The Brief

A forensic audit released by Orange County on Monday found ex-Supervisor Andrew Do and his top aide had a longstanding pattern of misspending public money far beyond the scandal that led to federal corruption charges and landed Do in prison.

The report released Monday was the first phase of a forensic audit the OC Board of Supervisors commissioned last fall into county contracts in the wake of LAist’s investigation of the Do meal money scheme and his corruption conviction. The audit is being conducted by the firm Weaver.

The report details how Do and his chief of staff, Chris Wangsaporn, undermined procedures meant to prevent abuse of county money, while using their influence to steer taxpayer money to friends, family and businesses that quickly donated to his election campaigns — often with little information about the services being provided.

“The pattern of contracts being awarded to vendors that contributed to former Supervisor Do’s political campaigns raises questions and concerns about potential ‘pay-to-play’ schemes,” the report states.

Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who was elected to replace Do in 2024, said in a statement that “Do’s federal bribery conviction was the tip of the iceberg” and called on law enforcement to investigate.

“For years, I have known that Andrew Do was a criminal, acting as the Godfather of Little Saigon — strongarming political opponents and pressuring his minions to do more,” Nguyen said. “Now the county has evidence of all of it, and I’m hoping the federal DOJ, FBI, state attorney general, the district attorney and the [California Fair Political Practices Commission] investigate.”

[Click here to read the forensic audit report.]

Do’s attorney, Paul Meyer, declined to comment on the audit findings, saying that would be “inappropriate.”

Wangsaporn declined to speak with the auditors, according to the audit report. He has not returned LAist’s multiple requests for comment over the past year and a half, including Monday.

The forensic auditors plan to present their findings at the Board of Supervisors’ public meeting March 24.

More payments to Peter Pham

Among its many findings, the report found Do routed more money than previously reported to companies affiliated with Peter Pham, a central figure in the meal fraud scandal that sent Do to federal prison.

The report notes Do routed money for county events in his district to businesses linked to Pham. One was Aloha Financial Investment — the same company that received most of the diverted meal money in the corruption scheme and paid the down payment on a house for Do’s daughter. The other was Pham’s construction company, Hua Development, which also did business as HD Construction and HD Entertainment.

The findings echo an LAist review of county contract records, which found over $500,000 in county funds were directed to Hua Development and Aloha Financial Investment — largely for events in Do’s district dating back to 2016 and for public service announcements during COVID.

Pham’s construction company, auditors noted, also “appeared to have performed a kitchen remodel of former Supervisor Do’s personal residence in March 2021.” LAist discovered the renovation work in permit records and reported on it last year.

At the time, Do was routing millions of county meal dollars to Pham’s nonprofit, Viet America Society, in the bribery scheme that later led to Do’s criminal conviction. Do admitted in his plea deal that nearly $8 million in meal funds to the nonprofit were diverted, including $385,000 to purchase the home for Do’s daughter.

The new report notes the forensic audit is limited because auditors were not able to make non-county officials and organizations provide documents or answer questions.

More payments to 360 Clinic

Additionally, the auditors found Do authorized an $814,650 county payment to 360 Clinic — the county’s main provider of COVID-19 tests — despite concerns from county staff that the company was double billing. The findings largely echo LAist’s previous reporting on the issue. In all, auditors wrote, the county paid 360 Clinic $3.4 million for uncollectable claims, despite the fact that state and federal law required private insurance or the federal government to fully pay for all coronavirus testing claims at the time.

An internal county report obtained by LAist last year found that 360 Clinic had double- and triple-billed for some testing services. In the report released Monday, auditors found the company submitted more than 4,000 potential duplicate COVID-19 testing claims, with the same patient name and same date of service.

The auditors wrote that they examined documents indicating insurance providers had already paid for some of the claims submitted to the county for repayment. Other claims were for services that weren’t eligible for reimbursement, the auditors wrote.

