historic

With the ongoing fracas over President Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing, a number of other Trump administration-led attempts to remake the architectural landscape of Washington, D.C., have flown largely under the radar. This includes the sale and possible demolition of the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, which was completed in 1940 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Part of what makes the building so beloved is a series of 1942 frescoes by Ben Shahn titled “The Meaning of Social Security,” commissioned as part of the Roosevelt administration’s robust New Deal art program. In a recent article in the New Republic, architectural historian Gray Brechin is quoted as calling the Cohen building, “a kind of Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.”

The structure, originally known as the Social Security Administration Building, has served as the headquarters for Voice of America since 1954. In March, Trump signed an executive order cutting funding for the agency that oversees VOA, and most of its staff was placed on administrative leave. In June, more than 600 VOA employees received layoff notices, and the service basically shut down.

At the beginning of this year, Congress agreed to sell the Cohen building, which had been suffering from major maintenance issues. The scope of the threat to the building became clear earlier this month when Bloomberg reported that “The White House is independently soliciting bids to recommend the demolition of the historic buildings [including the Cohen building], without the input of the General Services Administration, which maintains government buildings.”

A petition on Change.org now seeks to oppose the new “accelerated disposal” program.

“Federal properties can be sold quickly with limited public input. As powerful interests move in haste to sell this historic building, we call for the process to be paused and conducted with transparency, respect, and public participation,” the petition, which has garnered more than 4,700 signatures, states.

The Shahn frescoes aren’t the only precious New Deal artworks in danger. Other art housed in the Cohen building include murals by Seymour Fogel and Philip Guston.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt wondering when enough is enough. Here’s your arts news for the week.

On our radar

Grant Gershon conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

(Jamie Phan / Los Angeles Master Chorale)

Disney Hall-e-lu-jah
It’s hard to imagine the holidays without music, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale has three days of caroling and chorusing that should lift anyone’s seasonal spirits. A new addition to the choir’s traditional offerings is the family-friendly “Carols for Kids” (11 a.m. Saturday. Walt Disney Concert Hall), featuring Youth Chorus LA and designed for even the squirmiest children, 6 and under. That will be followed by the “Festival of Carols” (2 p.m. Saturday. Disney Hall), a program of global holiday music. The group’s performance of “Handel’s Messiah” (7 p.m. Sunday. Disney Hall) is a worthy centerpiece of any celebration. If you’re ready to have your own voice be heard, “Carols on the Plaza” (6 p.m. Monday, across the street at the Music Center’s Jerry Moss Plaza), is your chance to join in on free outdoor caroling with family, friends and fellow Angelenos. Festivities conclude with the Master Chorale’s “Messiah Sing-Along” (7:30 p.m. Monday) back at Disney Hall where 2,000 voices will unite for the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
— Kevin Crust
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave.; Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. lamasterchorale.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
The Fruit Cake Follies
In its 27th year, this madcap holiday variety show promises “music, mirth and merriment.”
8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with dinner at 6:30 p.m.; 1 p.m Sunday, with brunch at 11 a.m. Catalina Jazz Club, 6725 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood. catalinajazzclub.com

Guadalupe Maravilla: A Performance
Expanding on his solo exhibition “Les soñadores,” the transdisciplinary artist creates a collective ritual combining sound, vibration and healers from around the world alongside L.A.-based artists.
8 p.m. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org

Piotr Beczala
The Polish-born tenor, known for his work in opera and the classical vocal canon, performs, accompanied by conductor and pianist Kamal Khan.
7:30 p.m. Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica broadstage.org

“Wet” by Sahar Khoury at Parker Gallery, 2025

(Sahar Khoury / Parker Gallery)

Sahar Khoury
The interdependence of materials and their social and cultural environments inspired the sculptor’s newest solo exhibition, “Wet,” a series of pieces created from ceramic, steel, iron, brass and aluminum.
11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday, through Jan. 17. Parker Gallery, 6700 Melrose Ave. parkergallery.com

SATURDAY
Christmas Joy Concert
The free Third@First concert series continues with a program of carols, classic and new.
4 p.m. First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, 500. E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. thirdatfirst.org

Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps in the romantic drama “Love & Basketball.”

