Gillian Morán Pérez
is an associate producer for LAist’s early All Things Considered show.
Published August 3, 2023 3:45 PM
The Pacific Theatres in Chatsworth, which closed down during the pandemic and never reopened.
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Google Maps
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Topline:
Pacific Theaters in Chatsworth was the place to be for west side San Fernando Valley teens like me. And, I have to admit, I'm pretty sad that the shuttered theater is turning into a Tesla delivery service center.
The backstory: The theater had been around since 1998, and it was the place where my brother and I had our childhood, blossomed into our teen years and continued to visit during our early college years. Then came the pandemic.
What's next: Now, documents from Los Angeles City Planning Department show that there’s plans to turn this place, the pinnacle of my youth, into a new car delivery and service center. It’s not yet clear when construction will take place.
In a pre-pandemic world, the Pacific Theatres in Chatsworth was a magnet for west San Fernando Valley residents. It’s been around since 1998, and it was the place where my brother and I spent our childhood, blossomed into our teen years and continued to relish into our college years.
Even though this theater is located in the city of Chatsworth, we always called it the Winnetka theater, because of the street it was on. It was also easier to distinguish since just a mile away, the Northridge Fashion Center had their own Pacific Theatres tucked in a corner.
The hulking multiplex sat like a king in the center of the plaza, overseeing a kingdom of surrounding businesses.
To the right of the entrance, coffee shops, frozen yogurt shops, boba stores, and other novelties rotated in and out, competing with the buttery popcorn and ICEEs from the concession stand.
To the left of the theater's entrance, the sounds of bells heralding jackpots or cars zipping around race courses poured out from the vast arcade. Years later it was replaced with Orangetheory Fitness, replacing the arcade sounds with the sweaty wafts of gym goers.
Underneath the Pacific Theatres sign, rows of lights would guide you in. It resembled the set of the '80's sitcom Saved By The Bell — neon zig zags on maroon carpet and geometric shapes on the walls alongside movie posters.
Friday nights were for tweens, teens and young adults catching the latest movies. My brother and his crew watched all the Fast & Furious movies from 2006 to 2017. He and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opening weekend in 2011.
The inside of Pacific Theatres.
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Weekends were for families, followed by dinner at Stonefire Grill or Applebee’s. Our dad took my brother to watch two Pokemon movies there. I dragged my father to watch The Twilight Saga: Eclipse with me opening weekend.
Every night, however, was for first dates.
My brother joked that the amount of movies he “stole” by sneaking in double features probably led to its decline.
But that wasn’t really the case. The theater shut down during the pandemic, like everything else, and never re-opened. Instead, Pacific Theatres filed for bankruptcy a year into the pandemic and shut down all its locations, not just Winnetka.
What's next
Documents from the Los Angeles City Planning Department show that there are plans to turn this place, the pinnacle of my youth, into a new car delivery and service center. It’s not yet clear when construction will begin.
But, while it still stands, each time I drive by, memories come back — it's a Friday night, I'm 13-years-old and sitting in the car with my best friend, getting dropped off by my dad at Winnetka.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published March 1, 2026 7:39 AM
A man raises the historical Iranian Lion and Sun flag during a rally in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the US-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
Details: Local demonstrations protesting U.S. intervention took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties. In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned on today and tomorrow.
Read on to see photos from Saturday's demonstrations.
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the US-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
A coalition of organizations, including the National Iranian American Council, the ANSWER coalition and 50501, held protests nationwide in reaction.
Local demonstrations took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties.
In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned on today and tomorrow.
Here are photos from yesterday.
Westwood
Hundreds rally seeking regime change in Iran in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. The rally was organized after works spread that the US and Israel had bombed Iran over night, local time, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among others.
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Genaro Molina
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/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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Los Angeles, Calif., United States - February 28: Hundreds rally waving the historical Iranian Lion and Sun and American flags the in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. The rally was organized after works spread that the US and Israel had bombed Iran over night, local time.(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times
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Hundreds rally seeking regime change in Iran in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. The rally was organized after works spread that the US and Israel had bombed Iran over night, local time, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among others.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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A man walks under the colors if Iran while joining hundreds in a rally seeking regime change in Iran in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif.. on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. The rally was organized after works spread that the US and Israel had bombed Iran over night, local time, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among others.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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Downtown Los Angeles
A protester holds a poster reading "drop the files not the bombs" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on February 28, 2026.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A crowd gathered at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. on Feb. 28, 2026. (Photo by Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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A protester holds a portrait of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a flag of Iran during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on February 28, 2026.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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Protesters holds placards reading "no new US war in the Middle East" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on February 28, 2026.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A man holds a sign at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. on Feb. 28, 2026. (Photo by Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published March 1, 2026 6:08 AM
L.A. street artist S.C. Mero stands next to her latest installation in the Arts District, a utility box theater.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Topline:
Utility boxes are a popular canvas for public art, but an Los Angeles street artist has taken the idea further — transforming one into a miniature theater.