“While additional review on a claim-by-claim basis would be required to quantify the extent of such denied claims, it is questionable at best as to whether these denied claims should have been invoiced to the county,” they wrote.

‘Not to be questioned’

The audit found Do and Wangsaporn had a pattern of steering contracts and grants to businesses that either employed an immediate family member of Do, contributed to his political campaigns shortly after being awarded a contract, provided a media platform for Do or were involved in the annual Tet and Moon festivals in Do’s district.

Do and Wangsaporn “were very involved in procurement decisions and established a culture where decisions related to District 1 contracts were not to be questioned,” the report states. County procurement staff, it adds, were “concerned that they would receive a phone call” from Do or Wangsaporn “if their requests were not approved.”

Among the decisions Do and his chief of staff impacted were “lump sum advanced payments” to vendors, “directives to pay vendors and contractors for invoices with open issues under review and the selection of vendors and grant recipients.”

Board’s approach obscured money flows

The county’s spending during the COVID-19 pandemic was obscured by the process the Board of Supervisors set up, auditors found.

Contracts were approved without competitive bidding or public approval by the board, which “limited visibility of purchase amounts and vendors selected,” the report states.

During the pandemic, Do and the other county supervisors set up a process where millions in taxpayer spending was directed without the usual public transparency on meeting agendas to show where money was going.

Do used the board-approved closed-door process to quietly direct millions of dollars to the nonprofit at the center of the meal scheme.

The audit also found that the county lacked policies requiring invoices detail what taxpayers were paying for. Do’s office had a common pattern of issuing contracts where payments were made on invoices that had few details about the services provided or itemizations of costs, the report states.

Supervisor cites reforms in the scandal’s wake

“As expected, the most recent audit again exposes criminal Andrew Do for habitually using his position of power to financially reward family, friends and donors through crony capitalist contracts at the expense of Orange County taxpayers,” Supervisor Katrina Foley said in a statement.

Foley said she and other supervisors have implemented reforms to contract policies, “aimed at increasing competitive bidding and [reducing] opportunities for corruption.”

She called on the county to put in place additional safeguards recommended by the auditors to "further protect taxpayers and prevent this type of misconduct from happening again.”

Supervisor Don Wagner said the audit findings show “former Supervisor Do’s corruption goes beyond that for which he is now serving federal prison time,” adding that he’s “deeply disturbed.”

Wagner defended Do at a January 2024 supervisors’ meeting after reports that Do had awarded millions to Viet America Society without disclosing its close ties to his daughter.

“There are no, nor should there be, questions or challenges as to that particular grant of money because there's nothing illegal about what was done,” Wagner said at the time, while blocking a reform proposal to require supervisors to disclose close family connections to groups they award money to.

Do ultimately pleaded guilty to bribery and is serving a five-year prison sentence.

LAist reporter Jill Replogle contributed reporting to this story.

Now that there are no more World Cup games in L.A., the hottest ticket is about to be the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, which is opening this fall. The spaceship-like structure is in Expo Park (you can’t miss it), and they just announced that anyone who shares their South L.A. zip code will get in for free with a special pass. May the force be with you when the ticketing website opens.

Practice singing the La Marseillaise for when you cheer on Les Bleus in the semifinal World Cup game — on Bastille Day, no less — but for more music picks, Licorice Pizza suggests Grammy darling Olivia Dean’s two shows at the Crypto.com Arena Tuesday and Wednesday, and Ben Lapidus (aka the guy on America’s Got Talent who sang about Parmesan cheese) is at the Moroccan Lounge on Tuesday.

Bella Poarch will be at the Grammy Museum on Wednesday, and Slum Village is at the Blue Note on Wednesday and Thursday. Also on Thursday, Latin alternative sensations Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso take over the Greek, White Denim is at Sid The Cat and Eartheater plays the first of her two nights at Hollywood Forever.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can learn about the proposal to ban drive-thrus in Culver City (how very un-Californian of them!), read Libby Rainey’s ode to the USMNT and make your plans to catch the World Cup semifinal and final matches.

