The prison guard believed to be the last person to see Jeffrey Epstein alive before he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019, testified Monday that the late sex offender received “special treatment” at the jail, two members of the House Oversight Committee said.
Tova Noel testified behind closed doors that Epstein received extra bed linens “that he used to hang himself” and a CPAP machine, Democrat Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia told reporters Monday. Noel also told Congress that Epstein had access to “medications in a way no one else did.”
“Jeffrey Epstein got special treatment in that facility,” Subramanyam told reporters after Noel left the hearing. The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General released a scathing report on the missteps at the MCC in July 2023, finding “numerous and serious failures by MCC New York staff constituting misconduct and dereliction of their duties.”
Noel made troubling Google searches on the morning of Epstein’s death, including for “latest on Epstein in jail” less than an hour before he was found dead. There were also inexplicable cash deposits made into her account, which she told Congress were overtime payments. “I don’t think she was paid extra money to not do her job that evening,” Subramanyam said.
There are serious lingering questions about Epstein’s death, including why he was taken off suicide watch on Aug. 9, 2020 – the same day his cellmate was abruptly released from the federal lockup. Later that night, according to FBI files contained in the Epstein Transparency Act document dump, Epstein was allowed to call his girlfriend, a violation of the federal prison’s rules.
“Epstein’s cell mate, Efrain Reyes, was released from the MCC, leaving Epstein alone in his cell.” That same day, Epstein was taken off suicide watch, the federal Bureau of Prisons says. On Aug. 9, 2019 at around 7:19 p.m., Epstein was allowed to call his girlfriend, Belarusian dentist Karyna Shuliak, on “an unsecured and unrecorded line,” in violation of BOP rules. The call, records show, lasted “approximately 20 minutes.”
The following morning at 6:30 a.m., the sex offender was discovered dead in cell #220 on the 9th floor of the MCC. “Epstein was found with a make-shift noose around his neck in an apparent suicide,” the FBI noted in a report. An inmate told investigators that he heard a guard call out “Epstein, Epstein,” before yelling “Fuck!”
Epstein’s cellmate, Efrain Reyes, was released from a Manhattan federal lockup on Aug. 9, 2020, hours before Epstein was found deadCredit: Department of Justice
Former Epstein assistant Sarah Kellen is scheduled to testify before the committee on Thursday. Last month the committee paused testimonies scheduled for key players, raising concerns about the transparency promised by President Trump and his administration, which includes Epstein friend and neighbor, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Every June, West Hollywood transforms into something bigger than a party district. Rainbow crosswalks flood Instagram feeds, Santa Monica Boulevard shuts down for massive crowds, and the city becomes the beating heart of Pride Month in Los Angeles.
Now, WeHo Pride is gearing up for another packed season of celebrations that will bring concerts, drag pageants, art festivals, and political activism back to the city beginning later this month.
The festivities officially begin May 22 with the annual Harvey Milk Day celebration, honoring the legacy of the trailblazing gay rights activist and politician whose influence still shapes queer politics today. This year’s event includes the José Julio Sarria Drag Pageant at West Hollywood Park, a lively tradition that celebrates drag history while paying tribute to one of the first openly gay candidates to run for public office in the United States.
But Harvey Milk Day only marks the beginning of what has become a weeks-long takeover of West Hollywood.
The city’s Pride programming expands May 23 and 24 with the return of the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, presented in partnership with the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The festival will feature poetry readings, film screenings, theater performances, live music, workshops, and visual art exhibitions spread across venues throughout West Hollywood and Hollywood.
The event highlights something that often gets overshadowed during Pride Month in Los Angeles. Beneath the massive concerts and nightlife crowds, WeHo Pride still places heavy emphasis on queer artists, storytellers, and grassroots community voices.
That balance between celebration and activism has always defined West Hollywood’s approach to Pride. Even as the event has grown into a major tourism draw for Southern California, city leaders continue to frame it as both a party and a political statement.
Pride Returns at a Different Political Moment
That message may resonate even more this year.
Across the country, LGBTQ rights continue to dominate political debates involving healthcare access, education policy, book bans, and drag performances. In response, Pride celebrations nationwide have increasingly leaned back into activism after years where corporate sponsorships and music festivals often took center stage.
West Hollywood appears to be embracing both sides of that identity at once.
The city’s biggest weekend begins June 5, when WeHo Pride Weekend officially takes over Santa Monica Boulevard with the annual Street Fair, Dyke March, Women’s Freedom Festival, and the return of the OUTLOUD Music Festival at West Hollywood Park.
This year’s OUTLOUD lineup once again pushes the festival into full-scale pop spectacle territory. Performers scheduled throughout the weekend include the Pussycat Dolls, Ava Max, and JADE, alongside DJs, drag performers, comedians, and emerging queer artists appearing across multiple stages.
At the same time, the city’s free public programming remains one of the biggest reasons WeHo Pride continues to stand apart from many other large-scale Pride festivals. Unlike some ticket-heavy celebrations across the country, much of West Hollywood’s programming remains accessible to the public, creating a citywide atmosphere that feels less like an exclusive concert and more like a communal celebration.
The Parade Still Anchors the Weekend
Then comes the centerpiece event.
The annual WeHo Pride Parade returns June 7, sending floats, dancers, activists, nonprofits, and performers down Santa Monica Boulevard in front of thousands of spectators. For many Angelenos, the parade still serves as the emotional core of Pride Month in Los Angeles, blending joy, protest, remembrance, and performance into one massive public gathering.
In many ways, that tension is exactly what gives WeHo Pride its identity.
It celebrates queer joy while acknowledging the fight that created the space for it in the first place. One block can feel like a dance party while the next carries reminders of political organizing, AIDS activism, and decades of LGBTQ history embedded into the city itself.
For a few weekends every year, West Hollywood stops feeling like just another Los Angeles neighborhood. Pride turns it into something louder, more colorful, and far more personal.
Fat Joe’s sprawling defamation lawsuit against former hype man Terrance Dixon and his attorney Tyrone Blackburn intensified Monday afternoon in federal court. Oral arguments were held in the Southern District of New York over dueling sanctions motions and escalating accusations of discovery misconduct. This comes after Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, filed a counter-defamation lawsuit in response to a bombshell civil suit filed by Dixon in 2025, accusing the rapper of trafficking minors and allegedly cheating him out of money he claimed he was owed.
Dixon later filed counterclaims and amended complaints against Cartagena and his legal team, including high-profile attorney Joe Tacopina. Things between the parties are so messy that they have repeatedly accused one another of abusive litigation tactics throughout discovery.
Los Angeles spoke with Joe Tacopina, who said he believes the judge will not only sanction Blackburn but will also refer him to the grievance committee.
Court records show the litigation has very recently become increasingly contentious: on April 24, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon held Dixon, Blackburn, and Blackburn’s law firm in contempt for failing to appear at court-ordered depositions scheduled for February 6 and February 9, 2026. However, the court declined to impose harsher sanctions requested by Tacopina, citing medical issues raised by the defendants. Instead, the judge ordered Blackburn and Dixon to reimburse Cartagena for videographer and court reporter costs incurred after the missed depositions.
Less than three weeks later, Cartagena’s attorneys accused Dixon and Blackburn of again violating the court’s directives. In a May 13 letter filed by attorney Jordan Siev, Cartagena alleged the defendants willfully refused to comply with Judge Rochon’s April 24 order. The following day, the court issued an order to show cause directing Dixon, Blackburn, and T.A. Blackburn Law PLLC to explain why sanctions should not be imposed for failing to comply with the prior ruling.
The sanctions battle stems in part from accusations surrounding deposition conduct and alleged violations of a protective order. Blackburn later filed a cross-motion seeking sanctions against Cartagena and his attorneys, including Joseph Tacopina and Chad Seigel, accusing them of improperly disclosing confidential deposition materials to the media and engaging in abusive conduct during a March 27 deposition.
Meanwhile, Cartagena’s legal team moved May 15 to dismiss Dixon’s entire amended complaint with prejudice, arguing the claims are legally deficient. Cartagena’s motion to dismiss included a series of wild exhibits that appear designed not only to dismantle Dixon’s claims but to directly undercut the narrative Blackburn had been building publicly and in court. Among the exhibits were copyright registration certificates for numerous Fat Joe songs, including “Congratulations,” “No Problems,” “Winding On Me,” “Porn Star,” and “Blackout.” The exhibits showed officially registered writers and copyright claimants tied to the tracks Dixon claims he helped create.
Perhaps most striking was the inclusion of a March 2025 demand letter sent by Blackburn directly to Cartagena before the lawsuit exploded publicly. In the letter, Blackburn claimed Dixon secretly ghostwrote or co-wrote “approximately 80-90% of the lyrics” on multiple Fat Joe albums over a 16-year span and accused the rapper of profiting off Dixon’s allegedly uncredited work while Dixon “received nothing.” Blackburn argued Dixon functioned as a “ghostwriter and uncredited vocalist” who trusted Fat Joe’s repeated assurances he would eventually “be taken care of.”
Credit: U.S. District Court SDNY
If granted, it would be a major legal victory for the rapper and his co-defendants, while potentially exposing Dixon and Blackburn to additional financial penalties and sanctions.
Los Angeles will follow this messy legal battle and provide updates on future rulings.
The former LAPD detective became a central figure in one of America’s most infamous criminal trials after allegations of racism and evidence tampering emerged
Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, whose testimony became one of the most controversial aspects of the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson, has died at the age of 74. Furhman passed away in Idaho, according to the Kootenai County Coroner’s Office. It was confirmed that Fuhrman died May 12, though an official cause of death was not publicly released; multiple outlets reported he had been battling an aggressive form of cancer.
🕊️ O.J. Simpson detective Mark Fuhrman has died at 74.
Fuhrman was one of the first detectives assigned to investigate the infamous and tragic 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. He became a central figure in the nationally televised murder trial after discovering a bloody glove at Simpson’s Brentwood estate, a key piece of evidence prosecutors argued linked Simpson to the killings. “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” defense attorney Johnnie Cochran famously quipped during his closing summation.
O.J. Simpson shows the jury a new pair of Aris extra-large glovesCredit: VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty Images)
However, Fuhrman’s credibility collapsed during the trial when audio recordings surfaced of him repeatedly using racist slurs and contradicting sworn testimony he gave on the witness stand. Simpson’s defense team argued Fuhrman’s conduct reflected racial bias and suggested evidence may have been planted…claims Fuhrman denied. In 1996, he pleaded no contest to a felony perjury charge related to his testimony.
Prior to the Simpson case, Fuhrman spent years with the Los Angeles Police Department working homicide and violent crime investigations, earning recognition within the department for his investigative work.
Fuhrman leaves behind two children and was married three times.
When planning travel, most of us think about the economics of getting to a far-flung locale— the cost of knocking a dream destination off the globe-trotting bucket list.
But not Jonathan Skogmo. The 43-year-old founder of LOST iN travel guides — whose edgy, hyper-local books are a deep dive into the world’s best cities, packaged in backpack-sized and artistic glossy softcovers— considers a different math.
Travel, he notes during an interview at LOST iN’s artist collab spaces near Venice’s Electric Avenue, is a massive economic driver. Travel spending in 2024 contributed a staggering $11.1 trillion to the global GDP, according to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council. That spending accounts for about 10 percent of the world’s total economic output — a number that is only rising.
“There is more money being spent than ever before on travel, and no one was capturing those dollars,” Skogmo says as he pushes his trademark sunglasses to the brim of a LOST iN trucker hat, which has become a coveted swag item. “But we didn’t want to tell people where to go. We want to tell them why to go, with a focus on using local artists, music and storytellers to bring us into the places that are not on a typical tourist guide.”
Like the best bathrooms in Barcelona. Or where to buy ’shrooms near Venice Beach. The best way to catch an underground DJ set in Seoul, or follow a Parisian rapper’s map of fine foodie finds.
Clockwise from top left: Anton Reut, David Jenison, Jason Goldner, Rod Grable and Jonathan Skogmo.Credit: Courtesy LOST iN
The LOST iN pros have released 29 guides to an array of international cities, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Tokyo, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Milan, NYC, Paris, Warsaw, Seoul, Stockholm and Tokyo — along with neighborhoods within major metropolises, like Brooklyn and Venice Beach. A country book on Switzerland will be released this month and the list will continue.
Even with the company’s heady success — more than 12 million social media followers and a seven-figure advertising revenue outlook — Skogmo is dreaming even bigger for LOST iN. The brand is sought after by high-profile Angelenos, who pine for invites to parties on the LOST iN yacht docked in Marina del Rey. The company has also just launched the LOST iN Travel Membership: a curated, subscription-based travel service that not only tells you the why of a place, but also now the how, by booking all the curated details for its private clubs’ destinations. There’s also an exclusive Supper Club, a monthly salon-like dinner and performance event that will feature a sushi master’s live carving of a 150-pound Bluefin tuna this month.
In another addition to the brand’s growing repertoire of travel concierge services, Skogmo — who made his name recognizing the revenue stream that could be created with viral videos when he first arrived in Los Angeles two decades ago — is betting big on LOST iN’s global fanbase tuning into human-led travel verticals, or mini movies, streamed on all its platforms.
To see an L.A.-based international media company like LOST iN explode brings to mind the adage Helen Keller made famous in a diary entry: “Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, admitted in a federal plea deal that she illegally registered people on Skid Row to vote, sometimes using her own address for mail-in ballots
A Marina del Rey resident has entered into a plea deal with federal prosecutors confessing to collecting signatures for ballot measures by paying the homeless and registering people to vote on Skid Row.
Brenda Lee Armstrong Brown, 64, could face up to five years in prison for her decades-long scheme, federal prosecutors announced Monday. She agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of paying another person to register to vote.
“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections – even more so when payoffs are involved,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all U.S. elections are fair and free from illegal meddling – so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence.”
According to her plea agreement, for approximately 20 years, Armstrong periodically worked as a “petition circulator.” In that role, she was paid by individuals and entities, known as “coordinators,” to collect voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums, and recalls for California state ballots. Armstrong drove around the Los Angeles area to find registered voters to sign the petitions.
“After gathering enough signatures, Armstrong returned the petitions to her coordinators, who then paid her a set amount for each registered voter’s signature. The amount she was paid varied depending on the specific ballot initiative,” prosecutors say. “Skid Row was a convenient place for Armstrong to collect signatures because of its high concentration of people in a relatively small area who were willing to sign petitions in exchange for payment.
Credit: (Photo: Teun Voeten)
Armstrong paid paltry amounts for the signatures, prosecutors say, sometimes between $2 and $3 per signature. In 2025, according to her plea agreement, Armstrong began offering payment to individuals not only to sign her petitions, but also to complete a voter registration form, which she picked up at the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
On several occasions, Armstrong provided a homeless individual with her own former address in Los Angeles so they had something to write on the registration form. Armstrong got caught after she paid a homeless individual on Jan. 30, as part of her ongoing scheme, prosecutors say, to register to vote in federal elections.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup rapidly approaching, organizers, workers, and political leaders are now confronting the realities behind Los Angeles’ biggest global event in decades
Los Angeles has spent years promoting the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the city’s next defining international moment. Now, as the tournament draws closer, the conversation is becoming far more practical. Questions about staffing, worker protections, security, housing, and infrastructure are beginning to overshadow the glossy promotional campaigns.
At a recent World Cup staffing press conference, California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer joined hospitality and stadium workers to raise concerns about labor conditions and the city’s readiness ahead of the tournament. The event highlighted growing pressure surrounding SoFi Stadium operations as Los Angeles prepares to host eight World Cup matches next summer.
City leaders continue to market the tournament as a major economic and cultural opportunity. FIFA officials, tourism executives, and local organizers have repeatedly described Los Angeles as the ideal host city, especially with the 2028 Olympics approaching close behind. NBA legend Magic Johnson recently called LA the “sports capital of the world” during a FIFA promotional event tied to the tournament rollout.
But behind the excitement sits growing anxiety from the workers expected to carry the event on their backs.
Stadium Workers Push Back Ahead of the Tournament
Much of the concern centers on hospitality workers represented by Unite Here Local 11, the union representing cooks, bartenders, servers, and food service employees at SoFi Stadium. Roughly 2,000 workers still do not have a finalized labor contract as the World Cup approaches, and union leaders have openly discussed the possibility of a strike if negotiations stall.
Workers are not only fighting for better wages. They are also pushing for stronger job protections as automation and AI systems increasingly enter stadium operations. Labor leaders have additionally called for guarantees surrounding immigration enforcement during the tournament, while connecting the World Cup directly to LA’s worsening affordability crisis.
That tension feels deeply tied to modern Los Angeles. The city knows how to stage spectacle better than almost anywhere in the world, but major global events also tend to expose the pressures Angelenos already feel every day.
LA Still Faces Big Questions Before the World Arrives
Organizers continue promising fan festivals, entertainment activations, and citywide celebrations designed to turn the World Cup into more than a soccer tournament. Millions of visitors are expected to pour into Southern California during the event, bringing enormous economic potential to hotels, restaurants, and local businesses.
At the same time, concerns surrounding transportation and infrastructure remain impossible to ignore.
Several high-profile transit projects connected to LA’s long-term event planning have already faced delays and rising costs, including the long-awaited LAX Automated People Mover system. Traffic, public transit reliability, public safety planning, and housing availability will likely remain under intense scrutiny as the tournament approaches.
Los Angeles now faces a complicated challenge. The city wants to present itself as a polished global destination while also confronting the realities of affordability, labor disputes, and strained infrastructure at home.
The World Cup will still bring massive crowds and worldwide attention. The bigger question is whether Los Angeles can successfully handle the pressure that comes with hosting the world while making sure the people running the event are not left behind.
The Marin- and Sonoma County-based family-owned dairy operation is voluntarily recalling various ice cream products in both pint and quart sizes, according to the FDA.
The affected ice cream was distributed across 17 states, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Those living in these states who purchased Straus ice cream are advised to check their freezers for potentially contaminated products.
Recalled products were put on shelves beginning May 4, and only the production runs labeled with certain “best by” dates apply, the company says.
Recalled Straus Family Creamery ice cream products include:
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, pint size (best by Dec. 23, 2026 and Dec. 28, 2026)
Strawberry Ice Cream, quart size (best by Dec. 24, 2026)
Strawberry Ice Cream, pint size (best by Dec. 25, 2026)
Days after South Carolina’s Supreme Court overturned his murder convictions, Murdaugh accused the former Colleton County clerk of tampering with jurors and sabotaging his defense
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against former Colleton County Clerk of Court, Rebecca “Becky” Hill, alleging she violated his constitutional right to a fair trial by improperly influencing jurors. Murdaugh is referring to his 2023 double-murder trial, where he was convicted in the fatal shooting of his wife Maggie and youngest son, Paul.
Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, told the press, “It has been a judged as a matter of state law that she deprived Alex of his constitutional rights, deprived him of a right to a fair trial, and as a result.” Murdaugh is suing Hill for $600,000.
BREAKING: Alex Murdaugh’s legal team announces a federal civil rights lawsuit against former court clerk Becky Hill for jury tampering.
The lawsuit argues that Hill's actions during Murdaugh’s trial, which eventually led to the disgraced lawyer’s murder charges being overturned… pic.twitter.com/QmRS89C5KD
According to the 17-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, Murdaugh accuses Hill of “acting under color of state law” by making improper comments to jurors and encouraging them not to be “fooled,” “confused,” or “convinced” by the defense. The lawsuit follows last week’s unanimous ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court overturning Murdaugh’s murder convictions in the 2021 killings of his wife and son, after finding Hill improperly interfered with the jury.
Murdaugh is reportedly seeking compensatory and punitive damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The lawsuit also references Hill’s later criminal case, in which she pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, perjury, and misconduct in office related to conduct surrounding the trial and sealed court exhibits.
South Carolina prosecutors alleged Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in June 2021 amid his mounting financial crimes and scandals in an effort to gain sympathy and distract from investigations into him. He was accused of stealing millions from clients and his law firm. In addition to the double-murder case, Murdaugh later pleaded guilty in federal and state court to dozens of financial crimes, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering schemes that spanned years.
Branded residences continue to redefine luxury living in Los Angeles, offering homeowners the rare combination of private space and hotel-like amenities. In Beverly Hills, two high-profile developments, the newly relaunched Mandarin Oriental Residences and the forthcoming Rosewood Residences, highlight how top hospitality names are shaping the city’s residential market. Along with luxe options in Century City and West Hollywood, these homes reflect a growing demand for modern living — where design and white-glove service come together. By offering perks such as rooftop wellness spaces, chefs and concierges, these properties signal a shift in what buyers expect from high-end real estate in one of the country’s most competitive luxury markets. All have listings for sale.
Recently relaunched with new pricing, the Mandarin Oriental Residences Beverly Hills pairs private homeownership with the brand’s signature five-star service. The 54-unit property features interiors by 1508 London and amenities including a rooftop pool, spa, fitness center and curated dining access. Select residences include private gardens by Enzo Enea. Pricing starts at $2.55 million, with turnkey residences currently available. 9200 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, mo-residencesbeverlyhills.com
Park Elm Residences at Century PlazaCredit: Courtesy Park Elm Residences
Making the case for luxury living in Century City, Park Elm Residences soar above the city to pair lavish lifestyles with city views. The 44-story building houses 268 two-to-fourbedroom homes, including a penthouse collection. Additionally, while not specifically a hotel-branded residence, its residents can establish a house account with the neighboring Fairmont Century Plaza for access to discount rates on the hotel, restaurant, bar and spa. 211 Elm Court, Century City, parkelmcenturyplaza.com
Rosewood Residences Beverly HillsCredit: Evan Ramzi
The Rosewood Residences Beverly Hills brings the brand’s ultra-luxury hospitality approach to a residential setting. Marking Rosewood’s first-ever standalone residences, the project is set to emphasize high-touch service, design-forward interiors and a full suite of wellness and lifestyle amenities. Like its hotel counterparts, the development aims to blend privacy with elevated, hotel-style living. Also, Noble 33 will have two Japanese restaurants on site. 9900 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, 9900santamonica.com
The Sun Rose ResidencesThe property’s elegant rooms designed by Martin Brudnizki Design StudioCredit: Will Edwards
Formerly a Pendry property, the Sun Rose Residences West Hollywood relaunched just ahead of spring and has just 11 homes left in its 40-unit property. Here, residents enjoy effortless California living elevated by Wolfgang Puck dining concepts, wellness amenities, live music, 24-hour security, a private elevator, a rooftop pool, a wine tasting room and more. Homes offer floor-to-ceiling glass and private terraces with sweeping views. 8420 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, thesunroseresidences.com
A new database highlighting the top 100 rental properties with the most housing violations was published at the end of last week, providing prospective renters with a tool to help avoid future housing conflicts.
The searchable database, which utilizes public data from the Los Angeles Housing Department, takes into account both past rent stabilization ordinance (RSO) and just cause ordinance violation (JCO) cases, as well as building code citations.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia stated in a release published last Thursday.
On the site, each rental property listed includes the number of housing violation cases, code violation citations and cleared code violations the building has accrued over the years, from December of 2013 through November of 2025.
Additionally, in an effort to keep landlords accountable, the web page also lists property ownership; even tracing back properties to the human owner, despite the fact that many landlords in L.A. don’t hold property in their own name and use LLCs or other business entities to avoid liability.
Mejia said in the release, “There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address.”
But now, this data has been laid bare to the public. The top three problem rental properties listed include Hillside Villa in Chinatown with 192 housing violation cases, Barrington Plaza in Sawtelle with 166 housing violation cases, and Toluca Hills Apartments by Avalon with 113 housing violation cases.
Mejia noted that the goal of this tool is to help renters and organizers identify recurring harmful trends and to put pressure on landlords accused of violating lawful rental practices.
The L.A. City Controller concluded, “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
The “Top 100 Problem Rental Properties” database can be accessed here.
LA28's Resilience Champions Fund awards $100,000 each to eight local nonprofits — and raises the question of whether the Olympics can leave more than debt and empty stadiums behind
Long after the closing ceremonies, Los Angeles will still be dealing with heat, wildfire and environmental uncertainty. The 2028 Olympics are hoping to leave the city better equipped to handle all three.
The organizing committee announced its inaugural Resilience Champions Fund, awarding $100,000 each to eight local nonprofits working on environmental challenges across the region. The projects span three priority areas that represent Southern California’s most urgent climate threats: wildfire resilience and nature restoration, ocean protection, and cooling solutions.
“Resilience is built in communities and sustained through collective action,” said Reynold Hoover, LA28 Chief Executive Officer. “We’re investing in local organizations leading solutions rooted in community, driven by ingenuity and designed to protect the future of Los Angeles.”
The fund is part of a broader LA28 Resilience Champions Initiative that will also engage volunteers in the communities hosting the games. LA28 partnered with Community Partners, a veteran Los Angeles nonprofit intermediary, and an advisory panel drawn from the public, academic, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to select the grantees.
The cohort was chosen for each organization’s community roots and direct alignment with at least one of the fund’s pillars. Geographically, the projects span every corner of LA — from Westwood to Long Beach, from the Sepulveda Basin to Boyle Heights.
Active SGV: Planting native shade trees and play features in El Monte, turning unused school space into a cooling community asset.
Amigos de los Rios: Expanding tree canopy and green infrastructure near Whittier Narrows to cut heat and improve access.
Chrysalis: A trained workforce removing hazardous fuels in the Sepulveda Basin while building pathways to environmental careers.
Climate Resolve: Transforming a Boyle Heights basketball court into a cool, shaded sports hub with youth leadership programming.
Conservation Corps of Long Beach: Training young adults in coastal conservation, restoring wetlands and shoreline trails near the Long Beach zone.
LA Community Garden Council: Converting gardens from Sunland-Tujunga to South LA into permanent, resident-run cooling hubs.
The Los Angeles Urban League: Training Altadena youth in wildfire resilience and green construction, supporting 2025 wildfire-affected communities.
Santa Monica Mountains Fund: Planting a dense native micro-forest in Westwood, steps from the Olympic Village, to cool the area and restore habitat.
Rather than consolidating investment into a single showcase project, LA28 spread the grants across the communities where Olympic events will actually take place. The strategy aligns with what climate advocates have argued for years — that the most durable environmental gains come from community-embedded organizations that already have the trust, knowledge and workforce to act. Top-down mandates are slow, expensive and often less reliable. The fund’s emphasis on workforce development — Chrysalis training a fuels crew, the Urban League preparing green construction workers — suggests LA28 hopes the impacts will outlast the closing ceremony.
Although the games are still two years away, the grant period has already begun. Whether $100,000 per project is enough to make a measurable dent in challenges as vast as wildfire risk and urban heat remains to be seen. But as far as Olympic legacies go, cooling courts and microforests are a promising start.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are starting to look exactly like the confident, explosive team many expected this season. On Sunday, they wrapped up a dominant series against the Los Angeles Angels with a 10-1 win, thanks to a breakout performance from rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki and an increasingly impressive offense.
After surrendering a double to Angels superstar Mike Trout in the first inning, the 23-year-old proceeded to throw a masterful six-pitch sequence, including his signature forkball, and got the strikeout. The performance was the best of his young MLB career.
By the end of the afternoon, Sasaki had struck out eight batters and worked all the way through the seventh inning, both career highs, as the Dodgers cruised to a clean sweep of their three-game series.
“We know that’s not his ceiling,” said Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing to the LA Times. “We know what he just did is obviously the best we’ve seen up to this point, but I trust that that guy’s got a lot more in the tank, and I’m going to continue to push him. It was fun to work with him today.”
Sasaki’s arrival last offseason was one of the most hyped international signings in recent memory; his stellar reputation in Japan’s professional league had Angelenos looking forward to seeing him in action. But the early part of his first MLB season was more of a work-in-progress — flashes of promise, but a tendency to throw too many pitches and wear himself down early in games.
Sunday was a different story. He needed just five pitches to get through the seventh inning — a level of efficiency he’d never previously reached in an MLB game.
In April, Sasaki debuted a revamped version of his signature splitter — a pitch that dips sharply as it crosses the plate — which proved to be particularly effective against the Angels. Batters chased it 50% of the time it was thrown outside the strike zone.
“Pitch selection is definitely a bit different from hitter to hitter,” Sasaki said through his interpreter. “So I saw the hitters’ reactions and made adjustments.”
Manager Dave Roberts credited the showing to a broader shift in Sasaki’s approach since spring — one that’s been as much about communication as it is about talent.
“We’ve had the kind of wait-and-see process with Roki,” Roberts said. “With that, he’s been more open and initiating conversations and being open to things with coaches. I think it’s been great. It’s just been a much better relationship this year.”
The offense held up its end, too. The Dodgers scored a whopping 31 runs across the three-game series. Sunday’s biggest moment came in the fourth inning, when a two-out, five-run rally turned the game into a blowout. At the center of it was Shohei Ohtani, the megastar who has become the face of the franchise since his move to LA. Ohtani has been finding his footing again back at the plate after a slow start to the year.
“My strike-zone awareness is a lot better,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “I feel like I’m seeing the ball better.”
The victory tightened the Dodgers’ grip on first place in the NL West, the division that includes their longtime rivals, the San Diego Padres, whom they travel to face next. A sweep over the Angels with this kind of firepower is exactly the kind of motivation a team wants heading into that kind of matchup.
“I think everyone knows, when this offense gets momentum, it gets pretty scary,” Rushing said.
The impressive performance on the field was accompanied by some notable shuffling off it. The Dodgers have been quietly managing a string of pitching injuries, including a recent elbow injury for Blake Snell, which has forced the team to lean more heavily on emerging starters like Sasaki. Left-hander Jack Dreyer also hit the 15-day IL this weekend with shoulder inflammation, though the team says it expects him back relatively quickly.
To shore up their bullpen, the Dodgers recently acquired left-hander Eric Lauer from the Blue Jays. It’s a reunion of sorts — Lauer pitched against the Dodgers in last year’s World Series and didn’t allow a single run across two appearances. He had a rough start to this season in Toronto, but the Dodgers are betting on the steadiness he showed last October.
He is expected to join the Dodgers against San Diego this week.
The D Line extension unveiling isn’t the only exciting milestone this month for the LA metro.
On May 22, Los Angeles Union Station will see the debut of Everywhere in its Fred Harvey space.
The independent craft brewery — founded by Daniel Muñoz, Jeremy Grinkey, Stefan Weber and Keith Pumilia — settles into the commuter epicenter to transform it into a community hub. What better way to relish in the station’s Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival and Art Deco architecture than with a pint in hand?
“I couldn’t be more excited to bring Everywhere to such a historic space in Los Angeles, and especially one that I have such a personal connection to,” said Muñoz. “The Everywhere team can’t wait to build an experience that lives up to the weight and history of this place.”
