August 26, 2024 • 32 mins
GUEST: Alex Stone – Cyber incidents can have a crippling impact on businesses and organizations, but it appears cyber criminals may be impacting operations at Seattle’s airport. Over the weekend many things at the airport that connect to the internet like flight messaging boards, computers, and even email addresses and websites linked to the Port of Seattle went down. // Rancho Palos Verdes faces “unprecedented new scenario” over landslide danger // GUEST: Kris Adler on Police warn public of fake QR codes found on Redondo Beach parking meters. // L.A. chicken chain Koo Koo Roo announces return.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's KFI AM six forty and you're listening to The
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It is The Conway Show, and good afternoon, and to
all of you who listened later on the podcast, Good evening.
Mark Thompson Here for Tim on KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App. I don't know why
I am in such a good mood. There's really no
objective reason I should be in a good mood, but
I feel very good. So feel free to bring it today.
(00:29):
We've got the full Conway crew today, A Crows to Foushe,
Richie s Here, Angel Martinez, Sharon Bellio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So we've got a lot of collective, good energy, big stories,
both Southern California stories and beyond. And we'll start with
one beyond. Alex Stone is filling us in on what
is a pretty major development at Sea Tach.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
That's the.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Whole cyber attack on the Seattle Airport. Alex, how is this?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
First of all? Hello, and thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
For well, I know why I'm in a good mood.
I get to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh my gosh, this is why you've done so well
in our industry. But what has happened up there that
what were the first manifestations of this cyber attack or this.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Accounce effect, is on Saturday morning that they knew they
got the alarms began going off that somebody was in
their system. This doesn't look like ransomware where everything locks
down and they got to pay something unless they're totally
not telling us because they're not being very forthcoming with
what went on. But it looks like that they could
tell that there was something funky going on and that
(01:34):
they knew somebody had gotten in and then like the
bank robber had gotten into the lobby but hadn't stolen
the money yet, they put all the steel doors down
to lock everything so that they couldn't get in any
deeper and then couldn't steal whatever they were trying to steal.
And as of a little while ago, the airport saying
that they don't know who these guys were, they don't
(01:56):
know what they were going after, but and they don't
know how deep they got and what they may have
gotten that they locked it all down, and now they're
bringing in cybersecurity experts try to figure it all out.
But in the meantime, it means the computers at the airport.
They are mostly down. People are finding it rough flying
out of seatach or going through seatach. And if you
(02:18):
fly on a last airlines probably going through there. But
these guys trying to fly out, they only hit ten
people in front of us, ten to fifteen people, but
it took us like forty five minutes to just get
through ten fifty to fifteen people. Do you hear people
talk about three hours or for an international.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Flight today, It might very well be that.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So Mark Alaska Airlines is pleading with passengers today not
to check their luggage because they have to manually sort everything.
The whole baggage system is down going through Seattle, and
so you could be going through it, you could be
starting there, you could be ending there, but they got
to do it by hand. And then the airport is
saying that if you are going through it, or if
you're coming out of it, but if you're going through
(02:55):
it and you're going to need a boarding pass to
get onto your next flight, to have it rented out
at home because electronic boarding passes may not work. You
can't print them out there because all the kiosks are
down and the FBI helping out in this whole thing.
But this is really the airport and the port police.
The Port of Seattle runs the SeaTac airport that they're
(03:16):
trying to They've got their own police department that they're
running the investigation. But they don't know at this point
because they don't know how deep it went, how long
it's going to take them to get everything going again,
and one by one, once they get their cyber team
totally assembled and they can analyze what's going on, they'll
begin lifting things where maybe the kiosks will begin coming
(03:37):
back online. Then maybe the internet access of the airport
for the public, and maybe the check encounters and then
you know the screens they tell you the flight status
boards that are there. But right now a lot of
that is down.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh my god, it's like nineteen seventy five all over again.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, but without the systems in place to do it
by hand because everybody working nobody was around back then,
and nobody knows how to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Mess.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Now, when it comes to carriers, they are which carriers
are affected. I'm a little and clear all carriers coming
through and anything coming through CTech.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Yeah, so everybody's affected in some way, but a last
airline's most because they have such a huge operation up
there and they've become a really big airline. You know,
some people think of a last Airlines as not that big,
but they bought Virgin America and now they're working on
buying Hawaiian, and that they have become quite a large
airline that flies all over the US but also into
(04:31):
Central America and in New Mexico and the Caribbean and
everywhere else into Cuba. Uh. And so they're they're the most.
The others the airport was explaining to us today is
a lot of those that use shared counter space and
shared computers, so like Spirit and Frontier and Sun Country
and where they're kind of just general check in counters
(04:53):
and general computers. That that these these airlines swap and
then all the signage, all the screens change and and
then all of a sudden it's Frontier and then it's Spirit,
and so they are more impacted than say United and Southwest,
but everybody's feeling it. The thing that has worked has
been the airside of everything because the TSA has its
(05:17):
own computer network, the FAA has its own computer network,
so those are unaffected. So it's really getting checked in
getting your luggage handled. International flights are the biggest problem
because the airlines have to input your passport and all
your other info. They're having to do that by hand
because it's not automatically in there because the computers aren't
(05:39):
up and running. So once you get beyond that, then
once you go through security, the boards may not work,
the computers may not be up, they may have a
hard time getting you actually boarded and scanning it. But
the planes can communicate with the FAA fine. The pilots
are able to get their dispatch data and their routing
(06:00):
fine TSA, security checkpoints are fine. So all of that
is up and running. This isn't like when Delta had
the crowd strike problem a couple weeks ago where they
couldn't get dispatch data and they couldn't get their routing.
And then planes can the planes there aren't a lot
of delays or cancelations. You just may not be able
to because of all the lines get to your airplane.
But the airplane's going to go.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So if you can get to the air yeah, this
is thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Exactly what I was going to ask you, which is
once you're there, aviation safety is not affected and flights
seem to be running on time.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Yeah, for the most part. I think there were like
seven delays earlier today link back to this out of
all the flights at c TAC. So that's not a
big deal. That is all operating fine. The FAA, they've
always got to be worried about cybersecurity. They're not impacted
by this. But I'm sure if you're Lax or your
SFO or your Denver, your Phoenix, you're really looking at
(06:52):
your systems today and thinking how did they get in?