Events

New Moon Tea Meditation and Breathwork Journey

Tuesday, July 14, 6 p.m. 
The Black Lofts 
1901 Blake Ave., Frogtown 
COST: $20; MORE INFO

Welcome the new moon with a tea meditation and breathwork class with Frogtown Arts and Intrabreath. Isn’t it cool that each month we get a chance to start over? Breathe in the summer air and ignite your inner energy.

All Space Considered

Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m.
Griffith Observatory 
2800 E. Observatory Road, Los Feliz 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

The Griffith Observatory overlooks downtown Los Angeles at sunset on June 8, 2007, at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

(

Stephen Dunn

/

Getty Images

)

If you’re more of a traditional moon kind of person, join the Griffith Observatory for its monthly program, All Space Considered. It’s free to attend in person and also broadcasts live from the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Check out previous All Space Considered programs on their YouTube playlist.

Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings

Through Saturday, August 1 
Château Shatto
540 N. Western Ave., Melrose Hill
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

(

ALICE RAHON/WOLFGANG PAALEN

/

Chateau Shatto

)

I’m going to take my own advice and check out this highly recommended exhibit of the Dynaton — don’t call it a movement — movement (sorry) at the Château Shatto gallery on Western Ave., curated by Laura Whitcomb. A slice of California art history, Dynaton was first articulated in 1951, and its members staged a “decisive refusal of labels” like its predecessor, Dadaism. Dynaton looked at California “as a laboratory where Indigenous cosmologies, quantum physics, Jungian psychology, and extraterrestrial imaginaries could cohabit the same pictorial field.” I’m in. And also definitely in for lunch at Kuya Lord after.

France in LA x Grand Performances Bastille Day celebration 

Tuesday, July 14, 5 p.m.
California Plaza
250 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy Grand Performances

)

This is either going to be the biggest celebration of Bastille Day in L.A. ever, as it coincides with France playing in the World Cup semifinal, or you’ll see a whole bunch of French folks and francophiles drowning their sorrows in vin rouge. Either way, there’ll be plenty of music, petit bonbons and joie de vivre. Vive la France!

Yoshiki 

Thursday and Friday, July 16 and 17
Disney Hall 
111 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FROM $56; MORE INFO

(

Magnolia Pictures

/

42West

)

Yoshiki is by many accounts Japan's biggest rock star — he’s played with everyone from Bowie to Bono. A TIME100 honoree, he brings his inspiring life story through music, multimedia, lighting and fashion to Disney Hall for two nights.

The Odyssey in 70mm 

Opens Thursday, July 16
The Alex Theatre (and other local theaters)
316 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale 
COST: $27; MORE INFO

(

Universal Pictures

)

The historic Alex Theatre is a great place to check out the new Christopher Nolan epic, The Odyssey (OK, fine, it’s Homer’s epic). The Alex is showing it in 70mm, but of course it’s opening wide and available in various locations beginning on Thursday. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o and Anne Hathaway, the Greek tale of survival and homecoming is one of the most anticipated films of the summer.

Camélia Bastille Day specials

Monday, July 13 through Wednesday, July 15
Camélia 
1850 Industrial St.
Arts District
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

... and ...

Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up 

Monday July 13, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
OTOTO
1360 Allison Ave., Elysian Park 

Camélia is featuring Bastille Day specials this week, including plateau de fruits de mer, steak frites au poivre and by-the-glass bubbly (wine and sake).

Plus, its sister restaurant OTOTO in Elysian Park is hosting a one-night-only Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday. The menu includes a burger (soy-braised short rib sugo, Gruyère, horseradish aioli), a corn fritter with charred scallion crème fraîche and pickled carrots/jalapeño/onion, and financier à la mode for dessert, with a sake pairing option. Walk-ins only — early arrival encouraged.