Why now: Since S.C. Mero installed the box theater just a few weeks ago, dozens of performers have already reached out and begun using the space, ranging from poets to musicians and clowns.
The backstory: Mero often transforms overlooked street fixtures into pieces about urban life. A previous installation at the same corner — an oversized mailbox symbolizing the elusiveness of homeownership — stood for about five years.
Walk through cities around the world and it's easy to spot the trend: utility boxes painted and transformed into public art to spiff up neighborhoods.
In downtown Los Angeles, street artist S.C. Mero has taken the idea of the utility box as art in a different direction with one she’s installed in the Arts District.
“Would you like me to open it up and you can see?” she asked on a recent morning.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary electrical cabinet — gray and about the size of a refrigerator. But instead of the usual fire-resistant metal, this one is made of wood with a faux concrete base.
The box theater incognito.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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She spins two combination locks and pulls open the door.
A hidden theater
Inside, instead of a tangle of cables and cords, crushed red velvet covers the walls from top to bottom.
A gilded clock and gold-framed pictures of two other electrical boxes (“possibly its mother, and its great-grandfather”) adorn the tiny interior, inspired by one of downtown’s oldest movie palaces, the Los Angeles Theatre.
“The first time I went into that theater, the feeling that I had, I wanted people to have a similar feeling when they opened this up,” she said.
Like the theater, the box is meant to bring audiences together. Mero invites performers to step inside and since its installation a few weeks ago, some 30 poets, magicians, puppeteers and clowns have reached out about using the space.
Many are female artists.
“Maybe it's because of the scale of it, they feel like they can actually have a chance to get inside,” Mero said.
A tradition of unexpected art
The box theater sits across the street from the historic American Hotel, an early hub for artists in the neighborhood.
Jesse Easter, the hotel’s night manager, has a front-row seat to the box theater performances.
“It was the seminal message of the Arts District is still alive,” he says.
Easter first arrived in the neighborhood in the 1980s, a blues and rock musician who also professionally installed art.
He said the Arts District has long been known for unconventional public art. Famously in 1982, artist Dustin Shuler pinned a Cessna airplane to the side of the American Hotel with a 20-foot-long nail.
“I was one of the people that was in the hotel that saw the room that the nail came down into, went through the brick wall, into the floor and stopped,” Easter recalls.
Easter says Mero’s installations boldly continue that tradition of guerilla street art in the neighborhood.
After graduating from USC in 2011, she started to make sculptural works with overlooked street fixtures, exploring issues such as addiction and homelessness.
Before the box theater, there was a giant mailbox.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Before the theater box, Mero installed an oversized mailbox at the same corner towering over passersby, symbolizing a housing market that remains out of reach for many Angelenos.
Elsewhere in the Arts District, she has installed a 13-foot-tall parking meter sculpture, commentary on the overwhelming nature of parking in the city.
Realizing a dream
The box theater is perhaps the piece that has invited the most participation.
Jesse Easter, a musician and night manager at the American Hotel, prepares to perform at the box theater.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Last week, Mero asked Easter and other local artists to perform there. He played a blues song he wrote more than 40 years ago when he first moved to the Arts District.
“It was sunset and I was thinking, this kind of is the bookend,” he said.
Other participants performed spoken word poetry and played saxophone.
One performer, Mike Cuevas, discovered the theater by accident.
An Uber driver, Cuevas was waiting for his next delivery order by the box theater as it was being prepped ahead of the night’s performance.
Mero recalls him getting out of his car to look at what she was doing.
“He's like, what's going on here? This looks so cool,” Mero said. “He said as he's driving throughout the city, in between his rides, he writes poetry.”
Cuevas, who goes by the pen name Octane 543(12), left to make a delivery in East L.A., but he said “something in his heart” told him to return that evening.
After watching others perform, he stepped up to the box and read his poetry in public for the first time, a piece about Latino pride.
Mike Cuevas, aka Mike Octane 543-12, publicly reads his poetry for the first time.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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“Another generation will pass through,” he recited. “And they'll understand why we honor with proud delight, the continuous fight for the history of our brothers and sisters.”
Cuevas didn’t know Mero by name or anything about her work, but thanks her for giving him a venue.
“I just felt something beautiful with her art,” Cuevas said. “It's time for me to start expressing myself. She inspired me to do exactly what she's doing but through poetry.”
He now plans to read again at an open mic in downtown L.A. next week.
An overture to look inside
Mero says the project has spoken to her personally, too. Growing up in Minnesota, she loved art as a child but later focused on playing lacrosse and hockey. At USC, she studied public relations.
