As with all of Los Angeles, one word or phrase can’t characterize the San Fernando Valley, or its 1.8 million residents. When it comes to dining within its 250-plus-square miles, the golden rule germane throughout Southern California very much applies here: Look past the visual ubiquity of strip malls and chock-o-block businesses to find the beauty — the cultural specificity — just inside the sun-bleached storefronts.
I remember my first meal in the Valley. It was at Brent’s Deli in Northridge in 1997. I was visiting Los Angeles, and as we settled into one of the booths spaced in neat rows the friend who lived in the area talked about the 1994 earthquake, how it felt to her like yesterday and already the distant past. I think she took me to Brent’s because I was a vegetarian at the time.
The menu had many meatless, filling choices: cinnamon-laced noodle kugel, latkes I layered with sour cream and apple sauce, kasha varnishkes with lots of caramelized onions but with no brown gravy for me, since it contained roast beef drippings.
My second meal in the Valley was nearly 20 years and about three lifetimes later, in the middle of my run as Eater’s national critic before I moved to L.A. in 2018. The meal, at Kobee Factory in Van Nuys, also carries a memory of cinnamon, one of the sweet spices infused in the broth in which rice-stuffed lamb intestines are served.
I was far from my vegetarian days, and the delicate, boudin blanc-like qualities of the innards complemented whirls of hummus, crackling fried kibbeh and a grilled, soft-crisp variation of kibbeh favored in Syria, where owner Waha Ghreir grew up.
Dishes at Kobee Factory in Van Nuys.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Both of these culinary tentpoles show up in our guide.
So does plenty of sushi, certainly along the “Sushi Row” stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City but also far beyond. Stephanie Breijo has an essay in the package on Tetsuya Nakao, the silver-coiffed 62-year-old Asanebo sushi chef who has brought a new angle of fame to the restaurant with viral social media videos. Breijo observes Nakao filming on a recent Sunday: “He dusts so much edible gold over the top it looks like the [crispy-rice] ‘pizza’ passed through the glitter aisle at a craft store, a dish truly made for the eye of the algorithm.”
Thai restaurants have been shaping the Valley’s culinary landscape since the 1980s. We name four of our very favorites, including Anajak Thai, the meteor that has my vote for the Valley’s absolute best restaurant.
Breijo has another story tracing Anajak’s recent two-month closure for a summer renovation. The space will have an additional dining room, an open kitchen with new equipment (including a refurbished wok station long manned by chef-owner Justin Pichetrungsi’s father Ricky) and art made by Justin’s grandfather. It reopens this weekend; report coming soon.
Sketches of dishes, and some that came to fruition, at Anajak Thai
(Stephanie Breijo and Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
The vintage by-the-glass list at Augustine Wine Bar.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
One final bonus: Vanessa Anderson (a.k.a. the Grocery Goblin) reports on Iranian spices, and other treasures of the cuisine, sold at Q Market & Produce in Lake Balboa.
And did I mention, during a heat wave, the cooling cherry soup that begins a Hungarian meal in Encino?
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The Times’ Food Bowl Night Market, this year presented by Square, is taking place Oct. 10 and 11 at City Market Social House downtown. Among the participating restaurants announced so far are Holbox, Baroo, the Brothers Sushi, Oy Bar,Heritage Barbecue, Crudo e Nudo, Hummingbird Ceviche House, Rossoblu, Perilla LA, Evil Cooks and Holy Basil. VIP tickets that allow early entry always go fast. Check lafoodbowl.com for tickets and info.
Daniel Miller writes an obituary for Dan Tana, the founder of eponymous entertainment industry hangout Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood. He died on Aug. 17 at 90.
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Los Angeles has many valleys, but only one is the Valley. You know it as soon as you crest over the 101, 405, 170 or 5 freeways, its bordering hills verdant or golden depending on the time of year. Pull off almost any exit and you’ll immediately be greeted by shopping centers, strip malls, mom-and-pop markets and fine-dining dens serving up some of the city’s most ambitious and heartfelt meals.
Bounded by mountains on all sides, the San Fernando Valley spans 260 square miles and is home to nearly half of L.A.’s population, around 1.8 million people. Across its expanse, it assumes many identities.
Our favorite places to eat and drink in the 818. From high-end sushi to burger shacks, tiki bars, dives and more.
Long before its peaks and basins were crisscrossed with highways and miles-long boulevards, the Tongva people lived along the water-rich and wooded areas of the Valley for more than 7,000 years. In the late 18th century, Spanish settlers by way of Mexico traversed over the Santa Monica Mountains into what is now known as Encino.
More than a century ago, the citrus orchards began to give way as Warner Bros., Walt Disney and Universal studios built out their filming lots. A tinge of Tinseltown and tourism followed, while room to grow brought a midcentury housing boom to the region. Themed restaurants and tiki haunts popped up to keep diners entertained. Now, it’s difficult to find a Valley establishment that hasn’t made a TV or film appearance.
As Valley dwellers began settling in — immigrants, suburban families, celebrities — its food scene flourished in step.
On Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, you’ll find Casa Vega, its dim interior practically untouched since Rafael “Ray” Vega first founded it in 1956. The son of Tijuana-born immigrants who ran popular Cafe Caliente on Olvera Street beginning in the 1930s, Vega introduced many Valley diners — including a flock of silver screen regulars — to Mexican-American staples such as fajitas and enchiladas.
Farther south in Studio City, take your pick from a parade of Japanese restaurants along Sushi Row. The stretch of Ventura Boulevard became a hub for high-end Japanese cuisine after pioneering chef Kazunori Nozawa opened his Edo-style sushi restaurant Nozawa in 1987. Though that location has since closed, Nozawa has spawned a global restaurant empire with his KazuNori, Nozawa Bar and Sugarfish chains.
Pull off the main drag and you’ll find hidden gem burger shacks, taquerias, hot dog joints, kebab shops and neighborhood delis. Meanwhile, Valley residents are spearheading new concepts.
“We’re born and bred Valley kids, so we had to do it in the Valley,” said Marissa Shammas on opening Yala Coffee, a Middle Eastern-inspired cafe, with her husband Zain Shammas in Studio City. “[People] commonly think [the Valley] is where things go to die — and we think that that’s where things go to be more.”
There’s more to discover than ever when it comes to dining in the 818 (or 747). Eight Times food writers spent months exploring the Valley in search of the best for this guide, reconnecting with old favorites and finding new surprises.
For me, it was also an exercise in nostalgia. Old shortcuts returned like muscle memory as I reacquainted myself with the Woodland Hills blocks where I navigated young adulthood. In North Hollywood, my home for several years into my early 30s, former standbys suddenly returned to the forefront of my mind: The tiki bar across the street from my old apartment, a hole-in-the-wall Puerto Rican restaurant where salsa music draws you in, a vibrant Jamaican bistro that now sits in Sherman Oaks. I found myself wishing I could linger in the Valley longer.
Here are our favorites, spanning Filipino-Mexican fusion in a Northridge car wash-turned-restaurant, a DMV-adjacent street-stand for lamb barbacoa in Arleta and a fast-growing mini chain of Sephardic pastries. It’s time to dig into the Valley. — Danielle Dorsey
Long before the sun goes down, this downtown San Fernando wine bar-coffee shop — where the community is so tight-knit it’s hard to tell who’s an employee — is already putting on a show. Catch Bodevi Wine & Espresso Bar on one of its vinyl nights to find a DJ table with a rainbow-colored disco ball, where ’80s records blast from a speaker and customers dance in the middle of the room. Earlier in the day, however, you wouldn’t expect such a joyous transformation — laptops are usually out at tables and bar seating, next to cold brews, matcha lattes and maybe an avocado toast or burrata pistachio sandwich.
One of the best parts of Bodevi is the space itself, decorated with colorful wall decor, leather chairs and houseplants. Owned by husband-and-wife duo Joeleen and Miguel Medina, who also own Truman House Tavern next door, Bodevi has a boho-chic aesthetic that matches both its daytime coffee shop crowd and its eccentric evenings, when customers often drift to the back room for board games, beer and wine in hand.
