Of course, there are two branches of Congress. Why, then, is there so much focus on the House? Simply put, it’s because of the steep odds Democrats face trying to win control of the Senate, which are somewhere between slim and none — with slim last seen cinching his saddle before cantering out of town.
Let’s take a moment for a quick refresher.
Every two years, all 435 House seats are on the ballot. Senate terms are staggered and run six years, so roughly a third of the chamber’s 100 seats are up for a vote in each federal election. In 2026, there will be 35 Senate contests.
Most won’t be remotely competitive.
In fact, more than two dozen of those races are effectively over before they begin, given the advantage one party holds over the other. Mississippi, for instance, will send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate the day that Delaware elects a Republican; both will occur right after Trump and Adam Schiff get inked with matching “I Love L.A.” tattoos.
That leaves nine Senate races that are at least somewhat competitive. Of those, three are considered toss-ups: open-seat contests in Michigan and North Carolina and the race in Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff is seeking a second term.
Democrats need to gain four seats to take control of the Senate, meaning even if they win all three of those even-steven races — which is far from certain — they still need to successfully defend seats in Minnesota and New Hampshire and pick up at least one other GOP-held seat.
That’s where the going gets tough.
Kamala Harris won Maine, which suggests Republican Susan Collins could be vulnerable. But the five-term senator has repeatedly managed to hang on, even in good Democratic years.
The three other races are tougher still.
Ohio used to be a major Midwestern battleground, but it’s grown solidly Republican. Democrats landed their prized recruit, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who narrowly lost his 2024 reelection bid and may be the only Democrat with a realistic shot at the seat. Still, he’s facing an uphill fight in the special election against Republican Jon Husted, an ex-lieutenant governor who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance.
In Iowa, where Republican Joni Ernst is retiring, GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson starts out the favorite in another state that’s grown increasingly red. (Hinson, a USC grad and former KABC-TV intern, has taken to trash-talking the Golden State — “I don’t want to see the country look like California” — because that’s what Republicans do these days.)
Which leaves Texas, land of shattered Democratic dreams.
It’s been more than three decades since the party has won a statewide election. Ever since, Democrats have insisted this is the year they’d end their losing streak.
This time, Democrats are hoping for an assist from the GOP.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn is seeking his fifth term and faces the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, in a primary that’s already grown fierce and ugly.
Paxton is MAGA down to the soles of his feet, which would normally give him a big advantage in a GOP primary. But his history — allegations of bribery and corruption, an impeachment trial, a messy divorce — have left him in bad odor with many Republicans.
The GOP’s Senate campaign committee and Majority Leader John Thune have aggressively thrown their weight behind Cornyn, though Trump has so far remained neutral.
Democrats would love to run against Paxton, given polls suggesting a competitive race if he’s the nominee. First, though, they’ll have to sort out their own primary.
Supporters cheer as state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) kicks off his campaign for U.S. Senate at Centennial Plaza in Round Rock on Sept. 9.
Colin Allred, the former NFL linebacker who lost in November to Ted Cruz, is running again and faces James Talarico, a state representative and seminarian from the Austin area, who’s became an online sensation with his godly persona and viral take-down of conservative pieties. O’Rourke also hasn’t ruled out another try for Senate.
Garry Mauro, a Democrat and former Texas land commissioner, is clear-eyed in assessing his party’s prospects.
“If you run on the right issues and don’t leave yourself a crazy radical … then I think you have a real chance of building a winning race,” he said. But “to say this isn’t a leaning-R state would be Pollyannish, and I’m not Pollyannish.”
Which means counting on the Lone Star to deliver a Democratic-run U.S. Senate is a bit like trusting a drunken gambler to preserve and protect your rent money.
That’s why Democrats are betting the House in hopes of corralling Trump.
The US president pledged a 100 percent tariff for films made outside the country.
Published On 29 Sep 202529 Sep 2025
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United States President Donald Trump has said he wants to levy a 100 percent import tax on movies made outside the country, saying the movie business “has been stolen” from Hollywood and the US.
Posting on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US president said the tariff was intended to “solve this long time, never ending problem.”
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“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby,’” he wrote.
“California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!”, he added, in reference to California governor Gavin Newsom, who is a common foil of Trump’s.
It was unclear how these tariffs would operate, since movies and TV shows can be transmitted digitally without going through ports.
Nor was it clear what this would mean for US films that depend on foreign locations as part of the story, such as the James Bond franchise.
Analysts note that many films are international co-productions. They are also not goods that are imported in a conventional way, meaning the government would have to determine how to value them and when they even qualify as imports.
