Topline:
An art gallery that was destroyed in the Palisades Fire is reopening tonight in Santa Monica.
The backstory: Most of the Bruce Lurie Gallery's collection was destroyed in the fire, save for three sculptures. With a bit of neighborhood kindness and luck, the veteran gallerist behind his namesake space is having a new debut in Santa Monica.
Read on ... to find out about the process of reopening the space just months after the fires.
Bruce Lurie remembers watching television news and seeing the Palisades Fire jump from one building to his namesake gallery on Jan. 7.
The 900-square-foot art space on Via de la Paz specializes in mid-career artists working in pop art, street art, giant sculpture and other media.
Most of Lurie's collection except for three polished stainless-steel sculptures were destroyed in the Palisades Fire. But the area was also his home. Although his apartment survived the fire, it was rendered uninhabitable.
Like so many others, Lurie says he was reeling from the loss and destruction of the tight-knit community. He says all but three buildings were burned down in the vicinity of where the Bruce Lurie Gallery stood.
With some four decades of experience, Lurie has seen his shares of ups and downs in running a gallery space. He left New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In Los Angeles, the gallery was in Culver City before moving to the Palisades after the pandemic.
Picking up and moving to new digs never fazed Lurie. But with the fires, it was an entirely different experience.
Even though he knew he'd reopen — when and where was another question.
"It just so happened that a gentleman who owns a gallery space in downtown Santa Monica lives in the Palisades," Lurie said.
The next day Lurie went to check out the space.
"I really wasn't prepared to act on it. I walked in and I was like, 'Wow, this is great space for a gallery,'" he said.
Lurie was still on the fence.
"He really wanted me to get in there, and he made us a very nice offer just to get us in," Lurie said. " Sometimes you just gotta take the leap of faith."
The new gallery is double the size of the previous gallery.
"A s a gallery, I think our identity has never been just like a sterile white cube, but that's not really our style," says Lan Guan, director of the Bruce Lurie Gallery. "We've had fundraisers, comedy shows, even an engagement proposal."
Lurie hopes to recreate that kind of vibe in the new space in downtown Santa Monica — an area that is experiencing a kind of renaissance of its own with a spate of new developments.
"I keep running into people who are from the Palisades who've moved into that area," Lurie said. "We would like to be the pillar of the community for bringing contemporary art to Santa Monica."
Starting with its grand reopening — and the inaugural group show, Renascene.
In this edition:
Check out Oysterpalooza, Daisy Chain Fields, a rock project at ICA and more of the best things to do this weekend and beyond.
Highlights:
Maestro Gustavo Dudamel’s farewell shows at the Hollywood Bowl after his 17-year run as conductor of the LA Phil were truly a special moment in this city, from the visible lovefest between him and Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl on Saturday to the moving fundraiser for Venezuela with YOLA and stars from Chris Martin to Beck to Carlos Vives on Sunday. A fitting send off for someone who changed the shape of music in Los Angeles. The Dude will be missed! If you didn’t catch the Concert for Venezuela, you can stream it on YouTube.
Elsewhere on LAist, you can learn about December’s Annenberg Wildlife Crossing opening event, visit a stand-up club in Bellflower and get ready for JANM’s January reopening.
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Saturday, Aug. 29
Great Park Live
8000 Great Park Drive, Irvine
COST: FROM $255; MORE INFO
If you’re lucky enough to score a ticket (it’s currently waitlist-only), this new celebration of women in rock is being hailed as the second coming of the Lilith Fair and hopefully the start of something big. Hosted by Olivia Rodrigo, it features an amazing bill that includes Chappell Roan, Die Spitz, Doechii, Garbage, Katseye, Mitski, Karen O, Sarah McLachlan, Bikini Kill and even Stevie Nicks. It’s all going down at Great Park Live in Irvine.
Monday, Aug. 31, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
15225 Palisades Village Lane, Pacific Palisades
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Celebrate the reopening of Palisades Village by meeting new friends for a game of American mahjong at the weekly mahjong social. There’s no formal instruction, so just sign up and show up alone or with a group of up to four players.
Through Friday, Sept. 18
Institute of Contemporary Art LA
1717 E. 7th Street, Arts District
COST: FREE (well, a rock, I guess); MORE INFO
The South Korean tradition of building wishing rock towers called 돌탑, or DOL-TOP, is believed to protect the community. ICA LA artists-in-residence Saewon Oh and C. Ryu of Hwa Records are collaborating with ICA’s 2026 Agency of Assets Youth Fellows and the lands of Tongva/Los Angeles on a new installation, and they need your help. Donate a rock at the reception desk to be part of the new installation opening this fall.
