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Top Los Angeles officials have reached what they are calling an unprecedented preliminary agreement to help businesses based within the city limits get a meaningful share of the estimated $4 billion in contracts needed to stage the 2028 Summer Olympics.

The deal offers the promise of substantial financial gains for the host city of the Olympics, without forcing event organizers to spend more than they believe is prudent, according to people familiar with the negotiations at City Hall and at LA28, the private nonprofit group organizing the Games.

The deal must still be given final approval by LA28, the City Council and mayor. The people involved spoke on condition of anonymity to describe delicate negotiations nearing completion.

The linchpin of the deal is a commitment by LA28 to spend between 5% and 20% of its overall contracting budget on businesses headquartered in the city of Los Angeles, according to two high-ranking city officials.

LA28 leaders previously estimated their spending with outside firms would total about $4 billion. Five percent of that would be $200 million, and 20% would be $800 million, which provides the range of what L.A.-based companies would stand to pick up as Los Angeles hosts its third Olympiad.

Both sides said the final deal will set a specific dollar target for LA28 spending with L.A.-based businesses, though they declined to say at this time what that amount will be.

If the deal is approved later this month as expected, the parties said it would make Los Angeles the first Olympic city to win such spending pledges. Previous organizing committees agreed to target spending within national borders, not local ones, they said.

The pact would settle one of the most protracted and at times bitter disagreements between city and Olympic leaders since they agreed more than a decade ago to bring the Games back to L.A. for the first time since 1984.

“We’ve always wanted to be thoughtful and to have a big impact in L.A.,” said one leader of LA28. “That’s why we are happy to be setting this goal and to have a target for our contract spending.”

One city official expressed relief that a deal appeared close at hand.

“There had been a lot of concern that there was not enough of the city of L.A. reflected in the Olympic preparations,” said the official. “This is a big concession for LA28 and it’s big for L.A. businesses, something to look forward to.”

Los Angeles officials like the deal because it forces LA28 to publicly commit to spending a good chunk of its $7.2-billion overall budget within the city limits. The Olympic organizers like it because it establishes only goals, not a binding commitment to give contracts to L.A. businesses.

LA28 leaders have said they feared that committing to L.A. businesses would drive up their costs because of the city’s strict regulations and high minimum wage. The L.A. minimum wage is $18.42 an hour — and higher for hotel and some other workers — while California requires pay of $16.90 an hour.

The debate over LA28’s future spending dragged on for months because the two sides didn’t settle the matter in the 2021 contract that set the terms of their partnership.

One city official who helped negotiate the so-called “Games Agreement” in 2021 said that “many, many, many hours” were spent trying to get the Olympic organizers to agree to a specific set-aside for L.A. businesses. But the city failed to win that concession.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez called the Games Agreement a “terrible deal” that left the city with little leverage, and only the “bully pulpit to try to get what we want.”

That contract outlined broad aspirations, with LA28 promising to work with the city to “endeavor to ensure that small, local, and underrepresented businesses have awareness of and access to applicable contract opportunities.”

City officials, led by former Mayor Eric Garcetti, believed the details could be worked out later. LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman also signed the 2021 contract, saying that it gave LA28 maximum flexibility in preparing for an Olympics that he and others have described as the biggest and most complex athletic event in history.

LA28 leaders subsequently agreed they would attempt to direct 75% of their massive contracting budget toward “local” businesses, which they defined as those based in five Southern California counties — Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino.

That wasn’t good enough for Mayor Karen Bass and many City Council members. At a tense council hearing in April, several city lawmakers slammed LA28 Chief Executive Reynold Hoover for refusing to make a binding commitment to L.A. businesses.

City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson told Hoover that his plan “misses the mark” by not giving the city special consideration while recognizing a five-county area “that [has] a lot less at stake.”

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said that given L.A.’s commitment to cover debts if the Games lose money, “our businesses in the city of Los Angeles should be … first in line” for contracts.

Hoover responded that LA28 had conducted significant outreach to L.A. businesses to help them get a piece of Olympics action. But he said LA28 couldn’t ignore cost considerations.

In essence, Hoover’s message was that overpaying local businesses for goods and services would raise the risks of the Games losing money — and if that were to happen, the city would be stuck with the tab.

“If I focus solely, first and foremost, on the city of L.A., for … small business, then I am artificially reducing the pool of competition,” Hoover told the council, “placing greater risk on city taxpayers and placing greater risk on the [financial] backstop of the city of L.A., because prices will go up when there is no competition.”

Although fears of an Olympic deficit can’t be dismissed, many of the officials and organizers involved with the Games expect a profit, based on robust advance ticket sales and lucrative sponsorship deals already inked.

One LA28 executive said that initial spending on contracts — which reached a total of $687 million last year — is already on track to reach the goals outlined in the pending agreement with the city. The Olympic organizing group has reported that its fundraising has kept pace with expenditures of $7.2 billion.

