honors

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded America’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the slain activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right.

The ceremony coincided with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. It came just over a month after the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University.

In a sign of Kirk’s close ties to the administration, he was the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Trump’s second term. The president also spoke at at Kirk’s funeral in September, calling him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom, while Vice President JD Vance accompanied his body home to Arizona on Air Force Two along with Kirk’s widow, Erika.

“We’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon.

Of Kirk’s killing, Trump said: “He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentless fighting for a better and stronger America.”

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Kennedy in 1963 for individuals making exceptional contributions to the country’s security or national interests or to world peace, or being responsible for significant cultural endeavors or public and private initiatives.

Tuesday’s event followed Trump returning to the U.S. in the predawn hours after a whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt to celebrate a ceasefire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that his administration was instrumental in brokering.

Trump joked that he almost requested to move the ceremony because of the trip.

“I raced back halfway around the globe,” Trump said. “I was going to call Erika and say, ‘Erika, could you maybe move it to Friday? And I didn’t have the courage to call. But you know why I didn’t call? Because I heard today was Charlie’s birthday.”

Argentine President Javier Milei, who had been visiting with the president at the White House earlier, stayed to attend the ceremony.

Trump has awarded a string of presidential medals going back to his first term, including to golf legend Tiger Woods, ex-football coach Lou Holtz and conservative economist Arthur Laffer, as well as to New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, the latter of which came during the 2020 State of the Union. He awarded posthumous medals to Babe Ruth and Elvis.

This term, Trump has also announced his intentions to award the medals to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a close former advisor, and to Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s first-term secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012. Trump has praised Kirk as one of the key reasons he was reelected.

But Kirk’s politics were also often divisive. He sharply criticized gay and transgender rights while inflaming racial tensions. Kirk also repeated Trump’s false claims that former Vice President Kamala Harris was responsible for policies that encouraged immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally and called George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national debate over racial injustice, a “scumbag.”

Trump wrote in a social media post hours before the event that he was moving the ceremony from the White House’s East Room to the Rose Garden to accommodate a crowd he said would be “so big and enthusiastic.”

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

There are certain first names that are also businesses that tap into the Angeleno collective unconsciousness and bring a smile of familiarity even to those who’ve never patronized the place.

Tommy’s Burgers, especially. Frederick’s of Hollywood. Phillippe the Original. Nate’n Al’s. Lupe’s and Lucy’s.

And, of course, Leonardo’s.

The nightclub chain with five spots across Southern California has entertained patrons since 1972. Its cumbia nights, Mexican regional music performances and a general air of puro pinche parri bridged the gap in the cultural life of Latino L.A. between the days of the Million Dollar Theater and today’s corrido tumbado stars.

Its namesake, Leonardo Lopez, came to Santa Monica from Mexico in the late 1960s, at age 17, to work as a dishwasher and proceeded to create a cultural empire.

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council honored him in a celebration that reflected the joy and diversity — but especially the resilience — of Latino LA.

His family members count at least 40 businesses among them, including restaurants, banquet halls, concert venues, equestrian sports teams, political firms that work Southern California’s corridors of power, and the Pico Rivera Sports Arena, Southern California’s cathedral of Mexican horse culture. They were one of the main forces in the 2023 fight that carved out exemptions for traditional Mexican horse competitions such as charrería and escaramuza when the L.A. City Council banned rodeos.

“Our family is like a pyramid, with every person supporting each other at every level,” said Leonardo’s son, Fernando. “And my dad is at the very top.”

A resplendent celebration

He and about 40 other relatives went to Friday’s City Council meeting to see their patriarch recognized. They strode through City Hall’s august corridors in charro outfits and Stetsons, berets and hipster glasses, leopard-print blouses and sharp ties — the diversity of the Mexican American experience in an era where too many people want to demonize them.

Leonardo was the most resplendent of them all, sporting an outfit with his initials embroidered on his sleeves and his back. A silver cross on his billowing red necktie gleamed as much as his smile.

