L.A

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg giving you the latest on city and county government.

At her official campaign launch Dec. 13, Mayor Karen Bass told Angelenos that they face a simple decision.

After speaking about the Palisades fire, federal immigration raids and the homelessness and affordability crises, she turned to the primary election next June.

“This election will be a choice between working people and the billionaire class who treat public office as their next vanity project,” Bass told a crowd of a few hundred people at Los Angeles Trade Technical-College.

Attendees take their picture against a “photo booth” wall at Mayor Karen Bass’ reelection campaign kickoff rally.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

In one sentence, without uttering a single name, the mayor appeared to be taking a shot at three different men. Was she talking about President Trump? Mayoral hopeful Austin Beutner? Her previous opponent, the billionaire developer Rick Caruso?

Or how about all of the above, suggested Bass’ campaign spokesperson, Doug Herman.

The billionaire class certainly includes Caruso, who self-funded his 2022 campaign to the tune of more than $100 million. It also includes Trump, who the New York Times estimated could be worth more than $10 billion. Though the mayor is not running against Trump, she likes to cast herself in opposition him. And Beutner, a former Los Angeles schools superintendent, was once an investment banker, Herman pointed out.

Beutner confirmed to The Times that he is not a billionaire. To the contrary, Beutner said, he drives a 10-year-old Volkswagen Golf.

Herman said Angelenos don’t care if Beutner has billions or just a lot of millions.

“Whether you’re a billionaire or multimillionaire is not really important to someone having trouble getting by and playing by the rules,” Herman told The Times.

“I’m trying to find the polite words,” Beutner said when asked about Bass’ comments. “Frankly, I think it’s an attempt to distract people from her record or lack thereof.”

Caruso declined to comment.

In a speech at Bass’ campaign launch, City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez hammered the same point as the mayor.

City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez shows his support during Mayor Karen Bass’ reelection campaign kickoff rally at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

“We’re always going to have rich old white men, the millionaires and billionaires — they think they can do it better,” he said. “They didn’t get it last time, and they’re not going to get it this time.”

Then, Soto-Martínez seemed to reference Beutner.

“Do you want a healthcare worker over a hedge fund manager?” he asked the crowd, to roaring applause (Bass used to work as a physician’s assistant, while Beutner founded the investment banking advisory group Evercore Partners).

With Bass’ reelection campaign underway, Beutner challenging her as a moderate and community organizer Rae Huang running to her left, Caruso could be the last major domino left to fall.

The Grove and Americana at Brand developer, who has been mulling a run for either governor or mayor (or neither), still has not revealed his plans for 2026.

Karen Bass supporters created signs for her reelection campaign kickoff rally.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn., was among the diverse array of Bass supporters gathered on stage at Trade-Tech to voice their endorsements.

Waldman told The Times that he is supporting the mayor in his personal capacity, though VICA has not yet endorsed.

In 2022, Waldman and VICA supported Caruso, and Waldman spoke at some Caruso events.

He said he switched to Bass this time partly because of his unhappiness with the $30-minimum wage for airport and hotel workers passed by the City Council earlier this year. Businesses cannot move quickly enough to raise worker wages without laying off other workers, he said.

Waldman said that Bass arranged for him to meet with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who then introduced a motion that would phase in the minimum wage increase over a longer period. The current law brings the wage up to $30 by 2028, while Harris-Dawson wants the $30 minimum to start in 2030.

“Bass was instrumental in making that happen, and we appreciate that,” Waldman said.

Harris-Dawson, a Bass ally, was at the campaign kickoff but did not make a speech.

Some were not pleased with his minimum wage proposal. Yvonne Wheeler, who is president of the Los Angeles County Federal of Labor and was at the Bass event, called it “shameful.” Soto-Martínez, who co-sponsored the minimum wage ordinance, also opposes Harris-Dawson’s proposal.

Waldman said that Soto-Martínez refused to take a meeting with him during the minimum wage fight.

“Hugo and I come from two different worlds and see the world differently,” Waldman said. “Unfortunately, I am willing to talk to everybody, and he is not.”

But at the Bass campaign launch, the two men delivered speeches one right after the other. Waldman said the diversity of opinion among the mayor’s supporters is a good sign for her.

“It’s a broad coalition,” he said.

State of play

— AFTER THE FIRES: The Times posted a project called “After the Fires” online Wednesday, nearly a year after the Palisades and Eaton fires. The stories, which document mayoral missteps, changes at the LAFD, failed emergency alerts and more, will be published as a special section in Sunday’s print edition.

— VEGAS, BABY: Councilmember John Lee is facing a steep fine for his notorious 2017 trip to Las Vegas, with the city’s Ethics Commission saying he must pay $138,424 in a case involving pricey meals, casino chips and expensive nightclub “bottle service.” The commission doled out a punishment much harsher than that recommended by an administrative law judge. Lee vowed to keep fighting, calling the case “wasteful and political.”

— EX-MAYOR FOR GOVERNOR: Four Los Angeles City Council members — Harris-Dawson, Heather Hutt, Bob Blumenfield and Curren Price — threw their support behind former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the next California governor.

— POOLS OUT FOR WINTER: City swimming pools will be closed on Fridays “until further notice,” the Department of Recreation and Parks announced Monday. “These adjustments were necessary to continue operating within our available resources,” the department said on Instagram.

— HOT MIC: Bass was caught on a hot mic ripping into the city and county responses to the January wildfires. “Both sides botched it,” she said on “The Fifth Column” podcast, after she shook hands with the host and they continued chatting. The final minutes of the podcast were later deleted from YouTube, with Bass’ team confirming that her office had asked for the segment to be removed.

— HOMELESSNESS FUNDING: The Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency on Wednesday approved nearly $11.5 million in homeless prevention funds, the largest single allocation yet for the new agency.

— A YEAR OF JIM: After more than a year as the LAPD’s top cop, Chief Jim McDonnell is receiving mixed reviews. While violent crime is at historic lows, some say the LAPD is sliding back into its defiant culture of years past.

— “CALM AMIDST CHAOS”: LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott announced this week that he has written a “frontline memoir” about the January wildfires. The book is set to be released on the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire.

— “THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING”: Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath got into a tiff on X over homelessness. After Bass published an op-ed in the Daily News saying that the county’s new Department of Homelessness is a bad idea, the supervisor shot back, calling the mayor’s track record on homelessness “indefensible.” Following the spat, City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado posted on X, “I fear the girls are fighting.” And Austin Beutner, who is running against Bass, responded with a nearly six-minute video criticizing the mayor’s record on homelessness.

— OVERSIGHT OVER?: Experts worry that effective civilian oversight of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department could be in jeopardy following a recent leadership exodus. A succession of legal challenges and funding cuts, coupled with what some say is resistance from county officials, raised concerns that long-fought gains in transparency are slipping away.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program did not conduct any new operations this week. The team “returned to previous Inside Safe operation locations, building relationships with unhoused Angelenos in the area to offer resources when available,” the mayor’s office said.
• On the docket next week: Mayoral candidate Rae Huang will host a text bank and volunteer meetup at Lawless Brewing on Monday, Dec. 22. The City Council remains in recess until Jan. 7.

Stay in touch

That’s it for now! We’ll be dark next week for the holidays. Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

I visited Disneyland last weekend expecting huge crowds, busy restaurants and monster ride wait times. But the day was quite enjoyable thanks in part to Disneyland’s Lightning Lane Pass.

I commented to some employees throughout the day, “I thought this would be worse.”

Almost unanimously, each had the same answer: The real rush was yet to come.

Yes, Disneyland’s busiest time is upon us, from Saturday until Jan. 3.

That’s when the cost of a single-day adult park-hopper pass, which allows a patron to visit Disneyland and adjacent California Adventure Park, soars to $314 (buy a week later, prices will drop by $50.)

Many Disney experts and influencers advise you to avoid the resort during this time.

But what if you’ve already bought tickets? What if out-of-town family is desperate to visit? What if this is the only free time to take the kids?

Fortunately, Traver, known as the SoCal Disney Dad to his 74,000 YouTube subscribers, spoke with me Friday morning and offered tips on how to enjoy a magical time at the busiest place on Earth.

Wake up early

Traver explained to me that preparing for the holiday rush is not all too dissimilar from spring break.

One essential tip is to arrive at Disneyland before the park’s opening at 8 a.m.

Security checks begin as early as 7 a.m. and the gate, which opens around 7:20 to 7:30, allowing patrons to line up for the rope drop.

“For people interested in getting on the most popular rides, this is how you cut down on wait times,” Traver said.

He noted rope drop, the insider term for the moment a literal rope around attractions, restaurants and shops drops when the park opens at 8 a.m. is the best time to head to the “Star Wars”-themed “Rise of the Resistance,” which can easily draw two-hour lines later in the day.

Traver added this tidbit: Disney hotel guests receive early entry on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, so the other days are best for early arrivers.

Consider eating at the bigger restaurants

He said patrons looking to maximize time and find a seat should search for larger capacity places.

Those include Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland, the Red Rose Taverne in Fantasyland, the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree in Bayou Country, Galactic Grill and Alien Pizza Planet in Tomorrowland.

“The larger the crowd, the bigger the fight for seats,” Traver said. “Go to places with more seats.”

Next week, there might be one more consideration: Forecasters predict rain on Tuesday and Thursday.

Traver said restaurants like Alien Pizza Planet, which is 90% covered, or the Golden Horseshoe Restaurant in Frontierland, which is completely indoors, will be in high demand.

Take advantage of single rider

Both Disneyland and California Adventure offer a handful of single-rider lines.

If family members don’t mind riding alone, they can cut long waits at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Disneyland, the lone single-rider attractions at the park.

Traver’s favorite single rider attraction is California Adventure’s Radiator Springs Racer, where wait times are notorious.

“It will cut the wait time by a third,” Traver said.

Be realistic, but bring a good attitude

Maybe the biggest secret: Set proper expectations, Traver said.

“If you expect things to go smoothly and they don’t, now you’re disappointed,” he said. “But, if you arrive with lower expectations and an understanding that lines are going to be long and you’re just going to have to wait, you may be pleasantly surprised.”

The week’s biggest stories

(Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; Photos via Getty Images)

A chance for justice. A strain on today’s classrooms

• California school districts have paid nearly a half-billion dollars to settle past sexual abuse claims, Times reporters discovered.
• Starting in 2020, Assembly Bill 218 offered survivors of childhood sex abuse in California a three-year window to sue over past molestation and sexual assault.
• The wave of litigation has caused financial strain across the state’s schools and programs.
• Also, several California school districts have used confidentiality agreements to settle sex abuse claims and conceal them from the public.

Tyler Skaggs’ family reaches settlement with Angels

• Friday’s settlement in the wrongful death case brings an end to several days of juror deliberations and a four year legal battle.
• Terms of the agreement, which follows previous unsuccessful settlement efforts from the former Angels pitcher’s family, were not immediately available.

Reiner slayings

After the fires…

What else is going on

Must reads

Other gripping reads

• Nearly a year after the L.A. fires, the television drama “Fire Country” drew inspiration from those who fought it.
• Six directors on “wasting” (and saving) money, the future of movie theaters and more.

For your downtime

Lively video projections behind a 1965 Ford Mustang make guests feel like they’re on a ride through Southern California at “American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience.”

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Timeless

A selection of the very best reads from The Times’ 143-year archive.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

The shocking deaths this week of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner reached far beyond Hollywood. Their legacy will go far beyond show business thanks to their committed political activism for causes they believed in.

Mary McNamara pulled together the different strands of Rob Reiner’s life and career, noting, “As an artist and a public figure, he put his money where his mouth was and remained invariably sincere, a powerful and compelling trait that has become increasingly rare in a time of the sound-bite inanities, muddy thinking, obvious contradictions and outright falsehoods that threaten our public and political discourse.

“Reiner mastered many mediums and wielded a broad palette but his signature artistic trait was empathy. No story was too small, or too brutal, to be examined with kindness and an understanding that the most grave injustice we can commit is to choose apathy or revenge when connection and transcendence are always possible.”

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in the movie “When Harry Met Sally…”

(MGM / Library of Congress via AP)

Amy Nicholson took a deeper look at his film career, while Robert Llloyd surveyed his work on television.

Josh Rothkopf and I rolled out a list of his 10 best movies as a director, which includes his astonishing early run, titles like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Princess Bride,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men” and “The American President.” All of those come in little over a decade.

Tribute screenings have already been announced around Los Angeles, including “When Harry Met Sally…” at the New Beverly on Dec. 30–Jan. 1 and then again on Jan. 3 at Vidiots, which will also be showing “A Few Good Men” on Jan. 6 and “The Princess Bride” on Jan. 18. More screenings are sure to follow.

‘Love & Basketball’ 25th anniversary

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

(New Line Cinema)

On Saturday, the Academy Museum will host a 25th anniversary screening of “Love & Basketball” with writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood in attendance. Starring Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps, it is one of the great romantic films of recent decades, the story of two young athletes struggling to reconcile their feelings for each other with their individual careers and ambitions.

In his original review of the movie, Eric Harrison wrote, “The movie is smarter than it has to be, but it’s the sort of low-key smart that can be easily overlooked. Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood doesn’t care if you recognize how hard it is to juggle two distinctly different types of movies (make that three, since the romance and sports elements here don’t obscure the feminist fable that is the film’s heart). … This is Prince-Bythewood’s first feature film as both a writer and director, and she shows admirable command of her craft.”

In an interview from 1990, Prince-Bythewood talked about the difficulty of casting the two leads, worrying whether she should find basketball players who could learn to act or actors who could persuasively play basketball.

“There were a lot of sleepless nights,” Prince-Bythewood said. “Is this a love story or a basketball story? I finally realized it’s a love story first. It doesn’t matter how great the basketball is if you don’t care about the character or the love story.

In 2020, Sonaiya Kelley spoke to Prince-Bythewood, Lathan, Epps, producer Spike Lee, actors Gabrielle Union, Alfre Woodard, Tyra Banks and Regina Hall for a definitive oral history of the film.

“When I first started out writing it, my goal was to do a Black ‘When Harry Met Sally…,’” said Prince-Bythewood. “I love that movie, but I wasn’t seeing myself in movies like that.”

‘Metropolitan’ 35th anniversary

The cast of Whit Stillman’s 1990 movie “Metropolitan.”

(Rialto Pictures)

On Sunday afternoon, the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre will have a 35th anniversary screening of “Metropolitan” with writer-director Whit Stillman and actor Taylor Nichols there for a Q&A. Set during the week between Christmas and New Year’s among a very specific social set of young New Yorkers — labeled in the film as the Urban Haute Bourgeoisie — the film is a delicately detailed comedy of manners. It would earn Stillman an Oscar nomination for original screenplay.

In her original review, Sheila Benson wrote, “Filmmaker Stillman is a pointillist, working in the tiniest, most meticulous degrees. If he seems at times as controlled and distanced as his own UHBs, his impulsive, romantic ending betrays him. Stillman understands caste, class and deportment as perfectly as Audrey’s idol, Jane Austen, and by the time he’s through, so do we.”

In a 1990 interview, Stillman spoke about making a movie about such a specific social set, one that many viewers of the film will not have been a part of. “I think people will enjoy the fact that the film has texture,” he said. “They will sense that there is a joke there, even if they don’t get it.”

Points of interest

Nancy Meyers with ‘Father of the Bride’

Kimberly Williams, left, Martin Short, Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in the 1991 version of “Father of the Bride.”

(Disney / Touchstone Pictures)

Director Nancy Meyers had to pull out of a recent Q&A scheduled for a screening of “Something’s Gotta Give,” which starred her frequent collaborator Diane Keaton. Meyers is now set to appear at the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre on Saturday for a Q&A after 1991’s remake of “Father of the Bride,” directed by Charles Shyer and co-written by Shyer and Meyers. As far as we can tell, this will be Meyers’ first public appearance since Keaton’s death in October.