(New Line Cinema)

Love & Basketball
Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood marks the 25th anniversary of her modern romance classic, starring Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, Alfre Woodard and Dennis Haysbert.
7 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

The cast of “Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet.”

(Konstantin Viktorov / Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet)

Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet
This 80-plus city tour offers a distinct blend of classical ballet with avant-garde circus techniques and global influences, complete with 10-foot-tall animal puppets constructed by Roger Titley. For its 33rd year on the road, the production adds a new character: Sweets the Dog, created by Barry Gordemer of the award-winning puppeteer studio Handemonium.
— Ashley Lee
Noon, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles; and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. nutcracker.com

SUNDAY
Collecting Impressionism at LACMA
This new exhibition traces how the museum built its collection and its pursuit of legitimacy through early acquisitions of American and California Impressionism and donations of paintings by Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro from major Hollywood collectors.
Through Jan. 3, 2027. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

Actor Taylor Nichols, left, and director Whit Stillman at a 20th anniversary screening of “Metropolitan” at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

(Jemal Countess / Getty Images)

Metropolitan
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 35 years since the young socialites of the “urban haute bourgeoisie” entered our consciousness via filmmaker Whit Stillman’s delightfully droll film and its banter-driven, Oscar-nominated screenplay. Stillman and actor Taylor Nichols will be on hand for a Q&A with the screening.
2 p.m. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com

WEDNESDAY

Aloe Blacc and Maya Jupiter host the 2025 L.A. County Holiday Celebration.

(Music Center)

L.A. County Holiday Celebration
The Music Center’s annual spectacular features more than 20 local music ensembles, choirs and dance companies. The free, ticketed event will also be broadcast on PBS SoCal. Aloe Blacc and Maya Jupiter are this year’s hosts.
3-6 p.m. Dec. 24. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. musiccenter.org

— Kevin Crust

Dispatch: A director with a human touch

Cameron Watson is the new artistic director of Skylight Theatre Company.

(David Zaugh)

Stage director Cameron Watson has one of the best batting averages in town.

His productions of “The Sound Inside” at Pasadena Playhouse, “On the Other Hand, We’re Happy” for Rogue Machine Theatre at the Matrix and “Top Girls” at Antaeus Theatre Company were morale-boosting for a critic in the trenches, offering proof that serious, humane, highly intelligent and happily unorthodox drama was alive and well in Los Angeles.

Watson’s appointment as artistic director of Los Feliz’s Skylight Theatre Company starting Jan. 1 is good news for the city’s theater ecology. Producing artistic director Gary Grossman, who led the company for 40 years with enormous integrity, built the small but ambitious Skylight into an incubator of new work that embraces diversity and the local community.

Developing new plays is fraught with risk. Watson has the both the artistic acumen and audience sensitivity needed to usher Skylight through this perilous moment in the American theater when so many companies seem to be holding on by a thread.

Watson, like Peter Brook before him, knows how to convert an empty space into a realm of magic and meaning. For Watson, the play’s the thing. But for the spark to happen, actors and audience members need a director as intuitively attuned to the uncertain human drama as Skylight Theatre Company’s new leader. (The director’s current production of “Heisenberg” at Skylight ends Sunday.)

— Charles McNulty

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Moving in stereo
The most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history, “Stereophonic,” is playing at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre through Jan. 2. Times theater critic Charles McNulty caught opening night and wrote that the first touring production fails to capture the high notes of the Broadway original. A few days later, I sat down for an interview at Amoeba Records with Will Butler, the former Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist who wrote the music for the show. Our interview took place before Butler got onstage with the cast of the show for a short live in-store performance.

Live from L.A., it’s Ben Platt
McNulty also attended opening night of Ben Platt’s 10-day residency at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, noting that Platt, “wears both his nervous diffidence and his blazing talent on his sleeve.”

Boiling in Brooklyn
Brooklyn was also on McNulty’s itinerary, where he saw Michelle Williams in the new revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie” at St. Ann’s Warehouse. “Michelle Williams seems to have unlimited emotional access. Her inner intensity expresses itself in a frenzy of volcanic feeling that can never be tamped down once it reaches its boiling point,” McNulty writes.