On L.A.’s left political flank, an agreement to favor the city’s businesses would be welcome but seen as not nearly enough.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which represents workers in hotels, restaurants and sports arenas across Southern California, said he wants the Olympics to spur much more lasting change.

“We’re talking about legacies — it’s what’s going to happen when the Olympics leave,” Petersen said at a rally Wednesday outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum announcing the Fair Games Coalition’s Olympic demands.

The coalition — a band of immigrant rights groups, faith organizations and labor unions, including Petersen’s — demanded in a letter to the International Olympic Committee last week that funding for 50,000 new affordable housing units and a ban on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the Games.

“We want jobs. We want housing. We don’t want ICE here,” Petersen said. “What good is a procurement if ICE shows up here?”

To help small businesses get Olympics contracts, Bass recently convened a Sports & Entertainment Procurement Summit at the Convention Center, where she and Lakers great Magic Johnson gave pep talks.

Said Bass: “We have to take advantage of the Games coming to fast-track a lot of things that we have needed to do in the city for a very, very long time.”

There is arguably no better way to end a meal than with a sticky toffee pudding. The soft and tender sponge cake, made from a batter with softened dates, arrives hot and drowned in a rich, glossy toffee sauce. It is often crowned with a scoop of ice cream for a glorious interplay of temperatures. It’s not difficult to see why it’s one of Britain’s favorite desserts. And luckily for Angelenos, you can now find great sticky toffee pudding on the menu at several restaurants across the city.

The rise of sticky toffee pudding makes a lot of sense. There is a growing interest in British cooking in Los Angeles recently — particularly among restaurants that reinterpret dishes through a Californian lens, such as Tomat and Wilde’s. The dessert’s enthusiastic use of dates also makes it a very Southern Californian dessert, given the abundance of date trees that grow in the region.

Chef Brian Bornemann, who added sticky toffee pudding to the dessert menu at his new pasta-focused restaurant Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica, says the dessert’s recent surge in popularity is also likely due to the fact that it is not overly complicated to make. “In a world where most restaurants in Los Angeles cannot afford pastry chefs anymore, this is a dessert that is easy to execute with a small margin of error.”

Across Los Angeles, restaurants of all kinds are putting their own spin on the dessert. Some are giving it a cultural reinterpretation: a Persian restaurant in Century City adds candied orange and walnuts, while a West African-inspired spot in Inglewood makes a version with both dates and plantains. Some chefs are using unexpected ingredients like fish sauce or aged vanilla jaggery powder, while others are serving more traditional takes. There has never been a better time to be a sticky toffee pudding-lover in Los Angeles. Here are 11 versions worth ending your meal with:

Los Angeles residents, including political streamer Hasan Piker, shared their reactions to the historic election of Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman as the city’s first South Asian mayor.

Al Jazeera’s Ava Warriner reports.

Published On 7 Nov 20267 Nov 2026

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Public transit is expected to be a top priority for Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman, an advocate for expanding bus lanes and making the city friendlier for bicycles — and who campaigned on getting the Los Angeles International Airport people mover back on track after years of squabbles, delays and cost overruns.

As mayor, Raman will oversee the city’s transportation department and will have the power to appoint new members to the city’s Airport Commission. What’s more, she will have regional clout through L.A. Metro, the transportation agency that runs the county’s light-rail and subway lines.

Raman will take over as chair of Metro’s board of 13 voting members, a job now held by Mayor Karen Bass, whom Raman defeated for reelection this week. She will also get three appointees on the board, and can replace the current mayoral appointees — Councilmembers Katy Yaraslovsky and Imelda Padilla and community advocate Jaqueline Dupont-Walker — who all backed Bass in this week’s election.

Metro is currently in need of millions of dollars to fund a massive bus network for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Raman said that she would push Los Angeles’ congressional delegation to make this a key priority. In a statement to The Times ahead of the election, she said she will also prioritize Metro projects that “give the most benefits to the most riders and help make our network more useful” and plans to reinstate a project team in the mayor’s office to eliminate city delays on major capital projects.

Transportation analysts believe Raman, who has a graduate degree in urban planning from MIT, will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass, whose background was in healthcare and community organizing.

“I do think we’ll see a considerable amount of action on transit and multimodal transportation in the short run on a timeline that puts this work in the context of preparation for the summer of 2028,” said Juan Matute, deputy director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies.

Los Angeles voters also approved a charter amendment that will allow the City Council to disband the Public Works Board, a move that Matute believes will allow the city to streamline infrastructure projects. The charter change, combined with Raman’s election, will lead to “a shift in the foundation of transportation decision-making,” Matute said.

