The Brief

Colleges and universities across Los Angeles County are adapting to the ongoing impacts of several deadly, destructive fires, including the Palisades Fire on the west side of L.A. and the Eaton Fire to the east in Altadena. Several campuses have closed, reopened or moved instruction online throughout last week and this week. With many campuses returning from winter break this week, students, staff and administrators are grappling with a challenging start to their new academic term and devastation in their communities.

Additionally, some campuses are providing resource hubs, for their own students and employees as well as their surrounding communities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set up disaster recovery centers at Pasadena City College and UCLA, which are serving as one-stop-shops for resources.

Campuses close, classes move online

Several colleges and universities, including Pasadena City College, UCLA, Pepperdine University and Occidental College, either temporarily closed campuses or moved to remote instruction.

Pasadena City College, which was in the middle of its winter intersession when the Eaton fire broke out, closed both of its campuses from Jan. 8-12, according to campus-wide emails. The college resumed in-person instruction Monday.

Superintendent and President José Gómez sent an email describing the community hub that has been created in a parking lot on the main campus. Several organizations, including the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, the Pasadena Unified School District, the Young 9 Foundation, the Pasadena Humane Society and the Rotary Club of Pasadena, have been helping sort donations and distribute essential supplies like food, water and clothing to thousands who have been affected. On Sunday, the college provided a meeting space for first responders and government officials to answer community questions.

“I think this is a great testament to how committed our leaders are and also seeing all the community members coming together to donate and support,” said Student Trustee Irene Wong. “It’s been really heartwarming and hopeful to see the community come together for those in need.”

The college will continue to provide free meals with World Central Kitchen through Jan. 15 and has established a Community Relief Fund for those affected. There is also a tech lending program for students and staff who need access to laptops and Wi-Fi.

On the west side of the county, Santa Monica College closed its seven campuses from Jan. 8-12. All but one re-opened Monday. The Malibu campus remains closed with staff working remotely and instruction taking place online after the area was evacuated due to the Palisades fire. Santa Monica Police Department is using a parking lot at the Performing Arts Center campus as a temporary command post to support nearby firefighting operations. The college website lists several resources that students can access, including hotel rooms, meals and mental health resources. Santa Monica College has also established a Disaster Support Fund. 

All nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District closed from Jan. 9-11, with staff working remotely and instruction moved online, due to concerns about air quality, safety and increased traffic. Campuses returned to in-person classes Monday, though students and employees can request accommodations if they need them.

Aracely Aguiar, president of Los Angeles Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley, said, “we’re being flexible, because we know that many of the faculty members and the students could have been impacted.”

Aguiar said that several Pierce faculty have lost homes in the fires, and the Foundation for the LACCD is fundraising to support the district’s staff and students who are affected. The Pierce campus is also serving as an animal evacuation center for the Palisades fire, housing more than 200 horses and other large animals.

Students walk through the UCLA campus in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 2022.

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Raquel Natalicchio

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When Eva Lemmon, a freshman at UCLA, first heard the news of the LA fires, it felt like her freshman year of high school, when she heard school was going online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It kind of reminded me of when we went into quarantine,” Lemmon said. “I think everybody was very disoriented, especially because school had just started.”

The winter quarter began at UCLA on Jan. 6, but will remain online through Jan. 17.

UCLA is not in the evacuation zone of the Palisades fire, but in a letter from Chancellor Julio Frenk, the switch to remote instruction is to prioritize the community’s “safety and wellness.”

Lemmon grew up in L.A., attending middle and high school in the Pasadena area. Lemmon has left the UCLA campus for now and is at her parents’ Manhattan Beach home.

“(L.A. is) my favorite place in the world,” Lemmon said. “So many places that I used to hang out in middle school, high school, places that I would go hiking out in West LA — it’s insane to me to think that these places are gone. It’s just going to feel so different, even if it’s rebuilt.”

According to UCLA’s website, the university’s Economic Crisis Response Team is providing resources to students displaced by the fires. It is also providing temporary housing to employees who have lost their homes.

Occidental College in northeast Los Angeles is currently not in the Eaton fire evacuation zone. However, the campus was temporarily closed from Jan. 8-12 due to its proximity to the fire. The campus reopened Monday and classes will resume in-person on Jan. 21 for the spring semester.

Logan Morris, a third-year student at Occidental College, was visiting home in the Bay Area for winter break when she first heard about the fires. Her initial reaction was mixed — fear for what her future at the school would look like and grief for those in the LA area.

