News from L.A. and around the world ??☀️
Today there is about 4.5 million square feet of co-working space in L.A. About half of that belongs to WeWork, but new competitors are aggressively carving out niches of their own. Marisa Diaz and Daria Tsvenger work at a shared table at the newly opened Wing Los Angeles. The Wing is a co-working office set up specifically to support women. Co-working offices were once mostly shared by people who are self-employed, but their appeal is rapidly broadening to a wider swath of mainline companies looking for the flexibility to ramp up or wind down operations as quickly as situations demand. ?: @ccole_photo
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West Hollywood, California
Hundreds of residents packed a church hall a few weeks ago to hear community leaders rail against a new logistics center planned for the town’s airport. The $200-million air cargo facility could eventually generate some 3,800 jobs, garnering $6.5 million a year in revenue. But what kind of jobs, residents wanted to know — low-paid part-time jobs with no benefits? And what about pollution? Community leaders argue that the new facilities should come with guarantees of well-paying, stable jobs and measures limiting air pollution. ?: @dania_maxwell
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San Bernardino, California
Doris Day, a leading box office star of the mid-20th century who achieved indelible fame in big-screen bedroom farces and put a sunny face on the working woman in postwar America, has died. She was 97. A former big-band singer and recording star who walked away from Hollywood in the early 1970s, Day had spent most of the last years in her beloved Carmel, where she was an outspoken animal rights activist. From 1948 to 1968, Day appeared in 39 films, most often as the wholesome girl-next-door. When the light musicals she was originally known for began falling out of fashion in the late 1950s, she modernized herself by playing working women in romantic comedies. The transformation was box office gold. Day’s body of work shows “how much of an icon she was, how much she became in her own way, the female equivalent of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood,” Times film critic Kenneth Turan once wrote. ?: Bruce Cox
1千12
Los Angeles, California
Comfort Town is a 115-acre housing development that has taken shape in a drab, Soviet-era district of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Comfort Town looms over the landscape like some giant Lego set in the brightest imaginable hues: screaming yellows, bright lime greens, blues and oranges and deep brick reds — all rising into the sky. It began when a team of architects charged with building a housing development decided to make it to stand apart from the Soviet-era housing surrounding it. They wanted to build a place that might lift residents’ spirits rather than crush them. ?: @alexeyfurman
2千26
The International Olympic Committee has recognized “breaking” as a high-level competitive sport with a network of contests held worldwide. Earlier this year, organizers of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris proposed adding it to their program, citing an “unmissable opportunity” to attract young fans. ?: Claire Hannah Collins
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Los Angeles has become a hotbed of Nashville hot chicken. In the last three years, more than two dozen #hotchicken restaurants, pop-ups and food trucks have opened in and around the city. But somehow, getting lost in the whirlwind success of hot chicken, is Kim Prince who runs @hotvillechicken, a hot chicken pop-up. She’s still struggling to get her hot chicken business off the ground, despite being the only one with any ties to the family that started it all, and one of the few African Americans making hot chicken in Los Angeles. She’s also the person making chicken that most resembles the stuff you’ll actually find in Nashville. Follow @latimesfood for more food coverage, and visit the link in our bio to read more. ?: @mariahtauger
3千119
Just days before Uber began trading in one of the tech world’s most anticipated initial public offerings, Uber drivers in 10 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, staged strikes over what they described as unfair pay and a lack of transparency. Drivers in Los Angeles participated in a 24-hour strike and picket line at Los Angeles International Airport. ?: @genaro4707
3千135
Westchester, Los Angeles
When “The Rap of China” launched in 2017, it pushed underground Chinese rap music into the mainstream. Now, producers are turning to L.A. and other cities to find fresh talent. The show provides a large platform for rap artists to showcase their work but in return, artists have been careful about what they talk about in their lyrics. Contestants have been increasingly fearful of offending government censors in China. But some are willing to accept the content limitations. “If you want to be in this show, you have to obey the rules,” contestant Xingyu Li explains. ?: @ccole_photo
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Downtown Los Angeles
More than 200 workers at Riot Games walked out of the video game developer’s Los Angeles headquarters to protest the company’s handling of two sexual discrimination lawsuits. This action, the first of its kind in the video game industry, comes amid a surge in tech worker activism and a growing interest in unionization among game developers. ?: @dania_maxwell
1千22
Los Angeles, California
On May 7, 1952, Los Angeles residents welcomed two dawns. The first occurred at 5:15 a.m. — a flash from a Nevada nuclear device test. Forty-three minutes later, the real dawn arrived. This photo was taken from a balcony at the former Los Angeles Times building in downtown L.A. and published in the May 8, 1952 edition. The light ray from atop City Hall is from the Lindbergh Beacon. #tbt
2千12
Downtown Los Angeles