Among the transportation plans Raman has cited as priorities are the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project, which was approved earlier this year to connect the Westside to the San Fernando Valley; the East San Fernando Transit Corridor project to extend service along the E Line from East Los Angeles to Whittier; expansions of the K Line, to connect multiple communities from South Bay, Inglewood, Mid-City and Hollywood, and the D Line beneath Wilshire Boulevard; a new light rail connection in southeast L.A. County; and the Vermont Transit Corridor project.

That last project to add dedicated bike lanes along Vermont Avenue between 120th Street and Sunset Boulevard recently broke ground. It is also the subject of a lawsuit under Measure HLA that claims it requires a designated bike lane. Raman said she supports compliance with the measure, while supporting shared bike and bus lanes along narrower portions of the route.

Ahead of the election, Raman told The Times via written statements that her transit priorities as mayor would focus on safety, affordability and reliability so that people did not have to be as reliant on cars. She advocated for protected bike lanes and expansion of bus lanes during her campaign.

Raman also criticized Bass and the Los Angeles World Airports board of commissioners for not staying on top of the $3.3-billion Skylink people mover at LAX, a 2.25-mile train that is supposed to whisk passengers between the terminal and ground transportation. The project is years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget.

The contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS, has blamed the repeated delays on unsigned agreements between the city’s Los Angeles World Airports and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as one cause, along with nagging technical issues.

At a news conference near the airport last week, Raman told reporters that if elected, her first-week priority in office would be to convene airport and DWP officials and the contractor to determine who is responsible for each unresolved issue in an effort to break the logjam.

“Taxpayers deserve an advocate at the negotiating table, not another bill for someone else’s failure,” Raman said.

Michael Schneider of Streets for All, an advocacy nonprofit, said he expects Raman to convene a task force to address issues around the people mover project during her first 100 days in office.

He also foresees her consolidating some departments, such as the Street Services repaving division under the city’s transportation department, and directing city departments to implement Measure HLA. It’s also likely, he said, that she will initiate a bond or a tax hike to raise money for sidewalks repairs, curb updates and other street improvements.

“I think it’s the first election where safe streets has become a campaign issue, and real money has gone behind it to try to change the status quo,” Schneider said.

Streets for All’s political action committee took out ads to elect Raman and defeat Bass, powered largely by contributions from hedge fund manager and bike lane advocate Aaron Sosnick.

Over the summer, Raman slammed Bass for pausing a bike lane and street safety improvement project near two cemeteries along Forest Lawn Drive that had come under fire by some in Raman’s district. The debate became so heated that the state Legislature ultimately intervened and set a law that would require a public hearing and approval from the City Council and the mayor’s office before moving forward.

Raman has told The Times that she supported multiple bike lane and multimodal projects including the 710 North Mobility Improvement Program along Valley Boulevard, Huntington Drive and Eastern Avenue, plans to set priority bike lanes during peak hours along Sunset Boulevard and add bike lanes and reconfigure the intersection of Virgil Avenue and Sunset and Hollywood boulevards.

It’s unclear how she will balance the push toward these types of endeavors when faced with community pushback.

Nadine Levyfield has advocated for more transparency and answers from Metro over a bus lane project through the center of Eagle Rock. The agency recently agreed to more community meetings to address ongoing concerns over how a reduction in lanes on a bottlenecked portion of Colorado Boulevard will affect traffic and parking through the area’s business district and surrounding neighborhoods. Levyfield believes the community’s asks align with Raman’s campaign.

“Running on a platform of accountability, transparency, improving efficiency, and making sure government agencies are accountable, we really hope she can help us ensure that Metro is prioritizing public safety,” Levyfield said.

Raman has said she is also committed to the city’s goal to eliminate traffic deaths and said she will treat an initiative that began under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s administration and faced significant scrutiny under Bass as a mandate.

“Angelenos look around and see faded crosswalks, busted pavement and darkened streetlights and wonder why the City can’t even take care of our basic transportation infrastructure,” Raman said in a statement to The Times before her election. “Traffic deaths are preventable and I’ll make sure we’re enforcing laws against dangerous driving, providing actual protection for people who walk and bike, and get our street lights back on and our streets fixed.”

“My priority is to make transit safe, affordable, fast, and reliable, so more Angelenos can avoid the high cost of car payments, insurance, and gas,” she said in the statement.

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The Times is tracking race results across California, Congress and Los Angeles County from the moment polls close until the secretary of state certifies results in early December.

Twenty-three million registered voters in the state received a ballot by mail this fall. The vote count starts once the polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. However, winners may not be known on election night because of the state’s mail-in and conditional ballot process.

The vote counts on these pages update periodically as results are reported by the Associated Press and the county registrars. On election day, those results include in-person voting as well as any mail-in ballots already received. In the days and weeks following, votes will be reported approximately once a day, as they are processed by county registrars. Voters can track their own cast ballot here.

