(Unedited) Podcast Transcript 500: LA and Beyond with Ken Napzok and Joseph Scrimshaw
September 18, 2024
This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re hitting 500 episodes! And to celebrate we have a bit of a look back in time with Tanya Snyder of the origins of the show and then we chat with Ken Napzok and Joseph Scrimshaw of my favorite podcast Force Center. But we don’t talk about Star Wars, we talk about Los Angeles and thier feelings towards the place they call home.
Find Joseph and Ken at their respective websites.
You can listen to this episode on Streetsblog USA or find it on our hosting page.
For a full unedited AI transcript, see below the fold.
[00:01:51] Tanya Snyder: I remember the origin of the podcast. [00:01:55] Jeff Wood: Yeah, that’d be great. Yeah, that’d be great to to hear it I mean i’ve I tell the story about it all the time, but I want to hear your side [00:02:01] Tanya Snyder: my side Oh, I want to hear your side. Well, my side is that, uh, it was 2013, right? [00:02:08] Jeff Wood: It’s 2013. [00:02:09] Tanya Snyder: And it’s just a really long time ago. I I’m so, I love that you’re keeping it alive. [00:02:15] So every time I called you. For so I was working at Streetsblog, [00:02:23] Tanya Snyder: and I would call you for your thoughts on various things, but I remember that you were especially good in a way that I was just never good like never. I never had a real handle on like. there’s this streetcar project that never quite got off the ground in this place because the anti’s in this and the supporters were that and the route would have gone through this neighborhood to that neighborhood but the highway went this way and so it didn’t, um, you know, the connectivity wasn’t really well served and there was this medical center that still wasn’t on the route and, you know, that kind of thing and Places I’d never been to and you’d never been to but you just had your finger on the pulse of all of those transit, transit developments to a granular level and the narrative behind them, the, the pros and cons, the supporters and detractors and what it was actually going to do, you know, way beyond transit good, highways bad, you were, Just had such a sense of the nuance for all of these projects and what they were actually going to do for mobility and connectivity in a given place. [00:03:36] And then, you know, is this well designed? Is it well engineered? Is this the first of its kind? Like, what’s significant about this? And I just, I just never, um, got good at that. I never really had a handle on those things. And I was always so impressed. And so, and I always learned so much. Um, and I was like, Hey, can you write a guest? [00:03:56] Blog for us, like, would you be interested in kind of having a guest column and you were like, I don’t really I’m not really a writer. Like I’m not really interested in that and because you were a mapper and so I was like, well, can we just talk and At first I think I thought we’ll just talk and I’ll like write up a Q& A and then I don’t know if you suggested or I suggested, I’d never actually listened to a podcast before. [00:04:25] Jeff Wood: You had, you had, you’d done radio like stuff that, I’d done radio, but, yeah, but you’d never listened to a podcast. That’s so funny. I listened to tons of podcasts, that’s probably why, because I was like a big, I was like a big sports podcast person, I listened to like Star Wars podcasts, I listened to all kinds of stuff, and I would like, You know, back in the day, it wasn’t so easy to upload a podcast here to your iPod, which was what was named after a, before phones even came out, you had iPods. [00:04:49] And so I was just like, I would go every day and before work, before I went to get on the train, I would plug my, my iPod under the computer and then download the latest like shows that I wanted to listen to. And then I listened to them and then I delete them when I got back. And like, it was, it’s a pro it was a process that used to be a process to do. [00:05:04] But I was into it. I was like, really, you know, that was my jam was listening to like all these podcasts that don’t exist anymore. Mostly, um, you know, the Scott Mills daily, which was a radio one podcast in England and, uh, stuff like that. The Dan Patrick show, I listened to that one for a really long time, which is a sports podcast. [00:05:21] So yeah, I think it must’ve been me that was like, Hey, let’s do a, do a podcast. [00:05:26] Tanya Snyder: I probably was. They, I may have had some idea of like, We’ll upload the audio or something and you’re probably the one to, to use the word podcast. And I remember when you were trying to give me a sense of what you wanted the Vibe to be you pointed me toward a couple podcasts. [00:05:46] You like that were like dudes talking about sports [00:05:50] Jeff Wood: Yeah, or did or Dignation maybe like Dignation was like a big one. It’s actually back now. Yeah, that was not your jam. And [00:05:56] Tanya Snyder: I remember just being like this is just like testosterone and bullshit Felt like what? But I think I think but I At some point, I figured out what the Jeff and Tanya version of, Jeff and Tanya nerding out about transit version of the testosterone bullshit sports podcast was, and [00:06:19] Jeff Wood: It depends on the people, right? [00:06:21] Like, it just depends on who you’re talking to, how it turns out. [00:06:24] Tanya Snyder: Right. Yeah. What you’re talking about. [00:06:27] Jeff Wood: Yeah. [00:06:28] Tanya Snyder: I mean, that’s basically [00:06:28] Jeff Wood: my story. That’s the same. I was like, you asked me to write a column. I said no, because I, I, and I actually, you know, I was talking to Kia Wilson. She actually interviewed me for a show. [00:06:36] So for the 500th episode and, uh, and I told her the same thing, I was just like, I had so much red ink on my papers in high school and in college. And even at Reconnecting America, like my colleagues would like, anytime I wrote something that wasn’t a map, right. It was just like, you’d put this in the wrong place and you did this. [00:06:53] And so I was like, very scared of writing is that, I mean, I wrote a blog, right. But that was just like for me and people read it, but I, for other people on, on a publication, I was just like, Hmm, I’ve gotten a little better about. Doing that type of stuff. But at that time I was like, no, no, no, no, no writing. [00:07:08] All red, red ink, red ink. [00:07:13] Tanya Snyder: Well, you do great spoken. [00:07:15] Jeff Wood: Thanks. Yeah, no, it was fun. And we did some really fun stuff. I mean, we, you talked about Halloween. We talked, you talked with Jan Gehl. I wasn’t there, but you talked to Jan Gehl. Um, yeah, in person and stuff like that. So it was really, really awesome. And, and, uh, I mean, just, I just want to thank you because without that, I mean, I probably would be still just doing the newsletter and not really podcasting, which is like, you know, they kind of come together because I pull all the information that I find on the newsletter and then I pull that into the podcast. [00:07:46] You know, find guests that way. And so we find this diverse range of guests just from like that combination. And so this would have never existed without you. So I, I just really appreciate you. [00:07:55] Tanya Snyder: I appreciate you and I love that it’s still thriving and you’re still doing awesome stuff. And yeah, I, that’s, that’s right. [00:08:04] The, the newsletter was a really big part of it because I mean, it’s how. You and I, you know, you, by doing it and I receiving it kind of, we’re always up to date and always knew the latest. Um, and it would, you know, you always found such interesting stories from all over the place. You know, some news stories, here’s the latest development on whatever. [00:08:27] Project, but some really interesting analysis to there’s I mean, there’s just so much good journalism happening in this space. Um, so we always had lots of talk about. [00:08:36] Jeff Wood: Yeah, there is so much. Yeah, this is really amazing. And then, you know, you were doing such great work at the time and, and, you know, you know, up until recently, you were at politico and doing all that stuff and. [00:08:46] Um, just like I was always just like bragging on you. So I, I, you know, appreciate that too, is just being able to be like, Oh, Tanya’s doing this and she’s over here doing this. And, uh, there’s lots of great stuff going on. So I, I, you know, I really, I really liked that. I got to start working with you early on and, and, uh, you know, just really fun. [00:09:03] Tanya Snyder: Yeah. Thank you. I absolutely all back at you. I mean that it was a, it was a really great experience. I still brag about it too. And I, I love that we did that. together. What do you think has changed in, like, the, in, like, the world of transportation and urban planning? So, like, not just what has changed in how you cover things, but what are the big themes that you are, Wrestling with today that just weren’t part of the conversation back in 2013 when we started or 2015 when I jumped off. [00:09:41] Jeff Wood: Oh my gosh, I mean, we really weren’t talking about climate change as much. I mean, that’s just such a huge thing now talking about how climate and all these impacts like, um, Talked about insurance and and stuff like that’s happening, right? The insurance for housing and cars and stuff yesterday I saw that car loans are like the second biggest loan people have Behind mortgages now Passing student loans and some other things. [00:10:04] And so just like that conversation about loans and insurance and the costs of things, that’s like just so huge. And then honestly, like, you know, people kind of got off the streetcar train, really, uh, that’s gone. And then it’s just not as many projects it feels like are coming through, you know, Yona, Actually still catalogs every single project and he has his transit Explorer. [00:10:24] And we still do a show every year based on the show that we did with him early on. And it doesn’t, there seems to be a lot of stuff happening internationally, but I can’t tell you like that Seattle’s got a big plan because they’ve already done their, you know, they’ve already started it. Los Angeles already started it. [00:10:39] There’s no other city