The Brief

When you walk into "Ode to ’Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena," a free exhibit at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park, you’re greeted not with pieces of fine art — but a large wall of photos.

Some are black and white, some are color. They show Altadenans over the decades during treasured moments, such as a birthday celebration or family pool time. They’re part of the exhibition’s more than 20 Black artists, all of whom live in or have family ties to the neighborhood.

“One of the first things that I envisioned in my mind was putting together this wall of archival photos, personal family photos, photos of the artists in the exhibition,” said Cameron Shaw, the museum’s executive director. She wanted to show how family and community are critical parts of Altadena life.

The photo mural that visitors see at the exhibit entrance.

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‘Community curated’

“Ode to ’Dena” isn’t your traditional tour of place and history. This exhibition is about the neighborhood’s artistic tradition, which blends the past and present.

Curator Dominique Clayton said the show is bittersweet because it stems from pain, but that it also poses an opportunity for people to learn another part of L.A. County’s cultural history.

Museum galleries usually take a long time to organize, but Clayton said she was able to put this one together quickly. She started working on it in mid-January, just after the Eaton Fire broke out. She said that speed was in part because of Altadena’s supportive community of artists.

“ I like to say it’s community curated,” Clayton said. “ I would talk to one artist. I was introduced to another and another. And so it sort of built itself.”

Some of the artists in the gallery lost homes in the Eaton Fire, including Clayton’s friend Kenturah Davis, one of the artists on display.

Meaning behind the art

These items were curated by Octavia's Bookshelf owner Nikki High as a symbol of the Altadena's Black literary legacy.

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There are a variety of styles and subjects in the exhibit.

The beloved Pasadena bookstore Octavia’s Bookshelf curated a display that shows the Black literary legacy of Altadena and Pasadena.

John C. Outterbridge’s renowned outhouse, a structure that calls out institutionalized racism, brings in the Civil Rights era.

Debris from the Eaton Fire also gets a new life here. A scorched flugelhorn sits next to burned tree branches.

A piece titled "From the Ashes" from artist Sam Pace. The work includes a flugelhorn that was found in the ashes of his neighbor's Altadena home.

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The burned sound bowl from the artist Grandfather.

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A charred sound bowl — used by the artist Grandfather in several of his audio works — was the only item found in his home's ashes after the Eaton Fire.

The show also transcends generations. Davis’ 2-year-old son Micah has two watercolor paintings in the exhibit. He’s the youngest artist in “Ode to ’Dena.”

Watercolor paintings from Micah Zuri Davis-O'Connor. These paintings were done with the help of his grandfather, Keni "Arts" Davis. His paintings, showing before and after looks at lost Altadena places, are also in the show.

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Betye Saar's album artwork for jazz musician Bennie Maupin.

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The oldest is 98-year-old Betye Saar, who has a mixed media installation and album artwork in the exhibit.

The exhibit is an example of change in America, Clayton said. The arts culture now has multiple generations of Black artists, and Altadena plays a big role in that. For example, Kenturah Davis' artworks are joined by ones from her parents. Her mother, Mildred “Peggy” Davis, has handmade quilts on display. Keni “Arts” Davis, Kenturah Davis' father, painted iconic Altadena locations before and after the fires.

One of Clayton’s favorite pieces comes from Marcus Leslie Singleton, who watched from New York as his family lost their home. His oil painting, called “Moses” contains the only reference to fire in the show. It shows Moses as a Black man sitting next to a burning bush surrounded by desert.

Clayton says that piece is emblematic of the hopeful energy she wanted for the whole show — “so that it’s not so much about destruction and disaster," Clayton said, "but really about enlightenment.”

Marcus Leslie Singleton's "Moses." During the L.A. fires, Singleton helped raise money from New York for his family, who lost their home in Altadena.

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Altadenas are everywhere

Shaw said the team leaned into its mission to preserve Black art history and culture after the fires. She hopes that people who have a history with the Altadena area can see themselves reflected honestly in the exhibit.

Shaw also wants folks who don’t have that connection to  learn about the neighborhood’s Black history and community. That goes back to the 1960’s. Until then, Altadena was almost an entirely white community.

This was largely because of redlining. When it was banned in 1968, a “white flight” in Altadena ensued. One of L.A. County’s first middle-class communities with Black people emerged there, known as the Meadows. Today, Altadena is 18% Black — roughly double the rest of the county.

“ Dominique says something so beautiful, which is that there are Altadenas everywhere,” Shaw said. “And that doesn’t mean that Altadena is replicable, but that there are Black places worth protecting.”

