The Brief

Cooling centers — designated locations where people can retreat when it’s baking hot outside — are a key public health strategy during extreme heat waves in L.A. The trouble is, relatively few people are using them.

Technically, pretty much any building that’s open to the public and offers a free spot to rest and cool down could be considered a “cooling center.” The city promotes more than 200 city and county libraries, senior centers, and rec centers, in addition to over 50 pools as “cooling centers.”

Then there are what the city and county call “augmented” cooling centers, which are rec centers or libraries that have extended hours, additional staff, water and snacks to offer, and a dedicated air-conditioned space within the building for people “to huddle, watch TV, play games — whatever the center can accommodate,” said Joseph Riser, a spokesperson for L.A.’s Emergency Management Department. These designated centers also allow pets.

Four “augmented” cooling stations will be open over the weekend, when temperatures are expected to peak. (You can find a full list of those centers, along with a list of participating public libraries and a link to a map and other resources, at the end of this story.)

Deciding which cooling centers to open

The city decides how many and which cooling centers to “augment” in accordance with National Weather Service forecasts for different areas across the county, as well as through feedback from city councilmembers, neighborhood councils and other government departments, such as the L.A. Homeless Services Authority and the Department of Aging, Riser said.

Officials pay particular attention to the forecast for nighttime temperatures, he added, as well as how extreme the temperature highs will be and how long the heat is expected to last.

Do people use them? 

The city of L.A. only collects data on how many people use the cooling centers that have been augmented, Riser said. During the record-long and hot heat wave in September 2022, when we just barely avoided rolling power outages, the city ultimately opened 11 of them. But it was Labor Day weekend, so many of the city's libraries, pools, and other “cooling centers” had limited hours or were closed.

In total, according to data provided to LAist from the city, only 2,254 people went to the 11 cooling centers over the 10-day heat wave. Still, it was a marked increase from the year before, when only 83 people visited five augmented centers that were open during a shorter, but still intense June 2021 heat wave.

David Anguiano, Recreation Coordinator for Mid Valley Senior Center, stands in front of the area set aside as the "cooling center." The Senior Center will have extended hours through the weekend but was empty of visitors on Friday, July 14, when temperatures were in the high 90s.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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The hottest regions of the city had the most augmented centers: three in the San Fernando Valley, four in South L.A., and two in central L.A. The final two were on the Westside.

Those hotter neighborhoods also have some of the oldest housing that can’t keep heat out. The cooling centers there had the most visitors by far.

The Fred Roberts Recreation Center in South L.A. accounted for more than 20% of all the visits. The center is in one of the areas most impacted by the urban heat island. South L.A. has some of the least tree cover and green space in the city, the result of a legacy of racist housing and zoning policies.

But many Angelenos in the hottest areas don’t know anything about these cooling centers and what they may offer, said Agustin Cabrera, policy director at Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education, or SCOPE-LA. The grassroots group organizes for environmental justice and green jobs in South L.A.

“What we hear from South L.A. residents is they generally don't have an idea of where these cooling centers are located, and so that sort of matches up with what we're actually hearing from the city,” Cabrera said. “When we talk more about what they can provide, they’re generally interested, because for the most part folks either don't have access to central air or have cooling systems in their homes, or they don't want to turn them on because of fear of a high utility bill.”

Some of the free water and activity supplies at the Highland Park recreation Cooling Center, which will have extended hours through the weekend.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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Riser said the city spreads the message primarily via social media, mainly Twitter, and not always in other languages.

“We typically do things in Spanish — not nearly as much as we probably should,” Riser said. “If the council office knows that area well enough to know [language barriers] are an issue, they will get things translated and put things out to their constituents.”

But the message misses most people, said Cabrera. Organizations like SCOPE-LA work to fill in the gaps, using their close relationship in the community to spread the word.

Cabrera said it's important for the city to use culturally relevant communication, which includes not just Spanish in communities like South L.A., but other languages, as well — including indigenous languages.

The limits on cooling centers

Cooling centers are open to everyone. They can also be one of the only options for people living on the streets or in vehicles, but unhoused advocates have long said cooling centers don’t serve their needs. Among the reasons they cite:

• Not being able to bring pets to many locations (when activated as cooling centers, like this week, all city park and rec facilities always allow pets. Service dogs are allowed at libraries.)
• Being worried about leaving their belongings on the street unattended
• Past negative experiences of being kicked out of places such as libraries
• Many unhoused people are disabled or have other health issues that may make it impossible or dangerous to even get to a cooling center amid high heat

When a cooling center is open to everyone, it may serve no one.

