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If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, it’s likely you have a defining San Fernando Valley moment or routine.

Those can include waiting 30 minutes at Glendale’s Porto’s for savory potato balls or meat pies. Or perhaps that’s flying out of Southern California’s top-ranked airport, Hollywood Burbank, at least according to Fodor’s Travel Guide.

Maybe you melted your face off in Woodland Hills, the hottest community in all the county, or unsuccessfully tried to reverse parallel park there. Of course, San Fernando Valley’s favorite spots include Universal Studios Hollywood and its own mission.

For fans and newcomers to the area alike, there’s a little something for everyone.

The Food Team at The Times has crafted its own tribute to the Valley, with its 65 favorite places to eat, 24 best bars and coffee shops, top Italian deli and even some celeb hotspots.

All the articles are worth a view. Here’s a small sample of what our writers covered.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Cupid’s Hot Dogs (from the 65 favorite places to eat)

Colleague Stephanie Breijo wondered why Cupid’s is so quintessentially San Fernando Valley.

Maybe it’s the large “The VALLEY” mural in the Winnetka location’s parking lot — where carhop service and car shows can occasionally be found — or perhaps it’s that iconic heart-shaped signage that has stood over low-slung buildings and strip malls for nearly 80 years.

It’s probably the fact that the Walsh family has been slinging hot dogs across the Valley since 1946, with sisters Morgan and Kelly Walsh serving as third-generation stewards.

Whatever the case, their thin dogs still snap with each bite. The signature Cupid dog — a creation of their father’s in the 1980s — is punchy with mustard and onions, and the chili is so thick it’s practically a paste.

The flavors and generational influence collide here, a sort of trip through decades of family and Valley history in a single hot dog stand.

Canto VI (from the 24 best bars and coffee shops)

Restaurant critic Bill Addison wrote that Canto VI owner Brian Kalliel brought a high level of experience into his Chatsworth venture.

Kalliel previously worked as a sommelier at Augustine Wine Bar and Mélisse.

He sets his caliber for wines high, and delivers with an ever-changing selection through which he guides customers from behind the bar, engaging them in conversations on their tastes.

Wine flights, by-the-glass options, a few rarer bottles with some age for the nerds: Kalliel has his audience covered. The dining room — serving wine-friendly snacks, including nicely composed cheese and salumi boards, and Italian-leaning entrees from Chester Hastings, formerly chef at Joan’s on Third — has distinct supper club vibes.

Couples gravitate to the bar. Larger groups land at dimly lit tables. Ordering happens at the counter, which can be disorienting if the staff doesn’t make the process clear to first-timers. With a full house the place feels informal and occasionally a little chaotic and decidedly grown-up, largely due to Kalliel’s confident, hospitable ringleader presence.

(Brandon Ly / Los Angeles Times)

Where Kelly Kapowski grabs a burger

Senior Food Editor Danielle Dorsey tracked down celebrities, media members and politicians to ask about their hidden Valley gems.

Tiffani Thiessen, of “Saved by the Bell” and voice of She-Hulk in the “Lego Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition,” gave us three.

“Bill’s Burgers [is] our [favorite] burger in the Valley,” Thiessen said. “Super casual setting for a quick bite with the best legendary old school burger.

“Oy Bar [is] one of our favorite date night spots [and the] food is always on point. Casa Vega [is a] nostalgic Mexican joint that has been a staple in the Valley for many years and [I] hope it continues.”

Hopefully readers will find their own San Fernando Valley staple. For more, check out the entire Guide to the 818.

The week’s biggest stories

(Joe Burbank / Associated Press)

Trump administration policies and push back

Labor Day travel and plans

Crime, courts and policing

Community struggles and issues

More big stories

This week’s must-reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by HBO / David John Photography)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Affairs

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

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

For college football fans, the tranquility and/or boredom of game-free weekends has officially ended.

Yes, the college football season is back today along with all of the game-day traditions: tailgating, plopping on the couch with a 60-inch screen, backyard barbecues and incessant complaining about traffic from residents near the Rose Bowl.

Hope is high for the USC and UCLA football programs, members of the Big 10 Conference (it still feels weird saying that!).

Our L.A. Times sports team put together an amazing digital preview package for the upcoming season. The Trojans start first, hosting Missouri State at the Memorial Coliseum at 4:30 p.m. today while the Bruins welcome Utah to the Rose Bowl at 8 p.m.

Let’s sample some of that coverage and wish both teams the best of luck. And as an Alabama alumnus myself, may I add a very loud Roll Tide!

Expect a roller-coaster season from USC quarterback Jayden Maiava

My colleague and Trojans beat writer Ryan Kartje said the redshirt junior made a concerted effort over the summer to eliminate the back-breaking mistakes he struggled with last season.

Since last season, he dug deeper into head coach Lincoln Riley’s offense and worked on his mechanics with the experts at the 3DQB training academy in Huntington Beach.

But Maiava’s style has lent itself to high variance.

He loves to chuck it deep and too often throws it into coverage. That could yield some thrilling results. We’ll have to see if that will benefit USC or not.

But 4.3% of his passes last season were deemed turnover-worthy by Pro Football Focus. That was third-highest in the Big Ten and too high for USC’s offense to reach its potential.

Check out Kartje’s six bold predictions for USC football.

UCLA’s defense will need big seasons from safety Key Lawrence and edge rusher Devin Aupiu.

My colleague and UCLA beat writer Ben Bolch said UCLA will look for leadership on defense.

Perhaps the most energetic player on the team, Lawrence, a Mississippi transfer, also boasts plenty of talent, speed and smarts.

Barring a setback from a minor right leg injury he sustained midway through training camp, Lawrence projects to be an opening-day starter.

He’ll need to anchor a secondary that’s replacing every starter.

As for Aupiu, UCLA’s pass rush was meh last season, generating 22 sacks to rank tied for No. 78 in the nation.

As a part-time starter, Aupiu made 4½ tackles for losses, including 1½ sacks — decent production given his limited playing time and easily the most among returning players. Getting into the backfield more often this season is a must for the redshirt senior.