Trump made a similar threat in May, directing the Department of Commerce to immediately begin imposing a 100 percent tariff on films “produced in Foreign Lands”.
At the time, he complained the US film industry was “DYING a very fast death” due to other countries luring filmmakers and studios away with generous incentives, describing it as a national security threat.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency on how the tariffs would be implemented.
“There is too much uncertainty, and this latest move raises more questions than answers,” said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.
“For now, as things stand, costs are likely to increase, and this will inevitably be passed on to consumers,” he said.
The president on Monday, on his same social media platform, also promised “substantial” tariffs on any country that makes its furniture outside the US.
He said he was doing so to make the state of North Carolina “GREAT again”, saying it had “completely lost its furniture business to China, and other Countries”.
A passenger bus veered off the road in a mountainous region in Sri Lanka, plunging down a 300-metre precipice and killing at least 15 people onboard. Authorities say the driver was speeding and lost control of the vehicle.
GENEVA — Switzerland’s president and other top officials were traveling to Washington on Tuesday in a hastily arranged trip aimed at striking a deal with the Trump administration over steep U.S. tariffs that have cast a pall over Swiss industries like chocolates, machinery and watchmaking.
President Karin Keller-Sutter was leading the delegation after last week’s announcement that exports of Swiss goods to the U.S. will face a whopping 39% percent tariff starting Thursday.
That is over two-and-a-half times higher than the rate on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S. Many Swiss companies in industries including watchmaking and chocolates have expressed concern about the issue.
It’s also more than the 31% that Switzerland had been set to face when President Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on products from dozens of countries in early April.
The Swiss government said the trip was “to facilitate meetings with the U.S. authorities at short notice and hold talks with a view to improving the tariff situation for Switzerland.”
Keller-Sutter, who also serves as Switzerland’s finance minister, has faced criticism in Swiss media over a last-ditch call with Trump before a U.S. deadline on tariffs expired Aug. 1. She was leading a team that included Economy Minister Guy Parmelin.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Trump alluded to the call, saying “the woman was nice, but she didn’t want to listen” and that he had told her: “We have a $41 billion deficit with you, Madame … and you want to pay 1% tariffs.”
“I said, ‘you’re not going to pay 1%,’” he added.
It was not immediately clear where that $41 billion figure came from. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States ran a $38.3 billion trade imbalance on goods last year with Switzerland.
Swiss officials have argued that American goods face virtually zero tariffs in Switzerland, and the Swiss government says the wealthy Alpine country is the sixth-biggest foreign investor in the United States and the leading investor in research and development.
Ivan Slatkine, the head of the Federation of Romandie Enterprises, which regroups companies in French-speaking Switzerland, told Le Temps newspaper that 39% tariffs amounted to a “hammer blow for the entire Swiss economy.” Some Swiss companies — like high-end watchmakers with little direct competition — might face less impact, but others in airplane parts, machines and mid-level watchmaking would be hit, he said.
“For all the companies that depend on the American market, it’s really bad news — in particular compared to rivals in the European Union, whose exports are taxed only at 15%,” he was quoted Tuesday as saying.
The trip comes a day after Switzerland’s executive branch, the Federal Council, held an extraordinary meeting and said it was “keen to pursue talks with the United States on the tariff situation,” the government statement Tuesday said.
After consulting with Swiss businesses, the council said it had developed “new approaches for its discussions” with U.S. officials and was looking ahead to continued negotiations.
“Switzerland enters this new phase ready to present a more attractive offer, taking U.S. concerns into account and seeking to ease the current tariff situation,” a council statement said Monday.
Under the U.S. announcements Friday, Swiss companies will now have one of the steepest export duties — only Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures, at 40-41%.
Protesters have gathered on the streets of Brazil to denounce United States President Donald Trump for the steep tariffs he imposed on the country’s exports.
The demonstrations on Friday erupted in cities like Sao Paulo and Brasilia, as residents voiced their anger on the first day of Trump’s latest tariff campaign.
Last month, on July 9, Trump announced he planned to hike the import tax on Brazilian products to 50 percent, in response to a list of political complaints, chief among them the prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
A far-right leader and former army captain who served as president from 2019 to 2023, Bolsonaro faces trial for allegedly attempting to orchestrate a coup d’etat against his successor, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
A federal police investigation culminated in a 2024 report that suggested Bolsonaro and his allies sought to undermine the results of the 2022 election, which he narrowly lost to Lula.
