Greater LA

After a record-breaking rainy season, LA’s hills are blanketed in fresh, green foliage. That’s great news for local foragers who spend their free time harvesting edible plants. A local designer, a clothing line using dyes from plants, and an environmental group are collaborating to make clothes using these invasive plants. Festive and messy jacaranda trees are usually blooming this year. But it’s...

Last year, the state approved hundreds of millions of federal dollars to help child care providers through the pandemic. Eight months later, most payments haven't arrived. Set in California and Florida, TC Boyle’s latest novel “Blue Skies” finds humor plus hope in the climate change crisis. As the WGA strike continues, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit is distributing grocery gift cards to writers wh...

Catalytic converter thefts more than tripled in LA County last year, and some victims are replacing the $3,000 car part just to have it stolen again. So Yun Um’s new documentary “ Liquor Store Dreams ” explores her upbringing in and around her family’s Hawthorne business, plus her complicated relationship with her immigrant parents. The Nickel Diner opened in 2008 in its “Skid Row adjacent” Downto...

LA boasts the largest population of Iranian immigrants in the world. Learn how they’ve shaped the area’s landscapes and neighborhoods with a new car tour. LA City Council members on Thursday committed an unprecedented $1.3 billion to the homelessness crisis. Is that enough to make a visible dent? Rep. Katie Porter’s bid for Senate is adding drama in California’s 47th district, with OC Democrats sc...

After more than two weeks of striking, film/TV writers and their supporters are finding new ways to keep up the energy at the picket lines. WGA West Vice President Michele Mulroney says they’re prepared for a lengthy strike to meet “desperately” needed goals. More labor unrest could be on the horizon in Hollywood, as actors and directors ramp up their own negotiations.

Kids are carrying on the tradition at the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Artist Sarah Rosalena’s new show “Standard Candle” focuses on women’s uncredited work that explores the cosmos and Native American traditions. Joshua Tree resident Andrea Zittel has crafted personal uniforms for herself since the early 1990s. A new exhibit at the Regen Pr...

Scientists and fly-fishers work to return the endangered Southern California steelhead to its native waters in Malibu Creek by removing invasive fish and an obsolete dam. USC goes all in on artificial intelligence with a $1 billion “ Frontiers of Computing ” initiative, which focuses on computer science literacy and ethics. A tiny hillside farm in Lincoln Heights is using regenerative farming prac...

Prop HHH, the LA voter-approved $1.2 billion homeless housing bond measure, has been slow and costly. But six years in, thousands of units are finally opening. In East West Players’ “On This Side of the World,” theater-goers hear stories of Filipinos immigrating to America. An OC public defender is alleging that deputies used the same drugs as evidence in two separate intent-to-sell cases for men...

Asian American artists in LA are working to break apart the “Asian American monolith” by telling more nuanced stories and experimenting with form. LA-based Native American theater creators are also having a moment. Larissa FastHorse and DeLannaStudi talk about what this means and why it took so long.

Feeling lonely is normal. It’s also a sign you’re looking for community. Here’s a list of practical suggestions for making friends in LA. Americana artist Doug Levitt has traveled over 120,000 Greyhound bus miles, turning stories he’s heard into songs for his album “Edge of Everywhere.” Dozens and dozens of kites will take flight over downtown LA’s State Historic Park this weekend as the People’s...

Part restaurant, part in-your-face comedy show, Hollywood pop-up Karen’s Diner is where staff scream at you. Terrible service is actually a selling point here. “Romeo and Juliet Suite” hits the stage and the screen this week in Benjamin Millepied’s multimedia production of the timeless love story. 826 LA mentors guide kids through the process of telling and publishing their own stories.

Residents in southern LA County face increased asthma and cancer risk. One state legislator is trying to bring them relief by closing air pollution loopholes. Workers in LA’s massive fashion district fought to rewrite a new community plan that will shape the development of downtown LA for decades. Orange County drivers who shuttle people with disabilities around the region have walked off the job...