Bolch has more in his article: “Ten Bruins who must step up for the football team to thrive in ’25.”

Prediction time: The Bruins will be bowl-bound while the Trojans will split with their rivals.

Bolch is predicting a season full of surprises and a bowl berth for the Bruins. Does he think they’ll beat USC? You’ll have to read his preview.

Kartje is predicting a fast start for the Trojans, who will run into some bumps and bruises in the Big 10 before rallying with a flourish. Will USC topple UCLA and Notre Dame?

Kartje thinks only one victory is in store, but which one? Read his preview to find out.

Our Times sports team also lays out key points to watch in UCLA’s and USC’s season openers while they chat up what’s in store this season.

Of course, you can always find more at each team’s landing page, https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla and https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc.

See you at a game.

The week’s biggest stories

Trump administration policies and reactions

California politics

Crime, courts and policing

Entertainment news

More big stories

This week’s must-reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

POLICE are urgently searching for two women who “may be together” after they vanished months ago.

Lorna Nightingale, 70, was last seen in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in February while Emma Nightingale, 36, has not been seen since being spotted in Colchester, Essex, in June.

Cops said it is known that both women have connections to Essex, suggesting that they may have travelled there.

Suffolk Police added that officers believed the women “may be together.”

Both women are from Lowestoft, cops said.

Lorna is described as being 5ft 2in tall, of a slim build, with short grey hair.

Emma is described as 5ft 8 in tall, with mousey-coloured long hair.

If you have seen Lorna or Emma, or have any information about them, contact police by calling 999.

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If you browse through social media, it’s easy to find commentary about canceling the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

There are Angelenos who lack confidence in the city and county’s ability to roll out the red carpet due to perceived failures during the Palisades and Altadena fires.

Others believe construction will lead to the displacement of the homeless or that the Games won’t make money.

One syndicated columnist pleaded with L.A. not to work with “a lawless U.S. regime,” while sportswriter and author Jeff Pearlman wondered if Latin American athletes would feel safe in the U.S. due to the Trump administration’s current deportations.

There are pushes from some, but how possible is it that the Games will be canceled?

My colleague Thuc Nhi Nugyen wrote about that issue and dispelled the notion any cancellation was likely.

Let’s dive into her work.

Why is backing out difficult? We’re three years away

Host cities and host country national organizing committees (in this country, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sign a host city contract (HCC) after the International Olympic Committee officially awards the Games.

The contract for the 2028 Games, signed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-City Council President Herb Wesson in September 2017, includes procedures for termination from the IOC’s perspective but doesn’t leave the same option for the host city or the national organizing committee.

“While one cannot foreclose all potential theories, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Los Angeles could terminate the HCC without facing substantial legal issues,” Nathan O’Malley, an international arbitration lawyer and a partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett, wrote in an email. “Especially if the reason for ending the contract was a political disagreement between the federal, state and local branches of government.”

When even COVID-19 didn’t stop the Games

After an initial one-year delay of the Tokyo Games, medical professionals pleaded to cancel amid rising COVID-19 cases.

Public sentiment soured drastically, with protests in the streets. A March 2021 poll by Asahi Shimbun, one of the most prominent newspapers in Japan, found 83% of voters believed that the Olympics set to take place that summer should be postponed or canceled.

But, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, only “the IOC has the authority to decide.”

Breaching the contract could have put Tokyo in danger of being sued by the IOC for $4-5 billion, economist Andrew Zimbalist told Yahoo Sports in 2021. The Nomura Research Institute estimated the total cost of cancellation to be 1.8 trillion yen — about $12.3 billion.

What influence will President Trump have?

LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman has emphasized that he has assurances from the federal government that the United States will be open, despite recent travel bans and tighter scrutiny of international travelers arriving in the U.S.

Trump’s June proclamation includes exemptions for athletes, team personnel or immediate relatives entering the country for the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.

But in the two months since the ban, visas have been denied for athletes, including the Cuban women’s volleyball team traveling for a tournament in Puerto Rico, a baseball team from Venezuela that qualified to play in the Senior Baseball World Series and Senegal’s women’s basketball team preparing for a training camp.

One final outlook

If any city should be ready to host the biggest Olympics in history, it should be L.A. Not only because of the existing venues, but because of the unprecedented 11-year planning time after the IOC awarded the Games in 2017.

Now with less than three years remaining, relocating to a city that would likely have to build new venues would be unrealistic for the IOC.

“For Los Angeles, a city whose identity is partly predicated on staging the Olympics twice, and now having a third time,” said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State University, “I think it would be really, really difficult for L.A. to give up the Olympics.”

For more, check out the full story.

The week’s biggest stories

High-profile murders and deaths

Health issues and heat

Trump and his impact on California politics

Los Angeles-area fires

More big stories

This week’s must-reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jamie-Lee B.)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Affairs

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

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

What Californians think about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts has been a source of hot debate.

Republicans rallied around polling conducted by Politico last week that noted that California voters preferred an “independent line-drawing panel” determining seats to the House of Representatives versus giving that role to the state Legislature.

New polling, however, suggests more voters may now be backing the governor than stand opposed, with a large contingent undecided, according to reporting from my colleagues Melody Gutierrez and Laura J. Nelson.

Let’s jump into what the numbers say.

Why is Newsom considering redistricting?

The high-stakes fight over political boundaries could shape control of the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.

Texas’ plan creates five new Republican-leaning seats that could secure the GOP’s House majority. Texas is creating the new districts at the behest of President Trump to help Republicans keep control of the House in the midterm elections. California’s efforts are an attempt to temporarily cancel those gains. The new maps would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 congressional elections.

Newsom and Democratic leaders say California must match Texas’ partisan mapmaking to preserve balance in Congress.

New polling supports Californians fighting back

The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, asked registered voters about the Newsom-backed redistricting push favoring California Democrats. This effort serves as a counterattack to President Trump and Texas Republicans reworking election maps to their advantage.

When voters were asked whether they agree with California’s redistricting maneuver, 46% said it was a good idea, and 36% said it was a bad idea.

