The Brief

Two years ago, 11-year-old Soma joined a long legacy of Venice Beach surfers.

He’s progressed from riding on his stomach to standing upright and has set his sights on a bigger goal— getting barreled.

“If it comes — a giant wave — I wanna surf not on top, but… in the wave,” Soma said.

On a recent Saturday, Soma, who has autism, was one of 20 kids in the lineup as part of the PlayLA Adaptive Para Surf Clinic.

The program is part of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks’ effort to expand opportunities for youths with disabilities.

“We've seen the benefits of kids who've been told, ‘You can't do this,'” said Kelly Caldwell,  principal recreation supervisor for the Play LA program. “Giving them a place to play, it just, it changes their world.”

Soma’s mom Fumi Suzuki signed him up, in part because her husband read that children with autism are at higher risk of drowning than their peers. Suzuki said she’s seen her son become more confident and she’s bonded with the other parents standing on the shore.

“I [feel] really grateful for this community,” Fumi Suzuki said. “It's like a family.”

How adaptive surf came to LA

After Los Angeles agreed nearly a decade ago to host the 2028 Olympics, organizers committed $160 million to local youth sports. LA28 has contributed $60 million to PlayLA since 2018. The International Olympic Committee also chipped in, according to Recreation and Parks.

Los Angeles Recreation and Parks staff use a beach wheelchair to help Penny Pedersen move from the beach to her surfboard.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Greta Pederson, left, and sister Penny Pedersen, right, catch a wave at Venice Beach.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

The money helps subsidize programs for low-income families, and pays for staffing and equipment for new sports, including table tennis, fencing and archery.

The funding has also helped expand the city’s programs for youths with disabilities. Adaptive youth sports include swimming, volleyball, skateboarding, blind soccer and track and field.

Three years ago, the city partnered with the Challenged Athletes Foundation to host the first surf clinics for youths with disabilities.

“The goal of this program is to make sure that everyone has access,” said Adaptive Sports Facility Director Erika Luna Diaz. “We want to make sure that there [are] no limitations.”

Each participant in the PlayLA Adaptive Para Surf Clinic is paired with at least one instructor. The kids rotate in and out of the surf over the four-hour duration of each session.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Native Hawaiians brought surfing to California in the late 19th century, but the sport has not always been accessible to all.

Segregation limited access to beaches and pools for communities of color. Early surfing competitions marginalized women and territorial locals harassed and intimidated newcomers.

While the sport has become more inclusive, there are still challenges, including polluted beaches and a lack of accessible beach parking.

Bringing stoke and safety to all

The first goal, explained instructor Evan MacCarthy, is that the surfers are safe. Participants learn to never turn their back on the ocean and protect their head in the surf.

“A very close second goal is stoke,” MacCarthy said.

Surf instructor Alexander Lewin lets go of the board as Henry Pedersen catches a wave.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

The city pays for all the required equipment, including surfboards, wetsuits to insulate participants against the cold and brightly colored rashguards that help identify the kids in the water. Families are not required to disclose their child’s disability, but if they choose to do so, it can help the program plan for their individual needs. For example, there’s a wheelchair with puffy inflated tires to move kids with limited mobility from their personal chair to their boards.

While the program is free to families, between staff and equipment, it costs the city about $291 for each child to participate.

The ratio of instructors to students in the city’s surf program for youths without disabilities is 1 to 5, but in the para surf clinic, there’s at least one instructor assigned to every participant. Additional staff, called “water watchers,” help monitor the kids in the surf.

“Everybody has their own specific needs and wants,” said instructor Alexander Lewin. “I think here it's our job to kind of match up that need and want with an instructor who can fulfill that.”

“I love bringing stoke to the place, so that's my job here,” Lewin added.

