How To LA

#156: The Los Angeles Public Library is 150! LAPL has 72 branches throughout LA, and is one of the largest library systems in the country.  In honor or this special anniversary, How To LA producer Megan Botel is exploring Central Library in downtown LA. It's an architectural GEM of 538 thousand square feet and 89 miles of shelving. Learn about the history of Los Angeles Public Library, going back...

#155: Student loan payments resume next month. Host Brian De Los Santos talks to NPR's Cory Turner about what people need to know right now. Then, LAist reporter Julia Barajas tells us how we got to this point, where we have so much student loan debt in the US, and the role California plays in that. You can find Cory's 12 key things borrowers need to know here: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/31/11968...

#128: Want to finish your week strong with some delicious conchas? Well, we've got you covered. Today we're revisiting one of our favorite food segments: the search for LA's best concha. And keep your eye out for a special holiday concha episode in the coming weeks! Everyone loves a fresh concha – that warm, doughy center with the crunchy cookie shell on the top could send any Angeleno's heart a'f...

#154: We're returning to the LA River today, this time on foot, not by kayak. Host Brian De Los Santos and HTLA producer Victoria Alejandro headed on over to Frogtown to hang out by the river and hear from two members of the Fifty-One Miles team. That's a project led by landscape architecture graduate students at USC who set out to walk all fifty one miles of the river over 6 days in early August....

#153: The City Hall leaked tape incident last year, combined with several corruption scandals involving councilmembers in the past few years, have led to this moment: There’s now more momentum than ever behind some major reforms.  There are three main proposals that would significantly impact how the city is governed. They have to deal with redistricting, revamping the ethics commission and expand...

#152: This month, How To LA is putting the spotlight on LA landmarks that are turning 100 this year – all to celebrate our FIRST birthday. Next up: The Hollywood Sign. Host Brian De Los Santos and producer Megan Botel take a hike up to the top of Mount Lee to the sign to speak with Jeff Zarrinnam of the Hollywood Sign Trust. Learn about the evolution of the iconic landmark since the original "Holl...

#151: Okay - the past couple days of clouds were a nice break from the hot weather. But love it or hate it... that L.A. heat is always just right around the corner. Controlling urban heat is a major issue: it touches everything from health, to the environment, to your wallet. And running the AC all day can cost a pretty penny, assuming you're not one of the 20% of Angelenos who live without AC. Th...

#150: Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday, which means friends and friends will gather together for Shabbat. It turns out that all around LA, every Friday, you can find a Shabbat dinner to attend – and you do not have to be Jewish. The non-profit OneTable that organizes these events says it's all about building community and practicing the long lost "art of gathering."  HTLA producer Megan B...

#149: As a Los Angeles-based film location scout/manager who’s been in the business for nearly 30 years, Rick Schuler has found lots of streets and buildings in downtown L.A. that can look like lots of other places. Places like Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Italy and Colombia. And different time periods too — like 1960s-era L.A. (for the 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") and L.A. in t...

#148: The Writers' and Actors' strikes continue to drag on with no deal in sight. It's starting to take its toll on these artists as its been months since many of them have made any income. Reports of evictions and other hardships are starting to hit the headlines. But some help could be available for those who need a little extra financial help. Guest: Keith McNutt. Executive Director, Western Re...

#147: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is one of several L.A. landmarks hitting the century mark this year, and we thought it’d be fun to take a look back on them as we celebrate our one-year anniversary of How To LA this September. We explored The Biltmore Hotel downtown (if you haven’t listened to that episode already) and we’ll be featuring the story behind the Hollywood sign pretty soon. When...

#77: Brian's out today, so we're revisiting that time Evan took Meg on his bike route to work... and explored what it looks like to live Car-Free in Los Angeles. Please note, the Gold Line, as reference in this podcast, has been renamed the A Line.  Lots of Angelinos live without a car – and hundreds of thousands of people here don't use a car in their daily commute. But... it is definitely NOT th...

#146: Nothing screams L.A. Summer like a summer cookout. For our ongoing event series, Culinary Connections, we invited some of our favorite chefs from Cheap Fast Eats to talk about how cookout culture shapes L.A.'s food scene... and of course, their favorite things to cook. If all this talk of free food, music, and awesome chefs makes you sorry you missed the event... Well, we missed you too! Mak...

