Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call
with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio Appy.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
It's time for your morning wake up call.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Here's Amy King.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good Monday morning to you.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
This is your wake up call for Memorial Day, May
twenty six. It's five o'clock straight up. I'm Amy King.
Thanks for getting up early on this Memorial Day. If
you're up early, you're probably like all of us, you
get to work today. So we got a lot of
stuff planned for you, a lot of stuff going on.
(00:44):
Several Memorial Day ceremonies, remembrances, observances going on. We'll tell
you about some of those as we make our way
through wake up call, and just you know, thank you
to all of those who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Of all the patriotic songs I was thinking of, and
I'm hoping Cono you can dig this one up. Billy
(01:04):
Ray cyrus'es some gave All is probably the best tribute.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Here's what's ahead on wake up call.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Actin Community Center and Glendale's City Hall are holding ceremonies
at nine thirty this morning to honor fallen veterans this
Memorial Day. Ceremonies begin at ten am at Park Lawn
Cemetery in Commerce, Serrito Civic Center, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks
in Covina Hills, Hollywood Hills and Long Beach, Green Hills
Memorial Park in Rancho Palace, Verty's Veterans Park in Lomita,
(01:36):
and Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood lots of ceremonies today.
Detectives are trying to piece together what led to a
shooting in the Shoreline Village area of Long Beach that
wounded a man, a woman, and a boy. Billie say
the shooting happened shortly before eleven last night. A woman
was taken at the hospital. The man and the fourteen
year old boy got to the hospital on their own.
(01:57):
Eighteen million passengers are expected to try travel by air
over the extended Memorial Day weekend. Friday was the TSA's
third busiest travel day ever, with more than three million
passengers screened. Triple A's forecasting a record breaking thirty nine
million people are going to travel by a car over
the holiday, breaking the old record set in two thousand
and five. I think that means that the roads are
(02:19):
going to be really, really, really busy. Later today, Let's
get started with some of the stories coming out of
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Flowers will be flying
in Palm Springs this Memorial Day.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Thousands of flowers will fall from the sky today during
the Palm Springs Air Museum's annual flower drop honoring fallen
service members. The vintage B twenty five bomber will release
over three thousand carnations at one o'clock this afternoon. Festivities
start at ten am with planes, music, and a chance
to ride in a World War Two fighter plane if
you're willing to pay nearly six hundred dollars. Brigita Degastino,
(02:50):
KFI News.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
A man in receipt has been caught on video hurling
threats and insults at another driver who has an Israeli
flag in his windshield.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I'll be king in front of everybody, okay.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
The man targeted says he's not Jewish, but displays the
flag in support of his Jewish friends and family. He
tells KTLA he was driving last week when another driver
rolled down his window and just started yelling at him.
Speaker 6 (03:12):
What I recall him saying was I will kill you.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I will ask him kill you.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Dash cam video shows the man break hard before he
gets out of his car, cell phone in hand and
begins to shout profanity laced threats. The driver who was
attacked says he did file a police report. A mob
has gone on a vandalism spree in downtown LA.
Speaker 7 (03:31):
After declaring an unlawful assembly. Police and Right Gear formed
a skirmish line to clear dozens of people late Saturday
night after they allegedly vandalized a police car, a Metro train,
in several businesses with graffiti. A video of the incident
shows multiple people punching a slow moving train, then spray
painting it as it stopped. Metro says about fifty trespassers
blocked two trains from moving and broke into one of them.
(03:54):
A group of people also kicked, spray painted and shot
fireworks at an LAPD squad car. There are an over
sports of injuries. Daniel Martindale KFI News.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Here the big boom around southern California. It was a
sonic boom from the return of a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
It happened overnight Saturday as the Dragon capsule re entered
the atmosphere and then splashed down in the waters off
ocean side. The Dragon capsule launched from Kennedy Space Center
in Florida. A few days before. It delivered supplies and
(04:25):
equipment to the International Space Station. Hopefully it's going to
be nice and quiet today, but we'll take a first
look at our morning commute and say good morning to
Jonathan Weiss.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
We've got a stall in Culver City. It's on the
four h five.
Speaker 8 (04:41):
It's our cocktailt car here on the four oh five
southbound right of Washington Boulevard. This is a stall that's
blocking the right lane right now. Traffic is a bit
backed up coming away from Venas Boulevard. Look Out in
the Colton area on the two fifteen northbound before Mount
Vernon crash working here in the center divider, and looks
like we have a little bit of trouble to the
(05:02):
downtown lay area. On the one ten south bout of
Third Street. This' say crash there along the right shoulder
to the Pomona area. Keep your eyes peeled on the
ten eastbound before Dudley. Crash being reported here along the
right shoulder. And getty word of another stall in the
Paramount area seven ten northbound of Rosecrans. This one's along
(05:22):
the right shoulder and Hugh low Melinda on the ten
eastbound before Mountain View. Look out here for a crash
there along the right shoulder. We Southern California is most
accurate at traffic reports. I'm Jonathan Weiss.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Thank you, Jonathan. It is five oh six on your
wake up. Of course, travel is a big thing on
Memorial Day weekend, but even if you're not traveling very far,
there is a lot of interesting things to see around
southern California. Let's say good morning now to the author
of thirty travel and history books, including James Dean Died Here,
(05:58):
Roadside Baseball, and a bunch of others. Plus you've written
for The La Times, for Travel and Leisure magazine. This
guy loves to talk about travel. Good morning, Chris.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Epting, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 9 (06:12):
Good to hear you.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
And we're not even talking about far off places for travel.
