Da Prato's lease agreement was only for three months.
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Jean Trinh
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LAist
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Topline:
The chef-owner of the new downtown L.A. Italian restaurant Da Prato had been burned before by the volatile industry. This time, she took matters into her own hands and partnered with a landlord to let her try out her concept for three months in a vacant space, and then choose to go permanent or close up shop with a clean break.
Why it matters: Typical restaurant lease structures can take months to negotiate and lock tenants in years-long terms, oftentimes with a lot of financial burden. This unique agreement has given Elisa Da Prato the agency to make a decision to keep going or end things without going into more debt.
Why now: With a slew of vacant storefronts in downtown L.A., landlords getting flexible with lease structures to draw in more businesses could bring vitality back to the neighborhood.
When chef Elisa Da Prato arrived in Los Angeles from Italy last December, she only planned to visit family for three weeks and then return home to the charming town of Lucca in Tuscany. But after hosting a successful Silver Lake pop-up dinner, Da Prato was introduced to a landlord who offered her a unique opportunity: she could test her culinary concept in a vacant space for three months and then decide to close up shop or go permanent.
Since May, her Tuscan-inspired restaurantDa Prato has been operating out of a 3,000-square-foot condo in downtown L.A. with an initial agreement to stay open until the end of July. (She recently made the decision to extend the lease until the end of the year.)
“I’m not an independently wealthy person and this is not a vanity Instagram project,” Da Prato said. “This is just me doing the best I can to invest in and make a wager on myself, and hopefully come out of it with a nice salary and do some beautiful work.”
Beef and porcini ragú Toscano at Da Prato.
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Oscar Mendoza
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Courtesy Da Prato
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Running a restaurant in L.A. has been challenging over the last few years due to inflation and rising labor costs, the pandemic, entertainment-industry strikes, devastating fires and ICE raids. Chefs like Da Prato have been looking to find flexible and creative ways to run a restaurant that go outside the pop-up model and traditional lease structure. And ifCalifornia Assembly Bill AB 1679 — which would allow certain pop-up businesses to operate in vacant storefronts for 120 days — becomes law, the landscape of running a business could change for the better for budding entrepreneurs.
Elisa Da Prato preparing her honeycomb and lemons dish.
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Jean Trinh
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LAist
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Right place, right time
Prior to opening in downtown L.A., Da Prato dealt with two closures:Elisa in Barga, Tuscany, due to the pandemic, and thewell-regarded Etrusca in Brooklyn, whichinvestors shuttered after just five months. So this new no-strings-attached lease structure in L.A. was particularly alluring for her self-funded project.
Da Prato entered a partnership with her landlord David Mirharooni of Brickstar Capital, a family-owned real estate investment company whose other clients include Danny Boy’s Pizza and Mastro’s Steakhouse. Mirharooni also helps Da Prato with backend support, like insurance and accounting, and assists with construction. While Mirharooni hasn’t done a lease structure like this before, everything aligned because he had a vacant space he needed to fill and he wanted to do a favor for Da Prato, who was a friend of a friend.
The dining room at Da Prato, with a print of Lyonel Feininger's “The White Man” hanging on the wall.
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Oscar Mendoza
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Courtesy Da Prato
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“We're not here just to make revenue for three months,” Mirharooni said of the 40-seat restaurant that’s open four nights a week. “We really see promise with chef Elisa and are hoping that this pop-up is successful enough to be able to convince her to stay in the L.A. market …. because ultimately, if it becomes a long-term deal, it's not only good for us as landlords but it's great for downtown L.A, which is not the easiest place to run a restaurant today.”
Da Prato is a playground for the chef’s hyper-seasonal and regional dishes that are inspired by ancient Roman cooking and the flavors she grew up eating while spending summers at her grandparents’ home in Tuscany. Her farmers market produce translates into experimental dishes like beef tartare on a bed of sliced plums, and lemon slices coated with honeycomb and dusted with rose petals. Edible flowers make an appearance on many dishes, a nod to her mother’s style of cooking. There is beef and porcini ragú pasta, grilled lamb punched up with colatura, a fish sauce, and Italian wines to round out the rustic menu.
While Mirharooni would love Da Prato to stay permanently, she thinks at most she’ll remain in L.A. until the end of this year.