Slightly more, 48%, said they would vote in favor of the temporary gerrymandering efforts if it appeared on the statewide special election ballot in November. Nearly a third said they would vote no, and 20% said they were undecided.

One interpretation of the data

“That’s not bad news,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “It could be better.”

DiCamillo added: “With ballot measures, you’d like to be comfortably above 50% because you got to get people to vote yes and when people are undecided or don’t know enough about initiatives, they tend to vote no just because it’s the safer vote.”

The strongest backers

Among voters who regularly cast ballots in statewide elections, overall support for redistricting jumped to 55%, compared with 34% opposed.

DiCamillo said that is significant.

“If I were to pick one subgroup where you would want to have an advantage, it would be that one,” he said.

Where to find the undecided votes

Winning in November, however, will require pushing undecided voters to back the redistricting plan.

Among Latino, Black and Asian voters, nearly 30% said they have yet to decide how they would vote on redistricting.

Women also have higher rates of being undecided compared with men, at 25% to 14%.

Younger voters are also more likely to be on the fence, with nearly a third of 18- to 29-year-olds saying they are unsure, compared with 11% of those older than 65.

The ever-growing divide

The partisan fight over election maps elicited deeply partisan results.

Nearly 7 in 10 Democratic voters said they would support the redistricting measure, and Republicans overwhelmingly panned the plan by about the same margin (72%).

Former President Obama endorsed it, and California’s former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, told the New York Times he would fight it.

The effort faced opposition this week in Sacramento during legislative hearings, where Republicans blasted it as a partisan game-playing.

California Republicans attempted to stall the process by filing an emergency petition at the state Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the California Constitution by rushing the proposal through the Legislature.

The high court rejected the legal challenge Wednesday.

We’ll be following along and providing updates until election day. For now, check out the full article.

The week’s biggest stories

(Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee)

Gavin Newsom’s policies and reactions

Crime, courts and policing

Entertainment news

Amazing animal tales

More big stories

This week’s must-reads

More great reads

For your weekend

Going out

Staying in

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

WASHINGTON — The FBI on Friday searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former Trump administration national security advisor John Bolton as part of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said.

Bolton, who emerged as an outspoken critic of President Trump after being fired in 2019 and fought with the first Trump administration over a scathing book he wrote documenting his time in the White House, was not in custody Friday and has not been charged with any crimes, said the person who was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The searches, seemingly the most significant public step the Justice Department has taken against a perceived enemy of the president, are likely to elicit fresh concerns that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to target the Republican’s foes. They come as the Trump administration has moved to examine the activities of other critics, including by authorizing a grand jury investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe that dogged Trump for much of his first term, and as FBI and Justice Department leaders signal their loyalty to the president.

Speaking to reporters during an unscheduled visit to the White House Historical Assn., Trump said he had seen news coverage of Friday’s searches and expected to be briefed about it by the Justice Department but also insisted he didn’t “want to know about it.”

“I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel that it’s better this way,” Trump said.

Bolton had said in interviews this year that he was mindful that he could be scrutinized, telling the AP in January shortly before Trump took office, “Anybody who ever disagrees with Trump has to worry about retribution. It’s a pretty long list.”

An FBI search like the one at Bolton’s properties requires authorization from a federal magistrate judge. It wasn’t immediately clear what information authorities submitted to demonstrate that they had probable cause of a crime, though the Justice Department years ago launched an investigation into whether Bolton improperly disclosed classified information in a book manuscript he had written. The inquiry was later closed.

Vice President JD Vance denied in an NBC News interview on Friday that Bolton was being targeted because of his criticism of Trump. “If there’s no crime here, we’re not going to prosecute it. If there is a crime here, of course, Ambassador Bolton will get his day in court. That’s how it should be.”

Bolton was in his office building at the time

Bolton was not home for the search of his home, but after it started, he was spotted Friday morning standing in the lobby of the Washington building where he keeps an office and talking to two people with “FBI” visible on their vests. He left a few minutes later and appeared to have gone upstairs in the building. Agents were seen taking bags into the office building through a back entrance.

Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton were not immediately returned, and a lawyer who has represented Bolton had no immediate comment.

The Justice Department had no comment, but leaders appeared to cryptically refer to the searches in a series of social media posts Friday morning.

FBI Director Kash Patel, who included Bolton on a list of “members of the Executive Branch Deep State” in a 2023 book he wrote, posted on X: “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi shared his post, adding: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”

The Justice Department is separately conducting mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his company, and ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith faces an investigation from an independent watchdog office. Schiff and James have vigorously denied any wrongdoing through their lawyers.

The Bolton searches also unfolded against the backdrop of a 2022 search for classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., an action that produced since-dismissed criminal charges but remains the source of outrage for the president and supporters who insist he was unjustly targeted despite the retrieval of top-secret records.

Patel said in a Fox Business Channel interview this week that the Mar-a-Lago search represented a “total weaponization and politicization” of the bureau, and Trump himself referenced it on Friday, telling reporters: “I guess his house was raided today, but my house was raided, also.”

Trump and Bolton have been at odds for years

Bolton served as Trump’s third national security advisor for 17 months and clashed with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea.

He faced scrutiny during the first Trump administration over a book he wrote about his time in government that officials argued disclosed classified information. To make its case, the Justice Department in 2020 submitted sworn statements from senior White House officials, including then-National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone, asserting that Bolton’s manuscript included classified information that could harm national security if exposed.

Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer contained classified information.

The Biden administration Justice Department in 2021 abandoned its lawsuit and dropped a separate grand jury investigation, with Bolton’s lawyer calling the effort to block the book “politically motivated” and illegitimate.

Bolton’s harshly critical book, “The Room Where It Happened,” portrayed Trump as grossly ill-informed about foreign policy and said he “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.”

Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”

Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and also held positions in President Reagan’s administration. He considered running for president in 2012 and 2016.

Trump, on his first day back in office this year, revoked the security clearances of more than four dozen former intelligence officials, including Bolton. Bolton was also among a group of former Trump officials whose security details were canceled by Trump earlier this year.

