By Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. — Many Angelenos dreamed about buying cheap land in the desert during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emmanuel Ruggiero actually did it.

On his plot in Joshua Tree, the software engineer built a home specifically as a short-term rental — part of a craze that saw investors seeking to cash in on people fleeing the stress and contagion of cities to isolate in more-remote locales. He equipped his modern cabin with 16-foot ceilings, a swim spa and a private nine-hole golf course.

Now, after two years as a top-rated Airbnb host, Ruggiero no longer wants to deal with the stress of managing a rental three hours away. He is hoping to sell his home for about $200,000 less than its appraised value when he first finished construction.

“If I had bought stocks instead of putting the money into the house I built, I probably would have made more,” he said.

From left, Andrew Fortner, Patryk Swietek, Ryan Cherlin and Josh Rudin, partners of the Cohost Company, a luxury short-term management business, Joshua Tree’s largest short-term rental management company, show off a short-term rental property in Yucca Valley, California, on Oct. 22, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

He’s far from alone. Operators are exiting the short-term rental market in the high desert east of Los Angeles. This year, the Joshua Tree area has seen a drop in average available listings for the first time since the pandemic drove the number to record highs — with 3,449 to date, compared with 3,606 at the same time last year, according to data from AirDNA.

Some are selling at a potential loss in a real estate market that has cooled since the dizzying heights of 2020 and 2021. Others are seeking long-term tenants to offset their mortgages as they wait to see whether home sales pick up.

The shift may reflect a market correction after the saturation of vacation rentals became unsustainable and some inexperienced investors underestimated the difficulty and expense of managing properties, according to interviews with more than a dozen Realtors, property managers and investors. It may also be driven by a post-pandemic-emergency drop in tourism that has become more acute amid economic uncertainty and a volatile political climate, observers said.

Meanwhile, those who live in the Morongo Basin, a string of gateway communities outside Joshua Tree National Park, are left to grapple with how the vacation rental gold rush reshaped their towns.

Longtime area resident Gina Grandi watched meth labs become multimillion-dollar mansions amid a real estate boom that saw home values skyrocket more than anywhere else in the country, by some measures.

“There was the pandemic and the work-from-home rules and the infusion of social media pumping up this exotic, beautiful landscape,” she said. “And then everyone wanted to have it on their Instagram.”

Grandi herself listed a home in Yucca Valley on Airbnb in 2017. But costs quickly piled up: $15,000 to replace the HVAC system, $10,000 to update the wiring, hefty bills for cleaning services and utilities.

On top of all that was the pervasive feeling that the frenzy was transforming her hometown into something she no longer recognized.

Although Grandi stayed in the vacation rental game for six years, she never made enough to cover her monthly mortgage. She now rents to a long-term tenant.

Although the numbers didn’t pencil out for Grandi, things were different for investors who already had amassed capital and experience running Airbnbs in places such as Los Angeles and Orange County, she said.

Those investors — both individuals and private equity trusts — were able to snap up properties in the high desert and convert them to profitable short-term rentals by stocking them with pricey amenities such as pools and luxury finishes, she said. They could capitalize on relationships with management companies and cleaning services to create economies of scale.

Lavish megamansions, many of them ultra-contemporary and painted black despite the desert heat, rose among tracts of modest ranches, Grandi said.

“It was like Disneyland in the backyard,” she said. “You had bocce ball courts and hammocks with an outdoor fire pit. You had cowboy pools.” One popular listing features a private lazy river.

Quiet neighborhoods where everyone had known each other for generations were disturbed by out-of-towners looking to party on the weekends, and landlords evicted tenants so they could try their hand at vacation rentals, she said. Other property owners were then able to use the drop in supply to justify raising rents.

Patryk Swietek, who owns Joshua Tree’s largest short-term rental management company, shows off a short-term rental property in Yucca Valley, California, on Oct. 22, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

“During COVID, it was bonkers,” said real estate investor Patryk Swietek. Swietek hosts a podcast focused on Airbnb investing and co-owns Cohost Co., which manages about 120 short-term rentals in the Joshua Tree area.

People typically come to the area looking for space and seclusion, he said. But even homes in relatively dense neighborhoods that “don’t really encompass the Joshua Tree vibe” were booked solid.

That lured even more investors to convert those types of properties, which were cheaper and more available than homes on acreage, he said.

Gita Vasseghi, of Los Angeles, initially wanted to buy a home in Joshua Tree in March 2021, when interest rates were low and she saw others operating successful short-term rentals. But properties there were typically going for $100,000 to $200,000 over the asking price, she said. So she settled on a home along a cul-de-sac in nearby Twentynine Palms.