Among the possibilities they reportedly considered was declaring a “state of siege” to suspend civil liberties and force the military to intervene. That, in turn, would pave the way for new elections.
Another idea that was allegedly floated was to poison Lula and shoot Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who had denounced Bolsonaro for spreading false information about the 2022 election process.
De Moraes ultimately oversaw the investigation into Bolsonaro’s alleged coup attempt, making him a prominent target for Bolsonaro’s supporters.
Trump counts himself among them. In his July 9 letter announcing the tariffs, he drew a line from his tariff hike to Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro, alleging that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote.
“This trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
Trump also accused the Brazilian Supreme Court of censoring right-wing voices and launching “insidious attacks on Free Elections”. Trump himself has been accused of seeking to undermine the results of the US’s 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
To defend Bolsonaro, Trump has gone so far as to sanction de Moraes, freezing his US-based assets and revoking his visa.
But critics have accused Trump of seeking to interfere with Brazil’s judicial process. Some have described the tariff hike and the sanctions against de Moraes as a pressure campaign to force Brazilian prosecutors to drop the case against Bolsonaro.
On the streets of Sao Paulo on Friday, protesters burned a pair of effigies — one representing Trump, the other Bolsonaro, positioned together in an embrace. Placards waved, some featuring Trump with devil horns protruding from his forehead and cartoons of de Moraes flicking Trump his middle finger.
A banner, meanwhile, featured the slogan: “Sovereignty is not negotiable.” Brazilian flags abounded on signs and T-shirts.
De Moraes himself issued a statement, saying Trump’s sanctions would not interfere with his duties. “This rapporteur will ignore the sanctions applied to him and continue working as he has been doing.”
Welcome to June. We’re halfway through this tumultuous year and there’s only one thing I can say for certain about 2025: It’s moving fast.
I have lots to share in this newsletter, including a long list of plant-related events and activities, but let’s start with goats, sheep and this question: What’s the best way to clear highly flammable weeds from L.A.’s steep urban slopes?
Clearing those hills with weed whackers to knock down black mustard and oats, two invasive plants that burn easily once they’re dry, is noisy, difficult work, and hiring others to do it is expensive.
It is much easier to instead use goats and sheep to nimbly devour all the offending plants, leaving fresh fertilizer (a.k.a. manure) along the way to enrich the soil and give native plants a running chance to reappear. And it is wonderful to see a fluid herd moving slowly along the hill, with little lambs and kids frisking behind their mothers, making sweet bleating sounds instead of the polluting, teeth-grinding whine of gasoline-powered weed whackers.
Goats and sheep seem unbothered by the steep grade on Kite Hill in Mount Washington as they chow down on invasive oat grass.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
A group of Mount Washington small-parcel landowners banded together this spring to create such a pastoral scene, drawing small crowds of delighted neighbors. The goats and sheep got rave reviews, and everyone hopes to see it happen again next year.
Except (you knew this was coming) here’s the problem:
Between transportation and labor costs, the job was a money-losing proposition for the herder, said Brittany “Cole” Bush, owner of Shepherdess Land & Livestock in Ojai and program director of the nonprofit Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council.
Bush agreed to bring 100 of her nearly 600 head of goats and dorper sheep (a.k.a. hair sheep that molt their coats) to Mount Washington as an experiment this spring. Neighbors who own small parcels from a quarter acre to 6 acres banded together to make it happen. Many of those parcels are adjoined, so if enough landowners came together to cover the cost, it seemed like a win-win for everyone.
But there weren’t enough collaborators to make the project pencil out, Bush said, and without a firm partnership, “it’s just not economically viable for small landowners to hire us.” Her company, she said, needs at least $10,000 to clear at least 10 acres before it can cover all its considerable costs.
For example, Bush said she can comfortably fit 100 animals in one of her 24-foot-long double deck trailers, but big rigs like that can’t navigate narrow windy roads, “and the roads around Mount Washington are absolutely bonkers, so we had to use an 18-foot trailer and make three 100-mile round trips to get all the animals we needed up there, about 101 goats and sheep.”
Pliable, solar-powered electric fences have to be erected even on the steepest hills to keep grazers out of yards and both two-legged and four-legged predators away from the herd.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
And then it takes a day for a shepherd to set up 1,000 to 2,000 feet of pliable, solar-powered electric fences around the grazing area, something they must do repeatedly as the herd moves to new grazing areas. And the shepherds must be on guard 24 hours a day to protect the herd from predators like coyotes, neighborhood dogs and humans who think they’re tasty, or just think it would be fun to knock down the fence to watch the whole herd wander out onto a street, which happened in Santa Clarita in April.
