All posts tagged: L.A

She tore out her L.A. hillside lawn and planted drought-tolerant plants

She tore out her L.A. hillside lawn and planted drought-tolerant plants

Published by Sam Flores

Water-hungry lawns are symbols of Los Angeles’ past. In this series, we spotlight yards with alternative, low-water landscaping built for the future. Julia Lee had no need for a new garden when she and her husband purchased their Cheviot Hills home eight years ago. The traditional 1950 home came with mature tropical plants in the back and a sprawling grass hillside lawn in front, and it suited them just fine. But as drought and wildfires dragged on in California in recent years, she started to question whether keeping the thirsty lawn made sense. “Our water bill was insane,” she says as she offers a tour of the former lawn, which is now filled with colorful native plants and drought-tolerant plants. “It was a waste of space. Our kids were getting older and didn’t play on the lawn. There was just no reason to keep a big green lawn.” After reading a Times story about Georg Kochi, a retiree who swapped his Koreatown lawn with plants suited for California, Lee was inspired by Kochi’s wild, wabi-sabi-style …

Nithya Raman advances over Spencer Pratt to face L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff

Nithya Raman advances over Spencer Pratt to face L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will face City Council member Nithya Raman in a runoff election for Bass’ job in November, NBC News projects, teeing up a one-on-one matchup between two Democrats. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Bass and Raman, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, emerged from a crowded all-party primary field that included former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican who ran an insurgent campaign focused on criticizing Bass for her response to the Los Angeles wildfires last year. See election results here. Since no candidate earned more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers go to a runoff this fall. NBC News previously projected Bass would advance to the general election. While Pratt was in second place behind Bass on election night, the successive vote tallies have been more Democratic-leaning, allowing Raman to surpass Pratt. It’s part of a pattern all over California in this primary, with late-counted votes leaning more Democratic after a …

L.A. Affairs: I’m a black woman. He’s a white guy with a pickup truck. Here’s what happened

L.A. Affairs: I’m a black woman. He’s a white guy with a pickup truck. Here’s what happened

Published by Sam Flores

“That guy over there.” I was talking to my friend, Kim, as we sipped cocktails at a bar in Hollywood. She followed my gaze. “The … bald … white guy?” she asked, her face scrunched up in disbelief. I nodded. She raised an eyebrow and slurped on her vodka cranberry. Classic stories from the Los Angeles Times’ 143-year archive Some background might be helpful here. I’m black and my friend Kim is white, as was the guy in question. He also shaved his head and, apparently, that threw my friend for a loop. I knew why. Since I’d known her I’d mostly dated black guys. The real estate agent I’d met at the LACMA summer jazz series. The actor who’d given me his head shot as soon as he learned I was a TV writer. The musician who serenaded me at the Dresden between Marty and Elayne’s sets. All black. And the one or two white guys in the mix had hair. Two weeks later, I climbed in the passenger seat of the bald white …

The Viral Anti-Trump Street Artists Turning L.A. Into Canvas

The Viral Anti-Trump Street Artists Turning L.A. Into Canvas

Published by Daniella Wilson

As Donald Trump finished his record-length State of the Union address earlier this year, a group of artists drove to a cul-de-sac off Echo Park Lake in L.A. and got to work. The three men dressed in loose-fitting work pants and hoodies unloaded two laser projectors (one for backup), some lenses, a laptop and battery packs onto carts and brought them to the middle of a pedestrian bridge that crosses over the 101. In the anonymity of darkness, the members of the guerilla art collective VJayBombs set up their gear with the confidence of practice. Within minutes, the projector was warming up and aligned with the 100-foot-tall wall of the L.A. Downtown Medical Center. Then, a final review of the video to be projected was made. “Did you put sweat on the Statue of Liberty?” Cat, a co-founder of the group, asked. “That’s sick.” “Looks good to me,” said Bev, another co-founder. He then caught himself: “Go back to ‘immigrant’ for a second. ‘Immigrant’ was spelled right, yeah?” And with that, the laptop was connected …

The delicious rewards of seeking out Cantonese micro-cuisines in L.A.

The delicious rewards of seeking out Cantonese micro-cuisines in L.A.

Published by Sam Flores

High on my list of dream trips: a couple weeks roaming and eating through China’s Guangdong province with friends born in the region. Hong Kong and Macau are the most obvious famous touchstones around Guangdong (previously in the West called Canton, which was a corruption of its name in English first begat by Portuguese traders in the early 1500s), though both those cities are technically their own Special Administrative Regions. The province covers nearly 70,000 square miles, and its recorded history stretches back at least 2,200 years. It’s safe to say — at the source and in the diaspora — that the monolithic umbrella of “Cantonese cuisine” hardly covers variations between Guangdong’s zigzagging coast along the South China Sea, its port city capital Guangzhou on the banks of the Pearl River Delta and its many inland communities. L.A.’s regional Cantonese cuisines A few years back, I wrote about running around Los Angeles seeking out the specific, light-handed, seafood-rich specialties of Chiu Chow, one Pinyin term for Chaozhou, or Teochew, the name referring both to the …

