Our landlord includes some real characters

Joshua Vasquez has been the senior property manager at 5550 Hollywood Blvd for some months now. 

He makes life harder and worse for 5550 residents most everyday. 

In September, one resident spotted Josh ANGRILY tearing down tenant-organizing posters from the wall. 

According to the witness (who has asked to remain nameless, for fear of retaliation), Josh looked FURIOUS as he stomped around and tore down those posters with incredible fury and zeal.

But, we kinda get it. When you're the senior manager of a building with all these issues, the LAST THING you probably want is for tenants to organize, meet with city council, and stand-up for their rights. 

Well, sorry charlie (as they used to say), but you can't tear this website down, no matter how much you violently stomp around. If you want to jump around in anger, we'd suggest doing it somewhere more private next time, where you won't be spotted or terrorize the residents. But you know, just a friendly suggestion. Take it or leave it. Totes up to you. 

Oh, since the garage gate has been broken -- and stuck wide open for more than a month -- Josh has NOT ordered additional security, which has led to vagrants wandering the building, record package thefts, and even a car break-in.

Did Josh care? Didn't seem like it. He just dismissed tenant concerns. 

We wonder if Josh might have acted faster if it were the door to his office that was broken? Apparently, Josh doesn't like people in his office (we can't blame him). When one tenant stood up for tenant-organizing rights, some high-paid Avenue5 lawyer goons sent that tenant a scary letter threatening "enforcement action" and banning the tenant from the leasing office! How rude.

It seems like, as far as Josh is concerned, tenant-organizing warrants an immediate ban, but a broken garage gate, vagrants in the halls, and car thefts are totes no nbd. 

But who knows, we could be wrong about all this. And we want to give Josh Vasquez a fair shake. 

So don't take our word for it. Ask Josh for yourself. Or let Josh know how you feel about these failures. As senior property manager, Josh should hear from residents. 

Josh can be reached via email at pm.the555@avenue5apt.com.

Taylor Dow is the the Associate Vice President of Avenue5 Residential. 

He sure looks spiffy in that suit, huh? Nice suit, Taylor Dow! 

Did you pay for it with all the money from tenants that should have gone to building repairs? 

Is that why 5550 Hollywood was cited by the City of Los Angeles Housing Department for THREE DIFFERENT health and safety violations in September 2025? 

And why the building was RE-CITED in November 2025 for failure to fix a serious violation? 

Maybe roll-up those fancy suit sleeves, Taylor Dow, and get to work helping the residents of 5550 Hollywood.

Have some suggestions or Taylor Dow? Or just want to compliment his fresh suit? You can write to Taylor Dow at:  tdow@avenue5.com .

We couldn't find a picture of Tony Gallo, but he's not an associate -- he's a full blown vice president over at Avenue5 Residential. 

We imagine with that big title, he's making mega bucks -- and has more treasure than Scrooge McDuck. And you know what, he earns it! 

For instance, when a resident tried to promote a meeting with a city council rep to other tenants, so they could all discuss health and safety issues, Tony Gallo threatened that resident by alluding to "video" surveillance. Wow! That takes some real courage. 

Threatening a tenant -- in writing -- for promoting a tenant-rights meeting with an official city rep --  that takes some GALL. (GALLo is such an apt name.) 

We hope he's getting the BIG BUCKS for that. 

And Avenue5 must have lots of dough to pay him with, given how much they've saving on repairs, security, and legally mandated financial-relocation assistance fees (that they haven't been paying).

But who needs laws when you've got all that treasure, right Tony Gallo?   

Emily Ethridge is the Senior Director, Corporate Communications at Grubb Properties. That sure sounds important. 

Now, we'll be perfectly honest -- we don't know much about Emily Ethridge. 

She looks sweet. Maybe she is. 

But when we emailed Emily about our tenants association, and asked SUPER nicely to chat, you know what she did? IGNORED US. 

That's right, she straight-up ignored us.  

Maybe she can senior direct some repairs to 5550 Hollywood Blvd, which was cited for THREE DIFFERENT VIOLATIONS by the City of Los Angeles Housing Department. 

And since she's so good at "corporate communications," maybe she could COMMUNICATE with residents about why the hot tub has had rust in it for well over a year, why it's been closed for over a month, and why management hasn't even sent out an email about it. 

Or maybe Emily Ethridge could communicate with residents about the HUGE AMOUNT OF EXPOSED FIBERGLASS INSULATION which caused the building to be cited by the Los Angeles Housing Department. She hasn't been "corporate communicating" much about that. 

In fact, near as we can tell, that issue was swept under the rug. But when you sweep up fiberglass, it can get pretty dusty. 

Anyway, if you're reading this, Emily, feel free to give us some pointers of "corporate communication." 

If you like to initiate some corporate communications with Emily Ethridge, you can write her at  eethridge@grubbproperties.com .

W. Clay Grubb is so important that whole company seems to be named after him! Wow!

Say that name out loud. C'mon, do it.

It even sounds important, right? We sure think so. 

It sounds like a nineteenth century president, or uh, a Victorian-era robber baron.

We wanted to make some word-play jokes around the word "Grubby," but frankly, it's too easy. And besides, he sure sounds impressive. 

Apparently ol' W. Clay "leads the company’s overall strategic vision." We wonder if that vision includes exposed fiberglass and a rustyyy hot tub. 

W. Clay seems like a pretty well to-do guy. We wonder if he has a hot tub of his own. If he does, we bet it doesn't have rust all over it. But that's just a hunch. Prove us wrong, Clay! We'll eat our hat. 

But yeah, our man Clay went to Tulane for his undergrad -- great school, and New Orleans certainly is a fun town. 

Sadly, Grubb Properties and their management firm, Avneue5, have been going "BIG EASY" on the exposed fiberglass in the building -- and that we don't really appreciate. 

C'mon Clay! Get it together. Please! We'll buy you a King Cake or a New Orleans Snoball or some Gumbo. 

Just maybe invest in some meaningful security, fix the air quality, fix the hot tub, hire a manager who actually cares about the tenants, and then we can all go for a pleasant team stroll down Bourbon Street together. We'd like nothing more.

But till then, we have to wonder if your
"extensive experience" in "leasing" involves retaliating against tenants who organize, and angrily tearing-down  tenant-organizing posters.  Let us know?

Apparently Clay here sits on lots of corporate boards and stuff. He's probably pretty good at managing money. And Grubb Properties should have loads of money, with all the money they've SAVED BY NOT FIXING PRESSING BUILDING ISSUES. 

Anywho, you can reach Clay about these and other questions at 704.372.5616. 

If you get a hold of him, ask where we can find the best Po'Boy sandwich in New Orleans. Inquiring minds want to know.