The Brief

A first-of-its-kind labor action — one that could set a precedent for the entire reality TV industry — argues that the participants of the hit Netflix reality show Love Is Blind are employees and therefore eligible for basic labor protections under federal law.

In a complaint issued last week, the National Labor Relations Board found that the show's producers had misclassified the contestants — who agree to date other contestants sight unseen, leading to on-screen engagements and even marriage — as "participants." The complaint calls for contestants to be reclassified as employees and for them to receive back pay for any lost wages while they were on the show.

On Love is Blind, which bills itself as a "social experiment," to see whether "love truly is blind," contestants are paid modest stipends for their time on the show. There is no cash prize — just a shot at finding love.

The labor complaint comes after several former contestants — publicly, sometimes anonymously to the press, and in lawsuits — have described poor treatment they faced while filming the show, including allegations that their physical safety was at risk. Their allegations are not unique to the show, but recall similar accounts from other reality TV participants in a genre reputed for its historically exploitative underbelly.

Yet it's the first major labor action filed on behalf of unscripted TV cast members, and could lead to big changes to reality shows behind the scenes of and even what we see on our screens.

If it stands, NLRB's recognition that unscripted TV talent are employees would allow Love Is Blind cast members to discuss working conditions with each other, form or join a union and engage in collective bargaining to negotiate terms such as minimum pay standards and caps on hours worked.

But how likely is all that to become, well, reality?

What's in the labor complaint?

In the complaint, the NLRB accuses the show's producers, Delirium TV and Kinetic Content, of unfair labor practices, including misclassifying the contestants as "participants" instead of employees. The board alleges that under the participant classification, contestants were deprived of worker protections guaranteed to employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and subject to unlawful contractual terms related to publicity, exclusivity and confidentiality.

Former Love Is Blind contestants Nick Thompson and Renee Poche filed separate unfair labor practice complaints to the board last year. After investigating the show's labor practices, the NLRB regional office in Minneapolis filed its complaint.

What have former contestants alleged?

Thompson, who made it to the altar on season two of the show, has spoken about long filming hours and what he described as manipulated conflict with castmate Danielle Ruhl. (Their marriage, captured on screen, fell apart after a year).

Poche, who appeared in season five of the show, has alleged she was pressured into continuing her TV romance with someone she said was a violent and emotionally abusive drug addict. She declined to say "I do" at the altar, and her storyline was mostly removed from the final cut of the series. The man, Carter Wall, was not a defendant in her suit and later told The New York Times that Poche's description of him was a "stretch."

In a separate lawsuit, contestant Jeremy Hartwell accused the show's creators of underpaying, underfeeding and pushing alcohol on contestants. The show's producers told Variety there was "absolutely no merit" to Hartwell's allegations, but the two sides ultimately settled.

In another suit under review in Texas, cast member Tran Dang accused the show's producers of facilitating false imprisonment and sexual assault. In a statement at the time, producers said, "We support and stand with victims of sexual assault, but Ms. Dang's claims against the producers are meritless."

Contestants have said that non-disclosure language in contracts that they sign has prevented cast members from speaking out about their experience on the show.

After Poche spoke publicly about her experiences while filming, Delirium TV initiated private arbitration. Poche — who earned $8,000 for her participation on the show, according to her filing — said she was sued by the production company for $4 million for violating her contract's non-disclosure clause. Since issuing its complaint, the NLRB ordered Delirium to stay the arbitration against Poche or face penalty, as the NLRA preempts arbitration proceedings.

If the cast members are considered employees, the scope of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other confidentiality terms that production companies could impose on the employees would be severely limited, said Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and a former attorney with the NLRB regional office in Atlanta. 

"Being an employee under the NLRA means that they can discuss their working conditions with each other without fearing retaliation," she said. "And that would include being free from these NDAs, at least with regard to the scope of the NDA."

What do the producers and Netflix say?

Delirium TV and Kinetic Content did not respond to a request for comment, but in previous statements they have denied allegations made by former contestants. Netflix, which has been sued by former contestants but is not a charged party in the complaint, also did not respond to a request for comment.

What happens next?

A hearing for the NLRB complaint is scheduled for April 2025. An administrative law judge will then decide if the production companies violated labor law. Either party can then appeal the decision.

If appealed, the case would reach the five-member NLRB board in Washington, D.C. That's where the incoming Trump administration could have sway.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to revamp the NLRB leadership, said Matthew Bodie, a University of Minnesota Law School professor who teaches labor and employment law. He's likely to fill an empty spot on the board, creating a majority of Trump appointees. Even if the case doesn't make it to that stage, the president-elect is also likely to replace the current NLRB general counsel with his own pick, who could choose to drop the case.

