Dodgers fans filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles early Monday morning, to celebrate the Dodgers becoming baseball’s first back-to-back World Series champion in 25 years.
The celebratory parade is commenced at 11 a.m., with the Dodgers traveling on top of double-decker buses through downtown with a final stop at Dodger Stadium.
The 2025 Dodgers team has been a bright spot for many Angelenos during an otherwise tumultuous year for the region, after historic firestorms devastated thousands of homes in January and then widespread immigration sweeps over the summer by the Trump administration.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Manager Dave Roberts holds the Commissioner’s Trophy during the Dodgers World Championship Parade and Celebration Monday.
(Kayla Bartkowsk/Los Angeles Times)
Ramon Ontivros, left, and Michelle Ruiz, both from Redlands, join fans lining the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
(Kayla Bartkowsk/Los Angeles Times)
From left, Mike Soto, Luis Espino, and Francisco Espino, join fans lining the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Mia Nava, 9, waves a flag. “She’s skipping school today and her teachers know her passion.” Said her mom, Jennie Nava.
(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)
Alex Portugal holds onto a championship belt at Dodger Stadium. Claudia Villar Lee, poses with a model of the World Series trophy around her neck.
(Kayla Bartkowsk/Los Angeles Times)
Young fans line the streets of downtown Los Angeles for the Dodgers World Championship Parade and Celebration.
With the 2028 Olympic Games less than three years away, Mayor Karen Bass is showing a newfound interest in one of L.A.’s less flattering qualities: its trash-strewn streets.
In April, Bass announced the launch of Shine L.A., a beautification program that sends ordinary Angelenos out with shovels, gloves and trash bags to remove detritus from streets and sidewalks.
Officials are also scrambling to comply with a June 2026 legal deadline for removing 9,800 homeless encampments — tents, makeshift shelters and even RVs. And they’re working to divert three-fourths of the city’s food scraps and other organic waste away from landfills, as required under state law.
Now, the Bureau of Sanitation faces the prospect of more disruption, with its top executive stepping down after four and a half years.
Barbara Romero, who was appointed in 2021 by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, told sanitation employees in an email on Monday that she will leave at the end of the year. She did not say what prompted her departure or whether she has another job lined up.
Romero did not respond to requests for comment. A Bass spokesperson declined to comment on the reason for the exit, referring The Times to Romero’s email.
“Mayor Bass thanks her for her many years of service and significant contributions to the people of Los Angeles,” said the spokesperson, Clara Karger.
Bruce Reznik, executive director of the environmental group Los Angeles Waterkeeper, said he is “frustrated and angry” over the pending departure — and is convinced that Romero is being pushed out by the mayor.
Reznik described Romero as a crucial voice at City Hall on environmental issues, such as the effort to build new wastewater recycling facilities. Romero also secured new funding to pay for repairs to the city’s aging sewer system, which will in turn avert future sewage spills, he said.
“She genuinely cares about these issues,” Reznik said. “She will engage communities, even when it’s uncomfortable.”
Romero’s departure comes at a crucial time for her agency — one of the city’s largest, with well over 3,000 employees and a budget of more than $400 million. Since Bass took office in December 2022, the agency has been working to bring in more money to cover the cost of trash pickup and sewer system upgrades.
This month, the City Council hiked trash removal fees to nearly $56 per month, up from $36.32 for single-family homes and duplexes and $24.33 for three- and four-unit apartment properties. The increase, which is expected to generate $200 million per year for the city, will be followed by several more fee hikes through 2029.
The department is also in the middle of its once-a-decade selection of private companies to carry out RecycLA, the commercial trash program that serves L.A. businesses and apartment buildings with five or more units.
Then there’s the basic issue of trash, which ranges from discarded fast food wrappers lining gutters to illegal dumping problems in Watts, Wilmington and other neighborhoods. International visitors to L.A. — first for next year’s World Cup, then the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028 — will have a close-up view of some residents’ slovenly ways.
Bass has sought to avert that scenario by creating Shine L.A., which has marshaled thousands of Angelenos to participate in monthly cleanups and tree plantings in such areas as downtown, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. In her most recent State of the City address, Bass said the initiative would restore local pride in the city.
“It’s about choosing to believe in our city again, and proving it with action,” she said. “Block by block, we will come together to be stronger, more unified than ever before. And that matters, especially in a world that feels more divided with each passing day.”
Chatsworth resident Jill Mather, who founded the group Volunteers Cleaning Communities, said she has already participated in Bass’ program. Still, she warned it will do little to address the parts of the city that have been hit hard by illegal dumping or others that have long-term homeless encampments.
“There are serious areas that need serious cleanup, and once a month in one area is not going to do it,” said Mather, whose members fan out across the Valley each day to pick up trash.
Mather said the city’s homelessness crisis is deeply intertwined with its trash problem, with sanitation crews facing limits on the removal of objects that might be someone’s property. Beyond that, Mather said, the sanitation bureau lacks the resources to gain control over the volume of refuse that’s discarded on a daily basis.
Estela Lopez, executive director of the Downtown Industrial District Business Improvement District, said her organization regularly sends the city photos and videos of trucks and other vehicles — with license plates clearly visible — dumping garbage in the eastern half of downtown.
Those perpetrators have treated the neighborhood like an “open-air landfill,” she said.
“We’ve seen everything from rotting produce and other food to refrigerators, couches, green waste, flowers, tires and construction debris,” Lopez said. “It’s the extent of it, the amount of it, and the fact that no one seems to have a solution to it.”
Lopez said she believes that downtown’s trash problem has gotten worse since the city created RecycLA a decade ago. That trash franchise program was so expensive for customers, she said, that some businesses scaled back pickup service or dropped it entirely.
“The city shot itself in the foot,” she said.
Romero, in her letter to her staff, pointed to her agency’s many accomplishments. Since she took the helm, she said, the bureau succeeded in increasing sewer fees for the first time in a decade, putting them on track to double by July 2028.
Romero championed the construction of a water purification facility that is expected to recharge the San Fernando Valley groundwater aquifer and provide drinking water for 500,000 people. She also pushed for a comprehensive strategy for reducing citywide use of plastics.
Lisa Gritzner, chief executive of the consulting firm LG Strategies, said Romero has been “very accessible” at City Hall, jumping on problems that go far beyond trash pickup. When a multistory, multi-tower affordable-housing project faced a tight deadline to secure a wastewater permit in Skid Row, Romero moved quickly to address the situation, Gritzner said.
“She was very good at helping to navigate the red tape, so we could get the project open,” said Gritzner, who represented one of the project’s developers.
City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said he feels good about the city’s handling of trash — at least in his district, which stretches from Echo Park and Historic Filipinotown to Hollywood and Atwater Village.
“I feel like our district does a good job of addressing 311 requests, illegal dumping, the trash,” he said. “We have a very nimble and efficient team.”
Soto-Martínez said he’s not too worried about Romero’s departure, noting that the top managers of city agencies “change all the time.”
“We have a lot of talented people in the city,” he said. “Losing one person doesn’t mean the city falls apart, whether it’s a council member or a general manager.”
Businesses have abandoned its once-thriving downtown. Its retail and office vacancy rates are among the highest in Los Angeles County. The crowds that previously packed the area surrounding the city’s famous pier have dwindled.
Homelessness has risen. City officials acknowledge crime incidents had become more visible and volatile.
The breadth and depth of the issues became apparent just last month when the city was forced to declare itself in fiscal distress after paying $229 million in settlements related to alleged sexual abuse by Eric Uller, a former city dispatcher.
Now, Santa Monica is trying to plot a new path forward. A significant first step could come Tuesday.
That’s when the City Council is set to consider a plan to reverse its fortunes.
A shuttered business on Broadway in Santa Monica.
(David Butow/For The Times)
The plan includes significantly increasing police patrols and enforcing misdemeanor ordinances, investing in infrastructure and new community events, and taking a more business-friendly brush to permits and fees. Officials also plan to be more aggressive in making sure property owners maintain unused properties.
The blueprint tackles many “quality of life” issues that critics say have contributed to lower foot traffic in the city’s tourist districts since the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s far from clear the tactics will work. But given the city’s current trajectory, officials say bold action is necessary.
“We’re trying to usher in a rebirth — a renaissance of the city — by investing in ourselves,” Councilmember Dan Hall said.
Hall, 38, is part of a relatively youthful City Council majority that swept into office in recent years as voters opted for new leadership and a fresh approach. Five of the seven council members are millennials, and six members first joined the council in either 2022 or 2024.
Also new on the scene is City Manager Oliver Chi, who five months ago was hired away from the same position in Irvine.
“The city is in a period of distress, for sure,” said Chi, 45. “We’re not in a moment where the city is broke. The city still has resources. … But right now, if we do nothing, the city’s general fund operating budget is projected to run a structural deficit of nearly $30 million a year, and that’s because we’ve seen big drops” in revenues, such as from hotel taxes, sales tax and parking.
“But part of that is the private sector hasn’t been investing in the city. And we haven’t had people traveling to the city,” Chi said.
Santa Monica is far from the only city — in California or nationwide — to face the pain of a downtown in decline. Brick-and-mortar retailers have long bled business to online offerings, and the pandemic upended the cadence of daily life that was the lifeblood of commercial districts, with many people continuing to work from home at least part of the week.