Whether you go for a DJ set or a journaling session (check Instagram for upcoming events), accompany your evening with charcuterie. Bodevi offers two options: one charcuterie board and a smaller personal plate. It also has $18 wine flights — for the most variety, opt for the Studio 54, which comes with a light South African Champagne, a Portuguese white, a bright rosé and a 2021 Pinot Noir.
San Bernardino police responded to what they described as “an officer-involved shooting” involving federal immigration officers Saturday morning.
When police officers responded to the area of Acacia Avenue and Baseline Street shortly before 9 a.m., they encountered immigration agents who said they had fired at a suspect who then fled the scene.
Soon after, according to the San Bernardino Police Department, a man — who has not been identified — contacted the dispatch center, saying that masked men had tried to pull him over, broke his car window and shot at him. He said he didn’t know who they were and asked for police assistance.
In a statement Saturday night, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said agents had been conducting a targeted enforcement operation in San Bernardino and said that “Customs and Border Protection] officers were injured during a vehicle stop when a subject refused to exit his vehicle and tried to run them down.”
“In the course of the incident the suspect drove his car at the officers and struck two CBP officers with his vehicle,” the statement read. Because of that, the official said, a CBP officer discharged his firearm “in self-defense.”
According to a news release from the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, federal agents broke the driver and passenger windows of the vehicle and fired three times. Video the group uploaded on Facebook appeared to capture the interaction, showing agents wearing “police” vests and shouting at those inside to roll down the window.
“No la voy a abrir,” the man said from inside, saying he wasn’t going to open it.
Soon after, the video captured the sound of shattering glass and what sounded like three shots being fired. The video showed a man wearing a hat with CBP on it.
The video appears to show the vehicle leaving after the windows are smashed, but does not capture the driver striking the officers.
“This was a clear abuse of power,” the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice said in its release. “Firing at civilians, harassing families without cause, and targeting community voices must stop.”
According to the San Bernardino Police Department, officers later located the vehicle in the 1000 block of Mt. View Drive and made contact with the man, but they said it was unclear what federal agents wanted him for.
“Under the California Values Act, California law enforcement agencies are prohibited from assisting federal officials with immigration enforcement, so our officers left the scene as the investigation was being conducted by federal authorities,” police said in a news release.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson misidentified the police department, describing it as the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, and said local authorities had the man in custody but then set him free.
“This decision was made despite the subject refusing to comply and wounding two officers — another terrible example of California’s pro-sanctuary policies in action that shield criminals instead of protecting communities,” the unidentified spokesperson said.
At 1:12 p.m., federal officials requested assistance from the department because a large crowd was forming as they attempted to arrest the suspect, the police said. At that time, federal agents told police he was wanted for allegedly assaulting a federal officer.
Police responded and provided support with crowd control, according to the department.
The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice said in a news release that the agents didn’t present a warrant and remained outside the home until 3:45 p.m., “pressuring the individual to come outside.”
The group added that two community members “were detained using unnecessary force, including one for speaking out.”
“Federal agents requested assistance during a lawful arrest for assaulting a federal officer when a crowd created a potential officer safety concern,” the police department said in a statement. “This was not an immigration-related arrest, which would be prohibited under California law.”
Federal investigators are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting, according to the police.
Alanna Kennedy scored a late equalizer and Angel City tied the San Diego Wave 1-1 on Saturday night in their Southern California rivalry.
Just as the Wave looked to be securing a first home win over Angel City since 2022, Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir sent in a cross and Kennedy scored on a header to make it 1-1 in the second minute of stoppage time. The goal was Kennedy’s first for Angel City.
San Diego opened the scoring in the 85th minute, when Makenzy Robbe curled in a shot across the goal from the right side of the box. It was Robbe’s first goal of the season, but her 10th career goal for the Wave.
In the first half, after being struck in the head by the ball, Angel City defender Sarah Gorden left the game with a concussion.
The fourth-place Wave (7-4-4) are undefeated in their last four matches, although the last three have been ties.
Angel City (4-7-4) remains 11th in the standings and is winless in its last seven games. The team is winless since coach Alex Straus came aboard in June.
Maybe you’ve heard about San Francisco’s doom loop. But have you met its jumbo nude?
As just about any San Franciscan could tell you, “doom loop” is shorthand for the city’s post-pandemic troubles. Many of those worries stem from dwindling demand for office space, but would-be visitors have also been nervous about crime and withering retail energy.
That brings us to the jumbo nude. It’s a 45-foot, semi-translucent sculpture of a woman now standing at the foot of Market Street, officially named R-Evolution. Not everyone loves her, but she is one among many new or improved elements attracting locals and visitors these days.
Even with San Francisco’s office vacancy rate hovering around 35%, the sun keeps rising and visitors keep smiling, most of them, much of the time.
Make your way to the city and you can see major park upgrades at the Presidio and Ocean Beach. Or you can frolic among massive balloon installations, vintage photo booths and ‘60s artifacts in permanent and pop-up places that bill themselves as museums.
There’s also the prospect of a new “bay lights” show with 50,000 illumination points on the Bay Bridge. (Those lights were supposed to be on by now, but installation snags led to a delay; organizers say they’rehoping to be ready “sometime this fall.”)
Also, the food doesn’t hurt. When our critic Bill Addison chose 101 of his favorite California restaurants recently,35 of them were in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, crime has been falling since early 2023, especially this year. Tourist arrivals are 11% behind 2019 but have grown steadily since 2021.
As this list attests, there’s plenty to see. But first, we should talk about a few places not on this list.
One is Fisherman’s Wharf. It has added a SkyStar Ferris wheel (which migrated from Golden Gate Park in 2023) and the Port of San Francisco says it will soon begin a big redevelopment, but the area remains dominated by T-shirt shops and multiple old-school restaurants that have been shuttered since the pandemic. The neighborhood was to have added a Museum of Failure this year but, not kidding, the enterprise collapsed amid anintellectual property dispute before opening. The storefront “failure” sign was still up in June, creating the snarkiest photo op ever.
About This Guide
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to [email protected].
Another mixed bag isUnion Square, whose hotels, department stores and passing cable cars have made it the starting point for legions of tourists through the decades. The square is still pleasant by day, with young visitors drawn to assorted free games (ping-pong, badminton, cornhole) while cable cars pass, tourists line up for Big Bus tours and guests at the adjacent Beacon Grand Hotel (formerly the Sir Francis Drake) explore the neighborhood. But many key retailers have shuttered, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, and Macy’s will follow. (The company has said it will close as soon as it finds a buyer for the property.)
“We feel safe here. But kind of disappointed by all the closures,” said Melinda Parker, visiting San Francisco with her husband from Boise. Also, Parker said, “a city should be judged on the quality of its public toilets. They have one here, and it’s closed.”
Still, there are more than enough bright spots to light up a San Francisco visit. Let’s go back for a second to Tunnel Tops, one of the city’s recently improved park spaces. You grab a snack, commandeer a patio table and gaze upon the Presidio and Golden Gate. A family debate erupts over whether to hit a museum next or try an urban hike. This is a sort of problem, but a nice choice to have. And San Francisco now offers plenty like that.
At the mouth of the San Dieguito lagoon, separating Del Mar and Solana beaches, is Del Mar Dog Beach, a local treasure. The north side of the river mouth boasts a giant area of sand with several active beach volleyball courts near the street. The beach wraps north around the headland, offering a great strand for walking your pups or going for a jog. Note that the dog beach stops just south of the Del Mar Shores Stairway.
The surf can be fun on the right tides, but it is most often best for beginners unless the waves reach over 3 feet and begin to close out quickly. It is a popular spot with foil boarders who like to practice on the rolling waves commonly found on smaller days.
If you don’t like the occasional wag of a wet dog, you should pick another spot. There is a short trail leading up to the cliffs. From the top, you get a great view of the strand heading south into Del Mar with Torrey Pines and La Jolla in the distance. At high tides, you lose access to a strand that heads north to Solana Beach for short periods.
Best for: Dog lovers, volleyball, walkers and joggers, families
Bathrooms: Porta-potties
Parking: Paid street parking along Coast Highway
Dog-friendly: Yes, off-leash from the day after Labor Day to June 15 and from dawn to 8 a.m. the rest of the year, otherwise must be leashed.
