Field notes
Permit intelligence, market signals, and playbooks from the nightly sweep. Issued when the field teaches us something worth drawing up.
FIG. 61Ten percent a year: what Los Angeles actually requires of the man who owns a landmarked neon sign
The city designated the Hollywood Center Motel sign four months after the building burned and the letters went missing. What designation does and does not oblige an owner to do is not the thing most people in this trade believe it is.
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FIG. 62The money's in the big jobs: what contract value leaves out
The pipeline review ranks by contract value, and contract value is the size of the invoice. Divide it by the hours the chase actually took, and the order comes out different.
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FIG. 63Generally within two years: the hotel renovation calendar, and what each permit phase is for
The meeting-space AV package shows up looking like a bid that appeared out of nowhere. It was funded, scheduled and permitted in stages first, and every one of those stages is public.
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FIG. 64Two-thirds versus 43 percent: who is actually filing the Altadena rebuilds
The Eaton fire rebuild gets described as thousands of families rebuilding at once. The record describes something narrower: a handful of builders repeating one plan across many lots, and a majority of owner-occupants who have not applied at all.
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