The film stars Keaton alongside Steve Martin, as a couple who are arranging the wedding of their daughter, with Martin Short showing up as an overbearing wedding planner.

In his original review, Michael Wilmington wrote, “Midway through ‘Father of the Bride’ … Martin Short shows up, as the effete, snobbish wedding coordinator that Leo G. Carroll played in the original, and steals the movie from Martin, steals it from everybody. Short’s handling of this silly little role — an outrageous poseur named ‘Franck Eggelhoffer’ who insists on calling himself Frawwnk and acts like a post-disco Mischa Auer — has perfect pitch and real wigged-out comic genius.”

David Lowery and ‘The Green Knight’

Dev Patel in the 2021 movie “The Green Knight.”

(A24)

On Saturday, Vidiots will host a screening of 2021’s “The Green Knight” with writer-director David Lowery in person. Based on the 14th century poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the film stars Dev Patel as Gawain, nephew of King Arthur, who, after winning a mystical challenge on Christmas, is told he has one year to complete another adventure.

In his review, Justin Chang wrote, “What does it mean to be a knight, or even just to be human? It isn’t an easy question, and ‘The Green Knight,’ in taking it seriously, isn’t always an easy film. But by the time Gawain reaches his journey’s end, in as moving and majestically sustained a passage of pure cinema as I’ve seen this year, the moral arc of his journey has snapped into undeniable focus. He plays the game; he accepts the challenge. His example is worth following.”

Oliver Stone’s ‘Nixon’

Joan Allen and Anthony Hopkins in the movie “Nixon.”

(Sidney Baldwin / Cinergi Pictures Entertainment)

On Sunday, the Laemmle Royal will have a 30th anniversary screening of Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” with the filmmaker in person for a Q&A to be moderated by Times contributing writer Tim Greiving.

Starring Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon and Joan Allen as his wife, Pat (both were nominated for Oscars for their performances), the film covers the political life of the politician who rose to being president only to leave the office in disgrace.

In his original review, Kenneth Turan wrote, “Mostly (though not completely) gone is the disturbing, lunatic Oliver Stone, the bad-boy writer-director who infuriated the political establishment with ‘JFK’ and outraged sensibilities nationwide with ‘Natural Born Killers.’ He’s been replaced by a filmmaker very much on his best behavior, a thorough researcher who consulted 80 books and published a heavily footnoted screenplay. If Quentin Tarantino made a film in the style of Sir Richard Attenborough, the surprise could not be greater. And ‘Nixon’ is in many ways an impressive, well-crafted piece of work.”

Keiko Agena likes to create moments of coziness — not just on Sundays, but whenever she possibly can.

“Oh, there’s my rice cooker,” she says when she hears the sound in her Arts District home. “We’re making steel-cut oatmeal in the rice cooker, which by the way, is a game changer. I used to have to baby it and watch it, but now I can just put it in there and forget it.”

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.

The 52-year-old actor, who played music-loving bestie Lane Kim in the beloved series “Gilmore Girls,” delights in specific comforts like a bowl of warm oats, talking about Enneagram numbers and watching cooking competitions with her husband, Shin Kawasaki.

“It sounds so simple, but I look forward so much to spending time on the couch,” Agena says with a laugh.

It is time that she’s intentional about protecting, especially amid her kaleidoscope of projects. Over the last couple of years, Agena starred in Lloyd Suh’s moving play “The Chinese Lady” in Atlanta, acted in Netflix’s “The Residence,” showcased her artwork in her first feature exhibit, “Hep Tones” (some of her ink and pencil drawings are still for sale), and performed regularly on that L.A. improv circuit. And her work endures with “Gilmore Girls,” which turns 25 this year. Agena narrated the audiobook for “Meet Me at Luke’s,” a guide that draws life lessons from the series, and is featured in the upcoming “Gilmore Girls” documentary “Drink Coffee, Talk Fast.”

She shares with us her perfect Sunday in L.A., which begins before sunrise.

5 a.m.: Morning solitude

I like to be up early-early, like 5 a.m. I like that feeling of everything being quiet. I’ll go into the other room and do Duolingo on my phone. I am a little addicted to social media, so the Duolingo is not just to learn Japanese, but also to keep me from scrolling. Like, if I’m going to do something on my phone, this is better for me. I think my streak is 146. Shin is Japanese, from Oyama. So I’ve been meaning to learn Japanese for a while. For him and his mom.

Then I’ll do [the writing practice] Morning Pages. I don’t know when I learned about Julia Cameron’s book [“The Artist’s Way”] — probably around 2000. I know a lot of people do it handwritten, but I’m a little paranoid about people, like, finding it after I die. So if I have it on my computer and it’s password protected, I can be really honest.

Then a lot of times, I’ll go back to bed. Shin, as a musician, works at night, and so he wakes up a lot later. So I’ll fall back asleep and wake up with him.

9 a.m.: Gimme that bread

I don’t do coffee anymore because it’s a little too tough for my system, but I’ll walk with Shin to Eightfold Coffee in the Arts District. It’s tiny but very chill. Then we’re going to Bliss Bakery inside the Little Tokyo Market Place. We get these tapioca bread balls. If you make any kind of sandwich that you would normally make, but use that bread instead, it ups the game. It’s life-changing. The Little Tokyo Market Place is not fancy or anything, but it has everything that you would want. There’s Korean food. They have a little sushi place in there. You can get premade Korean banchan and hot food in their hot food section. They also have a really good nuts section. It’s just one big table with all these nuts, just piles and piles.

10 a.m.: Nature without leaving the city

We’ll go to Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown. I like that place just because it’s very accessible. Like, they have accessible bathrooms and I’m always checking out whether a place has good bathrooms. We call it Flat Park because it’s a great walk. Like, you’re not really out in nature, but there’s a lot of greenery. You can take your shoes off and at least touch grass for a second.

11:30 a.m.: Lunch and TV cooking shows

One of my favorite salad-sandwich combos is at Cafe Dulce in Little Tokyo. A Korean cheesesteak and a kale salad. That’s always like a — bang, bang — good combo. So we might go there or Aloha Cafe, though it’s not fully open on Sundays. But I love it because I grew up in Hawaii. They have this great Chinese chicken salad and spam musubi and other Hawaiian food that is so good.

We’ll bring home food and watch something. Cooking competition shows are my cream of the crop. My favorite right now is “Tournament of Champions” because it’s blind tasting. To me, that’s the best way to do it. “The Great British Bake Off” is Shin’s favorite. He loves the nature and the accents as much as the actual cooking. He just loves the vibe, the slow pace of the whole thing.

I’m such a TV girl. I love spending time on the couch and eating a meal and watching something that’s appetizing with my favorite person in the world. I’m lucky because I get to do that a lot.

2 p.m.: Browse the aisles

I’ll go to this bookstore called Hennessey + Ingalls. I love art and architecture and design, but you can’t always buy these massive books. But you can go into this bookstore and look at them and it’s always chill.

If I have time, I’ll walk around art supply stores. Artist & Craftsman Supply is a good one. I’ll look at pens, pencils, stickers, tape, washi tape, different kinds of paper, charcoals. In my art, I try to find things that aren’t meant for that particular purpose, like little things in a hardware store that I’ll use it in a different way.

5 p.m.: Downtown L.A. in its glory

We really love to walk the Sixth Street Bridge. It’s architecturally beautiful and they’re building a huge park over there, so we’ll walk around and check it out, like, ‘Which trees are they planting? Can you see?’ We sort of dream about how it’s coming together. But the other beautiful thing about that walk is that if you go at sunset and you walk back toward downtown, it’s just gorgeous. Los Angeles doesn’t have the most majestic skyline, but it’s so picturesque in that moment.

6:30 p.m.: Cornbread and Enneagrams

I’ll head to the Park’s Finest in Echo Park. It’s Filipino barbecue. It’s just so savory and rich and a special hang. Their cornbread is really good. Oh, and the coconut beef, but I’m trying to eat less beef. They have a hot link medley. Oh my gosh, just looking at this menu right now, my mouth is watering. OK, I’ll stop.

One of my favorite things to do is ask friends about their Enneagram number. So the idea of sitting with friends over a good meal and asking them a bunch of personal questions about their childhood and what motivates them and what their parents were like and what their greatest fear is and then figure out what their Enneagram number is? That is top-tier activity for me.

9 p.m.: Rally for improv

Because I get up so early, if 9 o’clock, I’m ready to go to sleep. But I am obsessed with improv, so on my ideal day, there’d be a show to do. There’s this place called World’s Greatest Improv School in Los Feliz. It’s tiny and they just opened a few years ago, but the vibe there is spectacular.

Then there’s another place where my heart is so invested in now called Outside in Theatre in Highland Park. Tamlyn Tomita and Daniel Blinkoff created it together and not only is the space gorgeous — I mean, they built it from scratch — they have interesting programming there all the time. They’re so supportive of communities that are not seen in mainstream art spaces. It’s my favorite place. Sometimes I’ll find myself in their lobby till 12 o’clock at night. The kind of people I like to hang around are the people that hang out in that space.

11 p.m.: Turn on the ASMR and shut down

I am firmly an ASMR girl and I have been for years. I have to find something to watch that will slow my brain down. Then it’s pretty consistent. I don’t last very long once I turn something on. My eyelids get heavy and it chills me out.

After steadily gaining power and influence for more than a decade, the watchdogs that provide civilian oversight of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department face an uncertain future.

A recent leadership exodus has left behind gaps in experience and knowledge, and a succession of legal challenges and funding cuts by the county have left some concerned that long-fought gains in transparency are slipping away.

“It is beginning to look like the idea of effective oversight of the Sheriff’s Department is a pipe dream,” said Robert Bonner, former chairman of the Civilian Oversight Commission, who announced in June that he was being pushed into “involuntarily leaving” before he completed pending work.

Current and former oversight officials have argued that the office of county counsel, the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department have repeatedly undermined efforts to rein in law enforcement misconduct.

The cumulative effect, some advocates worry, is that the public will know less about law enforcement activity, and that there will be fewer independent investigations into deputies and department leaders alike.

“The Sheriff is committed to transparency in law enforcement,” the department said via email. “As we move forward it is essential to strengthen collaboration with the [Civilian Oversight Commission] while ensuring that the rights and safety of our personnel are protected.”

In recent years, oversight bodies have uncovered information about so-called deputy gangs, published reports on inhumane jail conditions and issued subpoenas for records related to on-duty use of force incidents.

Inspector General Max Huntsman’s sudden announcement last week that he was retiring from the position he’s held since its creation more than a decade ago completed a trifecta of departures of top law enforcement oversight officials this year.

In addition to Bonner’s departure, former Civilian Oversight Commission chairman Sean Kennedy stepped down from the body in February in response to what he described as improper county interference in the commission’s activities.

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, right, talks with Sean Kennedy during an event on April 5 in Baker. Kennedy left his position on the Civilian Oversight Commission earlier this year.

(William Liang / For The Times)

Kennedy and others have said the Sheriff’s Department has refused to comply with multiple subpoenas by the commission for personnel files and records related to deputy misconduct.

“The attack on integrity and on oversight capacity is threatening all of us in Los Angeles County,” Hans Johnson, who took over as chairman of the Civilian Oversight Commission following Bonner’s departure, said at a recent public meeting. “We look forward to making sure that oversight is preserved and protected and not muzzled and not unplugged or sabotaged.”

The Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors said in a statement that it maintains a “long-standing commitment to strong oversight.”

The Sheriff’s Department said only one request it has received from oversight officials this year remains pending.

“The Department remains committed to working cooperatively to provide all requested information as required by law,” the statement said.

On the state level, reform advocates recently scored what they described as a victory for transparency.

In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill known as AB 847, which granted civilian oversight bodies across California the ability to view confidential law enforcement records in private sessions. L.A. County officials had previously balked at sharing certain sensitive files on sheriff’s deputies, and some reformers worry the new law may not go far enough.

Dara Williams, chief deputy of the Office of the Inspector General, said at a July public meeting that the Sheriff’s Department has a history of being “painfully slow” to respond to requests for records related to homicides by deputies. In one instance, she said, Huntsman’s office served the department with a subpoena in October 2024 “and we are still waiting for documents and answers.”

The Sheriff’s Department said it has hired an outside attorney who is “conducting an independent review” of its records to determine if “those materials actually exist and can be found.”

The department’s statement said it will abide by the law and that protecting confidential information “remains of the utmost importance.”

Some involved in oversight have also become the subject of probes themselves.

In June, the Office of the County Counsel said it was investigating Kennedy for alleged retaliation against a sergeant who had worked for a unit that had been accused of pursuing cases for political reasons during Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s tenure.

Kennedy has denied the allegations, telling The Times in June, “I was just doing my job as an oversight official.”

Budget cuts — some already instituted, others threatened — are also a concern.

Huntsman said earlier this year that the Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors was reassigning or eliminating a third of his staff.

Former L.A. County Inspector General Max Huntsman listens during a hearing at Loyola Law School’s Advocacy Center on Jan. 12, 2024.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

He too left amid acrimony with county officials.

“The County has made it very clear over the past couple of years that they are not going to enforce the state oversight laws,” Huntsman told The Times. “Instead the county supports the sheriff limiting the flow of information so as to restrict meaningful oversight.”

The Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors said the changes implemented this year have had a “minimal” impact that “neither limits OIG’s responsibility nor their capacity.”

The possibility of eliminating the Sybil Brand Commission, which monitors L.A. County jails, was discussed in an August report to the Board of Supervisors. County officials said it would save about $40,000 annually.

Sybil Brand commissioner Eric Miller told The Times in September that he believes “the county is attempting to limit oversight of the Sheriff’s Department … to avoid lawsuits.” The department, he said, “is a powerful constituency within the county.”

In September, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta launched a state lawsuit over what he described as a “humanitarian crisis” inside L.A. County jails.

There are even concerns that the Sheriff’s Department is seeking greater control over local groups that facilitate conversations between deputies and members of the public — often some of the only opportunities for community concerns to be heard.

In the Antelope Valley, the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station Community Advisory Committee has been roiled by allegations that a local Sheriff’s Department captain appointed a new member without other members’ approval.

The chair of the committee, Georgia Halliman, resigned in October and committee member Sylvia Williams has alleged that the Sheriff’s Department captain tried to force her out.

“I was going to leave, but they need someone who’s real in there,” Williams told The Times. “You have to have an overseer.”

The department said it is reviewing the situation.

Melissa Camacho, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, said the county is at a crossroads.

“The main question right now is what is the county going to do?” she said. “Is this going to be a moment when the Board of Supervisors decides to actually invest in oversight?”

The Ford Mustang was built in Detroit, introduced to the world in New York and, according to a new exhibit on the border of downtown and Boyle Heights, romanticized by Los Angeles.

Part advertisement, part history lesson and part playground, “American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience” uses theme park-inspired trappings to celebrate a work of mechanical artistry. The car — first introduced in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair as a sporty, compact coup with just a little bit of an edge — is given a hero’s treatment. Inside the warehouse-like Ace Mission Studios, “American Icon” tracks the Mustang’s evolution from the suburban garage to the race track, and uses projections and a 4D theater experience to transform what could have been a showroom experience into something built more for a video game.

With installations focused on the fabled, traffic-free, open road “freedom” that car manufacturers like to so often tout, there’s something quaintly old fashioned here. The Mustang is presented as a car for young couples on the go, optimistically envisioning an America when home and car ownership were a given.

Visitors watch an immersive 4D short film.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The seats inside a 4D theater vibrate and feature water and scent effects.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

In that sense, it’s a car enthusiast’s fantasy. But can it inspire a new generation of car dreamers, especially at a time when some data indicates younger audiences may be holding off on a car purchase?