And they know more than we know, so I'm sure
they have some guidance on how these bad guys got
in and really locking down there is to make sure
that they can't get hit. But this is really a
front facing customer thing of the boards and the check
encounters and the website for SeaTac and the email addresses
(07:14):
of those who work at Sea TACH and not so much. Yeah,
the baggage handling, but but not the internal workings of
flights pushing back from the gate and going to the runway.
All of that is secure, so that's not a problem.
But for getting through the front part of it of
you know, checking in, scanning your boarding pass, all of
that that they're dealing with. But this is yeah, they'll
(07:37):
collect that paper boarding pass because a lot of times
they because of the computer systems, they can't scan them.
So I mean, it really is we're going back. It's
old school all over again.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's wild and it's a reminder that we've really got
to step up our cyber game. I mean this just
happened with the cloud strike couple.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Yeah, and tearing down Delta airlines for many many days.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well it also shows you just how reliant we are again.
And we say this every time there's a major tech
issue on Internet technology, and think about at home when
your internet goes down for five minutes, how we all
freak out. I mean, I'm talking to you right now.
Over the Internet. There's so much aspect, so many aspects
of it that our lives fall apart, this being one
of them. It's like going back to airplane, the movie
(08:19):
of smoking or unsmoking, and they hand them the smoking
ticket today because that's where the technology level is.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Tech got to that moment in that movie. Good stuff,
Alex Stone, thanks so much. Always appreciate the answer. Surely
you can't be serious, and don't call me Shirley exactly.
All the best pal, Thank you, Alex Stone. And the
Seattle Airport situation there which continues to be an unfolding
story that we will watch when we come back. Something
(08:45):
unprecedented has happened as a result of the last two years.
The last two years have done something in southern California
that has produced an unprecedented This is these the words
of officials who say it's an unprecedented new scenario. We'll
(09:06):
talk about exactly what that is and what's caused it
when we come out.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Come back.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Conway is a way, but all of us other Conway
kids are here.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Forty Amark Thompson here for Tim today. Great that you
could just step through. Croze is watching that situation in
the newsroom, is watching the situation Seattle. We told you
about that with the cyber invasion that has affected flights
there at SeaTac, But so far it's essentially just thrown
everybody back to you know, the Flintstones age of flight
(09:42):
where everything has to be handled with pen and paper,
and it's become a slow moving I don't want to
say horror show up there, because it's not that bad,
but it's well, I suppose if you're on the line,
it might be meaning waiting, but once you get your plane,
everything is moving as it should be. There's something else
(10:03):
happening in southern California, and it's a it's quite bizarre
in a sense in that region that has had total
stability in terms of earth movement, and obviously with rains,
with small quakes, with just settling, generally there is movement
(10:24):
of the earth beneath all of our homes and around
all of our homes. But what's happening in Rancho Palace
Verdes is super widespread. I mean certainly more widespread than
you know, a house or two. And apparently there's a
very deep and active landslide plane that was considered dormant
(10:47):
for a long time, which is what's made this so difficult.
And they did exploratory drilling this summer and they found
that this is a far more geologically active area than
they originally thought. And they're saying this is an unprecedented
new scenario for the city, which means we have to
change our strategy. That's according to the Rancho Palas Verdi's
(11:09):
public works director. So the result of what really has
been two years of extraordinarily wet seasons. Right, We've had
rainy seasons the last two years. I mean, thankfully we've
had a lot of rain. But on the other hand,
a lot of rain does create issues of all sorts,
and land movement being accelerated is one of the issues.
(11:32):
So we've seen all of this land shifting and it's
splitting homes and walls and roads are having to be refigured,
Utility lines are being busted, and there is a challenge
to city leaders in Rancho's Palace Verities to figure something out.
I mean, you know, you've got obviously this deeper slip plane,
(11:54):
as it's called. It sits about twice the depth they say,
of the previously tracked landslides, and that makes it because
it's an ongoing situation and they're really just learning, it
would seem, almost by the hour, about the characteristics of
this thing. It's a very tough situation to address immediately.
So this is a complex of land movement and geologists
(12:19):
are looking at this and a lot of residents in
Rancho Palace Verdes are facing a question. I mean, you've
got cracked foundations, leaking roofs, shifting floors. The La County
Fire Department, which serves the Palasverardes Peninsula, says that it
could take first responders more than six minutes to get
to some of these houses because of the road conditions,
(12:41):
which are challenging. So now what's happened. Something predictable has happened.
Residents who are caught in the middle of this while
looking for solutions, also do what They file a lawsuit.
They file a lawsuit in state court. And the lawsuit
is saying local officials, including the homeowners' associations in these
(13:02):
various places, and the area's water provider, the county, and
even the landslide Abatement District didn't act properly and that's
led to an oversaturation of these hillsides and that's created
the landslide movement. Again, I don't know what would have
(13:23):
happen with this legal case. What's going to happen with
this legal case. Exactly who's culpable, I don't know, But
city officials are obviously scrambling to try to handle this.
They did vote to go ahead with a pilot plan
to drill these vertical wells into the deeper landslide, trying
to pump out groundwater because they think the groundwater is
(13:46):
causing this land movement. So this is a bizarre and
unprecedented situation for people who've lived there for generations. I mean,
this is a gorgeous area, right the Rolling Hills, Rancho
Palace Verities area. So it's a scramble on the part
(14:08):
of city officials geologists. They're doing boring tests that again
have uncovered this deeper geological formation that geologists really weren't
aware of. So what will happen. Well, first of all,
as they say, there's a court case that's being pursued.
But what they're trying to do is pump that groundwater
(14:28):
out and stabilize this land. And the general rate of
land movement, just to put it in some kind of context,
has apparently leveled off. But prior to that, the land
was moving about eighty eight times faster than it was
in October of twenty twenty two. So when you are
(14:51):
measuring movement on the order of inches a year, now
you're measuring it on the level of inches a week.
This is a very serious situation. And you folks in
the ranch of Palace Verdes area, I don't envy you.
I mean such a great area of beautiful neighborhoods and
now really something you have no control over. So speaking
(15:15):
of no control, man, tough situation developing in another Southern
California neighborhood. And in a way, this is a brilliant
evil idea. It comes out of the world of evil
and rip off, but there is a level of brilliance
to it. I'll tell you about that.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Next.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Mark Thompson is sitting in for Tim, who is away
and excited about a lot of stuff we'll be doing
on the show today. Major developments in southern California and beyond.