Zakir Hussain tribute
Times classical music critic Mark Swed headed to the Nimoy Theatre in Westwood to watch tabla player Salar Nader perform with the Third Coast Percussion ensemble. The show celebrated the group’s collaboration with the late Zakir Hussain’s “Murmurs in Time,” which was the tabla legend’s last work.

The name game
The Kennedy Center continued its Trump-era transformation Thursday after the board voted unanimously to rename the world-famous performing arts venue The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. It remains unclear if the move is legal, or if the name change will need to be made official via an act of Congress.

Viva Las Vegas
I got a look at newly revealed architectural plans for the Las Vegas Museum of Art, which is expected to break ground in 2027. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Diébédo Francis Kéré is designing the city’s first freestanding museum and says his ideas were inspired by the red rocks and canyons of the desert surrounding Sin City.

LACMA United
Workers at Los Angeles County Museum of art voted to unionize Wednesday. The vote in favor was 96%, and came after LACMA rejected workers’ requests for voluntary recognition. Staffers have expressed disappointment in management over what they are calling its anti-union campaign.

La malchance
The Louvre is down on its luck. Maintenance issues have lately plagued the famous Paris museum, and then there was that infamous heist. Now workers have voted to strike over working conditions among other complaints.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Here’s a list that you will either love or hate (I love it): Here are the best tuna melt sandwiches in L.A. and Orange County.

SUNLOUNGERS are a staple of any beach holiday, in fact holidaymakers won’t remember a time before them.

The lounger was first established in the late 1800s and looks a lot different to how we know them – and in fact, were founded in a small town in Germany.

Warnemünde on the Baltic Coast is recognised as being the home of the first sunlounger.

In 1882, basket maker Wilhelm Bartelmann from Warnemünde had an idea to help a woman suffering from rheumatism to enjoy the beach.

Wilhelm created the chair by basket weaving to provide a protective cover from the sun and wind.

Due to the high demand, Wilhelm and his wife founded the first beach chair hire company near the lighthouse in Warnemünde.

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With the sunlounger’s success, beach chairs then popped up in seaside towns neighbouring the North and Baltic Seas.

For anyone heading to Warnemünde, you’ll still be able to find the woven-style chairs, called Strandkorb, on its beaches.

Warnemünde sits just outside of Rostock and is known for its marina and being a cruise-ship stop and it’s beach that is almost two miles long.

One recent visitors wrote of the beach on Tripadvisor: “Finest white sandy beach behind a generously laid out, wide promenade. You could fill hourglasses with this sand.”

Another called it “one of the best beaches in Europe” and a third said: “The beach in Warnemünde is one of the most beautiful beaches on the German Baltic coast.

“Everything here is open and spacious. The sand has a Caribbean feel to me. We always enjoy coming here.”

Other sites include the Warnemünde lighthouse which was used for more than 100 years.

You can visit the area around the lighthouse for free, but going up the lighthouse tower costs a small fee.

Visitors can then climb up 135 steps to the top for panoramic views over the coast.

Other places to explore is the teapot-shaped building called Teepott with restaurants, cafés, and souvenir shops, and Alter Strom, which was the old trade route into Rostock.

Now it’s lined with fishing boats and on the shore are seafood restaurants, and cafes.

While there are no flights to Warnemünde, you can easily get there via water as plenty of cruises make a stop there.

P&O Cruises offers two itineraries around Northern Europe and Scandinavia that makes a stop in the German port town.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines also offers a route to Warnemünde for example on its ‘Enchanting Landmarks of the Baltic’.

It starts from Copenhagen to Warnemünde, Gdansk, Klaipeda, Riga and Tallinn.

For more breaks in Germany, this is a European island Brits won’t have heard of that’s like ‘travelling to the 1970s’ with white sand beaches and beer tours.

And here’s a tiny European holiday island that used to be a spa resort where cars are banned.

I LOVES the ’Diff – that’s a phrase I wasn’t familiar with until last weekend.

This won’t be news to our Welsh readers but, for my fellow English, it means “I love Cardiff”.

And after spending a festive weekend there, I really do.

I went with my husband and our two girls to visit the Welsh capital’s Christmas light trail in Bute Park.

We’ve done similar excursions nearer to home, but this was on a whole different level.