Joel Ruano was raised by his grandparents in Lamont, a community made up of about 14,000 people, a few miles from Bakersfield.

Growing up, college was not in Ruano’s plans. And though he loved watching movies, he never envisioned a career in filmmaking.

After earning his diploma, Ruano worked at carrot factories. Then, he operated heavy machinery at a distribution center before landing a job at an electric vehicle company. For years, he believed his future lay at the industrial warehouses that surround his old neighborhood.

But when the company went bankrupt in 2023, Ruano decided he wanted a change. Encouraged by his loved ones, he enrolled in Glendale Community College’s film, television and media arts department, which now offers coursework in documentary filmmaking and the chance to study abroad.

For students like Ruano, these opportunities have been transformative.

Los Angeles is home to renowned film schools like USC, UCLA and the American Film Institute. But their cost of attendance can be an obstacle for some students. Community colleges offer affordable alternatives.

“This is my career path now,” Ruano told LAist. “I just love holding the camera and seeing through the monitor and getting the first taste of what the audience is going to see. And I get to control that vision.”

Making up for lost time  

At Glendale, department chair Geri Ulrey makes it a point to keep in touch with students after they graduate. She also hosts alumni mixers and pings former students when she has something to share that may be of interest.

That’s how Ben Do found his way back to Glendale. He earned his associate’s degree at the height of the COVID pandemic, so most of it was done on Zoom. As a result, Do graduated with no in-person film experience, something he always lamented.

Ulrey messaged him years later, inviting him to consider the school’s new documentary film production courses.

Soon, Do became part of Planet Story Lab, a course that provides mentorship from professionals and the chance to do fieldwork.

Do also appreciates the chance to hear directly from people in the field, who are often guest speakers. This includes documentary director Laura Nix.

“Just hearing how she approaches talking to people about the process of what a documentary is” has been helpful, Do said. “People think it's a very educational thing and very straightforward, but there's a lot more creative and emotional liberties that come with it as well.”

Glendale Community College students spend two weeks in Baja California. Their filmmaking work involves learning from and interviewing locals.

(

Jerry Henry

/

Courtesy

)

Finding the 'freedom to be unsure'   

Redd Davis came of age in Burbank, with the Warner Bros. Studios looming in the background. Celebrities were a common sight. Still, even though Davis knew a career in film was possible, they were scared to take the leap. Their uncle is a screenwriter, and Davis knew how hard it was for him to break into the field.

“My grandma came here from Mexico when she was 13,” they said. “She had to build a life for herself and be able to support my mom.”

The way Davis saw it, they’d been given a “really rare opportunity to make a stable life.”

“And I was really nervous to mess with that,” they said.

Davis was determined to earn a living, but they were not sure how. After high school, they enrolled at Glendale and, as a treat, signed up for a course called “Beyond Hollywood: Race, Gender and Sex in Movies,” taught by Ulrey. Davis figured there was no harm in exploring film just a little, just for fun.

But the course drew them in.

“It felt almost like an English literature class,” they recalled. “It was a lot of conversation and writing and just dissecting ideas. I became very interested in anything that [Ulrey] was teaching, so I just kept taking classes with her."

Still, when Ulrey mentioned documentary filmmaking, Davis wasn’t very interested.

“I thought that I just wanted to do narrative work,” they said.

But David trusted Ulrey. So when she brought up the opportunity to learn documentary production in Mexico — including underwater filming techniques — Davis thought it best not to forgo the opportunity.

And so, last summer, Davis became part of a camera crew at Bahía de los Ángeles, a coastal region in Baja California, with a population of almost 800.

After prepping on campus for two weeks, a small group of Glendale students set out to the field station in Mexico, accompanied by Ulrey and cinematographer Jerry Henry. Students majoring in biology, geology and oceanology also joined them.

In Bahía de los Ángeles, students use specialized cameras for underwater filmmaking.