“You work and work and work to hope you do something good, and it’s a blessing when others recognize you for it,” Lopez told me in Spanish as we waited in a packed conference room for the council meeting to start. He gestured to everyone. “But this is the true blessing in my life.”

Sitting at the head of a long table, Lopez doted on his grandson but also greeted well-wishers like Esbardo Carreño. He’s a historian who works for the government of Durango, the state where Lopez was born in 1950.

“Don Leonardo came with a bigger vision than others,” Carreño said in Spanish. “But he never left his people back home,” noting how Lopez has funded restoration projects in Durango’s eponymous capital, a welcome arch at the entrance to the entrepreneur’s hometown of La Noria and more.

“My tío and dad and my other tíos made it in L.A. because there was no Plan B,” said Lopez’s nephew, Lalo Lopez. He was shepherding guests toward his uncle while also talking up a fundraiser later that evening at the Sports Arena for L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “That’s a lesson all us kids learned fast.”

Spanish-language reporters pulled Don Leonardo into the City Hall press room for an impromptu conference, where he talked about his career and offered child-rearing advice.

“Get them busy early,” he joked, “so they don’t have that free time to do bad things.”

Lopez motioned to Fernando and his son Fernando Jr. — both wearing charro suits — to join him at the podium.

“I got them to follow me” to be proud of their Mexican heritage. “Today, it’s the reverse — now I follow them!”

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez then grabbed Lopez. The meeting was about to start.

Always the sharpest-dressed member of the council, Rodriguez didn’t disappoint with a taupe-toned tejana that perfectly complemented her gray-streaked hair, black-framed glasses and white outfit.

Her introduction of Lopez was even better.

“His spaces have created a place where we [Latinos] can be authentically who we are,” said Rodriguez, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley. She praised Lopez’s life’s work as an important balm and corrective “at a time especially when our community is under attack.”

“I want to thank you, Don Leonardo, for being that example of how we can really be the force of resilience and strength in the wake of adversity,” the council member concluded. “It’s a reminder to everyone who’s feeling down that we will persevere.”

Lopez offered a few words of thanks in English, tipping his sombrero to council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who had previously honored him in 2017 when each council member recognized an immigrant entrepreneur in their district.

Harris-Dawson returned the respect.

“You are such angels in this city — L.A. is not L.A. without the Lopez family,” he said, noting how two Leonardo’s stood in his South L.A. district and “y’all never left” even as other live music venues did. Harris-Dawson told attendees how the Lopez family had long catered jazz festivals and youth sports leagues without ever asking for anything in return.

“The only time I’ve seen you closed was that weekend of the terrible ICE raids,” Harris-Dawson said. “And you all were back the next week ready to go and you had security out. … Thank you all for treating us like family.”

The Lopez clan gathered around their jefe at the podium for one final photo op. Doctors and contractors, retirees and high schoolers: an all-American family and as Angeleno as they come. See ustedes soon at — where else? — Leonardo’s.

Today’s top stories

Colorado River water flows in the Central Arizona Project aqueduct beside a neighborhood in Phoenix.

(Kelvin Kuo / Los Angeles Times)

The dwindling Colorado River

• A group of experts say Western states urgently need to cut water use to avert a deepening crisis on the Colorado River.
• The river’s major reservoirs are less than one-third full, and another dry winter would push reservoirs toward critically low levels.
• They say the Trump administration should act to ensure reductions in water use.

Trump’s $1.2-billion call to remake UCLA

• A Times review of the Trump administration’s settlement proposal to UCLA lays out sweeping demands on numerous aspects of campus life.
• The government has fined UCLA nearly $1.2 billion to settle allegations of civil rights violations.
• Hiring, admissions and the definitions of gender are among the areas the Department of Justice seeks to change.

A looming fight over vaccines

• After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted vaccine experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California is now making its own vaccine guidance.
• The CDC is no longer a trusted source for vaccine guidance, some experts now say.
• California and medical groups are urging more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 compared with the Trump administration.

