The Brief

Trying to figure out how much your landlord can legally increase your rent? For tenants in Southern California, it can be confusing.

State law allows annual rent hikes as large as 10% for most apartment dwellers during periods of high inflation. However, different parts of California have different rules on rent increases.

Some cities have local forms of rent control that impose much lower limits. Others have no local limits at all.

Generally, older buildings are more likely to be subject to caps on rent increases. In many newer buildings, the sky's the limit because lawmakers say rent caps on newly built properties would remove the incentive for developers to build new housing.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act limits the kinds of rent control cities can impose on buildings constructed since 1995. Sacramento lawmakers also have agreed to exclude buildings constructed within the past 15 years from statewide rent caps.

The upshot: Finding the answers for your specific home isn’t easy. To sort it all out, we’ve put together a short guide on rent control laws across Los Angeles and Orange counties. Each jurisdiction is presented below, alphabetically.

Of course, we’re not lawyers. We can’t tell you exactly what’s legal and what’s not for your situation. L.A.-area tenants who need further help can reach out to Stay Housed L.A., a collective of legal aid organizations funded by local governments.

Baldwin Park

Baldwin Park city officials do not know what caps their rent control law imposes on annual increases. You read that right — the city’s rent control ordinance is so confusing, even those enforcing it don’t understand what it says about rent hikes.

LAist reported on a similar situation last year. Back then, Baldwin Park had failed to post timely information online about the city’s rent caps. After LAist asked what limits landlords and tenants should adhere to, given the lack of clarity, the city updated the guidance on its website.

One year later, the city is back in the same position, unable to say exactly how much landlords can legally raise rents on tenants covered by local rent control rules. Ryan Mulligan, a housing manager with the city, told LAist that the Baldwin Park City Council would have an updated rent control ordinance to consider later this month.

“The city of Baldwin Park is in the process of updating its rent stabilization ordinance to ensure it aligns with recent changes in state housing laws and reflects current community needs,” Mulligan wrote in an email. “The city’s goal is to provide a fair, balanced and legally sound framework that protects tenants while offering clarity for property owners.”

In past years, the city had limited annual rent increases to 3.8%. That limit took effect Aug. 1, 2023, and it remained in place until a new 3.9% limit replaced it Aug. 1, 2024. Now, in November 2025, city housing staffers say landlords and tenants should continue to follow the 3.9% limit, though they acknowledge that cap is out of date.

The city's rent control rules state that annual rent hikes will be 5% or lower, depending on recent inflation statistics. But the local ordinance fails to point out which month of inflation data would determine the upcoming year’s rent hike limit.

The city’s rent caps — assuming they are clarified at some point — generally apply to multi-family housing built before Jan. 1, 1995, with exceptions for single-family homes, condos and owner-occupied duplexes.

Bell Gardens

The city calculates allowable rent increases based on 50% of the local consumer price index, or 4%, whichever is lower. The current limit is 1.5%. That cap will remain in effect until a new limit is announced. The new cap would take effect Nov. 1, 2026.

Landlords who charge less than 80% of the area’s Fair Market Rent, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, can apply to the city for permission to raise rents by an additional 3% per year.

City councilmembers in Bell Gardens voted to implement local rent control in August 2022. The city’s rent control law generally applies to apartments built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally excluded.

Beverly Hills

The city of Beverly Hills allows annual rent increases of up to 3% in most rent-controlled housing. The city is scheduled to update this limit in June 2026.

However, as of Sept. 11, 2025, landlords are allowed to raise the rent 3.14% for tenants who originally moved into their housing units at rents of $600 or less and who live in buildings built before Sept. 20, 1978.

Details on how these complex rent increase rules work can be found on the city’s website. Beverly Hills’ rent control law generally applies to rental housing constructed before Feb. 1, 1995.

Cudahy

Under Cudahy’s rent control law, landlords cannot raise rents by more than 3% per year. In years when the local consumer price index is running lower than 3%, landlords must base annual rent hikes on the lower inflation figure.