“I don't think that a restaurant is an actual sustainable model, like a lifetime project,” Da Prato said. “For me, it's been, how do we offer something really special to the community that is still profitable for me as a small business owner?”
A new horizon for pop-ups
Eddie Navarrette, the chief consultant ofFE Design & Consulting, a company that helps independent owners open restaurants and bars, said of Da Prato’s lease structure: “It’s extremely unique for me, but very welcomed.”
Traditionally, lease terms are for three, five or 10 years — and the agreement can take months to put together, Navarrette said. Oftentimes, landlords require personal guarantees, adding pressure for the owner.
Pop-ups exist in a gray area because no real infrastructure for them exists. Enter California Bill AB 1679, which Navarrette’s advocacy organizationIndependent Hospitality Coalition is sponsoring. If AB 1679 becomes law, it will help create a framework for the language and codes to operate pop-ups. The bill, co-authored by Assembly members Mark Gonzalez and Buffy Wicks, would require cities and counties to create permits to allow temporary low-risk businesses — like ones serving coffee or tea — to operate in vacant storefronts for 120 days.
Navarrette said lease structures like Da Prato’s “can be conducive in creating a more vibrant restaurant culture by giving restaurants more flexibility and leniency in their commitments, as opposed to making it such a burden to take on a business for such a long period.”
Da Prato is now focused on embracing the temporality of owning a business and controlling when it closes.
“It’s so tough seeing this beautiful thing that you create get blown away,” she said. “So this time, I'm like, then let's just make it a sand mandala that gets blown away.”
Location: 108 W. Second St., DTLA Hours: Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays 6-8:30 p.m.; Sundays 5-7 p.m.
Nick Gerda
is an accountability reporter who has covered local government in Southern California for more than a decade.
Published July 13, 2026 5:00 AM
Tents on a sidewalk near downtown Los Angeles on June 12.
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Apu Gomes
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Getty Images
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Topline:
L.A. city leaders have pushed back the timeline to start prepping a plan to strip hundreds of millions of tax dollars from the region’s troubled homeless services agency and move it under different control.
The backstory: For years, some members of the City Council’s homelessness committee have urged their colleagues to consider an exit, after major data accuracy issues and official reviews and audits that found major oversight failures.
The latest:About three months ago, a City Council committee recommended a July 1 deadline for a report on how to move parts of the money away from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority. That work has yet to begin, according to city records and officials. The City Council has not approved starting the analysis nor funding for consultants to prepare it.
The timeline: The recommended deadline for the analysis was pushed back nearly a year and a half, to December 2027, by the most recent council committee to take up the item. A spokesperson for Katy Yaroslavsky, the councilmember who chairs the budget committee and suggested the later timeframe, said that deadline is likely to move up to a sooner date.
Listen
0:43
LISTEN: Will the city of L.A. pull taxpayer money from LAHSA?
L.A. city leaders have pushed back the timeline to start prepping a plan to strip hundreds of millions of tax dollars from the region’s troubled homeless services agency and move it under different control.
About three months ago, a City Council committee recommended a July 1 deadline to get an analysis on how to move parts of the money away from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA.
That work has yet to begin, according to city records and officials. The City Council has not approved starting the analysis nor funding for consultants to prepare it.
The backstory
Back in April, the City Council’s homelessness committee recommended the full council hire a consultant to deliver an analysis by July 1 on which city programs make sense to start transitioning the city away from the embattled L.A. Homeless Services Authority. The idea was to explore moving homelessness spending oversight away from LAHSA to the county, the city or another entity.
The recommendation came about a year after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors decided to pull county funds from LAHSA in the wake of back-to-back scathing audits in 2024 and March 2025, finding LAHSA failed to properly oversee the dollars it was entrusted with. The board's decision to move the funds to a new homeless services department took effect this month.
The city’s analysis is now expected to take much longer. The full City Council has not yet voted on whether to commission the analysis nor budgeted the expected $450,000 to hire a consultant for it.
And the recommended deadline for the analysis was pushed back nearly a year and a half to December 2027 by the most recent council committee to take up the item.