“It's important to have the city understand who they're trying to serve when it comes to these centers, because then they're able to ask very specific questions about what those folks need from these centers,” Cabrera said. “And so apart from just being a place where people can find relief from the heat, if it's targeting unhoused folks, what other services do they need? It allows for a more focused conversation, an engaging conversation to make these centers actually useful."

What’s next?

Riser said the city is working to prioritize opening augmented cooling centers in the hottest, highest-risk areas, including low-income and older neighborhoods where housing is least likely to have air conditioning or is poorly insulated.

The city’s Chief Heat Officer Marta Segura has also emphasized the need for what are called “resilience hubs,” trusted community spaces that can be retrofitted with solar panels and battery storage to help communities ride out disasters and power outages.

Augmented centers open this weekend

The following centers will be open through the weekend of July 14 to Monday, July 17 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. They all allow pets and provide water. Stay up to date with the latest information on cooling centers here. You can also follow LA's Emergency Management Department on Twitter @ReadyLA.

Canoga Park Senior Citizen Center (CD 3)
7326 Jordan Ave., Canoga Park

Fred Roberts Recreation Center (CD 9)
4700 Honduras St., Los Angeles

Highland Park Recreation Center (CD 14)
6150 Piedmont Ave., Los Angeles

Mid Valley Senior Center (CD6)
8825 Kester Ave., Panorama City

Cooling centers at public libraries this weekend

Additionally, the below public libraries will be open on Sunday, July 16 from 1-5 p.m.:

Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library 
6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles (323-255-0537)

Exposition Park Regional Branch Library 
3900 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles (323-290-3113)

Goldwyn-Hollywood Regional Branch Library 
1623 Ivar Ave., Los Angeles (323-856-8260)

Mid-Valley Regional Branch Library
16244 Nordhoff St. North Hills (818-895-3650)

North Hollywood Regional Branch Library 
5211 Tujunga Ave. North Hollywood (818-766-7185)

San Pedro Regional Branch Library 
931 S. Gaffey St. San Pedro (310-548-7779)

West L.A. Regional Branch Library 
1360 Santa Monica Blvd.  Los Angeles (310-575-8323)

West Valley Regional Branch Library 
9036 Vanowen St. Reseda (818-345-9806)

Maps and other resources

You can find a map of all cooling centers and other heat safety resources from the city of L.A. here, and view the county’s cooling center map and resources here.

Longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection, he announced Friday.

His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn to favor Democrats and shortly after San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican, filed papers to run in the same district.

Issa, a longtime GOP stalwart, said he was endorsing Desmond in a statement announcing his decision to retire.

“This decision has been on my mind for a while, and I didn’t make it lightly,” he said. “But after a quarter-century in Congress — and before that, a quarter-century in business — it’s the right time for a new chapter and new challenges.”

A history of reshuffling

Issa represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than 20 years. He briefly retired in 2019 when his seat, now represented by Democrat Mike Levin, became more competitive. He returned to Congress in 2021 after winning a seat in the 50th District, which was redrawn after statewide redistricting later that year. He moved to his current seat in the 48th District in 2023.

The newly configured seat attracted a slew of Democratic challengers after it became more competitive when voters approved Proposition 50 last fall. The redistricting measure was designed to give Democrats up to five additional seats in the U.S. House and counter similar redistricting efforts in other states that favored Republicans.

Desmond had previously announced that he would run in the 49th District against Levin.

“They drew me into this district, but the truth is I’ve been serving this community for years,” Desmond said in a statement to CalMatters. Prior to Prop. 50, Desmond lived in the 49th District. He now lives in the 48th. “I’ll fight every single day to make life more affordable, more safe and more free.”

Crowded field of Democrats

In the 48th District, two Democratic candidates — Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former opponent of Issa's, and San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert — lead a crowded field eager to flip the district blue. No candidate garnered enough support for the party’s endorsement last month.

California Republicans have been reshuffling for months as their districts were redrawn.

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, one of the longest-serving members in Congress, is now running in the 40th District against Republican incumbent Young Kim of Orange County. His present district, the neighboring 41st, was moved entirely out of conservative pockets of Riverside County to Los Angeles County.

Issa briefly contemplated a congressional run in Texas in December after the new districts were created but decided against it.

It must have been about 10 years ago when I was running in the L.A. Marathon and had worked my way through the early miles along Sunset Boulevard, through downtown L.A. and up Temple Street.

On crossing the 101 Freeway into historic residential Echo Park, I see them: the hand-painted signs, lined up one after another: “Super Sloppy,” “Chili Cheese Dogz.” Then “BAD IDEA?” … “Maybe, Maybe not!”