And there's something happening in I guess it's Tondo Beach.
This is happening, but I'm surprised there's not more widespread. Actually,
it's a bit of again technological evil genius. You'll figure
(16:09):
out why I say that as we get the details
from Chris Adler.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Hi, Chris, Hey, Mark, So, yeah, the term that you
just used evil brilliance, you're right because you know these
QR codes that these scammers have slapped onto these parking
meters in Redondo beach. It's brilliant but also evil because
we used QR codes for everything.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Mark.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
So what happened was a Redondo Beach police officer, off
duty officer, was walking the esplanade there in south Redondo,
Redondo Beach, just before you hit Rancho Pala's Verdes, that
little hally they call it the Hollywood Riviera, and he
noticed these QR code stickers that were not from the city,
(16:52):
and so he called the watch commander and said, hey,
what do you know about this? And so they checked
it out and when they scanned the code led them
to a fraudulent website. So apparently these scammers at some
point slapped stickers on about one hundred and fifty meters
in the riviera. And now the city contracts with two
(17:14):
different companies for when you go to the beach and
you have to pay the meters. So now you know
you used to have to drop quarters in, but now
they have credit cards scanners where you can put your
credit cards in. Makes it much easier for people. And
they contract with two different companies, Pay by Phone and
pay Mobile. Well, these scammers stuck these QR code stickers
(17:34):
right next to the legitimate QR codes.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Sure and they're much bigger.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Mark, so that would be the first one somebody would
actually scan and instead of going to pay byphone dot com,
it takes you to POI by phone, poy POI by phone,
and that asks for their location and their credit card information.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Mark Wow, I mean it is I've done this. You
shoot the QR code, you go, oh, this is great.
And the other thing that the QR code does oftentimes
just open an app. But if you have one of
the apps, then you were able to, for example, monitor
how long your meter has still on the you know,
if your lunch is running long here, whatever your appointment is,
and so you can you can add more time. It
(18:17):
becomes a convenience on different levels.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
So super convenience.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
The notion of.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Infiltrating that kind of convenience is sort of, as I say,
there's a genius, but it really is a nasty evil thing.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Well, you know the Rodandovitch Police Department. The captain there,
Michael Martinez, told me today he said, you know, if
these scammers would just put their minds to something more useful,
they would.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Really get the police department right.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Well right, and so so the anyways, you know this
weekend they ripped all of those fake QR codes off.
So far, they say that nobody has been there's no
reports of anybody being.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Scammed, but they want anybody.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Who feels that they've been scammed or received a ticket
after paying the meter to contact the police department. But
right now they're saying they haven't gotten any reports.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
But you know what, I was.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
Actually down there about two weeks ago. I go there
quite often. I take my boys, we watch the sunset.
It's our favorite sunset spot. And I don't remember seeing
those on there. And I would have been the first
person to scan because I'm always so busy, Mark, and
it was it's right there, it's huge. I would have
ended up scanning that one and probably would have, you know,
end up paying. So I don't think they've been there long,
(19:25):
he says. The captain said, they think they've caught it
pretty quickly. But you know, and in just a month ago,
Mark that Alhambra Police Department was warning the public about
fake parking tickets that were being placed on cars with
QR codes, So you know, they're really targeting something that
people really use, and we use this all the times.
(19:46):
You almost need QR codes to even breathe. Nowadays, we
use it for everything, you know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And also the way in which they reach out to you.
I just had it happened last month, I want to say,
maybe even not that long ago, and anyway not important.
The Golden gate Bridge authority or the Coltransit, whoever handles
that bridge toll on the Golden gate Bridge reaches out
to me and they say on a text, we have
a record of your car going over the Golden gate
(20:13):
Bridge on such and such a date. And You're thinking,
and it was like months ago, right, And I'm like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I think I did. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And then I'm trying to verify from where this communication
is originating, and there's no way to do that. This
is a little like your curochic QR Code of Scam.
And finally, what did I do?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I just paid it? And I was, you know, nine dollars.
I just paid it.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So I think we kind of default to that path
of least resistance, which is just pay it whatever. And
I think that opens us up to a lot of scams.
And you put a lot of that nine dollars or
whatever it is, you put enough of them together, and
that's a lot of money.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
Well yeah, and not just that mark. Once they have
your bank information, you know, it's really dangerous. So the
police are saying it's best to use a credit card
as opposed to a debit card that's linked to your
checking account, et cetera. It's easier to get reimbursed on
from you know, credit cards, and it's easier to shut
(21:12):
that down than something that's linked to an actual bank
account where they can wipe you out. And we really
don't know what the plan was once they had the information,
but you know, it's it's kind of scary and it
makes you have you really got to think twice about things.
Save receipts, save transactions, but just clear.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
The cops are saying you should use a credit card
on the parking meters.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
You should always that's a more favorable way to.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Go, favorable if that's the option. I you know, I
don't think that those in Redondo Beach have a change
option anymore. I think it's just credit card. I could
be wrong, but they're saying, if you do use the card,
it's better to use a credit card as opposed to
your debit card. It's less risky.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You know, when I was a kid, you had to
find quarters and times to put them down there. Now
your kids with the credit card.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
I remember, I remember my dad running up up the
beach to go.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
He's god, I gotta put money in the meter.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
You know that it's changed things, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's wild anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So they've all the QR codes though, are down in Redondo,
meaning they took the fake ones off and now the
ones that remain are the actual QR g right, and.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Just if anyone's listening, the actual companies are pay by
Phone and pay Mobile. Those are the only two that
are contracted with the city, and those are.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Safe, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Chris, Thank you. Chris Adler from KFI knew Mark. Yeah, man,
the scams keep coming. They're hatching new scams every hour.
