The Brief

With students are out of school, district leaders across L.A. County are deciding whether to ask voters to approve property tax increases this November to fund repairs and renovations.

District governing boards have until Aug. 7 to call for ballot measures.

Even with a record number of school bonds and a $10 billion statewide bond approved in the 2024 election, many districts are still strapped for funding to repair aging infrastructure and update classrooms.

The Bellflower Unified School District Board voted unanimously in mid June to ask voters to approve a $135 million bond.

“ Schools are the heart of communities,” said Erin Simon, superintendent of the Southeast L.A. County district. “You want your school to be something that is aesthetically amazing and beautiful, and places that your kids want to come to, and places that your families want to send [their] kids to.”

For example, Bellflower High School just celebrated its 75th anniversary and its athletic facilities are showing their age. The district’s facilities master plan calls for new turf in the stadium and locker rooms that are more accessible for students with disabilities.

Simon said the master plan also identified the need for new roofs, restrooms, plumbing and electrical systems throughout the district.

At least three other L.A. County school districts have called for bond measures so far.

Waymos sometimes feel like they’re all over many parts of Los Angeles, but the vast majority of Angelenos haven’t been quick to adopt the new technology.

About 5% of L.A. County residents have taken a driverless vehicle in the last year, compared to about 28% who used ridehailing apps like Uber and Lyft, according to the results of a USC survey published Thursday.

Sociologist Kyla Thomas directs the LABarometer survey, which measures the habits and wellbeing of L.A. County residents, and decided to add questions about driverless vehicle use for the first time since the driverless cars became open to the public in November 2024 — largely out of curiosity.

“Certainly in my neighborhood in Culver City, I see Waymos everywhere,” Thomas said. “But when you look at the whole county population, how many people are actually using it?”

Why not Waymo?

The survey found that slightly more people felt safe using a ridehailing app versus a robotaxi — 12% versus 9% — but 27% of people feel safe driving themselves.

“Waymos have not reached, in terms of safety, the comfort level that people feel in their own car,” Thomas said.

LAist has reached out to Waymo for comment, but hasn't heard back.

Thomas also mentioned convenience and availability as reasons why people aren’t taking Waymos — the cars don’t yet serve any major airports, let alone operate in the San Fernando or San Gabriel valleys, Southeast L.A., and most of the rest of L.A. County. Waymo doesn’t yet have any robotaxi competitors offering rides to the public in the region.

 “Currently, Waymo's coverage area is not as wide as Uber or Lyft, and so as that expands, we might see Waymo use expand,” Thomas said. “I'm very curious to see how this evolves.”

One of the biggest reasons why Waymo and other ridehailing services don’t have more riders in L.A. won’t be a surprise: People overwhelmingly drive themselves. Of the survey’s respondents, 91% were drivers or passengers in private vehicles, by far the most common method of transportation.

For comparison, the next most-common category of transportation — walking, skateboards and kick scooters — was used by just 30% of survey respondents.

Other impressions of Waymo

Though people felt less safe in Waymos compared to cars with drivers in them, that perception flipped when people were asked about how safe they felt from harassment — at least for one major demographic.

“Women feel a lot safer in a Waymo compared to an Uber or Lyft,” Thomas said. “Men, we just see just a few percentage point difference in how they're perceiving these different modes.”

Thomas added that she’s already wondering whether Waymo use will become more common if its service area continues to expand.

“We see a small drop in use of traditional ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft in the last year,” Thomas said. “I wonder if Waymo is responsible for that — are we going to see Waymo slowly replace these?  Or how will perceptions of safety evolve? I'm very, very curious to keep tracking that.”

The 2026 Orange County Fair kicks off Friday and is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to Costa Mesa. To help you best plan for the summer tradition, here’s everything you need to know about the 23-day fest.

Gates at the OC Event Center at 88 Fair Dr. open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays will have extended hours from 11 a.m. to midnight.

The fair ends Aug. 16.

What is there to see and do? 

Whether you're a thrill seeker, a foodie, or just there for the vibes, the fair should have something for everyone.

Dozens of carnival rides will include the return of Joker 360, which swings riders into the air while also spinning and flipping. You can also see the Dragon Knights Stilt Show, performers who spring into the air on stilts.

