You know that dumb prank call joke.

Is your refrigerator running?

Well, you better go catch it.

Yeah, yeah.

Oe ve.

But for renters here in L.A., it's actually not a joke because, well, people have to chase refrigerators.

See, they don't typically come standard with your new apartment.

It's absolutely, it's the most backwards thing I've ever heard of.

And again, no landlord knows why.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

I'm Gustavo Areano.

You're listening to The Times, Daily News from the LA Times.

It's Tuesday, June 14th, 2022.

Today, the underground refrigerator economy in Southern California and how the region became a bizarre outlier and something renters across most of the rest of the country take for granted.

Thank you. Okay, so I never even thought of this phenomenon until my colleague L.A. Times housing reporter, Liam Dillon.

He wrote this great piece about it. He joins me now. And Liam, how many times have you had to lug a fridge from apartment to apartment? I've been fortunate. I've only lived in L.A. a few years. And I'm fortunate that all of my apartments came with refrigerators. But I have, you know, when I was working on this story, I talked to many colleagues who were like, oh my God, I can't believe it.

I've had to buy a little fridge or I've had to search for a little fridge and it's nuts.

Oh, yeah, you get either the super small one, like the one that reaches to your knees or if you want to level up, you get the one that doesn't even have a real freezer and you like try to pack

it with ice. And then, of course, if you get a nicer one and then

you move, then you have to find your friend who does CrossFit to help you because you're not

going to be able to do it on your own. At least one, if not three friends that you crossfit.

...