ADA-accessible: Yes, paved ramp leading to the beach, but there is no path leading out onto the sand.
What’s nearby: The Del Mar Fairgrounds, home of the Sound, an indoor music venue that fits 1,900, is just behind the beach. Also, try the breakfast burrito at Ranch 45 Local Provisions.
A Texas Lyme-disease researcher who came to the U.S. from South Korea at age 5 and is a longtime legal permanent resident was detained at San Francisco International Airport for a week, according to his lawyer.
Tae Heung “Will” Kim, 40, was returning from his brother’s wedding in South Korea on July 21 when he was pulled out of secondary screening for unknown reasons, said Eric Lee, an attorney who says he’s been unable to talk with his client.
Lee said that he has no idea where Kim is now and that Kim has not been allowed to communicate with anyone aside from a brief call last week to his family. A Senate office told him that Kim was being moved to an immigration facility in Texas, while a representative from the Korean Consulate told Kim’s family that he was going to be sent somewhere else.
“We have no idea where he is going to end up,” Lee said. “We have no idea why.”
Kim has misdemeanor marijuana possession charges from 2011 on his record, but his lawyer questioned whether that was the kind of offense that would merit being held in a windowless room underneath the terminals at the airport for a week.
Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the L.A. Times. But a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that “this alien is in ICE custody pending removal hearings.”
The spokesperson also said: “If a green card holder is convicted of a drug offense, violating their status, that person is issued a Notice to Appear and CBP coordinates detention space with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”
Kim’s attorney said if his client was detained because he “had a little weed when he was pulled over 15 years ago in his 20s,” that was absurd, adding: “If every American who had a tiny amount of weed in their car was detained under these conditions…”
Kim’s mother, Yehoon “Sharon” Lee, told the Washington Post that she was worried about her son’s health in custody.
“He’s had asthma ever since he was younger,” she told the Washington Post. “I don’t know if he has enough medication. He carries an inhaler, but I don’t know if it’s enough, because he’s been there a week.”
His mother told the paper that she and her husband entered the U.S. on business visas in the 1980s but by the time they became naturalized citizens, Kim was too old to get automatic citizenship.
Kim has a green card and has spent most of his life in the U.S. After helping out in his family’s doll-manufacturing business after the death of his father, he recently entered a doctoral program at Texas A&M and is helping to research a vaccine for Lyme disease.
There have been multiple reports nationwide of U.S. permanent residents being detained at airports, particularly those with criminal records, no matter how minor. These cases have prompted some experts to warn that green-card holders should avoid leaving the country, to reduce the risk of not being allowed back.
SAN DIEGO — As the Chargers’ team bus rolled down the freeway past Poway and toward San Diego, Tony Jefferson couldn’t help but smile.
This feels like home.
Eight years after the Chargers left San Diego, the organization is reintroducing itself to the city with two days of training camp this week. Fans who couldn’t secure tickets to practice at the University of San Diego on Tuesday still clamored for a glimpse from the top of a nearby hill. Jefferson, a San Diego native who grew up rooting for the Chargers, has been happy to see the support grow after the franchise’s contentious departure.
“With any sports team that leaves the city, [fans] feel empty when it comes to that spot,” said Jefferson, who signed with the Chargers last year. “But I think we’re gradually filling that void back.”
Coach Jim Harbaugh’s numerous ties to San Diego and instantaneous winning appeared to smooth out a potential reunion with the city. When team executives approached him about returning to San Diego for training camp, the coach eagerly agreed. He suggested the University of San Diego campus, where he got his head coaching start in 2004 for the Toreros.
More than two decades later, this week’s practices are a homecoming for Harbaugh, but it’s not an olive branch for the Chargers organization, he insisted.
“It is all about the great fans we have,” Harbaugh said in June. “We want to go to our fans. We want to go to our Chargers supporters and they’re everywhere.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh instructs players during training camp in San Diego on Tuesday.
(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
Although the Chargers returned this week, they didn’t throw the doors open to all fans. Both of their practices were limited in attendance. Tuesday’s practice was open to only active-duty military and veterans. Wednesday’s is reserved for season ticket holders.
Players signed autographs for almost an hour after practice Tuesday. Quarterback Justin Herbert looped back twice in front of a swath of fans that ran three bus-lengths long. Safety Derwin James Jr., who never played in San Diego after getting drafted in 2018, was in awe of all the No. 3 jerseys he saw in the crowd.
“It made my heart warm just having so much support,” James said. “I can’t wait to give them something to cheer for.”
Harbaugh’s history as a player has helped the Chargers tap back into their roots while celebrating their most iconic players. The coach who played two seasons for the Chargers called former teammate Rodney Harrison to inform the safety that he would be inducted into the Chargers’ Hall of Fame in October. Legendary tight end Antonio Gates will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in less than two weeks. Five years after playing the final season of his 17-year career with the Indianapolis Colts, quarterback Philip Rivers reversed course to put a more fitting punctuation mark on his career by announcing Monday that he would officially retire as a Charger.
Doubling down on the nostalgia, the Chargers unveiled throwback alternative navy jerseys that were a hit among players and fans. Seeing the navy uniform with gold-lined white lightning bolts “struck me at the core,” Jefferson said. It was just like the first NFL jersey he owned: a Junior Seau jersey he received for Christmas.
The Chargers were at the center of almost all of Jefferson’s core NFL memories growing up. He sat in the nosebleeds with his girlfriend at his first NFL game between the Chargers and Raiders. He played his last high school football game for Chula Vista Eastlake High in Qualcomm Stadium.
Chargers running back Omarion Hampton runs through a drill during training camp in San Diego on Tuesday.
(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
But the stadium grew outdated, prompting the Chargers to relocate. Now when Jefferson drives south on Interstate 15, he still hates looking to his right because he misses the familiar venue.
“This type of stuff just happens,” Jefferson said. “It happened to the Raiders. They’re our rival and they’re pretty big in what they represent organization-wise and they moved, too. It’s just the business.”
The Padres are the only remaining major pro sports team in San Diego and the city pride runs deep. When the Chargers celebrated the Dodgers’ World Series title last year, die-hard Padres fan Jefferson recoiled at the sight of a floor-to-ceiling congratulatory message in the Chargers practice facility.
But with no pro football in the city, Jefferson, who still lives in San Diego, tries to remind fans that this team is still the Chargers.
“Us just being two hours away, SoFi is a perfect venue for fans, I don’t see why we shouldn’t have the San Diego fans,” Jefferson said. “I think coming here is just opening up the arms again and letting them know.”
Etc.
Rashawn Slater missed a third consecutive day of practice and is “working through something,” Harbaugh said. The coach characterized the undisclosed injury as minor, tip-toeing around suggestions that Slater is trying to wait out negotiations for a contract extension. … The Chargers signed running back Nyheim Hines to bolster a position that is still waiting for Najee Harris’ return. Harris remains on the non-football injury list after suffering an eye injury from a fireworks accident, but has been attending team meetings. While signing Hines, the Chargers waived offensive lineman Savion Washington with a failed physical designation. Washington was on the physically unable to perform list.
Molting peacocks squawked in the distance and a Pacific breeze whispered through the eucalyptus as flamingo keeper Liz Gibbons tidied her station at the San Francisco Zoo.
It had been an unusually cold summer in a city famous for them. Marooned on “a breathtaking piece of land” at the peninsula’s far western edge, steps from the deadly surf at Ocean Beach, the timeworn seaside menagerie had endured weeks of gray gloom.
But late that July afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds. Then word began to spread.
“Everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, did you hear?’” the keeper recalled. “It’s the news we’ve been waiting for.”
A sign at the Highway 1 entrance of the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
For more than a year, the keepers, gardeners, train drivers and office staff of Teamsters Local 856 had been fighting to unseat their boss, longtime San Francisco Zoo Chief Executive Tanya Peterson.
They were not alone.
A growing chorus of animal activists, government watchdogs and civic leaders had called for Peterson to step down. In May, the San Francisco Zoological Society, the park’s nonprofit operator, split down the middle in a failed attempt to remove her.
