Young people at the East Wind Foundation dedicate their after-school hours and weekends to practicing the traditional folk art of lion dancing.
Why it matters: An ancient art dating back to the Han Dynasty, lion dance is more than just a performance for these youths — it's a way for these youths to connect with their heritage and build confidence and a sense of belonging within the community.
Some background: Last summer, East Wind opened the Chinatown Community Cultural Center, a dedicated space to preserve and promote the legacy of lion dancing and martial arts through education. By volunteering at the center, youths learn to share their knowledge with visitors and continue advocating for this ancient art. The center aims to ensure that the next generation carries forward these traditions with a sense of cultural pride.
Read on... see the photos documenting the lives of youths at the East Wind Foundation at the Alpine Recreation Park.
For the past two years, I've been documenting the lives of youths at the East Wind Foundation, a nonprofit organization in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, at the Alpine Recreation Park.
Here, young people dedicate their after-school hours and weekends to practicing the traditional folk art of lion dancing. An ancient art dating back to the Han Dynasty, lion dance is more than just a performance for these youths — it's a way for these youths to connect with their heritage and build confidence and a sense of belonging within the community.
First dance as the lions awaken during the blessing ceremony at East Wind's headquarters in August 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Kenzy Shaw practices a kung fu form (left) and one of the parents assists with the organization at East Wind's headquarters (right) in May 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Zannie Huang and Wenen Tan stand next to the new lions before a blessing ceremony at East Wind's headquarters in August 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Youths' bags and drinks on the stairs during practice at the East Wind headquarters in LA in August 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Routine warm-up exercises at the headquarters in August 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Lion dance is a physically demanding art form, requiring immense strength, stamina and coordination. Each evening, practices begin with body-strengthening exercises and martial arts training to prepare for the intricate movements of lion dance. Through this disciplined routine, participants develop resilience and teamwork while mastering the traditional techniques. The training not only hones physical skills but also instills self-discipline and a foundation for personal growth.
A lion's body is dotted with water, a part of the awakening act along with dotting the eyes and horn, at East Wind's headquarters in LA in August 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Left: Daniel Wong, a senior member plays the drum at the opening reception for the Chinatown Community Cultural Center in July 2024. Right: An altar at the center's blessing ceremony.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening reception for East Wind's Chinatown Community Cultural Center in Los Angeles in July 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Historically, lion dance was a male-dominated art form, as it was physically demanding and a taboo, culturally, for women. Today, girls are challenging this tradition by taking up the sport. Several girls — some of whom joined after being inspired by friends or siblings — shared that they got involved because they wanted to learn kung fu or because "lion dance looks super cool." Their participation reflects a broader shift in cultural traditions, evolving to embrace inclusivity while preserving their core essence.
Jayden Vuong and Qida Peng enter the lion at East Wind's headquarters in September 2023.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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The audience at the opening reception for the Chinatown Community Cultural Center in Los Angeles in July 2024.
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Leafy Yun Ye
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Joyce Huang and Jenny Kumpiman enter the lion before performing at East Wind's headquarter in September 2023.
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Leafy Yun Ye
)
East Wind also teaches the cultural significance behind the art form. Annual blessing ceremonies, where new lion heads are welcomed, offer youths a chance to learn rituals that honor their ancestors. Elders guide them in traditions like dotting a lion's eyes with ink, which symbolically awakens the lions to life. These ceremonies deepen the younger generation's connection to their heritage, fostering respect for their history and roots.
Beyond practices and ceremonies, East Wind nurtures community connections by organizing field trips in nature. These experiences allow youths from immigrant families, who often face financial or time constraints, to explore and bond with their peers. Through these activities, they build lasting friendships while enjoying meaningful interactions with nature.
Last summer, East Wind opened the Chinatown Community Cultural Center, a dedicated space to preserve and promote the legacy of lion dancing and martial arts through education. By volunteering at the center, youths learn to share their knowledge with visitors and continue advocating for this ancient art. The center aims to ensure that the next generation carries forward these traditions with a sense of cultural pride.
Youths' summer outing on Los Angeles' Cabrillo Beach in July 2023.
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Leafy Yun Ye
)
Through the traditional folk art of lion dance, these young lions are not only keeping a centuries-old practice alive but also forging meaningful connections to their cultural roots in this dynamic world.
Portraits of Jayden Vuong in a lion costume on Los Angeles' Cabrillo Beach in July 2023.
A reward poster for the arrest of Ryan James Wedding is visible following a November 2025 news conference.
