The Brief

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on July 24, 2025.

By midday on a recent Monday, only a few customers had trickled into La Chispa de Oro, a once-busy Mexican eatery on Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights.

Behind the counter, owner Melchor Moreno monitored the money in his till, counting the few hundred dollars in sales — about half a typical weekday.

He glanced at his staff, counting with his fingers how much he’d owe in wages that day. The math didn’t add up.

“It doesn’t help that there’s no foot traffic, too…. The streets are empty. It’s kind of scary,” Moreno said.

Since immigration raids began sweeping through Los Angeles neighborhoods, Eastside restaurants have been scraping by, as even longtime customers are keeping themselves and their dollars at home out of fear of potential immigration enforcement. While the full economic toll is still uncertain, many business owners already feel the squeeze.

Moreno has cut staff hours. He’s stepped in to wash dishes. With fewer customers, his staff goes home with fewer tips.

“They’ve noticed it. The waitresses are taking less money home every day,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer we can keep doing this.”

Moreno, who is still paying off electricity bill debt accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates his restaurant has lost more than $7,000 since the raids began on June 6. To stay afloat, he’s now closing Tuesdays through the summer until fear stemming from the ICE raids fades, he hopes.

La Chispa de Oro sits along the popular Cesar Chavez Avenue corridor.

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Survey shows deep losses at Boyle Heights restaurants

La Chispa’s slowdown isn’t isolated. This month, Boyle Heights Beat surveyed more than a dozen local restaurants to understand how immigration enforcement is affecting them. The results paint a grim picture: several restaurants reported losing 50% or more of their customers or revenue over the last several weeks. One business owner said he lost more than $10,000 in revenue. Another estimates losses of around $15,000.

Already struggling with inflation, some business owners are working for free and others are cutting back employee hours to save on labor costs.

At Casa Fina on 1st Street, the conversation has already started about potentially laying off staff or closing down entirely. Several owners said they hadn’t fully recovered from the economic strain of the COVID-19 pandemic when the raids dealt the latest blow.

One local taqueria owner said workers who are undocumented are having to choose between earning a paycheck and risking encountering ICE agents.

Though several restaurants have no plans in place in the event agents show up, others, like Milpa Kitchen, have posted signs barring ICE from entering private property. Neighbors of Casa Fina have offered to keep a watchful eye on the block in case federal agents arrive at the popular eatery.

Leaders take notice — but support lags behind

Local elected leaders are taking note and pledging to offer support. In June, Mayor Karen Bass and Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez walked the abnormally quiet business corridor along 1st Street to speak with restaurant owners about their concerns.

Bass described the fear and economic impact as a “body blow” to the neighborhood. In another video posted on social media Wednesday, she said her office is “doubling down on support” for small businesses, although it remains unclear what that entails. Boyle Heights Beat reached out to the Mayor’s office for clarification, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights in District 14, helped facilitate the opening of the City’s Small Business Administration’s Business Recovery Center at 1780 E. 1st Street. There, small businesses and nonprofit organizations affected by the raids can access information and resources about loan programs available to those experiencing financial hardship, a CD 14 spokesperson said.

At the county level, Supervisor Hilda Solis initiated an economic impact report to assess the effects of the ICE raids on small businesses and moved to develop a fundraising plan and cash-aid fund to impacted families.

Still, Miriam Rodriguez, president of the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, says small businesses need direct financial assistance like grants.

“Just like there was financial assistance during the pandemic or during the fires, there should be a similar financial assistance program for small businesses during these times that don’t have a lot of [red tape] like a long application process.”

While Rodriguez has seen fewer reports of ICE agents around the Eastside since a federal judge granted a temporary halt to roving immigration enforcement, she says fear still lingers. And so does financial strain.

“I know the city is feeling the burdens of the city budget, but I think financial support is crucial because if they don’t do it now, there’s a high probability that a lot of businesses will close,” Rodriguez said.

