Latest news with #Angelenos'
Los Angeles Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
12 L.A. spots reinventing the classic chicken Caesar wrap
In the 1990s, chicken Caesar wraps dominated lunchtime menus. Aside from the comforting hit of nostalgia for a simpler time, I don't remember them fondly. Often soggy, laden with too much dressing and scant, dry chicken, it was the kind of unfortunate premade meal you'd eat alone at an airport cafe. So you can imagine my surprise to see the Y2K-era sandwich having a sudden renaissance at popular restaurants around Los Angeles. But this time, it's back with some much-needed upgrades: Reputed L.A. chefs and sandwich shops are finally doing the dish justice by using high-quality ingredients and adding their own signature touches — from organic fried chicken to chunks of falafel instead of croutons. While Angelenos' love affair with the Caesar salad has been ongoing since Italian chef Caesar Cardini debuted it in Tijuana in the 1920s, the inventor of the chicken Caesar wrap is a bit more mysterious. California Chicken Cafe opened in 1991 on Melrose Avenue and added a chicken Caesar wrap to its menu soon after in 1993. In 1997, fast food chain Wendy's added its take to the menu (they've since been discontinued), giving the wrap nationwide exposure. At Ggiata, an East Coast-style deli with five locations across L.A., the chicken Caesar wrap is inspired by the ones that co-founders and childhood friends Noah Holton-Raphael, Max Bahramipour and Jack Biebel grew up eating in New Jersey sandwich shops. 'Every neighborhood sandwich shop had a Caesar wrap on the menu — and if they didn't then, they definitely do now,' said Holton-Raphael. Since Ggiata launched its viral version in March 2024, the trend has picked up serious steam, inspiring iconic restaurants like Mini Kabob and Casa Vega to add the wrap to their menus. No longer an afterthought, L.A.'s chicken Caesar wraps are made to order with ingredients like herb-blackened chicken, grain-free tortillas and house-made dressing that borrows inspiration from the salad's Mexican origins. Here are 12 excellent chicken Caesar wraps (including one made with a baguette) to try around L.A. right now.
Time Out
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The Getty Center was just named one of the best museums in the U.S., and it's in good company
Six months after it reopened following the devastating wildfires, one of Angelenos' most cherished L.A. landmarks has bounced back higher than its Brentwood hilltop. WorldAtlas has just named the Getty Center one of the 12 best museums in the country, joining the ranks of NYC's The Met, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Citing its status as not only a world-class research institute and museum, but a free, immaculately designed destination offering dazzling views of Los Angeles, this outpost of the J. Paul Getty Museum – Malibu's Getty Villa being the other branch – finally gets the national recognition it deserves. Not only does it house an unmatched collection – spanning media from Medieval to Modern by van Gogh, Manet and Monet, Gentileschi, Renoir, Munch, Rembrandt, Stieglitz, Caillebotte, Degas, Fragonard, Turner and Blake – but it can only be accessed by a 15-minute tram ride that affords the Center's million-plus yearly visitors a chance to take in views of Los Angeles, and the deer frolicking below. There are also five gorgeous gardens: a street-level sculpture garden with works by modern masters Elisabeth Frink and Isamu Noguchi; two sky-high grounds with sculptures by Magritte, Calder, Miró and Hepworth; a cactus garden with panoramic views; and the Robert Irwin-designed Central Garden, bursting with manicured hedges, streams and over 500 varieties of plant life. Current exhibitions include a history of queer photography (with stunning shots of Josephine Baker, Keith Haring and the legendary Julius' Bar 'Sip-In') and an appreciation of Artemisia Gentilleschi's strong, oft-beheading women, with a 40th anniversary celebration of the forever-radical Guerilla Girls on the horizon. The $1.3 billion center opened in 1997 after a much-delayed, yearslong construction process. Pritzker-winning (now disgraced) abstract artist Richard Meier was selected to design the building's architecture, which makes brilliant use of two ridges on the Brentwood hilltop on which it sits. Aside from its public-friendly museum, the Center also houses the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Trust. (If the name Getty sounds familiar, look up virtually any famous image and look for the watermark.)
