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“Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‘the book lady.’”

Dolly Parton wore the moniker like a badge of honor, and she earned it too. Through her Imagination Library program, launched by the Dollywood Foundation in 1995, she put more than 330 million books into the hands of children across America, Canada, the U.K., Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

The program is rooted in a childhood of poverty and illiteracy — roots that those who knew Parton said she never denied or abandoned.

Parton, 80, died Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer. And although the country western superstar collected accolades — including 10 Grammy Awards, a National Medal of the Arts and two Academy Award nominations — across her storied career, Parton said her contributions to children’s literacy were most precious to her.

In 2023, the American Library Assn. awarded the singer-songwriter, book lady and philanthropist its highest honor — lifetime membership — to recognize her lasting impact on literacy and inspiring a love of reading in children.

“Dolly Parton represented the very best of America,” ALA President Maria McCauley told The Times on Tuesday, adding that, like people all over the world, she’s been playing Parton’s music since news of her death broke, particularly the song “I Can See the Light of a Clear Blue Morning.”

“That song has so much resonance right now,” she said, noting its lyrics capture a theme of resilience and faith in overcoming dark times.

“We want to make sure that Dolly’s vision, that reading is for everyone, becomes a reality. That’s something that we can all carry forward in memory of Dolly.”

Parton’s Imagination Library gifts a book a month to children signed up for the program from the time they are born until they are 5 years old. Parton described the program best when speaking with librarian Carla Hayden in 2018. “We send the book in the mail with their name on it. It’s not in the care of Mom and Dad — it’s got their little name on it, and they love to think, ‘This is mine.’ They wait at the mailbox. They get their little books, and to them, it’s personal.”

Parton understood the novelty of owning your very own book. Growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains town of Sevierville in east Tennessee, Parton was the fourth of 12 kids. Her father, a tobacco sharecropper, couldn’t read or write, and the family lived in a one-room cabin with no electricity. There were no books in the home, aside from the Bible.

The singer’s upbringing, particularly her father’s illiteracy and his shame around what he considered a shortcoming, was what inspired her to launch the Imagination Library. With the help of her dad, they set out to foster a love of reading in the kids of Sevier County. Reading, she believed, was the gateway to dreaming, and dreaming, the first step in the path toward success.

By 2000, the program had expanded beyond the Smoky Mountains and into a nationwide movement. By 2003, the Imagination Library had mailed 1 million books to budding readers. After the United States, the gifting initiative launched in Canada in 2006, then the U.K. in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

The program operates on a shared funding model split between the Dollywood Foundation — which manages the central overhead, administration, and global book-selection strategy of the Imagination Library — and local community partners including businesses, school districts, small or large organizations, or individuals who share in the mission.

Selina Brown, a U.K. author whose book “My Rice Is Best” was selected by the Imagination Library this year, said that 14,000 copies had been distributed across the U.K. to children in underprivileged areas. “To know that my book has gone into the hands of young children across the U.K. is absolutely incredible,” she told The Times.

Brown said that public figures often make shallow promises and vanity moves, but “with Dolly Parton, you can actually see her work manifest, and it really makes an impact. In the U.K. alone, there are children who do not have books in their house, and because of Dolly Parton, they now have their own library.”

Canadian author Melanie Florence, who penned “Sarabeth’s Garage” — another of Imagination Library’s picks — also grew up in a small town, with no bookstore, during a time with no online retailers. “If that had existed when I was a kid, being gifted a book that you get to keep, it’s a big thing, especially for a kid like I was, who just lived to read,” Florence told The Times.

“I think that’s such a beautiful legacy,” Florence said, “her music and this spirit of generosity.”

But it’s also a working legacy that Parton built to last, according to Dollywood Foundation’s president, Jeff Conyers.

“Dolly’s legacy was never meant to be something we simply preserve or look back upon,” Conyers said. “She built things that could keep doing good in the world.”

Conyers said the foundation was set to “make certain the love at the heart of her work continues reaching children, families and communities long into the future.”

Although the foundation is heartbroken after Parton’s death, he said, “the mission she gave us is as clear today as it has ever been, and we will carry it forward for generations to come.”

Dolly Parton marks the 100 millionth book donation by her Imagination Library to the Library of Congress collection in 2018.

(Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

Washington, D.C., Councilmember Charles Allen said he was visiting family in east Tennessee more than decade ago when his 2-year-old niece went tottering off toward the mailbox. When her parents brought her back in, she was holding a book with her name on it. Allen said his brother had signed her up for Parton’s Imagination Library at the hospital just after she was born — “right then and there.”

Allen said he was inspired by “the joy on my own niece’s face when she opened up a book with her name on it” to write a D.C. law called “Books From Birth.”

“We basically borrowed that program and then partnered with them,” he said. “And now every child in D.C. from the time they’re born ’til they’re 5 years old gets a free book delivered.”

Allen said that the program is now 10 years old, and 4 million books have been distributed to about 100,000 kids: “It’s made a big impact.”

Allen met with Parton years ago and said she never forgot her roots.

“Watching her own parents struggle with literacy and kind of hiding it, she realized very quickly the power that she had as this just massive cultural and musical star,” he said, adding that she was going to use that power for something that would outlast her. “It’ll outlast me. It’ll outlast everybody.”

Children of D.C. “they know Dolly Parton,” he added. “They know she’s the lady that delivered the books. I have all the confidence in the world that she is smiling somewhere, knowing that so many people think of her as the book lady. That she was going to battle illiteracy, one kid, one family, one household at a time.”

In 2018, Parton donated her 100 millionth book to the Library of Congress.

During the ceremony Hayden, the librarian, asked the country star if she ever thought she’d be known so widely as “the book lady.”

Parton responded with her signature self-deprecating wit and wisdom: “I never thought about being the book lady — the painted lady, yes. The overexaggerated, overdressed lady — yes. But that just goes to show you that you can’t judge a book by looking at the cover, right? Or even a 100 millionth book by looking at the cover.”

In September, 336,004,951 books will have been distributed through Imagination Library. More than 3.6 million families have been registered globally.

Perez Hilton has been granted supervised visits with his children.

Hilton’s mother, Teresita Lavandeira, was granted temporary custody of Hilton’s three children after the celebrity blogger suffered a mental health crisis that was livestreamed on TikTok earlier this month.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Hilton’s visits must be supervised by a mental health professional or a family member both he and his mother agree upon. Hilton signed off on the custody arrangement in which Lavandeira will handle parental responsibilities, including enrolling the children in school, overseeing their medical care and anything else that may arise while Hilton navigates recovery.

The Miami-Dade County court case database confirmed that Lavandeira filed a petition for temporary custody on Aug. 7. She also reportedly requested the case documents to be sealed to allow the family to “privately heal and move forward from this unfortunate incident.”

Lavandeira filed her petition after Miami police responded on Aug. 4 to calls concerning a disturbing TikTok livestream in which a bloodied Hilton harmed himself repeatedly with a box cutter and knife, and expressed suicidal intentions. Hilton’s sister, Barbara Giarraffa, frightened fans and TikTok moderators were among those who called authorities.

Officials responded to Hilton’s home in Miami around 9 p.m. and “safely recovered” Hilton, who was subsequently placed in a 72-hour hold under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows for detention to assess mental health.

In a statement published to Hilton’s website, his family said the days since the incident had been “nearly unbearable,” noting that Hilton’s children, niece and sister were inside the home at the time of the disturbing social media stream — Giarraffa has said she grabbed the kids and fled after discovering her brother naked and bloodied in his bathroom. Hilton’s family said in the statement that healing for his children and niece was their highest priority.

“An important part of that process is allowing them to safely return home and begin rebuilding a sense of security and normalcy,” the statement continued. “For the children’s safety, privacy, and well-being, we respectfully ask members of the media, paparazzi, content creators, and the public to leave the area surrounding the family’s home and not return. Please allow his children the privacy and space they need during this unimaginably difficult time.”

As of Monday, Hilton’s family said that the media personality remained hospitalized in an inpatient facility and “is receiving the medical care he needs.”

With an ever-present smile, infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality, defensive back Cole Martin is always undeniably himself.

And that was evident when he introduced himself — alongside defensive backs Rodrick Pleasant and Scooter Jackson — to Bob Chesney during the head football coach’s first day in the UCLA facility.

“That’s him from Day One,” Chesney said, noting Martin has never changed the high energy he brought to the program on the day they met.

Martin is no stranger to the Bruins.

The Pasadena native grew up around the program and attended UCLA games at the Rose Bowl, where his dad, Demetrice Martin, was the defensive backs coach from 2012-2017.

“Growing up as a kid running around here, I just want to see this university back on top,” Martin said during UCLA spring workouts.

And while Cole Martin spent his first two seasons at Oregon and Arizona State, the defensive back followed his father back to Westwood ahead of the 2025 season.

During his inaugural year as a Bruin, Martin was one of three players to start all 12 games and ranked fourth on the team in total tackles with 65.

But after a 3-9 season, during which former head coach DeShaun Foster, defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri departed the program, Cole entered the transfer portal.

And while his father left for Arizona State to become a defensive analyst, Martin, alongside Jackson and Pleasant, ultimately decided to stay after meeting Chesney and hearing his vision.

“California boys, we are all here after coaches parted and we were up here, and Chesney came and we had a conversation with him and we all got together after and we were like, ‘He’s different,’” Martin said. “Being able to have that conversation and be genuine with your brothers who you had a hard season with, and you got a coach that is trying to change the whole trajectory. You have got to believe in somebody, and he’s somebody you can believe in.”