The latest Everywhere outpost marks the fifth taproom for the brewery, joining locations in Orange, Long Beach and Portland, and a New York City pop-up. It serves a variety of beers with an emphasis on IPAs, and with the new location, it will also launch its first food and cocktail programs.
Credit: Courtesy Everywhere
An Instagram post clued in on what else is to come: “With Union Station set to serve as an Official Los Angeles World Cup 26 Fan Zone, we’re excited to be your spot for all the [FIFA World Cup] and [Dodgers] fandom (right by the Dodger Express, woo!). You can expect to see all things you’ve come to love at Everywhere: building community, super sick beers, innovative seltzers, and smiles smiles smiles.”
After a bumpy start on Venice Beach that led crew members to complain that the city was not friendly to film production, the reboot of the iconic television series Baywatchhas returned to the Los Angeles shores, drawing tourists hoping for a glimpse of the action.
Almost forty years after the show aired its original pilot, which led to 11 seasons of red bathing suit action stars, along with a spin-off and a movie remake in 2017, it is now shooting a new reboot for Fox TV on the beach, bringing the production back after a brief hiatus. Like the original, the show will focus on lifeguards facing dangers and making daring rescues on the beach while navigating complicated personal relationships.
Last month, crew members publicly raised alarms about being pushed off the beach by county regulations, leading to emergency meetings at the highest levels of government for the show. City Councilmember Traci Park pushed to keep filming in Los Angeles by lobbying the State House for a tax credit.
Last week, city officials and industry insiders gathered at the newly rehabbed and renamed Baywatch Lifeguard Station in Venice Beach. The formerly dilapidated landmark was renovated by the production and has quickly brought scores of looky-loos back to the Venice boardwalk for selfies.
The original series launched the career of Pamela Anderson. The new series, which is slated to air in January, will tell the story about legendary lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, who was played by David Hasselhoff, passing the torch to his son Hobie, played by Stephen Amell. Other cast members include gymnast and social media influencer Livvy Dunne, model and actress Brooks Nader, Shay Mitchell, and Noah Beck.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes Bureau detectives raided a storefront and downtown L.A. warehouse in the fashion district this week to uncover a sprawling counterfeit retail operation filled with fake designer label items.
Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Authorities estimate the street value of the seized merchandise falls somewhere between $5 million and $10 million. Detectives served warrants at both a retail store in the 500 block of South Los Angeles Street and a warehouse in the 500 block of Main Street, according to deputies.
Many of those bags were likely headed to L.A.’s center for counterfeit goods on Santee Alley, and were being sold in plain sight at Royal Inc. at 6th Avenue and Main Street
Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Mixed among the high-end luxury labels were other bogus bags, including a Lululemon cross-body bag and Hello Kitty branded items. LASD officials say two people were taken into custody but stressed that the male and a female Asian adult were taken into custody. This remains an active investigation, the LASD said, adding: “additional arrests or charges are possible as the case progresses.”
Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Anyone with information related to this investigation is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau’s Tip Line at (562) 946-7893
All’Antico Vinaio launched a Los Angeles-exclusive dinner series that converts its Santa Monica space into a late-night Tuscan experience centered on bistecca alla Fiorentina. Groups of two to 10 enjoy a family-style dinner with an optional wine pairing, and the next one is May 29.
Leora in Beverly Hills tapped Avaline wine for a refreshing summer beverage: Avaline Frosé made with Avaline Organic Rosé, fresh strawberries and ice. The limited-time menu item is available at Leora — which also has Avaline Rosé by the glass through summer — and via Postmates.
Grilled prawns with pimenton butterCredit: Em Ferretti
Once all in on paying tribute to classic Spanish cooking, owner Heather Sperling pivoted the Bar Siesta space into Bar Besito, a Spanish-influenced restaurant with a wine bar vibe. Stop by for brunch, lunch or dinner for croquetas, grilled mackerel a la marinera, clams with saffron rice and more.
Broken Spanish Comedor expanded its hours of operation by adding weekend brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Saturday and Sunday offering — divided into botanas y entradas, platos fuertes and acompañamientos — includes huevos rancheros, chilaquiles verdes, chicharrón hash, ceviche and more.
As part of Live Talks Los Angeles, José Andrés will be in conversation with Jennifer Garner on May 26 to discuss Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard at the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City. Virtual tickets are also available.
Credit: Courtesy InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown
Crown Point Vineyards makes its way to Los Angeles from the Santa Ynez Valley for a winemaker dinner at La Boucherie. From the 71st floor of the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, attendees will enjoy a three-course dinner complemented by Crown Point’s Bordeaux-style blends and rare library selections.
Honeycomb in olive oilCredit: Courtesy Da Prato Ristorante & Supper Club
Da Prato Ristorante & Supper Club opens on May 16 from chef Elisa Da Prato (Eutrusca); Martha Stewart recipe developer for over a decade and Hollywood Farmers’ Market board member Laurryn Tyrell; chef and writer Christian Reynoso; and designer Brittany Asch. The Italian supper club encourages family-style dining (with a menu featuring the likes of roasted bone marrow with porcini and spring herbs and Tuscan chestnut flour–fried whole quail) and communal seating, though a separate area is also available for walk-ins.
As the delicatessen celebrates five years, Ggiata made way to Echo Park with a new location that debuted on May 18. Come by morning through evening for sandwiches, wraps and desserts like The Spicy P, crispy or grilled chicken Caesar and limoncello olive oil cake.
Credit: Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Glenmorangie
Harrison Ford and friends had a special evening with Glenmorangie at the Sunset Tower Hotel, where the group connected over rare pours and Ford stepping behind the bar. Whiskey connoisseurs can join the fun with orders of Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition bottle at select L.A. retailers and online at glenmorangie.com and via Reservebar.
Huachinango crudoCredit: Courtesy The Langham Huntington Pasadena, Los Angeles
The Langham kicked off the month with the unveiling of a new restaurant next to its Lanai Pool. Serving Baja coastal cuisine, The Hideaway Mexican Kitchen & Bar delights with an agave-focused cocktail program, wines from Valle de Guadalupe and dishes like huachinango crudo with charred jalapeño, quesadilla de huitlacoche with Mexican truffle and hamachi aguachile.
Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson of Frasca Hospitality Group steps into the Little Dom’s kitchen alongside chef Brandon Boudet for a wine dinner on May 19 that highlights Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region through a California lens. The multi-course experience features dishes like housemade pappardelle al ragù bianco and wood-grilled pork loin with stone fruit. Reservations are on Resy.
The Santa Monica restaurant commemorates its 10-year anniversary with a special dinner menu available May 15, 16 and 20-23. Options include duck confit, black angus center-cut filet, wood-grilled loup de mer and, for all, sweet corn agnolotti to start and sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Following up its Tokyo, Culver City and Venice locations, Menotti’s Coffee Stop has expanded to West L.A. Stop by between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Sawtelle outpost for free oat lattes and cookies (courtesy of Minor Figures and Hatchet Hall, respectively) in celebration of the grand opening. Additionally, across all locations, the menu will feature the West L’Orange specialty beverage in honor of the new West L.A. location beginning May 18. The espresso concoction mixes up Valrhona ganache and house-made orange cordial with Táche pistachio milk and shaved dark chocolate.
To celebrate landing at the No. 44 spot on 50 Best Bar’s North America list, Daisy has a weekly Monday Gran Fiesta from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring $1.50 oysters, The Daisy Dog and chorizo fries.
Also celebrating its place on 50 Best Bar’s North America list (coming in at No. 28), Mírate gives one-night-only a special meaning with a May 18 omakase experience featuring five tacos by executive chef Alan Sanz and mezcal pours curated by beverage director Max Reis from his personal collection.
Every Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Pasjoli in Santa Monica serves brunch. Menu highlights include dinner staples like the burger and grilled cheese, and new items, including tartare frites.
Kith West Hollywood marked its grand reopening with an exciting new addition: the debut of Ronnie’s Pronto by creative Director, CEO and founder Ronnie Fieg. The grab-and-go eatery serves New York-inspired sandwiches, bowls and salads for breakfast and lunch.
At Hotel Casa del Mar, Terraza nods to Route 66’s 100-year anniversary (and the hotel’s) with a Route $66 lunch special: house fries, Caesar salad and a classic or dirty martini.
The Pacific Design Center welcomed a new dining concept with the May 8 grand opening of Très LA Bistro & Café. The French-inspired restaurant serves café and lunch offerings by day and dinner by night, with menu highlights including a bistro smashburger, steak frites, chicken tangine bowl and vegan eggplant parmigiana.
Los Angeles’ hotel industry is seeing some exciting new action. From a reimagined Sunset Strip icon to a boutique hideaway in Beverly Hills, these stylish properties are bringing a fresh look, top-notch dining and innovative nightlife to the city. Here are the entrants shaking up the hospitality scene for visitors and Angelenos alike.
Hotel Lili Credit: Courtesy of Hotel Lili
Beverly Hills a new boutique hideaway courtesy of Avi Brosh’s neighborhood-centric Palisociety brand, which now boasts seven L.A. properties in its design-forward portfolio. The fashionable 44-room hotel occupies a historic 1939 residence tucked away on South Lasky Drive, offering a quieter feel compared to Beverly Hills’ more palatial lodgings. Designed by Palisociety’s in-house team, the three-story property features interiors inspired by a Parisian hideaway with layered textures, custom furnishing and sculptural lighting. Guests are greeted with welcome bubbles in the lobby, which also houses a lounge and small evening cocktail bar. Cozy, residential-feeling rooms are stocked with Diptyque bath amenities, espresso machines and curated minibars. 140 S. Lasky Drive, Beverly Hills, palisociety.com
Public West HollywoodCredit: Courtesy of public
Hotelier Ian Schrager (the West Hollywood Edition, the Mondrian) is opening the first West Coast location of his Public Hotels brand in West Hollywood this spring. The 137-room property will occupy the former Standard Hotel building on the Sunset Strip and marks the Studio 54 co-founder’s third Los Angeles venture. Designed in collaboration with British architect John Pawson, the hotel will feature a pool, social lobby and three food, beverage and entertainment venues. Meanwhile, a landscaped 16,000-square-foot rooftop terrace will offer open-air views of Los Angeles. The brand’s “luxury for all” concept promises design-forward spaces, accessible pricing and lively communal areas. 8300 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, publichotels.com
The Valorian Los AngelesCredit: Courtesy The Valorian
Now part of the Curio Collection by Hilton, the Mondrian Los Angeles has entered a new chapter as The Valorian. Thirty years after its debut in 1996, the property aims to build upon its nightlife legacy while also refreshing its identity. The reimagined Sunset Strip hotel got an extensive makeover and boasts guest rooms and suites with views from the West Hollywood hills to Downtown Los Angeles. Mexican restaurant Casa Madera remains on the property, while the former Sky Bar has turned into the White Rabbit Sky Lounge, offering rooftop views and cocktails. Keep an eye out for seasonal activations and immersive experiences. 8440 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, hilton.com
Los Angeles is, by car, mere hours from coastal gem towns, the state’s finest resorts, desert hotspots and more. So, join the 71% of Americans planning to drive on their next vacation — according to Hilton — and make your summer getaway a road trip. Below, discover where to go, eat, shop and more to Los Angeles editors.
Carmel By-the-SeaCredit: Visit Carmel
This artsy coastal town is one of the longer drives from Los Angeles, coming in at 5-6 hours depending on what part of town you depart from. But the blooming dining scene, abundance of wine rooms and underlying bohemian spirit make it more than worth the drive. Discover more
Long BeachHalo at Fairmont Breakers Long BeachCredit: Courtesy Fairmont Breakers Long Beach
Yes, Long Beach is still within Los Angeles County limits, but a weekend away in the LBC proves its a whole other universe. The port city attracts visitors for its beach city lifestyle with historical sensibilities. Discover more
Palm Springs The V Capri at sunset Credit: Courtesy The V Capri
Angelenos have long relied on the desert for quick getaways, and Palm Springs keeps the annual visit interesting with plenty of new hotels and restaurants to check out. Discover more
Santa BarbaraA room in a cozy San Ysidro Ranch Bungalow Credit: Courtesy San Ysidro Ranch
For when a trip to coastal Italy isn’t in the cards, there’s always the American Riviera. Santa Barbara delivers on ensuring a luxe vacation with a medley of the state’s — perhaps even the country’s — finest resorts. Discover more.
Las VegasCarbone Riviera’s patio offers views of the Bellagio fountains.Credit: Douglas Friedman
Sin City has grown to become a mecca of chef titans, and a lineup of recent restaurant openings makes the case for any culinary savant to spend a weekend away in the Mojave Desert metropolis. Discover more
Eighty years after Tommy Koulax flipped his first burger at Beverly and Rampart, the venerable fast food chain he founded is offering chili burgers for 80 cents. Today until 8 p.m., the big, sloppy burgers at Original Tommy’s are discounted 85% from their usual (cheap) price of $5.50. The original Original Tommy’s in Westlake, which the company lovingly calls “The Shack” (and which inspired their slogan “If You Don’t See the Shack, Take it Back”) is open all night and often has long lines of fans on a regular day. Don’t expect to get in and out of there very quickly today.
The Original Tommy’s in 1978Credit: Photo by Tom LaBonge/Los Angeles Public Library
Koulax was born to Greek parents in Oklahoma City in 1928 and arrived in L.A. during World War II. Like many thousands of young workers lured to Southern California during the war, Koulax went to work in the defense industry, welding ships. Much like his contemporary Carl Karcher (who went on to found Carl’s Jr.)
The Original Tommy’s at Beverly and RampartCredit: Photo by Mr. Littlehand/Flickr
During the war, Koulax opened a hot dog stand on Florence Avenue at Main Street in South Central L.A., just a mile west of Karcher’s similar stand on Florence and Central. Koulax relocated again before finding his sweet spot on Beverly Blvd. and perfecting his very specific chili recipe and garnishing his burgers with mustard and a thick slice of tomato. The store was so small there was no room for a fryer or soda fountain, so for generations only chips and bottled sodas were available – on the honor system.
Tommy’s chili cheeseburgerCredit: Photo by Bobak Ha’Eri/Wikipedia
To this day, independents get to ride a wave of consumer confusion by naming their stands Tomboy’s, Big Tomy’s or Tom’s Jr. which so irked the original Tommy that he sued imitators over the name. Koulax died in 1992, but his family continues to run the Monrovia-based chain that has grown to 32 locations in Southern California and Las Vegas. Tommy’s Daughter Cynthia Koulax will be greeting customers today at her dad’s original store but the 80-cent deal is good at every location until 8 p.m. tonight.
The acclaimed chef (Aquavit, Per Se and Stockholm's three-Michelin-starred Frantzén) is serving an elevated four-course experience set discordantly against lively music and a cozy, dressed-down dining room
Swedish chef Marcus Jernmark went to Paris for the first time in 2016.
“I experienced that so late in my career,” Jernmark says. “I was already really seasoned in our industry.” By then, he’d helmed New York’s Scandinavian stalwart Aquavit and Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred Per Se before decamping to Stockholm to lead Björn Frantzén’s Frantzén (which he helped become the first three-Michelin-starred Swedish restaurant).
His food knowledge was vast: After starting to work in restaurants at age 14, Jernmark attended the Culinary Institute of Grythyttan during the rise of 2004’s Nordic Food Manifesto, which created a global language around Nordic cuisine. “This was a really cool time for us in the Nordics, because the approach to food was starting to shift,” he says, “and people started talking about purity and ingredient knowledge.” He’d done a field study on restaurant trends in London — which led him to start a company marketing Sweden abroad through gastronomic experiences. Which led him to become head chef of the Swedish Consulate in New York and to spend 10 years there. But he’d never gone to Paris.
Chef Marcus JernmarkCredit: Andrea Jernmark
“French food was so uncool when I grew up,” says Jernmark, who was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1982 and studied wines in his 20s. “No one drank Bordeaux wines. And [that’s] all we studied in school. So I was just so floored when I went to Paris for the first time.”
He recalls sitting down at Clown Bar and ordering their duck pie. Then, he went to the sisters running Le Servan. “I was like, ‘What is this?’ How can they serve this food in this casual setting? It’s so delicious and high-quality, and it costs like a fraction of these fine-dining restaurants. And I had never experienced anything like that.” His awe continued through visits to Le Chateaubriand and later, Septime. “The whole ‘bistronomy’ changed the way I was thinking about restaurants.”
At Frantzén, they’d already started introducing a more hospitable style of service. “We became much more warm and friendly,” he says, “and we focused on everything out of a guest-centric point of view.” They did this at the expense of doing things correctly or fancily. “I was already on a path to distancing myself from my former stuffy environments that I worked in,” he says. “So going to these restaurants [in Paris] really just highlighted that generational change of like, ‘You can cook the best food in the world without a tablecloth, without having to charge a gazillion dollars.’ It materialized inside of me and I was determined to do something similar.”
Exterior of LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
After seven years at Frantzen, from 2014-2021 — during which he also helped open Zen in Singapore in 2018, and got detained by the pandemic — Jernmark relocated to Los Angeles in 2021. “[My daughter] moved to L.A. from New York in 2017, so that’s when I started traveling to Cali,” he says.
He focused on curated dining experiences and established a catering and private chef business (serving as a chef/partner at Habitué Provisions and co-founding SRVE), while always intending to open a restaurant. To gear up, he traveled around California, forging relationships with farmers, ranchers, artisans and winemakers, including Motley Crew Ranch, Monterey Abalone Company, Broken Arrow Ranch and Petaluma’s Andante Dairy.
Then, he secured the Pico Robertson building that, until March 2024, had housed Walter and Margarita Manzke’s restaurants Manzke and Bicyclette.
Lielle’s interiorCredit: Andrea Jernmark
“During the pandemic, there was a long shutdown here [in L.A.], and Walter was building out the Bicyclette and Manzke space for a long time,” Jernmark recalls. “Their CDC Joe Garcia came out to do an internship with us in Stockholm during the pandemic. So that’s how we got to know each other. I’m still very close with Joe, and that’s why I’ve been keeping track of what’s happening at Bicyclette and at Manzke.”
Jernmark went to both several times — including on his first night in Los Angeles. “We got into Bicyclette by my front of the house partner in Habitué. He’s a good friend of chef Walter, and I am too, today,” he says. “So it felt like a special place to me.”
Lielle, a Nordic-California restaurant named after his daughter, opened on Feb. 12.
What distinguishes Nordic food? “When you look at the seasonality and the climate, we’re very much handheld by a short season,” Jernmark says. “When you have a much colder climate, you have longer growing seasons — which means that you get an incredible flavor compound built up in your produce. The downside is that you get, often, one harvest a year. You don’t really have that secondary or fourth harvest season, like we see in California. So, we don’t really use ingredients in season.”
Abalone at LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
Instead, Scandinavian regions rely on the preservation of ingredients and processes like fermenting, pickling, drying and smoking. “We don’t want to import; we want to live off what we grow,” says Jernmark of what he calls “survival cooking.” “That forces you to think sustainably about seasons and how to nurture the inventory, and I think that unlocks a lot of creativity [and] opportunities. And that’s how we approach the Nordic food at Leille — which is clearly a Californian restaurant in every regard. We work with what’s best in the sweet spot of the season, but then we’re also curating and nurturing those products to carry over for later seasons.”
For example, he cites pairing a fermented white asparagus with charred green asparagus. “When you have a seasonal product and you’re introducing it to a product that we have taken care of from a previous season, we let that guide our inspiration for that dish,” says Jernmark, who preserves peak-season ingredients. His larder at Lielle houses items like fermented yellow tomatoes from Munak Ranch, yuzu kosho featuring fruit from Girl & Dug and peppers from Weiser Family Farms, and dried “black apples” from Cuyama Orchards. He also utilizes imported Swedish ingredients, such as vendace roe, cloudberries, and rose quince vinegar. “So that’s how we work,” he says, “and I think what also exemplifies how a lot of chefs and restaurants are operating in the Nordics.”
Vendace Roe at LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
Jernmark took inspiration from the bistronomy he’d encountered in Europe — combining it with California ingredients and an approach to fine-dining described in the press release as “irreverent.”
“For me, bistronomy is really a couple of simple things,” he says. “It’s about cooking excellent food and focusing on everything that the guests touch, taste and smell — and all of the other details are not as critical for us.” However, he notes how he’s doing it in a slightly more elevated environment. “At Cheateaubriand, for instance, you get only like the simple bistro plates, so they have that contrast. I wanted to run a restaurant where I embrace the things of my past that I really love — being able to work with the best farmers and the best vendors, but also artisans.”
Jernmark worked with his wife/creative partner Andrea Jernmark and design studio Lovers Unite on the venue’s décor. Ceramic tableware, sculptural wine glasses, knives, glass accessories, blankets, brass table lamps come by way of Swedish artisans — and he also incorporated items from his own home and from his travels. “Running a restaurant is something highly personal,” he says. “It can also mean that literally, you bring a piece of your home into your restaurant.” “The plates that [we] serve are from my mom’s neighbor, sitting on core coasters from [near] where my mom lives. It’s all a postcard of the travels and things that I have experienced in the past 15 years.”
LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
Guests enter the multi-story building’s white edifice into Lielle’s dimly lit subterranean space inspired by midcentury Scandinavian design. The cozy and comfortable cavernous dining room conjures a wine cellar with cherry wood booths upholstered in wine-colored leather; mirror-tipped lightbulbs that evoke candles; Danish glass sconces; armchairs by Swedish maker Gemla; and cork-lined, barrel-vaulted ceilings. Equally important to Lielle’s vibe is the eclectic music, a playlist with popular rap, rock and pop songs.
In figuring that the perfect guest would come around once a month, he decided that they’d change the menu every five to six weeks. He knew he wanted to do a set menu, so he could get people to try new things. “We’re habitual people,” he says. “But when you build flavors that are truly delicious and balanced, most people share those appreciations. And you don’t get those experiences if you get to make all your own decisions, because you’re not going to put yourself out of that comfort zone.”
Aged Californian SquabCredit: Andrea Jernmark
Jernmark didn’t want to offer a “tasting menu” so much as a preset dinner menu. However, with fewer than Frantzen’s 10+ courses, he knew he needed more substance so people would be full. “I didn’t have to have substance in my food at Frantzen; I just had to have dialed-in small shooters of explosive stuff,” notes Jernmark, who landed on four courses (for $150). “The less dishes, the more accessible I’m going to be, as a set menu. So four was enough for me to feel like I could embrace enough products and showcase an appetizer, a warm fish or a seafood, a main course and a dessert.”
Since he wanted to do a little more and enable guests to feel in control of their experience, he added supplementary pastas that diners can add. “That section will change more frequently than it has, and it will also embrace more daily specials. It will have more protein options as well, like grilled spot prawns,” he notes. “So that gives the guests the [ability to] pivot; they can go all in, or they can just go a little lighter, and it makes the experience a little bit more modifiable — which I think L.A. diners respond to really well.”
Spaghetti all’Assassina at LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
Lielle seats 42 people from 5 to 8:30 p.m., and has had three menus since it opened. The third one introduced on April 20 will run through mid-May. “Certain products, especially on the produce side, roll over,” Jernmark notes. “Like the former abalone serving got changed from Brussels sprouts and fermented mushroom sauce into charred green asparagus and fermented asparagus sauce. … We’re always going to have one or two dishes change all together, but then maybe two of the dishes are more like pivoting towards like a new season, with tweaking the flavors.”
After seating, meals start with a memorable house-baked, 36-hour-fermented Rouge de Bordeaux sourdough bread and house-cultured butter. Then come snacks, such as radishes with dip and a Chawanmushi custard with N25 caviar that pairs perfectly with sake.
Bread at LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
The first menu featured artichoke and citrus, abalone “BBQ” with fermented hen of the woods sauce and aged California squab with yuzu pepper and walnut miso, complemented by two pasta additions: a spaghetti alla chitarra with red prawns and sea urchin, and an Agnolotti del Plin with blacktruffles. Desserts included iced sea buckthorn with tea, milk and honey; and Challerhocker cheese, with honeycomb and Danish rye bread.
RadishesCredit: Andrea Jernmark
The second menu swapped artichoke for an aged striped Jack “Kombu-Jime” with peas, cucumber, wasabi, green gooseberry; and put a different twist on abalone with delta asparagus, ao nori rice and fermented white asparagus sauce. The squab was gently grilled over pine, with hazelnut miso, smoked matcha butter, hen of the woods and black truffle jus.
Pasta add-ons included the spaghetti with lobster and sea urchin, plus a new tortellini aux fines herbes, with grilled morels. For dessert, the cheese and sweet bun remained, along with Jersey Cow Milk Sherbet “Eaton Mess” (black currant, chewy beet, black tea and chamomile meringue).
SquabCredit: Andrea Jernmark
For the third menu — launching after this interview — he’s working with local line-caught white tile fish and spring lamb. “We work with Don Watson up south of San Francisco,” he says. “And we are working with a rancher and a marketplace up in Buelton, called Motley Crew ranch. I’m using their lamb to make a lamb shoulder sausage together with the lamb sweet breads, to go with the spring lamb, and we’re going to work with some beautiful spring morels, out of Oregon. I want to do something with rhubarb as well.”
Jernmark has help from chef de cuisine Matthew Bowden, formerly of Providence, and Beverly director Phil South (The Lonely Oyster, Anajack Thai). Rather than a traditional wine pairing, South can guide guests to pick glasses from California and other regions with environmentally-responsible practices, including Outward Wines, Scar of the Sea, Amevive Wines, Phelan Farm Wines, Littorai, and Arnot-Roberts. Or, try non-alcoholic options, a Saison-style beer infused with Persian lime and spruce shoots created with Santa Cruz’s Sante Adairus and a custom coffee blend from Verve, roasted in the Arts District.
Aged Striped Jack at LielleCredit: Andrea Jernmark
After expanding Lielle’s dinner service to seven nights a week, in late summer, Jernmark plans to unveil a more casual sister restaurant in the bright and cheery upstairs space, called Marée. “We’re not in the most walkable area,” he says. “So [we’ll] be able to have two shops stacked on each other seven days a week, always lively.” He foresees guests coming for an early dinner at Lielle, before popping upstairs to Marée to share a bottle of wine in the bar — or having wine and cheese, then coming downstairs for a later dinner. The day-to-night café and coffee shop will also be a spot for weekend brunch.
Iced Sea BuckthornCredit: Andrea Jernmark
“My biggest hope and my intention in the next 10 years, is to take Marée from a new restaurant with Parisian-Californian cooking into something [like] the Zuni Cafe of Los Angeles,” he says, acknowledging that it’s four times bigger — with capacity for 1,000 guests on a Saturday and Sunday. “I would love for Marée to be that place where you can pop in for some simple, delicious food, but done in a perfect temperature, with the greatest produce that we can get over here — and done in an impressively unimpressive way, where restraint speaks for itself.”
He adds: “It’s about not being cool; it’s about being timeless. It’s about not chasing tomorrow, but letting things just grow organically. It’s about ‘Always stay open and be hospitable.’ It’s about curating really strong relationship with our farmers — with our people in our community.”
Jurors failed for a second time to reach a unanimous verdict on the rape charge involving accuser Jessica Mann, despite days of deliberations and an Allen charge from the judge
In a stunning development, Harvey Weinstein’s Manhattan retrial ended in yet another mistrial Friday after jurors remained deadlocked. The impasse marks the second time a jury has failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the third-degree rape charge involving accuser Jessica Mann. Jurors began deliberating on Tuesday and sent multiple notes to Judge Curtis Farber over the course of several days before ultimately informing the court they could not come to a unanimous decision.
It felt like deja vu at the HW retrial as exactly 11:20 a.m., jurors sent a dramatic note to Judge Curtis Farber. It stated, “The members of the jury have concluded we cannot come to a unanimous decision.” In response, Farber announced he would issue an Allen charge, which is a supplemental instruction urging jurors to continue deliberating in an effort to reach a unanimous verdict. During discussions outside the jury’s presence, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo objected to part of the proposed language indicating jurors would eventually reach a verdict if deliberations continued, arguing the statement was not factual. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg countered that the instruction was standard and should not be altered. Farber ultimately agreed to remove the disputed sentence before the jury returned to the courtroom.
As the judge delivered the Allen charge, one male juror was seen rubbing his forehead and appearing to laugh sarcastically before covering part of his face with his hand.
After receiving the Allen charge, the jury still could not reach a unanimous decision. Judge Curtis Farber ultimately declared a mistrial after defense attorney Marc Agnifilo conferred with Harvey Weinstein. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg requested that deliberations continue, but the request was denied.
Weinstein has consistently denied sexually assaulting the women involved in his New York trials. In 2025, he was acquitted on the charge involving Kaia Sokola, found guilty on the charge involving Miriam Haley, while the jury was hung on the Mann charge. Nearly one year later, a jury was hung again.
Sundance fixtures Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein in 2009.Credit: Getty Images
The retrial largely centered on allegations by former aspiring actress Jessica Mann, who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her inside a DoubleTree Hotel room in Manhattan on March 18, 2013. Weinstein’s new defense team, led by high-profile attorneys Marc Agnifilo, Jacob Kaplan and Teny Geragos, argued throughout the roughly three-week retrial that Weinstein and Mann were engaged in a complicated but consensual relationship rather than criminal conduct. The defense relied heavily on years of communications between Mann and Weinstein, Mann’s own writings (specifically an entry written two days after she said she was assaulted by Weinstein), and extensive cross-examination testimony in an effort to challenge her credibility and argue prosecutors failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Agnifilo, who also represents figures connected to the federal and state cases involving Sean Combs and Luigi Mangione, repeatedly argued Mann maintained contact with Weinstein for years because she sought emotional support and career guidance from one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers. Prosecutors, meanwhile, contended Weinstein exploited that power imbalance to manipulate and sexually assault Mann, portraying her as vulnerable and emotionally isolated during the years they knew each other.
It remains unclear whether the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will seek to retry Harvey Weinstein as he awaits sentencing in the Miriam Haley case. A status conference has been scheduled for June 25, when prosecutors are expected to indicate whether they intend to move forward with another trial on the remaining charge.
Williamson, who was under investigation by the FBI when she worked at the State House as Gov. Gavin Newsom's chief of staff, is facing decades behind bars
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, pleaded guilty on Thursday to fraud charges connected to siphoning funds out of campaign coffers earmarked for Xavier Becerra, a frontrunner in the gubernatorial race to replace her former boss.
In a Sacramento federal courtroom, Williamson, 53, admitted to a federal judge that she conspired to steal $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra, with whom she was working as a consultant. Williamson now faces up to 30 years in prison, along with a $1 million fine, restitution and other fees at her scheduled sentencing on July 9.