Even the consul general of China had privately sought Peterson’s ouster.
“He was like, ‘You have issues — fix them,’” said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district includes the zoo.
A similar fight recently sent fur flying in Los Angeles, where the city and its former nonprofit zoo partner have locked horns over control of a $50-million endowment. At stake in San Francisco’s power struggle is a pair of cuddly new tourist magnets: two giant pandas from China, hailed as a coup for the tarnished Golden City when then-Mayor London Breed inked the deal to bring them last year.
Only two other American zoos have pandas: San Diego and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In San Francisco, where nearly a quarter of residents identify as Chinese, the thrill was palpable. City Hall hoped the panda prestige would burn off any lingering haze of a doom loop.
“We’re getting our house in order,” Lurie said. “We already are a world-class city. When the pandas arrive in San Francisco, that’s just going to be yet another draw.”
A giant panda plays at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China, on May 10, 2025.
(Costfoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Others saw the black-and-white bears as a rebuke to Trumpian isolationism.
“The best response to the displeasure of Washington is to be awesome and successful,” Melgar said. “The pandas are a part of our success and a part of our value system.”
For Peterson, who led the zoo since 2008, bringing a pair of the world’s most sought-after animals to San Francisco was a dream come true. The political urgency and multimillion-dollar price tag seemed to ensure her continued leadership.
“The same day that the [Zoological Society] board was meant to vote her out, she let everyone know she was meeting with the Chinese Consulate,” said activist journalist Justin Barker of SF Zoo Watch. Peterson “essentially tells the Board of Supervisors, ‘If you move forward with this audit, you might not get pandas.’”
So how did the ace up her leopard-print sleeve bring her down?
Peterson did not respond to requests for comment. In an emailed statement, zoo spokesperson Sam Singer said she “served with distinction and devotion.”
San Francisco Zoo director Tanya Peterson plans to depart from the zoo on Aug. 1.
(Paul Chinn / The San Francisco Chronicle)
In her own message to staff this month, Peterson likened her planned departure on Aug. 1 to the death of the zoo’s beloved silverback gorilla, writing that “some animals may leave this earth, but they never leave our souls.”
“It has been an honor to serve you, our animals, and the loyal constituents of this amazing community,” she said.
For workers, her exit brought elation.
“I haven’t seen this level of positivity and excitement ever,” said Stephanie Carpenter, a reptile and amphibian keeper.
Former carnivore curator Travis Shields name-checked the infamous large cat wrangler from the Netflix series “Tiger King” when asked what the next zoo leader should bring in comparison with Peterson.
“I don’t think [keepers] care who comes next,” he said. “It can’t be any worse unless Joe Exotic comes in — and he’s still in prison.”
Attendees watch a Western Lowland Gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
But the long fight has clawed open old wounds. Many in and around the zoo described the bitter panda power struggle as the worst crisis the institution has faced since the fatal tiger attack that vaunted Peterson to her current position and nearly shut down the zoo.
“They’re holding their breath,” said one former manager, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. “It’s a similar feeling to after the tiger got out — what’s going to happen to everything?”
For Peterson’s usurpers, the $25-million question is now: What’s going to happen to the pandas?
“It can’t be any worse unless Joe Exotic comes in — and he’s still in prison.”
— former San Francisco Zoo carnivore curator Travis Shields
The rise of Tanya Peterson is inextricably linked to the fall of Tatiana the tiger, the first and only animal to escape and kill a visitor at an Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facility.
San Francisco acquired the 2½ -year-old, 242-pound Siberian from the Denver Zoo in 2005 as a mate for its 14-year old male Tony. They lived in the tiger grotto and were fed at the Art Deco-style Lion House, built for the original Fleishhacker Zoo by the Works Progress Administration.
The park’s original Depression-era structures are iconic, rising gray and craggy from the muted landscape like the Monterey cypress through the ever-present fog.
A lion and tiger emerge into their open enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
“The zoo is right on the water, it’s right next to the beach and all the structures are daily battered by the fog and the wind and the sand and the salt,” Melgar said.
Much of the century-old site is in disrepair.
“The infrastructure really left a lot to be desired,” said Manuel Mollinedo, who took over as the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo in 2004 after a successful turnaround at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Twenty years before Tatiana arrived, the tiger grotto was briefly repurposed to house two giant pandas, Yun-Yun and Ying-Xin, who passed through during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before visiting again in 1985.
Those publicity tours preceded a slump in attendance through the mid-1990s. In 1993, the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society took over operations, while the city retained ownership of the property.
Many zoos are run on a similar nonprofit model, including the Bronx Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums President Dan Ashe said. Others, such as the Los Angeles Zoo, are run by cities or for profit.
By the mid-aughts, efforts to draw in more blue-collar visitors had begun to bear fruit, and tax records show more than a million people were coming each year.
“The zoo had really turned a corner,” Mollinedo said. “Our attendance was the highest it had ever been since the pandas were brought in 20 years before.”
Then, during a public feeding in the Lion House in December 2006, Tatiana reached under the bars and grabbed keeper Lori Komejan by the arm.
The tiger mauled her as she attempted to drag her into the cage, leading to permanent damage, according to a lawsuit later settled with the city.
Mary Ryan, a San Francisco Zoo employee, arranges a makeshift memorial to Tatiana the tiger in January 2008.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
But that wasn’t the end of it. One year after that incident, on Christmas Day 2007 — Tatiana escaped, mauling two men and killing a teenager.
The city and the zoo ultimately reached financial settlements with the injured men and the family of 17-year-old Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr. A federal investigation found panda-era modifications probably paved the way for Tatiana’s escape.
“It was really rough for everybody,” said Gibbons, the flamingo keeper, who grew up in the Outer Sunset neighborhood and climbed the ranks through the zoo’s youth volunteer program. “I remember the city wanting to close it as a zoo and have it be a sanctuary.”
Instead, the board pushed Mollinedo out and installed Peterson, a fellow board member and an attorney at Hewlett-Packard, whose then-husband had just run the finance committee for then-Mayor Gavin Newsom’s reelection campaign.
“She said all the right things — that she wanted to hear from staff, that her door was always open,” longtime zoo gardener Marc Villa said. “For the time being, it was kind of a breath of fresh air.”
Echoing other critics, Mollinedo said Peterson “knew nothing about animals.” But she made up for it with philanthropic prowess.
“She’s a good fundraiser, I’ll give her that,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioner Larry Mazzola Jr., who heads the zoo advisory committee.
A mandrill at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
As interim CEO, Peterson swapped her corporate wardrobe for ostrich-feathered sheaths, tiger-striped hatbands, snakeskin-patterned coats and cheetah-spotted sneakers.
Her early tenure was already marked by constant tension between what animal experts felt needed fixing and what donors wanted done. Outrage over half-finished safety measures led the Teamsters to their first no-confidence vote in 2014.
“All of this has been degenerating for a long time,” Melgar said. “We have not had labor peace at that institution for years.”
By 2024, the zoo’s annual attendance had slipped to 700,000 — 15% below the nadir after the tiger attack, and roughly two-thirds of the yearly visitors to the Oakland Zoo across the bay.
The pandas were supposed to fix all those problems. Instead, they fomented a coup.
The pandas will have a view of the ocean!”
— San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar
When Breed announced the panda deal late last April, zookeepers were shocked.
“None of the senior managers knew anything about it,” Villa said. “Everybody’s scrambled: How do we make this work? Where are we going to put them? It was just, ‘Hey, we’re getting pandas!’”
It was a week after the union’s second vote of no confidence against Peterson. To many, the move felt emblematic of her leadership flaws.
“If we do have a vision for this zoo besides pandas, it’s not been communicated very well,” Villa said.
Pandas are wildly popular with the public. But they’re a thornier prospect for zoos, experts warn.
Two visitors at at the grizzly bear enclosure at The San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
The bears cannot be kept near lions or other large carnivores. They need a special diet, experienced keepers and state-of-the-art new enclosures. For San Francisco, the cost has been estimated at $25 million.
Raising that money will fall to the interim CEO, which San Francisco has not yet named. The search for a permanent replacement will pit San Francisco against two of the state’s premier animal attractions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Diego Zoo.