UCLA defensive back Cole Martin lines up on the field during the Bruins’ 2025 spring game.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

After his first meeting with Chesney, Martin withdrew his name from the portal and got to work in Westwood.

While 10 transfers Chesney brought with him from James Madison know his system, Martin has demonstrated a natural understanding of the coach’s values.

Chesney selected Martin to be one of his first ambassadors to regional and national media outlets covering Big Ten football media days in Chicago, joining linebacker Sammy Omosigho and quarterback Nico Iamaleava representing the Bruins. Chesney called Martin an unbelievable leader and said that his energy will give people a window into what his program strives to look like.

“You just felt Cole’s personality and his infectious positivity, and I just said, ‘Man, we need this kid to stay. This kid is what I feel like our team should be like on a day-to-day basis,’ and he’s done a really good job of that,” Chesney said Monday while recalling his first impression of Martin.

Martin said Chesney’s focus on a family culture and competition has helped him thrive in a deep, experienced defensive back group.

“It’s a brotherhood. He does a great job of making sure that everybody buys into building that relationship with your brother next to you, the little things, such as more talking in the locker room, or doing things extra,” Martin said of Chesney. “He’s done a great job at doing that and it feels like a full brotherhood here.”

Chesney said that Cole is recovering from a minor injury during preseason camp, but he refuses to let his absence on the turf affect his impact on the squad.

“He’s been out for a little bit here, working through a muscle thing, but he’s still present,” Chesney said. “You watch him move around; he’s really close right now, and he’ll never stop being himself, which is great.”

The sunset of his NFL playing career came almost 30 years ago.

So what is Bucky Brooks doing before sunrise, unlocking the gate outside the Granada Hills High football field?

He’s getting in touch with his roots the way dozens of former NFL players are from coast to coast, teaching the game he loves to the latest generation.

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Granada Hills football coach Bucky Brooks, a former NFL player, talks about why he coaches high school football and why it attracts many former NFL players. (Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)

“There’s nothing like it,” said Brooks, 55, of coaching high school football. “The athletic part of you dies when we retire. There’s nothing that gives you that same feel of being the gladiator in the ring. But this is the closest thing. Even though you’re not playing, you live vicariously through their experiences.”

According to USA Today, there are 128 high school head coaches around the country who once played in the NFL. That includes Carson Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick from USC, who in his debut season led Santa Margarita to a CIF state Open Division championship and was named MaxPrep’s 2025 national coach of the year.

“I’m where I need to be,” said Palmer, whose son, Fletch, is a quarterback and junior on this season’s team. “I missed so much when I was playing because I was so involved in so much.”

After retiring in 2018, he contemplated going the route of a lot of former players and working NFL games as a color analyst.

“I almost signed a contract doing TV stuff,” said Palmer, whose daughter, Bries, is a freshman at the school. “I wouldn’t be around when my kids come by my office at lunchtime, or when somebody has a stomachache and needs to take a class period to take a nap on my couch. I love that.”

Santa Margarita will open the season Friday by playing host to Jones High of Orlando, Fla. — a team coached by former Atlanta Falcons defensive back Elijah Williams.

“The standard’s been set, the culture’s been built, and now you’ve just got to carry it on,” Palmer said.

“This class that we have right now has done a phenomenal job. We’re running more stuff than we were last year, just because it’s these kids’ second year in the program.” He added the receivers, in particular, are playing with confidence because of their detailed route work — precise depths, footwork, releases that are “NFL routes” as opposed to “seven-on-seven stuff.”

If you’re an up-and-coming quarterback, there has to be an extra layer of pressure and expectation if your father played the position at an elite level. Philip Rivers understands that. His son, Gunner, a four-star quarterback in the class of 2027 who plays for his dad at St. Michael Catholic High in Fairhope, Ala. The younger Rivers will be headed to North Carolina State, following in the sizable footsteps of his father.

Likewise, Philip Rivers followed his own dad, Steve, a legendary Alabama high school coach.

Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks watches his players run drills during a recent practice.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

“I grew up wanting to be my dad’s quarterback, and now I’m getting to coach my son and relive it all again 30 years later,” said Philip Rivers, who also has a younger son, Pete, on the team. “Everything goes too dang fast. There’s some long days throughout the years, but it all goes too fast. You wish you could slow it all down.”

All of this gives Philip a better understanding of his own father.

“My dad’s in the state Hall of Fame,” he said, “but he never won a state championship. His championship trophies were in his desk drawer, the letters players had written him over the years. We want them to be better men for having been in our football program. That’s the mission.”

Almost three years ago, former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck was hired as varsity football coach at Ensworth High in Nashville. He gave up his job as primary game analyst for “ACC Primetime Football” in part to coach his son, Taylor, now a quarterback at Wyoming.

Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks huddles with defensive players during a recent practice in preparation for the 2026 high school football season.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Coaching high school football became a family affair, with parents Don and Mary Beth selling their Boston house of 50 years and moving to Tennessee, and Don — the former NFL tight end who died last year — joining his son’s staff. Matt Hasselbeck, Tim’s brother and a former Super Bowl quarterback, came on board as well as Ensworth’s offensive coordinator.

“We all had coaches who made an incredible impact on our lives,” Matt said. “And we probably had coaches who had a negative impact as well. … I didn’t seek out coaching. I said I’d do a three-day clinic. I just don’t remember stopping.”

By Archie Manning’s count, about 30,000 high school players have been enrolled in the 30 years of the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodeaux, La. The weeklong camp focuses on quarterbacks and receivers, and college players from around the country serve as counselors, as do brothers Peyton, Eli and Cooper Manning.

“I tell Peyton and Eli, ‘Listen, when these kids get home, their granddaddy is going to ask them, ‘Did you meet Peyton and Eli?’” said Archie of his two NFL quarterback sons. “And I want them to say, ‘Yes.’ OK, so get your butt around to everyone. They try to get in front of every kid.

“The kids we deal with are just so eager and excited, and that’s what makes it so fun.”

Back at Granada Hills, where he has coached since 2019, Brooks is looking to instill in his players some of the lessons he learned from the all-star cast of NFL coaches he played for as a defensive back — among them Marv Levy, Mike Holmgren, Tony Dungy, Marty Schottenheimer and Jon Gruden.

“We all feel an obligation to give back,” Brooks said. “Your Pop Warner coach, your high school coach, your college coach. … I want to take those same lessons people gave me and give it to the next people.”

Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks talks to his players before practice.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

That requires sacrifice. Brooks has worked as a sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and analyst for NFL Network. Now, he’s a commentator for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ TV Network, meaning he finishes a high school game and flies to where the Jaguars are playing.

Sometimes, that means hopping on a plane to London after coaching a Friday night game. His assistant coaches, mostly a group of his former Granada Hills players, have to pick up the slack sometimes with the subsequent practices early in the following week.

“It’s been a great leadership lesson for me,” Brooks said. “I’ve learned to delegate and let other people take over.”

Everyone, it seems, is getting an education.

The best part of a Happy Meal is the toy that comes with your food. But now that you’re all grown up, you might be looking for a different type of treat.

In an effort to fill seats during off hours and typically slow nights, L.A.’s restaurants and bars are tempting patrons with discounted burger combos that replace toys with cocktails. It’s an adult take on a kid’s Happy Meal. These deals also address a growing concern among restaurant-goers regarding the price of dining out, a cost that has risen in recent years due to factors such as increased minimum wage, rising rents and inflated food costs.

And because it’s L.A., you can expect global interpretations of the classic comfort dish, including a Mexico City-inspired hamburguesa that’s turned a Monday industry night into a citywide destination, a New York-founded Korean restaurant serving a short-rib burger with gochujang aioli and a French-hued take with cognac sauce and optional fondue.

Treats — er, drinks — run the gamut from classic martinis and house wine to margaritas, ice-cold beer and makgeolli. Often overlapping with happy hour, be sure to take note of the specific days and hours each deal is offered.

Here are 16 burger-and-drink combos for those times your inner kid needs an adult happy meal.

Netflix said it is in the process of closing two of its gaming studios, as the division is making another round of organizational changes.

The Los Gatos, Calif., streamer said it closed the Hollywood-based gaming studio Night School, the maker of narrative games like “Oxenfree,” on Thursday and has proposed to close Helsinki, Finland-based gaming studio Moonloot. Night School was the first game developer Netflix purchased in 2021 as it expanded into gaming. At the time, the streamer was under pressure by investors to diversify its content to attract more customers, after experiencing two quarters of subscriber losses in 2022.

Night School viewed the acquisition at the time as “such a natural pairing” as the gaming studio wanted to stretch its narrative aspirations on original games and Netflix has a reputation of giving TV and film creators an “unprecedented canvas” to bring entertainment to millions of people, according to a blog post on its website.

In an email, a Netflix spokesperson said it is eliminating roles because the company believes it can operate more strategically and efficiently in its games business. The spokesperson declined to provide the number of workers affected.

Last year, the company shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, one of the gaming studios it acquired in 2022.

Games on Netflix have had mixed results. At the end of 2024, Epic Games executive Alain Tascan joined Netflix as president of the division and under his leadership, it has focused on key areas including kids, party games like “Netflix Minigolf,” narrative games and mainstream games like “FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition.” The company also removed games in part because they did not have high engagement from its library.

Last year, Netflix unveiled several party games including “Boggle Party” and “Pictionary: Game Night.”

In June, Netflix released a narrative game made by Night School called “Unhinged” about a woman who is trapped inside her apartment during a hurricane and is trying to find safety. Voice actors in the game include Zoë Kravitz and Sadie Sink.