In 2022, an Iranian operative was charged in a plot to kill Bolton in presumed retaliation for a 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed the country’s most powerful general.

The handling of classified information by top government officials has been a politically loaded topic in recent years. Besides Trump, the Justice Department also investigated whether then-President Biden, a Democrat, mishandled classified information after serving as vice president in the Obama administration, and the FBI also recovered what it said were classified documents from the home of former Trump Vice President Mike Pence. Neither man was charged.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press . AP writers Michelle L. Price, Jill Colvin, Nathan Ellgren, Lindsay Whitehurst, Alanna Durkin Richer and Byron Tau contributed to this report.

A BODY has been found in the search for a missing County Durham man.

Police were searching for 35-year-old Dean from Chester-le-Street when they recovered the body Wednesday afternoon.

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While formal identification is yet to take place, the body is believed to be Dean.

Durham Constabulary issued an appeal to help find the missing man early on Wednesday.

His mum also posted an appeal on Facebook, writing: “Has anyone seen my son Dean he left home yesterday at 11am to go to the gym at Chester le Street and he hasn’t come home.”

She posted another photo of Dean this evening without a caption.

He had last been seen crossing the road to the cycle path near the Pelton Buffs Social Club just before 11am on Monday.

The body was recovered from the Pelton area.

Police thanked Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue for their help during the search.

A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary told ChronicleLive: “We’re very sorry to report that a body has been found in the search for Dean. Sadly, the body of a man was recovered from the Pelton area this afternoon.

“Formal identification has yet to take place, but we believe it to be that of the 35-year-old, from Chester-le-Street. Dean’s family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

“We’re very sorry to report that a body has been found in the search for Dean. Sadly, the body of a man was recovered from the Pelton area this afternoon (August 20).

“Formal identification has yet to take place, but we believe it to be that of the 35-year-old, from Chester-le-Street. Dean’s family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.”

His family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

Rescuers are looking for more than 150 people who were still missing on Monday in northwestern Pakistan, which was devastated by landslides and flash floods on Friday.

Torrential rains triggered the flash foods killing at least 344 people and destroying hundreds of homes.

Most of the deaths – 317 – were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where monsoon rains, expected only to intensify in the days ahead, have driven flooding and landslides that collapsed houses.

More than 150 people are missing in Buner, where at least 208 were killed and “10 to 12 entire villages” were partially buried, according to authorities.

“They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes, or swept away by floodwaters,” said Asfandyar Khattak, head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

“Separately, in Shangla district, dozens of people are also reported missing,” Khattak added.

The spokesman for the province’s rescue agency said about 2,000 rescue workers are involved across nine districts, where rain is still hampering efforts.

“The operation to rescue people trapped under debris is ongoing,” said Bilal Ahmad Faizi.

“The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,” he added.

After days without power, the electricity supply was restored on Sunday afternoon.

Flooded roads hampered the movement of rescue vehicles, as a few villagers worked to cut fallen trees to clear the way after the water receded.

The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, and Battagram as disaster-hit areas.

On Saturday, hundreds gathered for mass funerals, where bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shawls were laid out on the village ground.

Iran said it stood ready to provide “any cooperation and assistance aimed at alleviating the suffering” in neighbouring Pakistan, while Pope Leo XIV addressed the flooding with prayers “for all those who suffer because of this calamity”.

The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall – vital for agriculture and food provision – but also brings destruction.

“The intensity of this year’s monsoon is about 50 to 60 percent more than last year,” said Lieutenant General Inam Haider, chairman of the national disaster agency.

“Two to three more monsoon spells are expected until the first weeks of September,” he told journalists in Islamabad.

Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.

The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon have killed more than 650 people, with more than 920 injured.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency.

If you’re a Gen Xer or younger, there’s a good chance you’ve contemplated moving out of California.

The reasons are obvious. It’s expensive and difficult to raise a family, pay rent or even consider buying a home.

That struggle isn’t just on the mind of locals. Midwestern and Southern states have recognized an opportunity and are making their best pitches to frustrated Californians.

So, is there a price Tulsa, Okla., could offer you to move? Are the incentives of cheaper gas, much shorter commutes and overall drive times enough of an appeal? I haven’t even mentioned the cost of living and a real chance of buying a home.

My colleague Hannah Fry spoke with Californians who moved to Tulsa for a variety of reasons. Here are a couple of their stories.

Cynthia Rollins, former San Diego resident

Rollins felt socially isolated working a remote job in Ocean Beach for a tech company, but still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around her.

Months earlier she read about a program, Tulsa Remote, that would pay remote workers to relocate to Oklahoma’s second-largest city for at least a year. She decided to give it a shot and visit.

“When I was [in California], I was so consumed with the process of day-to-day living — the traffic, getting places, scheduling things,” Rollins said. “Here there’s so much more space to think creatively about your life and to kind of set it up the way you want.”

After five months in Tulsa, Rollins met her significant other at a trivia night. Her partner, with whom she now lives, made the journey from California to Tulsa for school during the pandemic.

“He grew up in Santa Cruz and was living 10 minutes from me down the road in Pacifica, but we never met in California,” she said. “We met in Tulsa.”

What is Tulsa offering?

Tulsa Remote — funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation — started in 2019, and has sought to recruit new residents to diversify the city’s workforce.

It decided to offer $10,000 to remote workers who would move to the state for at least a year.

The program also provides volunteer and socializing opportunities for new residents and grants them membership at a co-working space for 36 months.

What do the numbers say?

Tulsa Remote has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers since its inception.

More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move, cementing California as the second-most popular origin state behind Texas.

Those numbers reflect something of a wider trend: From 2010 through 2023, about 9.2 million people moved from California to other states, while only 6.7 million people moved to California from other parts of the country, according to the American Community Survey.

A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted in 2023 found that 34% of Californians have seriously considered leaving the state because of high housing costs.

Zach and Katie Meincke, former Westsiders

The lower cost of living was a huge bonus for the Meinckes when they moved three years ago.

They went from paying $2,400 in monthly rent on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in L.A.’s Westside to a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Tulsa for just a few hundred dollars more.

