The Brief

A few reasons for reading science fiction.

It makes you think.

“When sci-fi is done really, really well, it is profound,” says Octavia E. Butler Magnet librarian Natalie Daily. “The way that it makes you think about the future, the way it makes you think about humanity.”

The future is cool. 

Grayson Schnitger is a sixth grader at the Pasadena middle school and says his dad first recommended sci-fi.

“I like just reading stuff that could happen and, like, knowing possibilities in the future,” Grayson says.

It can make you a better human. 

Big Marvel franchises first hooked eighth grader Brooklyn Roffman.

“So I started to research what kind of genre The Avengers were,” Brooklyn says. “I saw, ‘Oh, science fiction? I bet I'll like this kind of stuff.’” And she did.

Brooklyn says she’s “a big catastrophizer,” but reading about dystopian and post-apocalypse futures isn’t depressing, it’s motivating.

“I just start thinking, ‘How did this happen and how can I prevent this from happening?’” Brooklyn says.

LAist recently reported a story about the Pasadena middle school Butler once attended — that now bears her name — and has these recommendations from the adults. And, more importantly, from students.

Kindred

By Octavia E. Butler; graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy

“I thought, wow, this is weird, but it's really good,” Brooklyn says.

Butler’s 1979 novel is the story of a contemporary California woman transported to the plantation where her ancestors were enslaved. The book was adapted into a graphic novel in 2018.

“I’m mixed,” Brooklyn says. Her background includes African American, Irish, and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. “A lot of people don't see that.”

“There's been a lot of like, feeling like I'm not Black enough, if that makes sense. Or like, I'm not enough of what I am,” Brooklyn says. “I don't fit into any of the boxes. And so in a lot of Octavia's works, it's quite often about characters who don't really fit into a box.”

Amulet

by Kazu Kibuishi

Sixth grader Naila Walker has read five parts of this nine-volume graphic novel series about a young girl, a magical amulet, and a world of robots and elves.

“It's kind of, like, mysterious and, like, magical,” Naila says. “They run around and do all these adventures, which I think is really fun.”

The Last Cuentista

by Donna Barba Higuera

Protagonist Petra Peña’s world is ending and the girl is among the few chosen to continue the human race.

“Not everybody gets to go,” Daily says. “That's a humanity question, right? How do we choose who we save, right? And those are questions that exist now in our country.”

The novel picked up some of the highest awards for children’s literature, including the John Newbery Medal.

The Maze Runner

by James Dashner

A disease has decimated the Earth and the teenagers of the future must navigate a treacherous artificial maze to survive.

“It's a combination of mystery and science fiction,” Grayson said of the series. “That's what makes it like one of my favorite books.”

Star Child

by Ibi Zoboi

This one is from me — Star Child is unlike any biography I’ve ever read.

Zoboi weaves together Butler’s words, artifacts, and original poetry into a “biographical constellation” of the author’s early life.

Among the pages I sticky-noted to revisit later is the poem “Imagination II,” which imagines Butler as a creator of worlds.

“her own universe of stars and planets and heroes / to free us all from this confined planetarium/ made up of other people’s imaginations.”

The STEAM Chasers

by Doresa Jennings

Nikki High, owner of Pasadena shop Octavia’s Bookshelf, recommends this three-book series about a group of friends who uncover the contributions of Black American inventors.

Where to pick up a copy

Octavia E. Butler championed public libraries throughout her life — the city’s libraries became her second home. Butler wrote her first novel from downtown Los Angeles’ Central Library. And your local library is where you can also find these books listed above — for free!