In a July earnings presentation, Co-CEO Greg Peters reminded analysts of the market opportunity for games, with $150 billion in consumer spending not including ad revenue or markets in China and Russia. He said the streamer is seeing solid numbers from its cloud games such as FIFA and “Unhinged” and higher adoption and retention in the cloud games than mobile games. He also said there has been strong engagement and growth from kid games.

“We’re just getting started here,” Peters said. “We’re scratching the surface in terms of what we think the total potential of the space offers for us.”

The layoffs come as Netflix stock has declined 37% from a year ago. Investors are concerned about how much time people are spending on Netflix compared to rivals like YouTube. YouTube represents about 14% of streaming-watch time by U.S. viewers on TVs, compared to Netflix’s 8% in May, according to Nielsen.

In addition to games, Netflix has added other types of content to its streaming service over the years including live events like NFL football games and video podcasts.

In the private home studio left behind by his father, Shane Hawkins is hitting the drums hard. The teenager behind the kit is locked into “Driven to Tears,” the Police’s reggae-charged protest song, channeling its sharp, syncopated beats with controlled fury.

His long blond hair swings across his face as Hawkins loses himself in the moment, tapping into a brisk echo of ’80s rock. He then shifts into the thundering blues of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard,” driving into the heavier groove while surrounded by the instruments, gear and treasured memorabilia of his late father, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in 2022.

Joining him in this rehearsal are bassist Wiley Hodgden and guitarist Brent Woods, who played hard-rocking cover songs in Taylor’s side project Chevy Metal for more than two decades. After Taylor’s death, the Foo Fighters carried on, but Chevy Metal were certain they could not. Shane changed that.

“Wiley and I were in agreement, like, it’s done,” says Woods. “Shane was the one that said, ‘I want to do Chevy.’”

For Taylor’s son, the band was one more thing he didn’t want to let go.

“It was a part of my childhood and it’s like, my dad was gone and these people that I’ve watched my whole childhood, they’re still there,” says Shane, 19. “Why not keep something going? And it’s just honoring my dad, you know?”

Most of the music world first saw Shane behind the drums during Foo Fighters’ performance of “My Hero” at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert at Wembley Stadium on Sept. 3, 2022. He was 16 and already obsessed with drums, but he says it wasn’t until that moment that he knew he wanted to devote his life making music.

“It was a gnarly time,” Shane recalls. “You had to pull that off. You can’t really f— that up.

“I played for a lot of people, and there’s only one feeling like that — especially playing the drums. Once you do that, you never want to do anything else.”

With Chevy Metal, Shane is in a band committed to playing songs mostly created before he was born, with a typical setlist including songs by Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Queen, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Rush and the Doors. His presence now means leaning more often into classic punk rock. During their live sets, Shane will usually take the mic to growl through the Bad Brains’ speedy “Big Takeover,” pacing the stage and banging his head.

“We’re playing the Germs now,” says Woods. “We’re playing Black Flag, which we never did before.”

Shane Hawkins plays drums with Chevy Metal at the Viper Room.

(Steve Appleford)

Chevy Metal shows routinely feature surprise guests. Dave Grohl and other Foos have frequently appeared. So have Mick Jagger and players from Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns ‘N Roses and more. Even tennis star John McEnroe once joined the band on guitar at a Malibu gig, alongside his wife, singer Patty Smyth.

One regular guest is Lee Ving, singer for the pioneering L.A. punk band Fear. “Lee is like the elder statesman, and then we got Shane, who is so young,” Hodgden says of the age range. “You never see that unless it’s maybe a church band or something.”

Another regular is Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, a family friend whose son Revel also plays music with Shane.

“He’s a great dude and he is a monster drummer,” Scott says of Shane. “I sit and I watch him and Revel play together. It’s so great to see, especially in a world where a lot of younger kids don’t pick up instruments anymore. They live, eat, sleep, breathe, bleed, rock music.”

Until this month, the resurrected Chevy Metal could only perform during Shane’s breaks from his boarding school on the East Coast, but he is newly graduated and ready to play. The trio performs Saturday at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach as part of a series of shows that will take the band to the U.K. Shane is also working with other young players on new material.

“He’s already jamming with kids his own age and friends that he’s had for years, and starting his own project,” says Woods. “But this is good for him to learn, just to play in different venues and travel around and get his feet wet playing covers.”

Chevy Metal once served a similar purpose for Taylor, a favorite pastime alongside his Foo Fighters work. Hodgden has been part of the Foo Fighters crew for 24 years, both on the road and at their studio 606, starting as Taylor’s drum tech. Before that, he was a bartender newly arrived from Oklahoma that the drummer befriended.

In 2002, Hodgden and original guitarist Achim “Dange” St. Dangerfield started the band as an acoustic duo doing cover songs. Taylor was a regular, Hodgden says, turning to Shane. “There’d be two drunks at the bar, and then your dad sitting there heckling us,” Hodgden says with a laugh. “We go into ‘Hotel California,’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, great song choice, guys.’”

The Foos drummer soon wanted in.

“Taylor was trying to come up with names and he’s like, ‘How about Chevy Metal?’ And I said, ‘Well, you can’t really name the band. You’re not in it,’” Hodgden adds. “But we jammed all the time up at his house, and then one day we’re playing and it sounded good. And Taylor stood up and said, ‘I’m gonna be your drummer and we’re gonna call it Chevy Metal.’ And I was like, that’s a rad name.”

“He got to be the boss in this band and steer the ship and do whatever he wanted,” says Hodgden. “But also it was low pressure and it was all about fun.”

Taylor filled much of his downtime making more music. Aside from Chevy Metal, he recorded new songs with the Coattail Riders (which included Woods) and, earlier, the Birds of Satan (including Hodgden).

“He never stopped,” Woods recalls. “He would call me at 7 a.m. and go, ‘What are you doin? Get up here!’ He’d go to bed probably at midnight, one o’clock, and he’s up taking the kids to school, he’s mountain biking, and he’s ready to roll. I was still sleeping, but he would be up every day wanting to create and work.”

Woods saw Chevy Metal’s first show with Taylor at Abuelitas in Topanga Canyon in 2002. After Dange moved up north to work as a teacher, Woods eventually became Chevy Metal’s new guitarist. Woods grew up in Burbank and took guitar lessons from Randy Rhoads, best known for his work on Ozzy Osbourne’s early solo albums.

“He was such a great lead player, but he was adamant that if you can’t play rhythm, it doesn’t matter how great of a lead player you are,” Woods says of Rhoads, who emphasized “rhythm and feel.”

“I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if it wasn’t for Randy teaching me.”

Growing up initially in Topanga Canyon, the first beat Shane learned to play was the thunderous drum fill from Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Then came Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” and the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You.” By 13, he was spending hours each day practicing alone in the basement at his boarding school.

“There were no other kids that really played at the school, so I’d just sit down and play,” he says.

Shane grew up watching both Foo Fighters and Chevy Metal shows. “I’d sit behind my dad and watch him play and watch people just go crazy,” says Shane. “And as a kid, you think that’s the coolest thing in the world, because it is. It’s the best feeling.”

The band Chevy Metal — bassist Wiley Hodgden, left, drummer Shane Hawkins and guitarist Brent Woods — gestures downstairs at the Viper Room on the Sunset Strip.

(Steve Appleford)

Taylor’s home studio was built in a guest house behind his family’s home in Hidden Hills, a gated community on the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley. Inside, the walls are still covered with his guitars, posters, photographs and other relics from his favorite artists: Aerosmith, Rush, Bowie, Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden.

The reborn Chevy Metal still rehearses in what Woods describes as Taylor’s “man cave.”

“He put a lot of work into making this room what it is right now,” says Shane. “I remember him precisely making sure every picture was hung up in the exact place. And every banner was hung perfectly and every speaker was placed perfectly for your ear.”

The band recorded a lot of songs here with Taylor, and they hope to release some of that material from the vault. They plan on more recording with his son.

Before Shane graduated high school, the last time Chevy Metal played a hometown show was at the Viper Room on New Year’s Eve. It was also a gathering of rock ’n’ roll families, as second-generation musicians took turns onstage with Chevy Metal, representing the offspring of Guns ‘N Roses, Jane’s Addiction and Anthrax.

During the sound check, the band ran through songs by U2 and Foreigner, and Shane hammered the drums at full volume. Afterward, he was chatting with Scott Ian, who advised him: “You never want to be great at dress rehearsal. You want to be good at dress rehearsal, and then be great at the show.”

Shane nodded, but for now, he says he can only play at one level: loud.

As Shane sat in the dressing room before Chevy Metal’s set, Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins walked in, asking, “Where’s the drummer?” Then he spotted Shane, smiled, grabbed his hand and said, “There he is!”

With the biggest global opening weekend in history, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is cleaning up at the box office in a manner that left “The Odyssey” spitting sand. (Relatively speaking; “The Odyssey” also had a strong worldwide debut and is on track to become the third R-rated film to hit the billion-dollar mark.)

But while Christopher Nolan’s vision of a nearly 3,000–year–old epic poem has received, with the exception of a few less-than–impressed classics experts and the usual “replacement theory” nut jobs, waves of gratitude for helping revitalize cinema, the success of “Spider-Man” has many of these same people scratching their heads.

Certainly the reviews have been mixed — some find the narrative streamlined and personal with Tom Holland giving his best-ever performance; others declare “Brand New Day” to be overstuffed with franchise teasers and/or suggest that, at 30, Holland is getting a bit old for the job.

So how is it, pundits wondered, that Spidey has vanquished the ultimate supervillain: superhero fatigue.

It’s simple really: love.