Birds fly over and people walk on the Santa Monica Pier.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
But the hope is through concerted, planned investment that Santa Monica can shine once again and modernize to be competitive in the postpandemic era.
The City Council had already decided to set aside $60 million from its cash reserves to spend over the next four or five years to cover any operating deficits. But with Tuesday’s vote, Santa Monica would instead use those dollars as an investment in hopes of getting the city back on track.
“Those things really are issues related to public safety, disorder in town, the disrepair that we’ve seen in our infrastructure,” Chi said. “All of those things are preventing, I think, confidence in the local economy.”
In downtown, the city’s plan would include doubling the number of police officers assigned to a specialized unit to at least eight to 10 a day, deploying an additional five patrol officers daily, creating a new police substation, adding two workers daily to address homelessness issues, and hiring eight public safety employees to provide a more constant presence across the city’s main commercial district, parks and parking garages.
Staff in the city attorney’s office would also be augmented to boost the ability to prosecute misdemeanor cases.
An unhoused man naps on a bench in Palisades Park.
(David Butow / For The Times)
Also on the agenda: moving the city’s homeless shelter out of downtown; making a one-time $3.5-million investment to address fraying sidewalks and streets and freshen up trees and trash cans; funding monthly events at the Third Street Promenade to attract crowds; creating a large-scale “Santa Monica Music Festival” next year; upgrading restrooms near the pier and Muscle Beach; and increasing operating days for libraries.
Another proposal would require the owners of vacant properties to register with the city, in hopes of addressing lots that remain in disrepair.
The city is also looking to be more business friendly. It’s seeking to upgrade the current permit process, utilizing artificial intelligence to get nearly instantaneous permit reviews for single-family homes and accessory dwelling units, as well as reduce permit fees for restaurants with outdoor dining.
The plan also outlines strategies to boost revenue. Santa Monica is poised to end its contract with a private ambulance operator, McCormick Ambulance, in February and move those operations in house.
“It’s going to cost roughly $2.8 million a year to stand that operation up. But the reality is, once we start running it, it’ll generate about $7 million a year in new ongoing revenues,” Chi said.
“That’s part of what we’re thinking through: How do we invest now in order to grow our revenue base moving ahead?” he said.
Parking rates are also going up, which city officials estimate should generate $8 million to $9 million in additional annual revenue — though officials say they still charge a lower rate than those of nearby cities.
The city also plans more traffic safety enforcement and will cut the current 90 minutes of free parking in downtown parking structures to 30 minutes.
There’s also been talk of a new city parcel tax, though no decision has yet been made to pursue that. A parcel tax would need voter approval.
Another priority is building back the city’s cash reserves, which have dwindled over the years, largely on account of legal payments. Eight years ago, Santa Monica had $436 million in cash reserves; today, there’s only $158 million in nonrestricted reserves.
The planned $60 million in spending would further reduce the city’s unobligated cash down to $98 million.
Santa Monica’s annual general fund operating budget is nearly $800 million a year.
Beachgoers enjoying the scene near the Santa Monica Pier.
(David Butow/For The Times)
The city is also looking to redevelop some of its underutilized properties, including a 2.57-acre parcel bounded by Arizona Avenue and 4th and 5th streets, which includes branches of Bank of America and Chase bank, the leases of which are expected to expire in a few years. Also being eyed are a 1.09-acre kiss-and-ride lot southeast of the Santa Monica light rail station; the city’s seismically vulnerable Parking Structure 1 on 4th Street, which sits on 0.75 of an acre; and the old Fire Station No. 1, which sits on 0.34 of an acre and is being used for storage.
No firm plans are in place just yet. The parcels could be sold, leased long term or redeveloped as part of a joint venture. One likely possibility is that the developments would include new housing.
“When you look at any revitalization effort of any vibrant downtown core that’s eroded, there’s always been an element of repopulating the area with people,” Chi said. A smart redevelopment plan for those properties will not only “hopefully help bring back vibrancy to the downtown, but also help replenish the city’s cash reserves.”
The seeds of downtown Santa Monica’s decline actually started before the pandemic. But COVID hit the city hard, and commercial vacancies rose significantly, Councilmember Caroline Torosis, 39, said.
Santa Monica also sustained damage in 2020 from rioters who swarmed the downtown area in what appeared to be an organized attack amid a protest meant to decry the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Tourists never came back in the numbers they had before the pandemic.
Torosis said the new council majority was elected on a promise to boost economic activity in the city.
“We need to absolutely ensure that people feel safe, welcome, invited and included in our city,” said Torosis, who serves as mayor pro tem.
Hall called the plan a bold bet.
“What we’re trying to do here is move us away from a scarcity mind-set, where we’re nickel-and-diming businesses trying to stay open, restaurants trying to open a parklet, residents trying to build an ADU,” Hall said.
The council’s relative youth, he said, is a plus for a city trying to write a bright new chapter.
“I think that that’s something that millennials are finding themselves needing to do as we take ownership of society, and we see a world where past generations have been afraid to make mistakes or afraid to make decisions,” he said.
PORTLAND, Ore. — There is a rhetorical battle raging here in this heavily Democratic city, known for its delicious coffee, plethora of fancy restaurants, bespoke doughnuts and also for its small faction of black-clad activists.
It started Saturday when President Trump suddenly announced that he was sending the National Guard to “war-ravaged” Portland — where a small group of demonstrators have been staging a monthslong protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building south of downtown.
Oregon officials have pushed back forcefully, flooding their own social media with images of colorful cafe tables, sun-drenched farmers markets, rose gardens in full bloom and parks bursting with children, families and frolicking dogs. Officials would prefer the city be known for its Portlandia vibe, and are begging residents to stay peaceful and not give the Trump administration a protest spectacle.
A protester waves to Department of Homeland Security officials as they walk to the gates of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after inspecting an area outside in Portland, Ore.
(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)
“There is no need or legal justification for military troops,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has said, over and over again, on her Instagram and in texts to President Trump that have been released publicly. Officials have gone to court seeking an order to stop the deployment, with a hearing set for Friday.
But the president seems resolute. In a Tuesday speech before a gathering of generals and admirals, he sketched out a controversial vision of dispatching troops to Democratic cities “as training grounds for our military” to combat an “invasion from within.” He described Portland as “a nightmare” that “looks like a warzone … like World War II.”
“The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now,” a White House press release read, “with President Donald J. Trump mobilizing federal resources to stopAntifa-led hellfire in its tracks.”
Trump’s targeting of Portland comes after he deployed troops to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, and threatened to do so elsewhere. The president says he is delivering on campaign pledges to restore public safety, but detractors say he’s attempting to intimidate and provoke Democratic strongholds, while distracting the nation from his various controversies.
As they wait to see whether and when the National Guard will arrive, city residents this week reacted with a mixture of rage, bafflement and sorrow.
A man rests under a public art sculpture in downtown Portland, Ore.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
Many acknowledged that Portland has problems: Homelessness and open drug abuse are endemic, and encampments crowd some sidewalks. The city’s downtown has never recovered from pandemic closures and rioting that took place during George Floyd protests in 2020.
More recently, Intel — one of Oregon’s largest private employers — announced it was laying off 2,400 employees in a county just west of Portland. Like Los Angeles and many other cities, Portland has seen a big drop in tourism this year, a trend that city leaders say is not helped by Trump’s military interventions.
“We need federal help to renew our infrastructure, and build affordable housing, to help clean our rivers and plant trees,” said Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on his social media. “Instead of help, they’re sending armored vehicles and masked men.”
All across the city this week, residents echoed similar themes.
“Nothing is happening here. This is a gorgeous, peaceful city,” said Hannah O’Malley, who was snacking on french fries at a table with a view of the Willamette River outside the Portland Sports Bar and Grill.
Patrons are reflected in the window at Honey Pearl Cafe PDX in downtown Portland.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
The restaurant was just a few blocks from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building where the ongoing demonstration has become the latest focus of the president’s ire against the city.
A small group of people — a number of them women in their 60s and 70s with gray braids and top-of-the-line rain jackets — have been congregating here for months to protest the federal immigration crackdown.
In June, there were several clashes with law enforcement at the site. Police declared a riot one night, and on another night made several arrests outside the facility, including one person accused of choking a police officer. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they had arrested “four criminal illegal aliens” who allegedly conducted laser strikes on a Border Patrol helicopter “in an attempt to temporarily blind the pilot.”
But day in and day out, the protests have been largely peaceful and fairly small and nothing the city’s police force can’t handle, according to city officials and the protesters themselves.
On Monday afternoon, a group of about 40 people including grandmothers, parents and their children, and a man in a chicken costume, held flowers and signs. A few yelled abuse through a metal gate at ICE officers standing in the driveway.
People protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sept. 28 in Portland, Ore.
(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)
“We’re so scary,” joked Kat Barnard, 67, a retired accountant for nonprofits who said she began protesting a few months ago, fitting it in between caring for her grandson. She added that she has found a sense of community while standing against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “I’ve met so many people,” she said. “It’s just beautiful. It makes me happy.”
A few miles away, in the cafe at the city’s famed bookstore, Powell’s Books, a trio of retired friends bemoaned their beloved city’s negative image.
“This is the most peaceful, kind community I’ve ever lived in” said Lynne Avril, 74, who moved to Portland from Phoenix a few years ago. Avril, a retired illustrator who penned the artwork for the young Amelia Bedelia books, said she routinely walks home alone late at night through the city’s darkened streets, and feels perfectly safe doing so.
