How To LA

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Volunteers Take On The Homelessness Crisis, Part 2: 'The Forever Bandaid' Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

#200: This is Part 2 of a multipart series, exploring the kinds of services mutual aid groups are providing for our unhoused neighbors. Many people experiencing homelessness rely on volunteers for basic needs like water or overdose prevention.

The situation leaves many people we spoke to wondering: "Why is this work being done by volunteers?"

Today, HTLA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby bring this question to our city leaders.
Guests: LA Mayor Karen Bass; Councilmember Kevin de León of Council District 14; Councilmember Nithya Raman of Council District 4; Hawk, U.S. Veteran & Skid Row Resident; Sade Kammen, Volunteer With WaterDrop LA; Nick Gerda, LAist Unhoused Communities Reporter

Music in this episode composed by: Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Floating Points, Ill Considered, Imaginary Softwoods, indiegamemusic.com, Nala Sinephro, Laurie Spiegal, Meitei, Ricky Eat Acid, Woo

LA's Indie Booksellers On Best Books About The City — Just In Time For The Holidays Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

#199: Today, we’re enlisting some local booksellers to help us understand L.A. better.

Staffers from Skylight Books in Los Feliz, The Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood, Book Soup in West Hollywood and Chevalier’s Books in Larchmont Village shared their favorite books about Los Angeles:

"Amnesiascope" by Steve Erickson
"The Dog Park" by Dennis Etchison
"City of Quartz" by Mike Davis
"Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles" by Rosecrans Baldwin
"The Library Book" by Susan Orlean
"Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology" edited by David Ulin
"Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018" edited by David Kipen
"Ed Ruscha/ Now Then: A Retrospective" from MoMA Press
"The Cobrasnake: Y2Ks Archive" by Mark Hunter
"She" by Michelle Latiolais
"Seventy-Two and One Half Miles Across Los Angeles" by Mark Ruwedel
"Koreatown Dreaming: Stories and Portraits of Korean Immigrant Life" by Emanuel Hahn

Stay tuned for more picks from other local indie bookshops in the New Year!

Documenting LA By Painting Intimate Spaces: Meet Artist Tidawhitney Lek Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

#198:

Each neighborhood of LA has its own history — meet a painter who brings her story to life in paint and glitter.

In the latest episode of How To LA, podcast host Brian De Los Santos and producer Victoria Alejandro visit the Flower District studio of Cambodian-American painter Tidawhitney Lek.

Lek's work is currently on display at the Hammer Museum, as part of their Made In LA show, and at the Long Beach Museum of Art. She let us in on her process of creating intimate, personal work that captures both her family's history and domestic spaces in LA.

Take a look at some of the works discussed in this episode on Tidawhitney's website and Instagram.
And check out the LAist post here:

Guest: Painter Tidawhitney Lek

How To Enjoy A Holiday Staycation in LA Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

#197: Staying in L.A. for the holidays? Today, the How To LA team chats all about their favorite ways to enjoy the holidays in our fair city...while so many people are out of town! A little holiday-themed staycation if you will.

Guests: Megan Botel, producer for How To LA; Monica Bushman, producer for How To LA; Victoria Alejandro, producer for How To LA; Tony Morales, intern at LAist Studios; Aaricka Washington, associate editor for How To LA; Megan Larson, executive producer for How To LA

Why Are There Nearly 10,000 Vacant City Jobs In LA? Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

#196: Trash on sidewalks, longer wait times for city services, and lots and lots of overtime for some L.A. workers. What connects it all? Job openings — a lot of them — for government jobs with the city and also the county.

LAist civics and democracy correspondent Frank Stoltze joins us to explain what's going on.

Volunteers Take On The Homelessness Crisis, Part 1: 'The Alternative is Death' Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

#195: Unsheltered life in L.A. can be dangerous and even deadly — and there has been a massive increase in the death rate for unhoused people in the county over the last few years.

There is work being done by the mayor's office to get people off the street and into temporary housing. But the promise of services — whether in the form of housing, treatment for substance addiction, or mental health counseling — cannot help if people aren't alive in 6 months, a year — or 5 — to receive them.

While they wait, many unhoused people have come to rely on mutual aid volunteers to cover their immediate needs, from overdose prevention to fresh drinking water.

In part one of our 3-part series, HTLA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby explore what these mutual aid groups actually do for our unhoused neighbors.
Guests: Ndindi Kitonga, founder Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA); Jesse Goldshear, volunteer with PUMA and postdoc researcher studying public health at the University of California, San Diego; Aria Cataño, co-founder of WaterDrop LA; Sade Kammen, volunteer with WaterDrop LA and social worker in Skid Row

Music in this episode composed by: Chris Schlarb, Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Geir Sundstøl, K. Leimer, Nala Sinephro, Laurie Spiegal, Meitei, Ricky Eat Acid, Woo

Will Actors Ratify The New SAG Contract? Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

#194: Members of the Screen Actors Guild have now seen everything that is in tentative contract that union leadership negotiated with studios and streamers — and not everyone is happy with it.

The big sticking point? Artificial intelligence.

Some union members don’t think the A.I. protections worked out in the contract go far enough, and are encouraging a “no” vote on the deal.

For many in the industry, the chance that things could stall again is alarming. The writers and actors strike — combined — dragged on for 6 months, crippling a lot of people and businesses financially. And a lot of folks just want to get back to work.

The union vote on this contract is expected to wrap up tomorrow (Tuesday Dec. 5th) so we thought we’d check in on where things stand.
Guest: LAist reporter Robert Garrova

Cheap Fast Eats #11: Mid City Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

#193: It's Cheap Fast Eats time again, and that means LAist food editor Gab Chabrán is hitting the streets with HTLA host Brian De Los Santos. Mid City is close to EVERYTHING...Museum Row, Park La Brea, Fairfax, West Hollywood. It's a good place to know some gems to get some cheap grubs.

Locations: Qi Steam Kitchen, Del Mar Ostioneria, Burger She Wrote

Guest: LAist food editor, Gab Chabrán

Documenting LA In Oil Paints, Block By Block: Meet Painter Justin N. Kim Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

#192: Each neighborhood of LA has its own electricity — meet a painter who brings city blocks to life in oil paints.

In the latest episode of How To LA, podcast host Brian De Los Santos hears from producer Victoria Alejandro about Pasadena-based painter Justin N. Kim.

Kim showed us his studio as he was preparing to show his work at The Other Art Fair earlier this year, and let us in on his process of creating paintings of LA that also work as maps of the city. Take a look at some of the works discussed in this episode on his website: https://www.jnkim.org/#/maps/
Also here: https://laist.com/news/how-to-la/documenting-la-in-oil-paints-block-by-block

It’s all a part of an occasional HTLA series centering on artists, mostly painters and photographers, who tell the story of Los Angeles through their works. You can find our earlier episode with photographer Elon Schoenholz here: https://omny.fm/shows/howtola/artists-see-la-photographer-elon-schoenholz

Guest: L.A. Painter Justin N. Kim

'It's Really Hot Out Here.' What LAUSD Is Doing To Cool Down Schools Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

#191: Today we're talking about heat and how it affects school kids – those in elementary, middle and high school to be specific — with LAist Associate Editor Aaricka Washington.

Read Aaricka's reporting: "It’s Been More Than A Year Since LAUSD Pledged To Green Schools. But There’s Still No Finalized Plan In Place"

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