The Associated Press surveys the numbers posted by local election officials. The AP projects the winner for all statewide and federal races using vote returns and other data. A race may be called before all expected votes are in. Results can change as more ballots are counted.

Harold Greene, a beloved Los Angeles news anchor, has died. He was 82.

His daughter, Courtney Greene, shared news of his passing on Wednesday via Facebook, adding that she was by his side, alongside his wife, Charlene Greene, when he “signed off for the last time.”

His cause of death has not yet been announced by the family, but his daughter shared that “there was an extraordinary amount of love in the room” when he passed.

“We have a feeling he’s already settling into the great newsroom in the sky, no doubt with a few suggestions on how things should be run,” Courtney wrote in the Facebook post.

Harold Greene began his career as a reporter and producer for KABC (ABC7) Los Angeles in 1970. Throughout the decade, he shared his talent across other newsrooms in California, including San Diego, where he helped launch KCST-TV (now KNSD) and a short stint in the Bay Area at the CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, where he co-anchored alongside Dave McElhatton, who died in 2010.

Greene later returned to ABC7 for multiple stints, according to the news outlet, including their top-rated “Eyewitness News” team. His final return to the flagship station was in 1982, when he was hired as a reporter and weekend anchor. He served as host/celebrity interviewer of locally produced programs such as “Hollywood Close-Up” and “A.M. Los Angeles” for the station.

In 1986, he earned one of 10 Golden Mike Awards for his coverage of the Cerritos air disaster. He left ABC7 in 2000, but continued his work as a dynamic anchor at KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV until his retirement in 2008.

His on-air image was reportedly the inspiration behind the mustachioed protagonist portrayed by Will Ferrell in the 2004 comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”

Over his career, Greene earned multiple Emmys and three Edward R. Murrow awards, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.

Yes, this old-school bakery and diner chain offers tons of delicious pies, but it also takes the rest of Thanksgiving seriously. At locations throughout L.A., including Long Beach, Cerritos and Montebello, you can order several heat-and-eat meals, including a whole turkey feast with an 11- to 13-pound bird ($199.99), a whole ham feast ($189.99), and a half ham feast for smaller gatherings ($104.99). Each comes with an array of sides, including smashed potatoes, homestyle stuffing and Southern-style green beans, plus your choice of pie. The larger meals feed six or more, while the half ham serves up to four. If you’re handling the turkey yourself, the Everything But the Bird package ($109.99) takes care of the sides. Individual turkey and ham dinners are also available, along with à la carte sides. And, of course, there’s pie — lots of it. Choose from classics like apple, pumpkin and pecan to boysenberry, banana-strawberry, pumpkin maple crunch and more. Orders can be placed online.

Nov. 3, 2026 10:52 AM PT

We are tracking all races across Los Angeles County, in dozens of cities, communities and school districts.

Of note in this year’s elections are a neck-and-neck Los Angeles mayoral race, a rematch for the L.A. County sheriff and nearly 100 city council seats (two of which are in L.A.). Less prominent races cover water district boards, school district trustees and the judge’s bench. Angelenos were asked to vote on propositions, measures and charter amendments — many of which involve funding programs with bonds or new taxes — at both the county and city levels.

With a few exceptions, the Associated Press does not call local city and county races. The county has 30 days to submit certified results to the secretary of state.

Countywide

Only three races are on the ballot for all of L.A. County.

Alex Villanueva is seeking to reclaim his position leading the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. He is running against the incumbent, Robert Luna, who unseated him in 2022.

Measure A would require binding arbitration if talks between county officials and unions representing sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, lifeguards and other public safety groups reach an impasse.

A “Yes” on Measure E would do two things: enshrine previously approved Board of Supervisors ethics reforms into the county charter, and fix a problem created by a 2024 measure that invalidated a previously approved jail alternatives funding proposal.

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Cities and communities

Six of L.A. County’s 88 cities have mayoral races, including Los Angeles, Compton, El Monte, Inglewood, Lawndale and Monrovia.

Also on the ballot are city council races and measures that would issue bonds or create taxes to fund a variety of government services.

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School districts

Across L.A. County, dozens of school and community college districts have board seats and bond measures on the ballot.

Superior Court judges

Angelenos have four Superior Court judges on their ballots.

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Water districts

Multiple water district board members will be decided by voters in Los Angeles. In several districts where voters could select multiple candidates, the two with the most votes win.

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Other races

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Nov. 3, 2026 10:52 AM PT

The 2026 elections in the city of Los Angeles include mayor, City Council, city attorney and eight ballot measures.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and her challenger, Nithya Raman, have spent $13 million on their mayoral campaigns. In the latest poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, the mayor and City Council member were locked in a dead heat, with 40% of likely L.A. voters supporting each of them. And 19% still undecided.