The Action Sports Arena will also feature motorists zipping around inside the Globe of Death and the demolition derby series will return. Tickets to the various shows can be found here.

You can also catch live music at The Hangar or the Pacific Amphitheater throughout the fair’s run. Concert tickets include same-day access to the fair.

El Pachuco Zoot Suit Fashion Show and Lowrider exhibit is a new addition to the fair that will pay homage to the Chicano community’s history, influence and style.

Fair food is a given. For a chance to try a little bit of everything, fairgoers can try the Taste of the Fair promotion, which offers a variety of delights for just $5 at participating booths.

Buying tickets 

Pre-sale tickets are discounted until Thursday, July 16.

Here’s how much regular tickets cost:

• General admission on Wednesday and Thursday: $13
• General admission on  Friday, Saturday and Sunday: $18
• Seniors ages 65 and up: $10
• Kids ages 6 through 12: $9 
• Kids ages 5 and younger can enter for free

Other admission options include the Every Day Passport. For $60, visitors can enter the fairgrounds every day, including sold-out dates. There are no blackout dates or restrictions.

What about transportation? 

There are many ways to get to the fair, but public transportation and rideshare are encouraged.

Parking is $15 for cars and motorcycles, and $30 for limos and buses.

Buses will transport fairgoers to and from one of six locations directly to the OC Fair between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Sundays. Rides are $2 each way. Your OC Fair tickets must be purchased in advance to ride.

A bonus for bookworms

Kids ages 5 through 11 who read three books can qualify for two free rides at the fair’s Kidland. Fill out this form to receive a QR code.

Irvine voters will have an important question at the ballot box in November: Do you want ranked-choice voting?

Late Tuesday, the City Council agreed to place a measure that would switch council and mayoral elections to the system in 2028, as long as the cost stays within certain parameters. Mayor Larry Agran and council members James Mai and Mike Carroll voted no.

If passed, Irvine would be one of two Orange County cities to have the system. It comes as a judge recently ordered Huntington Beach to use the method. Several California cities, like Redondo Beach in L.A. County, have implemented ranked-choice voting in recent years.

What Irvine’s vote does

Right now, Irvine uses the system voters recognize: You cast your vote for one candidate, and if they don’t reach a certain percentage, the race heads to a runoff where you vote again months later.

In November, Irvine voters will be asked about switching to ranked-choice voting. Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, who originally introduced the measure, says this will help stop special interests from using “spoiler candidates” to take votes away from someone they don’t want to win.

“I am confident that, if we have ranked-choice voting, it’s going to improve the voice of the voters and have better outcomes,” she said.

The Cal RCV Institute, a supporter of the measure, says it allows for fairer outcomes and more broadly-supported winners. Here's a visual guide to how it works:

Under the ordinance, ranked-choice voting could happen starting in 2028 — as long as Irvine can feasibly do it technically and financially. Money was a big concern in the council vote because the city’s growing deficit is projected to reach $47 million by the end of the decade.

If voters approve the measure, Irvine would have upfront costs, like redesigning its ballots, training staff and educating voters. (Some political organizations are expected to help with that.)

It’s not clear exactly how pricey switching could be, but the first time is expected to be more than what elections cost now. Council members ultimately compromised and put a hard cap into the measure.

If costs are estimated to go over 0.23% of the city’s general fund budget (that’s $710,000 today), ranked-choice voting would not be used at the next election. The estimated cost of each subsequent election would be checked until the cost is low enough for the city to switch.

Carroll, who voted no, called out the calculation method because it came from an advocacy group. He disagreed with basing the cap on a budget that hasn’t been decided yet.

“God bless them, they’re allowed to push it, but I want to be clear that this is lawyering that has no specificity,” he said.

The ballot measure would need a simple majority to pass — that’s 50% plus one vote — and it would be in effect until voters want to change it.

Irvine’s ballot would be designed to allow for at least five ranked choices, and you’d be able to rank write-in candidates as well.

Under the motion, preliminary vote tallies would still be released alongside results for other races.

As you make your way down Pioneer Boulevard, the first thing you notice is the signage.

On a single strip mall sign, Bollywood Dance is stacked above a European Tailor, above Tacos Birria, above Nilly’s Burgers, above a Nepali and Indian Grocery. Five businesses, five communities, one address.