(

Jerry Henry

/

Courtesy

)

As soon as Davis stepped off the bus, the heat in Bahía de los Ángeles was overwhelming.

“We didn't sleep in rooms,” they said. “We pulled out cots and would lay down at the beach. We would literally sleep under the stars.”

Come morning, the film students would gather their gear, confer with Ulrey or Henry, plan out their day, then spend the bulk of the day filming.

On occasion, the students got to go on boat rides, hiking or swimming in the sea.

Davis had read about Mexico in their mom’s journals, but this was their first time in the country. “It was special,” they told LAist, a chance to create connections and memories of their own.

The trip also enabled Davis to cultivate a professional relationship with Henry, who’s provided opportunities for them to work on set as a production assistant. These experiences have helped Davis see that filmmaking involves a wide array of work, including — but not limited to — being an actor, writer or director. As an example, Davis noted that people who work in greenery departments devote themselves to providing plants for film sets.

Davis still doesn't know what they want to do once they graduate, but they are navigating the uncertainty with joy and confidence. “I feel more freedom to be unsure,” they said.

The trip to Baja, Davis added, “really shattered any doubt or hesitance I had left” about a future in filmmaking.

In the past, a voice inside would always ask: “How are you going to be able to afford a car, and then an apartment? Your groceries and your utilities?”

After Baja, Davis determined to figure it out. "I'm completely in love with this," they said.

Recovering a lost passion  

For 36-year-old David Shuck, the documentary filmmaking courses have enabled him to recoup and hone something he loves.

As an undergrad at Bowdoin College in Maine, he studied abroad at the Czech National Film Academy; but, at the time, “there was no practical film production offered at my college,” Shuck said. “I was pretty much all self-taught.”

Time passed. And life took Shuck in different directions. Still, the love of film remained.

To refresh his skills, learn new techniques and meet like-minded people, Shuck also enrolled at Glendale.

For one recent project, he created a documentary about his wife, who’s an immigration attorney.

“I wanted to be able to communicate the Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucracy ... that [undocumented] people have to navigate once they've been abducted,” Shuck said.

The shooting took Shuck about about six weeks. During this time, he followed his wife to and from the Adelanto Immigrant Detention Center in the Mojave Desert, repeatedly. Shuck filmed her working later hours and captured her frustration. After one particularly hard day, he documented her treating herself to an ice cream sandwich and a few episodes of Malcolm in the Middle.

In his documentary class, Shuck learned that it's "more compelling to see what people are doing in the moment rather than rehashing what’s been done already.” Ultimately, he turned 13 hours of footage into a 15-minute video.

“It would be really nice to be able to earn a living doing this. But I am just excited at the prospect of being able to make the next project and being able to make it sustainably through the community college system,” he said.

He’s told Ulrey and his other professors: "I'm going to kick around until you kick me out of here."

Last summer, a group of students made a film about a local woman named Alejandrina Díaz Oleta, a restaurant owner and chef.

(

Jerry Henry

/

Courtesy

)

Nurturing the next generation of filmmakers  

Currently, Ruano is part of a team of students working on a documentary about future firefighters in the L.A. area.

This work has enabled him to get hands-on training in every part of filmmaking, including pre-production, shooting and post-production, he said.

At Glendale, Ruano has learned that “being organized is very, very crucial.” He’s also learned that “having great communication” is key to creating something with a group of people.

Most importantly, he’s learned he’s capable of academic success.

“Coming back to school was very stressful for me,” he said, remembering the challenges he faced in high school. “This was sort of my moment to redeem myself.”

In June, Ruano became a first-generation college graduate. Come fall, he will continue to pursue filmmaking at Cal State Northridge — one of the many universities where he was admitted.

In the short term, Ruano is set on earning his bachelor’s degree and then maybe going into a master's program.

In the long term, he wants to find a way to bring art and filmmaking to Lamont, where he grew up.

“I'm only one of thousands of people who have really great stories to tell,” he said.

