Lifestyle
Are you oblivious to L.A. earthquakes? Here's why you might be a 'never-feeler'
Joy Lee has lived in the L.A. area for her entire life, but the 48-year-old says she hasn’t felt an earthquake in almost two decades. “Sometimes I will be on social media and suddenly my friends will start commenting on the earthquake, and I will realize I felt nothing,” she said.
One time she thought an earthquake may have happened after seeing a strange ripple in the tank of her 5-gallon water dispenser. It was “like the scene where the glass of water vibrates in ‘Jurassic Park.’”
As usual, she went to social media to confirm her suspicions. Indeed, there’d been a quake that, once again, she didn’t feel.
Lee is what we’ve dubbed a “never-feeler,” someone who never — or very, very rarely — registers the rumblings of the earth beneath their feet.
After two early January SoCal quakes (a 4.1 magnitude on New Year’s Day and a 4.2 four days later), The Times conducted an informal survey to find out more about the chronically earthquake-oblivious. Lee was among the readers to share their feelings — or lack thereof.
On Tuesday, a 2.8 magnitude quake was reported in View Park-Windsor Hills at 8:19 a.m. While this one would be considered a “light” earthquake — too low to trigger the shake alert app — more than 170 people shared did-you-feel-it reports within 30 minutes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Of 116 Times questionnaire respondents, about a quarter described themselves as avowed never-feelers; people who, despite living in the L.A. area for between two and 42 years, had never felt even the slightest quiver no matter the magnitude. Meanwhile, 61% reported that, while they had indeed felt the earth tremble at some point — especially if the quake was on the bigger side — they haven’t felt one in a very long time.
Julian Lozos, an associate professor of geophysics at Cal State Northridge, said there is solid earthquake science behind why some folks feel quakes while others don’t in any given situation.
“In general, you’re more likely to feel earthquakes if you’re sitting still [instead of] moving around, you’re more likely to feel them if you’re awake [instead of] asleep — obviously — but it also depends on where you are. There have been earthquakes in the San Fernando Valley, for example, that I’ve felt while people just on the other side of the Santa Monica [Mountains] haven’t.
“And it would definitely depend on where you live in terms of there being a constant source of noise or movement, like living in an apartment building where there’s constantly other stuff going on versus a single-family home. In that case you’re more likely to either think that’s what it is or, more likely, to just have developed the ability to tune it out.”
Indeed, Lee thinks her location may play a role in her earthquake ignorance. “[I] only have been quake-oblivious since moving into our home in Mt. Washington 17 years ago,” she said. “I think it has to do with the geology that our house sits on.” Linnea Stanley, a four-year Angeleno who lives in Bel-Air but used to live in Beachwood Canyon by the Hollywood sign, wondered if she never feels earthquakes because “maybe I live far enough [away] from them?” Isabel Corazon, a 37-year-resident born and raised in L.A. and currently residing in downtown’s Historic Core, believes she may have grown immune.
“I do find it strange since I’m hypersensitive to how others are feeling at any given moment in addition to how I’m feeling at any given moment,” Corazon said. “I’m highly intuitive and perceptive. So I’m honestly confused as to why I never feel earthquakes. … Maybe when you have generational time spent in L.A., you become like one with the earthquake?”
Lozos, whose area of expertise is computer simulations (“I make fake earthquakes on my computer”) has a keen interest in the never-feeler phenomenon, having observed it firsthand in the classroom.
“I always ask my students if they’ve felt an earthquake, and most of them say they have — but some of them say they haven’t,” Lozos said. “And I think some of that has to do with how much are they even thinking about it? I’m thinking about earthquakes most of the time, because it’s my job, right? So I’m more likely to feel something and go, ‘OK, was that an earthquake? Or was that my neighbors, or was that the fire station across the street?’ Whereas people who aren’t necessarily thinking about it all the time … chances are they probably have felt earthquakes and just never thought to look into it. It’s like how much does it come to your mind to begin with?”
The never-feelers’ theories
Generally, the survey respondents who don’t feel earthquakes had three main reasons. A third of them, including Lee, cited their physical location.