The president “wants another spectacle,” added Avril’s friend, Signa Schuster, 73, a retired estate manager.
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” answered Avril.
“There’s no problem here,” added Annie Olsen, 72, a retired federal worker. “It’s all performative and stupid.”
Still, the women said, they are keenly aware that their beloved city has a negative reputation nationally. Avril said that when she told friends in Phoenix that she had decided to move to Portland, “People were like: ‘Why would you move here [with] all the violence?’”
Olsen sighed and nodded. “So much misinformation,” she said.
In the front lobby of the famed bookstore, the local bestseller lists provided a window into many residents’ concerns. Two books on authoritarianism and censorship — George Orwell’s “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” — were on the shelves. Over in nonfiction, it was the same story, with “How Fascism Works” and “On Tyranny” both making appearances.
The Willamette River runs through downtown Portland, Ore.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
But outside, the sky was blue and bright despite the rain in the forecast and many residents were doing what Portlanders do with an unexpected gift from the weather gods: They were jogging and biking along the Willamette River, and sitting in outdoor cafes sipping their city’s famous coffee and nibbling on buttery pastries.
“Trump is unhinged,” said Shannon O’Connor, 57. She said that Portland has problems for sure — “homelessness, fentanyl, a huge drug problem” — but unrest is not among them.
Sprawled on a sidewalk near a freeway on-ramp, a man calling himself “Rabbit” was panhandling for money accompanied by his two beagle-pit bull mixes, Pooh Bear and Piglet.
Rabbit, 48, said he hadn’t heard of the president’s plan to send in the National Guard, but didn’t think it was necessary. He had come to Portland two years ago “to get away from all the craziness,” he said, and found it to be safe. “I haven’t been threatened yet,” he said, then knocked on wood.
Many residents said they think the president may be confusing what is happening in Portland now with a period in 2020 in which the city was briefly convulsed over Black Live Matter protests.
“We had a lot of trouble then,” said a woman who asked to be referred to only as “Sue” for fear of being doxed. “Nothing like that now.” A lifelong Portlander, she is retired and among those who have been demonstrating at the ICE facility south of downtown.
She and other residents said they have noticed that clips of the riots and other violence from 2020 have recently been recirculating on social media and even some cable news shows.
“Either he is mistaken or it is part of his propaganda,” she said of the president’s portrayal of Portland, adding that it makes her “very sad. I’ve never protested until this go-around. But we have to do something.”
As afternoon turned to evening Tuesday, the blue skies over the city gave way to clouds and drizzle. The parks and outdoor cafes emptied out.
As night fell, the retired women and children who had been protesting outside the ICE facility went home, and more and more younger people began to take their places.
By 10 p.m., law enforcement was massed on the roof of the ICE building in tactical gear. Black-clad protesters — watched over by local television reporters and some independent media — played cat and mouse with the officers, stepping toward the building only to be repelled by rounds of pepper balls.
A 39-year-old man, who asked to be called “Mushu” and who had only his eyes visible amid his black garb, stood on the corner across the street, gesturing to the independent media livestreaming the protests. “They are showing that hell that is Portland,” he said, his voice dripping with irony.
About the same time, Katie Daviscourt, a reporter with the Post Millennial, posted on X that she had been “assaulted by an Antifa agitator.” She also tweeted that “the suspect escaped into the Antifa safe house.”
A few minutes later, a group of officers burst out of a van and appeared to detain one of the protesters. Then the officers dispersed, and the standoff resumed.
Around the corner, a couple with gray hair sporting sleek rain jackets walked their little dog along the street. If they were concerned about the made-for-video drama that was playing out a few yards away, they didn’t show it. They just continued to walk their dog.
On Wednesday morning, the president weighed in again, writing on Truth Social, “Conditions continue to deteriorate into lawless mayhem.”
A $2.7-billion plan to expand the Los Angeles Convention Center is in jeopardy after a narrowly divided City Council committee opted on Tuesday to recommend a much smaller package of repairs instead.
Amid mounting concerns that the expansion could siphon money away from basic city services, the Budget and Finance Committee voted 3 to 2 to begin work on a less expensive package of upgrades that would be completed in time for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said the expansion proposal — which would add an estimated 325,000 square feet to the facility, spanning both sides of Pico Boulevard — is too risky for the city, both in terms of the tight construction timeline and the overall cost.
“The risks to the city’s finances are too great — and risks us having to cut our city workforce to offset the costs of this project for years to come,” said Yaroslavsky, who heads the committee.
Yaroslavsky proposed the less expensive alternative plan, drawing “yes” votes from Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Eunisses Hernandez. Councilmembers Tim McOsker and Heather Hutt voted against the proposal, saying it was a sudden and huge departure from the original expansion plan.
“I’m not comfortable voting on these recommendations today,” Hutt said. “The substantive changes have not been circulated to the committee members, staff and public — and the public hasn’t been able to give public comment on these last-minute changes that are very significant.”
Both proposals — the expansion and the less expensive package of repairs and upgrades — are set to go before the full City Council on Friday.
Council members have spent the last year trying to find a way to expand the size of the Convention Center, doubling the amount of contiguous meeting space, without also creating an excessive burden on an already stretched city budget. They have received increasingly dire warnings as Friday’s deadline for making a decision approaches.
Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who advises the council on policy matters, told the committee Wednesday that she fears the project’s first phase won’t be done in time for the 2028 Games, when the Convention Center will host several competitions, including judo, wrestling and fencing.
Tso also warned that the ongoing cost of the project would make it much more difficult for the city to hire more firefighters, recruit more police officers and pay for such basic services as street repairs. Four months ago, the council approved a budget that closed a $1-billion financial gap, requiring cuts to city personnel.
“We just completed a budget process that was very brutal,” she said. “If you’re happy with the level of service that we have today, then this is the project for you.”
At City Hall, the Convention Center is widely viewed as a facility in need of serious repair, including new elevators and escalators, up-to-date restrooms and overall cosmetic upgrades. Expanding the Convention Center would allow the city to attract much larger national conferences, exhibitions and meetings.
The project, if approved, would connect the Convention Center’s South Hall — whose curving green exterior faces the 10 and 110 freeway interchange — with the West Hall, which is a faded blue.
The council has already pushed for several cost-cutting measures, including the removal of a plaza planned on Figueroa Street. Mayor Karen Bass and the council also have hoped to generate new revenue by installing digital billboards — two of them within view of drivers on the 10 and 110 freeways.
Even with the freeway-facing digital signs, the cost of expanding and operating the Convention Center could reach $160 million in 2031, according to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo, a high-level budget analyst.
The cost to taxpayers is expected to average about $100 million per year over three decades, according to updated figures prepared by Szabo.
The Convention Center expansion has become a top priority for business groups, labor leaders and community organizations who say that downtown L.A. desperately needs an economic catalyst — one that will creates thousands of construction jobs and spark new business activity.
After the pandemic, office workers never fully returned to downtown, and dozens of stores and restaurants shut their doors. Homelessness and drug addiction also continue to plague portions of downtown.
“We want to see downtown recover. We want it to be a place Angelenos can be proud of, and this is the solution,” Cassy Horton, co-founder of the DTLA Residents Assn., said at the committee hearing.
Labor and business leaders told the council members that the city has a long track record of developing plans for upgrading the Convention Center, only to shelve them once it’s time for a decision.
“For more than a decade, we’ve studied this project, we’ve debated it, we’ve delayed it,” said Nella McOsker, president and chief executive of the Central City Assn., a downtown-based business group. “We’ve been deciding whether or not we are a city that can maintain and invest in this essential asset, and every time we make that delay, the cost increases.”
McOsker is the daughter of Councilmember Tim McOsker, who voted “no” on the repair proposal. An outspoken supporter of the expansion, he argued that the city took on a similar financial burden 30 years ago when it financed the construction of the Convention Center’s South Hall.
Yaroslavsky, in turn, said she was concerned not just about the project’s cost but the potential for it to pull resources away from the Department of Water and Power.
Dave Hanson, senior assistant general manager for the DWP’s power system, told the committee that deploying his workers at the Convention Center could result in delays on utility work elsewhere, including a San Fernando Valley light rail project and the installation of underground power lines in the fire-devastated Pacific Palisades.
“DWP may — we don’t know for sure yet, because they don’t know for sure yet — may have to sideline other critically important projects, including reconstructing the Palisades and all these other projects,” said Yaroslavsky, who represents part of the Westside.
Yaroslavsky’s alternative proposal calls for the city to regroup in four months on strategies for requesting new proposals for expanding the Convention Center, as well as other strategies to “maximize the site’s positive economic impacts.”
Hernandez, whose district includes part of the Eastside, said council members remain open to the idea of the Convention Center expansion as the project heads to a final vote.
“So it’s not that we’ve ruled out any options,” she said. “We’ve added more options to the conversation.”
Inside Superchief Gallery, murmurs of excitement and eagerness filled the air. Around 60 people gathered in the downtown art space for a screen printing workshop on a late summer evening in August.
Young families, friend groups and couples filled neon pink pews, ready to print designs on T-shirts. Salsa music blared over the speakers as a few stragglers took their seats and others admired artwork on the walls, including a fine-line David Lynch drawing, a ceramic Garfield and a depiction of a lowrider’s paint job.