Verlon Jose, vice chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, talks with visitors along the 75-mile border between the Tohono O’odham reservation and Mexico. In March, the Tohono O’odham tribal council unanimously approved 10 Border Control towers, with radar and night vision cameras capable of streaming footage to Border Patrol. Tribal leaders believe the towers could end up reducing Border Patrol’s presence on their land, but some younger members fear their elders have sacrificed their hard-won sovereignty. At this point, it remains unclear whether the Border Patrol towers will benefit the tribe, or lead to more enforcement. ?: @luissinco
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Tohono O’odham Nation
Former Vice President @joebidenmade his first visit to Los Angeles since joining the 2020 presidential race. He attended two high-dollar fundraisers and made a public appearance with Los Angeles Mayor @ericgarcetti.?: @robgauthier
3千147
Los Angeles, California
In 2017, Shamim Darchini had recently become a U.S. citizen, and she believed her husband’s visa application, which had been pending for two years, would soon be approved. The plan was for him to leave their native Iran and join her in California, where she was a college student. She knew that the Trump administration was trying to implement a travel ban that included Iran, but she was assured that close family members were exempt. More than a year and a half later, their application is still in “administrative processing.” That is all immigration officials will tell them. Discussions of Trump’s travel ban tend to focus on the foreign nationals who have been denied entry. But thousands of U.S. citizens have also had their lives upended. ?: Ramin Mostaghim
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On paper, it’s known as Rainbow Canyon, thanks to walls bathed in shades of gray, orange and red. The Air Force refers to it as the “Jedi Transition,” but almost everyone else refers to it as “Star Wars Canyon.” On the western edge of Death Valley National Park, the canyon, more than 5 miles long and up to 5,000 feet wide, is home to a fellowship of military veterans, aviation enthusiasts and photographers. They gather there for a glimpse of the all-metal birds that randomly streak across the sky — and the Air Force and Navy pilots that maneuver them. ?: @pixtakerirfan
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A request to drill for lithium near Death Valley National Park has alarmed environmentalists, who say mining the metal is unacceptable, even if it is an essential ingredient in the production of zero-emission electric vehicles. The brewing war over lithium mining poses a moral dilemma as it seemingly pits them against efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as rechargeable lithium-ion batteries allow vehicles to run on power generated by wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams and other clean-energy sources. ?: @alseib
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Cornelia Jeyi is shown on her way to the Freedom Day celebrations in Makhanda, the city South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, part of the ruling African National Congress, visited on Freedom Day. The municipality is one of South Africa’s worst managed, and its decline mirrors the challenges facing South Africa’s young democracy. Many residents are direly poor, with garbage piling up, dirty drinking water and roads full of potholes. Millions of South Africans will vote in national elections on May 8, and in places like Makhanda, the ANC’s attempts to convince voters it is in the midst of a renewal may be too late, even for lifelong supporters. ?: @jamesoatway
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Beginning this Wednesday, @lafoodbowl’s Night Market will take over @grandpark_la for five days w/ L.A.’s best food carts, vendors, trucks, pop-up dinners and drinks! More info at lafoodbowl.com
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As queues for pop-star stadium shows go, they were orderly and patient. But from the moment the trees parted on the way into Pasadena’s Rose Bowl on Saturday night, and the building-sized banners for K-pop conquerors @bts.bighitofficialemerged, the crowds waiting outside were staggering. An estimated 52,000 fans — from preteens to bemused dads, many Asian American but also Latino, black and white — wound along the Rose Bowl grass. Some had camped out for days to save their spots. In a few hours, BTS would play the first of its two largest shows in America to date, a crowning achievement for a band that sings primarily in its native language. For the genre, it’s a commercial peak that’s been a decade in the making. ?: @robmgg
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Mai Han is an outsider in Hong Kong, where many locals resent mainland Chinese. She and her daughter Alice live off Alice’s welfare because Han is ineligible for working rights. Divorced from her Hong Kong husband before getting residency, she’s waiting to get a one-way permit, which allows people from mainland China to move to Hong Kong through family reunion. In March, lawmaker Gary Fan proposed that Hong Kong cut the number of one-way permits in half and require applicants to show they can support themselves financially. Some mainland women, like Han, have protested, asking for an increase in the number of one-way permits so that they can work for their livelihoods and live permanently with their families in Hong Kong. ?: @suzanneleephoto
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Rodeo Road became Obama Boulevard today in the heart of L.A’.s Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw neighborhood. For community members who have lived, organized and followed Obama’s career, the name change is both a tribute to the 44th president’s legacy and a reminder of what’s possible. ?: Carolyn Cole
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Today horse racing fans flock to Churchill Downs for the 145th running of the #KentuckyDerby.But little attention is paid to the groundbreaking role of African Americans in the horse racing industry. Of the first 28 winning jockeys of the #Derby, 15 were black men. Some of these men are laid to rest at African Cemetery No. 2 in Lexington, Ky., located off a quiet two-lane road lined by towering oak trees. Leon Nichols, a Lexington native, works to preserve some of this history. #? ?: @robgauthier