Vasseghi struggled to find workers to renovate the property. A contractor scammed her out of $17,000. By the time she was ready to list the home on Airbnb nearly two years later, the market was changing, she said.

Companies were calling employees back to offices. Overseas travel and trips to other, more crowded locales became safe again. More recently, inflation and a sluggish job market have strained household finances and injected uncertainty into the future. International tourism to the United States has fallen amid stricter border policies and political unrest.

Vasseghi recently realized “the math was not mathing,” as she put it. She is now looking to rent to a long-term tenant.

“You live and you learn,” she said. “Everybody thought they were going to be an Airbnb millionaire during COVID.”

Amid the drop in demand for desert vacation rentals, neighborhood homes with little outdoor space were the first to struggle, Swietek said. He believes that the decline in listings is driven primarily by investors removing these types of properties from rental platforms.

Swietek has seen this firsthand as the owner of five short-term rentals in the high desert. The first property he bought is near other homes. He decorated it with pink walls and a disco ball statue to create “a cool experience,” he said. But it has struggled to achieve decent occupancy rates. He’s now in negotiations with a long-term tenant.

The market for high-end vacation rentals in the Joshua Tree area remains strong, Swietek said. Although overall area occupancy rates fell from 71% in 2020 to roughly 52% last year, the decline was borne only by economy and mid-scale properties, according to data from AirDNA. Occupancy rates for upscale and luxury properties have increased since 2019. And average daily rental prices, overall, have been higher this year to date than ever before, the data show.

“At the end of the day, the homes that were never meant to be short-term rentals are going to go back to the housing market and hopefully be somewhat affordable,” Swietek said. “Obviously not as affordable as they used to be.”

A view of a short-term rental property offered by the Cohost Company, a luxury short-term management business, Joshua Tree’s largest short-term rental management company, in Yucca Valley, California, on Oct. 22, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A trend of short-term rentals returning to the market, on its own, may not be enough to bring housing prices down, said Kevin Klowden, executive director of Milken Institute Finance. He pointed to a 2022 report by the think tank that looked at five California vacation destinations, including the high desert, and concluded that short-term rentals were not a primary driver of affordable housing shortages.

These rentals represent a small slice of the housing stock, and most are expensive single-family homes unlikely to be affordable to local residents, the report found.

“The systemic problem with housing isn’t short term-rentals in the area,” Klowden said. “It is the fundamental underinvestment in all housing.”

Still, he said, an increase in housing units could help, particularly if there is also a decline in demand driven by people who won’t pay prevailing prices, and if owners are willing to sell or rent at reduced rates.

But so far, property owners who bought at the height of the market and sank hundreds of thousands of dollars into renovations and upgrades have been reluctant to sell at market rates, said Bob Armstrong, associate broker with GREEN Real Estate Group in Yucca Valley. Armstrong has been crunching data on the Morongo Basin housing market since 2013 for a widely read newsletter.

Area home prices have not decreased significantly since 2021, and they remain far above what local families can afford, he said. He estimated that roughly 75% of area home sales are for less than $400,000, yet more than 60% of active listings are for homes above that price point.

As a result, he said, homes in Joshua Tree were sitting on the market for an average of 121 days as of last month. Buyers last year closed escrow on 917 homes in Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms and outlying areas and are on track to close even fewer this year, compared with 2,066 homes in 2021, according to data provided by Armstrong.

Inventory has skyrocketed — from fewer than 200 active listings in 2021 to 715 in mid-October, Armstrong said. Per the National Association of Realtors, that puts the area “way into a buyer’s market,” he said. “But sellers haven’t been dropping their prices to act like it’s a buyer’s market.”

Rather than face the prospect of losing money in a sale or having properties sit on the market, owners are increasingly converting homes to long-term rentals, said Mandilyn McGowen, a real estate broker with Accurate Investment Management in Yucca Valley. They’re often unable to command monthly rental rates that cover their mortgages, which average around $3,000, she said.

“People are having to come to terms with the fact that some were bad investments,” she said. “They can either wait until the market improves, or get a tenant in there now and even if they eat the cost a little, at least they’re not having to pay the full mortgage.”

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Although rents have stabilized a bit as some owners elect to settle for lower rates, they are unlikely to ever come down to what they were before the pandemic, McGowen said.

Myriah Westmoreland can no longer afford to live in her hometown. A one-bedroom apartment in Yucca Valley that cost her $750 a month five years ago is now renting for $1,350, she said. She currently lives in a bus, which on a recent October afternoon was parked in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

At first, Westmoreland was fine with the short-term rental boom, hoping that an increase in tourism would bring better jobs and higher incomes. For a time in 2020, she even cleaned Airbnbs.