Timeline might change
A spokesperson for Katy Yaroslavsky, the councilmember who chairs the budget committee and suggested the later timeframe, said that deadline is likely to move up to a sooner date.
The idea was to update the deadline after “we had an idea of the process for hiring a consultant,” said the spokesperson, Leo Daube.
The timeline still needs to come to the full council for approval and is likely to be changed, he said.
Councilmember Nithya Raman, who chairs the homelessness committee and is running for mayor against Karen Bass, told LAist she will try to get the process fast-tracked.
“We will be working to push up the timeline,” Raman told LAist in a statement. “Preparing for the next step is urgent given the circumstances.”
Raman and other City Council members voted in May for a city budget that includes $358 million to LAHSA over the next 12 months, a 5% increase over the prior fiscal year’s $339 million. That budget, which 12 of the 15 councilmembers approved, doesn’t require an analysis of shifting dollars that Raman and her committee had recommended.
Raman defended her budget vote.
"As the city does not yet have an alternative system set up to directly manage its own contracts, we must continue to fund our current work,” Raman said in a written statement. “We have started the process to build that system through [a contract] and are continuing to build our capacity to manage in-house."
The office of Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson — which worked with Yaroslavsky on the revised recommendations that included the delayed timeline — did not respond to phone messages for comment.
A LAHSA Commission meeting April 25, 2025.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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LAHSA is governed by a 10-member commission that is appointed by city and county elected officials who can remove and replace commissioners. Half of the commissioners are appointed by Bass, and half are appointed by each of the five county supervisors. Bass has served on the commission since she appointed herself to it in fall 2023 and is the only elected official on the commission.
“ We have to have something in place. And I think what we failed as council is to start talking [through] the questions about what that would mean,” Councilmember John Lee said at the August 2023 meeting.
“What would that take place? So that if we were to make that choice, what would we do to put … in their place?” he added. “ We need to make sure that we take a look at those options. Otherwise, every year, we're going to be coming here … having the same exact conversations.”
Raman, who chaired the committee then, as she does now, responded that she appreciated Lee’s comments. “Hopefully we're not going to be having the same conversation over and over again,” Raman said at the time.
Rodriguez told her colleagues they had been wasting precious time and needed to be decisive.
“In the 316 days since this report was issued, we are finally here engaging in this conversation,” Rodriguez said during public comments at the March meeting. She had criticized Raman for not scheduling the discussion sooner.
LAist has asked Raman for her response to that criticism over the past few months. She has not weighed in.
Raman has separately said she’s been focused on building the city’s oversight capacity through creating a Bureau of Homelessness Oversight within the city’s housing department, which the City Council voted to establish in May last year.
As the council’s homelessness committee considered its recommendation this spring, Bass cautioned against shifting funds too quickly from LAHSA without a plan and capacity, issuing a statement in March warning that it would harm unhoused people.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference before LAHSA's annual homeless count Feb. 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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“What we need is a serious, thoughtful transition plan — the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy,” she said at the time.
The following month, she joined councilmembers Ysabel Jurado and Tim McOsker in a letterindicating support for moving away from LAHSA in the long term, while increasing city control of LAHSA in the short term.
“In the long term, the city must re-envision new systems to handle the responsibilities of homelessness services. We need to explore internalizing LAHSA’s functions,” the letter states. “Without taking steps to both clarify and assert the role of the city within what is left of LAHSA, we risk continuing to defer critical decisions and accountability.”
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“Mayor Bass, too, has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence, which is why she previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency,” said the June 11 statement.
Kolby Lee, Bass’ communications director, confirmed Bass directed city departments to “develop options to transition away from LAHSA.”
Lee has not responded to a request from LAist asking when Bass gave that direction and whether the options have been presented to her.
The Dyanaton show at Chateau Shatto is on through August 1.
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WOLFGANG PAALEN
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Chateau Shatto
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In this edition:
Bastille Day parties, a new moon soundbath, the Odyssey in 70mm and more of the best things to do this week.
Highlights:
Welcome the new moon with a tea meditation and breathwork class with Frogtown Arts and Intrabreath. Isn’t it cool that each month we get a chance to start over? Breathe in the summer air and ignite your inner energy.