Lozos explained that differing locations — even within the same building — can make a huge difference in how a quake is felt. He used his personal experience at a 2014 earthquake conference in Japan as an example. “It was lunchtime and they had half of us at a fourth-floor restaurant and half of us at an 18th-floor restaurant in the same hotel when a magnitude 4.9 earthquake hit,” he said. “The people on the fourth floor felt a very sort of abrupt shaking — a jolty shaking — and the people on the 18th floor felt a lot more swaying. … [which] one might perceive as the wind versus an earthquake.”
Others theorized they had become desensitized to the jolts, jiggles and sways of the earth, due to medical conditions (from ADHD-induced wiggling legs to frequent seizures), previous earthquakes or even where they grew up. “As a native Seattleite, I have spent A LOT of my life on boats (rowboats, ferry boats, speed boats, crew shells, kayaks, canoes, etc.),” wrote Colleen Davis. “Therefore, I am very used to the feeling of having sea legs and having water rolling under me. Who knows if there is a connection? But it makes as much sense as any other theory, I guess.”
Lozos said most earthquakes are small and last for a very short period of time — a second or less. “And there are so many other things that can cause movement like that, that it might not even be something you think to check. So, later on, when the earthquake is on the news, or is exploding on [X] or BlueSky or Mastodon or wherever you are, you have to step back and think, ‘Did I feel something earlier? What time was that?’ There’s probably a lot of that.”
A surprising number of respondents (to me at least) simply copped to being too distracted to notice. “I honestly feel like I just don’t pay attention,” explained Tess Steplyk of her six-year streak of quake obliviousness. “But most the time I am quietly working from home. So I think it’s a skill!”
Not paying attention is what Lozos thinks is probably at work for people who haven’t experienced a single shaker. “I’d be willing to bet that if they’re adults who have lived in California their whole lives,” he said, “they probably have [felt an earthquake] and just didn’t realize what it was. Also, if you haven’t felt one before, you probably have this mental image, like it’s going to be this big obvious thing. And, most of the time, they’re not.”
Didn’t feel it? Don’t be surprised.
Since 1999, the USGS has been running a postquake questionnaire called “Did You Feel It?” It asks people to detail the intensity of shaking and report damage. According to Vince Quitoriano, the program’s developer, of the more than 450,000 Los Angeles County responses since launch, about 96% reported having felt a quake. Using its questionnaire data, the USGS has found that fewer than 10% of people are likely to feel a quake with moderate shaking if they are outside and in motion (say, walking or driving) while roughly 85% of people at rest and located on the higher floor of a building will feel the same intensity quake.
However, the survey wasn’t designed to gather granular data from those who didn’t feel anything, says survey geophysicist David Wald, the scientist behind and manager of the Did You Feel It? system (who created it in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge quake). “What’s really unfortunate is that to answer the questionnaire to say you didn’t feel it just takes one answer,” Wald said. “And then you’re done. … We get their location, we get the actual intensity [of the quake] where they are based on other people’s reports and we typically know what story [of a building] they were in. But we haven’t put a lot of effort into [exploring] the boundaries of the have-not-felt because that’s such a small fraction.”
Even so, Wald isn’t surprised that some people who have lived in the L.A. area for decades would say they have never felt a single earthquake.
“On the scientific level, I would say that there are definitely so many circumstances that it would absolutely make sense that they didn’t,” he said. “It could have been that [during] one they should have felt they were in a car or in a small building and far enough away where only half the people would have felt it and they were watching TV loudly or whatever. … So even if you lived in L.A., in the early ’90s, you might be in the situation where you wouldn’t have felt an earthquake.”
Hacks for the never-feeler
Given how much where you are, what you’re doing and what you’ve previously experienced can affect your ability to feel any given earthquake, what’s an on-edge Angeleno to do? And can the never-feelers somehow train themselves to become more quake-conscious? When I put that question to Lozos, his (half-joking) response was: “I think the easy answer is to become an earthquake scientist!”