The race for city attorney has gained outsize attention as California Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy, with strong support from the left, has campaigned against L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney. In late-October polls about 45% of likely voters were undecided.

Voters in the city of Los Angeles also weighed in on ballot measures and City Charter amendments covering everything from taxes and fire resources to governance of airports and the port and the quality of parks.

Mayor

City attorney

City Council

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Ballot measures

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Breakfast burritos are one of L.A.’s most iconic foods and you’ll find the hefty, all-day dish offered at taquerias, Aussie-inspired cafes, French bakeries and everywhere in between, with new entrants frequently unseating former favorites. Restaurant critic Jenn Harris adds a new Long Beach cafe to the county lexicon, with a full menu of breakfast burritos wrapped in Chihuahua-style flour tortillas. At Masa y Taza, you can get your burrito stuffed with red pork chorizo; green chicken chorizo; sauteed nopales and bell pepper confit for a vegan take (vegan tortillas are available upon request); or the classic bacon, egg, potatoes and cheese. Tacos and churro French toast round out the food options, while beverages include a selection of aguas frescas made fresh daily, café de olla, a mocha with Mexican chocolate and specials like a mazapán banana latte.

“L.A. is a city of conflicting realities,” says gallerist Jeni Abramson, and she likes it that way. Evolving directly from Don’t Look Projects — the residency and project space Abramson ran alongside Omar Yousif from 2024 through early 2026 — her eponymous gallery establishes a rigorous, intellectually charged platform dedicated to contemporary photography, multimedia and conceptual art. “I’m drawn to artists whose work examines how political, economic and technological systems operate through images, whether that’s an artist working with archives, surveillance, AI, or the accumulated weight of decades spent looking at the world through a lens,” she says. “My own formation, moving between very different political and economic systems, shapes how I read that work.”

The gallery inaugurated this vision with “Remains of the Day,” presenting more than 50 years of work by Michel Auder — capturing unvarnished, intimate fragments of Andy Warhol’s Factory, his marriages to Viva and Cindy Sherman, and decades of well-chronicled and timelessly sensual bohemian life — organized with support from Hamza Walker, Abramson’s neighbor at the nearby kunsthalle the Brick, and an exceptionally talented archive-wrangler.

The gallery’s November-December presentation is “Meat Ghost,” a solo exhibition of new work by research-based multidisciplinary artist Jen Liu.

Shaped by coming of age in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, where underground electronic music offered a vital bridge between fractured systems, Abramson approaches visual culture with a sharp, systems-aware lens. That critical framework finds a natural home in Los Angeles, particularly when it comes to the city’s complex legacy of CalArts conceptualism, the entertainment industry’s image machinery and the city’s enduring subterranean countercultures. Operating outside the speculative frenzy of the ultra-high-end marketplace, Abramson says, “The collectors I work with don’t approach art as an asset class. They collect for deeply personal reasons.”

There’s a reason why people like to shop locally during the holidays. You don’t have to worry anxiously about when your gift will arrive — for the kids; it’s always for the kids. It doesn’t have to be like that.

This year, try visiting a local gift shop or a holiday craft fair and pick out a gift in person from a neighbor right here in L.A.

As in past years, many of the items in our Made in L.A. list are small-batch or made-to-order. You’ll find things including unique ceramics, puzzle candles, handmade jewelry and even a life-affirming baseball cap designed by an 11-year-old.

The best holiday gifts aren’t just those that arrive quickly. They also have heart. If you’re searching for the perfect gift, whether it’s the perfect handmade coffee mug or silk-screened tee boasting local pride, check out our list of favorites below.

Editor’s note: If you make a purchase using some of our links, the L.A. Times may be compensated. Prices and availability are subject to change. In some cases, listed websites may use location-based pricing.

When we went looking for the best independent gift shops in Los Angeles, we discovered a Tarot Arts store in South Pasadena, found a fun mix of paper goods — and stickers! — at Paper and Plant Co.’s new location in Highland Park and met three adorable shop cats at Adelaide, a charming flower and gift shop in Altadena, which was forced to close temporarily following the Eaton fire.

We’re fortunate in Los Angeles that holiday shopping doesn’t have to revolve around a crowded mall — or an Amazon delivery.

Shopping local can be fun.

At Little Flower in Pasadena, you can enjoy a meal or savory treat while browsing the shop’s shelves stocked with seasonal goods. At Curious in Hermosa Beach, you can book a haircut at a speakeasy-style barber inside the “pop and pop shop.” Or you might catch an art show at Tim Biskup’s Face Guts in Verdugo Village, right next to his unique lifestyle store, Home Guts.

