The Brief

It’s getting cold outside. Sure, I can say that: I’ve spent almost all my life in sunny Los Angeles.

On a recent winter’s day, I stared down dismally at a sub-80-degree forecast on my weather app. I suddenly began to crave something. Something piping hot. Something delectable. Something that would lift me from the sorrow of a 4:30 p.m. sunset.

A cup of hot chocolate.

Anyone can “make” a microwaved, haphazard concoction of store-bought powder and warm milk. But there’s something extra festive about a real, delightful cup of chocolate goodness served in a ceramic mug. Extra points for a marshmallow.

So, where does one find the best hot chocolate in and around LA? Where does one even start?

With this list, of course.

A quick disclaimer: I am no expert here. Sure, I loved these hot chocolates — but there was no science to my process. It’d be irresponsible to claim these are the best of the best.

So, don’t come for me if your go-to cocoa didn’t make the list. Channel that energy to send me the address instead. I might even check it out and add it to this list.

With that out of the way, here’s my top picks:

Tierra Mia Coffee in Highland Park

The Chocolate Mexicano de Guadalajara at Tierra Mia is a light, simple choice for a sunny December afternoon.

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Ashley Rusch

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What to order: The Chocolate Mexicano De Guadalajara

Just a few blocks from Figueroa Street, wedged between Avenue 56 and Monte Vista Street, you’ll find a delightful little rectangular building accented with painted leaves and bold brown letters.

Tierra Mia is a perfect spot for a relaxing Sunday afternoon sip. Personally, I’m partial to the Highland Park location, but the beloved coffee retailer has over a dozen locations scattered across Southern California (including Echo Park, downtown LA, South Gate, and Lincoln Heights).

I ordered the classic Chocolate Mexicano de Guadalajara. Legend has it, they also have a mint and peppermint version, but I decided to keep it classic for the sake of this experiment. Let me tell you — I’m so glad I did, because now I have a reason to come back for more.

Tierra Mia’s hot chocolate was light and balanced, with notes of cinnamon lingering between sips. It was delightfully cozy without trying too hard. Compared to some of the more rich, overpowering cocoas I tried, I found it refreshingly simple and soft spoken.

Give it a try. If hot chocolate isn’t your cup of tea, there’s plenty of delicious coffee blends to enjoy instead.

Tierra Mia Coffee Company serves Latin-inspired coffees and beverages — and some amazing hot chocolates.

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Ashley Rusch

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Demitasse in Santa Monica

A cup of hot chocolate from Demitasse pairs nicely with a day of holiday shopping in Santa Monica.

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Ashley Rusch

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What to order: The Lavender Hot Chocolate

Maybe you’re wrapping up a long day at Santa Monica Pier, or doing some last minute gift shopping on Third Street Promenade (good luck with the parking).

Promise me one thing: you won’t leave without stopping by Demitasse.

I ventured to this little spot on a chilly Tuesday afternoon, tired from sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Slightly hangry and fully frazzled, the atmosphere inside Demitasse brought me a needed sense of calm, warmth, and familial comfort.

I settled on the lavender hot chocolate, fully equipped with a large marshmallow on top. The first sip was exquisite — rich and velvety, with light hints of lavender extract most prominent in the aftertaste. My favorite part, of course, was the slightly crispy, half-melted marshmallow, like a sponge filled with chocolate that melted in my mouth.

The cup was tiny, but it worked; too much more of this rich concoction would have been overpowering. I savored each sip alongside a slight December breeze, watching tourists dart from store to store a block away.

Don’t want to drive out to Santa Monica? Lucky for you, Demitasse sells lavender hot chocolate kits online.

Demitasse serves creative takes on espresso and coffee beverages, as well as other cozy drinks.

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Ashley Rusch

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Café Santo in Montebello

The delectable Oaxacan hot chocolate from Café Santo in downtown Montebello.

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Ashley Rusch

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What to order: The Oaxacan Hot Chocolate

This charming, Oaxacan-style café is perfect for a lovely, outdoor breakfast on a sunny morning. Café Santo honors regions such as Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guatemala, and Columbia, and roasts beans locally in Los Angeles. Order the Oaxacan Hot Chocolate for a truly delectable cup, brought to life with cinnamon and almond flavors.

While waiting for my chocolate, I took a peak behind the little shop to find a courtyard full of tables. Turns out, Café Santo belongs to BLVD Market, a community food court with mouthwatering options from LA Burrito Company to Los Taquero Mucho. It’s a perfect place to bring your friends with different palettes, or grab some good food to accompany your cocoa.

There’s also plenty of seating out front, inviting you to relax and enjoy the ambience of downtown Montebello.

Café Santo highlights Oaxacan flavors and culture through a variety of coffee and chocolate options.

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Ashley Rusch

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Playa Provisions in Playa del Rey

A cup of hot chocolate served by the beach at Playa Provisions in Playa Del Rey.