These shopping plazas are a microcosm of a corridor that has been quietly reshaped by successive waves of immigration over the past 40 years — Filipino, Korean, Gujarati, Mumbaikar, all putting down roots in the same strip malls, the same blocks just off Pioneer Boulevard.

Long known as Southern California's Little India and quietly becoming something more, for $15, you can eat very well here.

This is Cheap Fast Eats: Artesia.

Jay Bharat

Jay Bharat at 18701 Pioneer Blvd. — one of the oldest South Asian restaurants in Southern California.

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One of the oldest businesses along the Artesia corridor, Jay Bharat was founded in a garage in 1985 before opening its brick-and-mortar location on Pioneer Boulevard in 1988. It was founded by Usha Master, driven by her passion for Gujarati home cooking reminiscent of her childhood in Kothamdi, Gujarat.

Just three years later, Jonathan Gold paid them a visit for the L.A. Times, putting both the restaurant and the corridor on the map. When he reviewed Jay Bharat in 1991, dinner for two ran between $5 and $10. More than three decades later, the prices have barely moved.

For this particular visit, I was there to try the Undhiyu Puri ($9.49), a Gujarati winter vegetable medley. Despite it being the middle of summer, I was craving its comforting flavors — raw banana, unripe plantain, purple yam, baby eggplant, pigeon peas, green mung beans, and flat green beans, seasoned with fenugreek leaves, coconut, green chilies, cumin and a touch of sugar. The name itself tells the story: "undhu" means "upside down" in Gujarati, a reference to the traditional method of slow-cooking the dish in an earthen pot buried underground. Even in July, it tastes like winter in the best possible way.

The Undhiyu Puri at Jay Bharat — a Gujarati winter vegetable medley served with five golden puffed puris.

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The beauty of the dish is its nuance — so many different flavors and textures hitting different parts of the palate with each bite: the sweetness of banana and yam, a hint of heat from the green chiles, the satisfying resistance of pigeon peas and mung beans keeping things interesting. The restaurant encourages you to eat with your hands, so grab a puri, tear it open, and drag it through the dark spiced base. Wash it down with a bottle of Parliament Jaljeera— a carbonated cumin-and-tamarind drink that cuts right through the richness of the curry.

Honest Restaurant

The Honest Special Bhaji Pav at Honest Restaurant — a Mumbai street food institution with roots in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the only SoCal location of an 18-state chain.

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Honest has the footprint of Denny's and the street-food soul of King Taco. What started as a family cart in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 1975, now spans 18 U.S. states and four countries — and Artesia is currently the only SoCal location.

Step inside and the history is right there on the walls — black-and-white photos of men in plain '70s attire, a message from the founder, flat screens cycling through the day's specials.

Try the bhaji pav ($14.99) — specifically the Honest Special, which arrives loaded with cashews and raisins folded into a rich, spiced vegetable curry, served alongside two rounds of pav. Resembling a dinner roll, the soft, pillowy bread is as much a part of the dish as the bhaji itself — lightly toasted in Amul butter, the iconic Indian dairy brand, with a slight crisp on the outside that gives way immediately. Tear it, dip it, repeat.

The exterior of Honest Restaurant on Pioneer Boulevard.

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The savory depth of the curry builds with each bite, the raisins and cashews adding a sweetness and body that keep pulling you back in. What might read on a menu as simply "curry and bread" is anything but — a full meal and a journey through Mumbai street food culture, by way of Gujarat, all for under $15.

Nilly’s Burger 

The single burger and chili cheese fries at Nilly's Neighborhood Burger Shop — a Filipino-owned spot on Pioneer Boulevard doing classic L.A. diner food near the heart of Little India.

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Nilly's Neighborhood Burger Shop opened in 2020 as a Filipino-owned burger pop-up doing classic American diner burgers — and it delivers. It’s located in a strip mall on Pioneer Boulevard that also houses a pho restaurant, a coffee shop and an Indian restaurant.

Ranil Zalameda lost his job during the pandemic and started doing what he called "backyard burger runs" in Norwalk, selling them on Instagram's close friends feature, a couple dozen at a time. With the help of his parents, he opened a brick-and-mortar location in January 2022 and expanded in October 2025.