That's a good one. I've got to say, phone, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Man.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Evil can be pretty clever sometimes. When we come back
West La. Everything's so great in West La. Uh, not
so much. A new warning. We'll tell you about it next.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
You're listening, Tim conwaytun you're on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Got a major major development in southern California neighborhoods to
the point that we'll get into that next hour. But
you know, on the subject of thieves and off of
those fake QR codes that are ending up on parking
meters in Redondo, it's wild to hear the sophistication and
(23:26):
the trouble that a lot of these scammers go to
and listen to this. These are La bakeries landscaping companies
that are Those are two different businesses. There's not a
bakery that's also a landscaping company. These are landscaping companies
or bakeries are the two that are reporting a new
kind of scam. And here is stafush Can you help
(23:49):
me please with the and now I don't know why
this isn't it's not I'm not hearing it. I'm not
hearing anything, are you no? Okay, Well, it was a
great idea I thought elegantly set up, but then ultimately
we didn't stick the landing Sharon, do you have a
thought would you like to would you like to issue
a formal apology? It's not really your fault, but somebody
(24:13):
has to step up and take the hit.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Want me to do it? I'll take the hit, all right,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, while we get that organized, I will tell you
one thing that is coming back, coming back, just in
time to be scammed.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Cuckaroo Chicken.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
They're talking about it coming back under new ownership.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I mean it was nineteen eighty eight to twenty fourteen.
Back then, I was eating chicken. It was a great place. Salads, sandwiches,
sides were fantastic, exactly. And now they're talking about bringing
the chain back. It won't won't fully return, they say,
(24:57):
until late next year. But there is something called Jane
Fest on October fifth where there are a bunch of
other chains and brands, white Castle, Trader Vicks, Read, Lobster,
and they will have a Cuckaroo Chicken that'll be featured
in that same crew they run that event. It's a
(25:20):
bunch of entertainment folks who do it. Bj Novak, Chrissy
Teagan and Tim Hollingsworth, who's out of that chef and
culinary world. So Kuckaroo's new owners said that they are
getting all of this positive reaction and some of the
(25:41):
former employees want to come back and they're volunteering getting
the word out. So during the pandemic, an investor was
looking for a new project. He read that the parent
company of Kuckaroo was liquidating and that's how he got
into it. And after some back and forth, apparently Cuckaroo
(26:03):
may come back. Now you want to do this now
okay you know so, yeah, it's working. Oh then we're
not still not hearing anything. Huh well, I mean you tried. Yeah,
let's try to get maybe our best people on this. Yeah.
The first Cuckaroo opened in nineteen eighty eight. I was
(26:27):
talking about Cuckoo was coming back and the first one
opened in Korea Town. Ray and Mike Badallion opened their
first Cuckaroo in nineteen eighty eight, and sometimes at that Cuckaroo,
the lines were down the block to get this flame
grilled skinless chicken that they got organized there and it
(26:54):
was really you know, you've got to remember in nineteen
eighty eight, there wasn't this huge proliferation of fast casual
you know what I mean, that restaurant that the Chipotles
of the world, that's a fast casual they call it, right,
and this chain, Cuckaroo, was referred to as healthier fast food.
(27:15):
So those little things, as Crow said, the sides, the seasonings,
the non plastic flatware, they had flowers on the tables.
It was somewhere you know, in between, and it was
the beginning of that fast casual that was Cuckaroo. And
(27:37):
they struggled financially for years. Apparently they acquired other companies, Hamburger,
Hamlet colored me Mine. I'm talking about the parent company,
if you will, of Cuckaroo. But the chain filed for
bankruptcy in two thousand and three. It was acquired by
another company, and in twenty ten that company filed for
(27:57):
bankruptcy and ten Cuckaroos were closed, leaving Santa Monica, Larchmont,
and West Hollywood standing with the only Cuckaroos. They said
the rent in southern California was super high and too
high for them to maintain the business. They also said
it was a competitive market and a lot of menu
(28:18):
changes that were confusing customers. It was a bad strategy
and they just couldn't continue. So Looby's Restaurant Corporation bought
Cuckaroo in twenty ten, but even that didn't hang around
because the company closed all the locations because they couldn't
(28:39):
make ends meet. The last standing Cuckaroo was in Santa Monica.
I used to that was my Cuckaroo. That was my Cuckaroo,
and it was a sad day when I went by
there and it was a fut Ruckers.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I mean, how can that happen?
Speaker 7 (28:57):
Which are they around anymore?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's a good question, that's a Google question. I can't
think of where a Fudreckers is right now, so maybe
they're not. By the time they closed, they had opened
up a big menu. They were trying all kinds of things.
They were flailing, really, so the clean idea, that's to say,
(29:24):
the streamlined idea that Birth's Cuckaroo really got corrupted because
they got desperate, so they started adding stuff to the
menu and before you knew it, it wasn't Cuckaroo anymore.
And they're going to try to they say, go with
their old favorite streamline again and chicken sandwiches, chicken plate,
(29:46):
caesar salad all could very well end up on the menu,
as could the sides the Krozier likes so much. And
all of this again will debut at chain Fest in October.
It's still in the works, but chain Fest October fifth
could be where you get your first literal taste of Cuckaroo,
and then next year is when Cuckaroo will re emerge.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
Is this like a is this taking place at like
a convention? Center.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I'm looking to see you're fascinated by it. I know
me too, Trader Vics.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
I'm also a little bit I don't know how well
can we expect the food to be the same if
it's a temporary setup and they're all in one place, and.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, I mean, certainly it well, I
don't know some of these exhibitions. I was going to say, certainly,
you know, you're not going to have the kitchens that
you would have the real facility, But some of these
exhibitions can really be pretty.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Terrific now that Rucker says.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
According to its website, there are a bunch open still
around the country, but only one in California, in Concord.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Concord is on the East Bay of the San Francisco
Bay Area. It's like in the suburbs. You want to
think of it as one in the state. Wow, isn't
that wild? And you always wonder, I mean, it's so
easy to say, well, it runs too high and the
regulation is too much and the taxes too Okay, maybe,
but it might have been. I mean, the business is
(31:13):
doing well for a while, you know, same setup, same regulations,
same taxes.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Kuckaroo if you want it and you're at chain Fest,
and if we can figure out where that is, we
will tell you it's in I think here it is.
Chain Fest takes place October fifth at the row DTLA
Complex in the Arts District. Tickets are eighty nine ninety
(31:44):
nine to one hundred and forty nine ninety nine. VIP
tickets include unlimited bytes.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
So there's one in New York in September, and then
this one here in La is October fifth.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, in the Arts District, downtown. Wow, Well, there you go.
I mean, you got to have a couple of bucks.