So if you have a landowner with just a small parcel, say a quarter or half acre, they only want to pay around $500, Bush said, “but $500 doesn’t cover my cost for the day. For small acreage it would need to be closer to $2,000 an acre for it to work.”
The solution, she said, will require more cohesive partnerships between small landowners, nonprofits and public entities such as fire safe councils (there are several around L.A. County), resource conservation districts and even county parks and recreation programs to go after state grant money that, thanks to a new law, can now be used to help pay for prescribed grazing.
There is an L.A.-based company that uses goats to clear small parcels of land, typically an acre or less, but even for Party Goats LA, those costs typically run around $1,200 to $2,000 for a parcel under an acre, said owner Scout Raskin, with the cost largely dependent on how much fencing she has to use to contain the herd.
A billy goat munches on a tall, slender stalk of invasive black mustard at the top of Kite Hill in Mount Washington.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Raskin has been raising and training a small herd of goats and sheep for seven years, renting them out for parties, films and other special events, but when she lost her job as a television animation producer in 2023, she turned her side hustle into a full-time gig by adding brush clearance to their duties.
She had to increase her flock first, to 28 goats and eight sheep, all of whom she bottle fed, trained and named, and get some lessons in rolling out electric fencing on near-vertical slopes. But the phone has been ringing off the hook this year, she said.
It’s a lot of work, Raskin said, “but the benefits of grazing are insane, because the goats eat the seeds, so the vegetation density goes down every year because the seeds don’t germinate … and they’re depositing their nutrient-rich manure into the soil.”
Final bonus point, said parcel owner Michael Tessler, is the camaraderie and happiness that came with the grazers. Tessler, an architect, bought his small, unbuildable parcel on Kite Hill, a few blocks from his home, to encourage the growth of more native walnut trees and other native shrubs on the steep slope. Grazing wasn’t cheaper than hiring a weed-whacking team to do the work, he said, but the benefits are so much greater.
“I’ve met more neighbors in the past two and a half weeks than I have in the last 15 year of living here,” Tessler said. “People tend to be guarded on a day-to-day basis, but they see a sheep and something changes in them.”
Then bring on the sheep, I say, or as Tessler said more beautifully, “Put joy in the world where you can.”
Two other notes:
Project Phoenix, a joint project of UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, needs your help to understand how wildfire smoke is affecting birds in California, Oregon and Washington.
Program director Olivia Sanderfoot is looking for volunteers — community scientists — to watch birds in the same specific location for 10 minutes once a week, and report what they see. You can observe multiple locations, just make sure you fill out a separate form for each spot, even if one spot is in your front yard and another is in your back. Signing up is easy, and you’ll be automatically enrolled in online training. I’ll be watching from my front yard, where I have lots of native plants, and my back, where most of my veggies are planted.
An early morning fire at Arlington Garden in Pasadena on May 21 destroyed the garden’s storage shed and all the tools, event furniture and other equipment stored inside, as well as the electricity that powered its extensive drip irrigation system. The fire is still under investigation, but South Pasadena Fire Investigator John Papadakis said arson wasn’t the cause.
In the meantime, the garden is closed until the area can be cleared, said Executive Director A.J. Jewell. The board has started a $40,000 fundraiser to help replace the shed and other items destroyed in the fire.