Your utility bills

The Emmys were last night

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

• There will be cooling in all L.A. rentals by 2032. Here’s how contributors Sophia M. Charan and Hye Min Park suggest you survive the heat until then.
• Wait, what happened to saving the children? California columnist Anita Chabria points out that California congressmen dodge the issue.

This morning’s must-read

Other must-reads

For your downtime

(Amir Mrzae / For The Times)

Going out

Staying in

And finally … your photo of the day

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben of ctor Kathy Bates on the red carpet at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. See Allen’s photos from the awards show here.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff writer
Diamy Wang, homepage intern
Izzy Nunes, audience intern
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is offering military funeral honors for Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed at 35 by an officer in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Babbitt was a U.S. Air Force veteran from California who was shot dead wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol.

Offering military honors to one of the Capitol rioters is part of President Trump’s attempts to rewrite that chapter after the 2020 election as a patriotic stand, given he still denies he lost that election. Babbitt has gained martyr status among Republicans, and the Trump administration agreed to pay just under $5 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit that her family filed over her shooting.

Matthew Lohmeier, an undersecretary of the Air Force, said on X that the decision was “long overdue,” and shared a post from a conservative legal group that was advocating for Babbitt’s family. The group, Judicial Watch, said the family had requested military honors from former President Biden’s administration and had been denied.

In a statement, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said that “after reviewing the circumstances” of Babbitt’s death, military funeral honors were offered to the family. Babbitt was a senior airman.

The post shared by Lohmeier included a link to a letter the Air Force under secretary wrote to Babbitt’s family, inviting them to meet him at the Pentagon.

“After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect,” the Aug. 15 letter read.

United States President Donald Trump has unveiled his slate of picks for the Kennedy Center Honors, an annual awards show designed to honour actors, musicians, designers and creative professionals who have dedicated their lives to the performing arts.

On Wednesday, Trump appeared on stage at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, one of the premier stages in Washington, DC, in a show of power over the national cultural institution.

“We’ll make it better than it ever was, frankly,” he said of the awards show. “ It’ll be something that people are going to be very proud of.”

This year’s five honourees include disco singer Gloria Gaynor, country music performer George Strait, the rock band Kiss, British comedian Michael Crawford and actor Sylvester Stallone, star of the classic films Rocky and Rambo.

Trump, a former reality TV star, also revealed that he would host the award show himself. In his opening remarks, he suggested his allies strong-armed him into taking the hosting gig.

“I’ve been asked to host. I said, ‘I’m the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that?’” Trump said. “ So I have agreed to host. Do you believe what I have to do?”

Wednesday’s announcement was Trump’s latest foray into the arts, as he seeks to reshape the US’s cultural institutions to reflect his agenda.

Exerting power over the Kennedy Center

During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican leader never attended the Kennedy Center Honors, breaking with a longtime presidential tradition.

Since the ceremony’s beginnings in 1978, presidents have been regular attendees, except in rare cases, including Cold War-era negotiations and the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

But since returning to the White House for a second term in January, Trump has not only sought to make his presence known at the Kennedy Center, but he has also sought to wield power over its programming.

On February 7, Trump announced he would purge the Kennedy Center’s governing board and declared his intention to lead the institution as its chair.

“I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump wrote at the time. “We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

By February 12, the new Kennedy Center board had made good on its promise to elect Trump as chair.

Since then, Trump has expanded his reach into the country’s arts and culture spheres. On Tuesday, for instance, his administration revealed it would undertake an “internal review” of several Smithsonian museums, to “ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism”.

Trump also teased his new vision for the Kennedy Center Honors — and appeared to troll critics who expressed outrage over Republican proposals to rename the performing arts centre after the Republican leader.

“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” Trump wrote on social media in the lead-up to Wednesday’s announcement.

He pledged the revamped award show would reflect “the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment”.

A crackdown on crime in the capital

The Kennedy Center Honors is expected to air on the TV channel CBS in December, and it broadcasts from its eponymous theatre.

