The Brief

Chef Johnny Lee stepped away from the food business for a short time after feeling burned out. With additional support from Last World Hospitality, Lee regained the energy to help build Rasarumah, a fusion restaurant influenced by Malaysian cuisine.

About the chef

Lee grew up watching Japan's version of Iron Chef, but didn't see it as an option.

That changed after he graduated from college during the 2008 as he found work at restaurants, falling in love with the fast pace and hands-on work.

He sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to explain what makes his Southeast Asian fusion cuisine stand out.

What inspired his menu?

Lee grew up in a Cantonese-Chinese family, having grown his knowledge of Southeast Asian cuisine through his work at Pearl River Deli, his Cantonese restaurant that's now closed.

One of the reasons he was interested in veering into Malaysian food?

"It's an extremely diverse group," Lee said.

The ideal Rasarumah experience

Lee recommends starting with a tiki drink and their pu pu platter, which gives you a little bit of everything.

Next, try one of their cold salads to lighten things up. And for the finale, the Rendang.

Restaurant details

• Chef-owner Johnny Lee was born in China, but grew up in Lincoln Heights.
• His collaborators at Last World Hospitality have helped build other L.A. restaurants like Queen’s Raw Bar & Grill and Hermon’s.
• Rasarumah recently introduced a whole menu of tiki drinks.
  

Menu items we tried

• Beef rendang (slow-braised wagyu, pickles, raita, lime and roti)
• Rojak (salad with pineapple, cucumber, green apple, watermelon radish, herbs, tamarind and crispy shallots)
• Pork Skewers (char siu pork jowl, sesame, chive and hot mustard)
  

What should we try next?

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Sara Mijares moved to Los Angeles from Yucatan, Mexico when she was 15 years old. She had left her home behind but not her culture.

Thousands of miles away from her hometown of Muna, she’s preserving the Maya culture she grew up with for the indigenous community in Los Angeles. 

Sunday will mark the 8th annual Mundo Maya Day at MacArthur Park. The celebration returns for the first time since the summer of 2024 after planners postponed the event for a year due to immigration enforcement concerns. Mundo Maya Day is being held in partnership with MAC·LA, formerly Levitt Pavilion, who are currently curating the summer concert series at MacArthur Park.

The event will celebrate Maya culture and indigeneity through a Maya ceremony, a game of Maya ball, food, and marimba. The event will also feature dances from Chiapas, Yucatan, and Guatemala. The event will go from 5 – 8 p.m. and will include a backpack giveaway. 

“MacArthur Park is the heart of the Maya immigrant community,” said Mijares. “When we come here, we don’t leave our culture behind. It comes with us.” 

The area has seen more activity this summer with World Cup watch parties and the summer concert series hosted by MAC LA, formerly known as Levitt Pavilion.

She remembers going to MacArthur Park as a child with her father and seeing groups of Maya Yucatecos from Yucatan. She remembers how beautiful and safe the park felt, the community environment that reminded her of home.

Mundo Maya Day organizers gather at the “Grieving Sun Mural” in MacArthur Park in an undated photo.

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Courtesy Mundo Maya Foundation

)

It was this feeling she wanted to bring back to the community when she had the idea for the Mundo Maya Day. Around 900 guests attended the first official celebration at MacArthur Park in 2018.

A census study conducted by the local indigenous woman-led nonprofit organization CIELO (Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo) showed roughly 24,000 residents of Mayan descent lived in Los Angeles. 

The CIELO Organization says, “The ‘Maya’ category aggregates all Mayan groups. However, this is an umbrella term that includes communities from Guatemala and Mexico that often have different and distinct languages, cultures, and traditions.” 

The regions of Pico Union, Koreatown, and Westlake consist of a highly diverse indigenous population ranging from Zapotec, K’iche’, Chinanteco, Mixe and many more groups according to CIELO. 

The celebration will also add a final-hour dedication to Yucatan and honor Armando Manzanero, a Mayan Grammy winner who died in 2020. 

Mijares admits there is always a concern with the risks of immigration enforcement, but is confident families will feel safe at this year’s event. The celebration will have security guards present throughout the event. 

During this time last summer, federal agents arrested over 4,000 people, according to a report by the Department of Economic Opportunity. By the end of 2025, that grew to over 14,000 people, who were mostly residents without a criminal record, according to researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley.

In June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded 43,138 arrests across the nation, the highest monthly total of the current administration. Immigration enforcement in Los Angeles has been much more subtle in its execution in comparison to last year but enforcement numbers continue to increase in the city.

Still, Mundo Maya organizers felt like they could not deprive their community of the event.

“At some point in life we need to decide if we let fear control us or not. So we have to take that step and say we’re here,” said Mijares. 

She hopes that for at least the three hours they can bring life, music, and healing to the community. She welcomes anyone interested in learning about Maya and indigenous cultures to show up.

“We want people to feel proud of who you are and where you come from. Feel proud of who we are here, the backbone of the country.”

Organizers recommend several ways to get to the event:

Via the train: The Metro B Line to the MacArthur Park / Westlake Station

Via the bus: Metro bus lines 18, 20, 51, 351, 603, 720

Parking: Athena Parking at 611 S. Carondelet St.

Attendees are welcome to bring their own picnics, blankets and lawn chairs.