Newsletter
You’re reading the L.A. Times Plants newsletter
Jeanette Marantos gives you a roundup of upcoming plant-related activities and events in Southern California, along with our latest plant stories.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Upcoming events
Through Dec. 31 Free soil testing for lead for certain properties downwind of the Eaton fire burn area, provided by the County of Los Angeles Public Health Department. Enter your address on the website to see if your property qualifies. Test results take about a week and measure lead levels in the soil only. Instructions for collecting soil samples are on the website. publichealth.lacounty.gov
June 1 San Gabriel Valley Chrysanthemum Society Chrysanthemum & Plant Sales, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Los Angeles County Arboretum’s Ayres Hall in Arcadia. Admission to the sale is free with $15 ticket to the garden ($11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 children ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free). arboretum.org
June 6 Propagating California Native Plants From Cuttings, a hands-on class taught by Theodore Payne Foundation Horticulture Director Tim Becker, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Participants will leave with a flat of 50 starts. All materials provided. Tickets are $92.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com
June 7 Monrovia Community Garden Volunteer Day, 9 a.m. to noon in Monrovia. Volunteers will help with a variety of activities, including weeding and garden maintenance. Participation is free but registration is required. portal.caclimateactioncorps.org
Compost Workshop at Apricot Lane Farms, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the farm in Moorpark. A hands-on workshop about how the farm creates compost and uses it to enrich its soil. Tickets are $80.52. eventbrite.com
June 8 California Botanic Garden’s Introduction to the Sunflower family (Asteraceae), an introductory hands-on class taught by Samantha Ingram, the garden’s botany program graduate student, 1 to 4 p.m. at the garden in Claremont. Register online, $55 ($45 members). calbg.org
Community Habitat Restoration work around the Audubon Center, 8:15 to 10:45 a.m. at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Montecito Heights. Volunteers will help remove invasive species and water new native plantings. Participation is free but you must register online. act.audubon.org
June 13 Comprehensive Irrigation for California Native Plants, a hands-on class taught by Theodore Payne Foundation Horticulture Director Tim Becker, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Learn how, when and why to irrigate California native plants in a landscape. Tickets are $71.21 ($60.54 members). eventbrite.com
June 14 Planting for Pollinators at San Clemente State Beach, 9 a.m. to noon in San Clemente, one of many activities planned statewide in honor of California State Parks Week June 11-15. The goal of the San Clemente State Parks event is to create a community garden, path and educational area and to enhance habitat for the overwintering Western monarch. The beach is one of only 50 designated coastal overwintering sites for the endangered butterfly. Participants will help with planting, weeding and watering while learning how to identify pollinators and the native plants they need to survive. Activities also include crafts, storytelling and an art installation giving participants a chance to paint a pre-drawn mural. All ages welcome, ADA accessible. Participation is free but registration is required. castateparksweek.org
Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts Carnivorous Plant Show & Sale, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar. The show includes a talk and Q&A about carnivorous plants at 11:30 a.m. and a guided tour of the garden’s carnivorous bog at 1:30 p.m. led by Horticulture Director Kyle Cheesborough. Free with $5 admission to the garden (members and children 3 and younger enter free.) Military ID holders also enter free with up to five family members through Labor Day (Sept. 1) as well as on Veterans Day (Nov. 11). thesherman.org
Black Thumb Farm Native Plant Stewarding and Propagation, 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the farm in Panorama City. Learn how to identify plants, their role in the ecosystem and how to propagate native plants found around the farm. Participation is free, but registration is required. portal.caclimateactioncorps.org
Summer Rose Care Class, a free class about how to care for roses during the summer to prolong your blooms into the fall, 10 to 11 a.m. at Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore. ottoandsonsnursery.com
Nature Club for Kids: Butterflies With the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, a free introduction to the butterflies living on the peninsula, with crafts and a butterfly hike for ages 3 to 10 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the White Point Nature Education Center in San Pedro. pvplc.org
Guided Nature Walk at Alta Vicente Reserve, a moderate to strenuous walk exploring coastal sage scrub habitat with views of Catalina Island and a chance to spot rare birds such as coastal cactus wrens, 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Rancho Palos Verdes. Free, but registration is required. pvplc.org
June 14-15 Los Angeles International Fern Society Annual Fern & Exotic Plant Show & Sale, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on June 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 15 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum’s Ayres Hall in Arcadia. Admission is free with $15 ticket to the garden ($11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 children ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free). arboretum.org
June 14 and 28 Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy’s Native Plant Sales 10:30 a.m. to noon both days at the George F. Canyon Nature Preserve in Rancho Palos Verdes on June 14 and the White Point Nature Education Center in San Pedro on June 28. Plants are grown at the conservancy’s nursery. pvplc.org