Based on previous Trump appointments to the board, Lieberwitz said it's probable that any future Trump appointees would be "unfriendly to broad interpretations of rights of employees under the NLRA and generally unfriendly to unions."

Before a hearing even happens, the two parties could reach a settlement.

"There's a long road in between where we are right now and the potential for this case to get to the five-member National Labor Relations Board," Lieberwitz said.

A ruling, whatever the outcome, would create a precedent for the entire industry in setting a legal standard that other unscripted TV cast members in similar situations could rely on, Lieberwitz said.

How realistic is a reality TV union?

Other popular unscripted shows are rife with stories of stars being plied with alcohol, alleged sexual harassment and complaints that their pay doesn't increase with the show's success — issues that could potentially be remedied or find recourse if participants had the option to organize.

But Brian Moylan, author of The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives, thinks the path to an industry-wide reality TV union is "a very uphill battle."

The level of turnover on the majority of unscripted shows, including Love Is Blind, presents a barrier for castmates to band together, he said, where contestants tend to be seen as disposable to casting directors and producers. 

"Think about the contestants on The Bachelor," he said. "Almost all reality shows, people are on one season and they're gone. It's hard for them to get together and bargain and say, 'Oh, you can't hire us again unless you treat us better.' Most of these shows aren't interested in hiring them again anyway."

The Real Housewives women are in a better position to lead such an effort, as he sees it. Many of the cast members are stars in their own right, returning for multiple seasons, he pointed out. They have leverage because they make the Bravo network a lot of money.

Around the time of the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes, a so-called "reality reckoning" saw a wave of lawsuits hit the Bravo-verse. Since then, Moylan said, "Bravo is treating their people a lot better than other places just because they need the housewives to keep coming back."

One housewife's push last year to form a union has gotten little traction. Bravo star Bethenny Frankel (formerly Real Housewives of New York), inspired by the writers' and actors' strikes, called for reality TV stars to band together to form a union. Frankel said NDAs silenced cast members from speaking out about the dark side of their work, and wanted her peers to get streaming residuals that are afforded to scripted TV actors protected by the SAG-AFTRA union. (NPR staffers are also members of SAG-AFTRA, but under a separate contract than TV actors).

Bethenny Frankel attends the 19th Annual L'Oréal Paris Women Of Worth Celebration in November in Hollywood. When the former <em>Real Housewives of New York </em>star championed the idea of her castmates unionizing, her campaign was met with a lack of support from some of the Bravo network's biggest names.

"People were paying attention to Bethenny, but it kind of fell away because she wasn't bringing everyone along," Moylan said. "She was just kind of focusing on how housewives were treated and what Bravo was doing rather than saying, OK, let's look at this industry as a whole."

To Moylan, a reality TV union also invites several questions around how union contracts — with rules around hours and food breaks — would work for shows where some deprivation of basic needs is a crucial element to the spectacle of the show.

"How does that impact a show like Survivor, where part of the point of it is to not eat and to not sleep and not have water, and have to earn food," he said. "Do they have to sign [protections] away to be on the game?" 

What about the fans? Could a unionization effort sap some of the drama that keeps people watching if Housewives — known for backstabbing and bad-mouthing one another — had to band together to organize?

"I would like to think that there is a world in which you can treat these people well and they have good contracts and they're fairly compensated and the shows are still good," Moylan said. "If you look at the Housewives, they're treating those women — what I would consider the best in the industry — and it's still some of the best reality television we have."

Data center builders don’t tell the public how much water they use, according to a new report — and the industry is encroaching into water-stressed and vulnerable communities.

The report, by the think tank Next10 and researchers at Santa Clara University, finds that planned data centers — the ganglia of artificial intelligence — are spreading to regions reliant on overtapped groundwater and strained surface water, with potentially major effects in the Central and Imperial Valleys.

But, reinforcing previous studies, the researchers found that a patchwork of state, federal and local policies allows data center operators to avoid publicly disclosing their actual water use.

California lawmakers tried to address this last year, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the measure. Now, the legislature is trying again, with bills mandating disclosures about water use and planning.

“We have this huge build out, and we have very little data,” said Irina Raicu, who directs the Internet Ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Paired with California’s precarious water supplies, Raicu said, “It’s just not a good combination.”

Shaolei Ren, an expert on the environmental impacts of AI at UC Riverside who was not involved in the study, said the findings point to a much broader problem.

