The Brief

You may have driven through North County on a scenic detour on the way to San Diego, or even stayed at one of its idyllic coastal communities like Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar. But you may not have been aware that this sun-soaked corridor has been undergoing a restaurant renaissance in recent years, with both seasoned chefs and newcomers making their mark.

“San Diego was labeled the home of the fish taco for many years,” said William Bradley, the chef of three-Michelin-starred Addison, which opened inside the Fairmont Grand Del Mar resort in 2006. “We didn't have our identity because it was always San Francisco, L.A. and Napa. It was tough for San Diego to show what they can do. ”

Over the past 20 years, Bradley, who grew up in San Diego’s South Bay community of Chula Vista, has witnessed the region’s transformation firsthand. He attributes San Diego’s inclusion in the Michelin Guide California in 2019 as a turning point for the local dining scene.

“They'll find a restaurant that doesn't have all the glitz and glamor, doesn't have the PR machine and a celebrity chef,” he said. “They find these diamonds in the rough.”

In 2022, Addison became the first restaurant in Southern California to earn three Michelin stars, the guide’s highest honor. Neighboring restaurants Jeune et Jolie and Lilo in Carlsbad, along with Oceanside’s Valle, have each earned and maintained a Michelin star in recent years.

“I think we're at a time now that we've got great restaurants, great chefs, and the accolades to support the talent that's here,” Bradley said.

Restaurants will know if they’ve kept, lost, or earned additional stars at the annual Michelin Guide California awards ceremony on June 24.

For road-trippers planning a weekend jaunt down the coast or food obsessives plotting a drive-there-and-back feast on the town, here are seven dining destinations defining North County’s culinary scene right now — listed in alphabetical order.

24 Suns

At 24 Suns, scallop and shrimp siu mai dumplings are paired with pickled blueberries and served in a luscious puddle of buttery fermented habanada.

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At 24 Suns, chefs Nic Webber and Jacob Jordan take an experimental approach to Chinese food, a cuisine with a deep history in California dating back to the Gold Rush.

Ever since the first Chinese immigrants established restaurants in 1849, traditional recipes have adapted to local ingredients and palates, resulting in dishes with a distinctly Chinese American flair, like chop suey and egg foo yong. This nearly 200-year-old culinary tradition continues to evolve inside a squat building in Oceanside that most recently served as a German dive bar (and a strip club before that, according to a server).

Here, the two chefs, who met while working on the line at Addison, serve their take on Chinese food inspired by local micro-seasons. Snow fungus and king oyster mushrooms mimic the slippery texture of a traditional tripe-and-tendon cold appetizer, while plump scallop and shrimp siu mai dumplings are paired with pickled blueberries and served in a luscious puddle of buttery fermented habanada (spiceless habanero pepper). Though the menu at 24 Suns changes often in accordance with ancient Chinese solar terms, Webber and Jordan’s cooking remains dependably earnest with every iteration.

Addison

One of Addison's offerings: garden greens, in the front, paired with chicken liver churros, in the back.

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Arriving at Addison is reminiscent of approaching a stately chateau while navigating through the French countryside. The impeccably manicured 400-acre Fairmont Grand Del Mar — with its Mediterranean Revival architecture full of Corinthian columns, abundant arches, and red clay tile roofs — provides an opulent and tranquil backdrop befitting of the restaurant’s culinary ambition.

Inside a newly renovated dining room overlooking the property’s sprawling golf course, chef William Bradley and his team deliver a three-Michelin-starred fine dining experience that attracts a global audience nightly — everyone’s hungry to experience the chef’s expression of French-rooted Southern California cooking.

A bright shot of pineapple tepache lightly sweetened with piloncillo welcomes diners before the parade of 10 courses ($395 per person), punctuated by exquisite Japanese seafood and more quenelles of caviar than one can count, begins. Nods and winks to local foodways, like a chicken-liver churro and a lemony “fish” taco, give the menu a sense of whimsy and place.

Atelier Manna

Manna's torrija, or Spanish french toast.

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Veteran restaurant-goers (and Anthony Bourdain stans) tend to roll their eyes at brunch, with its tired Benedicts prepared by hungover cooks for tipsy crowds. But chef Andrew Bachelier’s Atelier Manna in Encinitas makes a compelling case for the daytime meal.

After cutting his teeth for over two decades in fine-dining kitchens, including six years at Addison and leading the charge at Jeune et Jolie and Campfire in Carlsbad, Bachelier opened the breezy 25-seat restaurant seeking the ever-elusive work-life balance — and brunch time will never be the same again.

