasino in the newsroom. I thanks to Row
Cortes on the board and our producer Matthew Tofler. I
hope to see Matthew a little sad next week, but
I don't hope that too much. That's not really that
big of a deal. In the meantime, we'll be back
here next Saturday, hopefully talking a
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Lot more KFI AM six forty on demand
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