This is either going to be the biggest celebration of Bastille Day in L.A. ever, as it coincides with France playing in the World Cup semifinal, or you’ll see a whole bunch of French folks and francophiles drowning their sorrows in vin rouge. Either way, there’ll be plenty of music, petit bonbons and joie de vivre at California Plaza.
The historic Alex Theatre is a great place to check out the new Christopher Nolan epic, The Odyssey (OK, fine, it’s Homer’s epic). The Alex is showing it in 70mm, but of course it’s opening wide and available in various locations beginning on Thursday.
Now that there are no more World Cup games in L.A., the hottest ticket is about to be the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, which is opening this fall. The spaceship-like structure is in Expo Park (you can’t miss it), and they just announced that anyone who shares their South L.A. zip code will get in for free with a special pass. May the force be with you when the ticketing website opens.
Practice singing the La Marseillaise for when you cheer on Les Bleus in the semifinal World Cup game — on Bastille Day, no less — but for more music picks, Licorice Pizza suggests Grammy darling Olivia Dean’s two shows at the Crypto.com Arena Tuesday and Wednesday, and Ben Lapidus (aka the guy on America’s Got Talent who sang about Parmesan cheese) is at the Moroccan Lounge on Tuesday.
Bella Poarch will be at the Grammy Museum on Wednesday, and Slum Village is at the Blue Note on Wednesday and Thursday. Also on Thursday, Latin alternative sensations Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso take over the Greek, White Denim is at Sid The Cat and Eartheater plays the first of her two nights at Hollywood Forever.
Welcome the new moon with a tea meditation and breathwork class with Frogtown Arts and Intrabreath. Isn’t it cool that each month we get a chance to start over? Breathe in the summer air and ignite your inner energy.
All Space Considered
Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m. Griffith Observatory 2800 E. Observatory Road, Los Feliz COST: FREE; MORE INFO
The Griffith Observatory overlooks downtown Los Angeles at sunset on June 8, 2007, at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
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Stephen Dunn
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Getty Images
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If you’re more of a traditional moon kind of person, join the Griffith Observatory for its monthly program, All Space Considered. It’s free to attend in person and also broadcasts live from the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Check out previous All Space Considered programs on their YouTube playlist.
Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings
Through Saturday, August 1 Château Shatto 540 N. Western Ave., Melrose Hill COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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ALICE RAHON/WOLFGANG PAALEN
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Chateau Shatto
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I’m going to take my own advice and check out this highly recommended exhibit of the Dynaton — don’t call it a movement — movement (sorry) at the Château Shatto gallery on Western Ave., curated by Laura Whitcomb. A slice of California art history, Dynaton was first articulated in 1951, and its members staged a “decisive refusal of labels” like its predecessor, Dadaism. Dynaton looked at California “as a laboratory where Indigenous cosmologies, quantum physics, Jungian psychology, and extraterrestrial imaginaries could cohabit the same pictorial field.” I’m in. And also definitely in for lunch at Kuya Lord after.
France in LA x Grand Performances Bastille Day celebration
Tuesday, July 14, 5 p.m. California Plaza 250 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Grand Performances
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This is either going to be the biggest celebration of Bastille Day in L.A. ever, as it coincides with France playing in the World Cup semifinal, or you’ll see a whole bunch of French folks and francophiles drowning their sorrows in vin rouge. Either way, there’ll be plenty of music, petit bonbons and joie de vivre. Vive la France!
Yoshiki
Thursday and Friday, July 16 and 17 Disney Hall 111 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FROM $56; MORE INFO
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Magnolia Pictures
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42West
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Yoshiki is by many accounts Japan's biggest rock star — he’s played with everyone from Bowie to Bono. A TIME100 honoree, he brings his inspiring life story through music, multimedia, lighting and fashion to Disney Hall for two nights.
The historic Alex Theatre is a great place to check out the new Christopher Nolan epic, The Odyssey (OK, fine, it’s Homer’s epic). The Alex is showing it in 70mm, but of course it’s opening wide and available in various locations beginning on Thursday. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o and Anne Hathaway, the Greek tale of survival and homecoming is one of the most anticipated films of the summer.
Camélia Bastille Day specials
Monday, July 13 through Wednesday, July 15 Camélia 1850 Industrial St. Arts District COST: VARIES; MORE INFO
... and ...
Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up
Monday July 13, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. OTOTO 1360 Allison Ave., Elysian Park
Camélia is featuring Bastille Day specials this week, including plateau de fruits de mer, steak frites au poivre and by-the-glass bubbly (wine and sake).
Plus, its sister restaurant OTOTO in Elysian Park is hosting a one-night-only Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday. The menu includes a burger (soy-braised short rib sugo, Gruyère, horseradish aioli), a corn fritter with charred scallion crème fraîche and pickled carrots/jalapeño/onion, and financier à la mode for dessert, with a sake pairing option. Walk-ins only — early arrival encouraged.
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Julia Barajas
explores how college students achieve their education goals and navigate the workforce.
Published July 13, 2026 5:00 AM
Glendale Community College students can now learn about documentary filmmaking in Baja California. A study abroad option in Japan is currently in the works.
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Jerry Henry
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Courtesy Jerry Henry
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Topline:
Glendale Community College now offers coursework in documentary filmmaking and the chance to hone this skillset abroad. For recent high school graduates and non-traditional students, this represents a chance to break into an industry that can often feel impenetrable.
More opportunities: Under department chair Geri Ulrey, students enrolled in the college’s Film, Television and Media Arts department are increasingly getting opportunities that aren’t typically afforded to those at community colleges — including free trips to the Sundance Film Festival.
Why it matters: Los Angeles is home to renowned film schools like USC, UCLA, and the American Film Institute. But their cost of attendance can be an obstacle for some students. Community colleges offer affordable alternatives.
What's next: This summer, students in Glendale’s study abroad program will learn about documentary production and underwater filmmaking techniques in Baja California. Ulrey says she aims to take students there every summer and is currently developing another documentary filmmaking course in Japan.
Read on … to learn more about the program from current students and recent grads.
Joel Ruano was raised by his grandparents in Lamont, a community made up of about 14,000 people, a few miles from Bakersfield.
Growing up, college was not in Ruano’s plans. And though he loved watching movies, he never envisioned a career in filmmaking.
After earning his diploma, Ruano worked at carrot factories. Then, he operated heavy machinery at a distribution center before landing a job at an electric vehicle company. For years, he believed his future lay at the industrial warehouses that surround his old neighborhood.
But when the company went bankrupt in 2023, Ruano decided he wanted a change. Encouraged by his loved ones, he enrolled in Glendale Community College’s film, television and media arts department, which now offers coursework in documentary filmmaking and the chance to study abroad.
For students like Ruano, these opportunities have been transformative.
Los Angeles is home to renowned film schools like USC, UCLA and the American Film Institute. But their cost of attendance can be an obstacle for some students. Community colleges offer affordable alternatives.
“This is my career path now,” Ruano told LAist. “I just love holding the camera and seeing through the monitor and getting the first taste of what the audience is going to see. And I get to control that vision.”
Making up for lost time
At Glendale, department chair Geri Ulrey makes it a point to keep in touch with students after they graduate. She also hosts alumni mixers and pings former students when she has something to share that may be of interest.
That’s how Ben Do found his way back to Glendale. He earned his associate’s degree at the height of the COVID pandemic, so most of it was done on Zoom. As a result, Do graduated with no in-person film experience, something he always lamented.
Ulrey messaged him years later, inviting him to consider the school’s new documentary film production courses.
Soon, Do became part of Planet Story Lab, a course that provides mentorship from professionals and the chance to do fieldwork.
Do also appreciates the chance to hear directly from people in the field, who are often guest speakers. This includes documentary director Laura Nix.
“Just hearing how she approaches talking to people about the process of what a documentary is” has been helpful, Do said. “People think it's a very educational thing and very straightforward, but there's a lot more creative and emotional liberties that come with it as well.”
Glendale Community College students spend two weeks in Baja California. Their filmmaking work involves learning from and interviewing locals.
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Courtesy
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Finding the 'freedom to be unsure'
Redd Davis came of age in Burbank, with the Warner Bros. Studios looming in the background. Celebrities were a common sight. Still, even though Davis knew a career in film was possible, they were scared to take the leap. Their uncle is a screenwriter, and Davis knew how hard it was for him to break into the field.
