L.A

The ICE officers descended on Compton, targeting immigrants convicted of theft, child abuse and selling drugs.

There were no protesters. No whistles alerting targets to the officers’ presence. No face masks. In some cases, residents opened their doors to let the officers inside their homes. One man thanked them for not arresting him in front of his children.

The Los Angeles area operation ended with 162 arrests, including a Mexican national convicted of rape and a Salvadoran national convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said almost 90% of the people arrested had criminal convictions.

It was June 2018, more than a year into Donald Trump’s first term as president. More than seven years later, carrying out the same operation in L.A. or other U.S. cities feels almost impossible without drawing angry crowds and requiring multiple officers, at times across federal agencies, to detain a single target.

In the years since Trump’s first term, ICE and the government’s immigration enforcement apparatus expanded raids well beyond those against known criminals or suspected ones. Increasingly, immigrants with no criminal records and even legal residents and U.S. citizens found themselves stopped and sometimes arrested.

The uncertainty over who is being targeted has fueled a growing pattern of community protests and rapid response mobilizations, even when officials say they are targeting convicted felons, reflecting a widening gap between how enforcement is described and how it is experienced. That gap has become most visible on the ground.

In recent months, sightings of ICE or other federal agents have drawn crowds of protesters, legal observers and community organizers. In many cases, residents say they can’t distinguish between targeted enforcement actions — against child molesters, human smugglers and other serious criminals — and broader sweeps, responding instead to the mere presence of agents whose role and authority are no longer clearly understood.

Experts say the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric against immigrants and often seemingly indiscriminate targeting of people in neighborhoods has hurt the reputation of its immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, like never before. And it has inspired a mass movement of resistance that has seen Americans shot by federal immigration officers. In the last month, two U.S. citizens — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti — were shot dead by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

The fatal shootings forced Trump to recalibrate his immigration enforcement tactics, in part by sidelining Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who first launched the aggressive raids in California, and putting border policy advisor Tom Homan in charge.

“I’m not here because the federal government has carried out this mission perfectly,” Homan said during a Thursday news conference. “Nothing’s ever perfect, and anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book.”

He said street operations in Minnesota would “draw down” if the agents were given access to local jails and that agents would focus on specific targets.

“We will conduct targeted enforcement operations — targeted,” he added. “That has traditionally been the case and that’s what we’re going to continue to do and improve upon that with the priority on public safety threats.”

An internal memo reviewed by Reuters showed ICE officers operating in the state were directed to avoid engaging with “agitators” and only target “aliens with a criminal history.”

Even if the Trump administration were to pull back ICE and Border Patrol’s aggressive tactics to focus more on known criminals, experts question whether too much damage has been done to their reputations.

“The brand of the agency is becoming so toxic,” said John Sandweg, who headed ICE under President Obama. “It’s going to impact the agency for years to come. It’s going to take a long time for that trust to rebuild.”

Another former ICE official, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said the agency used to be able to say it was focused on criminals and wasn’t conducting random sweeps.

“For years we always said, ‘We don’t have the resources to go after everybody, so we’re going to focus on just the worst of the worst,’” he said. “They can’t say that now. They’re still trying to do that, but it’s getting overshadowed by Home Depot and car washes and all this other stuff and Border Patrol’s heavy-handed tactics. Now it’s leading to shootings and all these other things. It’s just horrible.”

In Willowbrook, an unincorporated neighborhood nestled in South L.A., just blocks from Compton city limits, federal agents found themselves locked between angry crowds recording them last week. Two people held a sign that read: “ICE / Soldiers off our streets.”

Federal agents clear the way for an authorized car to pass while investigating a shooting involving a federal agent in Willowbrook.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The agents were there to arrest a man they say had been “involved in human trafficking” and had a final removal order. They alleged the man had two prior arrests for domestic violence. Homeland Security officials later said the man used his vehicle to ram federal agent vehicles in an attempt to evade arrest, prompting an agent to open fire.

But as news spread that the operation was targeting a suspected criminal living in the country illegally, most residents shrugged it off. They said federal officials had made false claims against other people they had arrested or shot at, including labeling Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists.

“They’ve shown us that they’re not trustworthy,” Rosa Enriquez, 39, said while holding a Mexican flag.

Similar scenes have played out across the country. This month, a journalist posted a video of agents — who she identified as working for ICE — calling out a driver for honking during an operation St. Paul, Minn.

“We’re here to arrest a child sex offender and you guys are out here honking,” the agent said. “That’s who you guys are protecting. Insane.”

“Just go. You’re lying!” a woman shouts.

Homeland Security has made it a point to tout the arrests of criminals across the country. The “worst of the worst arrests” in L.A. this month, according to the agency, included a man convicted of second-degree murder, another for voluntary manslaughter and one with multiple convictions for driving under the influence and disorderly conduct.

“We will not let rioters or agitators slow us down from removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

But experts say the general public has clearly witnessed a shift in who is being targeted.

In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly directed top ICE officials to go beyond target lists and have agents make arrests at Home Depot or 7-Eleven convenience stores as they sought to crank up their daily arrest numbers to 3,000.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, center, marches with federal agents to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

The following month, Border Patrol agents led by Bovino were on the ground in L.A., tackling car wash workers, arresting street vendors and chasing down day laborers.

“The pressure of those numbers on enforcement agencies and mobilizing the whole of government and other law enforcement agencies, well beyond the traditional ICE and CBP, has created pressures that have led to extensive overreach,” said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, is the agency that includes ICE and Border Patrol.

At the peak of arrests in L.A in June, around 75% of people had no criminal conviction. A Times analysis found that in the administration’s first nine months, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 15, of the more than 10,000 Los Angeles residents who were arrested in immigration operations, about 45% had a criminal conviction and an additional 14% had pending charges.

In November the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, reported that, nationwide, 5% of detainees from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 had been convicted of violent crimes. Most detainees with convictions were found guilty of vice, immigration or traffic infractions.

“They’ve painted to the American people that they were going after the worst of the worst, and that is nothing like what is happening,” said Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson), who represents the district where the recent shooting in L.A. unfolded. “We have seen all across America where they have harassed, they have murdered, assassinated not only citizens but also people who have not had any arrest, who have not fit the bill or the description of what they have painted to the American people.

“When you turn on the news right now, the trust is absolutely gone. We don’t trust the White House, we don’t trust ICE, and the people are afraid because the trust is gone.”

Santa Maria Councilmember Gloria Soto echoed that sentiment, in part because she has seen raids in her Central Coast town.

“That’s part of the frustration,” Soto said. “There’s no transparency. There’s no information being shared before or after these enforcements have taken place.”