“What if I don’t have a school to go back to?” she said.

Now, as a member of the LA community, she wants to do what she can to help when she returns.

“I do feel very connected with LA and want to help the best that I can,” Morris said. “I want to help bring back what makes LA, LA I want to be able to be a part of seeing it come back to life.”

A pedestrian walks on the campus of Occidental College in Los Angeles on Dec. 20, 2022.

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Pablo Unzueta

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The Palisades Fire is 2.5 miles away from Pepperdine University’s campus in Malibu and, according to the university’s website, the fire does not pose a threat to the campus. Classes resumed from winter break online on Monday and will continue to be taught remotely until Jan. 19. The university is providing resources to students who have lost their homes, supported by the Pepperdine Strong Fund. The fund initially provided support to the Pepperdine community following the Franklin Fire that broke out on Dec. 9 in Malibu and burned more than 4,000 acres, 2.4 miles from campus.

Nearby campuses provide flexibility, support for employees and students

Several Los Angeles-area colleges have remained open, but are providing remote work alternatives, masks, and other support due to air quality, nearby evacuations and other challenges. These campuses, including Loyola Marymount University, Cal State Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, have not been evacuated and are not in evacuation warning zones, but are taking precautions.

At Loyola Marymount, which is located in the Westchester area of LA, the new semester began as scheduled on Monday. However, the university is providing accommodations to students, faculty and staff displaced by the fires.

At USC, classes resumed after winter break on Monday as scheduled. Students, staff and faculty can request N95 masks to help protect against the poor air quality. According to the USC Website, students with asthma, COPD, heart conditions or other sensitive health conditions can request a temporary housing reassignment through a Google Form. For faculty displaced by the fires, the university is helping them find temporary housing.

At Cal State Los Angeles, located in east LA, spring semester classes are set to start on Jan. 21, the regularly scheduled date. Patrick K. Day, vice president for student affairs, sent a campus-wide email outlining resources the school is providing, such as the Golden Eagles LA Fires Recovery Fund, which will help faculty, staff and students who live in neighborhoods affected by the fires and are in critical need. Counseling and Psychological Services will also have special “triage hours” for students who need mental health support. Day shared how moved he was by the support of the Cal State LA community.

“These gestures of care are evidence of a community coming together during a time of great loss, pain, and uncertainty — it makes me proud to be a Golden Eagle,” Day wrote.

Students mobilize to help raise money and support for LA communities

Within days of the start of the Los Angeles-area fires, student leaders mobilized their organizations to engage in mutual aid efforts and share resources.

Leila Salam, a third-year student at UCLA, discussed how several of her classmates and friends have family who have evacuated or lost homes in the fires. As the chapter chair of CALPIRG at UCLA, a campus organization focused on public interest advocacy, she and other members started their own fundraiser.

“We had people share out information on their social medias, of, like, where people could donate, and then call friends and family members personally to kind of tell them about the issue, why it’s important, and then ask for donations,” Salam said. “And just through doing that event for three hours, we were able to raise over $1,000.”

Salam is working with other campus organizations and leaning on her organization’s network of 25,000 students across UC campuses to host a donation drive this week. By continuing these efforts, she hopes to “make an even bigger impact.”

Orange Coast College sophomore Evelyn McCready is a boatswain, or youth leader, of a Sea Scout group called “Ship 550 Malolo.” Her group is organizing a donation drive Jan. 18. Although the group is based in Long Beach, she said members have been affected by the fires.

“We have many scouts that are currently living around active fire zones,” McCready said. “One of the groups that frequents our base is based out of Altadena, one of our own camps that’s called Josepho was destroyed in the Palisades fire.”

McCready was motivated to help because of how frequently California wildfires have occurred and cited an oath she took as a Sea Scout. “Part of [the oath] is to be prepared to render aid to those in need,” she said. “So, it is simply our responsibility to help the victims of the fires, because, well, we could be next.”

Alpha Tau Delta, a professional nursing fraternity at UC Irvine, has collected a variety of donations, from baby formula to medical supplies.

Mandy Bautista, a second-year student at UC Irvine and media manager for Alpha Tau Delta, said he was glad to contribute to the cause. “It’s beautiful to see our community come together for these efforts, and if everyone comes together to help for a common cause, we can make such a substantial impact to those in need,” he said.