Then I hear the music, and cheering from the neighbors who’ve come out to see who will tempt gastric disaster for some spicy, drippy chili and yellow American cheese atop nitrate-laced tube steaks.

Did I grab a chili cheese dog? No. I have never dared to take anything more than photos at the stand, given that I still have, at about Mile 5, 21 more miles to run, and running with the “runs” is not my thing.

But Marvin Suntonvipart did in 2016, he said, because he was undertrained and going at a slow jog. He figured it wouldn’t hurt.

“Digestive speed,” he called it. And the roadside snack? “It was good, highly recommended.”

The chili cheese dogs, free to marathon participants, have been the brainchild of artist and puppeteer Julianna Parr and her friend Alex Kenefick since 2011

“He ran up to me breathlessly and said I have this idea where we serve super sloppy chili cheese dogs to marathon runners. And I said to him 'That's a terrible idea. When do we start?'" Parr said.

This will be their 13th year serving marathoners, having skipped a few during the pandemic.

“It’s a happening,” Parr said, adding that she still gets a kick thinking about the runners’ reactions when they turn the corner off the freeway and see the signs leading them to free chili cheese dogs.

“We know that you're expecting to make choices about how you'll run, how fast you'll run, how slow you'll run, how you're going to pace, you've been doing this maybe for months to train, but we know that you have one choice that you probably did not bank on and that would be whether you're going to eat a super sloppy chili cheese dog,” she said.

The food is prepped outdoors on site starting at 5 a.m. Marathon Sunday using camp stoves and heated chafing dishes to keep everything at a safe temperature. Then, the group waits for the athletes to come through. The race starts at Dodger Stadium before 7 a.m. First to pass their stand are the wheelchair racers, then the pro men and women runners and then amateur elites, who are too fast to try to stop.

Soon, by about 8 a.m., there is a trickle of takers. And then the masses arrive.

David Winslow of Culver City partakes of a free chili cheese dog in the fifth mile of the L.A. Marathon in March 2020.

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Courtesy David Winslow

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“We just get mobbed,” she said. “People will try to grab them out of the hot vat. And I go, ‘Back, back!’ Like that's when they get wild, and they don't have common sense anymore and that's [just] at Mile 5."

The stunt costs about $700 each year to put together, which Parr and friends have footed. But this year, for the first time, she has put up a website to sell merch, including stickers, hats, tote bags and mugs. I think it will be a very “locals only” statement to be walking around with a Super Sloppy Chili Cheese Dog tote bag.

Runner Diana Kitching said she picks up a free dog almost every year when she passes by. In fact, in 2024, as a breastfeeding mom whose marathon pace was slowed with a few breaks to pump, she had two!

Unsurprisingly, the chili cheese dogs are most attractive to runners on a more relaxed and fun pace, those who are not taking their marathon times too seriously.

That was the case for David Winslow one year, when he was running with a group of cancer survivors and living kidney and liver organ donors.

“Each time you see the chili guys it’s like, ‘Who would be that crazy and stupid?’ You see guys grab them and go for it, and you shake your head," Winslow said.

But in 2019 and 2020, as he and his survivor and donor friends rounded the turn over the freeway, something changed.

“We just said, ‘Hey, we HAVE to do this!’ And I do not regret it. One of the craziest things to do during a race," Winslow said.

Playwright and performance artist Kristina Wong has eaten bagel and lox and baklava while taking on the L.A. Marathon, but she draws the line at a chili cheese dog.

“These hot dog portions look downright diarrhea-sized,” Wong said.

And runner O. Gary Pealer said he’d eat one at Mile 5 if they also served beer to wash it down.

But in my experience, the people pouring free beer are usually at Mile 20.

You may know the sounds of parrots screeching pretty well. They’re now definitely part of L.A.'s soundscape, even though they're not native to Southern California and only started multiplying a few decades ago, thriving in our urban jungle.

Researchers at Occidental College, with the Free Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project, have been studying one species in particular to see how they’re adapting to life in the L.A. basin.

The standout parrot

About nine species of parrots, native to South and Central America, fly around the region, according to John McCormack, who’s the director and curator of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology at Occidental College.

He says it’s not clear how they got here. Urban legends say these birds are descendants of parrots that escaped the pet trade, or broke free from homes and aviaries. Regardless, they’ve stuck around.

One of those species is the nanday parakeet, which are known for their rich green bodies, with blue-tinged tails and wings, and dark heads. They showed up in the 1980s and roost in our native Sycamore trees. McCormack says over the years they’ve acted differently from other species.