In Wednesday’s speech, Trump tied the upcoming ceremony to his broader campaign to crack down on crime in Washington, DC.

“ In the coming months, we’ll fully renovate the dated and, really, the entire infrastructure of the building and make the Kennedy Center a crown jewel of American arts and culture once again,” he said.

“ We have the right location, and soon we will be a crime-free area.”

Earlier this week, Trump invoked the capital’s Home Rule Act to take control of the local police force, and he deployed members of the National Guard to patrol the city’s streets, despite the fact that violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low.

Trump, however, has denied the legitimacy of those statistics, a claim he made again at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday.

“ You’re gonna see a big change in Washington crime stats very soon — not the stats that they gave because they turned out to be a total fraud. The real stats,” he said.

Trump also faces legal limitations to his efforts: The capital’s police can only be federalised for a period of 30 days, barring congressional action.

When asked about that limit at Wednesday’s news conference, Trump indicated he would seek to retain control of Washington’s police for the long term.

“ If it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress,” Trump said, though he added that he would introduce a crime bill that would allow him to extend his control over the local police.

“ We’re going to do this very quickly, but we’re going to want extensions. I don’t want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will, but I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.”

Trump ‘very involved’ in honouree selection

The Republican leader also hinted at a potential political bent to the reimagined Kennedy Center Honors.

He has previously denounced the Kennedy Center’s programming, pledging to nix artistic productions like drag shows and book classic Broadway hits instead.

In response, over the past year, the touring production of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton cancelled its scheduled stop at the Kennedy Center, as did comedian Issa Rae and the opera Fellow Travelers.

Performers in a touring production of Les Miserables also boycotted performances at the Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s changes.

Still, Trump doubled down on the programming changes, saying his ratings success on the reality TV show The Apprentice testified to his arts-industry smarts.

“I shouldn’t make this political because they made the Academy Awards political and they went down the tubes,” Trump said on Wednesday.

“They’ll say, ‘Trump made it political,’ but I think, if we make it our kind of political, we’ll go up, OK? Let’s see if I’m right about that.”

He also confirmed that he had played a large role in selecting this year’s Kennedy Center honourees.

“I would say I was about 98-percent involved. No, they all went through me,” Trump explained, adding that he turned down “plenty” of candidates, including “a couple of wokesters”.

Looking ahead, Trump said the Kennedy Center would feature heavily in his plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding in 2026.

“I’m going to be president for the Olympics. I’ll be president for the World Cup. And the 250th is going to be maybe more exciting than both,” Trump said. “It’s a great celebration of our country. We’re going to be using this building for a lot of the celebration.”

Aug. 7 (UPI) — Six soldiers at Fort Stewart, Ga., were honored Thursday with medals for their actions after a sergeant opened fire, shooting and injuring five fellow soldiers on Wednesday.

Officials said Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, shot his co-workers in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team with his personal handgun. The Army post was placed under lockdown at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It was declared “all clear” just before 2 p.m.

Some soldiers disarmed and tackled the shooter, while others rushed to try to save the victims. Two victims are still hospitalized Thursday. Their names haven’t been released.

The six honored were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

“We’re going to take a moment and thank these six soldiers,” U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said. “Under duress and fire, they ran into battle to the sound of the gunfire, took down the assailant, and then took care of their comrades, and that made all the difference.”

“They were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers,” Driscoll told reporters Thursday.

Those honored were: First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas and Sgt. Aaron Turner.

Turner, of Farmington, N.M, was the first to subdue the suspect, with Thomas from Kingwood, Texas, helping to keep him restrained, according to the Army.

Pacheco, Rodarte and Taylor are combat medics.

All five victims were expected to recover, Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas said. Two of the injured soldiers were taken to a trauma center in Savannah, and three were treated at the Winn Army Community Hospital on the post. One underwent surgery.

“Our priority focus is first caring for our injured soldiers and their families and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan Brigade,” Lubas said.