But if you're inclined to own a copy, here are some of our favorite places to shop for books:

• Children’s Book World — A longstanding and vast west L.A. outpost for children’s books. Location: 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.
• Gallery Nucleus— There’s an eclectic shelf of books and gifts for kids at this art gallery that often highlights pop culture and also carries prints from children’s illustrators. Location: 210 East Main St., Alhambra.
• LA Librería — Specializes in Spanish-language books for kids. Location: 4732 W. Washington Blvd., Mid-City.
• Malik Books — African American books and gifts, including for children. Location: 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Ste 245, Crenshaw and Westfield Culver City Mall, 6000 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City.
• MiJa Books — An online Lakewood-based bookseller focused on multicultural children’s books. Watch their website for appearances at school book fairs and pop-up events.
• Octavia’s Bookshelf — This Pasadena bookstore is named for one of the city’s most revered authors, Octavia Butler, and owner Nikki High contributed several recommendations to this list. Her bookstore carries titles mainly from authors of color. Location: 1365 North Hill Ave., Pasadena. 
• Once Upon A Time Bookstore — The nation's oldest continuously running children’s book purveyor. Location: 2207 Honolulu Ave., Montrose.
• The Salt Eaters Bookshop — Bookstore focused on works by and about Black women, girls and gender expansive people with has a small, but colorful children’s book section. Location: 302 E Queen St., Inglewood. 
• Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore — The shop focuses on Xicanx, Latinx, and Indigenous stories. The multi-use space also hosts arts workshops and other community gatherings. Location: 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar.

There’s no excuse not to head out to one of the city’s many excellent museums this weekend, as nearly 30 of them are free for all on Sunday. Some do require a reservation, so get clicking and plan your day here. If you’d rather be outside, the L.A. Bakery Walk is way overbooked, but who says you can’t plot your own epic doughnut walk across L.A.?

And get ready for summer — the Hollywood Bowl just announced its full season, which includes a special farewell to L.A. Phil Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Blue Note Jazz Fest lineup and much more.

A little sooner on the calendar (i.e., this weekend), Licorice Pizza has your listings, including a free Nikka Costa show in West Hollywood, Lady Gaga’s return to the Forum on Sunday, plus Lizzo settles in for her residency at the Blue Note. On Saturday, you can see Los Tigres del Norte at the Intuit Dome, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart at the Echoplex, Christopher Owens of Girls at Sid the Cat and Lights at the El Rey Theatre (she’s also playing Sunday). And the future is coming on, as Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon supergroup Gorillaz take over the Hollywood Palladium to play their much-anticipated ninth album, The Mountain, in its entirety on Sunday.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can read up on all the facts about the next L.A. mayoral race, learn how farmers’ markets are tackling food insecurity, and get tickets for FilmWeek’s March 7 Oscar preview.

Events

Scanner unwrapping

Friday, February 20, 10 a.m.
Bunny Museum 
2605 Lake Ave., Altadena
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

If you’re not familiar with Scanner, it's a very large (read: 14-feet-tall, 1,100-pound) bunny created by Chinese artist Jessie Zhao. And it's about to sit, appropriately, outside the Bunny Museum in Altadena. Monrovia’s Walter Zucco donated Scanner after last year’s wildfires burned the museum to the ground, and it's sure to bring joy to the community. You can say you were there at the beginning if you head to the unwrapping ceremony! Make sure to do the Bunny Bump!

LGBTQ+ Figure Skaters

Friday, February 20
Junior High Los Angeles 
603 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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While Heated Rivalry has put all eyes on ice hockey’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, figure skating has long been seen as a haven for out athletes. But that hasn’t exactly been the case. Reporters Ari Saperstein and Chris Schleicher — who's also a former USA national team skater — will talk about their work covering the hidden history of queerness in figure skating. Perfect timing if you’re watching the Olympics and keeping up with all the skating drama on and off the ice!

California Pen Show 

Thursday through Sunday, February 19-22
Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach 
3635 Fashion Way, Torrance
COST: FROM $20; MORE INFO

Fear not: The internet and computers have not taken away the mighty pen! The California Pen Show is happening this weekend, and it includes classes for folks new to fountain pens, intros to journaling, tutorials on advanced calligraphy techniques and more. Spill some ink.