Bachelier’s standout French toast starts with an entire third of a sourdough loaf locally sourced from Prager Brothers that’s steamed until pliable, saturated with sweetened custard, soaked overnight, and baked to order. Ordinary poached eggs get the Turkish treatment under the chef’s care: cradled in herbed yogurt, bathed in chile-garlic butter, strewn with parsley, dill, and mint, and served with toast.

To wash everything down, there are non-alcoholic “vitality tonics” from bar manager Nick Sinutko, including a refreshing carbonated cold brew spiked with red ginseng, cinnamon, and holy basil, and bubbly dragonfruit juice laced with juniper and ginger.

Jeune et Jolie

Jeune et Jolie's interior.

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An inspired four-course pre-fixe menu ($120 per person) unfolds with elegance and ease at Jeune et Jolie , stationed on a quieter stretch of State Street in downtown Carlsbad, in one of the prettiest dining rooms in North County. The Michelin-starred restaurant’s menu is grounded in French tradition and seasonal sourcing, while Paris’s bistronomy tradition informs its sensibility.

Chef Eric Bost, who decamped from Los Angeles to North County when his critically acclaimed restaurant, Auburn, shuttered in 2020, is picking up where opening chef Bachelier left off.

Jeune et Jolie’s choose-your-own-adventure menu allows diners to curate meals to taste, selecting individual dishes from a handful of choices that change often to reflect peak seasonality. In the midst of springtime’s splendor, supple sea urchin tongues topped a crisp English pea tartlette, and caviar, dill, and wasabi accompanied chubby stalks of verdant asparagus.

“This is French cooking through a Southern California lens,” servers tell diners as they settle in for a spirited evening.

Lilo

Lilo's lobster with black mission fig, charred onion and bronze fennel with a sauce of dried chilies.

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There are no bad seats in the house at Lilo in Carlsbad, where 22 diners are seated along a U-shaped counter overlooking hushed, hunched-over, and hyper-focused cooks collectively assembling and delivering the night’s many courses.

Opened by chef Bost in a former boogie board factory after the success of Jeune and Jolie, Lilo serves an intricate tasting menu ($300 per person) featuring a dozen courses that are as beguiling to behold as they are to consume.

Locally caught spiny lobsters, prettied with charred cucumber and blackberry, arrive on an icy vessel surrounded by native plants. A savory-sweet quenelle of orgeat ice cream heaped with kaluga caviar has appeared on the menu since day one. Lilo’s seasonally-driven, technically precise cooking, coupled with warm yet expert hospitality, earned the restaurant a Michelin star just 10 weeks after opening.

Valentina

Valentina's raw local bluefin tuna, steelhead trout, and scallop, served with olive oil, paper-thin red onions, and fried capers.

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While many of North County’s most notable restaurants are chef-and-seasonally driven, Valentina Restaurant in Encinitas bucks the trend and leans into tradition instead.

Named after the daughter of owners Mario and Morgan Guerra, Valentina has garnered a passionate local following for its modern Spanish cooking since opening in 2019. The restaurant’s black and white interior — featuring white-washed booths, subway tile walls, and honeycomb floors — provides a duotone backdrop for a dazzling parade of tapas.

Traditional patatas bravas are reimagined as French potato pavé, daintily dolloped with spicy tomato sauce and chive aioli. A pristine plate of raw local bluefin tuna, steelhead trout, and scallop is served with olive oil, paper-thin red onions, and fried capers, riffing on San Francisco’s Swan Oyster Depot’s winning formula. Artichokes, trimmed of all their fibrous bits, are smashed and seared to golden perfection and served with a rich aioli for contrast. Valentina’s small plates deliver big, bold flavors.

Valle

Valle's patio next to the beach.

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For anyone who’s ever dined in and around Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico’s wine country, the magic of the experience rests as much in the surroundings — undulating vineyards and hilly vistas — as what’s on the plate.

The dynamic spirit, characteristic of Baja dining, is brilliantly captured inside chef Roberto Alcocer's Michelin-starred restaurant Valle, located steps away from the Oceanside pier on the ground floor of the Mission Pacific Hotel. Polished service is delivered with ease, while the dining room pulsates with the kind of vibrant energy often missing from fine dining temples.

Valle’s 12-course, $220 menu is a celebration of modern Mexican cooking, full of visual twists (see: charred onion meets glossy caviar in a pitch-black tart), nods to tradition (see: nixtamalized local vegetables served with white mole), and utterly delicious mashups (see: miniature blue corn huaraches embellished with A5 Japanese wagyu). The culinary conversation between San Diego and Baja California is continually evolving with Alcocer as a trusty translator.