It ended up being fortuitous timing for the couple, who discovered they were expecting their first child — a daughter named Ruth — just weeks after they decided to move.

The couple are expecting their second child in December.

It’s a life milestone that Meincke says may not have happened in Los Angeles. In California, it costs nearly $300,000 to raise a child to 18. In Oklahoma, researchers estimate it costs about $241,000, according to a LendingTree study this year.

“There was no way we were going to move into a house in Los Angeles unless we had roommates, and that’s not an ideal situation,” Zach Meincke said. “We were 37 when we left Los Angeles and it felt like we were at a point that if we wanted to have all those other things in life — children, a house — we need to make that shift.”

For more on the moves, check out the full article here.

The week’s biggest stories

(Mario Tama / Getty Images)

Trump policies and reactions

Wildlife and the environment

Entertainment news

More big stories

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

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

COPS have launched an urgent hunt for a 49-year-old woman who went missing from a popular seaside town.

Claire Bennett was last heard from at around 1.30pm on Monday after vanishing in Cornwall.

2

Claire, who is from St Austell, is believed to be in the Truro area according to cops.

She is described as a white female, around 5ft 10ins and of slim build, police said.

Claire is also said to have blonde hair which is usually worn down.

Cops confirmed she was last seen wearing a white top and blue shorts.

Searches and enquiries are ongoing, but the force are appealing for anyone who has seen Claire or knows where she is to get in touch.

Anyone who sees Claire or knows of her whereabouts is asked to contact police on 999 quoting log 610 of 11 August.

Issuing a plea to her mum, Claire’s daughter told PlymouthLive: “Mum, if you read this please come home. We aren’t mad at you and we all bloody love you!

“You win at hide and seek. Just even send me a message to tell me you’re ok.

“We can get through this. I promise. I love you.”

Claire’s daughter said her mum was “classed as a high-risk missing person”, according to the outlet.

Her daughter also claimed that items belonging to Claire had been found, reports the outlet.

She said: “We found a bag we believe to be hers at the park by the viaduct In Truro.

“We were asked not to continue looking on foot for her due to the police dogs and scents etc.”

2

While cuisine often takes center stage in Southern California, at L.A. bars it’s also quite possible to “have it all.”

And we all have our favorites: the Short Stop in Echo Park after Dodger wins, the Tiki Ti in Los Feliz when you’re looking for the island vibe or a refreshing sidecar at Pico Rivera’s bustling and dimly lit Dal Rae.

Sure, they’re all wonderful. But it’s also fun to experience new scenes, different twists on some classics and to just find yourself in a different locale with a new drink.

The Times’ Food team, led by colleagues Stephanie Breijo and Danielle Dorsey, is inviting readers to add to your favorites by visiting one or all of their 21 new bars to check out.

Here’s a quick look at their full list. Cheers.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Chinatown’s Evangeline Swamp Room

This is the place to let the good times roll in true New Orleans fashion.

All of the requisites are here: Ramos gin fizzes hand-shaken to an inch-high fluffy top, smooth sazeracs, mint juleps crowned with bushels of fresh mint, frosty hurricanes and more. But the Evangeline Swamp Room also makes room for a few of its own creations, such as a pink-lemonade take on the Pimm’s cup, a Cajun riff on the bloody Mary that’s garnished with blackened shrimp, and a rotation of frozen seasonal cocktails that go down dangerously easily. When you need food to sop it all up, opt for po’boys, charbroiled oysters, jambalaya fritters, fried okra and gator chili.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Hollywood’s Bar Avoja

Walk through the bar area of Mother Wolf past the semi-open kitchen where Evan Funke’s celebrated Roman dishes come flying out at a rapid clip. Head through the double doors, hang a left and you’ll find yourself at the entrance to Bar Avoja.

Like Mother Wolf, Bar Avoja — Roman slang for “hell yeah” — is co-owned by operator Giancarlo Pagani and inspired by the cuisine of Rome. The cocktails in this Thursday-to-Saturday lounge deserve praise. Sometimes they incorporate region-appropriate ingredients, such as limoncello and amari, other times they blend the unexpected (the Morso Di Vita, made with vodka, tomato, basil and passion fruit, is a highlight). Dimly lit and slightly upscale, it feels like a pared-down, intimate experience.

(Alyson Aliano/For The Times)

Los Feliz’s Untamed Spirits

Silver Lake’s first bar dedicated to women’s sports opened during Pride Month courtesy of wives Janie and Stephanie Ellingwood. Untamed Spirits features TVs throughout the space, from the open-air interior to the covered patio with string lights and hanging plants. The menu offers elevated bar standards including brisket nachos, kimchi fried rice and a smashburger, with house cocktails such as a pear lychee martini and tequila watermelon punch. Taco Tuesday brings tacos priced from $3 to $5, $3 tequila shots and $10 margaritas, while weekend brunch adds smoked brisket hash and a breakfast burrito. Untamed Spirits is an official bar partner of the Angel City Football Club and will host its first watch party on Sept. 7. Day parties, trivia and drag bingo round out the bar’s regular programming.

(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)

Venice’s Kassi

The lush, Grecian-inspired escape features a coastal palette with umbrellas, tables and comfortable couches for wasting away a summer day, all with a clear view of the crashing waves at Venice Beach. The beverage program fits the theme with strawberry and cucumber slushies that can be swirled together, a Mediterranean gin and tonic packed with fresh herbs and a pomegranate za’atar mule. The food menu from chef-partner Thomas Lim includes shareable bites such as mezze, skewers, crispy saganaki and a refreshing watermelon salad topped with whipped feta. The rooftop turns clubby with DJs in the evenings and on weekends; its patrons are a healthy mix of locals and tourists.

For the entire list, click here.

The week’s biggest stories

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Crime, courts and policing

Canyon and Los Angeles-area fires

California politics

When animals attack

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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

If you spend any time on social media, it’s hard to avoid the scorching hot takes about Las Vegas’ recent financial struggles.

Vegas critics say the exorbitant resort fees are brutal, the ever-increasing parking costs are punishing, the comps are few and far between — and did you notice the buffets are vanishing?

