The Stayers

Report: Armed LA Residents Patrol Neighborhoods In Violation Of Evacuation Orders.

A group of about 30 residents of the Altadena area of Los Angeles are patrolling their community of partially burned out homes. They are violating the evacuation order and are armed. They call themselves “The Stayers.”

They are the spiritual descendants of the Korean-Americans who defended their businesses when the LAPD virtually abandoned them during the 1992 Los Angeles riot. The media called them “vigilantes.” No, a vigilante goes out looking for trouble, like the protagonist in the film “Death Wish.” The Korean-Americans who stayed to guard their stores in 1992, and the residents who stayed to guard their and their neighbors’ homes in 2025, are not vigilantes. They are, in fact, stayers.

If civilization is to be saved, and that’s a big if, it will be saved by the stayers, not the runners.