Calling for community support

A sign in support of immigrants is displayed at La Chispa de Oro in Boyle Heights.

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Rodriguez believes the solution doesn’t just lie in government action. To her, leaders working in tandem with residents supporting neighborhood restaurants may be key to persevering through this economic crisis.

At a recent Boyle Heights “Know Your Rights” workshop hosted by the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, Council District 14, and the Independent Hospitality Coalition, business owners, managers and employees gathered to receive guidance on how to navigate potential encounters with ICE agents at work.

After the workshop’s presentation, one business owner said he had eliminated uniform requirements at his tortilleria and was even offering Lyft and Uber rides to his employees to protect them on their commutes to and from work.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about federal immigration policies, instilling fear in immigrant communities, whether or not they have legal status, and, in some cases, it is having a chilling effect on restaurants’ team members and guest traffic,” said Jot Condie, the president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association.

Condie called immigrants the lifeblood of the industry and emphasized the powerful role they play in the economy. “We would not be the 4th largest economy in the world without them.”

Rodriguez echoes the sentiment, noting that community resilience has defined Boyle Heights.

“We are a community that will always stand up for each other… I think Boyle Heights is unique in the sense that people step where it’s mostly needed.” Rodriguez said.

“Where possible, we should be reclaiming our streets, reclaiming our space, and supporting these family-owned businesses. Many have been here for such a long time, and it would be very unfortunate to see their doors close,” Rodriguez said.

Adapting to survive, but not everyone can

While some restaurants have cut hours, others fear that doing so could be worse.

At The Big Burrito on Wabash Avenue, an employee said they can’t further reduce their slow business for fear of potentially turning away hungry customers.

Un Solo Sol is a vegan restaurant located on 1st Street in Boyle Heights.

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Around Mariachi Plaza, where parking is notoriously limited, Carlos Ortez, owner of Un Solo Sol, called the financial situation devastating.

Ortez estimates losing half of his business since the raids began. While his restaurant has been a 15-year fixture in the neighborhood, he said it hasn’t turned a profit since before the pandemic. Now the raids have forced him to cut back operations to just a few days a week – and if things don’t improve soon, he fears he may have to close.

“The possibility of me closing is high. Of course, I’m not going to give up that easily,” Ortez said. “The community has been my secure source of revenue for my business. But the community has experienced this exact same thing; it hasn’t gotten better. It’s been decreasing and decreasing in income and sustainability. It’s become something we can’t hide.”

Boyle Heights Beat interns Angelo Lopez and Luis Cano contributed to this story. 

The Los Angeles City Council has approved plans to hire more police officers this year, ending a months-long struggle over the city budget with the mayor's office.

The vote this week will allow LAPD to hire 410 officers, up from the 240 included in the city's original budget for this fiscal year.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass had pushed for the additional hires, citing the coming World Cup and Olympic Games, while some councilmembers questioned where the money would come from.

In December, the City Council voted to allow for an additional 40 officers to be added to the force, using the city's general fund.

This week's vote got Bass the rest of the way there. It will bring LAPD's ranks to around 8,500 sworn officers. At its height in 2009, the police force had more than 10,000.

It's a victory for Bass' office, but she said in a statement that hiring still is not keeping up with attrition.

"Although this is an important step, there is more work to do to invest in the safety of Angelenos,” Bass said.

The council approved the additional hires only after City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo found that the funds could come from the police department rather than the city's general fund.

In a report submitted to the council last week, Szabo identified around $3 million in funds from LAPD savings and a projected surplus in an account used to pay officers their accumulated overtime when they retire.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez called the move "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Councilmember Tim McOsker called it "robbing Peter to pay Peter." They both supported the motion.

But the funds identified by the city administrative officer will only cover the new hires this fiscal year. In his report, Szabo estimated that adding 170 more recruits to LAPD and resources in the personnel department to support them would cost around $25 million in the next fiscal year. He suggested his office could identify potential police department budget reductions or general fund revenues in next year's budget cycle to continue funding the new officers.