Despite the lively atmosphere, this gathering might be one of the last. Co-founder Bill Dunleavy said the gallery may be forced to close this month if it can’t raise enough money to pay the bills.
“We thought we had until November to save Superchief, but it came early,” Dunleavy said. “It’s not easy to build the type of community we’ve built. It would be a real shame, and set the culture back to some degree.”
For over a decade, Superchief has established itself as a place where punk rockers, graffiti writers, street photographers, homegrown fine artists and anyone with a piqued interest in counterculture gather to celebrate art.
Audrey Caceres poses with her screen printed jersey at Superchief Gallery, during the workshop.
(Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)
The gallery’s possible closure would add to the list of shuttered businesses in downtown L.A. that have struggled to rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although downtown continues to attract residents, many office buildings are struggling with falling values and high vacancies.
This year alone, the neighborhood has seen legacy kitchens like the Original Pantry Cafe and Cole’s French Dip face permanent closure. The Mayan, a historic nightclub, is set to shut down later this month and Angel City Brewery announced that its Arts District taproom is being put up for sale.
Nick Griffin, executive vice president of the DTLA Alliance, a coalition of property owners, said the closures reflect the “ebb and flow” of business and changing tastes rather than conditions in downtown.
“Superchief might be closing, but Dataland, the digital AI Art Museum up on Bunker Hill, is going to be opening next year. The Lucas Museum, a massive billion-dollar museum, is opening in Exposition Park. The Broad is doing a $100-million expansion of its facility,” said Griffin. “It’s the normal churn of businesses and culture.”
He says that more businesses are opening in the area than are closing, but the ones that are closing tend to be “very high profile,” cater to niche audiences and often have a cult following — like Superchief.
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After waiting in line to use the printing mechanism, Nick Rivera and Courtney Florento work together to screen-print a t-shirt. (Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)
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Screenprint artist Alex Calderon, of Destroy LA, was in charge of teaching the workshop. He is pictured helping a girl named Gianna print a design. (Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)
Art galleries have faced their own challenges.
The global art market declined 12% in 2024, marking its second consecutive year of falling sales, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Facing shrinking revenue and rising overhead costs, several other art galleries across the city, like Blum, Clearing and Tanya Bonakdar, have also recently announced the closure of their L.A. locations.
Dunleavy first started to notice a falloff in business about a year ago. The gallery’s usual sponsors, who would attach their names and brands to the various exhibitions, started to pull out and revenue from digital art (NFT) sales declined.
“People are just being more careful with their money,” Dunleavy said. “They’re scaling back their advertising and promotional budgets. At the same time, fewer people are buying art. These are the two things that keep an art gallery business model afloat: sponsors and sales.”
Last spring, he and his business partner Ed Zipco launched a fundraising campaign to help save Superchief. They started a Patreon, a monthly subscription service tailored to individual audiences where members are invited to attend special events and get various perks for a monthly fee ranging $10 to $30.
Subscribers and regular gallery-goers have since carved pinewood derby cars, participated in a figure drawing class where models in lingerie were bound by ropes and shopped at a monthly vendor market. The crowdfunding now has about 400 members.
Although the fundraising has helped, the gallery isn’t making enough to cover monthly expenses that range from $10,000 to $15,000, most of it to pay for renting the 10,000-square-foot building on South Los Angeles Street.
The gallery employs two part-time employees and is now open only on the weekends. Dunleavy disclosed that he hasn’t paid himself in over two years and has taken on more loans to meet expenses.
A flier with a Patreon QR code is pictured at the Superchief Gallery during their event.
(Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)
“We started to incur a lot of debt in order to stay afloat, hoping things were going to get better. But things didn’t get better, they just got worse,” he said.
Superchief moved into its current location in 2022. The gallery, which opened in 2014, was previously housed in a warehouse in Skid Row where it shared space with artists. It soon built a relationship with L.A.’s underground art scene, selling artworks and competing with larger mainstream galleries.
In 2020, a few weeks before the pandemic, a nearby explosion damaged the building, and the gallery was forced to relocate to its current location.
“The economy is unreliable, and the art market is not what it was pre-pandemic, so it’s forcing us to make some real pivots and adaptations,” Dunleavy said.
Though September may be the final curtain call for the gallery, Dunleavy hasn’t given up. He plans to host ticketed parties and other fundraising events with the gallery’s associated artists.
“Patreon is about halfway where it needs to be in order to be sustainable,” Dunleavy said. “I’ve learned how to cope with stressful situations by throwing crazy parties and unconventional events — so that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
Surrounded by ink-flooded screens and piles of white T-shirts used for the August workshop, Audrey Caceres, a frequent Superchief goer, had just finished printing her pink jersey with the gallery’s logo in bright blue ink. The Boyle Heights resident says the gallery’s location, on the outskirts of downtown near East 21st Street, has brought new life to the commercial area.
“I really can’t imagine LA [sub]cultures without Superchief. It’s such a strong foundation for photographers, zine makers, and multimedia artists,” Caceres said. “So, if they weren’t here, I don’t know where people would run to display their work.”
For the last year, Los Angeles political leaders have searched for a way to upgrade the downtown Convention Center without also delivering cuts to core services.
The city’s budget team pushed for the facility to be emblazoned with digital billboards, which would produce tens of millions in ad revenue. A city-hired consultant came up with several cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of a public plaza originally planned as part of the expansion.
Despite those efforts, the project has only lost ground. On Tuesday, City Council members were informed the price tag has gone up yet again, reaching $2.7 billion — an increase of $483 million from six months ago.
Some at City Hall are growing nervous that the project’s first phase won’t be finished in time for the 2028 Olympic Games, jeopardizing the Convention Center’s status as one of the main venues. Beyond that, city officials have begun worrying publicly that Gov. Gavin Newsom might not support a state bill permitting the installation of two digital billboards that would face the busy 10 and 110 Freeway interchange.
Those two signs — hotly opposed by groups such as Scenic America — are expected to produce the vast majority of the project’s advertising income, according to the city’s budget team.
If state and federal support for the signs fails to materialize, the city’s general fund budget would have to provide an average of $111 million each year through 2058 to cover the cost of the Convention Center expansion, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said.
The earliest years would be the most expensive. In 2031, for example, an estimated $167 million in taxpayer funds would go toward the Convention Center’s debt and operations — even after the revenue from the project is factored in, Szabo told the council’s economic development committee on Tuesday.
“Since we last met in this room on this matter, the costs have increased dramatically,” Szabo said. “The serious [construction] schedule risks remain. And revenue that the project relies upon — will rely upon — is in jeopardy.”
For some on the council, the latest bad news is proving to be too much.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s powerful budget committee, told The Times she believes an overhaul of the Convention Center is key to making downtown “stronger, more economically vibrant.” But with the city already struggling to pay for police officers, street repairs and other basic services, the current plan is “just too expensive,” she said.
“Without the signage revenue, the risk to the City’s budget is massive and unaffordable,” Yaroslavsky said in a statement.
Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon declined to discuss the digital billboard bill, saying the governor’s office “does not typically comment on pending legislation.” State Assemblymember Mark González (D-Los Angeles), who represents part of downtown, said he is “engaging productively” with the Newsom administration on the bill.
“I’m confident we’ll find a path forward,” he said.
Council members must decide by Sept. 15 whether to move ahead with the project, Szabo said. Even some of the council’s downtown boosters sound nervous about their next step.
What “I hear some of my colleagues saying is, ‘Do we want a very beautiful Convention Center but a bankrupt city?’” said Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents the vast majority of downtown.
Business groups have rallied around the expansion, saying it will finally allow L.A. to compete for large conventions, while also injecting new life into a downtown still reeling from the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project has also amassed broad support from organized labor, especially the region’s construction trade unions, which say it would create thousands of jobs.
“With over 800 members out of work, we need a project like this,” said Zachary Solomon, business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11. “The cost of this project will only continue to increase, so we need this project now.”
Many of the groups backing the Convention Center expansion have played a role in electing council members. Still, if the council presses ahead with the project, it will do so in the face of major warning signs.
The city’s top policy analysts have cautioned that any major construction delay could cause organizers of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to pull the Convention Center, which is scheduled to host judo, wrestling, fencing and other competitions, off its list of venues.
“It would be really bad to pay such a premium on such a project and [have] it not be ready in time to host the Olympics,” said Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who advises the council.
Stuart Marks, senior vice president of Plenary Americas, the development company spearheading the Convention Center project, told council members he is “highly confident” the work will be done on time, saying there is flexibility in the schedule — and major penalties if the developer fails to perform.
Marks, whose company has partnered with Anschutz Entertainment Group on the Convention Center, said the companies tasked with construction have an established history, having worked on projects such as Staples Center — now Crypto.com Arena — and the expanded Moscone Center in San Francisco.
“Their reputations are on the line. Our reputations are on the line. Nobody’s saying there’s no risks. But there are contingencies … mitigation strategies, security packages and contractual regimes that equally meet that risk,” he said.
The proposed timeline calls for APCLA, also known as AEG Plenary Conventions Los Angeles — the joint venture that would oversee the expansion — to start construction later this year, pause that work during the Games and then finish once the event is over.
Under the proposal, a new wing would connect the Convention Center’s landmark green South Hall with the blue West Hall.
Much of the increase in the construction price has been attributed to the city’s Department of Water and Power, which recently issued higher cost estimates for the relocation of utilities under Pico Boulevard and the installation of several miles of cable and conduit.