In short, Vegas is on a losing streak.

After fighting to bounce back from COVID-19 closures, Sin City is facing financial headwinds as fewer people, particularly Californians, are visiting, playing and ultimately spending money.

My colleague Terry Castleman dived into some theories, but also, as Terry does well, dug into the numbers to tell the tale of Vegas’ sudden crap out.

How do Californians figure into Vegas’ struggle?

Visits to Las Vegas were down 11.3% in June 2025 versus a year earlier, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Traffic on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border was down 4.3% over the same period, suggesting fewer visitors doing road trips from the Golden State to Vegas casinos.

The number of air travelers into Las Vegas overall declined 6.3% over the previous June. In 2024, Californians made up more than a fifth of air travelers into Vegas, with nearly half of those coming from the Los Angeles metro area.

A demographic report from the visitors authority estimated that Southern California provided 30% of all visitors to the city in 2024.

Add it all up, and Californians could be responsible for a significant portion of the decline in Vegas tourism.

How do the numbers look internationally?

Tourism within the U.S. is only part of the picture, though, as experts previously predicted we are also seeing a slump in international tourism to the U.S. The convention and visitors authority estimates that 12% of the city’s visitors are international.

A report from the World Travel and Tourism Council projected that the U.S. would lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending in 2025.

“While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,” Julia Simpson, the council’s president, said in a statement.

The report cited air-travel booking data from March that showed a 15% to 20% drop in expected travel from major tourism sources, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

What about Mexico and Canada?

Visitors from Canada and Mexico made up more than half of international visitors to Las Vegas in 2024, according to data from the visitors authority.

But President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state and his decision to hit Canada with tariffs have not endeared him to Canadian travelers. Meanwhile, media overseas have been bombarded with stories of capricious denials and detentions of travelers at U.S. border crossings.

Apparently, Mexican and Canadian tourists are not feeling so welcome in the U.S. these days.

What’s next?

“Las Vegas thrives on tourism,” Rep. Steven Horsford wrote last week on X, “but under the Trump slump, the numbers are tanking.” Horsford, a Democrat, represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, which includes a portion of Las Vegas.

By many metrics — including visitor totals, convention attendance and room occupancy rates — Las Vegas has not fully recovered from the onset of the pandemic.

In dollar terms, however, Sin City continues to profit even as visitor numbers drop: Clark County, which includes Vegas, collected $1.16 billion in gambling revenue in June 2025, up 3.5% from a year earlier.

So, Vegas’ luck has not run out yet.

For more, check out the full article here.

The week’s biggest stories

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Canyon and Los Angeles-area fires

Trump administration policy and reactions

Crime, courts and policing

In memoriam

More big stories

This week’s must reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Giordano Poloni / For The Times)

Going out

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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

The final season of “Andor” required visual storytellers to craft a stylized tapestry that reflected each episode’s underlying themes while unifying the whole. “We treated every three episodes almost like a movie and gave them their own identity,” says cinematographer Christophe Nuyens, who photographed the first six episodes. In “Harvest,” the challenge was balancing lighting sources and camera movement to link two sharply contrasting storylines: the elaborate wedding of Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma’s daughter and Stormtroopers in search of undocumented workers on Mina-Rau, which climaxes in a surprise death. “It was important visually that everything could fall nicely together, so for the first three episodes, we decided to play in a sunnier environment,” he says. “The Stormtrooper scene was like a jigsaw puzzle. We had to mix a practical location with a staged set and then all the TIE fighter stuff was also shot on a stage.” Adding to the scale was the cinematographer’s use of a large-format camera and Ultra Vista lenses. “It was important to use a big sensor as it gives you the feel and scope almost like in ‘Rogue One,’” says Nuyens. “It was the biggest change we made this season and I think those lenses make it look really nice.”

Aug. 2 (UPI) — OpenAI is ending the option to have Google and other search engines index user chats with ChatGPT and make the content of those chats discoverable on searches.

Google accounts for more than 89% of all online searches, which made private chats on ChatGPT potentially widely accessible when indexed on that search engine and others.

“This feature introduced too many opportunities for folks to accidentally share things they didn’t intend to, so we’re removing the option,” Dan Stuckey, OpenAI chief information security officer, told PC Mag.

Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search engines will continue to index discoverable chats, but only for a while longer.

“We’re also working to remove indexed content from the relevant search engines,” Stuckey said.

OpenAI recently enabled the index option for private ChatGPT discussions as an experiment, Stuckey added, but that experiment is ending.

A message informed users their indexed chats were searchable on Google and other search engines, but many users did not read the message or don’t understand the extent to which their conversations might be available to others.

Such conversations are accessible when affixing “site:chatgpt/share” to search queries when those conversations are indexed.

News of the indexed private conversations with ChatGPT first was reported by FastCompany on Wednesday in a story detailing Google’s indexing of ChatGPT conversations.

The indexing does not provide information on respective users, but the conversations might include personal information when mentioned by the users while conversing with ChatGPT.

Many users also were unaware that sharing a conversation with someone via social apps, such as WhatsApp, when saving the URL for future use would cause Google to make it potentially widely available to millions of people.

OpenAI officials recently announced they were appealing a court order requiring the preservation of all chats that users delete after conversing with ChatGPT, Ars Technica reported.

At Penzance South Pier, I stand in line for the Scillonian ferry with a few hundred others as the disembarking passengers come past. They look tanned and exhilarated. People are yelling greetings and goodbyes across the barrier. “It’s you again!” “See you next year!” A lot of people seem to be repeat visitors, and have brought their dogs along.

I’m with my daughter Maddy and we haven’t got our dog. Sadly, Wilf the fell terrier died shortly before our excursion. I’m hoping a wildlife-watching trip to the Isles of Scilly might distract us from his absence.

A body has been found in a lake during a search for a missing mother.

Rachel Booth, 38, disappeared in the early hours of Saturday after she was last seen by her family in the village of Barnton in Cheshire.

Cheshire Police earlier said officers had found a body which they believed to be Ms Booth in a lake in Oakmere after “extensive searches and appeals in the area”.