“Limited publicly available information about data center water use makes it difficult for communities, water providers and researchers to have meaningful public discussions and responsibly assess power-water trade-offs,” Ren said in an email.

Murky water use 

Few environmental impact reports for California’s data centers were publicly available online, the researchers found.

Raicu and co-author Iris Stewart-Frey, a professor of environmental science, went looking for the reports, meant to assess and disclose a project’s impacts for both nature and people under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act.

They found almost none. The ones they did find were largely for facilities in the city of Santa Clara.

Through interviews with planning officials, they discovered that projects can slip through with little environmental review if they fall under certain size or water use thresholds, or if they meet a city or county’s criteria for other approval pathways. These include something called ministerial approval, which requires planning agencies to approve a project that meets local zoning and other standards.

Even for data centers that undergo more stringent environmental scrutiny, the researchers found that documentation is rarely available to the public.

In the few cases the planning documents were posted publicly, the information — on the data center’s owner or operator, size, type of cooling system, the amount of water used, whether it’s recycled or potable — was often “missing, contradictory, or vague,” the report said.

The researchers said they contacted water providers in areas where data centers cluster, seeking usage data. None responded.

A shift to vulnerable regions

California’s data centers mostly cluster in the south San Francisco Bay Area and the city of Los Angeles, with smaller concentrations in Sacramento and San Diego.

But the report noted large, planned projects in rural and less affluent regions — like in Santa Clara County’s Gilroy, as well as in the heavily agricultural Imperial Valley.

“They need a bunch of cheap land,” Raicu. “If we’re not careful, they will end up being pitched, very convincingly, to communities that have real needs — without enough attention being paid to the water part.”

Khara Boender, director of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, which has opposed bills mandating more granular water-use reporting, said in an email the industry is “committed to being a good neighbor.”

Boender argues that data centers collectively “used significantly less water than other essential industries in 2025, including the agriculture, power, food and beverage, and semiconductor sectors,” but the coalition offers no data to back that up.

Collective use matters less than local impacts in a state where each community has its own mix of water supplies and strains, according to a previous study published by a team at UC Berkeley.

Whether data centers use a lot or a little water relative to agriculture or other industries, “what matters most is the scale of new local use compared to available local supply,” the Berkeley team concluded earlier this year. “Unfortunately, this picture is clouded by data deficiencies.”

In this week’s report, the Santa Clara University team drilled into those local supplies and community vulnerabilities to anticipated expansion.

“We’re at the brink of this happening in California,” Stewart-Frey, the environmental scientist, said. Her report, she added, isn’t advocating against data centers. But “communities should know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Debates over proposed data centers are erupting in a Kern County desert community with dwindling groundwater and in the hot Imperial Valley, which draws from the strained Colorado River. 

Monterey Park residents in the San Gabriel Valley successfully opposed one data center project over environmental concerns and inadequate information and secured an upcoming vote on a citywide ban.

In a letter to city officials, a representative for the developer dismissed opponents as “rage-baiting an uninformed mob to pressure your decisionmaking.”

Raicu pushed back. “If those communities are uninformed about the issue — whose fault is that? Who should be informing the people so that you don’t have this kind of pushback, if there is no need for it?”

New laws v. Big Tech

Last year, Assemblymember Diane Papan, a Democrat from San Mateo, authored a bill requiring data center operators to report estimated or actual water use to their water supplier when seeking or renewing a business license or permit.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the measure amid industry pressure, saying he was “reluctant to impose rigid reporting requirements about operational details on this sector without understanding the full impact on businesses and the consumers of their technology.”

Now, Papan is trying again with two bills. One largely reprises last year’s measure, with additional reporting required to the city and county. The other would bar local governments from approving new or expanded data centers unless the developer discloses information about their water use and plans.

It would also set other requirements — like prohibiting development in overdrafted groundwater basins in places like the San Joaquin Valley, unless state water managers OK it.

“You cannot manage what you have not and cannot measure,” Papan said. “The public likes transparency, and they should.”

Both bills cleared a key legislative chokepoint this week but face staunch opposition from the tech industry and business groups.

“If they run out of water, guess what happens? And they can’t cool their systems — are they going to succeed?” Papan said. “To which I say, help us help you.”

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

Founders Jenny Yang and Chris Capizzi spent seven years operating as a pop-up without a brick-and-mortar location. Opening their doors to local vendors pays homage to their own roots selling at Los Angeles markets, from the Melrose Trading Post to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market.

“Mega giant online sellers have the scale and the resources and the patience and the reach to capture most people,” Capizzi said. “Whereas for us, I think we have to be really creative — we have to band together.”