This holiday season, why not try shopping in your neighborhood? Whether you need something for a teacher or loved one, shopping small helps support businesses that may have had a tough time of late. Many store owners shared that the holidays can make or break their entire year. “The holidays matter a lot to us,” says Ivana Suvak of Goods in Santa Monica. “I think in-person retail matters more than it used to. We’re all online all day, but walking into a shop, touching something, smelling it, discovering something you weren’t looking for and talking to another person … I don’t think that can be replaced.”

Shopping local makes a difference beyond just your gift recipient — it helps your neighbors. “My thought every year is: If you build it, they will come,” says Sonya Gallardo, who owns Highlow Gift Shop in Torrance. “To make the heavy investment, I have to have faith that my customers will remember my shop, and new customers will want to shop small and find me.”

Here’s a list of our favorite gift shops in Los Angeles.

Numerous cities and neighborhoods offer places to remember, in festive ways, loved ones who have passed. Here are some of the places to participate in the rich Mexican Day of the Dead tradition.

Olvera Street

Olvera Street’s Day of the Dead events have taken place for nearly 40 years. Daytime events, including entertainment, face painting and altars begin at 11 a.m., with a colorful novenario procession at 7 p.m.

Downtown

At the Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., beginning at 1:30 p.m. and until 4:30 p.m., sugar skull decorating, Aztec dance performances, puppet decorating, stories storytelling, arts and crafts, photo opportunities with La Catrina Andante, ofrenda making, and more. Open to all ages.

Gloria Molina Grand Park, from 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., a closing celebration of Dia de los Muertos features a lineup with The Negrete Family, the viral family band blending banda roots with pop flair; DJ Butchona, bringing corridos and banda to a family house party where you can come as you are; Lxs Cochinxs, serving up Cumbia Cochina with chicha, merengue, punk, and rave beats.

Families can take part in Indigenous Mexican ribbon braiding with Ponte Your Monos, sugar skull decorating with Kalaveritas Y Mas, face painting with Doodling Faces, and paper weaving with Ana Reyes. As night falls, candlelight and offerings will illuminate the park.

Los Angeles Zoo

At the Los Angeles Zoo, patrons can bring a picture of their late companion animals to display on a community altar.
For the sixth straight year, the L.A. Zoo is partnering with Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts & Education to bring the Beloved Pets Ofrenda back to the Zoo. It’s designed to honor the memory of cherished animal companions that have passed away, and all Zoo guests may participate. Staff from the Zoo’s Learning & Engagement team will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to help create altar.

Highland Park

The Northeast Los Angeles Día de los Muertos Festival takes place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Heritage Square Museum, 3510 Pasadena Ave. Supported by the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, this free community event features traditional altars (ofrendas), Aztec dancers, live mariachi music, face painting, and local food vendors.

Glendale

Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 1712 S. Glendale Ave. will celebrate from noon until 3 p.m. with marigolds, Catrina and spirit guide artworks, community altars, marionettes, folklorico and mariachi performances, arts and crafts, face painting.

Pasadena

At Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave, there are two performances, one at 4:00 p.m. and one at 6:00 p.m. of Mariachi Tierra Mia on Sunday.

Canoga Park

Canoga Park’s 26th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival, healing through memory, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sherman Way between Topanga Canyon Blvd. and Canoga Ave. It will have dance performances, live music, a classic car show, family arts and crafts, and community altars.

Mid City

On West Adams Blvd. between Fairfax Ave. and Hauser Blvd., Mid-City has its community festival. Family friendly with live music, food trucks, art gallery, workshops, community altar & more. Live Music & Performances: Acoustic sets, the Recuerdos stage, and a Super Sonidero stage.

Santa Monica

On the Santa Monica Pier from 12:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Merry Go-Round building and West End. This year’s celebration will honor Pedro Infante and offer a classic car cruise, face painting, Aztec blessing and procession, Ballet Folklorico, mariachi music, and a communal ofrenda.

Long Beach

Long Beach’s Day of the Dead festivities return to their original location at Rainbow Lagoon, 400 E. Shoreline Dr. They begin at 1 p.m. with the duo Las Chicas Tristes and include Millikan’s Ballet Folklorico Program, Mariachi Divas, Tiancho and the Selena tribute band Como La Flor Band until 7:00 p.m.

Gardena

At the Gardena City Hall Complex, 1700 W. 162nd St. from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. celebrate life, honor loved ones, and experience the beauty of this meaningful tradition with an evening full of culture, community, and remembrance. Live entertainment, food, crafts, games, and a beautiful display of altars with a Catrina & Catrín contest. Bring a photo of a loved one for the community altar.

Downey

At Brookshire and Firestone Blvds from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. there will be arts and crafts, a chalk walk, face painting, art displays, car altars, and so much more. Decorate your own sugar skull, grab a bite to eat at the food trucks, purchase something from the mercado, pay a visit to the community altar, or go see some live entertainment.

