Yusra Farzan
covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
Published December 22, 2023 5:00 AM
Saumya Dharmasiriwardena's Christmas cake packaged to share with family, friends and Sri Lankans in other states.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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Topline:
The baking of a Christmas cake kicks off the holiday season in Sri Lanka, a relic of when the teardrop shaped island nation to the south of India was colonized by the British. Sri Lankans living in Southern California are holding on to this tradition — including how they make it.
What’s in the cake: The islanders took this quintessential British treat and made it their own, using locally sourced ingredients like candied chayote (a type of squash) or chow chow, candied ginger, candied lime peel and the candied version of Sri Lankan pumpkin, a green large vegetable with white flesh. And with everything Sri Lankan, added spices are a necessity. The cake features cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
A cake for all faiths: Only 7% of the country’s population is Christian, and despite a civil war from 1983 to 2009 fought on ethnic lines, the people in the country tend to be tolerant of other religions. And the Christmas cake is a treat enjoyed by all the faith groups in the country.
“Christmas in Sri Lanka isn’t just for Christians or Catholics, everyone shared that time,” said Saumya Dharmasiriwardena, a Sri Lankan living in Canoga Park, who makes the cake every year.
When I walk into Saumya Dharmasiriwardena’s home in Canoga Park, I am immediately transported to balmy December evenings at the Galle Face Hotel in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, the sweet smell of sugared fruits intermingled with the heady aromas of cardamom and cloves hanging in the air.
Chefs use wooden paddles to stir dried fruits and nuts, while hotel staff pour in copious amounts of brandy. This is Christmas as we know it in Sri Lanka.
Candied chow chow, candied pumpkin, candied ginger, maraschino cherries, dried fruit and nuts left to stew in brandy.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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“You would've got the Christmas cake smell,” Dharmasiriwardena tells me. The baking of a Christmas cake kicks off the holiday season in Sri Lanka, a relic of the time when the teardrop-shaped island nation to the south of India was colonized by the British.
When they ruled Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was known at the time, they brought with them a Christmas tradition of making fruit cake, packed with candied orange peel, glace cherries and sultanas.
The islanders then took this treat and made it their own, using locally sourced ingredients like candied chayote (a type of squash known as chow chow), candied ginger and candied peel from lime and green oranges.
Behold the cake
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Courtesy Saumya Dharmsiriwardena
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Saumya Dharmasiriwardena mixes the crumbed cake mixture.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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The candied version of Sri Lankan pumpkin — a large green vegetable with white flesh — also gets added to the cake mix, along with cashews and maraschino cherries. And with everything Sri Lankan, added spices are a necessity, including cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, along with vanilla, rose and almond essences.
She gets all her spices directly from Sri Lanka — “the best,” she declared emphatically, because what she can buy here in L.A. is “nothing like what you get there.”
Dharmasiriwardena began making the Christmas cake in Sri Lanka in 1984, and when she moved to California 13 years ago, she brought this little piece of home with her. Since then, she has purchased the cashews, maraschino cherries, raisins and sultanas stateside, but for other ingredients she still relies on trips back to Sri Lanka to stock up.
The spices and essences Saumya brings from Sri Lanka.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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For the candied ingredients, she specifically travels to Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Pettah to shop from Latheefia Stores — a small store that has been around since the 1960s with a red and white sign — because their versions are not heavy in sugar syrup. She says she sometimes brings back “about 27-30 kilos — just cake ingredients only.”
That’s 50 pounds.
The candied ginger, candied peel, candied chow chow and candied pumpkin that Saumya Dharmasiriwardena brings from Sri Lanka.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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Sri-lankan Anne Renuka Perera, who lives in Santa Clarita, is also a fan of Latheefia stores. She enlisted the help of her son this year to bring her the ingredients.
“Last time when he came with his wife … he was allowed to bring four suitcases,” Perera said. “I asked him, 'Can you give me one suitcase?’ And the whole suitcase was full of my stuff.”