In many cases, it's right in our own back, in
our own backyard. And I'm going to tell you, Chris,
that we have actually met before, and you will not
remember it because it was probably ten years ago and
it was at a day of authors at cal State Fullerton.
(06:35):
And I'm going to tell you, wake up call that.
When I met Chris, actually we listened to him talking
about one of his books, and just he was so
engaging and interesting. I was like, oh my god, I
have to buy this book. And the book was about
like places on the map where things happened, and it
was like where James Dean died, which I drive by
(06:58):
that location all the time now at the Highway forty
six and forty one junction because I go to visit
a friend in Pasa Robles, and so I think about
your book every time I passed that junction.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Well, a great memory, thank you, and I remember that event.
I love those sorts of events and I appreciate you
putting that together and getting us back here today.
Speaker 9 (07:16):
That's amazing and really flattered.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
So today we're not talking about things that you can
still go and see, though, because you have a new
book out it's called Lost Landmarks of Orange County.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So tell us a little about your new book.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Well, it's yeah, again, there are some things you can visit,
little trace remnants.
Speaker 9 (07:33):
I mean, the cover of the book features a.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Place that was called Lion Country Safari, which was down
in Irvine from nineteen seventy about nineteen eighty four. Many
of your listeners may have been there before, but even
if they weren't there, I think it really speaks to
this idea of just how crazy in terms of landmarks,
Orange County has been in the last hundred or so years.
And so if you go there today, of course Lyon
Country Safari is gone. You can no longer wander and
(07:56):
have giraffes and hippos and vinys come to your car.
But there's a tree with a very famous lion, Frasier
the Fraser, the Sensuous Lion he was called because he
sired thirty five cups. Is buried under a California live
oak tree there. So sometimes it's not entirely lost, and
there are pieces like that which in the book I
really tried to detail all of those sorts of things
(08:16):
to tell the story, but also, you know, let people
know if there is something else they can connect with
the right.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
And so at the Lion Safari Park where Fraser is buried,
what's there now?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
It's a housing complex call I think it's called Los
of Libos, and it's also the former site of where
Irvine Meadows Amphitheater was, So I traced the legacy of
that really great concert venue that was there. And you
know Orange County, you know, starting back really in the
forties with not very farmament into Disneyland in the fifties
was a tourist mecca. And so you've got lots of
theme parks and places like that Buffalo Ranch, the Alligator Farm,
(08:52):
the Japanese Deer Park. Those are all gone.
Speaker 9 (08:55):
But I also include movie.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Theaters, restaurants, all the sorts of things that people may
have grown up going too. That really helped to play
it a part in shaping Orange County.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
But what it is today, Yeah, like you said, the
past and what shaped Orange County And we have to
go back to the Alligator Park because I'm not aware
of that one. And what was the Alligator Park.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
The California Alligator Farm, opening about nineteen fifty. I learned
something fascinating and researching this book in that in the
mid fifties Walter Notd, who rank Notts Verry Farms to
block Away, heard that the Alligator Farm was kind of
on the brink of going at a business because of
the cost of feeding alligators. He realized each night that
it not's very farmed. They were throwing out lots of
(09:35):
raw chicken from their famous for our chicken restaurant, so
he began to help them out. He had the chicken
carted down there at night, which got them over that
hurdle and kept them there till the early nineteen eighties.
Speaker 9 (09:46):
So you had a lot of great stories like.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That too, sort of entrepreneurs looking you at for each
other and realizing that you didn't have to be that
competitive because if everyone did well, then the county did well.
And so you had a lot of those kinds of
stories of places helping each other out.
Speaker 9 (10:01):
That's my favorite. And the fact that you could go.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Sit feed baby alligators. They had baskets on the back
of alligators and you could ride and they would send
alligators hurtling down slides into the water.
Speaker 9 (10:12):
I mean it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, you could ride on the back of an alligator.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
There's pictures going back. Yeah, actually, and I don't know
how long that was in effect, with the ars of
postcard images of kids on the back of you know,
the snouts are tied, obviously, but such was the thrill
of the California Alligator Farm, I.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Can understand why that one may no longer be there.
So in your research, Chris, did you talk to people
who experienced these locations or are they games that you
remember from your childhood or how did you go about
getting all of.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
These I grew up. I grew up in Westchester County,
New York. I moved to Orange County about twenty five
years ago, so I had my own experiences.