Amores Perros with Alejandro Innaritu 

Sunday, February 22
LACMA / Academy Museum Theater
6067 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile 
COST: $10, SOLD OUT BUT ADDITIONAL TICKETS MAY BE RELEASED AT 9 A.M. DAY-OF; MORE INFO

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To celebrate the opening of LACMA’s exhibition SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the museum will host the Oscar-winning director for a screening of his directorial debut, Amores Perros, on its 25th anniversary in a new 4K restoration. Museum director Michael Govan will join for the Q&A.

Highly Favored: Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Black History Month Celebration

Saturday, February 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Celebrate Black History Month with this free, joy-filled dance party on the plaza at Hollywood’s LGBT Center. Centered on queer Black joy, the party honors Pose actress Hailie Sahar and filmmaker Elegance Bratton (Move Ya Body: The Birth of House).

LA Galaxy home opener

Sunday, February 22, 4 p.m. 
Dignity Health Sports Park
18400 Avalon Blvd., Carson
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

Joseph Paintsil dribbles the ball during a game between Chicago Fire FC and Los Angeles Galaxy.

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The World Cup is still a few months away, but the 2026 MLS season kicks off with the L.A. Galaxy’s home opener against NYCFC. The rivals will have a few familiar faces on either side, including L.A. Galaxy legend Todd Dunivant, who is now NYCFC’s Sporting Director, and NYCFC homegrown midfielder Justin Haak, who has joined the Galaxy.

Echoes of Gen X: The Art of The Fillmore (1980s–2000s)

Through April 11, opening night Saturday, February 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Gabba Gallery
235 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Be still, my Gen X, former SF-resident and regular-at-the-Fillmore heart. I have a small collection of these myself, but this sprawling show of band posters from the legendary Fillmore club is a trip down musical memory lane. Expect an excellent soundtrack at the opening event, or catch the show any time from now through April 11.

Venice Mardi Gras parade

Sunday, February 22
The Waterfront 
Venice Beach 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Laissez les bons temps rouler at the annual Venice Mardi Gras Parade! Don your weirdest, most colorful attire, grab some beads, then head to the boardwalk for gumbo, live music and a party atmosphere!

Common Grounds: Exploring Coffee Through Art & Flavor

Saturday, February 21, 10:30 a.m.
Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center
241 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim
COST: $28; MORE INFO

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Try new types of coffee paired with pastries, all curated by third-generation roaster Amy Tang. The Muzeo Museum is hosting this Lunar New Year–inspired coffee salon that celebrates creativity, renewal and community.

You probably already knew that Diane Warren — the creative mind behind hit songs like “If I Could Turn Back Time” (Cher) and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith) — is one of the most successful songwriters of all time.

She’s an inductee into the Songwriting Hall of Fame, an honorary Oscar recipient and a Grammy and Emmy winner. According to the 2025 documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless — for which she’s nominated for another best original song Oscar (with “Dear Me,” her nominations now total 17) — she’s written songs for more than 450 recording artists, and her music catalog is valued at over a half-billion dollars.

The illuminating documentary about Warren’s life, love of music and approach to songwriting also explores her lesser known love: animals — from her own pets (like her late cat Mouse and parrot Buttwings) to the animals that live at her private sanctuary (fittingly named Mousebutt Rescue Ranch) in Malibu.

Warren also is vegan, or as she puts it, “pretty much 99.9% vegan,” to account for the possibility of something like an egg ending up in a pasta dish without her knowledge.

When Warren spoke with LAist host Julia Paskin about her latest Oscar nomination (as her birds Chicken and Charlie occasionally chirped from the other room), she also shared her favorite vegan restaurants in L.A.

Follow Your Heart

This Canoga Park cafe and market dates back to 1970 and Warren, who grew up in nearby Van Nuys, counts it as one of her favorite vegan restaurants.

Au Lac

Au Lac, Warren says, “which is a vegan Vietnamese restaurant in downtown L.A., [...] is kind of my favorite. It’s the best.”