June 14, 21 and 28th Three-Part California Native Garden Design class taught by landscape designer Mari Taylor of Deerbrush Design, 1 to 5 p.m. each day at the Theodore Payne Foundation classroom in Sun Valley. Learn how to evaluate your existing garden, use or convert irrigation systems and basic design approaches. The introductory, online Right Plant, Right Place class on June 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. ($35, or $25 members) is a prerequisite for this course. Tickets are $348.65 ($295.29 members) or $412.67 for couples ($359.32 members). eventbrite.com
June 20-22 Grow Native Nursery Milkweed Fest & End-Of-Season Plant Sale, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 20-21, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 22 at the California Botanic Garden. The nursery is celebrating monarch butterflies with the sale of seven different regional species of milkweed, the plant their larva (caterpillars) require to survive, as well as many other California native plants popular with pollinators. This is the last weekend the nursery will be open until the fall. The sale begins June 20. The Milkweed Fest on June 21 will include information about butterfly gardening, the monarch count in Los Angeles and Orange counties and milkweed mapping with vendors from the Xerces Society and Monarch Watch. On June 22, the festival ends with the Butterflies and Brews happy hour from 3:30 to 6 p.m. with drinks, music and socializing. calbg.org
June 21 Fire-Resilient Gardens: A Maintenance Walk and Talk with Theodore Payne Foundation educator Erik Blank, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Learn how to prune and maintain your garden for wildfire safety. Tickets are $39.19 ($28.52 members). eventbrite.com
June 21, 22, 28 or 29 Early Summer Tours of Apricot Lane Farms, the famed organic Moorpark farm behind the documentary film “The Biggest Little Farm,” at 9 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 3 p.m. each day. Participants must be able to walk at least 1.5 miles on a tour that includes several hill climbs. Tickets are $64.69, children 5 and younger enter free with a ticketed adult. eventbrite.com
June 27 Propagating California Native Plants From Seed During the Warm Season, a class taught by horticulturist Ella Andersson, the Theodore Payne Foundation‘s chief botanical technician, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation. Participants will help plant 10 species of warm-season seeds, which they can take home. All materials are included. Tickets are $92.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com
June 28 Los Angeles Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers Humongous June Plant Sale, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino. The sale includes a variety of rare and unusual plants, including fruit trees, vines, berries, roses, flowers and succulents, and an expert on hand to answer questions about their care. Proceeds from the sale will go to support the chapter’s agricultural education programs. crfg-la.org
Botany of Oaks: A walk and talk native tree workshop with arborist Alison Lancaster, 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Theodore Payne Foundation grounds in Sun Valley. Learn how to recognize the many varieties of oaks during an outdoor walk followed by studying oak leaves under a microscope in a classroom. Tickets are $39.19 ($28.52 for members). eventbrite.com
Queer Ecology Walk and Mixer led by naturalist and educator Jason “Journeyman” Wise, 1 to 4 p.m. at the Theodore Payne Foundation’s gardens in Sun Valley. “Explore California’s native plants and ecosystems through the lens of queer ecology: the study of everything in nature that subverts our Western cultural expectations about how the natural world ‘should’ work,” according to the event description. Complimentary refreshments provided at the end of the walk, participants must be 21 or older. Tickets are $44.52 ($33.85 members). eventbrite.com
Tall, lanky and infinitely gracious, Dan Bifano is known as the gardener to the stars, building huge rose gardens for wealthy, famous SoCal clients like Barbra Streisand and Oprah. His clients can be notoriously picky, but that doesn’t seem to faze Bifano, who keeps his standards simple: perfection.
Teahouses built for spending extended time in, open until the wee hours of the night, are popping up all over the city. Some are elusive, hidden in plain sight or only accessible via a mysterious membership. Others have gone viral on TikTok and have cover charges and waitlists to attend. Some reference East Asian tea ceremony culture, others lean California cool and bohemian.
Jai Tea Loft owner Salanya Angel Inm prepares tea at her recently opened social gathering space in Koreatown.
(Dante Velasquez Jr. / For The Times)
Why the surge in places to drink tea? It might be because young people are consuming less alcohol (a 2023 study from Gallup found the number of people under 35 who drink has dropped 10% over the last two decades). Or maybe it’s due to the fact that the city has lost a sizable chunk of restaurants open past 10 p.m. — LAist reports nearly 100 since 2019 — leaving fewer places to sit and chat that aren’t bars or clubs. At the same time, activities centered on wellness and reflection, like gratitude groups, journaling or even reading silently in public, are being embraced by people of all ages looking for third spaces and activities outside of the standard dinner-and-a-movie.
Salanya Angel Inm was inspired to open Jai in Koreatown after years of feeling that Los Angeles lacked late-night spaces not oriented around alcohol. She wanted to create an alternative for her community of creatives, a place they could spend long hours loosening up outside of a bar environment. Lydia Lin, co-founder of Steep in Chinatown, which does serve alcohol along with plenty of tea, wanted a place that was open late but was peaceful enough that she could hear her friends while having a conversation.
Enter the rise of the teahouse. Despite their design and menu differences — some have a dozen herbal blends, others opt for dealer’s choice with a rotating set of three bespoke infusions; some are places to debut a trendy outfit, a few ask visitors to remove their shoes — they each come from a desire to challenge a typical consumer experience. These are spaces meant for lingering long after tea has been purchased, or even finished.