There’s a reason “Love Actually” featured a kid in Spider-Man face paint, as opposed to a Superman cape. People, especially kids (and the adults they will become), love Spider-Man with an affection that is deep and true. Unlike so many other superheroes, Peter Parker is one of us. He’s not a super-scientist or a god or an extraterrestrial or a one-percenter able to develop all manner of nifty crime-fighting gadgetry. He’s a kid who, having been accidentally endowed with superpowers that do not disfigure him, physically or emotionally (no Red Room trauma, inner rage monster, centurylong life span), remains a kid with an adolescent’s delight in all he can now do.

He’s funny, sweet and, having been raised right (in this latest iteration by Marisa Tomei’s hip and humanitarian Aunt May), extremely polite, even as he takes down all the bad guys — a cheeky bright spot in a landscape super-peopled almost exclusively with adults and all their existential whinging and regretful brooding.

But our feelings for the character is not the only, or most important, love story helping to drive the success of “Brand New Day.” Perhaps because they are closest in age to Romeo and Juliet, the complicated courtship of Peter and MJ (or Gwen), has always been the best built-in love story in the multiverse. The actors playing those roles — Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone — invariably became romantic partners so when the series was revived with Holland, with Zendaya as MJ, producer Amy Pascal warned them not to date.

Mercifully, they did not listen and in Holland and Zendaya, “Brand New Day” has a real-life beloved couple (recently married) playing a fictional beloved couple, now divided by the memory-erasing spell of the previous film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers’ decision to have Peter Parker wiped from everyone’s memory, including MJ‘s and Ned’s (Jacob Batalon), was a brilliant twist that not only saved us from “Spider-Man Goes to College” but also injected a star-crossed romantic pathos that Shakespeare would envy.

I can’t have been the only person who bought an opening weekend ticket for the sole purpose of finding out if/when/how Peter and MJ would find their way back to each other.

This has been spoiled elsewhere, but we’ll leave it at they do and they don’t. Although the more jaded among us might see the ambiguity as a nakedly emotional hook for future films, including “Avengers: Doomsday,” the opportunity for both Peter and MJ to mature a bit, independent of each other, feels thematically essential and more than a little revolutionary. It certainly sparks an intriguing question about the nature of romantic love, something too often associated with “being saved” in Marvel, and many other, films.

Seeing the famously private couple playfully interact with each other and Batalon during the press tour of “Brand New Day” only amped up the already fevered anticipation of how the trio will regroup as surely they must — the love Peter has for Ned is just as strong and singular as his love for MJ. The fact that we’ve watched these actors grow up before our eyes (Zendaya and Batalon were 19 and Holland 20 when they filmed “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in 2016) makes it even more of a family affair — of course we want to know what happens to Spidey and his gang!

Given the extraordinary success of “Brand New Day,” on top of “The Odyssey,” there is a very good chance that Hollywood, in its infinite and historically flawed wisdom, will decide that superhero fatigue is a myth and that what audiences really want is spectacle. So this is a plea for those in charge to tear their eyes away from the box office returns and look at the film itself.

Yes, “Brand New Day” is full of terrific web-slinging and swinging scenes (albeit ones in which Spider-Man gets even more beat up than usual), but its power is emotional not spectacular, built more on dialogue than special effects.

Holland’s Spider-Man relates more personally to everyone — friends and foes — than any other superhero; his scenes with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Det. DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) and, at the end, Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) are always less about exposition or explosive action than character revelation and connection.

He cares and so do we.

That’s how it works in love stories and, as “Brand New Day” is proving, love stories are pretty hard to beat.

Here’s to the ones who dream.

The anthemic thesis of “La La Land” — the Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone movie musical celebrating its 10th anniversary — became a moment of musical reality in May when a 21-year-old student in Sydney, Australia, was plucked from the crowd at a live concert of the film during intermission. Sterling Nasa proceeded to stun composer-conductor Justin Hurwitz and the 2,000-person audience with his flawless, impromptu performance.

“Jumping into that concert in Sydney, and having an earpiece and seeing all this, was a little bit crazy,” says Nasa with well-mannered modesty, “but we somehow got through it.”

Conductor Justin Hurwitz with pianist Sterling Nasa performing the soundtrack of “La La Land” at the Greek Theatre.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Nasa is sitting backstage at the Greek Theatre between rehearsals, preparing to make his Los Angeles debut. After that remarkable incident, an international feel-good news story, Hurwitz invited Nasa to fly out and play the entire concert at the anniversary screening here, in Griffith Park, where many of the film’s iconic scenes were shot.

“He’s playing better than most of the professional pianists I’ve worked with,” says Hurwitz, who regularly conducts “La La Land in Concert.”

“He’s nailing it,” Hurwitz explains during a break. “Those Sebastian solos, the ones that Ryan Gosling plays in the movie, he’s playing those as perfectly and cleanly as I’ve heard them in a very long time. Very few of the pianists I work with around the world — and they’re all great professionals — but very few of them play it this well in sync with the picture.”

Saturday’s rehearsals took place under a scorching sun. Half of the assembled musicians played on the film’s original soundtrack; star trumpet soloist Bijon Watson can even be seen wailing in the Lighthouse jazz scenes. Sitting in the midst of these veteran L.A. sessions players, Nasa looked focused but confident, his youthful face belying his easy, fleet-fingered playing.

Pianist Sterling Nasa heads to the stage Saturday after intermission during the 10th anniversary show featuring a full orchestra and jazz band performing the “La La Land” soundtrack at the Greek Theatre.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

He flew in from Sydney on Thursday, leaving a rainy Australian winter for a California heat wave. The initial jet leg was rough, he says, but he had mostly adjusted by Saturday. Hurwitz took some one-on-one practice time with him before the orchestra arrived, and Nasa had also been practicing his part for six weeks.

Nasa (an Anglicized Lebanese name) has been playing piano since he was 3. His parents encouraged his musical education, and he’s performed enough in bands and local musical theater not to suffer from stage fright. He also plays the bagpipes, and has played with 300 bagpipers for 10,000 people at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.

“I’ve always had a bit of an inkling that I’d love to be a musician,” Nasa says, “or if I can find some opportunity in the artistic world, or in musical theater or in music, that I would love too. But I did sort of get the ‘real’ degree.”

He was finishing his studies in international relations at the University of Sydney when the cosmic moment happened in May. His friend Scarlett was the one who enthusiastically pushed Nasa’s hand up when Hurwitz, panicking, asked if anyone in the audience was an “amazing sight reader.”

“I owe so much of this to her,” Nasa says. “I really probably would not have done it.”

The 10th anniversary show of “La La Land” featured a full orchestra and jazz band.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

He played the entire second half of the concert that night. (The hired pianist fell ill and had to leave.) Nasa says he thinks Australians were inclined to root for an underdog — “the audience that night really just wanted it to work” — but for this big L.A. moment, “I think now there’s obviously a bit more of an expectation.”

As the twilight concert began, Hurwitz addressed the sold-out Greek Theatre — a lively crowd filled with yellow dresses — and surprised them by announcing that the “kid from Sydney” was here to play the entire show. Nasa absorbed his ovation, then took his bench in the middle of the orchestra with a little monitor displaying the movie on his piano.

He played the melancholy strains of “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme,” a solo piano motif that Gosling’s character plays throughout the film; he accompanied their flirty “City of Stars” duet, and he performed all of Sebastian’s acrobatic jazz solos — many of them meticulously synced to corresponding shots of fingers on a keyboard.

“La La Land” plays on the screen at the Greek Theatre while an orchestra and jazz band accompany the film.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

The film itself was projected over the stage, but monitors on either side showed Nasa and the other live musicians. A young woman in front of me watched his hands, perfectly aligned with Gosling’s, with her jaw dropped. Nasa never missed a note, and he received another outsized ovation after the rousing end credits.

“I’ve thought a lot about opportunity, and how there’s so much talent in the world,” says Hurwitz, reflecting on the moment in Sydney. “And there’s also so much lost talent in the world, talent that just isn’t realized. And I just love that there was this talented guy, who’s a great musician, but he was in school studying something else — because he didn’t know if he could or should go into music. And then there was this opportunity, and he took it, and he showed everybody — and he showed himself — that he can do it.”

Nasa says he’s not sure what he’ll do now that he’s graduated, but one thing he’s interested in is composing for musical theater — or possibly scoring films.

George and Amal Clooney evacuated their 425-acre Provence wine estate in southeastern France amid the wildfires spreading across Europe.

The “Jay Kelly” star revealed the news in a letter to Didier Bremond, the mayor of the town of Brignoles, east of Marseille.

“Dear Didier, [a]t this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment,” the letter read.

“As we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasise 2 things, first we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and [I] are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole.

“We love Brignoles and our friends who live there.”

The fire near Brignoles sparked on Wednesday and burned about 250 acres. The Brignoles fire was significantly smaller than the massive wildfire that recently ravaged southwestern France near Bordeaux, where 84,000 evacuees were allowed to return home Thursday as firefighters gained control over flames that had burned an area four times the size of Paris.

In December, the French government announced that the Clooneys, including their 9-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander, were awarded citizenship.

The Clooneys bought property in France — a farm, he recently told Esquire — in August 2021 for $8.3 million, when their twins were 4. He said it was a “much better life” there for the children.

“Yeah, we’re very lucky. … A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know?” he said in the interview, published in the magazine’s October/November issue.

“I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don’t give a s— about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin, a human-rights lawyer, tied the knot in September 2014 in Venice, Italy.

The Associated Press and former Times staff writer Christie D’Zurilla contributed to this report.

Some people don’t need an introduction.

Joe Torre, for one.

You know him. Baseball icon. Hall of Famer. The only big leaguer with 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 wins as a manager, he steered the New York Yankees to four World Series championships — and the Dodgers to consecutive National League West crowns and NLCS appearances in 2008 and 2009.