Nanday parakeets eat fuzzy Sycamore balls instead of local fruits, like the loquats that other parrots love. They also don’t fly as far as nandays would typically do in their native habitats, which includes Brazil and Argentina, or as far as other parrots do here.

“ The nandays had not spread all over the city,” he said. “They’d remained pretty confined to the canyons around Malibu.”

McCormack says the conditions here are different than back home, so that left them with a question:  If they were able to make that switch to L.A. County, why have they not spread beyond Malibu? Only a small portion of their habitat was impacted by the Palisades Fire.

(Russell Campbell/Courtesy Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project)

Flapping to new frontiers

One of the ideas the team investigated was whether the nanday parakeets stayed put because there weren’t any suitable habitats around.

At the time of their analysis, the team found multiple areas where nandays could potentially thrive but hadn’t been spotted in yet. That included a coastal-facing canyon near Fillmore, next to Thousand Oaks, with sycamores.

John McCormack's lab has multiple parrot study specimens.

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Cato Hernández

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LAist

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Then, during their research, they noticed something had changed in that area.

“Lo and behold, we see on iNaturalist that, in fact, there has been this little persisting block of them in the canyon,” he said.

A small group of nanday parakeets have been there for about six months — the first stable population above the 101. Brenda Ramirez, a  research technician on the project, says the community science observations on iNaturalist is what makes their work possible.

“People always get so excited about these birds, and so it’s really wonderful that they get included in our research,” she said.

It’s not clear how the nandays got to these canyons. There’s a possibility it could be a repeat of the past — the birds may have escaped or been released from somewhere nearby.

Or, it could be a sign of changing behavior. Historically, nandays have been reluctant to cross infrastructure like the 101 Freeway. (Maybe they took a page from L.A.’s departed legend, the mountain lion P-22?)

McCormack says it goes to show that if given enough time in the parrot world, interesting things can happen. Next, his team will look into the birds’ DNA to see if there are other signs parrots are adapting to urban life.

Jubilations to the sky! Have you heard the news? Costco is now selling Heinz baked beans. Thank you Costco! And not just that… the British kind!

(Ask any Brit you know who has tried American baked beans. They just taste .... different. Much too sweet. We don’t tend to show much emotion generally but a disappointment like that is not easily gotten over. I’ve seen weeping in the streets.)

And if there are now easily accessed British baked beans in L.A., that means there will be beans on toast at my house. I know that Americans generally don’t get it. As someone once said to me, "you can have beans. You can have toast. But why would you put the beans on the toast?" Because, dear American, you did not grow up in a country where you can put pretty much anything on toast.

Baked beans are now being sold at Costco!

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Suzanne Levy

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LAist

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You see, we got used to putting things on toast during World War II — rationing and making do and all that. Bread was cheap and available, so why not make it the base of some delicious dishes? Mashed banana on toast? Yummy. Sardines? With a bit of vinegar, lovely. And how about spaghetti hoops? That one really blows American minds. "Wait, you put pasta on toast? Carb on carb?" Yes sir, and it tastes heavenly. The tomato sauce slowly seeps into the toast below, making for a wonderfully gooey texture. It is a work of art.

(There’s also cheese on toast, also known as Welsh rabbit, which I always thought was odd given we were not in Wales and there was no long-eared animal involved, but apparently it’s a corruption of the word rarebit. In case you were wondering).

Like mac and cheese

Beaked beans on toast. Yum

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Suzanne Levy

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LAist

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But for us beans on toast is the most loved option. We all grow up on it, an affordable go-to for weary mums. In many ways, beans on toast is our mac and cheese. Bland yet tasty, the perfect comfort food. For years as an adult, when I went back home for a visit from America, I’d ask my mum to have beans on toast waiting for me when I walked in.

I’m happy to say I’ve got my daughter into baked beans on toast. She resisted at first but now loves it. My American husband has never really developed a taste but understands its centrality in my life. Early on when we were dating, I asked him for egg, beans and toast. As in scrambled eggs, baked beans and toast, a classic breakfast combo.

When he’d made it he walked in and asked if it should be toast, egg and then the beans on top, or toast, beans and then the egg. I almost sputtered. Of course the beans have to go on top of the egg! What are we, peasants? The heavy egg would squash the beans and unbalance the whole precarious structure! He’s never made that mistake again. And has become an expert in making a lovely cup of tea.

So if you see me, feel free to join me in celebrating this major baked bean news. I may have baked beans on toast every night for dinner this week. Just because! It brings a little bit of Britain to my home. There is a New Yorker cartoon which has a man asking a waiter for baked beans on toast. “I’m not British,” he says. “I’m just crazy.” That cartoon is now on my wall.