Mystery Explosions?

By Eric Richardson
Published: Tuesday, November 28, 2006, at 02:06AM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Yesterday a reader wrote asking about a mysterious sound he had heard in the night.

I live in the Santa Fe building and was surfing the net around 12:55am Sunday Night/Monday Morning. There was an explosion that rocked this building. It was unbelievably loud. LOUD! Louder than anything I’ve heard on a movie set either working on or having lived down here for 14years seen filming. It sounded like it had a pre-sound, almost as if it was launched or mortared (?). Do you or anybody else know what the hell that was. I don’t expect anyone to fess up to exploding an illegal bomb in the city but was it a film? What the hell?

I had meant to make a few inquiries during the day but had gotten busy. Just now, though, I was woken up at 1:58am by a definite explosion. What gives? Who’s blowing things up in the middle of the night this week?

Update (Tuesday, 2pm): No answers yet, but just to clarify: the reader wrote me about an explosion heard at 1am on Monday morning. I heard an explosion at 2am on Tuesday morning. Brian Humphrey from the LAFD blog is checking to see if his department knows anything.

Update (Wednesday, 7am): Another noise last night, just before 1am.

Update (Wednesday, 2:30pm): Just got off the phone with Film LA. They say there was nothing nearby shooting overnight with effects.



Comments

1
eecue writes:

Yeah that woke us up last night… it was really loud. Obviously I live in the Santa Fe building also, but if it woke you up too, it must have been really really loud! I have a filming notice, that mentions automatic gunfire, but they’re not filming that until the 30th and it is on 7th st.

# on Nov.28.2006 AT 10:45 AM
2
jim writes:

if i’m not mistaken, it’s happened two nights in a row at about the same time.

# on Nov.28.2006 AT 01:42 PM
3
Brian Humphrey writes:

Eric et al:

Though I am out of town until Sunday, I have been told there were several night time film shoots in the area.

The good news? There were no reports of injuries related to the sound, and I hope to get back to you as soon as possible with the pertinent details of my inquiry.

Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service (from the road),

Brian Humphrey Firefighter/Specialist Public Service Officer Los Angeles Fire Department

# on Nov.28.2006 AT 02:19 PM
4
Eric Richardson writes:

Thanks Brian. I just sent an email to FilmLA. Let’s see if they respond with anything helpful.

# on Nov.28.2006 AT 03:18 PM
5
jim writes:

there was another one last night. there was a film crew in the area (for chuck & larry again, i think), but they were packed up and leaving by the time it went off.

# on Nov.29.2006 AT 11:51 AM
6
Dana Gabbard writes:

Could they be sonic booms? The military sometimes fly experimental craft in the dark to avoid spy satellites, etc. Can you compare it to the boom when the Shuttle lands at Edwards?

# on Nov.29.2006 AT 01:45 PM
7
EC4ME writes:

I’m not too far away at 2nd and main and I have the windows open plus a very lite sleeper. Didn’t hear anything up where I am BUT I sure do feel your pain.

# on Nov.29.2006 AT 02:44 PM
8
jim writes:

last night i also saw a flash of light illuminating a nearby building, so i believe it is something exploding. i’m pretty positive it is not a sonic boom.

the first time it happened, we saw people reacting to it on the street.

# on Nov.29.2006 AT 05:32 PM
9
Tim Quinn writes:

This is getting interesting. Looks like if a big crime happened and it resembled a film shoot it might go unrecognized for days or weeks.

Great script idea …

# on Nov.30.2006 AT 01:53 PM
10
Whitman Lam writes:

Sonic Boom ? Special effects Filming ? Illegal fireworks ? Underground Meth-Lab ?

Oh! The intrigue, so arousing.

# on Nov.30.2006 AT 07:25 PM
11
Omri Ceren writes:

I definitely heard those crashes from 2nd and Grand… I thought something had crashed into a downtown building - it definitely did not sound like the crashes of metal falling that you sometimes get from the film folks.

It was not a sonic boom.

# on Dec.01.2006 AT 02:18 AM

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