Deviate with Rolf Potts · Monday, September 7, 2026
Rolf Potts described witnessing the surreal scene of wealthy individuals in Brentwood, Los Angeles, lining up like refugees outside a supermarket during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He cited this disaster scenario as an example of how life shifts can create stranger-than-fiction situations.
“I think also like disaster scenarios, like when I was living in a van at age 23 and traveling around America, I was in Los Angeles during the Northridge earthquake of 1994.”
“And just the fact that this major metropolis trying to deal with a major disaster. I was in Brentwood, which is a very rich part of the city. Um, we had a friend of a friend who was staying there. And so sort of seeing rich people standing in line like refugees outside the supermarket was was quite surreal.”