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This Saturday will be the 20th year of this annual festival designed to give a taste of the local Crenshaw community, with hundreds of vendors and a line up of funk and gospel performers.
What's on the menu: Everything from slow smoked brisket and gourmet chicken wings to a lemonade stand with more than 100 flavors.
What's the music? Two stages will offer funk and gospel, with legendary names like Cameo and Rose Royce.
Taste of Soul , the largest, free one-day street and food festival in the state is happening this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It's also the festival's 20th anniversary.
Located on Crenshaw Boulevard between Obama and Stocker, the festival showcases soul food culture and gives visitors a “taste” of the local Crenshaw community. It’s a big block party, a family festival where you can score soul food and catch a free concert or two to wash it all down with.
Stomach already grumbling with anticipation at the thought of all that glorious food? We hear you. Check out this year’s finest festival offerings below.
Founded by Danny J. Bakewell Sr., entrepreneur and executive editor of L.A. Sentinel, Taste of Soul was originally created to “uplift the community, provide economic opportunity, and offer a platform for Black-owned businesses and creatives through music, art and food.”
More than 300 different vendors are slated to be a part of this year’s festival, with celebrities like Tiffany Haddish and Karen Clark Sheard, the youngest member of gospel group the Clark Sisters, expected to make an appearance.
This year’s festival includes food vendors like:
The Bakewell Media Stage is bringing the funk this year, with performers including Cameo, Rose Royce, the Mary Jane Girls, MAJOR, Biscuits & Gravy, Faleisha and spoken word artist and educator Torrence Brannon Reese.
Over at the Brenda Marsh-Mitchell Gospel Stage, you can expect gospel and sacred music. Performers include DJ Count, the California Worship Center, Roman Collins, Kesha Ealy, Di’Antay Smith, the L.A. Inner City Mass Choir, Yolanda Harris-Dancy, Derrell & Terrell Brittenum, the Zion Messengers, John Bernard & the ND Choir, Traxx, Geneen White and Jason McGee & The Choir.
Ready to get going? Get access to this year’s lineup, other handy info and more at the Taste of Soul’s website here .
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Over the decades, L.A. has become known for its wildly fun stock of iconic billboards. Angelenos called into LAist 89.3’s AirTalk recently to talk about their most memorable ones.
Oldie but a goodie: One among the favorites hails back from the ‘60s, when the Beatles graced the Sunset Strip. Robert Landau, author of Rock ‘N’ Roll Billboards on the Sunset Strip, said this era was like a drive-through art gallery.
Zero context: Sometimes, you don’t need a lot of words to get your message across. That was the case with another caller favorite: Angelyne’s dozens of bright pink billboards, which only have a picture of herself and her name. Tommy Wiseau’s billboard to promote The Room also loomed above L.A. for years with little explanation.
Read on… to see what the billboards looked like.
Los Angeles billboard culture is memorable, to say the least.
Our attorney billboards have inspired Hollywood . Creative STD prevention ads have reminded people about safety in weirdly direct ways. Even upside down “ Call Jacob ” and “ hate vegans ” billboards have left a confusing impression.
In a world of drab advertisements, every so often the cream of the crop rises to the top. LAist 89.3’s AirTalk unpacked some of those iconic memories recently. Here’s what listeners shared.
Robert Landau, photographer and author of Rock ‘N’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip , has spent years documenting these scenes. He says you have to be clever to plant a seed in drivers’ minds in only a few seconds.
“ We’re such a car-oriented culture that we take this advertising form of billboards and maybe raise it to an art form,” he told host Austin Cross.
One that he remembers vividly is the Beatles’ Abbey Road billboard in 1969.
He said this period was about rock ‘n’ roll music. The bands he listened to were depicted on what he called artistic, almost non-commercial billboards on the Sunset Strip.
“[It created] almost a drive through gallery at that time,” he said.
Sam, a listener from Atwater Village, called to share one billboard that lives rent free in his mind.
“ If you traveled in Hollywood on Highland, anytime in the early two thousands,” he said, “you saw the billboard for the Tommy Wiseau movie The Room.”
The billboard was up for years and had little information about what it was actually about. A black-and-white Wiseau stared down passersby next to directions to call a number on the billboard to “RSVP.” (To the movie? A meeting? Who knew.)
It became a sort of local mystery while the movie reached cult-like status .
Another one L.A. won’t soon forget is model Angelyne’s plethora of billboards that have dotted the skyline for decades. Yes, decades .
Michael in Studio City said he’s always found the billboard queen entertaining. They’re known for being bright pink and showing Angelyne, usually in a suggestive or sultry pose, alongside just her name.
“I was confused about what necessarily she was going for other than notoriety,” he said.
We could go on forever about L.A.’s hodgepodge of excellent billboards. What’s one that sticks out to you? Send your thoughts to chernandez@laist.com and we may follow up.
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Residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles are invited to join Metro’s community working group to provide input on a series of projects aimed at decreasing pollution and improving streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
Why now: The effort is part of the Long Beach-East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan, a $4 billion initiative that includes more than 200 projects and 15 programs that prioritize transit, walking, biking, safety and cleaner air. It spans 18 cities and three unincorporated communities from Long Beach to East LA along the I-710 corridor.
Who can join: The working group will be made up of 30 people who will represent their community by serving a two-year term. Working group members may be eligible for compensation at a rate of $150 per meeting, earning up to $4,300 per Metro fiscal year, according to Metro.
This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Tuesday.
Residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles are invited to join Metro’s community working group to provide input on a series of projects aimed at decreasing pollution and improving streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
The effort is part of the Long Beach-East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan, a $4 billion initiative that includes more than 200 projects and 15 programs that prioritize transit, walking, biking, safety and cleaner air.
It spans 18 cities and three unincorporated communities from Long Beach to East LA along the I-710 corridor. The plan includes an initial $743 million from the previously canceled I-710 freeway expansion project.
The working group will be made up of 30 people who will represent their community by serving a two-year term. Working group members may be eligible for compensation at a rate of $150 per meeting, earning up to $4,300 per Metro fiscal year, according to Metro .
“We want residents, community members, family members, students, mothers, fathers, grandmas that can come and represent their community … to help us set the priorities,” said Patrick Chandler, a Metro spokesperson.
Chandler said the hope is working group members then can inform their neighbors, “so they are aware of what their concerns are.”
“We know that especially for Boyle Heights, with the East LA interchange … we want to go in a direction that is equitable, that is community driven,” he added.
Applications are due Nov. 14 and can be completed online in Spanish or English . To request a paper application, you can email 710corridor@metro.net. Selected members will be notified in December.
Frequently asked questions about the project are available in
English
and
Spanish
. To learn more, visit:
metro.net/lb-ela-cp-hub.
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Mammoth Mountain postponed its opening day to Saturday in anticipation of a winter storm this week that could dump as much as a foot of fresh powder.
Background: Resort officials initially planned to welcome the 72nd winter season Friday but announced Tuesday that the season season is postponed .
How much snow is expected? The peaks in the Eastern Sierra and Mono are likely to see at least a foot of snow above the 9,000-foot level. “There's a pretty decent shot at Mammoth seeing upwards of maybe a foot of snowfall between probably early Thursday morning into Thursday night,” Tyler Salas, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told LAist.
Where can you get tickets? Mount Baldy , Big Bear Mountain and Mountain High are expected to announce their winter season dates in the coming weeks. The resorts already are offering ski lift tickets.
Will SoCal see snow? No, we’ll mostly see heavy rain dropping between 1 to 2 inches across much of L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Some mountain communities could see as much as 4 inches of rain. Here’s a closer look at the upcoming storm .
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Long Beach leaders broke ground Monday on a $6 million project to give new life to an undeveloped acre in North Long Beach.
More details: The 51st Street Greenbelt Project will turn a stretch of land on De Forest Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets into a park featuring pedestrian and cycling paths, fitness equipment, play structures, native plants and green infrastructure.
Why it matters: The greenbelt, which is part of Long Beach’s infrastructure investment plan , is scheduled to be completed by fall 2026, the project manager said. In recent years, the city has expanded recreational space in the lower Los Angeles River region by dozens of acres. This project represents the latest effort to create more green space in the area.
Read on... how this greenbelt came to be.
Long Beach leaders broke ground Monday on a $6 million project to give new life to an undeveloped acre in North Long Beach.
The 51st Street Greenbelt Project will turn a stretch of land on De Forest Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets into a park featuring pedestrian and cycling paths, fitness equipment, play structures, native plants and green infrastructure.
The greenbelt, which is part of Long Beach’s infrastructure investment plan , is scheduled to be completed by fall 2026, the project manager said. In recent years, the city has expanded recreational space in the lower Los Angeles River region by dozens of acres. This project represents the latest effort to create more green space in the area.
During Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán, whose Congressional district includes North Long Beach, stepped up to the mic next to a large pile of dirt. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have a park nearby,” she said. “I had to get on a bus to go play Little League and baseball.”
Barragán’s commitment to broadening access to outdoor recreational space, especially for park-deficient neighborhoods in Long Beach, helped secure millions in federal funding for the project.
The city will combine those dollars with grants and city funds to build a park that addresses the community’s needs, identified through surveys and meetings, said Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, who represents the 8th City Council District.
Thrash-Ntuk said the park is intended to serve neighbors of all ages — especially children, as the lot sits near several schools. “Today, I’m pleased to say that one of the district residents that I brought with me is an avid user of local parks, and that’s my son,” she said.
The greenbelt aims to improve community physical, mental and environmental health, said Stephen Scott, acting director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine. The census tract where the park will be built is among the 5% most environmentally burdened and vulnerable areas in the state, according to CalEnviroScreen , a tool developed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
The Long Beach Climate Action Plan acknowledges that due to “long-standing discriminatory practices,” low-income communities and communities of color in Long Beach are more likely to live in heavily polluted, climate-vulnerable areas without access to parks.
Project manager Tina Cheng said the greenbelt will mitigate some of these issues with new and existing vegetation. The site already has mature, native trees — oaks and sycamores. “We’re lucky to have them, because they’re huge,” said Mina Roades, a landscape architect with design studio City Fabrick. “Otherwise, this would be a park with a bunch of little sticks.”
The site currently captures its own stormwater, Roades said; “We’re enhancing it with a bioswale,” a vegetated channel that treats and controls stormwater, she added.
Though ground officially broke Monday, “This work has been underway for a couple of years,” said Joshua Hickman, acting director of Public Works. His team has already completed work on the hardscape — the curb, gutter and sidewalk — to improve accessibility to the eventual park. Once the project is complete, the Public Works team will restore the pavement — and parking — adjacent to the greenbelt, an effort to create a space that “integrates seamlessly with all of the neighborhood,” Hickman said.
“I can’t say how proud I am as a North Long Beach resident to see this project move forward,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. He joined a line of city officials, who donned hard hats and tossed shovelfuls of dirt into the air.