Four years in the making. The U.S. Men's National Team is finally ready to play its first game of the 2026 World Cup with a match on Friday against Paraguay in Los Angeles. For the 26 Americans on the squad, just making it to soccer's most prestigious tournament and the world's biggest sporting event is a culmination (or continuation) of a lifetime of soccer highs and lows.

Here's what to know about each of the players on the team.

⭐⭐⭐ = main star

⭐⭐ = starter or featured substitute

⭐ = contributor off the bench

Forwards

Name: Christian Pulisic ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Hershey, Pa.

Club team: AC Milan (Serie A)

The hot spotlight of American soccer has followed Christian Pulisic for years now, and, to his credit, he's largely lived up to the hype. He's a key starter on one of Europe's top clubs. He's the top active goalscorer for the USMNT, with 33 goals in 86 career appearances with the senior team. And though a goal-scoring drought had haunted him in the first half of this year, he broke through with a goal against Senegal late last month and is heading into this World Cup free and aggressive as ever.

Name: Folarin Balogun ⭐⭐

Age: 24

Hometown: London, England

Club team: AS Monaco (Ligue 1)

Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents and raised in London, Balogun was eligible for all three national teams. He made the switch to represent the U.S. in 2023, when the Americans were in dire need of a striker. Since then, Balogun has been heralded as the long-term solution up front. He scored at least two goals in each of his first three games with the national team and added his first of 2026 against Senegal. And he's headed into the World Cup in top form: At Monaco this season, he bagged 19 goals in 43 total appearances.

Name: Ricardo Pepi ⭐⭐

Age: 23

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

Club team: PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie)

One of two Mexican-American dual-national players on the USMNT, Pepi was devastated when he was left off the 2022 World Cup squad. But the El Paso native played the best soccer of his career with PSV this season, with 19 goals in 34 appearances — and in the May match against Senegal, he showed a dangerous chemistry with Pulisic in helping to set up the first two goals of the game. "He's grown a lot. He probably deserved to be on that last roster," Pulisic said in May. "His time is now. He absolutely deserves to be here."

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic (r) runs with the ball as Nico Schlotterbeck of Germany chases during the international friendly match between at Soldier Field on June 06, 2026 in Chicago, Ill.

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Name: Timothy Weah ⭐

Age: 26

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Club team: Olympique de Marseille (Ligue 1)

Soccer runs in Tim Weah's family; he is the son of George Weah, the star footballer-turned politician who won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in 1995, then got involved in politics in his home country of Liberia after his retirement from soccer. The younger Weah was mostly raised in New York, his mother's home. Weah has had some high highs and low lows with the USMNT — from scoring a World Cup goal vs. Wales in 2022 to tanking the USMNT's chances in the '24 Copa America with a red card — and in this World Cup, he may not be a starter but is expected to play an active role, most likely off the bench on the right side.

Name: Alejandro Zendejas ⭐

Age: 28

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

Club team: Club América (Liga MX)

Zendejas is the second Mexican-American player on this squad. He was born in Ciudad Juarez and raised in El Paso. He was a regular in USMNT youth camps when he was young but moved to Mexico for a club career with Chivas de Guadalajara followed by Club America, two of Liga MX's biggest clubs. He had his choice of national teams but committed to the U.S. in 2023. His role on the World Cup team is a bit of a wild card; he's a talented attacker but likely won't start a match.

Name: Haji Wright

Age: 28

Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

Club team: Coventry City (Premier League* just promoted)

Haji Wright scored one of the only three USMNT goals in the 2022 World Cup when he came off the bench against the Netherlands in the Round of 16. This past season, he was instrumental in getting Coventry City promoted to the top tier of English football. Able to play on the wings or as a striker, Wright could be a useful substitute for the U.S., but the USMNT has more quality at the position than it did in 2022, and he may struggle to see the field behind Balogun and Pepi.

Name: Brenden Aaronson

Age: 25

Hometown: Medford, N.J.

Club team: Leeds United (Premier League)

The "Medford Messi" hero of suburban New Jersey youth soccer is having a big summer: He's on the U.S. World Cup roster and got married barely two weeks ago (dipping out of training camp for a single night before rejoining the team in time for its two tune-up friendlies). He had a career year in the 2024-25 season with Leeds before taking a modest step back this year; it's likely he'll be in a spark plug bench role at the World Cup.