The city’s maximum allowable rent increase between July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, is 3%.

The Cudahy City Council first passed a local rent control ordinance in June 2023. The rules generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. The limits don’t apply to renters in single-family houses, condos or townhomes.

Culver City

Tenants covered by the city’s rent control rules can receive annual rent hikes of up to 3.25% for increases that take effect between Nov. 1, 2025, and Nov. 30, 2025. The city frequently updates these limits. The latest figures can be found on this website.

Culver City’s rent control ordinance allows annual increases ranging from a minimum of 2% to a maximum of 5%, depending on recent consumer price index figures.

The city’s rent control law generally applies to rental housing units built before Feb. 1, 1995. The law generally exempts single-family homes, condos and townhomes.

Inglewood

Inglewood’s highly complicated housing protection ordinance, which originally took effect in 2019, currently allows annual rent hikes of up to 10%. But the city’s rent caps can be much lower, depending on how cheap your current rent is and the size of your apartment building.

If you live in a building with five or more apartments, your landlord can raise your rent up to 3% between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. That limit is based on the local consumer price index from April 2025. The city updates its allowable rent increases every May based on those figures.

However, Inglewood allows landlords with smaller buildings to impose higher rent increases. If you live in a rent-controlled apartment building with four units or fewer, your landlord can raise your rent by 8% starting July 1, 2025.

Additionally, Inglewood allows landlords to raise rents even more on tenants who pay 80% or less of the area’s “fair market rent.” Essentially, this means landlords can impose larger annual increases on those with cheaper rents.

Details on what qualifies as below "fair market rent” can be found on the city’s website. Tenants below those limits can receive rent hikes of up to 8% in buildings with five units or more — or up to 10% in buildings with four units or fewer.

The city’s limits on annual rent increases generally exempt single-family home and condo rentals (unless they’re owned by a corporate landlord), as well as any rental housing built within the past 15 years.

City of L.A.

Los Angeles landlords are currently allowed to raise rents by 3% on tenants covered by the city’s rent stabilization ordinance. The city also allows landlords to increase rents by another 1% if they pay for tenants' gas, plus another 1% if they pay for tenants' electricity. Along with the 3% baseline increase, that adds up to a total allowable rent hike of 5% if landlords cover both utilities.

This limit took effect July 1, 2025, and had been scheduled to remain in place until June 30, 2026 — unless the L.A. City Council voted to change the rules (which they have done).

It's important to note that depending on recent consumer price index figures, allowable rent increases in the city of L.A. can range from a minimum of 3% to a maximum of 8% — or up to 10% in cases where landlords cover their tenants' utility costs.

All of that is likely to change soon. On Nov.12, the City Council voted to significantly lower annual rent increases in most of the city’s apartments. Before any new rules take effect, they still need to be drafted by the City Attorney’s Office and returned to the council for a final vote.

Here's are the proposed changes:

• Rent increases would be capped at 4% annually
• An additional 2% increase for landlords who cover utilities would be eliminated.
• The exact rate each year would be equal to 90% of the change in the region’s consumer price index, a government measure of economic inflation.

Tenant advocates and some council members had pushed to lower the caps to 3%.

The current rules around rent increases follow a prolonged period of flat rents in L.A. The city banned rent hikes in rent-controlled housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. That prohibition expired Feb. 1, 2024, after remaining in place for nearly four years.

During the rent freeze, L.A. tenants filed a record number of complaints about illegal rent hikes. If you believe you received an unlawful rent hike in a city of L.A. rent-controlled apartment between April 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2024, you can file a complaint with the city’s housing department here.

The city’s limits generally apply to rental housing built before Oct. 1, 1978. Single-family home rentals are generally exempt. You can search for your address on the city’s ZIMAS website and click the “housing” tab on the left to find out if your home is subject to the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, or RSO.