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Andrew Harnik
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding appeared in court Monday in Santa Ana where he pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of running a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring and orchestrating multiple killings.
Why now: Wedding was taken into custody last week in Mexico City. Mexican officials say he turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy there, according to the Associated Press. But the AP also reported Wedding's lawyer said Monday that he actually did not surrender to law enforcement, but had been living in Mexico and was arrested.
The backstory: Wedding is accused of moving as much as 60 tons of cocaine between various locations in South and North America, and that he used Los Angeles as his primary point of distribution. The charges also tie him to the 2023 killing of two members of a Canadian family as retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, a 2024 killing over a drug debt and the killing of a witness in Colombia who was set to testify against him. Wedding was an Olympic snowboarder with Team Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He appeared in just one event, the men's parallel giant slalom, where he finished 24th. Last March, Wedding was added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.
What's next: Wedding's trail has tentatively been scheduled to start on March 24.
Libby Rainey
is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return.
Published January 26, 2026 3:45 PM
The Olympic and Paralympic flags on display at Los Angeles City Hall on Sept. 12, 2024.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Some members of the Los Angeles City Council are worried that countries might boycott the 2028 Olympics in response to President Donald Trump's policies, at home and abroad.
The context: The killing of another protester by immigration agents in Minneapolis and Trump's ongoing threats against Greenland have fueled calls to boycott World Cup matches held in the U.S. this summer — including in Los Angeles. The suggestion from a former FIFA president and others led some in City Hall to worry that the coming 2028 Olympics could also get the cold shoulder.
What City Council is saying: "We have a national government who is setting the stage for an environment where we could have a serious boycott," Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said at a committee meeting on the Olympic Games Monday.
What LA28 is saying: John Harper, an executive with private Olympics organizing committee LA28, said the organization had not discussed the possibility with the International Olympic Committee and that he was not concerned a boycott would take place in 2028.
Read on...for more about the potential effects of a boycott.
The killing of another protester by immigration agents in Minneapolis and President Trump's ongoing threats against Greenland have fueled calls to boycott World Cup matches held in the U.S. this summer — including in Los Angeles.
The suggestion from a former FIFA president and others led some in City Hall to worry that the coming 2028 Olympics could also get the cold shoulder.
"We have a national government who is setting the stage for an environment where we could have a serious boycott," Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said during a committee meeting on the Olympic Games Monday.
John Harper, an executive with private Olympics organizing committee LA28, said that the organization had not discussed the possibility with the International Olympic Committee and that he was not concerned a boycott would take place in 2028.
City Council members did not seem convinced.
"This conversation around FIFA, that's just a forewarning," said Councilmember Monica Rodriguez. "We need to have a Plan B."
The city of Los Angeles stands to lose if spectators or countries opt out of the 2028 Olympics. L.A. is the financial guarantor of the Games, along with the state of California, and a significant boycott could affect the financial success of the massive sporting event.
"We could be talking about a lot more irreparable harm, financially," Rodriguez said.
Fresh concerns about a boycott also come as anxiety in City Hall has been growing about the role the federal government will play at the Games.
The City Council recently passed a motion requesting that LA28 provide more details on the federal Olympics task force on security that Trump announced last year, citing the ICE agents who have descended on the streets of Los Angeles and other U.S. cities
The Olympics have been a frequent arena of political protest over the decades, including in Los Angeles in 1984 when the Soviet Union led a boycott of the Games.
"We never talk about the boycott of '84, but there was a significant boycott," Dawson-Harris said on Monday. "It doesn't mean that you can't figure it out, but it also means we have to face it and face it directly."
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Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published January 26, 2026 3:17 PM
Former Orange County Asst. Public Defender Scott Sanders questions former prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh, now an O.C. Superior Court judge, in 2024.
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Nick Gerda
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LAist
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Topline:
The Orange County District Attorney dropped murder charges in a case tainted by the so-called jailhouse snitch scandal, instead accepting a lesser guilty plea of voluntary manslaughter.
Why it matters: A decade ago, in the wake of the county’s biggest mass murder, the O.C. Public Defender’s office discovered that local law enforcement had been illegally using informants — sometimes called snitches — to get information and confessions from defendants in jail. The discovery has unraveled close to 60 criminal convictions to date and tainted the reputations of the O.C. District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department.
What's the backstory? Paul Smith was convicted of murder in 2010 for stabbing his childhood friend Robert Haugen to death in 1988 and then setting the body on fire in the victim’s Sunset Beach apartment. A decade later it came to light that O.C. law enforcement illegally used jailhouse informants to bolster their case against Haugen, and then hid that from the defense, ultimately leading a judge to throw out the conviction and order a new trial.