Below are four teahouses in different neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Jai
Scenes from a Saturday night in May at Jai Tea Loft.(Dante Velasquez Jr. / For The Times)
Located above Thai Angel, known for its DJ sets and late-night noodles, newly minted teahouse Jai offers a quieter, more intimate space to spend weekend nights. The spot is owned and operated by Thai Chinese American model and breathwork and reiki practitioner Salanya Angel Inm, who co-owns Thai Angel with her mom and brother. She began tinkering with the idea of opening a teahouse in May 2022. In January 2024, construction began, with a soft opening following in March 2025.
Jai is housed in a one-room attic on top of Thai Angel. It’s cozy, with space for two dozen people at most. The room glows in yellow-orange light from a neon art piece fixed to the ceiling and is lined with brightly colored custom floor cushions made of fabric from Thailand. On a Saturday night in March, seven guests removed their shoes and sat for a storytelling event, ticketed at $10. This was the second installment of the event; Inm had selected the theme “Lucky to be alive.” Some guests recited poetry, while others freestyled between sips of tea. The group exchanged stories and lounged until 3 a.m.
Guests socialize on a Saturday night at Jai Tea Loft in Koreatown.
(Dante Velasquez Jr. / For The Times)
Jordan Collins bought a ticket for storytelling at Jai after hearing about it on Inm’s social media. Upon arrival, he ordered a herbal elixir featuring Asian botanicals from the brand Melati. It’s one of three premade nonalcoholic tonics (the other two are “Awake” and “Calm” by California-based brand Dromme) that Jai serves room temperature for $9. A fan of art shows and experimental music performances, Collins described himself as always on the lookout for new community spaces. “I think that was the first time I pulled up to anything completely solo with no expectations, with the full intention to yap for however long to a room with complete strangers,” he said, likening his experience to a night spent chatting with friends into the morning.
The tea selection at Jai Tea Loft.
(Dante Velasquez Jr. / For The Times)
The current menu at Jai consists of hot tea, sold by the glass or pot, along with the herbal elixirs — one invigorating, one calming and one berry. Tea drinkers can choose between more than a dozen herbs, from butterfly pea to white chrysanthemum, to create a custom blend prepared by Inm, starting at $15 per 25-ounce pot or $6 for a single serving. Behind the tea bar, she offers customers guidance based on their mood and needs.
She may expand the menu going forward but plans to keep costs low. “I really don’t like the idea that people can only access things that are good for them if they have a large amount of money to invest in themselves. I want people to feel like, ‘Yeah, I can swing that for this experience’ and it not be this obstacle,” said Inm.
Koreatown 149 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA (upstairs) Soft opening, see Instagram for hours
Tea at Shiloh
Patrons at Tea at Shiloh on a recent Saturday.(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
Only 45 customers can enter Tea at Shiloh per evening, and those hoping to visit should plan ahead: Reservations, which are required, can be made through the website, and Tea at Shiloh fully books nearly every night.
As each attendee enters and takes off their shoes and adds them to the disorganized pile near the front of the door, a host asks them their intention for the evening. Patrons of the Arts District teahouse know what they’re getting into and answer the question with ease. The space attracts a metaphysically minded, wellness-oriented community. Some are there to journal, others to spend time with old friends. A few want to get out of their comfort zone; they come on dates, join with friends and arrive alone.
Guests socialize at Tea at Shiloh: A Teahouse.
(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
The concept for Tea at Shiloh came to owner Shiloh Enoki (who goes by the mononym Shiloh) in 2019. Shiloh, who was born in Utah and is of South American descent, found herself unfulfilled working for a record label in Hollywood. She underwent a personal transformation that led to her quitting her job and legally changing her name. After a visit to a teahouse in San Francisco that closed in the afternoon, she couldn’t stop thinking how nice the experience would have been at night. She found herself looking for late-night teahouses back home in Los Angeles on Google Maps. To her surprise, she couldn’t find any. “I couldn’t believe that something that was in my brain didn’t exist on Google. I was like, ‘It has to be somewhere. It has to be somewhere in L.A.’ I live in one of the biggest cities in the world and nothing … I became obsessed,” she said. Shiloh began exploring herbalism and hosting friends and strangers at her home for tea, then decided to create a business that would provide what she’d been searching for. She opened the space in 2022.
Faith Bakar, Alexsys Hornsby and Rachel Angelica painting at Tea at Shiloh.