Maywood

The city’s current limit on annual rent increases is 3%. This cap took effect on July 1, 2025, and will remain in place through June 30, 2026. The number is based on the April 2025 consumer price index.

Maywood’s City Council voted in August 2023 to implement the new rent control policy.

The southeastern L.A. city’s rules limit annual increases to 4% or the local consumer price index, whichever is lower.

Maywood’s rent control limits generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally not covered by the city’s rules.

Pasadena

The city’s current annual rent increase limit is 2.25%. This figure took effect Oct. 1, 2025, and will remain in place through Sept. 30, 2026.

Allowable increases under the city’s rent stabilization rules are equal to 75% of the region’s most recent consumer price index figures. Landlords can raise rents once per year, only after giving tenants a 30-day notice.

Rent control took root in Pasadena after voters there passed Measure H in November 2022. The city’s rules generally apply to rental properties built before Feb. 1, 1995. Condos and single-family homes are generally exempt.

Pomona

The city’s current limit on annual rent hikes is 4%.

That cap took effect Aug. 1, 2022 after the Pomona City Council passed an urgency ordinance in preparation for the passage of a permanent rent control law. The city’s website said a vote on that final ordinance was expected in October 2025.

The city’s rent hike limits generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally exempt.

Santa Ana

The city currently caps annual rent increases in rent-controlled housing at 2.42%. That limit took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and is set to remain in place through Aug. 31, 2026.

The city’s rules limit rent hikes to 80% of the local consumer price index or 3%, whichever is lower. The law, adopted in late 2021, generally applies to apartments built before Feb. 1, 1995.

Santa Monica

Currently, the city generally limits annual rent increases to 2.3% for covered units, with a maximum increase of $60 per month. That cap is set to continue until Sept. 1, 2026, when a new limit will be announced.

Voters in Santa Monica approved a ballot measure in November 2022 lowering allowable annual rent hikes to 3%, or a maximum of $70 per month. Just before that vote, in September 2022, Santa Monica’s rent control board had approved a 6% increase, with a cap of $140 per month. The ballot measure invalidated those higher increases.

Rent control in Santa Monica generally applies to apartments built before April 10, 1979.

West Hollywood

The city currently allows annual rent increases of up to 2.25% in rent-controlled housing. The limit took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and will remain in place through Aug. 31, 2026.

The city’s rent control rules generally apply to rental properties with two or more units that were first occupied before July 1, 1979.

The city calculates allowable increases using a formula based on 75% of the local consumer price index.

Unincorporated L.A. County

Annual rent hikes of up to 1.93% are now allowed in many rent-controlled housing units located in unincorporated areas of L.A. County. That limit took effect on July 1, 2025, and is scheduled to last through June 30, 2026.

But there are exceptions that allow for higher increases. Small landlords who testify to the county that they own no more than 10 rental housing units can raise rents up to 2.93% during this period. Mobile home tenants can receive an increase of up to 3%. And if your apartment is considered a “luxury unit” under the county’s rules, your landlord can raise your rent by 3.93%

The county’s rules generally limit rent hikes to no more than 3% — or less, based on a 60% of consumer price index formula. However, small landlords and luxury-unit owners can further increase rents by another 1% or 2%, respectively.

Confused about what an “unincorporated area” is exactly? Let’s break it down.

There are 88 incorporated cities across L.A. County. But many areas are not incorporated and are instead subject to rules passed by the county’s elected leaders. One in 10 county residents lives in an unincorporated area, including places like East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham and Altadena.

Many renters in these areas live in properties subject to the county’s rent stabilization ordinance. Those rules generally apply to rental housing in unincorporated areas built before Feb. 1, 1995.

Other cities

Many incorporated cities in L.A. do not have local forms of rent control. For a 2022 story about inflation and rising rents, we interviewed tenants in Burbank facing rent hikes of 10%. Those tenants were receiving such large increases in part because they lived in a city that does not impose local limits on annual rent hikes.