“We know for a fact that there are individuals who are getting picked up who did not have a criminal record, whose only quote-unquote crime was, you know, either having an expired visa, or crossing without the required immigration documentation that is needed, so it makes it really difficult for us, for me as an elected official, to trust what this agency is doing because so far there is no communication,” she said.

The challenges ICE officers are facing appear to center on cities that have been targeted with surge operations — like in Minneapolis, Sandweg said. Across the country, he said, officers are conducting operations “but not with the same amount of controversy.”

People take part in a vigil at a memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“In Minneapolis we’re at the point now when, if agents are going to go after someone with a very serious violent criminal history, they’re likely to pick up observers and a lot of attention,” he said. “The way in which they wanted to do these operations in such an overt, in-your-face kind of fashion, has created a dynamic that makes it really hard for the agents to execute their duties. … You have these protests following the agents everywhere they go.”

While there has always been consternation over immigration enforcement, Sandweg said that “the widespread tactics and the targeting of people with no criminal record just really galvanized people in a way they’ve never been galvanized before.”

“To where now it probably is starting to bleed into and impeding operations that most of those protesters are probably not opposed to — the idea of ICE getting someone with a violent criminal history off the streets,” he said. “I think it’s created an environment where it puts the officers and the public in harm’s way.”

This week, protesters came out in force when word spread that ICE officers were eating at a restaurant in Lynwood. A video shows the crowd jeering at the officers as they’re being escorted out of the area by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

Almost immediately, Lynwood City Councilmember Luis Gerardo Cuellar posted a video on Instagram to inform the public.

“This was not ICE, these were … TSA air marshals.”

I was just getting settled in my seat for the first showing of “Melania” at the Grove cineplex when Melania Trump walked in.

OK, it wasn’t the Melania Trump, as in the first lady. But it was a reasonable facsimile.

The impersonator, followed by a man filming with his phone, strode in like a model, flinging her hair back and smiling as she addressed the six people — many of them critics from various press outlets — in the auditorium who were among the first in Los Angeles to see “Melania,” the controversial documentary that features the first lady as star and producer.

“Hi, everybody. I want to welcome you all to my movie,” the impersonator said in a Slovenian accent. She wore a stylish dark pantsuit and high heels, a frequent motif in the film which chronicles the real Melania Trump in the 20 days leading up to the second presidential inauguration of her husband, Donald Trump.

After a few more words of greeting, the impostor Melania flashed another smile as she exited.

I was stunned and extremely frustrated that I didn’t have time to capture the moment. It’s rare to find yourself in the presence of a first lady —even a fake one.

During the film, my fellow viewers were mostly silent, although there were a few murmurs of laughter as Melania Trump outlined the burdens of coordinating the correct outfit and decor for her re-entry to the White House.

“My creative vision is always clear, and it’s my responsibility to share my ideas with my team so they can bring it to life,” she says at one point.

Later in the film, when Donald Trump was formally introduced at the inauguration as the 47th president, one older woman sitting near the front of the theater applauded. And I could see her smiling as, onscreen, the first couple made their way through the White House following the ceremony.

“Being hand in hand with my husband at this moment is very emotional,” she says. “Nobody has endured what he has over the past few years. People tried to murder him, incarcerate him, slander him. But here he is. I’m so very proud.”

I hoped that Melania would be around in the lobby as we left the theater to ask us how we liked the film. But I was disappointed. Melania had left the building.

After a tumultuous month of continued national immigration raids and the ICE shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, nationwide protests are set to occur today amid calls for a general strike. Small businesses across the L.A. area announced Friday closures in observation of the strike, while others who voiced support said the decision to close is impossible — especially for independent restaurants, which suffered an outsized string of hardships through 2025, causing a growing number of permanent closures.

Many operators who say they are unable to close are donating a portion or all profits from Friday’s business to immigrant rights causes. Some say they’ve left the decision up to their staff, who rely on the day’s wages. One restaurateur, who requested anonymity for fear of ICE retaliation, said their employees’ earnings regularly pay for undocumented staff’s private transportation to and from work, and they cannot afford to close for even a single night.

Some of L.A.’s restaurants, bars and cafes closed in observance of the strike and protests include Proof Bakery, Wilde’s, South LA Cafe, Lasita, Bar Flores, Canyon Coffee, Chainsaw, Yellow Paper Burger, Kitchen Mouse, Bacetti and Civil Coffee.

Guelaguetza‘s co-owner and Independent Hospitality Coalition member Bricia Lopez took to social media Thursday afternoon to provide tips for fellow restaurateurs who can’t afford to close their businesses today. They included donating to immigrant rights organizations or spotlighting specific fundraising dishes, as many across the county now are.

Some local restaurants are opting to remain open but are donating the day or the weekend’s proceeds to nonprofits and legal funds, or they’re temporarily flipping their dining rooms to centers for community action such as making protests signs.

Guelaguetza is offering free horchata and cafe de olla for protesters or those who can provide proof of donations to immigrant communities through 3 p.m. In Glassell Park, a pop-up tonight will raise funds for street vendors currently avoiding work for fear of ICE. Taiwanese chef Vivian Ku is fundraising at her downtown and Highland Park restaurants, while she closes Silver Lake’s Pine & Crane to the public in order to use it as a staging ground for aid groups today.

“For a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, etc., they’re just a few bad days from being upside down for the month, and a few bad months from having no business at all,” an owner of Highland Park’s Santa Canela posted to Instagram on Thursday. “We understand the weight and power of collective action, but plain and simple: We didn’t feel comfortable making financial decisions on behalf of our entire team as to whether or not they could afford to lose another shift at the end of the month at a time when cost of living has never been higher.”

Home-style Chinese restaurant Woon, with locations in Historic Filipinotown and on the edge of Pasadena bordering Altadena, will remain open, too.

“I wish we had the luxury of closing our doors, but we will keep them open as we stand in solidarity with our community and neighbors,” chef-owner Keegan Fong posted to Instagram. “We’ve given our staff the option to take the day off while also allowing those who need the hours to continue to work.”

Even those who are closing today have stressed the importance of supporting local restaurants.

Historic Filipinotown bar Thunderbolt posted its decision to close on Friday morning, with a statement on Instagram that read, “This strike isn’t about small businesses, but they will bear the weight of it…For small business in the food and beverage industry, closing the doors on a Friday night — during an already brutal January — can be catastrophic.”

Here are some L.A.-area restaurants remaining open today but fundraising for immigrant rights.

The Los Angeles City Council has again increased what it will pay Gibson Dunn to represent it in a contentious homelessness case, bringing the law firm’s contract to nearly $7.5 million.