More resources can be found here:

• Foundation for California Community Colleges: Wildfire and Disaster Relief 
  
• UCLA: How you can help
  
• PCC: Fire Updates & Support
  
• Pasadena City College Community Funds
  
• SMC: Disaster Relief Resources
  
• LACCD: Fire Resources and Support
  
• USC: Community Resources
  
• Mutual Aid LA Network
  
• Anakbayan UCLA Community Call

Delilah Brumer and Victoria Mejicanos are College Journalism Network fellows. Camelia Heins and Khadeejah Khan are contributors with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

For 24 years, I've been bringing together audiences here in Southern California ahead of the Oscars so we can review our favorites together.

Last week, we had a packed house at the Alex Theater in Glendale for our annual Film Week Academy Awards Preview.

We gathered nine of our regular FilmWeek critics, whose voices listeners hear on LAist 89.3 on our weekly review of movies. Hundreds of LAist listeners and readers who attended also got to vote for their personal favorites.

If we missed you March 7, we have clips of all 10 of the best picture nominees and the favorite for best animated feature. I have to say, I really loved sharing the experience of the movies with so many people. We'd love to see you in person at next year's event.

Meet the FilmWeek critics

• Tim Cogshell: FilmWeek critic, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com
• Christy Lemire: FilmWeek critic, RogerEbert.com and co-host of the Breakfast All Day podcast
• Lael Loewenstein: FilmWeek critic
• Wade Major: FilmWeek critic and CineGods.com 
• Amy Nicholson: FilmWeek critic, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and host of the podcast ‘Unspooled’
• Claudia Puig: FilmWeek critic and program director for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
• Peter Rainer: FilmWeek critic and the Christian Science Monitor 
• Charles Solomon: FilmWeek critic, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine 

Watch our full Oscar preview story

Best Picture

Nominees

Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

• Critics consensus: Sinners
• Audience: Sinners

Best Director

Nominees

Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

• Critics' consensus: Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another

Some other critics said that while they wanted Coogler to win, they thought the Oscar would go to Anderson.

Best Actress

Nominees

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

• Critics' consensus: Jessie Buckley for Hamnet
• Audience choice: Emma Stone for Bugonia

Lemire said that while she'd love to see the win go to Rose Byrne, she called Buckley the "only lock of the night"

Best Actor

Nominees:

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

• Critics' consensus: Michael B. Jordan for Sinners
• Audience choice: Michael B. Jordan for Sinners

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

• Critics' consensus: Amy Madigan for Weapons
• Audience choice: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

• Critics' consensus: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
• Audience choice: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees

Blue Moon, written by Robert Kaplow
It Was Just an Accident, written by Jafar Panahi; script collaborators: Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
Marty Supreme, written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Sentimental Value, written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler

• Critics' consensus: Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler
• Audience choice: Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees

Bugonia, screenplay by Will Tracy
Frankenstein, written for the screen by Guillermo del Toro
Hamnet, screenplay by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell
One Battle after Another, written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Train Dreams, screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

• Critics' consensus: None
• Audience choice: Train Dreams, screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Best Animated Feature

Nominees

Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

• Critics' consensus: Tie, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain and KPop Demon Hunters
• Audience choice: KPop Demon Hunters

Best Documentary

Nominees:

The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

• Critics' consensus: The Perfect Neighbor
• Audience choice: no vote

While the only officially gendered awards for the Oscars are for acting, it’s no secret the Academy historically has favored men when it comes to handing out statuettes. Between 1929 and 2026, women made up less than 18% of all nominees, according to a report by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

If you exclude the acting nominees, women have been nominated for just under 13% of all awards in the nearly century since the awards began, said Stacy L. Smith, who founded the initiative in 2005 to track inequality in entertainment.

Smith said the numbers, while stark, aren’t surprising.

“This industry cannot change itself,” Smith said. “To create change, you really need to work with folks and bring them in.”

To better understand where gender disparity stands today, we analyzed who actually speaks in the 10 films up for what many consider to be the highest honor in film: best picture at this Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Why? Because gender disparity in dialogue tells us something about the kinds of films that get nominated for awards — or made in the first place — and whose stories tend to be institutionally valued.

We went into this analysis knowing that historically, films that contend for best picture have been dominated by stories driven by male characters. We analyzed the 10 nominated films of 2026 and also analyzed the 2025 nominees to determine the most recent patterns.

Our findings: Women characters spoke about a quarter of the words. That’s down from a third of words in last year’s nominated films.