But it sounds like it might be a fun affair
if you do have a couple of bucks. But isn't
everything a fun affair if you do have a couple
of bucks? Yeah, it really is true.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
More bucks, the more fun.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We come back as I say, there is a scourge
affecting southern California communities, even upscale communities.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
We'll talk about that next.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
It's Conway Show, Mark Thompsons sitting in for Tim on
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app Now You
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
four to seven pm Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
It's KFI AM six forty and you're listening to The
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It is The Conway Show, and good afternoon, and to
all of you who listened later on the podcast, Good evening.
Mark Thompson Here for Tim on KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App. I don't know why
I am in such a good mood. There's really no
objective reason I should be in a good mood, but
I feel very good. So feel free to bring it today.
(00:29):
We've got the full Conway crew today, A Crows to Foushe,
Richie s Here, Angel Martinez, Sharon Bellio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So we've got a lot of collective, good energy, big stories,
both Southern California stories and beyond. And we'll start with
one beyond. Alex Stone is filling us in on what
is a pretty major development at Sea Tach.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
That's the.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Whole cyber attack on the Seattle Airport. Alex, how is this?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
First of all? Hello, and thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
For well, I know why I'm in a good mood.
I get to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh my gosh, this is why you've done so well
in our industry. But what has happened up there that
what were the first manifestations of this cyber attack or this.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Accounce effect, is on Saturday morning that they knew they
got the alarms began going off that somebody was in
their system. This doesn't look like ransomware where everything locks
down and they got to pay something unless they're totally
not telling us because they're not being very forthcoming with
what went on. But it looks like that they could
tell that there was something funky going on and that
(01:34):
they knew somebody had gotten in and then like the
bank robber had gotten into the lobby but hadn't stolen
the money yet, they put all the steel doors down
to lock everything so that they couldn't get in any
deeper and then couldn't steal whatever they were trying to steal.
And as of a little while ago, the airport saying
that they don't know who these guys were, they don't
(01:56):
know what they were going after, but and they don't
know how deep they got and what they may have
gotten that they locked it all down, and now they're
bringing in cybersecurity experts try to figure it all out.
But in the meantime, it means the computers at the airport.
They are mostly down. People are finding it rough flying
out of seatach or going through seatach. And if you
(02:18):
fly on a last airlines probably going through there. But
these guys trying to fly out, they only hit ten
people in front of us, ten to fifteen people, but
it took us like forty five minutes to just get
through ten fifty to fifteen people. Do you hear people
talk about three hours or for an international.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Flight today, It might very well be that.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So Mark Alaska Airlines is pleading with passengers today not
to check their luggage because they have to manually sort everything.
The whole baggage system is down going through Seattle, and
so you could be going through it, you could be
starting there, you could be ending there, but they got
to do it by hand. And then the airport is
saying that if you are going through it, or if
you're coming out of it, but if you're going through
(02:55):
it and you're going to need a boarding pass to
get onto your next flight, to have it rented out
at home because electronic boarding passes may not work. You
can't print them out there because all the kiosks are
down and the FBI helping out in this whole thing.
But this is really the airport and the port police.
The Port of Seattle runs the SeaTac airport that they're
(03:16):
trying to They've got their own police department that they're
running the investigation. But they don't know at this point
because they don't know how deep it went, how long
it's going to take them to get everything going again,
and one by one, once they get their cyber team
totally assembled and they can analyze what's going on, they'll
begin lifting things where maybe the kiosks will begin coming
(03:37):
back online. Then maybe the internet access of the airport
for the public, and maybe the check encounters and then
you know the screens they tell you the flight status
boards that are there. But right now a lot of
that is down.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh my god, it's like nineteen seventy five all over again.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, but without the systems in place to do it
by hand because everybody working nobody was around back then,
and nobody knows how to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Mess.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Now, when it comes to carriers, they are which carriers
are affected. I'm a little and clear all carriers coming
through and anything coming through CTech.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Yeah, so everybody's affected in some way, but a last
airline's most because they have such a huge operation up
there and they've become a really big airline. You know,
some people think of a last Airlines as not that big,
but they bought Virgin America and now they're working on
buying Hawaiian, and that they have become quite a large
airline that flies all over the US but also into
(04:31):
Central America and in New Mexico and the Caribbean and
everywhere else into Cuba. Uh. And so they're they're the most.
The others the airport was explaining to us today is
a lot of those that use shared counter space and
shared computers, so like Spirit and Frontier and Sun Country
and where they're kind of just general check in counters
(04:53):
and general computers. That that these these airlines swap and
then all the signage, all the screens change and and
then all of a sudden it's Frontier and then it's Spirit,
and so they are more impacted than say United and Southwest,
but everybody's feeling it. The thing that has worked has
been the airside of everything because the TSA has its
(05:17):
own computer network, the FAA has its own computer network,
so those are unaffected. So it's really getting checked in
getting your luggage handled. International flights are the biggest problem
because the airlines have to input your passport and all
your other info. They're having to do that by hand
because it's not automatically in there because the computers aren't
(05:39):
up and running. So once you get beyond that, then
once you go through security, the boards may not work,
the computers may not be up, they may have a
hard time getting you actually boarded and scanning it. But
the planes can communicate with the FAA fine. The pilots
are able to get their dispatch data and their routing
(06:00):
fine TSA, security checkpoints are fine. So all of that
is up and running. This isn't like when Delta had
the crowd strike problem a couple weeks ago where they
couldn't get dispatch data and they couldn't get their routing.
And then planes can the planes there aren't a lot
of delays or cancelations. You just may not be able
to because of all the lines get to your airplane.
But the airplane's going to go.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So if you can get to the air yeah, this
is thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Exactly what I was going to ask you, which is
once you're there, aviation safety is not affected and flights
seem to be running on time.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Yeah, for the most part. I think there were like
seven delays earlier today link back to this out of
all the flights at c TAC. So that's not a
big deal. That is all operating fine. The FAA, they've
always got to be worried about cybersecurity. They're not impacted
by this. But I'm sure if you're Lax or your
SFO or your Denver, your Phoenix, you're really looking at
(06:52):
your systems today and thinking how did they get in?
And they know more than we know, so I'm sure
they have some guidance on how these bad guys got
in and really locking down there is to make sure
that they can't get hit. But this is really a
front facing customer thing of the boards and the check
encounters and the website for SeaTac and the email addresses
(07:14):
of those who work at Sea TACH and not so much. Yeah,
the baggage handling, but but not the internal workings of
flights pushing back from the gate and going to the runway.