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Skelton: The gift Trump never meant to give: the spotlight to Democratic adversary Gavin Newsom
President Trump craves attention and will stoop to any depth to grab it — even pour gasoline on a kindling fire in Los Angeles. But this time he unwittingly provided priceless attention for an adversary. Because Trump needlessly deployed National Guard troops and — more ridiculous, a Marine battalion to L.A. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom was granted a prime-time speaking slot on national cable television to respond. 'We honor their service. We honor their bravery,' Newsom said of the troops. 'But we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere … . 'California may be first — but it clearly won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. The moment we've feared has arrived.' I'm not sure the 'democracy is under assault' message has much traction, but keeping armed combat forces off our streets must be a salable pitch. Read more: Newsom, in California address, says Trump purposely 'fanned the flames' of L.A. protests Regardless, governors almost never get national TV time to deliver entire speeches, even as brief as Newsom's. You've practically got to be nominated for president. But the publicity-thirsty sitting president provided the cameras for California's governor. Newsom's strong address probably boosted his stock within the Democrat Party and revived dormant speculation about a 2028 presidential bid. No longer was the Democratic governor playing respectful nice guy and tempering criticism of the Republican president. Now he was standing up to the bully who loves to use California, Newsom and our progressive politics as a punching bag. Trump's red-state supporters love every swipe at this 'left coast' state. Newsom rose to the occasion, using his greatest asset: invaluable communication skills coupled with telegenic looks. He laid out his version of what happened to turn relatively peaceful protests against federal immigration raids into destructive street violence. And it's the correct version by objective accounts. On Saturday, Newsom said, federal immigration agents 'jumped out of an unmarked van' near a Home Depot parking lot and 'began grabbing people. A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb … . In response, everyday Angelenos' exercised their constitutional right to protest. Police were dispatched to keep the peace and mostly were successful, the governor continued. But then tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades were used — by federal agents, Newsom implied. Then Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops 'illegally and for no reason,' the governor asserted. Read more: L.A. immigration raids draw California Gov. Gavin Newsom back into the fight with Trump 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation … . Anxiety for families and friends ramped up. Protests started again … . Several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive.' Newsom warned: 'That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated. Full stop.' And hundreds have been arrested. But he emphasized: 'This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that's not what Donald Trump wanted … . He chose theatrics over public safety.' In Trump's twisted view, if he hadn't sent in the National Guard, 'Los Angeles would be completely obliterated.' Never mind that the violence was confined to a few downtown blocks, a fraction of a city that spreads over 500 square miles. 'We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free and clean again,' the president promised. Veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy had it right, telling CNN: 'He's lighting the fire as an arsonist, then claiming to be the fireman.' It reminded me of President Lyndon B. Johnson's manufactured Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964 that Congress passed, enabling him to vastly escalate U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson reported a North Vietnamese attack on U.S. destroyers that many experts later concluded never happened. But I think Trump mainly is obsessed with attracting attention. He knows he'll get it by being provocative. Never mind the accuracy of his words or the wisdom of his actions. Sending in the Marines certainly was an eye-opener. So is staging a military parade on his birthday — an abuse of troops for attention, personal glorification and exercise of his own power. He'll say anything provocative without thinking it through: Tariffs one day, suspended the next. He'll boast of sending San Joaquin Valley water to L.A. for fighting fires when it's physically impossible to deliver it. While Trump was playing politics with immigrants and L.A. turmoil, a poll finding was released that should have pleased him. Californians no longer support providing public healthcare for immigrants living here illegally, the independent Public Policy Institute of California reported. Adult state residents were opposed by 58% to 41% in a survey taken before the L.A. trouble erupted. By contrast, a PPIC poll in 2021 found that Californians favored providing state healthcare for undocumented immigrants by 66% to 31%. Read more: Chabria: Newsom's 'Democracy is under assault' speech could turn the tables on Trump Polling director Mark Baldassare concluded the public opposition stems mostly from the view that California taxpayers can't afford the costly program — not that they agree with Trump's anti-immigrant demagoguery. In fact, Newson has proposed paring back the state's multibillion-dollar program of providing Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants because the state budget has been spewing red ink. Given all the rhetoric about the L.A. protests, the statement that particularly impressed me came from freshman Assemblyman Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), whose downtown district stretches from Koreatown to Chinatown. 