For many years, Californians have converged on Manzanar to remember the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated there during World War II. A new community science project from NASA and UCLA is teaching the public to listen to and identify the sounds of “space weather.” Young Storytellers teach and mentor students in LA and beyond in the art of storytelling, bringing the tales of kids in underserv...

The dating app Snack helps its users cut through the small talk by employing artificial intelligence to have conversations with their matches for them. After 152 years, Calle de los Negros – site of the most lethal act of racial violence in LA history – will finally get the memorial it deserves. Artist Coady Brown’s new show “Rabid Heart” at Shulamit Nazarin Gallery focuses on deeply saturated, so...

In John Wray’s new novel “Gone to the Wolves,” the characters travel from Florida swamps to the 1980s Sunset Strip to Norway –– all in the name of metal. More than 11,000 film and TV writers hit the picket lines today to demand higher pay, better working conditions, and more. KCRW hears from a set dresser, plus a stunt driver and actor. Some 71,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021, acco...

LA County, the epicenter of the state’s mental health crisis, is rushing to be one of the first with a CARE Court that could require treatment for mental illness. California is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis that has been decades in the making. KCRW takes a look at how we got here and whether there’s a remedy.

From kelp farming to underwater robots, Los Angeles is becoming the Silicon Valley of the sea. For people experiencing homelessness, it can be tough to stay in touch with friends and family. The nonprofit Miracle Messages aims to make it easier. Tracy Ann of KnowRealityPie is the winningest pie maker ever at KCRW’s Good Food Pie Fest. And it all began with trying to recreate her mom’s recipes.

As more restaurants ask for tips and service fees, it can be hard to know where gratuity really counts. KCRW offers your go-to guide. The City of LA is writing new rules to keep pandemic-era outdoor dining going strong. But restaurants say they’re still too strict and expensive. 

The City Nature Challenge began as a friendly rivalry between LA and San Francisco. Now millions of people globally are helping biologists by taking photos of their local plants and animals. Local governments must provide green bins for California residents. What to put in there, how to keep the waste from getting gross? KCRW answers your questions. Downtown LA’s Grand Central Market has remained...

SoCal has long been home to Armenian Americans, but now more of them are migrating in the other direction to build stronger ties to their heritage in Armenia. The Hillside Villa apartments in Chinatown were under a city covenant to provide housing for decades. That covenant has expired and tenants are fighting for a way to stay. A 700-foot section of train tracks in San Clemente is still vulnerabl...

Shodekeh Talifero is a beatboxer, composer, and “breath artist.” Before he hits the Broad Stage this weekend, he’s teaching Santa Monica College students about breath and movement. Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan died this week. The businessman-turned-politician led LA after the Rodney King uprisings and through the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

LA’s community land trusts aim to keep housing affordable by letting residents own the buildings they live in. They’re also a radical experiment in living cooperatively. LA County’s mental health hotline is 988, but long wait times and bureaucratic rigmarole have hobbled the program, leaving many without help when they need it most.  The LA Times Festival of Books is returning for its 27th year of...

A group of doulas with the Los Angeles Abortion Support Collective are organizing to protect abortion access as states respond to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Queen Mary has stayed afloat for almost 90 years. After a multimillion dollar renovation, it’s now open to the public again. What keeps people coming back? And what does it take to stay in business? 

“ Trejo’s Cantina ” features stories about Danny Trejo’s time on the streets, in prison, and on film sets — plus recipes for non-alcoholic drinks and “Fight Night Nachos.” The California Air Resources Board keeps car companies honest by checking whether vehicles’ pollution levels are as low as reported — at a new emissions lab. Irvine officials plan to pay $284 million to shut down an asphalt plan...

Dave Alvin formed Americana band The Blasters in Downey with his brother Phil, then went solo in the 1980s, but returned to show KCRW around. In the 1990s, Downey rapidly shifted its demographics to become mostly a Latino area. It was then labeled “Mexican Beverly Hills,” but longtime residents say that’s unfair. A nonprofit gallery in downtown Downey has been instrumental in developing an art sce...