For those in Orange County, the restaurant’s original outpost is located in Fountain Valley.

Pura Vita

Warren’s go-to spot for “great Italian”? Pura Vita in West Hollywood.

Vinh Loi Tofu

Vinh Loi in Reseda, which specializes in Southeast Asian cuisine, Warren says is really good for takeout. They also have a location in Cerritos.

Crossroads Kitchen

Warren also recommends Crossroads Kitchen (“I was there last night”), but she sometimes regrets her choices when she goes: “I eat way too much fried stuff.”

Julie Goes Green

“If you like pizza,” Warren says, Julie Goes Green has “the best vegan pizza in the city.”

This piece is adapted from the first issue of Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course that unpacks the obstacles to housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better. Sign up for the whole series here.

Experts agree that L.A. County is in a housing shortage, including the state housing department, the state legislative analyst’s office, policy analysts and academics.

This shortage, they say, is the main driver of the exorbitant rents and housing prices across Southern California. But no single policy or elected official is to blame — today’s challenges are the result of decades of building too little housing to keep up with population growth. Here are some numbers to consider: over a 40-year period since the 1970s, California added only 325 new housing units for every 1,000 people added to our population. It’s a similar story for the country at large.

That’s why the state government set ambitious housing production goals for counties across California. The state housing department establishes new goals every eight years for how much new housing to produce. For the period from 2021 to 2029, California’s overall goal is 2.5 million new homes — more than double the target for the previous cycle.

Southern California needs to plan for 1.3 million new homes by 2029 to keep up with demand in our region and hit the state’s targets. All the cities within L.A. County are responsible for 812,000 in total, with 450,000 of those units coming from the city of L.A.

L.A. County is nowhere near meeting these numbers.

Together the 88 cities in L.A. County are supposed to add about 101,500 units per year to stay on track with their goals. In 2024, they built 28,453.

Why progress is so slow: We made it difficult to build 

In Southern California, we built our cities out, not up. There are a lot of historical reasons for why our region ended up spread out and decentralized. Jobs opportunities grew in different areas, instead of a single urban core, and during the housing booms of the late 19th century and early 20th century, there was room to sprawl. Suburbs and single-family homes were idealized and developed in large numbers. Discriminatory housing practices, such as racially restrictive covenants, furthered segregation. Car culture spawned freeways and parking lots. This all means that today, there’s not much empty land left to build on.

Another factor: local zoning rules. Because there isn’t a lot of empty land left, adding housing density is key — for example replacing a five-unit apartment building with a 20-unit one. But our rules restrict where we can densify housing.

Until recently in the city of L.A., for example, it wasn't even legal to build the housing required to reach state-mandated goals. When the city received its target of building 450,000 new homes, its regulations only allowed for about half of that to be built. The city had to change its rules about what housing can be built and where.

Building anything new takes a long time and is really expensive 

Even if city ordinances allowed us to build more housing, a labyrinth of red tape slows down the approval process, including getting departments to review the plans and waiting for utilities to get connected.

And when housing proposals get political, as they so often do, the process gets bogged down even more with public hearings, lawsuits, City Council discussions and so on.

There’s also the cost of building housing. Any one of myriad factors can make prices jump: supply chain disruptions, the scarcity of materials, labor shortages, inflation and more.

Plus, since most of the land in L.A. is already built on, to build something new you usually have to tear down existing structures first. That makes it — you guessed it! — more expensive.

These factors don’t just affect the rate at which we’re getting new housing, but also the kind of housing we end up getting.

We can’t get out of this crisis without building more housing 

Plenty of other factors exacerbate the crisis we’re seeing today: Corporations or foreign investors buying up housing. The proliferation of short-term rentals like Airbnb. Gaps in rent control or other tenant protections. Empty lots or buildings that aren’t utilized.

But housing experts agree: we still need to build. And even if building new housing can’t solve the crisis alone, we also can’t solve the crisis without it.

