los angeles times

What began as banter between fans during a contentious playoff game took a darker turn when a woman threatened to call ICE on a Southern California man during Tuesday’s National League Championship game between the Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers.

The exchange began when Dodgers fan Ricardo Fosado trash-talked nearby Brewers fans moments after third baseman Max Muncy clobbered a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning to give visiting Los Angeles a 3-1 lead.

Fosado repeatedly asked, “Why is everybody quiet?” to distraught Milwaukee fans in a social media clip that has since gone viral.

One fan, identified by Milwaukee media as an attorney named Shannon Kobylarczyk, responded by threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Fosado.

“You know what?” she asked a nearby fan. “Let’s call ICE.”

Fosado, a former Bellflower City Council candidate, told Kobylarczyk to “call ICE.”

“ICE is not going to do anything to me,” said Fosado, who noted he was a war veteran and a U.S. citizen. “Good luck.”

On the video, the woman then uses a derogatory term to question Fosado’s masculinity, remarking, “real men drink beer.” Fosado was instead enjoying a fruity alcoholic beverage.

Fosado then told Kobylarczyk one last time to call ICE before calling her an idiot, punctuating the remark with an expletive.

An email to Fosado was not immediately returned Thursday.

Fosado told Milwaukee television station WISN 12 News that the incident “just shows the level where a person’s heart is and how she really feels as a human being.”

The station also confirmed that Kobylarczyk’s employment with the Milwaukee-based staffing firm Manpower had ended.

Kobylarczyk also reportedly stepped down from the board of Wisconsin’s Make-a-Wish chapter.

Fosado did not escape unscathed, however. He said he and a friend were ejected from the game shortly after the exchange.

The Dodgers ended up winning the game 5-1 and led the best-of-seven series, 2-0. The series now shifts to Dodger Stadium, with the first pitch of Game 3 is scheduled for 3:08 p.m. Thursday.

Among my many memories of hiking around Southern California, I have a few that haunt me.

The time I got briefly lost around Mt. Waterman, where I’d been several times. When I ran out of water hiking Strawberry Peak on an unseasonably hot day. When I was dressed appropriately for a long day hike until I fell into the river and was uncomfortably cold for the rest of the day. When I thought I was on trail only to realize I was kind of stuck on a steep, unstable hillside.

Each time, I was underprepared. Each bad experience was preventable. That’s the lesson of today’s Wild.

I spoke to Dr. Rob Scanlon, author of the newly published “Surviving the Trail” (Falcon Guides), a guide book that lays out how we can prevent the most common hiking emergencies by slowing down and planning long before we hit the trail.

Scanlon said he sees his work as less of a “hiker safety” book and more of a “hiker empowerment” book.

“I’m hoping people will recognize that this is intrinsically a dangerous place to be,” said Scanlon, who is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonology, critical care and sleep medicine. “Being a little bit anticipatory, and certainly concentrating on the simple things you can control, will really lead to an almost near guarantee that you will not end up the subject of a news headline.”

I never want to write about any of you, dear Wilders, unless it’s to amplify the great work you’re doing in the outdoors. I do, however, want to help us all learn — through a thoughtful, not sensationalist, approach — how we can make the kinds of memories we enjoy reflecting on.

The subtitle to Scanlon’s book is “Five Essential Skills to Prepare Every Hiker for Adventure’s Most Common Perils.” Let’s dive into what those are.

On a hot day, it’s important to stay hydrated, including on hikes that lack shade, like this one in Griffith Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Dehydration 🥵

Long before 7-Eleven, Buc-ee’s and (as an Okie, I must mention) QuikTrip, humans had to actually plan for hydration. Today, if you’re out and about and you’re thirsty, there are generally “20 places you could stop within a rock-throwing distance where you could grab something to drink,” Scanlon said. “We’re more acting in real-time in our off-trail lives, not anticipatory like it used to be.”

This mindset can lead to a lack of planning around hydration. And it shows in the data, as Scanlon notes in his book. “Thousands of hikers” require rescue every year because of issues around dehydration, he wrote.

In his book, Scanlon outlines not only how to determine whether you’re dehydrated on the trail but also, arguably more important, how to plan out your fluid needs. The key factors for determining how much water you should pack are: how fast you’ll be hiking, the terrain you’re traversing, the temperatures you’ll encounter and how humid it’ll be.

Scanlon outlines this in a handy chart, which I used to determine I’m generally bringing enough water: about 32 ounces an hour, given I’m going about 2.5 mph, gaining between 1,200- and 2,000-feet elevation and hiking in moderate temperatures.

“I try to stress strategy. Stopping at the local gas station on the way to the trailhead and grabbing a 12- or 16-ounce bottle of [water] is not a strategy,” said Scanlon, who lives in Georgia. “The strategy begins before the hike.”

Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove and dog Bonnie enjoy a frolic in the snow near Buckhorn Campground last winter.

(Mish Bruton)

2. Perilous weather ☀️❄️

As we head into colder temperatures here in Southern California — we just got snow in our mountains! — it is crucial to layer appropriately, including with the right materials.

Any hiker has experienced the phenomenon of bundling up at the car and then needing to shed at least one layer at the start of the hike. Scanlon said as we move and generate heat, we need to either shed or open layers, aiming to maintain feeling a little on the cool side.

My favorite cool-weather layering approach is a merino wool base layer with a puffer vest on top. Sometimes I add gloves, but it really depends on the wind temperature. I often wear either fleece-lined hiking pants, especially if I will be around snow, or thick leggings. And I almost always have on these socks, which all my friends are tired of hearing about. In my pack, I carry extra socks and another base layer that I often change into at my destination. I also like to have my rain jacket (with pit vents!) in case it’s windy at the summit.

All of this is informed by one basic thing I do before hiking: I extensively check the weather, which is not always a straight-forward process.

“Most only look at the weather forecast before traveling, but it often changes as hike time approaches and may not apply to whether the hike will actually take place,” Scanlon wrote. “Forecasts often pertain to the conditions in the nearest city center or local airport and not necessarily those in the hiking areas and surrounding mountains.”

Scanlon outlines great resources to be better prepared for mountain conditions, including this website.

Mish, a friend of The Wild, crosses a stream via logs on the Trail Canyon Falls hike.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. Crossing rivers and creeks

Drowning is the most common cause of death in national parks, including misunderstanding how to safely swim in or cross a river. Even the experts struggle with that, which emphasizes just how challenging — and dangerous — it can really be.

Scanlon told me about a five-day backpacking trip he took to the majestic Banff National Park. There was a man-made bridge over every creek crossing, except for one. The trail directed Scanlon and his friends to cross a wide, swift, deep river, and despite scouting other options, they found there was no good spot to cross elsewhere.

At first, Scanlon felt safe, knowing how to cross a river, including facing upstream

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

, leaning into the oncoming water flow and shuffling slowly, moving through stable sidesteps.

But as he entered the outside curve, which he knew would be the fastest and deepest part, he was in water almost to his hips, “which is the no-go zone.”

“But I was almost there, and I got pretty close to getting toppled over, but I leaned into the oncoming water extra hard to counterbalance it and somehow got through,” he said. “Even when you do it right, you can still have issues, but I think the majority of times it’s not knowing the technique, not knowing where it’s best to cross and maybe the hubris factor.”

4. Falling from high places

People are increasingly getting too bold in high places, especially in the name of selfies and social media posts, Scanlon said.

The way to get ahead of this problem on your own journey is to decide yourself and within your group that you will not let the glory ahead of you influence your behavior.

I did similar on a recent trip to Taft Point, where multiple travelers have fallen to their deaths. I’d seen the gorgeous images of hikers sitting or posing on a rock that juts out dramatically over Yosemite Valley, and I’d told myself, “Maybe not.” Instead, my dear friend Patrick captured my image safely from a lookout point (which, per optical illusion, looks like I’m much closer to the edge than I am).

It can be hard to fight against this FOMO, but going beyond safety rails or going off-trail for better views or trying to impress our friends can all lead to deadly outcomes.

“There are certainly people who’ve fallen from unstable ground beneath them, and that you can’t necessarily prepare for,” Scanlon said. “But the majority of [accidents] are bad behaviors, like poorly executed selfies and [people] doing things they really shouldn’t. We should not be doing our first handstand ever on an 800-foot cliff.”

A trail sign at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area reminds guests of one of the most important tenants of hiking: Stay on the trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

5. Getting lost

This is arguably both the most important chapter (Skill 5: Land Navigation) of Scanlon’s book and the most important thing you can understand outside of hydrating appropriately.

Because, as Scanlon pointed out to me, understanding the factors around how we get lost “is extraordinarily important to nail down because getting lost is the gateway to the other perils.”

So, how do we not get lost?

In an estimated 40% of cases, a hiker got lost because they wondered off-trail, Scanlon wrote. This could be because they accidentally followed a spur or game trail, thinking it was the true trail. Another 17% of cases involve bad weather striking, and hikers moving off-trail to seek shelter.

Scanlon goes into extensive detail — just over 100 pages — about how to navigate in the wilderness, including how to use the different types of compasses, understanding the different parts of the compass and more.

One of his suggestions is easy enough to follow: “Before venturing out on any day hike or backpacking trip, study the map ahead of time and identify the nearest safety point,” whether that be a nearby road, railway, local airport or nearby town. Whatever you choose, it should hold the highest potential for seeing other people who can help and have the fewest visible obstacles on the map to arrive there.

“Navigating to this safety point will be our fallback plan when we have become lost and all else fails to get us back to the trail or trailhead,” Scanlon wrote.

I hope you can take this knowledge and apply it to your next hike. I know I will (and probably also pack Scanlon’s book in my backpack), along with carrying this mindset with me on the trail:

“The No. 1 goal is everyone gets home in one piece, and the secondary goal to get to the summit” or wherever you’re headed, Scanlon told me. “As long as you start out with the predetermined goal that everybody gets home, I think everything you prepare for and every on-trail decision you make should be serving that goal.”

The views from the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook include Culver City and the surrounding L.A. area.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3 things to do

1. Roast marshmallows in the Baldwin Hills
The Nature Nexus Institute and California State Parks will host a campfire stroll from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Families can participate in hands-on activities, listen at storytime and roast marshmallows for s’mores by the campfire. Register using the park’s Google form.

2. Heal the land in Elysian Park
Volunteers are needed in two shifts Friday at Elysian Park to help maintain native plant life. From 8 to 10 a.m., volunteers will work at the burn plot, an experimental restoration garden. Later in the day, volunteers will prune and water plants from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more about the morning event at testplot.info and the afternoon event here.