In mid-May, the council approved a three-year contract capped at $900,000. The law firm then billed the city $1.8 million for two weeks of legal work, with 15 of its attorneys charging nearly $1,300 per hour.

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday, the council voted 9-4 to approve an increase of about $1.8 million from the current $5.7 million, with Councilmembers John Lee, Tim McOsker, Imelda Padilla and Monica Rodriguez opposed. It was not clear why the additional money was needed.

Rodriguez said that spending resources on outside lawyers instead of complying with the settlement terms in the case is “simply a waste of public funds.”

“In the face of a mounting homelessness crisis, it’s misguided for the City to continue pouring our scarce resources into outside counsel instead of housing the most vulnerable Angelenos,” Rodriguez said in a statement.

The contract “has expanded significantly beyond its original scope,” Lee said in a statement, later adding, “I believe the Council has a duty to demand transparency and closely scrutinize costs.”

The L.A. city attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The city reached a settlement with the nonprofit LA Alliance in 2022, agreeing to create 12,915 homeless shelter beds or other housing opportunities, while also clearing thousands of encampments.

Since then, the LA Alliance has repeatedly accused the city of failing to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement.

Gibson Dunn was retained by the city a week before a federal judge called a seven-day hearing to determine whether he should take authority over the city’s homelessness programs from Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council. Alliance lawyers said during those proceedings that they wanted Bass and two council members to testify.

The judge later declined to put Los Angeles’ homelessness programs into receivership, even as he concluded that the city failed to adhere to the settlement.

Theane Evangelis, a Gibson Dunn attorney who led the firm’s LA Alliance team, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto has praised Gibson Dunn’s work in the LA Alliance case, saying the firm helped the city retain control over its homelessness programs while also keeping Bass and the two council members off the stand.

She commended the firm — which secured a landmark Supreme Court ruling that upheld laws prohibiting homeless people from camping in public spaces — for getting up to speed on the settlement, mastering a complex set of policy matters within a week.

Faced with lingering criticism from council members, Feldstein Soto agreed to help with the cost of the Gibson Dunn contract, committing $1 million from her office’s budget. The council has also tapped $4 million from the city’s “unappropriated balance,” an account for funds that have not yet been allocated.

On Thursday, Matthew D. Umhofer, an attorney who represents LA Alliance, called the Gibson Dunn contract increase “predictable.”

“It’s a taxpayer-funded debacle designed to help city officials avoid being held accountable for their failures on homelessness,” Umhofer said in a statement. “The amount will keep going up as long as the City is more interested in ending oversight than ending homelessness.”

For Ty Dolla Sign, the perfect Sunday begins in the sky, traveling back to Los Angeles from wherever his career has last taken him. The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist lives in constant motion — our interview had a few interruptions because he was getting ready to fly to Las Vegas, where he would be performing at a club later that night.

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 about to be at the airport in like 17 minutes,” he said, his signal cutting in and out. “Do you want me to hit you back?”

Born Tyrone Griffin Jr., Ty Dolla Sign is known for his gruff sandpaper vocals and memorable hooks. Last fall, he released his fourth studio album, “Tycoon,” with features from YG, ASAP Rocky, Chlöe, Lil Wayne and Leon Thomas and more. Then he kicked off 2026 by dropping a mash-up version of the record on the streaming platform Hotcue.fm.

Awards season has been just as active. Ty Dolla Sign is up for his seventh Grammy nomination, this time for melodic rap performance for his collaboration with JID. EZMNY (Easy Money), the record label that Ty Dolla Sign co-founded with A&R executive Shawn Barron in 2021, also earned 10 additional nominations through its roster, including six for Leon Thomas and four for Bizzy Crook.

“We’re the greatest squad,” the L.A. native said of his team. “We just want to keep being the greatest and doing the best we can to change music for the better and keep the standard high.”

The 2026 Grammy Awards will take place Sunday — the same day as his daughter’s 21st birthday, so naturally she’ll be joining him for the special occasion. He’ll also be doing a pre-show performance before the ceremony.

Just before his plane took off, Ty Dolla Sign shared what a perfect Sunday in L.A. would look like: hitting up his favorite smoothie bar, cooking up new music at his compound and enjoying a low-key Italian dinner.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

5 a.m.: Wake up on a plane

A perfect Sunday for me would start with landing on a plane early in L.A. Since I’ll already be up, I can handle my calls super early, which is convenient.

11 a.m.: Hit the weights with my PT

Then I’d go straight home and my trainer would get to my place around 11 a.m. or noon. We’d work out after that in my home gym. I’ve been working with my trainer since before Ty Dolla Sign. We’ve been training together on and off for about 15 to 20 years. I’m the type of guy to where it’s like, yeah, having a six pack is cool and all that, but eating great food is also one of my loves. If a girl wants to deal with me, she’s going to have to know certain times, I’m going to be the super workout fitness guy and sometimes, I want to eat for three years and I might get a little chunky. If you love me, you love me. If you don’t, get away. [laughs]

2 p.m.: Grab a healthy smoothie from Body Energy Club

Afterward, I’d shower up and if I have to do any more calls or answer emails, I’d handle that. Then I’d go to this spot called Body Energy Club, which has these fire a— smoothie and acai bowls. They have the most natural ingredients. The Green Goodness is great. It has avocado, spinach, banana and some other sweet stuff. It doesn’t taste nasty at all, but it’s super healthy. Then there’s the Blueberry Crumble that I love, which kind of tastes like French Toast Crunch with blueberries in it. It’s fire but also healthy. Then last but not least, I like the Turmeric Mango. That’s the one I get when I need to heal up and I’ve been wildin’. [laughs]

3 p.m.: Hit up the studio

After that, I would head over to my compound and probably just do some music. I might throw on a football game while I’m working.

10 p.m.: A low-key Italian dinner

Depending on when I leave the studio, I’d either order in or go out for dinner. There’s a few restaurants that I love. If we’re talking Italian, I’d go to Giorgio Baldi in the Palisades. If it was getting late, I’d go to Nice Guy. They also have Italian food. I’m only going to places that give me the private room and don’t try to “rap guy” me, meaning they don’t try to charge me extra high because they know I’m an artist.

At Giorgio Baldi, I like the ravioli that has corn in it, which is what they’re famous for. They have so many good things, so I order a whole bunch of things and then I just taste a little bit of each thing and that’s how I like it cause that’s how I eat. Everywhere I go, I like to order steak, fish and chicken and veggies just like how I cook at home. I don’t have to eat everything, but it’s better if I bring a lot of people so we can all share. That’s like when I’m on my diet s— and trying to stay slim. If it wasn’t then my favorite food is a burger. As for Nice Guy, they have this chicken Parmesan but I’m a weirdo, I eat the chicken Parmesan without the Parmesan. I found one other person who’s like me and it’s YG because we’re both on some “No cheese.” It was funny to find out that he was the same way. After that, I would call it a night.