that’s like, Hey, we’re going to build 40 billion of light rail. It’s just not, it’s just not something that seems to be a push forward. I mean, Austin’s doing something, but they’re in, they’re in legal, like limbo. And just, it’s just not the same as it was back in 2013. I don’t know if it’s. [00:10:56] I don’t know if it’s just like where we are, or if just like costs are so high and that’s the, that’s the problem, or maybe a trillion [00:11:02] Tanya Snyder: dollars of infrastructure money. I mean, it all goes [00:11:04] Jeff Wood: to roads, right? It goes, there’s the state DOTs are still pushing it that direction. I [00:11:08] Tanya Snyder: mean, there’s, I don’t even remember how much, was it 66 billion for transit? [00:11:13] Is that right? [00:11:14] Jeff Wood: That was for Amtrak. I think like, yeah. Oh my god. I should remember. I should remember these numbers I I mean, I would just it melts in your brain, you know, it’s just like so much stuff melted my brain. It is has melted [00:11:28] What do you think I mean, what do you think’s changed in the last uh, 10 years or so [00:11:32] Tanya Snyder: Partly my focus changed just because Politico had a different focus than Streets Blog. Your point about, we talked about climate change back then as something we were worried would happen. And in the years since then, it has become a real presence in our daily lives. [00:11:52] And thinking about that is So scary and sad. [00:11:56] Speaker 3: Yeah. [00:11:57] Tanya Snyder: And yeah, I mean, we are feeling those impacts now. It’s not like this might happen. I feel like climate wasn’t an underpinning for a lot of what we talked about. It was a lot of the reason, you know, that we took for granted that we cared about sustainable transportation, but you’re right. [00:12:15] The actual impacts, we weren’t talking about the actual impacts in the same way. I think electric vehicles. Obviously have really changed the conversation. [00:12:23] Jeff Wood: That’s huge too. Yeah. [00:12:24] Tanya Snyder: That was a big thing that I was covering at streets blog. And I know you’re talking about in terms of how they kind of changed the conversation around what is sustainable transportation and is it always mass mobility e bikes too? [00:12:36] I mean, I feel like that was more fringe when we were talking and is more, and you know, micromobility is. is a bigger piece of the urban transportation puzzle now. [00:12:48] Jeff Wood: Well, any last, uh, thoughts before we leave you, uh, on this 500th episode? [00:12:53] Tanya Snyder: I’m just amazed and excited that 11 years later, you know, this podcast is what it is now and that you’ve hit 500 episodes and doing amazing work. [00:13:02] I’m glad that I was. Had something to do with it. [00:13:04] Jeff Wood: Yeah, you were, I mean, you’re the reason, you’re the reason we’re sitting here now, I promise. Uh, that’s how, that’s how it is. So appreciate that. I’m pretty [00:13:11] Tanya Snyder: sure you have something to do with it as well. [00:13:12] Jeff Wood: Well, I mean, you know, keep going. Do you know what they say, uh, about running and racing and, and training and stuff like that? [00:13:18] The hardest, the hardest part of, of, of training is getting out the door, right? That’s what I feel like once it started, it’s, uh, it’s something that you can keep going and, and, you know, not a perpetual motion machine, obviously, but just, it’s something that you can continue with, but getting started is the hard part. [00:13:33] Tanya Snyder: Well, amen. [00:13:35] Jeff Wood: Oh, wow. What a great trip down memory lane. Thanks again to Tanya and Ben at streets blog for pulling us in and starting this journey back in 2013. I’ve also asked some folks for testimonials, uh, or thoughts on the show, uh, and I’ll play those over the next few weeks, read some notes out that people have sent in. [00:13:52] I really appreciate that. Folks who have done that taken the time to do that, but for now, let’s get to the 500th episode featuring Ken Knapsack and Joseph Scrimshaw of the force center podcast. And, uh, let’s chat about LA. Well, Ken Napzok and Joseph Scrimshaw, welcome to the talking headways podcast. [00:14:09] Ken Napzok: Very happy to be here. This is exciting. This is something fun and new for us. [00:14:12] Jeff Wood: I’m super glad you guys are here, but before we get started, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Start with Ken and go with Joseph. [00:14:20] Ken Napzok: Sure. My name is Ken Napzok. I’m a, I’m a writer, comedian, and ne’er do well who, uh, moved to L. [00:14:24] A. in 1998 to chase his dreams and got kicked out of his dreams in sketch comedy and found his way back into broadcasting and talking about nerd stuff and pop culture, which became a certain kind of, uh, currencies to, uh, spend during that era. And, uh, was just, uh, lucky enough to sit for a panel for a friend and on it was this, uh, Very funny man named Joseph Scrimshaw. [00:14:45] Normally comics get jealous of other funny people, but he was too funny for me to be jealous of. And, uh, we became friends, started working, and along with Jennifer Landa launched, uh, Force Center in 2015. So there, Joseph, I’ve taken that part of the history out. You can talk about it. [00:14:59] Joseph Scrimshaw: Well, now I have to add my own version about this charming man who is wearing a suit for some reason at a science fiction and comic book convention. [00:15:05] For some [00:15:05] Ken Napzok: reason. [00:15:06] Joseph Scrimshaw: It’s great. Yeah. So Ken did a great job of being brief. So I will try to as well. Uh, my, my nouns of what I do move around right now. I’m focusing on film. So I’ll describe myself as a filmmaker and a comedian and a writer. Just been doing creative stuff my whole life, had a long career in theater and comedy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I’m originally from eventually teamed up with Bill Corbett from mystery science theater 3000. [00:15:27] And he kind of opened my eyes to a larger world. So I started touring a little bit and ended up moving to Los Angeles, uh, doing comedy, doing a lot of, uh, writing, uh, different projects, and in that process met Ken, uh, which led to the shock, the beautiful shock, that after years of writing scripts and putting up sets, people were like, Nah, it’s okay, just talk about Star Wars. [00:15:51] You don’t have to write anything, you know, you don’t have to be funny. Do you like it when Yoda has a lightsaber? Uh, A joke, but it truly was kind of because of a generational perspective, a real just shock and a bliss that people were so excited to hear just about, you know, my true fandom along with Ken and Jennifer. [00:16:09] And that’s been a really great ride. [00:16:11] Jeff Wood: Yeah. And it’s great listening to you all. I mean, that’s, you know, I wanted to have you on the show because, well, first off, this is the 500th episode and we’re super excited to do that. And I wanted to do something a little different, but I also didn’t want to talk about Star Wars with you all, because I hear you guys talk about Star Wars all the time. [00:16:24] And I figured it was something actually that you might not want to talk about because it’s a little bit overwhelming, uh, in the fandom at the moment. But it’s also, you know, I listened to you all talk about other things during the pandemic, you had other center, which was really great, just talking about things outside of that. [00:16:38] And, uh, the journey that we call life, I think is one of the ways you put it. And so I think that it’s interesting to hear your perspectives on Los Angeles and the region as a whole. Moving from different places, uh, where you lived before. And so I kind of want to get your perspectives on that. So you guys do something that’s really fun during the show, which is like, you talk about your weekends when you’re introducing one of the new shows. [00:16:57] And so we get kind of an idea of what you’ve been doing and what you’ve been up to, and it often has to do with you all wandering the city or wandering the region as a whole. And so I’m wondering kind of like how you all experienced Los Angeles. What is it that brought you to LA? I mean, obviously it’s your jobs and things like that, but what are some of the things that keep you there, the attractions and whatnot? [00:17:16] I’ll [00:17:17] Ken Napzok: start by saying, I just, I absolutely love the city, Joseph and his wife Sarah do a better job of exploring the city I love and have lived in for 25 years, and I don’t know if that’s because, I’ll say relatively new, it’s been like, what, a decade, just so, I actually admire when I see Sarah and Joseph post pictures, I’m like, wow, I’ve never done that. [00:17:34] I love this city. I moved here. I was born. I’m a Cali kid. So I was born in the city of Orange in Orange County, California, moved out from there when I was seven. So I do have a lot of memories of Orange County, but grew up in a beach town, Pisman Beach, moved back down here for entertainment reasons. Uh, but I wanted to go, I wanted to go Chicago, Toronto, New York. [00:17:51] I was going to do sketch comedy. I was looking at all these places and then it was easy to go two hours down the freeway to LA. Also had family here. So I’ve been here and, um, slowly experienced the city. Yeah. In many different ways. I got a little more confident. I was a shy kid. Uh, and, uh, man, I just love the city for a lot of different reasons. [00:18:07] Hopefully we’ll explore. [00:18:09] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah. Sarah and I tried to, my wife, Sarah and I try to get out and do as much as we can. And we still don’t feel like we do enough because we discover new things. Like this is our favorite. Now we just want to go to our favorite, particularly with like, um, we enjoy a cocktail and I enjoy like old school, classy cocktails, steak dinner type places. [00:18:26] So it’s hard to. Give up your favorites and go to new ones. For my background, I was born in Minnesota, up North in a small town called Brainerd. Moved around, lived in very small rural communities, lived in suburbs, lived in the inner city in North Minneapolis. That’s where I grew up for the most part. We had a brief sojourn where we moved to Portland, Oregon on the West coast. [00:18:48] The ages for me