Midfielders

Name: Tyler Adams ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Club team: AFC Bournemouth (Premier League)

Alongside Pulisic and fellow midfielder Weston McKennie, Adams is a main character of this generation of the USMNT. Raised by a single mom in upstate New York, Adams had to rely on sheer determination to overcome plenty of obstacles — like his small stature and lack of goalscoring touch — on his path to professional soccer. At 23, the midfielder was named the captain of the 2022 World Cup team, and his toughness sets the tone for the whole team. "I see guys get kicked, I want to kick anyone," he said after last weekend's (less than) friendly match against Germany.

Weston McKennie is the heart and soul of the U.S. Men's National Team. He's a lock to be a starter on the World Cup squad. The only question is which position.

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Name: Weston McKennie ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Little Elm, Texas

Club team: Juventus (Serie A)

McKennie might be the beating heart of this team. An all-American: Born on an Army base in Washington, raised in Texas, and spent some formative years at an air base in Germany where he caught the soccer bug before moving back to the U.S. He dyed a streak of hair red, white and blue for the '22 World Cup, and he's a lock to start — the only question is, where? Coach Mauricio Pochettino has played him in a variety of outfield positions over the past year and a half. He scored the opening goal in a March friendly against Belgium

Name: Malik Tillman ⭐⭐

Age: 24

Hometown: Furth, Germany

Club team: Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga)

Off the field, the soft-spoken Tillman (whose dad is American and mom is German) may be the quietest member of this team. But on the pitch, it's a different story altogether. Tillman is an attacking midfielder whose game has matured and improved so much that former U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart recently called him "one of the most amazing players I've ever seen." As he grows more comfortable, his reserved nature disappears, Stewart added: "He's a character that once he feels part of a group, he can show amazing special things. And he can actually control things as no one other that I know."

Name: Sebastian Berhalter ⭐⭐

Age: 25

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Club team: Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS)

The compact, confident Berhalter has a big last name in U.S. Soccer: His dad, Gregg, featured prominently as a player in the U.S. quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup, then became USMNT coach in 2018. He never called up his son to the senior national team — the younger Berhalter's debut came in 2025, after new coach Pochettino had taken over. "I know if I got a call from my dad, I would have to earn it double as any other player," he said recently. "He would never call me in just to call me in. I had to earn it." He's known for his quality set-piece deliveries, like corner kicks, so look for him on the field in those moments.

Name: Gio Reyna ⭐⭐

Age: 23

Hometown: Bedford, N.Y.

Club team: Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)

To say Reyna is mercurial is putting it mildly: As a 17-year-old, he broke Pulisic's record as the youngest American to play in the Bundesliga and quickly made a name for himself as a gifted attacking creator — but then he dramatically fell off in form after a series of injuries. Reyna was also a breakout figure for the USMNT in 2022, but not for his performance in the World Cup; Instead, the long story involves complaints over his lack of playing time and criticism by then-coach Gregg Berhalter, whose long relationship with Reyna's parents (former teammates and college friends) became fodder for a leaked story that prompted a swirl of drama and Berhalter's eventual firing after the World Cup. Still only 23, Reyna has tried to move past all that, but his inconsistency on the field makes it hard to know what to expect from him this summer.

Name: Cristian Roldan

Age: 31

Hometown: Pico Rivera, Calif.

Club team: Seattle Sounders (MLS)

Roldan is another modern American story, born in California to a Guatemalan dad and Salvadoran mother who immigrated after their home countries were gripped by violence in the 1980s. Roldan grew up with two brothers in an eastside Los Angeles suburb, kicking the ball into a goal their dad had made of PVC pipe. Now, Roldan and his brother Alex are teammates on the Seattle Sounders. Roldan is a mature, calming locker-room presence and will likely play only a small role on the field, if he plays at all.

American defender Chris Richards talks to the media during a training session ahead of the 2026 World Cup on Wednesday in Irvine, Calif.

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Defenders

Name: Chris Richards ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 26

Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.