Ontario

At the Ontario Museum of History & Art, 225 S. Euclid Avenue, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. there will be live entertainment, with Adeliade Pilar, and a Catrina competition, celebrating Día de los Muertos through elegant costume design, traditional makeup and cultural storytelling. All ages are welcome to participate.

From 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., the celebration will continue at the R. Jack Mercer Community Bandstand at Euclid Avenue and C Street, where community members can gather for a Día de los Muertos procession. Attendees are encouraged to wear their favorite Día de los Muertos attire.

Santa Ana

At the Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., celebrates a free festival from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with live music, dance performances, face painting, and family art projects.

At the Heritage Museum of Orange County, 3101 W. Harvard St, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., live entertainment, community altars, artisan crafts, and historic tours.

Fullerton

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center Día de los Muertos Festival goes from noon until 4 p.m. with live music, family fun, kids arts and crafts, local artisans and more. 1201 W. Malvern Ave.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s reelection bid, once helped by his high-profile fight against President Trump’s immigration policies, is in peril as he tries to recover from allegations of sexual misconduct.

The accusations, which Gomez denies, have left the 51-year-old Eagle Rock Democrat vulnerable to an upstart challenger from Highland Park who earned a reputation for antagonism while serving on the area’s neighborhood council.

Angela Gonzales-Torres, 31, is seizing on Gomez’s issues in the race to represent California’s 34th Congressional District, a Latino-majority territory spanning Koreatown, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Glassell Park and adjacent neighborhoods.

Gonzales-Torres, who has worked part-time jobs as an academic counselor for formerly incarcerated students and at an affordable housing development, is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and counts support from other national progressive organizations.

Over the last week, she campaigned at UC Berkeley alongside fellow progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), appeared on left-wing streamer Hasan Piker’s show and rallied in Los Angeles with Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor and activist David Hogg.

Gonzales-Torres has linked the accusation against Gomez to the politician’s onetime ally former Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Bay Area Democrat who saw his campaign for governor derailed when several women came forward with allegations of impropriety. Swalwell has also denied wrongdoing.

“We’re going to take on this apparent culture in Congress in which men appear to abuse their positions of power and abuse women and younger staffers,” she said on Piker’s show.

In August, attorneys representing a woman released a statement accusing Gomez of sexual assault. Days earlier, the House Ethics Committee had announced an inquiry into Gomez, elected in 2017, over alleged “inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.”

Gomez denied wrongdoing while acknowledging mistakes outside his marriage — a sharp contrast with his image as the lawmaker who founded the Congressional Dads Caucus to champion family-friendly policies and famously carried his infant son in a baby carrier during the protracted votes for House speaker in 2023.

Gomez has avoided the public eye since the accusations surfaced, declining media interviews and campaign appearances, giving further momentum to his opponent.

“They’re trying to fly so far under the radar to not bring attention to the [allegations] or to me,” Gonzales-Torres said during a get-out-the-vote event in Eagle Rock.

Gonzales-Torres’ history in Highland Park

Gonzales-Torres, who graduated from UCLA, has described a childhood in Highland Park, where she was raised by her mother after her father was deported to Mexico following a domestic violence charge.

Reflecting the anxieties of thirtysomethings like herself, she’s talked about going without health insurance, working multiple low-wage jobs and questioning whether she can afford children.

In 2023, she was elected to the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, on which she served two years advising City Hall on issues and policy matters. She opposed new liquor licenses and took stances against gentrification, a hot-button issue in Highland Park, where some longtime business owners and residents feel squeezed by rising rents.

Her year as president on the area council proved contentious, prompting several former colleagues to issue a statement Saturday criticizing her congressional bid.

Jens Jonasson, a member of the neighborhood council’s board of directors, characterized her tenure as chaotic, arguing that her unwillingness to compromise derailed board initiatives, including a proposed resolution supporting the Gaza Strip.

“She is not ready for the office she is asking voters to entrust to her,” Jonasson and three other board members said in the joint statement.

Darren Gold, who succeeded Gonzales-Torres as board president, alleged that she falsely accused him of shaking her. Gold was briefly removed from the board during an inquiry but reinstated after a city investigation.

In a 2024 podcast interview with Hear in L.A., Gonzales-Torres referred to Gold as a “very Zionist gentrifier man, a white man” and a “threat to my community.”

Gold told The Times he had never publicly staked out a position on Israel or Gaza.

“If she assigned me that label because I’m Jewish, that is antisemitic,” Gold said. “My concern is less about what she called me than whether she can turn her rhetoric into results and treat people respectfully when they disagree with her.”

Another board member, Caroline Aguirre, filed a police report in 2024 accusing Gonzales-Torres of aggressively pointing a finger at her during a meeting. The report did not result in an arrest or charges.

Gonzales-Torres declined to comment on the incidents involving Aguirre and Gold.

In 2025, Gonzales-Torres mounted a bid for one of 13 at-large neighborhood council seats, finishing last in a field of 23.