But although some locals were able to launch housekeeping and maintenance businesses, others lost their homes, she said. The area no longer looks like the place where she grew up, she said, citing lots stripped of native plants and chain stores replacing mom-and-pop businesses.

Westmoreland recalls looking out the window of her old apartment and seeing the stars twinkle so brightly that she had to ask a friend if they were real. She recently stood in the same place and could see only a halo of light obscuring the sky.

“I cry at nighttime when I’m there now,” she said, “because I’ve seen so many stars go away.”

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Search the internet for “male loneliness” and you’ll find articles both parsing this so-called epidemic and others challenging its existence. Regardless of gender, I suspect most people are lonely right now, at least to a degree. But on television, what you’ll find are stories exploring female loneliness in particular, even if these series aren’t explicitly marketing themselves that way. Hollywood, it seems, is picking up on something that professional opinion-havers are not.

The HBO comedy “I Love LA” (which premiered last week) tackles a familiar story of humorously chaotic 20-something strivers, with their dreams of social media fame and influencer income. They are filled with youthful exuberance, but they are also miserable and desperate to hide that fact — maybe even from themselves. Created by and starring Rachel Sennott, the show brings to mind the old axiom: Surrounded by people but lonelier than ever.

Like “Girls,” its New York-set predecessor, the friendships in “I Love LA” come with air quotes. No one genuinely likes each other, and while a good story allows its characters to be flawed, this is more than that: Their connections with one another are hollow. Maybe that’s because older generations have handed them a world that demands an endless hustle to keep their heads above water, where seeking out meaningful relationships is for suckers.

I’ve seen the series described as a hangout show, but I’ve never walked away from a hangout show feeling so … well, lonely. And sad about our collective trajectory.

On Apple, “Pluribus” is vastly different in tone and style from “I Love LA,” but it too is a story of profound loneliness. It’s the latest series from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan, about a successful, if unfulfilled, middle-aged romance author named Carol (Rhea Seehorn) who finds her life suddenly upended. Everyone in her hometown of Albuquerque has seemingly undergone a personality transplant, wherein the population has become an undifferentiated plurality of exceedingly nice, somewhat robotic, creatures.

Turns out, it’s not just Albuquerque, but the entire world that’s been affected. What the hell happened? While billions of people have changed, Carol and her prickly personality remain immune to whatever mysterious force is responsible for this shift.

The show defies categorization — plucking ideas from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Stepford Wives” and “The Leftovers” — but it is ultimately about a woman boiling over with rage and frustration, lurching through her new reality in a state of livid isolation. There is no one who understands her. No one she can trust. No one to laugh with or complain to. No one who shares her fears, or her disgust with these people who no longer seem fully human thanks to their perma-smiles and good cheer. Even for a misanthrope like Carol, this is hell on Earth.

Rhea Seehorn stars in Apple TV’s “Pluribus.” (Apple TV/TNS)

There’s even loneliness coursing through the fizzy romantic comedy of Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This.” Justine Lupe plays Morgan, a woman who uses sarcasm to deflect her insecurities as she watches her sister find a real connection with another person. Despite Morgan’s faux-blasé affect, the cracks are evident. When her sibling answers a call about a business deal concerning them both, the man on the phone asks, “Should we grab your sister, or does that not matter?” Morgan frantically jumps in: “Hi, I matter! Hi!” It’s a funny line, but there’s so much sting and subtext in it as well. In Season 2, which premiered last month, Morgan’s desperation and loneliness are so intense that they drive her into an ethically dubious relationship with her therapist.

Perhaps it’s par for the course that the tagline for the new season of Netflix’s reality show spinoff of “Squid Game”  asks “Why make friends when you can make millions?” We all need money and companionship for survival, but the depressing subtext of so many competition-based reality shows suggests you can’t have one without sacrificing the other.

It’s surely only a matter of time before we see a TV series about people trying to combat their loneliness with artificial intelligence. The 2013 Spike Jonze movie “Her” got there first, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with his Alexa-like virtual assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. But the film presumes a consciousness that does not exist in the kind of chatbots that people in the real world interact with — and, in some cases, delude themselves into believing are real relationships. For all the emptiness of the friendships depicted in “I Love LA,” at least they are human. What does it say about us as a species that people are seeking out simulated social connections with a computer?