Speaker 9 (10:54):
But they didn't go back that far. So yes, I absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Spoke to people from from locals who grew up going
to see concerts and things all the way down to
like I had a great conversation with Steve Martin about
the Golden Bear, a former nightclub in Huntington Beach where
he kind of first made his mark in the early seventies.
He's from Orange County, from Garden Growth. I spoke to
Jackson Brown about the Golden Bear as well, and a
good buddy of this was the dishwasher there who Jackson
(11:19):
encouraged to go up to la and ultimately landed the
audition of Peter Torque and the Monkeys. So you know,
there were some revelations like that that I found fascinating
just as a journalist talking to people like that, But
plenty of locals recounted of what it was like to
grow up here in the forties and fifties and sixties
and so on, and the great drive in movie theaters
(11:40):
and all sorts of things that you know, again, every
place has them. Orange County just had a lot of
the Orange Counties thirty four cities tied together, and so
I touch upon a lot of different things from sports
to agriculture, to oil, to music, to movies to everything
that again helped make the counthy where it is today.
(12:01):
It's a sort of treatment I honestly would love to
do with La County as well, and I'm thinking about
that now because again, the southern California, places where everybody
came to visit from all over the world, have plenty
of these lost landmarks.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
So interesting. I love talking to Chris Epting, and we're
not done with him yet. We're going to find out
in our next segment which lost landmark Chris misses the most,
and also how Disney plays into the history of lost
landmarks in Orange County.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Of course, I always have to wrap Disney into something.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Let's get back to some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. President Trump says
the US will delay implementation of a fifty percent tariff
on goods from the European Union from June first until
July ninth to allow for negotiations. The agreement was reached
after a call yesterday with the President of the European Commission.
Trump says she told him she wants to get down
(12:54):
to business and serious negotiations. Texas could become the sec
Can state to have an across the board ban on
social media for miners. Kay if Is Lisa Cartin says
the legislation would require social media platforms to verify the
age of anyone who creates an account.
Speaker 10 (13:11):
If enacted, Texas House Bill one eighty six would place
wide restrictions that ban every Texas resident under eighteen years
old from signing up for and using social media platforms.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
She says the legislation would also allow parents to request
their child's account be deleted. Workers at USCL have welcomed
a planned partnership with Nipon Steel, saying it'll save their jobs.
Glenn Thomas has worked at a Pittsburgh area plant for
more than forty years and says this one means a lot.
Not only is it is it the steel workers jobs
(13:43):
that it says, it's the contractor's jobs, it's the local
community's tax base. Nippon Steel has offered fifteen billion dollars
to buy the American company. The Federal Trade Commission is
pushing ahead with challenges to more than two hundred patents.
It says we're improper early listed to stop generic versions
of brand named drugs from getting on the market. It's
(14:04):
accusing seven drug makers of using invalid or misclassified patents
to delay generic competition for seventeen drugs. Former President Biden
has made his first public appearance since his cancer diagnosis
was made public. Biden attended his grandson's high school graduation
in Connecticut on Friday. He said he was feeling fine.
(14:25):
Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate
cancer that has spread. Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has died.
Robertson's daughter in law posted the news on Facebook yesterday.
His family revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease back in December. Robertson starred on the popular A
and E reality series from twenty twelve to twenty seventeen.
(14:46):
Phil Robertson was seventy nine. A new study takes a
deeper look at what divorce really means for kids, and
the impact may last longer than most things.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Kids whose parents split up before they turn five are
more likely to struggle later in life, earning less money
and facing higher risks of teen pregnancy, jail time, and
even early death. Researchers see it's not just the divorce,
it's the rival effects. The study, using federal tax and
census data, found that divorce often leads to lost income,
moves to lower income neighborhoods, and less time with parents
who are working more just to stay afloat Brigida Degastino
(15:18):
KFI News.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
A man has been injured in a thirty foot fall
in Chatsworth. The man was rock climbing at Stony Point
Park when he fell last night, shortly after seven. He
was airlifted out of what first responders call a rugged
and remote section of the park. His condition isn't clear.
Dodgers' Superstar Show, Hey Otani is getting closer to officially
(15:40):
returning to being a two way player.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
In New York.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yesterday, Otani pitched to hitters in practice, his highest fastball
velocity ninety seven miles an hour. Otani hasn't pitched in
a game since he rejoined Earth since he joined the Dodgers,
he could pitch in a game this season. It would
happen after the All Star Game in July at six
oh five. It's handle on the news. Handles taken the
(16:04):
day off, But we have our very O'Neil Savager here
and we're going to be talking about the top federal
prosecutor in LA looking to neutralize California's sanctuary laws. Right now,
we're talking with travel author Chris Epting and his book
Lost Landmarks of Orange County. What Chris is the lost
landmark that makes you most sad that it's no longer here?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Well, Lying country definitely is why I went there as
a kid visiting from New York in nineteen seventy four,
and that one, to me is just again, it serves
so many purposes there were I talked to people that
had like their junior and senior proms there. It wasn't
just for tourists, so plenty of locals use to I
think if I could have one back, that would be
the top of the list, along with the Golden Bear,
(16:52):
because again, from the early sixties to the mid eighties,
everybody played there was a lot of music history there
one other site. This year marks the tennial of the
very famous baseball game out in Brea, California, that featured
no less than Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson. And it
was a little place called the Brea Bowl, and I
wish that was still there today. It was a field
(17:13):
that oil companies would use for their kind of inter
squad baseball games. And the fact that one hundred years ago,
in October of nineteen twenty four, Walter Johnson, who went
to Fullerton High School, staged a game they're featuring. He
played against Babe Rude and it's a very notable game.