Even if your city lacks rent control, you may still be covered by a 2019 state law called the California Tenant Protection Act (also known as AB 1482). That law is meant to stop landlords from passing on very large rent increases to tenants across the state who live in areas without local rent control.

There are some exceptions. Newly constructed housing is not covered by this law. That means if you live in an apartment built within the past 15 years, these limits do not apply to your situation. But if your building is older than that, your unit is likely subject to the Tenant Protection Act’s limits on annual rent hikes.

The state law's rent increase limit is currently 8% for L.A. and Orange counties. That went into effect Aug. 1, 2025, and is based on more recent consumer price index figures. It's slightly down from last year's 8.9% maximum.

The law establishes a new annual baseline in August of each year. The rate is determined by the local consumer price index from April. State law sets the maximum allowed rent increase at 5% plus the local consumer price index (which was 3% in L.A. and Orange counties in April 2024) — or 10%, whichever is lower.

Typically, local rules take precedence over the state law. So if you live somewhere with stricter rent control, your landlord will have to comply with the lower local caps on rent increases.

The L.A. Metro Board has advanced a plan for a water taxi service between Long Beach and San Pedro during the 2028 Olympic Games.

Metro's board has for months been considering investing in a service to ferry spectators along the harbor for the Olympics, positioning it as a way to reduce traffic and increase access to the Games in the South Bay. Long Beach will host more than a dozen Olympic and Paralympic competitions.

The motion, introduced by L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, asks the Metro CEO to start identifying private and public operators that could deliver the water taxi program. It also directs the county executive to assess funding options, including sponsorship models and public-private partnerships.

At Metro's meeting Thursday, Hahn said passengers would be able to use their TAP cards on the water taxis.

" Other cities already run successful water transit systems," she told the board, naming San Francisco, Seattle and New York City. "There's no reason why we can't do the same here, especially with weather as good as ours."

A model for this type of passenger ferry already exists. Long Beach Transit operates water taxis each summer. A 40-minute trip between Downtown Long Beach and Alamitos Bay costs $5.

A feasibility study submitted to Metro this fall found that Metro launching and operating its own service on the water by 2028 wasn't feasible, instead recommending it pursue private operators or public-private partnerships to pull off the plan.

The report, put together by the Metro CEO's office, outlined four possible budgets and plans for a ferry program, including one using hybrid-electric vessels and three others using diesel ships.

The expected cost of operating the boats during the Olympic and Paralympic Games ranged from $750,000 for two 75-passenger diesel vessels and $1.34 million for two 350-passenger hybrid-electric ships.

The report also found that local funds likely would be needed to cover the bulk of the costs of a short-term water taxi service but suggested grant funding might be available for a service that would extend beyond the Olympic Games.

The water taxi is just one of many transit plans Metro is working on to deliver a "transit-first" Olympic Games. It requested more than $2 billion in federal funding for a fleet of thousands of buses to help get spectators around Southern California during the Games. Whether the federal government will deliver on that ask isn't clear.

Black people were “grossly overrepresented” in the overall total of those targeted by hate crimes last year in Los Angeles County and made up 51% of racial hate crime victims, according to a new report from the county Commission on Human Relations.

The annual Hate Crime Report, released Thursday, found there were 345 anti-Black crimes recorded in 2024 — the highest number ever recorded since the commission started reporting on hate crimes in 1980.

Last year also saw the largest number of anti-transgender crimes ever documented in the area — 102 — of which “a staggering” 95% were violent, the report states.

In all, there were 1,355 hate crimes reported in 2024, the second highest number of cases ever recorded, following the highest number of hate crimes the previous year prior.

“These numbers remain unprecedented, reflecting both the alarming persistence of hate and the Commission’s ongoing efforts to respond and take action against hate,” the report states.

Hate crimes and incidents

The report has numerous examples of hate crimes.