“My grandma came here from Mexico when she was 13,” they said. “She had to build a life for herself and be able to support my mom.”
The way Davis saw it, they’d been given a “really rare opportunity to make a stable life.”
“And I was really nervous to mess with that,” they said.
Davis was determined to earn a living, but they were not sure how. After high school, they enrolled at Glendale and, as a treat, signed up for a course called “Beyond Hollywood: Race, Gender and Sex in Movies,” taught by Ulrey. Davis figured there was no harm in exploring film just a little, just for fun.
But the course drew them in.
“It felt almost like an English literature class,” they recalled. “It was a lot of conversation and writing and just dissecting ideas. I became very interested in anything that [Ulrey] was teaching, so I just kept taking classes with her."
Still, when Ulrey mentioned documentary filmmaking, Davis wasn’t very interested.
“I thought that I just wanted to do narrative work,” they said.
But David trusted Ulrey. So when she brought up the opportunity to learn documentary production in Mexico — including underwater filming techniques — Davis thought it best not to forgo the opportunity.
And so, last summer, Davis became part of a camera crew at Bahía de los Ángeles, a coastal region in Baja California, with a population of almost 800.
After prepping on campus for two weeks, a small group of Glendale students set out to the field station in Mexico, accompanied by Ulrey and cinematographer Jerry Henry. Students majoring in biology, geology and oceanology also joined them.
In Bahía de los Ángeles, students use specialized cameras for underwater filmmaking.
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As soon as Davis stepped off the bus, the heat in Bahía de los Ángeles was overwhelming.
“We didn't sleep in rooms,” they said. “We pulled out cots and would lay down at the beach. We would literally sleep under the stars.”
Come morning, the film students would gather their gear, confer with Ulrey or Henry, plan out their day, then spend the bulk of the day filming.
On occasion, the students got to go on boat rides, hiking or swimming in the sea.
Davis had read about Mexico in their mom’s journals, but this was their first time in the country. “It was special,” they told LAist, a chance to create connections and memories of their own.
The trip also enabled Davis to cultivate a professional relationship with Henry, who’s provided opportunities for them to work on set as a production assistant. These experiences have helped Davis see that filmmaking involves a wide array of work, including — but not limited to — being an actor, writer or director. As an example, Davis noted that people who work in greenery departments devote themselves to providing plants for film sets.
Davis still doesn't know what they want to do once they graduate, but they are navigating the uncertainty with joy and confidence. “I feel more freedom to be unsure,” they said.
The trip to Baja, Davis added, “really shattered any doubt or hesitance I had left” about a future in filmmaking.
In the past, a voice inside would always ask: “How are you going to be able to afford a car, and then an apartment? Your groceries and your utilities?”
After Baja, Davis determined to figure it out. "I'm completely in love with this," they said.
How to get help with funding
Glendale’s study abroad program costs $950, in addition to traditional enrollment fees. However, students taking classes in the Film, Television and Media Arts department are eligible for the Golden Globe Foundation Documentary Scholarship, which typically provides $500 to help cover those expenses.
Recovering a lost passion
For 36-year-old David Shuck, the documentary filmmaking courses have enabled him to recoup and hone something he loves.
As an undergrad at Bowdoin College in Maine, he studied abroad at the Czech National Film Academy; but, at the time, “there was no practical film production offered at my college,” Shuck said. “I was pretty much all self-taught.”
Time passed. And life took Shuck in different directions. Still, the love of film remained.
To refresh his skills, learn new techniques and meet like-minded people, Shuck also enrolled at Glendale.
For one recent project, he created a documentary about his wife, who’s an immigration attorney.
“I wanted to be able to communicate the Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucracy ... that [undocumented] people have to navigate once they've been abducted,” Shuck said.
The shooting took Shuck about about six weeks. During this time, he followed his wife to and from the Adelanto Immigrant Detention Center in the Mojave Desert, repeatedly. Shuck filmed her working later hours and captured her frustration. After one particularly hard day, he documented her treating herself to an ice cream sandwich and a few episodes of Malcolm in the Middle.
In his documentary class, Shuck learned that it's "more compelling to see what people are doing in the moment rather than rehashing what’s been done already.” Ultimately, he turned 13 hours of footage into a 15-minute video.