DWP officials have already warned that they lack the staffing to carry out the project and would need to hire outside labor. They also indicated that work on the Convention Center is likely to result in delays to other projects — including construction of a new rail line in San Fernando Valley — because staff would have to be diverted, according to Szabo’s memo.
Tso has echoed many of Szabo’s concerns, saying in a separate report that the project would have an “acute negative impact” on the general fund budget, which pays for police, paramedic responses and other basic services.
Times staff writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.
Melissa Etheridge has always written what she feels, and what she’s feeling right now, at this moment in her life, is liberated. The folk-rock legend, best known for her raspy ‘90s anthems (cue “Come to my window …”), just finished recording a new album due out next year. A theme that permeates throughout her lyrics? Setting herself free.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“It’s a lot about letting go of trying to make everything perfect,” Etheridge says. “Letting go of trying to change other people to make me happy because it doesn’t work that way.”
She chats with us from her Yes We Are Tour with the Indigo Girls, an occasion she describes as the ultimate girls’ night out. “It’s brought a lot of women out — grandmothers, mothers, daughters,” Etheridge says. “It’s music that you remember and it feels really amazing.”
The tour makes a stop next week at the Greek Theatre, which will feel like a homecoming of sorts for the artist who has lived in L.A. for the past 43 years. Etheridge and her wife Linda Wallem, along with Etheridge’s young adult children, have settled in the Calabasas area and find comfort in the many neighborhood charms. Today Etheridge, who says she has had “many incredible Sundays” around town, describes a perfect one. It starts with a stroll close to home and then ventures downtown for brunch and art, and into Studio City for a heavenly deep-fried Fluffernutter.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
7 a.m.: Wake up and walk We love to get right up, and the first thing we do is go for a walk. We go for about a mile and a half, and it’s just really lovely. And we love all our neighbors, and it’s a really fantastic place.
8 a.m.: Coffee with extra love Then we would go to La La Land Kind Cafe at the Commons in Calabasas. What’s special about it is that it [employs] foster kids. The owner is a really special guy that puts a lot of love into the place. And it’s so L.A. — you can ask for “extra love” and they’ll say, “Oh, we love you!” when we leave. They have a butterfly matcha latte — you know, blue and green. Really crazy, beautiful drinks. So we’ll pick up coffee and then go to Hank’s Bagels and get some bagels for the kids.
9 a.m.: Crank up the car tunes After we drop everything off at home, we’re leaving to go downtown. On Sunday at nine o’clock, you can get downtown in a reasonable amount of time. I’ve got the music cranked up in our car. We love to listen to the Chris Stapleton channel on Sirius XM. And we’re listening to my new album that I just recorded that won’t be out until 2026.
10 a.m.: A leisurely brunch We’ll go to the Girl & the Goat. Chef Stephanie Izard has these biscuits and chicken. Incredible. It’s not too foofy because you just don’t want to get too foofy for brunch. You want to, oh, feel it when you’re done. So that’s what we’ll do. That’s from, like, 10 to 11 a.m. No, 10 to 12. I’m not rushing. It’s a beautiful restaurant.
Noon: See what’s on display in downtown L.A. Then we’re going to go see whatever exhibits or installations they have downtown. The last time we went, it was “Luna Luna.” Really great. One time, it was the King Tut exhibit.
3 p.m.: A quick stop at Atrium Then we’ll get the kids. On the way back, we stop at one of our favorite cannabis stores, Atrium on Topanga [Canyon Boulevard] — our other favorite is Coast to Coast in Canoga Park — and get some because we’re going to our favorite movie theater later tonight.
3:30 p.m.: Spend time at my favorite musical playground We swing by Norman’s Rare Guitars, which is in Tarzana. It’s not open on Sundays, but if this was a dream, it would be. [Owner Norman Harris] has an exquisite collection that everyone has bought from, from Tom Petty to George Harrison to Bob Dylan to me.
Sometimes I’ll trade a guitar with [Norman], and sometimes I’ll have him show me a ridiculously expensive guitar just to look at it, and then I’ll tell him I can never buy it. There’s always something happening in there. I’ve sat in the middle of the store with my friend Ashley McBryde and sang songs. It’s just a really cool place. Only in L.A.
5 p.m.: A night at the movies We’ll get to our favorite movie theater, Cinépolis, where we’re going to watch the latest movie. They serve dinner and drinks in the theater, and it’s just a really fun night. The last movie we saw was “Thunderbolts.” It’s freaking great. God, I love Florence Pugh. My kids were skeptical about Marvel, but they really liked it. It’s nice not having to cook or clean on a Sunday. So far, we’ve eaten 10,000 calories today.
8 p.m.: The dessert of all desserts Then if we could pack in all the fun, we would go down the 101 to Studio City, where Chef Antonia Lofaso has the Black Market Liquor Bar. She has a dessert called the Fluffernutter. Oh, my God. It’s a deep-fried Fluffernutter. It’s so good. So we would go get dessert there. Then we would drive home.
10 p.m.: End the night under the stars We have a little fire pit outside in our backyard. And we love to sit and look at the stars and use some of that stuff that we got at the Atrium.
I constantly think, oh, I’m going to move out of L.A. And we travel all around the world. And I swear, every time I come back, I’m like, this feels like home. This is home.
July signals summer fun, Independence Day and … Emmy nominations.
Nominations for TV’s biggest awards show will be announced Tuesday. This year’s field of small-screen offerings includes returning favorites like HBO’s “The White Lotus” and breakout hits such as Apple TV+’s “The Studio.”
Here is everything you need to know about this year’s Emmy nominations.
When will Emmy nominations be announced?
The 77th Emmy Awards nominations will be revealed Tuesday beginning at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET. The nominees will be announced by Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego alongside “What We Do in the Shadows” star Harvey Guillén and “Running Point’s” Brenda Song.
“Hacks” and “The Studio” are expected to lead the comedy pack. Other contenders include “The Bear,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Shrinking,” “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Nobody Wants This.”
Drama series nominees could include “Severance,” “The Pitt,” “The White Lotus” and “The Last of Us.” “Slow Horses,” “Andor,” “The Diplomat” and “Squid Game” are also in the running.
The limited series front-runners, meanwhile, include “Adolescence,” “The Penguin,” “Dying for Sex,” “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and “Disclaimer.”
After nominations are announced, final-round voting will commence Aug. 18 and conclude Aug. 27.
When are the 2025 Emmy Awards?
The 77th Emmy Awards will take place Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET at downtown’s Peacock Theater in L.A. Live. The ceremony, hosted for the first time by Nate Bargatze, will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+ the next day.
Jesse Collins Entertainment is producing the Emmy Awards for the third consecutive year.
The Creative Arts Emmys will be held Sept. 6 and 7.
Lawrence Herrera started carrying a folded-up copy of his birth certificate in his wallet last week. He also saved a picture of his passport on his phone’s camera roll.
For the 67-year-old Atwater Village resident who was born and raised here, the precaution felt silly. But he’s not taking any chances.
“I started hearing, ‘He’s taking anyone and everyone,’” Herrara said, referrring to President Trump’s immigration crackdown. “I thought, ‘You know what? That could be me.’”
Herrera was one of hundreds of protesters who spent Fourth of July in downtown Los Angeles to rally against the immigration raids that have roiled the region and the surge in federal funding approved this week to keep them going. Many on the street said they were skipping the barbecues and fireworks this year. Instead, they showed up at City Hall, some in costumes or wrapped in flags. A 15-foot balloon of Trump in a Russian military uniform sat in Grand Park.
Erica Ortiz, 49, was dressed as Lady Liberty in shackles. Herrera wore a Revolutionary War outfit covered in anti-Trump pins that he said was appropriate for the occasion.
“Guess what? We have no independence right now,” he said. “That’s why we’re out here.”
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1.Elizabeth Natividad wears a dress representing Lady Justice on the steps of City Hall .2.Nancy Gonzalez poses in an outfit showing her Mexican heritageon the steps of City Hall.3.A protester wearing a dress representing Lady Liberty holds her fist in the air on the steps of City Hall at a rally against the ongoing ICE raids taking place in the city on Friday, July 4, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
They marched through Olvera Street and outside the Federal Building, which houses the immigration court, waving signs. Several police officers were monitoring the protest but kept their distance during the gathering, which lasted a few hours.
“No more occupation! No more deportation!” the protesters chanted.
At the Federal Building, military personnel members lined up shoulder-to-shoulder guarding the property with shields and guns.
Jacob Moreno, a high school English teacher from Rialto, held a sign that called the day a “funeral for the freedom we pretend” still exists. He said the mood felt more solemn than the “No Kings” demonstration last month, which he attributed to the passage of Trump’s budget bill. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill adds roughly $150 billion to carry out mass deportations and fund border enforcement.
“This situation, this occupation is only going to get worse,” Moreno said. The 50-year-old said some of his students and their family members are undocumented. He and his daughter, a 16-year-old student, are helping set up a program to provide school supplies and hygiene items to students whose parents may be too afraid to go to work.
“I’m here to support my students, my community, and ultimately to stand on the right side of history,” he said.
Cristina Muñoz Brown, of North Hollywood, shared a similar sentiment.
“I’m desperate for my people, I’m desperate to show up,” she said. Since the raids began, she said, the Fashion District where she works in the costume industry is a “ghost town.”