“Whether we look at just who's on screen, and now when we look at how much they speak, your findings reiterate this real lack of inclusion for women and girls on screen,” Smith said.

The details:

Men overwhelmingly dominate dialogue in eight films. In each — save for Bugonia — at least 70% of the words go to men. Bugonia has the narrowest difference at 56% men and 44% women, snagging the third-highest percentage of female dialogue.

Two films stand out for having twice as much dialogue by women than the overall average of 25%. In Sentimental Value, women speak 57% of the words, and in Hamnet, they speak 51%.

One Battle After Another is the only film where an explicitly nonbinary character speaks. However, their number of words spoken — 25 — is so small compared to the rest of the dialogue that it comes out to 0.2% of the film.

Hamnet is the only best picture nominee to be directed by a woman: Chloé Zhao.

How this compares to last year

Last year, women spoke the majority of words in three films: Emilia Perez, Wicked and I’m Still Here. In all three, women spoke at least 60% of the words.

In 2025, like this year, one film directed by a woman, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, was nominated for best picture.

Why lead characters matter 

This year, Sentimental Value, Hamnet and Bugonia have the biggest share of dialogue by women among the best picture nominees. They’re also the only films with a lead woman character.

Michelle (Emma Stone), the main character of Bugonia, speaks the most out of the three women in lead roles. Of the leads in nominated films, she ranks fourth overall behind Marty (Timothée Chalamet) in Marty Supreme, Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) in Frankenstein and her own co-lead, Teddy (Jesse Plemons).

Agnes (Jessie Buckley) from Hamnet ranks fifth. Nora (Renate Reinsve) from Sentimental Value ranks eighth behind the male leads from One Battle After Another and Train Dreams.

We should note that what constitutes a “lead” role can be subjective. For the purposes of this analysis, we based it on plot summaries and the prominence of the character in the arc of the film.

In most films, lead characters talk more than people in supporting roles. Sentimental Value and Train Dreams are the exceptions. Stellan Skarsgård is nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Gustav Borg in Sentimental Value. Borg speaks about 2,000 words, while his daughter, Nora, speaks about 1,300 in what’s considered a lead role. And in Train Dreams, a man narrates (Will Patton) and speaks about 1,500 words, while Robert Grainier (Joe Edgerton) speaks about 1,400.

Half of last year’s best picture nominees had a woman as the lead character. Female leads outnumbered male leads seven to six, and they generally spoke a greater share of dialogue than them too — save for Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) from Conclave and Bob Dylan (Chalamet) from A Complete Unknown.

Unlike this year, not all films with a woman in a lead role had majority women’s dialogue overall. In Anora and The Substance, women still spoke less than men.

However, lead characters did speak more words than any other character individually — except for in Wicked, where Glinda (Ariana Grande) speaks about 200 more words than Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo).

To try to measure how interested characters are in themselves compared to others and compare that across genders, the analysis looked at how often characters speak “I” words such as “I,” “me” or “my” (among others) versus “you” words like “you,” “your” or “yours” (among others).

We found that women speak more about themselves in half of the best picture nominees. That includes Sentimental Value, Bugonia, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and The Secret Agent. Admittedly, this is a limited evaluation. It doesn't include first-person plural words like “we,” it doesn’t include third-person pronouns like “he,” “she” or “they,” and it doesn't include the names of characters if they're used to address others. The bottom line: It shouldn't be taken as definitive, especially not without context from the movie.

What women talk about on screen has been the subject of interest for some time. In 1985, Alison Bechdel, a graphic artist, started talking about her criteria for watching a film. Now commonly called the Bechdel test, she said a film had to 1) feature two women characters who 2) talk to each other about 3) something other than a man. This analysis did not measure whether the best picture nominees passed the Bechdel Test, but it’s nonetheless an alternative way to measure women’s representation.

Looking at this data comprehensively — while taking into account the percent of words spoken by women, which films have a woman lead, the content of women’s dialogue and its relationship to their share of words — one film emerges as a standout.

And the Oscar for Most Woman-Driven Story goes to …

An image from the film "Sentimental Value."

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MK2 Films

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Directed by Joachim Trier, the Norwegian film Sentimental Value follows sisters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) as they reunite with their estranged father, filmmaker Gustav Borg (Skarsgård). Elle Fanning also stars in a supporting role as actor Rachel Kemp. Aside from best picture, the film received eight other nominations.

Sentimental Value has the highest percentage of words spoken by women. It’s one of just three films with a woman lead. And women refer to themselves more than they refer to the characters they speak to.

It’s the only film where women speak the majority of words and where their word choice favors themselves.

How we got here

Sexism in Hollywood has been the subject of scholarly research, books and, yes, movies. Women are underrepresented in what’s known as “below-the-line” roles, as well as in top executive positions. While the #MeToo movement that called out powerful men in Hollywood led to some actions, change has been slow.

Carolyn Finger, a former media analyst at Variety and Luminate, said conversations around representation — like the #OscarsSoWhite social media campaign in 2015 — help to bolster change in the industry. But there’s still much work to be done.

“What I’ve observed is that when those conversations happen, there is incremental change, but it’s not often sustained change,” Finger said.

This dialogue analysis, she added, “look[s] at who literally has a voice.”

To be clear, the quantity of words spoken is just one measure. On screen, sometimes silence, an action or a particular facial expression carries a greater message than words could convey. And a male-driven story may still have strong, nuanced and well-written women characters.

What's next

Smith said that to create change, studios need to adopt more equitable hiring practices and ensure the films they produce reflect the people watching them.

“If you’re a shareholder, if you go to the movies and buy tickets. If you support these companies by watching their shows, communicate back at what you’re not seeing and why that’s a problem,” Smith said.

Still, this year could be a potentially historic Oscars ceremony. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reported that a record-tying 33% of this year’s Oscar nominees are women. Hamnet director Chloé Zhao is the second woman, and first woman of color, to be nominated for best director twice. And if she wins, she’ll be the first woman to win best director more than once.

The 98th Academy Awards will take place 4 p.m. Sunday.

Wanna watch the Oscars this weekend with other movie lovers, but don’t want to host a watch party yourself? Many Los Angeles bars and restaurants have you covered.

While the fifth annual “Official” Oscars Watch Party held at The Academy Museum is sold out, there are still plenty of places showing the Academy Awards live. Here are a few to check out below:

(And when it comes to your Oscar ballot, LAist has you covered with expert predictions — and heated debates — from FilmWeek’s 24th annual Oscars Preview.)

Brazilian Oscars Watch Party

Sunday, March 15, 3 p.m.
Dusty Vinyl
11326 W Pico Blvd., West L.A.
COST: $50; MORE INFO

LAist events columnist Laura Hertzfeld suggests checking out this unique watch party: “Why not celebrate with the Brazilians and their nomination for (the excellent film) The Secret Agent? Dusty Vinyl is being turned into a 1977 secret-agent-themed hideout for the occasion, with a bespoke menu (food is included) and live music before the show starts; '70s costumes encouraged.”

The Hollywood Roosevelt’s Academy Awards Viewing Gala

Sunday, March 15, 3-10 p.m.
The Hollywood Roosevelt 
7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
COST: $375; MORE INFO

If you’re looking to splurge on a four-course dinner and get as close to the actual Academy Awards (held at the Dolby Theatre) as possible, the gala at The Hollywood Roosevelt is your spot. There’s also the added fun of watching the show in the ballroom where the very first Academy Awards were held in 1929.

Beers, Burgers and Best Picture

Sunday, March 15, 3:30 p.m.
33 Taps, all locations
Culver City, Silver Lake, DTLA, WeHo
COST: Free; MORE INFO

All 33 Taps sports bars will be showing the Oscars live on Sunday.

Oscars Watch Party at The Greyhound

Sunday, March 15, 4 p.m.
The Greyhound Bar & Grill
5570 N Figueroa St., Highland Park
COST: Free; MORE INFO

The Highland Park bar and grill will have an Oscar ballot contest with a $5 buy-in for a chance to win a cash prize.

Rooftop Red Carpet Dinner + Watch Party

Sunday, March 15, 2:30 p.m.
Elevate Lounge
811 Wilshire Blvd., DTLA
COST: $39; MORE INFO

If a “celebrity-style atmosphere” with a red carpet, rooftop views and 360 degree photobooth is what you’re looking for, Elevate Lounge has got you. Your VIP ticket includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres for the first two hours of the event from Takami Sushi & Robata.

Oscars Trivia + Screening Party

Sunday, March 15, 2 to 10 p.m.
2636 Huron St., Cypress Park
COST: Free; MORE INFO

This trivia night, Oscar ballot contest and watch party is free, but formal attire is required. Trivia begins at 3 p.m., before the show starts.

