The Brief

Grabbing a slice of pizza is in my blood. Yes, like for many, it's a nostalgic thing. It goes back to when I frequented my local pizzeria, Marco Polo, after school in my hometown of Whittier. Their "Special," two slices and a small soda, was $2.50. Perfect for a teenager's spending power. The price these days is $5, which is still pretty good, but that experience left a lasting impression. Ever since then, I've been a slice guy, and am always on the lookout for a good place to get one.

Here's the thing. It's true that New York's probably better known for the grab and go eat-on-the-sidewalk kind of thing (think John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever), but L.A. is FULL of places offering perfect, premium slices.

That's why I've devised this list of six favorites, ranging from the SFV to Long Beach, for when you need a quick fix.

We've laid out some ground rules:

First, all the pizza here must be sold by the slice — no whole pies.

Second, we've decided to omit square slices; while we are big fans of the pizza genre, we've decided to save that list for another day.

Third, we love a good lunch combo special, so if we can enjoy our slice with a drink or salad, we'll also note that. Sound good? LET'S GO!!

Prime Pizza

The 2 Slice Combo with both cheese and pepperoni slices from Prime Pizza

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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With the tagline "New York style pizza made for L.A.," Prime Pizza, with its various locations, has some excellent options for slices, including the single slice of cheese ($4) and the pepperoni ($4.75). However, we opted to grab the two cheese slice combo with a drink ($10, hello Cheap Fast Eats), and you can also mix and match toppings for a slightly higher price point.

The slice stays in its lane with a crispy crust and a respectable amount of sauce, perfect to satisfy your pizza craving in a jiff. It's the type to conjure middle school days after skateboarding with friends, and we love it.

Hot Tongue Pizza

The best of both worlds at Hot Tongue: a cheese slice and their Arrabbiatia, a vegan slice made with spicy crushed tomatoes, cashew mozzarella, red pepper, white onion, almond parmesan, and fresh basil

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Gab Chabrán

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You'll find the quasi-vegan pizzeria called Hot Tongue Pizza in Silver Lake. I use the term quasi because they started as vegan only and then added meat options later. Each slice costs around $6, but Hot Tongue also offers a great combo lunchtime option where you can get two slices and a canned soda for $10.

If you're an omnivore like yours truly, you can go both ways. Get one vegan slice, such as their Arabbiatta with cashew mozzarella, spicy tomato sauce, roasted red peppers, white onion, basil and almond parmesan. It's saucy, sweet, and filled with fresh flavors.

Then get their cheese slice, with grated parmesan cheese and mozzarella. The vast, sizable slices hit the spot with their chewy, sweet crust. If you're dining in, douse your pizza slices with Zab's Hot Sauce for a bit more sweet heat.

Shins

The herbed meatball slice with a side of celery salad from Shin's Pizza

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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The hottest block in Cypress Park also has great pizza at Shins. (They're next to our favorite Portuguese restaurant, Barra Santos). Shin's offers plenty of choices when it comes to slices, from their mortadella slice, which I included in the Best Things I Ate In 2023 round-up, to their sausage and mushroom.

They also have a rotating pizza of the month, which they sell by the slice. When I visited, it was a delightful herbed meatball containing a proper dusting of pecorino romano. I'd be remiss not to mention their side salads, like their celery salad with sliced Fresno chilies, chunks of crumbled blue cheese, and pistachios. That fresh salad crunch pairs exceptionally well with the light and airy pizza. Pro tip: Ask for some of their house-made ranch for dipping.

Milanas

The Sheephead's Bay slice from Long Beach's Milana's always hits

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Gab Chabrán

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I could not make a pizza slice list without mentioning one of my favorites in my hometown of Long Beach, Milana's. The New York-style pie joint specializes in a series of East Coast-style pies, but the standout for me is the Sheepshead Bay, made with house-made meatballs topped with pillow-soft dollops of ricotta and sprinkled with bits of basil.

This exceptionally piled slice features a great combination of flavors, the soft creaminess of the cheese, with just a slight bit of sharp flavor perfectly cutting through the fattiness from the sliced meatballs, containing elements of both soft and crispy that defy categorization and drive the whole thing home.

Gorilla Pies

The lunchtime special at Gorilla Pies includes a loroco slice, which is vegetable commonly found in pupusas, and their kraut-chi made with pickled cabbage. There is also the Armenian slice with a ranch sauce base, mozzarella cheese, cherry tomato, cilantro, and feta.

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Gab Chabrán

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Heading out to the San Fernando Valley? Make a pitstop at Chef Ben Osher's Gorilla Pies. The small but mighty pizzeria churns out some seriously exciting pies with daily specials.