Club team: Crystal Palace (Premier League)

As an athletic kid growing up in Alabama, Chris Richards could easily have ended up with a career in a different sport altogether — at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he shares a frame with plenty of point guards and wide receivers. But the young Richards caught the soccer bug early on and pushed through culture shock as a teenager on a professional contract in Germany to blossom into a talented defender. He's the best defender on the USMNT, but he hurt his ankle in a game with his club Crystal Palace in May and hasn't played since. The U.S. defense has looked porous without him, but on Wednesday he said he was "ready." (He may also have the best game-day fits)

Name: Antonee "Jedi" Robinson ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 28

Hometown: Liverpool, England

Club team: Fulham FC (Premier League)

Robinson grew up in England and developed as a player through the youth system at Everton. But the English national team never called him up — so when the U.S. offered him an opportunity, because his dad had grown up in the U.S. (and played soccer at Duke), Robinson seized the opportunity. Since then, the left-back has developed into one of the USMNT's most talented players. But a major injury set him back for more than a year, and he only just returned to the field for the U.S. in March. "There was no certainty on my end that I was going to be fit and available and make it, because it just seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel," he said earlier this year. A few weeks ago, he bleached his hair for the World Cup, then scored an absolute rocket of a goal in the friendly against Germany. Auspicious!

Name: Tim Ream ⭐⭐

Age: 38

Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.

Club team: Charlotte FC (MLS)

Ream is the oldest player on this squad, and his steady leadership has earned him the team captain armband. At 38 years old, he's no longer the fastest guy on the pitch, but those decades of experience — one of them spent in England at the Premier League club Fulham — mean he rarely finds himself out of position, and his passes are still well-placed. He wasn't chosen for the World Cup squad in 2014 and then the U.S. failed to qualify in 2018. But he played every minute of the U.S. run in 2022. "Tim is an amazing American story of perseverance," '22 USMNT coach Berhalter said last week. Expect to see Ream start at least some of these games, if not all of them.

Name: Sergiño Dest ⭐⭐

Age: 25

Hometown: Almere, Netherlands

Club team: PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie)

Dest grew up in the Netherlands, but his father immigrated to the U.S. from Suriname, then a Dutch colony, when he was a child. Eventually, the elder Dest played college soccer in New York, served in the Vietnam War and became a U.S. citizen, retiring from the Army just a few years before having a son, Sergiño. The youngest Dest came up through the Ajax academy system in the Netherlands, and the U.S. began recruiting him a decade ago. He started all four games at the 2022 World Cup and is likely to be a starter once again.

U.S. defender Alex Freeman dribbles the ball against Senegal during an international friendly match last month in Charlotte, N.C. Freeman has quickly established himself as one of the USMNT's more versatile players.

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Name: Alex Freeman ⭐⭐

Age: 21

Hometown: Plantation, Fla.

Club team: Villarreal CF (La Liga)

The Baltimore-born son of the Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman, Alex has quickly established himself as one of the USMNT's more versatile players. His ability to attack and defend as a wingback shone while playing for MLS side Orlando City SC, for whom he scored six goals while playing as a defender last year. That performance earned him a move to the Spanish club Villarreal and call-ups to the USMNT earlier this year. His athleticism and rapidly growing understanding of the game have allowed him to quickly earn a starting spot on the back line, most likely on the right side next to Richards.

Name: Mark McKenzie ⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: New York, N.Y.

Club team: Toulouse FC (Ligue 1)

McKenzie has been around the USMNT for years now but he's finally found his footing with Pochettino at the helm, making 15 of his 29 career appearances since Pochettino took over. There's been a battle for playing time at center back since Richards has been out with his ankle injury, and McKenzie may be Pochettino's favored backup option. Expect to see him as a substitute, especially as Pochettino manages Richards' playing time coming out of his injury.

Name: Miles Robinson ⭐

Age: 29

Hometown: Arlington, Mass.

Club team: FC Cincinnati (MLS)

Robinson is savoring this World Cup. He'd scored the game-winning goal in extra time against Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2021. He was a lock to make the 2022 squad as a top defender prospect, but he ruptured his Achilles tendon and had to watch the tournament on television at home. Robinson was drafted #2 into the MLS by Atlanta United in 2017. He starred collegiately at Syracuse and found a passion for soccer watching his older sister play the game. Robinson, who has 40 appearances with the senior national team, is sure to make an impact in this World Cup, even if he comes off the bench.

Name: Auston Trusty

Age: 27

Hometown: Media, Penn.

Club team: Celtic FC (Scottish Premiership)

Trusty has gotten this far betting on himself, he says — his tryout for the Philadelphia Union Academy, his choice to forgo college for a professional career, his decision to make the jump to Europe after earning an extension with the Colorado Rapids. That's all paid off for Trusty. He attributes that belief in himself to being the youngest of six kids, the rest of whom all eventually played collegiate soccer. "If I wanted to have a relationship with them, if I wanted to help myself in the games I played with them, I had to be confident," he said. Trusty has shown some promise in his limited minutes in 2026, but it's unclear how big a role he'll play this summer.

Name: Joe Scally

Age: 23

Hometown: Lake Grove, N.Y.