A day at the beach 

The PlayLA Adaptive Para Surf Clinic sets up at the end of Venice Beach's access mat, a mesh net that provides a firmer surface for wheelchairs and other mobility aids.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

The Rec and Parks crew arrives at 6:30 a.m. to set up tents, breakfast and lay down plastic track to help wheelchair users reach the shore.

The approximately 25 members include surf instructors and a dedicated lifeguard.

Families arrive a couple hours later. After the youths sign in, they wriggle into wetsuits with the help of a staff member.

Alex, 10, doesn’t like the feel of the neoprene against his skin, so instead he wears the rashguard over his swimtrunks.

Alex, like others with autism, can become overwhelmed with certain sensations, sounds and visuals. For example, the whistling and yelling common in other youth sports programs.

“It's like an alarm that goes off in his head and he can't think logically and he's looking at you, but he can't hear and process the instructions,” said his mom, Artemis D. LAist agreed not the publish the family's last name to protect their privacy.

Here she doesn’t have to explain why her son needs an alternative — it’s freely offered.

“That's the kind of thing that I'm so thankful for,” she said.

A PlayLA staff member fits Anna with a wetsuit for the first time.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Next, the kids pair off with a surf instructor and at least one other person who keeps an eye on the participants in the water.

For first-timers, like 9-year-old Anna, the lessons start on the sand.

Instructor Sophie Holdorff shows her how to lay on the board on her belly, and windmill her arms with cupped hands to paddle through the water.

Surf instructor Sophie Holdorff teaches Anna the basics of riding a surf board. "I do this work to make sure that people know how to be safe and comfortable and confident in the ocean," Holdorff said. "All of that builds stoke and empowerment and courage."

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Her mom, Kristine, saw the clinic posted online several months ago.

“ I couldn't believe my eyes,” Kristine said. “I always thought surfing is for, you know, special people, athletes.”

LAist agreed not to use Kristine and Anna’s last time to protect their privacy. Kristine said her daughter struggles with developmental challenges and post traumatic stress disorder.

“Things like [surfing] are gonna bring her joy,” Kristine said. “Maybe bring her back to normalcy and hopefully help her feel better and catch up with her peers emotionally and physically.”

Anna catches her first wave within half an hour of arriving at the beach.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Less than 10 minutes later, Anna walks into the water holding Sophie’s hand.

“It's nerve wracking for me, but I'm getting used to it,” Kristine said.

Kristine watched as the instructors encouraged Anna to widen her stance on the board.

“Anna is actually following directions, which is something that she normally has a problem with,” Kristine said. “I see that sometimes she is getting sidetracked, but they bring her back to where she needs to be.”

Anna stands up for the first time. Holdorff, left, later helps her widen her stance and open up her hips to better balance on the board.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

When Anna returns to the shore, her instructor Holdorff shows her how to dig for sandcrabs as the water recedes from the sand.

Anna’s eyes scan the ground for the v-shaped indents in the sand.

“I love them,” Anna gasped as she holds up the squirming, gray crustacean. “Can I take them home?”

Anna’s preoccupation with the surf and the sandcrabs also gave Kristine, and her mother, a rare moment of calm.

“For her to do one thing for such a long period of time without getting distracted and running — it's running away mostly — it's awesome,” Kristine said.

Anna, right, also learns how to find sand crabs (Emerita Analoga) beneath v-shaped marks in the sand. Her first reaction? "So cute."

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Physical and social benefits of ‘surf therapy’

Research shows that youths with disabilities who participate in surf programs can improve their balance, coordination, strength and endurance.

But there are also social benefits, said University of Rhode Island education professor Emily Clapham. She’s studied the outcomes of youths with disabilities who participate in surf programs for the last 16 years.

Surfing as a group creates the camaraderie of team sports without the competition.

“There's no winner, there's no loser,” Clapham said. ”Everybody's participating and trying the best they can. Everybody has a different goal in mind and surfing really enables that to happen.”

