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Stalwart bookstores Vroman’s in Pasadena and Book Soup in West Hollywood announced new ownership on Thursday, after a two-year search for a buyer.

Longtime owner Joel Sheldon, whose family has helmed Vroman’s for more than a century, announced his retirement in 2024. At the time, Sheldon said he was looking for “someone who shares our core values and who is committed to preserving Vroman’s as a community treasure.”

Sheldon said he found that in the new owner, Robert Hoffman, who has worked on tech regulation and other public policy in Washington, D.C., for several decades, but who grew up in Southern California with his family living in the area for generations.

“After talking with Robert and his family, I knew we had found the right stewards. They understand what makes this store special, and they’re committed to preserving that legacy while moving Vroman’s forward for our customers and the Pasadena community,” Sheldon said in a statement posted Thursday to the bookstore’s website.

Hoffman was born in Pasadena and has been visiting Vroman’s since his mother brought him in when he was 5 years old, according to the Thursday announcement.

His mother, in turn, had been introduced to the store by her grandmother, Georgia Bullock, a decades-long Pasadena resident and the first woman to serve as a municipal and superior court judge in California.

Hoffman was born in Pasadena and attended UCLA. He currently heads government relations and regulatory affairs at semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, according to his LinkedIn page.

Book Soup, a Sunset Boulevard landmark, was founded in 1975 by Glenn Goldman, a UCLA graduate student who raised investments with his friends to establish the store. Goldman died in 2009 at age 58, and Sheldon acquired the store from Goldman’s estate that year.

A post to Book Soup’s Instagram page said Hoffman and his family are “genuinely invested in this community.”

“Same shelves, same staff, same WeHo icon. Same gratitude for you,” the bookstore said in the social media post.

Vroman’s was founded in 1894 by Adam Clark Vroman, an ex-railroad worker from Illinois who moved to California hoping the sunny weather would improve his wife’s health. His wife eventually died of tuberculosis, and a brokenhearted Vroman, a bibliophile, sold off a chunk of his vast book collection to collect capital to open the store. The Sheldon family stewarded the store after Vroman’s death in 1916.

Vroman’s catered to various clientele and communities, from traveling dignitaries to academics and leisure readers on vacation. When the federal government incarcerated Japanese Americans from the San Gabriel Valley and elsewhere in the 1940s, an activist lugged books from Vroman’s to the Manzanar camp in the Owens Valley. Science fiction author Octavia Butler, who grew up in the area, frequented the bookstore.

Vroman’s second location in Hastings Ranch was forced to close in 2024 after the company was unable to reach a new lease agreement with the property owner. The store was otherwise sustainable, but was forced to close “due to increasing occupancy expenses,” the company wrote in a social media post at the time.

Vroman’s flagship location on Colorado Boulevard remains open. However, the property itself changed hands, with Sheldon selling it to GD Realty Group for $15.5 million amid uncertainty about its future.

The bookstore has a long-term lease with the real estate group, whose chief executive, Arash Danialifar, said in a statement last year to news outlet Pasadena Now that the bookstore was a “staple of the community” and that he hoped it would remain there “for the foreseeable future.”

The Sea Ranch Lodge, a focal point of a Northern California getaway destination that blends minimalist design with the rocky shores and meadows of the Sonoma County coastline, might have a growth spurt in its future.

Owners of the Lodge at Sea Ranch, which includes 17 hotel rooms, on Sept. 3 presented neighbors in the closely restricted community with plans that include 23 added guest rooms, a dining courtyard, a new dining space, a library and a “space for relaxation and movement.”

The Danish architecture firm BIG: Bjarke Ingels Group and San Francisco-based landscape architects Lutsko Associates are part of these plans. To become reality, however, those plans need to win design approval and permits from the Sea Ranch Assn. (which includes the lodge and surrounding homes) and Sonoma County.

The ram’s horns at the Sea Ranch Lodge were designed by artist Barbara Stauffacher Solomon.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The current owners of the lodge took over in 2018, completed a major renovation in 2023 and wish “to remain private,” a representative said. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the investors’ group includes San Francisco-based brothers Patrick and John Collison, who founded the tech company Stripe; venture capitalist Robin Chan; and Twitch co-founder Justin Kan.

The 53-acre lodge property is only one piece of the Sea Ranch puzzle. The surrounding development, which broke ground in 1964, includes about 2,200 homes and lots on roughly 7,000 acres, all subject to strict design standards enforced by the Sea Ranch Assn.

The homes, mostly clad in wooden exteriors, none more than two stories high, are scattered along 10 miles of coastline about 100 miles north of San Francisco. The nearest town is Gualala, about six miles north.

Rooms at the Sea Ranch Lodge often rent for $600 nightly or more. Many visitors rent neighboring Sea Ranch homes from Airbnb, Vrbo or local companies including Gualala-based Sea Ranch Rentals and Sea Ranch Escape. In fall, rental rates for homes often start around $400 nightly.

Widely praised as an model for environmentally sensitive building, the development sparked a years-long legal battle over public access to the coast. The result is a combination of private and public access: Six public-access trails cross Sea Ranch to on their way to the shoreline, while Sea Ranch residents retain access to several private beaches.