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

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Yang and Capizzi’s long history of vending at markets taught them how isolating running a small business can be. At their market, they aim to build connections with each vendor and strategize the best timing and layout so everyone can succeed.

“[Amazon and Barnes & Noble] are Goliath, and we’re not even David — we’re just the ant underneath David’s foot,” Capizzi said. “I think we can do what we do and try to get as many people, at our level or even smaller, to get together.”

Weekly markets at A Good Used Book have captivated the neighborhood since its opening in October 2023, with charming names like “Sunday Funday,” “Saturday School” and “Hi-Fi Friday Night,” plus hand-drawn flyers by well-known artist Noah Harmon. Now, it’s become a weekly occurrence where LA pop-ups can display their own crafts, allowing local readers to indulge in a little more than a pocket paperback.

Each week holds a Pandora’s box of niche snacks, crafts or trinkets you didn’t know you needed, ranging from Southeast Asian-inspired trail mix to natural incense sticks to vintage Japanese audio equipment. One week you might be enticed to adopt a kitten from a rescue booth outside, another week you might impulsively get a stick-and-poke tattoo in the back of the store.

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

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Nick Ducassi

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The LA Local

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On one sunny Sunday afternoon, Brandon Stanciell hand-tossed fresh pizza dough on the sidewalk outside the bookstore. His 2-year-old pop-up, Pizza Ananda, which he named after his daughter, is an homage to her and to Italian cooking, a hobby he started during paternity leave. An hour before the market closed, Stanciell had already sold out and garnished his last pepperoni-and-hot-honey pie for one lucky customer.

“I love that places like this allow us all to meet at once to share what we have and give it to the community around us,” Stanciell said.

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

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Nick Ducassi

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The LA Local

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For the owners, building a community market is about deepening relationships with the people who walk through their doors. In an increasingly digital landscape, it is also a reciprocal partnership among local businesses.

“A lot of people talk about community building nowadays as a marketing strategy,” Capizzi said. “But I think the actual community building comes from talking to each vendor and each customer and being a consistent presence in the neighborhood.”

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

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Nick Ducassi

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The LA Local

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While customers browsed for unique titles, Gerin del Carmen worked her booth of ceramic dishware, oyster-shaped trinket holders and vases resembling miniature boxes. As a ceramicist, del Carmen draws from her Filipino heritage, including the Balikbayan boxes that represent immigrants sending gifts to family in the Philippines.

“Sharing the community and your space is such a big deal. This is not a huge, gigantic Barnes & Noble store,” del Carmen said. “It has so much foot traffic, and the fact that [the owners] are setting up and sharing the space once or twice a week with other vendors and other artists is huge.”

Yang and Capizzi may think of themselves as an “ant underneath David’s foot,” but A Good Used Book is building a colony of vendors, rooted in community.

Whether you and your friends are looking for a brunch spot to cater to everyone's palates, or taking a trip to the historic Grand Central Market, food halls make for an easy, affordable place to satisfy cravings — especially in SoCal, where diverse selections of dishes reign supreme.

But these spaces fill a void much deeper than our appetites. They bring new life to old storefronts, factories or even airfields (see list below), and can offer a way to keep dollars within the community by becoming a hub for local businesses.

With that said, here's a short list of food halls where you'll get more than just a killer meal.

For good vibes

BLVD MRKT food hall on the corner of 6th Street and Whittier Boulevard in downtown Montebello.

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BLVD MRKT is an open-air food hall in downtown Montebello that feels like a party. The 8,500-square-foot space currently has five eateries, or "concepts" as they're known in the restaurant industry, and hosts live DJs every Friday night and Sunday during brunch. They also host Open Vinyl Night on the second and forth Tuesday of every month, where patrons get $2 off beers and margaritas from Alchemy Craft if they bring a vinyl record to be played in the BLVD courtyard.

The space is pet-friendly and has growing concepts like Los Taquero Mucho, which offers classic al pastor, grilled chicken and slow-cooked carnitas tacos, as well as specialty flavors like vegan tacos with whiskil sautéed in coconut milk, and Pork Belly Cochinita Pibil Tacos, perfect for those who crave crispy, slow-roasted pork with a hint of sweetness.

Los Taquero Mucho participates in BLVD's incubator program, run by co-founders Barney and Evelyn Santos. The program offers mentorship to local entrepreneurs until they can set up shop permanently.

Pork Belly Cochinita Pibil Tacos with salsa from Los Taquero Mucho at BLVD MRKT in Montebello.