'Rocks thrown at officers, CHP cars and Waymo vehicles set on fire, arson on the 101 freeway — have nothing to do with immigration, justice or the values of our communities,' he said in a statement Sunday. 'These are not protesters — they were agitators. Their actions are reckless, dangerous and playing into exactly what Trump wants.' Gonzalez is a liberal former chairman of the L.A. County Democratic Party who stuck to his point: Hoodlums can't be tolerated. And, thanks to Trump, Newsom was able to make a similar point about the president on national TV: His dangerous, self-serving actions can't be tolerated either. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
The gift Trump never meant to give: the spotlight to Democratic adversary Gavin Newsom
SACRAMENTO — President Trump craves attention and will stoop to any depth to grab it — even pour gasoline on a kindling fire in Los Angeles. But this time he unwittingly provided priceless attention for an adversary. Because Trump needlessly deployed National Guard troops and — more ridiculous, a Marine battalion to L.A. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom was granted a prime-time speaking slot on national cable television to respond. 'We honor their service. We honor their bravery,' Newsom said of the troops. 'But we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere … . 'California may be first — but it clearly won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. The moment we've feared has arrived.' I'm not sure the 'democracy is under assault' message has much traction, but keeping armed combat forces off our streets must be a salable pitch. Regardless, governors almost never get national TV time to deliver entire speeches, even as brief as Newsom's. You've practically got to be nominated for president. But the publicity-thirsty sitting president provided the cameras for California's governor. Newsom's strong address probably boosted his stock within the Democrat Party and revived dormant speculation about a 2028 presidential bid. No longer was the Democratic governor playing respectful nice guy and tempering criticism of the Republican president. Now he was standing up to the bully who loves to use California, Newsom and our progressive politics as a punching bag. Trump's red-state supporters love every swipe at this 'left coast' state. Newsom rose to the occasion, using his greatest asset: invaluable communication skills coupled with telegenic looks. He laid out his version of what happened to turn relatively peaceful protests against federal immigration raids into destructive street violence. And it's the correct version by objective accounts. On Saturday, Newsom said, federal immigration agents 'jumped out of an unmarked van' near a Home Depot parking lot and 'began grabbing people. A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb … . In response, everyday Angelenos' exercised their constitutional right to protest. Police were dispatched to keep the peace and mostly were successful, the governor continued. But then tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades were used — by federal agents, Newsom implied. Then Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops 'illegally and for no reason,' the governor asserted. 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation … . Anxiety for families and friends ramped up. Protests started again … . Several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive.' Newsom warned: 'That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated. Full stop.' And hundreds have been arrested. But he emphasized: 'This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that's not what Donald Trump wanted … . He chose theatrics over public safety.' In Trump's twisted view, if he hadn't sent in the National Guard, 'Los Angeles would be completely obliterated.' Never mind that the violence was confined to a few downtown blocks, a fraction of a city that spreads over 500 square miles. 'We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free and clean again,' the president promised. Veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy had it right, telling CNN: 'He's lighting the fire as an arsonist, then claiming to be the fireman.' It reminded me of President Lyndon B. Johnson's manufactured Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964 that Congress passed, enabling him to vastly escalate U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson reported a North Vietnamese attack on U.S. destroyers that many experts later concluded never happened. But I think Trump mainly is obsessed with attracting attention. He knows he'll get it by being provocative. Never mind the accuracy of his words or the wisdom of his actions. Sending in the Marines certainly was an eye-opener. So is staging a military parade on his birthday — an abuse of troops for attention, personal glorification and exercise of his own power. He'll say anything provocative without thinking it through: Tariffs one day, suspended the next. He'll boast of sending San Joaquin Valley water to L.A. for fighting fires when it's physically impossible to deliver