#145: Now that you've recovered from Taylormania and the Beyhive hitting LA and SoFi Stadium, football season is HERE. The Rams AND the Chargers now share a stadium in Inglewood and the regular season games kick off September 10. We get the lowdown on everything you need to know to get ready for the season of pro football in LA even if you don't count yourself as a big fan. Guest: Sports Illustrat...

#144: Just a heads up there is some explicit language used towards the end of this episode. Please be advised. There have been MANY government scandals that have been exposed in our city.  Just in the last year: Former LA Councilmember Mark Ridley Thomas was just sentenced to 42 months in prison plus 30-thousand in fines for corruption. Councilmember Curren Price was charged with multiple counts o...

#143: Today we’re exploring one of L.A.’s most historic landmarks: the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.  It celebrates its 100th birthday in October, and since How to LA just turned one (!) we thought it'd be fitting to feature some of the most iconic spots in Los Angeles that are hitting the century mark (Others to come: the LA Memorial Coliseum and the Hollywood sign). The Biltmore opened...

#82: Happy Labor Day, Los Angeles. We hope you are able to enjoy the day off, but we realize many of you may have to work today. This holiday was created for the workers by the labor movement back in the late 19th century. So on this day we are resurfacing a conversation we had earlier this year about the role of organized labor today. Because, if you haven’t noticed, there’s been a LOT of picketi...

#142: We've talked a lot about Inglewood lately... and for good reason. The city is a booming scene for entertainment right now with SoFi, the Forum, the new Youtube Theater... not to mention, all the sports teams that call Inglewood home. Beyoncé is just the latest megastar to dominate the town with multiple concerts. But with those changes come the good, the bad, and the ugly. And some people wo...

#141: Whitewater kayaking might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you picture the L.A. River. Too much concrete, right? Not enough water? Well, think again. Kayaking the L.A. River officially became legal in 2011 when the EPA declared it a "navigable waterway." And turns out... it's pretty fun! Join How to LA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby as they paddle down a 2-mi...

#140: We're back with another segment of How I Got Started, the series where we bring you the stories of artists, community leaders, and all around cool people living and following their passions in LA. Today, we're hanging out with Etienne Maurice. He’s an actor and filmmaker, a homegrown Angeleno, but he's also a community builder and a wellness leader. He's become widely known for is founding t...

#61:  OK - with the summer heat back on our backs, it might be hard to remember that just a week ago we had a record-smashing storm. But all that rain had some of our listeners asking us... Where does all that rainwater go? Well the good news is, we did a whole episode answering that question this past winter. But the bad news is... a lot of that water  still goes out to sea. But there's plans to...

Today we’re bringing you a special episode from a live taping of On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti! Recently, the On Point team was here at our very own Crawford Family Forum to host a live event celebrating 50th years of hip hop. Stay TUNED to hear the special episode. We hope you enjoy it! Guests: Tyree Boyd-Pates, historian and Associate Curator of Western History at Autry Museum of the American...

#139: KCON is everything K. K-pop, K-drama, K-beauty, Korean food... The mega event drew about a hundred thousand attendees over the weekend, selling out the LA Convention Center for yet another year. And the HTLA team was there with Vivian Yoon, host of the LAist podcast K-pop Dreaming, and Pixar's Peter Sohn, to get a sense of what KCON means for Los Angeles... and how events like this bring muc...

#138: Recently, the weather talk in L.A. has been all about rain, thanks to Tropical Storm Hilary. The storm, plus the wet winter we had, means that the threat of major fires is reduced in a lot of places. But it's not gone.  Earlier this month, the York Fire in the Mojave Desert burned more than 90 thousand acres, and did some major damage to the Joshua trees in the Mojave National Preserve. Thes...

#137: We spent all weekend bracing for our first tropical storm in decades. BUT Hilary didn’t get as wild as expected  — at least in some parts of the region.  So far there haven’t been any deaths or major injuries reported. But we did get a LOT of rain, about 7 inches in LA county.  Even though the disaster didn’t quite match our biggest fears - we got a chance to see what our city’s response wou...