Dinner in WeHo + the Oscars

Sunday, March 15, 4 p.m.
La Boheme
8400 Santa Monica Blvd, WeHo
COST: Free admission; MORE INFO

The West Hollywood Mediterranean restaurant will be showing the Oscars on their projector screen and offering Happy Hour specials all night (which they also offer every Monday-Thursday and Sunday).

It’s hard to look at a restaurant menu without being able to order anything from it, but Tien Nguyen has made it her mission to do exactly that.

Nguyen, a food writer and Los Angeles Public Library creator in residence, has been digging through the library’s archives of restaurant menus, some of which go back to the early 1900’s. She’s specifically focused on the neighborhood we now know as Koreatown, and says tracing the evolution of dishes offered can help us understand its history.

“ L.A.'s Koreatown is a really great example of the ways we can look at menus and see how the neighborhood has changed over time,” she said.

She’s been sharing her research with the public, and will be giving a talk this Saturday at L.A. Central Library’s Taper Auditorium.

How restaurants reflect K-Town’s history

In the early 20th century, Koreatown was mostly known as Wilshire Center. Its Art Deco apartments were freshly built, and landmarks like the Ambassador Hotel were trendy spots for celebrities and dignitaries.

“There's one menu that I remember that is in honor of Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa, and you could see there was a big feast and banquet for them,” Nguyen said. “There were also menus for the king and queen of Greece.”

But soon after, other L.A. neighborhoods became in vogue and Koreatown hit a period of decline, even as high-rise buildings started to go up in the mid-20th century.

Following that, Koreatown started to take shape as into the diverse ethnic enclave it is today. Nguyen ties the changes to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed the United States’ highly restrictive quotas on immigration from certain countries, especially those in Asia.

About the menus

Nguyen told LAist the menu of the Korean restaurant The Prince is one of the best examples of this evolution. The restaurant now offers comfort food favorites like bibim mandu and its signature dakgangjeong. But in the middle of last century, it was known as The Windsor, and offered European continental fare.

The Windsor's food offerings from 1958.

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“ It looks like they have great cocktails, they have really great fresh fruit alongside steaks and all sorts of different types of pastas,” Nguyen said. “When I look at those menus, you do have a bit of FOMO, but at the same time, I also am a person of color. So there's also this recognition that maybe I wouldn't have been welcome in some of those spaces as well.”

In the 1990s, the space came under new ownership and became The Prince – a Korean restaurant that still preserves its Old Hollywood charm.

“The thing to get there really is the Korean fried chicken, the tteokbokki – the rice cakes – and the Korean pancakes,” Nguyen said.

Another example which shows the emerging Korean influence of the area comes from the restaurant Beverly Soon Tofu, which opened in 1986. The restaurant’s menu was painted onto gourds, one of which is currently on display at Koreatown’s Pio Pico Branch Library until the end of the month.

Nguyen, who co-authored a cookbook with Beverly Soon Tofu’s founder Monica Lee (not to mention two books written with Kogi’s Roy Choi), said the menu was inspired by Korean countryside decor.

Monica Lee of Beverly Soon Tofu, pictured soon after her restaurant's opening in 1986, along with a letter announcing the opening.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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“ These dried gourds were also used as lanterns, so that was her inspiration for wanting to make it look like a menu, because her restaurant at the time was decorated kind of like a countryside restaurant,” she said.

As Korean-Americans settled in what Monica Lee called a sometimes “hot, busy and bothersome” city when she founded her restaurant in 1986, they shaped the neighborhood into the largest Koreatown in the United States – and also shaped the way Americans far and wide eat.

An translation of Beverly Soon Tofu's opening announcement.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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“ You go to Trader Joe's, and there's that kimbap that was really popular for so many years,” Nguyen said.

Korean-Americans did this alongside many other immigrant populations that call Koreatown home – many of its strip malls represent cuisines from several different countries.

“What's kind of amazing about that to me is that it is something that feels natural,” Nguyen said. “ Koreatown has a large Oaxacan population, for example. It has a very big Bangladeshi population. And so all these foods, all these cultures, [mingled] together to create a food culture that I think is so distinctly Los Angeles.”

Nguyen also credited Korean restaurants with sourcing fresh ingredients locally – even though they aren’t as celebrated as other Californian restaurants for doing so.

How to attend the talk

Nguyen will give her talk “Menus as Neighborhood Maps: How Los Angeles Restaurant Menus Tell Stories of Community Formation” at 10:30am Saturday, March 14, at the L.A. Central Library’s Taper Auditorium.

You can RSVP here.