“Once I started getting so into art, everyone was kind of shocked,” Mero said. “That's why I really want to encourage people to go inside themselves and see what's there, because you never know.”
Mero is hoping for a long run for the box theater. The mailbox installation before it stayed up for five years, only toppled, she heard, after skateboarders accidentally ran into it.
In the meantime, the small theater sits quietly on the sidewalk waiting for its next performer, its exterior starting to collect graffiti like any other utility box.
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A Super Blue Blood Moon hovers over Los Angeles in 2018.
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FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP
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Topline:
A total lunar eclipse is happening this Tuesday. That's when the earth will move directly between the sun and moon, casting a “blood” red color onto the moon.
What: It's going to be the first lunar eclipse of the year. The process is slated to start around midnight and last until dawn on Tuesday. It’s called the “Blood Moon” because of the red hue the earth’s atmosphere refracts onto the lunar surface as light from the sun passes through it.
When: Although the eclipse begins around midnight, it won’t reach totality until 3:04 a.m., at which point it will be visible to the naked eye for about an hour. All of Southern California should be able to see it.
How else can I watch: The Griffith Observatory will be hosting a live virtual broadcast of the celestial event from midnight to dawn.
What's next: This isn’t the only lunar eclipse happening this year, but it is the only “total eclipse,” according to NASA. Another one is set to occur in August, but it will only be partially visible in North America. A solar eclipse will occur Aug. 12.
An adult gray whale and its calf approach tourists.
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Courtesy José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez
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Topline:
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
What might you see? Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school-bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
Read on ... for tips on where and how to spot whales near you.
It’s whale watching season, which always makes me think of the novel Moby-Dick.
In the book, Captain Ahab chased a whale for vengeance. I recently chased whales off the coast of Los Angeles, but in my case, it was in pursuit of the beauty and majesty of the natural world.
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
According to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium program director Jim DiPompei, many whales can be seen right in our backyard.
“There’s a little over 90 species of cetaceans (marine mammals) in the world, and we see about 30% of the species we could possibly see here in Southern California,” DiPompei told The LA Local.
Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
But where should you go to actually get a good look at whales? Don’t worry — I got you. Here’s The LA Local guide to cruising the Blue Highway.
Top spots to watch whales from shore
Point Vicente Interpretive Center 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes Free, laid-back, on the mountains!
At the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, you’ll find an overlook dedicated to whale watching. While this is a great free spot for amateurs to come and look out for whales, this is no playground. Professionals conduct the annual whale census here, tracking the migration of whales.
This is a great place to bring a picnic basket and some binoculars to relax while scanning the ocean. Even if you don’t spot any whale action, you can visit the free natural history museum inside, which focuses on the region and its most famous inhabitants: whales. Afterward, step outside and chat with a museum docent accompanying the census watch.
If you want to see whales, stick to the coastal canyons. Canyons aren’t just massive structures above water — they are also mountains beneath the surface, offering depth, cold water and nutrients that attract food for whales. Gray whales tend to follow the canyons to stay away from the dangerous orcas.
Whale spotting 101
Whale watching season typically runs from December through May. It peaks from January to March.
When looking for a whale, try to spot their water mist blowing above the water. Gray whales typically surface for air every five minutes. When they do, they’ll blow out a water mist — that’s your chance to spot and track them until they surface again.
Get on a boat!
If you want to get eye-to-eye and really feel a cetacean’s scale, there are plenty of whale-watching cruises. They typically depart from Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point and almost anywhere with a port.
Many cruises have a naturalist on board to answer questions and provide expert context to ocean wildlife.
On my tour departing from Long Beach, we saw five gray whales and a swarm of common dolphins feeding.
But be warned: If you get seasick easily, this trip might not be for you. On our two-and-half-hour trip, the boat rocked emphatically as we approached feeding sites. It’s fun if you can imagine yourself on a see-saw, but it might not be that enjoyable if that sounds nauseating.
While boat captains are not allowed to approach the whales too closely due to environmental protections, the whales can approach the boat if they choose. Sometimes the whales seem curious and watch us in return — it’s up to them and how they are feeling.
Get involved
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro
If you really catch the whale-watching bug, you’re in luck.
At the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, they offer a whale-watching naturalist program where you can volunteer and train to be a naturalist on board whale-watching cruises.
DiPompei said they train anyone over the age of 18 “who’s interested in learning about whales and volunteering their time to be on these whale-watching boats to talk to the general public and to talk to students.”
This program was started in the 1970s by John Olge, one of the founders of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, with an emphasis on education and showing schoolchildren the beauty of our natural world.
The aquarium is also a great place to introduce whales to children. With kid-sized exhibits and educational programs throughout the year, it’s an ideal way to show young ones just how big and beautiful our oceans are.