Club team: Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)

Despite only being 23, Scally's a veteran of the USMNT setup. He made his debut for the national team in 2022 and went to that year's World Cup in Qatar. He's an attack-minded fullback who's been a mainstay for Gladbach since moving there in 2021, and he'll look to be an outlet for build-up play. Scally never appeared in a game in the '22 Cup, and this year could be the same.

Name: Max Arfsten

Age: 25

Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

Club team: Columbus Crew (MLS)

The 6-foot-1 winger made his USMNT debut in January 2025, playing in 16 of 18 matches that year. He was drafted by the Columbus Crew in 2023 after playing collegiately at UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton. At UC Davis, he attended as a walk-on, earning a scholarship and being named to the Big West All-Freshman team. The Fresno native returns home to train, saying, "his Fresno upbringing fuels his motor and competitiveness on the pitch." Equally comfortable playing with his right and left foot, he's been featured in many USMNT matches in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup and is expected to see playing time.

Matthew Freese knows he has big shoes to fill. The USMNT has had a number of strong goalkeepers in the past. Freese will be the likely starter in goal for the U.S.

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Goaltenders

Name: Matt Freese ⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Wayne, Pa.

Club team: New York City FC (MLS)

There are big shoes for any USMNT goaltender to fill. The position has long been a strength for the U.S., from Kasey Keller to Brad Friedel to Tim Howard. Now, it's a question mark — a choice that's come down to two guys, Matt Freese and Matt Turner, both MLS starters who haven't been able to find a regular job in Europe. Last year, Freese, who played college ball at Harvard before finding a spot with the Philadelphia Union, surpassed Turner as the most frequent starter in goal for the national team. In last year's Gold Cup, he recorded two clean sheets and three penalty saves over six games. But that doesn't mean his spot is a lock.

Name: Matt Turner ⭐

Age: 31

Hometown: Park Ridge, N.J.

Club team: New England Revolution (MLS)

Turner's story is another scrappy prove-yourself saga. He came to goaltending relatively late in life, donning the gloves for the first time as a teenager to stay in shape for other sports. No colleges offered him a scholarship at first, so he walked on at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where he eventually earned conference honors. But even that couldn't find him a foothold in the pros, and it took some serious luck to eventually find regular playing time with the New England Revolution. His skills continued to grow, and eventually he earned a call-up to the USMNT and became the regular starter in 2021 through the 2022 World Cup, where he recorded a pair of clean sheets. "There's a healthy mutual respect between us," Turner said in May about Freese. "We both want to play, we both have played, we both will respect whatever the final decision is from the coaches. And then from there, our roles will change to be supportive of each other."

Name: Chris Brady

Age: 22

Hometown: Naperville, Ill.

Club team: Chicago Fire FC (MLS)

Brady, the Chicagoland native who plays now for his hometown club, has arguably been the best MLS goalkeeper over the past couple years, but he's still a firm No. 3 behind Freese and Turner when it comes to the national team. Brady earned his first senior team call-up last year, then made his debut in May in the second half against Senegal. "Whenever you get included in a camp or any type of squad, you got to be ready to play," he said. "If you're not playing, your goal then is to push the other guys who are."
Copyright 2026 NPR

David Hockney believed painting could change the world; in the midst of all our miseries, he said, art lets us see the world as beautiful, thrilling, mysterious. Hockney, one of the best-known contemporary artists, has died at home, age 88, his publicist said Friday.

The artist, who died on Thursday, was one month short of his 89th birthday, publicist Erica Bolton said in a statement. He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima.

"David Hockney's enduring legacy reflects his underlying enthusiasm for life, his outstanding sense of humor, his immense generosity, and his investigative curiosity encapsulated by his signature phrase," she said. "Love life."

British, he spent decades working in Los Angeles, making images that captured the wealth and sunshine of Southern California. Hockney created art on canvas, paper, photographic film, videos, iPhones and iPads. His bright, cheerful paintings sold for millions.

"I enjoy looking ..." he explained to me when he was 79. "I can look at a little puddle on a road in Yorkshire and just of the rain falling on it and think it's marvelous. I see the world as very beautiful."

Hockney poses in front of his painting 'The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011' at the Royal Academy of Arts on Jan. 16, 2012 in London.

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With electric colors — blues, greens, yellows, fuchsia — he made merry beauties all his life. Pictures of tree-lined roads, flowers, snow-covered trees, the Grand Canyon. The world became new in his hands. Hockney also made portraits of friends and helpers.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Stephanie Barron remembers posing for him. She figured she'd go to work after a sitting. "What I found instead is that I was so exhausted from the intensity of the scrutiny, I went home and took a nap," she said. (You can hear from many more of Hockney's models in this story from 2018.)