Los Angeles County will halt some payments from its $4-billion sex abuse settlement, leaving many plaintiffs on edge as prosecutors ramp up an investigation into allegations of fraud.

L.A. County agreed last spring to the record payout to settle a flood of lawsuits from people who said they’d been sexually abused by staff in government-run foster homes and juvenile camps. Many attorneys had told their clients they could expect the first tranche of money to start flowing this month.

But the county’s acting chief executive officer, Joseph M. Nicchitta, said Thursday that the county would “pause all payments” for unvetted claims after a request by Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman. These are claims that have been flagged as requiring a “higher level of scrutiny,” according to a joint report submitted Thursday by attorneys in the settlement.

The district attorney announced he would investigate the historic settlement after reporting by The Times that found some plaintiffs who said they were paid to sue. Investigators have found “a significant number of cases where we believe there is potential fraud,” according to a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office. The State Bar is spearheading a separate inquiry into fraud allegations.

On Jan. 9, Hochman formally requested the county pause the distribution of funds for at least six months, which he said would give his office “a reasonable opportunity to complete critical investigative steps.”

“Premature disbursement of settlement funds poses a substantial risk of interfering with the investigation by complicating witness cooperation, obscuring financial trails, and impairing my office’s ability to identify and prosecute fraudulent activity,” Hochman wrote in a letter to Andy Baum, the county’s main outside attorney working on the settlement.

Plaintiff lawyers argued the county was required to turn over money by the end of the month.

The county said it came to an agreement Thursday and plans to turn over $400 million on Friday, which would “cover claims that have already been validated,” according to a statement from Nicchitta. That money will go into a fund where it will be distributed when judges are finished vetting and deciding how much each claim is worth.

“No plaintiff was getting paid until the allocation process is completed,” said the county’s top lawyer, Dawyn Harrison. “The County is not overseeing that intensive process.”

The rest of the payments, Nicchitta said, will be on hold until the claims can “be appropriately investigated.”

“The County takes extremely seriously its obligations to provide just compensation to survivors. Preventing fraud is central to that commitment,” he said. “Fraudulent claims of sexual assault harm survivors by diluting compensation for survivors and casting public doubt over settlements as a whole.”

The uncertainty has sparked a sense of despair among those who spent the last few years wading through the darkest memories of their lives in hopes of a life-changing sum.

Andrea Proctor, 45, said the last few years have been like “digging into a scar that was healed.”

“The whole lawsuit just blew air out of me,” said Proctor, who sued in 2022 over alleged abuse at MacLaren Children’s Center, an El Monte shelter where she says she was drugged and sexually abused by staff as a teenager. “I’m just sitting out here empty.”

Proctor said she desperately needs the money to stabilize her life, the first part of which was spent careening from one crisis to the next — an instability she traces partially to the abuse she suffered as a minor.

Since a 2020 law change that extended the statute of limitations to sue over childhood sexual abuse, thousands have come forward with claims of abuse in county-run facilities dating back decades. The county resolved claims it faced last year through two massive payouts — the first settlement for $4 billion, which includes roughly 11,000 plaintiffs, and a second one last October worth $828 million, which includes about 400 victims.

Now, according to court filings made public Tuesday, the county faces an additional 5,500 claims of the same nature, leaving the prospect of a third hefty payout looming on the horizon.

“They’re telling me the ship has sailed,” said Martin Gould, a partner with Gould Grieco & Hensley, who said he wants this next flood of litigation to focus on pushing for arrests of predatory staff members still on the county’s payroll. “I don’t believe that.”

Gould says his firm, based in Chicago, represents about 70 victims in the new litigation. James Harris Law Firm, a small Seattle-based firm that specializes in big personal injury cases, has about 3,000. The Right Trial Lawyers, a firm that lists a Texas office as its headquarters, has about 700, according to an attorney affiliated with the firm.

These lawyers will be pleading their cases in front of a public — and a Board of Supervisors — at a moment when the conversation has shifted from a reckoning over systemic sexual abuse inside county facilities to concerns about the use of taxpayer money.

A series of Times investigations last fall found nine clients represented by Downtown LA Law Group, or DTLA, who said they were paid by recruiters to sue. Four said they were told to make up their claims.

All the lawsuits filed by the firm, which represents roughly a quarter of the plaintiffs in the $4-billion settlement, are now under review by Daniel Buckley, a former presiding judge of the county’s Superior Court.

DTLA has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said in a previous statement that it “categorically does not engage in, nor has it ever condoned, the exchange of money for client retention.”

Several DTLA clients said they were unaware of the probes by the State Bar and the district attorney, though they were told this month to expect delays in payments due, in part, to “a higher-than-expected false claim potential.”

The delays have caused extra anguish for some plaintiffs who have taken out loans against their settlement.

Proctor took out loans worth $15,000 from High Rise Financial, an L.A.-based legal funding company, which collects a larger portion of her payout with each passing year. She now owes more than $34,000, according to loan statements.

Proctor said High Rise Financial recently inquired about buying her out of the settlement payment, which the county is expected to pay out over five years. The loan company told her she could get a percentage of her settlement up front in a lump sum, with the company pocketing the rest as profit. For example, she said, she was told if she received a $300,000 payout, she could get $205,000 up front.

“Conversations were held with consumers to assess their interest in a potential financial arrangement related to a possible settlement,” High Rise said in a statement. “No agreements were sent, nor were any transactions entered into.”

Proctor’s friend Krista Hubbard, who also sued over abuse at MacLaren Children’s Center, borrowed $20,000 to help her through a period of homelessness. She now owes nearly $43,000. She said she, too, got the same offer this month from High Rise of getting bought out of her settlement.

Hubbard, who is crashing at the home of her godfather in Arkansas, said she’s considering it.

“How much longer is it going to take?” she said. “Am I going to be able to not be homeless?”

The $828-million settlement, which includes just three law firms, is running into its own roadblock with lawyers belatedly learning that roughly 30 of their clients were also set to receive money from the $4-billion settlement despite rules barring plaintiffs from receiving money from both.

The overlap has led to a dispute over which pot of money should cover payments to those plaintiffs. Those in the $828-million settlement, which has a much smaller pool of plaintiffs, are expected to get much more.

“It reeks,” said Courtney Thom, an attorney with Manly Stewart & Finaldi, who said she believed the county should have flagged long ago that there were identical clients in both settlements.