In one documented case, a trans woman was standing outside her home with her boyfriend when an unknown assailant approached them and called them transphobic and homophobic insults, according to the report. The situation escalated when the attacker struck the victim with a rock on the neck, head and arms.

“Unfortunately, we live in a society where there is a lot of ignorance and a lot of resistance to accepting the fact that transpeople exist in this world,” said Bamby Salcedo, who is with the Trans Latin@Coalition.

She attended the news conference where the report was released.

“We also have a current administration that has been dedicated to targeting our community directly,” said Salcedo, referring to the Trump administration.

In another case, a school principal reported that a classroom was vandalized and ransacked. Inside the classroom, walls, ceilings and equipment were defaced with the word “NAZI” and the N-word racial slur written in pink marker, according to the report.

Second to Black people, the largest group targeted was the LGBT community. The report found 255 crimes motivated by sexual orientation, with nearly three quarters targeting gay men.

Religious groups were the third most commonly targeted by hate crimes. While religious crimes decreased 13%, they still accounted for nearly 260 incidents. Jewish people were the largest religious group to be targeted by far. They accounted for 80% of all victims.

In one case in the West San Fernando Valley, a 15-year-old girl at a high school got into a verbal altercation with a male classmate. He called her a religious slur and punched her multiple times, according to the report.

More on the data

Last year had the highest numeric increase of violent crimes in L.A. County from 464 to 508 — a 9% increase. Seventy-five percent of racial crimes were of a violent nature, according to the report.

The most common criminal offense was simple assault followed by vandalism, aggravated assault and intimidation.

Crimes in which anti-immigrant slurs and taunts were used decreased 31% to 85 last year, the report states. It does not capture hate crimes for this year, when the region saw widespread immigration raids and heightened anti-Latino rhetoric by President Donald Trump and others.

Officials predicted an increase in anti-immigrant and anti-Latino crimes this year.

“We’re probably, unfortunately, going to come out higher for Latino-based hate crimes in relation to the immigration issue that’s going on right now in the region,” LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said at the news conference.

Other takeaways from the report:

• Anti-Latino crimes decreased by 1% to 143.
  
• Crimes targeting Middle Eastern people sharply increased from 22 to 48, the highest count ever in this report.
  
• Crimes with evidence of white supremacist ideology decreased 42% to 123, comprising 9% of all hate crimes.
  
• Reported hate crimes taking place at schools grew 6% from 139 to 147. This is the highest count ever documented in the report. These hate crimes included those taking place in K-12 schools, as well as college and university campuses.
  
• Anti-woman crimes grew 75% from 20 to 35.
  

The Department of Justice has instructed inspectors to stop evaluating prisons and jails using standards designed to protect transgender, intersex and gender-nonconforming people from sexual violence, according to an internal memo obtained by NPR.

This population is uniquely vulnerable to attacks while incarcerated, data shows, and advocates say the change will put such people in even more danger.

The memo explains that DOJ is in the process of revising federal standards related to the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in order to align with President Trump's executive order on "gender ideology extremism." The Jan. 20 executive order asserts that the United States recognizes only two sexes: male and female.

According to the DOJ memo, while the revision process is underway, detention centers that undergo PREA audits will no longer be inspected using standards specifically designed to keep LGBTQ and intersex people safe. The facilities include federal prisons, state prisons and jails, juvenile detention centers and immigration detention centers. These inspectors, referred to as auditors, are not employed by the DOJ, but are hired by corrections agencies or by individual facilities. The DOJ certifies the auditors and can decertify them.

The DOJ did not respond to NPR's request for comment on the memo. But this is the latest policy move by the Trump administration that removes legal protections for trans people — particularly those who are incarcerated. In his first few days in office, Trump upended long-standing federal policies that would allow incarcerated trans women to be housed in a facility that aligns with their gender identity. Trump has also signed an executive order banning transgender troops from serving openly in the military and another restricting gender-affirming care for minors. These orders have faced a host of legal challenges and are still being fought in court.