Snaking its way around the beautiful grounds of Cardiff Castle – which is well worth a visit, too – is a mile-long wonderland of dreamy lights, mind-bending LED tunnels and laser displays that leave you awestruck.

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Each of the trail’s 15 magical segments, with names such as Water Willow and Rainbow Riot, is as breathtaking as the last.

And the interactive elements at many of the stops will delight children and big kids alike.

For the mothers and fathers, I counted three refreshment stops along the way, serving mulled wine and pints of local beer.

And there’s all manner of hot food in the Christmas Village, served up by local traders, and including Oh My Sausage, Let’s Wrap fried chicken and Cattle & Co.

Of course, my girls, Flo, five, and Phillie, three, were far more interested in the marshmallow toasting stations and an opportunity to post a letter to Father Christmas.

Emerging from the trail, you are bang in the middle of The ’Diff.

I can’t believe I never visited in my twenties – because Cardiff likes to party.

Think bustling streets, live music in the air and revellers in fancy dress but not being too rowdy.

Our base was the imposing Voco St David’s hotel, which looms large like a ship’s sail over the rejuvenated Cardiff Bay area. Commanding stunning views, the hotel is ideal for families because it’s slightly away from the city centre – which I imagine can get a little hectic the longer the night wears on – but still offers plenty to see and do nearby.

Once a hub for trading ships, the docks are now home to shops, restaurants and museums.

A must-visit is The Dock bar and restaurant which serves elevated gastropub classics, including traditional Welsh cawl – a delicious lamb stew.

We had a fantastic meal there while watching Wales take on South Africa on home soil in Autumn Nations rugby.

The result didn’t go Wales’ way –  to put it lightly – but even that didn’t dampen the spirits of the locals, who continued to dance to the live band long after the final whistle.

Speaking of rugby, the South African squad were also staying at the St David’s hotel. It created one hell of a buzz, and I got to see my husband star-struck for the first time.

Dinner that night was in the hotel’s Tir a Mor (Land and Sea) restaurant.

The food was excellent and, for the ladies, the view was just as nice as the South African rugby players drifted in and out.

But that was just the cherry on top of what was an all-round magical weekend with the family.

All I can say is that we will be going back  . . . and that I loves The ’Diff.

A NEW tourist attraction tucked under railway arches, is coming to the UK.

The Weir Mill development in Stockport, near Manchester, will be located under the town’s iconic railway viaduct.

The Grade-II listed mill will be transformed to feature street food pop-ups, parties, al fresco dining areas and host live music and entertainment.

In the new attraction, there will be a number of different food and drink venues including 10 new bars, restaurants and cafes.

In total, there will be 6,000sqm of outdoor space with planted areas, a riverside terrace and a courtyard at the heart of the destination.

The attraction will be split into six distinct areas: Weir Mill East, The Courtyard, Weavers Square, West Shed, The Waterfront and Wheelhouse, and finally, Chestergate and King Street West.

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At Weir Mill East there will be a rooftop terrace and cafe.

Then at The Courtyard, there will be a number of planted areas with seating as well.

Weavers Square will be the focal point of the development, sat underneath the viaduct and where the markets and pop-ups will take place.

West Shed will be an indoor space with red brick and vaulted ceilings, where people can sit with their laptop and a coffee.

The Waterfront and Wheelhouse will then be an area great for viewing the viaduct itself, with the Wheelhouse converted into a resident gym, lounge and working space.

And finally, at Chestergate and King Street West is where visitors will find most of the stores as well as the trans-pennine way cycle path running alongside this part of the site.

Many of the buildings at the development will feature the same red colour as the machinery found at the mill.

The new destination, which is set to be completed next spring, will also feature 253 homes.

Councillor Micheala Meikle, Stockport Council cabinet member for economy, skills and regeneration, said: “Our town centre regeneration is about more than building new homes, it’s about creating vibrant neighbourhoods and breathing new life into Stockport’s heritage, giving our historic buildings a future.

“While the Grade-II listed former mill is being carefully restored for residents, the new public square will create opportunities for independent businesses to thrive and for people from across the borough to come and enjoy our buzzing town centre.

“It’s incredibly exciting to see how our riverside will soon be opened up into an inviting outdoor space where communities can come together over great food, live music, and creative events from day to night.”