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Ashley Rusch

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What to order: The Hot Chocolate

A great hot chocolate takes you back. I have fond memories sipping it on a Morro Bay beach with my grandma after a morning of sailing, warming my frigid fingers and tiny nose against the cardboard cup. Since then, there’s always been something about beach hot chocolate that feels like home.

For that reason, I couldn’t wait to try the cozy blend at Playa Provisions, which is literally across the street from Playa Del Rey beach. Ocean air and beautiful scenery complimented a perfectly creamy hot chocolate. Of all the options I tried, I’d have to say this one had my favorite milk-to-chocolate ratio: not too frothy, but not too heavy either. I also felt energized after drinking it, rather than sluggish and sleepy.

Despite Playa Provisions’ fairly large menu, its approachable ambiance makes it perfect for a quick coffee or tea. The pleasant outdoor seating, combined with the overall energy of beach-going customers, created a truly wonderful Monday afternoon.

If you’re tempted to try it, just remember to pack your sunscreen. Like I said, the beach is right there.

Playa Provisions is a beachside spot for anything from a quick coffee to an extravagant brunch.

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Ashley Rusch

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Amara Café in Pasadena

Amara Café is known for its Venezuelan style dark chocolate blend, especially popular during the holidays.

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Ashley Rusch

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What to order: The Venezuelan Hot Chocolate

A brownie in a cup. That’s the best way to describe the decadent magnificence that is Amara Café’s signature Venezuelan hot chocolate.

This one snuck up on me. Despite the little café being two blocks from LAist’s offices on Raymond Avenue in Pasadena, I’d never stepped foot in Amara. When I finally did, an otherwise routine lunch break was transformed into a scrumptious, transformative experience that left me questioning everything I thought I knew about hot chocolate.

Imagine a gourmet chocolate cake melted down, mixed by hand, and delicately poured into a cup, layer by layer. I’d never had a hot chocolate so rich, so bold in its flavor — yet defiantly simple in its presentation. The consistency was so thick that I lost my lunch appetite, but that’s more a compliment than a complaint.

I just wish I could experience this one for the first time again. If that’s you, count yourself lucky.

A word of advice: Never neglect the hot chocolate right under your nose. The best you've had could be right down the street.

Amara Café serves Venezuelan breakfast and brunch, but don't miss the hot chocolate.

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Raul Malo, the leader of the country band The Mavericks and one of the most recognizable voices in roots music, died Monday night, according to a representative of the band. The guitarist and singer had been battling cancer.

He was hospitalized last week, forcing him to miss tribute shows staged in his honor at the Ryman Auditorium over the weekend. He was 60 years old.

"No one embodied life and love, joy and passion, family, friends, music and adventure the way our beloved Raul did," read a statement released by his family.

Malo's group, The Mavericks, mourned the loss of their leader in a social post.

"Anyone with the pleasure of being in Raul's orbit knew that he was a force of human nature, with an infectious energy," the statement read. "Over a career of more than three decades entertaining millions around the globe, his towering creative contributions and unrivaled, generational talent created the kind of multicultural American music reaching far beyond America itself."

Over a career that lasted four decades, The Mavericks lived up to the band's name, challenging expectations and following a roadmap crafted by Malo's expansive musical upbringing as the son of Cuban immigrants in Miami.

"I grew up in a very musical household. There was all kinds of music around always," he told WHYY's Fresh Air in 1995. "We listened to everything from Hank Williams to Celia Cruz to Sam Cooke to Bobby Darin. It didn't matter."

In 1992, Malo told NPR that his widespread influences weren't always understood or appreciated in his South Florida hometown, but he said that his struggle to fit in taught him to trust his instincts. Malo had become the guitarist and lead singer for The Mavericks in 1989, alongside co-founders Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin, and his roaring, sentimental voice defined the band's sound and remained its constant as the group's catalog moved from slow, tender ballads to full-throttle rock songs. In 1995, the band released its biggest hit with "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down," a swinging country song featuring an assist from Tex-Mex accordion legend Flaco Jimenez.

As the band grew in members and devoted listeners, The Mavericks continued to push the boundaries of American music, weaving a richly layered tapestry of textures and stories. With more than a dozen studio albums, The Mavericks collected praise and recognition from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association and the Recording Academy. Although they took a hiatus for several years, Malo never stopped making music — and returned to his bandmates with renewed inspiration.

Following its 30th anniversary, the group released its first full-length Spanish album in 2020, aptly titled En Español. The record reimagined Latin standards and folklore-tinged popular tunes; it also made an implicit political statement about Latin music's contributions to American culture.

"In our own little way, if we could get somebody that perhaps is on the fence on issues and hears us singing in Spanish and perhaps reminds them of the beautiful cultures that make up what this country is trying to be and what it should be, so be it," Malo told NPR at the time. "Yeah, I'm OK with that."

The following year, the Americana Music Association recognized The Mavericks with the Trailblazer Award. In 2024, the band released its last studio album, Moon & Stars. The release coincided with news of Malo's cancer diagnosis, which he discussed openly with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe.