So you’re well-versed on Torre’s baseball bonafides, but you might not be aware of the most meaningful part of his legacy: He’s spent the past 24 years helping people who actually would need to be introduced to him.

Kids who are too young to know Torre the player, manager, color commentator — but who can, unfortunately, relate with what he went through when he was their age. Kids who, like him, are growing up afraid and anxious because of domestic violence at home, and who need what Torre didn’t have — somewhere safe to go to for help.

Since 2002, Torre and his wife, Ali, have been behind the expanding the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation. Across the nation, they’ve set up safe spaces in schools, specialized classrooms that feel more like living rooms and that are manned by professional counselors trained in domestic violence intervention.

San Francisco Giants assistant manager Ron Washington hugs Joe Torre before a game at Dodger Stadium on May 14.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

They’re at schools in New York, Cincinnati, Tahiti and in L.A., at Bellflower Middle/High School and John Adams Middle School, John H. Glenn High and McKinley Elementary School, Palisades Charter High, Santa Monica High, Waite Middle School and Washington Preparatory High.

And they’re open to all, whether you’re a kid experiencing violence or you want to be able to help peers who are.

This past year, the foundation says it reached more than 28,000 students. And since it began, more than 425,000 young people, families, schools, and communities.

These Safe at Home spaces are all named “Margaret’s Place,” in honor of Joe’s mom, who was for years the victim of his father’s violent ire.

“It’s a tough subject to talk about,” Joe Torre said. “But you can’t run away from it.”

He did, though. He’s 85 now, but until he was 54, Torre didn’t reveal that baseball had been his refuge when he was growing up. He didn’t tell anyone that when he was a kid, if he saw his dad’s car in front of his house, Joe would go to a friend’s house and wait until he left for his job as a New York police detective. Joe didn’t share memories like he would later, of seeing his big sister, armed with a knife, standing between their mother and their father, who was going for his pistol.

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Joe Torre poses swinging a bat prior to a game in 1971.

(Dave Pickoff / Associated Press)

He didn’t recognize what those traumatic experiences he’d tried to bury did to him, not until he started to talk about them.

“I thought I was born with this shyness and this nervousness,” Torre said before a Dodgers game in May, when the club introduced him and Ali and players and coaches wore T-shirts during batting practice that read: “Everyone deserves to be safe at home.”

“During my playing career,” Torre continued, “if we lost a game and I didn’t get any hits, I’d beat myself up. I was fortunate, I had a good career, but there was always something missing. I really probably could have enjoyed it a lot more than I did.”

That didn’t change until 1995, when he started talking about the domestic violence he experienced. He was surprised, he said, to find himself sharing his story, opening up for the first time at a “Life Success” seminar in Cincinnati, Ali’s hometown.

“Ali, she says, ‘You want to go to this Life Success symposium with me?’” Joe said. “And she’s eight months pregnant with our daughter and I’m not about to say no to anything she asks me to go. So we go in and they separate you, and they put you in groups of six strangers — and I’d just been named manager of the Yankees, so I’m very self-conscious.

“But after a day or so, you’re in it, you know? And then we went home and I called my sisters and asked them questions. Because they always tried to protect me, so I had to drag it out of them … ‘Did dad hit mom?’

“The biggest thing for me was knowing that my dad bringing fear down on the home was what caused my feelings that I was embarrassed to have. Once I went through that, I was able to go deeper.”

Yankees manager Joe Torre bumps fists with catcher Jorge Posada after a win in April 2004.

(Brian Kersey / Associated Press)

Speaking about what was previously unspeakable helped him cope with his trauma. He said it made him a more empathetic manager and a more confident man. It also made him want to speak out publicly and to encourage others to do the same, to break the cycle of silence.

So they’re getting the word out at — where else? — ballparks. There was the stop at Dodger Stadium in May, and before that, in 2025, seven major league teams had activations at games, as did 63 minor league clubs who hosted a “Safe At Home Awareness Game.”

Because often we do need an introduction, to connect kids with people who can keep them safe, who can assure them they’re not the only ones in their position.

“He’s talked about this many times: If he had access to a program like Margaret’s Place, he wouldn’t have felt like he had to carry this burden alone,” said Rose Robles, the foundation’s senior director of programs. “That was one thing he’s really stressed, he felt he was the only one that was going through this.

“And he would have had some options, some choices for how to respond to what he was experiencing and how to understand it. One thing that we say is that violence thrives in silence, and that is basically what he was experiencing.”

Forty-four percent of the kids Margaret’s Place counselors helped in 2024-25 were dealing with some form of violence at home. Twenty-seven percent have experienced some form of relationship or dating violence. They also help kids who’ve been exposed to community violence or other traumatic events, or who are grieving a traumatic loss.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre pauses for a moment while answering questions in August 2010.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

At Bellflower Middle and High School, Principal Jessica Cummings said a Teen Dating Violence Awareness Week and parent workshops focused on fostering healthy relationships increased awareness on her campus.

“We are grateful,” she wrote in an email, “for this partnership and the positive impact it has had.”

Of the students surveyed after receiving services, Safe at Home indicated that 99% reported feeling safer and 93% said they used the tools they learned in counseling.

Torre has absorbed decades of anecdotal feedback too — the knowing nods he sees in the crowd when he’s talked to groups of kids about this, the cameraman who slipped him $20 to put toward the foundation, the interviewer who shared his account of having grown up in a violent household.

“Anyone can become a victim,” Ali Torre said, “Our goal is to intervene and prevent. There are little boys we can have conversations with: ‘You don’t have to repeat the cycle.’ To little girls, ‘There’s an option for you…’

“And Joe has opened a lot of doors for us.”

When you think of Joe Torre, it’s as a former Dodgers skipper. A nine-time All-Star and the 1971 National League Most Valuable Player.

You should also think of him as a champion of children who now know that they aren’t alone, and that they have people who will go to bat for them.

In 1936, there were no video games keeping children inside. Most households didn’t have televisions.

Amid concern that kids playing in the streets would get hit by cars, Los Angeles made it a misdemeanor to play baseball, basketball, soccer or any other ball game on a street or sidewalk.

Nearly a century later, when kids spend half as much time outside as their parents did, City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield wants to cut the obscure law from the books.

Blumenfield, who authored a motion to start the process, called the law, along with its punishments of a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail, “uncommonly silly.”

It’s illegal for a parent to play catch on the sidewalk with a child in front of their home, said Blumenfield, who represents the southwest San Fernando Valley. Nor can a group of children kick a soccer ball on a quiet residential street without violating the law.

The law also prohibits throwing a “stone, pellet, bullet, arrow or any other missile, in, over, across, along or upon any street or sidewalk or in any public park.” It prohibits playing ball games in public parks, except on designated courts or fields.

“Let kids play,” said Olsen Ebright, who is on the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council. “Why in God’s name would we be having the city try to curb playing soccer or throwing a football? “

The benefits of exercising on public land, when done safely and under supervision, outweigh the risks of injury or property damage, such as a baseball going through a neighbor’s window, Ebright said.

Blumenfield’s motion, introduced last August, was supported unanimously by the City Council in a January vote, for which only Blumenfield was absent, as well as by the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council. For it to move forward, the city attorney’s office needs to draft language codifying the change.

Blumenfield’s staff unearthed the 1936 law while researching public rights of way, said Kristine Cajulis, a communications deputy for the council member. Cajulis said she is unaware of anyone who has been penalized under the law.

One instance of enforcement occurred in 2006, when a former city council field deputy reported her Sherman Oaks neighbors for having basketball hoops near their curbs, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

In addition to the anti-ball playing ordinance, the neighbors were accused of violating an ordinance prohibiting structures on sidewalks or grassy strips next to curbs.

Nate Brogin had set up a basketball hoop that drew neighborhood kids for pickup games and helped his then-18-year-old son lose 30 pounds.

Brogin, who said at the time that the law was akin to fascism, fought the city, unsuccessfully. He said he never paid his fine — he doesn’t remember how much it was — but he eventually pulled the hoop down.

“That’s a long time to let something so backwards go on,” Brogin, now 77, said of the law.

In newspaper stories from the 1930s, local officials warned parents to keep their children from playing in the streets to avoid being struck by cars.

Children should be allowed play in vacant yards or empty spaces but should not be permitted “to risk injury by playing their games in the path of moving vehicles,” said George Hjelte, then-superintendent of Los Angeles playgrounds, in a Feb. 3, 1936 Daily Breeze article.

In today’s L.A., the road safety groups Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone see Blumenfield’s proposal as a positive step. Safety starts with drivers paying attention to people in the streets, whether biking, walking or playing, they said.

Some drivers in Los Angeles believe the road belongs to them, said Michael Schneider, founder and chief executive of Streets For All.

“Changing that takes a lot more than repealing a law,” he said.

Kids still play in the streets in Brogin’s Sherman Oaks neighborhood. He said that fewer than 10 cars pass through in a typical hour, and drivers stop for children to pause their games and move out of the way — just as he did when he was a boy.

“It’s a great social exercise,” Brogin said. “I don’t see any negative to it.”

It began as a whimsical idea that occurred to Daniel Leigh after an idyllic trip to the United States: Sell his family’s five-bedroom home in England and travel the world with his wife, Lauren Vaknine, and their two children.

So he was surprised when, a few months later, Vaknine and their children, Braxton, 10, and Viva, 7, agreed to go along with the plan.

“We’re not really travelers,” Leigh said. “We’ve always watched others travel.”

