Last winter, Adelita Valentine, owner of Hairfreek barbershop in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, discovered that when it rained, it poured — inside the shop.
“The landlord wouldn’t fix the roof, and it was raining inside literally,” Valentine told Capital & Main. By the time the leaks started, the solo entrepreneur had already weathered eight years of problems: roach and rat infestations that the landlord refused to address; surprise maintenance fees; and monthly rent hikes of several hundred dollars without warning. Then came last winter’s leak.