Her supporters pointed to her dedication to Highland Park and the work she’d done to help previously incarcerated youths.

Jesse Rosas, a Figueroa corridor business leader, echoed her concerns about neighborhood displacement and wants a representative more involved in the area.

“She’s a young lady who can bring change to the community for the better,” Rosas said. “I’ve seen her trying to do the best that she can.”

State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Pasadena-area Democrat who met Gonzales-Torres through her work as an academic counselor, said she’s impressed with her interest in challenging federal immigration laws.

“She’s had a firsthand account into some of the way that the immigration raids are directly impacting our students,” Pérez said.

Gomez runs on anti-Trump record

Despite the abuse allegations, Gomez has the power of incumbency and name recognition in a vast and diverse district.

A spokesperson pointed to his lawsuit challenging the Trump administration over access to immigrant detention centers as well as his advocacy for tenant protections and affordable housing.

If reelected, Gomez said in a statement, he aims to reverse federal healthcare cuts, lower living costs for working families and push for an end to the Iran war.

“Anyone can promise to stand up to Donald Trump, but I’ve proven I can take him on and win, whether it’s in Congress, on the picket lines, or in the courts,” Gomez said.

Both candidates back progressive priorities such as a Green New Deal and Medicare for all. Gomez advocates redirecting funding away from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while Gonzales-Torres calls for abolishing ICE.

Gonzales-Torres is also criticizing Gomez for receiving financial support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. An AIPAC-affiliated political action committee spent more than $1.7 million supporting his 2024 campaign, and the group helped direct donations this cycle.

For some voters in the district, neither candidate is ideal.

Ray Rios, president of the Hillside Homeowners Assn. in El Sereno, wants to see more from Gomez when it comes to federal funding for the district. He also voiced skepticism over the DSA’s anti-policing platform and questioned whether Gonzales-Torres can build the institutional relationships needed to deliver federal resources.

“Her lack of experience is a consideration, a big consideration,” said Rios, who intends to vote for Gomez.

While Gomez beat back progressive challengers in recent election cycles, the local DSA chapter has built momentum across the district, winning City Council seats, noted Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

“Even without the allegations, this would be a competitive race,” Guerra said. “Then you add that, and that really hurts him.”

Before it gets topped with seafood, seasonal produce and a medley of sauces, each tostada begins as a blank canvas. Local chefs are the artists, using the tostada as a vehicle to showcase their cultural backgrounds, kitchen expertise and the ingredients they love. Each bite is intentionally crafted to hit certain taste and textural marks: the crispy tostada, buttery seafood, zesty citrus and creamy avocado, plus unexpected elements that take it over the top, like tart grapefruit, piquant pickled onions or earthy salsa macha.

The best part? The seafood tostada comes ready to eat as-is, requiring no more than a dash of salsa or a squeeze of lime to complete the chef’s vision. It’s not unlike a meticulously prepared tasting menu course, except these chefs are handing over tostadas at taco trucks, food halls, raw bars and everywhere in between.

Seafood tostadas originated in coastal regions across Mexico, but in L.A., the dish pulls global influence, including a tostada topped with tuna carpaccio and cachucha pepper aioli at a Central American restaurant in Venice; salmon and chicatana ant mayo at a modern Mexican haunt in the Arts District; and scallops and wasabi aioli that merge Baja California and Japanese flavors at a Frogtown favorite.

For a refreshing bite on a hot day, or anytime really, here are 20 of the best seafood tostadas to try in L.A.

— Danielle Dorsey

Maurisio “Mauri” Tapia, the frontman of the popular SoCal indie rock act Los Retros, has been charged with four felony counts of unlawful acts with a child under the age of 10.

Tapia, a 26-year-old Moorpark resident was arrested on Oct. 8 and booked with bail set at $3 million. He was charged in Ventura County Superior Court on Monday, according to court records, and did not enter a plea.

The charges come with additional special allegations, around the victim’s vulnerability and that Tapia abused a trustworthy position. His next court date is Thursday.

Los Retros became an influential act in a wave of Latino bands drawing from vintage Mexican balladeers, American oldies and modern indie rock. Tapia played the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this year, and singles like “Someone to Spend Time With” and “Amtrak” have millions of streams and monthly listeners.

The project was a prominent act on Stones Throw Records, which had initially booked Los Retros to co-headline its 30th anniversary festival.

In a statement posted to social media, Stones Throw said that “Yesterday we learned of extremely serious and disturbing allegations against Mauri Tapia, professionally known as Los Retros. We had previously announced the cancellation of his scheduled performance at Stones Throw 30 before we were aware of these circumstances. In light of this information, we are taking steps to disassociate ourselves from Tapia and his work. We take these allegations extremely seriously and will continue to assess the situation as more information becomes available.”