Williamson had served as Becerra’s campaign manager in 2018 during his successful reelection campaign for California State Attorney General. She launched the scheme, federal prosecutors say, with a longtime top prosecutor from that office in 2022, a Sacramento lobbyist, and unnamed “others,” federal prosecutors say.
Sean McCluskie was Becerra’s second in command in the California AG’s Office, going back to 2017, and he then followed his boss into the Biden Administration in 2021 when he was appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has since admitted to colluding with Williamson, along with his wife, stay-at-home mom Kerry MacKay, to funnel money out of a dormant campaign account containing funds raised for a future run at state office for Becerra.
Williamson was taken down, along with two other Democratic power brokers, Becerra’s longtime staffer, Sean McCluskie, and lobbyist Greg Campbell, by an FBI sting that involved surveillance and wiretaps in a case dubbed the “Conduit Scheme.” The investigation began while the suburban mom from Carmichael was working at the State House for the governor between 2022 and 2024. Before that, she worked as Becerra’s campaign manager in 2018.
Williamson’s guilty plea is yet another significant disruption to the governor’s race, roughly two weeks before the June 2 primary. Last month, California voters were stunned when a cascade of sexual abuse allegations against Eric Swalwell, which he continues to deny, led him to drop out of the gubernatorial race and resign from Congress.
Federal prosecutors say Becerra was a victim, but it ties him in the crowded race directly to an active public corruption case, even as he pulls to the front of the pack, according to an Emerson College poll that puts him in first place. His rivals on both sides of the aisle have used Williamson’s case to attack Becerra. Embattled candidate Katie Porter, who has been rocked by videos of her berating staffers along with allegations that she battered her ex-husband, labeled him “too big of a risk” to lead the state ticket.
During a debate last week, Republican candidate Steve Hilton told Becerra he shouldn’t be at the forum, quipping: “You shouldn’t be in this race. You should be preparing your criminal defense.”
Federal prosecutors are also still fighting to jail the 16-year-old defendant ahead of trial, arguing the allegations are too violent to justify release
Despite a June trial date previously being set, the federal criminal case against a 16-year-old stepbrother accused of murdering and sexually assaulting his stepsister, Anna Kepner, aboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship has now been pushed back until September. Prosecutors are also continuing their effort to revoke the defendant’s release. They have fiercely argued he should be detained pending trial because of the brutal nature of the charges.
Credit: US District Court Southern District of Florida
In a new scheduling order entered this week, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom granted an unopposed request from defense attorneys representing “T.H.,” the 16-year-old defendant accused of murdering and sexually assaulting Kepner during a family vacation on a cruise ship in November of 2025. Jury selection and trial are now scheduled to begin September 8 in Miami federal court, with a calendar call set for September 1.
Defense attorneys requested the 90-day continuance in order to continue reviewing what they described as “voluminous discovery productions” and to further investigate the case. The filing also cited scheduling conflicts and family obligations involving upcoming school holidays. Prosecutors did not oppose the delay.
The latest developments come as federal prosecutors continue pushing to revoke T.H.’s pretrial release status after the case was transferred from juvenile court into adult federal prosecution. A hearing on the government’s motion to review and revoke the release order has now been set for May 27 before Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres.
According to the feds, the T.H was originally released under the more limited provisions of the federal Juvenile Delinquency Act before the case officially transitioned into adult court. Prosecutors now argue the Bail Reform Act should govern the case and claim the teen poses a danger to others, especially the minors at the residence in where he is staying, and warrants detention pending trial.
Federal prosecutors allege that on November 7, 2025, 18-year-old Anna Kepner was found dead under a bed inside the cabin she shared with T.H. and another sibling aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship traveling toward Miami while in international waters. The teen defendant is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
Credit: Solarisys via Adobe Stock
Court filings detail that prosecutors believe the alleged crimes were particularly violent and disturbing because they were allegedly committed against someone the defendant “was being raised to view as a sibling.” Prosecutors additionally argued the defendant had shown “no apparent relational strife” with the victim prior to the killing and that there had been no warning signs he was capable of such conduct.
After more than 70 years, Disneyland is replacing the loud and smelly (but beloved) gasoline-powered cars in the Autopia attraction in Tomorrowland with electrically powered vehicles sometime next year. The park had been under fire from the California Air Resources Board after state officials alleged that the Honda engines that power the tiny cars had been operating without emissions controls that met state standards. For years, the company had been making gestures towards a non-polluting vehicle, but the end of the gas cars is coming after the company agreed to pay a $56,000 fine. The company has set a goal of net-zero emissions by 2030.
Autopia at DisneylandCredit: Photo by Simon Doggett/Flickr
Autopia is one of the few remaining opening day attractions at Disneyland. A squad of the Mark I cars represented Tomorrowland in the parade down Main Street USA on July 17, 1955. One of the drivers that day was Bob Gurr.
Ed Martindale and Jim Mangels testing Disneyland Autopia cars at Mameco Inc.in Newport Beach, July 1955Credit: Photo courtesy County of Orange
Gurr had not been out of art school for all that long when he got the call that Walt Disney was looking for someone to design some cars for an amusement park he was building in Anaheim. Although he had published books on futuristic car designs and put in a stint working at Ford Motor Company, at age 22 he was back in L.A. delivering typewriters in a Model T.
Gurr studied automotive design at ArtCenter College of Design but was taken by surprise when Disney approved his design for the body and asked him to go ahead and make the prototype run. Gurr is an artist with the soul of an engineer and an indefatigable can-do spirit who figured it out as he went along. “It’s kind of fun,” his old boss Walt Disney said. “To do the impossible.”
Autopia at DisneylandCredit: Photo by The Fun Chronicles/Flickr
“Autopia is a concentration of highly inefficient little one-cylinder putt-putt cars,” Gurr tells Los Angeles. “But Disney has to have it or little kids will sue Disneyland for taking it out.” Earlier this year, Gurr was invited to meet with the team tasked with reimaging “his” cars. “They were very sharp and enthusiastic,” Gurr says. “And eagerly awaiting my appearance. There were two photographers and the box lunches were ready!”
Valley Times newsboys riding Autopia in 1955Credit: Photo by Valley Times Photo Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Gurr says talk of replacing the gas cars began decades ago when Chevron took over sponsorship of the attraction around the turn of the century. Gurr remembers the president of the oil company as “a car guy” who “loved classic cars” but admitted that “we’re gonna have to add electricity someday.” The day has finally arrived.
Bob Gurr behind the wheel of a Model T in 2025Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols
Disney has not yet revealed details on the changes to Autopia, but Gurr says the dimensions of the cars and track will remain unchanged. “The course will be the same, but the roadway will be entirely different,” he says, adding that the new cars will have enhanced lighting and sound effects. “It’s a clever piece of showbiz. Parents will say ‘How in the hell are they doing that?”
The 94-year-old Disney legend, who personally upgraded his gas-powered SUV for an electric Chevrolet Bolt, is sold on the transformation. “The car will do the same thing,” he says. “But this time instead of being in some previous century it will be clean and green. This is an installation that will probably last more than 50 years.”
Standing L to R: Bob Gurr, Bill Cottrell, Dick Irvine. Kneeling: Roger Broggie. Seated in car: Walt Disney, 1955Credit: Photo courtesy Fandom Productions
The desert is sizzling with happenings, from new hotels and restaurants to centennial anniversary events.
La Quinta Resort & ClubCredit: Courtesy La Quinta Resort & Club
La Quinta Resort & Club is marking its 100th birthday not just as a destination, but as a living landmark — one famed for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and glittering Hollywood clientele. Opened in 1926 at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains, La Quinta redefines desert luxury in the Coachella Valley
The resort continues its legacy of honoring its storied past while embracing a modern future. A 2025 renovation led by Leo A. Daly introduces refreshed rooms, a redesigned lobby and Plunge, a new adults- only pool concept where guests can lounge by infinity pools while sipping handcrafted cocktails.
More than just a place to rest, La Quinta offers opulent guest experiences, including a full-service spa and salon, world-class tennis courts, pickleball courts and access to five diverse golf courses. From a grab-and-go cafe to lavish fine dining, five restaurants deliver a culinary experience at every level.
In honor of its centennial anniversary, La Quinta Resort & Club will host special programming and events throughout 2026, combining special events and limited-time offers with 100 years of continued tradition.
The V CapriThe Poolside bar at the V Capri Palm Springs Credit: Courtesy The V Capri
The V Capri Palm Springs, recently reimagined as a Dolce by Wyndham property, offers charm, warmth and hospitality in the heart of Downtown. With its stylish midcentury modern design, V Capri Palm Springs is excellent for getaways, whether you’re looking to get out of town or partake in Modernism Week, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Coachella or Stagecoach. It’s also a short drive from the Palm Springs Art Museum and Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium.
Centered around a spacious pool and bubbling hot tub, the hotel makes R&R — even amid the desert heat — seamless. Before sets at a buzzy music festival or visits to the hottest events, visitors can take a dip in one of the two sun-drenched pools (one reserved for adults and the other open to all). Enjoy a laid-back pool vibe, with nautically striped towels and tangerine umbrellas, while sipping a piña colada paired with satisfying morsels. Then, soak up the beautiful views of the palm trees and nearby San Jacinto Mountains.
The V Capri’s lobbyCredit: Courtesy “Los Angeles” mag Road to CoachellaV Capri cocktailsCredit: Courtesy Jay Evelyn Studios
As compelling as sitting by the pool all day is, the midcentury modern design of the hotel makes its rooms memorable. Take to the private balcony to sip a bottle of wine and enjoy the breeze. The retro aesthetic is balanced by contemporary room amenities like high-speed Wi-Fi, sizeable flatscreen TVs and plush beddings for nights of deep, restful sleep. After all, what’s vacation without luxurious flourishes?
Thompson Palm SpringsThe Thompson Palm SpringsCredit: The Thompson Palm Springs
The long-awaited Thompson Palm Springs opened its doors in October 2024, bringing with it some L.A. glamour and upscale eating and drinking destinations.
Located along Downtown’s Palm Canyon Drive, the hip boutique property with midcentury modern design by SMS Architects and B2 Design Co. greets guests with Gerald Clarke’s lobby sculpture of recycled aluminum cans and other playful artwork sourced by Shore Art Advisory.
Retreat to one of 168 bungalow-like rooms and suites, decorated in natural colors and wooden textures, to bring the desert inside. All rooms feature balconies with views of the San Jacinto Mountains.
The Thompson’s adults-only Upper Stories wingCredit: Courtesy The Thompson Palm Springs
Take in some sun by two pools — one exclusive to the adultsonly Upper Stories tower, comprised of 42 luxurious rooms with special amenities. The second boasts a buzzing bar and pool scene.
On the ground level is the Hall Napa Valley Tasting Room & Wine Lounge — from the Dallas-based Hall Group that owns the property. Start the night with a flight or tasting of owners Craig and Kathryn Hall’s family of wines, which include brands Walt and Hall.
Indoor-outdoor restaurant Lola Rose Grand Mezze features Levantine-inspired cuisine from chef Quentin Garcia in a warm setting with Moroccan textures and eclectic décor. Visit for breakfast, lunch, dinner or brunch, and try Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes like warm pita with muhammara, shakshuka, kebabs and fresh seafood. Come evening, the space evolves into more of a lounge scene.
The Upper Stories private poolCredit: Tara Howard
Among the hotel’s over 30,000 square feet of retail space is Bar Issi from L.A.-based restaurateurs Marissa and Matt Hermer’s Boujis Group (West Hollywood’s Olivetta and Chez Mia). This more extravagant sibling serves coastal Italian favorites like crispy octopus, spaghetti cacio e pepe, wood-oven pizzas and branzino in a vibrant, colorfully-patterned dining room.
The Thompson also has a fitness center with Pelotons, and spaces for weddings and events.
Santa Barbara doesn’t just mimic the Mediterranean; it embodies it. Which is why the area has lovingly earned the distinction as America’s Riviera, with its endless stretches of white sandy beaches framed by the scenic backdrop of the oak-dotted Santa Ynez Mountains.
But unlike its overseas counterparts, Santa Barbara is largely free of the extreme crowds, harsh winters and language barrier eyerolls from locals one might experience along the coast in Italy, France and unimaginably upscale Monaco. Santa Barbara offers the same modern opulence and superior luxury experiences without the inherent snobbery. Think European sophistication and Hollywood glamour with laid-back California vibes.
The best part for Angelenos making a road trip to S.B. in the 805 is the actual road. It starts with a breezy ride up the Pacific Coast Highway, which curves around coastal formations and into farm-filled Oxnard, up to the 101, where the panorama becomes sweeping coastal views through Ventura and then, Bang! Shoulders drop. Breath slows. Peace sets in. And, as they say, you have arrived.
Santa Barbara has internationally recognized hotels that offer places to be seen, and others that make sure someone is most definitely not seen. Beachside luxury resorts, mountaintop respites and Michelin-starred bites are what make Santa Barbara County such a world-class destination.
Fairytale Hideaway: San Ysidro RanchA room in a cozy San Ysidro Ranch Bungalow Credit: Courtesy San Ysidro Ranch
A lot of fairytale events intertwine with the storied history of Montecito’s San Ysidro Ranch, a place so peaceful and magical that Hollywood studios and record labels often send creatives to retreat in one of the 38 luxury — and surprisingly private — bungalows that dot the sprawling grounds. General manager Ian William explains on a recent visit, “There are a lot of beautiful places to be seen in Santa Barbara.” However, he adds, “Here, it is about ensuring privacy for those who most ardently do not want to be seen.”
John Huston famously holed up in a bungalow for three months to write the screenplay for the 1951 classic The African Queen. Rock goddess Stevie Nicks wrote “Stand Back” on her 1983 honeymoon at the affectionately nicknamed “SYR.” Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, both fresh from scandalous divorces, exchanged clandestine midnight wedding vows in its stunning gardens, far from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, on an August night in 1940. Guests have included Winston Churchill and Groucho Marx. There have been princes and presidents and innumerable luminaries who have pulled citrus from historic trees.
None more beloved, arguably, than JFK and Jackie.
John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy ended their 1953 honeymoon in one of the hotel’s cottages.Credit: Courtesy San Ysidro Ranch
In 1953, President John F. Kennedy and his new bride, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, kicked off a whirlwind honeymoon trip to Acapulco that followed their 1,000-person wedding reception in Newport, Rhode Island. They finished their feverish travels with a respite at San Ysidro Ranch. The couple behind the Camelot era settled into an impossibly elegant 2,700-square-foot cottage crafted from hand-carved stone and settled into the panoramic mountain-to-sea view from a grassy backyard.
Since then, the world’s unfettered fascination with the Kennedys has rarely waned. Ryan Murphy’s latest anthology TV series, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, became a fast hit for FX. Netflix is currently filming a new series Kennedy, starring Michael Fassbender as the bootlegging family patriarch Joseph Kennedy in a 1930s-set drama based on Fredrik Logevall’s Pulitzer-winning biography. There’s even a 2026 release of a new Steven Levingston book Twilight of Camelot that explores the death of the couple’s youngest son, born prematurely, and the impact it had on their storybook marriage.
Considered one of the most iconic love stories in American history, the Kennedys also ignited a cultural renaissance, as the White House became a hub for arts, fashion and intellectual conversation. Now guests can relive that oh-so-romantic era by renting the Kennedy Cottage, the bungalow where the president and his new bride carried on the family’s legacy, as part of the hotel’s American Icon Package. Guests are welcomed by the aromatic visual of Jackie’s favorite fresh-cut flowers in every room. The cottage bar is stocked with JFK’s choice spirits and the ingredients for Jackie’s beloved stirred Negronis. The package even comes with a cottage-served candlelit dinner accompanied by Frank Sinatra’s croons, for those seeking sweet nostalgia for an easier time.
If over-the-top romance is not on the agenda, the dog- and kid-friendly ranch has many other offerings, such as hikes, games and bike rides. A meal at the Stonehouse, the Michelin-starred on-site restaurant, should not be missed. End the night in the well-appointed lounge with a name that is also a nod to the Kennedys’ colorful past with alcohol: The Speakeasy.
Barefoot Luxury: Rosewood Miramar BeachThe view from an oceanfront room at Rosewood Miramar BeachCredit: Courtesy Rosewood Miramar
Since I began wearing a “spy ring” to monitor sleep, thus far, there has only been one morning when I woke up with the crown that represents an “optimal” night of REM. That night came recently after being lulled to sleep by a crashing surf in an oceanfront room at the dreamy Rosewood Miramar Beach, a five-star Gatsby-like Montecito resort situated on Santa Barbara’s own golden coast, clearly providing optimal resting conditions. And I wasn’t the only one. Like many luxury properties in Santa Barbara, Rosewood Miramar Beach is not just dog-friendly, it is furry friend-encouraging, and the details prove it. The welcome includes a beach ball and a big fluffy dog bed, which is exactly where my banged-up Frenchie plopped after running around with some other guests’ kids.
Rosewood’s brand has been firmly established in what I regard as “barefoot luxury.” Here, the team has created a resort space oozing with absolute opulence that still feels comfortable and welcoming, which I credit — at least at the Miramar Beach property — to the stellar staff. These days, the resort — which has 153 rooms and bungalows spread across its manicured 16-acre property — has become a popular destination for day trippers, too, especially now with the arrival of fashion favorites Chanel, Jacquemus, Brunello Cucinelli and David Webb to the gorgeous grounds, already home to Bottega Veneta, Zegna and other curated couture stops. The oceanfront setting makes the retail destination one of the prettiest places to shop for style in the nation.
There is little reason to leave the property. The beach is set up for the perfect day, with lounge chairs and towels that conjure Amalfi Coast vibes. There are two pools that offer both a party atmosphere and a quiet zone. There are small restaurants at all of the key locations. Do not miss making a sunset reservation at Caruso’s, the Michelin-starred restaurant named for the owner, Los Angeles billionaire Rick Caruso, who has set a new standard for luxury even in this ritzy locale. The enviable location is set directly above those meditative crashing waves, but the real draw here is chef Massimo Falsini’s seasonally driven, seafood-forward menu. The Italian-leaning prix fixe is sourced from the riches of Santa Monica County, including Rosewood Miramar Beach’s own garden on property. Every bite tastes like a culinary journey, an explosion of unexpected flavors. For example, a green pea soup, served with a crunchy vine, was a masterpiece. Yes, pea soup. Every course felt like a tiny flicker of intimacy with the chef. In a word, the restaurant is “extraordinary” — and worth a day trip from Los Angeles, along with the spa, which is appropriately named Sense.
Hollywood Hideaway: El EncantoThe Historic El Encanto is an ode to the Golden AgeCredit: Mike Kelley
There are places that immediately conjure up visions of the golden age, a time when Hollywood’s earliest glitterati escaped the glare of the spotlight in Los Angeles by hiding out on the hillside that is home to El Encanto, a resort that has protected stars’ secrets since its opening in 1918. During Hollywood’s peak, El Encanto was a favorite retreat for icons like Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Hedy Lamarr. Today, stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Gwen Stefani help maintain El Encanto’s storied history as a glamorous getaway for the well-heeled, which now includes its new owners, Tinder founder Justin Mateen and his brother Tyler. The siblings bought the property last summer and have committed to spending $90 million to spruce up the resort’s charming, Old Hollywood energy. Renowned architect Mark Rios has been brought in with a plan to modernize the 90 bungalows spread out over 7 scenic acres.
El Encanto rooms exude warmth and tranquilityCredit: Mike Kelley
Right now, there is a buzz around El Encanto’s dinner series, which is attracting chefs from all over the world to make one-night presentations, bringing an international flair to dining amid some of Santa Barbara’s best views from the tony Riviera neighborhood.
The pool offers ocean viewsCredit: Mike Kelley
While many of the hotels in Santa Barbara are grand and sprawling, El Encanto feels like a secret residential village. It also sits directly across from the historic Riviera Theatre, which hosts a yearly star-studded film festival during which El Encanto becomes the de facto headquarters for receptions, award ceremonies and panel events.
Stop Along The Way: Zachari DunesA surfer catches a wave outside Zachari Dunes in OxnardCredit: Silverstrand
Skipping Oxnard, a charming surf town renowned for its starry nights and big surf, would be a mistake for anyone driving from L.A. to Santa Barbara. It is something I learned by accident upon checking into Zachari Dunes, a newly renovated Curio Collection by Hilton resort directly on the super-stunning Mandalay Beach. The resort takes its name from the Greek word for sugar, a nod to both the local sugar beet history and, more importantly, the creamy soft white sand dunes that frame Mandalay Beach, which might be my new favorite hideout.
There is a lot to do in Oxnard overall, due to its taco trails and rich history. The area around Zachari Dunes is very walkable, and only a surfside stroll away from nearby Hollywood Beach — a spot where Clark Gable kept a home and Rudolph Valentino filmed his 1921 silent movie The Sheik. Great walking destinations include Bougie Beach Collective, a little beachside boutique with affordable fashion finds (bougiebeachco.com) and Honey Cup, a perfect coffee shop in the nearby marina (honeycup.cafe) where the lavender latte alone is worth a road trip up PCH.
But there are plenty of ways to be entertained right at the resort. Wake up with coffee and churros from Sugar Beats, the retro Airstream that serves casual bites. Slide down a dune and onto the beach for a swim or sit by the pool with a book. The onsite restaurant, Ox & Ocean, is fun fine dining, offering one of the best burgers in Ventura County. For those looking for a little romance, Gondola Paradiso (gondolaparadiso.com) is a fabulous way to see the sights from the water in a genuine Venetian gondola.
Veteran homicide prosecutor Jarrett Ferentino’s new memoir explores brutal murder cases, devastating losses and the emotional bond he formed with mothers seeking justice for their slain children
Veteran homicide prosecutor Jarrett Ferentino is opening up about the two decades spent prosecuting some of northeastern Pennsylvania’s most brutal murder cases. In his new book, Mothers, Murders & Motivation, Ferentino describes deeply personal details centered not just on violent crimes, but on the grieving mothers left behind in their wake.
GREAT conversation today with attorney and crime analyst Jarrett Ferentino!
Mr. Ferentino was the lead prosecutor in the murder trial of Hugo Selenski. We discuss the ins and outs of the trial, behind the scenes of the prosecution, and what makes the Selenski case unique. pic.twitter.com/uBZmr4Er2i
The book features a foreword by the legendary Nancy Grace with Ron Lieback, and chronicles Ferentino’s nearly 20 years in the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted many of the county’s most notorious homicide cases before retiring in April 2024 to focus on his private practice.
But according to Ferentino, the true emotional core of the book is not the killers… it’s the mothers. “The mothers of the slain were his mission,” the book notes, describing how Ferentino’s late mother, Rose Ferentino, shaped his philosophy on justice and compassion.
Ferentino writes that after his father died when he was a child, his mother raised four boys alone while building a successful career in the insurance industry. According to the book, Rose repeatedly told her son that the best way to repay her sacrifices was simple: “You’re going to meet people in life, especially mothers who are struggling. Help them.”
The book revisits several infamous homicide cases, including the murder of Luzerne County Fair Queen Carrie Martin and the prosecution of convicted killer Hugo Selenski, while also detailing bloody crime scenes, difficult negotiations and emotional interactions with victims’ families.
Ferentino describes a mother insisting on meeting face-to-face with the man convicted of killing her daughter. “What kind of a mother sits face-to-face with the man who butchered her daughter?” Ferentino writes, almost in disbelief. “A strong one. A broken one. A mother still holding every shattered piece of herself together by sheer will.”
The book also explores Ferentino’s work alongside the FBI and Brittany Drexel’s mother, Dawn Drexel, during the decade-long effort to locate 17-year-old Brittany Drexel’s remains and prosecute those responsible for her death. Drexel’s case made national headlines when she was kidnapped while on Spring Break in South Carolina in 2009. Drexel’s killer, Ray Moody, was finally arrested in 2022. In 2024, his then-girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator, Angel Vause, was also arrested on federal perjury charges connected to the case.
Ferentino reiterates the book is not solely about murder investigations: it’s about perseverance, resilience and lessons that can apply far beyond the courtroom.
His wife, Nicole Ferentino, said those themes reflect the reality she witnessed firsthand throughout his career.
“This story is very personal,” Nicole Ferentino said. “As his wife, I know first hand how he handles these cases, especially how he deals with the mothers. It’s about them, he honors them. That compassion drives him and has kept him going even when the work was incredibly heavy.”
Jarrett is also a regular legal analyst who has appeared on Court TV, NewsNation, Nancy Grace, Good Morning America, Dateline, Crime Nation, True Crime Tonight and more.
Big waves stopped hitting the shores of Long Beach soon after World War II, when the breakwater that made the city a friendly port for Navy ships diminished its reputation as a seaside resort. L.A. County’s second-largest city has been reimagined as a place for conventions, an industrial hub and home to one of the largest shipping ports in America.
However, the charm of the leisure era lives on at the Fairmont Breakers Long Beach hotel, a beacon of Jazz Age sophistication surrounded by the glass and steel that transformed the city in the 1970s and 80s.
The lobby at Fairmont Breakers Long Beach Credit: Brandon Barré Photography
In the top floor Sky Room, the windows are in the same place, but the view has profoundly changed. Where the Beaux Arts Municipal Auditorium once stood next door, the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center now stands. Developers also came for the lively Pike amusement park at the foot of the hotel. Today, that iconic location is an outlet mall. Two miles of open sea was filled in to create the marine infrastructure for the Port of Long Beach that now handles $300 billion a year in cargo.
Alter Ego Bar Credit: Courtesy Fairmont Breakers
Pieces of that lost seaside world linger around the city and make for a fun scavenger hunt. The art deco-era mosaic of fun-loving beachgoers at Harvey Milk Park came from the demolished Municipal Auditorium where Elvis first played L.A. and amusements from the Pike are on display at the Historical Society of Long Beach. Terra cotta pillars from the nearby Jergins building, the one with the passageway made famous in Lana del Rey’s Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, now mark the entrance to Willmore Heritage Garden. And as for the subway itself? It’s still down there and there are rumors that it may be restored as a restaurant or nightclub.
Back at the Breakers, a muted buzz rises from conventioneers, couples on cruises extending their trip and locals excited that their famous venue is back as they queue up for dinner at the Sky Room. The penthouse is a grand mix of the new and the old, flooded with the warm amber light of memory and Sinatra crooning My Funny Valentine as we walk in. An amuse bouche arrives with a garnish of avant garde edible flowers and, after the meal, waitstaff flambé Bananas Foster tableside in the finest steakhouse tradition. Service is a standout at the hotel, where everyone from the cocktail waitress to the Gold Key concierge are all attentive problem solvers.
Flambé dessert in the Sky Room Credit: Courtesy Fairmont Breakers
The night we visited, Broadway star Mandy Patinkin was playing at the nearby Carpenter Performing Arts Center, and we considered going, but dinner reservations kept us from leaving the hotel in time for a show. It seems inconceivable, but after the jazz ended at the hotel’s dark and moody Alter Ego club, we ran into Patinkin looking around the empty lobby and commiserated about how early the sidewalks roll up in L.A. He disappeared and we retreated to our room with milk and cookies from Nettuno and enjoyed clips from The Princess Bride.
In the morning, guests can enjoy Mr. Chow veteran chef Giuseppe Musso’s standout lemon ricotta pancakes with orange marmalade and crème fraiche at Nettuno, the all-day lobby restaurant, or start exploring the beach town early.
Around TownArt Theatre on Retro Row Credit: Art Theatre of Long Beach
For those looking to explore Long Beach, there’s a line around the block for Zuzu’s Petals, an It’s a Wonderful Life-themed brunch spot in the East Village. Pancakes are baked in a cast-iron skillet and the coconut foam mint mocha is a standout.
Not far away is Retro Row along 4th Street, filled with vintage shops and wacky boutiques hawking everything from culinary books at Kitchen Lingo to roller skates at Pigeon’s. Vintage vinyl abounds at Third Eye Records, where you can listen to the album before taking it home and get those obscure stickers your laptop has been craving. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Meow, the epic vintage clothing shop which magically carries “dead stock” original unused apparel your great grandparents missed out on the first time around. ‘
The Long Beach Museum of Art is just over a mile from Fairmont Breakers. Credit: Chris Nichols
If you’re feeling up to an indie or art film, there’s nothing in town like the Art Theatre, a glamorous century-old movie house that shows new and classic films and anchors the entire district. Indulge in a Shirley Temple or a spritz. If you seek a can of craft beer, they’re stacked next to the Kit Kats.
Back on the sand that gave the town its name, you can have something more like a natural experience at surprisingly quiet Junipero Beach. The sand and surf there is complemented by a view of offshore oil tankers and rigs disguised as tropical islands complete with swaying palm trees.
The museum’s Robert Williams ExhibitCredit: Chris Nichols
That juxtaposition of the familiar with the absurd would be right at home in the pop surrealist art of Robert Williams. The Long Beach Museum of Art, built around a Craftsman house on a bluff overlooking the beach, is presenting 57 paintings and sculptures by the L.A.-based artist known for his underground comics and intricately detailed psychedelic oil paintings. Robert Williams: Fearless Depictions is a major exhibition of 21st century work from the Juxtapoz Magazine founder and runs through the end of this month.
I’ve always treated my apartment like a charging station instead of a home.
I come in briefly. Plug myself in. Change clothes. Reapply lip gloss. Maybe stare at the ceiling for seven minutes like a Victorian woman dying of tuberculosis. And then I leave again.
Dinner with friends. A party in the hills. Drinks that turn into more drinks. Somebody’s apartment after the bars close. Sticky kitchen counters. Music is playing too loudly through blown-out speakers. The comforting sound of people talking over each other so aggressively that nobody accidentally hears their own thoughts.
And somehow, at 2 a.m., surrounded by twenty people I barely know, I feel safer than I do alone in my own bedroom.
Which probably isn’t a good sign.
I used to frame it as being social.
Extroverted.
Spontaneous.
Fun.
And to be fair, I am fun. I can work a room like a politician with daddy issues. I know how to make strangers feel important. I know how to become emotionally intimate with someone in a bathroom line within four minutes. I know how to turn “one drink” into watching the sunrise from a rooftop with people whose last names I don’t know.
But underneath all of it is this quiet, humiliating truth: I don’t like being alone with myself for too long.
Because silence has a way of making abandoned things louder.
And abandonment doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it’s not somebody physically leaving. Sometimes it’s a slow emotional retreat. Somebody is becoming colder. Quieter. Less interested. A shift in tone you notice before you can even prove it exists. Like hearing a refrigerator hum in the middle of the night after the party dies down.
That’s the thing nobody tells you about being scared of people leaving. It changes your relationship to stillness itself.
Stillness becomes evidence.
An unanswered text feels like a threat. A Friday night alone feels like social failure. An empty apartment starts looking less like peace and more like proof that everybody eventually finds somewhere else to be.