it. While Trump was playing politics with immigrants and L.A. turmoil, a poll finding was released that should have pleased him. Californians no longer support providing public healthcare for immigrants living here illegally, the independent Public Policy Institute of California reported. Adult state residents were opposed by 58% to 41% in a survey taken before the L.A. trouble erupted. By contrast, a PPIC poll in 2021 found that Californians favored providing state healthcare for undocumented immigrants by 66% to 31%. Polling director Mark Baldassare concluded the public opposition stems mostly from the view that California taxpayers can't afford the costly program — not that they agree with Trump's anti-immigrant demagoguery. In fact, Newson has proposed paring back the state's multibillion-dollar program of providing Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants because the state budget has been spewing red ink. Given all the rhetoric about the L.A. protests, the statement that particularly impressed me came from freshman Assemblyman Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), whose downtown district stretches from Koreatown to Chinatown. 'Rocks thrown at officers, CHP cars and Waymo vehicles set on fire, arson on the 101 freeway — have nothing to do with immigration, justice or the values of our communities,' he said in a statement Sunday. 'These are not protesters — they were agitators. Their actions are reckless, dangerous and playing into exactly what Trump wants.' Gonzalez is a liberal former chairman of the L.A. County Democratic Party who stuck to his point: Hoodlums can't be tolerated. And, thanks to Trump, Newsom was able to make a similar point about the president on national TV: His dangerous, self-serving actions can't be tolerated either.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
'Beyond comprehension'; Chainsawed trees in downtown L.A. hint at city core's decline
Downtown Los Angeles has seen more than its share of indignity over the last few years. The pandemic sent office vacancy rates rising as masses of in-person workers stayed home, and, in turn, many restaurants and businesses shuttered. Homelessness soared amid interconnected economic, mental health and drug crises. And though downtown has since seen some development, a looming sense of disarray and decline lingers. After the 6th Street Viaduct was triumphantly unveiled, its hype quickly gave way to unruly street takeovers and copper thieves wire-stripping its lighting. Even as the skyline expanded, Angelenos' attention fell on two skyscrapers that taggers had almost entirely covered in graffiti. Which is why this weekend's shocking act of vandalism that took out six of the city's mature trees felt all the more disheartening. 'This has struck a chord," said Cassy Horton, a 37-year-old downtown resident. "It just really like flies in the face of everything that we're trying to do [to revitalize] the community, and for somebody to go around ... and set back what little progress we already have ... was really, really upsetting and hurtful." Read more: Vandals chainsaw dozens of trees across downtown L.A. Along with safety, she said, green space has been one of the top concerns of the almost 100,000 people who live downtown, so the attack on some of the area's few trees particularly angered people. "It's kind of an 'Enough is enough,'" said Horton, who serves on the board of directors of the Downtown Los Angeles Residents Assn., which advocates for more than 2,300 residents and community stakeholders. "A lot of the issues that we face when we're talking about homelessness and mental health and open-air drug use and all of these things — they feel really thorny and complicated. ... But something like this, it's become a bit of a rallying cry for people downtown. We want to have a warm, welcoming, safe public realm." Many of the downed trees were discovered Saturday morning, when images of the sawed trunks and their massive, felled branches lit up online message boards and went viral on social media. On Wednesday, the LAPD announced the arrest of Samuel Patrick Groft, 45, on suspicion of felony vandalism. Investigators say they linked the suspect to 13 downed trees in five locations across the city, and tips about additional trees continue to come. Groft was reportedly captured on surveillance footage using an electric chainsaw to cut down the trees on several different days, at several different times for more than a week. The earliest confirmed date was April 13. StreetsLA, the city bureau responsible for maintaining streets and the urban forest, said its teams confirmed a total of six trees vandalized downtown this past weekend: three ficus, two sycamore and one Chinese elm, according to a statement from bureau director Dan Halden. These large shade trees, many along South Grand Avenue, were severed at the base or cut several feet above the pavement. He didn't immediately respond to questions about trees that were cut in other parts of L.A. The StreetsLA team "quickly responded and cleared the debris from all six locations," Halden said. He said they were still evaluating the total cost of the damage and of potential replacements. For many, this blatant act of disrespect represents the latest failure by city officials to keep downtown from further deterioration, and underscores a gnawing feeling that the heart of Los Angeles has fallen by the wayside. 'It's indicative of the lack of regard,' said John Sischo, a longtime developer downtown. 