(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
Tea at Shiloh is inside an industrial loft. Brick walls and exposed piping contrast with wooden furniture, white couches and floor cushions and the warm glow of Noguchi lampshades. Surfaces are covered in books, tarot cards, clay and other art supplies to make use of. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., laptops are welcome. For the evening shift, which goes from 7 to 10 or 11 p.m., the lights go down and laptops are banned (with an exception for Monday’s piano lounge events). Both time slots require prepaid reservations, which, day or night, start at $37 and include unlimited access to the only thing on the menu, a rotating selection of three custom tea blends by Shiloh’s herbalists.
On some nights, there’s live music; others feature workshops in journaling, ceramics and other mind-body activities and performances. “It’s not a singular experience. There’s something for everyone,” Enoki said. After discovering the space on TikTok, Cooper Andrews took his partner to “cosmic jazz” (an eclectic mix of saxophone, keys, and abstract vocal looping) night at Shiloh to celebrate her birthday. He was looking for something other than just another fancy dinner, and for him, the $47-per-person cover charge was well worth it. “I see the fee as a cover charge. It’s like going to a museum,” he said.
Arts District 2035 Bay St., Los Angeles, CA 90021 Reservation only
Steep LA
Steep LA in Chinatown.
(Solomon O. Smith / For The Times)
Friends Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin come from cultures that take tea seriously. Wang, an industrial designer, is Taiwanese, while Lin, a marketing MBA working in the legal field, is Cantonese. In 2019, they separately went on trips to Asia to visit their families and discovered how modernized traditional teahouses had become. “[In China] people our age were going to teahouses instead of bars or clubs. It was somewhere that wasn’t home to just hang out and be able to have a conversation,” said Lin. “Why didn’t this exist in L.A.?” the friends asked themselves.
Within six months, thanks to the help of their Chinatown community, Lin and Wang — who didn’t quit their day jobs — opened Steep in the fall of 2019. Opening night was the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin remembers, an important and auspicious day.
The minimalist tea lounge hides in the back of a plaza in Chinatown. There’s space inside for a few dozen guests and a handful of outdoor tables for when weather permits. Inside, there’s a beautiful marble bar, wood tables, a cozy couch and long tables with tea leaves in jars to smell and discover.
By day, Steep serves 10 rotating teas, all sourced from China and Taiwan. Customers can order a glass of cold-brewed tea or fresh-brewed tea, but Lin encourages a tea ceremony, which comes with a pot and up to four cups. Baristas walk guests through the steps of brewing and pouring the tea, providing a timer for the perfect steep.
By night, Steep is the only business open in its plaza. Inside, soothing R&B plays. And, unlike the other teahouses that have popped up recently in Los Angeles, Steep serves alcohol. After 5 p.m., the space shifts from cozy teahouse to experimental mixology bar, serving boozy concoctions that all feature tea as an ingredient. Take the Yuanyang Martini, an espresso martini with black sesame and black tea or Red Robe, featuring cognac, bourbon, oolong tea and white miso. At 9 p.m. on a Thursday in March, nearly every seat was filled. Half of the guests enjoyed cocktails, while the rest shared pots of tea.
Chinatown 970 N. Broadway #112, Los Angeles, CA 90012 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily; closed Tuesday
NEHIMA
There’s no information about NEHIMA online except for an email address. The invite-only, membership-based Japanese teahouse opened in Los Feliz in 2022. It’s more exclusive than any Soho House, San Vicente Bungalows or Bird Streets Club. So much so that its founders, Miho Ikeda and Richard Brewer, also co-owners of New High Mart, an equally exclusive Japanese home goods boutique, agreed only to speak about their latest venture via email.
“Serving tea to-go is to miss the entire point of tea. Tea is time. An excuse to enjoy a moment, a pause, a rest — either with oneself or the company of others,” said Brewer. The space has a strict no-technology policy. Even smartwatches are required to be checked in lockers along with phones.
At NEHIMA, all tea is served made-to-order, tableside, in pieces from the owner’s collection of Japanese ceramics. There are no matcha, lattes or novelty drinks on the menu, only loose-leaf tea sourced from Japan. NEHIMA is careful to distinguish that while the space and experience recall Japanese tradition, the club does not offer an official tea ceremony. “That term is thrown around too easily these days and should be reserved for describing the very specific event, ‘Cha-No-Yu,’” said Brewer.
The founders said the average visit is between three and six hours. Where most members clubs try to offer a luxurious experience for the wealthy through elevated design, upscale food and posh clientele, taking time to relax and enjoy a pot of tea is what NEHIMA sees as the ultimate luxury. “In this busy demanding world, time is the new flex, and real wealth is taking time to stare into a bowl of tea,” said Brewer.
Los Feliz 4650 Kingswell Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027 Members only