I write about it in the book, and I think
it'd be fun to have that back, as well as
sort of a famous, a legendary baseball diamond.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
What gave you kind of the travel bug? Because you've
written about so many interesting places that a lot of
people maybe wouldn't have even thought of, but for whatever reason,
you go, ooh, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
What sparks.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I can tell you exactly. I had a moment when
I was about ten years old. Newspaper in New York,
the Daily News, had a little article about marily Monroe,
and it showed her opposing in the seven Year Itch
the famous scene where the white dress billows up over
the subway grade, and it said that that actual subway
grade was in New York City at the northwest corner
at fifty second Street and Lexington Avenue. And the next
(18:08):
time we were in the city, I dragged my parents
over there and I found that subway grade, and in
my head, I thought, literally, how many places are there?
All the New Yorkers were walking over nobody knew what
had taken place there, And that planted the seed of
like all these other places that we walked by every
day and not know that some sort of cultural history
was made there, from the sublime to the ridiculous. And
(18:30):
that was literally what set me off on this idea
that there's got to be a lot of these places,
whether it's things Dean passed away, or where the Hindenburgh crashed,
or where Elvis did his first concert, whatever it happens
to be. You know, I spent the last twenty five
some odd years writing those books, and you know, I
love California. I always wanted to live here, and to
the fact that I have been able to live here
(18:51):
and make a living here, I focus a lot of
attention on California, especially southern California in this case with
Orange County, and I've written a lot about la as well,
and i just feel like this really is the cultural
crossroads of.
Speaker 9 (19:04):
The United States in many ways.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, and Chris, you write about in your new book
the Lost Landmarks of Orange County, places that aren't actually
no longer there, but parts of them that are no
longer there. And I'm a huge disney fan, So you
have a section about things at Disneyland and not Berry
Farm that are no longer there exactly.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And that's the key point, because you said, but I've
got chapters in the book on both places for the
many attractions no longer there, including in Disneyland's case, the
Tomorrowland Stage, which was a very famous performance space where
Space Mountain is located today. I write about how in
the early seventies, a Linda Ronsdack got book there. Needing
a band to play behind her, she gathered up some
(19:49):
buddies from the Troubadour in West Hollywood. They came down
to back her, thus sort of giving birth to the
Eagles who first got together playing at their backup Oh
My Gold Stage. And you can also see in Newport
on MacArthur Boulevard the original Disneyland, and Sam sits up
by Rogers Garden, up on a hill with a plaque
by it. So again that's an example of being able
(20:10):
to look at an actual artist sat out in the
open connected to Disneyland.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I love that there's so much history in all of this, Chris.
What do you hope that people get out of this book?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I hope they just get a sense that we can
always learn from the past, and it's good to go
back and rekindle memories again, whether you grew up here
or not. I wanted this to be a book that
anybody can get something out of because of rich storytelling
and great images, and just an appreciation of the fact
that even though places change over the decades, he can
(20:39):
never erase the memories. He can never erase the effects
that those places had in helping to shape a community.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
All right, Chris Epting, thank you so much for sharing
just a few of the stories, and of course you
can read all of the stories of the Lost Landmarks
of Orange County.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Chris. Where can we get the book?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
It's available on Amazon, all major bookstores had books, or
wherever books are sold. You can find it, and I
hope people enjoy it. The response so far has been wonderful,
beyond my imagination, and so I'm really appreciative for this
time to chat about it.
Speaker 9 (21:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (21:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I think a lot of people are nostalgic, and you know,
with the world moving so fast, sometimes it's nice to
just stop and take a look back.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
I think you nailed it. I think that's really the
key point with a lot of these kinds of books.
Speaker 9 (21:22):
I do what you just said right now.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
All right, Chris Epting, thank you so much for your
time today, and hopefully we can talk to you when
we have the Lost Landmarks.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Of La County anytime.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Take care, Thanks so much, so so interesting do you
think lost Landmarks of Orange County? And I absolutely love
that there was an alligator park. Can't imagine what could
possibly go wrong with that. The top federal prosecutor in
LA is stepping up immigration enforcement.