When they got back from their trip to America in March, they noticed that others had successfully raffled their homes on the British website Raffall. The online platform raffles everything from cars to homes, including one man who promoted his house to Americans last year as a “safe haven from Trump.” The couple decided to try it too.

The home is located just 20 minutes outside of London in Elstree.

(Lux Visuals Ltd.)

In June, they put their house in Elstree, about 20 minutes from London, up as a sweepstakes prize online and began selling tickets for five British pounds each, or $6.75.

“While someone new makes memories in our home, we get to go and make some of our own,” said Leigh, who has worked in educational recruitment in London for more than 20 years.

Leigh got the idea after reading a New York Times article about Imelda Collins, who raised about $1.4 million last year by raffling her two-bedroom cottage in Ireland. She sold 206,815 tickets at $6.70 each, and in October, Collins sold her cottage to Kathleen Spangler, a 29-year-old U.S. Marine Corps officer from Dayton, Ohio, who had bought three tickets on a whim and promptly forgot about them.

Leigh and Vaknine, both 42, grew up in the same village and went to high school together.

But after their family trip to New Orleans; Asheville, N.C.; and South Carolina spots Charleston, Folly Beach and Lake Keowee, they began to wonder if they wanted to stay in the same town forever. Kayaking and seeing the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains made them rethink their life.

The couple’s open kitchen was renovated in 2021.

(Lux Visuals Ltd.)

The living room.

(Lux Visuals Ltd.)

“Living on a lake was the most peaceful life I’ve ever had,” Leigh said. “It was perfect. In England, the kids spend most of their time indoors because of the weather, and we have to keep them busy with things like trampolines or indoor parks. Every family outing costs about $300. You can’t just go to the lake, the beach or hike in the mountains.”

Leigh said they have worked hard to build the life they thought they wanted, with two kids, their dog and a home. But after achieving professional success, they realized it was not the future they hoped for.

“We keep chasing goals that always seem just out of reach, simply because we feel we have to keep going,” he said. “There’s so much life to live. We’re seeing many of our parents and our friends’ parents pass away, and it makes you realize that life can feel like a conveyor belt. You either live or you just keep moving along.”

For Vaknine, a holistic wellness coach who was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 2, selling their home and traveling the world carries even deeper meaning.

“I have been on a long journey,” said Vaknine, who has been in remission for the past decade. “From being head-to-toe disabled to being fully able-bodied, you don’t come through that without realizing that there is so much more to life than working, taking the kids to school and making dinner in the same house every day. For me, the extraordinary life isn’t about mansions, yachts or extravagance. It’s about experiencing life fully, finding deep inner joy, and I can’t do that if I stay within the same four walls in the same town I grew up in.”

Her husband added, “She lives a life of gratitude for everything. That’s what this is about: Let’s live life in the moment and do what we can when we are fully able.”

Their five-bedroom home, which is estimated at about $2 million, is on a quiet cul-de-sac with just five other houses in Hertfordshire, England. It has 2,226 square feet of living space, a south-facing garden, an open-plan kitchen, a dining and living room renovated in 2021, plus a home office and gym.

Leigh said they are not trying to make a profit, but they need to sell 550,000 tickets to cover the property’s costs, legal fees, taxes, prize money and raffle expenses.

“The ticket target has been set to cover all of the associated costs, so it’s unlikely there will be much left over,” he said. “If ticket sales exceed the target, then certainly, but that’s not the goal.”

If they don’t reach the ticket target, a winner will still be chosen and will get 50% of the money raised. They hope the winner gets the house.

One of the home’s bathrooms.

(Lux Visuals Ltd.)

One of the five bedrooms in the couple’s home.

(Lux Visuals Ltd.)

One reason homes aren’t auctioned often on the site, he said, is that you have to promote them yourself. Leigh estimates they’ve spent about $17,000 so far and are about to spend another $15,000 on Meta advertising. They also have to pay for their own legal advice.

The raffle has become a family project, and their children have helped with promotion. In one video, Braxton asks what might be the most important question about their move: “Are we bringing the dog?”

“We may have to leave him with family for a while,” Leigh said of their dog Story. “He’s the size of a small pony, so traveling with him could be a challenge. He’d definitely be missed, though.”

Working together to promote their home has been a valuable lesson for their children, Leigh said, showing them “that if you put your mind to something, you can do it. I want them to see hard work. It’s not just fun to do videos. It’s staying up till midnight, getting up early, running two jobs and making sure you don’t miss an interview. And in the end, the kids will see that life can change, and there’s a world out there if you make it happen.”

The family recently spent time in North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana. “We’re huge fans of America,” Leigh said. The couple hope to visit all 50 states after their home is raffled on Dec. 7.

(Daniel Leigh)

The kids aren’t worried about losing their home, Leigh said. “They are excited about going on a holiday, which we hope will include Australia, India and every state in America.”

With a record number of Americans applying for British citizenship, the couple’s raffle may be well-timed. The winner, chosen randomly by Raffall on Dec. 7, will get a mortgage-free home with all legal fees and taxes paid, plus $45,000 for household bills. The property transfer may take up to 60 days or longer according to Raffall’s terms and conditions.

Part of every ticket sale will go to Solace Women’s Aid, a British charity supporting women and children affected by domestic violence. Leigh notes that not every state can take part in Raffall competitions because of different state gambling, lottery and consumer protection laws.

At a time when many people are trying to choose between traveling or saving for a house, the couple is offering raffle entrants a chance to do both.

That’s the point, Leigh said: “If not now, when? That question changed everything.”

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, announced the birth of their fourth child, the first born to a sitting vice president in more than 150 years.

Born Sunday, Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.

Vance announced the birth Sunday on social media with a statement signed by him and his wife.

“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” the statement said.

They thanked doctors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and with the White House medical team.

The Republican vice president’s growing family is in keeping with his passionate advocacy for Americans to have more children. He has also suggested that the 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was his friend, factored into the decision to have another child.

Vance, a former U.S. Marine, repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates in America as he launched his political career in 2021 with a bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. As vice president, he said in Washington at the 2025 March for Life anti-abortion rally, “I want more babies in the United States of America.”

The vice president, who’s 41, has been accompanied on overseas trips by Usha Vance, 40, and their children, with the kids often pajama-clad as they board Air Force Two for the overnight flights.

Usha Vance, the daughter of immigrants from India, had already been the subject of some public fascination because of her husband. Her pregnancy, which was announced in January, amplified that spotlight since it is rare for occupants of the United States’ highest public offices to add to their families while serving.

The last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 1800s.

Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade, had a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870 when Colfax was serving as vice president, according to the White House Historical Assn. Decades before that, John C. Calhoun and his wife, Floride Bonneau, had a son, William, in 1829 when Calhoun was vice president, the association said.

Usha Vance recently came under scrutiny after The New York Times’ fashion critic called attention to the stomach-hugging, coral maternity dress she wore for a Father’s Day episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady,” a video podcast she launched during the pregnancy.

The Times wrote that the attention that Vance, Miller and Leavitt had put on their pregnancies offered “an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement,” which encourages couples to have as many children as possible to counter declining birth rates.

The second lady responded on social media, writing, “Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.” She later shared the receipt for the dress, and her husband applauded her frugality.

“She bought a $50 dress for $8.75. America: meet your next director of the federal budget!” the vice president wrote on social media.

Superville writes for the Associated Press.

LeBron James didn’t have a speech prepared.

“I’m just speaking to y’all from the heart,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer told the audience Thursday night at the Time 100 Sports gala in New York.

In James’ heart and on his mind at that moment was his oldest son Bronny James, who nearly three years ago suffered sudden cardiac arrest as an 18-year-old rising freshman while practicing with the USC basketball team. He later was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect but eventually was able to resume his basketball career.

James and his son ended up becoming Lakers teammates for two seasons before the 23-year veteran became a free agent this summer. Bronny James is entering his third season with the Lakers after contract became fully guaranteed earlier this month.

“Obviously, if it wasn’t for the coaching staff and the medical team and everybody at USC being there in a timely fashion, we’d possibly be sitting here without our oldest son,” said James “So thank you to everybody and all the efforts when it comes to cardiac arrest.”

In June, Time magazine released its inaugural issue highlighting the 100 most influential people in sports, with James on the cover as “athlete of the century.”

James was one of the featured speakers at the gala honoring those individuals, as were fellow Time 100 Sports list members New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, Olympic gold medalist skater Alysa Liu, Invictus Games founder Prince Harry and women’s soccer legend Alex Morgan.

Savy King and Damar Hamlin speak onstage during the Time 100 Sports gala July 16 in New York.

(Jemal Countess / Getty Images for TIME)

Earlier in the evening, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Angel City FC defender Savy King gave a presentation on their experiences as athletes who suffered cardiac arrest while playing in games for their respective teams.

Like Bronny James, they were both young athletes at the time of their incidents — Hamlin was 24; King was 20 — and both were fortunate to have trained medical staff members on hand to perform CPR and use defribulators to save their lives.

Their message hit home for James.

“Guys, take that serious,” he said. “If you got kids in elementary, you got kids in middle school, kids in high school, colleges. Make sure they have these devices available where you can get them, practice them. It’s very important, super, super important. Obviously, we know how important it is to our family, so we’re a big advocate of that.”

Mary Steenburgen moved to California to work with Jack Nicholson.

It was 1977, and Steenburgen — an Arkansas native — had been waiting tables in New York at night while studying acting with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse during the day. She’d been pounding the pavement for about seven years, she says, when her “overnight moment came” and she was called in to read for a film Nicholson was both directing and starring in called “Goin’ South.”

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.