were four to six. And I think that instilled in me a desire to go have adventures and truly dreamlike memories of Did I see an ocean? Did I used to be able to see a volcano out of my window but then the top part blew off and it’s not there anymore? It really got me sort of excited to think of different places and the west coast in particular as an adventurous, beautiful place to go. [00:19:14] Ended up, like I said, doing theater in Minneapolis and Minneapolis is just such a Vibrant, amazing art scene that I got so sucked into that. And it’s like, I can’t, I can’t leave. I can’t ever leave. And then it got to the point where career wise, I just really wanted to. But there was also a city element of that, of the weather in Minnesota is extreme, extreme. [00:19:35] People often know about the snow, but it gets extremely hot in the summer. Very, very humid. Mosquitoes everywhere. So it’s just a very extreme place to live in lots of ways. So the idea of moving somewhere where it’s always 70 degrees, the great Paul F. Tompkins has a very funny joke about people making fun of Los Angeles because it only has one season. [00:19:55] And he says, yes. The best one. And I, uh, I do agree with that. Final thing I’ll say about it is there is a culture sometimes in Minnesota and I’m sure it’s in the Midwest too, that the winter is hardship and you’re, you’re proving something to yourself by staying there. And I think I had that psychology for a long time that I was. [00:20:13] Giving up if I moved away and then I kind of realized like I bet I could break my leg every year and endure it, but why would I want to? So I came to Los Angeles partially for the career, but also just the, hey, I can do this, the adventure and the mostly summer all the time. [00:20:30] Ken Napzok: I like that you’ve turned Minnesota into like Winterfell and the Starks of winter is coming and we’re not leaving. [00:20:35] We survived. [00:20:36] Joseph Scrimshaw: There is an element of that of, you know, it’s the way they advertise the city in the earliest newspapers of like, Can you handle the refreshing climate? It was a challenge from the beginning and it’s a part of the psychology. I [00:20:47] Jeff Wood: also love one of the things you talk about too is the love that you have for your old neighborhood, for your home that you had with your wife. [00:20:52] Just like the discussion that you have about the area where you were before you moved to Los Angeles. [00:20:57] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, yeah, we were in South Minneapolis, and we were in a house across from a runoff pond that the city had put in to stop some flooding in the freeway, but it was billed as lakefront property, which also seems like good Midwest exaggeration, in my opinion. [00:21:14] Yeah, it was a beautiful home, and it was kind of a life lesson, too, because like, we bought that house as if we were going to stay in Minnesota forever. It was a perfect house for the life that we didn’t end up living. Having so it was a bittersweet when we finally parted with it, but it’s beautiful, beautiful neighborhood. [00:21:31] Ken Napzok: I love read regional weather experiences, and I would have never thought a freeway pond would be a thing that that’s gorgeous. Gorgeous. The [00:21:39] Joseph Scrimshaw: first year we moved in, it was we didn’t know what this was. It was just like, why is the air screaming? And it turned out it was mating season for the frogs in the pond. [00:21:49] And all of the males show their worth by just screaming for a week straight. So there was a week of screaming, and then the sidewalks were covered by almost invisible little tadpoles. It was, yeah, amazing. That’s accurate to life. [00:22:04] Jeff Wood: Well, here in the Bay Area, we call it permafall, the weather that we have. So that’s always fun to explain to people as well. [00:22:10] Ken, you’ve had a number of jobs, including one as a DJ. And one of the things I think is interesting about DJs generally is the idea of drive time. And, you know, they focus around your car and thinking about those types of things. And so I’m interested in how big of an influence you think that has on culture in LA, the way that you look at LA, just the idea of, you know, thinking about the car as this place where a lot of people spend their time when they’re getting around the city, even though transit carries the second most amount of people in the country behind New York city. [00:22:35] Ken Napzok: Yeah, I think. Public transportation is underrated in LA, but also perfectly rated in larger discussions on that. And I wish it was better and hope it gets better, but yeah, I, I don’t know if it’s just cause, uh, I’ve grown up on the West coast. I don’t want to say the West coast is just car culture, but yeah, I love being in a car and I love that little space and I love having my music and my food. [00:22:57] I eat a lot of meals in my car. It’s not just a joke. I intentionally told Grace, I’m going to grab a sandwich and And I’ll be back, and I go eat and drive around, um, safely, kid, safely. So, uh, yeah, radio and having that connection, and I was for a long time the morning show host, so it’s like You’re waking up with people. [00:23:14] I tell the story often, but like we changed one of our segment times one time from like 6 20 sports and weather to like 8 30. And people got mad at us. We made them late to work because they time their lives by our show. And yeah, it is kind of intimate connection. And it’s always an intimate connection with people who are not where they. [00:23:32] Sleep so to speak, you know, it’s in their car. It’s in their work. It’s in the warehouse It’s the over when I was in graveyard I used to love the people calling in From the grocery store stocking the shelves at two in the morning and i’m i’m playing in the house speakers at a ralph’s or kroger’s But as far as the car culture, yeah, I I always feel a little guilty They don’t drive as much right now because the pandemic changed so much, but man, it’s, it’s something I got from my dad in my hometown, uh, Pismo Beach, central coast of California. [00:23:57] There’s a lot of what we would call country roads that I’m sure not even what you’d consider, but they’re out and it’s a rural part of the city hills and small roads. And he would just drive for hours. And I, I just think I have those genes and I subconsciously picked up on it. Like dad’s out driving. [00:24:12] And that’s what I do. And I still do it. And I’m connected. That’s when I was considering moving to New York in my youth or my younger days or even a little bit later in life. I was like, Oh, I can’t give up a car. I got to get out of here. I got it. I got to know that I can control my own destiny behind the wheel. [00:24:27] Jeff Wood: You know, it’s funny. Cause when I was little, I lived in Bakersfield from when I was three to nine, the rest of the time I was in Texas. I grew up in Houston for the most part, but we drive to the Sequoias he’d take me out on the weekend and be like, Hey, we’re going to go for a drive. We’re going to go to the Sequoias and check those out. [00:24:38] And recently my family, we kind of did a summer vacation type thing in Cambria, which is just north of Pismo. Yeah. Yeah. From. And going around there, it’s pretty amazing. And we, we got down along the coast and all the fog is great. And the weather is a wonderful, and it’s kind of nice for a daytime drive sometimes. [00:24:53] So it’s, it’s something you can’t get in the city, but it’s something that’s really spectacular part of California. [00:24:59] Ken Napzok: I’m glad to hear that you moved out of Bakersfield by nine, because you weren’t what we called the Bakos coming in for spring break. My sister still lives there, you better be careful, brother. [00:25:08] Every spring, every spring, Pismo Beach is taken over by the Bakos, we’d call it. And all of the, the Bakersfield folks get spring break and they take over Pismo Beach. I grew up with this fear of Bakersfield. [00:25:21] Jeff Wood: And, and Joseph, in your neighborhood, I’ve heard you, you know, walking around and experiencing all the shops and stuff happening there. [00:25:27] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, yeah, I think that’s one of the things that I can get grumpy about is that yes, Los Angeles is a is a car culture, but that’s a complicated question. You know, it’s a car culture and that you can go to Bob’s big boy and you can see all of these old cars. And I remember the dime dropping after a while after I kept sending my dad, who’s an old car guy and has a 1950 Chevrolet red truck that he’s had for 50 years now. [00:25:49] I kept sending him pictures of these old cars. He’s like, I got it. There are a lot of old cars in California. Yeah. And he’s like, you know, why kid, right? They don’t rust like they do in Minneapolis. You know, when you talk about car culture, it can be love of that kind of thing. And that car culture is here. [00:26:02] But also, you know, you get the really negative. The traffic is so bad. It’s all you do. It’s, you know, smog, blah, blah, blah, and all that stuff. And for me, it’s a real divided experience of like there’s a real frustration of there’s no easy public transportation between where I live and Ken lives. So that’s like a frustration. [00:26:18] And I need a car if I have to go visit a specific person. Right. But to get through my general life, my neighborhood is so walkable. And I’ve heard lots of people describe Los Angeles as it’s not a city, it is a collection of neighborhoods that happen to be next to each other. I’ve got three restaurants on the block I live on. [00:26:37] In 15 minutes, I can be deep into Griffith. Park in a half an hour. I could be looking at the Batcave where they filmed the original Batman in 15 minutes. I can be in the heart of Hollywood in 30 minutes. I can be, you know, at the door of Raman’s theater. So it’s not just I can get by. I have these vast swaths of different kinds. [00:26:59] Of culture within relatively easy walking distance. So for me, it’s always a little bit of a tension because yes, in order to function, big picture to get to job interviews, to get together with specific friends, you have to, you know, drive or lift or taxi or whatever. But you can also live a pretty robust life in your Los Angeles