Topline:
As predicted, Tropical Storm Hilary brought heavy rains to Southern California, particularly in the mountain and desert areas, which saw quite a bit of flooding and debris flows.
The forecast: Intermittent rain and thunderstorms are expected through Monday, but things should clear up my Tuesday.
Heaviest rainfall: Lewis Ranch in Los Angeles County saw 7.04 inches.
The storm formerly known as Hurricane Hilary has broken down and moved on to Nevada, leaving behind flooded roads, downed trees, stranded cars and soaked residents.
As predicted, Southern California's first tropical storm to make landfall in 84 years hit the mountains, foothills and deserts the hardest.
ATTN Drivers, please stay off the roads, if able. This video was taken by our #Caltrans8 Cajon Crew team wearing a head camera of SR-2 and Sheep Creek. Flash floods, high winds and the rain are making it a big challenge for all. Please be patient while we work. pic.twitter.com/BFga3z6JMG
— Caltrans District 8 (@Caltrans8) August 21, 2023
"It was uncharted territory as much for us forecasters as it was the public who found what we were saying pretty hard to believe," said Miguel Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "We found it hard to believe ourselves, but we couldn't discount it. Couldn't deny it."
The center of Hilary passed over Los Angeles around 8 p.m. Sunday, though the heaviest rain fell between 2 and 6 p.m., dropping more than 1 inch per hour in some spots.
There have been no reports of any significant injuries or damage as of 8 a.m. Monday, though assessments are ongoing.
"We urge you to please be cautious of hazardous road conditions," L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said at a Monday morning news conference.
Still, the storm was felt across the region:
Across L.A. County, it was the San Gabriel mountains and the Antelope Valley that saw some of the heaviest bands of precipitation.
💧TRAVEL ADVISORY💧@CaltransDist7 strongly advises motorists to postpone travel during #Hillary storm. EB Route 118 near #Llano CLOSED at Route 18 due to flooding. Traffic diverted to SR-18. Check https://t.co/cxZ0jW7S5n for updates. #AntelopeValley #Lancaster pic.twitter.com/T9pW0Dkx59
— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) August 21, 2023
Rainfall totals as of early Monday:
Given how unusual it is for our region to see rain during this time of year, it's unsurprising that many daily rainfall records fell.
Flood watches are still in effect for Los Angeles and surrounding counties as the storm wraps up. They'll likely be lifted by Tuesday.
“We’ve made it this far. Let’s make it to the final home stretch here,” said Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge with the National Weather Service.
Screenshots from PSPD drone footage of the flooding and storm damage on Indian Canyon. pic.twitter.com/jFPuLAZ4o4
— City of Palm Springs (@CityofPS) August 21, 2023
Palm Springs received a record setting 3.18 inches of rain, their largest amount in 93 years. Roads were washed out and streets flooded.
Homes in nearby Cathedral City were inundated with mud and water.
Aerials show the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hilary in Cathedral City. This is off Date Palm Dr, you can see multiple vehicles stuck in mud
— KESQ News Channel 3 (@KESQ) August 21, 2023
STORM UPDATES: https://t.co/EVe9VxxaL5 pic.twitter.com/JSr5gvxKK3
The 911 system across the Coachella Valley went down overnight, and as of 7 a.m., there was no estimated time for restoration.
Riverside County provided the following alternative numbers for residents to call if help is needed:
Mias Canyon Bridge completely washed out in Banning with the San Gorgonio River still gushing. #Hilary #CAwx pic.twitter.com/IolFdgQggt
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 21, 2023
Oak Glen and Forest Falls in San Bernardino County also experienced significant debris flows.
Morning light revealing the scale of several mud slides in the San Bernardino mountain ranges including the one I documented in Forest Falls and a major slide that destroyed several cabs in Seven Oaks. Full video below #CAwx #Hilary https://t.co/oEMR448S6c pic.twitter.com/1zre7HxsSr
— Aaron Rigsby (@AaronRigsbyOSC) August 21, 2023
The city of L.A. is providing shelters to unhoused people at the following locations:
If you need to report a flooded road or a downed tree, you can call the following non-emergency numbers:
If you're in L.A. County and need sand bags, you can find them at local fire houses.
Dial 911 if it's an emergency.
As Hurricane Hilary approaches, it's important to have a safety plan in place. Advice from L.A. County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone:
A detailed list of emergency kit items can be found at ready.la county.gov; there will be real-time emergency updates on the county’s emergency website, found on the county’s landing page: LA county.gov/emergency.