“When we spoke to the surgeons in the hospital, it was clear that the actions [the medics] took, primarily stopping that bleeding before they were loaded up into ambulances and quickly evacuated to Winn Army Medical, certainly saved their lives,” Lubas said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution told Turner’s story. He said, “We were trying to make sure we locked everything down, securing it. And then the next thing you know, he ended up walking through.”

Turner said he began talking to Radford “to try and de-escalate him.” He said he knew him, but not well.

“I had never seen any signs of him being out of character or anything,” Turner said.

When Turner approached him, Radford told him, “Go home.”

Radford told him this didn’t have anything to do with Turner or other soldiers, “that it was pretty much leaders” he was after.

At some point, Turner said Radford tried to reload the pistol, and Turner grabbed the gun’s barrel and kept it aimed toward the ground until Radford could be subdued with help from others.

Thomas helped restrain Radford, giving Turner the ability to take the gun away.

“I was able to disarm him, drop the magazine and eject the round,” said Turner.

Being his coworker makes it difficult, he said.

“Knowing the fact that it’s a teammate, it never ends up getting to the point where you really process that,” Turner said.

Radford’s father, Eddie Radford, 52, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., told the New York Times late Wednesday that there were no signs that he noticed to cause concern before the attack.

“It’s hard for me to process,” he said.

He said his son was seeking a transfer from Fort Stewart and had complained to his family that he had experienced racism at the post, where he had been stationed for several years.

Radford, who is Black, sent a text message to his aunt on Wednesday morning which “said that he loved everybody, and that he’ll be in a better place because he was about to go and do something,” Eddie Radford said.

He had not seen the message himself, he said, but it was described to him by the aunt.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House the “entire nation is praying for the victims and their families,” calling the suspect “horrible.”

“Today, a cowardly shooting at Fort Stewart left five brave soldiers wounded,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “Swift justice will be brought to the perpetrator and anyone else found to be involved.”

Radford, who is in a civilian jail, will likely be transferred to a military detention center, said Ryan O’Connor, Army Criminal Investigation Division special agent in charge. O’Connor said Radford is in custody and that CID is working through the Uniform Code of Military Justice processes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Radford had a recent arrest for driving under the influence, Lubas said. The arrest was “unknown to his chain of command until the (shooting) occurred.”

About 8,800 people live at Fort Stewart, in Hinesville, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.

Keshia Knight Pulliam, who shared the screen with Malcolm-Jamal Warner on “The Cosby Show,” highlighted the Emmy-nominated actor’s musical talents as she broke her silence on his death.

Pulliam on Sunday shared an Instagram video of Warner playing the bass at Atlanta’s City Winery. She shared the video of Warner, best known for his portrayal of clean-cut Theodore Huxtable, a week after he drowned while swimming in the Caribbean off Costa Rica. He was 54.

“A week ago I lost my big brother but I gained an angel,” Pulliam captioned her video. She played Rudy Huxtable, the youngest of the TV family’s children.

“I love you… I miss you,” she added, before referencing the other Huxtable children. “We got our girls.”

“House of Payne” star Pulliam, 46, is the latest “Cosby Show” star to mourn Warner. As news of the actor-musician’s death spread last week, co-stars including Bill Cosby, Geoffrey Owens and Raven-Symoné paid tribute. Cosby told CBS News last week he and co-star Phylicia Rashad were “embracing each other over the phone” when they learned of Warner’s death.

“He was never afraid to go to his room and study. He knew his lines and that he was quite comfortable even with the growing pains of a being a teenager,” Cosby said of Warner.

Owens, who appeared as Warner’s on-screen brother-in-law, Elvin Tibideaux, said in a statement shared with Deadline that his co-star’s death had left him speechless. “Malcolm was a lovely man; a sweet and sensitive soul. I respected him for many reasons, including the fact that he genuinely loved the act of creation,” he said.

Warner, also a TV director and a Grammy-winning musician, was on vacation with his family at the time of his death. He was swimming when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean.

The Red Cross in Costa Rica confirmed to The Times last week that its first responders also tended to another man in the same drowning incident that claimed Warner’s life. The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, survived. First responders found Warner without vital signs, and he was taken to the morgue.

