US Navy sailors ride on a double-decker trolley in Los Angeles during Fleet Week.
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Patrick T. Fallon
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AFP via Getty Images
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This weekend:
Sing along with The Lion King at the Bowl, be inspired by Simone Leigh at LACMA, and practice your egg toss at Topanga Days.
Our picks:
The Lion King: 30th Anniversary Concert; Hollywood - The beloved Disney classic The Lion King comes to life under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl, with help from many special guests.
Topanga Days; Topanga Canyon - Missing Persons (of Walking in L.A. fame) headline the Topanga Days three-day festival on Sunday. The annual event feels like a time machine back to simpler days, with an eclectic parade and games for all ages
Corvette Car Show And Chili Cook-Off; El Segundo- Check out classic Corvettes while sampling (or even participating in!) a chili cook-off.
Welcome to the official start of summer, Best Things To Do readers!
It’s Memorial Day weekend and there are pools to swim in, parties to crash, music to get down to, and ships to board, so let’s get to it.
You have until 2025 to see the phenomenal Simone Leigh exhibit at LACMA and CAAM, but don’t sleep on this week’s opening party. There’s also a celebration for Pico Union Project’s tenth anniversary, Fleet Week events in San Pedro, new dinosaurs for dino-obsessed kids at O.C.’s Discovery Cube, and an outdoor screening of Almost Famous at the Rose Bowl.
For more to explore, visit LAist.com, where you can plot out your long weekend hike on the Park to Playa Bridge with our new series, LAist City Treks, get the first scoop on new food offerings at Dodger Stadium, and dive into the history of our beloved purple jacarandas (achoo!).
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire
LACMA has teamed up with the California African American Museum downtown to be the last stop on the U.S. tour for Leigh, who explores themes of Black femininity and history in her work and was the American representative at the Venice Biennale in 2022.
Salute sailors in their whites, thank them for their service, and climb on board to explore active duty visiting ships – the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and the U.S. Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter Terrell Horne.
Discovery Cube: Orange County
2500 N. Main St., Santa Ana
Grab the biggest dinosaur fan in your house and roar down to Orange County for a day filled with life-sized dinosaurs at the new Dino Quest at Discovery Cube.
#279: Hey, How to LA listeners! We’re back with another social calendar to talk about the interesting, fun, new happenings in the city.
Guests: Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido and Janice Llamoca, an audio producer and host. You might have heard her work on Latino USA, Vice AND she was the host of the amazing LAist Studios podcast Party Crews: The Untold Story. Here’s what each person pitched for YOUR social calendar:
#279: Hey, How to LA listeners! We’re back with another social calendar to talk about the interesting, fun, new happenings in the city.
Guests: Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido and Janice Llamoca, an audio producer and host. You might have heard her work on Latino USA, Vice AND she was the host of the amazing LAist Studios podcast Party Crews: The Untold Story. Here’s what each person pitched for YOUR social calendar:
Representatives of Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and the U.S. Soccer hold up jerseys as they announce the four countries hosting the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2031 Bid Announcement.
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Howard Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
Four Los Angeles venues are among those submitted by U.S. Soccer Federation to host the 2031 Women's World Cup.
Which stadiums?: The four proposed stadiums include the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park, Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which is also being used for the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup.
The backstory: The bid was put forward by the U.S. in conjunction with Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. It includes 50 stadiums across the four countries.
What's next: Although it’ll be years before the final venues are selected, FIFA is expected to take up the vote to confirm the joint bid at their next congress scheduled for April 30 in Vancouver.
On Friday, FIFA released the bidbooks for the 2031 Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. Soccer Federation submitted a joint bid with Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. It was the only bid that made the deadline.
If approved, several cities across the four countries would host the global football tournament.
Forty venues have in the U.S. have been proposed as potential sites for 2031 games, with some right here in southern California.
Football’s coming back?
Four Los Angeles stadiums are part of the bid.
Rose Bowl
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Show me the money
The bid projected that the 2031 tournament would bring in $4 billion in total revenue — four times more than $1 billion projected to be made from the upcoming 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Organizers expect to generate revenue from across six main sources including: ticket revenues, hospitality, concessions, fan festivals, broadcast, and marketing opportunities.