While no cars are for sale at “American Icon” — there is an assortment of specially branded Mustang merch, however, much of it nostalgically focused on 1964 — such an immersive endeavor makes sense, says researcher Jason Jordhamo, a marketing director for Polk Automotive Solutions from S&P Global Mobility. Enticing audiences today, he says, involves a more personal touch than a big TV ad spend or a sponsorship deal.

“It’s less time in the dealership,” Jordhamo says of reaching younger consumers, especially Gen Z. “Those traditional things have to be let go of.”

Jordhamo notes that new vehicle registration among those aged 18-34 has dipped about 2% in recent years. Anecdotally, he cites a multitude of factors, ranging from growing environmental consciousness — hybrids and electric vehicles are big with the age bracket — to the ease of rideshare, especially in major cities.

But there are other causes for concern. “There’s a lot of things that are challenging in that space,” Jordhamo says. “One is affordability, which is huge. The cost for purchasing a vehicle — the monthly costs — have gone up 30% since the beginning of this decade. And the average loan payment nationally has been over $750 all calendar year.”

With the “Pick Your Pony” interactive feature, guests can listen to different Mustang engine sounds.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Immersive experiences, which typically denote either some level of participation on the part of the guest or attempt to envelope the attendee in all-encompassing imagery, are common in Hollywood and often seen as a way of reaching a younger consumer weaned on interactive entertainment. They’ve been utilized heavily by studios such as Netflix for pop-ups themed to “Arcane,” “Squid Game” and more, but brands and personalities as varied as the Catholic Church, McDonald’s and even Mariah Carey have gotten in on the experiential action. Car companies, too, have dabbled, be it partnering with video game franchises such as “Gran Turismo” or “Rocket League” or, as Ford already does, offering real-life experiences such as off-roading in a Bronco at various U.S. locales.

“It’s more than just steel and rubber,” says Ford’s communications director Mike Levine when asked why Mustang was pegged for such an experience. “Mustang’s impact on America should be appreciated like an art exhibit.”

Seated before a crisply, powdered blue 1965 Mustang on a turntable, the exhibit’s first major room comes alive to simulate movement as the surrounding four walls use projections to place us on idealized versions of Venice Beach and Route 66. The glimmering rhythm of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run” sets the tone as visions of cruise culture innocence aim to make us feel as if we’re on a ride through Southern California. All that’s missing to complete the mood is someone to deliver us a milkshake.

Several generations of Mustangs are projected behind a real vehicle.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

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Levine says Los Angeles rather than Detroit was chosen as the first of a planned many stops for “American Icon” in part due to the city’s iconography, pointing to historic drives such as Pacific Coast and Angeles Crest highways as scenic backdrops for our car-focused culture. While experiential marketing is all the buzz in recent years, Levine says this is the first installation of its kind for Ford.

“So far, so good,” said Enzo Sanchez, 22, when asked on a recent weekday if he was enjoying “American Icon,” which culminates in a 4D theater experience that serves as a mini motion simulator. Expect to get splashed with a drop of water as the smell of burning rubber fills the room. The mini film — about five minutes — has Mustang drivers saving a post-apocalyptic world from a rogue AI. “Terminator,” but if Mustangs came to the rescue.

Sanchez, named after famed racer and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari, comes from a car enthusiast family. His father pointed to a wall dedicated to appearances of the Mustang in popular culture, and singled out a framed portrait of Johnny Mathis’ LP “Those Were the Days,” which features the automobile, and said he would have to track down a copy.

“It just transports you,” Sanchez says of his love of the Mustang, adding that he first became aware of “American Icon” on a recent trip to mid-Wilshire’s Petersen Automotive Museum, which helped curate the exhibition. Sanchez noticed one of its famed 1967 Mustangs, the so-called “Eleanor” from “Gone in 60 Seconds,” was absent, and when Sanchez inquired as to its whereabouts, he was told that it would be popping up at “American Icon.” The vehicle shares space with Mustangs from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Kick-Ass” and “Transformers” at the exhibition.

The Mustang, says Ford’s Levine, has been among the most popular movie vehicles, adding that “Gone in 60 Seconds” showcases the car as much as it does the city of Los Angeles. He, too, has seen the headlines that proclaim Gen Z is shifting away from car ownership. For now, he says, he isn’t concerned.

“I heard the same thing about millennials, who weren’t going to buy cars,” he says. “As a parent of two Gen Z children, they love cars. Their friends have cars. They want something they can enjoy.”

A rotating platform and video projections make a Ford Mustang look like it’s driving on a road.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

And as Ford bets on with “American Icon,” they want something they can experience.

“This is a different way to reach a Gen Z customer that is very much looking for or has seen engaging content online,” he says. “And when you come in to do that experience, it’s really every sense. When you do the 4D ride, it is every sense. You smell. You feel it. You hear it. You see it. And when you’re immersed on that level, you put the phone down.”

And that, of course, is an essential rule to enjoying the road.

L.os Angeles City Councilmember John Lee is facing a steep fine for his notorious 2017 trip to Las Vegas, with the city’s Ethics Commission saying he must pay $138,424 in a case involving pricey meals and expensive nightclub “bottle service.”

On Wednesday, the commission decided 4 to 0 that Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, committed two counts of violating the city’s gift law and three counts of violating a law requiring that such gifts be disclosed to the public.

By a 3-1 vote, the panel found that Lee violated five additional counts of misusing his city position or helping his boss at the time — Councilmember Mitchell Englander — misuse his position. After that, the commission voted unanimously to levy the maximum financial penalty, as recommended by city ethics investigators.

The commission went much further than an administrative law judge, who, after a multiday hearing, concluded that Lee violated five of 10 counts and recommended a fine of nearly $44,000.

Commission President Manjusha Kulkarni argued for the maximum fine, saying it would discourage others from violating ethics laws. She said Lee directly benefited from his decision not to report the gifts — which came from three men who sought business with City Hall — on his economic disclosure forms.

Lee, by failing to report those gifts, gained an unfair advantage during his 2019 and 2020 election campaigns, both of which he won by small margins, Kulkarni said.

“There was a concealment effort made there in order to win those two elections,” she said.

Commissioner Aryeh Cohen voted against the five additional ethics counts, saying he wasn’t convinced that the gift information would have made a difference. Last year, after city investigators accused Lee of violating gift laws, he won reelection handily.

“Voters knew, and he won by a larger margin” than in 2019 or 2020, Cohen said. “So I don’t think that that was a misuse of a position or gaining benefit from it.”

Brian Hildreth, an attorney representing Lee, had argued for a maximum fine of $10,000. Appearing before the commission, he said city investigators incorrectly calculated the value of the gifts and failed to take into account how much Lee had actually consumed at the food and drink venues.

Lee, in a statement, vowed to keep fighting the charges, calling the case “wasteful and political.” An appeal would need to be filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“Today is but one step in the process of fighting these baseless charges,” he said. “I look forward to finally having an opportunity to have this matter adjudicated in a fair and impartial setting.”

The Lee case revolves around gifts — mostly meals and alcohol but also hotel stays, transportation and $1,000 in gambling chips — provided by the three businessmen: Andy Wang, who peddled Italian cabinets, “smart home” technology and facial recognition software; architect and developer Chris Pak; and lobbyist Michael Bai.

Lee, while working as Englander’s chief of staff, flew with his boss and several others — including Wang and Bai — to Las Vegas in 2017. Englander resigned from office the following year, after being contacted by FBI agents about the trip.

In 2020, federal prosecutors accused Englander of accepting $15,000 in cash from Wang, lying to FBI agents and obstructing their investigation. He eventually pleaded guilty to a single count of providing false information to the FBI and was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

In 2023, Englander agreed to pay $79,830 to settle an Ethics Commission case focused on his own gift law violations. That same year, the commission filed a case against Lee, saying he violated the gift law not just in Vegas but also at restaurants in downtown L.A. and Koreatown.

Lee repeatedly denied the allegations and argued that the statute of limitations had run out. The commission responded by scheduling a multiday hearing, held in June before Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang.

During those proceedings, Lee said he made a good faith effort to pay his own way and, in some cases, declined to eat during meals. For example, he testified that he did not remember eating during the meetings at Yxta Cocina Mexicana and Water Grill, both in downtown L.A.

Zang, in her written report to the commission, called those denials “not credible,” saying it “strains credulity” to believe that he would join the group at those restaurants without eating any food.

During the Las Vegas trip, Lee stayed at the Aria hotel, went to Blossom restaurant and spent an evening with the group at Hakkasan Nightclub.

At Blossom, Wang ordered a dinner worth nearly $2,500 that included shark fin soup, Peking duck and Kobe beef. Lee testified over the summer that he arrived at the restaurant in time for a dessert of bird’s nest soup, tasting it and deciding he did not like it.

At Hakkasan Nightclub later that night, Wang purchased three rounds of bottle service for the group for around $8,000 apiece, while Pak purchased a fourth round for $8,418.75.

Lee said he gave Wang $300 in cash as reimbursement for his drinks, withdrawing money from an ATM. Hildreth, his attorney, told the commission that drinks were served to a large number of nightclubgoers.

“The testimony and the evidence suggests that dozens and dozens of people were joining Councilmember Lee and others,” he said.

Kulkarni, before the vote, said she was especially troubled that Lee, after being contacted by FBI agents in 2017, sent Wang a backdated check for $442 to reimburse him for some of the Vegas trip. That act on its own, she said, constituted “a very serious offense.”

“That is not a mistake that one does. That is an affirmative act,” she said.

Hildreth said his client wrote a reimbursement check right away but that it was lost, necessitating a second, backdated check. He also noted that Lee cooperated with federal law enforcement and city ethics investigators.

“He sat for two interviews with the FBI,” Hildreth said. “That’s not something that deserves a punitive penalty.”

It was supposed to be a speech with a clear message of hope for survivors of the Palisades fire.

In her State of the City address in April, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for a law exempting fire victims from construction permit fees — potentially saving them tens of thousands of dollars as they rebuild their homes.

Eight months later, the City Council is still debating how much permit relief the city can afford. Palisades residents have been left hanging, with some blaming Bass for failing to finalize a deal.

“This should have been pushed, and it wasn’t pushed,” said electrician Tom Doran, who has submitted plans to rebuild his three-bedroom home. “There was no motor on that boat. It was allowed to drift downstream.”

Since the Jan. 7 fire destroyed thousands of homes, Bass has been announcing recovery strategies with great fanfare, only for them to get bogged down in the details or abandoned altogether.

After two of the most destructive fires in the state’s history, The Times takes a critical look at the past year and the steps taken — or not taken — to prevent this from happening again in all future fires.

At one point, she called for the removal of traffic checkpoints around Pacific Palisades, only to reverse course after an outcry over public safety. She pushed tax relief for wildfire victims in Sacramento, only to abruptly pull the plug on her bill. Her relationship with Steve Soboroff, her first and only chief recovery officer, quickly unraveled over pay and other issues. He left after a 90-day stint.

Critics in and outside the Palisades say the mayor’s missteps have undermined public confidence in the rebuilding process. They have also made her more politically vulnerable as she ramps up her campaign for a second term.

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1. Tom Doran poses for a portrait in the remains of his home in the Pacific Palisades. Doran, who has submitted plans to rebuild the home he lived in for decades, has said that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass should have done more to secure passage of a law giving residents relief from city rebuilding permits after the wildfires. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times) 2. Statues are seen in an aerial of the remnants of Doran’s home. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times) 3. An aerial of the remains of Doran’s home. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Bass, seated in her spacious City Hall office earlier this month, said the recovery is happening at “lightning speed” compared to other devastating wildfires, in part because of her emergency orders dramatically cutting the time it takes to obtain building permits.

By mid-December, more than 2,600 permit applications had been filed for more than 1,200 addresses — about a fifth of the properties damaged or destroyed in the fire. Permits had been issued at about 600 addresses, with construction underway at nearly 400, according to city figures.

Still, Bass acknowledged that fire victims are feeling angry and frustrated as they enter the holiday season.

“I think people have a right to all of those emotions, and I wouldn’t argue with any of them,” she said.

Rebuilding a community after a natural disaster is a monumental task, one with no clear playbook. Many of the obstacles — insurance claims, mortgage relief — reach beyond the purview of a mayor.

Still, Bass has plenty of power. City agencies crucial to the rebuilding effort report to her. She works closely with the council, whose members have sharply questioned some of her recovery initiatives.

Palisades residents had reason to be skeptical of the rebuilding process, given the problems that played out on Jan. 7: the failure to pre-deploy firefighters, the chaotic evacuation and the fact that Bass was out of the country on a diplomatic mission to Ghana.

In the weeks that followed, Bass was unsteady in her public appearances and at odds with her fire chief, whom she ultimately dismissed. She struggled to give residents a sense that the recovery was in capable hands.

Perhaps the most disastrous narrative revolved around Soboroff, a longtime civic leader known for his blunt, outspoken style.

Mayor Karen Bass, right, and her disaster recovery chief, Steve Soboroff, during a news conference at Palisades Recreation Center on Jan. 27.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

To many, the assignment made sense on paper. Soboroff had a background in home building, roots in the Palisades and extensive knowledge of City Hall.

Soboroff initially expected to receive a salary of $500,000 for three months of work as chief recovery officer, with the funds coming from philanthropy. After that figure triggered an outcry, Bass changed course, persuading him to work for free. Soon afterward, Soboroff told an audience that he had been “lied to” about whether he would be compensated. (He later apologized.)

Soboroff also voiced frustration with the job itself, saying he had been excluded from key decisions. At one point, Bass appeared to narrow his duties, telling reporters he would focus primarily on rebuilding the community’s historic business district and nearby public areas.

Bass told The Times that she does not view her selection of Soboroff as a mistake. But she acknowledged there were “challenges along the way” — and decisions where Soboroff was not included.

“In those first few months when everything was happening, I’m sure there were decisions he wanted to be in that he wasn’t in,” she said.

In April, amid Soboroff’s departure, Bass said she was searching for a new chief recovery officer. She repeated that assertion in July. Yet she never publicly announced a replacement for Soboroff, baffling some in the Palisades and providing fresh ammunition to her critics.

Real estate developer Rick Caruso, who ran against Bass in 2022 and founded the nonprofit SteadfastLA to speed the rebuilding process, said the recovery czar position is still desperately needed, given the size of the task ahead.

“You’ve got infrastructure that has to be rebuilt, undergrounding of power lines, upgrading of water mains. At the same time, you want to get people back in their homes,” said Caruso, who is weighing another run for mayor.

A Samara XL modular house is lowered into place at a project site in Culver City on March 21. Developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso’s Steadfast L.A. nonprofit wants to raise $30 million in the hopes of providing between 80 and 100 Samara XL homes for fire victims.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Behind the scenes, Bass opted not to select a single person to replace Soboroff, going instead with a trio of consultants. By then, she had confronted a spate of other crises — federal immigration raids, a $1-billion budget shortfall, a split with county officials over the region’s approach to homelessness.

Soboroff declined to comment on Bass’ handling of the recovery. Early on, he pushed the mayor’s team to hire the global engineering giant AECOM to oversee the recovery. Bass went initially with Hagerty, an Illinois-based consulting firm that specializes in emergency management.

At the time, the mayor pointed out that Hagerty was already working with county officials on the Eaton fire recovery in Altadena and Palisades fire recovery in other unincorporated areas.

The city gave Hagerty a one-year contract worth up to $10 million to provide “full project management” of the recovery, Bass said at the time.

Hagerty quickly ran into trouble. At community events, the firm’s consultants struggled to explain their role in the rebuilding.

Two months after Soboroff stepped down, Bass announced she was hiring AECOM after all to develop a plan for rebuilding city infrastructure. Hagerty ended up focusing heavily on the logistics around debris removal, helping the city coordinate with the federal Army Corps of Engineers, which spearheaded the cleanup.

Hagerty quietly finished its work earlier this month, billing the city $3.5 million — far less than the maximum spelled out in the firm’s contract.