So you keep moving.
You become the girl who’s always “down.” Always out. Always surrounded by people. The girl posting blurry flash photos at 1:43 a.m. like she’s trying to build evidence for the jury that she was, in fact, loved.
And parties become less about fun and more about crowd control.
As long as there’s noise, nobody can hear the panic.
The irony is that I genuinely love people. I love conversation and chaos and stories and the strange intimacy of drunk girls complimenting each other in club bathrooms like they survived the same small war. I love the electricity of a packed room. I love laughing so hard my stomach hurts. I love feeling connected to something bigger than myself.
But sometimes I wonder if I love people the way smokers love cigarettes.
Not just because I enjoy them. Because I don’t know how to function without them.
And suddenly my entire life starts to resemble one of those diners that never closes. Bright lights. Constant noise. Coffee is continuously refilled, so nobody has to go home. Somewhere to sit so you don’t have to confront the fact that eventually, everybody leaves the table.
Including you.
Maybe that’s why I stay out so late.
Because going home means the performance is over.
No more music. No more laughter. No more distractions. Just me standing in front of the bathroom mirror at 3 a.m., makeup half melted off, staring at myself like I’m both the hostess and the final guest lingering after the party ended.
There’s something deeply unsettling about realizing how much of your personality has been built around avoiding abandonment before it can happen. If I stay moving, stay funny, stay wanted, stay invited, maybe nobody gets the chance to leave me first.
Maybe if I become the life of the party, nobody notices how terrified I am when the party’s over.
And the worst part is that fear makes you hard to pin down. You become emotionally slippery. Constantly available but never fully present. Surrounded by people, yet somehow impossible to reach. Because people who fear abandonment often master the art of abandoning themselves first.
That realization hit me one night, as I was walking home after being out until almost four in the morning.
My heels were in my hand. My phone was dead. The streets were quiet in that eerie way Los Angeles gets before sunrise, when the city feels less like a city and more like a movie set after filming wraps. And for the first time all night, there wasn’t any music. No conversation. No background noise.Just the sound of my own footsteps.
Just the sound of my own footsteps.
And I don’t know what it was about that moment, but something in me cracked. Maybe it was the silence. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was the horrifying realization that I had spent years treating solitude like an emergency instead of a normal human condition.
But standing there, mascara smudged under my eyes and my heels digging into my palm, I started crying.
Because it hit me: I wasn’t scared of being alone. I was scared that if everybody else stopped talking long enough, I’d disappear too.
Like silence itself was coming to collect me.
And maybe that’s why I keep filling the room. Another drink. Another plan. Another body beside mine. Another afterparty. Another glowing twenty-four-hour diner where nobody has to admit the night is ending.
Because if the lights stay on long enough, maybe nobody has to go home.
Creative director Jonathan Anderson’s first Cruise collection for Dior on May 13 injected some old Hollywood glamour into the newly renovated LACMA space.
Vintage convertibles and antique streetlights recalled 1950s Los Angeles, and set the stage for a collection inspired by Marlene Dietrich — who the designer has previously referenced.
A press release written in script form, accompanying a Dior blanket on the seat of each attendee, recalled an iconic scene from 1949. “No Dior, no Dietrich,” the actress famously told director Alfred Hitchcock when negotiating her role for 1950’s film noir Stage Fright. Per the release, she insisted to the director and Warner Bros. execs that she must wear Dior on screen to ensure her seductive character appears “truly glamorous.” (Last season, Anderson embroidered “No Dior, no Dietrich” on a sweater.)
Anya Taylor-Joy Credit: (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Christian Dior)
The script then cuts to 2026 Los Angeles, where newly appointed designer Anderson reflects on the house’s history with Hollywood. We’re reminded that Christian Dior designed costumes for Le Lit a Colonnes in 1942 before founding the house in 1946 — and afterward, received an Oscar nomination for his designs in 1955’s Terminal Station.
Credit: Courtesy Dior
Two films Dior worked on came later, Les Enfants Terrible and Stage Freight, the latter serving as the inspiration for this collection. A jacket from Haute Couture Spring Summer 1949 — worn by Dietrich in Stage Fright — was one of Anderson’s starting points.
Sabrina Carpenter Credit: (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Christian Dior)
While golden stars of Hollywood such as Dietrich, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor championed Dior back then, today’s fans included show attendees like Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, Anya Taylor-Joy, Macaulay Culkin and LaKeith Stanfield — who enjoyed Champagne upon arrival.
Jisoo Credit: (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Christian Dior)
Then, set to ’90s throwback music and framed by cinematic references and the new David Geffen Galleries, the show began with colorful pops of yellow and purple chiffon that nodded to California poppies. Then came structured Bouclé wool jackets with frayed cuffs, embellished lace evening dresses, shearling coats, sparkly suiting, glitzy long earrings and shoes elevated with flowers and sequins. Bags — including an updated bucket-shaped Saddle with a Dior Médaillon, and a shoulder bag with a crescent base — also stole the spotlight.
Credit: Courtesy Dior
The collection included a reinterpretation of Marlene Dietrich’s Dior Accacias jacket, as well as archetypal American shirts made in collaboration with artist Ed Ruscha and millinery by Philip Treacy (hats spelled out words like “Buzz”).
Dior Cruise CollectionCredit: Maddy Rotman
Afterward, some strolled the new museum, while others hopped in black cars on hand to transport guests to an after-party at Chateau Marmont — where they enjoyed passed bites, cocktails, DJ sounds and a sweet spread of cakes late into the night.
Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s Manhattan sex crime retrial began deliberating Wednesday shortly after 11:10 a.m. following jury instructions from Judge Curtis Farber. By 2:15 p.m., the jury had already submitted its first note requesting to review a portion of defense attorney Teny Geragos’ cross-examination of accuser Jessica Mann, testimony that defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo later emphasized during closing arguments. However, proceedings were delayed after Weinstein’s attorneys insisted he be present when the note was addressed in court, ultimately resulting in jurors being dismissed for the day around 3:45 p.m. Weinstein was experiencing chest pains, which resulted in the early dismissal.
In open court, Judge Farber read the jury’s requested testimony aloud when they convened on Thursday morning:
QUESTION: “Isn’t it true that it was your worst nightmare for people, including Tommy, to think that you were sleeping your way to be an actress in Hollywood?”
ANSWER: “That’s not like literal.”
QUESTION: “What do you mean not ‘literal’?”
ANSWER: “Well, the reason I’m like spacing out is because, honestly, when you, like, shook your head, you did like this really big move.”
(Witness indicating by shaking her head.) “And I just can’t stop thinking about it.”
During closing arguments Tuesday, Agnifilo characterized the above exchange as highly significant, arguing Mann appeared visibly disoriented during questioning related to fears that others would perceive her as “sleeping her way through Hollywood.”
Weinstein, whose 2020 New York conviction was overturned last year by New York’s highest court, is being retried on sex crime charges involving Mann and another accuser. He has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone.
All the lawyers, plus Weinstein, are seated. The note came in at exactly 11:40 a.m.
"We the jury request A) direct and cross when Jessica Mann goes down to lobby of The DoubleTree and sees him (Weinstein) checking in…and direct and cross of Jessica's description of the events…
At 11:40 a.m on Thursday, another jury note came in. Jurors requested portions of Jessica Mann’s direct and cross-examination testimony regarding her encounter with Weinstein in the lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel and her account of the alleged March 18, 2013, events inside the hotel room. The jury additionally asked whether the testimony could be read back by two separate court reporters “to clearly delineate answers.” Attorneys for both sides then worked with the court to isolate the specific testimony requested by jurors. Of note, Judge Curtis Farber indicated the testimony would begin from the moment Jessica Mann receives the call to come down to the lobby, aligning with what the defense requested.
After the transcript was read to the jury after lunch, the jurors asked Judge Farber to re-explain the reasonable doubt charge in full. The jury continued their deliberations into the afternoon, without a verdict. Deliberations will begin Friday, no later than 10 a.m.
After suffering the indignity of whitewash over its fine woodwork and sitting empty for years, the Ritts Co. building in West Hollywood is back. The iconic piece of midcentury architecture has been reinvented as a supermarket – perhaps the fanciest you’ve ever seen. Laurel Supply, a new luxury grocery store from the owners of Laurel Hardware restaurant, opened on May 8 to a neighborhood hungry for food innovation.
The 1947 midcentury building sits eagerly perched on Santa Monica Boulevard next to Barney’s Beanery, looking like it is about to take off and also happier than it has appeared in generations.
In this age of hyper-luxury markets, Laurel Supply may have out-Erewhoned Erewhon. Staples like vegetables are arranged in precise, colorful groupings and the store’s bread is baked on site using grain milled in the glass room where you can watch the process. The bakery also produces delicious apple pies with the same recipe as their restaurant, just with less sugar. Next time, I’m going to try the mac & cheese or those roasted honey carrots with hazelnuts. Yum.
Laurel Supply in West HollywoodCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
We observed that visitors seem far more interested in prepared foods than the goods on the shelves. Patrons circle stations for pizza, sushi, gelato and hot and cold food and take their food outdoors to dine on bespoke blond wood furniture that matches the magnificent millwork inside. Floating down from the high ceiling, a set of canopies mark space around V-shaped columns left over from the original interior. Shapes that start inside make their way through the roof, producing a series of protruding tail fins along Route 66.
Laurel Supply in West HollywoodCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
Nobody is surprised that a gallon of milk here can cost $20, a pint of orange juice is $18 and a tube of Saint Jane lip balm sells for $28. The apothecary-like beauty department has clerks in white medical jackets walking the yoga pants ladies with the tiny dogs through the offerings. One of them will go home with a $350 bottle of Maison D’Etto Canaan Eau de Parfum. Of course, the store has official merch.
The rebirth of this forlorn building is incredible, especially since the official city of West Hollywood historic survey ranked it a 6Z, the lowest status possible. When people walk into this building again they will see it the way original builder Herb Ritts imagined it. You may know of his son, also named Herb Ritts, who took famous pictures of famous faces back in the 1980s and 90s.
Laurel Supply in West HollywoodCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
Not long after he returned from World War II, the elder Ritts commissioned architect Harry Harrison to create a glamorous new showroom to sell his line of rattan furniture. The Ritts Co. was wildly successful as Ritts convinced the parents of the Baby Boom generation to fill their new homes with lightweight, inexpensive exotic “Tropitan” furniture. He bristled when his works were mistakenly labeled as bamboo sniffing that the minor flora was simply grass where rattan was a climbing vine! By 1949, he was selling over a million dollars’ worth (over $14 million today) every year.
Ritts imported materials from the Philippines and manufactured them into sofas, tables and lamps in L.A. What had once been the skylit workroom seems to now be somewhere above the sushi counter. What had once been a dramatic rock-faced fireplace is now a sleek terrazzo sculpture near the cosmetics. Later on, Ritts turned leftover plastic cockpits from WWII aircraft into coffee tables and lamps and started crafting a line of Lucite furniture. He called his plastic pussy willows “Astrolite.”
Laurel Supply in West HollywoodCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols
The new Laurel Supply is all so dramatic and dynamic. It is so gorgeous and it is doing it’s job because it makes me want to drop a hundred bucks on that candle that smells like tomato, leaf, fennel and aged balsamic.
A neuroscientist disappeared in the mountains of New Mexico after a distubring scene was discovered involving a shattered Subaru, a remote dirt road and no trace of where she went
For more than two years, the disappearance of Ingrid Coleen Lane was largely publicly framed as a tragic mental health story: a 37-year-old “bipolar Buddhist musician” who vanished alone in the Jemez mountains of New Mexico after leaving a meditation retreat.
Credit: Rebecca Lane/Find Ingrid Lane Facebook
But as concern grows nationally over a series of missing or dead scientists tied to America’s nuclear weapons, aerospace and defense sectors, Lane’s case caught the attention of Los Angeles, particularly because of details that were either underreported or omitted entirely from early coverage. Additionally, Lane is now at least the fifth scientist, researcher or defense-linked official connected to the state of New Mexico to either disappear or die under troubling circumstances. This is alongside retired Air Force General Neil McCasland, Steven Abel Garcia, Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez. Lane’s disappearance also bears chilling parallels to that of Monica Jacinto Reza, the NASA JPL scientist who vanished while hiking in California in 2025.
The FBI has joined the search for William McCasland, 68, who was last seen Friday near his New Mexico home Credit: U.S. Air Force/Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office
Lane, who disappeared on October 15, 2023, was a talented classical violinist and fiddler. Moreover, according to reporting and public records reviewed byLos Angeles, she was also a neuroscientist and bioengineer working with the Mind Research Network at the University of New Mexico. The Mind Research Network had ties to both Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory. At the time of her disappearance, friends say she was starting a new position/project at Los Alamos. Los Angeles was unable to independently verify this, however.
There are also multiple reports stating Lane’s name appeared in a March 2023 National Nuclear Security Administration report identified as “SAND2023-04694R,” where she was listed as a contributor participating in strategic discussions regarding the future workforce of the nuclear security enterprise. Los Angeles found this site to be dead. When trying to track on the archive sites, they only have pages saved from September 5, 2015, to January 10, 2022. Nothing after that. Coincidence?
Lane vanished in the remote Jemez Mountains of New Mexico after beginning a weeklong retreat at the Bodhi Manda Zen Center, located roughly 51 miles from Albuquerque. According to reports, Lane unexpectedly left the retreat the following morning and told the retreat director she needed to travel to both Albuquerque and Los Alamos, planned to hike, and intended to later return to the retreat. Her plan in itself raised questions. This would have involved hundreds of miles of driving across northern New Mexico during what was supposed to be a silent meditation retreat. Lane was familiar with the Bohdi Banda Zen Center. Friends noted she had been a frequent guest of the center (on and off) for about 10 years.
The last confirmed sighting of Lane occurred the afternoon of October 15, 2023, when two hunters reportedly encountered her on a remote dirt road near State Route 144 in the San Antonio Mountain area. According to the witnesses, Lane flagged them down after her vehicle had sustained damage. The hunters reportedly helped inflate one of her tires and offered her a ride back toward the main road, but Lane refused. She allegedly told them she was “determined to get to the top of a mountain.”
The hunters reportedly described Lane as coherent, calm and purposeful during the interaction.
Three days later, authorities located Lane’s black 2019 Subaru Impreza hatchback after tracking an Apple AirTag signal. The vehicle was discovered near San Antonio Mountain and the Valles Caldera National Preserve at roughly 9,100 feet in elevation in an area without cellular service.
The location itself is extremely rugged and remote. The Valles Caldera National Preserve spans nearly 90,000 acres in the Jemez Mountains and contains more than 20 hiking trails, including the strenuous 11-mile San Antonio Mountain Trail, which climbs toward volcanic peaks and isolated high-elevation terrain.
What investigators reportedly found inside and around the Subaru has since fueled some major questions: police stated a large boulder had shattered the vehicle’s rear hatch window. More specifically, the boulder was reportedly found lodged in the back-right passenger area of the Subaru, with shattered glass scattered throughout the interior of the vehicle. The car also reportedly showed major unexplained front-end collision damage. Inside the vehicle, investigators allegedly found three laptops, an unactivated burner phone and Lane’s keys still sitting in the ignition.
Credit: Sartopo.com/Find Ingrid Lane Facebook
Officials also reportedly said there was forensic evidence indicating Lane had been outside or near the vehicle, but there were no footprints, no clear trail and no indication of where she went afterward. Search dogs reportedly failed to locate any scent trail leading away from the scene. Why would her scent just stop?
Chillingly, in the case of the aforementioned missing NASA JPL scientist Monica Jacinto Reza, searchers reportedly said her scent abruptly ended near the location where a red beanie was discovered. Similarly, Ingrid Lane’s AllTrails account reportedly showed she had downloaded directions for a trail leading toward the summit of San Antonio Mountain shortly before her disappearance.
Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff
Despite extensive searches involving drones, helicopters and more than 80 volunteers, no remains or confirmed trace of Lane have ever been located. It also took over a year for Lane’s case to make it on the Namus Government website, despite persistence from her mother, Rebecca.
Credit: NamUs
Lane’s background has only deepened public fascination with the case.
Lane reportedly struggled with serious health complications throughout her life. Born nearly three months premature as a twin, she spent six months hospitalized as an infant and was later diagnosed with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung condition.
According to reporting, she attended Johns Hopkins University before transferring to St. John’s College, and also studied at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology… and completed biomedical engineering coursework at the University of New Mexico.
According to reporting by the Santa Fe New Mexican, childhood friend Emma Mincks said Lane was candid about her mental health struggles after the two began regularly hiking together during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. According to Mincks, Lane worried that contracting COVID could be deadly because of her chronic lung condition, though she also tried to remain optimistic. The uncertainty and worry could be said for many people with pre-existing conditions during the pandemic.
Mincks said Lane appeared to become more grounded after meeting Louis Scuderi, a fellow musician who shared her interests in science, mathematics and cats. The two eventually married, and Mincks described Lane as excited and happy about the relationship. Records show Scuderi was a University of Arizona 2010 Senior majoring in Astronomy. He conducted research on “Discovery of Earth Mass around other Stars with Arizona’s 1.55m Telescope”. Per his CV, he was also a NASA Undergraduate Space Grant Intern.
At the same time, Mincks said Lane’s mental health appeared increasingly strained by issues at her job at Sandia National Laboratories, where she reportedly felt some of the initiatives she wanted to pursue were not well received (she was an ally for the LGBTQ, reportedly fighting for equality rights). Lane later left the position and began pursuing another opportunity tied to Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to her mother.
According to a Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office report, Scuderi told investigators Lane had expressed suicidal thoughts and had also been picking up hitchhikers and driving them around town. Scuderi declined to be interviewed by the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Mincks said Lane often spoke about fears of becoming a burden to her husband because of her health struggles. However, Mincks said that during a visit with Lane and her mother in October 2023, shortly before the disappearance, Lane appeared calmer and no longer seemed as distressed about the issues surrounding her work at Sandia. However, at the time of her disappearance, it was reported that she “had not been taking her medication for her mental health struggles.”
Lt. John Castañeda via SFNM stated the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office was not officially notified about Lane’s disappearance until October 19, despite her husband, Louis Scuderi, reportedly having had concerns a day earlier. Scuderi later told local news outlets he became alarmed after not hearing from Lane for several days and contacted the Zen center on October 18, where he learned she had apparently been gone since the previous Sunday. Lane never told her husband where she was going?
Around June 2025, Lane’s mom Rebecca, posted a chilling update in the Facebook Group organized to help find her daughter: “Here are the events that have happened since last November. The Detective from Albuquerque has followed three to four tips that were dead ends. The Albuquerque Police Department included Ingrid in city-wide campaign looking for Missing Persons. Two to three people have connected directly with me when I left my phone number in facilities in the Albuquerque area. One especially interesting lead was from a United Airlines pilot who may have seen her in an airport terminal, but no confirmation yet and we do have her passport and ID. She was thought to have been in a forested area south of Albuquerque, but this is unconfirmed even after a search with local police and a personal connection with University of New Mexico Forest station. The SAR Incident Commander from Ingrid’s initial days of disappearance recently (June, 2025), found some articles of clothing and sent photos to see if they could be Ingrid’s. They were not Ingrid’s. The website has continued to be helpful. People have continued to see posters, look for her while hiking, and post any possible leads. Friends and family have continued to support searches through the Internet.”
This statement in particular is disturbing: “She was thought to have been in a forested area south of Albuquerque, but this is unconfirmed even after a search with local police and a personal connection with University of New Mexico Forest station.” Perplexing.
If a United Airlines Pilot had spotted her, wouldn’t that be caught on surveillance camera?
The Facebook group also warned of strange, naked men loitering around certain areas of the mountain, advising female hikers to be mindful.
Where is Ingrid? If you have any information regarding her disappearance, please contact The National Park Tip Line at 505-709-0777.
Highlighting the nation’s natural wonders and famous cityscapes, the ride will lift riders into the air for an aerial view of various locations, including the New England coastline, New York Harbor, Grand Canyon West, the shores of the Hawaiian Islands, the bayous, the Great Plains and Mount Rushmore.
“Each scene helps to create a portrait of what we believe makes America so special,” creative director and chief storytelling executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, Tom Fitzgerald, explains; “It’s a tapestry of urban wonders, natural beauty, and iconic locations that celebrate the spirit of the nation and the 250th anniversary of the United States.”
New music will also be played, with a composition arranged by multi-Emmy award-winning composer Bruce Broughton. Inspired by Jerry Goldsmith’s original Soarin’ theme, riders will find themselves fully immersed in different American landmarks while the soundscape guides them through the skies.
Disney fans can ride this updated attraction when it opens July 2 at Disney California Adventure and May 25 at Epcot in Walt Disney World.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has filed charges against a Beverly Hills billionaire who has been represented by his brother, white shoe lawyer David Hochman, in an intellectual property matter
The arrest of Beverly Hills billionaire Stephen Cloobeck for allegedly attempting to bribe witnesses in the criminal case of his fiancée has showcased the small world of Los Angeles lawyers.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has charged Cloobeck with attempting to influence witnesses who say Lavie, a former Penthouse Pet and OnlyFans influencer, ran a burglary ring targeting “older men and young women” who she met on dating apps. Cloobeck, had hired Hochman’s brother, and former D.A. race campaign staffer, David Hochman, an attorney at Glaser Weil, to do intellectual property work for him.
He has cited his relationships with the with both Hochman brothers as early as last month when he was asked about the serious charges Lavie is facing after it was revealed disgraced ex-Congressman was holed up at Cloobeck’s Beverly Hills mansion, Cloobeck defended Lavie to the California Post, saying: “I’m very disappointed my dear friend Nathan Hochman, and my lawyer David Hochman, did not tell me she’s a menace to society.”
David Hochman did not return an email requesting comment and a spokesperson for Nathan Hochman said the District Attorney’s brother is not working on the criminal matter. David Hochman’s former Glaser Weil colleague Erik Dabaie, who was also briefly hired by Eric Swalwell, is now working for Cloobeck. Dabaie started his own L.A. firm earlier this year.
Dabaie also made national headlines last month when he sent a cease-and-desist letter to one to one of Swalwell’s accusers last month reading, “it has come to our attention that you have made false statements accusing Mr. Swalwell of sexual assault and non-consensual sexual encounters…” Swalwell has steadfastly maintained his innocence in the matter.
A model and influencer who targeted wealthy people she met on dating apps is facing felony charges. Her fiancee, former gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck, is facing charges connected to intimidating witnesses in her case.Credit: Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department
Cloobeck is being charged by Nathan Hochman’s office with three felony counts for attempting to dissuade — “by force or threat,” according to the complaint — three of Lavie’s victims from testifying against her. He is charged with an additional misdemeanor for allegedly making “annoying telephone calls” to a fourth person connected to her case.
He was released on $300,000 cash bail after turning himself in on Wednesday. Lavie is out on bail with an electronic monitoring bracelet, which delayed their planned wedding in Israel.
A total of 85 employees will be affected by this closure as the Ventura plant prepares to shutter its operations for good — putting an end to the company’s long-held relationship with the city after over a century of residence in the area.
Coca-Cola’s presence in Ventura dates back to the early 20th century, when a bottling operation opened in 1912. Since then, the business expanded multiple times, causing the soft drink company to relocate within the city multiple times before settling on 5335 Walker St. where the factory currently resides. And according to local newspapers in the 1950s, business boomed for the Coca-Cola bottling plant, with the factory pumping out thousands of cases of soda each day.
But now, this Ventura closure seems to be the latest in a series of consolidation efforts by Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling. Last April, the Coca-Cola plant in American Canyon announced its shutdown, closing in August and laying off 135 employees.
That same month, the Salinas Coca-Cola plant shut its doors too, vacating the historic building that housed bottling operations in the area and affecting 81 workers.
Now it appears that consolidation efforts have reached Southern California as operations from the Ventura factory are expected to be consolidated to other Southern California distribution plants.
“We regularly assess our locations, products and services to ensure we can continue driving sustainable growth and innovation across our business,” a spokesperson for Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling told SFGate.
The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice on May 8, a federally mandated act requiring employees to be given at least 60 days’ advance notice of the plant’s closing.
While dozens of workers will be affected by this closure, Coca-Cola says most workers are expected to be reassigned to other Southern California locations.
“Most (78) will be reassigned to other RCCB facilities. Additionally, affected employees have the option of applying for any open roles for which they are qualified within RCCB and our sister companies,” the spokesperson added.
The Ventura Coca-Cola facility’s final day is set for July 10. This closure marks the end of a significant era in Ventura’s manufacturing history.
Dana Williamson, a former political strategist for gubernatorial candidade Xavier Becerra and top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom, has agreed to plead guilty to a slew of federal charges
Dana Williamson, a longtime Democratic power broker who worked as Governor Gavin Newsom’s Chief of Staff, is expected to plead guilty to three felonies on Thursday in a corruption case that has rocked the State House and the upcoming gubernatorial race.
The surprise guilty plea, unsealed Thursday morning hours before she is slated to face a federal judge in California’s Eastern District, could send Williamson to federal prison for decades. The 53-year-old, according to her plea agreement, will confess to reduced charges that include lying to the F.B.I., filing a false tax return and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, court records show.
“Dana Williamson and her co-conspirators weaponized public trust for personal gain,” said FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel. “They stole from a campaign account, fabricated contracts, filed false tax returns, and lied to federal agents. The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation spent years investigating this case because integrity in public service isn’t optional. No title and no political connection places anyone above the law.”
Williamson was siphoning money to pay for a luxe life, prosecutors say, while working at the State House for Gov. Gavin Newsom Credit: Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Williamson was under investigation by the FBI even as she held a powerful position in California’s state government in the governor’s office, where she was being secretly surveilled and wiretapped during meetings with her codefendants, court records reviewed by Los Angeles revealed. Williamson, who served as the governor’s top aide from 2022 until 2024, is accused of helping funnel around $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to current California gubernatorial candidate and former Health and Human Services Secretary for the Biden administration, Xavier Becerra, who has recently emerged a frontrunner in the race after former Congressman Eric Swalwell was forced out of the race by a stampede of sexual abuse allegations.
Williamson had served as Becerra’s campaign manager in 2018 during his successful reelection campaign for California State Attorney General and launched the scheme, federal prosecutors say, with a longtime top prosecutor from that office in 2022.
Sean McCluskie was Becerra’s second in command in the California AG’s Office, going back to 2017, and he then followed his boss into the Biden Administration in 2021 when he was appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has since admitted to colluding with Williamson, along with his wife, stay-at-home mom Kerry MacKay, to funnel money out of a dormant campaign account containing funds raised for a future run at state office for Becerra.
McCluskie has pleaded guilty, telling a federal judge he was motivated by corruption and thievery alongside Williamson and a Sacramento lobbyist named Greg Campbell, in part to pad his paycheck because his new $183,000 a year salary in Washington, D.C. was a pay cut, and he had additional travel expenses because he didn’t want to move to the Capitol. Campbell has also pleaded guilty in the case the feds call the “Conduit Scheme.”
The scam allowed Williamson to live a life of luxury, federal prosecutors say. From 2021 to 2023, she admits, Williamson claimed a total of approximately $1,718,277 in business deductions for what were actually personal and nondeductible expenditures, such as food delivery services, two luxury vacations to Mexico and Santa Barbara, private jet travel, purported wages for family members, home goods, veterinary services, landscaping services, and other nondeductible personal expenses. Some of that high-life living came while she was working for Newsom.
Williamson’s false deductions resulted in a tax loss of approximately $504,523, which she agreed in her plea agreement to pay back to the IRS in full as restitution, prosecutors say.
Former NFL player accused of attempted murder, Antonio Brown, is seeking sanctions against the alleged victim in his Miami attempted murder case. This comes after the man failed to appear for a scheduled deposition on Wednesday morning, according to newly filed court documents.
Credit: CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
Defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh filed a Motion for Issuance of a Rule to Show Cause against alleged victim Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu after Nantambu failed to appear for a May 13 deposition, despite being properly served with a subpoena. The motion asks the court to compel Nantambu to explain his absence and argues he should either be held in contempt of court or removed from the state’s witness list.
🚨 ANTONIO BROWN CASE UPDATE 🚨
A major development unfolded yesterday in the attempted murder case against former NFL star Antonio Brown in Miami. The alleged victim, 41-year-old Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, reportedly failed to appear for his scheduled deposition yesterday… pic.twitter.com/Xp42KJvsoT
A separate Certificate of Non-Attendance filed by court reporter Cynthia Dugan states the deposition was scheduled via Zoom for 10 a.m. on May 13, and that attorneys waited until 10:10 a.m., but Nantambu never appeared.
The missed deposition is a big deal because Brown’s legal team has been preparing arguments tied to a pending ‘Stand Your Ground’ motion in the case. The deposition would have allowed defense attorneys to question Nantambu under oath regarding the allegations against Brown.
As a side, Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law allows a person to use or threaten force, including deadly force, if they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm or the commission of a forcible felony. Unlike some states, Florida law does not impose a duty to retreat before using force if the person is lawfully present. Defendants who invoke Stand Your Ground can seek immunity from criminal prosecution through a pretrial hearing where a judge determines whether the use of force was legally justified.
Prosecutors allege Antonio Brown was involved in a violent altercation outside a Miami-area event earlier this year that ultimately led to the attempted murder charges. According to the police probable cause report, Brown allegedly fired a weapon during the confrontation, with prosecutors claiming the shooting stemmed from an argument involving the alleged victim, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu. Police have accused Brown of intentionally discharging the firearm during the incident, while Brown’s legal team has argued he acted in self-defense and is seeking immunity under the aforementioned Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Judge Tinkler Mendez later ordered Nantambu to appear before the court on Friday morning to address the matter.
Brown has denied wrongdoing in the criminal case, which stems from allegations prosecutors say resulted in attempted murder charges being filed in Miami-Dade County earlier this year.
Nantambu has separately made headlines in an unrelated matter after being arrested during Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. According to reports, authorities alleged Nantambu ran onto the field during the halftime show carrying a flag reading “Sudan and Free Gaza” before being apprehended by security personnel. Reports indicate he is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1 and could face up to six months in jail and a fine.
Federal prosecutors object to defense questions involving religion, criminal investigations and healthcare views as Mangione is due back in state court Monday
Federal prosecutors are continuing to battle with defense attorneys over jury selection ahead of accused CEO shooter Luigi Mangione’s highly anticipated federal trial in Manhattan. In a new filing submitted to Judge Margaret Garnett, prosecutors objected to several proposed juror questionnaire questions submitted by Mangione’s defense team. They argued some requests were overly intrusive, repetitive or designed to influence potential jurors before the trial even begins.