PREA mandates regular audits for prisons and jails. Those audits are among the few oversight tools for evaluating whether detention centers follow laws meant to stop rape, harassment and retaliation.

Auditors visit facilities regularly to ensure the staff and officials are doing everything they are supposed to under PREA to prevent sexual abuse and harassment. They interview staff and inmates, tour the facilities and check existing procedures.

Linda McFarlane, executive director of Just Detention International, said this rollback "will immediately put people in danger." JDI is a human rights group dedicated to ending sexual abuse in detention. McFarlane also was involved in advocating for the passage of PREA in 2003.

"It's going to make people less safe," she said. "And when facilities are less safe for the most vulnerable and marginalized, they're less safe for everybody."

In practice, the memo says auditors will no longer review whether facilities house transgender people based on their gender identity and on a case-by-case basis. Among other changes, the memo also says auditors should no longer consider whether sexual assaults were motivated by gender-identity bias.

A major 2015 survey from the criminal justice group Black and Pink found that LGBTQ prisoners were over six times as likely to be sexually assaulted as the general prison population. This is based on survey responses from more than 1,110 inmates. According to Brenda Smith, a professor at American University Washington College of Law and director of The Project on Addressing Prison Rape, the available data doesn't show the whole picture and that rate could be higher.

(In 2003, Smith was appointed to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which helped develop these very standards.)

She said the current changes laid out in the memo ignore this grim reality.

In the spring, the DOJ made massive funding cuts to crime-victim advocacy programs across the nation, including the National PREA Resource Center — the organization that trains auditors, tracks the outcomes of investigations and provides resources to victims and auditors. More than 360 grants were cut in April, but funding was reinstated for many of them following media reports of the cuts.

The DOJ at the time told NPR that it was "focused on prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off of the streets, and protecting American institutions from toxic DEI and sanctuary city policies. Discretionary funds that are no longer aligned with the administration's priorities are subject to review and reallocation."

The standards designed to protect inmates from sexual violence were developed after years of bipartisan work. They were created in response to overwhelming data, anecdotal evidence and a landmark Human Rights Watch report that showed sexual violence was, and continues to be, a serious problem behind bars.

The most recent data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that in 2020, correctional administrators reported 36,264 allegations of sexual victimization in prisons, jails and other adult correctional facilities. The allegations included incidents of sexual violence, harassment and misconduct carried out by inmates against other inmates and by staff members against inmates. The report said 2,351 of those allegations — a rate of 1.2 incidents per 1,000 inmates — were substantiated after investigation.

Lingering confusion

McFarlane's group, Just Detention International, says the DOJ memo lays out the government's plan to permanently revise the PREA standards and marks the first time the administration has publicly indicated what requirements it aims to remove.

But until the revisions are finalized through the ongoing rulemaking process, the memo instructs auditors to mark those standards as "not applicable" during audits — even though the rules technically remain in effect, according to the memo.

In a statement, the National Association of PREA Coordinators, a professional organization for coordinators who ensure agencies' compliance with the law, said that since the DOJ has not finalized any new regulations related to PREA, the current standards remain unchanged.

In the absence of a separate state or municipal law, the statement said, the DOJ memo allows each corrections agency or detention facility "to continue following the regulation or, if they choose, to ignore it."

The memo allows the DOJ "to implement the President's policy while allowing state and local governments to determine how to best meet the needs of incarcerated people who are transgender and gender diverse," according to the statement.

"Whether a system adopts a binary sex approach or one that recognizes a spectrum of gender, we cannot forsake our primary responsibility to keep the most vulnerable individuals in our care safe from those who present a threat of sexual abuse or sexual harassment," the statement said.

It's unclear how the DOJ plans to enforce the memo, and it's already sparked some confusion for at least one auditor.

Kenneth L. James, a PREA auditor for detention centers in multiple states, told NPR in an email that the memo makes the auditors' jobs "both more confusing and more difficult."