The confusion over Hagerty’s role created a major opening for Bass’ best-known challenger in the June 2 primary election: former L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner, a onetime high-level deputy mayor.

Beutner, whose home was severely damaged in the Palisades fire, called the selection of Hagerty a “fiasco,” saying it’s still not clear what the firm delivered.

“The hiring of Hagerty proved to be a waste of time and money while creating a false sense of hope in a community that’s dealing with a terrible tragedy,” he said.

Executives with Hagerty did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Times.

An aerial image of some homes being reconstructed and lots that remain empty in Pacific Palisades.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

AECOM joined the city in June, working to prepare reports on the rebuilding effort that dealt with infrastructure repairs, fire protection and traffic management. Those reports are now expected by the one-year anniversary of the fire.

Matt Talley, who spent part of the year as AECOM’s point person in the Palisades, praised Bass for her focus on the recovery, saying he watched as she took lengthy meetings with Palisades community members, then made sure her staff worked to address their concerns.

“I think the mayor gets a bad rap,” said Talley, who left AECOM in mid-November. “She takes a lot of incoming, but in her heart, she really does want to drive the recovery and do the right thing, and that’s evidenced by the meetings she’s having with the community.”

Bass, in an interview, said she eventually decided to have three AECOM staffers form a “recovery team,” instead of a single replacement for Soboroff.

“It didn’t make sense to go in the other direction,” she said. “We evaluated that for quite a while, met with a number of people, consulted many experts.”

By the time Bass announced AECOM’s hiring, she had also begun pursuing another initiative: relief from Measure ULA, the city’s so-called mansion tax, which applies to most property sales above $5.3 million.

Proponents argued that Palisades residents should not have to pay the tax if they sell their burned-out properties. For those who can’t afford to rebuild — either because they are on fixed incomes or have little insurance — selling may be the only option, they argued.

In June, Caruso sent Bass a proposal showing how Measure ULA could be legally suspended. By then, Bass had tapped former state Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg to work on a bill overhauling Measure ULA, not only to aid fire victims but to spur housing construction citywide.

Three months later, near the end of the legislative session in Sacramento, Bass persuaded some L.A.-based lawmakers to carry the bill, infuriating affordable housing advocates who accused her of attempting an end run around voters.

But right before a key hearing, Bass announced she was withdrawing the bill, which had been submitted so late that it missed the deadline for lawmakers to make changes.

Bass said city leaders are now working to identify other pathways for suspending ULA in the Palisades.

Meanwhile, her push for permit relief is also a work in progress.

Alice Gould, who lost her home in the Palisades fire, is rebuilding her home on Akron Street in Pacific Palisades. Gould, who has lived on the property for 28 years, is upset that Mayor Karen Bass has not yet secured passage of a law to exempt fire victims from city permit fees for rebuilding.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In April, a few days after her State of the City speech, Bass issued an emergency order suspending the collection of permit fees while the council drafted the law she requested. If the law isn’t enacted, fire victims will have to pay the fees that are currently suspended.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who sits on the council’s powerful budget committee, said Bass’ team did not contact him before she issued her order.

“When I read that, my first thought was: ‘That’s great. How are we gonna pay for that?’” he said.

Bass issued a second emergency order in May, expanding the fee waivers to include every structure that burned. By October, some council members were voicing alarms over the cost, warning it could reach hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the details.

Palisades residents called that estimate grossly inflated. On Dec. 2, dozens of them showed up at City Hall to urge the council to pass legislation covering every residential building that burned — not just single-family homes and duplexes, a concept favored by some on the council.

Council members, still struggling to identify the cost, sent the proposal back to the budget committee for more deliberations, which will spill into next year because of the holiday break.

Bass defended her handling of the issue, saying she used her “political heft” to move it forward. At the same time, she declined to say how far-reaching the relief should be.

Asked whether the Palisades should be spared from permit fees for grading, pools or retaining walls, she responded: “I can’t say that,” calling such details “minutiae.”

“What I wanted to see happen was, all fees that were possible to be waived should be waived,” she said.

Hank Wright, against a backdrop of his neighbor’s home being built, walks on the property where he lost his four-bedroom home in the Palisades fire.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Hank Wright, whose four-bedroom home on Lachman Lane burned to the ground, remains frustrated with the city, saying he doesn’t understand why Bass was unable to lock down the votes.

“She has not been the point person that I wanted her to be,” he said. “I don’t think she has been able to corral that bureaucracy.”

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: LA28 announced the next step in its ticketing plan for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday as ticket registration will open on Jan. 14.

Fans can start registering for tickets on Jan. 14 at la28.org, and the registration will remain open until March 18. All who sign up will be entered into a random draw to receive a time slot to purchase tickets. While registering, fans will enter their zip codes, and those who live in the Los Angeles and Oklahoma City areas near venues will be eligible to access the first time slots reserved for locals.

“The goal there is to make sure that we’re getting tickets into the hands, not just the fans, but of the local fans,” said Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28’s senior vice president of Games delivery revenue. “Those that are going to be closest to the Games, really helping us host these Games in some ways.”

The 2028 Olympics will feature the largest Games schedule in history, with 36 sports and 11,198 athletes. The majority of the Games will be held in L.A., including major sports zones in downtown, Exposition Park and the Sepulveda Basin, but cities including Carson, Inglewood and Long Beach will also have multiple venues. Oklahoma City will host the softball and canoe slalom events at existing facilities.

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Tyler Skaggs trial update

From Steve Henson: Four years after the family of deceased Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed a wrongful death suit against the Angels, and two months into often contentious testimony in an Orange County Superior Court courtroom, jurors are set to begin deliberations on whether Skaggs’ widow and parents deserve hundreds of millions of dollars.

During closing statements Monday, plaintiffs lawyer Daniel Dutko argued that the Angels were negligent in failing to supervise Eric Kay, the drug-addicted team communications director who gave Skaggs the fentanyl that killed him in 2019.

However, Angels lawyer Todd Theodora insisted that Skaggs was a selfish, secretive opioid addict who for years manipulated Kay into obtaining drugs for him. Theodora told the jury that he didn’t believe the Angels owe the Skaggs family an award.

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Clippers lose again

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 of his 31 points in the first half and Cam Spencer added a career-high 27 points as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Clippers 121-103 on Monday night.

Jaylen Wells scored 16 points and rookie Cedric Coward had 12 as the Grizzlies earned a victory over the Clippers for the third time in less than three weeks. Ja Morant also scored 12 points for Memphis in his second game since returning from a calf injury.

Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points and Kris Dunn added 17 for the Clippers, who have lost 12 of their last 14 games.

James Harden was held to 13 points, while John Collins and Jordan Miller each had 10 for Los Angeles in its eighth straight home loss. The Clippers last won in their own building on Oct. 31.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

Some Trojans won’t play in Alamo Bowl

From Steve Galluzzo: After Monday afternoon’s practice at Howard Jones Field, USC coach Lincoln Riley addressed the media for the first time since the Trojans’ victory over crosstown rival UCLA on Nov. 29.

USC (9-3), ranked No. 16 in the AP poll, is preparing to play Texas Christian (9-4) on Dec. 30 in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. USC finished 7-2 in its second season in the Big Ten and won four of its last five games, the only setback during that stretch being a 42-27 loss to Oregon, which is the No. 5 seed in the College Football Playoff.

Riley announced that safety Kamari Ramsey, receivers Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane, tight end Lake McRee and linebacker Eric Gentry will not play in the Alamo Bowl. Lane declared for the NFL draft on Monday.

“Anthony Lucas and Bishop Fitzgerald want to play in the game but are dealing with injuries and trying to get back … we’ll see how that goes,” Riley said. “Kilian O’Connor and Elijah Paige and Jahkeem Stewart all had surgery and will be ready to roll.”

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LAFC introduces new coach

From Kevin Baxter: Moments after Marc Dos Santos was formally introduced as the third head coach in LAFC history, he was led out of a news conference and onto the field at BMO Stadium to meet the most important constituency he’ll have to win over in his new job.

The fans.

Since the club entered MLS in 2018, no team has won more games, scored more goals, earned more points or won more trophies than LAFC. Yet as Dos Santos, a top assistant for five of those eight seasons, was hugging and mugging with some of the people who are soon to become his fiercest critics, another supporter approached general manager John Thorrington with a question.

“How do you separate [him] being a part of that coaching staff and telling the fans ‘look, it’s going to be different with this person?’” he asked.

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Kings lose, Kuemper injured

Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston had a goal and an assist each and Casey DeSmith tied a Dallas record with his 11th consecutive game earning points as the Stars rallied past the Kings 4-1 on Monday night.

Oskar Back scored his first NHL winning goal for the Stars, who are second in the overall standings and avoided their first three-game losing streak since mid-October.

Kings goalie Anton Forsberg stopped 17 shots, entering play with four minutes left in the first period after starter Darcy Kuemper was hit high by Rantanen and sustained an upper-body injury.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

Ducks beat Rangers

Cutter Gauthier scored the go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and got his second on an empty-netter, Lukas Dostal stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced, and the Ducks beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday night to end a two-game losing streak.

Gauthier’s first goal with one second left on a power play came off a perfectly placed pass from rookie Beckett Sennecke. Igor Shesterkin barely had a chance to react.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1918 — Jack Dempsey knocks out Carl Morris in 14 seconds in a heavyweight bout in New Orleans.

1930 — Golfer Bobby Jones wins the first James E. Sullivan Award. The award is given to “the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.”

1940 — Joe Louis knocks out Al McCoy in the sixth round at the Boston Garden to retain the world heavyweight title.

1945 — The Cleveland Rams beat the Washington Redskins 15-14 for the NFL championship. The deciding play turns out to be a first-quarter automatic safety when the Redskins’ Sammy Baugh passes from his own end zone and the wind carries the ball into the goal post.

1967 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 68 points in a 143-123 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

1973 — O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills rushes for 200 yards in a 34-14 victory over the New York Jets and sets an NFL record with 2,003 yards rushing for the season. Simpson needed 61 yards to break Jim Brown’s NFL single season rushing record of 1,863 yards set in 1963.

1990 — Warren Moon passes for a 527 yards — the second-greatest passing day in NFL history — as the Houston Oilers beat Kansas City 27-10.

2003 — New Orleans Saints receiver Joe Horn is fined $30,000 by the NFL for making a choreographed cell-phone call in the end zone to celebrate a touchdown during the Saints’ 45-7 rout of the New York Giants on Dec. 14.

2006 — Morten Andersen becomes the greatest scorer in NFL history. The 46-year-old Andersen breaks Gary Anderson’s career scoring record of 2,434 points with the second of four extra points in the Atlanta Falcons’ 38-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

2007 — Brett Favre passes for 227 yards in Green Bay’s 33-14 win over St. Louis, eclipsing Dan Marino to become the NFL career leader in yards passing. Favre, in his 17th season, finishes the game with 61,405 yards. Marino had 61,361 in 17 seasons.

2007 — Kikkan Randall becomes the first U.S. woman and second American to win a World Cup cross-country skiing race when she defeats world sprint champion Astrid Jacobsen of Norway in the final meters of a 1.2-kilometer freestyle race. Randall is the first American to win a World Cup cross-country race since Bill Koch in 1983.

2010 — American Ryan Lochte sets the first individual swimming world record since high-tech bodysuits were banned, winning the 400-meter individual medley at the short-course world championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

2012 — Ryan Lochte wins two more races at the short-course world championships in Istanbul, finishing the event with six golds and one silver. The result matches his medal total from the last championships, in Dubai in 2010.

2013 — Justin Tucker makes six field goals, including a 61-yarder in the final minute, to give the Baltimore Ravens an 18-16 win over the Detroit Lions.

2014 — Nick Bjugstad scores the game-winning goal in the longest shootout in NHL history to lift the Florida Panthers over the Washington Capitals 2-1. Bjugstad’s goal comes in the 20th round of a shootout — on the 40th shot — and beats Braden Holtby on the right side.

2016 — James Harden gets his sixth triple-double of the season and the Houston Rockets make an NBA-record 24 3-pointers in a 122-100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

2019 — Drew Brees breaks Peyton Manning’s NFL record (539) for career touchdown passes as New Orleans Saints rout Indianapolis Colts, 34-7; Brees 29 of 30 for 307 yards & 4 TDs for record 96.7% pass completion.

2020 — Major League Baseball announces it is elevating the Negro Leagues to Major League status

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

LA28 announced the next step in its ticketing plan for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday as ticket registration will open on Jan. 14.

Fans can start registering for tickets on Jan. 14 at la28.org, and the registration will remain open until March 18. All who sign up will be entered into a random draw to receive a time slot to purchase tickets. While registering, fans will enter their zip codes, and those who live in the Los Angeles and Oklahoma City areas near venues will be eligible to access the first time slots reserved for locals.

“The goal there is to make sure that we’re getting tickets into the hands, not just the fans, but of the local fans,” said Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28’s senior vice president of Games delivery revenue. “Those that are going to be closest to the Games, really helping us host these Games in some ways.”

The 2028 Olympics will feature the largest Games schedule in history, with 36 sports and 11,198 athletes. The majority of the Games will be held in L.A., including major sports zones in downtown, Exposition Park and the Sepulveda Basin, but cities including Carson, Inglewood and Long Beach will also have multiple venues. Oklahoma City will host the softball and canoe slalom events at existing facilities.

LA28 is still finalizing the duration of each purchasing window, although the plan is to have multiple opportunities per day, so fans would be assigned time slots that are open for several hours. Tickets for a variety of events will be available during each drop in 2026, with single-event tickets beginning at $28. When tickets for the Paralympics go on sale in 2027, the system will be similar and fans will not have to re-register their interest.

While the Olympics will be back in L.A. for the third time in 2028, it will be the first time the city is hosting the Paralympics.

LA28 plans to release 14 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics. The total would be a Games record, eclipsing the 12 million sold in Paris, where ticket sales began almost a year after the timeline LA28 is currently using. The Paris Games that opened in July 2024 did not begin ticket registration until November 2022, 20 months before the event.

Fans will have two-and-a-half years to register and purchase tickets before L.A. opens the Olympics on July 14, 2028.

Maybe it’s the brick exterior, or maybe it’s the heartfelt used book inscriptions, but bookstore co-owners Sam and Mike Robertson said Arvida is indeed the setting of many a first date and has even seen some proposals. For Sam, a self-declared “softie,” watching life unfold within Arvida’s walls has been a sweet surprise.

“This was always the dream, but I didn’t realize how much being the backdrop for people’s lives was going to affect me personally,” the bookseller said. She recalled recently watching one boy reading in the store and thinking to herself, “I remember the day you were born.”

As independent bookstores struggle in an Amazon-dominated market, Sam said she’s grateful for the support of a community that treasures that “third space” aspect of Arvida as much as she does. And where some do turn to “the giant that we shall not name,” as Sam dubbed Amazon, for lower prices, the bookseller said sales at the in-store Tolima Coffee Company cart fill in the gaps.

While Sam herself is a graduate of Peet’s Coffee — “coffee college,” as she called it — Mike is the true barista extraordinaire and even created a signature “Bookshop Blend” in collaboration with Stereoscope Coffee Co. Mike specializes in “coffee-forward” drinks, but he also recommended the matcha spritz and local-favorite ube latte for those with a sweet tooth.

With a cozy children’s nook and ample plush chairs to boot, Arvida is a perfect spot to spend a lazy weekend morning. If you need a better reason to make the trek from L.A., the bookstore’s charming Old Town neighbors are also fabulous for afternoon browsing.

George Clooney plays the title character in Netflix’s “Jay Kelly,” a Clooney-esque movie star who is seemingly on top of the world — but is, in fact, at a crossroads. He’s finished his latest movie and is at a point in his career where he’s begun to worry that every project could be his last. His hope to spend the summer with his youngest daughter, Daisy, is squashed when he realizes she’s set to travel in Europe before heading off to college in the fall. (Jessica, Jay’s eldest daughter, barely speaks to him.) His mentor, a British director who cast him in his first movie, has recently died; on top of the looming sense of mortality is the guilt Jay feels for not attaching his name to the director’s final project in order to get the financing. And after the funeral, Jay runs into the former friend who brought him to that fateful audition as emotional support — and who remains bitter that Jay got the role and “stole his life.”