3. Document flora and fauna in Pacoima
L.A. city’s junior urban ecologist Ryan Kinzel will host a community science-focused hike from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Hansen Dam (10965 Dronfield Ave., Pacoima). Kinzel will lead guests in participating in the L.A. Nature Quest by using app iNaturalist to document plant and animal life as the group hikes. Learn more at the parks department’s Instagram page.

The must-read

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

There are so many ways to experience Catalina Island, including bikepacking. Times contributor James Murren took a two-day trip from East End to Little Harbor Campground and back to Avalon, covering 40-plus miles and about 5,000 feet of elevation. In his guide on how to bikepack the island, Murren writes about not only the beauty but also the surprising solitude he found there. “I had not seen another person for quite a while as I biked deeper into the hinterlands of the island, connecting to East End Light Road,” Murren wrote. “Along the ‘backside’ of the southern end of Catalina, it felt even more remote. East End afforded stunning views of the ocean and San Clemente Island to the south.” What a remarkable opportunity — and it’s only a ferry ride away!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Birders off the coast of Sonoma and Marin counties got quite the surprise last week when they spotted the critically endangered waved albatross, the largest bird in the Galapagos! It’s believed to be the first sighting of the bird north of Costa Rica, and it remains unclear what brought it more than 3,000 miles north of its homeland. Those lucky enough to see it included a seabird tour. “The excitement level on the boat when the bird was first identified was intense, with much screaming and shrieking, followed by beatific smiles from a dream come true,” passenger Glen Tepke told a Press Democrat reporter. Ah, the mystery and surprise that each new adventure brings!

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.

With a sixth year of basketball eligibility at UC Irvine, former St. Francis High guard Andre Henry has become so familiar with coach Russell Turner that both consider each other family.

Henry, who was injured last season after nine games, is back healthy, and Turner thinks he’s ready to be a standout on offense and defense this season.

He calls Henry one of the finest recruits he ever signed out of St. Francis in 2020. In 2023-24, he was the Big West Conference defensive player of the year.

“Andre was probably the top-ranked recruit we ever got,” said Turner, in his 16th season. “I watched him elevate his team at St. Francis and he’s still that type of personality. I’m thrilled where is right now and he’s going to have a great season on both sides of the ball. There’s not a limit he can accomplish.”

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UC Irvine men’s basketball coach talks about how Andre Henry has become a standout on the court for the Anteaters.

Turner said he’s grateful for Henry’s loyalty and commitment to the UC Irvine basketball program.

“Andre has become family with me and my staff,” he said. “He’s made great sacrifices to remain in our program. I think he sees we’re committed to him and I certainly see how committed he and his family have been to us. Hopefully, we can write the end to a great story in his sixth year.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Diane Keaton died in Los Angeles on Saturday at age 79, and her family says the cause was pneumonia.

Family members of the Oscar-winning actress shared a statement with People confirming Keaton’s cause of death and saying they were “very grateful for the extraordinary messages of love and support” they had received in recent days.

The outlet first reported the news of the screen icon’s death Saturday, saying the Los Angeles Fire Department had responded to her home that morning and transported a 79-year-old woman to an area hospital. Initially, the family did not disclose the cause of death and asked for privacy as they processed their grief.

In Wednesday’s statement, Keaton’s family members said the star had a deep love for animals and was passionate about supporting the unhoused community. They encouraged people to honor her memory by donating to a food bank or animal shelter.

Keaton was known for her powerful performances in iconic pictures such as Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” movies and Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” which earned her the 1978 Academy Award for lead actress. She was also nominated for lead actress for her roles in “Reds” (1981), “Marvin’s Room” (1996) and “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003).

Born in Los Angeles in 1946, Keaton rose to fame through her late 1960s New York stage career, earning a Tony nomination at age 25 for her role in Allen’s 1969 theatrical production of “Play It Again, Sam.”

Later in her career, she became a muse for writer-director-producer Nancy Meyers and starred in four of her movies. She was a noted trendsetter known for her fabulous on-screen outfits and, more recently, for sharing her style on Instagram, where she amassed 2.6 million followers.

Keaton’s death was widely mourned by theater, movie and fashion lovers alike.

“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star,” wrote actor Bette Midler on Instagram. “What you saw was who she was.”

“Diane Keaton wasn’t just an actress: she was a force,” wrote actor Octavia Spencer on Instagram, “a woman who showed us that being yourself is the most powerful thing you can be. From Annie Hall to Something’s Gotta Give, she made every role unforgettable.”

Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf contributed to this report.

The Kings have reacquired veteran goalie Pheonix Copley to provide depth while Darcy Kuemper is slowed by a lower-body injury.

The Kings acquired the 33-year-old Copley from Tampa Bay in a trade Wednesday for future considerations.

Copley spent the previous three years in the Kings’ organization, including 42 games last season for the AHL’s Ontario Reign. The former Washington netminder started 35 games for the Kings during the 2022-23 season before missing most of the 2023-24 season because of a knee surgery.

The Lightning claimed Copley off waivers earlier this month while they were worried about the status of starter Andrei Vasilevskiy, who struggled with an injury in training camp. Vasilevskiy ultimately was healthy enough to play in Tampa Bay’s season opener.

Anton Forsberg is the primary backup to Kuemper, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season along with Vasilevskiy.

Forsberg started the only victory in four games this season for the Kings (1-2-1).

Kuemper missed practice Wednesday along with captain Anze Kopitar due to lower-body injuries. Forsberg seems likely to start when the Kings host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

Reality television production in Los Angeles declined sharply this summer, leading to a nearly 21% drop in overall TV shoot days, a new report shows.

The total number of shoot days in the greater L.A. area from July to September was 4,380, down 13.2% compared to a year ago, according to data from FilmLA, a nonprofit that handles film permits for the Los Angeles region.

The third-quarter data does not reflect the full effect of the state’s newly bolstered film and TV tax credit program, which was passed this summer.

In the most recent round, 22 TV series were chosen amid a nearly 400% increase in applications, with 18 of those shows primarily filming in the L.A. area.

Projects that received an incentive have 180 days to start production after notice of their award, and it often takes time to commence filming.

Because of that, FilmLA executives were not surprised to see on-location production continue to slip during the summer months.

“Fortunately, we’ve already begun to see early signs of these incentives having their desired effect,” he said. “We’re excited to be taking calls from productions looking to line up their locations and pull permits,” FilmLA Vice President Philip Sokoloski said in a statement.

TV production totaled 1,441 shoot days, down 20.7% compared to the same time period last year. The decline is especially significant because TV is the region’s main driver of production.

Reality TV dropped to 649 shoot days, down 31.4% compared to last year. Other genres of TV production also saw a downturn — drama (down 19%) and pilots (down 34.5%). Production of television comedies, however, was a bright spot with 79 shoot days, up 41.1%.

Feature film production in L.A. also ticked up with 522 shoot days, an increase of 9.7% compared to last year. But commercial production, which does not receive a tax incentive, was down 17.9% to 668 shoot days.

The report’s “other” category, which includes student films, still photo shoots and documentaries, saw a decrease of 9.9% to 1,749 shoot days.

A shoot day represents one crew’s permission to film at a single location in a 24-hour period.

Pay TV providers have a new message for consumers: Your ex wants you back.

While the media industry watches the once massive number of subscribers to cable and satellite services diminish like a slow-melting iceberg as audiences move to streaming, the companies are aggressively developing ways to slow the trend and perhaps win some business back.

Spectrum and DirecTV have both recently held fancy press events in New York to tout their efforts to offer a more consumer-friendly experience and services that add value for the still substantial number of customers they serve. Giving consumers more choice and flexibility is their new mantra.

The latest evidence of this emerged last week when Spectrum introduced an app store, where customers can get subscriptions to the streaming platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, AMC+ and ESPN, and access them alongside the broadcast and cable channels that still carry the bulk of high-profile sports and live events.

The Stamford, Conn.-based company’s 31 million subscribers can now get ad-supported streaming apps as part of their TV packages, which would otherwise cost an additional $125 a month. Ad-free versions are also offered at a discounted price.

Over the last year, El Segundo-based DirecTV rolled out smaller packages of channels aimed at consumers who no longer want a big monthly bill for the panoply of networks that have accumulated in the pay TV bundle over the years. The satellite TV service now offers smaller “genre packages” of channels and streaming apps that cater to a particular interest available at a lower price — designed for news junkies, sports fans, kids and Spanish-language speakers. There is one for entertainment channels as well.

There are early indications consumers are responding. In the second quarter of this year, Spectrum reported a loss of 80,000 cable customers due to cord-cutting, a significant decline from the same period in 2024, when 408,000 homes ditched cable.

DirecTV does not disclose its subscriber numbers, but Vincent Torres, the company’s chief marketing officer, said the smaller and more bespoke channel packages are drawing younger consumers who have bypassed pay TV subscriptions up to now.

For Spectrum, the deal to get the Disney apps came out of an ugly carriage dispute in August 2023 that for 12 days left customers without programming, including the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the start of the college football season. The standoff followed comments by Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger that taking the company’s program services directly to the consumer and bypassing its traditional pay TV partners was inevitable.

Spectrum CEO Chris Winfrey suggested his company could get out of the video distribution business and stick to selling its far more profitable broadband internet services.

The dispute was a sharp example of the pressure on cable providers that have been asked to pay more to carry the channels from Disney and other media conglomerates as they feel the pressure of rising programming costs and sports rights fees. The costs are passed along to customers who are paying more for content that is available on streaming services. Spectrum insisted on a deal that made Disney’s streaming apps available to its customers at no additional cost.

The tensions subsided and, in June, Spectrum reopened and extended its contract with Disney before it was up — a rarity in the contentious arena of carriage negotiations that lead to channel blackouts.

DirecTV’s slimmer cable packages came after a similarly bruising dispute with Disney last September, with customers losing access to the channels for 13 days.

But there was a new spirit of unity on stage at Spectrum headquarters, where ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro, the architect of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer strategy, was among the guest speakers.

Although Pitaro has long hammered away at how ESPN needs to be accessible to sports fans wherever they are, he touted the value of the cable subscription and described the relationship with Spectrum as “the best it has ever been.”

Spectrum customers already get ESPN channels through their cable subscription, but adding the direct-to-consumer app allows them access to its features such as enhanced real-time stats during live games and a personalized “SportsCenter” that uses AI to create a custom highlight show for users.