All of that is secure, so that's not a problem.
But for getting through the front part of it of
you know, checking in, scanning your boarding pass, all of
that that they're dealing with. But this is yeah, they'll
(07:37):
collect that paper boarding pass because a lot of times
they because of the computer systems, they can't scan them.
So I mean, it really is we're going back. It's
old school all over again.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's wild and it's a reminder that we've really got
to step up our cyber game. I mean this just
happened with the cloud strike couple.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Yeah, and tearing down Delta airlines for many many days.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well it also shows you just how reliant we are again.
And we say this every time there's a major tech
issue on Internet technology, and think about at home when
your internet goes down for five minutes, how we all
freak out. I mean, I'm talking to you right now.
Over the Internet. There's so much aspect, so many aspects
of it that our lives fall apart, this being one
of them. It's like going back to airplane, the movie
(08:19):
of smoking or unsmoking, and they hand them the smoking
ticket today because that's where the technology level is.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Tech got to that moment in that movie. Good stuff,
Alex Stone, thanks so much. Always appreciate the answer. Surely
you can't be serious, and don't call me Shirley exactly.
All the best pal, Thank you, Alex Stone. And the
Seattle Airport situation there which continues to be an unfolding
story that we will watch when we come back. Something
(08:45):
unprecedented has happened as a result of the last two years.
The last two years have done something in southern California
that has produced an unprecedented This is these the words
of officials who say it's an unprecedented new scenario. We'll
(09:06):
talk about exactly what that is and what's caused it
when we come out.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Come back.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Conway is a way, but all of us other Conway
kids are here.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Forty Amark Thompson here for Tim today. Great that you
could just step through. Croze is watching that situation in
the newsroom, is watching the situation Seattle. We told you
about that with the cyber invasion that has affected flights
there at SeaTac, But so far it's essentially just thrown
everybody back to you know, the Flintstones age of flight
(09:42):
where everything has to be handled with pen and paper,
and it's become a slow moving I don't want to
say horror show up there, because it's not that bad,
but it's well, I suppose if you're on the line,
it might be meaning waiting, but once you get your plane,
everything is moving as it should be. There's something else
(10:03):
happening in southern California, and it's a it's quite bizarre
in a sense in that region that has had total
stability in terms of earth movement, and obviously with rains,
with small quakes, with just settling, generally there is movement
(10:24):
of the earth beneath all of our homes and around
all of our homes. But what's happening in Rancho Palace
Verdes is super widespread. I mean certainly more widespread than
you know, a house or two. And apparently there's a
very deep and active landslide plane that was considered dormant
(10:47):
for a long time, which is what's made this so difficult.
And they did exploratory drilling this summer and they found
that this is a far more geologically active area than
they originally thought. And they're saying this is an unprecedented
new scenario for the city, which means we have to
change our strategy. That's according to the Rancho Palas Verdi's
(11:09):
public works director. So the result of what really has
been two years of extraordinarily wet seasons. Right, We've had
rainy seasons the last two years. I mean, thankfully we've
had a lot of rain. But on the other hand,
a lot of rain does create issues of all sorts,
and land movement being accelerated is one of the issues.
(11:32):
So we've seen all of this land shifting and it's
splitting homes and walls and roads are having to be refigured,
Utility lines are being busted, and there is a challenge
to city leaders in Rancho's Palace Verities to figure something out.
I mean, you know, you've got obviously this deeper slip plane,
(11:54):
as it's called. It sits about twice the depth they say,
of the previously tracked landslides, and that makes it because
it's an ongoing situation and they're really just learning, it
would seem, almost by the hour, about the characteristics of
this thing. It's a very tough situation to address immediately.
So this is a complex of land movement and geologists
(12:19):
are looking at this and a lot of residents in
Rancho Palace Verdes are facing a question. I mean, you've
got cracked foundations, leaking roofs, shifting floors. The La County
Fire Department, which serves the Palasverardes Peninsula, says that it
could take first responders more than six minutes to get
to some of these houses because of the road conditions,
(12:41):
which are challenging. So now what's happened. Something predictable has happened.
Residents who are caught in the middle of this while
looking for solutions, also do what They file a lawsuit.
They file a lawsuit in state court. And the lawsuit
is saying local officials, including the homeowners' associations in these
(13:02):
various places, and the area's water provider, the county, and
even the landslide Abatement District didn't act properly and that's
led to an oversaturation of these hillsides and that's created
the landslide movement. Again, I don't know what would have
(13:23):
happen with this legal case. What's going to happen with
this legal case. Exactly who's culpable, I don't know, But
city officials are obviously scrambling to try to handle this.
They did vote to go ahead with a pilot plan
to drill these vertical wells into the deeper landslide, trying
to pump out groundwater because they think the groundwater is
(13:46):
causing this land movement. So this is a bizarre and
unprecedented situation for people who've lived there for generations. I mean,
this is a gorgeous area, right the Rolling Hills, Rancho
Palace Verities area. So it's a scramble on the part
(14:08):
of city officials geologists. They're doing boring tests that again
have uncovered this deeper geological formation that geologists really weren't
aware of. So what will happen. Well, first of all,
as they say, there's a court case that's being pursued.
But what they're trying to do is pump that groundwater
(14:28):
out and stabilize this land. And the general rate of
land movement, just to put it in some kind of context,
has apparently leveled off. But prior to that, the land
was moving about eighty eight times faster than it was
in October of twenty twenty two. So when you are
(14:51):
measuring movement on the order of inches a year, now
you're measuring it on the level of inches a week.
This is a very serious situation. And you folks in
the ranch of Palace Verdes area, I don't envy you.
I mean such a great area of beautiful neighborhoods and
now really something you have no control over. So speaking
(15:15):
of no control, man, tough situation developing in another Southern
California neighborhood. And in a way, this is a brilliant
evil idea. It comes out of the world of evil
and rip off, but there is a level of brilliance
to it. I'll tell you about that.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Next.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Mark Thompson is sitting in for Tim, who is away
and excited about a lot of stuff we'll be doing
on the show today. Major developments in southern California and beyond.
And there's something happening in I guess it's Tondo Beach.
