Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published December 4, 2025 2:53 PM
The Helms Bakery sign in the Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The revived bakery will close Dec. 14 after just over a year in business.
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swanksalot
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LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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Topline:
The beloved Helms Bakery — an L.A. institution resurrected in November 2024 after more than a half-century — is closing again after just over a year in business, reflecting broader challenges facing independent restaurants across Los Angeles.
Why now: In an Instagram post, owner Sang Yoon cites the increasingly difficult operating environment for independent restaurants in Los Angeles, pointing to changed dining habits and economic pressures that have made it difficult to sustain the bakery in its current form. Yoon also owns Father's Office, the popular gastropub with locations in the Helms Bakery District on the Westside and Santa Monica. He closed Father's Office's Arts District location in September.
The backstory: The original Helms Bakery opened in Culver City in 1931 and became an L.A. icon, known for its fleet of yellow delivery trucks that brought fresh bread directly to Angelenos' doorsteps daily. The trucks became a fixture of the Southern California landscape before the bakery closed in 1969, unable to compete with rising costs and mass-produced supermarket bread.
What's next: Helms Bakery will serve its last customers Dec. 14. Yoon noted in the closure announcement that the team is "looking forward to what the future holds," though no specific plans for a reopening or new location have been announced.
Topline:
The beloved Helms Bakery — an L.A. institution resurrected in November 2024 after more than a half-century — is closing again after just over a year in business, reflecting broader challenges facing independent restaurants across Los Angeles.
Why now: In an Instagram post, owner Sang Yoon cites the increasingly difficult operating environment for independent restaurants in Los Angeles, pointing to changed dining habits and economic pressures that have made it difficult to sustain the bakery in its current form. Yoon also owns Father's Office, the popular gastropub with locations in the Helms Bakery District on the Westside and Santa Monica. He closed Father's Office's Arts District location in September.
The backstory: The original Helms Bakery opened in Culver City in 1931 and became an L.A. icon, known for its fleet of yellow delivery trucks that brought fresh bread directly to Angelenos' doorsteps daily. The trucks became a fixture of the Southern California landscape before the bakery closed in 1969, unable to compete with rising costs and mass-produced supermarket bread.
What's next: Helms Bakery will serve its last customers Dec. 14. Yoon noted in the closure announcement that the team is "looking forward to what the future holds," though no specific plans for a reopening or new location have been announced.
An artist's rendering for the former site of Papa Cristo's market and restaurant in Pico Union.
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Rendering courtesy La Tiera Consulting
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Topline:
The longtime home of Papa Cristo’s in Pico Union could be demolished to make way for a self-storage facility, across the street from another storage facility.
Why it matters: The Greek market and restaurant closed its doors last year, after seven decades in the neighborhood. Now a Redondo Beach-based developer, who are in escrow over the property, said if they are able to move ahead with their project they would honor Papa Cristo’s in some capacity.
What it could look like: The self-storage proposal would include a ground-floor retail space that could accommodate a scaled-down Papa Cristo’s presence if the family chooses to return to the restaurant business, but they have not spoken to the developers yet. Brian Sorenson from La Tierra Consulting, who would lead development behind the project, said the space could also be used by the community.
Read on... for what the building could look like.
This story was originally published by The LA Local on Feb. 11, 2026.
The longtime home of Papa Cristo’s in Pico Union could be demolished to make way for a self-storage facility, across the street from another storage facility.
The Greek market and restaurant closed its doors last year, after seven decades in the neighborhood. Now a Redondo Beach-based developer, who are in escrow over the property, said if they are able to move ahead with their project they would honor Papa Cristo’s in some capacity.
During a community meeting on Tuesday, some in the neighborhood were tepid about the proposal.
“I think everybody would like to see housing. It’s an important need,” said Stephen Post, manager of the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District. “I think there’s only so much the community can do to direct what they’d like to see. I’m glad that they want to include Papa Cristo’s. I know it’s been a staple in this community.”
An undated photo of Papa Cristo’s in Pico Union after the business closed its doors after more than seven decades in the community.
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Image via Google Maps
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The self-storage proposal would include a ground-floor retail space that could accommodate a scaled-down Papa Cristo’s presence if the family chooses to return to the restaurant business, but they have not spoken to the developers yet.
Brian Sorenson from La Tierra Consulting, who would lead development behind the project, said the space could also be used by the community.