Spectrum has enlisted the networks it carries to make promotional spots touting its new services. Speaking at the Spectrum event, Winfrey acknowledged it will take some time for consumers to get used to the idea of getting more from their cable provider at no additional cost.

“Our No. 1 issue is — and this may shock you — but customers don’t trust the cable company,” Winfrey said. “Maybe with good reason. For how many decades did the cable industry go out and say HBO is included for free? And it was for three months and then, $10 would show up on your bill. We’ve conditioned people to think it’s a free trial period.”

Torres notes that more consumers are experiencing what he calls “content rage” as the prices of individual streaming services such as Peacock and Disney+ continue to rise. As programming gets sliced and diced for the growing number of services, consumers are finding that more than one subscription is necessary, especially for fans of the NFL or NBA, which have spread their games over several services.

“You see a growing frustration that ‘I can never find what I want to find when I want to watch it,” Torres said. “The fragmentation of the content is creating customer dissatisfaction. They can’t always find what they’re looking for.”

Along with its slimmer channel packages, DirectTV recently introduced a new internet-connected device called Gemini that combines streaming apps with traditional TV channels.

Pay TV companies are also offering voice-controlled remotes to help consumers find what they want to watch, whether on streaming or a traditional channel.

Executives say more enhanced viewing experiences are coming to keep the pay TV customer connected.

Starting this season, Spectrum’s SportsNet channel will be offering its Los Angeles customers several Lakers games in an immersive video format that can be streamed through an Apple Vision Pro device. The technology will give users a courtside view of the game at Crypto.com Arena. All that’s missing is a seat next to Jack Nicholson, but as AI advances, who knows?

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of the week

Disney’s sci-fi sequel “Tron: Ares” got off to a weak start, opening with just $33.5 million in North American theaters.

The results were well below 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” which opened to $44 million. The production budget for “Tron: Ares” was reportedly $180 million.

Still, Disney does have two potential box office hits later this year with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and animated sequel “Zootopia 2.”

Finally …

Stacy Perman’s deeply reported piece on fake collectible movie props is a must read. Bonus points for an appearance by notorious movie and TV executive Jim Aubrey, known as “The Smiling Cobra.”

Hi, everyone, welcome back to Lakers newsletter. This is Thuc Nhi Nguyen, The Times’ Lakers beat writer. Thank you for your warm welcome into this space (and your food recommendations). We’re now halfway through the preseason, and let me tell you: I can’t wait until we get real basketball back again.

We are at least one step closer to seeing what this Lakers team really looks like as Luka Doncic is expected to make his preseason debut against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. He is expected to play in two of the final three preseason games and, with a back-to-back coming, it’s most likely that Doncic will finish his preseason play on Friday at Crypto.com Arena against the Sacramento Kings instead of in Las Vegas against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, on Wednesday.

Doncic’s return can help answer some questions about the Lakers, but there is still plenty to address with one week until the season opener.

The LeBron James decision

If you didn’t hear, LeBron James was at the center of a major announcement last week.

No, it’s not that the Lakers star and my dad share an affinity for Hennessy.

It’s that James will be sidelined for three to four weeks as he manages sciatica in his right side. The timeline announced by the team last Thursday means James will miss the regular season opener on Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors. As he enters Year 23, James still has room for more firsts: This will be the first time in his NBA career that he doesn’t play in a season opener.

While coach JJ Redick has tried to downplay preseason decisions about the starting lineup, he admitted Monday that James’ prolonged absence “complicates things a little bit.” With every group, Redick said, it’s about finding balance: ensuring there’s enough shooting, facilitating and defense to go around while also managing each player’s own temperament.

“We have a week to figure that out,” Redick said Monday, “and I think it will reveal itself to us.”

The Lakers’ next decision

Marcus Smart

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

So who will be up for the role?

Marcus Smart, who figured to be a potential starting candidate even when James was healthy, will make his preseason debut on Tuesday. He was battling Achilles tendinopathy to begin the preseason.

Smart returned to practice last week, working up to being a full participant during practices Thursday and Saturday, and impressed Redick with the classic Marcus Smart hustle and defense. Even while sidelined, Smart was lauded for his communication and leadership style.

Smart was already considered as a potential starting option over returner Rui Hachimura because the Lakers were looking for a stronger defender at the point of attack. They may have rediscovered another option in Jarred Vanderbilt.

Finally healthy from a lingering foot injury, Vanderbilt has earned rave reviews for his defensive resurgence during training camp. The 6-foot-8 forward has 13 rebounds, four steals and one block in three preseason games. He even turned heads with tweaked shooting mechanics to potentially increase his influence as a potential three-and-D option.

But Vanderbilt is one for 10 from three-point range in three preseason games.

The offensive load during James’ absence will likely fall more toward Hachimura or free agent addition Jake LaRavia.

Second-year guard Dalton Knecht could provide a scoring punch off the bench, especially after Redick said Knecht was the team’s best offensive player in training camp. Knecht, who struggled during summer league because he over-trained during the offseason, was outscoring his teammates by 42 points during live practice periods by Sunday. Redick rewarded him with a starting spot in the home preseason game against the Warriors and he responded with 16 points on four-of-nine shooting from the field and was six of eight from the free throw line.

But the 24-year-old who was briefly traded last year to return only when the deal fell through needs to earn his playing time by showing other skills.

“His ceiling is going to be based on his improvement this season as a defender,” Redick said.

Austin Reaves has already carried the heaviest workload of the preseason, especially as Doncic and James were out. Reaves delivered with 41 points in 44 minutes in two games, but knows any single Herculean effort won’t be enough to replace James long-term.

“It’s a next-man-up mentality,” Reaves said, echoing a similar message from Doncic. “Nobody is going to fill what he does with one person. I can’t go be LeBron. I wish I could. But I think you got to do it as a collective group. And that’s what we’ll do.”

Favorite thing I ate this week

Clockwise from top left: Shrimp shumai, fried shrimp ball, baked BBQ pork bun, steam pork bun and shrimp noodle rolls.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

The Lakers got a valuable week at home, but I stayed on the road for a friend’s wedding in Brooklyn. To me, there’s no better way to celebrate than with dim sum.

We schlepped from Brooklyn to Manhattan’s Golden Unicorn, where I was too impatient to take a picture of everything, but the first wave included baked BBQ pork buns, steamed pork buns, shrimp noodle rolls, shrimp shumai and fried shrimp balls.

My dim sum staples are har gow and the classic pork and shrimp shumai, but my favorite dish this time was mango pudding (unfortunately not pictured). Loaded with chunks of fresh mango, it was the perfect sweet treat before I spent the next few hours in food coma mode.

In case you missed it

Luka Doncic set to play in first preseason game against Suns Tuesday

JJ Redick isn’t overly concerned about the Lakers’ on-court chemistry

LeBron James to miss Lakers’ opening game because of sciatica issue

Natalia Bryant makes her debut as a creative director with Lakers short film

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at [email protected], and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

In the last few weeks, USC has found itself caught in a political tug-of-war that could potentially change campus life permanently.

Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened on Oct. 2 to cut “billions” in state funding, including the popular Cal Grants that many students rely upon, if California schools bowed to pressure from the Trump administration.

Newsom’s messaging came in response to a White House directive that asked USC and eight other major national universities to commit to President Trump’s views on gender identity, admissions, diversity and free speech in exchange for priority access to federal dollars.

The topic was covered in depth by my colleagues Jaweed Kaleem and Melody Gutierrez.

Let’s jump into their article and see what options lie ahead for USC.

What the White House told USC

USC and other universities were asked to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which commits them to adopt the White House’s conservative vision for America’s campuses.

The Oct. 1 letter also suggests colleges should align with Trump’s views on student discipline, college affordability and the importance of hard sciences over liberal arts.

The compact asks universities to accept the government’s definition of gender — excluding transgender people — and apply it to campus bathrooms, locker rooms and women’s sports teams.

But the White House letter to USC and other campuses is more stick than carrot.

The government says it will dole out new federal money and give preference to the universities that accept the deal over those that do not agree to the terms.

Signing on would give universities priority access to some federal grants, but White House officials say the government money would not be limited solely to those schools.

How Trump wants to cut back on international students

The federal compact would also severely restrict international student enrollment to 15% of a college’s entire undergraduate student body. Plus, no more than 5% could come from a single country.

That provision would hit USC hard, where 26% of the fall 2025 freshman class is international. Half of those students hail from either China or India.

Cutting into that rate would be a financial blow to USC, where full-fee tuition from international students is a major source of revenue. The university has already endured hundreds of layoffs this year amid budget troubles.

How Newsom is responding

Newsom wrote that “if any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding — including Cal Grants — instantly.”

He added, “California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”

Students become eligible for Cal Grants through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act Application. In 2024-25, $2.5 billion in Cal Grants were doled out to California students.

What is USC doing?

The school’s faculty members strongly denounced Trump’s offer at a meeting Monday, calling it “antithetical to principles of academic freedom.”

But interim President Beong-Soo Kim told the roughly 500 attendees that the university “has not made any kind of final decision.”

One of the nine schools presented with Trump’s deal, MIT, forcefully rejected the White House’s proposal last week. (It is unclear how the White House selected the nine schools that were offered the deal.)

Notes from a reporter’s notepad

Kaleem, one of the Times reporters on this story, noted that universities throughout Southern California, including USC, UCLA and others in the UC or Cal State systems, find themselves under siege from the White House, whether they were offered Trump’s proposal or not.

“Grants for funding and research are being held up because of investigations into antisemitism or diversity or other issues,” he said. “There are very few universities untouched by the push from Trump on higher education.”

Kaleem spoke with several politically active students and professors at USC who see Newsom’s gesture as a blessing in disguise.

“They felt the governor’s threat to take away money actually gives the USC campus cover to resist Trump more forcefully,” Kaleem said.

Now USC administrators could defy the White House under the guise of trying to avoid losing funding from the state, according to those who spoke with Kaleem.

“They could say they can’t be blamed because they’re being forced to resist Trump,” he said. “It’s an interesting potential strategy.”

For more, check out the full article here.