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Dozens of downtown residents went to Los Angeles City Hall to demand more foot patrols in their neighborhoods, saying they are frustrated by the number of assaults, open-air drug sales and incidents of harassment outside their homes. Several said downtown has become increasingly unsafe. “I don’t think downtown Los Angeles is getting less safe,” Police Chief Michel Moore told The Times. “I think that downtown Los Angeles, like much of the rest of the city, is in one of the safest times in its existence. However, there are still challenges … relative to homelessness, relative to street crime.” ?: David Zahniser
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Join #latimes photographers tonight at 7:30 p.m. at @photoville as they discuss the challenges of covering the West Coast. The event is free and open to the public, and no RSVP is required. ?: @ginaferazzi
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On September 24, 1932, Hollywood movie studios sponsored the Electrical Parade and Sports Pageant at the Memorial Coliseum. After several speeches, a slew of celebrities, a polo game and marching bands, the floats entered the Coliseum. The first was the “Spirit of Hollywood.” About 20 floats participated in the parade and guest of honor was presidential candidate Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York. #tbt
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County officials say L.A. County is the nation’s toughest to count because of its high concentrations of renters, homeless people and immigrant communities. Carolyn Cole took this photo community leaders from Mexico, Oaxaca, Guatemala, El Salvador as they plan for the L.A. census count. Catch Carolyn and other L.A. Times photographers at @photoville on Friday at 7:30 p.m. as they discuss the challenges of covering the West Coast on multiple fronts.
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Tucked off a quiet two-lane road in Lexington, you’ll find African Cemetery No. 2, the burial site of many of Kentucky’s first — yet least remembered — jockeys and horse trainers. Little attention is paid to the critical role black equestrians played in forming the horse racing industry. In the years after the Civil War, most horse trainers and grooms were black men — so, too, were jockeys. Pictured is the headstone of Cassius Clay Tankersly, a young African American jockey who was killed while racing at Latonia in 1886. ?: @robgauthier
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Clarisa and Zack Corber live in Topeka with their three children. Both parents, who are 33, dream of moving the family out of the cramped, 1,000-square-foot house they rent in a crime-plagued neighborhood. The Corbers, like millions of working Americans with job-based health insurance, are swamped by medical debt—nearly $15,000 at this point—racked up despite the fact the family has been covered. In this special Times project, our reporter Noam Levey looks into skyrocketing health insurance deductibles and how they have transformed job-based health insurance over the last decade, forcing many to take on staggering bills and to cut back on essentials such as food and housing. ?: Nick Krug
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Former First Lady @michelleobama took the stage at @ucla on Wednesday to urge students to reach higher by going to college, getting career training or joining the military. It was the first time she celebrated her initiative, College Signing Day, on the West Coast. ?: @alseib
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Every Thursday in Long Beach, a group of transgender Latinas gather to swap gossip, confide secrets and talk about past traumas. The meetings provide a needed refuge — a once-a-week respite from the stares of strangers and the heaviness of hyper-vigilance. We asked the women: What does this group mean to you and why is it important? Swipe left to see their answers. ?: Carolyn Cole
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The world is in this bookstore’s rows, in poetry and prose, in the writings of James Boswell, in the celestial flare of sci-fi covers. David Benesty, the manager of Sam: Johnson’s Bookshop in Mar Vista, knows the bindings, spines and pages of them all. But things change. Buildings get sold. Rents rise. Benesty has been selling rare and used books here for decades, but the owner has put the building on the market and the shop is set to close by May’s end. When a piece of a community succumbs to the weight of change, irreplaceable characters and singular moments that drifted through and defined the lives of countless Angelenos vanish against the desires and fascinations of new times. It is a curious and cruel evolution. The only thing sacred is change. This week’s Column One tells the story of the final change and chapter in the life of Sam: Johnson’s Bookshop. ?: @myung_chun
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On the afternoon of April 29, 1992, a jury in Ventura County acquitted four LAPD officers of beating Rodney G. King. The incident, caught on amateur videotape, had sparked national debate about police brutality and racial injustice. The verdict stunned Los Angeles, and the riots that followed lasted for five days. More than 60 people lost their lives amid the looting and fires that ravaged the city. 25 years later, we take a look back at images from the Los Angeles riots. ?: Kirk McCoy, Gary Friedman, J. Albert Diaz, and Rosemary Kaul
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The gymnastics season for UCLA ended a week ago, with a third-place finish at the NCAA championships in Fort Worth. It wasn’t the result the Bruins were hoping for as they sent coach Valorie Kondos Field into retirement, but it’s hard to think of the team’s season as anything but a success. Our photographer @WallySkalij spent hours following the UCLA women’s gymnastics team as they rounded out their 2019 season.
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