When I visited, they had an Armenian slice made with a ranch sauce base and mozzarella cheese topped with cherry tomato, cilantro, and feta. I also had a Loroco slice, named after the vegetable most commonly found in El Salvadoran cooking, that's baked into the cheese layer, and their kraut-chi, a pickled cabbage making for a great mixture of savory and cheesy flavors on their oh-so-soft crust that feels like a dream.

Pizzeria Bianco

The red sauce and green sauce slices at Pizzeria Bianco are both bursting with flavor and textures

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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Visiting Chris Bianco's temple of pizza cookery, Pizzeria Bianco, at The Row near downtown is always worth seeking out. Plus, you can't beat free two-hour parking. Grab either their red or green slice: the red slice ($5) showcases their all-killer, no-filler approach with only house cheese blend and tomato sauce. The green contains caciocavallo, a soft Italian cheese, parmesan, and spinach cream sauce. Both slices come in a signature pizza crust that's well-cooked with a tight pull on each bite.

The University of Southern California board of trustees has appointed interim president Beong-Soo Kim to be its 13th full president.

Kim was named as the interim leader in February 2025 and began the role this summer. He most recently served as USC’s senior vice president and general counsel, and as a lecturer at the law school. Prior to joining USC, he worked at Kaiser Permanente and was a federal prosecutor for the Central District of California.

Kim succeeds Carol Folt, who was brought on to stabilize the university following a series of scandals under the administration before hers. She formally stepped down from her role in July, following criticism of her ability to handle student protests and concerns over fiscal stewardship.

Soon after his term began, Kim oversaw the university’s effort to manage a $200 million deficit, which also led to hundreds of layoffs.

“We did have to make some difficult decisions last year with respect to our budget and layoffs,” Kim told LAist. “And I'm really pleased that as a result of those difficult decisions, we're now in a much stronger financial position and really for a number of months have been really focusing on the opportunities that we see on the horizon.”

In a call with LAist, and joined by USC board chair Suzanne Nora Johnson, Kim touched on bright spots and some of his priorities. He also touched on the relationship between USC and the Trump administration before a sudden ending to the call.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

LAist: You've talked about addressing the mass layoffs and budget challenges. What do you see as the way forward?

Beong-Soo Kim: Our research expenditures have actually been going up over the last year, over the last couple of years. We're focusing on: How do we provide the best possible educational value to our students? We're focusing on how to maintain and strengthen our academic culture of excellence, open dialogue and engagement with different viewpoints.

And we're also really kind of leaning into artificial intelligence and asking questions as a community about how we incorporate AI responsibly into our education, into our operations, into our research. And there are obviously a lot of important ethical questions that we're working on, and it's really an quite an exciting time to be in the position that I'm in.

What are you excited for?

Well, a couple things that we're really looking forward to are, as part of the anniversary of the United States, we're going to be hosting a National Archives exhibition [of] founding documents in late April. We're also looking forward to helping host the L.A. Olympics in 2028. We have our 150th anniversary coming up in 2030 as a university.

So there's a lot that's on the horizon. We also have the Lucas Museum opening up across the street later this year and, of course, George Lucas is one of our most beloved Trojan alumni. So there's so much vitality, so much energy on the campus right now.

USC has, for the most part, avoided the sort of conflicts that the University of California system and elite private institutions across the country have had with the Trump administration. What can you share about how you plan to manage USC’s relationship with the federal government?

Well, we really make an effort to engage with all levels of government, as well as foundations, the private sector, community groups. That kind of engagement is really more important nowadays. Universities can't just go off on their own. It's important for us to partner and find opportunities to work with others. And that's what we've been doing.

And that's part of the reason why I think that our research has continued to go strongly. And I give a lot of the credit to our faculty and researchers who can continue submitting grant applications and continue to do research in areas that are critically important to the benefit of our community, our nation, and our world. And I think that we -—

Suzanne Nora Johnson: —Actually I'm so sorry, but we have to complete the board meeting, and we've got to run. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. We'll be in touch. Bye. Thanks. Bye.

Huntington Beach will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision striking down the city’s controversial voter ID law.

What’s the backstory?

Huntington Beach voters approved a measure in 2024 allowing the city to require people to show ID when casting a ballot. That contradicts state law — voters in California are asked to provide ID when they register to vote but generally not at polling places.

The ensuing court battle

The state and a Huntington Beach resident promptly sued the city over the voter ID law and won an appeals court ruling striking down the law. The California Supreme Court declined to review the decision earlier this month. The state also passed a law prohibiting cities from implementing their own voter ID laws.

Then, the City Council voted unanimously this week to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

Does the city have a shot?

The Supreme Court gets 7,000 to 8,000 requests to review cases each year. The Court grants about 80 of these requests, so the city’s chances of getting the court’s attention are statistically slim.