Today’s top stories

Part of the debate over the ongoing federal government shutdown focuses on funding for the treatment of undocumented immigrants at hospital emergency rooms.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

Trump claims Democrats want to use federal funds to give undocumented residents healthcare. That’s misleading

• Undocumented immigrants cannot access federal programs, but California law provides state-funded Medi-Cal coverage costing the state $11.2 billion annually.
• President Trump claimed recently that Democrats “want to have illegal aliens come into our country and get massive healthcare at the cost to everybody else.”
• Democrats called Trump’s assertion an absolute lie, accusing Republicans of wanting to slash federal healthcare benefits to Americans in need to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

Beutner launches bid for L.A. mayor, vowing to fight ‘injustices’ under Trump

• Former L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner kicked off his campaign for mayor on Monday with a video message that hits not just Mayor Karen Bass but also President Trump and his immigration crackdown.
• Beutner vowed to counter Trump’s “assault on our values,” while also criticizing City Hall over homelessness, housing costs and rising city fees.

Three more L.A. County deaths tied to synthetic kratom

• The deaths have been linked to kratom, a compound that is being synthetically reproduced and sold over the counter as a cure-all for a host of ailments, the county Department of Public Health announced Friday.
• The compound was found to be a contributing cause of death in three residents who were between the ages of 18 and 40, according to the county health department.
• That brings the total number of recent overdose deaths related to kratom in L.A. County to six.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must read

Other must reads

For your downtime

The Griselda’s Revenge cocktail from the Black Lagoon pop-up bar.

(Black Lagoon)

Going out

Staying in

A question for you: What frustrates you the most about parking in L.A.?

Karen writes: “My frustration is that the city started making people pay to park along the road up to the Griffith Observatory. That was the one free and delightful place to get both some sight-seeing and some good walking in after the hunt for a spot. It felt very unfair and opportunistic of the city to limit access to city parks by charging that fee.”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day

Theatergoers take their seats to see “Les Miserables” on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.

Have a great week, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff writer
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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

After Contreras’ offensive coordinator, Carlos Trujillo, did his work on Friday night during his team’s 39-14 win over Hollywood, he was picked up by car and whisked off to Los Angeles International Airport to take a red-eye flight to Chicago so he could complete the 11th marathon of his life.

“I will never be crazy enough to do one,” Contreras head coach Manuel Guevara said.

Running 26.2 miles is pretty challenging, but Trujillo has found something he enjoys, and players admire his commitment.

“The entire varsity [team] wished him good luck,” Guevara said. “It teaches the kids that coaches challenge themselves in different ways.”

He’ll be back for practice on Tuesday as Contreras (4-3, 2-0) prepares for a key Central League game against Bernstein on Thursday night.

Trujillo, 43, said he started running marathons when he was head coach at North Hollywood. He has run marathons in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York besides Chicago.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

I am standing on what looks like a cramped, dark city street. A tavern is around a corner, a police department in front of me. And I’m lost.

That’s when I hear a whisper. “Psst.” I turn, and see a puppet peeping his head out of a secret opening of a door. Over here,” he says, and I find myself leaning in to listen to this furry, oval-faced creature in the shadows. He’ll help me, he says — that is if I can clear his name. See, another puppet has been murdered, and everyone right now is a suspect.

Campaign posters for puppet candidates for mayor inside Appleseed Avenue. “Election Day” is a tale of political espionage with puppet-on-puppet violence.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

I am playing a gamed called “Election Day” at Appleseed Avenue, a relatively new escape room in a multi-story strip mall in Newhall. The puppet world is in the midst of a crisis, torn over whether humans should be allowed to wander the fictional street of Appleseed Avenue. My role is that of a detective, and throughout this game of fatal political espionage, I encounter multiple puppet characters — electricians, would-be-mayors, gangsters, dead puppets.

Drama ensues, and that’s where we humans come in, helping the puppets crack the case before we’re banned from their world once and for all. One needn’t be up on the state of puppet politics to participate — and don’t worry, the domestic affairs of Appleseed Avenue are relatively divorced from those of our own. Only a penchant for silly absurdity, and a stomach for puppet-on-puppet violence, is required.

While the look of the puppets may be inspired by, say, “Sesame Street,” with characters that are all big mouths and large eyes, the tone of “Election Day” leans a bit more adult. Recommended for ages 13 and older, “Election Day” will feature puppets in perilous conditions. And if you’re playing as a medical examiner, be prepared to get a glimpse at a mini puppet morgue.

Guests will play as detectives or medical examiners in Appleseed Avenue’s “Election Day.”

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

“Sometimes people do think, ‘Oh, this is for little kids.’ Not quite,” says Patrick Fye, who created the experience with Matt Tye. “We call it PG-13.”

“We wanted that dichotomy,” says Tye. “Really silly puppet-y characters in a gritty world.”

Fye and Tye are veterans of the local escape room scene — Fye the creator of Evil Genius Escape Rooms and Tye the developer of Arcane Escape Rooms. “Election Day,” however, while a timed experience, isn’t a pure escape room. Think of it more as a story that unfolds and needs solving. We’re not trapped. In fact, one puzzle actually utilizes the waiting room, as “Election Day” toys with the idea of traversing the human world and a puppet universe.

Patrick Fye and Matthew Tye, founders of Appleseed Avenue, along with their lookalike puppets.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Puppets weren’t necessarily the driving idea behind their joint venture in Appleseed Avenue. Creating a so-called escape room that was more narrative based was the objective. They wanted a room, for instance, where puzzles felt natural rather than forced. “Election Day” isn’t a space, say, with complex cipher codes to untangle. I was reminded of old-fashioned adventure video games, where one is prompted to look at objects, combine them or go on scavenger hunts, like the one prompted by the puppet I met in an alley.

Puppets were simply a means to an end.

“How can we make something that feels like you’re actually in the story and has more video game-y elements, as opposed to, ‘I’m in an Egyptian tomb. Here’s a padlock,’ ” says Fye. “We were trying to figure out how to mix the diegetics with the overall design. We stumbled on crimes and puppets because we thought it was fun and funny.”

One problem: Neither had created puppets or puppeteered before. Enter online classes, where Tye learned how to craft arm-rod puppets.

“We thought it was the coolest idea we had,” Tye says. When we both look at something and go, ‘We don’t know how to do all of this yet,’ we don’t let that stop us.”

Appleseed Avenue is home to an escape room featuring puppets. It doubles as the street name in which the game, “Election Day,” takes place.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

“Election Day” does unfold like a live-in video game. At times, we’re interacting with a screen, as puppets will relay us messages and quests. Often, we’ll explore the space, as the two have created an elaborate set. Teams are split. Half work as detectives, and half as medical examiners. We can communicate via an inter-room conference system, or simply run back and forth.

But listening to everything the puppets say is paramount, as clues are often hidden in dialogue. Both say they have done too many escape rooms where the story felt too divorced from the actions they were being asked to complete.

“We even say at the beginning of the game, ‘The story really matters.’ You have to pay attention to it,” Fye says. “There’s a moment I’ll never forget. We were doing a Titanic room, and we were in the engine room shoveling coal. But isn’t the ship sinking? What is happening? A lot of times a story is just set dressing.”

The initial response to “Election Day” has been positive, so much so that the two are set to debut a second game in 2026, a sci-fi room titled “Shadow Puppet.” The latter will utilize the same Appleseed Avenue set, although additional spaces will be built out. They’re also looking at some more kid-friendly options. Planned for 2027 is a game titled “Puppet Town Day,” in which little ones will receive passports that prompt them to interact with the puppet characters.

Wanted posters for puppets. Many are a suspect in Appleseed Avenue’s “Election Day.”

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

For now, however, think of Appleseed Avenue as part of greater Los Angeles escape room trend. Whether it’s Hatch Escapes with its corporate time-jumping game “The Ladder” or Ministry of Peculiarities with its spooky haunted house, creators here are emphasizing story. Appleseed Avenue is no different, introducing us to a wacky cast of puppet characters.

It also achieves a rare feat: It makes murder feel ridiculous.

Says Tye: “When there’s a guy named Alby Dunfer who’s getting it from a blowdart from a hitman, it’s like, ‘OK, this is fun.’ ”

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation to study inequalities in youth sports, a move likely to draw ire from Republicans who believe the measure is intended to support transgender athletes.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 749, creates a commission to examine whether a new state board or department is needed to improve access to sports regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income or geographic location.

In an open letter last month to the governor, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) zeroed in on the term “gender identity.”

“The author and supporters of [this legislation] know if they were upfront and put forth a straightforward bill allowing biological males to compete against young women and girls, it would be easily defeated,” Jones wrote on Sept. 26. “So instead they are trying to establish a stacked commission to indirectly rig the issue in their favor.”

Jones urged Newsom to veto the bill and referenced the governor’s previous remarks about transgender athletes. During the first episode of his podcast “This Is Gavin Newsom,” the governor — a longtime ally of the LGBTQ+ community — acknowledged the struggle faced by transgender people but called transgender women’s participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” and warned it was hurting Democrats at the polls.

Assemblymember Tina S. McKinnor, who introduced the bill, said Jones should keep his focus on Washington.

“Senator Brian Jones’ time would be better spent writing to the Republican controlled Congress to end the Trump Shutdown and reopen the federal government, rather than attacking trans students,” McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) wrote in an email to The Times.

Legislation referencing gender identity tends to be a lightning rod for controversy nationwide, with opinion polls suggesting Americans hold complex views on transgender issues.

A survey conducted this year by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found 66% of U.S. adults favor laws requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams that match their sex assigned at birth. At the same time, 56% of adults supported policies protecting transgender people from discrimination in jobs and public spaces.

During legislative committee hearings on the bill, McKinnor focused on the legislation’s potential racial impact. She said last year’s Play Equity Report found 59% of white youth participated in structured sports programs, compared with 47% of Black youth and 45% of Latino youth.

“Participation in youth sports remains unequal despite the well-documented physical, mental and academic benefits,” McKinnor told the Senate Health Committee in July. “These disparities stem from systemic barriers such as financial limitations, uneven program quality, outdated physical education standards and the lack of a coordinated statewide strategy.”

More than two dozen organizations endorsed the bill, including the Los Angeles Rams, city of San Diego, USC Schwarzenegger Institute, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles and the Boys and Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley and Eastside.

The legislation directs the state public health officer to convene the commission, which will be composed of 10 members appointed by the governor and three appointed by each the speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Committee on Rules. The health officer will also sit on the panel, or appoint their own designee.

Newsom did not issue a statement when his office announced a slate of bills he signed on Monday.

In March, Newsom infuriated the progressive wing of his party when, while hosting conservatives commentator Charlie Kirk on the governor’s podcast, he broke away from many Democrats on the issue of transgender athletes. Newsom, an outspoken champion of LGBTQ+ rights since he was mayor of San Francisco, publicly criticized the “unfairness” of transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.