Happily and luckily, I interviewed Hockney over the years. Our first encounter was in Paris in 2010 — an exhibit of little pictures he was making on his recently-discovered iPhone. He was charming, lively, open and engaged — and crazy for technology. An app called Brushes gave him a virtual paint box. Dipping his fingers into various colors, he touched the small iPhone screen and drew with his thumb. Then he got an iPad.

"The moment I got to the iPad, I found myself using every finger," he said.

He was engrossed, his friend Charlie Scheips, said. "He said he sometimes gets so obsessed that when he's going at it, he rubs his finger on his clothes to like, clean the finger as if he was using real paint." (You can see artworks Hockney created on the iPhone and iPad here.)

Raised by supportive parents in a simple English town, Hockney struggled with his sexuality. In the early '60s he came out. Films show him then with dyed blond hair and flamboyant outfits — a pink plaid suit, wide black and white striped tie, a red sock on one foot, green on the other. His lovers were young and beautiful. In the LA paintings they loll around at swimming pools, displaying divine derrieres. Pools were an obsession.

Hockney's 1966 'The Splash' is unveiled at Sotheby's on Feb. 7, 2020 in London. He followed it with 'A Bigger Splash' 1967.

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Tristan Fewings

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Getty Images for Sotheby's

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"Water offers an interesting graphic problem, it seems to me," he explained. "Say, a swimming pool, the water is transparent. How do you paint transparency? It has reflections and things."

A Bigger Splash, his best-known painting from 1967, shows a California swimming pool, tan diving board angling in from the bottom right, and rising from the aquamarine water, a lively, white splash. Someone just dove in.

"I spent longer on the splash than on any other thing in the painting," Hockney says. "I spent about a week painting it because it's painted with small brushes. I mean, I didn't want to just take a brush and splash it like that. I wanted to paint it slowly. And I thought then it contradicts the splash really."

An actual splash lasts a few seconds. Painting it took a week.

As his 80th birthday approached in 2017 museums were flooded with Hockneys. He was getting ready to go to London for one opening. I saw him then, for the last time, at his L.A. studio, surrounded by some comfy chairs, five easels, and clouds of cigarette smoke. The floor had dark brown smears from the smokes he chain-puffed, then stubbed out with his foot. Knowing he'd be fussed over in London, he said he didn't like parties anymore. "Too deaf for them," he said. They made him sad.

"I just have to leave and go home, have a sit in a quiet bedroom," he said. "And that's what I do. And then I read. ... That's my life now. I mean, that's what it's going to be."

But his eyes twinkled when he said that. And friends sitting near smiled indulgently.

He went on painting after I left, and made art the next day, the day after that, the day after that.

David Hockney: Always looking, and giving us the world as he wanted us to see it. Through joyous, vibrant pictures. That 80th birthday year, in Paris, there was a huge retrospective. The last piece in the show was graffitied on a white museum wall. In blue, on the white, Hockney had painted: Love Life D.H.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Hockney poses at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, on June 16, 2017.

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Martin Bureau

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The 1986 World Cup couldn’t have come at a better time.

I was a junior at Mission Bay High School in San Diego, and the uncertainty of life after high school was hitting me with a weight most teens didn’t have to bear. I was undocumented, so college admission was unclear at best, while job prospects were dim without a social security number or legal authorization to work.

My mother was undocumented too. We didn’t talk about Plan B — staying in the shadows.

How did I stay motivated and hold on to hope for college, and what would become a decades-long journalism career, without knowing that soon the federal Amnesty bill would regularize me and many others?

I have one of the undisputed stars of Mexican and European soccer to thank: Hugo “Hugoool” Sanchez.

A sports hero who looked like me

Mexican forward Hugo Sanchez waits for a corner kick during the World Cup quarterfinal match between West Germany and Mexico on June 21, 1986 in Monterrey. West Germany advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 victory on penalty kicks at the end of the extra time period.

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STAFF/AFP via Getty Images

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AFP

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Hugo Sanchez was about a decade older than me and had worked his way up in Mexican soccer. By the mid 1980s his proven goal-scoring skills as a forward had landed him at the famed Real Madrid soccer club in Spain.

Let me back up a bit. I didn’t even like soccer as a kid. My heroes in elementary school slugged on the diamond and threw touchdowns. But then came Sanchez, from Mexico City, where I was born. The weekend sports shows I watched on Mexican TV from Tijuana played his goals over and over.