Getting the role, Steenburgen says, changed her life in every way. “I flew out [to film] and had an amazing introduction to the town,” she explains. “I lived at the Chateau Marmont and went to Paramount Studios every day, where [Nicholson] would screen movies for me and then come in at the end to give me a little film-slash-acting lecture about each one. It really helped me get ready to dive into the big leagues.”

Though she spent some years in an old Ojai farmhouse in the 1980s raising her kids with former husband Malcolm McDowell, she’s always had a base of operations here in L.A. She shares her L.A. abode now with husband Ted Danson, whom she married in 1995 and with whom she’s starred in numerous projects, including the Netflix series “A Man on the Inside.” L.A. is also where she filmed her latest movie, “The Dink,” an Apple TV comedy centered on one of her favorite pastimes: pickleball.

Here’s how Steenburgen would spend her perfect, pickleball-filled Sunday in Los Angeles.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

5:30 a.m.: Early morning meditation and mental exercise

We always wake up early. After so many years of going to work at 5 in the morning, we always wake up between 5 and 6 now.

We’re morning meditators, or we try to be since our dog [Blue] just sits on our laps and stares at us until he’s been fed. Then we have to do all the New York Times games, and then I’ll try and find a pickleball game. We love Spelling Bee. We have to get to Genius, at least. Occasionally we’ll get to Queen Bee, but if we don’t get to at least Genius, then my day is ruined.

If my husband and I are working that week, whoever’s not working will have to run lines with the one who is. So we’ll generally spend a few hours doing that in the morning, too.

8:30 a.m.: Light gardening

I love my garden. A lot of it was hand-planted by me. Not the big trees — someone else planted those — but everything else, like the ground cover and smaller plants, I did. So I’ll spend a little time out there, too.

I like to go to Armstrong Garden Centers. They hire very knowledgeable people there. When I first started planting my garden — I live on a hill and it was all dirt back there and not everything grows well that way so I was looking for ground cover that would grow quickly but also didn’t mind a hillside. The people at Armstrong knew the answer, and they were great.

10 a.m.: Pickleball-palooza

I try to play pickleball for at least two hours a day, if I can. I try to find a game with friends, or I’ll go and play in different parks.

This morning, I played at a friend’s house. She has a beautiful tennis court and they put tape down on it so we can use it for pickleball, too. I played with her daughter and her friend.

I also have a pickleball coach and sometimes we’ll go play at this place called Pickle Pop that’s on the Third Street Promenade. Other times, I’ll play at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center.

My son just brought eight members over from [one of] London’s biggest pickleball club[s], Lemon Pickleball, and they all stayed with me. We played all over the place and we had so much fun. They loved Southern California, and seeing it through their eyes made me love it even more.

On their last night here, I called a wonderful family I know that cooks fantastic Mexican food, because I knew [the Brits] hadn’t ever really experienced great Mexican food. I met them because they’re set up every weekend in the parking lot at Rustic Coffee [in Santa Monica]. They’re lovely folks. So they came over and cooked, and we had a wonderful night for the Brits, putting up all kinds of lights and decorations too.

12:30 p.m.: Magical brunch with the grandkids

We go to Kreation a lot for lunch, just because it’s nice and it’s very healthy. I was just there yesterday with my granddaughters, after we all played Pickleball.

Actually, this weekend we all went to the Magic Castle together, too. I hadn’t been for decades and two of my five grandkids were here, and they’d never been either. Mostly it’s no kids at the Magic Castle but on weekends they do a brunch where kids can come so we went to that. The last magician in the show even called my granddaughter up on stage to be a sort of assistant, and it was very cute.

3 p.m.: Hiking with the dog

Because we work a lot and our days often belong to someone else from early in the morning until pretty late at night, weekends are more laid back.

We like to go on hikes and walks around Santa Monica. We have this big Australian Shepherd and we take him for long, slow walks. They’re slow because he has to say hello to every dog and person along the way — especially babies, who are his absolute favorite.

There’s something magical about my dog, I think. People will say, “Oh, my dog hates all dogs” and then my dog pulls me over and the dog that hates all dogs just melts. It’s like he calms other dogs. He even calms people that think they don’t like dogs. I know I’m very prejudiced, but I’m also very proud.

6 p.m.: Breakfast (or Goop) for dinner

We’re big on breakfast for dinner, so maybe we’d have some poached eggs on toast or poached eggs on creamed spinach.

If we order in, we might get food from Goop Kitchen. They have so many healthy, fantastic choices. Even their pizzas are pretty healthy.

8:30 p.m.: TV in bed

Sometimes I read a book at night, but we also have a show we absolutely love to go to sleep to, even if you’re not supposed to do that. It’s this British game show called “Would I Lie to You?” and unfailingly it makes me laugh. I’ve seen every single episode — some of them twice — and I like to go to sleep laughing.

I also just said to Ted that I think we’re going to have to start “Cheers” again soon. We just lost our friend Jimmy Burrows, who was a magnificent human and so important to Ted’s whole career, and one of the great things about watching “Cheers” is, if you know Jimmy’s laugh, you can actually pick it out multiple times during each episode.

It’s been a long time since we’ve watched “Cheers,” and it honestly never gets old. I first watched it in Ojai when I was married and had young children. We would watch it with our best friends on Thursday nights, like everybody would go down to their house in their pajamas and we’d watch “Cheers” and then I’d come home to put the kids to bed. Then, when I was going through my divorce I would watch it at 10 o’clock at night because I was very lonely and it was the thing that cheered me up at the end of the day during a hard time in my life. Little did I know that one day I’d be sleeping with Sam Malone.

A man claims an airline tried to pressure him into giving up his business class seat so a parent could sit with their child – but he refused to play along and the youngster ended up sitting alone

A man has sparked a debate after refusing to give up his business class plane seat so a child could sit next to their parent. He explained how he had specifically booked his seat in advance to ensure he was as comfortable as possible during the flight.

But after a flight attendant noticed a child sitting alone in economy while their parent was in business class, they reportedly made it their mission to reunite the pair. Taking to Reddit, he said: “I was asked to move from a row of two so a parent and child could sit together, and I don’t feel guilty for declining, no matter how much the flight attendant and the parent tried to guilt me.

“I wasn’t going to take a downgrade to economy. But even if I was asked to change to a seat in the same class, I would refuse. When I have to fly, I choose the seat that I want. Or, in rare cases when there are no assigned seats, I choose the best seat that’s available.”

He argued that parents should pay the extra cost to ensure they are seated with their children, rather than relying on strangers to swap seats at the last minute.

He added: “I’m not moving just because someone else is a parent. If someone is travelling with a small child, they need to plan better.”

The man also criticised the airline’s handling of the situation, claiming staff tried to pressure him into giving up his seat without offering any compensation.

He said: “While I did complain to the airline about 1) being asked to downgrade to economy without a refund or any compensation – I still wouldn’t have moved, but being told I should help without getting a refund was upsetting – and 2) being guilted by the flight attendants because I refused, I don’t expect a response.

“In Canada, the airline is legally required to give a refund if you are downgraded, so being told I wouldn’t be compensated at all if I changed seats was wrong.

“I don’t know what ended up happening, but the seat next to me was empty during the flight and I got to sit alone.

“Just because I’m not a parent doesn’t mean I should have to move. I don’t care if not moving makes me a bad person.”

Commenting on the post, one user said: “I’m surprised you weren’t offered booze by the flight attendant.”

Another added: “Why didn’t they ask the person next to the child to upgrade so the parent could move to economy instead?”

A third wrote: “So the parent booked business class for themselves and economy for the child, hoping they could guilt someone into upgrading the child for free at their own expense. You did the right thing.”

CONCORD, N.H. — Two transgender girls who were the first to challenge President Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” have withdrawn their lawsuit in New Hampshire based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld state bans on transgender athletes in girls’ sports and their own personal hardships, their lawyer said.

“This case was always about two courageous young girls who simply wanted the same opportunities as their peers to participate in school life,” their lawyer, Chris Erchull of GLAD Law, said in a statement Thursday. “Their willingness to stand up to extraordinary hostility made clear the human cost of laws that target transgender youth.”

The teenagers, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, took on Trump’s executive order last year, amending their 2024 complaint against New Hampshire’s law on banning transgender girls from school sports. A federal judge had granted a court order allowing them to play as the case proceeded.

For Tirrell, it meant being able to keep playing on her high school girls’ soccer team. For Turmelle, it was having a chance to try out for different sports.

Both sides agreed to pause the case and wait for a ruling from the Supreme Court as it considered similar state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school and college athletic teams in Idaho and West Virginia. Last month, the court upheld the laws. It also said that barring transgender girls and women doesn’t run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

One teen and her family decided to move from New Hampshire

Turmelle and her family moved out of New Hampshire last summer following proposed legislation against transgender people. One measure signed into law by Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte last year prohibits medical professionals from providing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy to new transgender patients under age 18.

“Though there may be a carve-out for people already receiving gender-affirming care, that is way too close a call for us to risk staying,” Turmelle’s mother, Amy Manzetti, wrote in an op-ed piece at the time. “Other New Hampshire laws also seek to erase her.”

Most Republican-controlled states in the past five years have adopted laws or policies limiting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and limiting which school bathrooms transgender people can use, as well as sports restrictions. The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that about 3% of youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender.

“The challenges with relocation are significant and burdensome — this includes having to find new employment, buying and selling homes, packing and moving possessions, integrating kids with a new school system, losing access to longstanding family and friends, and potential loss of income,” Corinne Goodwin, the executive director of Eastern PA Trans Equality Project in Pennsylvania, said in an email.

“But these families do so because they love their kids and know that supporting them with the care and opportunities they need is critical to their long-term success and happiness.”