Saturday and Sunday, August 29 and 30
Lafayette Park
625 S. La Fayette Park Place, Westlake
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
The 10th edition of the annual Festival Chapín celebrates Puerto Barrios, Izabal, Guatemala’s gateway to the Caribbean and the Atlantic. A replica of the iconic “Tierra de Dios” arch, created by artist David Olivares, will welcome visitors at Lafayette Park to the free two-day event, which spans seven blocks and showcases the best of the Garifuna people and Guatemala through music, food and arts and crafts.
Saturday, Aug. 29, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Heliotrope Drive, East Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
East Hollywood is quickly becoming a major art hub, so head to Heliotrope Drive for an afternoon of art and food, with events at Track 16 Gallery, Art Bug, David Zwirner, Wilding Cran, Ondo Coffee, Cateye Spectacles, GoGo Juice Bar and Red Vintage Co. There’s art, music, raffles, shopping and more.
Thursday, August 27, 7 p.m.
Dynasty Typewriter
2511 Wilshire Blvd., Koreatown
COST: $22.99; MORE INFO
This isn’t a screening; it’s more of a comedic reinterpretation-slash-mockumentary look at the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, honoring the film’s 35th anniversary (is that really possible? 35?!). Comedians like Andy Daly, Paul Scheer and Colton Dunn will perform alongside co-host of the Novelizers podcast, Stephen Levinson.
Thursday, August 27, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
No Vacancy
1727 N. Hudson Ave., Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
First Mattel tackled movies with Barbie and He-Man; now they're branching into live events, hosting UNO socials all over the country. The L.A. event at No Vacancy is free to RSVP — just bring your lungs and get ready for a heated game of UNO.
Saturday, Aug. 29, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Alpine Recreation Center
817 Yale Street, Chinatown
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Honor the Hungry Ghosts of the ancestors at the annual Hungry Ghost Festival in Chinatown. Don your costume and dance alongside the East Wind Lion Dance Troupe, enjoy food from local vendors, performances, art activities for kids and much more; the annual event is free for all.
Saturday, Aug. 29, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunset Beach Community Center and Greenbelt
16861 12th Street, Huntington Beach
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Oysters aren’t just for eating! Orange County's inaugural oyster festival kicks off with a beach cleanup at 9 a.m. and continues through the day with art activities using recycled oyster shells, talks on sustainability, indigenous storytelling with the Gabrielino-Shoshone Nation, and of course, oyster (and ale!) tastings.
Topline:
Nearly 300,000 California K-12 students experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year, the highest numbers ever recorded by UCLA researchers. Southern California counties, including Los Angeles and Orange, account for the highest numbers of students experiencing homelessness in the state.
Why it matters: Students experiencing homelessness are more likely to frequently miss school and fall behind academically. While many students have started to score higher on the state’s standardized math and reading tests following pandemic-related declines, the percentage of unhoused students who meet the benchmarks is about 20% lower than their housed peers, the research found.
SoCal numbers: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties account for half of the students experiencing homelessness in the state. About 62,000 – nearly 5% — of L.A. County students were unhoused in the 2024-2025 school year.
What's next: California’s most recent budget includes $116 million to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. The report’s authors say while that’s “encouraging,” more than one-time funding is needed.
Nearly 300,000 California K-12 students experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year, the highest numbers ever recorded by UCLA researchers and a 10% increase from the prior peak in the 2018-19 school year.
“The sheer magnitude of how many students are experiencing homelessness and how much it's increased, that was the biggest finding for us,” said Grace Kim, study co-author and research analyst at the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties account for half of the students experiencing homelessness in the state. About 62,000 — nearly 5% — of L.A. County students experience homelessness in the 2024-25 school year.
Researchers at UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools examined data collected by the California Department of Education between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years, including homeless student enrollment, attendance and test scores.
Schools are required to identify students who lack stable housing and provide resources, such as transportation, so they can access the same quality of education as a housed child.
Students experiencing homelessness are more likely to frequently miss school and fall behind academically. While many students have started to score higher on the state’s standardized math and reading tests following pandemic-related declines, the percentage of students experiencing homelessness who meet the benchmarks is about 20% lower than their housed peers, the research found.
Black, American Indian and Alaska Native students experienced higher rates of homelessness than their peers of other races — about 1 in 12.
California’s most recent budget includes $116 million to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. The report’s authors say while “encouraging,” more than one-time funding is needed to support students experiencing homelessness.
“Having integrated systems of support is also a super important factor,” Kim said. “The reason why we see these gaps in terms of academic achievement or chronic absenteeism … it's not [students’] fault.”
Topline:
Cleanup is just beginning for a contaminated industrial site in South Gate, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials who are leading the effort.