Ten years ago, the California State University system launched a program to address food insecurity and provide housing support after research found around 1 in 4 students was going hungry.

Since its inception, through the Basic Needs Initiative, food pantries have served more than 77,000 students annually and referred over 5,000 students for housing resources. However, gaps have widened and student needs have expanded.

In the next 10 years, Dilcie Perez, vice chancellor for strategic enrollment management and student success at California State University, said the focus of the Basic Needs Initiative is “getting beyond basic.”

“ What that says to me is holistic support to students where we are sharing the responsibility of understanding what might be a barrier or hindrance to students and proactively putting those in place,” she said.

10 years of the Basic Needs Initiative

 Rashida Crutchfield, a professor and executive director at the Center for Equitable Higher Education at Cal State Long Beach, led the research in 2016. The study found that 24% of the CSU system’s 460,000 students could be going hungry. The report also found that as many as 12% of students suffer “housing displacement,” such as homelessness.

Crutchfield said having quantifiable data helped shift the narrative from a part-time job being the solution to fix the “starving student” perception to showing the problem was much bigger. And it “ generated evidence that helped policymakers and higher ed administrators act and invest,” Crutchfield said.

The research, Crutchfield said, showed that  the cost of higher education includes higher costs for food and housing, as well as things like childcare, transportation and computer services.

Following the research, CSU launched the Basic Needs Initiative and went from 11 campuses having programs for food insecure students to all campuses now having Basic Needs staff.

But the needs of students keep rising, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating their plight: In 2019, food pantries were serving more than 35,000 students annually. In the last year, that number was around 77,000. In 2019, CSU campuses assisted around 3,400 students with CalFresh applications; in the last academic year, campuses assisted around 16,000 students, according to data shared with LAist from CSU.

Gap widens and needs persist 

Speaking to a network of coordinators from CSU’s network of schools, Perez said the Basic Needs Initiative needs to go beyond being reactive to more proactive.

The CSU system, she said, is losing  between 25,000 to 29,000 students a year in their second or third year, with a significant number of them identifying as Latino.

“ Friends, we have a leak in the system that we have to close because we are doing a social injustice to our students,” she said. “When we invite you in, say we want you here, we believe in you, and then all of a sudden they go away without any acknowledgement, no one contacts them, no one comes with a plan to bring them back.”

The institutions, she said, were not set up to serve students who benefit from Basic Needs programs. For example, students are being withdrawn, dropped or failed from a class because they have a financial hold on their account — even though some of them rely on financial aid.

In its next iteration, Perez said the Basic Needs Initiative will go beyond just strengthening student support services to address what is happening in the classroom, bringing together other university departments and community organizations.

“Many of the answers lie in our local communities,” she said. “And so it's making those intentional connections for transportation, childcare, housing.”

When chef Elisa Da Prato arrived in Los Angeles from Italy last December, she only planned to visit family for three weeks and then return home to the charming town of Lucca in Tuscany. But after hosting a successful Silver Lake pop-up dinner, Da Prato was introduced to a landlord who offered her a unique opportunity: she could test her culinary concept in a vacant space for three months and then decide to close up shop or go permanent.

Since May, her Tuscan-inspired restaurant Da Prato has been operating out of a 3,000-square-foot condo in downtown L.A. with an initial agreement to stay open until the end of July. (She recently made the decision to extend the lease until the end of the year.)

“I’m not an independently wealthy person and this is not a vanity Instagram project,” Da Prato said. “This is just me doing the best I can to invest in and make a wager on myself, and hopefully come out of it with a nice salary and do some beautiful work.”

Beef and porcini ragú Toscano at Da Prato.

(

Oscar Mendoza

/

Courtesy Da Prato

)

Running a restaurant in L.A. has been challenging over the last few years due to inflation and rising labor costs, the pandemic, entertainment-industry strikes, devastating fires and ICE raids. Chefs like Da Prato have been looking to find flexible and creative ways to run a restaurant that go outside the pop-up model and traditional lease structure. And if California Assembly Bill AB 1679 — which would allow certain pop-up businesses to operate in vacant storefronts for 120 days — becomes law, the landscape of running a business could change for the better for budding entrepreneurs.