The other teen gave up playing soccer at high school

Tirrell, 17, began her junior year last fall on the girls’ junior varsity soccer team. Things were fine at first, and each time she scored a goal, she got a round of ice cream from her parents. But a few weeks into the season, she decided to stop playing.

“With all of the political stuff going on, soccer wasn’t just about the game anymore,” her mother, Sara Tirrell, told The Associated Press in an interview.

It became more about preparing for the possibility of conflict.

“Were there any local Facebook groups where they were sort of agitating about potential protests and how do we prepare, and what are we walking into, and we never kind of knew,” she said. “We were on a lot of pins and needles, especially after the previous season.”

She was referring to a controversy at an away game where two dads from an opposing team were banned from school grounds for wearing pink wristbands marked “XX” to represent female chromosomes. They sued the school district and a judge ruled against them. They have appealed their case.

Last fall, there was an increased presence of school administrators at the games and bus drivers pulled in closer to the field so the students weren’t in the parking lot, she said.

“Parker didn’t talk about it a lot, but I think she could see that stress for everybody — for her, for her teammates, for her coaches,” Sara Tirrell said. “She felt kind of bad about pulling them all into that circus again. And so she ultimately said, ‘This isn’t fun anymore and I don’t want to do it.’”

Parker’s father described the atmosphere as “palpable tension.”

Even playing on her own turf, “there would typically be a couple of police officers at the home games where there weren’t previously,” Zach Tirrell said.

In the past, Parker also played soccer in a recreation league and could still do so.

“But I think it all kind of still sort of weighs on her,” her mother said. “It’s the same group of kids that she plays with who, honestly, have been very supportive and love to have her on the team and have expressed that to her many times over. But I think she still has that worry in her brain around, ‘What are other people going to say and do if I show up at a game?’”

Parker’s parents hope she’ll return to playing soccer some day. In the meantime, “she plans to be around and use her voice to continue standing up to discrimination,” her mother said. “In some ways she’s had to grow up a lot faster than some of her peers.”

McCormack writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, N.J., contributed to this report.

Luke Wilson has reportedly welcomed his first child with girlfriend Kendall Yates.

The new parents were spotted with their baby at a Tuesday press event for Wilson’s upcoming Netflix series, “The Hawk,” according to People and Page Six. The “Bottle Rocket” actor and his partner brought their newborn daughter in a carrier to the Newport Beach reception and introduced her to Wilson’s castmates and other attendees, per the outlets’ sources.

Representatives for Wilson did not immediately respond on Thursday to The Times’ request for comment.

Wilson, 54, and Yates, 24, have reportedly been linked since at least 2023. They have mostly kept their relationship away from the spotlight, but attended an afterparty for the Los Angeles premiere of Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” together in 2024.

The “Idiocracy” actor has addressed his desire to have kids and his role as an uncle over the years. In a 2007 People interview, Wilson — then single — mentioned he “definitely want[ed] [kids] at some point.” In 2023, while promoting “Merry Little Batman,” Wilson spoke about being “a pretty good uncle” to brother Owen Wilson’s kids.

“They’re great little kids,” Wilson said of his nephews in an interview with Conan O’Brien in 2020. “The kind that make me want to have some kids of my own, which I should get on sooner rather than later.”

“I just don’t want to be one of those dads that has to pay somebody in the neighborhood to throw the football with his kid because I can’t,” he joked.

Advertised as “from the world of ‘Legally Blonde,’” the new Prime Video series “Elle” revisits that film’s heroine, Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree), as a 16-year-old high school student, suddenly transported from Beverly Hills to Seattle after her plastic surgeon father (Tom Everett Scott) botches a nose job and has to lie low.

Set in 1995, six years before the events of the first “Legally Blonde” film, with Seattle still living through the long tail of first-wave grunge — Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell are mentioned almost in a single breath — it shares with the big-screen mothership only its indomitable protagonist, who loves pink and her Chihuahua, Bruiser. (The dog gets its own origin story: It was “rescued” from the Spellings, as in Aaron, who found that its “earth tones” didn’t match “their new color palette.”)

There’s a passing reference to the lawyer Elle might (and does) become, and surely some things I missed, but if you’ve never seen “Legally Blonde,” you will not be at any particular disadvantage. (Possibly you will be at a disadvantage if you have seen it.) Bruiser aside, nothing that happens here affects what happens there. Don’t think twice, or even once, about canon. This is something else entirely.

What that is is a high school comedy, which is to say it’s full of familiar characters swept up in teenage drama. And because this is an eight-episode series and not a two-hour movie, relationships will shift more than once. Indeed, they will not be done shifting by the season’s end; a second is clearly in the producers’ sights.

The series is a fish out of water story as Elle moves from Beverly Hills to Seattle. From left, Kimberly (Chandler Kinney), Liz (Gabrielle Policano), Elle (Lexi Minetree), Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) and Dustin (Zac Looker).

(Kimberley French / Prime Video)

Floating into her new school on a bubble of positivity that will stubbornly refuse to burst, Elle is a spot of color in a sea of black and plaid. (There’s a joke that all the cliques — “jocks, D&D nerds, stoners, kids with parents with Microsoft money, kids with parents with Boeing money” — dress exactly alike.) Her surface mistaken for her substance, she’s mocked by Kimberley (Chandler Kinney), the Mean Queen Bee in a reversal of the usual dynamic; it’s the supposedly deep, authentic characters looking down on the privileged, seemingly shallow one. (Not understanding that Bikini Kill is a band, Elle will offer, “Bikini Kill? I know bikinis … that kill.”) Introducing herself to the skeptical Liz (Gabrielle Policano), who makes music and works in a record store, she says, “I like iced coffee, the month of July and when people dress kind of tennis-y, even when they don’t play tennis.”

At the same time, Elle will quickly bond with Shannon (Danielle Chand), the school’s self-appointed one-woman welcoming committee, and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz), a central-casting nice guy who literally collides with her, as is traditional. (His jacket is blue denim to set him apart.) Socially aware quasi-outsider Dustin (Zac Looker) will take a second longer to sway. Inevitably, all will fall before her goodness, her school spirit and her No Doubt karaoke, though her good intentions will have unintended consequences as well, and she’ll have things to learn — it’s a fish out of water story in which the water will change the fish, and the fish the water. In a late-season plotline, in order to give them something to think about than one another, they’ll become a Scooby Gang (with explicit references to “The Breakfast Club”), investigating adult shenanigans. Well, we love a Scooby Gang.

Chief among the grown-ups is Elle’s equally blond mother, Eva (June Diane Raphael), who will become involved in the mayoral campaign of (the late) James Van Der Beek’s Dean Wilson. At school, there are prickly Principal Anderson (Matt Oberg) and Donna (Amy Pietz, nice to see her), his good-hearted secretary, a champion of needy teens and, it will be revealed, Liz’s mother. It feels wrong to saddle the lovable Scott, as Elle’s father, Wyatt, with a fugitive-from-malpractice plot, such as it is — they had to get the family out of Beverly Hills somehow — and just as his character is lying low, so does he disappear, sadly, a little into the scenery. He does get a nice line about meeting someone named Mike McCready, the Pearl Jam guitarist, in a coffee shop and maybe getting together to play, and a chance to lead partygoers in Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”

Minetree is an apt choice to play a younger Reese Witherspoon (an executive producer), with a dash of “Clueless” Alicia Silverstone stirred in, and the younger cast is likable across the board. Written by Laura Kittrell, “Elle” is lightweight, often obvious and oddly, refreshingly innocent — Elle is waiting for “a perfect first kiss from a perfect guy” — both for the genre and the setting. (As Robyn Hitchcock sang of Seattle in “Viva! Sea-Tac,” “They’ve got the best computers and coffee and smack.”) In a way, it feels like a show made for those who already want what it’s selling, but that’s not me, and I had a perfectly fine time.

(When it closed for upgrades, the kids on our street were so bereft that they set up a lemonade stand, hoping it would help expedite the pool’s reopening.)

The pool is open year-round, but it’s especially popular in the summer, when it offers recreational swimming, swim lessons starting at 6 months old, a junior lifeguard program, lap swimming and other sports.

There’s a fun activity pool for kids ages 4 and under, with waterslides, dumping water buckets, a play area and a shallow wading pool with a beach-style entry. Chaise longues, picnic tables with umbrellas, and multiple lifeguards give the public pool a resort feel.

On a recent Friday, the main Olympic-sized pool was busy with families, but there were still plenty of lanes open for lap swimming. I tried a Monday evening Aquatic NoodleFit class, where you use a pool noodle for low-impact resistance training while standing in the center of the pool. The instructor, Karen Eldridge, was warm and welcoming and gave clear instructions, even working up a sweat herself as we followed her moves on the pool deck. The workout was challenging and fun, but not overwhelming for students of all levels, body types and ages, thanks to the water’s support.

During the week, the activity pool is usually not crowded, but on weekends, staff closely monitor capacity as it can get busy. Burbank residents get priority and can buy presale wristbands online at BurbankParks.com from Monday to Friday between 9 and 10 a.m. If you can’t get into the activity pool, don’t worry. The recreational pool is a fun and easy backup option.

Size: 50 by 18 meters
Temperature: 80 to 82
Swim lanes: 7
Depth: 2.5 feet to 8 feet and a 12-foot diving well
Admission: Lap swimming, $5 to $9. Monthly membership, $41 to $96. Activity pool, $4. Water fitness classes are subscription-based and range from $99 to $110, depending on the class. (My Aquatic NoodleFit class costs $109 as a nonresident for an 11-class series).
Parking: Free.
Hours: Lap swimming, 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday; 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Recreational swimming, 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Extras: Activity pool, snack bar, vending machines.