Speaker 11 (21:51):
US Attorney Bill as Ailey says the new initiative, called
Operation Guardian Angel, is targeting individuals in jails who have
been deported and re entered the US illegally. Those people
will now be charged with federal crimes. He says, this
approach aims to circumvent California's sanctuary laws, which limit local
cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Assaille, a former Republican assemblyman,
is focusing efforts on county jails and state prisons, key
(22:13):
areas where sanctuary policies have restricted federal access.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
How the Rooker KFI News.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
A family in San Bernardino's upset that a seventeen year
old girl was seriously heard after being body slammed by
a police officer. It happened during an arrest and was
captured on video. The family is calling for an investigation
into the officer's use of force.
Speaker 12 (22:32):
He should not have even had his hands on but
he picked my child up like she was a rag
doll has slammed.
Speaker 7 (22:40):
Her to the ground.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
The teen's father, Christopher Krauser, is also seeking legal action
the San Bernardino Police Department. Officials say the officer had
handcuffed one of the girl's hands when she reportedly began
to pull away and walk off. That's when the officer
used the takedown maneuver. A man's been rescued after getting
stuck in a manhole in Pacoima. Firefighters responded to a
(23:02):
call early yesterday morning on Osbourne Street near Whiteman Airport.
Firefighters used a rope system to get to the man
and safely bring him back to the surface. No word
on why he was down the manhole. Travel experts say
this might be the summer to go to Europe. Founder
and CEO of The Points Guy, Brian Kelly says airfares
(23:22):
and hotel prices are down to levels not seen since
the pandemic as regulatory changes affect online listings, I.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Have not seen this many deals and since the peak
days of the pandemic. American Airlines is running a fair
sale of slowest five thousand miles a ticket.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Yikes, five thousand miles a ticket. He says he's seeing
tickets for just over five hundred to six hundred dollars
to go to Ireland and London, and under three hundred
dollars to go to Cancun or Cabo And I can
tell you after just going over to Europe, our tickets
were a lot more expensive than that.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Today, the Dodger's take.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
On the Guardians in Cleveland, with the first pitch going
out at three. You can listen to all Dodger games
at am five to seventy LA Sports Live from the
Galpin Motors Broadcast booth and stream all the Dodgers games
all season long and HD on the iHeartRadio app. Again
that keyword, AM five seventy LA Sports. The names of
more than seven thousand Americans who've died in combat and
(24:16):
training exercises since the nine to eleven attacks are being
read this morning at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach.
The name reading began around five point thirty got started
actually a little bit earlier than that. Members of gold
Star Families, local active duty military, law enforcement, first responders,
and vets will assist in reading the names of the
fallen in order of death, as inscribed on the park's
(24:39):
memorial wall. Several businesses, metro trains, and a police vehicle
have been vandalized in downtown La. LAPD says a group
of over three hundred had gathered at an abandoned building
on Saturday night at Trinity Street and East Washington Boulevard.
Officers filed fired rubber bullets into the crowd to try
to break them up. The crowd lit fire works off
(25:01):
and sprayed graffiti on businesses and metro trains. Metro had
to shut down service in the area for a time.
Fire crews continue to battle fire east of Yosemite National Park.
The fire started Thursday afternoon, prompting the closure of Highway
three ninety five near Mono Lake. Air tankers have been
dropping water on the flames. The fires burned about seven
(25:23):
hundred and twenty acres. It's fifteen percent surrounded at six
oh five. It's handle on the news. Trump threatens tariffs
and then pulls them right back off the table for now.
With summer grilling season now upon us and a lot
of people planning to cook a good stick today for
Memorial Day barbecues, we went out and about to one
(25:43):
of the best steakhouses, not in La not in the US,
but in the whole wide world. And I got to
let you know, we're in the kitchen with all the fans,
so they have to have the fans on so there
aren't fires and that kind of thing. So there is
some ambient noise, but we can still hear Curtis loud
and clear in his kitchen at Gwen in Hollywood, and
with us we.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Have one of the owners of Gwen.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
It's Curtis Stone, you may recognize, and thanks for taking
the time to do this with us, curtit.
Speaker 13 (26:11):
Are You're so welcome?
Speaker 6 (26:12):
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I'm great?
Speaker 4 (26:13):
So I want to hear about this fabulous restaurant of yours.
Tell us about what makes gwhen so great that it
got ranked one of the best in the whole world.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
Well, look, I think when it comes to it in state, there's.
Speaker 12 (26:25):
Everything that happens before it gets to the shift, and
that's really important. That goes right back to the farmer,
a rancher, right, like what breed of cattle is it?
What feed does that feed on? At what point is
the animal harvested? How long is it aged for? Because
we dry age all of our meats, so that's all
farmer and butcher work. And then we get a wonderful
(26:46):
quality steak given to us in the kitchen.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Look at this beauty. Wow, that great.
Speaker 12 (26:51):
So what you want to see here is a nice
layer of fat over the top of it and then
beautiful marbling throughout. So all of that gorgeous flavor it does,
so that gives it all of its richness. So this
is preakstone. Is the ranch that we get it from?