An ocean view along the trails at the Sea Ranch Lodge.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

MIAMI — Dodgers owner Mark Walter and multiple insurance companies he owns have been sued, alleging they failed to disclose an ongoing federal probe to customers while directing policyholders’ money into Walter’s other companies.

The lawsuit lists Walter, Delaware Life Insurance Co., Clear Spring Life and Annuity, TWG Global Holdings and Walter’s Guggenheim Partners investment firm as defendants.

Ira Rosner, a 67-year-old Florida man, brought the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday. He purchased a policy from Delaware Life in April and he had until late May to withdraw his money without penalty. However, the company did not disclose the investigation to him until June,

Rosner is seeking a jury trial in the lawsuit that seeks damages for negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting fraud.

TWG Global didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Walter has been under investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between companies within his business portfolio.

TWG Global Holdings is the holding company through which Walter controls Delaware Life, Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. and his stake in Guggenheim Partners. TWG Global denied any wrongdoing involving the probe in a statement last month.

Walter and co-owner Todd Boehly sold their stakes in English Premier League club Chelsea this week. Last month, Walter agreed to sell the Lakers in a surprise move less than a year after buying the NBA franchise from the Buss family. The deal is under review by the league.

The Dodgers have been adamant that Walter has no plans to sell the baseball team.

In his first offseason as the Angels’ owner, Arte Moreno landed the best player available in free agency: Vladimir Guerrero, the only player to wear an Angels cap on a Hall of Fame plaque.

Could Stan Kroenke do the same thing in his first offseason as the Angels’ owner?

Kroenke is not expected to be approved as Moreno’s successor until early next year. By then, players might be in spring training — or might still be sitting home, awaiting the end of a lockout and a subsequent free-agent signing frenzy.

The best player in this fall’s free-agent class is certain of one thing: Whenever Kroenke takes over, Anaheim instantly becomes a preferred destination for stars across the major leagues, with a new owner not just promising to spend to win but a demonstrated history of doing so.

“Absolutely,” Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal told The Times. “Not only an owner that has obvious financial backing, but an owner that has turned the Rams into what the Rams are. I think they’re the Super Bowl favorite this year. There’s an owner that cares about winning.

“The impact he brings to the Angels? You bring an owner that really cares about winning and is willing to do whatever it takes to win and invest, not only with players on the field but all the stuff behind the scenes, like clubhouse renovations. I’m sure there will be a lot of stuff there that changes to make it state-of-the-art, because all that stuff matters.”

Under Perry Minasian, the Angels’ general manager from 2021-26, the largest free-agent signing approved by Moreno: pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, for $63 million.

Kroenke would be the richest owner in baseball, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $24 billion.

Skubal said he is focused on helping the Dodgers toward a third consecutive World Series championship and has not thought much about his free agency. Speaking generally, he said, it is likely that players that might not have considered signing with the Angels might now do so.

“You want to feel wanted,” Skubal said. “And you have an owner that is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Winning is the most important thing in sports. When you get yourself in that environment, I think guys do want to play there.

“Just look around the league: Guys tend to gravitate toward teams that are winning and teams that are in the playoff hunt every single year, with World Series aspirations every single year. I think free agents gravitate toward that in general. I’m sure that will be the case.”

From the players’ viewpoint, the successive sales of major league franchises at record values — the San Diego Padres at $3.9 billion, then the Angels at $4 billion — reflects good economic times. From the owners’ standpoint, the mid-market Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA just sold at a $4.5 billion valuation.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has cited lagging franchise values in baseball as a reason owners want a salary cap, which the NBA has. Yet the Padres and Angels sold before their owners found out whether they could secure the salary cap the league insists is a primary objective in collective bargaining.

“I think it’s pretty obvious what that says, right?” said Skubal, one of eight players on the union’s executive subcommittee.

“If that’s the complaint that ownership and MLB is holding onto, I think they’re proving themselves wrong by selling these teams for record values. I think those clubs selling continues to support the argument that our game is in a really good spot.”

The owners also pitch a salary cap as a tonic for competitive balance, citing what they say is a $441-million gap between the Dodgers’ top-ranked payroll and the Miami Marlins’ bottom-ranked payroll.

The players point to franchise sales as another economic indicator. The Padres last sold for $800 million, in 2012. The Angels last sold for $183.5 million, in 2003.

“It’s a very profitable business venture,” Skubal said. “The sport itself is great. The product on the field is outstanding.”

Mike Trout was practically beaming. He dropped the phrase “fresh start” four times in an interview that barely lasted five minutes.

The burden of the Angels’ failures has been disproportionately his to bear. He has insisted that his path to Cooperstown would run through Anaheim and only Anaheim. He has played 16 seasons for an owner that blessed him with half a billion dollars, treated his family like royalty and stranded him in position to conclude a star-spangled career without ever winning a postseason game.

On Tuesday, Trout learned that the Angels would have a new owner: Stan Kroenke. Trout got off the call, looked up Kroenke and has not stopped smiling since.