neighborhood. [00:27:22] I walk more than I did in Minneapolis. [00:27:25] Ken Napzok: Yeah, Joseph’s so right. These little pockets of neighborhoods and, I don’t know, people slag on the city and I get it. And, you know, Collateral is one of my favorite movies, but Tom Cruise’s character talking about so spread out. I mean, yeah, it is, but you don’t feel that when you’re there, when you find your spot. [00:27:38] I’m in an area, Burbank, that has, uh, A wonderful little main drag of shops to walk up and down and food spots and a comedy show inside a toy store with a food truck outside. And you can really get that feel and not miss the car that way too. Yeah, Joseph’s right. Like there’s a lot of times I’ll take the subway to downtown LA for convention. [00:27:56] I’m like, God, that was so easy. I wish I could do that. To a lot of different places than just one location. We do need to work on that and improve that. But yeah, I love finding those little pockets to live in. Ken, what’s your favorite part about your neighborhood? Normally it’s the weather, but we set heat records this last week. [00:28:11] So I’m going to take that away. I apologize. I know I’m in Burbank and, and Burbank has a, uh, storied history and entertainment live from Burbank, California. It’s got a, like a lot of places, a complicated history that needs to be understood and maybe even reconciled. But what I like about it is it. I guess because I was raised in a little suburban town. [00:28:31] I was raised in what you’d think is an idyllic, you know, small little everyone weighs in each other town. So this kind of captures a little bit of that. I don’t know a lot of people. I don’t talk to my neighbors. I’ve got all those problems. I’ll meet them when the earthquake hits, but you know, we, we got our coffee shop. [00:28:48] We got the people we see in the coffee shop. We got the, uh, friends of mine I run into just Oh my God, Alex is out biking. He’s there. And I like that. Vibe of the city in, in, in this big giant entertainment industry kind of built city. I like that this is a slice of, of normal, but at times I will say Burbank has that faux normal where you wonder what is underneath the rugs, who’s sweeping what. [00:29:11] And that’s, that’s a different conversation. [00:29:16] Jeff Wood: What’s a misconception about the region that you all hear a lot, but it might not be true. [00:29:21] Joseph Scrimshaw: I would say that sort of idea that everybody is vague. Which, you know, when I first moved to Los Angeles in general, I was like, Oh, almost every stereotype that sitcoms taught me are just specifically Venice Beach or Santa Monica of like, Oh, man, people in bikinis, roller skating, dudes lifting weights, everybody doing yoga outside like, Oh, that’s specifically Santa Monica and Venice got, um, in terms of just sort of the fakeness, I live in the neighborhood of Hollywood. [00:29:53] I live in a. Very modest, but very overpriced one bedroom apartment. I do not live anywhere fancy, but it’s the last block of kind of normal homes before you start moving up into the Hollywood Hills. So it is in this sort of weird place of people who just came to LA with, you know, Nothing but a dream and, you know, some Instagram opportunities and you will see famous people, you know, buying melons at the grocery store. [00:30:21] Uh, so it’s this weird tension between sort of the real and the dream of Hollywood. And it’s certainly like, our street is like a perfect little sound valley, so when people aren’t talking on the streets, everybody in the apartment building hears them. So you will hear the extremely fake conversations, like, Yeah, I loved your sketch too, let’s do coffee! [00:30:39] And it’s like, you can feel the fakeness of it. But, there are a lot of people just doing their day to day jobs, a lot of my friends are like, real middle class writers, who are just like, The most regular humans you’ve ever met, just trying to get by. And for me, there’s also just an honesty from a lot of people in the industry of we are all trying to be really successful and we all get shot down a lot. [00:31:04] And even though all the stereotypes about people being really. Fake can be true. There’s also just an incredible amount of reality. I mean, how many jobs do people have where they walk in and go, yep, my goal is to own this company and I got fired 17 times today, it’s a different kind of job when you’re always trying to get the next job and everybody is kind of being honest about the goal is to actually be quite successful. [00:31:32] Those are things that just kind of demand a certain level of honesty. [00:31:37] Ken Napzok: Yeah, I agree with Joseph and it’s, it’s fascinating to invaluable to hear his perspective for someone who not only was in another part of the country, but was in the entertainment industry and another part of the country and how you could look West and have a certain point of view and some of it, like Joseph said, some of it is true and you know it, the, the, the fakeness, you know it, you see it and I got to tell you, it doesn’t last long, like, unless you’re there for that, unless you’re there for the, you know, You know, Instagram selfie life, uh, and you know, who doesn’t love a good selfie, but like, you’re not at those parties long. [00:32:07] You don’t stay. We all have those runs and there are those kinds of people, but in 25 plus years of this city, I’ve just met wonderful people, salt of the earth, people, blue collar people, whatever, like whatever term you want to use, it makes you kind of deconstruct the idea of the Hollywood car phone with a Chihuahua 1989 view of the city that exists in certain parts of the city. [00:32:28] But it’s not a. Requirement to be in it and engage in it and wallow in it and work in it. There’s so many great people and so many people will come from other parts of the world and they’re just all real like just Pursuing the same things and obviously the entertainment industry isn’t the only thing here Let’s be clear, but without a doubt it is our world. [00:32:46] I know what drives it. But yeah, you know Trust me talk to a grip on a set. He’s he’s not fake He’s he’s who he wants to be I love that part of it. The other part of it, the other little minor thing I think that I think is a little wrong in this area is that there isn’t a lot to do, uh, that there isn’t a lot to see, or that it isn’t just absolutely beautiful. [00:33:07] There’s absolutely parts of this large city. We’re using L. A. as this kind of all encompassing term, but, you know, the old, uh, hey, you’re two hours from the beach, you’re two hours from the snow, you’re two hours from the high desert. All that’s kind of true and trust me, there’s nights you look out there and you’re like, yeah, this is, this is what the movies wrote about. [00:33:24] This is the promise they gave to the world. [00:33:27] Jeff Wood: It sounds like great community making too. I mean, I know that just from listening to you all, you have lots of folks that you’ve met over the years who you bring on the show or you communicate with, or you’ve started your own podcast with or whatever it may be. [00:33:37] But there’s a lot of a good community that comes out of, you know, this kind of mixing of people that you guys are a part of. [00:33:44] Joseph Scrimshaw: And I will say that I think is one of the hard parts of Los Angeles and is different because of just the geography of it being spread out and having these like you can be in this a great community in Culver City and like, why would I ever leave that? [00:33:58] It can be hard to build community unless you really try specifically to have. Kind of regular events that you do with people, because unlike my experience in Minneapolis, like I, I had, you know, a good friend who lived about as far away from me and still being in the Twin Cities as possible. And he used to call me up at 9pm and go like, do you want to play a James Bond video game? [00:34:16] Like, yeah, it’ll take me 20 minutes on the freeway at 9pm to get to where you are. And that distance, I think, does sometimes make it harder to build community in Los Angeles. Those things that have been exacerbated now that so many of us are finding different ways to work at home as well. So it’s, I think, going on in the larger world as well. [00:34:35] But I think that is one of the parts of LA that is challenging, is that. You can be very comfortable and very far away from your core group of friends. [00:34:42] Ken Napzok: Yeah, and as much as I said earlier, I love being in my car. If someone’s like, yeah, I’m moving to Santa Monica. It’s a joke, but also it’s true. Like, have a nice life. [00:34:50] We’ll see ya. And, and that’s because it’s not just about the miles or the time. It’s a rough ride to get there somewhere. And it’s, it’s your day. And, and it’s a sad truth, you know, because we do have our little pockets. And it doesn’t mean I won’t travel, won’t be there for if you need me. But, Yeah, it’s, uh, it is. [00:35:06] That part is true. The spread out nature. And that’s getting it. I don’t think it’s just maybe Joseph, you, you could even say more. It’s like, it’s not just that it’s spread out. It’s just when you do find those little pockets when you do get the walk. It’s not selfish that you’re saying I’m only going to stick in my neighborhood. [00:35:18] It’s just like, this is who I am. This is where I want to be. And a Santa Monica person is a different vibe. A Venice person’s a downtown LA person. God bless them. I love going downtown LA for about a half hour. So it’s my [00:35:31] Jeff Wood: wife and I took the bus from silver Lake to Santa Monica when we were down there in 2019. [00:35:35] And, and that was, that was a trip, I must say quite a, quite a distance between the two. Yep. Yeah, but it also brings up kind of this new work environment that you all are in the, are we in the pandemic still a post pandemic, whatever it may be, but it’s changed a lot of things and you all, you know, have a situation where you’re talking to each other frequently during the week and recording shows and stuff. [00:35:54] And I’m wondering how this kind of new work environment has been treating you. Cause I know that it’s impacted a lot of folks and a lot of downtowns, for example, around the country where people aren’t coming back to work as