Where's that the middle of the country. Yep, So it's
beautiful quality beef and we love cooking with its absolutely going.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
And you're a stickler for this kind of thing, like
making sure that you're sourcing it and getting it from
good places so that it's sustainably done.
Speaker 13 (27:22):
And that's a big thing we do right and we
get the best.
Speaker 12 (27:25):
It doesn't matter where it comes from. We buy grass
fed out of Australia. I bring in the best wagu
This is grain fed from the United States.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
So I just you know, it's all about the quality, okay.
Speaker 12 (27:35):
And then of course, once you get a good piece
of steak, it's about how you cook it.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
So here when we cook everything over life fire.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Okay, So it's not done in ovens or on hand
suit or anything.
Speaker 13 (27:45):
It's grilled and an oven.
Speaker 12 (27:47):
Bed straight over, so very primal way of cooking. We've
been cooking over fire for a long period of time.
We burned apple wood here at the restaurant and that
gives you a really hot, hot.
Speaker 13 (27:58):
Cold well even the coal smell, yeah they do.
Speaker 12 (28:01):
And you don't want it too smoking something like hickory
or mesquite might be too rich in terms of the
flavor of that smoke.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
So so I'll show you. I'll tell you more about
the fire when we get there, Okay. The first thing
you need to do is season your steak really well generously. Okay.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Watch all the cooking shows and they say you gotta
salt stuff.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
You got to salt it.
Speaker 13 (28:18):
Well, I'm a big.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Separate for cooking shows.
Speaker 9 (28:21):
I like that.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Give it me in business.
Speaker 12 (28:23):
So then you season all corners and as well with pepper,
and just.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Salt and pepper.
Speaker 13 (28:29):
I don't see anything else here being.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Prepped, no other dry rub, and you season all of
that steak.
Speaker 12 (28:37):
If you were to feel it, you'd feel it's at
room temperature.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
So that's important.
Speaker 12 (28:41):
So it's called tempering the beef because you want the
inside to get beautifully pink.
Speaker 6 (28:46):
You don't want it to be gray on the outside,
red in the middle.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
And you know so medium rere can mean lots of
different things, but for us, tempering the meat is important.
If you let it come up to room temperature, it'll
talk much more even.
Speaker 13 (28:57):
There, okay, Okay for cooking on your ground.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
So let's go out of the fire. So you take that.
We're gonna put fat side down first, okay.
Speaker 12 (29:04):
And you see the little basket next to it, that's
called a brassiro.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Okay, and it's gonna get really loud here for a second,
because we're under the fans.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
We neither fans or we'd start to be fire.
Speaker 13 (29:15):
So we heard you did that one time. Oh yeah,
it's happened.
Speaker 12 (29:19):
It's happened a couple of times. Actually drag some of
that coal over and then we pop the steak straight on,
fat side down. We're gonna let that fat just render
and caramelize, okay, and then we'll turn it so we're
gonna get all of that delicious flavor from the smoke,
just whispering up and tickling the steak and giving it
(29:39):
a wonderful sent tickling, and.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Then to get that steak to the perfection that it
will be about how long.
Speaker 12 (29:46):
Does it take to cut a steak like That'll probably
take us about thirty five.
Speaker 13 (29:50):
Minutes to call wow, and what's that cut?
Speaker 6 (29:52):
Now that's a New York strip. It shouldn't take that long.
But let me explain it.
Speaker 12 (29:57):
We cook it over a hot fire, so we want
that that rich caramelization.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
But then we take it off and let it rests.
Then we put it back on.
Speaker 12 (30:05):
Let me take it off and that it rests a
second time, and then we put it back on. So
we literally cook it in three stages.
Speaker 13 (30:10):
I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Checked it.
Speaker 14 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (30:12):
People always talk about resting protein at the end of
the cooking process, but you should rest it in between
during the cooking process as well.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Okay, didn't know that, Neil Sevader. Did you know that?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Did you? Did you?
Speaker 9 (30:27):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I was chatting with Anne? Oh.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Curtis Stone says, when you're cooking the perfect steak, you
cook it for a while and then you pull it
off the heat and let it rest, and then you
put it back on the heat and cook it for
more and then pull it back off again and then
put it back on and finish it. Sounds tedious, sounds
like and I had the steak. It is the best steak,
(30:52):
arguably the best steak I've ever had in my whole life.
Speaker 14 (30:55):
It was spectacular, starting with the best materials too, so
absolute he's got great ingredients. Yeah, so he's doing a
reverse sere, and a reverse sere is county to how
we learned when we were kids, which was to sear
it off and then let it come to temp. So
now you let it come to temp under low heat,
indirect heat, and then you sear it off and then
(31:18):
you don't need to let it rest the same amount
of time afterwards, and all that good stuff good.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
And we're not done with Curtis Stone yet.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
We've got some more on how to cook the perfect
state for your Memorial Day barbecue or anytime during this
summer grilling season that is coming up. Several ceremonies are
being held around the Southland to honor the nation's fallen
war veterans. A ceremony is being held at eight this
morning at the C. Robert Lee Activity Center in Hawaiian Gardens.