Ticket prices are projected to start at $35 for the opening rounds seats, and between $120 and $600 for later matches
Wait and see
FIFA is expected to formally confirm the bid at their next congress on April 30th in Vancouver.
The evaluation process will focus on, according to FIFA, “the event vision and key metrics, infrastructure, services, commercial considerations, and sustainability and human rights.”
The venues where games will be held won't be decided for at least a few more years.
Farmworkers work in a field outside of Fresno on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Topline:
The Wonderful Company suffered a setback on Tuesday in its bid to overturn a new farmworker unionization law when an appeals court tossed its lawsuit against state labor regulators.
Why it matters: The decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno leaves in place a controversial new law backed by the United Farm Workers that was meant to boost organizing in a heavily immigrant workforce.
The backstory: The law allows farmworkers to signal their support for union representation using a signed card, bypassing the traditional in-person, secret-ballot election usually held on the employer’s property.
California ag giant the Wonderful Company suffered a setback on Tuesday in its bid to overturn a new farmworker unionization law when an appeals court tossed its lawsuit against state labor regulators.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno leaves in place a controversial new law backed by the United Farm Workers that was meant to boost organizing in a heavily immigrant workforce. The law allows farmworkers to signal their support for union representation using a signed card, bypassing the traditional in-person, secret-ballot election usually held on the employer’s property.
The Wonderful Company — owner of the Wonderful Pistachios brand and Fiji Water, Pom pomegranate juices and Halos oranges —filed suit against the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board last year trying to overturn the law, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2023.
The suit, alleging the law is unconstitutional, came after the United Farm Workers filed a petition with enough signatures to represent 600-odd workers at the company’s grape nursery in Wasco.
In a contentious public dispute, the company accused union organizers of tricking workers into signing cards supporting unionization and provided over 100 employees’ signatures attesting to being deceived; in turn, the union accused the company of illegally intimidating workers into withdrawing their support. Regulators at the agricultural labor board filed charges against Wonderful after investigating the claims.
All of those allegations were being heard before the labor board last spring when Wonderful took the matter to court, arguing the new law deprived the company of due process. A Kern County judge initially halted the board proceedings, but the appeals court allowed them to continue last fall. After weeks of hearings this year, the labor board has yet to issue a decision on whether UFW can represent Wonderful employees.
In the meantime, the company has shuttered the Wasco nursery and donated it to UC Davis, making the question of an actual union at the worksite moot.
In the new ruling, the appeals court judges issued a sharp rebuke of the company for suing over the unionization instead of waiting for the labor board decision.
“Wonderful filed this petition notwithstanding approximately 50 years of unbroken precedent finding an employer may not directly challenge a union certification decision in court except in extraordinarily and exceedingly rare circumstances, which Wonderful does not meaningfully attempt to show are present here,” wrote Justice Rosendo Peña.
Elizabeth Strater, a United Farm Workers vice president, said the decision affirms that “every farm worker in California has rights under the law, and those rights need to be protected.”
But Wonderful Company General Counsel Craig Cooper dismissed the ruling as only a matter of timing: “the decision explicitly does not address the merits of Wonderful Nurseries’ constitutional challenge.”
After an Afghan national was named as being behind a shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one member of the National Guard dead and another in critical condition, the Trump administration says it is halting all asylum decisions.
Why now: Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said Friday night that the agency is pausing decisions "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."
After an Afghan national was named as being behind a shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one member of the National Guard dead and another in critical condition, the Trump administration says it is halting all asylum decisions.
Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said Friday night that the agency is pausing decisions "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."
"The safety of the American people always comes first," Edlow wrote on X.
The decision follows President Trump's promise of a sharp crackdown on immigration from countries he described as "third world."
Writing on social media on Thursday night, Trump railed against immigrants from impoverished nations, accusing them of being a burden on the nation's welfare system and "preying" on natural-born citizens.
"I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover," he wrote on Truth Social.
"Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation."
The Trump administration is already deporting some immigrants, either to their countries of origin or to third countries, many of which are paid to receive them. Venezuelans were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador, a number of migrants were sent to Eswatini and South Sudan, and Rwanda has agreed to accept deportees.
Edlow wrote on social media Thursday that he had been directed to conduct "a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern."
He did not say which countries this would entail, and the USCIS did not respond to an NPR request for comment. But a June White House proclamation placed a travel ban on 12 countries of concern.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and American flags stands outside the Farragut West Metro station on Nov. 28, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Andrew Leyden
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Getty Images
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These included many African nations suffering from conflict and terrorism such as Chad, Sudan and Somalia — as well as other countries, such as Afghanistan. Another 7 countries were slapped with partial restrictions.
In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said it had already halted all immigration requests stemming from Afghanistan and was in the process of reviewing "all" asylum cases approved under former President Biden.
The department did not respond to an NPR request for comment.
History of anti-immigrant sentiment
The president's latest comments against immigration was sparked by the revelation that the alleged shooter was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal — a 29-year-old Afghan national who had worked with the CIA to fight the Taliban in his native country and was admitted into the United States in 2021 as a result of his service. In a Thanksgiving Day call with servicemembers, Trump described the shooting as a terrorist attack and the shooter as a "savage monster."
He blamed the Biden administration for Lakanwal's entry to the United States and for a general failure of the immigration system.
"For the most part, we don't want 'em," he said, referring broadly to immigration seekers as gang members, mentally ill and previously incarcerated.
Trump ran both successful White House campaigns on a pledge to crack down on illegal immigration, targeting at various points migrants from countries including Mexico and Somalia.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday after the Thanksgiving call, Trump widened his attack to focus not just on the alleged shooter but to rail against immigration to the U.S. and immigrants in general.
When asked by a reporter about the fact that as a former CIA asset, Lakanwal had been vetted, Trump repeatedly berated the reporter as "stupid."
People detained earlier in the day are taken to a parking lot on the far north side of the city before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago, Ill.
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Jamie Kelter Davis
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Getty Images
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Asked by another reporter whether he blamed all Afghans for the alleged actions of one, Trump said: "No, but there's a lot of problems with Afghans."
Trump then turned his attention to immigrants from Somalia, who he has repeatedly accused of being gang-affiliated and "taking over"Minnesota — home to the nation's largest Somali community.
Questioned about what Somalis had to do with the D.C. shooting, Trump said: "Nothing." But, he added, "Somalians have caused a lot of trouble." .
Later on social media, he described "Somalian gangs" in Minnesota as "roving the streets looking for 'prey' as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone."
Officials for the United Nations on Friday criticized Trump's call for sweeping halts to immigration seekers.
"They are entitled to protection under international law, and that should be given due process," U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva.
Alex Garcia and Elvia Huerta, the masterminds behind Evil Cooks. (Cesar Hernandez for LAist)
Topline:
Alex and Elvia Huerta of Evil Cooks have released the El Sereno Food Passport, a $10 booklet to promote local restaurants.
What is it: The first edition of the booklet features 18 local restaurants, each offering its own little perk when you visit and get your passport stamped.
Read on ... to find out where you can get the passport and support local eateries in the Eastside community.
Alex and Elvia Huerta of Evil Cooks have released the El Sereno Food Passport, a $10 booklet to promote local restaurants.
The first edition of the booklet features 18 local restaurants, each offering its own little perk when you visit and get your passport stamped. Customers can either get free snacks or drinks or get a discount.
At Tirzah’s Mexi-Terranean, you can either get 15% off your order or a free esquite when you show your passport.
Evil Cooks is so metal, they make black octopus tacos. They have also experimented with gansito tamales. This Halloween, they collaborated with Amiga Amore, a Mexitalian eatery, to create a special “witches menu” that included huitlacoche, aguachile negro and lamb shank in fig mole.
Get the passport
Pick up a passport:
Evil Cooks, 3333 N. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles
Lil East Coffee, 2734 N. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles
