The Brief

Basic needs services at California’s community colleges can take any number of forms. Students might find information on how to get help with housing and transportation, or get funding for laundry, utilities, or textbooks. Many schools have also opened up their gyms so that unhoused students can access a warm shower.

Jill Zimmerman is dean of students at Antelope Valley College, home to one of the more robust basic needs programs. She said she and her colleagues are always asking themselves: “What more can we do?”

Their goal is to eliminate any barrier that could get in the way of student success, she said. So through partnerships with local clinics, or by tapping into their own resources, Antelope Valley College and other campuses have also enabled access to another essential service that’s still rare among basic needs services: dental care.

Good oral health through local partnerships 

Antelope Valley College has an ongoing partnership with a clinic in Palmdale, about 15 minutes away from campus. All students — with or without insurance, and regardless of their legal status — can get a voucher for dental work every semester. These vouchers entitle students to free X-rays, oral exams, teeth cleanings, and other basic services. (For students without cars, the college also provides bus passes.)

“It's kind of a no-brainer when you think about it,” said Antelope Valley College president Jennifer Zellet. The vouchers are made possible through state funding and a $19 student health fee, she said. Antelope Valley College students can also get vouchers for other health services, including free eye exams and glasses.

Zimmerman, who has been developing the college’s basic needs program for over two decades, said that vouchers for things like dentistry or eye exams or glasses are as important as access to food. For anyone wondering what dental care has to do with education, she added, “that person has obviously never had a toothache.”

Beatriz Gongora is a second-year student who’s getting ready to transfer. She’s a singer who also plays the tenor saxophone, the piano, and the drums. Her goal is to become a music teacher.

Earlier in her college journey, Gongora found herself couch surfing and struggling to find an affordable place to stay. The instability made it hard to keep up in school, she said. She turned to the school’s basic needs center for support, and staff helped her secure free housing through a third-party program.

They also got her a dental voucher; it had been nearly three years since her last visit.

“I got a couple fillers, and I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket,” she said.

Other area colleges are making more of an effort too.

Dental hygiene student Biyoura Sinani and instructor Mariah Bonner at work in West L.A. College.

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Long Beach City College has also explored subsidizing oral care.

At the school's Viking Vault, nearly 1,000 students stock up on groceries every week. Last year, they also had a chance to sign up for dental care, said Justin Mendez, the basic needs director.

A local clinic was hosting a day of service and through a one-time partnership, Long Beach City College provided off-campus dental care for students. These services included free teeth cleanings to remove plaque and tartar, which can cause cavities and decay. Mendez said they plan to host more of these events in the near future.

Dental hygiene student Abigail Martinez sits in as a patient for her classmate, Tuesy Phung, who is practicing an exam.

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Brian Feinzimer

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In-house services

While some colleges provide off-campus dental care through partnerships with local clinics, others offer these services through their educational clinics.

At Pasadena City College, the Dental Hygiene Clinic offers low-cost services for students and the general public. These include teeth cleanings, X-rays, and sealants. (Those protect molars from cavities.) The procedures are performed by dental hygiene students, under the supervision of licensed dentists and dental hygienists.

West L.A. College — one of the four California Community Colleges that offer bachelor's degrees in dental hygiene — also has an on-campus clinic. There, students and community members can access free services similar to Pasadena City College’s.

The student clinic is “very popular,” in part because patients don’t need insurance to be treated, said Lisa Kamibayashi, director of the dental hygiene program. The clinic is open to anyone who’s interested. Some patients have even come from out-of-state.

All students are also supervised by professionals. But, because they’re in training, Kamibayashi added, services usually take “a little bit longer than usual.”

Dental Hygiene Program Director Lisa Kamibayashi, inside the dental clinic at West L.A. College.

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Luis Rosales enrolled in West L.A. College’s bachelor’s program after years of working as a dental assistant.

“I wanted to grow within the field,” he said. Plus, as a first-generation college student, he wants to set an example for his children and siblings.

Among other things, he’s learned how to use X-rays to better detect cavities, bone loss, and infections.

Hien Tran is close to completing her coursework. Her goal is to run a clinic with her brother, who's currently in dental school.

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Hien Tran, also a student at West L.A. College, is getting close to completing her bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene.

Looking back on her first time treating a patient, she recalls feeling unnerved. There was “a lot of blood,” she said. Tran was grateful that her professor was there to guide her through the process. Since then, she’s provided care for dozens of patients. And through this experience, she learned the importance of putting patients at ease.

Patients “usually have anxiety when they have to get injections,” she said. “So you need to learn how to [do procedures] without making a face ... You need to be confident, so they don’t feel scared.”

The West L.A. bachelor's program can be competitive. Each year, they get about 200 applications for 35 slots.

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Brian Feinzimer

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Dental students and staff pose for a photo in the dental clinic at West LA College.

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Brian Feinzimer

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A bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene will open doors for students, Kamibayashi said. Graduates “can go into teaching, research, sales, or public health. Some go on to dental school.”

As for other students on campus, Kamibayashi said that while dental pain can certainly make it hard for students to focus, the issue goes beyond academic performance. Poor oral health can increase their risk of developing “cardiovascular and respiratory [issues], even dementia,” she said. The clinic is meant to support their long-term health.

It’s about the size of a park bench and made of steel and wood. The bench’s arm rests are formed by the letters “L” and “A” in a design that’s unmistakable to any sports fan. But the welder-artist who created it says it’s not a Dodgers bench.

“This is about civic pride, L.A. pride. I made a design statement saying that it has nothing affiliated with the Dodgers,” said Steve Campos.

Campos grew up near Dodger Stadium, raised by parents who were die-hard Dodgers fans. So much, that they named him after Steve Garvey but that legacy doesn’t keep him from confronting how the Dodgers benefitted from the mass displacement of working-class people from Chavez Ravine after World War Two. That’s why he calls it an L.A. Bench, and not a Dodgers Bench.

The logo may be synonymous with the city's beloved baseball team, but the design of the interlocking letters was used by the L.A. Angels minor league baseball team before the Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958.

“The monogram was here before the Dodgers,” Campos said.

A second-generation welder

Welding is the Campos family business. His father created gates and security bars for windows and doors for L.A. clients. That was the foundation for the work Campos has done for two decades since graduating from Lincoln High School, L.A. Trade Tech College, and enrolling in a summer program at Art Center in Pasadena.

The inspiration for the L.A. Bench came last year while he was playing around in his shop creating versions of the L.A. logo. A friend he hangs with at Echo Park Lake asked Campos to make him a piece of furniture.

“I was trying to figure out what my friend Curly wanted. He liked Dodgers and drinking and getting into fights, so I was like, 'Let me make something with the LA monogram,'” he said.

Welder-artist Steve Campos created whimsical steel sculptures with the LA logo.

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It didn’t design itself. He said he had to lengthen the legs on the “A” and lean the back of the “L” in order to make the bench functional. In the process, he’s made a piece of furniture with a ubiquitous logo that he’s embedded with his own L.A. pride, as well as city history past and present.

LA civic pride travels to Japan

Campos vacationed in Japan the last week of April and took advantage of the trip to reach out to people who may be interested in the L.A. Bench. He was caught off guard by people’s reaction when he showed them pictures of it.

“They look at it and they go, 'Oh, Ohtani bench,'” he said.

For them, it’s still a bench embedded with pride, he said, but centered around Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, an icon in his native Japan.

Campos has made four L.A. benches and is selling them fully assembled, he said, for $2,500 each — taking into account his labor and how costly the raw materials have become. For now, he’s offering the metal parts as a package for $500, which requires the buyer to purchase the wood for the seat and the back — an easy process, he said.

While he has no plans to mass produce the L.A. Bench, he does have one goal in mind that shows how hard it is for him to separate L.A. civic pride and the Dodgers.

“I would love to get a couple of them installed at Dodger Stadium,” he said.

The Venice Boardwalk after sunset has generally been a no-go zone for tourists and locals alike, as the beachside bars and restaurants close on the early side and safety is often an issue. Now, a group of artists is out to bring some vibrancy to the creative neighborhood with a series of new installations that will include live evening performances – and even a “Venice Opera House.”