much. And so there’s not as much business and things like that, but how does it impact you all? [00:36:07] Ken Napzok: Man, um, I, so overall, I love it. And you, you just touched on a, on a truth of like, I don’t want to celebrate it too much because, you know, it has changed a lot of things. I want to say destroy it, but like you’re talking about, it’s one thing to not go into the office, but around the office is the diner that no longer has its customer base or, uh, you know, the, the buses or whatever, you know, that part’s changed. [00:36:27] And I do understand that. But yeah, I’ve liked it. It opened up for us the possibility to do more work. It wasn’t a long trek for me to get to Joseph’s place, but you know, I’m bringing, at the time we had more gear than we probably bigger gear, older gear, you know, bigger bags, uh, Parkin can sometimes be a struggle, sometimes not. [00:36:46] And it’s just, yeah. And it just added a little extra that you didn’t even think about. We didn’t, we didn’t question it. And once we opened this up, uh, we’re record digitally and. I think just even on a smaller level, Joseph, Jennifer and I have a good rhythm where we just know, you know, we don’t necessarily always need to be in the room, so we know how to do it. [00:37:02] It just opened up a lot of possibilities. I work for a company that’s based out of Vegas right now on a YouTube channel, like, that kind of stuff didn’t exist, wouldn’t have existed, so I appreciate that. But just yesterday at the time of this recording, I went into an office studio for the company Fandom, went to do a live show that they were doing, and, It was, it was fun. [00:37:22] I was like, this is, this is cute. I get to drive , I get to park and get my parking validated, and I get to get checked in, and I kind of miss that, but only, you know, a one shot for me. [00:37:32] Joseph Scrimshaw: Mm-Hmm. . Yeah, I mean, I think there, there are obviously the, the ups and downs that Ken is talking about of, you know, losing some businesses, you know, anchor businesses, not function, and then hurting, you know, legacy businesses that the community might care about more like an old diner rather than what will happen to that. [00:37:49] office building. Yeah, the being able to record the podcast is great because it means that we can put more time into the podcast because we aren’t spending it in transit and yeah, when I drove to Ken’s and we recorded at Ken’s, it took me maybe 20 minutes to drive back and forth. You stop everything you’re doing. [00:38:07] You get ready. I’m out anyway. So I stop at target in the amount of time that it eats up. Is significant and I know I’ve talked to a lot of people who really mourn the amount of time that they had back during the lockdown portion of the pandemic for me on the other side of it is. It can get dangerously convenient where I have almost too much control over my world where I control exactly who I speak to, you know, I can kind of always have my armor on because everything is so controlled and I have been needing not just for my health, well for my physical health and for my mental health to just go like, I have to go for a walk and like Ken was saying, I don’t need to make a best friend, right? [00:38:51] But if I just walk 15 minutes to Amoeba and see who else is looking at the Frank Stotra records today, having a quick chat about, you know, weird Dracula DVD I bought with the person working there, that that is so great for my physical health and mental health and just like needed. Because I think that’s the danger of us being able to all work like this now is that we get a little too isolated and don’t really realize the creep of it happening to us and how it’s affecting us. [00:39:17] Ken Napzok: Is it that Vonnegut meme that goes around of him needing to order an envelope and his wife says you could just go online and he’s like, no, that the purpose of life is to go putz around? Yes. I, I really, that one resonates with me. I love that stuff. You know, I’m, I’m a shy kid at heart, but like I’m on the stretch. [00:39:35] My, my partner, my fiance is out of town for a long stretch and I’m home with my little, uh, Scared Chihuahua and I’m like it coming up with excuses not to leave the house and now I feel isolated. I feel disconnected So I might just you know, run down to a 7 eleven and talk to the guy Jimmy there for five seconds I just need some banter I think we as humans do need that I think that’s a great point that Joseph said that even in a big large town like this when we all had the excuses to uh And the reason but the excuses to stay inside and stay inside forever It can get it to you if you’re not careful [00:40:06] Jeff Wood: It’s interesting. [00:40:06] You mentioned that there was a, the guy that started Zappos, uh, Tony C, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, he actually, you know, started working and putting together a part of Las Vegas, downtown Las Vegas, not actually the strip where he had this metric that he, he used to like measure collisions, the amount of times people interacted with each other. [00:40:25] And so I think that that’s kind of what you’re talking about is this collision metric where you want to not necessarily make best friends with people, but you want to have these interaction or these things that people call weak ties. Not necessarily strong ties, but they’re weak ties because people are part of the community and you run into them and then you create, you know, the community that exists in your area. [00:40:41] So I think that’s, that’s a really a big part of it too. [00:40:44] Ken Napzok: Yeah. I love that. I love that. I’d like to look up more of that stuff. Yeah. It’s like, I know my coffee guy is also a sound guy for live bands and I know when he’s got gigs and he knows what I’m doing. Like we’re never going to hang out. I think I kind of remember his name, but that’s part of life. [00:40:58] That’s part of the community. Like you said, [00:41:00] Jeff Wood: On that same kind of topic, we just recently had Kevin Kelly on the show as an architect, uh, who’s one of the folks who designed the ArcLight Theater, and I know that you guys were a fan of that, and sadly it disappeared. I heard it might come back in 2025. But I’m, I’m also curious about like your theater experiences in the city and that, that coming together that happens when you go to the theater and what places like the ArcLight or other like kind of design spaces mean to you? [00:41:23] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, I mean, uh, Arclight is, is and was huge for me as a walking distance from my apartment, like 15 minutes, and really the place that I got a lot of community early on, my wife and I, growing up, there was rarely a time where there was a theater that was accessible, a theater was accessible. Get in the car thing for most of my life. [00:41:43] There was a time that there was a theater in downtown Minneapolis when I was an adult that I could take an easy bus to, but that sadly closed. So that’s always just been as a kid. One of those like I would be an emperor of the world if I could walk to a movie theater. So to have this. Great movie theater. [00:42:01] Anybody who isn’t familiar with it, you can probably easily Google the uh, Cinerama Dome here in Los Angeles. So it’s the actual dome, which is amazing, and I’ve had amazing experiences there where they do the original Cinerama film, which is three different screens, and you need three projectionists. [00:42:18] Keeping them all level at the same time. It’s the only place in my life I’ve ever, uh, heard thunderous rounds of applause for projectionists, but the actual modern building that was in built and attached to the Cinerama Dome without damaging it in any way, it was constructed as a temple to film is a very circular, uh, atrium with a restaurant on the ground floor and another kind of restaurant bar on the upper floor and lots of places where you could finish watching a movie on the second floor, And you could just kind of linger over the railing of the grand staircase and you could watch the community. [00:42:52] I ran into so many people I knew. I ran into the entire casts of sitcoms, uh, who had made the choice to go to Cats instead of Rods of Skywalker. The experiences I had there for some of the big seminal films like the Star Wars films. The Avengers films, Black Panther, some of the greatest cultural experiences of my life to see that space packed full of people in a way that makes it viscerally clear that film is a community experience, people in all sorts of different costumes and just the buzz and the excitement. [00:43:27] It’s, it’s, it’s an amazing space and I deeply hope it opens again because it helped me on my Los Angeles journey a lot. [00:43:35] Ken Napzok: It needs to be studied that specific location is just one of the all time great places Joseph actually spent more time in there in the end. It was I was never close to it I’m someone who I even just experienced this this week I had to go see beetle juice beetle juice for work related reasons and other than the price I could complain about stuff like an old man, but I experienced the there was people next to me with their phones on talking to that that whole thing the arclight hollywood location I always felt safe as a movie goer In the sense of everyone was there for one unified cause the movie on the screen You’re gonna have some bad actors every now and then there was famously that girl that stood up during an outage to do stand up. [00:44:13] Um, painfully Um, but it was just something that you felt the community and look I you know Employees are it’s their job and they’re giving the speeches they need to speak But it just had a different vibe to it that and I there was a lot of other arclights that were equally as impressive looking But there was something special about that hollywood one. [00:44:29] It was truly the center of a You Film community, not just the local area around it, but just the city. It had something special in the design, the flow, uh, the stairway running up, like, it’s a great loss, and I hope some version of it comes back. It was special. [00:44:45] Jeff Wood: Along those same lines, I’m curious what you all feel about, like, replicated spaces. [00:44:48] So, uh, we did a podcast about Disney and how