Those state housing production goals we mentioned? There are consequences if cities don’t make a meaningful effort to cooperate. They could lose access to affordable housing funds, get sued, and get fined as much as $600,000 a month. The state could also take over decisions about what buildings get approved, which means L.A. residents would have less influence on new housing in their communities.

The big questions: What kinds of housing and where? 

Surveys show that a majority of Angelenos support building new housing.

But where should it get built?

And what kind of housing should it be? Subsidized apartments for low-income residents? Permanent supportive housing for formerly unhoused people? High-rises? Duplexes? All of the above and everything in between? What should be preserved, and how do we alleviate our housing shortage without worsening gentrification?

These are the questions that underlie most local housing battles today — and the answers we choose will shape our neighborhoods for years to come.

Weighing in on L.A.’s housing future starts with figuring out what kind of housing you want to support and where you think it should go, then figuring out what stands in the way of that. For more information to help you do that, sign up for the Building Your Block newsletter course here.

Almeter Carroll sits alone on a couch inside the Watts Senior Citizen Community Center. It’s almost noon, but the place is nearly empty. Fitness mats and other workout gear lay stacked in a distant corner. No one shows up for a morning gym class except her.

She points across the room to a wall covered with photos of smiling, well-dressed Black men and women gathered at events throughout the years.“They’re all gone. Everyone on that wall. Passed away.”

A memorial wall honoring past members at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles.

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Almeter Carroll, 87, sits at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. “I like coming here, I like getting together with the group and playing cards,” Carroll said. “People come for fellowship. To talk.” She added, “The pandemic did a lot to this place and to my church.”

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It’s the same in her personal life. Widowed once, Almeter lost a second partner years later to COVID. For the most part, she likes being independent and taking care of herself. “Of course, I get lonely,” she says. “I miss my husband. I miss my boyfriend.”

She speaks of these things matter-of-factly, but still holds a positive outlook and carries a knowing smile. Quiet as it may be at the moment, the Watts center will begin to buzz with activity come lunchtime. Almeter will be surrounded by friends soon enough.

Shane Shabad, 90, sits at Palisades Park in Santa Monica. Shane has lived alone for over a decade and struggles with vision loss associated with macular degeneration. He became increasingly socially isolated during the pandemic.

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Older adults represent a significantly expanding portion of California’s population. By 2030, individuals over age 65 will begin to outnumber those under 18. But living longer also means people will see more loss, experience more grief and face more isolation.

Neighborhood senior centers may offer a good solution. They localize important resources and provide a safe, accessible space where older adults can go to find community and friendship.

“They're absolutely essential and critical and part of the backbone of older adult services in our state,” said California Department of Aging Director Susan DeMarois. “They’re integral to our communities.”

Beverlee Kelly, 70, spends time at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles. Ms. Kelly used to be active at a senior center near her home before the pandemic. She has not returned since the shutdown in 2020 due to health concerns as she is unvaccinated.

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Shane Shabad, 90, stands in his apartment in Santa Monica.

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Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the aging department drew up a 10-year master plan that lays out five “bold” goals essential for sustaining longevity — housing, health care, inclusion, caregiving and affordability.

Senior centers can address the inclusion component, although how, exactly, remains unclear.

No two senior centers are alike. Local demographics and economic factors shape each center’s unique dynamics. With hardly any state oversight, most are largely left to themselves to figure out their own best practices.

In fact, no one can even say how many are operating in the state.

Lewis Brown, 80, Director, sits in his office at the Tehachapi Senior Center.

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Tony Kotch, 86, sits at a table for lunch at the Tehachapi Senior Center. The Tehachapi Senior Center is volunteer-run and the older adults cover costs through donations. Older adults residing in rural areas are at an increased risk of social isolation.

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Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded an alarm in naming loneliness and social isolation a national epidemic in a 2023 report — equating the long term health effects with smoking 15 cigarettes a day. One in five older Californians like Almeter live alone, making it even more difficult for them to maintain social connections.