As news of his death spread last week, his Hollywood peers, including Morris Chestnut, Tracee Ellis Ross, Viola Davis and Niecy Nash also paid tribute on social media. Beyoncé honored the actor, briefly updating her website to include a tribute to the TV star.

Pulliam also thanked fans on Sunday for their support as she mourned. “Thank you for every text, call and all the love that you have sent my way,” she said in an Instagram story. “I’ve just needed a moment.”

City Winery in Atlanta, the venue from Pulliam’s video, will host an event in Warner’s honor on Wednesday. “This tribute is our communal offering to say: Thank you. For the way he gave, for the work he created, for the bridges he built between TV, poetry, music, and love,” says the event website. According to the site, all profits will go to Warner’s family. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Nine months after his death, Fernando Valenzuela stands immortalized in a new mural on the loge‑level wall at Dodger Stadium — a vibrant fusion of art and legacy unveiled Saturday.

Painted by Mexican American artist Robert Vargas, the mural shows Valenzuela tipping his cap to the sky in a Dodgers Mexican‑heritage jersey — featuring a green sleeve, red sleeve, white center — alongside two striking images of Valenzuela in his pitching stance. Vargas said the mural is meant to symbolize unity within the Latino community.

“I felt it very important to show that the Latino community has a place within these walls and has had a place within these walls,” Vargas said.

He wanted to reflect Valenzuela’s spirit that still lives in the hearts of many fans and feature the man behind the player.

“What he did in the community, is what resonates so much more for me than just the player — but the man, the person that he was,” Vargas said.

Valenzuela played for the Dodgers from 1980 to 1990. He grew up in Etchohuaquila, a small town in Mexico, and took Major League Baseball by storm in 1981, earning rookie of the year and Cy Young honors. Latino fans who previously felt little connection to the Dodgers were thrilled to see one of their own winning, sparking Fernandomania. Valenzuela wore No. 34 and it remains a popular jersey worn by fans at Dodger Stadium.

Claudio Campo choked up as he gazed at the tribute. Traveling from Phoenix with his son to celebrate the boy’s 11th birthday, Campo shared memories of a player whose greatness felt deeply personal. Valenzuela’s nickname, “El Toro,” are inked on Campo’s left arm.

“He was a staple for the people that didn’t have anything and then where he came from showed that anything is possible if you go ahead and revive what you are,” Claudio said.

Fans holding Valenzuela bobbleheads given away by the Dodgers took their pictures in front of the new mural Saturday night.

Longtime fan Dulce Gonzalez held back emotion as she showed off her shirt with the name “Valenzuela” written across it, describing the reason she started watching baseball.

“He was the first Latino player I could truly connect with and be proud of,” she said.

For Gonzalez, Valenzuela’s story resonated because he came from the same roots, offering representation she had longed for.

“We are a melting pot of races here, people love baseball from all races, but because I am Latina, I feel a little bit more connected,” she said.

Her son, Nicolas, dressed in a red and green Dodgers Mexican-heritage jersey, said Valenzuela helped heal some wounds after Mexican American families were displaced from their homes in Chavez Ravine shortly before Dodger Stadium was built on the same land.

“He really opened the city up to the Dodgers after a long difficult entry and he really represented triumph over adversity,” Nicolas said.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles threw a glitzy bash at the institution’s Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo Saturday, raising $3.1 million and honoring architect Frank Gehry, artist Theaster Gates and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi — a surprise guest — showed up to pay tribute to Gehry, while Ava DuVernay celebrated Gates and Jane Fonda honored Schmidt.

The special program honoring “visionaries” who helped shaped the museum’s trajectory is part of a new gala tradition called MOCA Legends, which will continue with new honorees next year.

The night began with cocktails in the plaza and private access to the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, “OPEN.” The Japanese American drumming group TAIKOPROJECT played while guests found their seats for dinner.

MOCA director Johanna Burton welcomed attendees with a speech about the power of art and its ability to bring communities together.