“It is not for me to fact-check for the county,” she told Judge Lawrence Riff at a court hearing Wednesday. “It is not for me to cross-reference names.”

Some of these plaintiffs had two different sexual abuse claims against the county — for example, one lawsuit alleged abuse in foster care while a second involved juvenile halls. Other clients had identical claims in both groups and mistakenly believed the two firms that represented them were compiling the information into one claim, Thom said.

Baum, the outside attorney defending the county, told Riff he wanted to ensure the clients didn’t “have their hands in two cookie jars.”

At a recent training session for 300 immigration activists in Los Angeles, the main topic was Minnesota and the changes to federal immigration tactics.

For the last few months, federal law enforcement officers have intensified their efforts to locate and deport immigrants suspected of living in the country illegally. They have used children as bait, gone door-to-door and at times forcibly stormed into people’s homes without judicial warrants.

But it was the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens protesting immigration raids in Minnesota, that sparked a growing backlash of the federal government’s aggressive actions and caused activists to reconsider their own approach when monitoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“One quick note about de-escalation,” Joseline Garcia, the community defense director for City Council District 1, told a crowd at St. Paul’s Commons in Echo Park. “What we would do when it came to de-escalation is we’d tell people their rights, try to get their information and try to reason with the ICE agents and pressure them to leave.”

“Things have changed a ton in the past two months, so that’s not something we’re willing to put you all at risk to do,” she added. “There is risk here and we are always encouraging people to stay safe and please constantly be assessing the risks.”

The immigration crackdown began in Los Angeles last summer but has continued in the region even after the national focus shifted to Chicago and now Minneapolis. The last month has seen a new series of arrests and actions that have left local communities on edge.

While the scope of the sweeps and the number of arrests in Los Angeles appear to be down overall compared with last summer, daily immigration operations are being documented across the city, from street corners in Boyle Heights to downtown L.A.’s Fashion District.

Federal agents carry less-lethal projectile weapons in Los Angeles in June.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment. In a previous statement the department said Border Patrol agents were continuing to operate in the city to “arrest and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

Earlier this month, renewed fears spread among shoppers in the Fashion District after federal agents conducted an immigration sweep that shut down local commerce to check vendors’ proof of citizenship. Days later a federal agent opened fire at a suspect, who the Department of Homeland Security said rammed agents with his vehicle while attempting to evade arrest, during a targeted operation in South Los Angeles.

Local immigration activists say they have noticed a change in immigration agents’ tactics. The change has forced activists to also adjust their tactics.

“What we’re seeing now are large numbers of officers to grab anywhere from one to five people, not necessarily questioning them, and then moving out as quickly as possible,” said Juan Pablo Orjuela-Parra, a labor justice organizer with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Maribel C., associate director of Órale, a Long Beach-based immigrant advocacy group that was established in 2006, said rapid response volunteers in Long Beach have reported similar tactics by immigration agents.

“In as fast as 30 seconds” a target can be “literally taken off the streets” by federal agents, leaving no time for a rapid response volunteer to relay “know your rights” information or get the detainee’s name, said Maribel, who is not providing her full name to protect her safety.

Immigrant rights advocates say one thing that has not changed is federal officials continue to detain immigrants with no criminal history.

On Jan. 20, exactly one year into the Trump administration’s second term, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said about 70% of people whom the agency has arrested have been convicted or charged with a crime in the United States.

In the first nine months of the administration’s immigration crackdown, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 15, a Times analysis of nationwide ICE arrests found that percentage to be about the same.

In Los Angeles, the same analyses found that of the more than 10,000 Los Angeles residents who were arrested in immigration operations, about 45% were charged with a criminal conviction and an additional 14% had pending charges.

Between June and October of last year, the number of arrests has fluctuated significantly.

The arrests peaked in June with 2,500 people who were apprehended — including those who have pending criminal charges or were charged with immigration violations — but the following month the number fell to slightly more than 2,000. After further drops, a small spike in arrests occurred in September, with more than 1,000 arrested and then dramatically dropped in October with fewer than 500 arrests.

Officials have not released detailed data since then.

“I think what’s happened in Minnesota is terrifying for everyone in the country because those tactics that are being implemented in Minnesota are going to be the same tactics that are going to be implemented elsewhere,” Maribel said.

After a second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal officers, the Trump administration is moving to scale back its presence in Minneapolis and in the process bumping Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino out of the state, with border advisor Tom Homan taking his place.

Bovino led and participated in highly visible immigration operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and Minneapolis, sparking outrage and mass demonstrations.

At the training event in Echo Park, organizers said the recent events in Minnesota are jarring and forcing them to reconsider the safety of activists who protest or document immigration raids. Those activities will continue, they said, but with a focus on safety.

“Over the past two weeks, we saw that they’re escalating to the point of killing people that are exercising their rights,” Garcia said.

I didn’t mean to ruin anyone’s new year cheer, but I also didn’t expect so many people around me to be on news cleanses in 2026.

I was visiting a friend in a mental health facility in early January when he told me news I didn’t believe: that the U.S. had captured the Venezuelan president. I asked him how he knew. A staffer had told him. I did not believe him. Sounds like AI-generated misinformation, I thought to myself.

After leaving, I called my friend, Patrick, who listens to so many podcasts, I’ve wondered if he plays them as he sleeps just to stay informed. “Can you believe the news?” I said without saying hello. He didn’t know what I was talking about.

“I’ve been taking a news cleanse with the new year,” he said. “What’s going on?”

I proceeded to tell three more people about the raid on Nicolás Maduro’s compound, including a friend on a camping trip who was probably much happier before she read my text.

And that was just Day 3 of 2026. Over the past month, Americans have faced overwhelming, heartbreaking and frightening news. I cannot be the only one who sometimes closes my eyes when I open a news app, doing a quick countdown before I read the headlines.

It’s even more important in these challenging times to take moments in the day for quiet reflection. Meditation, which can include prayer, has a tremendous number of health benefits, including lowering stress and anxiety and helping us be less reactive or quick to anger.

Below you’ll find three hikes with places along their paths where you can easily sit or lie down. If meditation isn’t your thing, consider practicing mindfulness. You could take a moment to play what I call the “color game,” where you try to spot something from each color of the rainbow (including indigo and violet, if you’re feeling lucky). I’m always amazed at how much color I can spot even just on a walk in my neighborhood.

I hope you find a moment, at least, of peace as you explore these trails.

