The Brief

I didn’t grow up with Turkey Day playing a significant role in my family gatherings. We usually visited a restaurant like Guelagetza or a Chinese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley.

Now, as an adult with my own family, Thanksgiving means more Friendsgiving celebrations, where folks within my social circle gather together to give thanks and break bread.

Of course, the idea of Friendsgiving isn’t new to the culture per se. Getting together with our social circles instead of our birth families has been widespread. I’d be remiss without mentioning the show Friends (RIP Matthew Perry), which helped popularize the idea of Friendsgiving and devoted nine episodes to the holiday over the entire series run.

Pop culture references aside, while I didn’t celebrate the traditional Thanksgiving, I feel I’ve excelled at making the celebration my own. I was instilled with a love of entertaining and an appreciation for a good dinner party, and as I attended a few “Friendsgiving” celebrations in recent years, I picked up a few tips on what works and what doesn’t.

The critical thing to remember is that the mood should always be fun and festive. Don’t worry so much about what’s on the table but about making your guests feel welcome. Creating the right vibe should always be the bottom line, and most importantly, enjoy yourself and try not to do it all by yourself.

Here's some more tips to make this your best (and most effortless) holiday with friends ever.

Prep early

1. Pick a date that works for you. No rule says you must have your Friendsgiving around Thanksgiving or even have it in November. Be flexible and set yourself free. Your friends will probably be grateful that you took the pressure off. 

2. Know your space. Think through the headcount before inviting guests. Be realistic about your area; don’t overdo it by inviting everyone you know.

3. Don’t have enough chairs? Consider renting tables and chairs if you have the space. Ideally, this order would be placed well ahead of time to beat the rush.

4. Google Sheets is your friend. Use Google Sheets to map everything out. The sooner you start this process, the better, so start now. Create a separate tab for friends to sign up for what dishes they want to bring and create a deadline. Also, have a separate space for friends to note if there are dietary restrictions.

You'll avoid the last-minute crowds when you shop early.

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5. Get as much of your shopping done early. Think about what can be purchased ahead of time. Consider ordering your groceries online for delivery or pick up, which most grocery stores do. It takes away from the sensory overload of shopping in the stores. Many stores, such as Trader Joe's, will also let you pre-order some of their bouquets ahead of time. 

Enlist help

6. Decide what the menu will be ahead of time. Coordinate with your party and decide in advance if the gathering will adhere to the traditional Thanksgiving menu or if folks can bring a non-traditional dish of their liking, which can also be fun. This prevents you from having seven desserts but no side dishes.

7. Everyone needs to bring something! From extra napkins to ice, which both always come in handy, or a side dish. Also, make sure everyone brings a beverage of their choice, alcoholic or non.

8. Stick to what you know. Ease the stress by sticking to dishes you’ve made before and you know your friends like. And when in doubt, go pre-made! Consider dishes that can be pre-ordered or pre-made (even the turkey). Plenty of restaurants and stores carry plenty of pre-made items.

9. Defrosting the bird: If you are doing a turkey, and it's frozen, give yourself plenty of time to defrost it. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends doing this in the fridge for food safety reasons, allowing one full day for every 4-5 pounds of bird.)

10. When serving food, pick a method that works best. Decide if you want to serve the meal family-style or buffet-style? Then stage your space accordingly.

11. Make a playlist. Curate the vibes by picking out a playlist that will run the duration of your evening. (This can also be done well in advance.) 

Day of prep

12. Get beverages chilling first thing in the morning. You want to make sure beverages are at the desired temperature for when guests arrive. Also, make sure you have room for the beverages that people will bring, whether that's another cooler with ice, or space on a table for red wine.

Set the table early. Even the day before.

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13. Prep your tablescape beforehand, possibly even the night before. Setting the table ahead of time means one less thing to worry about

14. Preheat the oven. Key for cooking turkey at the right temperature but also to pop in appetizers at a moment's notice. 

The final countdown: Before guests arrive

No need for heavy apps. But a few easy bites are nice.

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15. Prepare any appetizers. Set out those chips, dips, and crudite plates for people to snack on as they arrive. 

16. Pop some bottles. Open wine so there’s time to allow it to aerate.

17. Clear your space. Try to have your counter space accessible when guests bring their dishes, empty the dishwasher, and take out the trash.

When guests arrive...

18.  Hello, hello! Please do your best to introduce folks to everyone when they arrive. 

19. Assign guests a job. Share the workload by assigning tasks such as mixing drinks or helping with something in the kitchen. 

20. Start a game. Play a game with your guests to serve as an icebreaker. It can be a popular board game or something as simple as sharing a favorite Thanksgiving memory, anything to get people talking.