“It would be really nice to be able to earn a living doing this. But I am just excited at the prospect of being able to make the next project and being able to make it sustainably through the community college system,” he said.
He’s told Ulrey and his other professors: "I'm going to kick around until you kick me out of here."
Last summer, a group of students made a film about a local woman named Alejandrina Díaz Oleta, a restaurant owner and chef.
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Nurturing the next generation of filmmakers
Currently, Ruano is part of a team of students working on a documentary about future firefighters in the L.A. area.
This work has enabled him to get hands-on training in every part of filmmaking, including pre-production, shooting and post-production, he said.
At Glendale, Ruano has learned that “being organized is very, very crucial.” He’s also learned that “having great communication” is key to creating something with a group of people.
Most importantly, he’s learned he’s capable of academic success.
“Coming back to school was very stressful for me,” he said, remembering the challenges he faced in high school. “This was sort of my moment to redeem myself.”
In June, Ruano became a first-generation college graduate. Come fall, he will continue to pursue filmmaking at Cal State Northridge — one of the many universities where he was admitted.
In the short term, Ruano is set on earning his bachelor’s degree and then maybe going into a master's program.
In the long term, he wants to find a way to bring art and filmmaking to Lamont, where he grew up.
“I'm only one of thousands of people who have really great stories to tell,” he said.
A photo of various contracts trading on Kalshi's website.
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Martin Lelievre
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Prediction markets like Kalshi are growing popular among young people, even though sports betting is illegal in California. L.A. therapists say they're seeing college and high school students with gambling problems because of it.
What is a prediction market? Prediction markets allow users to buy and sell contracts with each other, instead of placing bets against a house. That allows platforms to operate under federal rules for financial exchanges, rather than state gambling laws.
What are gambling addiction therapists seeing? Since prediction markets have grown in popularity, therapists say they’re seeing more young people with gambling problems.
Why are young people getting pulled in? Some therapists say prediction markets are targeting young people with aggressive social media advertising. Those ads make the platforms seem less dangerous than they are for young users.
How is outreach changing? Experts say they’re making resources about prediction markets for high school students and college fraternities. Therapists encourage anyone who thinks they need help to call 1-800-GAMBLER or contact a professional.
Read on ... to learn more about how prediction markets are affecting L.A.'s young people.
Jack Such, a spokesperson for the company, told LAist that the platform’s trading volume has skyrocketed over the past three months.
“It's just been going up and up and up,” he said.
Sports betting is illegal in California, but prediction markets like Kalshi aren’t. That’s because users buy and sell contracts among themselves, instead of placing bets against a house. The distinction allows platforms to operate under federal rules for financial exchanges, rather than state gambling laws.
Although other states have taken prediction markets to court, saying they should be held to state regulation, California hasn’t initiated legal action of its own.
Some L.A. gambling addiction clinicians say that they’re already seeing the consequences of what they call unregulated betting, especially among young people.
An uptick in patients dealing with gambling addiction
Dan Field, a licensed social worker and the clinical director of Westside Gambling Treatment in L.A., said he’s seeing “a lot more young sports bettors who are just going straight to Kalshi … and getting sucked in very easily.”
One of Field’s patients moved to California hoping the state’s sports betting laws would help him manage his recovery from gambling addiction.
“For almost two years, he was largely gambling free, and when Kalshi hit, he picked up right where he left off,” Field told LAist.
Dr. Timothy Fong, an addiction psychiatrist and co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies program, said that as prediction markets have taken off, his program has “definitely seen an increase in the number of folks coming into treatment.”
He told LAist that for many now seeking help, online prediction markets were their first experience with gambling behavior. They’d never set foot in a brick-and-mortar casino, and began using prediction markets because of their interest in sports and investing, not betting.
Why some are drawn to prediction markets
Yisroel Solomon, 32, said he began sports betting when he was 22 when he was living in New York. After he relocated to California, he told LAist that he started using prediction markets because they were the primary legal option.
But Solomon said prediction markets have the capacity to suck users in far beyond what traditional sports books, or even other apps, can do.
Because prices update almost instantaneously, in response to real-time information, "that gives an extra sense of dopamine, extra fear of missing out, extra sense of chasing,” he told LAist.