This is happening, but I'm surprised there's not more widespread. Actually,
it's a bit of again technological evil genius. You'll figure
(16:09):
out why I say that as we get the details
from Chris Adler.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Hi, Chris, Hey, Mark, So, yeah, the term that you
just used evil brilliance, you're right because you know these
QR codes that these scammers have slapped onto these parking
meters in Redondo beach. It's brilliant but also evil because
we used QR codes for everything.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Mark.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
So what happened was a Redondo Beach police officer, off
duty officer, was walking the esplanade there in south Redondo,
Redondo Beach, just before you hit Rancho Pala's Verdes, that
little hally they call it the Hollywood Riviera, and he
noticed these QR code stickers that were not from the city,
(16:52):
and so he called the watch commander and said, hey,
what do you know about this? And so they checked
it out and when they scanned the code led them
to a fraudulent website. So apparently these scammers at some
point slapped stickers on about one hundred and fifty meters
in the riviera. And now the city contracts with two
(17:14):
different companies for when you go to the beach and
you have to pay the meters. So now you know
you used to have to drop quarters in, but now
they have credit cards scanners where you can put your
credit cards in. Makes it much easier for people. And
they contract with two different companies, Pay by Phone and
pay Mobile. Well, these scammers stuck these QR code stickers
(17:34):
right next to the legitimate QR codes.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Sure and they're much bigger.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Mark, so that would be the first one somebody would
actually scan and instead of going to pay byphone dot com,
it takes you to POI by phone, poy POI by phone,
and that asks for their location and their credit card information.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Mark Wow, I mean it is I've done this. You
shoot the QR code, you go, oh, this is great.
And the other thing that the QR code does oftentimes
just open an app. But if you have one of
the apps, then you were able to, for example, monitor
how long your meter has still on the you know,
if your lunch is running long here, whatever your appointment is,
and so you can you can add more time. It
(18:17):
becomes a convenience on different levels.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
So super convenience.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
The notion of.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Infiltrating that kind of convenience is sort of, as I say,
there's a genius, but it really is a nasty evil thing.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Well, you know the Rodandovitch Police Department. The captain there,
Michael Martinez, told me today he said, you know, if
these scammers would just put their minds to something more useful,
they would.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Really get the police department right.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Well right, and so so the anyways, you know this
weekend they ripped all of those fake QR codes off.
So far, they say that nobody has been there's no
reports of anybody being.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Scammed, but they want anybody.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Who feels that they've been scammed or received a ticket
after paying the meter to contact the police department. But
right now they're saying they haven't gotten any reports.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
But you know what, I was.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
Actually down there about two weeks ago. I go there
quite often. I take my boys, we watch the sunset.
It's our favorite sunset spot. And I don't remember seeing
those on there. And I would have been the first
person to scan because I'm always so busy, Mark, and
it was it's right there, it's huge. I would have
ended up scanning that one and probably would have, you know,
end up paying. So I don't think they've been there long,
(19:25):
he says. The captain said, they think they've caught it
pretty quickly. But you know, and in just a month ago,
Mark that Alhambra Police Department was warning the public about
fake parking tickets that were being placed on cars with
QR codes, So you know, they're really targeting something that
people really use, and we use this all the times.
(19:46):
You almost need QR codes to even breathe. Nowadays, we
use it for everything, you know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And also the way in which they reach out to you.
I just had it happened last month, I want to say,
maybe even not that long ago, and anyway not important.
The Golden gate Bridge authority or the Coltransit, whoever handles
that bridge toll on the Golden gate Bridge reaches out
to me and they say on a text, we have
a record of your car going over the Golden gate
(20:13):
Bridge on such and such a date. And You're thinking,
and it was like months ago, right, And I'm like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I think I did. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And then I'm trying to verify from where this communication
is originating, and there's no way to do that. This
is a little like your curochic QR Code of Scam.
And finally, what did I do?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I just paid it? And I was, you know, nine dollars.
I just paid it.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So I think we kind of default to that path
of least resistance, which is just pay it whatever. And
I think that opens us up to a lot of scams.
And you put a lot of that nine dollars or
whatever it is, you put enough of them together, and
that's a lot of money.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
Well yeah, and not just that mark. Once they have
your bank information, you know, it's really dangerous. So the
police are saying it's best to use a credit card
as opposed to a debit card that's linked to your
checking account, et cetera. It's easier to get reimbursed on
from you know, credit cards, and it's easier to shut
(21:12):
that down than something that's linked to an actual bank
account where they can wipe you out. And we really
don't know what the plan was once they had the information,
but you know, it's it's kind of scary and it
makes you have you really got to think twice about things.
Save receipts, save transactions, but just clear.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
The cops are saying you should use a credit card
on the parking meters.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
You should always that's a more favorable way to.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Go, favorable if that's the option. I you know, I
don't think that those in Redondo Beach have a change
option anymore. I think it's just credit card. I could
be wrong, but they're saying, if you do use the card,
it's better to use a credit card as opposed to
your debit card. It's less risky.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You know, when I was a kid, you had to
find quarters and times to put them down there. Now
your kids with the credit card.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
I remember, I remember my dad running up up the
beach to go.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
He's god, I gotta put money in the meter.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
You know that it's changed things, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's wild anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So they've all the QR codes though, are down in Redondo,
meaning they took the fake ones off and now the
ones that remain are the actual QR g right, and.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Just if anyone's listening, the actual companies are pay by
Phone and pay Mobile. Those are the only two that
are contracted with the city, and those are.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Safe, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Chris, Thank you. Chris Adler from KFI knew Mark. Yeah, man,
the scams keep coming. They're hatching new scams every hour.
That's a good one. I've got to say, phone, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Man.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Evil can be pretty clever sometimes. When we come back
West La. Everything's so great in West La. Uh, not
so much. A new warning. We'll tell you about it next.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
You're listening, Tim conwaytun you're on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Got a major major development in southern California neighborhoods to
the point that we'll get into that next hour. But
you know, on the subject of thieves and off of
those fake QR codes that are ending up on parking
meters in Redondo, it's wild to hear the sophistication and
(23:26):
the trouble that a lot of these scammers go to
and listen to this. These are La bakeries landscaping companies
that are Those are two different businesses. There's not a
bakery that's also a landscaping company. These are landscaping companies
or bakeries are the two that are reporting a new
kind of scam. And here is stafush Can you help
(23:49):
me please with the and now I don't know why
this isn't it's not I'm not hearing it. I'm not
hearing anything, are you no? Okay, Well, it was a
great idea I thought elegantly set up, but then ultimately
we didn't stick the landing Sharon, do you have a
thought would you like to would you like to issue
a formal apology? It's not really your fault, but somebody
(24:13):
has to step up and take the hit.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Want me to do it? I'll take the hit, all right,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, while we get that organized, I will tell you
one thing that is coming back, coming back, just in
time to be scammed.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Cuckaroo Chicken.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
They're talking about it coming back under new ownership.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I mean it was nineteen eighty eight to twenty fourteen.