Instead of sitting down to process these conflicts, Jay decides to run away from them, dropping out of his next movie to follow Daisy to Europe. His professional entourage — a group that includes his longtime manager and friend Ron (Adam Sandler) and his no-nonsense publicist Liz (Laura Dern) — immediately springs into action, accompanying Jay on a chaotic trip abroad, with the final stop being an Italian film festival where Jay is set to receive a career achievement award.

“I did have an idea of an actor having a crisis of some sort, and it would be a journey forward and backward at the same time,” says writer-director Noah Baumbach of the spark that eventually became “Jay Kelly.” As Jay flees Hollywood, the city and its people continue to haunt him. Visions of himself as a young actor float in and out of his mind as he recognizes the mistakes he made by screwing over his friend and neglecting his older daughter. But no matter where he goes — even on board a crowded train from Paris to Tuscany — he’s instantly recognized as the A-list star that he is. Jay Kelly cannot escape himself no matter how hard he tries.

Laura Dern, George Clooney and Adam Sandler in “Jay Kelly.”

(Peter Mountain / Netflix)

Baumbach wrote “Jay Kelly” with British actor and screenwriter Emily Mortimer, who also appears in the film as Jay’s go-to makeup artist: “It really wasn’t until I brought Emily into it that it started to shape itself more into the movie you see,” Baumbach says.

One might assume that the pair’s years in the business (now in their 50s, Baumbach and Mortimer both got their start in the mid-1990s) informed their depiction of fame and stardom, but Baumbach is adamant that he didn’t set out to write a satire of their industry. “As Emily and I were focusing on the characters and the story, meaning started to reveal itself,” he explains. “Part of our job is to be open and aware of that.”

It tracks that a megastar like Jay would be surrounded by a close-knit circle of people managing his life, which led to Baumbach and Mortimer exploring those complicated relationships. One central storyline is the friendship between Jay and Ron, who have worked together for decades. Despite his devotion to his wife and kids, Ron’s top professional priority is Jay, and the inherently transactional nature of their relationship is a conflict that slowly bubbles up to the surface. There’s simply no getting around the fact that the person Jay is the closest to is also someone who takes 15% of his earnings.

Filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

(Sela Shiloni / For The Times)

It’s an awkward situation that many who work in the entertainment industry will recognize — but it’s also a humorous truth, the kind that underscores all of Baumbach’s films. “Jay Kelly” isn’t his first film set, at least in part, in Los Angeles. In “Greenberg,” Ben Stiller’s title character is a cantankerous and neurotic New Yorker who has fled west after a nervous breakdown. In the autobiographical “Marriage Story,” Adam Driver’s Charlie, a New York-based theater director, finds himself trapped in L.A. during his divorce from his actor wife, Nicole (Scarlett Johansson).

Baumbach, a Brooklyn native, calls his relationship with Los Angeles complex. “It’s a place I don’t always love being in,” he says — a bit of an understatement. But he’s more fascinated than repulsed by the city. “I was never drawn to be satirical about it. I think it’s such an interesting, strange place. [My films that] take place here do so for a reason. With ‘Greenberg,’ L.A. is a metaphor for loneliness. In ‘Marriage Story,’ Charlie is forced to fight for a home outside of where he feels his home is.” And at the end of the day, where else could a star like Jay reside? “I mean, Jay Kelly couldn’t have lived in New York, right?”

There is, of course, show business, an industry that values make-believe and vanity and couldn’t possibly exist anywhere else. “Ron has the line, ‘Death is so surprising, particularly in L.A.,’” Baumbach says, reciting Sandler’s dialogue from early in the film. “[These characters are] living in a place that, for the most part, doesn’t change — and that helps support the collective illusion that we’re all going to live forever.”

Jay Kelly might not, but the movies will.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg, with an assist from David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government.

With the 2028 Summer Olympics creeping closer, the Los Angeles City Council still has not come to an agreement with the private committee overseeing the Games over who will pay for the additional city services required to host athletes and spectators from around the world.

With hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the city has blown past its own Oct. 1 deadline for hammering out an “Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement” contract with LA28 and is now considering filing suit.

City officials indicated the potential for a lawsuit against LA28 Monday during a meeting of the council’s ad hoc Olympics committee. In closed session, the committee conferred “with its legal counsel relative to possible initiation of litigation,” according to the meeting agenda.

But after a lengthy closed-door meeting, the committee broke without moving any closer to suing LA28.

“There was no recommendation to move forward on litigation,” said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who sits on the Olympic committee, in a brief interview with The Times after the closed session.

Although it remains unclear exactly why the city might sue LA28, the stakes of the negotiations between the two parties are high.

The Olympics have repeatedly been billed as a “zero cost” event for Los Angeles, with the city’s costs reimbursed by LA28 and the federal government. But depending on how “enhanced services” are defined, the city, which is facing financial headwinds, could end up bearing significant costs for services, including security, trash removal, traffic control and paramedics, that will go well beyond what it provides on typical days.

One of the biggest expenses will be security, with the LAPD, as well as a host of other local, state and federal agencies, working to keep athletes and spectators safe during the 17-day Olympics and the two-week Paralympics.

During a presentation before the council committee on Monday, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo used the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series victory parade as an example of a similar, albeit much smaller scale, situation.

The baseball team reimbursed the city nearly $2 million for police, fire department, transportation and other services to pull off the parade safely.

Monday’s developments provided a small glimpse into the secretive negotiations between the two sides. Coupled with the missed October deadline to finalize an agreement, it was apparent that the negotiations were not going completely smoothly.

A senior city official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said the city is not at an “irresolvable impasse” with LA28 but that litigation is very much on the table in an effort to make sure the city is fully reimbursed.

The city and LA28 are meeting daily to try to hash out an agreement, the source said, characterizing the negotiations as “intense and focused.”

“All parties are working actively at the table to finalize the [ECRMA] that will ensure reimbursement of the city’s costs required by the 2028 Games,” the city and LA28 said in a joint statement to The Times.

Szabo told the council committee that it’s more important to get a good deal than an on-time deal.

“This needs to be the right agreement for the city,” Szabo said.

The city also hopes to recoup some costs from the federal government. President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” included $1 billion to reimburse state and local governments for security, planning and other Olympics-related costs. But exactly what the money can be used for won’t be known until next year, Szabo said.

But the unpredictability of the Trump administration has left the city and LA28 wary about whether all the security costs will be reimbursed, said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

“With this administration, you don’t know what the hell is going to happen, right?” Harris-Dawson said during the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum Luncheon on Thursday. “So both of us [the city and LA28] are looking at a $1.5-billion bill, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m not paying it. You’re gonna pay it.’”

So far, Harris-Dawson said, the federal government has been “good” about putting money aside for the Games. But that could change, Harris-Dawson said.

“I could show up here 10 days from now and the world could have turned on its head, because you just never know how the guy’s gonna wake up in the morning, or what he’s gonna see on TV to make him react,” he said of Trump. “So … it’s day to day, but on this particular issue, so far so good.”

Outside of security, LA28 should cover costs like staffing, expenses and equipment related to the Games, Szabo said.

Some don’t have high expectations that the costs will be completely footed by others. In a July letter to the city, retired civil rights attorney Connie Rice said she had heard from city employees worried that L.A. would be left with a massive bill.

What if LA28 dissolves after the Olympics — how would the city force it to provide reimbursement? Security and other city services typically extend beyond the Olympic venue itself — how large of a radius around the venue would be included in the reimbursement?

These are questions Rice feels the city has not yet answered.

“I have seen 10th-graders plan their prom better than the city is planning these Olympics,” Rice said in an interview.

State of play

— RECRUIT-GATE: Months of tension between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and members of the City Council burst into public view Friday when the council rebuffed the mayor’s request to significantly increase police hiring. The council instead agreed to a more modest increase, which could ramp up if the city finds money for more police recruits.

— JUST A COUPLE HUNDRED MILLION OFF: L.A. County officials justified their $200-million purchase of the Gas Company Tower by claiming that seismic retrofits of their old 1960s headquarters would cost $700 million. But experts hoping to save the building now say the retrofits could cost under $150 million, using standard techniques applied to other historic L.A. buildings.

— STEP DOWN: The chief executive of Weingart Center, Kevin Murray, resigned from the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency board amid a federal real estate investigation. Federal prosecutors say a Cheviot Hills property was purchased for $11.2 million, then flipped to Weingart for $27.3 million. Weingart used public money to finance the purchase and conversion of the site into homeless housing.

— ED1 FOREVER: The L.A. City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday formalizing Mayor Karen Bass’ Executive Directive 1, which fast-tracks planning department approval of 100% affordable housing projects. That initiative, which began as an emergency order issued by Bass in 2022, will now be a permanent part of city law.

— CROSSWALK VIGILANTE: An activist with People’s Vision Zero was arrested and cited while painting a crosswalk at an intersection in Westwood on Sunday. The arrest marks the latest clash between the city of Los Angeles and traffic safety advocates who are frustrated by delays in marking pedestrian crossings and are taking it upon themselves to do the work they say can’t wait.

— END OF WATCH(DOG): L.A. County Inspector General Max Huntsman, who served as chief watchdog over the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years, is retiring. In a farewell letter, he laid into county leaders, saying they ignored his office’s efforts at oversight.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness went to Downtown L.A., South L.A., Exposition Park, Hollywood, Silver Lake, North Hills, Pacoima, Woodland Hills, Shadow Hills and Van Nuys this week, bringing more than 70 people inside.
• On the docket next week: The city’s Ethics Commission will meet Wednesday. The City Council is on recess until Jan. 7.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

Los Angeles City Councilman John Lee repeatedly violated the city’s gift laws in 2016 and 2017, accepting freebies during a lavish trip to Las Vegas and at multiple restaurants in L.A., a judge said in a filing released Friday.

In a 59-page proposed decision, Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang concluded that Lee committed two counts of violating a law governing the size of gifts a city official can receive and three counts of violating a law requiring that such gifts be publicly disclosed.

Zang recommended a $43,730 penalty for Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley and was chief of staff to then-City Councilmember Mitchell Englander at the time of the alleged violations. However, the judge did not agree with allegations by city ethics investigators that Lee misused his position or helped Englander misuse his position.

In 2020, federal prosecutors accused Englander of accepting $15,000 in cash from businessman Andy Wang, lying to FBI agents and obstructing their investigation into the 2017 Vegas trip. Englander ultimately pleaded guilty to a single count of providing false information to the FBI and was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

The five-member Los Angeles City Ethics Commission is scheduled to make a determination on Wednesday, deciding both the number of violations Lee committed and any financial penalties to impose on him.

The commission has the power to accept or reject Zang’s recommendations. Ethics investigators have recommended that the commission take a more punitive approach by fining Lee about $138,000 and holding him responsible for all 10 counts.

The Lee case revolves around gifts — mostly food and alcohol but also hotel stays, transportation and $1,000 in gambling chips — provided by three men who have sought to do business with City Hall: Wang, who peddled Italian cabinets, “smart home” technology and facial recognition software; architect and developer Chris Pak; and lobbyist Michael Bai.

The judge issued her report six months after a multi-day hearing on the allegations against Lee, who replaced Englander on the council in 2019.

During those proceedings, Lee denied that he improperly accepted gifts, saying he made a good faith effort to pay his own way and, in some cases, declined to eat during meals. For example, he testified that he did not remember eating during his meetings at Yxta and Water Grill, both of which are in downtown L.A.

Zang, in her report, called those denials “not credible,” describing his testimony as “evasive and self contradictory.” She said Lee’s testimony also was in conflict with information he gave the FBI during its investigation into Englander, as well as testimony from other witnesses.

“It strains credulity to believe that [Lee] would join Englander, Bai, and Wang for lunch at Yxta and dinner at Water Grill without eating any food during the meals,” she wrote.

Ethics investigators have accused Lee of receiving an assortment of gifts during the 2017 Vegas trip with Englander and several others. Lee and a group of friends stayed at the Aria hotel and spent an evening at the Hakkasan Nightclub, according to the city’s allegations.

At the hotel restaurant, Blossom, Wang ordered a dinner worth nearly $2,500 for the group, which included Englander, Lee and several others, sending out servings of shark fin soup, Peking duck and Kobe beef, according to the judge’s summary of events.

Lee testified that he arrived at the restaurant in time for a dessert of bird’s nest soup, tasting it and deciding he did not like it, the judge said in her filing.

At Hakkasan later that night, Wang purchased three rounds of bottle service for the group for around $8,000 apiece, while Pak paid for a fourth round at a cost of $8,418.75.

“Each round of bottle service was served with fanfare, as female VIP hostesses brought bottles of alcohol to the table with flashing lights,” the judge wrote.

That night, at least 20 other club patrons went to Wang’s booth and drank alcohol at the table, according to the judge’s filing.

Lee was never charged by federal prosecutors and has said he was unaware of wrongdoing by Englander. In a filing submitted last week, his attorneys said that investigators incorrectly calculated the value of the gifts, including the bottles of alcohol, whose contents were distributed among many people.

Lee gave Wang $300 in cash as reimbursement for his drinks, withdrawing money from an ATM in Las Vegas to cover those expenses, his lawyers said.

In their reply to the city, Lee’s attorneys contend that the statute of limitations has expired on the city ethics counts. They have also pushed back on the recommendation from city ethics investigators that Lee pay a $138,000 penalty.

“Such inflated numbers are not grounded in reason, have no basis in the record, no support in the governing law, and no place in a fair and impartial enforcement system,” they wrote in their filing.

Englander previously agreed to pay $79,830 to settle a similar Ethics Commission case over the gifts he received.

Ethics investigators have accused Lee of committing 10 counts of violating city laws — two counts of accepting gifts in excess of the legal limit, three counts of failing to report those gifts on his public disclosure forms, four counts of misusing his position and one count of aiding and abetting Englander’s misuse of his position.

In 2016, the legal limit on gifts to city officials was $460 per donor. The following year, it was $470.

In Englander’s 2020 federal indictment, Lee was mentioned not by name, but instead referred to as “City Staffer B.” Despite his legal troubles, he won reelection in 2024.

The true story behind the family drama “Rosemead” may not be the saddest tale ever brought to the screen. But boy, it’s up there.

Inspired by a shattering 2017 Times article by then-staff writer Frank Shyong (and now the first narrative feature film from LA Times Studios), “Rosemead” has long been a passion project for its star, Lucy Liu, also a producer. It’s not hard to see why.

This powerful account of humble, terminally ill Taiwanese American widow Irene Chao (based on real-life Rosemead resident Lai Hang), who takes the fate of her schizophrenic teen son into her own hands, offers the transformational role of a lifetime for Liu. Best known for stylish, commanding turns in the “Charlie’s Angels” and “Kill Bill” movies and in TV series such as “Ally McBeal” and “Elementary,” she’s a revelation here.

But the narrative also shines a crucial spotlight on L.A.’s Asian American community and its sometimes insular approach to handling emotional trauma, particularly mental illness. Shame over the condition’s perceived stigma, language barriers and a general fear of expressing oneself add to this cultural dilemma, one that hasn’t been widely explored on the big screen.

Liu is tender and heartbreaking as Irene, who runs the local print shop that her husband (Orion Lee, seen in flashbacks) left behind several years ago. She also helps out in the herbal pharmacy run by childhood best friend Kai-Li (Jennifer Lim). Given that Irene displays a troubling cough from the start, it’s no surprise where her health is heading.