Ceremonies are also being held at nine am at Lancaster Cemetery,
(31:49):
Lacy Park in San Marino, and Whittier City Hall. So
many ceremonies, remembrances, parades, rides, that kind of thing, and
of course it's so important to remember those who gave
the ultimate sacrifice. A man has been killed in an
officer involved shooting in Fontana. Fontana police responded to a
domestic violence call early yesterday morning. They say, as the
(32:11):
door was opened, the thirty one year old man pointed
a gun at officers.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That's when he was shot.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Disney's Leelo and Stitch has scored the biggest Memorial Day
weekend opening ever, it has taken in one hundred and
eighty three million dollars in the US as of Sunday,
more than doubling the hall from Tom Cruise's eighth Mission Impossible.
The final reckoning It's still Open was seventy seven million
dollars at the box office. That's the best weekend ever
in the Mission Impossible franchise, which began in nineteen ninety six.
(32:41):
Can you believe he's been doing those movies for twenty
years now. We're just minutes away from handle on the
news this morning, a mob of vandals has trashed downtown
La handles out this morning. But Nil Savadra's sitting in
the big chair. Get an us all up to date
on that and so much more. We're talking to the
one and only Curtis Stone, the owner of Gwen in Hollywood,
(33:03):
about how to cook the perfect steak for your Memorial
Day barbecue or at any time this grilling season.
Speaker 13 (33:09):
Chris, My next.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Question for you is everybody might now be able to
make it down to Gwen to get one of your
good steaks.
Speaker 13 (33:16):
Oh yeah, And so for people who are trying to
cook the.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Perfect steak at home, Yeah, You've given us some great tips,
So are there any things that people really just need
to remember as they're doing their steaks?
Speaker 12 (33:26):
Push well, listen, we have a great butcher shop here
at Gwen too, so you literally enter the restaurant through
the butcher shop, so you can come and pick up
steaks from us, or if you're too far, that's fine,
but do start.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
With a good quality cut of beef hot grill. That's
the first really important part.
Speaker 12 (33:42):
Let your steak temper season it before you put it
on the grill. Okay, turn it once and then take
it off and let it rest for about five to
ten minutes. Put it back on the grill for another
two or three minutes, and turn it again, and that's it.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Serve it very simple, and that trick you got to
let it rest in the middle, and then you're going
to have a steak that is curdis stone worthy.
Speaker 13 (34:04):
Awesome.
Speaker 12 (34:05):
See how it's gotten beautiful and golden brown on the top,
so that's the fact that we've rendered and caramelized, so
that's going to be absolutely delicious, and then you stick
it down.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
The one thing that we tend to do with.
Speaker 12 (34:17):
Meat we put on the grill is we poke it
and prod it, and we touch it and we turn it.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Just leave it.
Speaker 13 (34:22):
Don't do that.
Speaker 12 (34:23):
Nothing's going to happen to it, right, Just give it
that minute for two minutes without touching it, because what's
happening is you're making contact with a really hot grill
and that smoke that's coming up that leads time for
the caramelization to set.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
So don't mess with it. Just give it a minute
or two and then turn it.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Okay, It sounds so easy, and I also love that
you can hear your excitement. You've been doing this for
a really long time and you're so excited about it,
and it's infectious. So thank you again, Curtis Stone.
Speaker 13 (34:52):
We went out and about to when La.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
It's on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and it's delicious. They
also do these sandwiches because they're not open at lunch anymore.
They're open for dinner and if you're looking for a
good sandwich, I think it was seventeen dollars, so it's
you know, it's a little pricier than going to your
neighborhood sandwich shop. These sandwiches are spectacular, especially like if
(35:18):
you're going we got them one night when we were
going to the Hollywood Bowl. It was such a great
treat and so yummy, yummy. And that's lunchtime only. Let's
get back to some of the stories coming out of
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Airports around southern California
are expected to be packed today with travelers returning from
Memorial Day weekend trips. ABC's Melissa Aidens says the TSA
(35:39):
is ready for a very busy day.
Speaker 11 (35:40):
Essay overall expects eighteen million people to be flying in
and out of the US throughout all this time. In
the Memorial Day weekend.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
She says the TSA screen more than three million people
at the start of the holiday weekend. It was like
the third busiest day ever on record for the TSA.
The armor for the film Dust has been released from prison.