'It's because no one is really caring. ... This stuff happens when there's not enough people." Sischo said it's hard to get people and businesses to return to the area when there are real and perceived safety concerns that remain unaddressed. A turnaround requires addressing homelessness through an engaged and proactive government that works cooperatively with business and local leaders, he said. He hasn't seen that yet. Read more: In Altadena, a fight to save the trees that survived the fire In many ways, Paul Kaufman, a small business owner downtown, agrees. 'There are some areas of progress, but it seems very halting," Kaufman said, who loves the area and believes it deserves better. "Something seems really great and then it withers. .... The real thing to make downtown work and feel safer is to have more people there." Downtown offices remain about one-third vacant, according to real estate brokerage CBRE, with the pandemic's effects still looming large. Crime rates in the area appear to be relatively stable over the last few months, according to available data from LAPD's Central Division, which covers all of downtown. (However, it's hard to comprehensively evaluate how much crime has changed over the last few years, as the LAPD recently overhauled how it records such statistics.) But there have been areas of progress and resilience: Apartments downtown have remained relatively full. New restaurants are opening, Metro's regional connector is up and running, and several new high-end retail and hotel spaces have debuted. Plus, plans to revitalize the L.A. Convention Center and gear up for the the 2028 Olympics promise a wave of investment in downtown. And perhaps that's why this violent assault on the community's trees "really struck a nerve," said Nick Griffin, the executive vice president of the DTLA Alliance, formerly the Downtown Center Improvement District. "In the downtown L.A. community, we are working to bring downtown back and [are] particularly focused on improving the public realm — this just seemed like such a senseless attack on that," Griffin said. 'It just seems so absurdly senseless." But he and other area organizers are hopeful the concern about the trees — and what it means about the state of downtown living — could inspire renewed action, investment and hope. 'In some ways, one of the key things that we're focused on is building the community and coalitions that it takes to revitalize a place like downtown," Griffin said. "There's no one silver bullet and there's no one organization that can do it.' Ricardo Sebastián, an entrepreneur who lives and works downtown, has been trying to change the perception of the neighborhood through social media and marketing campaigns — but unfortunately, it feels like this incident could hurt those efforts. 'This actually perpetuates the stereotype that downtown is dirty, filthy, unsafe," Sebastián said. 'We can paint and we can prime and we can build out storefronts and bring in really interesting businesses. ... But if we have people coming into town wielding chainsaws or defacing [buildings] .... we have to work that much harder." For some, that's the plan. Horton and other board members from the residents group have called for immediate action from city officials, both to replace the trees and to hold the perpetrator to account — in an effort to help "shift the anti-social, chaotic trajectory of our neighborhood," the group wrote in a letter to city officials. The group said it looked forward to working with officials, notably Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents downtown, to ensure that "the loss of these trees signals the beginning of the end of the ongoing corrosion of DTLA's public realm." "We need champions; we need folks in L.A. to care about downtown and to see it as the heart of our city," Horton said. "It's where we convene, it's where we protest, it's where we go out. ... We're starting to see some of our elected leaders step up and support us, but our challenges are acute." Read more: Former L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León faces ethics fine for voting on issues in which he had a financial stake In a public statement, Jurado's office said her team was in "close communication" with the LAPD about its ongoing investigation, and that she had brought forward a motion that would increase penalties in the municipal code for tree injury violations, in hopes of deterring future incidents. The statement thanked the community for bringing the issue to officials' attention, saying "this is exactly what co-governance in action looks like. Stay tuned for updates." The office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement calling the act "beyond comprehension." "City public works crews are assessing the damage and we will be making plans to quickly replace these damaged trees," Bass' spokesperson Zach Seidl said in a statement. "Those responsible must be held accountable." But some didn't see this incident as a sign of larger issues downtown, though there's a clear environmental loss with losing any tree: They provide shade, stormwater and pollution management and habitats for birds and other small animals. Urban trees have also been found to slow the deterioration of streets and reduce crime. "It's a huge hit," said Lee Coffee, who lives and works in downtown L.A., mostly lamenting the loss of shade. But he called the whole ordeal "kind of random." "The cleanup was really fast," Coffee said. 'I haven't noticed any other events like this." Times staff writers Roger Vincent and Clara Harter contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