Luigi Mangione Federal Jury Selection: Federal prosecutors are pushing back against several proposed jury questionnaire questions in Luigi Mangione’s upcoming SDNY case, arguing many of the defense requests are overly intrusive, duplicative or could improperly influence jurors… pic.twitter.com/ufzUOSrvv4
The government specifically pushed back against proposed questions involving jurors’ religious practices, detailed information about their children, whether they had ever been “investigated” by law enforcement, and inquiries into healthcare industry views and media exposure. Prosecutors argued some of the proposed questions risked turning jury selection into advocacy by encouraging jurors to “speculate or pre-commit” to certain positions before hearing evidence.
Credit: Lauren Conlin
Mangione’s federal case has captured the world, with prosecutors alleging he was responsible for the fatal killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan Hilton hotel in December 2024. Mangione has pleaded not guilty and remains detained in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, pending trial. Jury selection is currently expected to begin in October. However, scheduling in the case has shifted multiple times in recent months due to proceedings in Mangione’s concurrent state murder case.
Ahead of Judge Gregory Carro’s decision Monday, May 18, regarding the December 2025 suppression hearing, Luigi Mangione has requested permission to appear in court wearing civilian clothing, including a suit, shirt, socks and shoes.
Every Thursday, Los Angeles magazine curates a list of the best events in and around Los Angeles. Craft a great last-minute schedule with our Weekend Guide to L.A., and don’t forget to sign up to have the guide delivered to your inbox every week by clicking HERE.
The New Zealand star heads to Los Angeles for the Ultrasound World Tour with a stacked lineup of support from Blood Orange, The Japanese House and Empress Of.
L.A. food favs Prime Pizza and Badmaash join forces on a limited-edition butter chicken pie that finds savory magic in layering BADMAASH’s signature butter chicken with mozzarella, bell peppers, pickled onions and fresh parsley. It is available via Uber Eats and across Prime Pizza locations.
Lumière in Fairmont Century Plaza transforms into a Hollywood Golden Age supper club for the evening. In addition to a multi-course dining experience, the evening includes live entertainment.
Long Beach gets into the Pride spirit with Teen Pride on May 15, followed by the official Long Beach Pride Festival on May 16-17 at Marina Green Park from noon to 10 p.m. The weekend features live entertainment, community programming, other cultural experiences and, on Sunday, a parade.
Actor, model and beauty founder Patricia de Leon returns to Bloomingdale’s — where she once worked behind the beauty counter — with a pop-up featuring her PDL Cosmetics Brand. Stop by between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. for mini makeovers, personalized color matching and the opportunity to meet de Leon.
Gatorade touches down at The Grove with Beat Real Life, an athletic experience featuring an obstacle course, photo moments and new Gatorade flavors and tastings.
Hilary Pecis Medals, 2026 acrylic on linen 77 x 92 x 1 5/8 inches (195.6 x 233.7 x 4.1 cm)Credit: Photo: Paloma Dooley; Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery
David Kordansky Gallery debuts its latest exhibitions: Hilary Pecis’ Love Letters, snapshots of everyday sites of connection, and Evan Holloway’s ROYGBIV, which includes a new group of large-scale head sculptures.
An annual fundraiser for BADWest (Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers, West), this mini film festival showcasing works by Black documentary filmmakers is back for its 19th year. Alongside screenings, attendees can also expect panel discussions and filmmaker Q&As.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., My Community Health Fair puts on its fourth annual, all-ages health fair offering free services like eye and dental exams, cancer and general health screenings and educational workshops.
Street Food Cinema kicks off the summer season with a 40th anniversary screening of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at LA State Historic Park. Alongside the movie, the evening includes a live performance by Featherborn and an array of food trucks and themed cocktails.
33 Taps Silver Lake welcomes pup-fluencer Chilaquil (aka @goldenchilaquil) for a “yappy hour” benefit in support of Covenant House California’s 12-week dog-supported therapy program. The afternoon invites four-legged friends to its puptail bar with HealthSpot treat samples, while the humans can enjoy specialty cocktails.
The Getty Center commemorates its Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985 exhibition with a family-friendly, all-day festival featuring live music, dance, storytelling and interactive workshops.
Halo at Fairmont Breakers Long BeachCredit: Courtesy Fairmont Breakers Long Beach
Fairmont Breakers gets in on the fun of Long Beach Pride with a post-parade rooftop dance party featuring themed cocktails, a Loquat Oysters pop-up and drag DJ set from DJ Bella. The celebration begins at 1 p.m.
For years, UCLA women’s basketball carried the reputation of a respected program that always seemed one step away from breaking through. Great players came through Westwood, tournament runs happened and expectations stayed high, but the program still lacked the one thing that permanently changes perception in college sports: a national championship.
Now, UCLA is making sure the coach behind that transformation is not leaving anytime soon.
Fresh off the Bruins’ first NCAA women’s basketball title, Cori Close has signed a four-year contract extension that keeps her in Westwood through the 2029-30 season. The move follows a season that felt bigger than basketball in Los Angeles, one where UCLA did not simply win games, but steadily proved it belonged at the center of the national conversation.
The numbers alone were staggering. UCLA finished 37-1, rolled through its first year in the Big Ten undefeated in conference play and closed the season by dismantling South Carolina 79-51 in the national championship game. But what made the season feel defining were the moments where the Bruins looked unshaken under pressure.
There was also a visible confidence shift late in the season. During the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament run, UCLA stopped playing like an underdog searching for validation and started playing like a team expecting to win every matchup. By the Final Four, the Bruins looked fully in control of their identity.
More Than a Contract Extension
Close has spent nearly a decade and a half building toward this breakthrough. Before the championship season, she already became UCLA’s winningest coach and led the Bruins to their first Final Four appearance in 2025. What separates her rise from many modern programs is that it never felt rushed. UCLA developed players internally, established continuity and built a culture that eventually matured into a championship-caliber roster.
That development system is now impossible to ignore. Six Bruins were selected in the 2026 WNBA Draft, including five first-round picks, cementing UCLA as one of the sport’s premier pipelines for professional talent.
In modern college athletics, championships often trigger instability. Coaches leave, rosters turn over and programs scramble to recreate momentum. UCLA’s decision to lock in Close feels like a deliberate rejection of that cycle. The university is betting that culture, patience and long-term trust still matter.
After the way the season unfolded, it is hard to argue otherwise.
A drive from Los Angeles to Carmel-by-the-Sea enshrines the notion West Coast is best coast. A demonstration of California’s rich landscape diversity and impressive vastness, a journey on the US 101 and/or I-5 takes you through coastal towns, wine country, agriculture hubs, chaparral shrubland and coniferous forests.
But in the name of beauty, and if you have the extra time, consider an elongated road trip up Pacific Coast Highway. There will be plenty of time for rest once you arrive in Carmel. For the first time in three years, Highway 1 fully reopened through Big Sur in January. Its closure — due to post-storm landslides and cliff collapses — led to $438 million in economic loss as of September 2025, according to a report by Beacon Economics and Visit California. San Simeon and Big Sur experienced the most severe losses. Highly dependent on tourism and Highway 1, tourism spending dropped 42% and 20%, respectively, in 2023 and 2024.
It’s all the more reason to take the long road. Consider jumping onto PCH from the 101 near San Luis Obispo, where you can stop for a sandwich High Street Deli (yes, it’s worth the wait) and stretch your legs. Onto Highway, consider pitstops in Morro Bay for oysters, in San Simeon for a Hearst Castle tour and along Big Sur for a view of McWay Falls and exploration of its parks. It’s only right to soak up one of the country’s most famed highways with a true California spirit and take it easy.
In Carmel-by-the-Sea, which felt a 6% drop in tourism spending, L’Auberge Carmel hotel operator Janet Elarmo already noticed a difference following the reopening of Highway 1. “We didn’t have really a slow period,” she tells Los Angeles just ahead of Easter weekend. It also helps that Carmel had an unseasonably warm winter, making the seaside gem sparkle a little extra for visitors.
An Airbnb can set visitors up for a local-type experience, but the 42 hotels and inns within the village prime tourists for a more efficient experience. Step out the door and you’re steps from Carmel’s galleries, wine tasting rooms, shops and restaurants. Lodgings span from dog friendly institutions to charming boutique hotels and reliable chain brand outposts.
Credit: Courtesy L’Auberge Carmel
For a property most emblematic of the town — welcoming, quietly affluent, enchanting — book one of the 20 rooms at L’Aurberge Carmel. The Relais & Châteaux property was first built in 1929 and upholds its mission to blend heritage and hospitality, even with upgrades like floor heating, Penhaligon’s Quercus toiletries and steady Wi-Fi. In the room I stay in (Number 19), a sage green wooden door opens to a king size bed and hardwood floors. My exploration of the tasteful flourishes (lamp bases made to look like coral, a sleek free-standing bathtub, a mustard yellow landline made to look like a router phone) is cut short by a knock at the door. A staff member arrives with fresh cookies, which I enjoy next to the courtyard view window that offers a picturesque view of the bubbling fountain and the hotel’s storybook architecture.
“I see hospitality as always being helpful but not intrusive,” Elarmo says. Her point is especially apparent when, on the final morning of my stay, I receive a phone call checking if I wanted room service because I had not yet made it to the restaurant for the hotel’s signature breakfast (the day before, I enjoyed an flavorsome mushroom bowl with arugula, a poached egg and sourdough toast), which was ending soon. The morning dining is inclusive in all hotel stays — and includes coffee, juice, fresh fruit, a pastry, a wellness juice shot and choice of main dish, like my mushroom bowl or eggs bacon and toast — and proves the hotel is living up to the same standards as its two Michelin star restaurant, Aubergine.
Eat
Serving just five tables per night, Aubergine presents a seasonal multi-course tasting menu of dishes that celebrated the region and is helmed by executive chef-director Justin Cogley (who is a co-operator of the hotel). The menu has featured delicate creations like splendid alfonsino with corn custard, zucchini, saffron and broth of Iberico ham and aged beef tartare with caviar and melon.
“I like proving people wrong,” Cogley says. “When I first started here, I was told that, number one, that we’d never bring any attention to Carmel.” The Pennsylvania native, by way of Chicago, arrived in Carmel in 2010. “It was sort of a graveyard. Everyone was 80-plus years old and there was a lot of terrible food,” he recalls. The tides started to turn when Cogley won Food & Wine’s best new chef title in 2013. Michelin later awarded Aubergine its first star in 2019, which drove business up 20%, followed by a second star in 2024. “Here there’s a lot of opportunity, plus the product is great, of course and the weather is much better, and overall, it’s just a better quality of lifestyle,” says Cogley, who is an avid runner.
Bar at The SalonCredit: L’Auberge CarmelAubergineCredit: L’Auberge Carmel
The intimate size of the dining room warrants mostly special occasion diners — birthdays, anniversaries, various other celebrations — though they’ve been known to have a handful of regulars. And unlike many other fine dining institutions, Aubergine can accommodate for allergies and dietary restrictions. “Everyone loves how quaint this place is, and nothing we do here is mass produced,” Elarmo says. “There’s a lot of curation.”
If a fine dining experience isn’t in the cards for you, The Salon offers a taste of the Aubergine experience in a lounge-style environment with a la carte dishes and expert cocktails. The bartender can whip you up any classic drink, but consider the Biko-Biko, a fat-washed milk punch with rum, apple brandy and coconut, a must). And sometime next year, L’Auberge Carmel will expand its culinary offerings with The Corner Market. “We’re just doing our interpretation of our own seafood restaurant,” Elarmo says.
Credit: Courtesy Stationæry
Elsewhere in town, Carmel’s restaurants prove it as ample destination for culinary travel. From day-to-night, European bistro La Bicyclette is hardly ever seen without a crowd pouting out onto the sidewalk, and Bud’s in La Playa Hotel makes the case for enjoying oysters, patatas bravas and a stiff cocktail in a windowless space. On the other side of the village, Stationæry seasonal California cooking delights at brunch and dinner. My evening visit was made special by kind, attentive staff and a lobster roll paired with a glass of gamay. The next day, my final meal in Carmel was the on-theme Monterey Sandwich (with marinated sardines, cucumber, red onions, capers and dill) at Nora’s. I can’t wait to be back to try the Italian-forward restaurant’s pasta dishes that many lunchers even braved during the afternoon.
In Carmel, it is easy to spend the day by letting it take you as you go. Between meals, walk through town and fall down the tucked away courtyards and passageways, filled with galleries, shops and wine tasting rooms. The play-it-by-ear approach is how I spend my time between appointments and reservations. I pick up a few birthday cards at Somewhere in Carmel and tchotchkes at Pilgrims Way Bookstore before strolling through the Carmel Art Association gallery.
Later, I take a turn into Dawn’s Dream Winery for a tasting and become better acquainted with chardonnay and pinot noir. The owner, Dawn Galante, is the daughter of Jack Galante, who is the great grandson of James Frank Devendorf, a founder of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Dawn, who carries on her father’s winemaking tradition, names her vintages after her grandkids. I sip a glass of the 2023 Frances Jane white wine, which features a sketch of a French bulldog on the label. “That’s my dog,” Elarmo, a Monterey Peninsula native, later tells me. “For whatever reason, Remy is on the label.”
Credit: Visit Carmel
In addition to soaking up the village, longtime locals like Elarmo, Jimmy at Dawn’s Dream Winery and Jeff Burghardt of Visit Carmel-by-the-Sea will encourage you to visit the quintessential spots that best showcase their town’s magic. So, to get it all in, consider making an itinerary for one or two of your visiting days. It’s not a proper Carmel trip if you don’t make it to the fairytale cottages, the Scenic Road Walkway or Point Lobos.
An Artist’s Colony Credit: Courtesy Visit Carmel
More than 60 percent of Carmel-by-the-Sea homes in 1910 were owned by residents in the arts, and that creative-minded foundation has stayed part of the town ever since. Now, a walk around town can become an art adventure through nearly 100 galleries. Here are three not to miss.
Founded in 1927, Carmel’s oldest gallery has been artist-owned and -operated for nearly 100 years and showcases various types of art and media styles by artists living on the Monterey Peninsula.
Ansel Adams, Cole Weston and Wynn Bullock started Friends of Photography in 1967 to promote photography as a fine art, holding shows at galleries in San Francisco and Carmel. The latter is now home to the Center for Photographic Art and its presentation of contemporary photography and lecture series.
Carmel’s oldest commercial gallery is both an art gallery and a frame shop. Founded in 1959 by a Dutch couple who moved to California from the East Coast, Zantman Art Galleries showcases fine art from artists ranging from contemporary Spanish creator Ana Moran to Frank Ashley and his equestrian portraits.
Event Schedule Credit: Courtesy Visit Carmel
Carmel’s peak season — June through October — is made extra special by annual community and culture events. Summer gets well underway with Culinary Week from June 5 to 13. More than 30 eateries are expected to participate — an impressive number given that the town is home to about 60 restaurants. The week is set to feature events surrounding wine, Italian family-style feasting, seafood and more. There’s also the Carmel Bach Festival — two weeks of classical music performances, art installations, talks and educational events — from July 11 to 25. Later, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance brings the finest cars in the world to the Monterey Peninsula on Aug. 16. And come October, the Carmel International Film Festival takes over the Founders Theatre at the Golden Bough Playhouse and the Meet the Makers event presents an artist-owned gallery tour and wine tasting.
News & CityHotelsLA28Los Angeles City CouncilMinimum WageOlympicsWorld Cup 2026
The Los Angeles City Council’s debate over a proposed $30 minimum wage for hotel and airport workers that could reshape the city’s tourism industry ahead of the 2028 Olympics
Los Angeles is once again staring down one of the most aggressive wage debates in the country. This week, the Los Angeles City Council is revisiting the controversial push toward a $30 minimum wage for tourism and hospitality workers, reopening a conversation that has already reshaped the city’s business climate ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
The proposal itself is not entirely new.
Last year, council members approved an ordinance designed to gradually raise wages for hotel and airport workers to $30 an hour by 2028, beginning with increases that would start around $22.50 per hour and climb annually.
What is different now is the mood surrounding it.
Los Angeles is entering a complicated economic moment. Tourism leaders continue to warn that the city’s hotel industry has not fully stabilized since the pandemic, while labor advocates argue workers still cannot afford to live in the same city they help operate every day. The Olympics may be approaching, but so are concerns over affordability, layoffs, automation and the long-term cost of doing business in Los Angeles.
The Olympic Clock Is Ticking
Supporters of the wage increase have framed the policy as an “Olympic Wage,” arguing that the workers preparing Los Angeles for a global event should not struggle to pay rent or work multiple jobs just to survive.
“The people welcoming the world to Los Angeles during the Olympics should not be struggling to survive in the city they help power every day,” said Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, one of the proposal’s strongest supporters, during previous debates surrounding the ordinance.
That argument has resonated with labor groups throughout the city, especially in hospitality sectors where employees often rely on inconsistent schedules and service-heavy work environments. Advocates say the city cannot market itself as an international destination while many tourism workers remain priced out of the communities they serve.
Business owners, however, see the proposal very differently.
Hotel operators, airlines and tourism groups have spent the last year aggressively fighting the ordinance, warning that labor costs this steep could force businesses to cut staff, reduce hours or increase prices at a moment when Los Angeles tourism already faces pressure from inflation and slowing travel demand.
Some industry leaders even described the measure as an “economic tsunami” for local hotels.
The pushback became so intense that referendum efforts temporarily stalled parts of the ordinance shortly after its passage.
Why This Debate Feels Different Now
The larger issue hanging over City Hall is that California has already become a national testing ground for aggressive wage policy.
The state’s fast food minimum wage hike to $20 an hour sparked fierce political and economic debate over the past two years, with job cuts, reduced worker hours and rising menu prices as warning signs.
Supporters of higher wages counter that workers deserve compensation that actually reflects the cost of living in California, especially in Los Angeles, where median rents continue climbing while service jobs remain essential to the city’s economy.
And that is really what this conversation has become about.
Not just wages, but what kind of city Los Angeles wants to be heading into one of the most high-profile periods in its modern history.
As the city prepares for the World Cup, Super Bowl and the Olympics in rapid succession. Officials want Los Angeles to appear modern and worker-friendly but at the same time, business owners fear the city is becoming increasingly difficult to operate in, particularly for hotels already dealing with high insurance costs, staffing shortages and uneven tourism recovery.
For now, the debate continues at City Hall. But regardless of where the vote lands, the discussion surrounding a $30 minimum wage has already become something larger than a labor dispute.
The first time I heard it, I genuinely thought I had misheard.
Not because it was quiet. Quite the opposite, actually. It was thrown into the air with the kind of confidence usually reserved for people who think they are the funniest person at the table. Everyone laughed in that uncomfortable, delayed way people do when they are trying to figure out whether they are witnessing irony or a cry for help.
And all I could think was: Wait… are we seriously doing this again?
Not the slur itself…I am not giving it that much oxygen.
But that word.
The one man says while glancing around afterward like a middle school boy who just discovered South Park and thinks offensive equals intelligent.
It felt oddly nostalgic in the worst possible way. Like hearing LMFAO at a gas station or seeing someone voluntarily wear shutter shades in public. Suddenly, I was mentally transported back to the late 2000s, when being offensive was treated like a personality trait, and every mediocre white guy with a flat-brim hat thought shock value made him culturally significant.
Back then, people often confused cruelty with charisma.
And apparently, some still do.
What is strange about hearing racial slurs now is not even the offensiveness. It is how deeply uncool it feels. It’s embarrassing in the same way as seeing a grown man punch drywall. Embarrassing in the same way as people who still quote The Wolf of Wall Street as if it were a business textbook are.
There is something profoundly juvenile about someone trying to get a reaction by saying the most inflammatory thing possible in a room full of people who have already evolved past it.
Because this is not 2009 Tumblr edgelord culture anymore.
Nobody is sitting around thinking, Wow. He is hysterical! We are thinking, Oh. So emotionally, you never left sophomore year.
And yet, somehow, the behavior is crawling back.
Maybe it is because irony poisoned everyone’s brains. Somewhere along the line, people started using “I’m joking” the way medieval kings used court jesters: as protection from consequences.
Suddenly, every insult became layered beneath seventeen layers of faux self-awareness. If you reacted negatively, you were the sensitive one. You just “didn’t get the joke.”
But jokes are usually supposed to be funny.
That is the part nobody seems to mention.
There is also something painfully unoriginal about it. Every time I hear someone casually throw around a slur now, I do not think rebelliously.
I think copycat.
Like they are cosplaying as a version of masculinity they saw online somewhere between gambling podcasts and TikTok clips of men filming themselves screaming at waitresses.
It feels mass-produced. Factory-made rebellion.
And maybe that is why it feels so eerie hearing these words again. Not because society became more progressive and magically solved racism. Obviously not. But, for a brief moment, it at least became socially humiliating to loudly announce yourself as ignorant.
People used to whisper slurs because shame existed.
Now people resurrect them with the energy of a theater kid trying desperately to get attention during improv warmups.
The weirdest part is watching people my age participate in it. We grew up during endless conversations about empathy, identity, inclusivity, and digital footprints. We sat through assemblies. Diversity seminars. Instagram infographic activism. Entire brands are built around social awareness. Half the people saying these words had black squares posted on their feeds in 2020 that are probably still there if you scroll far enough.
And yet somehow, the second they are around enough guys and one diluted vodka soda, they start speaking like rejected extras from an Xbox Live chatroom circa 2008.
It’s not edgy. It’s regression.
Like watching someone proudly downgrade their operating system.
I think what bothers me most is how performative it all feels. Nobody says these things casually by accident anymore. There is an intention behind it now. The pause before the word. Look around afterward. The anticipation. They want the reaction because offensiveness has become social currency for people with nothing else interesting to contribute.
It is conversational clickbait.
And it is exhausting.
Especially because the people saying these things always think they are the exception. I’m not racist, though. As if racism only counts if you are wearing a white hood and holding a torch instead of saying horrific things in a backward baseball cap while shotgunning a beer at a rooftop party.
There is a very specific kind of man who still thinks slurs make him look powerful. But from the outside, it actually looks like watching someone desperately try to fit into jeans they emotionally outgrew years ago. Tight in all the wrong places. Straining at the seams. One wrong movement away from complete humiliation.
And maybe that is what this whole phenomenon really is: people mistaking discomfort for depth.
Because saying shocking things requires absolutely no intelligence. Any idiot can light a firecracker in a crowded room and call themselves exciting afterward. Actual wit requires precision. Observation. Timing. Humanity. There is nothing creative about reaching for the linguistic equivalent of expired gas station fireworks and expecting applause when they sputter.
At some point, offensiveness stopped being counterculture and became corporate. Predictable. Boring. A copy of a copy of a copy.
Which is why, every time I hear that word now, I no longer feel shocked.
Just secondhand embarrassment.
Like watching someone show up to a party wearing an Ed Hardy shirt they genuinely think still fits.
Los Angeles Magazine’s Women of Impact 2026 Luncheon, held on March 13, 2026 at the iconic Beverly Hilton, set the tone for Oscars Weekend with a dynamic gathering of Los Angeles’ most influential voices. At the heart of the event was honoree Olivia Munn, named 2026 Woman of the Year, whose deeply personal journey overcoming breast cancer, and her advocacy for early detection, resonated powerfully throughout the room.
But beyond the ballroom conversations and pink carpet arrivals, one activation captured a particularly meaningful slice of that balance: Mamazing.
Nestled within the sunlit garden patio marketplace, Mamazing created more than just a brand presence. It built an experience. Its chic, thoughtfully designed pop-up nursery became a sanctuary amid the event’s buzz, inviting guests to pause, explore, and reimagine the everyday realities of parenting.
The activation quickly became a magnet for some of the event’s most recognizable faces. From actresses to entrepreneurs, many attendees arrived not just as industry leaders, but as mothers navigating the same daily rhythms Mamazing seeks to elevate.
Jennie Garth stopped by with her daughter Lola Facinelli, while Olivia Munn herself explored the space alongside fellow guests like Scheana Shay, Jane Seymour, Zulay Hanao, Jessica Hall, and Corinne Foxx.
Scheana Shay
What made Mamazing’s presence particularly compelling wasn’t just the product line, it was the intention behind it. In an environment celebrating impact, the brand’s focus on supporting parents felt especially aligned. Shop the brand at www.mamazing.com and check out some incredible items that are must-haves for your baby nursery and everyday parenting ease.
Family estrangement is no longer a topic discussed quietly behind closed doors. Across Western societies, an increasing number of adult children are choosing to distance themselves from their parents, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. What was once viewed as a drastic last resort is now part of a broader cultural conversation. Discussions around mental health, personal …
Family estrangement is no longer a topic discussed quietly behind closed doors. Across Western societies, an increasing number of adult children are choosing to distance themselves from their parents, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently.
What was once viewed as a drastic last resort is now part of a broader cultural conversation. Discussions around mental health, personal boundaries, and self-care have made family distancing more visible and, in many cases, more socially acceptable. But how did this shift occur?
According to Tania Khazaal, Founder of The Renewal Collective, the answer may lie not only in individual family dynamics but also in decades of cultural messaging that have shaped how younger generations interpret family conflict.
Tania Khazaal argues that the rise in estrangement among millennials reflects more than personal disputes. Media narratives, therapy culture, and evolving language around emotional health have all contributed to how people understand difficult family relationships today.
This perspective opens a larger conversation about generational differences, relationships, and how modern language around boundaries, healing, and self-care has transformed the way families navigate conflict.
Friends’ Impact on Generational Family Values: Every Character From a Broken Family
One cultural influence emerged through television. The popular sitcom Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004, coincided with the formative years of many millennials. Nearly every central character in the show comes from a complicated family environment. Monica and Ross deal with parental favoritism. Rachel’s parents divorced. Chandler’s parents separate, and his father becomes a recurring comedic reference. Phoebe grows up with significant family instability, while Joey’s large family is often portrayed as chaotic.
At the same time, the show places strong emphasis on the idea of “found family.” The six friends consistently rely on one another for emotional support, stability, and a sense of belonging that their biological families often fail to provide. For a decade, millions of viewers watched family dysfunction framed primarily as a source of humor. Parents were frequently depicted as intrusive, embarrassing, or emotionally unaware, while the friend group functioned as a chosen support system. Over time, these portrayals helped normalize the idea that strained family relationships were a common feature of adult life. Within that context, distancing from family could appear less shocking and more understandable, while leaning more heavily on close friendships felt natural and even desirable.
Toxic Parents Books and the Millennial Generation: The Oprah Effect
During the late 1980s and 1990s, self-help literature focused on difficult family relationships gained widespread popularity. Books addressing emotional trauma and family dynamics introduced terms that remain common today, including toxic relationships, emotional healing, and personal boundaries. These conversations were amplified through television, talk shows, and media platforms that brought therapeutic language into mainstream culture.
Khazaal refers to this broader shift as the emergence of what she calls the “toxic parents generation” narrative.
During a recent interview on The Oprah Podcast with media icon Oprah Winfrey, Khazaal reflected on how these cultural messages influenced her own thinking.
“I was one of those people who cut off my mom in the name of healing,” Khazaal said during the conversation. “I put you on a pedestal for so long. I was watching your episodes and hearing language about protecting your peace and having boundaries. It felt freeing in the moment, but there was no path to repair after that.”
Winfrey responded by explaining that her intention in discussing family boundaries had always been to help individuals remove themselves from genuinely abusive situations. She emphasized that distancing from a relationship can be necessary when someone is experiencing serious emotional, physical, or sexual abuse.
At the same time, Winfrey acknowledged that the way people interpret abuse has broadened in recent years. Based on her decades of interviewing guests on her show, she noted that the types of abuse she typically encountered were clear and severe, but suggested that some people today may apply the label of abuse to conflicts that are closer to disagreements or hurt feelings.
Khazaal agreed that the original goal of these discussions was protective, but believes the terminology eventually expanded beyond its original context.
“The language became so normalized that now it’s used for everyday hardships, not necessarily abuse,” she said.
Boundary Culture Among Millennials: When Self-Care Became Family CutoffCredit: Tania Khazaal
By the time millennials entered adulthood, therapy culture and the wellness movement had merged with social media. The result was a noticeable cultural shift toward greater emphasis on self-care and personal boundaries. Within modern boundary culture, phrases like “protect your peace” and “remove anything that doesn’t serve you” became common online. While these ideas can encourage healthy emotional limits, Khazaal believes the conversation often stops too early.
“Boundaries are incredibly important,” she explained in the discussion. “They stop the bleeding and create space to breathe. But the problem is when boundaries become the end goal of healing rather than the beginning.” Khazaal describes healing as a multi-stage process.
“Stage one is uncovering the wounds and understanding the pain,” Khazaal said. “Stage two is reframing the story, learning to understand the other person’s perspective without excusing the harm. And stage three is rewriting your own story so you’re no longer defined by that pain.”
According to her, many people remain stuck in the first stage. “Managing pain through distance isn’t the same as resolving the emotional wounds underneath it,” she said. Winfrey acknowledged that the broader conversation around boundaries may have evolved further than originally intended. “There’s a difference between setting boundaries and having absolutely no contact,” she noted during the discussion.
From Estrangement to Reconciliation: Tania Khazaal’s Personal Story
Winfrey also asked Khazaal about her own experience with family estrangement and what eventually led to reconciliation with her mother. Khazaal said she was estranged from her mother for two years. At the time, she believed she was protecting her peace. Looking back, she now sees it differently.
“At first, I thought I was protecting my peace,” Khazaal said. “But later I realized I was actually protecting my pain.”
The distance initially brought relief because it removed emotional triggers. Over time, however, Khazaal realized that avoiding those triggers did not resolve the underlying wounds. “Real peace came when I could be around the person who triggered me and remain calm and grounded,” she said.
The turning point came when she began reframing her mother’s life story. “When I rewrote her story, everything changed,” Khazaal said. “She was the second youngest of sixteen children. Her father died when she was three. She grew up emotionally neglected in ways she didn’t choose. When I understood that, I realized she did the best she could with the tools she had.”
During the discussion, Winfrey observed that Khazaal’s shift in perspective appeared to transform her own narrative as well. Khazaal agreed, saying that rewriting her mother’s story ultimately helped rewrite her own.
Gen Z and Estrangement: Is the Next Generation Following the Pattern?
If millennials experienced these cultural shifts through television and therapy culture, Generation Z has grown up with an even more powerful amplifier: social media. Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram frequently feature short-form content discussing narcissistic parents, emotional triggers, and cutting off toxic relationships. While these discussions can help bring attention to real concerns, they may also introduce more clinical language into everyday family disagreements.
Some early indicators suggest Gen Z may be experiencing family estrangement at younger ages than millennials did. At the same time, new conversations are emerging about balance, recognizing both the importance of personal boundaries and the possibility of repair. As the cultural dialogue continues to evolve, the question may no longer be only whether family distance is justified, but how families might move beyond conflict toward deeper understanding.
