The Brief

You may be already fantasizing about what you’re going to eat on Thanksgiving (and those tasty leftover sandwiches you’re going to make afterwards). One of the biggest stars, if we’re being honest, are the pies.

Apple, pecan, sweet potato and pumpkin — there’s something for everyone, right? Yup, unless you have specific dietary restrictions like celiac disease or gluten intolerance, or a health condition or a plant-based diet, in which case you’ll probably look at the pies longingly and say the well-rehearsed sequence of four words — “I can’t eat that.”

If you can’t eat traditional pies, or would like to make your Thanksgiving dinner more inclusive for all your guests, here’s where to find gluten-free and vegan pies this Thanksgiving. Please note some places are not 100% gluten-free, so if you have celiac try at your own discretion.

Sinners and Saints 

Gluten-free, vegan

Gluten-free vegan rustic pumpkin pie, Sinners and Saints.

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Erik Fischer Photography

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Courtesy of Sinners and Saints

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Sinners and Saints is a bakery in Venice that offers both traditional and gluten-free desserts, brought to you by the same people behind the gluten-free eatery, 401K Food and Wine. Their playful name captures that, with Sinners referring to decadent desserts and Saints referring to gluten-free delights.

Their Thanksgiving menu has an impressive array of gluten-free options and a handful of vegan options, including:

• Gluten-free pumpkin pie. 
• Gluten-free vegan rustic pumpkin pie.
• Gluten-free chocolate bourbon pecan pie.
• Gluten-free vegan old-fashioned apple pie.

If you’d like to try your hand at your own recipe, you can also purchase one of their gluten-free pie crusts and have a blank canvas to work with.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Monday, Nov. 20 by 3 p.m.

Erin McKenna’s Bakery LA

Gluten-free, vegan, kosher, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free 

Pumpkin pie, Erin McKenna's Bakery LA.

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Courtesy of Erin McKenna's Bakery LA

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Erin McKenna, the eponymous founder of Erin McKenna’s Bakery is what I’d call a pioneer and a trendsetter in the gluten-free and vegan dessert space. Starting all the way back in 2005, the first bakery opened in New York.

Earlier this year, I happened to stop by while on a trip to N.Y. and enjoyed an exquisite gluten-free donut. As someone with celiac, it’s always nice to find a fully gluten-free bakery so I don’t have to worry about the potential for cross-contamination (which I’ve definitely experienced).

The good news is you don’t have to travel to enjoy these gluten-free, vegan, kosher, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free sweets. In fact, the L.A. location on Larchmont has been around for a decade.

So if you have to eat differently due to allergies, an autoimmune disease, or a vegan diet this is the place to go. For Thanksgiving, the store is offering two classic pies:

• Pumpkin pie.
• Dutch apple pie. 

And if you need a side to go with that? You can pick up some biscuits too.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Monday, Nov. 20

Sweet Laurel 

Gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free

Tucked away in the Pacific Palisades on Sunset Boulevard is Sweet Laurel, a bakery that is a haven for people who eat differently. The store is lauded by celebrities and offers bakery items that are all gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, and dairy-free.

So if you have celiac disease or are diabetic or paleo, you can safely enjoy the treats at Sweet Laurel. There are also many vegan and keto options as well. Most impressive is the fact that many of the items have fewer than five ingredients.

Baker Laurel Gallucci started this journey after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and had to say goodbye to traditional cake. Determined to find an alternative, her experiments led to the creation of Sweet Laurel.

Now you can reap the benefits and get pies for Thanksgiving that are a great option for a range of conditions and preferences. You can get:

• Pecan pie.
• Apple crumb pie.
• Get both with a holiday pie bundle.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Tuesday, Nov. 21 (for pick-up).

Cake Monkey

Gluten-free by request, vegan 

Butterscotch Pudding Pie, Cake Monkey

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Courtesy of Cake Monkey

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Honey Braised Pumpkin Tart, Cake Monkey

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Courtesy of Cake Monkey

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Cake Monkey was started by entertainment industry veteran Lisa J. Olin who parlayed her producing skills to create this venture. As the name suggests, the bakery’s primary focus is cakes, but this Thanksgiving you can also take advantage of their pies.

The bakery offers traditional baked goods with gluten-free options available for some items. Since the bakery has both items, on their website there’s a note that says they’re not a celiac-safe gluten-free facility. So if you want or need to eat gluten-free but don’t have celiac disease, this could be a good option for you.

This Thanksgiving, the store is offering the gluten-free version (by request) of three pies and one vegan pie including:

• Honey braised pumpkin tart (GF version). 
• Butterscotch pudding pie (GF version). 
• Chocolate cake pudding pie (GF version).
• Vegan pumpkin caramel pie. 