he was such a big city planner. Uh, and kind of an evangelist for that. I mean, he designed, you know, Walt Disney world around the ideas of Victor Gruen, who is the father of the modern mall and, you know, thinking about the ways he designed Disneyland as well, is really interesting to think about, like, basically he set up pirates of the Caribbean and all of the different attractions, main street, all that stuff to be different channels in a television that you change the channels of. [00:45:13] Right. [00:45:14] Speaker 3: And [00:45:14] Jeff Wood: so when you go in there, you change the channel, you go to pirates, you change the channel, you go to spaceman, you get changed channels, you go to different parts of the park and it gave you a different experience. And so I’m wondering what you feel about those types of like generated experiences that you might have when you’re in a theme park in LA or even like somewhere like, uh, the Grove where, you know, it’s kind of a generated experience in that way too. [00:45:33] Ken Napzok: I’ll start by saying I have a affinity for it all. I’m on my head is my farmer’s market hat. I was the security director of the farmer’s market at third Fairfax, of which the Grove is a tenant of the farmer’s market. Uh, Caruso’s only property, I think he rents and I spent a lot of time there and it is both completely manufactured and also its own form of real community, the farmer’s market, which is a historical landmark started, uh, 1860s. [00:45:57] And by the early 1900s, it grows from cars serving food to the, to the Workers and farmers and grows into this wonderful little ecosystem there. So I love that stuff, but also I love Disneyland. I love kind of the, the community of it. If that’s the right proper term, that probably sounds too insulting, but there’s something I love about that and about, you know, constructed it. [00:46:16] I don’t know if I want that. I mean, I think Burbank has some vibes like that too. I mean, Burbank was actually where Walt wanted his land to be initially. That would have been something. I don’t know. There’s just, I buy, I buy into it, if that makes sense, but I have to own to like, The grove at 7 a. m. When I’ve got coffee and I’m walking around, it felt like a little home. [00:46:36] It might not feel that way on a Friday night at 10 to a lot of folks. And so that’s a different view on it, I guess. [00:46:43] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah. I mean, the farmer’s market in the grove. I mean, anybody who’s not familiar with the grove, that outdoor mall, that’s very Very instructed to be sort of like, uh, Americana. It’s a very Disneyland mall. [00:46:54] And that’s a very interesting experience for me because, you know, Minnesota has a lot of pride in having created malls and the mall of America being there. And the experience in, in Los Angeles, I’ve made this joke to Ken lots of times of the hardest thing moving here was sometimes you walk into a building and then you look up and the roof is gone and you’re outside again, and those two mall spaces are a great example of that. [00:47:17] Um, Malls in Minnesota is originally invented are their containers to be safe. And so many of the manufactured spaces you’re talking about in LA are about shaping our experience in a way that is about our interface between both the outside and our sort of internal experience. I, there’s so many manufactured spaces. [00:47:40] In the Los Angeles area that I love. And I think there’s something about it that speaks to, again, that sort of is Los Angeles fake or not Los Angeles in terms of Hollywood explicitly makes dreams explicitly creates stories. And there’s this great tension in Los Angeles where sometimes you can. Feel the blatant constructedness of them. [00:48:05] But then if you watch the people move through those spaces and interact with the spaces, you can see the emotional connection. To the idea, the very real idea that is represented by the fabricated thing. And I think discussing that in terms of Disneyland or Disney world is not shocking to anybody. It’s, you know, it’s a magic trip into a, into a fake world. [00:48:27] But I think that exact dynamic is happening at the grove. I think it’s happening at the farmer’s market farmer’s market. It’s a little bit more authentic because it is actually just really that old, but that experience of the fabrication of it is obvious. To the point where you almost want to kind of go, ah, it’s fake. [00:48:45] And yet the emotion is real. The place I feel that is the Hollywood walk of fame. And a lot of people don’t like it, especially a lot of people in LA, but it is, if you want to see the fantasy. And the reality of Hollywood collide, watch tourists go to their most beloved star on the walk of fame. And sometimes it’ll be like Laura Dern or Beyonce, and sometimes it’ll be like, damn, you needed a photo with Peter Lorre? [00:49:12] The past is alive in Los Angeles. And then you walk down like, how’s Dean Martinstar doing to get, oh, there’s some bodily fluids on it. Uh, there’s a fabrication to it, but the relationship to. The art that all of these people created and how it affects our lives, it is a portal to that and you see people, I have had moments where I’m bummed out and I go walk past the star of somebody who inspired me and somebody who will be kind of largely forgotten by modern culture. [00:49:43] Sammy Davis Jr. for example, not entirely forgotten by our culture, but for the massive star he was, you don’t hear about him every day. In the city I live in, I can go visit multiple places that remember Sammy Davis Jr., and I can feel that emotional connection to them. [00:49:58] Ken Napzok: Yeah, yeah, I love what Joseph said about the actual emotions in some of these places, uh, you know, they’re designed, uh, they got the Fountain, you know, looking at the grove, they got the fountain people from the Bellagio to build the fountain. [00:50:09] And that’s kind of famous. I was in Tennessee in the like 2008. Me and my girlfriend at the time, she was moving out there. And we had mentioned to a barista out there in Johnson City, Tennessee, that we were from L. A. That’s all we said. We go, Oh, we’re from L. A. She goes, Have you heard of the grove? [00:50:25] Actually, we, we work there. That’s where we met. Um, so it has that thing. And, and yeah, like I interacted with Paris Hilton once for security reasons and talk to her and there was 40 paparazzi around her and it was everything that you would think you would hate and maybe do hate about Hollywood. But behind her at a table was Paul Mazursky and Altman and a couple other 70s sitcom writers that are, and it just, no one knew or cared because that, but that was real. [00:50:51] It was these, it was those people and you could find those moments all the time at those places. [00:50:55] Jeff Wood: Yeah. And it’s, it’s a, it’s an experience, but also it’s something people seek out. Right. They’re looking for that. They’re looking for some sort of like a connection and an emotion to be evoked. And I find that really fascinating too, because, you know, we say manufactured, but it’s still real, right. [00:51:09] It’s still real. And it’s, it’s real to me. Damn it. Um, yeah. [00:51:12] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah. Quick other thought on that. There are a couple of great. Parks, for the lack of a better term, that I love going to, Descanso Gardens in particular, uh, Huntington as well. And, you know, those are big, I never know the right noun, parks the best one. [00:51:27] They’re nature areas, but those are also sort of constructed. Like in Descanso, there’s the ancient forest, and then there’s the oak grove, and then there’s the Japanese garden. And it is like, it is Disney World, but all nature all the time. And to me, I think that’s another thing that makes me really, Enjoy mindfully created spaces and it doesn’t mean to me that they’re unnatural because those parks are a great example of we’ve divided this into sub kingdoms. [00:51:55] Speaker 3: You know, is the ancient forest for Mickey? [00:51:56] Joseph Scrimshaw: Is, you know, is the oak grove for dumb duck? Who knows? But they are different spaces that convey different things. [00:52:04] Jeff Wood: What about like little hideaways? Like one of my favorite spots that one of my friends told me about that my wife and I visited when we visited that one time, we went to the top of the LA athletic club and there’s like a little speakeasy at the top with like an old library and you can get old fashions and sit there in the leather chairs and hang out and just like little places that you can go that like, maybe not a lot of folks know about, but it’s really fun to put yourself in those places. [00:52:25] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, I mean, there’s, there’s so many of those. The one that I always bring up is it’s kind of a, it’s not a secret at all, but I don’t think people know how accessible it is. The, uh, famous Roosevelt hotel, which is basically kitty corner from Grauman’s theater. That lobby is just open for business. You can go and have a cocktail or a non alcoholic drink and get some appetizers. [00:52:46] Just any old time. There’s another little space upstairs, the spare room, I believe that’s totally a little hideaway. And it’s, that’s a great example of, you know, some of the, kind of the old Hollywood where you can really kind of feel the history of mid 20th century. That’s totally accessible to everyone. [00:53:05] I love those kinds of spaces. [00:53:06] Ken Napzok: Yeah, there’s a lot of historic spaces and I always find like as Joseph’s talking I’m trying to run through my list of like, do I know any of these secret kind of cool places? And I’m like, yeah, the Chili’s Bar in Northridge was my hangout spot for a long time and that had its own community And that was its own secret vibe, you know I don’t know what one time I went to the cicada club with some friends and that’s rather famous and rather big but we Had the upstairs and it became our own little private oasis and I was like i’ve got to come back here I’ve not been back. [00:53:31] It’s been 13 years, but you find those places you want to keep them You That’s why I give props to Joseph and Sarah for going out and finding a little spot. Oh, we got this cafe here