nail salon

Celebrity makeup artist and entrepreneur Patrick Ta admits that he is constantly falling in and out of love with Los Angeles — the place he’s called home for the last 13 years.

“[But] right now, I’m obsessed with Los Angeles,” says the San Diego native. “I feel like I am experiencing new friendship groups. For me, what makes a place magical are the people that you surround yourself with, and this entire beginning of almost summer has been the best networking and relationship building that I’ve ever had in Los Angeles. I feel like L.A. is exciting me again.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

While Ta has lived in Southern California for most of his life, he got his start in the makeup industry in Arizona. After convincing his parents to help him open a tanning and nail salon (which he eventually had to file bankruptcy for), his roommate helped him get a job at MAC, where he honed his skills and became a freelance makeup artist. He eventually relocated to L.A., and with the help of social media — where he posted his work — his career took off, and celebrities like Shay Mitchell, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Gigi Hadid and Camila Cabello began seeking him out to do their makeup. In 2019, he launched his eponymous beauty brand, which is known for its glowy products.

As a first generation Vietnamese American, Ta spent his Sundays at one of his mom’s nail salons in San Diego.

“Weekends were their busiest [day], so we didn’t have the weekends off to just chill, but after work I remember going to Red Lobster,” says Ta. “That was such a big treat for me and my [older] sister because seafood was so expensive, and my mom would make us share. But if we were good with her at work, she would treat us to eating out.”

These days whenever he’s not traveling, Ta tries to reserve his Sundays for spending time with friends. On the agenda is hitting up his favorite flea market, enjoying a seafood brunch at Catch and sober bar hopping in West Hollywood.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

8 a.m.: Morning workout

I wake up anywhere from 8 to 9 a.m. I have a home gym, so I’ll usually work out with my friend. He will come over and we’ll do our own circuit. I’m trying to be better and more consistent with it. Then we will either go and get a green juice from Whole Foods because it’s walking distance from my house, and we always go for a little sprint.

12 p.m.: Stop by the flea market

I will go home afterward to chill for a little bit, and then I’ll see what my friends are doing so I can start planning my day. I love going to the Grove and the Melrose flea market, especially if a friend is in town. There’s a perfume stand there that I always buy a mango sticky rice perfume [from], and it also comes in a candle. I also love wearing hats, so I like seeing what hats they have. I like the Melrose flea market because I always run into people I know, too. I also love H. Lorenzo. I always shop at the shop on Sunset Boulevard.

3 p.m.: Seafood for brunch

It’s so cheesy, but I love Catch. I love sushi. I love seafood, and it’s nice because it’s on a rooftop. I love a sugar-free Red Bull. My favorite dishes are the truffle sashimi, the mushroom pasta with shrimp added and their baked crab hand rolls.

4 p.m.: Sober bar hopping in West Hollywood

Sometimes I want to go to West Hollywood to see my gay friends and be out and about and bar hop. What’s so great about West Hollywood is you can walk around and see where everyone is. I don’t go to a specific bar, because I actually don’t drink. It’s more of a thing to do with my friends.

7 p.m.: Netflix and steak

I’ll finish off my day or any sort of socializing around 7 p.m., then I’ll go home and make myself some food. I have been obsessed with just eating a steak with avocado and A.1. Sauce, and watching whatever TV shows I like on Hulu or Netflix. Right now, I’m obsessed with the show “Sirens” [on Netflix].

10 p.m.: Do my rigorous skincare routine

I am super crazy about my skincare, and on Sundays I really try to condition my hair, my scalp, and I will always do a face mask. Then I’ll do my skincare routine. I love exfoliating my body. I have this silicone exfoliant pad that I will use to fully exfoliate my body. I’ll call it a night usually by 11 p.m. I always go into the office on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I don’t really like to stay up that late on Sunday.

Several Vietnamese American-owned nail salons in Orange County have sued California, alleging the state’s labor code is discriminating against their businesses.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Friday, alleges that the state’s labor code violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law by forcing nail technicians to be classified as employees.

The suit argues that professionals in the beauty industry for years have operated as independent contractors, renting space in a salon and bringing in their own clients. That changed at the beginning of 2025, when nail technicians under the labor code became required to be classified as employees, the lawsuit said.

State Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster), who represents Little Saigon and surrounding communities, said his office has fielded much concern from Vietnamese American nail salon owners.

“Their lives have turned upside down overnight,” Ta said at a news conference Monday morning. “It is not just unfair, it is discrimination.”

The switch in labor law came in 2019 when Assembly Bill 5, a sweeping law governing worker classification rules across various industries, was approved. It codified a California Supreme Court decision creating a stricter test to judge whether a worker should be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor.

AB 5 sought to crack down on industries in which many workers are misclassified as independent contractors, who are not afforded protections including minimum wage, overtime pay and workers’ compensation that employees have access to. But various industries have said AB 5 targets them unfairly, creating an uneven playing field for businesses.

Some professions received carve-outs, including doctors, accountants, real estate agents and hairdressers. Others such as truckers, commercial janitors and physical therapists must abide by the tighter classification rules.

Some implementation of the law was staggered to give industries, including nail technicians, time to adapt.

But Ân Tran, who owns two franchisee locations of Happy Nails & Spa that are among the businesses suing the state, said the law remains burdensome. Hiring employees is more costly, and it’s unfair that businesses hiring hairdressers, aestheticians and other beauty workers aren’t subject to the requirement, he said.

“We don’t have customers all the time. That’s going to cost us a lot more to pay them for the downtime when they don’t have any customers,” Tran said in an interview.

The requirement also defies the flexible work culture and control over their clients that many manicurists prefer, Tran said.

Emily Micelle was among several manicurists who spoke in support of the salon owners’ lawsuit at the Monday news conference.

“No one forced me to be here today. I chose to be here because I want to express my side of the story,” Micelle said. “Being [an independent contractor] means I can work for myself, I can be my own boss, I can create my own branding within the business, I choose my own hours, I choose my own clients. … The law means to protect us workers, but [being an employee] doesn’t work for everyone.”

The lawsuit describes how the nail salon industry in California became dominated by Vietnamese workers in recent decades, when Vietnamese refugees began fleeing to the U.S. in large numbers in 1975 after the fall of Saigon in America’s failed military intervention in Southeast Asia.

The industry “has become synonymous with the Vietnamese community,” the lawsuit said, with more than 82% of nail technicians in California being Vietnamese American and some 85% women.

The legal action highlights the tension between how small businesses can serve as a pathway for immigrants and others to build wealth, and how workers at times might have little formal recourse for low wages or unsafe work conditions, experts have said.

Researchers with the UCLA Labor Center last year analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data and released a report estimating that the hourly median wage for nail salon workers in 2021 was $10.94, below the then-$13 minimum wage for small businesses.

In 2017, four women sued a salon in Tustin, alleging that the owners had created bogus time records and paychecks to create an illusion that manicurists were paid lawfully by the hour, but instead workers were compensated based on a 60% commission system where their pay was further deducted for using business supplies, such as spa chairs.

Businesses that filed suit include multiple locations of Blue Nail Bar, Happy Nails & Spa and Holly & Hudson Nail Lounge.