What's next? Now that trial won’t happen. Under a plea deal struck with the District Attorney’s Office, Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Monday and will serve another five years in prison before being released.
The Orange County District Attorney dropped murder charges in a decades-old case tainted by the so-called jailhouse snitch scandal, instead accepting a lesser guilty plea of voluntary manslaughter.
Why it matters
A decade ago, in the wake of the county’s biggest mass murder, the O.C. Public Defender’s Office discovered that local law enforcement had been illegally using informants — sometimes called snitches — to get information and confessions from defendants in jail. The discovery has unraveled close to 60 criminal convictions to date and tainted the reputations of the O.C. District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department.
What's the backstory?
Paul Smith was convicted of murder in 2010 for stabbing his childhood friend Robert Haugen to death in 1988 and then setting the body on fire in the victim’s Sunset Beach apartment. A decade later it came to light that O.C. law enforcement illegally used jailhouse informants to bolster their case against Haugen, and then hid that from the defense, ultimately leading a judge to throw out the conviction and order a new trial.
Now that trial won’t happen. Under a plea deal struck with the current District Attorney’s ffice, Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Monday and will serve another five years in prison before being released.
‘Reprehensible’ behavior from prosecutors
In a ruling last year, a San Diego judge overseeing Smith’s case said Orange County prosecutors had shown “reprehensible” behavior in pursuit of convicting Smith. He also said Ebrahim Baytieh, a former prosecutor and, now, Superior Court judge, was “not truthful” during court proceedings.
The takeaway?
Current District Attorney Todd Spitzer has repeatedly said his office has implemented reforms to ensure the rights of criminal defendants to a fair trial. He released a statement saying his office has taken steps to reverse the "cheat to win" missteps of an earlier administration and lamented that a murder defendant will now have an easier path to release:
"There are serious consequences when a prosecutor does not comply with his legal obligations to turn over evidence. There is no doubt that Paul Gentile Smith committed the most heinous of murders when he tortured and killed his victim 37 years ago. After a full and exhaustive hearing held by Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein, former Orange County prosecutor and current Orange County Superior Court Judge Brahim Baytieh was found, as a matter of law, to have failed to disclose exculpatory evidence regarding a jailhouse informant in this case.
This is a defendant who should be spending the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, but instead he will spend a total of 21 years and seven months in prison for taking the life of another human being because of the misconduct committed by the prosecutorial team under the prior administration.
This is why I have said for the last seven years since I became the District Attorney that I will not tolerate the 'win at all cost' mentality of the prior administration, and that there are serious consequences when you cheat to win convictions."
What does the defense say?
Scott Sanders, Smith’s attorney and the former assistant public defender who uncovered the so-called “snitch scandal,” says not enough has been done to reexamine cases in which tainted evidence may have been used to convict people.
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published January 26, 2026 2:07 PM
A person uses a self-checkout machine at a store.
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iStock Photo
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Topline:
The city of Costa Mesa last week advanced an ordinance that would make it the second city in the state to regulate grocery store self-service checkout stations.
The details: On Tuesday,the Costa Mesa City Council voted, 3-2, to move forward a law that would require staffing of one employee per three self-service checkout stations. It would also limit self-service checkout to 15 items or less, among other requirements. If adopted, the ordinance could regulate some 22 drug and food retail stores in Costa Mesa, though not all currently have self-service checkout stations.
Why? The ordinance cites cutting down on retail theft as one reason for the proposal.
Who supports it: Derek Smith, political director for the United Food and Commercial Workers 324, said the union represents some 15,000 grocery workers in Orange County and southern L.A. County and supports the measure. “Putting more people in there is going to make our members’ lives much easier, and I think the customers’ lives as well,” Smith told LAist. He said some grocery store workers are asked to supervise six self-checkout machines at a time. “It’s just too many for anybody to properly supervise,” he said.
Who opposes it: The California Grocers’ Association opposes the measure. “Costa Mesa residents want groceries to be affordable and convenient, yet three Costa Mesa city councilmembers made a decision that will make life harder for thousands of grocery shoppers who rely on its convenience,” Nate Rose, California Grocers Association spokesperson, said in an emailed statement.
What’s next: The City Council is expected to take the ordinance up for a second reading on Feb. 3. If it’s approved, it could take effect within 30 days. That would make it the second city in the state, after Long Beach, to adopt such an ordinance.