An American flag passes by marines standing guard during a rally against the ongoing ICE raids taking place in the city at the Federal Building on Friday, July 4, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stand guard during a rally against the ongoing ICE raids taking place in the city at the Federal Building on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) addressed the crowd outside City Hall, calling the budget bill the “Big Beautiful Scam.”
“Immigration spending in this country is now more than the military spending of 165 countries around the world. ICE has more money than the city of Los Angeles 10 times over,” he said as the crowd booed. “That’s not what we want our tax dollars going toward.”
The city is still reeling from weeks of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the Southland and the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to respond to the protests that followed.
There have been sweeps targeting day laborers at local car washes and Home Depot parking lots.
“There’s too many things to protest right now,” said Hunter Dunn of the 50501 Movement, which organized the July 4 rally. Many immigrants, he said, are “afraid to go to work, afraid to go to school.”
Federal agents, often shielding their identities with face masks and sometimes driving unmarked cars, have been carrying out aggressive raids since early June, triggering widespread protests.
Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the L.A. area to protect federal buildings and workers during the unrest, which garnered pushback from state and local officials who complained that the military presence exacerbated the situation. Earlier this week, about 150 Guard members were released from the protest assignment.
The immigration enforcement actions in L.A. have heightened tensions between city and state leaders and the Trump administration. The public sparring has played out on social media and in court.
Angelenos march near Los Angeles City Hall on the Fourth of July in a demonstration against the ongoing ICE raids taking place in the city.
Mayor Karen Bass renewed her calls this week for Trump to end the ICE raids, saying in a post on X that his administration is “causing the fear and terror so many in L.A. are feeling.”
“They came for our neighbors in unmarked vans. Raided workplaces. Ripped apart families. Even U.S. citizens. This is not law enforcement — it’s political theater with human costs,” she wrote in another post.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is battling the Trump administration in court over the deployment of Guard troops without his consent. And this week, the Trump administration sued the city of L.A., Bass and City Council members, saying the city’s sanctuary law is illegal. The law generally prohibits city employees or city property to be used to investigate or detain anyone for the purpose of immigration enforcement.
On Wednesday, immigrants rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Counsel sued the Trump administration in federal court seeking to block what the suit describes as the administration’s “ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law” during immigration raids in the L.A. area.
The police said gunmen opened fire in the River North neighbourhood. At least three victims are in critical condition.
Four people in the United States have been killed and at least 14 others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a crowd outside a lounge in downtown Chicago, according to police.
According to authorities, the mass shooting took place around 11:00pm (04:00 GMT) on Wednesday, when shots were fired from a vehicle travelling along Chicago Avenue in the city’s River North neighbourhood.
Chicago police reported that 13 women and five men, all between the ages of 21 and 32, were struck by the gunfire. Among the dead were two men and two women.
As of Thursday, at least three victims remained in critical condition. The injured were transported to local hospitals.
Police said the driver fled the scene immediately, and no arrests have been made. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling urged the public to submit anonymous tips to help detectives identify the suspects.
Local media reported that rapper Mello Buckzz, also known as Melanie Doyle, was hosting a private event at the lounge Wednesday evening to celebrate the release of her new album.
Snelling said police were trying to determine a motive and that the venue, Artis Lounge, is closed “until we get to the bottom of this”. He did not identify the number of attackers involved in the incident but said police found two different calibres of casings and were still reviewing footage.
“Clearly, there was some target in some way,” Snelling said. “This wasn’t some random shooting.”
Artis Lounge confirmed they were working with authorities as the investigation continued.
‘I can only describe it as a warzone’
In the hours after the shooting, Buckzz asked for prayers and expressed her anger and sadness on social media.
“My heart broke into so many pieces,” the artist wrote on Instagram Stories.
In her posts, the rapper revealed that many of those injured were her friends, and that she had been in a relationship with one of the men who was killed.
“Prayers up for all my sisters god please wrap yo arms around every last one of them,” Buckzz wrote across several Instagram Story slides. “Feel like everything just weighing down on me … all I can do is talk to god and pray.”
Chicago pastor Donovan Price, who works with communities affected by violence, described the scene as a “warzone”.
“Just mayhem and blood and screaming and confusion as people tried to find their friends and phones. It was a horrendous, tragic, dramatic scene,” he told The Associated Press.
The shooting took place days before the Fourth of July weekend, when Chicago and other major cities often see a surge in gun crimes. In recent years, however, Chicago has seen an overall decrease in gun violence.
During the last Fourth of July weekend in Chicago, more than 100 people were shot, resulting in at least 19 deaths. Mayor Brandon Johnson said at the time that the violence “has left our city in a state of grief”.
Center Theatre Group temporarily canceled “Hamlet” at Mark Taper Forum; the Los Angeles Philharmonic scuttled the final night of its Seoul Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall; the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles’ Geffen Contemporary and the Broad museum are both closed through the weekend; and the Japanese American National Museum fenced off its pavilion to prevent further vandalism — these are just some of the immediate effects felt by downtown Los Angeles’ many arts organizations as ICE protests, an ongoing curfew and the arrival of thousands of federal troops upend daily life in the city’s civic core.
(On Thursday, Los Angeles city officials carved out a curfew exemption for ticket holders of indoor events and performing arts venues downtown including the Music Center, paving the way for evening performances of Center Theatre Group’s “Hamlet” and Los Angeles Opera’s “Rigoletto.”)
The Trump administration says it will deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to L.A. to protect immigration agents and federal buildings at a reported cost of $134 million. On Tuesday, the state of California requested a temporary restraining order blocking the deployments, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how this will ultimately unfold.
The uncertainty, including how long Mayor Karen Bass’ 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will remain in effect, has added to the pall over downtown L.A., where businesses and restaurants are also struggling with security issues and the many unknowns of the swiftly evolving crisis.
On Wednesday, I reached out to many of downtown’s arts leaders, and they all issued statements in support of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants.
“As Los Angeles’ largest theatre company, located in Downtown LA, we are heartbroken by the events unfolding around us and affecting so many in our beautiful and diverse city,” CTG said. “Our mission is to be a home for everyone who calls themselves an Angeleno.”
This is a sentiment that abounds throughout this proud city of immigrants, where many with friends or neighbors who are undocumented feel sorrow to see the violence and destruction.
I’m arts and culture reporter Jessica Gelt, standing with my community in support of all its members. Here’s this week’s arts news.
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Huntley Ritter, from left, Kirsten Dunst, Nathan West and Eliza Dushku in the 2000 movie “Bring It On.”
(Getty / Universal Studios)
Academy screenings The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents two very different films this weekend. On Friday, the North American premiere of a new 4K restoration of 1975 best picture winner, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” starring Jack Nicholson, screens with supervising film editor Richard Chew and editor Lynzee Klingman joining screenwriter Larry Karaszewski to discuss the film. Then, the academy’s Teen Movie Madness! series continues Saturday with a 25th anniversary screening of cheerleading cult fave “Bring It On” in 35mm, preceded by a conversation with actor and artist Brandi Williams, who played Lafred in the film. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 7:30 p.m. Friday; “Bring It On,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, David Geffen Theater, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. academymuseum.org
Cinderella Los Angeles Ballet closes out its 2024-25 season with this fairy tale classic featuring choreography by Edwaard Liang set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. This reimagined version adds a modern sensibility, new twists, fantasy and humor to the story of a young woman, mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who is transformed for a date with a prince by a fairy godmother. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood. losangelesballet.org
Soprano Renée Fleming will headline the performance “Renée Fleming & Friends” on June 14.
(Andrew Eccles / Decca)
Renée Fleming & Friends Broadway and opera come together as vocalists Tituss Burgess, Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller join the legendary soprano for a one-night-only concert presented by L.A. Opera. When Fleming appeared in the musical “Light in the Piazza” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2019, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that the singer “delivers the goods in the show’s climax … Sound and sense are at last joined, making the distinction between Broadway and opera irrelevant.” (The performance is still planned as originally scheduled. Please check with L.A. Opera for updates.) 7:30 p.m. Friday. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org
Poster for the movie “The Bull-Dogger” starring actor Bill Pickett,1925. Lithograph on paper.
(Autry Museum)
Black Cowboys: An American Story Beyoncé earned accolades (including her first best album Grammy) for “Cowboy Carter,” bringing the iconography of the Black West to the mainstream. For those whose appetites have been whetted for more, this exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West, conceived and organized by the Witte Museum in San Antonio, delivers a deep dive into that underreported slice of history. Tales of how Black men and women deployed their equestrian skills to great effect as they tamed and trained horses, tended livestock and embarked on cattle drives across the country come to life through historical and contemporary objects, photographs and personal recollections. The Autry’s presentation also highlights Hollywood’s influence on the Black cowboy image with movie memorabilia, including vintage film posters and the costumes used in the 2021 Netflix film “The Harder They Fall.” Saturday through Jan. 4. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org
Culture news
Denzel Washington, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal attend the “Othello” Broadway production media day at Tavern on the Green on Feb. 10 in New York.
(C.J. Rivera / Invision / Associated Press)
“Broadway finally got its groove back. The 2024-25 season was the highest-grossing season on record and the second-highest in terms of attendance,” Times theater critic Charles McNultywrites in a column about last Sunday’s Tony Awards. That resurgence could be attributed to the many high-powered film and television stars on New York stages including George Clooney, Kieran Culkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel Washington, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Snook — but the real reason audiences flocked to live theater this season, McNulty concludes, was “unadulterated theatrical fearlessness.”
The Smithsonian Institution’s standoff with President Trumptook a new turn Monday evening when the Smithsonian issued a statement that could be read as a rejection of Trump’s late-May firing of National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet. The Smithsonian said the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian,” after a lengthy meeting by the board. This seems to imply that, for now, Sajet isn’t going anywhere.
An installation view of “The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
On Wednesday, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced a major gift of modern and contemporary drawings from longtime museum supporters Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. The collection of more than 60 works of art includes pieces by Vija Celmins, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg, Ed Ruscha, Shahzia Sikander and Cy Twombly.
“Adrien Brody’s art is horrendous. Why are some people pretending it isn’t?” senior ARTnews editor Alex Greenberger argues in a pointed, sometimes hilarious takedown of the Oscar-winning star’s paintings. “Adrien Brody has received due attention for his acting abilities: his Oscar-winning performance in last year’s film The Brutalist is the kind of work most actors would be lucky to pull off once in their lifetime. Last week, however, he started receiving undue attention for the hideous art he debuted in New York at Eden Gallery, which — based on its press coverage, anyway — is one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the summer,” the column begins. If you need a chuckle, it’s worth reading in its entirety.
The SoCal scene
Patrick Ball, from left, Ramiz Monsef and Gina Torres in “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum.
(Jeff Lorch)
Unlike his assessment of Broadway’s season, Charles McNulty wasn’t so positive about a recent L.A. theater offering. He did not enjoy director Robert O’Hara’s world-premiere adaptation of “Hamlet,” starring Patrick Ball from MAX’s hit show “The Pitt.” The new material places the story in a noir landscape in modern-day L.A. and features a second-act twist when a detective comes to investigate the play’s bloodbath a la “CSI.” “O’Hara’s audacious antics are stimulating at first, but there’s not enough dramatic interest to sustain such a grueling journey,” McNulty writes.
A massive Barbara Kruger mural titled “Questions” on the side of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary began appearing in news broadcasts and social media posts across the country as ICE protests unfolded over the weekend. This proved prophetic, since the 1990 artwork is composed of a series of pointed questions that interrogate the very nature of power and control. Read all about it here.
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Pasadena Playhouse has announced its 2025-26 season, its first since buying back its historic 1925 building. Theater lovers can gear up for the shiny new Tony Award-winning best revival of a play, “Eureka Day,” as well as Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” a world-premiere adaptation of “Brigadoon” and the novel two-person hip-hop musical, “Mexodus.”
Los Angeles city officials on Thursday carved out a curfew exemption for ticket holders of indoor events and performing arts venues downtown including the Music Center, paving the way for evening performances of Center Theatre Group’s “Hamlet” and Los Angeles Opera’s “Rigoletto.”
The news comes as Mayor Karen Bass’ 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew for the civic center area approaches its third night and arts organizations, restaurants and other businesses across the area report a drop in patrons. On Wednesday, Center Theatre Group canceled a second night of director Robert O’Hara’s world-premiere adaptation of “Hamlet” at a cost of roughly $35,000 in ticket sales per night. That’s in addition to what the company is spending on production expenses.
“At this time, Center Theatre Group, the Music Center, and the surrounding streets have not been directly impacted by protest or law enforcement activity. Our staff and artists are already on site, and we look forward to seeing you,” CTG wrote in a statement Thursday.
Major protests are planned nationwide for Saturday, when Trump’s 79th birthday coincides with the massive 250th anniversary military parade he is throwing in Washington, D.C., at a reported cost of $45 million.
One of the so-called “No Kings” protests is scheduled to take place 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of City Hall, prompting Center Theatre Group to cancel its Saturday matinee and evening performances of “Hamlet.” Other events scheduled for that day and night have been been postponed, including a show by the rock band Ozomatli that’s part of the Grand Performances series at California Plaza, and a Metro Art event called Bollywood Express at Union Station.
The Broad museum, adjacent to the Music Center, said it will close all weekend. “The safety and well-being of our visitors and staff continues to be our highest priority,” the museum said in a statement.
L.A. Opera, however, issued a mid-afternoon news release announcing the curfew exemption and noting that “Rigoletto,” scheduled to run from 7:30 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, would go on as planned. The company also is moving forward with its Saturday “Renée Fleming and Friends” concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
“Attendees will need to leave the theater immediately afterward without lingering on the Music Center campus,” the release said, adding that guests may need to prove their attendance at the show if stopped by law enforcement. “All ticket holders should have their tickets with them while in the area, either printed, digital or as a screen shot of the ticket.”
The release also says that people should avoid driving through downtown from the south, where much of the military activity is centered.
A representative for L.A. Opera acknowledged that given the circumstances, ticket holders may choose not to show up. They will be allowed to exchange their tickets for one of the remaining performances June 15, 18 or 21; or they can request a refund from the box office.
Can someone explain to me what, exactly, Dr. Phil has to do with immigration policy or constitutional law in these United States?
Many outrageous and unsettling things happened in Los Angeles over the weekend. On Friday, multiple immigration raids, in downtown’s Fashion District and outside a Home Depot in Paramount, sparked a not unusual response that led to police involvement, during which many, including union official David Huerta, were arrested.
Ostensibly dissatisfied with the handling of the situation, President Trump, over objections from both L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, made the highly unusual — and potentially illegal — decision to send in the National Guard. Tensions escalated and by Sunday, portions of L.A. freeways were shut down as some protesters and/or outside agitators vandalized downtown stores, defaced buildings, hurled rocks from downtown overpasses onto law enforcement vehicles and set fire to a few Waymo cars. Trump’s border advisor, Tom Homan, threatened to arrest Newsom if citizens of this sanctuary state continued to interfere with immigration raids, and Newsom publicly dared him to do it, adding that California would be suing the Trump administration for making the situation worse by sending in the National Guard. On Monday, Homan appeared to backtrack on his threat while Trump said he would support it.
It was both a little — no one should have been surprised that ICE raids in L.A. would spark protests and these were, relatively speaking, small and nonviolent — and a lot. Sending in the National Guard was an obvious military flex, designed to to bait Angelenos while perhaps distracting Americans from Trump’s far greater troubles.
But nothing said “this is a made-for-TV event brought to you by the same reality-star-led administration that proposed making legal immigration into a television competition” as the presence of Phil McGraw. Who, after being embedded with ICE officials during raids in Chicago earlier this year, spent some of this weekend kicking it with Homan in L.A.’s Homeland Security headquarters.
As first reported by CNN’s Brian Stelter, Dr. Phil was there to get “a first-hand look” at the targeted operations and an “exclusive” interview with Homan for “Dr. Phil Primetime” on MeritTV, part of Merit Street Media, which McGraw owns.
Dr. Phil is, for the record, neither a journalist nor an immigration or domestic policy expert. He isn’t even a psychologist anymore, having let his license to practice (which he never held in California) lapse years ago.
He is instead a television personality and outspoken Trump supporter who was on hand to … I honestly don’t know what. Provide psychological support to Homan as he threatened to arrest elected officials for allowing citizens to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech while using local law enforcement to prevent any violence or destruction of property that might occur? Offer Homan another platform on which he could explain why Trump is breaking his own vow to target only those undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crime?
Or maybe just provide a familiar face to help normalize rounding up people from their workplaces and off the street and sending in the National Guard when this doesn’t appear to be happening smoothly enough.
There is, of course, the chance that McGraw asked Homan some tough questions. In a clip from the interview posted on X, he appears to begin his interview by asking what exactly happened this “busy” weekend in L.A. Homan replies that multiple law enforcement agencies were “looking for at-large criminals” and serving search warrants as part of a larger money laundering investigation, including at one company where “we knew about half of their employees were illegally in the United States” and in “service of those warrants, we arrested 41 illegal aliens.”
Still, after years of claiming to be nonpolitical, McGraw gave the president a full-throated endorsement at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in 2024 while denouncing diversity initiatives. McGraw said the name of his media company pays homage to Americans who made it “on hard work … not on equal outcomes or DEI.”
McGraw’s presence during immigration raids, and his choice as the person who should interview Homan even as things escalated in L.A., would seem downright weird if it weren’t so politically perilous. Merit Street Media is one of a growing number of new news outlets claiming to offer “fresh perspective” on “American values” while hewing almost exclusively to Trump’s MAGA message and offering “safe spaces” to conservatives. Then-presidential candidate Trump told Dr. Phil in August — in reference to those involved in his felony conviction — “revenge can be justified” and that he would win California if Jesus were counting the ballots.
Using McGraw as a platform to explain Trump and Homan’s divisive immigration policy and incendiary decision in L.A. most certainly underlines the criticism that these raids, and the fallout they will inevitably cause particularly in sanctuary states and cities, are being conducted with maximum spectacle awareness. If McGraw isn’t a direct part of the policy, he appears to be a big part of its publicity.
Which is a bit alarming. Over the years, McGraw has been criticized about his treatment of guests (some of whom sued) and staff. In 2020, he issued an apology for comparing the mounting deaths from COVID-19 to the (far smaller) number of deaths due to drowning in swimming pools.