Speaker 11 (36:01):
Hannah Gutiera's read was released from a New Mexico prison
on Friday after serving fourteen months of an eighteen month
sentence for involuntary manslaughter. She was found guilty of bringing
live ammunition to set and failing to follow safety protocols
that ultimately resulted in the onset shooting that killed cinematographer
Helena Hutchins. Actor Alec Baldwin, who discharged the firearm, had
his charges dismissed last year due to prosecutorial misconduct. The
(36:24):
film Rust resumed production in twenty twenty three and was
released in limited theaters earlier this month. Heatherbrooker KFI News
News brought to you by Seller's Advantage. Two men have
been killed and a woman's been wounded in a shooting
in Manchester Square. LAPD says a shooting happened when two
men fired several rounds into a crowd in an alley
Saturday night near Florence and Dalton Avenues. The two ran
(36:46):
off but were caught a short time later. The woman's
recovering at the hospital. A flight from Japan that was
headed to Houston had to divert to Seattle because of
an unruly passenger.
Speaker 15 (36:57):
Airport officials say a male passenger tried to open an
emergency door on the All Nippon Airways flight on Saturday
and was held back by other passengers and crew members.
Officials said after safely landing, police boarded the plane and
found the passenger was having a medical emergency. The passenger
was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, and the
(37:17):
flight carried on to Houston. Michael Kassner Kafi News.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
Health officials in Gaza say the latest Israeli airstrikes have
killed at least fifty two people, including thirty six in
a school turned shelter. The Israeli military says it targeted
militants operating from the school. Israel has promised to seize
control of Gaza and keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed
or disarmed, and until it returns the remaining fifty eight hostages.
(37:44):
Only a third of them are believed to still be alive.
Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett is facing criticism for endorsing Fox
News host Jesse Waters rules for men. They include avoiding
behaviors deemed effeminate, like drinking from straws.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
I don't drink out of straw, brother, That's what the women.
Speaker 9 (38:03):
In my house do.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
But a photo from Birchet's own Instagram shows him drinking
a milkshake with a straw. Critics argue that such comments
reinforce outdated gender stereotypes and distract from more pressing political issues.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
To straw or not to straw? That is the question.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Hey, before we get out of here on this Memorial Day,
you may be trying to figure out what you're going
to do for the day. And as we've been telling
you throughout wake Up Call, there's a ton of memorial
ceremonies that are underway. The one in Rosy Riveter Park
is underway now where they're reading more than seven thousand
names of people who've died since nine to eleven who
(38:41):
were involved with the military, first responders, that kind of thing.
Several ceremonies at Forest Lawn. There's parades and that kind
of stuff. We'll be telling you about that all morning long.
If you're looking to do something kind of fun and
festive this afternoon, to celebrate or to commemorate and enjoy
time with family and friends, there's lots of stuff going on.
(39:04):
Last week we told you about the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival.
It started on Friday and it continues through today. There's
rides and games and food and music and of course
all things strawberry. And Wendy Ellis with the Strawberry Festival
was telling us about some of the amazing things that
they have to offer food wise at the Strawberry Festival,
and of course you can go and buy a bunch
(39:24):
of strawberries and bring them home. There's nothing better than
fresh pick strawberries, in my humble opinion, if you're up
in the Lakenyata flint Ridge area, they are doing Fiesta Days.
They have their Fiesta Days run and then they're also
doing a Memorial service and a parade, and then afternoon
there's games and food and music in Memorial Park. So
(39:47):
if you're up in that area, one of my favorite
things to do is Fiesta Hermosa. And my best friend Amy,
who I just traveled with, she and I used to
do this every single year, but then she moved up
to pass the Roblasts, and so we know we're not
doing anymore, but I'm gonna have to get her down
here on a Memorial Day.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
But Fiesta Hermosa.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
It's right there on the main street in Hermosa Beach,
and they have a carnival and they've got food, and
they've got games, and they've got rides, and they've got
live music and there's a wine garden. My favorite part
is the shopping. They've got all these vendor boosts and
really cool stuff and it's right there on that main
drag near the waterfront. And that's Fiesta Hermosa just a
(40:25):
few of the things going on this Memorial Day as
we honor and remember those who lost their lives in
service of our country.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Hey, the ultimate price, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
This is KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County,
Southland weather from KFI. Some low clouds, we'll call it
May gray for a couple more days, then sunny with
highs in the sixties at the beaches, low to mid
seventies for Metro La and Inlan Orange County, seventies in
the valleys, seventies to low eighties for the Inland Empire
and Annelotte Valley. Morning clouds, afternoon sun Tomorrow and Wednesday,
(40:59):
with high in the seventies and eighties. We'll be warming
up into the eighties to low nineties by the end
of the week. It's sixty four in Los Alaminos, fifty
five in Santa Clarita, sixty four in Seal Beach, and
sixty one in Whittier. Live from the KFI twenty four
hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake
up call, and if you missed any wake up call,
(41:19):
my goodness. We got through a lot today. We got
to talk to Chris Epting, the author of the Lost
Landmarks of Orange County. Really interesting guy, really interesting interview,
and of course Curtis Stone on making that perfect steak
for your Memorial Dave barbecue or anytime all summer long.
And as I mentioned, if you missed any wake Up Call,
you can listen anytime on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
You've been listening to wake Up Call with me Amy King,
you can always hear wake Up Call five to six
am Monday through Friday on KFI Am six forty and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.