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who heads the budget and finance committee, voted for the plan to add new hires. She said Wednesday that most councilmembers were supportive of increasing the ranks of sworn officers but expressed dissatisfaction with the process that led to this move.

"I would have preferred that this issue of these additional officers that weren't in the budget that was adopted and signed by the mayor was addressed in the next budget," Yaroslavsky said. "But that being said, here we are."

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez was not convinced. He told the council he thought the ongoing cost of additional hires likely would lead to cuts elsewhere.

"A budget is a document of our priorities," Soto-Martinez said. "And it just feels like every single time, LAPD gets what they want. Every single time. And the conversations that are not happening in the public is about how that affects other things that the city does."

He voted against the extra hires, along with councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado and Nithya Raman.

Soto-Martinez, who sits on the public safety committee, also said he wanted more transparency on police spending on costs like overtime. He said every quarter the city spends $50 million on police overtime.

Soto-Martinez and Raman introduced a motion instructing the city administrative officer and legislative analyst to transfer some LAPD auditing and accounting into a new bureau of police oversight within the city controller's office. That motion was referred to the personnel and hiring committee.

Police Chief Jim McDonnell pushed back against that idea Wednesday, saying it would take additional personnel away from the department.

"We're working on a skeleton crew," he said. "We're two years out from the Olympics, five months out from the World Cup, and we've got a deficit [of officers]."

The vote came after LAPD requested nearly $100 million in its proposed budget for next fiscal year for new vehicles and equipment to police the Olympic Games.

Spending in Orange County decreased by about 25% after immigration enforcement ramped up last summer, according to a study by UC Irvine’s Social Impact Hub.

Study authors also analyzed data from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to find Orange County saw economic output drop by $58.9 million over an eight-week period last year, coinciding with ramped up ICE enforcement, leading to $4.5 million less in sales tax.

“ I wish I could say I was surprised or shocked. I'm really not,” said O.C. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, whose office partnered with the study authors to create and distribute the study survey among business communities. “I think what the results and findings showed was that we can quantify the impact that all of us logically believe is occurring.”

Sarmiento added that the results show it’s not just the labor supply, where industries like construction and hospitality are heavily reliant on immigrants, that is affected by immigration raids.

“ We also are seeing that there is a demand side that is affecting our economy, meaning that there are countless consumers from the immigrant and undocumented population that have significant purchasing power,” he said.

After President Donald Trump promised to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history, Southern California became the epicenter, with federal agents carrying out raids across the region, including in Orange County. And they haven’t taken their foot off the gas, causing prolonged periods of fear and uncertainty for businesses that can be difficult to sustain, Sarmiento said.

“Small businesses, especially ones that don't have reserves and don't have excess funds on hand to be able to sustain themselves, will probably end up failing and will probably end up closing down,” he said.

Small-business owner weighs in

LAist checked in again with Alejandra Vargas. She runs a small boutique selling clothing and knick-knacks on Fourth Street in Santa Ana. In June, she said she lost around 80% of her walk-in customers.

Those numbers are still bleak.

“ Where we're at on Fourth Street, it's still empty. There's no people still,” she said.

Vargas has since had to pivot her business model. When the raids started, she began hosting paint-and-sip events for the community to decompress and create art, which brought in more customers. Her next one is right in time for Valentine’s Day, where people will listen to funk music and paint figurines.

She has also tried her hand at online sales.

But because of the ongoing ICE sweeps, people remain hesitant to spend money. And it’s also “nerve wrecking,” Vargas said, because she’s visibly a Latina.

“ I'd rather put up a fight than do nothing,” she said.

Preying on the vulnerable

Sarminento also said his office has seen an uptick in calls from people falling victim to scams. Undocumented workers are being exploited by employers withholding wages. And he said there are phony businesses popping up preying on vulnerable, scared immigrants looking to find legal help.

 ”We've been in contact with the district attorney's office to look into that,” he said.