Going to the senior center may benefit a person’s mental and physical health, according to a 2025 study by researchers from California State University Northridge and Kaiser Permanente. They distributed surveys at 23 Los Angeles-area senior centers to gauge how attendance affected the wellbeing of participants.

People who attended frequently — several times a week — or over long periods of time had better mental health and felt less lonely. Frequent senior center attendance was associated with greater reduction in loneliness among users under age 75, while the positive relationship between senior center attendance and physical health was more evident among users over age 75. Based on those findings, the authors encouraged local officials and doctors “to promote” senior centers as a healthy resource.

Residents of an affordable senior housing complex in Santa Monica stand in a hallway in 2020.

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Hit hard by the social distancing impacts of COVID, community-based centers faced significant challenges when things began to return to normal. Older adults stayed away for some time out of caution.

But some returned to centers with a renewed focus on health and wellbeing. Rather than look for traditional recreation like bingo, post-COVID older adults wanted to see fitness classes and longevity training.

“As the population changes, as the opportunities change, as the needs change — senior centers evolve with that,” said Dianne Stone of the National Council on Aging. “At the core of it, senior centers are highly social places. It’s all about creating opportunities for social engagement.

“That might be just sitting around having a cup of coffee. It might be taking a class and finding people that are interested in the same things you’re interested in. But all of it is an opportunity to come in and meet people.”

Karaoke, tai chi and romance

Less than 20 miles from Watts, the Culver City Senior Center surges with energy and enthusiasm. Sunlight filters through large glass windows onto tables bustling with Mah Jong and other games. For $20 a year, participants get daily access to rooms filled with exercise classes, arts and crafts workshops and movie screenings.

Members gather early to hit the gym as soon as doors open at 9 a.m. Billiards players bring their own cues to shoot pool. Twice a week, packed-house karaoke sessions involve not just free-spirited singing, but also plenty of dancing.

On a sunny gorgeous day in mid-November, the karaoke team brought microphones and speakers out into the fresh air of Culver’s spacious central courtyard.

Selvee Provost bounced around and chatted knowingly with almost every person sitting under the verandas and shade umbrellas. As people took turns singing, she danced intermittently with different friends. Her simple social activity appeared to come naturally, but it was in the aftermath of loss and loneliness.

Selvee Provost, 67, bows during a Tai-Chi class at the Culver City Senior Center. Last: Cristina Guevara, 78, embraces Julia Sedana, 82, at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center.

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Cristina Guevara, 78, embraces Julia Sedana, 82, at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center.

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Selvee first came to the Culver center with her husband, Jim, in 2018. When COVID hit, things shut down. Then Jim died, and Selvee felt utterly alone. She could feel herself spiraling down in isolation.

“I knew if I sit at home and keep thinking about Jim, I’m gonna get more and more depressed,” she said. “That’s what motivated me to come here and try a class or something — just try anything.”

Tai chi became her pathway to community. “I didn’t know anybody, really. But by going to this class, I met people and learned they have a group about dealing with grief.”

That’s where she met Daniel Kerson. He’d lost his wife at almost the same time as Selvee lost Jim. “Both of us really needed to find companionship to survive,” she said. They moved in together right away and now come to the center throughout the week for classes, events and to socialize.

Louis Cangemi, a newcomer over the last few months, mingled with Selvee and made his own rounds amongst the outdoor karaoke singers and dancers. “I heard about this place and came to meet more people,” said the energetic 80-year-old. “I’m still a bachelor, so I hope to hit it off here with more women.”

But he might encounter a bit of competition. Other men like Jim Diego, 82, have been dancing and courting at Culver for years ahead of Cangemi.

A senior center shaped by its neighborhood

Coffee, tea and art — “Cafe, te y arte” — are the kind of social opportunities that begin each weekday at the Lincoln Heights Senior Citizen Center, all gratis for the mostly Spanish-speaking older adults who make themselves at home here. In one large community room, they share galletas and pasteles along with the free coffee.