Mariachi musicians emerge onto the pitch ahead of kick-off at a match in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, held at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico.

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Bongarts

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But the highlight reels were missing something darker. Sanchez was not welcomed with open arms by the Spanish. Instead, he faced prejudice as a lone Mexican in a culture that labeled him an “other.”

At that time, California’s simmering tensions over immigration made me and other immigrants feel something similar.

LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez when he was 17 years old, in 1986 in San Diego

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Courtesy Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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Sanchez’s perseverance and accomplishments were inspiring to me. I put him ahead of my other sports heroes: slugger Tony Gwynn with the Padres and Chargers’ quarterback Dan Fouts. I felt much closer to Sanchez.

Hugoool and the 1986 World Cup

What does that have to do with the World Cup? Everything.

Organized sports were out of reach for me as a kid. My parents were busy working multiple jobs, and they needed me to babysit my younger siblings when school was out. They would have laughed at me if I asked them to drive me to anything other than school.

But seeing Sanchez's prowess on the soccer pitch and anticipating all the goals he'd score for the Mexican national team in the 1986 World Cup, in his home country, motivated me to start playing soccer at weekend pick-up games. I discovered I loved playing.

The 1986 boys soccer team at Mission Bay High School in San Diego. LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez wears #20 at left.

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MBHS yearbook

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By then I was older, and no longer needed a ride to games, so I tried out for the Mission Bay High School varsity team. I was in good shape, but far behind in soccer-smarts compared to those who’d played as kids in San Diego’s youth soccer leagues. Despite that, I made it. I felt overjoyed; my determination and work paid off. I had some great practice games, one with a chipped goal over the keeper’s outstretched arms, but the truth is that I was on the bench most of the season.

The mascot for the Mission Bay High School Bucanneers.

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MBHS newsletter

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The disappointment that I didn't play much during the season didn't lead me to give up on soccer. I had made it on the team, showed up to play, and put in a lot of effort, and that was rewarding in and of itself.

And by achieving this goal, by following Sanchez’s example of perseverance, I had something even more important — a sense of fulfillment.

My life changed rapidly after that. The 1986 World Cup was in June. In November, after passing through Congress, President Ronald Reagan signed the federal amnesty into law.

The varsity letter and the soccer cleats Adolfo Guzman-Lopez used while playing soccer for Mission Bay High School in 1986.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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Soon after, my mother and I received our green cards. That allowed me to file for a Social Security number, which meant I could apply to college. I was accepted to U.C. San Diego, where I got bit by the journalism bug while working for Voz Fronteriza, one of the student newspapers. That led to where I am today, decades later, an LAist correspondent.

I’ll be watching this World Cup thinking of my 1986 self, the crossroads I faced, and how “the beautiful game” was there to uplift me when I needed it.

Biking on river trails, going on picnics and surfing in the ocean are activities California residents cherish every summer. But headlines about the use of toxic chemicals in flood control channels around Orange County have created anxiety for those looking forward to their favorite activities this summer.

Dozens of environmental activists and Orange County residents packed the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting this week to urge the county to halt the routine use of toxins they say poison waterways and wash out into the ocean.

But several supervisors said it wasn’t that simple. The chemical prevents overgrowth in flood control channels, and that overgrowth could lead to backups and flooding, affecting neighborhoods and businesses during heavy rains.

Controversy over the chemical use led to an announcement last month by Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, declaring that chemical usage would be halted for the moment. The issue then came before the board this week for further discussion.

Supervisors decided to study the issue and revisit it in the months ahead, and directed the OC Public Works department to evaluate methods for clearing overgrowth of vegetation that crowd flood channels, and look for alternate methods of doing so.

Brent Linas, founder of the Orange County Creek Team, which has succeeded in bringing the environmental issue to the public’s attention through salty Instagram posts and other social media tactics, blasted what he described as the board’s inaction.

He feels that the board is “deeply dysfunctional” and plans on using the meeting as momentum to spread awareness about the chemicals' negative effects on the environment. “There’s palpable outrage in Orange County right now around this and we fully intend to tap into that,” Linas said.

Foley also plans to reintroduce public noticing requirements at the next meeting June 23. The notices would alert residents to the planned use of any pesticides and herbicides. “Orange County residents deserve transparency to help make informed decisions about where their families recreate,” Foley said in a statement released the after the meeting. “I remain encouraged by the overwhelming public support in exploring nontoxic solutions for our waterways.”

How to watchdog your local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention. Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 W. Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.