Khazaal’s story suggests that, in some cases, healing may begin not by ending the relationship entirely, but by reconsidering the narrative that defines it.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.
There were a coterie of bad actors who preyed on Matthew Perry’s history of addiction. Two dirty doctors, physicians Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, will serve time for selling the drug to the actor. His live-in sober companion and longtime assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.
And his friend Erik Fleming, a former Hollywood producer turned licensed California drug counselor, who acted as the “middle man,” prosecutors say, between Perry and the drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen,” Jasveen Sangha.
On Wednesday, Fleming, 56, was sentenced to two years behind bars by a federal judge after admitting that he sold 51 vials of ketamine to Perry in October 2023, “including,” prosecutors noted in a sentencing memo, “the ketamine that caused Mr. Perry’s death.” His sentence also includes three years of supervised release and a special assessment of $200.
“As a certified drug counselor and addict, I knew it was illegal and wrong to distribute black market drugs. I had met Matt a few times and knew about his struggles with substance abuse,” Fleming wrote in a letter to the court before he was hit with the two-year sentence. “I should never have agreed to acquire ketamine for Matt.”
Fleming, while employed as a drug counselor, negotiated with Iwamasa before Perry’s death with the live-in assistant asking: “How much do you want per bottle and what is the nice tip you want[?]” Fleming responded that he needed money up front and vouched for her product, texting, “She only deal[s] with high end and celebs. If it were not great stuff she’d lose her business,” adding: “I wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t a chance of me making some money for doing this.”
The drug counselor, who had been employed at a variety of treatment center at the time, prosecutors say, then reached out to Sangha on an encrypted app to negotiate the drug deal, according to court records despite, prosecutor noted in a sentencing memo, being “acutely aware of the dangers of drug abuse, as he was professionally responsible for helping others overcome and fight their addiction.”
In a defense sentencing memo, Fleming argued he didn’t make a lot of money in his short-lived drug dealing enterprise, which will now send him to prison for 24 months. In it, lawyers describe “three transactions taking place over 11 days involving quantities of ketamine intended for a single person, where Mr. Fleming pocketed a total of approximately $2,000.”
Fleming told the court he had been a successful “executive producer, showrunner, and director for shows like Switched, Texas Cheer Moms, and The Psychic Next Door. I produced the pilot episode of multiple shows including Salon Confidential, The John Walsh Show, and Beverly Hills Buddha. I had a wide business network and felt optimistic about my future prospects.”
Los Angeles has spent years positioning itself as one of the centerpieces of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The city will host eight matches at SoFi Stadium, international fan events are already taking shape and local officials have repeatedly framed the tournament as a massive economic opportunity. But as the countdown continues, many hotels across Los Angeles say the tourism surge has not materialized the way they expected.
According to new research from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, nearly 70% of LA-area hotels report bookings below expectations for the World Cup period. Some hotels in Hollywood and Beverly Hills currently sit far below the occupancy rates they normally see during summer travel season.
For an event expected to draw millions of visitors globally, the softer booking numbers have surprised much of the hospitality industry.
Why Fans May Be Holding Off
Several factors appear to be driving the slowdown, and cost sits near the top of the list.
World Cup ticket prices have skyrocketed compared to previous tournaments, with some premium seats climbing into the thousands. Even regular match tickets have pushed many fans into wait-and-see mode as travelers try to balance airfare, lodging and transportation costs all at once.
At the same time, international travel has become significantly more expensive over the past year. Rising jet fuel prices tied to ongoing instability in the Middle East have increased airfare costs worldwide, making long-haul trips to the United States harder to justify for many overseas fans.
Visa concerns and geopolitical tensions have also complicated travel planning. Industry groups warn that stricter visa policies and long processing wait times may discourage international visitors from committing to trips months in advance.
Then there is the Airbnb factor. As Los Angeles debates loosening short-term rental rules ahead of the World Cup and 2028 Olympics, some travelers appear to be bypassing hotels entirely in favor of vacation rentals and group housing options. Data from AirDNA already shows short-term rental demand increasing in several World Cup host markets.
Still, tourism experts do not necessarily see this as a warning sign for the tournament itself. Travel behavior has changed dramatically since the pandemic, with more travelers booking flights and hotels much closer to departure dates. Industry analysts say major sporting events now operate on compressed booking windows, especially among younger international travelers looking for deals.
For Los Angeles hotels, that means the World Cup boom may still arrive. It just may not arrive on the timeline the city expected.
Former Gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck was busted Tuesday for allegedly trying to influence this case of his fiancée, who is charged in with a slew of burglaries in what prosecutors called a long-running romance scheme
When Adva Lavie was released on bail last month with an ankle bracelet after pleading not guilty to charges she targeted wealthy older men and young women in an elaborate romance scam that led to burglaries at their homes, she was ordered to stay away from her alleged victims.
Clooleck, 64, turned himself in for booking in West Hollywood on Tuesday on charges that he allegedly tried to dissuade witnesses from testifying in a criminal case involving his 28-year-old fiancée, Lavie. He hired David Hochman, the brother of the Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who is prosecuting him. It is unclear if this is the first time the Hochman brothers will face off against one another.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Cloobeck with 3 counts of attempting to dissuade a witness and 1 count of making “annoying telephone calls,” according to a criminal complaint. The charges were kept under wraps until he was booked on Tuesday.
Cloobeck is the former CEO of Diamond Resorts International and a prominent Democratic donor who made headlines last month for allowing disgraced and now-resigned Congressman Eric Swalwell to hide out at his Beverly Hills mansion as a cascade of sexual assault allegations mounted. He endorsed Swalwell after his dropping his own bid to replace Governor Gavin Newsom.
Last month, when the allegations against Swalwell came to the surface, he denied the claims in a video shot at Cloobeck’s Beverly Hills mansion. “A lot has been said about me today through anonymous allegations, and I thought it was important that you see and hear from me directly,” the now ex-federal lawmaker said while staring into the camera. “These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They’re absolutely false.” He resigned days later, and Cloobeck denounced his support.
Cloobeck’s relationship with Lavie, a 28-year-old Israeli OnlyFans model and former Penthouse Pet, began in 2025. Eight months later, on Valentine’s Day, Cloobeck proposed to her with a video played to a crowd of A-listers that showed him asking, “Shoshana, would you be my wife?” He posted it on Instagram, but the video has now been deleted.
Around that same time, investigators had tied her to sting of burglaries at the homes of “older men and young women,” prosecutors say, whom she scammed. A planned June 18, 2026, wedding in Jerusalem was nixed after Lavie surrendered her passport and agreed not to be allowed to leave California while awaiting trial on bail.
Prosecutors say that from 2023 to 2025, Lavie — who is also known as Mia Ventura — “used dating apps and cultivated relationships to burglarize and steal from wealthy older men and younger women in Westlake Village, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.”
Investigators say she posed “as a girlfriend and travel companion to gain access to victims’ homes and then stealing cash, gold and high-end designer items.” She has pleaded not guilty. Cloobeck was released after posting $300,000 bail on Tuesday. He could not be reached for comment.
Someone once pointed out to me that almost every major chef has a presence in Las Vegas — and it opened my eyes to its weight as a culinary capital.
Sin City is home to restaurants by award-winning culinary talent from Los Angeles, New York and around the world, including Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller, David Chang, Bobby Flay, Nobu Matsuhisa, José Andrés, Giada de Laurentiis, Joël Robuchon, Emeril Lagasse, Dominique Ansel, Guy Savoy, JeanGeorges, Michael Mina, Buddy Valastro, Rick Bayless, Tom Colicchio, Gordon Ramsay, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.
Visitors from both coasts will be delighted to find outposts of some of the country’s most popular restaurant brands, like Spago, Cipriani, Catch, Bouchon, Nobu, Momofuku, TAO, LAVO, Din Tai Fung, Scarpetta, Sadelle’s, Estiatorio Milos, Toca Madera, Milk Bar, Eggslut, Eataly, Peter Luger Steak House, Le Cirque, Hakkasan, Morimoto, Orla, Border Grill, Bourbon Steak and Mastro’s. To that acclaimed roster, Vegas welcomes some new culinary heavyweights. Here’s a look at what’s been cooking.
A Vegas outpost of Evan Funke’s Mother Wolf joins the original hot spot in Hollywood.Credit: By Eric Wolflinger
When the Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel opened in December 2023, it was with a location of Mother Wolf — coveted Italian chef Evan Funke’s first restaurant outside L.A. — along with chefs-owners Masa Ito and Kevin Kim’s Ito, David Grutman’s Papi Steak, Alan Yau’s Chyna Club and Josh Capon’s Capon’s Burgers. In late March 2026, Gabriela Cámara’s long-awaited coastal Mexican spot Cantina Contramar opened its doors — where diners can find her signature seafood that puts a spin on Mexican classics.
Cantina Contramar at Fontainebleau Las VegasCredit: Denise Truscello_Getty Image for Fontainebleau Las Vegas
New additions to the Venetian Resort over the last few years include Michelin-starred COTE Korean Steakhouse from New York; an outpost of L.A.’s produce-driven Gjelina; Florentine sandwich shop All’Antico Vinaio (which has multiple shops in L.A.) and Ray Garcia’s B.S. Taqueria, in the Via Via Food Hall; and at the Palazzo, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés — who also introduced his Zaytinya concept to Caesars Palace last May.
London’s Two-Michelin-Starred Indian restaurant Gymkhana comes to Aria.Credit: AVABLU
In December 2025, the London-based JKS Restaurant group brought Gymkhana — the first two-Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in London — to MGM Resorts International’s ARIA Resort & Casino. In January, I ventured to Vegas for the opening, attended by fans including Teyana Taylor and Brooklyn Beckham, and marking the beginning of the U.S. expansion of the group that, in February, brought their Punjab-inspired Ambassadors Clubhouse restaurant to New York.
Gymkhana Las Vegas dishesCredit: AVABLU
Inspired by the Indian social and sports clubs frequented by members of high society, the opulent 175-seat Gymkhana restaurant, decked in shades of green with brass accents, features many of the brand’s signatures. Highlights from the menu — divided into appetizers, kebabs and tikkas, curry and biryani, and sabzi — include tandoori-grilled specialties, classic curries and chaat-style sharing plates.
Gymkhana Las VegasCredit: AVABLU
While there, I also got to try the new seafood-forward Carbone Riviera at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. The latest addition to the Italian food empire created by Major Food Group cofounders Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick and Rich Torrisi occupies a luxe indoor-outdoor space filled with artwork by Picasso, Renoir and Miró, and featuring a photo-worthy deck flaunting Riva yachts and fountain views. In addition to Carbone staples like spicy rigatoni vodka, try coastal dishes like lobster fettuccine, shrimp parmigiana and a selection of whole fish.
Some other dining news at the Bellagio: Chicago-based Alinea is taking over the restaurant Michael Mina as part of the 20th anniversary tour (that recently passed through L.A.). For six weeks ending on May 31, guests can try a tasting experience from three-Michelin-starred chef Grant Achatz.
There’s more to come. By the time of this printing, Top Chef: California star Kwame Onwuachi (behind NYC’s Tatiana, and Dogon in Washington, D.C.) will have brought his Caribbean steakhouse Maroon to the Sahara. And in November, the Catch Hospitality Group will bring New York hot spot The Corner Store — beloved by Taylor Swift and Kendall Jenner — to the Cosmopolitan. And that’s just to whet your appetite.
For The WynnGrilled branzino from Sartiano’s at the WynnCredit: Courtesy Wynn Las Vegas
In March, the Wynn Las Vegas celebrated two high-profile openings. On March 4, hospitality veteran Scott Sartiano debuted the West Coast sibling to his sultry Manhattan Neapolitan restaurant Sartiano’s at the Mercer Hotel: Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse. His sleek new Las Vegas outpost will certainly satisfy fans with menu favorites like black truffle lasagna. However, the steak-leaning counterpart helmed by the brand’s culinary director, chef Alfred Portale, and chef Michael Rubinstein offers new items like raw bar selections and dishes theatrically prepared tableside, such as fettuccine alfredo.
The entrance to Zero Bond at Wynn Las VegasCredit: Robert Miller
Days later, on March 7, Sartiano and Will Makris (also a partner in Prince Street Hospitality, behind N.Y. and L.A.’s Alba restaurants) unveiled private members’ club Zero Bond Las Vegas. The starry pre-opening celebration of the 15,000-square-foot venue adjacent to Sartiano’s in the Wynn attracted celebrities and hospitality greats from both coasts, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Costner, Jessica Alba, Jon Hamm and Ryan Phillippe.
Palmyra by Valerie Jaudon at Zero Bond Las VegasCredit: Robert Miller
The original Zero Bond that opened in New York in 2020 spans multiple floors and 20,000 square feet, offering modern spaces for lounging, co-working, socializing, eating and drinking. The stunning indoor-outdoor Las Vegas counterpart will similarly serve as an elevated all-day escape for members to enjoy top-notch culinary programs, curated events (surrounding Vegas moments like Halloween, New Year’s Eve, the Super Bowl and Formula 1), luxe amenities and opportunities for connection across various spaces that feel more like rooms in an antique townhouse.
The Wynn’s new members’ club, Zero Bond, features a sculpture by Robert Indiana.Credit: Courtesy of Zach Hilty
Equally impressive is the artwork: An outdoor sculpture garden boasts a LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana, and additional pieces come by way of artists including Ansel Adams, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Joan Miró. In Vegas fashion, it’s all over the top.
A new poll puts Bass ahead of a crowded field, though frustration over homelessness, wildfire response and the city’s future continues to shape the race
Two years ago, Karen Bass entered City Hall as the steady hand many Angelenos thought the city needed. Now, as the 2026 mayoral race accelerates, Bass remains in front of the pack, though the lead feels far less comfortable than commanding.
Incumbent Karen Bass appears to be holding her lead in the primary election for Los Angeles mayor as main challengers Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman also pick up support. https://t.co/MLoTLW5bOspic.twitter.com/Y43o562wyl
A new poll reported by KTLA shows Bass leading the field ahead of the June primary, but the broader numbers tell a more complicated story. Voters remain deeply divided over the direction of Los Angeles, and perhaps more importantly, many still appear undecided about who they trust to fix it.
That uncertainty has become the defining atmosphere of this race.
The Incumbent Advantage Still Matters
Bass continues to benefit from one major political reality: incumbency still carries weight in Los Angeles. She entered office promising aggressive action on homelessness, expanded housing production and a more visible approach to public safety. Her administration has consistently pointed to Inside Safe encampment operations, downtown cleanup efforts and housing initiatives as signs the city is moving forward.
Even critics acknowledge Bass remains a disciplined political operator with strong institutional support and deep ties across California politics.
But reelection campaigns are rarely about the promises that got a candidate elected. They are about whether voters believe life feels better than it did before.
Right now, that answer appears mixed.
According to a recent UCLA Luskin quality-of-life survey, Los Angeles County residents reported their lowest satisfaction levels in more than a decade, with affordability, traffic and public infrastructure ranking among the city’s biggest frustrations.
That broader anxiety hangs over nearly every conversation surrounding the election.
Fires, Homelessness and Public Safety Have Become Central Issues
The political shadow of the 2025 Palisades Fire still lingers over Bass’ administration. Her overseas trip to Ghana during the early stages of the disaster remains one of the most persistent criticisms opponents continue to hammer. Bass later acknowledged the trip was a mistake, but the issue has remained politically radioactive.
At the same time, homelessness and public safety continue to dominate voter concerns across Los Angeles. Federal raids near MacArthur Park and continued debates over encampments, drug activity and policing have only intensified scrutiny around City Hall’s handling of street conditions.
The pressure is especially high as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and eventually the 2028 Olympics. The city is trying to project readiness to the world, while many Angelenos still question whether basic issues at home are improving fast enough.
That tension has created an opening for challengers.
The Opposition Is Crowded, Unusual and Increasingly Loud
The race itself has become one of the strangest political spectacles Los Angeles has seen in years.
Nithya Raman has emerged as Bass’ most serious establishment challenger from the left, positioning herself as a more progressive alternative on housing and homelessness policy. Meanwhile, reality television personality Spencer Pratt has unexpectedly turned into a genuine media force in the race after viral debate moments and aggressive online campaigning.
In another era, Pratt’s candidacy might have felt like pure Hollywood absurdity. In 2026 Los Angeles, it feels oddly on brand.
His rise speaks less to celebrity politics alone and more to a city electorate clearly hungry for disruption, or at minimum, frustrated enough to entertain outsiders.
Still, Bass remains the favorite. Polling from UCLA, Emerson and the Los Angeles Times consistently places her ahead of challengers, even if the margins are softer than most incumbents would prefer.
The real question may not be whether Bass can survive the primary. It is whether Angelenos believe the city is finally stabilizing, or whether they feel Los Angeles is still drifting between crises.
That answer will likely define the rest of the campaign.
Alex Murdaugh will receive a new murder trial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions in the 2021 killings of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, ruling that former court clerk Becky Hill improperly influenced jurors during the highly publicized proceedings.
In a unanimous 5-0 decision, the court found Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice,” depriving Murdaugh of his constitutional right to a fair trial before an impartial jury. The ruling vacates Murdaugh’s 2023 murder convictions and the two life sentences previously imposed against him. However, Murdaugh will remain incarcerated due to separate state and federal sentences tied to dozens of financial crimes, including fraud and theft.
The appeal centered largely on allegations that Hill improperly communicated with jurors during the six-week trial while simultaneously pursuing publicity and financial opportunities connected to the nationally watched case. According to court filings and juror testimony, Hill allegedly instructed jurors to closely watch Murdaugh’s behavior and body language during testimony, comments that the defense argued implied guilt and tainted deliberations.
Although retired Chief Justice Jean Toal previously ruled in January 2024 that Hill’s comments did not ultimately affect the verdict, she nevertheless found Hill was “not credible” and had been “attracted by the siren call of celebrity.”
Hill’s legal troubles later intensified. Prosecutors charged her with perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct after alleging she improperly shared sealed evidence with the media, lied under oath and used her official position to promote a book about the trial. Hill ultimately pleaded guilty in December 2025 and received probation.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the state Supreme Court concluded prosecutors failed to overcome the presumption that Hill’s conduct prejudiced the jury. The justices also signaled concern over the amount of financial-crimes evidence presented during the original murder trial, suggesting prosecutors went “far too long and far too deep” into allegations involving Murdaugh’s theft schemes.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has already announced plans to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges. Wilson’s statement reads: “While we respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision, my Office will aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible. Let me be clear—this decision does not mean Murdaugh will be released. He will remain in prison for his financial crimes. No one is above the law and, as always, we will continue to fight for justice.”
— South Carolina Attorney General's Office (@SCAttyGenOffice) May 13, 2026
A statement from Alex Murdaugh’s defense team, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, reads: “The Supreme Court’s decision today affirms that the rule of law remains strong in South Carolina. The Court found that Becky Hill’s conduct during the trial attacked Alex Murdaugh’s credibility and his defense. The Court rightly described her conduct as ‘breathtaking,’ ‘disgraceful,’ and ‘unprecedented in South Carolina.’ We respect the decision that made clear that the retrial must look very different from the first. The initial jury heard more than twelve hours of testimony about Alex’s financial crimes. The Court held that this evidence went far beyond what was necessary and gave rise to unfair prejudice. On retrial, that will not be permitted. Alex has said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son. We look forward to a new trial conducted consistent with the Constitution and the guidance this Court has provided.”
Three months after disgraced real-estate moguls Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander were convicted on multiple federal sex trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court, a judge has pushed their sentencing to October, noting that no further delays are likely.
In a scheduling order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni pushed sentencing from August 6, 2026, to October 6, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan. The judge added that, “Absent extraordinary cause, this date will not be extended further.”
Of note, Oren Alexander’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, is currently slated to begin jury selection in Luigi Mangione’s federal case on Oct. 5; just one day before the Alexander brothers’ newly scheduled sentencing hearing. Dates in the Mangione case have shifted multiple times in recent months, and it remains unclear whether either proceeding could ultimately impact the scheduling of the other. Mangione’s legal team consists of two other attorneys; Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.
Credit: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool, File
Caproni’s order also established several major pre-sentencing deadlines. Prosecutors must notify the court by August 7 how many victims are expected to speak during sentencing, while both sides must inform the court by September 17 whether they intend to request a Fatico hearing. This is a specialized federal evidentiary hearing used to resolve arguable facts that could potentially impact sentencing calculations.
A Fatico hearing can involve testimony from victims, witnesses, investigators or experts regarding aggravating conduct, allegations, sentencing enhancements or the scope of criminal activity. These hearings can become mini-trials focused specifically on determining facts relevant to punishment under federal sentencing guidelines.
Judge Caproni additionally ordered all pre-sentencing submissions, including sentencing memoranda and victim-impact materials, to be filed by September 22.
The latest developments come after the three brothers were convicted in March 2026 on multiple counts of federal sex trafficking brought by the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors alleged the brothers used wealth, status and coercion to lure and sexually exploit women across multiple states and countries. 11 women testified during the 7-week trial.
The case saw weeks of graphic testimony from 11 women, as well as arguments over whether the conduct amounted to federal sex trafficking or state-level sex crimes. Defense attorneys repeatedly argued that the relationships and encounters were consensual and attacked the credibility of several witnesses.
In a separate March 17 order, Judge Caproni dismissed Counts Six and Seven of the superseding indictment, both of which alleged sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. The dismissal came after the jury had already returned its verdict on other counts in the larger federal case.
Federal prosecutors are expected to seek lengthy prison sentences when the brothers return to court in October.
Arts & EntertainmentFilmLawsuitsBlake LivelyIt Ends With UsJustin Baldoni
With nearly all claims settled, the court is now focused on whether Lively is entitled to attorneys’ fees and damages; but the judge says NO MORE FILINGS
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman is seemingly fed up with the It Ends With Us drama as he noted on May 11, that “no new filings would be permitted absent court approval.” Shockingly, despite a settlement, the court continues overseeing the final remaining issue in the high-profile litigation between actress Blake Lively and the Wayfarer parties tied to “It Ends With Us.”
Credit: US District Court SDNY
Amid the very public settlement between Lively and the Wayfarer defendants, Lively’s legal team is continuing to pursue attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages under California Civil Code Section 47.1, arguing Justin Baldoni’s prior defamation claims amounted to retaliatory litigation. Judge Liman says no new briefs; he’s fine to eventually rule as is.
Los Angeles previously reported a May 7 filing submitted to Judge Liman, where it stated attorneys for Lively said the parties had resolved “nearly all claims” in the consolidated federal action…with the exception of her pending motion seeking damages and legal fees under California’s anti-retaliation statute. According to the filing, the settlement agreement preserved Lively’s ability to pursue those claims, and both sides agreed to waive any appeal related to the court’s eventual ruling on the issue.
Lively’s attorneys argued the California statute was specifically designed to deter “retaliatory defamation actions” against individuals who report sexual harassment, discrimination or retaliation. The filing states that if a defendant prevails under the law, they may recover attorneys’ fees, litigation costs, compensatory damages that are automatically tripled under the statute, and punitive damages. That could be a whopping amount of money.
The latest lawsuit is just another move in the defamation case between actors Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively (pictured).Credit: Photo by Sean Zanni:Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Her legal team additionally requested permission to submit a supplemental brief, arguing that the record had evolved since the issue was first briefed in 2025 and that additional guidance was needed regarding damages, attorneys’ fees and procedural issues ahead of judgment.
Attorneys representing the Wayfarer defendants pushed back in a May 8 response, asking Judge Liman to deny any additional briefing or evidentiary proceedings. The defense argued Lively had already fully briefed the issue months earlier and previously urged the court to rule before trial without suggesting supplemental briefing was necessary.
The Wayfarer filing also noted that while the parties reached a settlement dismissing Lively’s remaining claims, “without the Wayfarer Defendants paying a cent of the $300 million in damages she was demanding,” at least one third-party complaint tied to the larger litigation remains unresolved. Again, Judge Liman does NOT need any additional filings in this case to make his ruling.
On a recent episode of the “2 Angry Men” podcast, Harvey Levin remarked that Blake Lively would likely have no trouble maintaining her career and suggested many people may eventually forget the details of the lawsuit altogether. Supporters of Justin Baldoni quickly pushed back online, including a user alleging to be attorney Ellyn Garofalo (or perhaps a Garofalo Stan), who is involved in Baldoni’s legal team. The user referred to Levin as “a piece of sh*t” in a Reddit thread.
There is nothing more fascinating to me than a man saying he is “low maintenance.”
Because what he usually means is that someone else is maintaining him.
His friendships? Maintained by people texting first, planning dinners, remembering birthdays, asking follow-up questions, and making sure nobody silently drifts apart.
His apartment? Maintained by a rotating system of panic-cleaning before people come over.
His emotional stability? Maintained by one patient woman, gently translating his own feelings back to him, like she is working for the United Nations.
And somehow, she becomes the “high-maintenance” one because she wants reassurance twice a month and enjoys having candles.
I started thinking about this after watching a man spend fifteen straight minutes looking for his wallet while simultaneously claiming women are “too much.”
Too much?
Sir, you lose your wallet so often, I’m starting to think it’s trying to escape you.
Men love the phrase “drama-free” in the same way corporations love the phrase “family-oriented workplace.” It sounds nice until you realize it usually means one group of people is doing invisible labor for free.
Because women are often raised to anticipate needs before they happen. We notice discomfort. We smooth out tension before it erupts. We remember details because somewhere along the line, we learned that forgetting details makes people feel unloved.
Men, meanwhile, can sometimes move through life emotionally barefoot. Just stepping directly on nails and wondering why they’re bleeding.
And to be fair, I do not entirely blame them.
Women are taught emotional management as a form of survival. Men are often taught emotional avoidance as masculinity. This creates a dynamic where women become emotional air traffic controllers while men proudly announce they are “chill.”
Of course, you’re chill. Someone else filed the flight plan.
I once dated a man who described himself as “super easygoing,” which initially sounded refreshing. Until I realized “easygoing” meant he had never once made a reservation in his adult life. This man approached logistics the way medieval sailors approached the ocean. Pure faith.
And weirdly, women fall for this all the time.
Because there is something appealing about men who seem relaxed. Until relaxed slowly transforms into emotionally unavailable with a good Spotify playlist.
The truth is, many women become “high-maintenance” because they are compensating for environments where their needs are chronically under-met. Asking for reassurance starts sounding excessive only after you’ve spent months surviving on emotional breadcrumbs.
And yet women still apologize for wanting things.
Meanwhile, men will text “come outside” instead of knocking on a door like fully functioning citizens.
The imbalance becomes especially obvious in heterosexual relationships because women often end up managing both people’s emotional experiences simultaneously. She remembers his mom’s birthday. She notices when he’s quieter than usual. She brings up difficult conversations first. She researches attachment styles while he says things like “I just don’t like labels.”
Women become therapists with lip gloss.
And the craziest part is how invisible this labor becomes when done well.
Nobody notices the woman keeping the relationship emotionally alive because she makes it look natural. Like oxygen.
However, people only notice oxygen when it disappears.
But I do think younger women are beginning to wake up to this dynamic.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Through group chats and therapy, and one too many relationships with men who describe themselves as “bad texters” despite responding to fantasy football updates within four seconds.
Women are starting to realize there is a difference between being “chill” and being emotionally unattended to.
Good.
Because love should feel like a shared home, not a customer service position.
Which may be why the older I get, the sexier I find effort. Not grand gestures. Not yachts. Not performative masculinity. Just emotional competence. A man who plans. Notices. Communicates. A man who understands that caring for another person is not emasculating.
It is adulthood.
Because eventually every woman gets tired of being the only one who remembers where the wallet is.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, the former Uber driver who had lived in Pacific Palisades before, prosecutors say, he set a blaze in Topanga State Park that smoldered for days and exploded into the deadly Palisades fire, will go on trial next month
Jonathan Rinderknecht’s name has largely faded from the headlines. But federal prosecutors are gearing up to argue in front of a federal jury in the coming weeks that the accused arsonist intentionally set a fire in Topanga State Park in the first few minutes of the new year in 2025, a blaze that became known as the Lachman fire.
The 30-year-old former Uber driver and one-time Pacific Palisades resident has been held without bail since his arrest in October 2025 on charges that he held a long lighter to dried brush after hiking up Skull Rock trail, and, like many arsonists, he allegedly stuck around to watch Los Angeles Fire Department first responders work for hours to contain the blaze.
His defense attorney insists that the Lachman fire was started by New Year’s Eve fireworks, and wrote in court filings that there will be a witness put on the stand to support that argument.
Recent court filings have revealed what they called the “despondent” man’s mindset before he allegedly started the fire just after midnight while alone in a small clearing on Hidden Buddha Hill. He took a video of the area, spinning in a circle, and then allegedly started the fire. “He then called 911 and fled the area before the fire department arrived,” federal prosecutors say. “When he saw fire trucks responding to the fire, he turned around and followed firefighters back up so that he could take videos of the fire department’s response.”
That was among the suspect’s alarming behaviors that federal prosecutors cite in court filings as Rinderknecht’s trial date, currently set for June 8, nears. Investigators learned that he had what prosecutors call “an obsession with fire, fire-setting behavior, and motive for starting the fire.” A few months before the fire, Rinderknecht allegedly asked ChatGPT, “an AI system that he used as a confidant and diary,” prosecutors say, to generate and then modify images of a “burning forest” next to “a bunch of people running away.”
Defendant also confided to ChatGPT that he had burned a bible and that it felt “liberating.” Later, after he knew he was under investigation for the fire, the defendant threatened to burn down his sister’s house after she took him into her family’s Florida home. He was arrested there soon after the threat.
AI imagery created when Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly entered prompts about rich people and fire Credit: Department of Justice
He was apparently obsessed with a former coworker whom he had briefly dated, prosecutors say. “Defendant was upset about his relationship with K.A., a former co-worker whom he had briefly dated in March 2024. Between December 26 and 29, 2024, defendant messaged with K.A. about New Year’s Eve, and he inputted details of his feelings about K.A. into ChatGPT more than fifty times,” prosecutors say. In the hours before the fire, she responded by asking for space. Which, court records say, led him to have a “visceral reaction: he left her two manic voicemails and entered prompts into ChatGPT expressing his extreme displeasure of her treatment of him.”
Then he hiked into the hills and allegedly sparked a fire that smoldered for days and exploded into the Palisades fire on Jan. 7, which leveled nearly 7,000 homes and killed 12 people in the tight-knit and tony community.