Sorenson maintains the neighborhood is “heavily underserved” when it comes to storage. The area already has more than a handful of similar storage businesses, including one directly across the street from the proposed site on Pico Boulevard.
“Obviously, there’s already a storage facility a few blocks down on Pico, so from a competition standpoint, it will hopefully bring storage prices down for individuals in the area,” Post said.
Representatives for La Tierra Consulting said that storage costs would be market rate.
Still, La Tierra Consulting have presented their plans for the site to multiple community groups, like the Pico Union neighborhood council, and on Tuesday at the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District to get feedback on the project.
Other uses were considered for the site, including retail and industrial use, but none were as viable, the developers said.
Residential development would also be difficult on the relatively small lot because of parking requirements and high land costs, according to Post.
Last year, when Papa Cristo’s announced they would close their doors, the property was listed for sale on LoopNet for $5.2 million, according to Eater LA.
Papa Cristo’s was beloved in the community, in large part because of owner Chrys Chrys’s larger-than-life personality.
The restaurant also became famous for its rack of lamb, kebabs, and other classic Greek dishes.
At minimum, Sorenson said, the project would feature plaques, murals, or other public art honoring Papa Cristo’s legacy, and possible subsidized space for community groups.
Three design concepts were presented to the Pico Union Neighborhood Council in January, where the developers fielded questions from the community.
The initial proposal featured a more contemporary façade that some neighbors in Pico Union felt did not reflect the character of the area. In response, the design team developed alternatives inspired by nearby landmarks, including the local high school and surrounding historic buildings.
One revised concept incorporates brick and architectural motifs that echo the high school’s scale and materials, while keeping retail at the corner to help activate the street.
Another concept draws from the Huffington at Saint Sophia, the nearby Greek Orthodox cathedral, referencing its general shape and architectural details without directly replicating the chapel.
An artist’s rendering for the former site of Papa Cristo’s market and restaurant in Pico Union. Developers have proposed converting the site into a storage facility.
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Rendering courtesy La Tiera Consulting
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A third option embraces a “neo-industrial” look inspired by revitalized historic buildings across Los Angeles, blending industrial elements with a contemporary update.
The company went back to the Pico Union neighborhood council with all of the designs in February and there were different opinions on the designs, but ultimately the council voted 10-0 to support the project. The Byzantine Latino Quarter also voted to support the project.
Vanessa Rivera, who has been a resident of Pico Union for more than 30 years and is the president of the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District, said she does appreciate Sorenson’s company did seek community feedback.
“The fact that they have multiple designs based on community feedback is not something you see all the time,” she said. “They could have been someone that just came in and said, ‘This is our idea. We’ve already got it. We don’t care what you think,’ but they’ve come at it from a very community based perspective.”
Under all versions of the proposal, the upper floors would be dedicated to storage, with retail and potential community-serving uses on the ground level.
Customer access would be located at the rear of the property, where vehicles — including moving trucks — would enter a covered loading area built into the storage facility.
The project would also include a six-foot dedication along Pico Boulevard and Normandie Avenue to allow for wider sidewalks and potential future street improvements, along with a new bus stop.
The facility would operate during limited hours — generally from early morning to late evening — and include gated entry, keypad access, elevator controls restricted by individual codes, and 24-hour monitored security cameras.
Los Angeles Documenter, Aileen Mestas, contributed reporting for this story from the Feb. 2 Pico Union Neighborhood Council meeting. The LA Documenters program trains and pays community members to document proceedings at public meetings. Learn more about the program here.
LA public art experience debuts on Valentine's Day
James Chow
produces SoCal arts and culture coverage and news podcast Imperfect Paradise for LAist's on-demand team.
Published February 13, 2026 7:30 AM
Top row (left to right): Sarah Rara, Beatie Wolfe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, claire rousay, Media Pollution; Bottom row (left to right): L. Frank, Carmina Escobar, Odeya Nini, Qur’an Shaheed, Kerstin Larissa Hovland and Emery C. Martin.
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Courtesy of NXT Art Foundation
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Topline:
On Valentine’s Day, a free public art exhibition focused on sound and light will appear across 10 locations in L.A. County. The event, called Attune 1.0, encourages participants to put their phones down and have an interactive experience with the program.
What to expect: Live acoustic performances from L.A.-based artists L. Frank, Carmina Escobar, claire rousay, Odeya Nini, Beatie Wolfe, Qur’an Shaheed, Sarah Rara and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson will be simulcast via an old school television installed at each of the participating L.A. County sites.
The performances will be book-ended by L. Frank, a Tongva artist who will sing in their indigenous language. The musicians will put on sets ranging from 15-30 minutes. A pyramid-like installation will display different color hues as the performances play out.
Why now: “We want to amplify love,” said Carmen Zella, who’s owner and chief curator of creative arts agency NOW Art and co-founder of NXT Art Foundation. “ As we think about Los Angeles and everything that we've been through together — the fires, these ICE raids — we need to be able to have these moments of connectedness with our community in its entirety.”
List of participating locations:
East Hollywood: Barnsdall Park
Northeast Los Angeles: Sycamore Grove Park
Exposition Park: Jessie Brewer Jr. Park
Porter Ranch: Jane and Bert Boeckmann Park
Lake View Terrance: Hansen Dam
South Los Angeles: Leimert Park
Culver City: Wende Museum
Long Beach: Promenade Square Park
Santa Monica: Tongva Park
Altadena: Loma Alta Park
How to attend: The event is free and will last from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Zella recommends RVSP’ing to get more information about preparing for the exhibition.
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Jacob Margolis
covers science, with a focus on environmental stories and disasters.
Published February 13, 2026 5:00 AM
We got soaked in December, and we're due for another soaking here in mid-February.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Several days of rain are forecast to kick off Sunday as a series of storms rolls through, one after another. It’ll be one of the coldest weather systems we’ve seen so far this year, bringing a whole lot of much-needed snow to California, according to the National Weather Service.
Rainfall timing: The heaviest rain is expected to fall on Monday, with 2 to 4 inches possible in the Los Angeles area. Then, there will be on-and-off precipitation for the remainder of the week, though there’s a lot of uncertainty about exactly when you’ll need to have your umbrella handy. Thunderstorms could bring isolated pockets of heavy rainfall, potentially causing debris flows. Things should dry out by late next week.
About the snow: The coldest part of the weather system is expected to arrive on Tuesday, dropping snow levels to around 4,000 feet in Southern California. Two to 3 feet of snow could fall at higher elevations throughout the week, including at ski resorts. We could see anywhere from 4 to 6 feet of snow along the crest of the Sierra Nevada, from Mammoth past Lake Tahoe, along the crest of the Sierra. That's all good news for California's snowpack, which is well below average for this time of year.
Coming up: Another storm could arrive the week of Feb. 22, though it’s still a bit too far out to tell.
Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published February 12, 2026 4:22 PM
Ricardo Lopez said he's been a teacher for about a decade. The 2025-26 school year was his second at Synergy Quantum Academy.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Topline:
A former South L.A. charter school teacher says he was fired after he opened a campus gate so students could leave and join a protest of federal immigration activity.
What happened? Last week, Synergy Quantum Academy students joined regional walkouts protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But with the South L.A. school’s tall metal gate shut, some opted to climb and jump over it. Teacher Ricardo Lopez said he opened the gate out of concern for the safety of students who might have hurt themselves leaving the school.
What did he do wrong? In messages to parents and staff, Synergy's principal said an "unauthorized staff member" opened the campus' gate in conflict with LAUSD protocol. A plan provided to LAist states “if students leave campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students.” The document provided does not explicitly prohibit a staff member from opening a gate.
Why it matters: The dismissal has spurred further protests and raised questions about whose responsibility it is to ensure safety as students exercise their First Amendment rights.
Last week, Synergy Quantum Academy students joined regional walkouts protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But with the South L.A. school’s tall metal gate shut, some opted to climb and jump over it.
The school’s leadership wrote in messages to parents and staff that an “unauthorized staff member” then opened that campus gate — in conflict with Los Angeles Unified School District protocol.
That staff member, teacher Ricardo Lopez, said he acted out of concern for the safety of students who might have hurt themselves trying to leave the school.
He said the school fired him the same day. Now his dismissal has spurred further protests and raised questions about whose responsibility it is to ensure safety as students exercise their First Amendment rights.
Here’s what we know
Thousands of students across Los Angeles walked out during the first week of February to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including students at Synergy Quantum Academy.
Lopez said that after the walkouts on Feb. 4, he heard several students talk about injuring themselves climbing over the metal fences that surround the South L.A. school.
On Thursday morning, during his academic prep period, Lopez said he saw students trying to climb over the metal gate on the north side of the campus.
“When I saw one of my [AP U.S. History] students climbing the fence and jumping…and like almost falling, I started rushing towards the gate,” Lopez said. “ I opened the gate for them so other students wouldn’t get hurt like the day before.”
Guidance from the ACLU of Southern California related to student walkouts states “locking exits to the school can pose serious health and safety concerns for students and staff.”
Lopez said he opened this gate on the north side of Synergy Quantum Academy and Maya Angelou Community High School's shared campus after watching students attempt to climb over Thursday Feb. 5.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Lopez said within an hour, Synergy’s human resources department informed him that he’d been terminated for insubordination. Lopez said there was no hearing or additional meeting where he was able to defend his actions.
“What hurts even more was that they escorted me out like I was a — I felt like a criminal,” Lopez said.
The contents of his classroom were later boxed and sent to him via a third-party delivery service.
Lopez said it’s still unclear to him why he was fired. He said staff received an email earlier in the week telling them not to participate in student protests, but there was no mention of any policy related to the gate.
“ I wasn't participating [in the protest],” Lopez said. “To me it was about protecting students from getting hurt.”
What has the school communicated?
The school’s public justification for terminating Lopez intersects with a longstanding source of friction in Los Angeles schools — the co-location of independent charter schools on the campuses of traditional district schools.
Synergy Quantum Academy shares a campus with Los Angeles Unified's Maya Angelou Community High School. Synergy is an independent charter school with a separate staff overseen by a board of directors outside of the district.
In messages to parents and staff, Synergy's principal said opening the gate conflicted with LAUSD protocol.
Synergy Quantum Academy enrolled 564 students in the 2024-2025 school year and is one of several charter schools operated by Synergy Academies.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Synergy Academies CEO Rhonda Deomampo confirmed Lopez is no longer employed at the school.
In response to LAist's inquiry about which protocol was violated, Deomampo wrote in an email that Maya Angelou Community High School’s safety plan “clearly outlines the authority of the principal or designee in situations like these.” She also said “to date, the school has received no reports of student injuries related to student protests.”
The excerpt provided from the 206-page safety plan states it is the responsibility of the principal or designee to “maintain adequate safeguards to ensure the safety and welfare of students” during a walkout. The plan states “if students leave campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students.” The document provided does not explicitly prohibit a staff member from opening a gate.
How is LAUSD involved?
A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said while independent charter schools are expected to follow district policies related to walkouts, the district does not weigh in on personnel decisions.
“Independent charter schools are responsible for the supervision and management of the charter school employees,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Lopez said at Synergy, like many charter schools, he was an “at-will” employee, which means he can be terminated with or without cause and does not have the additional protections associated with union membership.
Community calls for teacher’s reinstatement
Lopez said he has a shared background with many of his students as the son of undocumented, working, immigrant parents who didn’t have an opportunity to pursue higher education themselves.
“That's one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher because a lot of things that I learned [in college] really helped me grow,” Lopez said. Teaching was a way to pay forward that knowledge.
“ I really miss my students, you know, I miss being in the classroom,” Lopez said. “ I just want to be reinstated, you know, and just keep, keep doing what I'm doing, teaching and supporting my students and protecting my students.”
Lopez said he is also worried that the termination could jeopardize his teaching credential or ability to get future jobs as an educator.
On Tuesday, dozens of students from both Maya and Synergy joined with organizers from Unión del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators to rally for Lopez’s reinstatement.
Ayleen was a junior in Lopez's AP U.S. History class. “ When he sees that a student's not OK, he asks them personally and he doesn't embarrass them in front of everybody," she said.
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Mariana Dale
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Synergy junior Ayleen said she didn’t participate in Wednesday’s walkout, but heard about peers who’d jumped the fence and gotten hurt. Ayleen requested to be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy.
“We truly believe that he shouldn't have been fired for protecting a student,” she said. “That's his number one priority as a teacher, protecting his students, and he's the only one that upheld that that day.”
Lopez was Ayleen’s AP U.S. History teacher. AP classes culminate in a rigorous test where students can earn college credit.
“He has this way of teaching that he helps so much because he re-words questions,” Ayleen said. “It sounds simple, but so many teachers don't do that. He genuinely helps us to learn.”
Ayleen’s mother, Mary, said she supported her daughter’s decision to join the Friday walkout in protest of Lopez’s termination and would like the school to bring him back.
According to an Instagram post, students from Maya and Synergy plan to participate in another walkout Friday — still against ICE, but now also in support of their former teacher.