Why it matters: The small, southeast L.A. city has three Superfund sites, areas designated by the federal government as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.
The backstory: The site, known as the Southern Avenue Industrial Area, housed a screw manufacturing business for 30 years, then a carpet adhesive plant. Both businesses are now defunct and the site was designated by the federal government as a Superfund site in 2012.
What's next: EPA officials estimate soil cleanup will take about two months. Groundwater cleanup planning will start in 2027 and could take a year or more.
Read on ... to learn about the other contaminated sites in South Gate.
Cleanup is just beginning for a contaminated industrial site in South Gate, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials who are leading the effort.
The small southeast L.A. city was built on industry — in the early 20th century it boomed with auto, chemical and other manufacturers.
That legacy also left it with three Superfund sites, areas designated by the federal government as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.
The three sites are all clustered on a large lot framed by Southern and Rayo avenues. A residential neighborhood is nearby.
“This site is less than 50 yards away from a home, so we want to make sure that we clean it to a point where we can feel confident,” said South Gate Mayor Joshua Barron.
South Gate is home to about 90,000 people, the majority of whom are Latino. The median household income is about $74,500 and the state has identified the city and surrounding communities to be disproportionately burdened by pollution and its health effects.
This site, dubbed the Southern Avenue Industrial Area, housed a screw manufacturing business for 30 years, then a carpet adhesive plant. Both businesses are now defunct and the site was designated by the federal government as a Superfund site in 2012.
The pollution at this property was compounded by pollution from companies next door.
One of the two adjacent Superfund sites was used by Cooper Drum Co., a steel drum recycling plant. A group of Cooper Drum’s former customers, including chemical manufacturers and oil companies, are paying for part of that cleanup. The other site, previously operated by an aircraft rivet and conveyor belt manufacturer, is still in the analysis and planning stages.
First, a site has to get officially listed. Then the EPA has to analyze the property to understand exactly what and where contamination occurred. Identifying who is responsible for pollution can take time, result in lawsuits, or not be resolved at all. If the responsible party is defunct or can’t pay for the cleanup, then taxpayers have to foot the bill.
EPA experts need to then analyze the site and develop a cleanup plan, and funding needs to be secured. The cleanup can take years, even decades. The federal government has been slowly working through a backlog of sites, identifying those of highest importance through the National Priorities List, of which there are 97 in California. Learn more about the Superfund process here.
At the Southern Avenue site where the EPA broke ground Tuesday, analyses commissioned by the agency found widespread lead and other toxic contamination in the soil, as well as a plume of trichloroethylene, a carcinogen, in the groundwater.
Officials say the plume has not affected the deeper aquifer South Gate and other southeast L.A. cities rely on for drinking water.
In 1986, the city closed water wells contaminated by the neighboring Cooper Drum site.
“ The water is safe to drink,” said Mike Montgomery, superfund director for the EPA. “What we're trying to do is prevent it from becoming impacted.”
EPA officials estimate soil cleanup will take about two months. Groundwater cleanup planning will start in 2027 and could take a year or more. The whole effort is estimated to cost between $45 million and $60 million, primarily through federal dollars.
Topline:
Forecasters predict that this year’s El Niño could be the strongest on record. LAist wants to help answer your questions about it.
The background: Scientists say an El Niño climate pattern has already formed in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Warming ocean temperatures are on track to exceed even the historic El Niño of 1997.
Why it matters: In Southern California, El Niño is expected to come with a lot of rain and high sea levels, as well as the resulting flooding, mudslides and coastal erosion.
Read on … to find the form where you can submit your questions about El Niño.
The summer heat may be sweltering at the moment in Southern California, but predictions about this winter’s El Niño show it could be the strongest on record.
So the LAist newsroom wants to know: What questions do you have? (You can submit below.)
We can tell you now that El Niño is a climate pattern that happens roughly every two to seven years, and is one of the most powerful drivers of the Earth’s weather.
During an El Niño event, the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America warms to above normal temperatures. The warm ocean adds moisture and heat to the atmosphere, influencing atmospheric circulation, temperatures and precipitation on a massive scale.
El Niño typically results in mild weather in the northern United States and wetter conditions in the southern part of the country.
In Southern California, we could start to see the effects of El Niño in the late fall or early winter. Generally, those effects include significant rain and high sea levels and the consequences that come with them, such as flooding, mudslides and coastal erosion.
Forecasters say there is a more than 90% chance of a powerful El Niño event this year, and a 70% chance that it’s record-setting.
That said, uncertainty remains around how exactly this winter’s El Niño will play out here.
So as you gear up for an El Niño winter, ask us your questions and we’ll do our best to get answers in the months ahead.