Their main storefront is located in Mid City, but there is a North Hollywood location that is pick-up only.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Monday, Nov. 20 by noon.

Winston Pies

Gluten-free, vegan 

Southern pecan pie, Winston Pies.

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Courtesy of Winston Pies

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Founder Brianna Abrams is a former attorney turned baker who started Winston Pies, with a name that is an homage to her hometown of Winston-Salem, NC. Her passion for pies comes from a deep reverence for the women in her family, who for generations baked together. What started as a small home kitchen operation blew up, and now the bakery has four locations in Brentwood, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Marina Del Rey.

For Thanksgiving, Winston Pies has some classic options for those who are gluten-free, vegan, or both including:

• Mixed berry crumble (gluten-free and vegan). 
• Southern pecan pie (gluten-free). 
• Harvest apple pie (gluten-free and vegan versions available). 
• Fall pumpkin (gluten-free version available with 24-hour notice). 

You can also pick up a gluten-free, vegan version of the Harvest Apple with a Bake at Home pie at the Brentwood or Marina Del Rey location.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Friday, Nov. 17 by noon

Top Tier Treats 

Vegan

Pumpkin pie, Top Tier Treats.

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Courtesy of Top Tier Treats

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Jamaica Crist, the founder of Top Tier Treats, held a number of restaurant positions growing up before she eventually found her true love with desserts. She took baking classes in college and later met her future husband, James. They opened the bakery in 2005 and have continued to grow since. Now the couple works as a team, with James heading the business side and Jamaica as the baker and visionary behind the sweet treats.

Top Tier Treats has a range of Thanksgiving vegan pies available by request including:

• Pumpkin pie. 
• Pecan pie. 
• Apple pie.
• Mixed berry.

Those are the more traditional Thanksgiving options, but other vegan options include chocolate cream, coconut cream, banana cream, and peanut butter cream pies. You must place a special order to get the vegan option. Also, it’s important to note that there are no gluten-free or sugar-free options available.

Thanksgiving order deadline: Friday, Nov. 17 (though there will be some ready-to-go pies available a few days before the holiday)

The U.S. Department of Justice has attempted to use a number of tactics in recent weeks to remove California voters they say are likely noncitizens from state voter rolls — despite the voting process having already begun.

Election security experts told LAist, however, that the federal government’s case is unlikely to succeed, and that voters should proceed filling out their ballots as normal.

“I don't think most people in the L.A. area or beyond will actually encounter any of the disruption that the administration is trying to project,” Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt said.

The backstory

Last week, Department of Justice election officials sent a list of 20,000 California voters it says it has “high confidence” are not citizens. (L.A. County election officials said they received records on a thumb drive, which they could not open for security reasons.) Two days later, the Trump administration sued California for not complying with its request to use the list to remove any noncitizens from local voter rolls.

California on Tuesday filed an extensive response to the DOJ lawsuit, saying it “borders on the absurd.”

Separately this week, the DOJ announced it had filed charges against 28 people, accusing them of registering to vote as noncitizens.

What is the DOJ claiming?

DOJ representatives said Monday they are attempting to keep U.S. citizens’ votes from being canceled out by noncitizens.

“We have an election coming up next month,” Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney, said. “Our biggest priority is to safeguard the integrity of the election.”

Essayli suggested he may prosecute election officials who knowingly process ballots “once we’ve informed them who the non-citizens are” and indicated the DOJ is working on “many more cases.”

Regarding the list sent to state and local officials, DOJ officials also said they have “high confidence” — not complete certainty — that the people on the federal government’s list are noncitizens.

“There may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens,” Trent McCotter, acting deputy attorney general, said Monday. “We're not perfect, and that's why we've asked California to cooperate with us.”

In a court declaration filed today, L.A. County Assistant Registrar Monica Flores said the DOJ’s list is “unreliable.” Analyzing a sample of 200 records, she said a majority are not active voters, and nearly 40% of the records indicate the individual was born in the U.S.

The L.A. County registrar of voters said officials here did not comply with the request to use the federal list and began coordinating with state officials — a point DOJ officials stressed on Monday, with McCotter saying this is “an emergency of their own [California’s] creation.”

Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor who runs the school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, disagreed.

“The federal government didn't produce its list of voters or its methodology to California until just a few days ago, so this is not an emergency of California's own making,” Hasen said. “It is not the federal government's job to decide who is on voting rolls. That is a job that is given to states.”

A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment for this article beyond pointing to Essayli’s X social media feed.

What role will local election officials play?