The Verdugo and San Gabriel mountains, as seen from a trail to 5-Points in Griffith Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. 5-Points/Beacon Hill Loop (Griffith Park Explorer Segment 11)

Distance: 6 miles
Elevation gained: About 1,200 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Los Angeles River Bike Path from North Atwater Park

The 5-Points/Beacon Hill Loop is a six-mile excursion through the southeast corner of Griffith Park that offers epic views of L.A. and its neighboring cities.

To start your hike, you’ll park near the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round and head south to the trailhead. You’ll take the Lower Beacon Trail east and head uphill and soon be able to spot the L.A. River and the cable-stayed, 325-foot North Atwater Bridge.

You will follow the trail as it curves and runs parallel to Griffith Park Road before meeting up with the Coolidge Trail just over a mile in. The Coolidge Trail will take you west and then north toward 5-Points at 2.3 miles into your hike. (Note: The Griffith Park Explorer version of this route includes short in-and-back jaunts that I’m not including here, so my mile markers will be different.)

The 5-Points trail is aptly named, as it’s a location where five trails converge. I’d recommend taking the 1/5-of-a-mile Upper Beacon Trail, which takes you northeast up to Beacon Hill. It’s briefly steep but is worth it for the great views of downtown L.A. and the surrounding area. And it is a great spot for you to take a moment for meditation or mindfulness.

From Beacon Hill, you can head back to 5-Points and continue southwest to the Vista Viewpoint, a lookout point that’s usually more crowded but still stunning. Or take the Fern Canyon Trail to loop back to where you parked. Or both!

As an extra treat: This weekend is the full moon. On Sunday, you can take this hike to 5-Points, a great spot to watch the moon rise. I once crested a hill at 5-Points only to witness the Strawberry Moon, June’s full moon, rise over the Elysian Valley. My friends and I cheered over our luck.

The moon is expected to rise at 5:24 p.m. Sunday. I hope you catch it from this epic lookout spot. (And yes, it’s another place to pause in quiet reflection, taking in the beauty of our Earth.)

The Musch Trail, or Backbone Trail, takes hikers through lush meadows.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. Backbone Trail to Musch Trail Camp

Distance: 2 miles out and back (with option to extend)
Elevation gained: About 200 feet
Difficulty: Easier end of moderate
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: Sycamore Canyon Road

This two-mile, out-and-back jaunt through Topanga State Park takes you through lush meadows and chaparral where you’ll likely spot wildflowers and wildlife.

To begin your hike, you’ll park at Trippet Ranch and pay to park before heading out. The Musch Trail is in the northeast corner of the lot. You’ll take the paved path just 1/10 of a mile before turning on the dirt path, the Backbone Trail.

The Musch Trail Camp in the Santa Monica Mountains.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

The ranch was originally called Rancho Las Lomas Celestiales by its owner Cora Larimore Trippet, which translates to “Ranch of Heavenly Hills.” You’ll find, as you hike through those hills covered in oak trees, black sage, ceanothus and more, that the name still rings true today.

A mile in, you’ll arrive at Musch Trail Camp, a small campground with picnic tables and log benches. As you pause, listen to the songs of the birds. California quail, Anna’s hummingbird and yellow-rumped warbler are commonly spotted. Stay quiet enough, and you might just spot a mule deer, desert cottontail or gray fox.

From the trail camp, you can either turn around or continue northeast to Eagle Rock, which will provide panoramic views of the park. From Eagle Rock, many hikers take Eagle Springs Fire Road to turn this trek into a loop. Regardless of which path you take, please make sure to download a map beforehand.

Boulders at Mt. Hillyer in the San Gabriel Mountains.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. Mt. Hillyer via Silver Moccasin Trail

Distance: 5.8-mile lollipop loop
Elevation gained: About 1,100 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Paved paths through Chilao Campground

This six-mile jaunt along the Silver Moccasin Trail, which is just over 50 miles when fully open, takes you through high desert and pine trees.

Shaped like a lollipop, the trailhead sits about half a mile northwest of the Chilao Visitor Center, which is typically open on the weekend. You will head north for a mile before turning left off the Silver Moccasin Trail.

You will follow Horse Flats Road to Rosenita Saddle, where you’ll take the trail southwest to Mt. Hillyer.

Keep an eye out for Jeffrey pines, which will have deeply furrowed bark and round prickly cones. Their bark smells like butterscotch or vanilla, which I always love pausing to sniff.

A hiker takes the path to Mount Hillyer in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

The trail also features Coulter pines that produce massive cones nicknamed widowmakers because of their size. The Coulter pine cones can weigh up to 11 pounds. If you’re in the area when it’s windy, please watch your head.

To reach Mt. Hillyer, you’ll follow a short spur trail about half a mile southwest from the Rosenita Saddle. Mt. Hillyer features several large boulders, perfect for stopping to meditate. It’ll also offer you sweeping views of the San Gabriel Mountains.

You can make the trail a loop by continuing south until it jags back east, meeting back up the paved road you previously took.

Outside of rock climbers, this trail isn’t terribly popular, so you’ll likely have opportunities along the way to pause.

Deep breaths. We’ll get through this together!

3 things to do

Participants prepare for the Griffith Park Run during a previous year’s event.

(Los Angeles Parks Foundation)

1. Hit the hills in L.A.
There’s still time to register for the Griffith Park Run, a half marathon and 5K through L.A.’s iconic park on Sunday. Participants will start the half marathon at 7:30 a.m. and the 5K at 10 a.m. This is the first year dogs are allowed to run alongside their owners in the 5K. Proceeds benefit the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Register by 11:59 p.m. Saturday at rungpr.com.

2. Learn to ride a bike in El Monte
ActiveSGV, a climate justice nonprofit in San Gabriel Valley, will host a free class from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday about how to ride a bicycle. Students will be taught about balancing atop a bike, along with tips on starting, stopping and controlling the bike. The class is open to all ages, including adults. Preregistration is required. Register at eventbrite.com.

3. Welcome the upcoming full moon near Chinatown
Clockshop, an arts and culture nonprofit, will host “Listening by Moonrise,” from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Los Angeles State Historic Park. A seasonal series held around the eve of a full moon, the event will feature performances and immersive sound experiences. Learn more at clockshop.org.

The must-read

Last summer, nature enthusiasts hiked a steep trail to see California poppies growing near the community of Elizabeth Lake.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Outside of Friday’s lottery numbers, few things draw more speculation than whether Southern California will experience a superbloom. Recent hot weather in January threatened our chances, Times plant queen Jeanette Marantos wrote, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Wildflower expert Naomi Fraga told Marantos that more rain and lower temps would help, but even still, superblooms remain tricky to predict. That said, there will undoubtedly be flowers this spring! “We had lots of rain, so no matter what, I’m excited for the spring, because it’s a great time to enjoy the outdoors and see an incredible display by nature,” Fraga said.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Officials at Angeles National Forest are seeking public feedback on what, if any, changes they should make in how they manage the Mt. Baldy area of the forest. In light of recent deaths and rescues in the area, there has been increased pressure from local officials to implement a permitting process to hike in the area. You have until Feb. 28 to submit comments.