Maybe the best way to combat loneliness is also the most straightforward: Start doing things with other people. For the last several weeks, for example, the distressing reality of immigration raids across Chicago has also meant that neighbors are getting together and organizing in ways they hadn’t previously.

In the documentary “Join or Die” (on Netflix), the social scientist Robert Putnam explores the benefits of simply joining a club, an idea he writes about in his non-fiction book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.”

Putnam argues that the bonds that form when you join a club or organization are not just a matter of “warm, cuddly feelings,” as he puts it. “In area after area of our community life, our communities don’t work as well when we’re not connected.” And that, he says, has far-reaching effects not only on us as individuals, but on democracy itself.

Unfortunately, our current moment bears that out.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers representing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, branches of the Sackler family that own it, cities, states, counties, Native American tribes, people with addiction and others across the U.S. delivered a nearly unanimous message for a bankruptcy court judge Friday: Approve a plan to settle thousands of opioid-related lawsuits against the company.

If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane abides, it will close a long chapter — and maybe the entire book — on a legal odyssey over efforts to hold the company to account for its role in an opioid crisis connected to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999, including deaths from heroin and illicit fentanyl.

Friday’s closing arguments were wrapping up a three-day hearing over the bankruptcy plan for the company, which filed for protection six years ago as it faced lawsuits with claims that grew to trillions of dollars.

The opposition is much quieter this time around

The saga has been emotional and full of contentious arguments between the many groups that took Purdue to court, often exposing a possible mismatch between the quest for justice and the practical role of bankruptcy court.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a previous deal because it said it was improper for Sackler family members to receive immunity from lawsuits over opioids. In the new arrangement, entities who don’t opt into the settlement can sue them. Family members are collectively worth billions, but much of their assets are held in trusts in offshore accounts that would be hard to access through lawsuits.

This time, the government groups involved have reached an even fuller consensus and there’s been mostly subdued opposition from individuals. Out of more than 54,000 personal injury victims who voted on whether the plan should be accepted. just 218 said no. A larger number of people who are part of that group didn’t vote.

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A handful of objectors spoke Thursday at the hearing, sometimes interrupting the judge. Some said that only the victims, not the states and other government entities, should receive the funds in the settlement. Others wanted the judge to find the members of the Sackler family criminally liable — something Lane said is beyond the scope of the bankruptcy court, but that the settlement doesn’t bar prosecutors from pursuing.

A Florida woman whose husband struggled with addiction after being given OxyContin following an accident told the court that the deal isn’t enough.

“The natural laws of karma suggest the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma should pay for what they have done,” Pamela Bartz Halaschak said via video.

Deal would be among the biggest opioid settlements

A flood of lawsuits filed by government entities against Purdue and other drugmakers, drug wholesalers and pharmacy chains began about a decade ago.

Most of the major ones have already settled for a total of about $50 billion, with most of the money going to fight the opioid crisis. There’s no mechanism for tracking where it all goes or overarching requirement to evaluate whether the spending is effective. Those hit the hardest generally haven’t had a say.

The Purdue deal would rank among the largest of them. Members of the Sackler family would be required to pay up to $7 billion and give up ownership of the company. None have been on its board or received payments since 2018. Unlike a similar hearing four years ago, none were called to testify in this week’s hearing.

The company would get a name change and new overseers who would dedicate future profits to battling the opioid crisis.

There are also some non-financial provisions. Certain members of the Sackler family would be required to give up involvement in companies that sell opioids in other countries.

Family members would also be barred from having their names added to institutions in exchange for charitable contributions. The name has already been removed from museums and universities.

And company documents, including many that would normally be subject to lawyer-client privilege, are to be made public.

Some people hurt by Purdue’s opioids would receive some money

Unlike the other major opioid settlements, individuals harmed by Purdue’s products would be in line for some money as part of the settlement. About $850 million would be set aside for them, with more than $100 million of that amount carved out to help children born dealing with opioid withdrawal.

About 139,000 people have active claims for the money. Many of them, however, have not shown proof that they were prescribed Purdue’s opioids and will receive nothing. Lawyers expect that those who had prescriptions for at least six months would receive about $16,000 each and those who had them more briefly would get around $8,000, before legal fees that would reduce what people actually receive.

One woman who had a family member suffer from opioid addiction told the court by video Thursday that the settlement doesn’t help people with substance use disorder.

“Tell me how you guys can sleep at night knowing people are going to get so little money they can’t do anything with it,” asked Laureen Ferrante of Staten Island, New York.

Most of the money is to go to state and local governments to be used in their efforts to mitigate damage of the opioid epidemic. Overdose death numbers have been dropping in the past few years, a decline experts believe is partly due to the impact of settlement dollars.