“As we celebrate our annual gala, we are not just honoring individual achievements, but reaffirming our collective belief in the power of art to connect and challenge; uplift and endure,” Burton said, according to a news release about the event.

After Pelosi’s introduction of Gehry, which included mention of his 1983 renovation of the Geffen Contemporary, the 96-year-old legend noted how much the museum has meant to him over the years.

“Artists brought me into their club — it’s where I wanted to be, and they opened my eyes to another world,” Gehry said.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, and I’m here for all the celebrations of art and artists — the more the better. Here’s your weekend rundown of arts news.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Noah Davis at work in Los Angeles in 2009.

(Patrick O’Brien-Smith)

Noah Davis
A collection of more than 50 figurative paintings made by the late Los Angeles artist, who died at 32 in 2015, just as Davis’ career was beginning to attract wide attention, arrives after stops in Potsdam, Germany, and London. Davis’ paintings, often built around found photographs, regularly balance on a knife-edge between daily life and dream. The exhibition represents the first institutional survey of Davis’ work.
Sunday-Aug. 31. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu

Hong Yoo, on the daegeum, performs at the L.A. Phil’s “Seoul Festival” on June 3.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Seoul Festival
The L.A. Phil turns to the South Korean capital this week for a follow-up to its revelatory Reykjavik and Mexico City festivals. Unsuk Chin, today’s best-known Korean composer, is the curator. Despite a seeming wealth of renowned performers, Korea remains a musically mysterious land. The mostly youngish composers and performers in the first festival event, an exceptional concert of new music on Tuesday night, were all discoveries. The festival continues with weekend orchestra concerts featuring different mixes of four more new Korean scores commissioned by the L.A. Phil, Chin’s 2014 Clarinet Concerto and a pair of Brahms concertos. A chamber music concert with works by Schumann and Brahms played by Korean musicians is the closing event Tuesday.
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Emily Yetter and Jack Stehlin in “Lear Redux” at the Odyssey Theatre.

(John Dlugolecki Photography)

‘Lear Redux’
While Center Theatre Group reworks Shakepeare’s “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum (see item below), across town, Odyssey Theatre renews its collaboration with theater artist John Farmanesh-Bocca for a madcap adaptation of the Bard’s “King Lear,” another entry in the director-playwright’s Redux series. Veteran stage actor Jack Stehlin stars as the titular monarch in the production, which Stage Raw’s Deborah Klugman described as “wildly idiosyncratic.” In 2016, Times’ contributor Philip Brandes made Farmanesh-Bocca’s “Tempest Redux” at the Odyssey (also starring Stehlin) a Critic’s Choice, writing that the work “boldly transposes Shakespeare’s play to a darker, more unsettling key, but the inventive staging and solid command of source text make for a memorable re-imagining.”
Wednesday-Sunday, through July 13. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com

Dispatch: ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’

George Clooney in “Good Night and Good Luck” on Broadway.

(Emilio Madrid)

When CNN broadcasts a live performance of “Good Night, and Good Luck” from the Winter Garden in New York City on Saturday (4 p.m. PDT), it’s apparently the first time a Broadway play will be shown live on television, and the timing could not be better.

An adaptation of George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s 2005 film, which chronicled CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s heroic crusade against Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunts, the broodingly elegant production, sharply directed by David Cromer and starring a quietly committed Clooney in the role of Murrow (played in the film by David Strathairn), was not only one of the most stirring offerings of the Broadway season but also one of the most necessary.

As media companies face a campaign of intimidation from the Trump administration, the figure of Murrow, standing tall in the face of demagogic adversity, is the courageous example we need right now.

I don’t know how different the experience will be watching at home, but “Good Night, and Good Luck” made me reflect on what theatergoing might have been like in ancient Greece. Athenian citizens would gather at an open-air theater as a democratic privilege and responsibility. Playwrights addressed the polis not by dramatizing current events but by recasting tales from the mythological and historic past to sharpen critical thinking on contemporary concerns.