Despite the promise of greater oversight and the possibility of more funding from the city, many animal activists and former zoo staff remain staunchly opposed to the panda project.
Some current keepers also expressed concerns.
“Guests are always asking, ‘Where are the tigers? Where are the monkeys? Where are all these animals that used to be here?’ We need to take care of the animals we have right now,” said Carpenter, the reptile keeper.
But City Hall remains staunchly pro-panda. So does the Chinese Consulate, the Teamsters and the Board of Supervisors, which just last month threatened to withhold $4 million from the Zoological Society over its failure to produce audit paperwork.
“People are proud that we’re doing this, and want us to pull it off,” Melgar said. “The pandas will have a view of the ocean!”
The Chinese visitors were originally slated to arrive at the end of this year. Then, this spring, they were assured by next April, just after the Super Bowl. That date has been pushed again, to the end of 2026.
“We don’t know where we’re going,” Villa said. “Everything runs on rumors and speculation.”
For now, the Teamsters are keeping their ears perked, waiting for good news to swirl in with the fog.
Picture this: A gaggle of 21-year-olds squeeze into a booth, pull the curtain and smile for the camera. After a series of mysterious analog rumblings, the booth expels a tiny strip of prints. The posers crowd in to savor the tiny film prints — and raise their cameras to snap digital images of them.
While boomers blink in puzzlement, legions of digital natives have embraced the old-school ritual and machinery of the photo booth — and the people at San Francisco-based Photomatica are among those building empires on that enthusiasm. Their latest venture: a Photo Booth Museum in Silver Lake, which opens Thursday.
For anyone who grew up with digital photography, a photo booth is a sort of visual adventure — a selfie with “analog magic.” And at $6.50 to $8.50 for a strip of four photos, it’s more affordable than plenty of other entertainment options. Photomatica, one of several companies riding the photo booth wave, has been restoring and operating these contraptions since 2010. This is the company’s second “museum.”
At the new L.A. site at 3827 W. Sunset Blvd. (near Hyperion Avenue), the company has gathered four restored analog photo booths — two of which date to the 1950s — and one digital booth. The 1,350-square-foot space is designed to look “as if you walked into a Wes Anderson movie set,” said spokeswoman Kelsey Schmidt.
The machines are retrofitted to accept credit cards and Apple Pay, but otherwise the technology is original on the old machines — which means no retakes and a 3-to-5-minute wait for image processing. The film-based booths print black-and-white images only; the digital booth offers a choice of color or black and white.
Is this at all like a traditional museum experience? No. It’s a for-profit venture. Though visitors might learn a little about photography history, the core activity is making and celebrating selfies. So far, Schmidt said, the booths have been especially popular with people under 25, especially female visitors.
A birthday group gathers for a snapshot in the Photo Booth Museum, San Francisco.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Photomatica rents out and operates about 250 booths (including bars, restaurants, hotels, music venues and special events) nationwide. The company hatched the museum idea after drawing immediate crowds with a booth in the Photoworks film lab on Market Street in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood.
On its Thursday opening night, the L.A. Photo Booth Museum will operate from 6 to 10 p.m., offering up a limited number of free photo sessions and key chains. Otherwise, daily hours will be 1 to 9 p.m.
NEW YORK — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reached its crescendo as New York and other major cities in the U.S. and around the world hosted parades and marches Sunday.
Pride celebrations are typically a daylong mix of jubilant street parties and political protest, but this year’s iterations took a more defiant stance as Republicans, led by President Trump, have sought to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.
The theme of the festivities in Manhattan was “Rise Up: Pride in Protest.” San Francisco’s Pride theme was “Queer Joy Is Resistance,” while Seattle’s was simply “Louder.”
Lance Brammer, a 56-year-old teacher from Ohio attending his first Pride parade in New York, said he felt “validated” as he marveled at the size of the city’s celebration, the nation’s oldest and largest.
“With the climate that we have politically, it just seems like they’re trying to do away with the whole LGBTQ community, especially the trans community,” he said, wearing a vivid, multicolored shirt. “And it just shows that they’ve got a fight ahead of them if they think that they’re going to do that with all of these people here and all of the support.”
Doriana Feliciano, who described herself as an LGBTQ+ ally, held up a sign saying, “Please don’t lose hope,” in support of friends she said couldn’t attend Sunday.
“We’re in a very progressive time, but there’s still hate out there, and I feel like this is a great way to raise awareness,” she said.
Manhattan’s parade wound its way down Fifth Avenue with more than 700 participating groups greeted by huge crowds. The rolling celebration will pass the Stonewall Inn, the famed Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and energized the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The site is now a national monument. The first Pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
Later Sunday, marchers in San Francisco, host to another of the world’s largest Pride events, planned to head down Market Street to concert stages set up at the Civic Center Plaza. San Francisco’s mammoth City Hall is among the venues hosting a post-march party.
Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Toronto were among the other major North American cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday.
Several global cities including Tokyo, Paris and São Paulo held their events earlier this month, and others come later in the year, including London in July and Rio de Janeiro in November.
Since taking office in January, Trump has issued orders and implemented policies targeting transgender people, removing them from the military, preventing federal insurance programs from paying for gender-affirmation surgeries for young people and attempting to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports.
Peter McLaughlin said he’s lived in New York for years but had never attended the Pride parade. The 34-year-old Brooklyn resident said he felt compelled this year as a transgender man.
“A lot of people just don’t understand that letting people live doesn’t take away from their own experience, and right now it’s just important to show that we’re just people,” McLaughlin said.
Gabrielle Meighan, 23, of New Jersey, said she felt it was important to come out to this year’s celebrations because they come days after the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark June 26, 2015, ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide.
“It’s really important to vocalize our rights and state why it’s important for us to be included,” she said.
Manhattan on Sunday also hosted the Queer Liberation March, an activism-centered event launched in recent years amid criticism that the more mainstream parade had become too corporate.
Marchers holding signs that included “Gender affirming care saves lives” and “No Pride in apartheid” headed north from the city’s AIDS Memorial to Columbus Circle near Central Park.
Among the other headwinds faced by gay rights groups this year is the loss of corporate sponsorship. American companies have pulled back support of Pride events, reflecting a broader walking back of diversity and inclusion efforts amid shifting public sentiment.
NYC Pride said this month that about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. Organizers of San Francisco Pride said they lost the support of five major corporate donors, including Comcast and Anheuser-Busch.
Marcelo and Shaffrey write for the Associated Press.
STANFORD — Marco Reus scored in the 70th minute and the Galaxy played the San José Earthquakes to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night in the 104th edition of the California Clásico.
The Galaxy (1-14-5) are unbeaten in their past eight road matches (Stanford Stadium and PayPal Park) across all competitions against San José (7-8-5) dating to June 26, 2021.
San José native Beau Leroux opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a shot into the upper-right corner for his fourth of the season. He settled Mark-Anthony Kaye’s cross with his left foot and curled in a shot with his right from the top of the 18-yard box.
San José goalkeeper Daniel stopped an initial attempt in the 70th, but it bounced right back to Reus for an easy touch home. It was Reus’ first game wearing the captain’s armband.
Daniel made several key saves. He came out of his area to deny Joseph Paintsil on a one-on-one opportunity in the 60th. He also got a hand on Gabriel Pec’s shot on a counterattack in the 88th.
Chandler “the Jet” Jones, a local football legend who set records as a wide receiver at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance and San José State University, died at age 33 in a freeway accident in Los Angeles on Sunday, according to the L.A. County medical examiner.
Jones was hit by a Toyota RAV4 near the Centinela Avenue off-ramp of the 90 Freeway around 2 a.m. Sunday, the California Highway Patrol told MyNewsLA.
“It is with great sadness that we share the passing of alum, Chandler Jones ‘09,” Bishop Montgomery High School said in a Facebook post. “Jones was a standout player on Bishop’s football team and still holds the record for longest kick-off return (97 yards) and longest fumble recovery (98 yards).”
Jones was a star wide receiver as a San José Spartan and, after a brief stint in the pros, went on to hold coaching positions at his alma mater, as well as the College of Idaho and the Montreal Alouettes.