Since that’s not exactly a workable option for most (and even if it were, it certainly couldn’t happen overnight), here are some of the life hacks sent along in the responses to The Times survey. While I can’t personally vouch for them (well, except for the chandelier one — a delicate oyster-shell chandelier in the bedroom serves as the earthquake early-warning system in my home) and nothing should take the place of actual earthquake preparedness, below are some of the clever cues folks rely on to clue them in when they aren’t personally noticing the earth move.
- “We have a chandelier that sways when we have an earthquake. I’ll look up at that if I think we are having one.” — Maribel Diaz
- “I have wind chimes.” — Bonnie Howard
- “[I rely on an] under-the-cabinet wine glass rack. And the best life hack of all — my three cats! All three will perk up, usually meerkat-style, and all look the same direction.” — Lyndsi Gutierrez
- “I use a bobblehead from a sports team, because why not?!” — Lakshmivallabh Pandalapalli
- “I have hanging plants in many rooms of my house, and if the plants are moving that’s my sign that something went down.” — Amanda Rodriguez
- “Mini-blinds and the pool water are clues for the larger ones further away. Twitter and Facebook are helpful for the smaller ones nearby.” — Angel Zobel-Rodriguez
- “In San Francisco, I had a dresser in our bedroom with handles that lay against the drawer face. If I heard them start to rattle, I knew there was an earthquake happening.” — R.W. Ziegler
- “[My] USGS auto alerts [are] set to a low threshold, like a 3.0 on the scale, in a large radius around L.A. They’re sent instantly! Never fails.” — Jackson Finnerman
- “Dogs. My dogs know when one is coming. So they let me know.” — Eileen O’Farrell
Rose Byrne poses at a 2025 press conference in Berlin for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Europe
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Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Europe
Rose Byrne is one of the few actors to receive both an Oscar and a Tony nomination in the same year — the former for the film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and the latter for Fallen Angels on Broadway.
If I Had Legs was an intense indie film about a mother falling apart as she struggles to keep up with ever-increasing caregiving demands for her ill daughter. Byrne, who previously starred in blockbuster comedies like Neighbors and Bridesmaids, was praised for showing her range. Now, she’s returning to comedy in the revival of Noël Coward’s 1925 play about two wealthy women who find out a man they were each previously involved with is coming to town.
Kelli O’Hara, Mark Consuelos and Rose Byrne star in the Broadway revival of Fallen Angels.
Joan Marcus/Polk & Co.
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Joan Marcus/Polk & Co.
“I had long wanted to do a true comedic piece onstage, like it’s one of my dreams,” Byrne says of Fallen Angels. “We are trying to reach the back row, so physically, … I felt like I was screaming when I first got up [there], because we’re not wearing mics either.”
Byrne’s Fallen Angels character gets progressively drunk — and increasingly loud — throughout the play. She credits Coward’s “brilliant” writing and stage directions with guiding her performance.
“The language he used, the sort of linguistic gymnastics and the extraordinary vocabulary of Noël Coward is a delight,” she says. “I never tire of sitting backstage and I’m constantly rediscovering the words that he peppers throughout.”
Interview highlights
On her role in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Mary Bronstein wrote this incendiary screenplay and I just did not want to mess it up. It was such a creative opportunity. … We hit it off and had a real experience, one of those experiences in life that, creatively, has kind of changed me.
[The film] defies generalization or description, because it’s sort of like a fever dream, in a way. It has gallows humor in there. There’s horror tropes in the film, too. I think Mary Bronstein [who also directed the film] really broke the mold with the tone of the film, in many ways. She … tapped into the monster within and the fear of being a parent and the horror of being a parent, and some of the joy too, but obviously she’s in a really extraordinarily difficult situation, this woman. I still can’t believe the film got as far as it did, just because it was a small independent film.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You was a small independent movie, says Byrne, “I still can’t believe the film got as far as it did.”
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A24
On the constant beeping of medical equipment in the background of If I Had Legs
These noises get magnified and actually Mary Bronstein made those louder, just a bit, like the clock on the wall, the beeping of the machine, all those things were louder because they are in [the main character’s] point of view. And it is as a parent, those things become overstimulating. It’s relentless and, [Bronstein] wanted to capture that claustrophobia.