The body has not been formally identified but Ms Booth’s family has been informed and was being supported, the force said.

Police said there were not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and report would be prepared for the coroner.

After she disappeared, CCTV footage showed Ms Booth at Sandiway Garage of the A556 near Northwich at about 03:50 BST on Saturday.

Wild Shore Delamere, which offers outdoor activities at its lake nearby, had closed while the search commenced.

News about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests seems to flow as if emanating from an unending tap.

That makes it difficult, at times, to pick up on important topics and issues.

I’m going to use this space to highlight a few articles from my colleagues focusing on the potential growth of ICE in the coming years, new tools that federal agents can use to expand crackdowns, and what the actual numbers say.

Trump wants to hire 10,000 ICE agents

My colleague Andrea Castillo dove into the numbers and reality of an agent hiring spree.

The massive funding bill signed into law this month by President Trump earmarks about $170 billion for border and immigration enforcement, including tens of billions for new deportation agents and other personnel.

During his first term, when Trump called for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire 15,000 people collectively, a July 2017 report by the Homeland Security inspector general found significant setbacks.

In 2017, ICE hired 371 deportation officers from more than 11,000 applications and took 173 days on average to finalize hires, the news outlet Government Executive reported. According to Cronkite News, Border Patrol shrunk by more than 1,000 agents after Trump left office in 2021.

The Homeland Security inspector general concluded that to meet the goal of 10,000 new immigration officers, ICE would need more than 500,000 applicants. For CBP to hire 5,000 new agents, it would need 750,000 applicants.

Castillo added that past and potentially future corruption, the prospect of lowering hiring standards and competition with other police agencies make Trump’s hiring goal an uphill battle.

For more, check out her entire article here.

ICE is accessing Medicaid records

My colleagues Jenny Jarvie and Hannah Fry noted that the Trump administration is forging ahead with a plan to hand over the personal data of millions of Medicaid recipients to Homeland Security personnel seeking to track down people living in the U.S. illegally.

The huge trove of private information includes home addresses, Social Security numbers and ethnicities of 79 million Medicaid enrollees.

The plan, which has not been announced publicly, is the latest step by the Trump administration to deliver on its pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and arrest 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day.

California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff warned last month of potential violations of federal privacy laws as Trump officials made plans to share personal health data.

Undocumented immigrants are not permitted to enroll in Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for low-income individuals.

However, federal law requires states to offer emergency Medicaid, coverage that pays for lifesaving services in emergency rooms to everyone, including non-U.S. citizens.

Check out the full article here.

Homeland Security says it arrested 2,800 undocumented people between early June and July

Colleagues Michael Wilner and Rachel Uranga reported on the number of people picked up in the Greater Los Angeles area by Homeland Security.

Federal authorities said earlier that 1,618 undocumented immigrants had been detained between June 6 — the start of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation in Los Angeles — and June 22. That total increased by nearly 1,200 arrests in just over two weeks. Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines in the city days after the operation began amid heated protests.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials have repeatedly criticized federal operations for terrorizing immigrant communities, where business has slowed and many have holed up in their homes.

The president’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles has been a test case for his administration as it presses the bounds of executive authority, deploying federal agents and the military to a major metropolitan city with leadership hostile to its cause.

For more, here’s the complete article.

The week’s biggest stories

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

East Los Angeles Sheriff’s station explosion

Crime, courts and policing

Housing and the environment

More big stories

This week’s must reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP)

Going out

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L.A. Affairs

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

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

Along with the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and the Universal Studios theme park, a new celestial attraction is set to debut in Los Angeles.

The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at Exposition Park is expected to complete construction this year, according to its architects, only three years after the first shovels broke ground.

That would make the center ready in time for when Los Angeles hosts visitors from around the world to see the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics.

One of the aspects that makes this place special is its showcase, the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The spacecraft stands in a stack position, meaning it’s standing — complete with boosters and a rare fuel tank — as if it were ready to launch. It’s the only shuttle in the nation to feature such a feat.

Jeffrey N. Rudolph, president and chief executive of the California Science Center, and Ted Hyman, partner at architectural firm ZGF, which designed the air and space center, recently shared updates with The Times, including news of an exclusive partnership with director/producer J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot.

(William Liang / For The Times)

What’s that shiny thing off the 110 Freeway?

That silver cylindrical colossus that is easily seen from the freeway houses the stacked space shuttle.

The Endeavour was meticulously placed there in January 2024 as much of the museum was built around it.

As for the 20-story diagrid, or shuttle housing building, the museum’s construction crew is about 80% finished wrapping a stainless-steel skin exterior around the shuttle, according to an estimate from Mark Piaia, a ZGF project architect.

The shiny view comes courtesy of 4,247 panels and 1,074 diagonal strips that would stand 7,862 feet tall if lined up.

(William Liang / For The Times)

When will construction be done and the museum be open?

Rudolph said building construction is expected to be completed this year.

He would not provide an official opening day but noted that artifact and exhibit installations would still need to be completed.

The museum is expected to house about 20 planes and jets, including a Boeing 747.

There are also plans for a 45-foot slide that imitates the feeling of entering the atmosphere with a radiating orange glow, two sonic booms and the “S” turns a shuttle would make upon reentry.

(Courtesy of ZGF via the California Science Center)

What should visitors expect to see?

Rudolph was excited about what he’s calling “the reveal.”

He exclusively told The Times that a pair of introductory films are being produced by directing/producing titan J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. That’s the same production company responsible for some of the latest “Star Wars” and “Mission:Impossible” movies.

The first film will greet visitors as they walk into the museum and will focus on the entire air and space exhibits.

The second will screen at a mini theater at the entrance to the space shuttle exhibit. It is a five-minute film that focuses on the history and inspiration behind the space shuttle. The film ends with a simulated launch, during which steam rises from the floor and through hallway doors and fills the theater.

As the steam impairs a guest’s vision, the screen is removed and visitors get a surprise: a full, “envelope” view of the stacked 20-story space shuttle.