Of more immediate worry to Irene, though, is her only child, Joe (an excellent Lawrence Shou), a high school senior diagnosed with schizophrenia after his beloved dad’s untimely death — and it’s gotten worse. This downturn has impacted his grades, competitive swimming status and overall focus; he obsessively doodles eerie clusters of spiders and draws a disturbing map of his school’s floor plan.

Joe maintains a supportive circle of friends, but they, like Irene and other observers, are ever more alarmed by his bouts of extreme behavior. The boy’s abrupt, inexplicable disappearances are increasingly commonplace, as is a destructive streak.

If that wasn’t enough, Joe has secretly stopped taking his meds. He’s also seemingly become fixated on guns and the endless string of school shootings that make the news.

His deeply concerned therapist, Dr. Hsu (James Chen), assures Irene, who has kept herself at arm’s length, “Most people with schizophrenia don’t engage in violence.” But it’s cold comfort to a mother whose days are numbered by a dire diagnosis. She’s convinced that when she is no longer there to monitor and protect her son, he will hurt himself and others.

Something must be done. The result is an act so unthinkable that, if it hadn’t happened in real life, Marilyn Fu’s otherwise sensitively constructed screenplay might seem beyond repair. But, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction and viewers won’t soon forget the film’s devastating conclusion.

Eric Lin, who has served as cinematographer on such disparate indie films as “The Exploding Girl,” “My Blind Brother” and “Hearts Beat Loud,” makes a worthy feature directing debut here, even if the picture tends to unfold a bit more prosaically than its singular story might demand. Yet when Lin attempts to break out using strobe effects to reflect Joe’s schizophrenic episodes, it comes off more jarring than immersive.

Still, with an able assist from cinematographer Lyle Vincent (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”), Lin vividly captures the look and feel of life in and around Rosemead. This is a special achievement since only about a quarter of the movie was shot in L.A. The rest was filmed in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island to take advantage of New York’s tax incentives. No matter: The final product, featuring an effective array of SoCal exteriors to tie things together, looks seamless.

Enough can’t be said about Liu’s astonishing, naturalistic turn. She’s a physical marvel here, making herself as small and inconspicuous — yet also as quietly resolute — as her complex character requires. Liu, who was raised in a Chinese-speaking New York household, proves a verbal wonder as well, impeccably toggling between Irene’s halting English and her fluent native Mandarin. Prizes may elude Liu this awards season, but she should be in the conversation.

Despite the film’s downbeat subject matter and its grim finale, watching “Rosemead” isn’t as wholly depressing as it may sound. Like many films and TV shows that have dealt with life’s most unimaginable trials, there are profound human and societal lessons to be gleaned. Moreover, at this moment in time, any truthful, heartfelt story about America’s immigrant experience deserves our attention. That the film contains one of the year’s finest performances may seal the deal for more serious viewers.

Lord Krishna, Hinduism’s compassionate god of divine love, is often portrayed with a flute in hand. Perhaps that has something to do with the story that when he cut a large drum in half, producing two hand drums for rhythmic accompaniment, which is a mythical origin for the tabla, these small hand drums came to be treated like a back-up rhythm section. Melody was the star. In classical Indian music, sitar masters were stars, and tabla players traveled second class and were poorly paid.

A father and son changed that. Alla Rakha was the loyal tabla partner of Ravi Shankar, who created an international rage for raga in the 1960s, holding sway over the likes violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the Beatles and Philip Glass. His son, Zakir Hussain, an equally great tabla guru, expanded tabla allure into jazz, swaths of pop music, film and television. He became one of the most convincing early proponents of the world music movement, readily fitting in tabla with flamenco as well as with African, Indonesian , Afro-Cuban, you-name-it drumming. Hussain and his tabla’s most warmly human sounds have entered the wide world’s soundtrack.

Monday will be the first anniversary of Hussain’s death, at age 73, from a pulmonary illness. His last work was a collaboration with Third Coast Percussion, which commissioned “Murmurs of Time” in celebration of the Chicago ensemble’s 20th anniversary. It was the only work by one of the world’s greatest percussionists for a percussion ensemble. Hussain lived long enough to record “Murmurs” with the group but not hear the final mix, let alone play it in public.

The recording with Hussain, “Standard Stoppages,” along with other percussion works, came out just in time for 2026 Grammy nominations and shows up in — and should be an obvious shoe-in to win in — the category for chamber music/small ensemble performance. In the meantime, Third Coast has been touring “Murmurs” featuring a Hussain disciple, Salar Nader, as soloist. Last weekend Third Coast brought the engaging CD program to a sold-out Nimoy, as part of the CAP UCLA season.

Nader, who was born in Hamburg to a family of Afghani refugees and grew up in California, began studying with Hussain at age 7. He is one of the most prominent of the next generation of tabla players poised to take the next step for their instrument, begging the question of whence tabla.

In retrospect, the path taken by Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain was a lesson in how to create something new and widespread out of the devotion to a profound, yet arcane, learned, physically demanding and extraordinarily complex tradition.

Rakha may have been a formidable traditionalist, so much so that tabla was his whole education, but he found pleasure (and income) writing songs for Bollywood films in the early 1950s. When he returned full time to classical Hindustani music, working with various soloists, he eventually hooked up with Shankar, with whom he then worked almost exclusively. With their quirky and exciting question-and-answer dialogues, the duo riveted the the Monterey Jazz Festival and San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium (where I heard them regularly as a college student), to say nothing of Woodstock. No one wanted one without the other.

Hussain (his name was given him by a wandering holy man who showed up at his parents’ door one morning shortly after he was born) heard tabla in the womb. His father lovingly tapped delicate rhythms on his baby boy as he held him in his arms. By his early teens, Hussain was already a Mumbai sensation.

However strict a teacher, Rakha believed in individuality, carbon copies being for the waste bin. And Hussain grew up not only on Hindustani music but the records by the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane his dad brought back from his West Coast appearances with Shankar. It wasn’t long before Hussain found himself on the West Coast as well, heady with its 1960s pop music scene. He became friends with Dead drummer Mickey Hart. He met George Harrison, who convinced him that there were thousands of rock drummers but no one with Hussain’s tabla talent.

Even so, Hussain became a tabla master of all trades. He acted, engagingly, in the 1983 feature “Heat and Dust,” along with contributing to the soundtrack. He became part of world-music-jazz ensemble Shakti, founded by guitarist John McLaughlin. Hussain was the drumming glue for Hart’s percussion revolution begun with “Planet Drum,” the recording that brought world music into the world of pop.

Before long, Hussain became a fixture in jazz (playing with the likes of Herbie Hancock and Charles Lloyd). He showed up on the soundtracks of “Apocalypse Now” and made Ryuichi Sakamoto’s score for “Little Buddha” work. He played bluegrass with Béla Fleck. He counted Michael Tilson Thomas, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi among his fans.

But while Hussain put tabla center stage, his real accomplishment was as a collaborator. Indian rhythm is incredibly complex and sophisticated. Its own center is religious practice. Tabla players sing the rhythms as well as playing them, the most difficult and astonishing form of chanting there is. The drums can produce melody and, while mellow, come alive with a speed that dramatically raises the pulse rate.

In “Murmurs of Time,” Hussain created a kind of tabla concerto. The ensemble spends much of its time on mallet instruments, setting the stage, keeping a melodic line or pulse going. The opening is an awakening, with group vocalized rhythms, but that is something only a tabla player can really pull off. “Murmurs” is ultimately through with a rousing tabla and drum set dialogue at the end, reminiscent of his father and Shankar’s gripping finales.

Hussain wrote “Murmurs” for himself, working closely with Third Coast over a year. “Wrote” isn’t quite right. He didn’t write down his own part; he needed room for freedom and improvisation. Nader, very impressively, learned the demanding solo from the recording, and he then, as Hussain would have expected, added his own character.

That is something that will need to grow over time. On recording, we have a deeply moving farewell. In concert, “Murmurs” transitions into something new, while, as yet a work in progress, still honoring the guru.

In a discussion on stage after the concert, Nader, who lives in Los Angeles, emphasized his own interest in what’s next for tabla. He too has worked in film, including participating on the soundtrack for Mira Nair’s “Reluctant Fundamentalist.” He’s had fling with Broadway with “The Kite Runner.” He said he’s ready for almost anything. He’s worked in hip-hop, noting tabla is a natural — and it is, “Planet Drum” having been an early influence.

Tabla is here to stay, and Nader bears watching.

The saga of a Los Angeles Army veteran who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year, became a flashpoint during a testy congressional hearing about the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year, including in Los Angeles.

“Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,” Noem responded when questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.).

Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday. He was joined on a video call by Sae Joon Park, a U.S. military veteran who self-deported to South Korea.

(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)

An aide then held up a tablet showing a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park in South Korea. The congressman argued that Park had “sacrificed more for this country than most people ever have” and asked Noem if she would investigate Park’s case, given her discretion as a Cabinet member. Noem pledged to “absolutely look at his case.”

Park, reached in Seoul on Thursday night, said he was skeptical that Noem would follow through on her promise, but said that he had “goosebumps” watching the congressional hearing.

“It was amazing. And then I’m getting tons of phone calls from all my friends back home and everywhere else. I’m so very grateful for everything that happened today,” Park, 56, said, noting that friends told him that a clip of his story appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show Thursday night.

The late-night host featured footage of Park’s moment in the congressional hearing in his opening monologue.

“Is anyone OK with this? Seriously, all kidding aside, we deported a veteran with a Purple Heart?” Kimmel said, adding that Republicans “claim to care so much about veterans, but they don’t at all.”

Park legally immigrated to the United States when he was 7, grew up in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley, and joined the Army after graduating from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.

Sae Joon Park received a Purple Heart while serving in the Army.

(From Sae Joon Park)

The green card holder was deployed to Panama in 1989 as the U.S. tried to depose the nation’s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and honorably discharged. Suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, he self-medicated with illicit drugs, went to prison after jumping bail on drug possession charges, became sober and raised two children in Hawaii.

Earlier this year, when Park checked in for his annual meeting with federal officials to verify his sobriety and employment, he was given the option of being immediately detained and deported, or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks as he got his affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade.

At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an “extensive criminal history” and had been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.

Park chose to leave the country voluntarily. He initially struggled to acclimate in a nation he hasn’t lived in since he was a child, but said Thursday night that his mental state — and his Korean-language skills — have improved.

“It hasn’t been easy. Of course, I miss home like crazy,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can. I’m usually a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason, and I’m just trying to hang in there until hopefully I make it back home.”

Among Park’s top concerns when he left the United States in June was that his mother, who is 86 and struggling with dementia, would die while he couldn’t return to the county. But her lack of awareness about his situation has been somewhat of a strange blessing, Park said.

“She really doesn’t know I’m even here. So every time I talk to her, she’s like, ‘Oh, where are you?’ And I tell her, and she’s like, ‘Oh, when are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?’” Park said. “In a weird way, it’s kind of good because she doesn’t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I would love to be next to her while she’s going through this.”

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Even in a year like this one, during which there are numerous truly remarkable movies in the awards-season conversation worthy of ongoing consideration, it is easy to grow tired of talking about a tightening circle of titles.

Which is part of the reason why the announcement of the program for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival came right on time this week. New movies! This will be Sundance’s last edition in its longtime home in Park City, Utah, before moving on to Boulder, Colo., starting in 2027. Adding to the import and emotion of the event is that it will be the first festival since the recent death of Sundance figurehead Robert Redford.

A number of films from the 2025 festival are still part of the ongoing awards conversation. Just this week, both “Train Dreams” and “Sorry, Baby” received Golden Globe nominations — which I am relatively certain was not on the minds of those filmmakers when they had their world premieres at Sundance this past January.

Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega in “The Gallerist” by Cathy Yan, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

(Sundance Institute / MRC II Distribution Company L.P.)

Among the titles to look forward to for Sundance 2026 are Gregg Araki’s provocative “I Want Your Sex,” Cathy Yan’s satirical “The Gallerist,” Jay Duplass’ family story “See You When I See You,” Tamra Davis’ ’90s music doc “The Best Summer” and a profile on Courtney Love called “Antiheroine.”

Of course, there will also be many titles from relatively unknown filmmakers, and it is that promise of discovery that keeps us coming back to Sundance year after year.

As festival director Eugene Hernandez put it, “As much as we can talk about the legacy and history and the old timers — which I think will add an incredible aspect to the festival this year — we’re creating a festival that is also focused on the celebration of new voices. … For so many people, it will be brand new, no matter what.”

‘Home Alone’ 35th anniversary

Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci in the movie “Home Alone.”

(20th Century Fox)

On Saturday, the Academy Museum will have a 35th anniversary screening of “Home Alone” with star Macaulay Culkin and director Chris Columbus in-person. Written by John Hughes, the film is about a young boy (Culkin) accidentally left behind by his family at the holidays and how he comes to defend himself against two bumbling thieves (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern).

The movie has become a beloved all-ages holiday classic and seeing it with an enthusiastic audience should be a treat. The event is already sold out, but standby tickets are available.

In his original review of the movie, Peter Rainer noted, “Macaulay Culkin has the kind of crack comic timing that’s missing in many an adult star and even when the script gets soppy, he doesn’t turn himself into a cutesy ball of gloppy goo. He is refreshingly abrasive throughout.”

‘Mustang’ 10th anniversary

An image from Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Oscar-nominated 2015 film “Mustang.”

(Cohen Media Group)

On Sunday, the American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3 will host a 10th anniversary screening of French-Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s feature debut “Mustang,” which was nominated for the Academy Award for international feature. Ergüven is scheduled to be there in person.

The film is the story of five teenage sisters living in an isolated village and yearning for a life of freedom. In her review, Katie Walsh wrote, “‘Mustang’ beautifully expresses the girls’ unbridled energy, a force that refuses to be locked up, controlled or repressed. It’s a moving portrait of sisterhood, a celebration of a fierce femininity and a damning indictment of patriarchal systems that seek to destroy and control this spirit.”

In an interview with me at the time of the film’s release, Ergüven described the performances by the five actresses — Elit Iscan, Günes Sensoy, Ilayda Akdogan, Doga Zeynep Doguslu and Tugba Sunguroglu — as “one character with five heads.”

Ergüven added, “From very early on I always said it’s a monster of femininity, with 10 arms and 10 legs. They are intertwined, they are extremely familiar with one another. Sometimes, I said, they react to one another’s bodies as if they are extensions of their own body.”

Points of interest

‘Danger: Diabolik’ and ‘Barbarella’ in 35mm

Jane Fonda and John Phillip Law in the 1968 movie “Barbarella,” directed by Roger Vadim.

(Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images)

The Secret Movie Club is going to have a groovy Euro holiday party on Saturday with 35mm screenings of both Roger Vadim’s 1968 “Barbarella” and Mario Bava’s 1968 “Danger: Diabolik” at the Million Dollar Theater. Attendees are encouraged to dress in their best psychedelic finery.

“Barbarella” is one of those movies that’s difficult to describe and best to just experience for yourself: a sci-fi sex satire starring Jane Fonda directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim and co-written by counterculture maverick Terry Southern. Based on a French comic, the film was shot in Italy and produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

In a 1967 profile of Fonda and Vadim in Rome, which includes Fonda driving a Ferrari through the streets of the city to get from the historic villa where they are staying to Cinecittà studio, Fonda said, “The main thing about this role is to keep her innocent. You see, Barbarella is not a vamp and her sexuality is not measured by the rules of our society. She is not being promiscuous but she follows the natural reaction of another type of upbringing. She isn’t a so-called ‘sexually liberated woman’ either. That would mean rebellion against something. She is different. She was born free.”

“Danger: Diabolik” stars John Philip Law (also in “Barbarella”) as a master thief. With a score by Ennio Morricone and directed with high style by Bava, best known for more lurid genre excursions, the film is the ’60s Euro-heist jaunt of your wildest imagination.

Elaine May’s ‘A New Leaf’

Elaine May and Walter Matthau in the movie “A New Leaf.”