and if it’s open 24 hours and serves subpar food, I’m usually there. Um, but there’s those places like that. But I love even going, finding those spots with locals in New York or other spots, Seattle or something. [00:53:51] Oh, go around here. You want pizza? Go to this spot. Like, I love that stuff. I love hearing from the people who experience it. How are you feeling about the Olympics? [00:53:59] Joseph Scrimshaw: Ooh, that’s a good question. Uh, concern for sure, because I think a lot of people will have, um, lots of different, uh, strong opinions. And I think it is a huge challenge to have a good experience in terms of traffic and accessibility. [00:54:16] Uh, I’m certainly not an expert on any of the plans. I really like the area where it’s mainly going to be based, but I haven’t. Spent anywhere near as much time in that area as I want, so I’m not an expert on it, but definitely just knowing the sort of logistical challenge of it. I am concerned about it of what it’s going to do to the rest of the city. [00:54:37] Ken Napzok: Yeah, I haven’t formed a too negative or too positive opinion yet, too. I know there’s a lot of questions asked about. Every city now when the Olympics come through where I think growing up, I had this, like, isn’t that great that we want to win it. I wasn’t in LA at 84. I was three hours away, so I don’t know a lot of that stuff, but yeah, I don’t know. [00:54:54] I take it as, I don’t want to say take it in stride, but when like you hear. Well, we’re going to shut down the 405 for construction. It’s just like, well, that’s going to be horrible for four days. I’ll do, I’ll do something else. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do something else when the Olympics are here. [00:55:05] It might just be all around me. We’ll see. [00:55:08] Jeff Wood: I think I’m excited about just kind of everybody from around the world coming together in Los Angeles. I feel like that’s kind of exciting too. I mean, we just saw what happened in Paris and actually went to London Olympics, which was awesome to tell people on the show. [00:55:20] That is one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. Seeing the The gold medalists from fencing on the train on the way back home after the event that you just watched is pretty cool. I must say. Yeah, [00:55:29] Joseph Scrimshaw: that’s great. Yeah. And I suppose it should be a little bit more hopeful about it too. Of like, yes, that’s going to be a desire to show off the city. [00:55:35] So hopefully it will lead to some genuine addressing of issues instead of any sweeping under the rug of various important issues in Los Angeles. Yeah, for sure. [00:55:47] Jeff Wood: One of the big things we talked about on the show and obviously is a big issue with California and across the country in general is just the housing crisis and how expensive it is. [00:55:55] And I guess it’s alluding to kind of the things that you were just talking about with the Olympics and some of the things that are trying to get, you know, pushed under the rug and, you know, forgotten, but they’re there. And I’m wondering what the housing situation here impact is got you all. I mean, from. [00:56:08] Like how you experience friends staying for long periods of time or people leaving the state, for example, that you might’ve known before or those types of things. I know here in San Francisco, you know, a lot of the folks that I hung out with when I first moved here, they live in other parts of the country now just because they couldn’t stick around. [00:56:22] Ken Napzok: Yeah. It’s obviously an important, complicated issue and we’re, we’re feeling in a lot of different ways and I have a lot of minds about it. You know, if, if, if my landlord Makes a decision and I have to move or like, I don’t know what I’m doing. And I know a lot of folks are leaving and I know a lot of other areas. [00:56:38] There’s been other little cities. I’m like, well, maybe I could go there. And I’ve had friends in those cities be like, Oh no, don’t, don’t come here. Don’t expect it to be cheap here. So I guess we’re all going to find our way to little rock, Arkansas, where I just was for six days. Uh, I, you know, it’s tough. [00:56:51] It’s a conversation that happens. A lot. I just had one with a friend of mine who watches my dogs who moved out of the area to another part of Southern California because, you know, well, Burbank was doing this, this and that. And some of it’s true. Some of it’s very lived in experiences. And some of it was just perception that he had that I don’t know. [00:57:10] It’s 100 percent correct. But again, he had experienced direct things. I’ve talked to some friends who, you know, their neighborhoods have changed and not for the better. I always look at how they answer it. There’s an energy behind how they discuss it where I can kind of. Yeah. Figure out what angle they’re coming from and some I agree and some I don’t if you know what I mean, but it’s it’s tough I think the economic crush of just up in san francisco and um, that was an experience That was an experience that has stayed with me We left early because of the part we are in but the other part where the comedy club was It’s like I guess we could have stayed over here, but we couldn’t find a place a hotel to stay at We couldn’t afford it, so I think it’s something we’re all facing, and I don’t certainly have the answers, but I try to think about it, I try to have an opinion and discuss it, but I face it every day in this town, prices and [00:57:55] Joseph Scrimshaw: people. [00:57:56] Yeah, I don’t, I don’t feel like I know a lot of people who have been, uh, leaving Los Angeles. I think a lot of the friends I’ve made have kind of, uh, put down roots, so I haven’t encountered that, and there are a couple other places we would consider living, but right now we’re very happy. Here the on house situation is for me. [00:58:12] It’s just tragic. That’s my my main reaction is just empathy for other human beings and I understand some logistics can come up in some, you know, legitimate concerns. If you know somebody isn’t doing well and you know, is scaring people or approaching people. I understand that that can be frightening, but I see many on house people and the vast majority of the experiences that I have is I just walk by a person who could use some help and it’s not the kind of help you can just say, here’s 5, here’s 50, here’s 100. [00:58:47] It’s a large group of people. Cultural logistical problem. So for me, more than anything, I understand the various concerns about it, but it is hard for me when people really talk about, you know, we need to get these people off the street and some of the policies that have happened are, you know, trying to sound tough for short term benefit and just. [00:59:07] Shifting people from place to place without addressing any of the underlying issues to be perfectly blunt. I feel like it is one of those things, a situation where their research, their experts, their solutions, and is there the empathy, the understanding, the political will to attempt to implement them and Verify that they do indeed work. [00:59:26] And again, all I can really emphasize for me is like more than anything, it’s an empathy issue of there will be specific homeless people who are clearly like, I’m trying to hold onto my dignity in this. This specific spot, this specific place is my corner. This is my home now, because we all need a home and a place. [00:59:40] And when you see the on house problem is individual humans who are struggling and need help. To me, everything, every opinion I have about it flows from that. [00:59:50] Ken Napzok: Yeah, I think that’s the only way you can truly approach it. And, and, uh, I’m not making a joke that Burbank doesn’t have this crisis on the surface, which makes me question how and why, because it’s not because of great policies or, you know, that everyone’s doing well. [01:00:05] Jeff Wood: It exists, but you’re just not sure where, where it is or why it’s not pushed [01:00:09] Ken Napzok: away. Yeah. Why it’s not on my corner. [01:00:12] Jeff Wood: On a kind of a more positive note, I’m wondering what your soundtracks to the city are. I know Ken, you’re a big music person, but. I’m just curious what pops into your head as like an anthem or a song that kind of connects you to your place. [01:00:25] Ken Napzok: Oh, man, um, well when the Dodgers win, Randy Newman sings, I love LA and that’s about it. No, I mean, I’ll say this. I used to work graveyards for about four years when I moved here and I was the security supervisor beginning of my old career that I had there and it was all very quiet. Sad bastard music, as my friends would call it. [01:00:47] And it sounded, it sounded like LA at three in the morning. But, uh, right now I love listening to, like, I’m still a radio guy in the sense of, I love connecting through that way. Like there’s a great station KCSN, which has started out it’s Cal state Northridge, but it’s, it’s more than just college radio has Matt Pinfield on it and Nick Harcourt and all these kinds of legends in the music broadcasting world. [01:01:06] And it’s just a good vibe. You feel connected to the city because like artists are on the station. Like they call in before he passed away. Tom Petty used to like donate regularly and he would call in and request songs and I think it just, it’s not a specific song. It just that station is kind of LA music to me right now. [01:01:23] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, I think for me, there’s a couple of different, really strong connections. LA at night, there’s just endless amounts of great driving music from many genres who just get in the mood of it. But for me again, coming from Minneapolis in Los Angeles, being like kind of a fantasy place, like living in Los Angeles would be like living on the moon, but I knew a lot of the artists that I liked came from here. [01:01:44] The extremes of my tastes, uh, being a Frank Sinatra and Guns N Roses and both of them having. Songs that are very, very tied to this spot. And almost every time I walk by Sunset and Vine, there’s a Sinatra song where he literally sings on Sunset and Vine. And that goes through my head. I’ve had the chance to see Guns N Roses in concert three different times in Los Angeles and that really intimate