Essential California: Prophet of Doom delivers sage advice in twilight hour

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Tuesday, July 26. I’m Andrew J. Campa, a metro reporter writing from the San Gabriel Valley (no, not the end of the Santa Fe Trail!).

Author Mike Davis forever stamped his name into Los Angeles lore with the publication of his widely acclaimed and haunting book “City of Quartz” in 1990. This book made an impression on me before I ever opened its cover.

One of the few nerd-on-nerd fights I witnessed happened at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena 🌹 in the late ’90s when two college students nearly brawled over which was L.A.’s most iconic book, Davis’ “City of Quartz” or Joan Didion’s “Play It as It Lays” (#FirstWorldProblems).

Then, as a 16-year-old, the passionate debates and fights on my radar were East Coast versus West Coast rap and whether Oakland or Los Angeles really deserved the Raiders (turns out it was Vegas 🎲, baby!).

But that fight fervor led this curious teenager to purchase the book. I’ll spare you what Davis’ work meant to me; suffice to say, his historic timeline of corruption, racial strife and real estate speculation provides a road map of where we are today as a city, county and region.

Recently, the author, political activist and self-described “good communist” sat down with our Gustavo Arellano and Sam Dean for a discussion and question-and-answer session, respectively.

Davis, 76, confirmed to both reporters that he recently had decided to stop chemotherapy treatments while battling terminal esophageal cancer, the same disease that claimed his older sister. He has been given months to live and is in palliative care.

Davis authored dozens of books that focused on issues such as disastrous climate change, capitalism and histories of the Old West.

On facing his demise, Davis told Dean, a recent winner of Columbia University’s Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in business journalism, that dying didn’t faze him as much as a scarring death would.

“The major thing in dying that I was worried about — my father had an especially agonizing death, the trauma of it’s never quite left me — was the thought that it might be so traumatic for my kids that that’s what they remember of me,” he said.

The man who witnessed police brutality during the Chicano Moratorium and who marched with heavily armed wildcat Teamsters always “romantically imagined” that we would go down “fighting.”

He told Dean that he’d never seen a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “so wildly and completely out of control as they are now.” He also labeled the Los Angeles Police Department “unreformable” and called for mass firings as part of a solution to clean up “the culture and the cadre.”

Davis also leveled a critique at activists and the Democratic Party due to a lack of organizational structure.

“There’s no leadership to give direction,” he told Dean, adding that too many street movements had dissipated.

As for writing, the prolific author noted, “Learning to write is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”

Arellano noted in his column that the “environmental calamities” being experienced today were predicted in Davis’ 1998 book, “Ecology of Fear.” Two years before the L.A. riots, the Prophet of Doom wrote about the racial and economic injustices that finally boiled over.

Davis was attacked for his views, but he told Arellano that he was not “concerned about vindication.” He added that although he’s known for being a pessimist, he didn’t see his work as being overly pessimistic. “My writing has been a call to action,” he told Arellano.

What gives Davis a sense of optimism, he told Arellano, are this nation’s youth.

“It wants to be the most active generation ever,” he said. “Above all, the moral dimension of all these kids. They have incredible values about race and gender, and they’re naturally disposed to be fighters.”

These were just snippets from a pair of deep and thought-provoking conversations with Davis. Both articles are worth a read, as is “City of Quartz.”

It’s the quintessential Los Angeles book (I’ll fight you at Vroman’s 🥊 any day!).

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

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L.A. STORIES

L.A. County’s weekly COVID-19 death rate is 70% higher than the Bay Area’s

(Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles County’s weekly COVID-19 death rate is nearly twice as bad as the San Francisco Bay Area’s. The county is averaging 96 deaths a week for a population of 10 million residents, while the Bay Area had an average of 56 deaths for every 10 million. The two regions had similar mortality rates for months until July, when L.A. County suddenly rose and the Bay Area stagnated. The change has resulted in approximately 200 more fatalities in Los Angeles County than up north over the last 12 weeks. As for reasons, there are many hypotheses. Los Angeles Times

Thousands of federal housing vouchers go unused in Los Angeles. Some searching for safe confines get swallowed up by the paperwork; others claim they don’t receive timely help from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times

Celebrated brother-sister duos are not a new phenomenon at UCLA. Hoops legends Ann Meyers and Dave Meyers led the Bruins men’s and women’s basketball teams to national championships. Enter Gabriela and Jamie Jaquez Jr., the latest sibling sensations at UCLA. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

A bill banning the sales of firearms and ammunition on all state-owned properties may limit the availability of gun show organizers to host events. Senate Bill 915 was co-authored by state Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine), Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblyman Steve Bennett (D-Ventura). That means venues, such as the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds, are now off limits. Daily Pilot

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

Hollywood producer Eric Weinberg, known for his work on the hit sitcom “Scrubs,” was alleged to have restrained and sexually assaulted a number of women, according to police records and interviews with victims. Weinberg was initially arrested on July 14 after it was alleged he lured women to his home under the guise of a photo shoot. The allegations include a number of sexual assaults, including rape, that spanned seven years dating to 2012. Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Police Department has closed down the 6th Street Viaduct for three straight days as the nearly $600-million project has been plagued with stoppages due to street takeovers, collisions and climbers of the bridge’s arches. There has been violence and vandalism. City Councilman Kevin de León is looking into adding cameras on the bridge. Los Angeles Times

California appears to be the mecca for data breaches nationally, according to a report from Forbes Adviser. Over a four-year period ending in 2021, almost 330,000 Californians lost around $3.7 billion. Email hacking was the top cause for breaches. San Gabriel Valley Tribune

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

A group of Rüppell’s vultures congregate at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, near Escondido, on Aug. 21, 2019. Various birds are being moved away from the park because of a dangerous avian flu variant.

(Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

A highly contagious strain of avian flu has forced the removal of more than 100 birds from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, located in Escondido. More birds are expected to be transferred over the next few weeks. The flu has stricken and killed several species of wild birds and the park has been preparing for its arrival since last year. The strain has been found in Northern California but has still not been detected in San Diego County. San Diego Union-Tribune

There has been slight progress in the fight to slow down the almost 17,000-acre Oak fire, which is burning just outside Yosemite. Containment has improved to 16%. Thousands of people, however, remain evacuated. San Francisco Chronicle

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Pasadena resident Elana O’Brien tore out her lawn in an effort to conserve water, increase privacy and incorporate more natural elements into her yard. So, she embraced “hügelkultur,” a sustainable method of retaining storm water by creating mound gardens. O’Brien ended up cutting her bill in half, while using sticks, stones and cardboard to elevate the mound gardens. Ultimately she was able to maintain a garden that “wasn’t about succulents.” Los Angeles Times

Owners of used cars who fall even slightly behind on payments are in peril of having their vehicles repossessed. With the price of used cars soaring, dealers are no longer as patient and are cutting back on breaks to delinquent borrowers. The repo game, once a generally losing venture, is now easier than ever thanks to tracking devices and is also more profitable. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: 79, partly cloudy. San Diego: 73, partly cloudy. San Francisco: 66, partly cloudy. San Jose: 80, sunny. Fresno: 103, sunny. Sacramento: 94, partly cloudy.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory is from Ken Rothstein:

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.