“Forever in our hearts, #89,” the San José State football program wrote on X. “In loving memory of Spartan wide receiver and coach, Chandler Jones.”
For the record:
9:44 a.m. June 24, 2025A previous version of this article listed the wrong university for coaches Brent Brennan and Greg Stewart. They coach at the University of Arizona, not Arizona State University.
His former San José State football coach Brent Brennan, who now coaches at the University of Arizona, said on X that his heart was broken by the news of Jones’ death.
“From his freshman year as a WR, to coaching on our staff, he made @SanJoseStateFB better everyday,” said Brennan. “The Jet was special. Love you brother.”
During his 2013 season at San José State, Jones ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference in receiving yards per reception. During that season, he caught he caught 79 passes for 1,356 yards and 15 touchdowns from quarterback David Fales, who went on to play for the Chicago Bears, according to reporting from CBS Sports. Jones also ranks second on the Spartans’ career leaderboard in receiving yards with 3,087.
After finishing his Spartan career, Jones went on to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns practice squads in 2014. He joined the Montreal Alouettes practice squad in 2015 and played for the team in 2016, before returning to San José State as a coach in 2017.
“My heart is truly broken — My good friend and my fellow coach welcomed me with open arms when we met in Idaho,” wrote University of Arizona assistant football coach Greg Stewart on X. “Chandler “The Jet” Jones was the real deal, I will always cherish my time with you my brother.”
Ed Intagliata leaned his body against the cash register as he greeted customers with a heartfelt goodbye hug. After nearly 78 years of business, his beloved music shop is closing in light of his retirement.
All that remains of Cassell’s Music are empty shelves, scattered boxes and unsold instruments — a quiet ending for what was once a lively hub for music lovers and aspiring musicians.
Eric Knight, 29, reminisced about his childhood years spent inside Cassell’s.
“My dad came in, he bought me a bass and a little amp to go with it and set me up with some lessons back here,” Knight said. “As I got older, I started making some friends that played music and we all got together, drove down here and spent about two hours in that back room, three or four teenagers piled into that tiny room. If we ever did that in Guitar Center, we would be kicked out. But Ed would pop his head in, listen and get back to work. He made everyone feel welcomed and invited.”
Cassell’s in San Fernando has been a beloved fixture within its community for decades, with customers noting owner Ed Intagliata’s welcoming presence.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Intagliata, now 71, became the shop’s owner after he graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in music. At the time, Intagliata worked in the complaint department at Sears.
“The success of the store was on my shoulders as a 24-year-old kid,” Intagliata said. “I made some mistakes, but I grew from it. My father taught me some very savvy business advice, which I’ve governed the store by for 48 years and it’s been a good run. We’ve weathered all the recessions and things like that.”
His father, an aerospace engineer at the time, bought the store from its founder, Albert Cassell, in 1978 after seeing an ad for it in the Los Angeles Times. His father, Intagliata said, employed his siblings to fund their college education.
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“My brother Robert was a marketing major at Cal State Northridge. He started implementing a lot of ideas he was learning in his marketing class,” Intagliata said. “And one of the things we did was we donated a guitar and some lessons as a giveaway to somebody at Dodger Stadium at every last Dodgers home game.”
His brother John repaired band instruments for about 12 years, Intagliata said. His next brother, Paul, taught trumpet lessons to a student who eventually went on tour with Green Day. Intagliata said his sister, the baby of the family, obtained an engineering degree from Cal State Northridge and taught piano at Cassell’s for about eight years.
“A lot of students still remember her,” he said. “They come in and ask, ‘What’s your sister doing? I took piano lessons from her 30 years ago.’ ”
“I didn’t realize how deep the impact and influence the store had on people’s lives around here, getting them started on music,” Intagliata said. “Just how it’s kind of a nice place to hang out and be creative with.”
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Mornings come in early for Intagliata, much to his dismay. He commutes regularly from his home in Santa Clarita to his shop, nestled in San Fernando on Maclay Avenue in front of a Fosters Freeze, Valley relic. Originally from Connecticut, Intagliata’s family moved to California in 1960, setting root in Palos Verdes — where his mother still lives today.
“I hated the peacocks,” he said. “They’re a mess.”
Originally located in the San Fernando Mall, Cassell’s has been around since 1948. The shop sold teenage rock star Ritchie Valens his first guitar, a sleek Gibson ES-225 electric, in 1958.
People from around the world visited Cassell’s after it was featured in “Wayne’s World,” which starred famous actors such as Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
Intagliata’s father put down a down payment and purchased the store’s orignal name for about $5,000 in 1978. Ed Intagliata paid about $173,000 in a span of five years, he said. And six years after purchasing it, he moved Cassell’s to its current location on Memorial Day 1984. The location used to be an electronics store that sold CB radios and TV antennas, Intagliata said.
“I remember in the early to mid-80s, before they moved out to Maclay, they were in the heart of San Fernando Mall and I was in elementary, buying cassettes,” said Rago Mier, 52-year-old San Fernando resident. “It’s just heartbreaking for me that this store is no longer going to be here. I’m gonna miss it.”
Intagliata said Cassell’s used to be a record store at one point. He kept one of the original plastic sleeves with the shop’s logo.
At one point, Cassell’s sold records, with one that is still kept at the store pictured here.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
“It was one of those things where you can come in, put on your headphones and listen to the latest thing,” he said. “We would put these sleeves on all the LPs.”
Intagliata personalized almost every corner of his store: buying luau decor from Party City to feature his assortment of ukuleles, frames of signed celebrity headshots and a prized possession: the white 1964 Fender Stratocaster electric guitar featured in the 1992 film “Wayne’s World.”
In the movie, Wayne’s character played by actor Mike Meyers makes repeated visits to the shop just to gaze at the fender guitar. Posters of the song “No Stairway to Heaven,” are scattered all around the shop. Intagliata said he had no idea how big the movie would be.
“They had a location scout come in one day and he was just asking, ‘Hey, we are looking for a music store to film a movie of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch,’ and I didn’t see him for many months,” Intagliata said. “He came back in again and said they liked my store, and apparently went to like seven or eight states looking for a music store that would fit what they were looking for.”
On display at Cassell’s Music is a “Wayne’s World” guitar signed by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, after a scene from the movie was filmed at the store.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Intagliata said “Wayne’s World” put Cassell’s on the map after film crews decided to keep the store’s name in the movie. Visitors from all over the world came to see the guitar on display, one New Zealand fan even asking him for the case dimension to make a replica at home, Intagliata said.
“People come here and feel like the actors can come out any minute,” he said. “It gives them a real sense of excitement.”
The guitar will be featured in a shrine alongside the car used in “Wayne’s World” at a father-and-son museum in Canada, Intagliata said.
“I’m just finding out that I didn’t realize how deep the impact and influence the store had on people’s lives around here, getting them started on music,” he said. “Just how it’s kind of a nice place to hang out and be creative with.”
Intagliata recently revived an old T-shirt design from 1978 he found in his father’s closet. The shirts sold like hotcakes the same day the shipment was delivered. All Intagliata has from those days, besides a few shirts and the memories, is the first guitar he ever sold: an auditorium guitar, hung up in a corner of his store.
“I think I’m going to keep it,” he said as he stared at it. “They want me to sell it, but I’m going to keep it.”
Intagliata’s plan is to visit Italy next year. He has been eyeing the Amalfi Coast after he saw a picture of the Ravello Music Festival stage.
“Isn’t that something?” he said, admiring his computer screen. “I sing in a classical choir up in Santa Clarita. This is my genre, not rock ‘n’ roll. It’s this.”
Intagliata toyed with the idea of retirement a few years prior. After successfully selling his store via an online listing, Intagliata went on Facebook to make the announcement.
“I want to be able to travel while I still have relatively good health because I’m getting up there in age. I know I don’t look it,” Intagliata said, jokingly.
Cassell’s Music will be open until July 21. My Valley Pass, an online visitor’s guide to the San Fernando Valley, will be screening “Wayne’s World” at Cassell’s on July 10 starting at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased online.
Intagliata took over the store’s ownership from his father after graduating college, and looking back on his 48-year tenure, he says, “It’s been a good run.”