After his fellow Oprah alum, Dr. Mehmet Oz, ran for the Senate last year, McGraw shrugged off the notion that he would ever follow suit, saying he “doesn’t know enough about it.” “When you start talking to me about geopolitics and all the things that go into that — I’m a neophyte, I don’t think I would be competent to do that.”
Nor is there any indication that he is well-versed in immigration or constitutional law. If Trump and Homan honestly wanted a recognizable TV brand to help walk Americans through the legal complications of what happened in L.A. over the weekend, they should have asked Judge Judy.
In the overcast light — on a chilly, gray Monday morning in June — a cluster of city workers quietly gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall to assess the damage.
After thousands of demonstrators converged downtown over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants in the country without documentation, the granite walls of the towering Art Deco seat of city government was marked up with fresh graffiti, with the same four-letter expletive preceding the word “ICE” in about a dozen places.
On the south and west sides of City Hall, about a dozen windows were smashed. At least 17 glass-covered light boxes surrounding the structure were busted, with broken shards of blue-gray glass covering the light fixtures.
On the front steps, insults daubed in spray paint were directed at both Mayor Karen Bass and President Trump.
The vandalism and graffiti stretched out block after block across downtown Los Angeles: “Remove Trumps head!!” was scrawled on the front facade of the Los Angeles County Law Library. The T-Mobile store on South Broadway had several windows boarded up, and glass still littered the sidewalk. Spent canisters, labeled “exact impact,” lay on the ground at various intersections.
The former Los Angeles Times building was scrawled with expletives, along with the words: “Immigrants rule the world.” The doors to its historic Globe Lobby were shattered, with graffiti on the large globe inside and across the building’s facade: “Return the homies” and “Trump is scum.”
But few Angelenos appeared outraged by the destruction.
“It’s kind of the usual. We always have protests,” said Eileen Roman as she walked her dog near Grand Central Market.
As the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, she said she understood why people were protesting. Although she didn’t plan to join them on the streets, she said, she would be involved on social media.
“I think we all are concerned about what’s going on,” Roman, 32, said of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Thomas Folland, a downtown resident and art history professor at Los Angeles Mission College, also said he wasn’t particularly concerned by the graffiti and vandalism he saw Monday morning.
“I was curious to see what the aftermath was this morning,” Folland said, noting that it was a particularly loud night at his apartment. But so far, he said, it wasn’t anything that worried him — though he noted his apartment building did start boarding up its windows in anticipation of what might come later this week.
“I’m not that offended by graffiti,” Folland said. “This is at least a genuine community expression.”
Sunday marked the third day of protests in downtown Los Angeles after federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested immigrants at a Home Depot parking lot, L.A.’s Garment District, and several other locations on Friday.
As President Trump ordered the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the city, tensions escalated Sunday. Demonstrators blocked the 101 Freeway, set self-driving cars ablaze and hurled incendiary devices — and, in some cases, chunks of concrete — at law enforcement officers. Police, in turn, wielded tear gas and rubber bullets.
At 8:56 p.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a social media post that “agitators have splintered” throughout downtown and an unlawful assembly had been declared for the Civic Center area.
“Residents, businesses and visitors to the Downtown Area should be alert and report any criminal activity,” LAPD Central Division said on X. “Officers are responding to several different locations to disperse crowds.”
About half an hour later, the LAPD expanded its unlawful assembly across downtown Los Angeles. By 10:23 p.m., police said business owners were reporting that stores were being broken into and burglarized in the area of 6th Street and Broadway.
“All DTLA businesses or residents are requested to report any vandalism, damage or looting to LAPD Central Division so that it can be documented by an official police report,” LAPD Central Division said just before midnight. “Please photograph all vandalism and damage prior to clean up.”
Eric Wright and his wife, Margaux Cowan-Banker, vacationers from Knoxville, Tenn., were on a jog Monday morning downtown and paused to take photos — past scores of police vehicles — of the graffiti-covered Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St., which houses offices for ICE, the IRS, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies.
There was egg on the exterior walls and spray-painted slogans with expletives.
“When tyranny becomes law,” one graffiti said, “rebellion becomes duty,”
The couple — who laughed about being red-state denizens in L.A. during this time — said the peaceful protesters, of which they saw many Sunday night, didn’t bother them.
Though “the graffiti is tough — I appreciate the sentiment, but someone’s gotta clean it up,” said Wright, a 37-year-old physical therapist.
“But a few graffiti-ists don’t make the protest, right?”
As dawn broke Monday, city crews had already fanned out across downtown, cleaning up the aftermath.
Several yellow city street sweepers drove up and down Los Angeles Street in front of the federal courthouse, between blooming purple jacarandas and scores of police vehicles from various SoCal cities.
Just before 9 a.m., two workers from C. Erwin Piper Technical Center carried planks of plywood to City Hall to board up the windows. When they were done, they told The Times, they planned to head across the street to repair the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters.
Members of the National Guard were stationed outside the federal detention center and downtown Los Angeles V.A. clinic at Alameda and Temple streets, and police cars blocked roads around the federal buildings.
A person in a silver SUV — their head entirely covered by a white balaclava — drove by the barricade at Commercial and Alameda streets, window down. They flipped off the officers standing nearby.
Some stores that were typically open on a Monday morning remained shuttered, including Blue Bottle Coffee. But others, including Grand Central Market, were already buzzing with customers.
Octavio Gomez, a supervisor with the DTLA Alliance, quickly rolled black paint onto a wall next to Grand Central Market that had been newly covered in graffiti.
“Today’s a bad day because of … last night,” Gomez said, noting his teams had been working since 5 a.m. to respond to the damage across the city. “It’s all going to come back, right? Because there’s still protests.”
For the couple from Knoxville, the juxtaposition between their weekend in L.A. and news coverage of the protests felt bizarre.
They had an idyllic Los Angeles Sunday — a food festival, the L.A. Pride March in Hollywood, a visit to Grand Central Market.
But on TV and social media, Los Angeles was portrayed as a place of total chaos.
“People back where we live are going to completely be horrified,” said Cowan-Banker, a 42-year-old personal trainer. “I’m sure they think it’s a war zone here.”
But Wright said he thought people should be protesting the Trump administration: “They’re stealing people off the streets from their families,” he said, referring to the ICE raids. “This is America. To send the National Guard was intentionally inflammatory.”
“This feeds right into his voters,” Wright said of Trump.
“And they’re the people we go home to,” his wife added. “I’m kinda glad we’re here to carry information, though no one’s gonna listen.”
The couple, at the halfway point of their five-mile morning run, kept on snapping their photos, past a line of police cars.
An aide to Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado has been placed on unpaid leave after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon at an anti-ICE protest, Jurado and her staff said Monday.
Luz Aguilar, 26, who serves as Jurado’s deputy for economic innovation and community growth, was arrested around 7 p.m. Sunday and booked several hours later, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate records.
“The allegations are deeply concerning and I take them very seriously,” Jurado, who represents downtown and neighborhoods on L.A.’s Eastside, said in a statement. “While I respect the individual’s right to due process, I hold my team to the highest standards of conduct.”
Aguilar‘s father is Pasadena City Councilmember Rick Cole, who is also a high-level aide to L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia. Aguilar’s sister, 26-year-old Antonia Aguilar, was arrested at the same time, records show.
Both were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Jurado said Luz Aguilar — who is listed in inmate records as AguilarCole — has been placed on unpaid leave while the council office assesses the facts and considers “appropriate action.” Although Aguilar was accused of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon, “it’s a developing situation,” said Lisa Marroquin, a spokesperson for Jurado.
Marroquin could not say which law enforcement agency the officer was from.
Cole, in a text message, said Monday that he did not yet have information on the allegations. A day earlier, while appearing at an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement rally in Pasadena, he said the fight against the immigration arrests was personal to him.
“I’ve just seen pictures of my two daughters on a curb in downtown Los Angeles in handcuffs [with] the LAPD,” he said at the rally. “So I’m going to be figuring out where they are so I can go bail them out.”
Protests against federal immigration raids continued to rage Sunday after President Trump ordered the National Guard to Southern California. Some demonstrators in downtown L.A. dropped rocks from a freeway overpass onto police cruisers, while others vandalized government buildings, burned Waymo cars or burglarized businesses.
Mejia, Cole’s boss, is an outspoken critic of the Los Angeles Police Department. On Friday, Mejia voiced concerns about the presence of LAPD officers “within the vicinity of ICE raids.”
Mejia said he has asked for the department to turn over information about the financial impact of the raids on police resources. L.A. declared itself a “sanctuary” city last year, and Police Chief Jim McDonnell has repeatedly said that the LAPD is not involved in “civil immigration enforcement,” pointing to a decades-old policy.
“LAPD’s presence raises serious questions about whether we are abiding by our City’s mandate as a Sanctuary City and is a cause for concern and confusion regarding LAPD’s role,” Mejia said in a statement on social media.
An LAPD spokesperson did not have any details on the arrests when reached by The Times.
Jurado, a former tenant rights attorney, won a seat on the 15-member council in November. During the campaign, she described herself as an abolitionist — someone who supports the abolition of police and prisons.
During the campaign’s final weeks, Jurado was heard on a recording telling college students, “F— the police, that’s how I see ‘em.” She later issued a statement downplaying her remark, saying it was “just a lyric” from a rap song.
The City Council has scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the federal immigration raids — including “related threats to public service and facilities” — and has left open the possibility of a closed-door meeting with McDonnell on that topic.