Commentary: For mayoral candidates and all of L.A., here’s the homelessness conversation we must have

Commentary: For mayoral candidates and all of L.A., here’s the homelessness conversation we must have

Published by Sam Flores

Ron, a West L.A. resident, thinks he knows why former reality TV star and political newcomer Spencer Pratt won so much support in his run for mayor. People are frustrated, frightened and angry about homelessness “and the crime associated with it,” Ron said in an email. He added that he voted for Mayor Karen Bass, but “almost everything Pratt said about the homeless resonated with me. … The homeless run wild here, without consequence.” “Many of us support him not because we think he’s perfect,” said Kathy, “but because we are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of Los Angeles and feel that traditional politicians have not delivered the results we were promised.” Bob, “a left-leaning Palisades resident,” said the issue is not Pratt’s lack of credentials, but the failures of incumbents. “There was a columnist … who documented in depth the situation at MacArthur Park,” Bob wrote in reference to me. “What was his name and what happened to him? Did he change his tune?” These are all fair points, and if Pratt holds onto …

L.A. region begins the year with the smoggiest first 5 months in a decade

L.A. region begins the year with the smoggiest first 5 months in a decade

Published by Sam Flores

The first five months of 2026 in Southern California have been the smoggiest — with the highest number of unhealtful air days — in more than a decade, according to statewide air monitoring. So far this year, the South Coast air basin, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has seen 39 days when the concentration of lung-irritating ozone (commonly known as smog) exceeded the federal standard, according to preliminary state air quality data. That’s even worse than the infamously hot and hazy 2017, when Greater Los Angeles had 36 unhealthful air days by June 4 and ultimately saw 145. Many of the roughly 18 million people who live in the air basin have been subjected to unhealthful levels of ozone, a highly corrosive gas that triggers asthma attacks and a wide range of respiratory illnesses. This has taken many by surprise since successive days of smog more commonly happen in summer, when heat waves and intense sunlight convert man-made pollution into ozone. “If we have this many violations by this time, …

L.A. divided: Bass, Pratt and Raman dominated in different parts of the city

L.A. divided: Bass, Pratt and Raman dominated in different parts of the city

Published by Sam Flores

Mayor Karen Bass ran the table in South Los Angeles, Spencer Pratt found strong support from his Westside base, and Nithya Raman racked up votes in Echo Park and other neighborhoods with a concentration of renters, according to a Times analysis of partial precinct-level results from this week’s primary election. The Times analysis, based on an estimated 62% of the ballots counted so far, found that Pratt was favored in many of the same neighborhoods that voted for mayoral candidate Rick Caruso in 2022, while Raman made inroads in progressive areas dominated by Bass four years ago. Bass found support in neighborhoods along much of the Harbor and Santa Monica freeway corridors, along with central San Fernando Valley communities from Van Nuys to Arleta. With much of the vote left to be counted, a map prepared by The Times showing how neighborhoods voted represents a snapshot of an election still very much underway. Bass garnered enough votes on election night to qualify for a Nov. 3 runoff, the Associated Press determined, but votes are still …

Why do we have a housing shortage while the population falls? Just look at my crummy first L.A. apartment

Why do we have a housing shortage while the population falls? Just look at my crummy first L.A. apartment

Published by Sam Flores

My first apartment building in Los Angeles was a crowded, cockroach-infested dump. It was an eight-unit building on Berendo Street in Koreatown, painted Pepto-Bismol pink. It had no air conditioning. Bars on the always-open windows. Ratty carpet in the hallway. In 2011, my husband and I moved in sight unseen. We were newlyweds in our early 20s, fresh out of college in Oklahoma. I had just gotten a job at The Times, and we were too broke to travel to California to check the place out beforehand. The real estate agent, apparently sensing our naivete over the phone, asked: Are you sure? How could we not be? We were moving to the City of Angels! And a one-bedroom apartment for $950 was a steal. A few years ago, all the units were converted to condos. The listing on one real estate website described the 1925 building as “a revived Italianate 8-unit courtyard beauty” and our old unit as having trendy exposed brick walls and designer lights. Our 693-sq-foot unit last sold in 2021 for $325,000. …

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Randall Park

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Randall Park

Published by Sam Flores

When it comes to exploring Los Angeles, there are three things that actor and comedian Randall Park loves to do: shop, eat and run. Park, a native Angeleno, grew up on the Westside, attended UCLA, chose a career here and can’t imagine living anywhere else. “I consider myself a small town person who happened to be born in the big city,” Park says. “I’ve traveled a lot for work, and have gotten a greater appreciation for L.A. There’s a little part of everywhere here. There’s so much good food in L.A., so many fun things to do and really great people here.” In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends. The son of Korean immigrants, Park grew up in the South Robertson area, “a part of L.A. that was extremely diverse,” he says. “My friends, growing up and to this day, are all different backgrounds, races and religions. We …