(United Archives via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the Academy Museum will show Elaine May’s 1971 debut feature as writer-director, “A New Leaf,” in the big David Geffen Theater. Selected by the writer’s branch of the Academy, the screening will feature screenwriter Karen McCullah, writer-producer Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and writer-producer Katie Silberman in person to talk about the film and May’s ongoing influence.

Even though the film as we know it was taken away from May and isn’t her complete vision, “A New Leaf” is nevertheless a film of bold, confident energy. Walter Matthau plays a trust fund playboy who is fast running out of money. He hatches a scheme to find, marry and then murder a woman of means to continue to fund his lifestyle. Enter May as a botanist who is equal parts awkward and rich. Dark, funny and insightful, the film is a true gem.

Here’s hoping the recently renewed interest in May’s slim body of directorial work — she has so far made only four films — spurs a long-gestating new project rumored to be shooting soon into a reality.

Eric Rohmer’s ‘My Night at Maud’s’ and ‘A Tale of Winter’

Françoise Fabian and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Eric Rohmer’s “My Night at Maud’s.”

(Janus Films)

On Wednesday at the Aero, the American Cinematheque will have a double-bill from French filmmaker Eric Rohmer: 1969’s “My Night at Maud’s” and 1992’s “A Tale of Winter.”

“My Night at Maud’s,” a breakout international hit for Rohmer, was nominated for two Oscars, for foreign language film and original screenplay. A series of conversations among an interlocking cast of characters, the film helped set the template for dialogue-driven adult dramas that still hold sway.

In his April 1970 review, Charles Champlin wrote, “‘My Night at Maud’s’ argues that thee attractive and intelligent people sitting around arguing about the philosophy of Pascal constitutes a movie. I agree. Standing on my chair and waving noisemakers in the air I agree. … But whether or not one cares about the substance of the arguments, ‘My Night at Maud’s’ is a hugely pleasurable evening out because of the excellence of its performances and the convincing and captivatingly credibility of its three principals. It is an adult film which makes clear once and for all what randy juvenilia all other ‘adult’ films are. This one is, of course, in impeccable taste.”

“A Tale of Winter” is the second of what became Rohmer’s “Tales of the Four Seasons.” In reviewing the film, Kevin Thomas wrote, “The French respect the quirky workings of the human heart more than any other people and among the French filmmakers, the keenest observer may be Eric Rohmer, whose ‘A Tale of Winter’ finds him at his scintillating best, never wiser or funnier.”

Kathy Kanjo, the director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, has been named the new director of the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. The news comes a little more than two months after UC Irvine announced it had acquired Orange County Museum of Art in a merger that created the new institution.

At that time, a rep for UCI said the hope was to announce a new director in the new year, so Kanjo’s appointment comes ahead of schedule. Kanjo has been at MCASD since 2016. Prior to that, she served as director of the University Art Museum at UC Santa Barbara.

When I first wrote about the merger, UC Irvine confirmed that it was taking over OCMA’s assets, employees and debt. A rep for UC Irvine declined to comment on a number, writing in an email that the budget for the new museum will come from university operating funds.

Kanjo inherits responsibility for a substantial collection of more than 9,000 artworks, including UC Irvine’s Gerald Buck Collection of more than 3,200 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by some of the state’s most important artists, including David Hockney and Ed Ruscha.

“The newly merged collection is both anticipated and underknown,” wrote Kanjo in an email. “I am eager to unveil and contextualize the artistic legacies of the Irvine, Buck, and OCMA collections from a particularly California point of view. Collected over time and together at last, these objects are an asset to be shared generously and supported by scholarly research. The constellation that is the UC Irvine Langson Museum offers a portrait of our state’s innovative artistic impulses.”

Kanjo also said the new museum would get a significant boost from UC Irvine’s research strength and commitment to public service.

“We will create rigorous and welcoming exhibitions that resonate with our region’s diverse audiences, young and old,” she wrote.

Despite the great fanfare of its opening in 2022, OCMA — with its 53,000-square-foot, $98-million Morphosis-designed building on the eastern edge of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus — never seemed fully realized. Problems were hinted at — but never explained — in April when CEO Heidi Zuckerman announced her intention to step down.

Meanwhile UC Irvine had been planning to construct a museum for its collection for quite some time. That, too, never really got off the ground. If there were ever a time to build consensus around a new mandate for the merged organizations, that time is now. Kanjo has a vision for the future that appears to center scholarship.

“I want to clarify the core identity of the collection and find connections back to campus and into the community,” she wrote. “The post is appealing because of its connection to UC Irvine, a leading research university, and the opportunity to work with the students within the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and all of the campus resources. The potential to foster innovation by working in a cross-disciplinary/cross-campus way is strong.”

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, planning a drive to Orange County in the new year. Here’s your arts and culture news for the week.

On our radar

Broadway star Ben Platt will perform 10 shows at the Ahmanson starting Friday.

(Rob Kim / Getty Images)

Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson
The award-winning star of stage and screen hits town for 10 shows where he’ll sing his greatest hits and Broadway favorites. And where Platt goes, his big-time friends follow, so expect some great surprise guests each night.
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 19-20; 3 and 8 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org

“Holiday Legends” is this year’s seasonal performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.

(Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles)

Holiday Legends
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles’ annual celebration pays homage to the greats, including Mariah Carey, Irving Berlin and Johnny Mathis, plus traditional choral classics, pop Christmas anthems and Hanukkah favorites.
8 p.m. Saturday. 3 p.m. Sunday. Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills gmcla.org

The Huntington in San Marino.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Stories from the Library: From Brontë to Butler
This series highlights the literary side of the Huntington and its world-class library. In the newest exhibition, journals, letters, photographs and personal items provide a behind-the-scenes look at two centuries of women writers bookended by Charlotte Brontë and Octavia E. Butler.
Through June 15. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Holiday Soirée & Cabaret
Fountain Theatre celebrates the season with a live announcement of its 2026 season, a cabaret performance from Imani Branch & Friends, plus, a raffle and reception. There will also be two separate performances of the cabaret.
Soirée and cabaret: 7 p.m. Friday. Cabaret: 7 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. FountainTheatre.com

Violinist Renaud Capuçon.

(Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Mozart & Sibelius
Violinist Renaud Capuçon joins conductor Gustavo Gimeno and the L.A. Phil for a program that combines “Mozartian elegance with brooding Nordic drama.”
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Santasia
The long-running holiday spectacle featuring broad comedy, musical parodies and old school claymation returns to L.A. for a 26th year.
Through Dec. 27. Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. santasia.com

SATURDAY

Laurel Halo performs Saturday at the Nimoy.

(Norrel Blair)

Laurel Halo
Currently based in L.A., the musician combines ambient, drone, jazz and modern sensibilities in new works for piano and electronics in a preview of her forthcoming album.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Sound + Source
Art meets music as DJs Novena Carmel, Francesca Harding and KCRW music director Ale Cohen provide a site-specific soundtrack to the exhibition “Corita Kent: The Sorcery of Images.”
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Blvd. marcianoartfoundation.org

Pacific Jazz Orchestra
The 40-piece hybrid big band and string ensemble, led by Chris Walden, presents its “Holiday Jazz Spectacular,” featuring vocalists Aloe Blacc, Sy Smith and Brenna Whitacre.
8 p.m. Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. pacificjazz.org

Holiday Family Faire
Theatricum Botanicum’s annual daylong winter wonderland featuring performances, food and drink and a marketplace; followed by “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” by Joe Landry, and starring Beau Bridges, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna and Rory O’Malley.
11 a.m. Family Faire; 5 p.m. “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga. theatricum.com

SUNDAY

The band Emily’s Sassy Lime in Olympia, Wash., circa 1995.

(Emily’s Sassy Lime)

Artist Talk
Emily Ryan, Amy Yao and Wendy Yao of the ‘90s Orange County riot grrrl band Emily’s Sassy Lime join artist-activist-musician Kathleen Hanna of the band Bikini Kill for a discussion of adolescence, creativity and community. The talk is part of the museum’s “2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But Social,” which closes Jan. 4.
2 p.m. UC Irvine Langson Museum/Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art

English Cathedral Christmas
The Los Angeles Master Chorale brings the magic of Canterbury Cathedral downtown, reveling in the grand tradition of British choral works from the 16th century to the present..
7 p.m Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. lamasterchorale.org

TUESDAY
Aron Kallay
In “Midcentury/Modern,” the pianist performs works from world premieres by Michael Frazier, Zanaida Stewart Robles and Brandon Rolle, along with 20th century works by Grażyna Bacewicz and Sergei Prokofiev in a program presented by Piano Spheres.
8 p.m. Thayer Hall at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. pianospheres.org

WEDNESDAY
BOTH: A Hard Day’s Silent Night
Open Fist Theatre Company’s annual holiday charity concert benefiting Heart of Los Angeles, an organization that helps kids in underserved communities, infuses the music of the Beatles with Gospel flair to tell the Christmas story.
8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday; 3:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org

Elaine May and Walter Matthau star in “A New Leaf,” which screens at the Academy Museum on Wednesday.

(Film Publicity Archive/United Archives via Getty Images)

A New Leaf
Elaine May made Hollywood history with this 1971 screwball noir as the first woman to write, direct and star in her own feature film. Walter Matthau co-stars as a playboy who has burned through his own fortune so plans to marry and murder May’s kooky heiress to get hers.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Architect Frank Gehry in his Playa Vista office in 2015.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The world is mourning the death of legendary architect Frank Gehry, who died last Friday at age 96. Times classical music critic Mark Swed wrote a beautiful appreciation about how Gehry used his buildings — Walt Disney Concert Hall in particular — to transform music. I made a video appreciation that tried to encapsulate Gehry’s best work, and his deep connection to his adopted hometown, and L.A. Times contributor Sam Lubell compiled a list, with photographs, of Gehry’s finest buildings in L.A., and around the world. Deputy managing editor Shelby Grad wrote about the importance of the Gehry-designed Danzinger studio.

This week also marked the release of The Times best-of-2025 lists. These include Swed’s selection of the best of L.A.’s classical music performances; Times theater critic Charles McNulty’s pick of the best theatrical works;
and former (sob!) Times art critic Christopher Knight’s 10 best art shows at SoCal museums.

Swed also wrote a story that came out of a recent trip to Tokyo about Carl Stone, an L.A. based composer from the Japanese capital, who uses his laptop to record environmental sounds and transform them into sonic sculptures. “Stone’s iPad, with its open sonic complexity, created a sense of space, a roomy aural soundscape in which jazz and butoh became elements not egos, not larger than life, just more life, the merrier,” writes Swed.

McNulty wrote an interesting essay about characters breaking the fourth wall and how it can galvanize an audience. “Breaking the fourth wall is a tried-and-true method of calling an audience to attention. But a new breed of dramatist, writing in an age of overlapping calamities — environmental, political, economic, technological and moral — is retooling an old playwriting device to do more than inject urgency and immediacy in the theatrical experience,” McNulty writes.

I spent time in Palm Springs over the Thanksgiving break to cover the grand reopening of the Palm Springs Plaza Theatre, which recently underwent a $34-million restoration. To celebrate, it hosted an intimate show featuring actor, singer, songwriter Cynthia Erivo.

I also had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Broadway actor Ben Platt in advance of his 10-day residency at the Ahmanson Theatre. We bonded over being anxious people, and he shared that he keeps his anxiety in check through live performance.

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

(David Zaugh)

Cameron Watson has been named Skylight Theatre Company’s new artistic director, beginning Jan. 1. He will replace Gary Grossman, who is stepping down after four decades at the helm of the Los Feliz-based theater, during which time he turned the company into one of the most respected small theaters in the city. “Cameron’s passion, his theatrical vision and his ability to lead, listen, nurture and mentor make him the perfect fit for Skylight,” Grossman said in a statement.

Earlier this week, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $20 million to the Japanese American National Museum — the largest single gift in the organization’s history. Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also gave the museum $10 million in 2021.

Hamza Walker, the Brick executive director who is behind the critically acclaimed “Monuments” exhibit at the Brick and MOCA, has been honored with the 2026 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, given by the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies. “Hamza’s three decades of curatorial practice have brought forward voices and perspectives that challenge dominant narratives, create dialogue, and have left a lasting imprint on the field,” said Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies, in a statement.

Sherman Oaks resident Kate Stermer won the National Portrait Gallery’s 2025 Teen Portrait Competition, alongside Matilda Myers of Towson, Md. The annual competition is open to teens ages 13 to 17, and the museum says it received more than 1,100 entries from 48 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. We here at Essential Arts are proud of you, Kate!

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The Times this week released its annual list of the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles. I plan to go to every one. Well, maybe, like 20. It could get expensive.

An exciting Sunday for Aparna Nancherla is a Sunday without much excitement. “My cortisol runs high without anything happening, so I’m trying to get it down,” she says.

Eliminating stress was part of the reason the comedian moved back to Los Angeles in 2023, after over a decade in New York City, where she wrote for “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell,” appeared in TV series like “Search Party” and burnished her stand-up comedy career.

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.

“I’m a little bit of a hermit, and just wanted some more trees and a little more space,” Nancherla says.

Nancherla’s book of essays, “Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself and Impostor Syndrome” was also released in 2023. In it, she examined her emotionally fraught relationship with stand-up. After a break, she recently brought her understated approach back to the form and her new special, “Hopeful Potato,” is available on the comedy streaming service Dropout starting Dec. 15.

She likes to spend her Sundays mostly engaging in familiar routines, though she’ll pursue a little bit of discovery around town.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

10 a.m.: Late riser

I would like to be someone who wakes up around 7 to 8 a.m., but I am waking up probably in the 9 to 10 a.m. vicinity. I would wake earlier, but I think in a past life I was a two-toed sloth or something because I’m nocturnal and I move very slowly. It takes me a lot of time to ease into a different state of being — sleep to wake, wake to sleep. Pretty much any transition I’m bad with.

Being a stand-up doesn’t help. A lot of my job is oriented toward night, but even before comedy, something about the night called to me. It’s not necessarily the healthiest behavior, but thus far I haven’t been able to change my ways.

10:15 a.m.: Morning rituals

I’m someone who falls into doing rituals for a while, almost obsessively, until I replace them with different ones. Lately my ritual is as soon as I get up and brush my teeth and wash my face, I will put on a song and dance to it and do some stretching. I tend toward depression and anxiety, so dancing is an easy way to immediately get your endorphins and it doesn’t feel like as much of a demand as going for a jog.

It’s literally three minutes of a song and then I will try to meditate. My mom recommended doing 20 minutes of meditation, but I feel like 10 is where I’m landing. My attention span is so bad lately that it really is just me closing my eyes and composing emails that I’ll forget to send rather than attuning to some higher power.

11 a.m.: Chasing waterfalls

I’m lucky in that I live near three botanic gardens, so I really have my pick, but I got a membership to the Arboretum because I like that they have peacocks.

They also have a giant waterfall. I’m trying to form a walk where I will eventually end up there. They have a few really nice spots where you can chill out near the waterfall, so I’m probably just sitting, maybe journaling, kind of enjoying the ambience.

I don’t know if there’s a word for someone who’s in love with waterfalls, but I really like them. Apparently there is among [the cable channel] TLC’s vast array of offerings, a program where people are in love with inanimate objects, like cars and bridges, and they want a romantic, sexual relationship with these things. I just want to say that that’s not how I approach a waterfall, but I do deeply care for them as a friend.

1 p.m.: Aspiring regular

I really like Lemon Poppy Kitchen in Glassell Park. Every time I’ve been there, I’ve seen the same people, so I don’t know how many times it takes for you to become a regular, but I guess I’m an aspiring regular there. They have a scramble I really like. It’s not too crazy, it’s a Cali scramble. They also have some Eastern European-y things. They have some kind of polenta dish with eggs. It has a little bit of sauerkraut. I like what they’re doing with their brunch direction.