Before being hospitalized last week, Malo had been scheduled to perform with The Mavericks at a pair of tribute concerts held this past weekend at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Over 30 artists, including Patty Griffin, Jim Lauderdale and Steve Earle, still gathered to pay tribute to Malo, with some of the proceeds of the night going to the cancer prevention organization Stand Up To Cancer.

According to his spokesperson, though Malo was too ill to attend, the concert was streamed to his hospital room Friday night.

Copyright 2025 NPR

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has mostly blocked efforts to investigate misconduct within its ranks, according to the county inspector general, who announced his retirement Tuesday after 12 years on the job.

In an open letter, Max Huntsman cited examples of how the county has thwarted his efforts to watchdog the department, which in the past has been plagued with accusations that deputies use excessive force and lie on the job.

Huntsman said one example is former Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s misuse of criminal enforcement powers to discredit critics, such as opening an investigation into former County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

Villanueva was sheriff from 2018 to 2022.

“My requests for investigation were rejected,” Huntsman’s letter reads. “Even after receiving an official subpoena, the Sheriff’s Department has failed to turn over records regarding the improper surveillance.”

He added: “Sometimes members of the public wonder if frightening new surveillance techniques will be used for improper purposes under the guise of criminal investigation. Sadly, the answer is yes.”

Before becoming inspector general in 2013, Huntsman, 60, was a deputy district attorney who specialized in public corruption. He told LAist on Tuesday that the inspector general job wasn’t something he wanted initially.

“I didn’t want to go work for politicians,” he said. “But the need to provide some kind of independent reporting and analysis was significant.”

The Sheriff’s Department issued a statement saying it valued the Office of the Inspector General and all county oversight bodies and that it wished Huntsman and his family well in his retirement.

The department said it “continues to make great strides in advancing the department in a transparent manner.”

LAist also reached out to the county CEO and county counsel for comment, but they declined.

After George Floyd

In the letter, Huntsman says the state of California has come a long way in strengthening the power of local law enforcement oversight bodies, in part because of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

After widespread protests — and lobbying by Huntsman — the state provided authority to inspectors general to enforce subpoenas requiring law enforcement agencies to hand over documents and authorized external investigation of police misconduct, including deputy gang conduct.

The Sheriff’s Department — backed by county lawyers — has resisted.

“Los Angeles County may not follow those laws, but it will not be able to avoid them forever,” Huntsman wrote. “The county refuses to require the photographing of suspected gang tattoos in secretive groups that the undersheriff has identified as violating state law.”

“Just a few weeks ago, we requested some information regarding an investigation, and a pair of commanders refused to give it to us,” Huntsman said in an interview with LAist.

Origin of the office 

The Inspector General’s Office was created by the county Board of Supervisors in 2013 in response to a scandal that included former Sheriff Lee Baca covering up the abuses of jail inmates.

Baca went to federal prison.

Since then, the office has issued dozens of reports with recommendations for improving living conditions inside jails that some have described as “filthy,” stopping abuses of juveniles inside juvenile halls and providing shower privacy for inmates as part of the requirements under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

“All of these abuses were reported by the Office of Inspector General and recommendations were ignored,” Huntsman wrote. Often, it took court orders to enact change.

“When we first blew the whistle on the torturous chaining of mentally ill prisoners to benches for 36 hours at a time, it was only a court order that ended the practice,” he wrote. “Time and time again, this pattern repeated itself.”

Huntsman wrote the county has permitted the Sheriff’s Department to block oversight and defunded the Office of Inspector General by removing a third of its staff.

“It's not surprising the county has driven out two successive chairs of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission,” he wrote.

“Government always claims to value transparency and accountability, but shooting the messenger is still the most common response to criticism,” Huntsman wrote.

Despite setbacks, Huntsman values work 

Huntsman told LAist on Tuesday that he was proud of his career as a public servant.

“I’ve really enjoyed the work and I’m sad to have it end,” he said.

It’s a sentiment he echoed in his letter, adding that despite the setbacks and roadblocks, he was proud of the people with whom he shared the office.

“It has been my honor to work with a talented, brave and tireless group of public servants to ensure that the public knows what its government is doing,” he wrote.

He noted the inspector general’s reports are fact-checked by the office and public.

“When government abuses occur, they are sometimes kept secret, but that is no longer the case for much of what is happening in Los Angeles County,” Huntsman wrote. “What you do about it is up to you.,”

Huntsman’s last day is Friday.

Topline:

The backstory: Last month, the council's Transportation Committee voted to bring a proposal forward to implement a policy change that allows the city to impound and immediately destroy abandoned or inoperable RVs worth less than $4,000. The change is inspired by new state law AB 630, which was created to prevent previously impounded RVs from ending back up on the street.

The motion, authored by Councilmember Traci Park, reports that abandoned RVs pose as public and safety hazards.

What's next: Councilmember Nithya Raman requested that an implementation plan be presented to the council's public safety and housing and homelessness committees.

Go deeper: L.A. pushes policy to make it easier to remove RVs from city streets.