Back then, I was eating chicken. It was a great place. Salads, sandwiches,
sides were fantastic, exactly. And now they're talking about bringing
the chain back. It won't won't fully return, they say,
(24:57):
until late next year. But there is something called Jane
Fest on October fifth where there are a bunch of
other chains and brands, white Castle, Trader Vicks, Read, Lobster,
and they will have a Cuckaroo Chicken that'll be featured
in that same crew they run that event. It's a
(25:20):
bunch of entertainment folks who do it. Bj Novak, Chrissy
Teagan and Tim Hollingsworth, who's out of that chef and
culinary world. So Kuckaroo's new owners said that they are
getting all of this positive reaction and some of the
(25:41):
former employees want to come back and they're volunteering getting
the word out. So during the pandemic, an investor was
looking for a new project. He read that the parent
company of Kuckaroo was liquidating and that's how he got
into it. And after some back and forth, apparently Cuckaroo
(26:03):
may come back. Now you want to do this now
okay you know so, yeah, it's working. Oh then we're
not still not hearing anything. Huh well, I mean you tried. Yeah,
let's try to get maybe our best people on this. Yeah.
The first Cuckaroo opened in nineteen eighty eight. I was
(26:27):
talking about Cuckoo was coming back and the first one
opened in Korea Town. Ray and Mike Badallion opened their
first Cuckaroo in nineteen eighty eight, and sometimes at that Cuckaroo,
the lines were down the block to get this flame
grilled skinless chicken that they got organized there and it
(26:54):
was really you know, you've got to remember in nineteen
eighty eight, there wasn't this huge proliferation of fast casual
you know what I mean, that restaurant that the Chipotles
of the world, that's a fast casual they call it, right,
and this chain, Cuckaroo, was referred to as healthier fast food.
(27:15):
So those little things, as Crow said, the sides, the seasonings,
the non plastic flatware, they had flowers on the tables.
It was somewhere you know, in between, and it was
the beginning of that fast casual that was Cuckaroo. And
(27:37):
they struggled financially for years. Apparently they acquired other companies, Hamburger,
Hamlet colored me Mine. I'm talking about the parent company,
if you will, of Cuckaroo. But the chain filed for
bankruptcy in two thousand and three. It was acquired by
another company, and in twenty ten that company filed for
(27:57):
bankruptcy and ten Cuckaroos were closed, leaving Santa Monica, Larchmont,
and West Hollywood standing with the only Cuckaroos. They said
the rent in southern California was super high and too
high for them to maintain the business. They also said
it was a competitive market and a lot of menu
(28:18):
changes that were confusing customers. It was a bad strategy
and they just couldn't continue. So Looby's Restaurant Corporation bought
Cuckaroo in twenty ten, but even that didn't hang around
because the company closed all the locations because they couldn't
(28:39):
make ends meet. The last standing Cuckaroo was in Santa Monica.
I used to that was my Cuckaroo. That was my Cuckaroo,
and it was a sad day when I went by
there and it was a fut Ruckers.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I mean, how can that happen?
Speaker 7 (28:57):
Which are they around anymore?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's a good question, that's a Google question. I can't
think of where a Fudreckers is right now, so maybe
they're not. By the time they closed, they had opened
up a big menu. They were trying all kinds of things.
They were flailing, really, so the clean idea, that's to say,
(29:24):
the streamlined idea that Birth's Cuckaroo really got corrupted because
they got desperate, so they started adding stuff to the
menu and before you knew it, it wasn't Cuckaroo anymore.
And they're going to try to they say, go with
their old favorite streamline again and chicken sandwiches, chicken plate,
(29:46):
caesar salad all could very well end up on the menu,
as could the sides the Krozier likes so much. And
all of this again will debut at chain Fest in October.
It's still in the works, but chain Fest October fifth
could be where you get your first literal taste of Cuckaroo,
and then next year is when Cuckaroo will re emerge.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
Is this like a is this taking place at like
a convention? Center.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I'm looking to see you're fascinated by it. I know
me too, Trader Vics.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
I'm also a little bit I don't know how well
can we expect the food to be the same if
it's a temporary setup and they're all in one place, and.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, I mean, certainly it well, I
don't know some of these exhibitions. I was going to say, certainly,
you know, you're not going to have the kitchens that
you would have the real facility, But some of these
exhibitions can really be pretty.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Terrific now that Rucker says.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
According to its website, there are a bunch open still
around the country, but only one in California, in Concord.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Concord is on the East Bay of the San Francisco
Bay Area. It's like in the suburbs. You want to
think of it as one in the state. Wow, isn't
that wild? And you always wonder, I mean, it's so
easy to say, well, it runs too high and the
regulation is too much and the taxes too Okay, maybe,
but it might have been. I mean, the business is
(31:13):
doing well for a while, you know, same setup, same regulations,
same taxes.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Kuckaroo if you want it and you're at chain Fest,
and if we can figure out where that is, we
will tell you it's in I think here it is.
Chain Fest takes place October fifth at the row DTLA
Complex in the Arts District. Tickets are eighty nine ninety
(31:44):
nine to one hundred and forty nine ninety nine. VIP
tickets include unlimited bytes.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
So there's one in New York in September, and then
this one here in La is October fifth.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, in the Arts District, downtown. Wow, Well, there you go.
I mean, you got to have a couple of bucks.
But it sounds like it might be a fun affair
if you do have a couple of bucks. But isn't
everything a fun affair if you do have a couple
of bucks? Yeah, it really is true.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
More bucks, the more fun.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We come back as I say, there is a scourge
affecting southern California communities, even upscale communities.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
We'll talk about that next.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
It's Conway Show, Mark Thompsons sitting in for Tim on
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app Now You
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
four to seven pm Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
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