3 p.m.: Reading is fundamental

I’m a big books person. There are so many independent bookstores I want to mention. I really like North Figueroa Bookshop in Highland Park. They feature a bunch of independent presses.

I love Sierra Madre. It’s such a walkable neighborhood. They have a bookstore called Fables and Fancies. They have a tree inside — who doesn’t like that?

There’s also one called DYM Books & Boba in North Pasadena. The owner, Desiree [Sayarath], is so sweet. It’s not a huge bookshop, but they feature a lot of authors of color and queer authors. Then it’s got a full coffee menu, and you can add boba to pretty much anything. They have gulab jamun-flavored matcha, which I have never seen anywhere else. Gulab jamun is this Indian dessert. It’s like a rose water and cardamom flavor.

4 p.m.: Gifts for the unknown

I would love to go to a craft fair. There’s one in Pasadena called the Jackalope Art Fair that’s there periodically. I already buy things that I maybe don’t need, but I do like a craft fair because you’re making eye contact with the creator as you’re buying their thing and it feels like you’re getting extra dopamine from that.

The worst thing is that I’m like, “This will be a great gift for someone later.” I have bags of gifts for people, and I don’t know who these people are, but someday they’re going to be getting a bag of buttons.

6 p.m.: Feeding schedule

At 6, I have to feed my cats. They’re very strict about their mealtime. They eat at 6 and 6. My partner feeds them at 6 in the morning, but I feed them at 6 p.m.

They’re sisters. They’re 5 years old. They’re pretty demanding in general. They’re pretty vocal about what they want and when they need it.

6:30 p.m.: Fitness to fight depression

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of workouts at home. I’ll do a kickboxing thing or yoga Pilates. I tried to get into the gym and, I don’t know, something about the gym environment really bums me out.

I’m not like a Peloton girlie. I’m joining some of your more avant-garde platforms. I don’t think they think of themselves as avant-garde, but there’s this platform of African dance called Kukuwa these women in Africa started and I love their workouts. Then there’s free stuff. There’s Move With Nicole, which is a Pilates account on YouTube that I do a lot. I’m looking for your smaller businesses.

As I’ve gotten older, my mental health has plummeted for various reasons. I feel like exercise is one of the only things that helps regulate it to some extent, which I hate saying because when you say you’re depressed, people are like, “Just go for a walk.” And it’s not like the walk cures depression, but it does help to get some vitamin D or just be like, “Oh yeah, I have these muscles, I should probably sometimes use them.”

7 p.m.: A new dish

I don’t mind a dinner in, but I feel like given the chance, it’s always nice to eat at the restaurant. I discovered this vegan place in Highland Park that does vegan sushi that’s pretty new called Tane Vegan Izakaya. I’ve also been meaning to check out this vegetarian place in Echo Park called Men & Beasts that I keep hearing about.

I like trying a new place, but then once it works for me, I’m probably hitting that up a bunch of times. If a restaurant clicks where the food is great, the service is great, the atmosphere is great, then I’m happy to support them as much as possible.

9 p.m.: Puttering toward bed (eventually)

I’ll come home and watch something. I’m trying to scroll less on my phone, so maybe I’ll watch “The Great British Bake Off” or something that’s not too taxing on the brain.

I usually make myself a big cup of ginger tea at night because my stomach has been more temperamental as I’ve gotten older, but what usually happens is I make the big cup of tea and then I forget about it, and it kind of watches me while I scroll on my phone.

Every day, I want to be in bed by 12:30, and then it ends up being 2 a.m. and I cannot account for how that happened. I think I’m just a serial putterer, in that I putter around and I don’t know what I’m doing a lot of the time.

This past week, my dear friend Bob and I went to Griffith Park in search of a little bit of holiday magic in the hillsides. We were looking for bright red toyon.

In the fall and winter, toyons produce iconic red berries, a signal that the temperatures are lowering around L.A. and that winter is coming.

“Though the most common name ‘toyon’ is thought to be a Spanish alteration of the plant’s Ohlone name (“totcon”), Indigenous peoples around California have given the plant many names,” according to environmental nonprofit TreePeople. “It has also more recently been referred to as ‘California holly’ or even ‘Christmas berry’ due to it’s similar appearance to English holly in the winter months.”

For many Angelenos, myself included, toyon brings about a warm sense that the winter holidays are nearing too.

“During the fall season, after several months of growing and maturity, toyon fruits change color from green to red; it’s a signal to birds and other larger animals that a meal is ready for them,” wrote Jorge Ochoa, a professor of horticulture at Long Beach City College. “It is also during the fall that the hills of Griffith Park are adorned with striking red colors reflecting the many toyon plants growing in the hills of the park.”

Although Los Angeles County is warmer in the winter and thus doesn’t produce iconic scenes of a winter wonderland, you can easily drive nearby and find it, whether it’s by hiking past toyons, frolicking in the mountain snow or, as you’ll see here, catching a cosmic light show during Hanukkah.

If L.A. is your ho-ho-home for the holidays, I hope visiting these three natural places below helps you catch the holiday spirit, regardless of how you celebrate. Let’s sleigh these trails! (I had to!)

Bright red toyon berries in Griffith Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. For red berry bliss: Griffith Park’s Five Points-Beacon Hill Loop

The Five Points-Beacon Hill Loop is a six-mile moderate hike past several toyon trees, laurel sumac and California black walnut (with bright yellow leaves at the moment).

Friends of Griffith Park developed that trail option as part of the Griffith Park Explorer, 15 routes along more than 50 miles of trails in L.A.’s outdoor sanctuary. As someone who has gotten lost (or just forgot where I parked) in Griffith Park more than I will readily admit, I am grateful for these efforts.

Also, the Griffith Park Explorer makes it easy to discern which trails will provide the best red berry bliss! If you’d like to determine the best trail for your physical conditioning that has toyons, you can look at iNaturalist, a citizen science app, to see where toyons grow in the park and match that with the best Explorer trail.

That’s how I identified the Beacon Hill loop. As Bob and I started our hike, I quickly spotted red berries on the hillside. We also savored the quiet that Griffith Park offers just before sunset as the hillsides become blanketed in yellow, orange and scarlet light. At Beacon Hill, I paused and took in the clear views that winter brings. I felt grateful to be here now, which, to me, evokes gratitude and joy, two essential elements of the winter holiday season.

Distance: A six-mile loop
Elevation gained: About 1,200 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Bette Davis Picnic Area

The snow-covered road to the Buckhorn Campground in Angeles National Forest in 2024. The campground is a common spot for anyone near L.A. who wants to snowshoe and frolic in the powder.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. For snow-dappled trees: Buckhorn Campground trail

The Buckhorn Campground in Angeles National Forest is a special place to me, bringing me and my family joy every season. In the winter, it is often covered in snow, as it sits above 6,000 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Crunching over the snow-covered road into the campground this past March — the campground is closed for camping in the winter — I was transported back into a childlike sense of wonder. The evergreen conifers towered above, like giant Christmas trees for squirrels, deer and bobcats.

The view of the snowy mountains near Mt. Hawkins from Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest on Nov. 23.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

If you celebrate Kwanzaa, Buckhorn would be a great place to visit to observe multiple of the seven principles, including unity, as you and your friends and family slog through the elements together. (Microspikes recommended!)

And if you can’t make it up to the mountains, but still want to observe Kwanzaa with community, the annual Unity Run/Walk is scheduled for Dec. 27 at Balboa Park in San Diego. Either way, you can be in a natural environment hopefully in unity with each other and nature.

Distance: Varies
Elevation gained: 300 to 500 feet
Difficulty: Easy to lower-level moderate
Accessible alternative: Large turnouts after snow along Highway 2 east of Camp Valcrest

A Perseid meteor streaks low in the sky in this 16-second exposure, as seen from White Tank campground in Joshua Tree National Park early on Aug. 12, 2024.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

3. For cosmic candlelight: Joshua Tree National Park

On Dec. 21, during the second to last night of Hanukkah (and also the start of the winter solstice), the Ursids meteor shower will peak, allowing anyone watching to see around five to 10 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

If you’re celebrating Hanukkah, you can experience your own cosmic Festival of Lights as the sky lights up during the meteor shower at Joshua Tree National Park. I checked, and there are still several campsites available at the park on the peak night. It’s also a great place to celebrate the winter solstice, lighting a campfire (if allowed under fire restrictions) and taking in the natural elements. There are endless hiking options too.

If you want to camp closer to home, you could try Chilao Campground in Angeles National Forest for a darker sky option. (Chilao is at 5,300 elevation, and it’ll be cold. And it is sometimes closed because of snow.) To check whether it’s open, you can call the Angeles National Forest office in Acton at (661) 269-2808. The office is generally closed Wednesday and Thursday, so another option is to call the Gateway District office at (818) 899-1900.

Either way, be prepared for an awe-inspiring light show, a beautiful way to be together with the people you love (who can also keep you warm, in body and spirit).

Happy holidays to you, my dear Wilder!

3 things to do

Members of Paddle LA and OC participate in annual Christmas paddles near Long Beach, dressing in festive costumes.

(David Sanchez)

1. Paddle past pretty lights in Long Beach
Paddling LA and OC will host an evening paddle from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday through Alamitos Bay to observe holiday lights near the water. Guests are encouraged to don holiday costumes and light up their boards with good cheer. All skill levels are welcome, but paddlers need to be comfortable in the water after dark and around slow-moving boats. Register at eventbrite.com.

2. Secure Fido’s ranger badge in Calabasas
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will host its B.A.R.K. Holidays event from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the King Gillette Ranch visitor center. Dogs and their owners can visit ranger-led booths and take part in a special swearing-in ceremony where pups will earn their official B.A.R.K. Ranger badge. Learn more at the park’s Instagram page.

3. Hike among native plants in Sylmar
Scorpio Gardens, a queer, Latinx-owned native plant landscape design company, will host a hike along the May Canyon trail from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Veterans Memorial Community Regional Park in Sylmar. Guests will first be guided in mindfulness and stretching before heading onto the trail. Hike leaders will help participants with native plant identification, discussing the roles the plants play in the larger San Fernando Valley ecosystem. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

(Ruthy Kim / For The Times)

In highlighting these hikes and natural places where you can celebrate the holidays, I don’t want to seem oblivious or excessively positive. It would be a massive understatement to say it has been a hard year for L.A. “In the past 12 months, we’ve witnessed homes destroyed by fire, families broken up by ICE, skyrocketing anti-trans hate and massive layoffs across the entertainment and media industries leaving thousands in our city unemployed,” wrote Times staff writer Deborah Netburn. Amid all this devastation, it is even more important to try to find joy. That was the message Netburn heard from experts she spoke to about how to still find joy this holiday season in L.A. Joy is an essential element of our lives, refilling our tanks not only to help us survive but also to keep doing good in the world. “The purpose of oppression, hatred and discrimination is to disconnect us and dehumanize us,” said Thema Bryant, a psychologist and minister at First AME Church in Los Angeles. “It is an act of resistance to say, ‘I’m not going to give all my peace to those who are working to stress me out.’”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

For almost 20 years, the Mojave Desert Land Trust has worked to preserve prime desert habitat, protecting more than 125,000 acres of California desert. Recently, the trust acquired 1,280 acres at the entrance to Mojave Trails National Monument, a massive swath of federal land south of Mojave National Preserve that had been suffering from illegal dumping, graffiti and more. If you’d like to help support the trust’s efforts to protect the desert, consider attending a fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Last Bookstore in Studio City. Barret Baumgart, author of “Yuck,” and Josh Jackson, author of “The Enduring Wild,” will discuss their books that underscore the importance of protecting our diverse desert landscape. Guests can imbibe free beer and buy signed books and limited-edition desert posters and tote bags. Half of sales will support the trust. 🏜️

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Since it first opened in 1923, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has been the sole home of USC football. No major sports team in the city’s history has played in the same venue for longer.

But after more than a century spent in the city’s iconic stadium, The Times has learned that the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games will likely force USC to find a new home for its football team in 2028, with the likeliest option being SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that the Coliseum would not be ready for the start of college football season in September 2028 because of the $100-million temporary track that’s being built on top of the Coliseum field to host the track-and-field competition at the L.A. Olympics and Paralympic Games.

The logistics are still being worked out with L.A. 2028, and USC has not made a final decision about where the Trojans’ 2028 football season will be played. A source said the school hasn’t officially determined whether the Coliseum field could be ready later in the fall, perhaps to host a portion of USC’s 2028 home schedule. But even if it is logistically possible, it’s not clear that USC’s athletic department would find that arrangement in its best interest, given it would mean uprooting the team midseason or spending a long stretch of the 2028 slate away from L.A.

“USC and LA28 are working in lockstep on all logistics for the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” USC athletics spokesperson Cody Worsham said in a statement. “We will share details with the public when they are finalized.”

SoFi Stadium officials declined to comment when asked about USC’s possible move to the venue in 2028.

With the closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Games set for Aug. 27, 2028, there would be just two weeks for the temporary track to be removed and the grass field below to be restored ahead of USC’s currently scheduled 2028 home opener on Sept. 9. Multiple people told The Times that’s not a feasible timeline for a structure LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman once called “the most expensive and probably complicated thing we actually have to build” ahead of the 2028 Games.

This isn’t a new problem at USC. Discussions about the plausibility of the football program sharing the Coliseum with the Olympics in 2028 trace back well before current athletic director Jennifer Cohen was hired in 2023. The belief at one point, according to a person familiar with those discussions, was that with some clever scheduling, USC would only have to miss a home game or two.

Now, according to multiple people familiar with the situation, USC is expected to spend the 2028 season at SoFi Stadium, which hosts the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. By that point, it may also be the home field of the city’s other Big Ten football team.

UCLA has already stated it plans to trade the Rose Bowl, where it has played since 1982, for the modern SoFi Stadium, in spite of a lease agreement that runs through 2044. The city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company have since sued the school and SoFi Stadium’s ownership in hopes of blocking the Bruins’ move.

If UCLA forges on with plans to abandon the Rose Bowl in 2026 for SoFi, all four of the city’s major football teams could be playing under the same roof two years later.

Those logistics, however, pale in comparison to what it will take to host Olympic track and field at the Coliseum in 2028, in the same stadium where the competition was held almost a century earlier. The biggest obstacle LA28 faced using an iconic venue that hosted the 1984 Olympics is that there wasn’t enough room on the Coliseum floor for an Olympic-sized track.

Renovations in the early 1990s added 14 rows of seats at the bottom of the bowl, shrinking the size of the Coliseum field. The solution requires installation of a track 11 feet above the field that stretches over the first few rows of stadium seating to met Olympic standards.

To build the temporary track, the Coliseum’s turf and the dirt beneath it will be scraped away, down to the stadium’s concrete base where columns will be placed about every 10 feet. That construction at the Coliseum is expected to begin immediately after the Trojans finish their home football schedule sometime in November 2027.

Bill Hanway, the executive vice president for AECOM — the infrastructure consulting firm hired to oversee LA28’s preparations — told The Times in June 2024 that the track was “an incredibly complex build” in “an incredibly tight space.”

Taking track down will be its own challenge, one that will take longer than the two-week window between the end of the Games and the beginning of USC’s 2028 slate. When a similar structure was built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, the soccer team that played in the stadium — Queen’s Park FC — didn’t return for more than a year.

Unless that timeline can be slashed, the Trojans will spend the 2028 season switching off Saturdays with their rivals, who, for one year, would be across-the-hallway as opposed to across town.

USC and UCLA shared the Coliseum for 54 years before the Bruins moved to the Rose Bowl in 1982. For 33 of those years, the Coliseum also hosted the Rams on Sundays.

If that feels too crowded to USC, the Rose Bowl is the only other option in town — and suddenly seems to be in serious need of a tenant.

But as of now, according to a person familiar with the situation, SoFi Stadium is the only venue that’s been discussed as a potential temporary home.