“It is an amazing experience and we want to really build it up,” Rudolph said. “It’s not just about the hardware, but about the people and the educational aspects.”

Can visitors get inside the shuttle?

The delicate nature of the shuttle makes that impossible.

“There’s no way,” Rudolph said. “The hatch is very small and it’s very fragile.”

There is, however, a mock-up of the flight deck — an area designed to carry cargo — that visitors can toy with to get a feel that only shuttle astronauts once got.

We’ll continue to follow the progress of the air and space museum as we head toward opening day.

The week’s biggest stories

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Crime, courts and policing

ICE, immigration, raids and reactions

Fires and wildfires

Television and entertainment news

More big stories

This week’s must reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Brook Rushton / Sony Pictures Releasing)

Going out

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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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

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

There are multi-talents, and then there was Salvador Bagüez.

Hollywood used him as a bit actor in 1950s B-movies and classic Western television series from “Death Valley Days” to “Bonanza” to “The Cisco Kid.” Studio executives frequently hired the Mexican immigrant as a technical advisor or dialogue coach for movies set in Latin America or Spain involving stars such as Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum and Cary Grant.

Bagüez’s baritone took him to radio programs and stage shows alongside Jose Arias, a pioneering bandleader of Mexican and Californio music. In his later years, he covered the Dodgers as a sports writer for La Opinión. But for two decades, the longtime Lincoln Heights resident made his biggest mark in Southern California life — no pun intended — as a star illustrator for The Times from the mid-1920s until about World War II.

Not a bad career for one of the first Latinos to work at this paper, amiright?

I first heard about Bagüez in 2023 from Times editorial library director Cary Schneider, who had received a query from someone trying to find out more information about “Sal Baquez.” He gave me a heads-up because one of the trillion sub-beats I have is trying to tell the stories of pioneering but forgotten Latinos at the paper. So far, I’ve profiled columnist Pepe Arciga, cartoonist Manuel M. Moreno and artist-turned-Commerce Councilmember Alex O. Perez.

Now, here’s Bagüez’s story.

Copy boy turned star

He was born in Juarez in 1904 and came to this country in 1921. Bagüez’s first jobs for The Times were as a copy boy and a singer in the paper’s monthly radio variety show on KHJ (and I thought appearing in our videos reels was intimidating). Singing classic and contemporary songs in English and Spanish, his voice was so stirring that an Aug. 12, 1926, Times story revealed that colleagues in the art department took up a collection to gift him singing lessons.

By then, Bagüez was establishing himself as an illustrator in the paper’s pages. His main beats would become sports, entertainment and the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. His style varied — Pee-Chee folder-style illustrations that spanned the length of the front page of the sports section, sketches in charcoal of Hollywood stars like Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, even Art Deco-style flights of geometric fancy. When World War II came, Bagüez drew caricatures of Hitler and Stalin and even maps of Axis advancements across Europe. He signed all of his illustrations with an umlaut over the U in his last name, a grammatical courtesy not offered to him by The Times typesetters, who went with “Baguez” in his byline.

When he wasn’t drawing, Bagüez was interpreting for Times reporters and penning Spanish-language film and music reviews. His importance to the paper was such that he was listed as one of The Times’ stars in a Dec. 3, 1928, ad in the Pasadena Post urging readers to subscribe to this paper — the only Latino staffer afforded the honor.

A 1941 illustration of author Booth Tarkington drawn by Salvador Bagüez.

(Los Angeles Times)

The last mention I could find of him as a Times employee came in the May 17, 1943, edition of “Lee’s Side o’ L.A.,” in which longtime columnist Lee Shippey mocked people who expressed sympathy for pachucos, the Mexican American men who were increasingly being assaulted by white servicemen in a series of attacks that culminated in the Zoot Suit Riots just a few weeks later. Shippey cited Bagüez and fellow Times artist Perez as Mexicans done good, writing, “Both worked up to enviable reputations because they were thoroughly good men as well as good workmen … gangsters go to jail, good citizens do well. Pick out the right examples, boys.”

I wonder if that tokenism is what La Opinión sports editor Rodolfo B. Garcia was referring to in a 1979 Bagüez appreciation when he said the artist left The Times at the height of his fame because he didn’t like how a Times editor “called his attention.”

One person who knew Bagüez well was Hall of Fame Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrín. His first radio job, for KWKW in 1955, was as Bagüez’s replacement after the latter quit the station for a movie gig. The two would dine before games at Dodger Stadium — “full meals, not the hot dogs they give reporters now” — once Jarrín became the team’s Spanish-language broadcaster and Bagüez covered them for La Opiníon from 1960 to about 1970.

“I held him in high regard because he was always so calm and respectful,” Jarrín told me. “Salvador had the soul of an artist and a beautiful voice — he spoke marvelous Spanish and perfect English.”

Don Jaime remembers weekend trips to Tijuana with Bagüez and some of his Hollywood friends, legends like Anthony Quinn, Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland. He also laughed during our short conversation at the fact Bagüez never referred to the Blue Crew as the Dodgers but rather “Los Esquivadores” — the literal translation of “dodgers.”

But Jarrín, as much as he hung out with Bagüez, said there was always something inscrutable about his friend: “Salvador was a very private man. Never talked about his personal life, never even talked about whether he was married.”

Bagüez died in 1979 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles alongside his mother. Garcia, the La Opinión sports editor, praised Bagüez in his remembrance as the “cleanest writer” he ever edited.

“Rest in piece, the Juarez native who triumphed in the United States as artist, reporter and announcer,” Garcia concluded. “Another of the old guard that has crossed over the path that waits for us all, late or early.”

This morning’s must read

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jenny Anderson / Disney via Getty Images)

Going out

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A question for you: What’s your favorite California beach?

Diane Miller writes: “Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo, Calif.”

Jocelyn Harrison writes: “Zuma Beach!”

Robert Benowitz writes: “Corona del Mar is my favorite California Beach.”

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

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor

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

For the record: Yesterday’s newsletter incorrectly stated the name of a reader’s favorite California beach. Jot McDonald’s favorite beach is Asilomar Beach, not Ancillary Beach.