Antonia Cereijido
covers arts, culture and entertainment for LAist’s on-demand team.
Published August 18, 2025 5:00 AM
Manny Jacinto as Eric Davies and Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman in Disney's Freakier Friday.
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Glen Wilson
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Courtesy Disney Enterprises
)
Topline:
Over two decades ago, the comedy Freaky Friday posed the question: What would happen if a mom and her teenage daughter — played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan — swapped bodies?
Earlier this month, the sequel Freakier Friday hit theaters, back with a similar premise and much of the same cast. But this time, with a new romantic lead: Manny Jacinto, known for his role on the sitcom The Good Place.
Read on ... LAist host Antonia Cereijido spoke to Jacinto about the enduring allure of the inter-generational body swap conceit, aging in Hollywood, and how the movie is a love letter to Los Angeles.
Over two decades ago, the comedy Freaky Friday posed the question: What would happen if a mom and her teenage daughter — played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan — swapped bodies?
Earlier this month, the sequel Freakier Friday hit theaters, back with a similar premise and much of the same cast. But this time, with a new romantic lead: Manny Jacinto, known for his role on the sitcom The Good Place.
LAist host Antonia Cereijido spoke to Jacinto about the enduring allure of the inter-generational body swap conceit, aging in Hollywood, and how the movie is a love letter to Los Angeles.
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Listen: Manny Jacinto talks about the body swap and how the film is a love letter to LA
On switching bodies with a parent: “ I don't know if I could hack it”
At their most humorous and endearing, the Freaky Friday movies are about learning to appreciate the experience of loved ones who come from a different generation than you.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan in Freakier Friday.
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Glen Wilson
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Courtesy of Disney Enterprises
)
Jacinto, who plays Lindsey Lohan’s love interest in the new Freakier Friday, says that’s what makes the new sequel — and its 2003 predecessor — special.
Even though Jacinto’s character doesn’t undergo a body swap in the film, it’s a thought experiment that resonates with him on a personal level — especially when thinking about his father.
Manny Jacinto: He's a first-gen immigrant. He came from the Philippines, traveled across the sea to Canada, left his brothers and sisters to pursue this better life for his children. I probably wouldn't survive a day.
Antonia Cereijido: Really, why?
Manny Jacinto: I just remember seeing my dad waking up like at 4 a.m. He's an engineer by trade, but he did whatever he had to do to provide for his family. So he worked as a parking attendant —12-, 14-hour days, six days a week. I don't know if I could hack it.
Antonia Cereijido: Do you think he would learn something about you, being in your shoes?
Manny Jacinto: Yeah. He’d be like, why is this so easy? [laughing] How is it that I get to play pretend and I get paid to do this? But secretly, I think my dad loves a little bit of the limelight or the Hollywood-ness of it all.
Antonia Cereijido: And I'm sure seeing you live that out for him is super gratifying …
Manny Jacinto: Yeah, whenever, like, we have dinner and say our waiter is, like, “Sorry, are you ... ?” And then my dad is usually the one to finish, to be like, “The Good Place? Yes! He was the actor on The Good Place. Do you wanna take a photo? I can take the photo for you.” Which I love. He's definitely embraced it.
On playing a Dad in Freakier Friday — andaccepting being 'dad' age
Antonia Cereijido: I saw you say that you were offended when they offered you a role to be a dad. I feel like we hear a lot about what it's like for women to age in Hollywood, which I think makes sense. But I'm curious for you — how did working on this movie make you think about getting older?
Manny Jacinto: I was reading an article or a headline talking about how 40s is the new 30s and what not. … I do feel like when I was growing up, people in their 30s were true adults. Maybe because I'm in this industry, where I'm constantly playing pretend, I feel like I'm just a kid in general. Maybe I'm stuck in a certain age in my head where I still think I'm 28 or at least late 20s.
But yeah … I started really grappling with the fact that I am at a certain age where people do have kids and are taking on those responsibilities. It really hit me in terms of the idea of getting older when the transition hit, when I started to become the parent in my parent dynamic. Like, when we went on a trip and I was the one who started to take care of my parents — making sure that they went to the washroom, that they had water, that they had their medicine, and I carried all the bags. So tapping into that, I was like, 'Oh, there's a transition happening in my life.’ But yeah, I was still offended, terrified, and partly having a midlife crisis knowing that [I could play a dad].
Jamie Lee Curtis, left, and Lindsay Lohan as Tess and Anna Coleman in <em>Freakier Friday.</em>
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Glen Wilson
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Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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Freakier Friday as a love letter to LA
The film will have particular meaning for Angelenos who will spot a lot of beloved locations as the backdrops to the movie. Jacinto, who lives in Los Angeles, said how important it was for him that the movie was shot in L.A. at a time when so many productions are leaving the city. And how the film unexpectedly turned into a pre-fires time capsule.
Manny Jacinto: It was our chance to highlight areas of L.A. that we truly love, like the duck boats in Echo Park, the restaurant at the Line Hotel. But also, the most important, which was the original house, from [the 2003 movie] — the one in the Pacific Palisades. The fact that we got to film there before it unfortunately got taken away by the fires.
Antonia Cereijido: Oh my gosh … I did not realize that that house is gone now …
Manny Jacinto: Yeah, it's no longer with us. We were so lucky to be able to film at that original house before that tragedy happened. We were able to commemorate that home … which makes this movie so much more special.
Lead photo caption and credit: Manny Jacinto as Eric Davies and Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman in Disney's Freakier Friday. Glen Wilson/ Courtesy Disney Enterprises
Outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground ahead of the NFL game between the Rams and 49ers. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
(
Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
/
Associated Press
)
Topline:
The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.