My 73-year-old mother is coming to visit from the East Coast. She recently had hip surgery and it’s painful for her to walk too far. She likes quirky experiences like sushi on conveyor belts. I live in Sawtelle. Other times she has come we have gone to the Getty Villa, a couple studio tours, live taping of “Jeopardy!” and a local ramen place. She likes places with a backstory. For example in Boulder, she wanted to drive past the house where JonBenét Ramsey had lived because she is obsessed with true crime. One thing she did say she wanted to do was try to see “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — CJ Schellack

Here’s what we suggest:

First off, your mom sounds like a good time. And I agree with her: The best places to visit often have an interesting backstory. Let’s start with the food. Given that your mom likes sushi experiences, make a stop at Yama Sushi Marketplace, conveniently located in your neighborhood. The family-owned Japanese seafood shop sells restaurant-quality sushi at takeout prices, writes Tiffany Tse in our guide to Sawtelle. “Just point to what catches your eye, and the staff will slice it fresh, sashimi-style, right in front of you,” she adds. Or if you’d prefer to check out another revolving sushi spot, check out Kura, which has a Sawtelle location.

To satisfy your mom’s appetite for one-of-a-kind, quirky experiences, head to Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Highland Park. Yes, it’s a bit of a push from your hood — don’t go during rush hour — but it’s worth the trek, especially if you have a sweet tooth. The 100-year-old family-owned shop is stacked with aisles of rare sodas from around the globe, nostalgic candies and retro toys that its 82-year-old owner John Nese tells me “you can’t find anywhere else.” In the back of the shop, next to the make-your-own-soda station, there’s a deli stand that sells “blockbuster” sandwiches — a name that was inspired by boxing legend Rocky Marciano who, after tasting one, declared “This is a real blockbuster!” (Pro tip: If Nese is there when you visit — and the likelihood is high because he “practically lives there,” he says — be sure to ask him for a rec.)

Once you’ve secured your snacks, grab a picnic blanket or low chair and head over to Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch a movie — a favorite L.A. experience for many of my colleagues. Through Halloween, Cinespia is hosting movie nights at the cemetery where stars like Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Johnny Ramone are laid to rest. Films are projected onto a mausoleum wall and moviegoers sit on the lawn (an open area with no graves). There’s a designated wheelchair user and companion area with restrooms close by, and accessible parking is available with a placard (though you’ll still need to buy a parking pass in advance).

But if you think your mom would be more comfortable indoors, check out the Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema, known for screening double features of classic, indie, cult and foreign flicks the old-fashioned way — on 35mm film. As Michael Ordoña writes in our guide to the best movie theaters in Los Angeles, “the New Bev is just what a rep cinema should be. It’s cozy, with a mellow, enthusiastic vibe. Surprises sometimes occur.”

To tap into your mom’s inner true crime fascination, make a visit to some of L.A.’s darker landmarks. “I like to take friends visiting from the East Coast on a drive along the Sunset Strip to show them where famous people died, like Belushi at Chateau Marmont and River Phoenix outside the Viper Room,” senior audience editor Vanessa Franko tells me. (Bonus: You don’t even need to get out of your car.) But if you prefer an actual tour, visit the Greystone Mansion and Gardens, where oil heir and homeowner Ned Doheny and his secretary, Hugh Plunkett, were found dead in 1929. Times travel writer Christopher Reynolds recommends it, saying that at this destination, you get “a crime scene, filming location and L.A. oil history, all in one.” We’ve also curated a list of 12 iconic L.A. film and TV horror homes that’s worth checking out (the filming location for the WB series “Charmed” is featured in the photo illustration above). I hope that you and your very cool mom have the best time. Please send us pictures if you hit up any of these spots.

Former L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner kicked off his campaign for mayor on Monday with a video launch that hits not just Mayor Karen Bass but President Trump and his immigration crackdown.

Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, uses the four-minute campaign video to describe L.A. as a city that is “under attack” — a message punctuated by footage of U.S. Border Patrol agents.

“I’ll never accept the Trump administration’s assault on our values and our neighbors,” says Beutner, a Democrat, as he stands on a tree-lined residential street. “Targeting people solely based on the color of their skin is unacceptable and un-American.”

“I’ll counter these injustices and work to keep every person safe and build a better Los Angeles,” he adds.

The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Times about Beutner’s video.

The video opens by describing a major biking accident that upended Beutner’s life about 17 years ago, leading him to enter public service and “take a different path.” Not long after, he became Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s “jobs czar,” taking on the elevated title of first deputy mayor and striking business deals on the mayor’s behalf.

The video casts Beutner, 65, as a pragmatic problem solver, focusing on his nonprofit Vision to Learn, which provides eye exams and glasses to children in low-income communities. It also highlights his work shepherding L.A. Unified through the COVID-19 pandemic and working to pass Proposition 28, the 2022 measure supporting arts education in California public schools.

Beutner, on his video, also turns his aim at City Hall, high housing costs, rising parking meter rates and a big increase in trash pickup fees for homeowners and smaller apartment buildings. Calling L.A. a city that is “adrift,” Beutner criticized the mayor’s push to reduce homelessness — one of her signature initiatives.

“The city spent billions to solve problems that have just become bigger problems,” Beutner says.

Bass campaign spokesperson Douglas Herman pushed back on the criticism, saying the city needs to “move past divisive attacks.” He said violent crime is down across the city, with homicides falling to their lowest levels in 60 years.

“When Karen Bass ran for mayor, homelessness and public safety were the top concerns of Angelenos. And she has delivered in a big way,” he said in a statement. “Today, homelessness has decreased two consecutive years for the first time in Los Angeles. Thousands of people have been moved off our streets and into housing.”

“There’s more work ahead, but this administration has proven it can deliver,” Herman added. “Mayor Bass is committed to building on this historic momentum in her second term.”

Beutner’s video posted two days after he confirmed that he’s planning to run for mayor, leveling blistering criticism at the city’s preparation for, and response to, the Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead.

Beutner’s criticism of Trump’s immigration crackdown in many ways echoes the messages delivered by Bass several months ago, when federal agents were seizing street vendors, day laborers and other workers in L.A.

In June, Bass said the Trump administration was waging an “all-out assault on Los Angeles,” with federal agents “randomly grabbing people” off the street, “chasing Angelenos through parking lots” and arresting immigrants who showed up at court for annual check-ins. Her approach to the issue helped her regain her political footing after she had faltered in the wake of the Palisades fire.

In early September, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration, agreeing that immigration agents can stop and detain individuals they suspect may be in the U.S. illegally merely for speaking Spanish or having brown skin.

The high court ruling set aside a Los Angeles judge’s temporary restraining order that barred agents from stopping people based in part on their race or apparent ethnicity.

This week’s City Section top 10 high school football rankings by The Times:

1. BIRMINGHAM (4-3): The Patriots have 51 consecutive victories against City Section opponents, so any computer rankings that don’t have them at the top are ignoring history.

2. CARSON (4-3): The Colts are on collision path to face San Pedro on Oct. 30 to determine the Marine League championship.

3. PALISADES (7-0): Jack Thomas had 460 yards passing and five touchdowns in a 56-54 win over Venice.

4. SAN PEDRO (4-4): Pirates quarterback Seth Solorio has passed the 2,000-yard mark this season.

5. GARFIELD (5-2): The Eastern League championship will be decided Friday night at South Gate.

6. KENNEDY (6-1): In Diego Montes the Golden Cougars trust.

7. EAGLE ROCK (5-2): Northern League title showdown at Franklin on Friday night.

8. KING/DREW (5-1): Sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Webb is having big season.

9. VENICE (3-4): Joshua Aaron rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns in loss to Palisades.

10. FRANKLIN (6-1): Senior Albert Cardenas is coming through at quarterback.

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

This has turned into one of those weeks when there are just way too many movies opening. From titles that premiered earlier in the year, to films that popped up only recently, distributors have decided that today is the time to drop them in theaters. It can make for some tough calls as a moviegoer but hopefully ones with pleasant returns. Here’s some intel.

Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” was a standout at Sundance in January and remains one of the most powerful films of the year. Rose Byrne gives a knockout performance as Linda, a mother struggling to hold onto her own unraveling sense of self as she cares for her ill daughter.

Rose Byrne in the movie “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

(Logan White / A24)

In his review Glenn Whipp said, “Linda makes dozens of bad decisions in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,’ many of them seemingly indefensible until you realize that just how utterly isolated she feels. … Bronstein demands you pay attention to her, and with Byrne diving headfirst into the character’s harrowing panic, you will find you have no other choice.”

Speaking to Esther Zuckerman for a wide-ranging feature, Byrne said of the part: “Anything dealing with motherhood and shame around motherhood, whether it’s disappointment, failure — she’s got this line in the movie, ‘I wasn’t meant to do this’ — these are pretty radical things to say. People aren’t comfortable with that. So performance-wise, that was the hardest part because it was like a tightrope, the tightrope of this woman.”

Another Sundance premiere hitting theaters this week is director Bill Condon’s adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” starring Diego Luna, Tonatiuh and Jennifer Lopez. Already a novel, a movie and a Broadway show, the story involves two men imprisoned in an Argentine jail for political crimes during the 1980s, with Lopez playing a fantasy film star who exists in their imaginations — a reverie to which they can escape.

Tonatiuh in the movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Roadside Attractions)

For our fall preview, Carlos Aguilar spoke to Tonatiuh, a native of L.A.’s Boyle Heights, whose performance is a true breakout.

“When I first met Jennifer, I was like, ‘Oh, my God — that’s Jennifer Lopez. What the hell?’ ” he recalled, with the enthusiasm of a true fan. “I must have turned left on the wrong street because now I’m standing in front of her. How did this happen? What life am I living?”

After praising both Lopez and Tonatiuh in her review of the film, Amy Nicholson wrote, “Still, my favorite performance has to be Luna’s, whose Valentin is at once strong and vulnerable, like a mutt attempting to fend off a bear. He’s the only one who doesn’t need to prove he’s a great actor, yet he feels like a revelation. Watching him gradually turn tender sends tingles through your heartstrings.”

Among the other new releases this week is “Urchin,” the directing debut from Harris Dickinson, and the documentary “Orwell: 2+2=5,” directed by Raoul Peck. There’s also Derek Cianfrance’s true-crime comedy “Roofman,” Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear-war thriller “A House of Dynamite” and Luca Guadagnino’s campus-set cancel culture drama “After the Hunt.”