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.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve a law aimed at boosting transparency at the Charter Reform Commission, by requiring that members of that panel disclose any private talks they have with the city’s elected officials.

The vote comes about two months before the commission, which began its work in July, is scheduled to finish its deliberations and deliver a list of recommendations to the council.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who proposed the ordinance, said she has been trying since August to pass a measure requiring the disclosure of such private conversations, known as “ex parte” communications. That effort was greeted with “nearly six months of stonewalling,” she said.

“While this is an important victory for oversight and transparency, government accountability shouldn’t be this hard to secure,” she said.

The ordinance, which also applies to communications between commissioners and elected officials’ staff, is expected to go into effect in about a month. Meanwhile, the 13-member Charter Reform Commission approved its own policy a week ago requiring the disclosure of private conversations between its members and city elected officials.

Some government watchdogs say the disclosures are needed to prevent council members and other city elected officials from seeking to dictate the details of the recommendations that are ultimately issued by the commission. The volunteer citizens panel is currently looking at such ideas as increasing the size of the council and potentially changing the duties of citywide elected officials.

“If the public is going to trust the outcomes of our charter reform process, it has to be transparent and credible,” Commissioner Carla Fuentes, who pushed for the new disclosure policy at its Jan. 21 meeting.

The commission has not yet voted on a proposal to also require disclosure of communications with elected officials’ staff.

It is also looking at the idea of adopting ranked choice voting, where voters list all of the candidates in order of preference, and switching the city to a multi-year budget process.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield raised warnings about the council’s vote on Tuesday, saying charter reform is substantively different from the 2021 redistricting process. Council members should be engaging in conversations with its volunteer commissioners, to help them better understand how the city is run, Blumenfield said.

Those communications will ensure the commissioners make an informed decision what to recommend for the ballot later this year.

“I don’t want this message to be that it’s somehow bad for council members and mayor and elected officials to be engaging in this process,” he said. “To the contrary, I think we need to double down our engagement. We need to speak to those commissioners. They need to learn a lot more about how this city really works for this thing to be effective.”

The commission is scheduled to take up the motion to disclose staffer conversations at its next meeting on Feb. 7.

Rob Quan, an organizer with the group Unrig LA, said he doesn’t want to see a repeat of 2021, when members of the citizens commission on redistricting were regularly contacted by council members’ aides. Those ex parte communications were not disclosed, he said.

“If it didn’t apply to staff, we would simply be reinforcing the power of the staff, which have from day one been the most problematic aspect of this commission,” said Quan, whose group focuses on government oversight.

He and a group of other transparency activists have proposed a total ban on ex parte communication, which hasn’t been considered by the current commission.

President Donald Trump has announced an executive order to allow victims of the Los Angeles wildfires to rebuild without dealing with “unnecessary, dupicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements.

The order, which is likely to be challenged by the city and state, claimed that local governments have failed to adequately process permits and were slowing down residents who are desperate to rebuild in the Palisades and Altadena.

“American families and small businesses affected by the wildfires have been forced to continue living in a nightmare of delay, uncertainty, and bureaucratic malaise as they remain displaced from their homes, often without a source of income, while state and local governments delay or prevent reconstruction by approving only a fraction of the permits needed to rebuild,” Trump wrote in the executive order, which he signed Friday.

The order called on the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “preempt” state and local permitting authorities.

Instead of going through the usual approval process, residents using federal emergency funds to rebuild would need to self-certify to federal authorities that they have complied with local health and safety standards.

The order comes as the city and county approach 3,000 permits issued for rebuilding. A December review by The Times found that the permitting process in Altadena and Pacific Palisades was moving at a moderate rate compared to other major fires in California. As of Dec. 14, the county had issued rebuilding permits for about 16% of the homes destroyed in the Eaton fire and the city had issued just under 14% for those destroyed in the Palisades fire.

While Mayor Karen Bass did not immediately provide comment, the executive order drew intense pushback from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

A spokesperson for Newsom, Tara Gallegos, called Trump a “clueless idiot” for believing the federal government could issue local rebuilding permits.

“With 1625+ home permits issued, hundreds of homes under construction, and permitting timelines at least 2x faster than before the fires, an executive order to rebuild Mars would do just as useful,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a post on X, citing the number of permits issued solely by the city of Los Angeles.

Newsom said that the federal government needed to release funding, not take over control of the permitting process. The governor said that what communities really lack is money, not permits.

“Please actually help us. We are begging you,” Newsom wrote.

Instead of descending into the permitting process, Newsom called on the president to send a recovery package to congress to help families rebuild, citing a letter from a bipartisan delegation of California legislators that called for federal funding.

“As the recovery process continues, additional federal support is needed, and our entire delegation looks forward to working cooperatively with your administration to ensure the communities of Southern California receive their fair share of federal disaster assistance,” wrote the California legislators on Jan 7.

Some in the Palisades agreed that money was a bigger issue than permitting.

“When I talk to people it seems to have more to do with their insurance payout or whether they have enough money to complete construction,” said Maryam Zar, a Palisades resident who runs the Palisades Recovery Coalition.

Zar called the executive order “interesting” and said that it was fair of the president to call the recovery pace slow and unacceptable.

After last year’s fires, cars were often all that remained on the lots of homes reduced to rubble. Some sat remarkably untouched, but most were damaged beyond repair — crushed by falling beams, burned to a shell, and covered in toxic dust. The steely husks stood sentinel over unfathomable loss for weeks or months until they were towed away and sold as scrap.

More than 6,000 cars were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades alone. Some were used for daily commutes and left in garages as families fled; others were trucks and vans packed with landscaping gear or tools.

Then there were the showpieces: steel-and-glass representations of an owner’s love for the open road and classic automotive design. It was these vehicles that captured the imagination of Ben Tuna, a self-described car guy and stained glass artist, who saw a way to create something beautiful from the rubble.

Pieces of salvaged glass and other tools litter the work table of artist Ben Tuna as he works to create sculptures using vintage Porches that were burned in the L.A. fires.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Beginning in March 2025, Tuna snagged five burned-out Porsches from the L.A. fires, and began turning the shells into cathedral-like creations using salvaged stained glass from old churches.

Armed with a soldering iron and good intentions, Tuna paid tribute to what the fires took.