Clooney and Heslov aren’t writing dramatic poetry. Their more straightforward approach is closer to documentary drama, but the effect is not so disparate. We are affirmed in the knowledge that we are the body politic.

— Charles McNulty

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Gina Torres from “Suits” and Patrick Ball from “The Pitt” pose for a portrait as they rehearse for “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Director and playwright Robert O’Hara’s world premiere adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” opened Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum starring Patrick Ball from “The Pitt” and Gina Torres from “Suits.” The Times sat down with the trio of creatives for an interview about how the show came together — as well as the many novel ways it diverges from the traditional script. O’Hara presents a modern-day vision that questions whether Hamlet is a tragic hero or a murderous psychopath. The mystery is solved “CSI“-style and the tone is very L.A. noir. For his part, Ball can’t believe any of this is really happening, having been a relative unknown before “The Pitt” premiered in January.

Domingo Hindoyan was named the new music director of L.A. Opera.

(Chris Christoloudou)

L.A. Opera announced Domingo Hindoyan as its new music director. Hindoyan — chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic — will replace outgoing music director James Conlon when he steps down at the end of the 2026 season. When Hindoyan, a native of Venezuela, made his L.A. Opera debut last November with “Roméo et Juliette,” Times classical music critic Mark Swed speculated he might be in the running for the coveted position. Turns out he was right.

“Los Angeles Before the Freeways: Images of an Era 1850-1950” by Arnold Hylen with Nathan Marsak.

(Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library)

Times contributor Nick Owchar talks with architectural historian Nathan Marsak about the Angel City Press reissue of photographer Arnold Hylen’s book of mid-20th century photos, “Los Angeles Before the Freeways: Images of an Era 1850-1950.” Marsak curated and expanded the new edition, which details a fascinating world of lost streets, civic buildings, shops and restaurants.

Heidi Zuckerman at the construction site of the Orange County Museum of Art in 2021.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County Museum of Art executive director Heidi Zuckerman — who announced she will step down in December — has launched a new online platform called “About Art.” It’s home to her “Why Art Matters” newsletter and “About Art” podcast, as well as a number of lifestyle offerings including an entry on Zuckerman’s love of matcha and how to prepare the perfect cup. In a news release about the venture, Zuckerman notes that her work has gathered a community of 40,000 art enthusiasts.

The summer Hollywood Bowl season is upon us, and with it comes the complimentary Market Tasting Series with wine picks by chef Caroline Styne. The fun begins with the Roots Picnic this Sunday in the Plaza Marketplace near the box office. Tastings start an hour before doors open, and you can meet with vintners and reps from Habit Wines, Skurnik Wines, Grapevine Wine Company, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Elevage Wines and more. The final tasting will take place before the John Legend concert on Sunday, Sept. 28.

Guests enjoy wine and friendship at the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation’s weekly wine tasting.

(Photo by Janna Ireland; courtesy of Barnsdall Art Park Foundation)

Speaking of wine, Barnsdall Art Park Foundation is back — beginning tonight at 5:30 p.m. — with its 16th annual Barnsdall Fridays wine tasting fundraiser (the first two Fridays are already sold out). Proceeds from the events, scheduled to run through Sept. 26, support cultural programming at the park. The popular summer series comes as proposed city budget cuts imperil the park’s finances. Guests are invited to relax on Olive Hill, as well as the west lawn of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House — the only existing UNESCO World Heritage site in the city of Los Angeles. Wines come courtesy of Silverlake Wine, and there are always a variety of local food trucks onsite, as well as a DJ. While there, visitors can check out exhibitions and artist-led presentations at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Barnsdall Junior Arts Center Gallery.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

I’m happy to report that I’ve been to 14 of the 17 eateries on The Times Food section’s list of L.A.’s oldest restaurants. Some, like Musso & Frank Grill, I’ve ambled into many times (that martini!), and others, like Mijares Mexican Restaurant, I’ve stumbled upon while walking around town. I’ll spend this weekend visiting the remaining three.