TikTok ban? SoCal Vault House kids keep influencing
A potential TikTok ban in the U.S. could mean the loss of a burgeoning and diverse economy for the app’s mostly young creators and influencers.
TikTok influencers living at the Vault House in West Hollywood make a video on Monday. The popularity of the app has given rise to a new Hollywood industry. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The exterior of the Vault House, one of about a dozen in the L.A. area where TikTok video creators live together and cook up viral videos. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Vault House occupants, from left: Mariano Castano, 17, Rave Vanias, 17, Keith Pichardo, 18, Malcom Suarez, 18, Jackson Krecioch, 22, Bryce Xavier, 18, Cayman Rhodes, 16, Addy Rae, 18, and Kiera Vanias, 19. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
House residents collaborate on a video. The seven-bedroom home has more than 5,000 square feet of living space. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
TikTok influencer Bryce Xavier, who is among other things a vocalist and violinist, practices singing in his room. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The deck at the Vault House. The fate of TikTok in the U.S. is in limbo after a threat by the Trump administration to ban the app. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Malcom Suarez, left, Mariano Castano, Jackson Krecioch, Bryce Xavier, Keith Pichardo, Rave Vanias, Addy Rae, Cayman Rhodes and Kiera Vanias. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A view of the pool at the modern West Hollywood abode. There’s also a rooftop deck and an interior courtyard with fake grass. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
House residents work on a 15-second TikTok video. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
TikTok influencers make themselves at home in West Hollywood. Resident Bryce Xavier says TikTok’s community is “like no other. ... It would suck to lose that.” (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times staff photographer Allen J. Schaben is an award-winning journalist capturing a wide range of images over the past 34 years. Before joining The Times, he honed his craft at the Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Wichita Eagle and Connecticut Post. Schaben earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993.