Highway 1 has always been in impressive feat of engineering. But since its construction in the 1930s, the stretch of road that hugs the Big Sur coast has been particularly vulnerable to the sliding, shifting and quaking forces of the ground around and beneath it.

Starting three years ago, those forces collapsed the road in a series of landslides, locking out locals and eager tourists from a 90-mile section of the highway.

Workers assess the scene where a section of Highway 1 collapsed into the Pacific Ocean near Big Sur, California on Jan.31, 2021.

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Josh Edelson

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But last week some good news for the coastal cruise emerged — California’s Highway 1 along the famous Big Sur coast finally, and fully, reopened.

The restoration involved new degrees of engineering complexity.

"Every slide is different," Scott Eades of the California Department of Transportation told Larry Mantle last week on LAist 89.3’s talk news program AirTalk. "This one was unique and especially challenging due to the steepness of the terrain."

Eades explained a "top down operation," tackling the landslide from above to ensure the safety of workers and equipment. “You never want to be working on the bottom side of a slide," Eades said.

In an aerial view, workers make repairs to the roadway after a section of southbound Highway 1 broke off and fell in the ocean at Rocky Creek Bridge.

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Using impressive technology with monitoring equipment to identity what was moving and where, a team of engineers completed the project ahead of schedule. Now that the stretch is fully reopened, we asked AirTalk listeners to share their favorite spots to take in a view, or have a quick bite.

Ragged Point

Ragged Point was a listener favorite. The point includes a restaurant and inn. Brandy in Fountain Valley venture's up there every year on her and her husband's wedding anniversary. They stay at the Ragged Point Inn and Resort.

A couple motorcyclists raved about Ragged Point as well. Kevin from Long Beach loves grabbing lunch at Ragged Point restaurant after riding his motorcycle all day. "It's sublime," he said.

Ken from Dana Point did a solo tour up Highway 1 and drove through the reconstruction area just north of Ragged Point. The workers weren't pleased at his intrusion, he said. But he did share a tip for fellow cyclists: ride north to south. "The headwinds going north are BRUTAL."

Deetjen's Big Sur Inn

According to one listener, Deetjen's Big Sur Inn is the best place to stay along Highway One. "We went there on our 25th wedding anniversary and again on our 40th," Kay in North Hollywood said. "It’s a special place."

Others agreed.

James in Glendale called in to gush about Deetjen's beautiful restaurant and location "nestled in a canyon." It's also on the National Historical Registry!

Buzzards Roost Trail

Victor in Los Alamitos goes to Big Sur every Thanksgiving with his family. "We’ve probably hiked over 100 miles worth of trails," he told Mantle.

But there's one in particular he recommends.

"There’s a hike called Buzzards Roost," he said. It's about a 3-mile loop with beautiful views. But if you don't make it to that one specifically, that's OK. "You can’t go wrong if you’re headed up there."

Henry Miller Memorial Library

Back in the late 1990s, LAist's own Adolfo Guzman-Lopez took part in a poetry reading at the Henry Miller Library. Surrounded by tall trees and sculptures, the place left an impression on the young performance poet.

After three years cut off from the north, the library is now accessible from both directions.

The Condors

The final recommendation from AirTalk listeners wasn't a place or ragged point. Laureen, Barbara and Frank all called in to share about the chance to catch a glimpse of California Condors along Highway 1.

Barbara in Eagle Rock was shocked by the amount of condors when she drove up the coast recently. This is likely due to the reintroduction of condors driven by wildlife preservation efforts.

So next time you're driving up the coast, soaking up the epic coastline, don't forget to look up.

A hole is visible where a section of southbound Highway 1 broke off and fell in the ocean at Rocky Creek Bridge on April 02, 2024.

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The Los Angeles Metro Board unanimously voted Thursday to proceed with developing a 14-mile-long subway under the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s one of the first significant steps in what city and county leaders are describing as the region's most consequential transit project and perhaps one of the most important in the country.