“Let's play with light and let's play with sound and give people a reason to come to the Boardwalk after sundown,” said artist and entrepreneur Stefan Ashkenazy, who is curating the project and owns the buildings housing them. “I mean, let's just be open 24 hours a day.”

The concept doesn’t have an official name yet, but he’s been calling it “See World.”

Artist James Ostrer's space looks out from a bed through the fence to the ocean at Venice Beach.

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Laura Hertzfeld

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William Attaway, a longtime Venice artist, created a gallery space filled with various paintings and sculptures.

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Laura Hertzfeld

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The pair of modern buildings on the Venice Boardwalk at Thornton Ave. – with their big balconies, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and seven open garage-style retail spaces – have sat mostly empty since Snapchat vacated their beachside offices in 2019. Ashkenazy recently bought the building and recruited artists to fill those front-facing spaces with creative work until a full-time tenant comes in.

Over the past several weeks the installations have been created in real-time, in public.

All of the projects are loosely along the theme of “home,” with each artist claiming a “room” in the two buildings that stretch across a full block on the Boardwalk. Several local Venice artists are featured, including William Attaway, whose intricate mosaic work is recognizable on the Venice public restrooms along the beach. Attaway’s space features a floating larger-than-life-sized statue and various works in a mini-gallery. In the next room is Robin Murez’s pieces, featuring carved wooden seats from her beloved neighborhood Venice Flying Carousel.

Ashkenazy is no stranger to wild (and wildly successful) art ideas. He’s the owner of the Petit Ermitage hotel in West Hollywood, a longtime haven for visiting artists, and the founder of the decade-old Bombay Beach Biennale, where artists install all kinds of work in an annual event near the Salton Sea. Many of the artists from that community are featured at the Venice project.

A "Venice Opera House" will host pop-up music events throughout the summer.

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Laura Hertfeldz

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New York-based artist Greg Haberny's paintings on the wall of his Venice space.

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Laura Hertzfeld

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New York-based artist Greg Haberny and London-based artist James Ostrer have brought some of their work in the Bombay Beach Biennale to the Venice project. Their windows on the Boardwalk both speak to a child-like sense of wonder and creativity.

“I think it's just kind of exploring and playing a little bit, to have the freedom to be able to do that,” Haberny says of his imagined child’s bedroom space, which includes a fort made out of puffy cheese balls. “It's a big space, too.
It's beautiful.”

Ostrer is experimenting with a performance art idea where he sits in bed amongst a room full of his own artwork, which he describes as “happy art with an edge.” Looking out at the ocean from the bed, he’s invited passersby to sit and have chats with him about his work or anything else they want to talk about.

“It’s a very intimate space, so you have a different kind of conversation,” he said. “I use art to channel human creativity, and [talk about] dark things.”

While there are open fences that block off the spaces, they aren’t sealed up at night. Both Ashkenazy and the team of artists seemed open to the idea that anything could happen and that the installations are a conversation with the public – and with that comes some risk.

Greg Haberny (right) works with his assistants on an installation featuring kid-inspired graffiti art and a "cheesy puff" fort.

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“I don't really know if I [would] say worried, but I guess it's just the cost of doing business,” Haberny said. “I don't really make things to get damaged or broken, sure. But I have done [things like] burned all my paintings and then made paint out of ash.”

While he’s felt safe – and even slept overnight in the installation – Ostrer has been collaborating with a local female artist who performs in a pig mask in front of his installation some nights. Watching her perform, he said, has taught him about the vulnerability of women in public spaces like the Boardwalk. “I've started to, on a very fractional level, have seen how scary that is. Because I've sat in the bed behind her performing at the front here… the way in which men are approaching her and shrieking at her … it's shocking.”

Ashkenazy says he will keep the artists in the space, potentially rotating new ones in, until a fulltime tenant takes over.

“This is an experiment … and after acquiring the building, the intention wasn't, ‘let's open a bunch of public art spaces,’ he said. “It is kind of …what the building wanted and listening to what the Boardwalk needed. Let's play, let's have the artists that we love and appreciate have a space to play and engage and give the locals and the visitors to the Boardwalk something to experience.”

A new trail across the beloved natural area of Elephant Hill in Northeast Los Angeles is officially opening this weekend.

The route is years in the making, and it's a big milestone in the decades-long conservation efforts to preserve this local jewel in the community of El Sereno.

The hiking trail connects one side of Elephant Hill to the other — from the corner of Pullman Street and Harriman Avenue all the way across to Lathrop Street.

It's 0.75 miles in total, but packs a punch.

"It's a pretty straight shot, but because of the terrain — the trail is kind of twisty and curvy. There's switchbacks — and great views," Elva Yañez, board president of the nonprofit Save Elephant Hill, said.

People have always been able to access the 110-acre green space, but Yañez said the new trail provides a safe and easy way to navigate the steep hillsides.

The El Sereno nonprofit has been working for two decades to preserve the land. Illegal dumping and off-roading have damaged the open space over the years. And the majority of the 110 acres are privately owned by an estimated 200 individual owners.

Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) joined the efforts in 2018, spurred by a $700,000 grant from Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District, in part, to build the trail. The local agency received some $2 million in grants from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to add to the 10 acres of Elephant Hill it manages and conserves. This year, MCRA acquired an additional 12 parcels — or about 2.4 acres.

And the spiffy new footpath — with trail signage, information kiosks and landscape boulders — is not just a long-sought-for victory but a beginning in a sense.

"We know that it means a lot to the community," Sarah Kevorkian, who oversees the trail project for MRCA, said. "We're wrapping up the trail, but it really feels like the beginning of all that is to come."

A hint of that vision already exists — for hikers traversing the new route, courtesy of Test Plot, the L.A.-based nonprofit that works to revitalize depleted lands.

"They're able to see at the end of the trail, at the 'test plot' — exactly what a restored Elephant Hill would look like," Yañez said.

Here's a preview:

A coalition of residents from across the San Gabriel Valley are mobilizing over a battery storage project and possibly more industrial development in the City of Industry they say could pollute communities next door.

A protest is scheduled today in neighboring Rowland Heights, targeting a 400-megawatt battery energy storage facility sited on about 9 acres that was approved by the City of Industry leaders in January.

Such Battery Energy Storage Systems, or BESS, are used to keep the power grid stable, especially as output from renewable energy sources like solar and wind fluctuate. But fires involving lithium batteries at some sites have heightened environmental and public health fears.

Because of the City of Industry’s unusual, sprawling shape stretching along the 60 Freeway, it borders on more than a dozen communities, meaning what happens there can have far-reaching impact.

“Pollution does not end right at the border,” said Andrew Yip, an organizer with No Data Centers SGV Coalition. “Pollution travels.”

Some local activists with the Puente Hills Community Preservation Association have challenged the approval of the battery facility under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Beyond environmental concerns, locals have also been frustrated with how decisions are made by officials in the City of Industry, a municipality that’s almost entirely zoned for industrial use and has less than 300 residents.

Organizers say they’ve struggled to get direct responses from city officials whom they say have replaced regular meetings with special meetings, which under state law require less advance notice.

A city spokesperson has not responded to requests for comment.

The so-called Marici Energy Storage System Facility would be run by Aypa Power. The fact that the battery storage developer is owned by the private equity giant Blackstone, a major investor in AI and data centers, has only fueled concerns that a battery storage facility would lay the groundwork for data center development.

A request for comment from Aypa was not returned.

Today’s protest is taking place at Peter F. Schabarum Regional Park in Rowland Heights across the street from the Puente Hills Mall, a largely vacant “dead” mall, which activists fear could be redeveloped into a data center and bring higher utility costs and greater air and noise pollution.

Yip pointed out that industrial developments make a lot of money for the City of Industry.

“But none of these surrounding communities receive any of those benefits,” Yip said. “Yet we have to put up with all the harmful effects and impacts from this city that does all this development without really reaching out.”