He said it will affect how the auditors are trained. "Some auditors have been auditing for over 10 years and conduct audits systematically," James said. "By removing these elements, auditors will have to reevaluate how they are auditing and may miscalculate compliance due to these unexpected changes."

But because PREA has been in place for more than 20 years and the prevalence of sexual abuse within the prison system is well-known, James said, "I believe and trust" that facilities "will do what is best for the incarcerated population."
Copyright 2025 NPR

The concert-promoting agency Sid the Cat has become a key part of Los Angeles’s indie music scene over the last 10 years. Their shows often aren’t in full-time concert spaces, but in historic buildings and other unorthodox places.

Keeping with that tradition, the Sid the Cat Auditorium, which holds its first show Thursday night, is in an old South Pasadena elementary school built in 1931.

About Sid the Cat

Music fans may know Sid the Cat’s place in the independent music ecosystem, but if you don’t, here’s just one anecdote: Pasadena’s own Phoebe Bridgers met her future collaborator Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes after cofounder Kyle Wilkerson put the two of them on the same bill before Bridgers became nationally known.

Sid the Cat books shows in venues of all sizes, from the tiny Permanent Records Roadhouse all the way to the Hollywood Bowl — and they book artists big and small to fill them.

“ Me, as the booker, I try to remain curious to new sounds and new music and new songwriters,” Wilkerson said. “It's the same when we come into a space. We get geeked on putting on an event that maybe nobody has ever done a show in this room.”

Wilkerson said the new auditorium reminds the team most of the midsized venues, including Highland Park Ebell Club, where they booked some of their first ever shows.

This bar area next to the Sid the Cat Auditorium will be open even on nights when there aren't any shows.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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The new venue

The venue has two main spaces, a main auditorium and a side bar area. The bar will host DJs nightly, even when there’s no main concert going on.

Besides being concert promoters, the Sid the Cat team are history buffs. A case in the bar area shows off historical documents from the building and mementos from the 10 years of Sid the Cat concerts.

One of the many mementos Sid the Cat has given out over the years.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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Kevin Tidmarsh

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“ Our dream was always to have a trophy case and to celebrate art, the way that people celebrate sports and other, other major events,” Sid the Cat cofounder Brandon Gonzalez said.

Another thing that’s on display in the main room: four murals from Lucile Lloyd, a prominent 20th century decorative artist. Wilkerson had a hunch based on historical documents that her art was somewhere in the elementary school, but couldn’t corroborate it even after consulting with the University of California, Santa Barbara, which hosts her collections.

These murals, the only surviving Lucile Lloyd murals on this site, were originally covered when the Sid the Cat team bought the venue.

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Courtesy Sheva Kafai

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It was a lucky rainstorm that partially revealed the murals under some paneling in the rafters, Wilkerson said. The murals are now on display, along with a plaque commemorating Lloyd.

The venue has a few modern touches, too, including a new sound system and a pickleball court on the floor with the Sid the Cat logo in the middle. They even have a net for staff and artists to play during off hours.

The Sid the Cat team said they long dreamed of a basketball court with their logo in the middle, but due to space issues they settled on a pickleball court.

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Courtesy Sheva Kafai

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“I hope people show up”

Concertgoers might notice a couple slogans around the venue. One is "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," a nod to the motto of Wilkerson’s grandfather’s bottling company. The other one is, “I hope people show up.”

Sid the Cat's cofounders.

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Courtesy Sheva Kafai

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Gonzalez said that’s because in the live music industry, it’s never guaranteed people will come out on any given night.

“ It truly is hard for people to show up and when they do, it's really beautiful and it's powerful,” Gonzalez said. “I love that uniqueness about each night that we put on shows and if it's raining or there's something going on, it's like, we truly don't know if people are gonna show up.”

Upcoming shows

The venue’s first show, featuring the L.A. bands Peel Dream Magazine and Goon, is Thursday, Dec. 4.

You can see the full upcoming lineup on Sid the Cat’s website.