Metro staff said in a report to its board that it has secured funding through county tax measures for about 14% of the $24.2 billion it’s preliminarily estimated to cost to build the route, which will involve extensive tunneling. They added the cost estimate would be updated as further refinements are made, but having this amount of funding secured is “not uncommon” for projects early on in development.

Still, leaders underscored that while the need for a rail link between the Valley and Westside couldn’t be overstated, staff for the countywide transportation agency should remain mindful of financial constraints and push for cost reductions through the next several years before shovels hit the ground.

“Ambition matters, dreaming big matters, but honesty matters too,” L.A. City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who also is a member of the Metro Board, said during Thursday’s meeting. “We can't afford to approve transformative projects without being clear about the path to funding and delivery.”

The price tag certainly is “eye-popping” and Metro’s “largest project to date,” as Ray Sosa, the chief planning officer for the agency, recently wrote in an op-ed about the project.

With today’s vote progressing the project, the Metro Board enthusiastically endorsed the investment, for now, in theory.

The project and selected route 

The Sepulveda Transit Corridor, as the project is known, was conceived to relieve Angelenos of the sometimes 90-minute drive between the Valley and Westside via the 405 Freeway, provide a crucial artery to connect with other regional rail and bus routes and link residential areas to job centers.

In June 2025, Metro released its draft environmental review of five different subway and monorail options. Of the more than 8,000 public comments Metro received, fewer than 70 expressed opposition to the project as a whole, according to agency staff.

Metro staff in January published its recommendation to move forward with further study of a modified version of one of the subway options.

That’s what the transportation agency’s board approved Thursday.

The route is projected to see as many as 124,000 rides per day and reduce the total amount people would otherwise travel by car by nearly 800,000 miles a day.

An end-to-end trip on the proposed route between Valley and the Westside is slated to take 20 minutes, with trains arriving every 2.5 minutes at peak times.

The 405 Freeway during rush hour March 10, 2022, in Los Angeles.

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Station locations for the proposed train would connect to the Metro D, E and East San Fernando Valley rail lines, the Metrolink stop in Van Nuys and also the G bus rapid-transit line. Crucially, the route also will stop at UCLA, which over the years had become a non-negotiable necessity among students and other advocates of the train.

“Higher education deserves to be easily accessible for everyone,” Mariela Diaz, a UCLA commuter student who described herself as low income, said at the meeting Thursday. “Future UCLA students deserve to have their first on-campus station.”

As it’s currently planned, there wouldn’t be a stop providing direct access to the Getty Center, for which the museum had been publicly campaigning.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has a seat on the Metro Board, asked Thursday that agency staff report back on “transportation alternatives to address fast and last-minute connections to the Getty Center.”

The proposed route would run from Van Nuys to the Westside.

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Report details economic benefits 

A report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation details how construction would generate as much as $40 billion in economic output and spur more than $16 billion in labor income countywide.

You can read the full report, commissioned by L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office, here. 

Leaders urge continued engagement and not to compromise on vision 

Today’s vote directed Metro staff to focus on the proposed route for forthcoming technical and environmental analyses and clearances, as well as to further refine design and cost estimates.

There also will be continued community engagement.

Yaroslavsky amended the item the board approved Thursday to include language asking Metro staff to, among other tasks, report back on a community engagement plan focused on the communities that might be impacted by tunneling or construction and to maintain a publicly accessible outreach calendar.

Metro’s final environmental documents, which will be the culmination of the continued engagement and study, will be subject to future approval from the board.

Los Angeles City Councilmember and Metro Board member Katy Yaroslavsky advocated for continued community engagement as the countywide transportation agency pursues the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project.

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When construction starts, the focus will first be on the middle segment of the train running from the G-line stop in Van Nuys to the future D-line stop in Westwood.

The additional segments on the north and south sides of the route would be built afterward.

Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who also is on the Metro Board, urged that the full route be built as envisioned.

“Phasing is a given, but the true value of this line will not be realized until it is fully built out,” Padilla said.