For most renters across the United States, having a refrigerator come with your unit is a given. Not in Southern California. For reasons no one can fully explain or understand, renters must furnish their living spaces with their own fridges, which has created an underground economy for the essential unit. Today, we try to crack this mystery.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times housing reporter Liam Dillon

More reading:

Why do so many L.A. apartments come without fridges? Inside the chilling mystery

Real Estate newsletter: Where are all the fridges?

Landlords in California aren’t required to provide refrigerators