Copper thefts turned these upscale L.A. streets dark. Residents fought back

It’s been months since a swath of Hancock Park lost its streetlights — and it’ll be several more long months of what residents say are “pitch black” streets and roaming burglars before there’s a fix.

So neighbors have been improvising.

Last fall, copper thieves plundered about a dozen public streetlights over three city blocks, leaving their neighborhood in the dark.

A walk down Orange Drive feels treacherous — like “something out of the ‘Twilight Zone’” — one resident said.

“We’ve had car thefts. We’ve had break-ins. It just feels dangerous,” homeowner David Barlag added.

The thefts were reported to the city’s Public Works Department in October, but residents were met with a nine-month timeline for repairs.

To make matters worse, repair times could be further delayed after looters cleaned out a city storage yard housing a large amount of replacement wire, L.A. Police Department Senior Lead Officer Harris Cho said at a recent meeting of the Wilshire Neighborhood Council.

“The actual warehouse that has all of the types of cables and wires that we need to fix these lights … was broken into and all of that was stolen,” said Sixto Sicilia, of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.

Neither the Los Angeles Police Department nor the Department of Public Works returned calls seeking comment.

So some Hancock Park residents — faced with a nearly yearlong wait before their streets emerge from the darkness — have tried to come up with their own solutions. Homeowners pooled their money to purchase and affix makeshift solar-powered lamps to the disabled lightposts.

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1. Functional streetlights near Orange Drive in Hancock Park. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) 2. Solar-powered light attached to a nonfunctional street lamp illuminates a section of sidewalk near Orange Drive in Hancock Park. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Although they are of some help, visibility is still poor, Barlag said.

The problem is not unique to Hancock Park. Wire theft notoriously left the 6th Street Bridge in shadows months after it was opened to the public. And in Pico Union, pedestrians were robbed at gunpoint by assailants emboldened by the cover of night.

Such thefts can also seriously impede 911 emergency systems and other telecommunications. Last year, copper wire thieves were suspected of cutting phone line service to seniors in South Los Angeles. The following month, thieves caused widespread internet service outages that affected swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Electronic-service requests for streetlight repairs in Los Angeles have spiked over the last several years, according to data from the Bureau of Street Lighting.

The city logged 14,328 electronic streetlight service requests in 2018. Requests have soared since then, reaching an all-time high of 46,079 in 2024, the last full year of available data. In the early months of 2025, L.A. neighborhoods reported unprecedented streetlight failures, primarily due to theft and vandalism.

“Neighbors are being burglarized quite often. For the streets to be this dark is even more of a danger,” Sicilia said. “We’ve had situations where homes are actively being cased by burglars, with people walking by, and no one has noticed.”

Residents now take shifts patrolling the neighborhood in an effort to deter crime on their own terms. Many also installed camera systems and burglar alarms. Others pay for private, armed security firms which they believe will respond more quickly to safety calls than law enforcement.

A solar-powered light installed by local resident David Barlag is attached to a nonfunctional street lamp near Orange Drive in Hancock Park.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Last year, lawmakers passed legislation regulating scrap-metal recyclers in an effort to curb illegal trade. Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, Assembly Bill 476 increases penalties for thieves and requires junk dealers to collect detailed records verifying a seller’s identity and proof of ownership.

Between the light installation and private security, some residents feel they are doing the work of City Hall.

“I’m paying $1,000 a month in taxes for my house. What do I get for my $1,000?” Barlag asked. “The city is not providing service, and if they are, it’s just the finger in the dam.”