The first food and drink venues at the destination are set to be announced soon.

Weir Mill on the River Mersey in Stockport, dates back to 1790 when it was used as a cotton works.

During the 19th century, the importance of the mill grew as it became a key part of Stockport’s industrialisation.

In 1840, the Stockport Viaduct was then built over the mill and has since become a historic landmark.

In other tourist attraction news, the exciting new hotels, attractions and festivals coming to the UK’s seaside towns and cities next year.

Plus, the top 15 UK attractions for 2025 revealed.

After finishing on top of their group in the opening round of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup, Palestine will look to continue their historic run when they face Saudi Arabia at Lusail Stadium on Thursday.

The Palestinian side also defied the odds to reach the knockout stages of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time earlier this year.

Having already beaten hosts and favourites Qatar, who were subsequently eliminated at the group stage, Palestine must now overcome a Saudi Arabia side that produced a shock at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup when they defeated the eventual champions, Argentina.

A HISTORIC English train station is set to close this Sunday – and it won’t reopen for another two years.

A new, modernised station will re-open 200 metres west from its current location.

Ravensthorpe station, near Dewsbury, will be shutting down from Sunday, December 14 until the summer of 2028.

Passengers traveling between Ravensthorpe and Dewsbury will be offered a rail replacement bus service during the closure, but should plan their journeys.

The new Ravensthorpe station will have a footbridge with lifts for step-free access, along with a new forecourt and drop-off facilities.

The revamped forecourt will make it easier for cars to drop off passengers, while a longer island platform means larger trains and more seats for commuters.

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The project is part of the massive Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) which is tasked with rebuilding huge chunks of the northern rail network.

Engineers are putting in a new four-track railway through the old and new station sites, plus a brand-new Baker Viaduct.

Once finished, it’ll let faster trains overtake slower ones, cutting journey times between Manchester, Leeds and York.

Overhead line equipment will also be installed throughout the area which will power greener, electric trains in the future.

Ravensthorpe is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England.

The village has a single shop, a pub (the Chequers), a playing field, a small park and a woodland maintained by the Woodland Trust.

Andrew Campbell, TRU Sponsor, said: “The upcoming closure of Ravensthorpe station marks the beginning of an important phase for the programme, as work intensifies until summer 2028.

“The station area, known as Ravensthorpe triangle, has already seen a great deal of progress, and is currently one of the biggest civil-engineering sites in the North.

“Work already underway includes the installation of concrete beams to form the new Calder Road bridge and the installation of piers for the new Baker Viaduct.

“Both of which are helping enable major track realignment work for more reliable, smoother journeys across the Pennines.

“We’d like to thank the local community for their understanding as we deliver a modernised Ravensthorpe station which will support better rail travel across the region.”

Coming off of the massive box office success of “Wicked: For Good,” Cynthia Erivo is also making history.

Erivo was nominated for a Golden Globe for lead actress in a musical or comedy on Monday morning, marking her second nod. She received her first nomination just a year ago for “Wicked.”

With the two nominations, Erivo became the first Black woman to be recognized twice in the female actor in a musical or comedy category. The award has been given out for several decades since the Golden Globes split the acting categories by genre in 1951.

A handful of Black women have had repeat nominations in the category‘s drama counterpart, including Halle Berry and Viola Davis.

Erivo is nominated alongside Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Chase Infiniti (“One Battle After Another”), Amanda Seyfried (“The Testament of Ann Lee”) and Emma Stone (“Bugonia”).

The performer has a host of nods, awards and accolades under her belt, including Daytime Emmy, Grammy and Tony wins. She’s an Oscar away from coveted “EGOT” status and is expected to earn her fourth Academy Award nomination later this year for “Wicked: For Good.”

“Wicked: For Good” received five nominations, including one for Erivo’s co-star Ariana Grande, who is in the running in the supporting category.

Two original songs written for the film — “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble” — are nominated, and the film is up for the recently created cinematic and box office achievement category, but it is snubbed for best musical or comedy. Director Jon M. Chu was also left out in the directing category.

The Golden Globe Awards return to the Beverly Hilton on Jan. 11. The ceremony starts at 5 p.m. PT. Viewers can watch live on CBS or stream live on Paramount+.