Field, the clinical director, noted that the constant price checking that comes with using prediction markets is “incredibly attention-grabbing and addictive.”
Jacob Hofflich, a San Diego resident and sophomore at the University of Michigan, began using Kalshi when he turned 18. He said the platform's visual design makes it hard to look away. Flashing green and red lines, and a running log of which bets are being placed, make the app appear “like the stock market,” he told LAist.
“It’s enticing you to get in on the action,” he explained.
“There’s always new opportunities to bet. [With] sportsbooks, you’re confined to just sports… But with futures markets, the market’s open 24/7,” Solomon said.
Both Solomon and Hofflich say they have stopped gambling, with Hofflich adding that he has been working with Field.
Gambling addiction resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with gambling, here are some resources that might help.
The California Problem Gambling Helpline is at 1-800-GAMBLER. The line is open to connect you with a counselor 24/7. There are also text and chat services.
Kalshi verifies new users’ ages using government ID. They’re also implementing Face ID checks to make sure minors aren’t getting into their parents’ accounts.
Prediction markets are available to users as young as 18 because the platforms don’t have to follow the minimum gambling age set by the state.
Kalshi is growing access to the 18- to 20-year-old demographic through aggressive advertising, according to some experts.
“I've seen some of the ads, and there are scenarios where people are partying with friends in a bar in a college environment and betting,” Field said. He explained that this kind of advertising can help normalize using prediction markets and make the platforms seem less dangerous than they are to young people.
Such, the Kalshi spokesperson, said the company isn’t responsible for initiating young people into gambling.
“The idea that Kalshi is somehow the entity that is changing the availability from 21 to 18 is not true,” he said.
Such did not respond to a request for comment regarding the company’s advertising practices.
Deborah Buhaj, a gambling addiction therapist based in L.A., said that recently, she's had parents reaching out to her who “suddenly don’t recognize their 22-year-old” after they started using Kalshi.
Some users are starting even younger.
Fong, the co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies, told LAist that he has patients under 18, who get around prediction markets ID checks by using their parents’ credentials. He said he’s working with a 14-year-old whose mother created a Kalshi account for him thinking it was a video game.
Fong emphasized that although the platforms might appear harmless, allowing minors to use them is “no different than giving them access to where the gun is or where prescription drugs are or where the cannabis is.”
Kalshi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on additional features to prevent minors from using the platform.
According to Kalshi, the platform has an ID check requirement for users to verify their identity.
These steps include Face ID, a two-factor authentication step and a selfie verification at signup.
Kalshi also offers what it calls an "Inner Circle" that allows family and friends to ask traders to share their trading activity with them.
Keeping minors off the platform is a top priority, according to Kalshi's website. Users can contact them here if they have more questions.
A fanbase on college campuses
According to a recent UCLA Gambling Studies Program survey on gambling culture in Greek Life organizations at the university, 13% of respondents said they’d placed a bet on a prediction market site.
Over 90% of all respondents said they’d needed help with living expenses as a result of their gambling losses.
Fong told LAist that one of his patients rushed a fraternity his freshman year of college where members quickly taught him to use prediction markets. For the first few months, he made money, but things took a dramatic turn.
“A year and a half later … he ended up spending over $150,000 of his own college money,” Fong said.
Louie Latosquin, a senior at UCLA and president of the university's Interfraternity Council, said he notices UCLA’s gambling culture is mostly focused on card games like poker, baccarat and blackjack. He explained that prediction markets are more common in groups where “people already gamble pretty intensely.” Latosquin also helped conduct the Greek Life survey.
Outreach is changing
L.A. clinicians say they’ve adjusted their outreach to deal with the popularity of prediction markets.
Stop Betting Sports, an organization that offers free resources and webinars for gambling addiction, has created material geared towards high school students.
Fong also encouraged anyone curious about gambling and prediction markets to speak with a licensed professional before they start.
“It is certainly worth meeting with a professional therapist to explore and make sure things don't get out of hand,” he said.
Fong also does outreach work at fraternities at UCLA. Recently, they’ve had special sessions about digital platforms.
Latosquin said they encourage students to think about more “economically reinforcing” places they can spend their money, like education, self-improvement and professional development.