What happened: Architectural Digest recently published their list of the prettiest towns in each state. Their pick for California?  Carmel-by-the-Sea.

But: Of course Carmel-by-the-Sea is gorgeous, but Hailey Branson-Potts of the L.A. Times thinks the publication got it wrong. She’s traveled all over California to report from small, quirky (and pretty) towns.

So: She joined us during an episode of AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show, and we asked listeners what California town they think is the prettiest.

Listen: To the AirTalk episode above, and maybe have a notepad handy to jot down your next California destination.

Teachers in Los Angeles are calling on community members to help students get safely to and from school. The request comes as the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign continues and as many campuses reopen.

For families in L.A. Unified, the new school year will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 12. Ahead of that date, educators this week held a news conference in front of the district’s headquarters in downtown L.A. where they announced two upcoming trainings: one for all school employees and another for community members at large.

“Our students are why we exist as educators. We owe them more than an education . . . We owe them a school where they feel safe to learn, to dream, to thrive — just like the children of those ICE agents, just like the children of those who are initiating these policies,” said Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, a member of United Teachers of Los Angeles and an English language development coordinator at the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in Westlake.

At the news conference, Cardona was joined by colleagues who form part of Unión del Barrio, a grassroots organization founded in San Diego. Armed with megaphones and walkie-talkies, volunteers patrol neighborhoods and warn community members about the presence of federal immigration agents.

Ron Gochez, a history teacher at Dr. Maya Angelou Community Senior High in South L.A., emphasized the context in which students must make their way to class. Last summer, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court order that barred federal agents from targeting people based on factors like perceived race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or “speaking English with an accent.” Critics say the majority effectively green lit racial profiling.

“This is not business as usual. The kids have suffered tremendously,” Gochez said, noting that some of his students’ family members and neighbors have been detained and deported.

“The way we keep students and parents safe, before school and after school, is by being on the streets,” added Ingrid Villeda, a teacher at 93rd Street Elementary in South L.A.

Villeda also urged Angelenos to continue documenting arrests with their phones.

“We need everyone out, and we need everyone ready to record,” she said.

Upcoming trainings  

• For the general public, there will be an in-person training at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, at the United Teachers Los Angeles building. Address: 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th floor, Los Angeles

• For people who work at schools — including teachers, administrators, bus drivers, campus aides, custodians and office staff — there will be an online training at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14. To participate, you must register online.

On Sept. 17, 2017, California Highway Patrol officer Nathaniel Partridge checked in his patrol car almost four hours before his shift ended and drove 35 miles home. That day, and on at least two other occasions, he was paid overtime for the hours he didn’t work.

Partridge wasn’t alone. Dozens of CHP officers at an East Los Angeles patrol division routinely did the same while working traffic enforcement details on highway construction sites. On paper, the practice had been forbidden for five years, but no one objected until a 2019 audit.

“I took the chance to go home and would fall on the consequence if I was called back,” Partridge told CHP investigators, according to court documents.

The result was the smallest patrol division in Southern California running up an overtime tab that was three times that of the region’s largest division, according to the internal audit. That finding led CHP to drop the hammer on the East LA station 2020, when it moved to dismiss dozens of officers, including Partridge.

This week, after Partridge’s case lingered for six years through state personnel hearings, a Justice Department investigation and trial court, a California appeals court found that a one-year suspension without pay was appropriate discipline, over the objections of the California Highway Patrol, which wanted him fired.

David Mastagni, Partridge’s lawyer, said the ruling “reflects fundamental fairness.”

“Accountability and second chances are not in conflict,” Mastagni said.

No one — not CHP administration, the personnel board, nor the officer himself — dispute what happened: Partridge was paid $288.98 for three hours and 45 minutes of overtime he didn’t work, which investigators alleged was part of a long-running grift at the East LA station to fabricate overtime hours.

Partridge and dozens of other officers were fired in 2020, according to the appeals court decision.

In February 2022, Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a total of 302 criminal counts against 54 officers, alleging they had collectively defrauded the public of more than $200,000.

Those charges didn’t last long. In December 2022, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge offered the officers a deal: Their charges would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors and then dismissed if they repaid the money.

Fifty-two officers took that deal, The Sacramento Bee reported at the time.

The Highway Patrol called Partridge's actions “inexcusable neglect of duty, dishonesty (and) misuse of state property” when the organization fired him. When Partridge appealed, the State Personnel Board said it was “self-enrichment at the expense of the public’s trust,” but handed down a one-year suspension instead.

Partridge’s bosses found that discipline insufficient, and the CHP asked a California district court judge to override the suspension and reinstate the firing, saying the personnel board abused its discretion in reducing the penalty. The judge denied that petition, siding with the personnel board.

According to his superiors quoted in court documents, Partridge was a good cop. His evaluations recommended him for promotion and his disciplinary record was clean. But the administration at the California Highway Patrol argued at the State Personnel Board and in court that his conduct compromised his integrity.

This week, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals agreed with the district court judge: The State Personnel Board didn’t overstep its bounds in handing down a one-year suspension.

“A reasonable decisionmaker could have dismissed Partridge, and a reasonable decisionmaker could have—and did—impose a one-year suspension without pay,” the court found.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.