Joe Rogan Experience #2538 - Joe DeRosa · Aired Aug 12, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
At one point during the pandemic, Los Angeles lost 70% of its restaurants.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Pandemic losses for LA restaurants were severe, but 70% is higher than what's actually documented. Reporting on the period found roughly a third of California's restaurants permanently closed and Los Angeles County lost about a third of its restaurant jobs, not 70% of its restaurants.
Read the supporting source · abc7.com ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that at one point during the pandemic, Los Angeles lost 70% of its restaurants?
Partly. The claim stretches what the evidence shows. Pandemic losses for LA restaurants were severe, but 70% is higher than what's actually documented. Reporting on the period found roughly a third of California's restaurants permanently closed and Los Angeles County lost about a third of its restaurant jobs, not 70% of its restaurants. It was said on Joe Rogan Experience #2538 - Joe DeRosa, aired Aug 12, 2026, at 2:27:01. We haven't independently confirmed who said it. The supporting source is abc7.com, linked below.
The context belongs here.
No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
- Attribution
- Not independently confirmed in this record
- Editorial context review
- Not recorded; generated finding
- Coverage
- One selected claim from the episode
Revisions to this check
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