Elisa Da Prato preparing her honeycomb and lemons dish.

(

Jean Trinh

/

LAist

)

Right place, right time

Prior to opening in downtown L.A., Da Prato dealt with two closures: Elisa in Barga, Tuscany, due to the pandemic, and the well-regarded Etrusca in Brooklyn, which investors shuttered after just five months. So this new no-strings-attached lease structure in L.A. was particularly alluring for her self-funded project.

Da Prato entered a partnership with her landlord David Mirharooni of Brickstar Capital, a family-owned real estate investment company whose other clients include Danny Boy’s Pizza and Mastro’s Steakhouse. Mirharooni also helps Da Prato with backend support, like insurance and accounting, and assists with construction. While Mirharooni hasn’t done a lease structure like this before, everything aligned because he had a vacant space he needed to fill and he wanted to do a favor for Da Prato, who was a friend of a friend.

The dining room at Da Prato, with a print of Lyonel Feininger's “The White Man” hanging on the wall.

(

Oscar Mendoza

/

Courtesy Da Prato

)

“We're not here just to make revenue for three months,” Mirharooni said of the 40-seat restaurant that’s open four nights a week. “We really see promise with chef Elisa and are hoping that this pop-up is successful enough to be able to convince her to stay in the L.A. market …. because ultimately, if it becomes a long-term deal, it's not only good for us as landlords but it's great for downtown L.A, which is not the easiest place to run a restaurant today.”

Da Prato is a playground for the chef’s hyper-seasonal and regional dishes that are inspired by ancient Roman cooking and the flavors she grew up eating while spending summers at her grandparents’ home in Tuscany. Her farmers market produce translates into experimental dishes like beef tartare on a bed of sliced plums, and lemon slices coated with honeycomb and dusted with rose petals. Edible flowers make an appearance on many dishes, a nod to her mother’s style of cooking. There is beef and porcini ragú pasta, grilled lamb punched up with colatura, a fish sauce, and Italian wines to round out the rustic menu.

While Mirharooni would love Da Prato to stay permanently, she thinks at most she’ll remain in L.A. until the end of this year.

“I don't think that a restaurant is an actual sustainable model, like a lifetime project,” Da Prato said. “For me, it's been, how do we offer something really special to the community that is still profitable for me as a small business owner?”

A new horizon for pop-ups

Eddie Navarrette, the chief consultant of FE Design & Consulting, a company that helps independent owners open restaurants and bars, said of Da Prato’s lease structure: “It’s extremely unique for me, but very welcomed.”

Traditionally, lease terms are for three, five or 10 years — and the agreement can take months to put together, Navarrette said. Oftentimes, landlords require personal guarantees, adding pressure for the owner.

Pop-ups exist in a gray area because no real infrastructure for them exists. Enter California Bill AB 1679, which Navarrette’s advocacy organization Independent Hospitality Coalition is sponsoring. If AB 1679 becomes law, it will help create a framework for the language and codes to operate pop-ups. The bill, co-authored by Assembly members Mark Gonzalez and Buffy Wicks, would require cities and counties to create permits to allow temporary low-risk businesses — like ones serving coffee or tea — to operate in vacant storefronts for 120 days.

Navarrette said lease structures like Da Prato’s “can be conducive in creating a more vibrant restaurant culture by giving restaurants more flexibility and leniency in their commitments, as opposed to making it such a burden to take on a business for such a long period.”

Da Prato is now focused on embracing the temporality of owning a business and controlling when it closes.

“It’s so tough seeing this beautiful thing that you create get blown away,” she said. “So this time, I'm like, then let's just make it a sand mandala that gets blown away.”