In large part, Hasen and Levitt said officials will play the same role that they always have, even though more eyes will be on them. County election officials send out ballots, process and verify signatures, and reach out to voters if there are any outstanding issues. The registrar then has 13 days to report on ballots to the state, including provisional ballots and same-day registration ballots, and 30 days to finish counting them.

That said, Hasen said Essayli’s threat of possible criminal prosecution against election officials is “really dangerous” — even though he said these cases are also unlikely to succeed.

“We've got a threat of criminal prosecution against election administrators for not being aggressive enough in policing voting rolls to the Trump administration's liking,” Hasen said. “Even if they were negligent in how they policed their voting rolls, there's no criminal liability here.”

What should voters do?

Levitt, who previously worked on voting rights at the Justice Department, said he doesn’t think Trump’s DOJ is serious about the legal merits of their lawsuit against California.

“I can completely understand that people may be freaked out,” he said. “Part of what DOJ is doing is an attempt to freak people out.”

For their part, local officials have reassured voters that they should proceed to cast their ballots. In a statement, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn called the DOJ’s actions “voter intimidation and a blatant attempt to undermine trust in our midterm elections.”

Levitt recommended voting as early as possible to give voters time to check their registration and resolve any issues. If you have concerns, he recommended visiting an early voting center in person.

Hasen encouraged voters to double-check the status of their ballots to ensure they’ve been processed and counted.

“We have very good ballot tracking,” Hasen said. “California is not going to simply start throwing out ballots from people who are on an unvetted federal list of supposed noncitizen voters.”

What’s the future of this lawsuit?

Hasen and Levitt said the legal problems with the federal government’s arguments can be traced back to federal law and the Constitution.

“The Constitution gives states the power to run elections subject to Congress passing laws that can override that,” Hasen said. “There's no congressional override that would give the federal government the authority to do this.”

That makes the DOJ’s case unlikely to succeed, the professors agreed.

“It's possible that a court might not even really deal with it at all,” Levitt said.

What about the people accused of voting fraud?

The charges announced this week against 28 people accused of registering or voting as noncitizens, however, may be more successful, depending on the evidence presented in each case.

“Isolated cases of alleged voter fraud occur in red and blue states alike, and they should be prosecuted wherever they occur,” a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

But Bonta noted that the 28 people charged represent 0.0001% of California’s registered voters. The percentage is about the same in L.A. County: The 12 L.A. County residents charged this week make up roughly 0.0002% of people on the voter rolls.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is preparing for possible “Super El Niño” storms that could damage schools and lead to closures, the district announced in a media release Tuesday.

District staff are clearing drains, trimming trees and checking roofs, windows and doors. LAUSD is also testing emergency equipment, including pumps and emergency lighting systems, and stocking supplies such as flashlights and drinking water.

“Preparing for severe weather starts well before the first raindrop,” Superintendent Andrés Chait said in a statement. “We can’t control the weather, but we can take steps now to protect our students and employees and help our schools stay ready.”

The district will monitor weather patterns using information from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials, it said.

LAUSD encouraged families to update their contact information to ensure they receive district calls, texts and emails. Families should also monitor weather alerts, follow emergency officials’ instructions, avoid flooded roads and review safe routes to and from school, according to the release.

“Preparing for a storm is a shared effort — from the crews maintaining school buildings to the principals reviewing emergency plans and the families making sure they can receive critical updates,” LAUSD said in the release. “By taking these steps before the rain begins, Los Angeles Unified is working to help students and employees stay safe and keep school communities as prepared as possible for the winter ahead.”

Southern California is likely in for a solid dose of rain this week, just days after heat and Santa Ana winds helped fuel several wildfires across the region.

Forecasters expect the bulk of the rain to roll into the Los Angeles basin Wednesday night and continue into Thursday morning, with a small chance of thunderstorms and hail.

The San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and coastal areas across L.A. and Orange counties could get around an inch over the next few days. Hills and mountains could get up to 3 inches.

“We could see some pretty high rain rates,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. “It's a good storm for this time of year — it's a little stronger than what we would see normally.”

The possibility of significant rain in the mountains raises concerns about flooding in areas recently burned in wildfires, particularly around the Bryson Fire burn scar near Malibu, which is only a few days old. Burn scars can’t absorb heavy rainfall and are susceptible to landslides.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding communities from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday. That means heavy rain there could flood streets, creeks and rivers. The flood watch area includes both the Bryson Fire and Palisades Fire burn scars.

This will also be the first nontropical storm of the season, meaning it’s moving into the region from the north. Most storms that hit Southern California follow a similar path, especially during the winter, unlike the tropical storms that formed off the coast of Mexico and brought muggy weather to the region this summer.

Nontropical storms also bring cold air to the region. On Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters expect highs in the 60s and 70s. High elevations will be even cooler.