Penny, left in the red wetsuit, Greta, and Henry Pedersen, right, catch a wave together. Los Angeles Recreation and Parks hosted eight para surf clinics between June and September 2025.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

For example, at Venice Beach, one child works on overcoming his fear of the water while another gets tips on their stance.

“You really want the child or individual to be able to do as much as they can independently,” Clapham said. “Because that's really where that empowerment comes from.”

Clapham said there’s a child in her program who enjoys sitting on the board backwards to watch the wave break behind him.

“Who are we to say that's not the correct way to surf?” Clapham said. ”It's really a beautiful thing to see all the different variations.”

Clapham has noticed the rhythmic motion of the waves and white noise of the waves soothes children with autism who can get overwhelmed by sensations, sounds and sights.

“It really helps them to calm down and to be able to bring your body down to a relaxed state,” Clapham said. “Now your brain is open, you can learn because you're not in a state of survival mode.”

Though there’s no count of surfing programs for people with disabilities nationwide, Clapham said she’s seen an increase in recent years and there’s now an international organization dedicated to surf therapy research and professional development.

Austen Ramirez demonstrates another way to ride the waves.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

"These kids are, are so much more, their ability is so much more than, than what I think society assumes," said surf instructor Evan MacCarthy, right.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Meeting kids where they’re at

The vast majority of the participants smile nonstop while in the water, but there are a few meltdowns throughout the morning.

On his first wave, Alex jumps off his surfboard in shallow water and tweaks his knee.

His mom, Artemis D., the clinic staff and a lifeguard don’t see signs of a more serious injury, but Alex refuses to get back in the water.

The instructors tell Alex he can come back when he’s ready.

“They don't stress him out,” Artemis said. “They don't make him feel more overwhelmed than the world already feels.”

Alex, 10, shows off a sand crab he caught while taking a break from surfing.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Alex flips over several of the sand crabs to check for the masses of orange eggs that some females carry.

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

She said in other recreation programs and at school her son’s behavior can be misunderstood as defiance rather than overwhelm.

“He gets in trouble a lot,” Artemis said. “Sometimes he doesn't even know what he's doing wrong. If someone would take the time to explain, maybe he would learn.”

Students with disabilities are often disciplined for defiant, disruptive or disorderly behavior at higher rates than their peers. An analysis from the Hechinger Report found in California the rate of suspensions for these infractions is twice as high for students with disabilities than those without.

“We finally found an activity he could do and not get kicked out of or yelled at, or feel different,” Artemis said of the surfing program.

“We just want these kids to have the absolute best time of their lives today,” said instructor Alexander Lewin. “It ranges different for each kid. Some kids, it's literally just get in the wave and ride it on your stomach and some of these kids, they are fully into popping up and almost going sideways on a wave. It's just all the levels in between.”

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

LAist

)

Alex tells his mom he wants to go home, but is distracted when a French bulldog, his favorite for their squishy faces, walks by and lets him scratch his head.

He hunts for sand crabs, rolls around in the sand and talks to his friend Soma, who attended his birthday the week before. They met through the surf clinic. Another friendly French bulldog walks by.

Artemis said she isn’t worried about judgment from the other families.

“The kids don't stop and stare because it's like, ‘OK, well I know what he's feeling because that happens to me sometimes,’” she said.

Less than an hour before the program ends for the day, Alex gets back in the water to test out a tandem surfboard.

“It was good to see him not give up today,” said his instructor, Patrick Caldwell. “I think that it was a moment of growth for him.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Inglewood police officers could soon be outfitted with body-worn cameras.

The Inglewood City Council will vote Tuesday on a $6.3 million purchase from police tech company Axon to kit out the city’s police department with body cameras as well as drones, Tasers and 98 stationary Automated License Plate Recognition devices, known commonly as ALPRs. 

Activists have been calling for Inglewood police to wear body cameras since Bryan Bostic’s unexplained death in police custody March 10. Video of the incident captured by a bystander shows police pinning Bostic to the ground. Investigations by the offices of the L.A. County District Attorney into the police use of force and L.A. County Medical Examiner into Bostic’s cause of death are ongoing. 

The city says it has been researching the tech additions, including the body cameras, since last August, and the police department began chasing grants for body-worn cameras and drones in January. 

The L.A. Police Department began widely using body cameras in 2015, followed by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in 2020. 

Activist Najee Ali, who has helped coordinate recent demonstrations calling for Inglewood officers to wear body cameras, said the devices would be a game-changer.

“We are optimistic this is going to happen,” Ali said. “Certainly this is long overdue.” 

Ali said activists had been planning to put forward a city ballot initiative to mandate police body cameras. He remains concerned about how the city will set police body camera policy. 

City staff wrote in meeting documents that the new tech would enhance the department’s capacity ahead of a string of mega-events — including this summer’s FIFA World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics. 

The city has not yet finalized contract terms with Axon. Councilmembers could vote Tuesday to authorize city staff to wrap up negotiations and execute a final agreement. 

The city estimated Inglewood could pay an average of $1.3 million annually over the life of a five-year agreement with Axon, which would provide software platforms along with the new equipment. 

Here’s the tech that comes in the package

The package would include body cameras as well as new Tasers, meeting documents indicate. The Inglewood Police Department has 186 sworn officers, according to the city website. 

Twenty-five vehicles would be outfitted with Fleet 3 video cameras that can automatically read and look up vehicle license plates. The ALPR tech will also be rolled out via 98 stationary cameras affixed to light posts and mounted in other locations.

Stationary ALPRs scan license plates and log a vehicle’s location at a given time. Police tout their ability to rapidly locate stolen vehicles or fleeing suspects. Critics say they lack oversight and that their data can be too broadly shared, including with federal immigration agents.

The devices Inglewood is purchasing also have livestream video capability, according to Axon’s website. 

The city will also get a total of seven camera drones, including the Skydio 10 and its indoor-focused cousin, the Skydio R10. 

How to make your voice heard

The Inglewood City Council meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Inglewood City Hall, 1 W. Manchester Blvd. Members of the public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed purchase ahead of the city council’s vote.  

Limited seating is available in council chambers. Members of the public have been directed to watch proceedings and deliver public comment from an overflow room during some recent meetings.

If people can’t make the meeting, they may submit written comments to the city clerk at athompson@cityofinglewood.org, or to the deputy city clerk at dwesley@cityofinglewood.org.

Comments must be submitted by 8 a.m. Tuesday in order to be distributed to councilmembers ahead of the meeting. 

Full meeting documents are available at cityofinglewood.org.

Staff with The Plant Chica were busy the day before the event receiving, labeling and preparing indoor plants at the open-air shop in Leimert Park. The company’s co-founder, Sandra Mejia, said everyone should have a plant in their home.

“Plants aren't necessarily something that people are going out of their way to buy,” she said.

And many people who’ve come to her adopt-a-plant events have never had plants in their homes and, therefore, have not experienced what it’s like to take care of a plant and see it grow.

“If we're giving them out for free, then people come and they take them, and then now they're plant people,” which means, she said, that some become advocates for more plants indoors and outdoors as well as public green space.

The giveaways have grown

Mejia’s first plant giveaway started in her home, she said, in 2018. It was an effort to clear out the less popular plants. It didn’t go so well, but after she moved it to her shop, which has been in several locations around South L.A., near where she was raised by Salvadoran parents, the plant giveaway has grown.

Her family first instilled a love of plants, and she keeps them involved.

“My dad is at home right now, printing the information sheet for the plant so people know how to take care of the plants, and he's cutting them for me,” Mejia said.

Some of the plants are donated by local greenhouses and the rest are paid for, about $2,500 she said, out of her business’ marketing budget.

Staff at The Plant Chica, Philip Bucknor and Odessey Osteen-Diluca

(

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

/

LAist

)

What kind of plants are we talking about

The giveaway includes philodendrons, like pink princess, which are good starter plants because they’re low maintenance, tradescantia plants, which have green and purple leaves, as well as prayer plants, whose scientific name is maranta leuconeura. These get their nickname from the opening of their leaves during the day and closing at night, like hands in prayer.

“Everybody deserves a plant that's cleaning the oxygen around them. Everybody should have some sort of thumb in the green somewhere,” said Philip Bucknor, who started out as DJ at events for The Plant Chica and began working for the shop last year with the unofficial title of “vibe curator.”

That includes helping people through a feeling he hears a lot — “I don’t want to kill the plant.”

“My thing is helping people understand the right plant for them and not overthinking these tasks of taking care of a plant,” he said.

That means, he said, don’t overdo watering, be chill and feel your plant’s vibe.

He’s set to do that with people who come to the plant giveaway Saturday.

As the story goes, it started with eight women in India.

A small group of runners in bright flowing saris darted through the streets of Bangalore to show that fitness doesn’t have to be about running gear and race culture but can look like anything you want it to.

Ten years and thousands of participants later, the Saree Run is crossing the ocean.

The U.S. edition of the Saree Run debuts Sunday in Huntington Beach Central Park East, where 5K runners and walkers are encouraged to drape themselves in saris in a celebration of health and culture.

The U.S. edition is the brainchild of L.A.-based Indian American event organizer Aanal Patel. She discovered the Saree Run through an Instagram video, one of many online, sent by a friend urging her to bring it to the U.S.

“I thought it was really, really cool,” Patel, 35, said. “But I was like, I don't know if people in the States would be interested in this because mainly here we wear saris for special occasions like weddings and receptions."

In contrast to India where the sari is part of everyday wear for many women, the sari is worn in the U.S. more for special occasions like weddings.

(

Courtesy of Aanal Patel

)

By contrast, saris are part of everyday dress for many women in India. But the idea stuck with Patel, who’d run plenty of races herself. She’s also spent years organizing events for the South Asian diaspora like Bollywood trivia games and singles mixers.

The Saree Run, she reasoned, could be another place for the diaspora to connect and spotlight urgent issues. Like how South Asians face higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions. And how many women, she said, don't prioritize their health.

“We are consistently putting other people in front of our own health – our husbands, our children, our community, our households,” Patel said.

Another driving force for Patel — and a point of departure from the event’s origins in India — is the lack of South Asian visibility in fitness and wellness branding in the U.S.

“India is the birthplace of yoga. We're also the birthplace of Ayurveda, and you still don't see us represented in those spaces,” Patel said. “I wanted to bring representation into that space.”

Where it began

Before Patel moved forward with putting on a Saree Run, she sought the blessing of the event’s founder Pramod Deshpande.

A Bangalore-based tech consultant specializing in A.I., Deshpande is also a former competitive runner and long-time running coach focused on getting Indians to move more.

The 63-year-old “Coach Pramod,” as his runners call him, came up with the Saree Run after noticing how in India women rise to top roles in government and boardrooms but are noticeably missing from the fitness world.

When he and his trainees ran through neighborhoods, women would stare at them “like we are somebody from another world.”

“Then we realized that these ladies are really interested in doing this, but are held back because of other social pressures and family responsibilities,” Deshpande said.

Safety concerns about running alone as a woman is also a big issue. The Saree Run offers strength in numbers as well as a sense of ease. Running in saris – about six yards of fabric which can be draped to fit every body type – takes the pressure off the women to feel that they have to look like models in fitness ads, Deshpande said.

The Saree Run has held nine editions in six cities across India since 2016.

(

Courtesy of the Saree Run

)

Saree Run participants who kept at it typically shed their saris for lighter running gear like Deshpande’s own mother-in-law. She started running at 78 and now at 82 recently completed a half-marathon in pants and a T-shirt.