21. Background binge. Throw on a beloved Thanksgiving TV special in the background.

22. Don’t forget the kids. Have an area with some activities.

Serving dessert buffet style makes it easy on the host.

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The main event

23. Mix it up with assigned seats. I recently went to a dinner party, and the host assigned seats but didn't have couples sit next to each other, prompting some great conversation. 

24. The camera eats first. Take pictures of your food and guests; create memories.

Bonus:

25. Skip the hosting all together and head to a restaurant. Ha!

Nithya Raman turned the tide in the L.A. mayoral race by winning over large swathes of the city that voted for Karen Bass in 2022, according to an LAist analysis of election data.

Bass was a favorite in many areas that voted for Rick Caruso when she faced him in 2022. She held onto a majority of voters across South L.A., but lost much of her previous support.

The switchup came after Bass — a veteran in progressive politics — took a relatively-conservative approach on issues like policing and high-density housing developments compared to Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told its employees Friday to stop work, shut down their computers and stay off agency systems while it looked into “a potential security issue affecting our systems,” its chief executive confirmed to LAist.

That shutdown order was still in place Monday evening, according to a LAHSA official not authorized to speak on the record.

Gita O'Neill, the agency’s interim CEO, told LAist on Friday evening that the agency did not “yet have enough information to say definitively whether any sensitive or confidential personal information was accessed.”

She has not answered questions about whether or not services for unhoused people are disrupted.

Gita O’Neill, interim CEO of LAHSA, speaks ahead of the annual homeless count on Jan. 20, 2026.

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LAHSA holds highly sensitive information collected from people experiencing homelessness in the region. The agency oversees the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, which includes unhoused people’s names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and disabilities, as well as self-reported mental health and substance abuse history, income sources and domestic violence history.

In a statement Monday, LAHSA said it had taken its internal computer systems offline “as a precaution” and “engaged outside cybersecurity specialists to investigate the nature and scope of the incident.” The statement, sent on O'Neill's behalf by outside public relations strategist Trevor Daley, continued to call it “a potential cybersecurity incident.”

The agency is “taking steps to maintain essential operations,” the statement added, saying LAHSA “remains open” while the investigation continues. It said the agency is working with its technical and legal teams.

What staff were told

Friday’s email to "Team LAHSA" carried the subject line "URGENT: Log Off and Shut Down for the Week." LAist obtained a copy, and O'Neill confirmed by text message that she had sent it.

“As a precaution while we look into a potential security issue affecting our systems, we're asking all staff to stop work and take their machines offline for the remainder of today and through the weekend,” the email said.

It told employees to “Log off and shut down your LAHSA computer” and not to log back in or connect to LAHSA systems, including email, “until you receive an all-clear from us.”

The email also told staff to report anything “unusual” before shutting down, such as “files renaming on their own, unexpected pop-ups or messages.”

What LAHSA leadership has said

In a texted response to LAist on Friday evening, O'Neill said she asked staff to take their computers offline “out of an abundance of caution” while the agency’s IT team assessed the situation.

“Our IT team is actively reviewing the situation now and working to understand exactly what occurred and whether any information was affected,” she wrote. “Protecting people’s personal and confidential information is a top priority in that review.”

Leaders of three LAHSA-funded service providers told LAist on Monday afternoon that they had not received any communications from LAHSA about the potential cybersecurity issue. All three use the HMIS system that holds unhoused people’s personal details.

Previous attacks against another LA housing agency

Another L.A. housing agency was previously hit by cyberattacks. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — a separate agency known as HACLA — has said hackers got inside its network in 2022 and may have accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, financial accounts numbers and medical information.

Two years later, HACLA was breached again, according to an official notice, with hackers potentially accessing names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and phone numbers.

LAist reporter Aaron Schrank contributed reporting to this story.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.

The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors. The executive will oversee the county budget, which is currently roughly $50 billion, and labor relations with more than 100,000 employees.

Horvath was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was re-elected in June to another four-year term. She represents the county’s 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside and Central Los Angeles. She is a former mayor of West Hollywood.

The supervisor made her announcement Monday via social media and her campaign website. She called the race a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The backstory

Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by Supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.

Among other changes, the measure allowed the Board of Supervisors to expand from five to nine members by 2030 and established an independent Ethics Commission, which held its first meeting last month.

The pushback

On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.”

Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.

“Moving forward with an office that would fundamentally change how Los Angeles County is governed, without first resolving these questions, is putting the cart before the horse,” Barger said in her statement. “We need clarity.”

The primary election is scheduled for March 7, 2028.