connection that, you know, one of their most famous songs, Welcome to the Jungle, is about Hollywood Boulevard, where it’s about my neighborhood. [01:02:16] And to see this band that to me was this sort of like impossible, those old guys with their cool rock and roll life helping me work through my passive aggressive rage in Minnesota, you know, and then to see them at the Hollywood Bowl, which they performed at for the first time last year and the glee in Axl Rose’s voice being this old man whose, you know, story is he stepped off the bus in Hollywood Boulevard and an old man said to him, you know where you are? [01:02:44] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You’re going to die. Uh, and that’s the Genesis, that song. And in some ways that band and for him to, you know, be standing there in the Hollywood bowl and say, Hollywood, do you know where you are? You know, you’re going to die. It was, it is a connection to place. It’s about how place helps shape who we are. [01:03:02] Jeff Wood: Yeah. And can you, do you mention Matt Pinfield? I mean, that’s like a seminal experience of me in middle school, like watching 120 minutes late at night after a long run in the dark, just kind of like connecting with the folks who ran the Sunday shows and the stuff like that. And then just a good experience all around. [01:03:18] Ken Napzok: He’s great. You can listen to the station anywhere. I recommend it. He’s I’d say not a natural radio DJ. And so that wonderful story, Joseph just told he’d probably tell that story. For 20 minutes and you need about 30 seconds and it’s great. He’ll just be like, and then Axel told me he stepped off the bus and we all slash walked up. [01:03:35] And we had, it’s great. You got it. You got to check him out. He’s on in the afternoons here. [01:03:40] Jeff Wood: You both mentioned the Hollywood bowl. I mean, that’s another experience in itself. And you mentioned that when you, we talk about your weekends and going to watch it and John Williams and others hang out and play music and Gaga and all the other folks. [01:03:50] And so I, I appreciate that kind of perspective too, coming from somebody who went to school in and so had this huge live music experience. Being able to go to concerts and stuff is super great. So I appreciate that perspective from you all too. [01:04:02] Ken Napzok: Yeah. Joseph and I are both big music folks and like Joseph, we finally got it. [01:04:05] We got to get to the rainbow room together. Oh [01:04:07] Joseph Scrimshaw: yeah. [01:04:07] Ken Napzok: I’ve never been, I’m a sucker for those kinds of little history things of, you know, here’s, here’s where, uh, you know, Van Halen started this little backyard in Pasadena. Here’s where they played. Here’s this, here’s that. I, you know, I love going to Roxy whiskey. [01:04:20] I was just recently at the whiskey. It’s not what it used to be but like a lot of pay to play I get that that’s not new But like it was like a 14 year old band night. It was like school of rock graduation class like not even joking That’s what we walked in for this other show And I was like, I don’t know if the ghost of jim morrison would approve of this But also I don’t think he’d care he’d probably jump on stage and join him So it’s i’d love experiencing The music history of this city because it is richer the punk scene and all the stuff It’s it’s richer than people want to give it credit for I think from the outside You [01:04:49] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, quick thought on Hollywood Bowl, too. [01:04:50] I’m actually going to Hollywood Bowl tonight, and it’s great that you can see, you know, Guns N Roses, you can see Tony Bennett with surprise guest Lady Gaga, and all sorts of, you know, big things, but, you know, we’re going to see a jazz concert with, you know, guest famous tap dancers, you know, you can see lots of different things, but the biggest thing for me is that, yeah, the Hollywood Bowl is famous. [01:05:13] I saw it in movies. I dreamed about it, too. But the experience of actually being there feels like being at just a bandstand in a public park, like in Minneapolis, and that’s another one of those going back to sort of stereotypes and perceptions of, yep, it’s a world famous, unique music venue, but also For the community of normal humans who live in Los Angeles, like, it’s one of the summer traditions, and they’re the inside jokes about how uncomfortable the benches are, and, you know, paying for the mats, and watching the kids who work there try to pile mats higher than each other as they race out at the end, and like, It is also just a community space where we come together to listen to music. [01:05:54] So it feels kind of fancy and cool, but also entirely just rounded community. Last [01:06:01] Jeff Wood: question. What do you all hope for the future of LA or even in your neighborhoods? [01:06:05] Ken Napzok: I mean, you know, being affordable again would be great, but I think that’s something we’re going to face anywhere. Um, I don’t know. I like, I always looking forward to changes, new things, improve public transportation is not just a talking point. [01:06:19] You feel it. Like, that’s what I say when I, Finally learned to take the subway in town here because I need it’s an easy way to get to the L. A. Convention Center. It’s like, God, that was so easy and cheap and nice. I would do that more often if I could and if you just can open yourself up to that. I don’t know. [01:06:34] I think the city will stand the test of time and and overcome things and change and grow and you know, I hope the wealth disparity doesn’t keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I don’t have a lot of hopes for that right now over the world, but I just want more people to discover it and love it like I do. [01:06:48] Joseph Scrimshaw: Yeah, I think a lot of the big things are challenges that are facing other cities, better transportation, better accessibility, more walkability, truly addressing the on house crisis in a deep systemic and empathetic way. Challenges, I think, are happening in lots of places for similar reasons. Another thing that is happening in other places, but I think Los Angeles is really at a good inflection point. [01:07:13] With it is really preserving some of the older stuff that makes Los Angeles unique, be that a building or a business being incentivizing unique and interesting businesses so that not only the neighborhood who lives there wants to go and use them and then it only makes it more rich for a tourist to, you know, it’s, it’s not fun to be a tourist and spend and. [01:07:35] ton of money and then not go and see anything particularly unique of like, I’m at this famous intersection with a bank and a condo and a Chipotle. Uh, I think if it’s fun and beautiful and community driven, that’s even better for tourists. And there’s lots of battles going on right now. I’m a member of the Hollywood Heritage Society. [01:07:59] And even this last week, there was a, can you please write a letter to these people so they don’t pointlessly tear down. These buildings to facilitate the new mass transit, which I support the mass transit, but let’s do it in a way that makes it so people want to go there. Final thing I’ll say on it is kind of a joke, but it’s true. [01:08:15] Uh, I take it personally that almost all of the stages I performed at in the first five years of living in Los Angeles have been literally physically torn down. They’re not there anymore. And there’s one area in particular on Sunset Boulevard, which to me is just sort of the perfect epitome of this is a cool area. [01:08:31] So let’s tear everything down to put up a condo. Cause people want to live. In this cool area and then the only thing in your cool area is your condo because you tore down everything that made it here. Interesting that somebody wanted to put a condo there in the first place. And it’s this very circular firing squad kind of city development, which I hope all of the factors come together and pump the brakes on that in Los Angeles. [01:08:53] I [01:08:53] Jeff Wood: totally understand. [01:08:54] Ken Napzok: I, it’s an absolute bummer. I used to run a comedy show at the Brown Derby, not the original one, but the, the one that was like swingers. I used to literally tell jokes at that bar where Heather Graham and Jon Favreau met and danced in that movie. And it’s like Chase Bank now. Like, that’s horrible. [01:09:09] That’s horrible. I want to improve things and new things. And yeah, I put in rail, light rails. God, there’s just something painful about that. [01:09:16] Jeff Wood: Yeah. The replacement. I mean, I think we all agree that we need housing and more places for people to live. So just like the replacement of spaces that people love is tough to swallow for sure. [01:09:26] Speaker 3: Yeah. [01:09:26] Jeff Wood: Well, where can folks find you all? If you wish to be found, [01:09:30] Joseph Scrimshaw: uh, you can find me on social media at Joseph Scrimshaw, um, particularly enjoying blue sky and our modern social media war. Um, perhaps, uh, alone in really enjoying blue sky, uh, but all it needs is more people. Uh, so you can find me at Joseph’s Grimshaw. [01:09:45] You can also go to my website at josephscrimshaw. com for links to all sorts of different things I’m doing, including some short films I’ve been working on and currently raising funds. For a feature film, a horror film that I wrote and am directing. So if you’re interested in that, you can check it out at josephscrimshaw.com [01:10:00] Ken Napzok: Yeah, you can find me at kednapsock on social media. Yeah, I don’t know where my home will eventually be. I’m on Instagram a lot now. That’s where I’m at. I did, I posted something on threads the other day. Look at me. Uh, trying to change, trying to get off of, uh, Elon’s world. Uh, but yeah, my website, show you where I’m performing comedy. [01:10:16] You know, at Venerable. Historic Burbank locations like Flapper’s Comedy Club, which now more than 10 years old, counts as a historical monument in the city. But it used to be a macaroni grill. So there you go, it reversed, it reversed the curse there. [01:10:29] Jeff Wood: Awesome. Well, thanks Ken and Joseph for joining us. We really appreciate your time. [01:10:33] Joseph Scrimshaw: Thank you. [01:10:33] Ken Napzok: Thank you.