As mid-morning hits, fitness classes like chair yoga and latin dance entice a dozen or so participants — predominantly women — to move, smile and laugh together beside the room’s raised performance stage. The men mostly sit and watch.

Chris Garcia, 78, dances with Eva De La Torre, 75, alongside other members of the Lincoln Heights Senior Center during a Halloween party in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles.

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Twice a week, la lotería keeps the tables full for a couple of hours. Holiday dances draw crowds of over a hundred and feature DJs and live musicians.

“It’s such a lovely community,” said the Lincoln Heights director and one-man staff, Anthony Montiel. “I’m really fortunate to be part of this.”

As director, he maintains the schedule of classes and fills in wherever necessary. People are asked to contribute a few dollars per class, if they can afford it. In his backroom office, he logs in and accounts for handfuls of dog-eared $1 bills.

A lone ping pong player looks for the director in the afternoons. If he’s not too busy with his other duties, he’ll take a break for a quick match. “We have practically a brand new table,” said Montiel. “It’s nice equipment, but the guy usually has no one to play with but me.”

Shared meals, shared space, shared community

Putting a finger on the pulse of how senior centers maintain relevance, adapt and thrive is no easy task. Each center relies on a mix of different funding and resources.

Besides the classes and activities, subsidized lunch programs at all these centers play a crucial role in helping older adults stay healthy. The nutritionally balanced meals provide free or low cost sustenance, but offering the food in a shared, congregate space might be equally just as vital.

“When people are able to go to a setting like a senior center to enjoy a meal in the company of others, possibly to have music and entertainment and activities, that can be really good for people's mental health,” said DeMarois of the Department of Aging. “That’s a big part of it — just trying to foster that connection and engagement on the preventive side.”

Members gather at different tables in the afternoon at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center in Los Angeles.

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Congregate setting meal programs accounted for over 2.3 million older adult meals in the City of Los Angeles and in L.A. County in 2024, according to California Department of Aging records. But this data is not specific to senior centers, as it also includes meals in senior care facilities and other older adult group spaces.

“When it comes to senior centers, there is not good data,” said Stone. “There is not that central database of senior centers or community-based organizations, and there's not even a shared definition of what they are.

“Senior centers are community responses to community aging. No two are the same because no two communities are the same.”

Speaking anecdotally from her own experience, Stone sees the bulk of most senior center populations as being between 75 and 85 years old. But that age range is evolving as older adult communities expand.

DeMarois sees the same dynamics taking shape. “When we talk about people 60-plus, we're experiencing the greatest longevity ever right now,” she said. “The fastest growing demographic in California is 85-plus. We're talking about four decades of life for many people from 60 to 100, so their needs and preferences will change over time.”

Back in Watts, Almeter’s not much interested in a free meal. “I eat my own food.” She sits around as other older adults filter into the center one by one. Many grab their subsidized lunch in styrofoam containers and soon walk right back out the door.

She waits patiently for her friends to arrive — women like Luretha Muckelroy, Maudell Robinson and Watts advisory board member Linda Cleveland. They gather here two or three times each week to play Spades or Bid Whist, card games that evoke plenty of smack talking and mirth.

“We need more men around here,” said Linda, as she notes the all-female crowd. Older adult males show up for some functions and events, but women seem to comprise most of the Watts center attendance.

For a few hours, the close-knit group makes the place come alive. Four players compete in two-person teams, while others keep tally. The losing team must vacate their seats.

They laugh, point fingers and chastise one another — all in good fun. The games can sometimes get heated. In between hands and shuffles, they share snacks and pour sodas.

When asked how she feels about aging alone, Almeter answers without hesitation. “Oh, I love being 87. It’s great to be alive.”

Joe Garcia is a California Local News fellow. Photography by Isadora Kosofsky.

This story was produced jointly by CalMatters and CatchLight as part of our mental health initiative.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.