Tuna said that he was moved by posts on Instagram of cars getting taken away on trailers, and by reading about the loss in news stories. He couldn’t stop thinking about what the collectors were experiencing.

“It was all so sad to imagine losing something that you might have worked 30, 40, 50 years to collect,” Tuna said. “And it kind of broke my heart. A lot of those cars were history. They’re not making new ones.”

Tuna made connections through social media to obtain the Porsche shells, with four coming from a single collector’s garage in the Palisades. As a fan of classic automotive design, Tuna calls the Porsches “icons of design” and “the most recognizable cars in the world,” despite what they looked like after the fires. He wishes he could have collected many more.

“I probably could have gotten 300, but I just didn’t have the space and couldn’t act fast enough,” he said, adding that he also acquired two additional Porches that were not burned in the city’s fires.

One of five vintage Porches burned in the L.A. fires that Ben Tuna reimagined as works of art using salvaged stained glass.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Tuna’s first post-fire project was a 1965 Porsche 356 that he turned into a 700-pound piece of movable sculpture. The artwork took him and two helpers several months to complete at his workshop on the east side of L.A. They wore respirators while they worked to avoid dangerous ash and chemicals, and began by stripping the car down to bare metal.

Next came the meticulous glass work. Tuna used pieces of glass from what he estimates are about 15 different salvaged stained glass windows from decommissioned churches. He thinks they were likely all created in different countries, eras and studios. Much of the illustrated glass in the car was hand-painted in Germany in the late 1800s, a look he grew to love as a kid after hearing how much his father — also a stained glass artist — adored it.

Tuna says he’s not trying to tell a story with the windows. Instead, he’s assembling them by feel: matching pieces of cut glass by size and color on top of a dark table before using lead to solder them together in a perfect arch for the car’s back window. Tuna says he never knows what a window is going to look like before the end, when he lights it up — but by merging the glass and the car he’s aiming to honor the design legacies of both.

Stained glass windows salvaged from churches are key to artist Ben Tuna’s practice. “All these windows were beautiful back in the day but have been forgotten,” he said.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“All these windows were beautiful back in the day but have been forgotten,” he said.

Though Tuna’s cars are still works in progress, his goal is to eventually display all seven as part of a gallery show. In the meantime, he’s hosting visitors who want to see the work so far — including the owner of the four cars salvaged from the Palisades, who cried.

Tuna says everyone who has come to see the art has left feeling a bit more reverent.

Artist Ben Tuna stands with a piece of art he made from a vintage Porsche that was burned in the L.A. fires. “Because these cars are so big, when you’re standing around them, you really see what fire can do,” he says.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“Because these cars are so big, when you’re standing around them, you really see what fire can do,” he said. “You can really study it, and you start to think about loss and how hot the fire must have burned and what shape the buildings around the cars must have been in afterwards.”

Each car is an altar of remembrance to the fires, Tuna said, but they’re also a reminder.

”Even when you lose everything, there’s still beauty that can come from that loss,” he said. “You can take all that devastation and still make something good.”

I would love to take my girlfriend out on a romantic date in L.A. There is no special occasion but instead “just because.” She loves movies, food and new experiences. She is very adventurous. She’s a horror fan but also a hopeless romantic. I want to give her a date she will never forget.— Daisy Vargas

Looking for things to do in L.A.? Ask us your questions and our expert guides will share highly specific recommendations.

Here’s what we suggest:

Daisy, this is so sweet. It sounds like you love your girlfriend a lot. Lucky for you, there are several places around L.A. where you can give her an unforgettable experience.

Since she’s into horror films, she’d probably love Horror Row, the stretch of Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank that is densely populated with spooky, spine crawling horror-themed shops and attractions you can enjoy year round. You’ll find the terror-themed coffee shop Horror Vibes Coffee, a convenience store known as the Horror Boodega, a year-round Halloween store called Halloween Town and the Mystic Museum, which Times contributor Jess Joho calls “a perfect date spot for oddity-inclined couples” in a guide about nightmare inducing spots in L.A. The museum sells occult essentials, cursed antiques and movie merchandise. In the back of the shop, there’s an interactive maze that changes seasonally.

For movie screenings, check out the VHS (Variety Horror Screenings) Society, which hosts monthly events. The next screening, happening on Feb. 22 at Benny Boy Brewing, will be a double feature of horror romance films, “Warm Bodies” and “Lisa Frankenstein.” (Goth fashion and ‘80s-themed outfits are encouraged.) After the event, if you’re hungry, Times food writer Stephanie Breijo suggests the nearby Macheen, which sells “amazing tacos” and was featured in our 101 best restaurants list or OG taco shop Guisados.

Brain Dead Studios in the Fairfax District also hosts film screenings throughout the month, and don’t sleep on the concession stand, Breijo tells me. It’s stocked with “some of the best snacks in all of L.A.” including Burritos La Palma and La Morra Pizzeria, she says. The independent theater and retail shop is also down the street from “all the hits on Fairfax” including the new location of Genghis Cohen, Lucia, Canter’s and Badmaash,” she adds.

Chances are that at least a few of your girlfriend’s favorite movies were filmed in L.A. so here’s a date idea you can steal from my colleague Jaclyn Cosgrove. For Valentine’s Day in 2020, they took their wife to different locations around the city where scenes from films she loves were shot. “I had the shots on my phone,” Cosgrove tells me. “It was both movie-focused and romantic, and a nice adventure before the shutdown.” You can also check out this list of 12 iconic L.A. film and TV horror homes to add to your tour.

For a thrill-inducing date, consider taking your girlfriend to a rock climbing gym. In this guide, Dakota Kim writes about seven gyms, including Sender One, which has three locations around the city, all of which “make indoor climbing feel luxurious.” Or if soaring across the sky is more your jam, go on a zip lining adventure. Cosgrove recently visited Highline Adventures near Solvang, which boasts the fastest and longest zip line in the state. The third zip line on the course, which is about 2,650 feet long, can reach up to 60 mph. Make it a weekend trip.

Times entertainment and features editor Brittany Levine Beckman suggests the Santa Monica Trapeze School, which is where her husband/then boyfriend took her on a birthday date years ago. “We had a good time and it was adventurous,” she tells me. Afterward, you can take a walk along the Santa Monica Pier or the beach, then grab what food columnist and critic Jenn Harris calls “the best grilled cheese in the universe” at Pasjoli.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, so I hope these recommendations help you plan the perfect, memorable date for you and your girlfriend. The beautiful thing about love is that anything can feel romantic when you’re with the right person, so I’m sure whatever you end up doing will be amazing. Sending love. <3 <3 <3