And Clayton has an idea for how visitors can put that into action with the artists.

“ Take a moment to look them up,” she said. “Read about them, learn about them, tell someone else about them.”

“Ode to ’Dena” will be on display through Oct. 12. Visitors can check out the free exhibit at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park.

Big Bear’s famous bald eagles — Jackie and Shadow — appear to be welcoming a new chick into the world.

The first pip, or crack, was spotted in one of the feathered duo’s two eggs around 10 a.m. Friday, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs a popular YouTube livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake.

More than 26,000 people were watching the livestream shortly after the organization confirmed a pip had been spotted, which signals that an eaglet is starting to poke its way out of the egg shell.

“Yesterday afternoon, evening and throughout the night we heard little chirps coming from the chick,” Friends of Big Bear Valley wrote on Facebook to more than a million followers. “This indicates that the chick was able to break the internal membrane and took its first breath of air.”

As of Friday, the first egg is around 38 days old and the second egg is about 35 days old. Jackie and Shadow's usual incubation timeline is around 38 to 40 days, according to the nonprofit.

There’s still time for the second egg to show signs of hatching, and a pip could be confirmed in the coming days.

What we know

Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media manager, told LAist earlier this week that hatching is an arduous process for chicks that takes some time.

For example, last season, the first chick hatched more than a day after the initial pip was confirmed, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records. The second chick hatched about a day after pipping as well, and the third chick worked its way out into the world about two days after the first crack was confirmed.

The chicks may look like little blobs of gray fluff at first, but they grow quickly, as fans saw with Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets last year. One of last season’s trio of chicks, believed to be the eldest and most dominant sibling, died during a winter storm within weeks of hatching.

In March 2025, Jackie and Shadow welcomed two eaglet chicks with one remaining egg in their nest.

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Jackie and Shadow's three chicks on March 7, 2025. One of the chicks later died, while Sunny and Gizmo successfully fledged a few months later.

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Jackie and Shadow's eaglets during a feeding of fish in April 2025.

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Sunny and Gizmo in Big Bear's famous bald eagle nest on Friday, April 18, 2025.

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Viewers watched as the surviving eaglets, Sunny and Gizmo, grew from a few ounces to several pounds in a matter of months before fledging, or taking their first flight away from the nest, last June.

But any chicks arriving this season will have to learn how to feed before they can fly.

The initial meals may be a bit awkward while the chicks learn to sit up straight. Jackie and Shadow could start feeding the chicks the same day they hatch, typically tearing off pieces of fish or raw meat and holding it up to their beaks.

Bald eagles don’t regurgitate food for their young, unlike other birds. But the feathered parents do pass along a "substantial amount of saliva” full of electrolytes and antibodies to their chicks during feedings, according to the nonprofit.

Voisard said new life coming to the nest is a reminder “why it’s so important to conserve their lands.”

Big Bear fundraiser

Friends of Big Bear Valley is trying to raise $10 million by the end of July to purchase land pegged for a planned housing project that some say would harm rare plants and wildlife in the area, including bald eagles.

You can learn more about the fundraiser here.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta provided guidance this week to childcare providers on new legal requirements to protect children and their families from immigration enforcement activities.

Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are not allowed to collect information about a child's or family member’s immigration status, unless necessary under state or federal law. Bonta’s office says there currently is no such requirement, though that could change with federal programs like Head Start.

“Childcare and preschool facilities should be safe and secure spaces so children can grow, learn and simply be children,” Bonta said in a statement.

His office says daycare centers also should not keep information about a formerly enrolled child longer than is required by state law.

The new law also requires facilities to inform the attorney general’s office and the state’s licensing agency if they get any requests for information from law enforcement related to immigration enforcement.

Facilities also must ask families to regularly update a child’s emergency contact information to make sure someone can be reached in case a parent is detained by federal immigration officials.

The Santa Ana winds are here to welcome us into the weekend, bringing warmer temperatures.

The winds will reach Point Mugu to the Santa Clarita Valley, down to Orange County and parts of the Inland Empire valleys and foothills east of the 5 Freeway.

Peak gusts are expected to reach 35 to 55 mph. The western San Gabriel Mountains, Highway 14 corridor, Santa Susana Mountains and the western Santa Monica Mountains are under a high wind warning until 6 p.m., when gusts could reach 65 mph.

As for temperatures, highs for L.A. County beaches will reach the upper 70s and up to the low 80s for inland areas.

Parts of Orange County and Coachella Valley will see temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s, with the warmest areas expected to reach 88 degrees.