Defendant told investigators that he did not see any fireworks on the Hidden Buddha Hill that night. At around 12:12 a.m., the defendant lit the fire in the chaparral just below the Hidden Buddha clearing. He then watched the fire grow while standing in the Hidden Buddha clearing. He then started calling 911 multiple times, hiked down the hill, and fled the area in his car before firefighters arrived. Defendant returned to the area after he saw fire trucks arriving and then took videos of the firefighting efforts. Defendant did not leave the area until after 2:00 a.m. that morning.
After roughly three weeks of testimony in Manhattan criminal court, closing arguments concluded in the Harvey Weinstein retrial, with defense attorney Marc Agnifilo delivering the first summation Tuesday morning promptly at 10 a.m. The defense rested Monday, calling only one witness the week prior due to scheduling. Their case mainly relied on cross-examinations, years of communications between Weinstein and his accuser, and arguments that the relationships at the center of the case were consensual, complicated and transactional. Mann’s former entry in her notes application two days after the alleged assault was also front and center for the defense. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have argued Harvey Weinstein used his enormous power in Hollywood to manipulate and sexually assault sole accuser Jessica Mann. The retrial stems from Weinstein’s overturned 2020 conviction after New York’s highest court ruled the original trial improperly allowed prejudicial testimony from women whose allegations were not directly tied to the charged crimes.
Agnifilo began his summation by pointing out Jessica Mann’s lack of the credibility. He argued the evidence the jury saw clearly showed the pair were engaged in a complicated consensual relationship rather than sexual assault.
Agnifilo brings up the uncharged alleged assault at The Peninsula.
"She doesn't even know when it happened? She doesn't know when it was? It didn't happen."
"I took pictures of my legs after. And then I deleted it. Does that make sense? Why would she delete it?"
Agnifilo told jurors Mann repeatedly turned to Harvey Weinstein for emotional support and career guidance over a four-year period, referencing the aforementioned note Mann wrote on her phone that suggested she was falling in love with Weinstein. He argued Mann’s testimony was inconsistent with evidence shown throughout the retrial and highlighted her repeated memory lapses on the witness stand-including when she couldn’t remember the timeline around an alleged (uncharged) assault at the Peninsula hotel.
Sundance fixtures Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein in 2009.Credit: Getty Images
At several points, Agnifilo highlighted testimony from Mann’s former roommate and friend Talita Maia, particularly surrounding another alleged uncharged sexual assault at the Montage Hotel. Agnifilo argued Maia’s testimony that Mann appeared calm afterward and left “normally” undermined Mann’s account that Weinstein forcibly pulled her into a room. He stated that “no best friend would sit there and allow an assault to happen… if she truly believed her friend was being forcibly dragged into a room by Weinstein.”
The defense also focused heavily on the March 18, 2013 alleged rape at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manhattan. Agnifilo questioned Mann’s account of events leading up to the alleged assault, argued there was no evidence Weinstein contacted Mann through the hotel room phone, and pointed to evidence involving Weinstein’s prescription erectile dysfunction medication, Caverject, suggesting Mann waited for Weinstein while he prepared the injection. Agnifilo pointed out the entire process would take a minimum of twenty minutes, in which Mann waited, but had the ability to leave.
Harvey WeinsteinCredit: Scott Heins/ Getty Images
“If Jessica Mann was raped, she would not be acting like everything was fine,” Agnifilo told jurors while referencing testimony about Mann meeting a friend downstairs after the alleged assault at the DoubleTree. He added that jurors personally observed Mann’s emotional demeanor on the witness stand, arguing that if she had truly been assaulted, they would have expected to see that same level of emotion reflected in her account of the alleged incident as well.
Agnifilo also revisited the now key piece of evidence- March 20, 2013 journal-style note Mann wrote in her phone two days after the alleged rape, arguing the writing reflected romantic confusion rather than trauma. He described the note as Mann’s “private thoughts to herself” after spending time with Weinstein in New York. “It’s not a coincidence that this comes, after the time they spent together in New York. They spent a lot of time together. Now she’s back home, writing this,” he noted. The note read:
Title: Thoughts Labels: Thoughts; Violation of emotions Body: I emotionally am exclusive. I have let myself become emotionally attached to someone which even though the label of “non-…” I feel exclusively, the actions vs. how I feel towards this one person has conflict in my life. Loving someone and desiring the dynamic of love—giving to one another—is what I desire in life, to live with, to have as a partnership. And I want that person to love me back. Yes, I did not see what he saw. I surprised myself at making my own judgments about myself—woulds and would nots. And then I felt, why would I put these stipulations on myself to begin with? Religion? Insecurity? Etc? Do I love him or the idea of him? With him—easy. The idea of expanding that—fulfilling. If he is not there in the future, what will I have? And what do I always want at the end of the day? I have fear of being a “bad” person. Being unworthy. Rejection. Do I love myself enough to make mistakes? Do I want to live in fear or boldness? God protect me from my own lack of understanding and naivete. Guide me to the right things in life, the right decisions—to love and freedom. To healing in my life and to acceptance of myself.”
At one point Agnifilo told the jurors he was going to ask a question that may “terrify them.” “What did Harvey Weinstein see in Jessica Mann? She was thoughtful..a beautiful writer..” he stated, answering his own question.
He also called out the prosecution’s trauma expert, forensic psychologist Dr. Lisa Rocchio, arguing jurors should not convict Weinstein based on generalized trauma research rather than factual evidence specific to the case. Agnifilo also argued Mann continuously lacked credibility and told jurors the prosecution had failed to prove Weinstein’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“You’ve seen the messages, you’ve seen the notes on her phone. She went to Harvey consistently for four years, for different types of help she needed. When she ended relationships, anything she needs. And Harvey Weinstein is doing the best he can. And she is grateful, and he is the only person, her words, who encouraged her to be an actress,” Agnifilo told the jury.
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg then began the prosecution’s summation, telling jurors Mann had “absolutely no motive to lie” and arguing her testimony was corroborated by multiple witnesses and evidence presented during trial.
Blumberg urged jurors to focus on the power imbalance between Weinstein and Mann, displaying photographs of Weinstein during the height of his Hollywood influence, including images with celebrities and public figures. Pointing toward Weinstein seated in court in a wheelchair, Blumberg told jurors: “This is the man who raped Jessica Mann. Not the man you see sitting here in a wheelchair.”
Blumberg argued during closing arguments that Harvey Weinstein specifically targeted Jessica Mann because she was vulnerable, ambitious and seeking a career in Hollywood. Blumberg told jurors Weinstein “dangled a career in front of her,” while simultaneously manipulating Mann emotionally and sexually. She argued that part of Weinstein’s control involved making Mann believe he genuinely cared for her during periods in which Mann lacked support from others in her life.
Blumberg also pushed back on the defense’s portrayal of Mann’s mental health, arguing Mann was not “healthy” during the years she knew Weinstein because she had buried the trauma she experienced. Prosecutors told jurors Mann eventually realized she was “not alone” in 2017 after other women publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct “all over the news.”
The prosecutor repeatedly emphasized that prior consensual sexual encounters do not imply ongoing consent. “Just because she consented to sexual activity on Day 1, doesn’t mean she consented on Day 2,” Blumberg told jurors. “No means no to everyone…except Harvey Weinstein.”
“There’s no particular formula to determine a witness’ truth or accuracy,” Blumberg told jurors while urging them to focus on the broader consistency of Mann’s allegations rather than isolated memory lapses raised by the defense.
The prosecution also revisited testimony from prior witness Emanuela Postacchini involving an alleged threesome encounter. Blumberg reminded jurors that Postacchini previously testified she found Mann crying in a fetal position afterward. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is direct corroboration,” Blumberg argued.
Blumberg further defended the testimony of forensic psychologist Lisa Rocchio, telling jurors there is no “one-size-fits-all” response to sexual assault trauma. She said Rocchio’s testimony was intended to explain common survivor behaviors through decades of clinical experience and established trauma research.
Judge Curtis Farber is expected to give the jury charges on Wednesday, followed by deliberations.
There is a specific kind of confidence that belongs to girls who were never bullied.
You can spot it instantly.
It lives in the way they walk into parties without scanning the room first. The way they post photos without deleting them six minutes later. The way they flirt like rejection is a concept instead of a memory permanently lodged somewhere between their rib cage and nervous system.
These are the girls who never learned how to read a room because a room always read them kindly first.
And I know this because I was not one of them.
I grew up fat and weird.
Not movie-fat. Not “she takes off her glasses and suddenly she’s hot” fat. I mean, genuinely awkward. The kind of awkward where you become hyperaware of your own body before you even understand what a body is. I developed the kind of social anxiety that only comes from years of feeling visually incorrect. Like everyone else, I got handed an instruction manual on how to exist, and mine got lost in the mail.
So instead, I became funny.
Because when you are not the girl people immediately want to look at, you learn how to become the girl people want to listen to.
Humor becomes a survival skill. Personality becomes armor. You learn timing the way other girls learned eyeliner tutorials. You figure out how to make a group laugh before they can decide whether or not to exclude you. You become interesting because somewhere deep down, you worry that being interesting is the closest thing you will ever get to being beautiful.
And strangely enough,
The funniest people I know were almost never the hottest people in middle school.
Because pretty can act as a cushion. If the world validates you early enough, you never really have to develop the emotional calluses the rest of us did. You do not need observational humor when everyone already wants your attention. You do not need personality as currency when your face already pays for the room.
And before anyone gets defensive, this is not me saying beautiful people are shallow or bad. Some of the kindest women I know are devastatingly gorgeous. But there is something psychologically distinct about people who have never had to wonder if there was something fundamentally wrong with them.
You can feel it.
People who were bullied become anthropologists. We study tone changes. Facial expressions. Pauses between texts. We can detect discomfort like emotional bloodhounds because, at one point in our lives, survival depended on it. We know the difference between someone laughing with us and laughing at us because we spent years having to.
Meanwhile, the never-bullied move through life like golden retrievers at a backyard barbecue. Unafraid. Assured the world is generally happy to see them.
And honestly? Good for them.
But there is also something deeply valuable about becoming yourself the hard way.
Because growing up feeling “other” forces you into intimacy with your own interior world. You develop depth early. You become observant. Creative. Self-aware. Maybe too self-aware. You learn how to sit with discomfort. How to reinvent yourself. How to survive humiliation and still show up to school the next morning, pretending your life is not ending because someone made a joke about your body in third-period biology.
People love saying “it builds character” as if character is some adorable little craft project.
It does build character. But usually through tiny social deaths.
And yet, I would not undo it.
Not because being bullied is noble or secretly good for children.
It is not.
Kids can be cruel in ways that follow you into adulthood like cigarette smoke clinging to old clothes. Even now, there are moments when I walk into a room and instinctively prepare myself to be perceived incorrectly. Some part of me still expects to be the punchline before I become the narrator.
But I also think the girls who had to build themselves from scratch become magnetic in a different way.
There is something almost electric about women who had to become. Women who were not handed effortless confidence and had to manufacture it themselves, like a science experiment in the corner of a middle school cafeteria. Women who learned how to turn loneliness into wit. Rejection into charm. Weirdness into identity.
We became funny because we had to.
And somewhere along the way, the armor became personality. The personality became present. The presence became power.
Which is maybe why the older I get, the less impressed I am by perfection and the more drawn I am to people with edges. The girls who know how it feels to be left out usually become the women who make sure nobody else is.
Sometimes I think life is just one long middle school cafeteria. Some people glide through it holding the social equivalent of a VIP pass. Others spend years clutching their lunch tray, trying to calculate where they belong.
But the funny thing about growing up weird is that eventually you realize the table you spent years begging to sit at was never that interesting anyway.
Eighty years ago, Los Angeles gave the world Diane Keaton. The Oscar-winning actress, who died last fall, defined a whole generation of “New Hollywood” actors working with Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, and perhaps most famously Woody Allen. “I’ve always thought she was born to be a movie star,” Allen told Rolling Stone in 1977.
LOT 4006: DIANE KEATON: A GROUP OF COLLECTED MEMORY SCRAPBOOKS AND PHOTOALBUMSCredit: Photo courtesy Bonhams
Baby Diane grew up in a Quonset hut in Hermon before moving to a tiny house in Highland Park, where her mother, Dorothy, entered the Mrs. Los Angeles contest in 1955. Dorothy’s sewing skills and Devil’s Food cake recipe won her the regional competition, which put the family up at the Ambassador Hotel for three days. Perhaps that’s where young Diane fell in love with the landmarks of Los Angeles. She worked closely with the Los Angeles Conservancy to try to save the hotel in the 2000s.
LOT 3195: A BUSHERE AND SON IRON FRAMED SAN JOSE POTTERY STYLE TILEWORK WALL PLAQUECredit: Photo courtesy Bonhams
“I think she just always been passionate about architecture,” the Conservancy’s retired director Linda Dishman tells Los Angeles. “She started buying (historic) houses before she got involved with the Conservancy and really had a passion for saving these houses. Her support was so important – if we had a hard time getting a meeting with somebody for an issue like the Ambassador, when you call the office and say Diane Keaton would like to meet with your boss, you get a meeting.”
LOT 3026: A LARGE PAINTED METAL HOTEL CALIFORNIA SIGNCredit: Photo courtesy Bonhams
Keaton bought, renovated and sold several important Los Angeles landmarks, including Lloyd Wright’s Samuel-Novarro house in Los Feliz. She drew from her vast collection of art, antiques and flea-market finds to furnish and decorate the homes.
LOT 42: A BLACK AND WHITE ENSEMBLE WORN AT THE 45th AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD EVENTCredit: Photo courtesy Bonhams
Those items are being offered for sale at four separate auctions, starting with Diane Keaton: The Architecture of an Icon, all presented by Bonhams. “She really loved good design, paintings and buildings, and she liked quirky,” Dishman says. “She definitely had a quirky way of looking at life and it was evidenced by her collections.”
LOT 3022: A CURATED BASKET OF BLANKETS AND TEXTILESCredit: Photo courtesy Bonhams
Those familiar with L.A.’s vibrant music and concert culture know the particular heartbreak that often comes with buying tickets — refreshing a page the moment presale drops, watching the queue crawl forward and arriving at the front of a virtual line only to find that floor seats to your favorite artist are already $800.
This is the reality of live music in 2026. In Los Angeles, concert-going is part of a cultural identity. The Hollywood Bowl is a summertime rite. Coachella is a ritual. Shows at Kia Forum, the Greek and the Wiltern form the connective tissue through which Angelenos experience music and build community. When tickets become inaccessible, much of this cultural connection is lost.
State Assemblymember Matt Haney hopes state lawmakers can fix it. His bill, formally titled the California Fans First Act, would cap ticket resale prices at no more than 10% above the original face value, fees included. The legislation takes aim squarely at the secondary market, where automated bots and shady resellers routinely buy up inventory in bulk and flip it at margins that effectively price out the average fan.
“All of that extra money is going into the pockets of scalpers and speculators — not to the artists, not to the venues,” Haney said.
He points to sold-out shows across the state, like a recent Sam Smith concert, where floor tickets that retailed for $150 are relisted within hours for $900, $1,200, sometimes more. For L.A., a city where the live music economy is vast and demand routinely outpaces supply, the pattern is exhausting.
Los Angeles is hardly alone. Across the country, ticketing has become one of the most scrutinized corners of the live music industry, with lawmakers and regulators increasingly focused on the dominance of Live Nation and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster. High-demand tours in recent years have repeatedly exposed the same pattern — overwhelming queues, dynamic pricing spikes and resale listings that far exceed face value within minutes of a sale.
The bill has drawn notable support from Ticketmaster, which claims the legislation would protect both artists and fans. Meanwhile, the Consumer Federation of California has been blunt in its opposition, calling the bill a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” arguing that throttling the secondary market ultimately hands even more structural power to Live Nation. Live Nation already controls a dominant share of the U.S. concert industry, and this restructuring could give it unprecedented market control.
Here’s a summary of key testimony so far in Live Nation’s legal fight with dozens of state attorneys general who allege that the company illegally monopolized the market for live events https://t.co/MXwPB8PZGh
The concern is legitimate, especially in a market already dominated by a single, vertically integrated company. Limiting resale does not automatically make more tickets available; it can just mean fewer points of entry for fans who missed the initial sale.
The bill still has a long road ahead. It must clear both the State Assembly and the Senate before landing on the Governor’s desk. If the momentum holds, this might occur in early September. That’s still technically in time for the back half of outdoor concert season, though anyone who’s watched California legislation knows that the pace may be more glacial than it seems.
Whether or not the Fans First Act survives the political process, its existence signals a moment of cultural resistance. Live music has always been something Angelenos held in common, across neighborhoods, classes and tastes. The Hollywood Bowl on a warm night, the roar of a crowd at the Kia Forum, the communion of 125,000 people in the Coachella Valley — these experiences are quintessential to the city. For a lot of fans right now, it’s starting to feel like they are being priced out of something that once belonged to everyone.
Friday, June 12, will mark the spectacular opening ceremony for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Held at Los Angeles Stadium (also known as SoFi Stadium), this set of performances will launch a historic summer of football across the nation.
Here in L.A., Katy Perry will headline the Los Angeles festivities and will be joined by global sensations Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema and Tyla — along with a number of yet-to-be-announced internationally acclaimed artists. Together, they will bring the sound of the FIFA World Cup 2026 to life in front of an unprecedented global audience.
“This opening ceremony in Los Angeles represents the extraordinary scale of what the FIFA World Cup 2026 will become,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a release. “The lineup of artists reflects the cultural diversity of the United States and the vibrancy of its many diasporas, highlighting the nation’s rich influence on music, entertainment and pop culture, while showcasing the power of music to bring people together across the country.”
This opening show will begin 90 minutes before kick-off on Friday, 12 June at 4:30 PM local time. In addition, stadium gates will open four hours prior to kick-off, and fans will be able to explore exclusive activations, captivating entertainment experiences, rewards and live pre-match programming before the event.
And for the first time in FIFA World Cup history, Los Angeles will not be the only one hosting an opening ceremony. Across the Western Hemisphere, Canada, Mexico and the United States will be coming together to launch a set of three opening ceremonies — the likes of which have never been seen before.
These three spectacular shows will unfold across Mexico City (11 June), Toronto and Los Angeles (12 June), bringing millions of football enthusiasts together in stadiums and around the world.
About the Games
The FIFA World Cup 2026 will feature a record 104 matches across 16 Host Cities throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States. The final will take place on Sunday, 19 July at New York New Jersey Stadium.
For the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2026, the United States will face Paraguay at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Parking along Robertson Boulevard — home to The Ivy, The Henry, Pizzana, Cecconi’s and, for part of the year, Sal’s Place — is about to get a little tougher.
A Michelin-starred sushi concept is set to debut along the bustling Beverly Hills hub on May 13.
From owner Alessandro Borgognone and chef-owner Daisuke Nakazawa, the Los Angeles arrival of Sushi Nakazawa brings a renowned NYC-born omakase to the West Coast.
SenbeiCredit: Tanveer Badal
Sushi Nakazawa first debuted in New York in 2013, followed by a Washington, D.C. location that opened in 2018. Each went on to earn a Michelin star in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Nakazawa — who apprenticed under chef Jiro Ono, as captured in the David Gelb documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi— presents a highly seasonal “New York-mae” style omakase that showcases traditional and creative interpretations of Edomae-style nigiri. Fish is sourced from around the world with a focus on Japan-sourced cuts.
Set inside a Studio UNLTD-designed space inspired by an underwater cavern, diners can expect Nakazawa’s signature nigiri alongside a curation of hot and cold composed dishes. There is the option for a chef’s menu at $295, served at the sushi counter by chef directly or the classic menu at $190, which features approximately seven courses of different flights of nigiri. The omakase experience in the dining room spans about 13 courses.
Akammi and otoroCredit: Tanveer Badal
Diners can also opt for a non-alcoholic, sake or sake and wine pairing curated by beverage director Dean Furth, who boasts crafting a lengthy wine list for Sushi Nakazawa, as well as an impressively extensive sake list.
Credit: Tanveer BadalCredit: Tanveer Badal
Sushi Nakazawa is located at 145 S. Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. with lunch service and patio seating to come in the near future. Reservations are released two weeks in advance and are available on Resy.
Today, ahead of the L.A. mayoral election in June, Senator Alex Padilla announced his full support for Mayor Karen Bass, endorsing her for re-election.
Padilla said in a statement, “Karen Bass has led Los Angeles through difficult times.”
He went on to add, “When the Trump administration deployed troops into our communities and tore families apart, Mayor Bass stood up and stood firm for Angelenos. She’s reducing homelessness, building more housing, and making neighborhoods safer, while standing up for our city and our values. I’m proud to endorse her for re-election.”
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Padilla is not the only one to endorse Mayor Bass; Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and former Vice President Kamala Harris have also voiced their support for Bass.
Last week, Harris endorsed the L.A. mayor for re-election, stating that Bass is “the leader Los Angeles needs right now. She has done what so many said couldn’t be done.” The former Vice President was quick to say that Bass has her “full support.”
Running alongside Mayor Bass are Republican candidate Spencer Pratt and Democrat Councilmember Nithya Raman, among 13 others.
D4vd will not proceed to a preliminary hearing on May 26 as previously scheduled after both prosecutors and the defense agreed Tuesday, the volume of evidence in the murder case remains too extensive to fully review.
During a hearing Tuesday morning at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, Judge Charlene Olemdo granted a continuance, pushing the preliminary hearing to June 29, with an additional status hearing now scheduled for June 17.
Burke, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, is charged in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors allege Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered remains were discovered inside a Tesla linked to the singer in September 2025. Burke has pleaded not guilty.
Credit: Steinfield Law Firm
Burke appeared relaxed throughout much of the hearing, at times leaning forward casually with his elbows resting on the armrests of his chair. After the hearing concluded, Burke appeared to wink at his lawyer, Blair Berk, while being escorted from the courtroom. Los Angeles had eyes inside the courtroom.
The hearing on Tuesday largely centered on the enormous amount of digital discovery still being exchanged between prosecutors and Burke’s legal team, led by high-profile defense attorney Blair Berk.
Beth Silverman with the prosecution said: “We want to make sure we are not doing this over and over… It holds us hostage.” If a third date is set, she wants to ensure it is a “go date.”@conlin_lauren
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told the court prosecutors have already turned over more than 10 terabytes of discovery material, including iCloud data, forensic evidence, lab reports, LAPD reports, photographs, arrest records and extensive video evidence. Silverman said prosecutors are continuing to upload evidence through the Evidence.com platform and noted the overall discovery could exceed 40 terabytes.
“Discovery will take a few months to complete because there is so much,” Silverman told the court, adding that the uploading process itself has been ongoing since last week due to the size of the files.
Silverman also expressed frustration over repeated scheduling adjustments, noting prosecutors had already contacted witnesses and altered schedules based on prior hearing dates.
“We want to make sure we are not doing this over and over,” Silverman said. “It holds us hostage.”
Berk acknowledged the defense still lacks certain narrative reports and written summaries outlining the prosecution’s theory of the case.
“It’s hard to argue what you don’t know yet,” Berk said, adding that while there are still discovery concerns, including outstanding DNA evidence, she believes many of the issues can likely be resolved informally without court intervention at this time.
Judge Olmedo said the court would continue evaluating scheduling requests carefully moving forward, though she could not guarantee additional continuances would not occur if discovery disputes persist.
The preliminary hearing is now expected to begin June 29 and could last approximately five to six days, according to estimates discussed in court.
A 28-year-old woman accused of posing as a teenager and secretly enrolling at a Bronx, New York, high school was exposed after the school’s principal pulled up her Facebook page. That Facebook revealed her real age, birthday and even photos referencing a daughter.
A 28-year-old woman accused of posing as a teenager to attend high school was reportedly caught after the principal found her Facebook account
Kacy Claassen claims a friend convinced her to join the scheme so they could collect more public assistance money pic.twitter.com/jDXNjsd5Dj
According to a criminal complaint, Kacy Claassen enrolled at Westchester Square Academy on April 13 under the fake name “Shamara Rashad” and allegedly claimed she was born in 2010, making her 16 years old.
Officials say Claassen told school officials she had recently moved to New York City from Ohio with her sister and was issued a student ID before attending classes for roughly two weeks before her alleged cover was blown.
The bizarre scheme unraveled when the school’s principal reportedly became suspicious and confronted Claassen with screenshots from her own social media accounts, according to investigators. The Facebook page listed a July 29, 1997 birthday and included references to a “beautiful daughter,” along with photographs appearing to show Claassen holding a young child.
Police sources told media outlets that investigators were still attempting to verify some of the social media information.
Claassen reportedly admitted her real identity after being confronted. Prosecutors say she told investigators a friend encouraged her to lie so she could potentially obtain additional public assistance benefits. It’s not exactly clear how the alleged benefits scheme would have worked. However, officials have now warned about various forms of “ghost student” fraud in recent years, in which individuals allegedly use fake or stolen identities to improperly obtain financial aid, benefits or services through education.
Claassen was arrested on April 27 after officers responded to the school regarding possible identity theft.
Credit: New York State Court System
She now faces multiple charges, including criminal impersonation and trespassing. She was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled to return to court on June 15.
In a resurfaced 2023 interview with the Hays Post, Claassen said she had previously fled an abusive relationship and, at one point in her life, was left without a job, car, money or even a place to live.
A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education released a statement condemning the alleged conduct:
“Enrollment fraud is a serious crime that fundamentally undermines New York City Public School values. The NYPD is actively investigating these allegations and will pursue all appropriate legal action against those responsible. We are providing all necessary and suitable support to the school community.”
New field-level clubs, luxury seating and upgraded fan spaces are coming to one of college football’s most iconic stadiums as UCLA continues weighing its long-term future
It is sunsets spilling over the San Gabriel Mountains. New Year’s Day football with marching bands and helicopters overhead. It is UCLA tailgates stretching across a golf course while Pasadena neighborhoods slowly fill with blue and gold hours before kickoff.
Keith Jackson famously called it “The Granddaddy of Them All,” and even now, more than 100 years after it opened in 1922, the Rose Bowl still feels less like a sports venue and more like a piece of California mythology.
Now, the stadium is trying to modernize for a completely different era of sports entertainment.
This week, officials unveiled plans for a $30 million renovation project designed to upgrade the Rose Bowl ahead of the 2026 college football season and the 2028 Olympics. The centerpiece of the overhaul transforms roughly 5,000 traditional south end zone bench seats into a new field-level hospitality club packed with luxury lounges, premium seating and upscale food and beverage spaces.
The project is part of a broader $80 million “Lasting Legacy Campaign” aimed at keeping the nearly century-old stadium competitive in a Los Angeles sports landscape now dominated by billion-dollar entertainment venues.
The Rose Bowl Is Fighting to Stay Relevant in Modern Sports
That pressure is impossible to ignore in a city now home to SoFi Stadium, where sports have become luxury experiences built around VIP clubs, private suites and field-level access. Compared to newer venues, the Rose Bowl can feel intentionally frozen in time. And honestly, that is part of why people love it.
But nostalgia does not pay operating costs.
Attendance struggles, rising maintenance expenses and shifting college football economics have forced Pasadena officials to rethink how the stadium survives long term. UCLA reportedly averages far fewer fans than most Big Ten programs, and the Bruins’ ongoing flirtation with a possible move to SoFi Stadium has only intensified those concerns.
UCLA’s Future Still Lingers Over Everything
That tension hangs over this renovation project, whether officials want to admit it or not.
Pasadena taxpayers have already poured hundreds of millions into preserving and upgrading the Rose Bowl over the last decade. City officials now argue that those investments came with the understanding that UCLA would remain a long-term tenant.
Meanwhile, UCLA continues facing the same reality confronting nearly every major college football program. Historic venues carry emotional value, but modern stadiums generate massive revenue through luxury experiences, sponsorships and premium seating.
Still, there is probably a middle ground here.
The Rose Bowl absolutely needs upgrades. Nobody expects fans paying modern ticket prices to sit through outdated amenities forever, especially in a city packed with billion-dollar entertainment venues. But part of what makes the stadium special is that it still feels human and tied to Los Angeles history instead of feeling engineered by a corporate branding team.
That is the balance this renovation really needs to protect.
Because the Rose Bowl has survived for more than a century precisely because it never chased every trend too aggressively. The venue works because of the imperfections. The long walk into the stadium. The old concrete tunnels. The sunset washes over the mountains during kickoff while the crowd slowly fills in around the bowl.
Those details are not obstacles to modernization. They are the reason people keep coming back.
If Pasadena can update the Rose Bowl without sanding away its charm, the stadium may not just survive another generation of Los Angeles sports. It could remind newer venues what they are missing in the first place.
The 27-year-old fusion brand born in New York, which has expanded rapidly overseas, debuts an L.A. flagship that's quickly become one of West Hollywood's hottest rooftops
In the 1990s, Israeli entrepreneur Shimon Bokovza went on a holiday to Brazil and was shocked by the Japanese influence in South America (where Japanese farmers had immigrated to work on coffee plantations).
“He just thought of ‘SushiSamba,’” says Omar Gutierrez, co-CEO of SushiSamba Group. “He went home and trademarked the name, and worked on the idea for a couple of years before it opened in New York.”
The first SushiSamba restaurant debuted in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, in a neon-emblazoned location on Park Avenue South, in 1999. Blending Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian cuisines in a vibrant, party-like atmosphere, the concept proved a hit and rapidly expanded. Next came a second New York City outpost, a year later, in the West Village — which was famously featured on HBO’s Sex & the City — followed by restaurants in cities including Miami, Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas.
SushiSamba SevicheCredit: Dylan James Ho
Right before the 2012 Summer Olympics, SushiSamba opened its most impressive location yet in London. “We took the 38th and 39th floors [of Heron Tower], right in the heart of the city, with beautiful views,” says Gutierrez of the location which also inspired them to tweak their formula. “We realized what worked is that you can come in SushiSamba and spend all day there. You can come in for sunset cocktails, have dinner and then go upstairs to the Samba room and finish the night off with some nightlife. So it wasn’t uncommon for people to spend four, five hours with us. And once we figured out that formula worked, that’s what we replicated everywhere else.”
London also helped him realize the concept’s overseas appeal. “It was such an international clientele,” Gutierrez says. “We had a ton of interest. Our guests, after 10 o’clock, were all coming from the GCC countries. They were coming from that part of the world and people were just begging us to come.”
After a Dubai-based investment group bought a 50 percent stake in the company in 2014, the brand focused on growing its international footprint and started closing its U.S. restaurants. The original Gramercy location closed in 2014, the West Village followed in 2017 and Miami shuttered in 2019 — until eventually, all that remained in the country was the Vegas location, which had opened at the Venetian in 2008.