Rebecca Miller retro and ‘Mr. Scorsese’

Robert De Niro, left, and Martin Scorsese in an undated photo from Rebecca Miller’s documentary series “Mr. Scorsese.”

(Apple TV+)

The American Cinematheque is celebrating filmmaker Rebecca Miller this weekend with a four-title retrospective plus a preview of her documentary series “Mr. Scorsese,” a five-part portrait of the life and career of Martin Scorsese.

Miller will introduce a Saturday screening of her 2023 rom-com “She Came to Me,” starring Anne Hathaway and Peter Dinklage, then do a Q&A for the first two episodes of the Scorsese project on Sunday. Also screening in the series will be 2016’s “Maggie’s Plan,” starring Julianne Moore, Ethan Hawke and Greta Gerwig; Miller’s 2002 Sundance grand jury prize winner “Personal Velocity”; and 2005’s “The Ballad of Jack and Rose,” starring Miller’s husband Daniel Day-Lewis, screening with an introduction from co-star Camilla Belle.

Ethan Hawke and Greta Gerwig in “Maggie’s Plan,” written and directed by Rebecca Miller.

(Sony Pictures Classics)

I spoke to Miller this week about the retrospective and her new Scorsese project, which premieres Oct. 17 on Apple TV+. Along with extensive interviews with Scorsese himself, the series includes insights from collaborators such as Robert De Niro, Paul Schrader and longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker as well as childhood friends, Scorsese’s children, ex-wives and fellow filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Ari Aster, Benny Safdie and Spike Lee.

“It feels like such an honor and so weird in a way,” said Miller of the notion of having a retrospective. “You feel like you’re just in the middle of making everything, but then you realize, no, I’ve been making these films for 30 years. And it’ll be really interesting to see how the films play now for people. It’s exciting to have them still be sort of alive.”

When you look back on your own movies, what comes to mind for you?

Funnily enough, there is a connection between “Personal Velocity” and Martin Scorsese, which is that when I was about to shoot personal “Velocity,” I was in Rome, on the set of “Gangs of New York,” and I was watching the snack trolley go by and thinking my entire budget is probably the same as their snack budget. And thinking: What am I doing? What was I thinking? How am I going to do this? But talking to [“Gangs” cinematographer] Michael Ballhaus, I told him how long we had to shoot everything, and he said, “Oh, I envy you. We shot ‘The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant’ in 10 days.” He was looking back on his days with Fassbinder as the good old days.

Then Marty gave me some advice on films with voiceovers to watch, and he ended up watching “Personal Velocity.” It was the first of my films that he saw, which then led probably to this [doc series] because he knew my films quite well. He watched them as time went on.

What interested you in Scorsese as a subject?

I knew that he was Catholic, that there was a strong spiritual element to his films. But I was interested in how that Catholicism kind of jogged with his fascination, or apparent fascination, with violence. Who is that person? How do those two things go together? And I thought that could be part of my exploration. I had a sense that all his work has a spiritual undercurrent in it, which I think it does. And I think that’s one of the things that I try to explore in the documentary. I felt I had something a little bit different to offer, for that reason.

The big questions that he’s asking: Are we essentially good? Are we essentially evil? And his immense honesty with himself about who he really is, the darkness of his own soul. I don’t think that people are usually that honest with themselves. And you realize that part of his greatness has to do with his willingness to look at himself.

Martin Scorsese in an undated photo from Rebecca Miller’s documentary series “Mr. Scorsese.”

(Apple TV+)

As much as we think we know about Scorsese, he seemed so candid about some of the darkest moments of his life, especially when he talks about his drug overdose and hospitalization in the late 1970s or about some of his issues with Hollywood, especially around “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Were you ever surprised that he was so willing to go there with you?

Oh, yeah, I was. I really didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t have an agenda. I had the scaffolding of the films themselves and a strong sense that this was a man that you can’t separate from the films. So the thing is like a dance, it’s like a permanent tango between those two things. You’re not going to pry them apart. I didn’t know about the addiction. I didn’t know a lot of these things. My questions are totally genuine, there’s no manipulation. It’s all me. I was very prepared in terms of the films. But in terms of the chronology and the connective tissue of his life, I was really right there discovering it.

Martin Scorsese at work on his film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” as seen in Rebecca Miller’s documenary series “Mr. Scorsese.”

(Apple TV+)

You’re catching him such a remarkable point in his life and career. He seems very happy and settled in his personal life and yet he still makes something like “Killers of the Flower Moon,” full of passion and fire. What do you make of that?

[Screenwriter] Jay [Cocks] says he’s learned that he can be selfish in his art, but he doesn’t have to be selfish in his life. Even if your outside is regular, your inside can be boiling. And I think Marty’s inside is always going to be boiling. The seas are not calm in there and never will be.

‘They Live’ and ‘Josie and the Pussycats,’ together at last

Roddy Piper in John Carpenter’s 1988 thriller “They Live.”

(Sunset Boulevard / Corbis )

There’s a real art to putting together a double bill. Sure, you can just program movies that have the same director or share the same on-screen talent. But what about deep, thematic links that might not otherwise be noticed?

The New Beverly has put together an inspired double bill playing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of John Carpenter’s 1988 “They Live” and Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont’s 2001 “Josie and the Pussycats.” Though one is a rough-and-tumble sci-fi action picture and the other a satirical teen-pop fantasia, they both use the idea of subliminal messages to explore how consumer culture can be a means of control.

In “They Live,” wrestler-turned-actor “Rowdy” Roddy Piper plays a drifter who lands in Los Angeles and discovers a secret network fighting against an invasion of aliens living among us.

In Michael Wilmington’s original review, after joking the movie could be called “Invasion of the Space Yuppies,” he adds, “You can forgive the movie everything because of the sheer nasty pizzazz of its central concept. … The movie daffily mixes up the paranoia of the Red Scare monster movies of the ’50’s with a different kind of nightmare: the radical’s belief that everything is tightly controlled by a small, malicious ruling elite. Everything — the flat lighting, the crazily protracted action scenes, the monolithic beat and vamp of the score — reinforces a mood of murderous persecution mania.”

Rosario Dawson, from left, Rachael Leigh Cook and Tara Reid in the movie “Josie and the Pussycats.”

(Joseph Lederer / Universal Studios)

In “Josie and the Pussycats,” a small-town rock ‘n’ roll band (Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson) are plucked from obscurity when they are signed to a major record label and all their dreams of stardom seem to come true. But they come to realize the company’s executives (a brilliant pairing of Parker Posey and Allan Cumming) are using them for their own nefarious purposes.

Aside from some very hummable songs, the film has a truly epic amount of corporate logos and branding that appears throughout. Many reviewers at the time brought this up, including the L.A. Times’ own Kenneth Turan, who noted, “It’s a potent reminder that no matter how innocent a film may seem, there’s a Hollywood cash register behind almost every frame.” In subsequent interviews, Kaplan and Elfont confirmed these were not instances of paid product placement and, in fact, the production had to fight to get them all on-screen.

Points of interest

‘Eight Men Out’ in 35mm

Charlie Sheen, center, in a scene from the film “Eight Men Out.”

(Archive Photos / Getty Images)

Writer-director John Sayles has been so consistently good for so long that it is easy to take his work for granted. Case in point: 1988’s “Eight Men Out,” which tells the story of the infamous “Black Sox” scandal, when players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally throwing the 1919 World Series in league with underworld gamblers. The movie is playing on Sunday at Vidiots in 35mm.

The film captures much of what makes Sayles so special, particularly his unique grasp of the interplay between social and economic dynamics — a sense of how things work and why. He also fully grasps the deeper implications of the forces of greed and money setting themselves upon such an unassailable symbol of wholesome Americana as baseball. It’s also what makes the movie particularly worth a revisit now. With a phenomenal cast that includes John Cusack, David Straithairn, D.B. Sweeney, Charlie Sheen, John Mahoney, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Lerner and Sayles himself, the film was a relatively early effort from cinematographer Robert Richardson, who would go on to work repeatedly with Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

In a review at the time, Sheila Benson wrote, “ ‘Eight Men Out’ is not a bad movie for an election year. Everything that politicians cherish as ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘American’ is here. The Grand Old Game. Idealistic little kids. Straw hats and cat’s-whisker crystal sets. And under the slogans and the platitudes, a terrifying erosion and no one to answer for it. No wonder Sayles, hardly an unpolitical animal, found it such a relevant story nearly 70 years later.”

‘The Sound of Music’ in 70mm

Julie Andrews, center, in the 1965 musical “The Sound of Music.”

(20th Century-Fox)

On Sunday the Academy Museum will screen Robert Wise’s “The Sound of Music” in 70mm, a rare opportunity to see this classic in the premium format on which it was originally released. Based on the stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein , the film would eventually win five Oscars, including director and best picture.

Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, it’s the story of the singing Von Trapp family, eventually forced to flee their native Austria as the Nazis take power.

In a Times review from March 1965, Philip K. Scheuer wrote of Wise and his collaborators, “They have taken this sweet, sometimes saccharine and structurally slight story of the Von Trapp Family Singers and transformed it into close to three hours of visual and vocal broilliaance, all in the universal terms of cinema. They have invested it with new delights and even a sense of depth in human relationships — not to mention the swooning beauty of Salzburg and the Austrian Alps, which the stage, of course, could only suggest.”

Even notorious gossip columnist Hedda Hopper liked the movie, presciently writing, “The picture is superb — dramatically, musically, cinematically. Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer were born for their roles. … All children — from 7 to 90 — wil love it. The following morning I woke up singing. Producer-director Bob Wise did a magnificent job and 20th [Century Fox] will hear nothing but the sound of money for years to come.”

Former Los Angeles Unified schools Supt. Austin Beutner is planning to announce a challenge to Mayor Karen Bass in the 2026 election, arguing that the city has failed to properly respond to crime, rising housing costs and the devastating Palisades fire.

Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker who lives in L.A.’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, would become the first serious challenger to Bass, who is running for her second and final term.

Beutner, whose announcement is planned Monday, said in an interview Saturday that city officials at all levels showed a “failure of leadership” on the fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead.

The inferno seriously damaged Beutner’s house, forcing him and his family to rent elsewhere in the neighborhood and destroyed his mother-in-law’s home.