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BLVD MRKT is part of the couple's commercial real estate development firm, Gentefy. Its mission is to invest in retail and hospitality projects that ignite economic development and revitalization in Black and brown neighborhoods.

"Blvd Mrkt is our first project," Barney Santos wrote in a text message. "It was our social proof to prove to banks, investors and cities that a socially conscious business model could exist in a traditionally overlooked area."

VCHOS Pupuseria Moderna also has a spot in the BLVD courtyard, offering handmade pupusas with filling choices such as shrimp with spinach and cheese, and tender beef birria with a side of consommé, onions and cilantro. Coffee lovers can get an Oaxacan Mocha at Cafe Santo, or stop by Cold Pizza for a wood-fired slice.

For eclectic tastes

Rodeo 39 Public Market in Stanton.

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An O.C. favorite, Rodeo 39 Public Market lives on Highway 39, also known as Beach Boulevard, in Stanton. This 40,000-square-foot space is an eclectic mix of more than 20 food and drink concepts and retailers. There are three outdoor patios and five murals, plus an arcade, tattoo shop and photo booth. Food options cover everything from Lil' Breezy's adobo breakfast burritos to Cajun crab fries at The Crawfish Hut.

Mural by artist David Flores outside of Joystix arcade at Rodeo 39 Public Market.

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Rodeo's menu choices make it well-suited for a casual weekend brunch. At its entrance sits Here & There, where you can grab a coffee or matcha latte, or try one of their signature drinks like the Iced Vienna, a combination of milk with caramelly demerara sugar and your choice of matcha or espresso, topped with sweet cream and garnished with sea salt. The result is a drink that's smooth and not too sweet.

Eggyo bulgogi egg sandwich with spicy mayo at Rodeo 39 Public Market.

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Eggyo, a recent addition to Rodeo, offers Korean corn dogs and fluffy egg sandwiches on crispy, house-baked milk bread. Try the bulgogi option with spicy mayo for a savory kick. If you crave a cocktail, venture over to CAPO, which also serves craft beer. Or just sit on one of their sun-filled patios while you decide what to try.

For a page from history

The Hangar in Long Beach.

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The Hangar is a 17,000-square-foot food hall that pays homage to Long Beach's aviation history. It sits on former Boeing Co. land where military and commercial aircraft were built. Today, it serves as a dining destination at the Long Beach Exchange Shopping Center, or LBX, neighboring the city's international airport.

This space currently has a mix of 14 food concepts and two retail shops. Patrons can enjoy local favorites outside their flagship locations, like the Joe's Special bagel sandwich from Cassidy's Corner Cafe, with bacon, egg and the star of the show — tangy jalapeño cream cheese. Fans of spice can try Jay Bird's Nashville Hot Chicken, which offers chicken sandwiches and tenders, and Blazin' Fries, all with six levels of heat.

Historic aviation photos are displayed above food concepts at The Hangar food hall at LBX in Long Beach

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Inside, there are vintage pictures of aircraft that were built at the site, and a wall of clocks showing the time in cities named Long Beach across the country.

A Pan Am Hawaii travel poster (left) and a TWA Spain travel poster (right) at the patio of The Hangar food hall.

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Outside, you'll find patio seating with umbrellas where you can sit and watch the occasional plane fly overhead. Or sit and enjoy the adjacent display of towering Pan Am and TWA posters promoting travel to Hawaii, Spain and Paris.

For fun and work

Mercado La Paloma on Grand Avenue in South L.A.

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Open since 2001, the approximately 34,000-square-foot Mercado La Paloma sits in the Figueroa corridor of South L.A., and is known for its focus on community, art and culture. From rotating art exhibits to colorful tiled tabletops, this space feels like it was made to nurture creativity.

Interior of Mercado La Paloma.

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There are meeting rooms to rent starting at $25 an hour. It's a space where locals can bring their laptop to work or study, or have a long conversation with a friend, with bites from six acclaimed restaurants.

Holbox's Erizo dish at Mercado La Paloma.

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At the Mercado, visit Holbox for Michelin-starred seafood dishes like Erizo — velvety sea urchin laid atop a bed of tender scallop ceviche. The combination is fresh, flavorful and oceanic. Tip: If you can swing it, come on a weekday to avoid a long line, or order ahead.

For something sweet, walk over to Oaxacacalifornia Cafe & Juice Bar for a Spicy Pineapple Juice with a gingery kick, or go for the classic pairing of Hot Oaxacan Chocolate, made with your choice of water or milk, and light-as-air conchas crowned with a solid layer of vanilla or chocolate streusel.