By KATIE WORKMAN, Associated Press

If you want a salad that shouts “holiday,” then you have landed in a very good spot.

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First of all, anytime you want to make a salad feel very festive and holiday-ish, you can’t go wrong with pomegranate seeds. That’s just a fact. Bright ruby little arils, kind of glowing and translucent, with their sweet-tart flavor instantly make a salad feel like a holiday salad. You can remove them from a whole pomegranate, or purchase them in little containers, and save yourself the hassle of dismantling a full pomegranate.

Then we get to the pears, which have a lovely holiday vibe. Fruit in salad; it always feels special. And sophisticated.

And cheese! In this salad, we welcome shavings of Parmesan, one of the finest cheeses in the world, with it nutty taste and firm texture.

But finally — what makes this salad so special — is puff pastry croutons. I cannot stand packaged croutons. I feel sad when I see them, like they have downgraded my salad, and I will pick them out as quickly as possible. But I love fresh croutons. And I love puff pastry. And boy, do I love this combo.

Many of us think of puff pastry when it comes to desserts, but sometimes forget about how many ways it can be used in savory dishes. You will be amazed at how easy these croutons are to make. You simply cut out the shapes you want your croutons to be with mini cookie cutters (available online and wherever baking tools are sold). Or, just slice the puff pastry into squares or diamond shapes. Remove any excess dough, if needed, give the tops a quick brush with mayonnaise, and a sprinkle of finely grated Parmesan and salt, bake briefly and you have these adorable little croutons.

I had these tiny little leaf cookie cutters which were just perfect for an autumnal salad (Thanksgiving, I’m all over you). But I also cut them into diamonds and played with some other shapes. They worked every which way. They worked when I left the pastry dough in place around the cut outs, and they worked when I peeled up the excess puff pastry and left the cut out silhouetted on the parchment paper. The mayonnaise is like a cross between brushing them with egg and melted butter, both classic options for making pastry glossy and nicely browned. And the sprinkle of grated Parmesan and salt gives them a great punch of flavor.

They also keep in a sealed container for a few days, so you can make them ahead, or just store your leftovers for some very stylish snacking.

Note: Shaved Parmesan is simply Parmesan that has been very thinly sliced, or shaved, into smallish bite-sized pieces. You can actually buy it that way in many upscale supermarkets, in those little tubs. You can also grab a chunk of Parmesan and a vegetable peeler and shave off strips of the Parmesan (make sure you don’t get any of the rind). Very easy to do. Allow the Parmesan to sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before doing this, so the shavings will come off smoothly and not get crumbly (and if they get crumbly, toss those crumbles right into the salad).

Thanksgiving Holiday Salad

Serves: 6

Parmesan Puff Pastry Croutons

1 package puff pastry dough, defrosted and chilled
About 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, or more as needed
About 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese, or more as needed
Kosher salt to taste

Vinaigrette

1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
Kosher or coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad

4 cups baby arugula
4 cups thinly sliced romaine
2 pears, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan (see Note above)
1 cup pomegranate seeds, divided

Directions

Make the Puff Pastry Croutons: Unfold or unroll the puff pastry directly onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Either cut the pastry into squares or diamond shapes, or any other shape you like, or use cookie cutters to cut the pastry into the desired shapes. You can pull up the dough around the shapes, and toss it, and then you will have croutons that are lightly browned on the sides as well as the top, or you can leave the whole sheet of pastry in place, and pop out the croutons once the whole thing has baked. If you have cut the pastry into diamonds, just leave everything in place.

Brush the tops of the pastry shapes with a very light wash of mayonnaise. Lightly sprinkle on some Parmesan, and then some salt.

Bake for 12 to 16 minutes (it depends on size of the pastry shapes, and whether or not you removed the extra pastry from around the cut out shapes.) When the dough is puffed up and a rich golden brown on top, it is done. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and allow the croutons to cool. If you need to pop the shapes out from the rest of the dough do that once the dough has cooled somewhat.

While the croutons are baking, make the vinaigrette. In a small container, combine the shallots, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and salt and pepper. Shake to blend.

Place the arugula and romaine in a large serving bowl. Add the pears, Parmesan, and half of the pomegranate seeds to the bowl. Pour the dressing on the salad, and toss to combine. Scatter the remaining pomegranate seeds over the top, distribute the puff pastry croutons over the salad, and serve. You may also choose to serve the salads on individual plates, and then top with the remaining pomegranate seeds, and the croutons.

Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.

For more AP food stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/recipes