Stories like hers have helped fuel the Saree Run’s growth. Since 2016, the Saree Run has held nine editions across six cities with tens of thousands joining so far.

At the most recent event in Pune, more than 5,000 women turned out, Deshpande said.

A call from abroad

When Patel reached out to Deshpande about bringing the concept to the U.S., he was surprised – and impressed.

“I thought, this girl has some guts,” he said, noting it took years for the Saree Run to gain traction in India.

Patel, who moved to L.A. a year and a half ago from Denver, has gamely taken on challenges of organizing a run for the first time with a small team of volunteers.

She scouted a dozen parks across L.A. and Orange counties before settling on Huntington Beach's Central Park East because it could accommodate both the run and a full day of free programming.

Aside from the 5K, there will be yoga sessions, dance classes, wellness workshops and a speaker series.

Tickets to participate in the run will be $50 a person and includes a swag bag. After expenses, proceeds will go to the Artesia-based nonprofit South Asian Helpline And Referral Agency for abuse survivors.

Run participants are strongly encouraged – but not required – to wear South Asian cultural attire which could also include a dupatta, a traditional scarf, or a kurti, a long tunic.

“Because our goal is to break the stigma,” Patel said. “Our goal is fitness without inhibitions.”

Most, though, will come in saris. Given that there are over 300 draping styles, what will Patel choose?

She’s opting for the dhoti style, which "does allow a separation between the legs for movement."

Interest has already come from other cities like Austin, Denver and Chicago with people online asking when the event might come their way.

Deshpande is also looking ahead. From India, he’s hoping to assist Patel with growing the U.S. version by tapping into diaspora networks.

“I'm here to help Aanal make it big,” Deshpande said.

With fewer than six weeks to go before the June election, candidates running for City of L.A. and Los Angeles Unified School District offices have raised a combined $19 million, according to records from the L.A. City Ethics Commission.

Campaigns for mayor, District 11 City Council member and city attorney have emerged as the most funded races.

Here’s how they stack up:

L.A. mayor

Mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Adam Miller are leading all L.A. city candidates in fundraising, with $3.7 million and $2.7 million raised so far, respectively.

The candidates have tapped into very different sources to fund their campaigns.

Miller, a tech entrepreneur and leader of multiple nonprofits, has loaned $2.5 million to his own campaign and raised just $223,000 from donors since entering the race in February.

Bass, on the other hand, had already gathered more than $2.3 million in contributions by January. She’d received some of those donations as far back as July 2024.

The city’s matching funds program has also given Bass a nearly $874,000 boost over Miller, who did not qualify to receive a 6-to-1 match from the city on donations that meet certain criteria.

Nithya Raman, City Council member for L.A.’s District 4, has had the quickest growth in donor support out of all candidates for mayor after entering the race in February.

She’s received a combined $1.1 million from direct contributions and matching funds from the city.

Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt has received about $538,000 in contributions, and Presbyterian minister and community organizer Rae Huang has taken in about $273,000.

District 11

Traci Park, who is the current City Council member for the 11th district, has brought in about $1.4 million so far through contributions and matching funds.

Faizah Malik is an attorney at the nonprofit law firm Public Counsel and is challenging Park for her council seat. She has raised about $632,000.

This race also has the largest amount of outside spending across the city and LAUSD.

About $972,000 has been spent in support of Park, including about $634,000 from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and $297,000 from a committee sponsored by United Firefighters of L.A. City.

Unite Here, a labor union representing hospitality workers, has spent more than $220,000 in support of Malik.

City attorney

Hydee Feldstein Soto, the incumbent city attorney, has raised nearly $1.2 million in contributions and matching funds.

Marissa Roy, deputy attorney general, has raised nearly $1 million in her race to unseat Feldstein Soto.

Deputy District Attorney John McKinney and human rights attorney Aida Ashouri have raised about $73,000 and $14,000, respectively, in the race.