Growing up in Cerritos/Artesia, Zalameda attended Gahr High School and would travel with his mom to Culver City, where she worked as a bookkeeper. On the way home, they would stop at classic L.A. restaurants like Johnny's Pastrami and Dinah's Chicken. When he opened Nilly's, he wanted to bring that same spirit back to his hometown.

Nilly's Neighborhood Burger Shop on Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia.

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Start with the single burger ($9) — a four-ounce patty ground in-house by his wife's uncle, not a smash burger but a thicker-style, onions pressed in on the plancha, house-made bread-and-butter pickles, yellow mustard, American cheese, Martin's potato roll. No spread, no ketchup — a quiet act of conviction in In-N-Out country.

Then come the chili cheese fries ($9 small, $15 large). Order the small — it's easily enough for two — and it arrives topped with freshly shredded cheddar, sour cream, raw onion, and pickles. The secret is in the chili itself: pickle juice cooked in, a technique that quietly traces back to Filipino and Mexican cooking traditions.

"I think it's OK to be Filipino, but own an American burger shop. I don't think there's anything wrong with that," Zalameda said.

A new version of the American dream, in the town he grew up in, supported by his family, one burger at a time.

Gangnam Kimbob

The House Special at Gangnam Kimbob — marinated bulgogi beef, fried shrimp tempura, egg, and pickled vegetables, rolled tight and sliced into ten pieces.

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On Norwalk near South St. sits Gangnam Kimbob — a Korean kimbob counter that has quietly built one of the strongest reputations on the corridor. The name is a nod to the affluent Seoul district made globally famous by PSY's 2012 megahit — a wink of second-gen Korean American cultural confidence tucked into a strip mall in Artesia.

Kimbap, or kimbob as they spell it here, translates literally to "seaweed rice" — seasoned rice and various fillings wrapped in dried nori and sliced into bite-sized rounds. Unlike sushi, the rice is seasoned with sesame oil rather than vinegar, and the fillings are cooked, not raw. In Korean food culture, it’s what Korean moms make for school field trips and travel days, a labor of love that carries real emotional weight. That's exactly what Gangnam is tapping into with their tagline: "Fresh ingredients, homemade with love, just like Mom makes it."

Gangnam Kimbob on South St., just off Pioneer Boulevard, and worth the detour.

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The Korean community has been part of the Artesia/Cerritos corridor since the post-1965 immigration wave — drawn here, like so many others, by affordable housing, good schools and freeway access. They stayed because it became home.

The House Special ($12.99) comes with 10 pieces — marinated bulgogi beef, fried shrimp tempura, egg, and a mix of cooked and pickled vegetables — served at room temperature, the way kimbap is meant to be eaten. Each piece is its own small, complete thing: savory, slightly sweet, texturally satisfying. It's a full meal that tastes like a snack.

Kiko's Rotisserie Chicken 

A half chicken from Kiko's Lechon Manok — dark, lacquered skin from the rotisserie, pulled and ready to eat at the orange patio tables out front.

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Just over on the western edge of the corridor, on the corner of Norwalk Boulevard and South Street, sits a towering A-frame building known as Kiko's. On Google, they go by Kiko's Rotisserie Chicken, but their Instagram tells a different story: Kiko's Lechon Manok — lechon means "roasted," manok means "chicken" in Filipino. Same bird, two names, one for the search bar and one for the community.

Whatever you call it, at $13.95, it's one of the best deals around.

Parking is tight, and you order through a window — no frills, no fuss. That's exactly the point. Beyond the chicken, the menu runs deep into Filipino home cooking — dinuguan, kalderetang kambing, chicharrón, leche flan, cassava cake.

Kiko's Lechon Manok — order through the window, eat at the patio tables outside.

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After a quick five minutes, your order arrives — advertised as a half chicken, but by the amount you're presented with, you'd swear it was a whole. Large pieces fill a full-sized Styrofoam container, the skin dark brown and lacquered crispy from the rotisserie. Pick it up piece by piece and dip into their signature lechon manok sauce — a traditional Filipino sauce made from chicken liver, vinegar, brown sugar, and garlic, thinner than gravy but with a deep, savory punch that cuts right through the richness of the skin. A few bites in and you'll be strategizing about how to get the rest home.