“When you have broken hydrants, a reservoir that’s broken and is out of action, broken [fire] trucks that you can’t dispatch ahead of time, when you don’t pre-deploy at the adequate level, when you don’t choose to hold over the Monday firefighters to be there on Tuesday to help fight the fire — to me, it’s a failure of leadership,” Beutner said.

“At the end of the day,” he added, “the buck stops with the mayor.”

A representative for Bass’ campaign declined to comment.

Beutner’s attacks come days after federal prosecutors filed charges in the Palisades fire, accusing a 29-year-old of intentionally starting a New Year’s Day blaze that later rekindled into the deadly inferno.

With the federal investigation tied up, the city Fire Department released a long-awaited after-action report Wednesday. The 70-page report found that firefighters were hampered by poor communication, inexperienced leadership, a lack of resources and an ineffective process for recalling them back to work. Bass announced a number of changes in light of the report.

Beutner, a onetime advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, could pose a serious political threat to Bass. He would come to the race with a wide range of experiences — finance, philanthropy, local government and even the struggling journalism industry.

Although seven other people have filed paperwork to run for her seat, none have the fundraising muscle or name recognition to mount a major campaign. Rick Caruso, the real estate developer whom Bass defeated in 2022, has publicly flirted with the idea of another run but has stopped short of announcing a decision.

Bass beat Caruso by a wide margin in 2022 even though the shopping mall mogul outspent her by an enormous margin. Caruso has been an outspoken critic of her mayorship, particularly on her response to the Palisades fire.

Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said he believes that Beutner would face an uphill climb in attempting to unseat Bass — even with the criticism surrounding the handling of the Palisades fire. However, his entry into the race could inspire other big names to launch their own mayoral campaigns, shattering the “wall of invincibility” that Bass has tried to create, he said.

“If Beutner jumps in and starts to get some traction, it makes it easier for Caruso to jump in,” Guerra said. “Because all you’ve got to do is come in second in the primary [election], and then see what happens in the general.”

Earlier Saturday, The Times reported that Beutner’s longtime X account had featured — then quickly removed — the banner image “AUSTIN for LA MAYOR,” along with the words: “This account is being used for campaign purposes by Austin Beutner for LA Mayor 2026.” That logo was also added and then removed from other Beutner social media accounts.

Beutner’s announcement comes in a year of crises for the mayor and her city. She was out of the country in January, taking part in a diplomatic mission to Ghana, when the ferocious Palisades fire broke out.

Upon her return, she faced withering criticism over the city’s preparation for the high winds, as well as Fire Department operations and the overall emergency response.

In the months that followed, the city was faced with a $1-billion budget shortfall, triggered in part by pay raises for city workers that were approved by Bass. To close the gap, the City Council eliminated about 1,600 vacant positions, slowed down hiring at the Los Angeles Police Department and rejected Bass’ proposal for dozens of additional firefighters.

By June, Bass faced a different emergency: waves of masked and heavily armed federal agents apprehending immigrants at car washes, Home Depots and elsewhere, sparking furious street protests.

Bass’ standing with voters was badly damaged in the wake of the Palisades fire, with polling in March showing that fewer than 20% of L.A. residents gave her fire response high marks.

But after President Trump put the city in his crosshairs, the mayor regained her political footing, responding swiftly and sharply. She mobilized her allies against the immigration crackdown and railed against the president’s deployment of the National Guard, arguing that the soldiers were “used as props.”

Beutner — who, like Bass, is a Democrat — said he voted for Bass four years ago and had come to regret his choice.

He described Los Angeles as a city “adrift,” with unsolved property crimes, rising trash fees and housing that is unaffordable to many.

Beutner said that he supports “in concept” Senate Bill 79, the law that will force the city to allow taller, denser buildings near rail stations.

“I just wish that we had leadership in Los Angeles that had been ahead of this, so we would have had a greater say in some of the rules,” he said. “But conceptually, yes, we’ve got to build more housing.”

Bass had urged Gov. Gavin Newsom not to sign the bill into law, which he did Friday.

Beutner is a co-founder and former president of Evercore Partners, a financial services company that advises its clients on mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. In 2008, he retired from that firm — now called Evercore Inc. — after he was seriously injured in a bicycling accident.

In 2010, he became Villaraigosa’s “jobs czar,” taking on the elevated title of first deputy mayor and receiving wide latitude to strike business deals on the mayor’s behalf, just as the city was struggling to emerge from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Slightly more than a year into his job, Beutner filed paperwork to begin exploring a run for mayor. He secured the backing of former Mayor Richard Riordan and many in the business community but pulled the plug in 2012.

In 2014, Beutner became publisher of The Times, where he focused on digital experimentation and reader engagement. He lasted roughly a year in that job before Tribune Publishing Co., then the parent company of The Times, ousted him.

Three years later, Beutner was hired as the superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District, which serves schoolchildren in Los Angeles and more than two dozen other cities and unincorporated areas. He quickly found himself at odds with the teachers union, which staged a six-day strike.

The union settled for a two-year package of raises totaling 6%. Beutner, for his part, signed off on a parcel tax to generate additional education funding, but voters rejected the proposal.

In 2022, after leaving the district, Beutner led the successful campaign for Proposition 28, which requires that a portion of California’s general fund go toward visual and performing arts instruction.

Earlier this year, Beutner and several others sued L.A. Unified, accusing the district of violating Proposition 28 by misusing state arts funding and failing to provide legally required arts instruction to students.

He also is involved in philanthropy, having founded the nonprofit Vision to Learn, which provides vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to children in low-income communities.

There’s something about Thai cuisine that is warm and welcoming.

Perhaps it’s the fire that bird’s eye chili brings to a dish, or maybe the bold punchiness of tom yum soup.

My colleague and food critic Bill Addison referred to Thai as “a pillar cuisine of Los Angeles.”

And why not?

The city boasts the world’s largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Those who open restaurants open our palates to a diverse range of flavors and sensations from their micro-regional cooking styles.

Addison is wary of using the term “best.” Instead, he crafted a list of his 15 favorite Thai restaurants in Los Angeles. Here, we’ll highlight a handful of those choices, in Addison’s own words.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Anajak Thai (Sherman Oaks)

If you’ve had any passing interest in Los Angeles dining culture this decade, you probably know the story: Anajak Thai was founded in 1981 by chef Ricky Pichetrungsi, whose recipes merge his Thai upbringing and Cantonese heritage, and his wife Rattikorn.

In 2019, when Pichetrungsi suffered a stroke, the couple’s son Justin left a thriving career as an art director at Walt Disney Imagineering to take over the restaurant.

It changed his life, and it changed Los Angeles, with Justin’s creative individualism — specifically his Thai Taco Tuesday phenomenon.

That’s when the menu crisscrosses fish tacos lit up by chili crisp and limey nam jim with wok-fragrant drunken noodles and Dungeness crab fried rice. Add what has become one of L.A.’s great wine lists, and the restaurant has catapulted into one of the city’s great dining sensations.

The restaurant closed for a couple of months over the summer for a renovation, revealing a brighter, significantly resituated interior — and introducing an open kitchen and a second dining room — in August.

The menu didn’t radically alter: It’s the same multi-generational cooking, tracing the family heritage, leaning ever-further into freshness, perfecting the details in familiar dishes.

Fried chicken sheathed in rice flour batter and scattered with fried shallots, the star of the Justin-era menu, remains, as does the sublime mango sticky rice that Rattikorn makes when she can find fragrant fruit in season and at its ripest.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Ayara Thai (Westchester)

Owner Andy Asapahu grew up in a Thai-Chinese community in Bangkok.

Anna Asapahu, his wife, was raised in Lampang, a small city in the verdant center of northern Thailand.

They melded their backgrounds into a sprawling multi-regional menu of soups, salads, noodles and curries when they opened Ayara in Westchester in 2004.

Their daughters Vanda and Cathy oversee the restaurant these days, but Anna’s recipe for khao soi endures as the marquee dish.

Khao soi seems to have become nearly as popular in Los Angeles as pad Thai. This one is quintessential: chicken drumsticks braised in silky coconut milk infused with lemongrass and other piercing aromatics, poured over egg noodles, sharpened with shallots and pickled mustard greens and garnished with lime and a thatch of fried noodles.

The counterpoints are all in play: a little sweetness from palm sugar and a lot of complexity from fish sauce, a bump of chile heat to offset the richness.

Pair it with a standout dish that reflects Andy’s upbringing, like pad pong kari, a stir-fry of curried shrimp and egg with Chinese celery and other vegetables, smoothed with a splash of cream and served over rice. The restaurant has a spacious dining room.

Note that lunch is technically carry-out only, though the family sets up the patio space outside the restaurant for those who want to stick around.

(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)

Holy Basil (Atwater Village)

Wedchayan “Deau” Arpapornnopparat and Tongkamal “Joy” Yuon run two wholly different Holy Basils.

Downtown’s Santee Passage food hall houses the original, a window that does a brisk takeout business cranking out Arpapornnopparat’s visceral, full-throttle interpretations of Bangkok street food.

His pad see ew huffs with smokiness from the wok. The fluffy-crackly skin of moo krob pops and gives way to satiny pork belly underneath. Douse “grandma’s fry fish and rice” with chile vinegar, and in its sudden brightness you’ll understand why the dish was his childhood favorite.

Their sit-down restaurant in Atwater Village is a culmination of their ambitions. The space might be small, with much of the seating against a wall between two buildings, but the cooking is tremendous.

Arpapornnopparat leaps ahead, rendering a short, revolving menu of noodles, curries, chicken wings, fried rice and vegetable dishes that is more experimental, weaving in elements of his father’s Chinese heritage, his time growing up in India and the Mexican and Japanese flavors he loves in Los Angeles.

One creation that shows up in spring but I wait for all year: fried soft-shell crab and shrimp set in a thrilling, confounding sauce centered around salted egg yolk, browned butter, shrimp paste and scallion oil. In its sharp left turns of salt and acid and sultry funk, the brain longs to consult a GPS. But no map exists. These flavor combinations are from an interior land.

If you enjoyed those selections, check out the full list here. Happy dining.

The week’s biggest stories

(Carlin Stiehl/For the Times)

Palisades fire and other blazes

Trump administration policies and reactions

Crime, courts and policing

More big stories

This week’s must-reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

WEEK 8

(All games at 7 p.m. unless noted)

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Central League

Contreras at Bernstein

Mendez at Belmont

Roybal at Hollywood

Western League

Fairfax at Venice, 7:30 p.m.