On why viewers don’t get to see the daughter or know what her illness is
The conceit of not seeing the daughter, and Mary has spoken to this many times, but [it’s] sort of a two-prong thing in that I don’t think Linda, my character, can see her daughter at this point. She’s so drowning and beginning this real descent into her mental health crisis. … Also for the audience to have that choice taken away to not see the daughter, you’re forced to reckon with the mother. Because as soon as you put a child on screen, your empathy, as it should, goes to the child. They’re so vulnerable, and immediately your concern will go to them, and so she takes that choice away from the viewer. So you are forced to be in the perspective of the mother.
On parenting after spending the day on set
Kids are so in-the-moment and grounding and — in the best way — they’re not particularly interested if you’ve had a hard day. But it’s so wonderful because you immediately snap into your role as mom, the greatest role, the most challenging, the most fun. And so for me, it’s church and state … leave it at work. I mean, obviously there were days when I was more exhausted or tired or [it’s] harder to let things go. But children are the great equalizer, as a parent.
On the thrill of filming the 2011 film Bridesmaids
We had such a fun time. It was a great group of actresses. I couldn’t believe I was there. … It’s already extraordinary to have that many scenes with just women. I’ve had that once since then when I did Mrs. America , [a] show for FX about the second wave of feminism. … But this was really, really special. And we had no idea that it would go on to become such a beloved movie and all of that. But the shooting of it was wonderful. It was an education in the brilliance of these comedic actresses and the performances. … It changed my life in so many ways. It really did. … The improv stuff, it’s just like a skillset that is still I marvel … they make it look effortless.
Therese Madden and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Anna Katherine Scanlon was having sushi in Marina Del Rey when she received an urgent text from her best friend.
“Just saw another place that was awful.”
Scanlon’s best friend, who was moving back to L.A. from Texas, had been apartment hunting for over a month and her moving deadline was creeping up.
In between bites of salmon nigiri, Scanlon began scrolling through apartment listings on her phone and came across a 1920s studio apartment in Los Feliz that she knew her best friend would swoon over.
“I sent it to her and was like ‘This is fabulous,’” she says. “I’m going to tour it immediately.”
Scanlon, an L.A.-based filmmaker who also works at a nonprofit, hopped into her car to see the rental, which had Art Deco tile, beautiful natural light, lots of storage and a stunning view of Griffith Observatory — a “rare find” for $1,900 in the sought-after neighborhood, Scanlon says. She sent a detailed video tour to her best friend, who applied instantly and signed the lease a few days later.
On the drive home, Scanlon, 33, had a light bulb moment: “What I love doing is something most people find totally overwhelming and exhausting,” she says. She could turn her knack for apartment hunting into something more.
So after finding apartments for several other friends (not to mention a dreamy 1927 storybook apartment in Echo Park for herself) and building a following on TikTok by posting apartment tours, Scanlon launched an apartment scouting business, LA Apartment Scout. She helps her busy clients find historic, characterful homes in L.A. within their budget.
She’s part of a rising group of apartment scouts — not licensed real estate agents, but savvy entrepreneurs who tour apartments, share videos on social media and, in some cases, work one-on-one with clients to find a place that fits their specific aesthetic and budget.
Unlike brokers — licensed professionals who act as intermediaries between landlords and tenants, commonly used in the apartment-hunting process in places like New York City, Boston and Austin, Texas, scouts operate outside the formal housing system. They aren’t connected to property owners and they don’t handle applications or negotiations. Instead, they act as digital lookouts who hunt for coveted vintage apartments that are otherwise hard to find without expertise.
The demand for apartment scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s competitive rental market, where vacancy is scarce and rental rates are among the highest in the country. According to Apartments.com, average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in L.A. was $2,182 as of May, which is 33% higher than the national average rent price of $1,642.
“To some extent, it reflects a dysfunctional housing market,” said Richard Kent Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. “It’s very hard for people to search and find what they’re looking for at the price they’re looking for, unlike many markets where it’s pretty straightforward.”