There’s also a question of whether or not the city’s voter ID case meets the Court’s criteria for review — SCOTUS addresses questions of federal law. Mayor Casey McKeon said it does, in a news release, noting a 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld a state’s voter ID law — in Indiana. But Huntington Beach is a city, and the question in its voter ID case is whether or not a city can implement its own requirements for voting, even if it clashes with state law.

Go deeper

• Huntington Beach's controversial voter ID law is illegal
• Huntington Beach clashes with California over voter ID requirement in court
• HB Mayor defends Voter ID measure as Gov. Newsom seeks to ban it
• Listen 26:32

  The Trump Administration wants your confidential voter data. What’s behind their battle with CA and other states?

When last year’s Eaton Fire burned the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, cantor Ruth Berman Harris helped save what she could from the flames.

Despite best efforts, the campus and nearly everything in it was destroyed.

“I had a colleague calling me and asking me what I needed, and I wasn't able to say,” Berman Harris, one of the spiritual leaders of the synagogue, told LAist. “I don't think I was able to say what I needed for about a year.”

In the months that followed the fire, people from around the world stepped up to replace what was lost, including prayer books, clothes and candlesticks. Several donated challah covers, a decorative cloth that’s placed over the braided bread before being blessed and eaten on Shabbat.

A parking sign at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center after the Eaton Fire.

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And while much of the community’s focus is directed toward larger items that need to be replaced — the buildings included — smaller, ceremonial items can make a big difference, too.

Karen Fink, a Van Nuys resident, donated a hand-woven challah cover that she made for the temple. Her weaving guild was already making dish towels for L.A. fire survivors.

“You've got so many things that need to be done and replaced,” Fink said.

“I just always like to think about who it's going towards, what it's going to be used for, that it should be used well and loved,” she continued.

‘Love through the threads’

On Jan. 7, 2025, as the flames closed in on the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, Berman Harris rushed through smoke and falling embers to rescue all 13 sacred Torah scrolls, pieces of parchment with Hebrew text used at services, including weekly on Shabbat.

Berman Harris now works out of an office building in Pasadena, a few miles away from where the center stood.

More than 400 families gathered to worship at the temple before the fire. About 30 families lost their homes, and 40 others were displaced, she said. The congregation has been gathering at the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which burned during the Eaton Fire, in January 2025 (top) and in January 2026 (bottom).

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“The silver lining of when you go through a traumatic loss is that you don't realize A, how strong you are and B, how not alone you are,” said Berman Harris, who has been a part of the congregation for 14 years.

She said the temple has received many gifts to help them rebuild, but Fink’s challah cover will be used for communal celebrations and holidays to give it an extra layer of “kavod” — of holiness.

Challah covers, usually embroidered with Hebrew words and symbols, are a traditional sight on a table prepared for a Shabbat meal, where both the bread and a cup of wine are blessed before eating. The decorative cover is a symbolic way of honoring the bread, while the wine is being blessed first.

“Because you say the blessing over the bread last,” Fink told LAist. “It gets to have this lovely cover so it doesn't get embarrassed.”

Fink said she used one of her more intricate patterns, featuring white and blue threads in a repeating pattern of the Star of David.

The challah cover woven by Karen Fink when it was fresh off the loom.

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She said it took a couple of hours to wind the thread, about a day to get the project set up on her small loom and another three days to get through the top six rows of stars.

Once the challah cover was complete, it took a few months to get it to Berman Harris, but Fink said she wanted to help in a way that felt more personal than mailing a check.

“They were able to get their Torah scrolls out,” Fink said. “But all the other things that maybe aren't required, but are helpful in enhancing the spirit of Shabbat, the spirit of a synagogue, you know, that was all lost.”

Starting to settle

Berman Harris said the donations have not only helped rebuild their ritual spaces, they were gifted “with love.”

“They're not things you buy on Amazon,” she said. “These are things that you cherish because you can feel the love through the threads.”

Cantor Ruth Berman Harris showing off the handmade challah cover Karen Fink weaved for the congregation.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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The synagogue has received other challah covers that they’ve distributed to families in the congregation.

On the anniversary of the fire, Josh Ratner, senior rabbi at the temple, told LAist’s AirTalk program that Jewish people have overcome “so much” throughout history.

People embrace inside a tent on the grounds of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire on Jan. 6.

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“I think that that gives us some firm foundation to know that we can recover from this as well,” he said. “And not just recover, but really our [history] … is one of rebuilding even stronger than before.

“Each time there's been a crisis, we've been able to reinvent different aspects of Judaism and to evolve."

Students carry lanterns they created as symbols of hope as they enter the grounds of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire.

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Mario Tama

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