Religious acceptance
Only 7% of the country’s population is Christian, and despite a civil war from 1983 to 2009 fought on ethnic lines, the people in the country tend to be tolerant of other religions. A Pew research study, earlier this year, found that 62% of Sri Lankans believed that religious, ethnic and cultural diversity made their country a better place to live. Only 6% said it made it a worse place to live.
“Christmas in Sri Lanka isn’t just for Christians or Catholics, everyone shared that time,” said Dharmasiriwardena.
As a kid, she dragged a makeshift fern plant into her home and decorated it with toys and balloons to bring that festive spirit into her home. Now, at her home in Canoga Park, a statue of Lord Buddha hangs on her wall and in a corner, fairy lights twinkle on a Christmas tree.
Saumya Dharmasiriwardena sits beside the Christmas tree in her home.
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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena
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That kind of cultural mixing is common. Yasodhara Sonali Tucker, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1981, said when she was growing up in Sri Lanka and even now, visiting, she observes how everyone goes out during the Buddhist holiday of Vesak to see colorful lantern decorations and get free food from dansals (food stands). When the Hindu festival of Vel comes around, people line the street to observe the Vel cart, an intricately carved wooden structure decorated with fresh flower garlands. And come the Muslim festivals of Eid, the “big food holidays,” her friends would bring biryaniand a jaggery custard pudding, wattalapam.
“Everyone had very good friends that they moved around with from all faiths,” Tucker said. “We were beneficiaries of all of these culinary experiences and were able to partake of any festival that was on the calendar at that time.”
Holding on to traditions
Perera, who has been making the Christmas cake for 40 years, still continues to make it because the Sri Lankan community in Southern California wants it, she said.
She uses a hand mixer to mix the candied fruit, vegetables and essences which have been left to soak in brandy with eggs, semolina and butter before baking the cake.
Once the cake is baked, it is broken into crumbs by hand. Perera mixes jam in but Dharmasiriwardena does not, instead keeping the crumbed mixture in an airtight container, mixing it with a wooden spoon daily.
It looked like physically taxing work from what I saw, but Dharmasiriwardena does not think so.
“I feel that whatever you do with love, it doesn't affect much,” she said. “But if you do something that you don't like, yes, of course, then you're stressed and you get upset with everyone.”
The crumbed mixture gets shaped into rectangles and then packaged with festive paper.
Anne Renuka Perera packs her Christmas cake into individual portions and chose a festive green and red paper.
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Courtesy Anne Renuka Perera
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The cake then takes a place of pride on the breakfast table on Christmas morning. Since it's so decadent, most people savor a 2-inch piece. Then they do it again at lunch time and then dinner time. And fine, some of us have it at teatime too, with a cup of Sri Lankan ginger tea.
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
/
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 U.S.-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 for 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 U.S.-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 for today and tomorrow.
Here are photos from Saturday.
Westwood
Hundreds rally seeking regime change in Iran in Westwood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. The rally was organized after word spread that the U.S. and Israel had bombed Iran overnight, Pacific 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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Hundreds rally waving the historical Iranian Lion and Sun and American flags in Westwood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times
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Hundreds rally in Westwood seeking regime change in Iran.
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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 Westwood on Saturday.
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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 on Feb. 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.
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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.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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Protesters hold placards reading "no new US war in the Middle East" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall.
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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.
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 a 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, about the size of a refrigerator, with slotted vents. 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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Mero spins two combination locks and pulls open the door.
A hidden theater
Inside, instead of a tangle of cables and cords, red crushed 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 and grandest 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 on the 800 block of Traction Avenue, 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.
“The Arts District is still alive,” he proclaims.
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 guerrilla 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 on Rose Street, 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 thanked 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. Its predecessor, the supersize mailbox, stayed up for five years, only toppled, she heard, after skateboarders accidentally ran into it.
In the meantime, the small theater sits unassumingly 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
)
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.