SAN FRANCISCO — Saturday night, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted his San Francisco Symphony in a staggering performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the “Resurrection.” It was a ferocious performance and an exalted one of gripping intensity.
This is a symphony emblematic for Mahler of life and death, an urgent questioning of why we are here. After 80 minutes of the highest highs and lowest lows, of falling in and out of love with life, of smelling the most sensual roses on the planet in a search for renewal, resurrection arrives in a blaze of amazement.
Mahler has no answers for the purpose of life. His triumph, and Salonen’s in his overpowering performance, is in the divine glory of keeping going, keeping asking.
The audience responded with a stunned and tumultuous standing ovation. The musicians pounded their feet on the Davies Symphony Hall stage, resisting Salonen’s urgings to stand and take a bow.
It was no longer his San Francisco Symphony. After five years as music director, Salonen had declined to renew his contract, saying he didn’t share the board of trustees’ vision of the future.
“I have only two things to say,” Salonen told the crowd before exiting the stage.
“First: Thank you.
“Second: You’ve heard what you have in this city. This amazing orchestra, this amazing chorus. So take good care of them.”
Salonen, who happens to be a bit of a tech nerd and is a science-fiction fan, had come to San Francisco because he saw the Bay Area as a place where the future is foretold and the city as a place that thinks differently and turns dreams into reality.
Here he would continue the kind of transformation of the orchestra into a vehicle for social and technological good that he had begun in his 17 years as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was to be a glorious experiment in arts and society in a city presumably ready to reclaim its own past glory.
He had the advantage of following in the symphonic footsteps of Michael Tilson Thomas, who for 25 years had made the orchestra a leader in reflecting the culture of its time and place. Salonen brought in a team of young, venturesome “creative partners” from music and tech. He enlisted architect Frank Gehry to rethink concert venues for the city. He put together imaginative and ambitious projects with director Peter Sellars. He made fabulous recordings.
There were obstacles. The COVID-19 pandemic meant the cancellation of what would have been Tilson Thomas’ own intrepid farewell celebration five years ago — a production of Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” with a set by Gehry and staged by James Darrah (the daring artistic director of Long Beach Opera). Salonen’s first season had to be streamed during lockdown but became the most technologically imaginative of any isolated orchestra.
Like arts organizations everywhere and particularly in San Francisco, which has had a harder time than most bouncing back from the pandemic, the San Francisco Symphony had its share of budgetary problems. But it also had, in Salonen, a music director who knew a thing or two about how to get out of them.
He had become music director of the L.A. Phil in 1992, when the city was devastated by earthquake, riots and recession. The building of Walt Disney Concert Hall was about to be abandoned. The orchestra built up in the next few years a deficit of around $17 million. The audience, some of the musicians and the press needed awakening.
Salonen was on the verge of resignation, but the administration stood behind him, believing in what he and the orchestra could become. With the opening of Disney Hall in 2003, the L.A. Phil transformed Los Angeles.
And for that opening, Salonen chose Mahler’s “Resurrection” for the first of the orchestra’s subscription series of concerts. Rebirth in this thrillingly massive symphony for a massive orchestra and chorus, along with soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, was writ exceedingly large, transparent and loud. On Oct. 30, 2003, with L.A. weathering record heat and fires, Salonen’s Mahler exulted a better future.
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday.
(Brandon Patoc / San Francisco Symphony)
The San Francisco Symphony has not followed the L.A. Phil example. It did not put its faith and budget in Salonen’s vision, despite five years of excitement. It did not show the city how to rise again. Next season is the first in 30 years that appears to be without a mission.
In Disney 22 years ago, Salonen drew attention to the sheer transformative power of sound. At the same time Tilson Thomas had turned the San Francisco Symphony into the country’s most expansive Mahler orchestra, and it was only a few months later that he performed the Second Symphony and recorded it in Davies Symphony Hall in a luminously expressive account. That recording stands as a reminder of the hopes back then of a new century.
Salonen’s more acute approach, not exactly angry but exceptionally determined, was another kind of monument to the power of sound. In quietest, barely audible passages, the air in the hall had an electric sense of calm before the storm. The massive climaxes pinned you to the wall.
The chorus, which appears in the final movement to exhort us to cease trembling and prepare to live, proved its own inspiration. The administration all but cost-cut the singers out of the budget until saved by an anonymous donor. The two soloists, Heidi Stober and Sasha Cooke, soared as needed.
Salonen moves on. Next week he takes the New York Philharmonic on an Asia tour. At Salzburg this summer, he and Sellars stage Schoenberg’s “Erwartung,” a project he began with the San Francisco Symphony. At the Lucerne Festival, he premieres his Horn Concerto with the Orchestre de Paris instead of the San Francisco Symphony, as originally intended.
Saturday’s concert had begun with a ludicrous but illuminating announcement to “sit back and relax as Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts your San Francisco Symphony.”
Salonen, instead, offered a wondrous city a wake-up call.
The enormousness of “California,” as a territory and an ideology, is hard for any mind to contain. It’s beautiful. It’s complicated and divided and challenged. Among one of a thousand ways to define the Golden State: culinary juggernaut.
Our spectrum of influence — from chefs, farmers, impresarios and dreamers who reimagined restaurant cooking into something synced with the seasons and personal identity, to the capitalists who gave birth to fast food — has shaped and kept reshaping how Americans eat over the last century.
Los Angeles alone is boggling enough in its magnitudes for a critic to eat and think through. I’ve wandered a lot in my career, though. As the world emerged from the grip of COVID-19, a professional curiosity surfaced: What was happening in the rest of the state? What had remained and what was changing?
About This Guide
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to [email protected].
Inquisitiveness evolved into a fevered question: What restaurants altogether tell the richest, broadest story of dining in California right now?
The riddle can never be perfectly solved, and yet: This is a guide full of delicious answers.
A year of driving up and down the California coast — steering inland and back, watching winter mountains bloom green and then fade to brown again by late spring — unfolded in a blur of taquerias, tasting menus, strip malls, remote highways, tostadas, dumplings, nigiri, falafel, pho, kebabs … .
Moments crystallized. The triangles of buttery, corn-filled pasta that trumpeted high summer in a rustic dining room on a hilly corner of San Francisco’s Financial District. The new owner who revived a 91-year-old diner in downtown Sacramento with a burger she calls “Southern Daddy” and her calling-card sweet potato pie. The glamour-soaked San Diego dining room, all golds and greens and chiaroscuro lighting, that set a cinematic mood for an evening of modern Vietnamese cuisine.
Attempting a statewide survey stemmed organically from the 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles project that The Times has published annually since 2013. I’ve written or co-written six of them now. “Best” is a word for headline catnip that I live with but don’t love. “Essential” has always been more of a guiding precept for me. I want readers — you — to know about places for their incredible food, but I trust these very human endeavors also speak to something larger about dining and life in Los Angeles.
Seven years in, L.A. feels like my home home. The San Francisco Chronicle employed me nearly 20 years ago; the Bay Area is a mainstay in my adult life. I’ve never been keen on the “L.A. versus S.F.” tribalism. Isn’t it kind of staggering that this wild state, slightly smaller than Morocco and currently the fourth-largest economy on the planet, has two uniquely different and world-class urban hubs?
And there’s so much more of California to see and taste.
Too much, in fact, to fit into the usual framework. Yes, this is a list of 101 restaurants that serve many kinds of foods at every price tier. (I did leave off the three most famous tentpoles in California fine dining:Chez Panisse,Spago and the French Laundry. You know them. Go if they call to you.) Many of the entries put forth “extra helpings” — corresponding pillars of excellence that also deserve recognition. It’s the whole blessed state. There’s a lot to recommend.
These travels have likewise spurred fresh, deeper guides to popular destinations such asSan Francisco,San Diego and Palm Springs. More are coming.
No single person could filter through the infinite possibilities; gratitude goes to the many food-writing peers and some well-fed friends who gave me guidance at every major intersection.
I did not rank these restaurants. This isn’t about numerals or symbol ratings. It’s one glimpse into our cultures and diversities — into cuisines that uphold traditions, or disrupt with originality, or inhabit some fruitful middle ground. Any endeavor like this is an invitation to savor and to debate. I crisscrossed plenty of California. It still feels like a beginning.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell.