The last time we were directly hit by a tropical storm was in 1939, when one made landfall in Long Beach, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
While the track of this storm was unusual, the hurricane itself was not.
“So far this season has played out as expected,” said Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical cyclones regularly form off the coast of Southwest Mexico between May and November. While they usually track west out into the Pacific, they can head north toward Baja.
Sometimes they do indirectly affect Southern California. In September 2022, Hurricane Kay dropped more than 5 inches of rain on the area, causing flooding and damaging homes.
Topline:
A brush fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank has prompted evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center, according to the city of Burbank.
What we know so far: The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center remain in place for a fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank.
Evacuation warnings for Churches Ct. and Country Club Drive were lifted at 6:20 p.m.
As of 5:55 p.m., the fire had burned 40 acres and 70% contained, according to Burbank.
The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.
Hiking trails around the area are closed. The Starlight Bowl concert scheduled for tonight has been canceled.
Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide
If you have to evacuate:
Navigating fire conditions:
How to help yourself and others:
How to start the recovery process:
What to do for your kids:
Prepare for the next disaster:
Topline:
A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.
Why it matters: The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
Why now: It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.
The U.S. job market unexpectedly stalled in July.
A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.
The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.
"We are increasingly hearing from workers that they are anxious about their job security and they are frustrated by the fact that they are stuck in roles that are not necessarily good for them," said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor. "And that's on top of workers who are not in a job right now and feel frozen out of the job market."
Glassdoor's worker confidence index slumped in July to a record low.
Restaurants and retailers cut thousands of jobs last month, and local government also saw large job losses. Healthcare continued to add workers, but at a more modest pace than earlier in the year.
The softening job market may complicate the Federal Reserve's job, since it's also battling stubborn inflation. The Fed may be more cautious about raising interest rates at a time when the labor market appears less stable.
For people who are working, average wages have risen 3.2% in the last 12 months. That's likely not enough to keep pace with inflation, however, so workers' paychecks don't stretch as far as they used to.
"Part of the reason that workers are feeling bad about today's job market," Zhao says, is that "a lot of those wage gains have been eaten up by rising energy prices."
Copyright 2026 NPR
Topline:
Phoebe Bridgers is giving Southern California fans an unusual way to hear her new album Lost Weekend with a listening session inside the Orange Coast College planetarium in Costa Mesa.
Why now: Lost Weekend, Bridgers’ first studio album in six years, is out Friday, with listening sessions taking place at dozens of planetariums around the world next week.
The backstory: Orange Coast College already has a tradition of pairing music with visuals through popular laser shows featuring the music of everyone from Pink Floyd to Taylor Swift. But the Bridgers event is by far the most high-profile, pairing the album with both a laser show by Laser Fantasy and a full-dome presentation with imagery by taken by astrophotographer Babak Tafreshi.
Next week Phoebe Bridgers fans in Southern California will get an otherworldly way to enjoy her new album ahead of its official release Friday.
And a Costa Mesa institution will enjoy the chance to introduce indie music lovers to what it does beyond astronomy lectures and field trips.
The Orange Coast College Planetarium is one of dozens of planetariums around the world – and the only in Southern California – hosting listening sessions next week for Lost Weekend, one of the year’s most anticipated indie releases and Bridgers’ first solo studio album in six years.
The Pasadena native is not expected at any of the planetarium shows. But that doesn’t matter to her fan base.
Twelve shows in the 125-seat theater sold out within four hours of going on sale Thursday, according to the planetarium. So staff added 16 more, bringing the total to 28 screenings over four days, Aug. 10 through 13. (At last check, tickets for showings earlier in the day were still available.)
“We have never had an event that was this anticipated,” Rhiannon Graffio, lead speaker and educator at the planetarium.
When: Aug. 10–13. Shows are scheduled throughout the afternoon and evening, with both fulldome and laser show experiences.
Where: Orange Coast College Planetarium, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa.
Tickets: $20. Tickets are available through Orange Coast College’s ticketing site.
Phone-free: Phones must be placed in locking Yondr pouches during the listening sessions. Smartwatches, cameras, Meta glasses and other recording
There’s two ways to experience the record from start to finish, which is a little over 50 minutes long.
One is a full-dome show featuring images taken by renowned astrophotographer Babak Tafreshi.
“It's gorgeous,” Graffio said. “There's some that are of the night sky, where you can see the paths of the stars as the Earth rotates, or auroras or lightning.”
The other option is a laser show created by Laser Fantasy, with scenes and storylines moving in time with the music.
Graffio said the planetarium had been approached by Bridgers’ label Dead Oceans to host the shows, which are being presented in partnership with Spotify.
The events are strictly phone-free. To prevent album leaks, attendees will have to put their phones in pouches provided by Yondr, a company that works concerts and other events. Smartwatches, and Meta glasses also aren’t allowed.
The Lost Weekend events are the most high-profile but certainly not the planetarium’s first experiment with mixing music and visuals.
The theater regularly hosts laser shows set to music, cycling through different artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé each month while keeping some crowd favorites like Pink Floyd in rotation. Graffio said in the last year KPop Demon Hunters laser shows have been especially popular.
Accommodating the Lost Weekend shows has meant bringing extra staff to handle the weekday crowds at the community planetarium.
But Graffio said there's a big upside to introducing music fans to a place they may never have thought to visit.
“It’s a wonderful experience,” she said. “And most of the shows that we do are also educational in some sense. As cool as the visuals are, they are about the universe and what we know about it.”
And for those who can't make it to the planetarium shows, there's a more traditional route to marking Bridgers' new album. A dozen record stores around Southern California are hosting listening sessions at midnight Friday.
Topline:
Every Sunday night, a semi-secret event at the tony Los Angeles Athletic Club lets anyone experience a near-private concert from jazz legends — for just $10.
Why it matters: The revolving cast draws from a repertory group of about 15 artists, including: saxophonist Rickey Woodard, who played for Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and more; trumpeter Nolan Shaheed, who backed Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Stevie Wonder.
Read on ... to find the details of this hidden gem ...
It seems that jazz is everywhere in Los Angeles. Blue Note opened a club last year, venues like Sam First, Catalina’s, Vibrato and the Baked Potato draw large crowds, and hotels and bars are adding jazz to their schedules.
But every week, a semi-secret event at the tony Los Angeles Athletic Club lets anyone experience a near-private concert from legends such as Rickey Woodard, who played saxophone for Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and others; and Nolan Shaheed, trumpeter for Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye and more.
That’s before you get to the evening’s singer, who might be 96-year-old pianist Betty Bryant, former Raelette Val Monroe or singer and Grammy-winning songwriter John Proulx.
Until recently, the Sunday night Jazz Salon was free. Now it charges a nominal $10 per person, which is still an outrageous bargain, so be sure to add something to the tip jar on the piano, and maybe try one of the cocktails or the steak frites.
Walking into the club earlier, you see black-and-white photos of all types of healthy pursuits on the walls, as well as trophies and mementos of the club’s nearly century-and-a-half history. Plush sofas, high ceilings and book-filled shelves are the order of the day, and alongside members in gym gear or lugging laptops, you go up in one of the elevators to the third floor, where the Jazz Salon takes place.
Earlier in the day, Dave Ross, 76, was setting up the amps, drum kit, mixer and mic stands. He also administers the website, acts as MC and plays double bass as part of the ensemble. He began the venture over a decade ago, when he persuaded the LAAC, of which he had long been a member, to host concerts in their redecorated restaurant and bar.
Ross draws from a repertory group of about 15 artists, and the concert takes place opposite the bar in a wood-paneled room of just a few dozen leather chairs and tables. This small scale makes the night intimate and unique.
Location: Invention (3rd Floor), The Los Angeles Athletic Club, 646 S Olive St., Downtown Los Angeles
Time: Sundays, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM (with a brief intermission)
Cost: $10 cover charge at the door
Make reservations and check out the weekly artist schedule
“No gig is ever the same,” says Ross. “We don’t rehearse, and every time we play a song, we're never trying to play it the same way we played it before.”
That makes the night fun, too. Since you’re right near the musicians, you can hear their laughter and banter, as well as their impressive solos. Ross, stage left, stays out of the limelight — which is how he prefers it — and often says he's just happy to be there playing.
“You're there to keep the beat, the pulse of the music,” he says. “And then, secondarily, the notes that you play help the other musicians understand what the chord, what the harmony is. I'm just doing it for the pleasure of playing the music.”
Once a month, Ross and some of his stable join a touring artist — recently five-time Grammy-nominee Karrin Allyson — in the club’s 250-seat ballroom for a more formal ticketed event, but there have been just two complete sellouts of them this year: tributes to Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond.
Donations and the tip jar on Sunday evenings sometimes haven’t been enough to break even, either, which led to Ross reluctantly introducing the $10 charge. No matter what, he is determined the Jazz Salon will keep going.
“When I was younger, there was a receptionist I knew who was a nun. She said: “‘You know what your problem is? You’re too optimistic!’”