Apartment-scouting services tend to be especially appealing to younger Angelenos who feel priced out of homeownership, but still want spaces that reflect their personalities and tastes, rather than the increasingly common standard modern unit.
“There are tons of people who want to live in a home that reflects the character of the city, the beauty, glamour and drama, that is creatively inspiring or just cozy, unique, has character— not gray laminate floors,” Scanlon says.
Those seeking a scout might also be living out of town or simply too busy to endlessly search rental listing sites, Craigslist, Reddit and Facebook Marketplace, and then tour properties. One of Scanlon’s clients turned to her for help because they were finishing their PhD while getting ready for a new job at NASA.
Scanlon’s personalized services begin with a consultation call to understand the client’s needs, then she curates a list of apartments, tours the ones they love and provides videos of the space and the surrounding area. Scanlon says she works similarly to a local expert guide and relocation assistant. Since the apartment scout market is newer in Los Angeles, finding rates up front can be difficult (Scanlon did not wish to disclose her fees).
Indya Stewart, an interior designer and apartment scout, inside of a home.
(Gus Acord)
Indya Stewart, 24, of Hollywood is another L.A. apartment scout. In late April, the interior designer shared an eight-second TikTok with the words “hidden talent: finding chateau style apartments in L.A. for prices that feel illegal” and told people to contact her if they need help finding a place of their own.
“Omg pls put me on,” one person commented with an emoji crying face.
“Moving in the fall and I neeeeeed u,” another person said.
“Hmmm yes moving to LA in a month and can only live in a fairy castle sos,” commented another.
After receiving a flood of messages from people, she decided that instead of responding to each person individually, she would share her apartment picks on her interior design website. The list is free and is separated by region.
Unlike Scanlon, Stewart doesn’t tour apartments for people, rather she provides a curated list of vintage apartments for people to browse on their own.
“I spend so much of my free time looking for these places because I genuinely love the process,” says Stewart, who lives in a 1920s-style townhouse in Hollywood. “Sharing them just feels natural.”
Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood pivoted from dance to real esate.
(From Miesha Gantz)
While many apartment scouts do the work as an independent side gig, some like Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood are beginning to cross over into the formal real estate industry.
After stepping away from her professional dance career due to a massive pay cut, Gantz set out to find a more affordable apartment. Her criteria was specific: A 1920s or 1930s Spanish-style studio with oversize windows, lots of natural light, a fireplace, hardwood floors and character-rich tile work.
She began posting videos of her apartment-hunting journey on TikTok and before long people were asking her for help. Soon after, Gantz, who has a background in real estate, launched a membership-based website called the Hollywood Waitlist, where she posts listings of charming, vintage studios and one-bedroom apartments primarily based in Hollywood. She updates the website weekly with homes that are mostly under $2,500 per month. People can access the website for $6 for one week and $12 for one month.
As her social media and website gained traction, Gantz got connected with the Rental Girl, a boutique real estate brokerage based in L.A. and decided to reinstate her real estate license. She recently started working for the company’s concierge team, helping clients in a way that’s similar to her previous work as an apartment scout. However, the main difference is that she can now work directly with clients throughout the entire application process and help them secure the home.
Although finding the rental market is extremely competitive in L.A., these apartment scouts often foster a sense of community online. In TikTok comments, it’s common for people to offer tips from their own apartment-hunting experiences, sharing whether street parking is actually feasible in a particular neighborhood, if a building has a pest issue or if a listing agent was rude to them.
“When people know better, they do better,” says Gantz, who is also a filmmaker.
It’s worth noting that scams do exist in the world of rentals, so exercise caution when using social media. As demand for apartment scouts grows, Scanlon says she hopes others get involved, tackling different niches and neighborhoods.
“I don’t feel protective of it at all,” she says. “I’d love to see more people doing this.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday May 18, 2026.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Broadcasting Inc.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert comes to an end this week amid a lot of changes in the business and the country. Some of the sources of tension include the economics of late night, the approaching merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers, and President Donald Trump’s constant criticism of late-night hosts. But for Colbert’s fans, it’s the end of a friendly, funny, candid show. So we’re talking about the legacy of Stephen Colbert in late night.
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