SushiSamba’s Kari Kari Credit: Dylan James Ho
Gutierrez notes that these older venues weren’t reflective of what they’d started doing abroad. “They were tired, and they were little tiny restaurants — they were 6,000-7,000 square feet, had seen a lot of people and had a lot of wear and tear,” explains Gutierrez, a Vegas native who joined parent company Orange Brands Management in 2016 after working for the Hakkasan Group. “The leases were up, and the economics didn’t make sense to refresh them. So we said, ‘Why don’t we close these and start looking at some iconic locations that made sense for us?’”
Another location in London opened in 2018, followed by the first Middle East restaurant in Dubai in 2021. “We were able to get that space in Dubai that everybody was clamoring for — the owners of the building knew SushiSamba from London, and that’s how we got it,” Gutierrez notes. “And from there, it just kind of steamrolled.”
Over the next five years, the brand expanded in the Middle East, Asia and Europe — with openings in Doha, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Singapore and in January 2026, Milan.
SushiSamba West HollywoodCredit: Tanveer Badal
“But since I’ve started, we’ve been looking the right city, right space, to bring the brand back to the States and reintroduce it,” Gutierrez notes. “We looked at Miami, Palm Beach, New York. But there was something always in my gut that told me that L.A. would be a good spot to do. We just could never find a spot.”
He sought something very specific, following the impressive international locations: “In London, we’re on the 51st floor [and] in Covent Garden. In Dubai, the 51st floor. In Singapore, the 51st floor. In Milan, in an iconic hotel building. In Doha, at the Waldorf Astoria with the beach club. In Bahrain, on a rooftop in Conrad. In Edinburgh, on a rooftop at the W. So the locations are all special, and finding that space in major cities isn’t that easy. … I need 15,000-16,000 square feet to do a SushiSamba the way that we’ve been doing it recently.”
Gutierrez looked for venues in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. “And then this space came on the market,” he says of the building adjacent to the Kimpton La Peer Hotel on La Peer Drive. “It was originally supposed to be a members club — that’s what the building was built for. The guy that was going to do it changed his mind, and this space became available, and I looked at it.”
SUSHISAMBA West HollywoodCredit: Tanveer Badal
He thought the location in the heart of West Hollywood was perfect. “I think the beauty of SushiSamba is that it speaks to so many different people: the menu, and the music,” Gutierrez says. “Specifically in London, you have suits from the city, you have the hipsters coming from SoHo, it’s just a nice blend. And when they all come together in one space, it really makes the venue come alive. And West Hollywood, I think, shares the same DNA.”
He also loved that the space had stunning views of the hills and the Design District. “[I thought] this could really be something, but it was a rooftop, and I wasn’t sure about how we could make it work,” Gutierrez says, noting that it originally had a rooftop pool that’d been built for the members club.
Gutierrez asked designer Marc Dizon of Dizon Collective, who he’d worked with at Hakkasan, to come see the space. “And he says, ‘This could be multi-level, you won’t lose the views. We can set it up so this could be perfect for events, dining, brunch, nightlife,’” recalls Gutierrez, who next wondered how they would cover it. “That’s when the retractable roof idea came in. We just started thinking on the Brazilian Copacabana floors and the whole ’60s vibe. And it just blossomed from there.”
SushiSamba West HollywoodCredit: Tanveer Badal
The sprawling open-air venue — “12,000 square feet on the rooftop and another 5,000 on the floor below,” Gutierrez notes — features a separate glass-walled sushi bar, a robata grill, a private dining room with its own elevator and a sociable bar and lounge area. The aesthetic referencs both Brazilian architect Roberto Burle Marx and the sunny L.A. landscape, with pops of orange seating and lush greenery against a white Miami-like backdrop.
“If you’ve been to our restaurants, you know it’s a Sushi Samba when you walk in, but all of our restaurants are different,” Gutierrez says. “We always have that type of floor. We always have some sort of street art, lots of plants and foliage, beautiful lounges, and we always have an entertainment component. But design-wise, this one’s completely unique: it’s the outdoor rooftop, and we’ve grown up a little bit. It’s a little bit more elevated than the one in Vegas, but it’s not uptight.”
While he describes the Dubai, Singapore and Milan locations as more formal and dressy, he wanted the L.A. venue to feel more approachable. “So it’s a great place for people to come have a cocktail before they visit other restaurants in the neighborhood. It’s a great place for people that want to get dressed up and make a night of it. It’s a great place for brunch, and it’s going to be a great space for late-night eats.”
SushiSamba West HollywoodCredit: Badal Hires
Similarly, many items from the menu are consistent across locations. “There’s some staples that you’ll see in every restaurant: like the yellowtail taquitos, Moqueca Mista [Brazilian seafood stew], the Samba roll, the El Topo roll, the chocolate banana cake,” Gutierrez says. “Those have been on the menu since day one. But every location and every chef has a lot of flexibility to add his own spin to it. So we have more salads on this one, our sushi selection here will probably be the largest in the group. I wanted to make sure that we could get everything just right, and then gradually we’ll increase all of those things.”
SushiSamba Yellowtail TiraditoCredit: Dylan James Ho
Led by longtime corporate chef John Um and chef Maxwell Terheggen (formerly of London’s The Ned and Soho House), the L.A. location utilizes premium fish and A5 Kobe beef from Japan in sashimi, sushi, seviches, tiraditos and robata items grilled over Japanese binchotan charcoal. Other favorites include the Pao de Queijo rolls with honey truffle butter, Kari Kari spicy tuna and crispy rice, the Japanese A5 Kobe gyoza, Toro tiradito with black truffle, Chilean sea bass anticuchos, and the Churrasco Rio Grande, a platter of ribeye, chorizo and wagyu picanha served with Brazilian farofa (a side made from flour) and signature dipping sauces.
Credit: Dylan James Ho
Exclusive to L.A. are an “L.A.” roll, lobster salad, seviche classico with white fish and plantain chips and a lion’s mane robata dish, and special cocktails include the Pineapple Paloma and Tommy’s Temperado spicy strawberry Mezcal drink. “The biggest difference here is the non-alcoholic and low alcoholic options that we have,” Gutierrez notes. “Those, we don’t have anywhere else. We’ll slowly introduce them to our other locations, but I thought that would work well here, and they’ve been really well-received. On the cocktails, we have the Samba signatures — like the Lychee Cooler, the Sambatini — but the rest are all unique to this market.”
SushiSamba Seviche ClassicoCredit: Dylan James Ho
A “Samba brunch” began on Mother’s Day — offering a three-course menu ($65 per person) with dishes like ‘Everything But The Bagel’ Maki and passionfruit French toast on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m — and a late-night menu also recently launched.
“That’s going to be our biggest differentiator,” Gutierrez notes. “I think that’s one of the things this neighborhood was missing, a place to go grab something to eat and drink after 10 o’clock. We have a 2 a.m. license, so Thursday, Friday, Saturday, a late-night menu starts at 11, with lots of sushi and small plates, and the bar will stay open, so you can grab something to eat and have a couple of the drinks when the rest of the places are closed.”
SushiSamba’s brunch itemsCredit: Jakob Layman
SushiSamba also features Samba dancers and live entertainment. “The way that the restaurant’s designed, behind the DJ booth, there’s a stage built to go over that, specifically for the band and live entertainment,” Gutierrez says. “So we’ll have live entertainment for brunch, and then the Samba dancers will come, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.”
After opening every night for dinner beginning March 16, the restaurant — which marked the brand’s first U.S. opening in 18 years — was packed in its first week. More expansion on the West Coast is imminent: “We have a couple of more international openings slated, and then I’m looking for the next location here in the States,” Gutierrez notes. “I’m actively looking in Southern California, Scottsdale. Miami and New York eventually, but I think I’ll stay here on the West Coast for now.”
That the West Hollywood staff — clad in colorful attire by Kloth — are warm and welcoming was a priority for Gutierrez, who hopes L.A. embraces SushiSamba. “I don’t want people to think that this big international brand is coming and thinks that they have it all figured out, because we don’t,” he says. “I want this location to be part of the neighborhood and part of the community.”
639 N. La Peer Drive, West Hollywood, sushisamba.com
The Torrance resident charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty at a federal court arraignment today, as reported by NBC News.
Cole Allen, 31, was charged with one count of attempt to assassinate the President; transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony; and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to officials, Allen attempted to break through Secret Service officers during the April 25 White House Correspondents’ Dinner with the alleged effort to assassinate Trump.
“Cole Allen now faces the full weight of federal justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at the time of Allen’s April 27 arraignment. “This alleged assassin was stopped because of the courage and professionalism of law enforcement officers who responded without hesitation by doing their jobs.”
Allen, who was living with his parents in L.A.’s South Bay, is a mechanical engineering grad from the California Institute of Technology and holds a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Most recently, he had been teaching part-time with C2 Education tutoring services.
In an alleged manifesto — which begins with apologies to his parents, students, colleagues and “all of the people [he] traveled next to” from California to D.C. — the former tutor called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and explained plans to target Trump administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”
Allen’s team, according to NBC News, noted that they plan to request that the entire office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia be recused due to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s supervisory involvement in the case.
Federal health officials say the public risk remains low, but the response surrounding the Antarctic cruise outbreak shows how aggressively global health threats are now handled
What began as an Antarctic expedition cruise has now turned into a major international health operation stretching from Spain to Nebraska.
Seventeen American passengers aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius are now under medical monitoring in the United States following a deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed at least three passengers during the voyage.
Federal officials confirmed that one American passenger tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus while another began showing mild symptoms during evacuation efforts.
The Americans arrived in Omaha this week after being flown from Tenerife in the Canary Islands aboard a specially coordinated medical charter flight. Most are now staying inside the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, a facility previously used during Ebola outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why Nebraska Became the Center of the Response
The Nebraska facility is one of the few specialized quarantine centers in the country equipped to monitor high-risk infectious disease cases. Officials transported at least one passenger directly into a biocontainment unit after testing detected genetic material tied to the virus.
Health officials continue stressing that this outbreak is not another COVID-style emergency. Still, the optics feel familiar. Passengers stepped off planes wearing masks, luggage was limited to essential belongings and authorities immediately launched contact tracing and long-term monitoring procedures.
The Andes strain draws unusual concern because it remains the only hantavirus known to allow limited person-to-person transmission under close contact conditions. Most hantavirus infections spread through exposure to rodent droppings, saliva or urine.
A Cruise That Became an International Incident
The Hondius departed Argentina in early April before multiple passengers became sick during the Atlantic crossing. The ship was later diverted and held offshore near Cape Verde as authorities scrambled to understand what was unfolding onboard.
Now, what started as a remote outbreak at sea has evolved into a multinational monitoring effort involving the CDC, the World Health Organization and hospitals across several countries. Passengers from the ship have been transported to medical facilities in the United States, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa and the Netherlands.
For many Americans, the story taps into something larger than the virus itself.
In a post-pandemic world, even a contained outbreak aboard a distant cruise ship can instantly become a national story once quarantine units, emergency flights and federal health agencies enter the picture.
Eileen Wang, who has resigned from her seat at Arcadia City Hall, has entered into a plea deal with federal prosecutors after admitting to using her job to push pro People's Republic of China propaganda
The mayor of Arcadia has resigned after she admitted to using her powerful political position to secretly spy for the Chinese government, according to a plea deal unsealed in California’s Central District on Monday.
Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, is charged via information with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which comes with a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. She is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon.
“All Americans should be alarmed to learn an elected official was brazenly spreading propaganda on behalf of the Chinese government,” said Patrick Grandy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is dedicated to rooting out those illegally acting as agents of a foreign government as they do the bidding of America’s adversaries.”
In a plea agreement, Wang admitted that from 2020 through 2022 she worked with another Chinese national, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, “at the direction and control of PRC government officials,” to promote pro-China propaganda using the website U.S. News Center, which was geared toward the local Chinese American community.
“Wang and Sun received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website,” federal prosecutors say. Sun is currently serving a four-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
In November 2021, prosecutors allege, Wang communicated with John Chen, “a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus, who regularly attended elite Chinese Communist Party functions, including military parades.” Chen was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in the Southern District of New York to acting as an illegal agent of the PRC and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
Wang admitted in her plea agreement that she did not notify the Attorney General that she was acting in the United States as an agent of the PRC. Chinese spying in Southern California has ensnared other high-ranking politicians, including the late Senator Dianne Feinstein and disgraced former Congressman Eric Swalwell.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed.”
Somewhere between beach bonfires, almost-love, and boys who confused attention with devotion, I realized the real heartbreak of summer wasn’t being chosen. It was abandoning myself in the process
I used to think The Summer I Turned Pretty was a show about first love.
About becoming beautiful. About growing up. About the dizzy, cinematic feeling of realizing people suddenly see you differently one summer. The kind of story built for girls who spent years feeling invisible and wanted proof that, eventually, one day, someone would look at them like Conrad Fisher looks at Belly Conklin.
But rewatching it now in my twenties feels almost unsettling. Because underneath the beach houses and saltwater kisses and infinity necklaces is something far less romantic: A girl who confuses being desired with being valued.
Because Belly is not just a character. She is a stage of womanhood.
A deeply uncomfortable one.
The kind where your self-worth becomes dependent on your ability to emotionally occupy space in people’s minds. Especially men’s. Especially men who are complicated enough to make love feel like an achievement instead of a partnership.
That’s what nobody talks about with Belly. Everyone argues over Team Conrad versus Team Jeremiah while missing the point entirely: Belly is not in love with one brother. She is addicted to what both brothers reflect back about her.
Conrad makes her feel chosen. Jeremiah makes her feel safe. Together, they create the perfect emotional ecosystem for a girl still trying to figure out who she is when nobody is looking at her.
And that is where the show becomes painfully real.
Because I do not think most girls’ biggest mistakes come from malice. I think they come from hunger. Emotional hunger. The kind that disguises itself as romance.
You answer the text not because you actually like him that much, but because silence makes you anxious.
You keep conversations going with people you know you would never seriously choose, because being wanted temporarily quiets the voice in your head that asks whether you are enough on your own.
You call it “confusion” when really you just do not want to let go of how good it feels to be pursued.
That’s Belly’s tragedy.
Not that she hurts both brothers.
But she keeps searching for herself inside of them.
And once you notice it, you cannot unsee it.
Every relationship in the show feels less like love and more like identity construction because Belly molds herself around whichever brother is standing in front of her.
With Conrad, she gets to be babied. She gets to indulge in being emotional, sensitive, yearning, almost fragile, wrapped up in the fantasy of being chosen by the boy she spent years romanticizing. Loving Conrad allows her to remain in this suspended state of girlhood where she is protected, pursued, and constantly hoping for reassurance from someone who always feels slightly out of reach.
But with Jeremiah, the dynamic completely reverses. Suddenly, he gets to be babied. Belly becomes the emotional anchor, constantly softening herself around his insecurities, reassuring him, managing the weight of always feeling like he came second. Around Conrad, she wants to be taken care of. Around Jeremiah, she becomes the caretaker. And somewhere between those two versions of herself, Belly never actually learns how to exist in a relationship without shaping herself around what the other person emotionally needs from her.
Be digestible. Be chosen. Be unforgettable, but never difficult. Be enough to make someone stay.
I think that is why the infinity necklace matters so much in the show. Not because it symbolizes eternal love, but because it represents emotional suspension. Infinity means never fully ending anything. Never choosing completely. Never sitting alone long enough to figure out who you are without someone else reaching for your hand.
And if I am being honest, there was a summer when I did the exact same thing.
Not with two brothers, thankfully. That feels logistically exhausting.
But with attention itself.
I entertained people I knew were wrong for me because loneliness felt heavier than disappointment. I mistook inconsistency for passion. I romanticized emotional unavailability because finally receiving affection from someone distant felt more rewarding than receiving it freely. I kept revisiting situations that drained me because part of me thought enduring emotional instability made the connection deeper.
Which is maybe the most dangerous lie young women tell themselves: That suffering makes love more meaningful.
But eventually, you realize something horrifying. The constant chasing, analyzing, yearning, waiting, and decoding does not make you feel more loved. It just makes you forget yourself.
That is the real reason Belly frustrates people.
Not because she is imperfect. Imperfect female characters are important. Necessary, even.
She frustrates people because she reminds us of the version of ourselves that kept reaching for validation while calling it love. The version that treated attention like sunscreen, slathering it on constantly because underneath it all, we were terrified of burning.
And maybe growing up means realizing self-respect isn’t just about how other people treat you.
It is about the moments you abandon yourself to avoid being abandoned by someone else.
The moments you stay too long. Reply too quickly. Accept less than you deserve because at least it is something.
That is why The Summer I Turned Pretty lingers with people. Not because of the love triangle, but because almost every woman recognizes some version of Belly in herself. The girl who thought being wanted by multiple people meant she finally mattered. The girl who kept searching for proof of her worth in other people’s reactions instead of her own reflection.
And maybe that is the cruel irony of the entire show.
Belly spent the whole summer trying to figure out which boy she could not live without, while slowly losing the ability to recognize herself when nobody was looking at her at all.
“With only two candidates remaining, the event partners have agreed not to proceed,” said an email sent out Monday by the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, which was co-sponsoring the event with the League of Women Voters. The debate had been set to be televised on Fox 11 Wednesday night with Bass, Raman alongside candidates businessman Adam Miller and community activist Rae Huang.
Spencer Pratt was not planning to attend, citing a scheduling conflict.
Credit: League of Women Voters/Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs
The event, former Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is now with the Pat Brown Institute, said on social media, was scheduled to cater to the mayor’s schedule. She had originally committed to televised debate but dropped out last week, saying she would instead travel to Sacramento to lobby state officials for funding on a variety of issues including homelessness and the Palisades fire recovery. Her campaign said in a statement “it’s time to move past debates.”
Raman then canceled on Monday, with her campaign saying her main reason to attend the forum was to debate Bass.
HikingOutdoorsMount BaldyMt. WilsonSan Gabriel Mountains
The popular Sierra Madre trail has now seen two fatal incidents in two weeks as rescue crews warn that Southern California’s mountains can turn dangerous faster than many hikers expect
Southern California sells hiking as part of its lifestyle.
On any weekend, trails across the San Gabriel Mountains fill with runners, families, tourists and experienced climbers chasing panoramic views above the city. But this past weekend, another tragedy on the Mt. Wilson Trail served as a reminder that even familiar trails can become unforgiving.
A 53-year-old hiker died Saturday morning after suffering a medical emergency while hiking the Mt. Wilson Trail above Sierra Madre, according to Sierra Madre police and search and rescue officials.
The hiker was later identified as Mark Smythe, a New Zealand-born composer and chair of the Composing for Visual Media program at the Los Angeles College of Music.
Smythe was well known in Los Angeles music circles for his work in film scoring and composition, adding another deeply personal layer to a tragedy that has rippled through both the local hiking and creative communities.
Authorities said first responders arrived around 10 a.m. after receiving reports of an unresponsive hiker on the trail. Friends and nearby hikers reportedly began CPR before emergency crews reached the scene, but the man was pronounced dead on the mountain. Officials say foul play is not suspected and the cause of death remains under investigation.
His death now marks the second fatal incident on the Mt. Wilson Trail within a week, renewing conversations around the hidden risks of Southern California hiking culture.
A Dangerous Stretch of Trail
The Mt. Wilson Trail is one of the region’s most iconic hikes, stretching roughly 14 miles round trip with steep elevation gain, exposed sections and rugged terrain. While it attracts experienced hikers year-round, the trail has also developed a reputation for pushing people beyond their limits.
Just one week earlier, another hiker died after falling into a ravine near a steep fixed-rope section of the same trail. Rescue crews recovered the victim roughly 30 feet below the path after a large emergency response involving helicopters and multiple agencies.
Southern California’s mountain terrain creates a deceptive kind of danger. Trails often begin in warm suburban neighborhoods before quickly climbing into isolated terrain where temperatures shift, cell service disappears and physical exhaustion compounds rapidly. Rescue teams across Los Angeles County respond to dozens of lost or injured hiker calls every year, particularly during heat waves and holiday weekends.
Why So Many Hikers Underestimate SoCal Trails
Part of the problem is perception. Many visitors view Southern California hiking as accessible recreation rather than wilderness activity. Social media has only accelerated that mindset, turning difficult summit hikes into casual photo destinations.
But trails in the San Gabriels routinely involve sharp drop-offs, loose rock, dehydration risks and extreme exposure to heat. Mount Baldy alone has seen multiple deadly hiking incidents in recent years, including the deaths of three hikers during dangerous winter conditions earlier this year.
Medical emergencies also become harder to survive once someone is deep into a trail system. Unlike urban settings, paramedics often need extended time to reach victims while rescue crews navigate difficult terrain on foot or by helicopter.
That reality is what makes incidents like the recent Mt. Wilson deaths especially sobering. These are not remote backcountry expeditions hundreds of miles from civilization. They are heavily trafficked Southern California trails filled with everyday hikers every weekend.
And yet, within the span of two Saturdays, the same mountain route became the site of two separate fatal emergencies.
Spike only served with the Burbank Police Department for just under two years, but the mark the K9 made on the department before he was killed in the line of duty last November was a palpable one.
On Monday, Spike will be among the 23 fallen police dogs, K9 heroes, who will be honored at a ceremony recognizing slain canines killed on the job. His name will now be forever honored at the Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Spike, a Belgian Malinois, who was remembered as “an intelligent and devoted partner,” marked his end of watch just days after the department celebrated his fourth birthday last November. Burbank Police officials say he was shot dead by a documented 18th Street gang member, Jose Domingo Ayala Alas, 37. The gang member, from Palmdale, was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for having tinted windows on Nov. 22. As a patrol officer asked for identification, which neither man in the car had, Alas took off running “up a freeway onramp” with a hand on a gun.
He bolted into a residential neighborhood. Hours later, a LAPD helicopter tracked Alas via a heat sensor from above. By then, the cops had found a “satchel” with 9mm ammunition at the spot where Alas was sitting. It now became a hunt for an armed suspect, one who had a history of violent crime and deportations.
That’s where Spike came in. Alas was hiding in “dense vegetation” as Burbank Police officials ordered him to surrender before sending in Spike around 8:03 pm., according to a YouTube video released by the department. A fusillade of bullets was heard, with one hitting Spike, who was wearing a bulletproof vest. The K9 retreated to its handler, who could be heard yelling its name after the shots rang out. Police returned fire, killing Alas.
Spike will be honored Monday at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which will include a wreath-laying ceremony for each of his fellow fallen K9s.
Gemma, a California-inspired Pan-Asian dining concept led by chef Peleg Miron, is now open at the Waldorf Astoria.
Previously The Rooftop Beverly Hills and The Rooftop by JG, the revamped top-floor dining concept comes just in time for the arrival of rooftop season, inviting hotel guests and locals to enjoy both afternoons and evenings over modern interpretations of regional Asian dishes.
In the center, Maine Lobster with Singaporean curry noodlesCredit: Jakob Layman
“Gemma is a reflection of the places that shaped me across Southeast Asia, Hawaii and Southern California, where food is deeply expressive and meant to be shared,” said Miron, who has served as the property’s executive chef since 2022. “Each dish draws from those memories, with the intention of creating a sense of discovery and connection for our guests to experience something transportive yet familiar in the heart of Beverly Hills.”
Mai TaiCredit: Jakob LaymanShrimp har gowCredit: Jakob Layman
The menu spans small plates, wok-fired dishes, seafood, sushi and steak, including highlights like a tuna tostada with leeks and chipotle aioli; Maine lobster Singaporean noodles; a filet mignon stir fry with shiitake mushrooms and eggplant; and crispy rice with spicy tuna. To pair, the beverage menu offers tiki-inspired cocktails, such as the shareable Scorpion Bowl with Monkey gin and tropical flavors and raspberry lychee martini. Other libation options include rosé, sake and Coravin wines by the glass and bottle.
Scorpion BowlCredit: Jakob LaymanAhi tuna with miso truffleCredit: Jakob Layman
The transformed rooftop also features a refreshed aesthetic curated by Marc Ange, who also refined the Santa Monica stunner Muse. Assisted by picturesque views of the Santa Monica Mountains, Beverly Hills flats and Hollywood Hills, Marc Ange nourished the rooftop with inviting tones and Old-World European flourishes.
“We softened the perception of the space through layered seating, warmer tones, textured surfaces and the reinterpretation of structural elements, such as the columns, which became more sculptural and grounded. The goal was to create an atmosphere that feels more inhabited and emotionally engaging, while preserving the effortless openness that people already associated with the rooftop. It was important that the transformation felt natural as though the space had evolved rather than been replaced.”
Credit: Jakob Layman
Sage and neutral-colored seating complement a lush wall of greenery and Breccia Pontificia stone bar, while yellow floor lamps and umbrellas add a dash of vibrance.
“During the daytime, the rooftop is defined by openness and natural light,” Marc Ange said. “As the light changes, the atmosphere becomes more intimate and immersive. Shadows deepen, textures become more visible, and the custom lighting begins to define the space differently. The floor lamps create points of warmth throughout the terrace, while reflective surfaces such as the glazed tiles and the Breccia Pontificia at the bar gain more depth and intensity. The transition is intentionally gradual. Rather than creating two separate identities, the idea was for the space to evolve naturally from a panoramic daytime environment into something more cinematic and enveloping at night.”
Credit: Jakob LaymanCredit: Jakob Layman
Gemma is located at 9850 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It is open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 2:00 to 10:00 p.m with brunch is available on Saturdays and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reservations are open on OpenTable.
Sightings, hearings and happenings around town, brought to you by Engine Vision Media — behind Los Angeles, Pasadena and Orange Coast magazines and historic Downtown L.A. restaurant Engine Co. No. 28. Email your tips to jrosemberg@lamag.com.
After four years of no live performances, Canadian sensation Justin Bieber proved Coachella’s hottest ticket. Beliebers — some of whom paid $10,000-plus for wristbands— endured 10 hours of waiting for the megastar to take the main stage. His 90-minute headlining set included a Hailey Bieber shout-out, and cameos from The Kid LAROI, Dijon, Tems, Wizkid and Mk.gee. In addition to performing hits from his latest albums, Swag and Swag II, Bieber paid homage to the songs that made him famous— like “Baby” and “Beauty and a Beat” — by dueting with his younger self via YouTube video searches.
The previous night, Sabrina Carpenter headlined with a Hollywood-themed pop spectacle stacked with surprise guests like Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell and Samuel L. Jackson. However, the singer suffered a hiccup when she poked fun at what she thought was a yodeling fan. “Is this Burning Man? What’s going on? This is weird,” she said to the crowd. Later, she took to X to apologize: “My reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and not ill intended. could have handled it better! Now I know what a Zaghrouta [Arabic call] is! I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out.”
Center StageBEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 14: Tiffany Haddish attends The Daily Front Row’s 10th Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards at The Beverly Hills Hotel.Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for The Daily Front Row
Colombian singer Karol G made history as the first Latina Coachella headliner, and shared the spotlight with Becky G, Cigarettes After Sex and the all-female Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles.
Also in the desert, Paris Hilton threw a party for her Parívie beauty at the Merv Griffin Estate. When Lizzo arrived, she hit the dance floor to teach Hilton how to twerk to her own hits that played, resulting in a dance-off.
Tiffany Haddish claimed that she “doesn’t do politics” upon taking the stage at the Beverly Hills Hotel to host The Daily Front Row’s 10th Fashion Los Angeles Awards, which drew guests including Gwen Stefani, Chris Paul, Hilary Duff, Chrissy Teigen, RuPaul, Zaldy and Brooks Nader. Still, Haddish joked that she was thinking of running for president. “Our campaign motto will be: ‘America, mind you rown business!’” she quipped. “And I’ll bring back all our troops.”
Seen Around TownCarey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac Credit: Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Netflix
Three years after the show debuted, Netflix’s anthology series Beefcelebrated its second season with a premiere at the Egyptian Theatre attended by all-new cast members Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Charles Melton— plus guests Benny Blanco and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Nicole Avant, Rachel Zoe, Aurora James and Juliet de Baubigny hosted a stylish book party at Funke to fête Emma Grede’sStart With Yourself — detailing how the entrepreneur came to create fashion brands with the Kardashians and make Forbes’ list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.
LoveShackFancy founder Rebecca Hessel Cohen threw a very pink party to toast the brand’s new Sweetheart fragrance for guests, including Lori Loughlin, Bijou Phillips, Denise Richards and Nicky Hilton at the home of Kathy Hilton, who also celebrated her birthday.
Lisa Kudrow’sThe Comeback made a comeback on HBO. The meta sitcom about a Hollywood sitcom star — co-created by Michael Patrick King, and released in 2005 and 2014 —unveiled its third season at the Wallis Annenberg Center. “Canceled?” joked Kudrow. “It’s a trilogy!’”
Coupled UpRachel Sennott and Dan Levy at Max and Helen’sCredit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix
Rachel Sennott and Dan Levy, who co-created Netflix comedy Big Mistakes, had a fireside chat before friends and tastemakers at Larchmont hot spot Max & Helen’s – a venue they admittedly picked just so they’d be able to get in. “If that’s how I get the waffle, that’s how I get the waffle!” Levy said. The pair continued to get candid regarding their new show, about two siblings (Levy and Taylor Ortega) who are blackmailed into the world of organized crime.
A Utah judge has ruled cameras will remain in the courtroom in the murder case involving slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Judge Tony Graf rejected defense arguments that the media coverage and online commentary could jeopardize accused killer Tyler Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
Credit: Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP
The ruling came during a recent hearing in which Robinson’s attorneys sought to block photography and video coverage from future proceedings, arguing the case has become saturated with political commentary and viral social media content. The judge, again, ultimately denied the request, allowing continued media access as the high-profile case moves forward.
Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and several gun-related felony offenses stemming from the September 2025 killing of Kirk near Utah Valley University. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.
Kirk rose to prominence as the founder of Turning Point USA and as one of the country’s most recognizable conservative political activists.
Defense attorneys argued in court that Robinson has already been effectively convicted in the court of public opinion due to online portrayals describing him as “unremorseful” and politically motivated. Attorneys claimed televised proceedings and viral commentary could further taint the jury pool.
Several media organizations, including major national outlets, opposed the request to ban cameras, arguing the public has a strong interest in transparent court proceedings. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, also reportedly supported continued public access to the hearings.
The judge’s ruling came as the preliminary hearing was pushed back until July 6–10, 2026, after Robinson’s defense team said it needed more time to review a massive volume of evidence from prosecutors. The discovery reportedly includes approximately 200 terabytes of digital material, surveillance footage, forensic testing, DNA evidence, ballistic reports and witness interviews.
Robinson’s defense has reportedly filed concerns involving whether the bullet recovered during Kirk’s autopsy definitively matches the firearm prosecutors allege was used in the shooting. Prosecutors, however, continue to maintain they possess strong forensic and DNA evidence connecting Robinson to the weapon and the crime scene.
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