SOUTHERN SECTION

605 League

Cerritos at Artesia

Pioneer at Glenn

Alpha League

Los Alamitos vs. Edison at SoFi Stadium

Baseline League

Chino Hills at Etiwanda

Rancho Cucamonga at Ayala

Upland at Damien

Citrus Belt League

Cajon at Redlands East Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Desert Empire League

Palm Desert at Shadow Hills

Desert Sky League

Victor Valley at Adelanto, 7:30 p.m.

Desert Valley League

Twentynine Palms at Indio

Foothill League

Valencia vs. Golden Valley at Canyon Country Canyon

Golden League

Lancaster at Knight

Hacienda League

Chino at Los Altos

Diamond Bar at Covina

Inland Valley League

Canyon Springs at Citrus Hill

Heritage at Lakeside

Perris at Moreno Valley

Iota League

Troy at Anaheim Canyon

Ivy League

Paloma Valley at Rancho Verde, 7:30 p.m.

Riverside North at Liberty, 7:30 p.m.

Vista del Lago at Orange Vista, 7:30 p.m.

Kappa League

Brea Olinda at Garden Grove

Lambda League

Beckman at La Palma Kennedy

Mojave River League

Hesperia at Serrano, 7:30 p.m.

Sultana at Oak Hills, 7:30 p.m.

Montview League

Ontario at Azusa

Mountain Pass League

Tahquitz at Temescal Canyon, 7:30 p.m.

West Valley at Elsinore, 7:30 p.m.

Omicron League

Buena Park at Garden Grove Pacifica

Katella at Woodbridge

Pacific League

Burbank Burroughs at Muir

Crescenta Valley at Pasadena

River Valley League

Jurupa Valley La Sierra, 7:30 p.m.

San Andreas League

San Gorgonio at Rim of the World, 7:30 p.m.

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

Valley League

Valley Oaks CES at East Valley

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agape League

Academy of Careers & Exploration at Victor Valley Christian

Coast Valley League

Valley Christian Academy at Coast Union, 5 p.m.

Majestic League

Cornerstone Christian at United Christian Academy

Nonleague

River Springs at Noli Indian, 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Coliseum League

Crenshaw at Fremont

Dorsey at King/Drew

East Valley League

Arleta at Verdugo Hills

Chavez at Fulton, 3:30 p.m.

Grant at North Hollywood

Sun Valley Poly at Monroe

Eastern League

Garfield at South Gate

Legacy at Bell

South East at L.A. Roosevelt

Exposition League

Manual Arts at Angelou, 7:30 p.m.

Santee at Jefferson

Marine League

Gardena at Narbonne, 7:30 p.m.

Wilmington Banning at Carson, 7:30 p.m.

Metro League

Hawkins at LA Jordan, 7:30 p.m.

Locke at Rancho Dominguez Locke, 7:30 p.m.

Northern League

Eagle Rock at Franklin, 7:30 p.m.

L.A. Wilson at Lincoln

Southern League

Rivera at Los Angeles, 3:30 p.m.

Valley Mission League

Canoga Park at Granada Hills Kennedy

Van Nuys at Reseda

West Valley League

Chatsworth at Granada Hills

Cleveland at El Camino Real, 7:15 p.m.

Taft at Birmingham, 7:15 p.m.

Western League

L.A. University vs. Palisades at Santa Monica College

Westchester at L.A. Hamilton

Nonleague

Maywood CES at Washington

SOUTHERN SECTION

Almont League

Alhambra at Schurr

Montebello at Bell Gardens

San Gabriel at Keppel

Alpha League

San Clemente at Mission Viejo

Angelus League

Alemany at St. Francis

Cathedral at Paraclete

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy at St. Paul

Bay League

Culver City at Leuzinger

Inglewood at Mira Costa

Palos Verdes at Lawndale

Big West Lower League

Corona Santiago at Great Oak

Murrieta Mesa at Corona

Riverside King at Temecula Valley

Big West Upper League

Chaparral at Norco

Corona Centennial at Murrieta Valley

Vista Murrieta at Eastvale Roosevelt

Bravo League

Corona del Mar at Villa Park

San Juan Hills at Newport Harbor

Tesoro at Yorba Linda

Camino Real League

Mary Star of the Sea at Bosco Tech

Channel League

Buena at Oak Park

Moorpark at Oxnard

Ventura at Royal

Citrus Belt League

Citrus Valley at Redlands

Yucaipa at Beaumont

Citrus Coast League

Carpinteria at Del Sol

Nordhoff at Grace

Santa Clara at Channel Islands

Conejo Coast League

Newbury Park at Westlake

Santa Barbara at Calabasas

Thousand Oaks at Rio Mesa

Cottonwood League

Silver Valley at Santa Rosa Academy

Trinity Classical Academy at Riverside Prep

Webb at Temecula Prep

Del Rey League

Harvard-Westlake at Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary

La Salle at St. Anthony

Salesian at Crespi

Del Rio League

California at La Serna

El Rancho at Whittier

Delta League

Cypress at Western

El Modena at Tustin

Trabuco Hills at Capistrano Valley

Desert Empire League

La Quinta at Rancho Mirage

Palm Springs at Xavier Prep

Desert Sky League

Silverado at Barstow

Desert Valley League

Yucca Valley at Coachella Valley

Epsilon League

El Dorado at Laguna Hills

Foothill at Huntington Beach

La Habra at Crean Lutheran

Foothill League

Castaic vs. West Ranch at Valencia

Hart at Canyon Country Canyon

Foxtrot League

Aliso Niguel at Laguna Beach

Fountain Valley at Dana Hills

Orange at Northwood

Gano League

Chaffey at Rowland

Montclair at Don Lugo

Gateway League

Dominguez at La Mirada

Downey at Paramount

Warren at Mayfair

Gold Coast League

Rio Hondo Prep at Viewpoint

Golden League

Antelope Valley at Highland

Palmdale at Littlerock

Quartz Hill at Eastside

Hacienda League

Walnut at South Hills

Iota League

Irvine at El Toro

Sonora at Santa Ana

Ironwood League

Heritage Christian at Aquinas

Ontario Christian at Capistrano Valley Christian

Village Christian at Cerritos Valley Christian

Kappa League

Esperanza at St. Margaret’s

Westminster at Segerstrom

Lamba League

Marina at Fullerton

Sunny Hills at Placentia Valencia

Manzanita League

Anza Hamilton at Desert Christian Academy

Nuview Bridge at Vasquez

San Jacinto Valley Academy at Desert Chapel

Marmonte League

Oaks Christian at St. Bonaventure

Oxnard Pacifica at Camarillo

Simi Valley at Bishop Diego

Mesquite League

Arrowhead Christian at Maranatha

Big Bear at Linfield Christian

Whittier Christian at Western Christian

Mid-Cities League

Bellflower at Compton Early College

Lynwood at Firebaugh

Norwalk at Gahr

Miramonte League

Duarte at Bassett

Garey at La Puente

Workman at Ganesha

Mission League

Bishop Amat at Loyola

Chaminade at Gardena Serra

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Sierra Canyon

Mission Valley League

Arroyo at Gabrielino

Pasadena Marshall at South El Monte

Rosemead at Mountain View

Mojave River League

Apple Valley at Ridgecrest Burroughs

Montview League

Hacienda Heights Wilson at Nogales

Sierra Vista at Pomona

Moore League

Lakewood at Millikan

Long Beach Wilson at Long Beach Poly

Mountain Valley League

Miller at Indian Springs

San Bernardino at Pacific

Ocean League

West Torrance at Beverly Hills

Omicron League

Portola at Irvine University

Pacific League

Arcadia at Glendale

Hoover at Burbank

Pioneer League

North Torrance at Peninsula

Santa Monica at Redondo Union

Torrance at South Torrance

Rio Hondo League

Monrovia at La Canada

San Marino at South Pasadena

River Valley League

Rubidoux at Patriot

San Andreas League

Colton at Kaiser

Sierra League

Bonita at Claremont

Charter Oak at Los Osos

Colony at Glendora

Sigma League

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel at Ocean View

Los Amigos at Estancia

Santa Ana Valley at Rancho Alamitos

Skyline League

Arroyo Valley at Riverside Notre Dame

Bloomington at Rialto

Carter at Fontana

Sun Valley League

Banning at Desert Hot Springs

Cathedral City at Desert Mirage

Sunbelt League

Arlington at Rancho Christian

Hemet at Valley View

Riverside Poly at Hillcrest

Sunkist League

Grand Terrace at Summit

Jurupa Hills at Eisenhower

Tango League

Anaheim at Garden Grove Santiago

Bolsa Grande at Costa Mesa

La Quinta at Loara

Tri-County League

Dos Pueblos at Santa Paula

Fillmore at Agoura

San Marcos at Hueneme

Trinity League

Orange Lutheran at JSerra

St. John Bosco vs. Santa Margarita at Trabuco Hills

Valle Vsta League

Baldwin Park at West Covina

Diamond Ranch at Alta Loma

Northview at San Dimas

Zeta League

Savanna at Century

Magnolia at Godinez

INTERSECTIONAL

St. Genevieve at Roseville Oakmont

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

City League

Animo Robinson at Stella, TBA

USC Hybrid at New Designs University Park, 4 p.m.

University Pathways at New Designs Watts, 4 p.m.

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agape League

Lucerne Valley at PAL Academy, 3 p.m.

Coast Valley League

Cuyama Valley at Maricopa

Express League

Downey Calvary Chapel at Southlands Christian

Frontier League

Laguna Blanca at Malibu, 6:30 p.m.

Heritage League

Santa Clarita Christian at Lancaster Baptist

Majestic League

Entrepreneur at Calvary Baptist

California Lutheran at Hillcrest Christian, 6:30 p.m.

Tri-Valley League

Flintridge Prep at Sage Hill, 6 p.m.

Nonleague

California School for the Deaf Riverside at Hesperia Christian

INTERSECTIONAL

Bakersfield Tehillah Christian Academy at Sherman Oaks CES

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Valley Mission League

San Fernando vs. Sylmar at LA Coliseum, 7:30 p.m.

SOUTHERN SECTION

Moore League

Long Beach Jordan at Compton

River Valley League

Ramona at Norte Vista

Trinity League

Servite vs. Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium

8-MAN

SOUTHERN SECTION

Coast Valley League

Coastal Christian at San Luis Obispo Classical Academy, 6 p.m.

Frontier League

Thacher at Villanova Prep, 1 p.m.

Tri-Valley League

Chadwick at Cate, 2 p.m.