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The Dodgers head to San Diego for a three-game series with the Padres starting tonight. Whichever team wins the season series will have an advantage when it comes to winning the division, plus it also will give them the tiebreaker advantage should the teams tie.
Neither one of these guys can hit, but are solid defensively. Maldonado won a Gold Glove way back in 2017 with the Angels. However, it’s players such as these two, guys who have trouble hitting, who seem to come up big against the Dodgers, dating all the way back to Brian Doyle and the 1978 World Series.
Bonus facts: Díaz was named minor league catcher of the year by Baseball America in 2015. On April 18, 2014 against Pittsburgh, Maldonado hit a grounder to third. Pirates third baseman Pedro Álvarez fielded the grounder, but the cover had partially come off the baseball and was hanging off its side; Álvarez threw the ball to first but it fell apart in midair. So, Maldonado is one guy who can say he literally knocked the cover off the ball.
First base Luis Arráez (.276/.310/.397, 97 OPS+)
Arráez has won three straight batting titles (2022 with Minnesota, 2023 with Miami, 2024 with the Marlins and Padres). You’ll notice that despite this, he has played for three different teams. The reason is he draws no walks, has little power, and it is believed his glove is made out of cast iron. Winning three straight batting titles is nothing to sneeze at, but that’s all he brings to the table.
Bonus fact: In June 2023, Arráez had three five-hit games, tying the record for most five-hit games in a month held by Ty Cobb, George Sisler and Dave Winfield.
Second base Jake Cronenworth (.242/.373/.403, 119 OPS+)
Cronenworth is having a rebound season at the plate after a couple of off seasons, and he has always been solid with the glove. Guys such as Cronenworth usually don’t get the headlines, but help you win ballgames in ways that don’t always show up in the box score.
Bonus fact: He hit his first career home run in 2020 off of Dustin May.
Third base Manny Machado (.318/.382/.515, 150 OPS+)
While, as Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody likes Manny Machado,” the fact remains that he is a great player. Outstanding hitter, outstanding on defense.
Bonus facts: Machado has a dog named Kobe, named in honor of Kobe Bryant. Baltimore Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer once said of Machado: “He reminds me of how I think Cal Ripken Jr. would have been if he had played third base his entire career.”
All the power in Bogaerts’ bat disappeared two years ago and hasn’t come back. He has a career .447 slugging percentage, but he hasn’t cracked .400 in a season since 2023.
Bonus fact: Bogaerts is one of only six players in major league history to be born in Aruba. The elementary school he went to there is now named after him.
Left field Tyler Wade (.235/.326/.272, 71 OPS+) Brandon Lockridge (.224/.272/.276, 55 OPS+)
Left field has been a black hole offensively for the Padres, much as it has been for the Dodgers. Jason Heyward has the most starts in left, but he’s on the IL. And he wasn’t hitting either. This is a prime example for when we discuss the fact that the Dodgers aren’t the only good team with holes in the lineup,
Bonus facts: Wade played 67 games for the Angels in 2021. Lockridge made his major league debut on my birthday, which is probably a bonus fact only interesting to me.
Center field Jackson Merrill (.299/.352/.461, 123 OPS+)
Last season, Merrill finished second in rookie of the year voting, ninth in MVP voting, was an All-Star and won the Silver Slugger award. Pretty decent first year, I’d say. He’s back for more of the same this season, hitting better than he did last year. He’s also good with the glove.
Bonus fact: Merrill is the first rookie in Padres history to make the All-Star team.
Right field Fernando Tatis Jr. (.259/.332/.461, 120 OPS+)
Still one of the top players in the game, however, his numbers at the plate have declined since his return from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs in 2022. His OPS+ in the three seasons before: 154, 156, 166. Three seasons after: 110, 130, 120. Won a Gold Glove in 2023.
Bonus fact: In 2021, Tatis became the youngest player to appear on the cover of the “MLB: The Show” video game.
Pivetta signed a four-year, $55-million deal in the offseason and has earned every penny so far, striking out 76 in 68 1/3 innings while giving up 51 hits and 19 walks. He spent the previous five seasons with the Red Sox.
Cease is the nominal ace on the team, but hasn’t pitched like one. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting last season. He has pitched into some bad luck, as his Fielding Independent Pitching ERA is 3.20.
Vásquez has a good ERA, but his FIP is 5.34, meaning he has had some good luck. Traditionally, this means you can expect his ERA to go up, and Cease’s to go down as the season wears on. FIP is heavily used by GM’s and members of a front office’s brain trust to determine how well a pitcher is really performing, so it’s a good stat to know. Click on the link above to be taken to a full explanation of it.
Bonus facts: Cease’s paternal grandmother, Betty Cease, played pro baseball in the 1940s….. Pivetta made his major league debut in 2017 against the Dodgers…. Vásquez was included in the package the Yankees sent to the Padres to acquire Juan Soto before the 2024 season.
Closer Robert Suarez (1-1, 1.84 ERA, 21 saves)
Suarez leads the majors with 21 saves, has blown only two saves and has allowed zero of five inherited runners to score.
Bonus fact: Suarez is a two-time Japan Series champion.
The Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the IL, the Padres have five. Which is one reason for this:
Rotation ERA San Diego, 3.80 Dodgers, 4.29
Bullpen ERA San Diego, 3.08 Dodgers, 3.94
The Dodgers outhit the Padres (5.54 runs per game to 4.10), but the Padres outpitch the Dodgers. Which side will win out in these three games? In the season? We’ll find out. It will be fun to watch.
Top 10 catchers
Who are your top 10 Dodgers catchers of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [email protected] and let me know.
Many of you have asked for a list of catchers to be considered. Here are the 40 strongest candidates, in alphabetical order.
Rod Barajas, Austin Barnes, Roy Campanella, Gary Carter, Con Daily, Rick Dempsey, Bruce Edwards, A.J. Ellis, Tex Erwin, Duke Farrell, Joe Ferguson, Jack Fimple, Yasmani Grandal, John Grim, Tom Haller, Todd Hundley, Charles Johnson, Chad Kreuter, Ernie Krueger, Paul Lo Duca, Al López, Russell Martin, Lew McCarty, Deacon McGuire, Jack Meyers, Johnny Oates, Mickey Owen, Babe Phelps, Mike Piazza, Joe Pignatano, Tom Prince, John Roseboro, David Ross, Mike Scioscia, Norm Sherry, Duke Sims, Will Smith, Zack Taylor, Jeff Torborg, Álex Treviño, Steve Yeager.
Not ideal
Dalton Rushing was brought up because Austin Barnes could no longer hit and was not as good as he used to be behind the plate.
Rushing went two for four in his first game and two for five in his second, and it looked like they were going to have to find a way to get his bat in the lineup more often.
Since then, he has gone three for 24 with 16 strikeouts. The league always adjusts to new batters. The question now is: Can Rushing adjust back? The Dodgers also have a
Time for Kim to play more
I’m all for giving established players a chance. It worked for Max Muncy. However, I just want to throw this out there: It’s time for Hyeseong Kim to play more, and Michael Conforto to play less. That concludes today’s lecture.
Another pitcher injured
Tony Gonsolin has been put on the IL with tenderness in his pitching elbow. The good news is an MRI scan showed no structural damage. But that just adds a new name to the list of pitchers on the IL:
Luis García Tyler Glasnow Tony Gonsolin Brusdar Graterol Michael Grove Edgardo Henriquez Kyle Hurt Evan Phillips River Ryan Roki Sasaki Emmet Sheehan Blake Snell Gavin Stone Blake Treinen
The good news is Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates have come off the IL and pitched Sunday. That should be of enormous help to the bullpen. But I believe the starting rotations right now is:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dustin May Clayton Kershaw One of those cardboard cutouts from the 2020 season 89-year-old Sandy Koufax
The Dodgers need to get Glasnow and Snell healthy or the staff will be in tatters by the time the postseason rolls around.
These names seem familiar
A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Sunday). Click on the player name to be taken to the Baseball Reference page with all their stats.
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