“What a track record,” Trout said. “Wherever he buys, he wins.”

Rams owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to purchase a majority stake of the Angels on Tuesday. The deal is pending regulatory review and MLB approval.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

The Rams. The Colorado Avalanche. The Denver Nuggets. Arsenal.

So what if the Angels have baseball’s longest playoff drought? They now have baseball’s richest owner, with a net worth valued by Forbes at $24 billion.

Kroenke bought a controlling share of the Angels at a valuation of $4 billion, a record for a major league team, with current owner Arte Moreno retaining a small stake, a source with knowledge of the deal not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. The sale includes the team-owned television and radio outlets, ABTV and AM 830. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and MLB approval.

In 2009, ESPN put Moreno on the cover of its magazine, proclaiming the Angels delivered the best value of the then-122 teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. In this decade, the experience had been so devalued by 12 consecutive losing seasons that resale tickets for Tuesday’s game against the mighty New York Yankees were available for $5, amid a season of fans regularly chanting “Sell the Team!”

“He’s aware of the chants,” Angels president Molly Jolly said. “He knows about them. At the end of the day, this is about having the right next owner more than it is about anything else.”

Jolly wouldn’t say whether Kroenke or Moreno initiated the negotiations. She did say the sale was not conducted through a formal bidding process, but proceeded through face-to-face discussions between Kroenke and Moreno.

“He has a traditional sense about him,” Jolly said. “To be able to sit down with another gentleman and have a conversation and talk about baseball and the franchise, that resonates for how he thinks and looks at things, rather than it being a complex conversation.

“I think that’s what was the ‘Why now?’ It was the right person having the right conversation with him.”

As far as she knew, Jolly said, the conversations had not started when she assumed the team presidency in April, but the possibility of a sale had “always stayed out there” after Moreno invited bids in 2022 and then decided not to sell.

In July, after joining the Angels as interim general manager, John Mozeliak said he had spoken with Moreno for hours and the topic of whether the owner might sell the team “never came up.” On Tuesday, Mozeliak acknowledged that, when he started his position, Moreno “had mentioned that this was a possibility.”

Fans at Angel Stadium hold up signs during a game against the Yankees Tuesday marking Stan Kroenke’s agreement to purchase the Angels from Arte Moreno.

(Mark J. Terrill / Ap Photo/mark J. Terrill)

The sale is not expected to be finalized until early next year. Kroenke has not done the usual due diligence that would precede a sale — meeting with team management and touring the stadium — and has not introduced himself to officials from the city of Anaheim. The city owns the stadium and surrounding parking lots, a 150-acre site that city officials would love to see Kroenke develop.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the Angels. Mozeliak, who ran the St. Louis Cardinals when the Rams played in St. Louis, said he never has met Kroenke. He did recall speaking with Kevin Demoff, who oversees all of Kroenke’s teams.

Mozeliak has no idea whether Kroenke might invite him to stay, but for now the plan of rebuilding the team and reorganizing the front office remains on course, in the interest of serving fans weary and frustrated after 12 consecutive losing seasons.

“We’ve been preaching change all along,” Mozeliak said. “Now they’re going to see even more.”

And, he noted, the Padres and Angels had sold at successive record prices for MLB teams, despite the prospect of a lockout and owners’ hopes for a new collective bargaining agreement with a salary cap intended in part to raise franchise values.

“A lot of people thought teams wouldn’t sell until there was a new CBA,” Mozeliak said. “Clearly, that prediction was wrong.”

In the clubhouse, no one was talking about that. Neto was talking about the call Trout made to “some of the Rams guys” for a scouting report on Kroenke.

“I reached out to one Rams player,” Trout said, smiling. “He exaggerates a little bit.”

Still, given the national attention given last winter to the air conditioning not working properly in an Angel Stadium weight room, Neto said the evaluation from the Rams’ locker room was glowing.

“The most important thing they said is, he just wants what’s important for us,” Neto said. “That’s to make the clubhouse better, in the sense of whatever we need, we get, whether that’s amenity-wise, speakers, whatever it is, he’ll make sure we get those.”

Trout was so enthusiastic that, when a reporter asked if he was excited about what the new vision might be, he answered before the reporter could finish asking the question.

“No doubt,” Trout said. “Obviously, when you’re frustrated the last — I don’t know how many years it’s been, but to hear the news like this, I’m super excited to have this change.”

For his part, Neto sounded ready to pitch Tarik Skubal on pitching for the Angels — or, at least, pitching Kroenke on the possibility of recruiting him in free agency.

“Who doesn’t want to be in Southern California?” Neto said. “The weather is beautiful here. We have the best fans, in my opinion. We have a beautiful stadium.

“Who wouldn’t want to be here and play in this organization, in this market? It would be a no-brainer.”

Trout said the ownership change “was needed” and said there was “a good vibe around the clubhouse,” but both he and Neto expressed appreciation for Moreno.

“Arte was very supportive of us, whatever the outside noise was,” Neto said.

“I’ve seen a lot of hate, a lot of love, a lot more hate. But, as a player who has played under him, it was a lot of love. He treated us well, and that’s all you can ask for as a player.”