Why it matters: The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.
The backstory: The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment. The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.
What's next: The Rams and 49ers kick off at 5:35 p.m. Thursday night on Netflix.
The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.
The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.
The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks in the traditional manner and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment.
The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.
Both teams agree this contrast in preparation is not a referendum on the best way to handle a pair of 16-hour flights with a football game in between — even if the rest of the world might see it that way after the final whistle.
Instead, this game is primarily a difficult early test for both the Super Bowl favorite Rams and the talent-laden 49ers, who also intend to be a title challenger. The coaching staffs and veteran players all know each other thoroughly after a decade of competition between Shanahan and McVay, who are both constantly looking for an edge.
“I don’t think there’s any right way to do it,” said defensive end Myles Garrett, who will make his Rams debut in Australia. “They have a plan, and I’m sure they consulted different teams and people to find out a way to combat jet lag and such long travel. We’ve done the same thing. I think we’re both riding our methodologies.”
Garrett will be joined by star cornerback Trent McDuffie and cornerback Jaylen Watson in their debuts with Los Angeles’ revamped defense.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 10, 2026 5:00 AM
A fruit vendor sells on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A.
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Andrew Lopez
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Boyle Heights Beat
)
Topline:
A recent AirTalk segment highlights the decades-long debate over street vending in Los Angeles. Despite efforts by the City Council and statewide law, enforcement remains murky at best, even though it's a fixture of Los Angeles culture.
Why now? During a recent debate, Mayor Karen Bass made a series of comments that cast street vending in an unsavory light, prompting an almost immediate backlash from her opponent, Nithya Raman, who has devised her own nine-point plan to address street vending if elected.
Why is it important? Street vendors are as much a part of L.A.'s identity as its restaurants — but the system meant to support them is so broken that only a fraction operate with full legal standing. As this becomes a defining issue in the mayor's race, it's worth knowing the difference between political rhetoric and how the rules actually work on the ground.
Last month, street vending became a flashpoint during one of the recent debates for L.A. mayor when incumbent Karen Bass said, "I do not think that you should have a food vendor in front of a restaurant. Period," drawing a comparison to unhoused encampments.
The remarks set off an almost immediate backlash. Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who has her own 9-point plan to support street vendors, said Bass "took a shot" at the street vending community and reiterated her commitment to work toward regulations and legalizing their operations.
Bass's office later eased its stance, saying it had directed the LAPD to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors — and to dismiss any that had been issued in error.
Street vending remains part of the Los Angeles landscape, and the backlash from the debate brought to light just how confusing its legality can be. To understand how we got here, it helps to start with the basics.
Is street vending legal?
Yes. Since SB 946 in 2018, state law has decriminalized it. That means cities and counties can't criminally cite vendors or ban them from specific zones. They can, however, still enforce health and safety rules — things like sidewalk clearance and ADA access.
So why does it feel unregulated?
On a recent segment forAirTalk, Memo Torres ofL.A. Taco pointed to a stark gap between L.A.'s vending population and its permitted vendors. According to an email from the California Restaurant Association reported byFOX 11, an estimated 50,000 street vendors operate across Los Angeles — yet only 53 hold permits specifically for food sales.
Why so few permits?
Vending requirements largely mirror restaurant-grade standards — large refrigeration units, multi-basin sinks — that don't fit the reality of most vendor setups: flat-top griddles, folding tables, pop-up tents.
That isn't to say there haven't been efforts by the city to address the permitting gap. In 2024, the City Council, with Raman's backing, voted to drop the annual permit fee from $541 to $27.51.
Raman's mayoral campaign has since proposed another potential fix: extending a state permit category — currently used by vendors at farmers markets who share equipment like a communal three-compartment sink — to street vendors, so operators wouldn't need their own restaurant-grade setup to qualify.
What about health and safety?
County health inspectors technically oversee street food vendors, but both industry and vendor advocates agree enforcement is inconsistent — leaving reliable data on violations hard to come by.
Are vendors and restaurants actually enemies?
A 2015 Economic Roundtable study found that businesses located near street vendors were more likely to see job growth than those without nearby vendors.
What’s next
Proposals like Raman's permitting reforms aim to close the gap — but for now, most of L.A.'s vendors remain outside the formal system.
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Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published September 9, 2026 6:36 PM
The Jail complex in downtown Los Angeles
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Robert Garrova / LAist
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Topline:
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, specifically looking into whether L.A. County has failed to provide environmentally safe, humane and habitable conditions for people held there.
The details: The jail has long been plagued by allegations of poor conditions. Monitors from the American Civil Liberties Union have documented problems including overcrowding, severe mold and mildew, and rodent infestations.
The context: The federal investigation is expected to focus on conditions within the facility and not the actions of the county sheriff’s deputies who staff it, according to the Justice Department. The new investigation is separate from a 2015 settlement between the county and federal government, which stemmed from allegations of inadequate mental health care provided at county jails.
What happens next: Investigators will determine whether the county has violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment, and 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
Reaction: L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger welcomed the investigation, and said she had said for year that the jail was “antiquated, inhumane, and unfit for our workforce and those incarcerated there.”
Jason Wells
manages the daily news product that you hear and read every day.
Published September 9, 2026 5:13 PM
Smoke rises from a brush fire near the Getty Center on Sept. 9, 2026.
(
CBS LA
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Topline:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
What we know so far: As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This story is no longer being actively updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above. Forward progress of the fire was reported stopped shortly after 6 p.m. at a little over 20 acres.
