The Brief

Brain Dead is a fashion brand that’s been around Los Angeles for 10 years now, and has stores in Tokyo, New York, and London. You’ve probably seen its skate and post punk inspired pieces on cool kids around the city: graphic tees, fuzzy sweaters, A24 collabs. (If you look closely, you can even catch a Brain Dead shirt on oldest daughter Margo in the Despicable Me 4 trailer.)

You’ll also see their logo on the marquee of the old Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, or, as it’s known now, Brain Dead Studios.

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#264: Fashion label Brain Dead has taken over a site that some would consider....a little cursed. Originally opened in the 1940s as The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, the venue was home to premieres and parties. Until a theft and murder shut the theater down.
Take a listen as we explain the history and present of this theater.

Revival House: The Long Road From Silent Films to Brain Dead Studios

#264: Fashion label Brain Dead has taken over a site that some would consider....a little cursed. Originally opened in the 1940s as The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, the venue was home to premieres and parties. Until a theft and murder shut the theater down.
Take a listen as we explain the history and present of this theater.

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The company’s founder, Kyle Ng, took over the 82-year-old theater and reopened it in October 2020. The venue came with quite a bit of baggage that we’ll get into later, but Ng said he was driven by his love of indie film and concerns about the many theater closures during the pandemic.

“It was from film and music that I learned about anything about fashion,” he said. “We need to keep places like this alive to inspire generations.”

The Brain Dead touch

The 163-seat theater has digital and 35mm projection capabilities, and sits just up the street from the iconic Canter’s Deli. There’s a retail showroom upstairs and a patio and cafe, Heavy Head, in the back. It’s an inviting space.

Signage leads visitors to different areas of the Brain Dead Studios on March 31, 2024.

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“I realized that I wanted to create a place where it was more inclusive and more inviting to an audience that maybe never felt like they were being spoken to by the repertory cinema,” Ng said.

Ng came to Los Angeles to work in film shooting music videos after being inspired by picking up a copy of RES magazine. He was hanging out with Rick Stello in the import DVD section of Meltdown Comics, picking up official releases of international films like Oldboy and Battle Royale.

“Through curiosity we learn and get excited about different things we've never learned about,” said Ng. That curiosity that led him from comics and music to film and fashion. Now, with the movie theater, Ng said his team can “take risks and do things to make the theatrical experience a little different.”

Brain Dead Studios has screened docs for the skateboarding community, hosted Magic the Gathering tournaments and created fashion collaborations with some of the films it’s screened, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

And it leans on its audience for feedback.

The theatre fills up for the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screening at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles on March 31, 2024.

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Like many repertory theaters in 2024, the Brain Dead audience is young. If folks sign up for a monthly membership at the theater, (that’s $28 a month for unlimited film screening tickets and a 10% discount on clothing and concessions) they’re invited to write in with films they’d like to see.

“Most people wrote old titles,” Ng said. “And the cool thing is that old titles is so subjective to our audience because an old title might be Lost in Translation or it might be a '90s film.”

He noted that Sofia Coppola movies sell out, screenings of films like Speed Racer sell out, and anime will always garner interest.

It’s a connection to the theater’s past as a revival house, but with a slightly different niche.

The Silent Movie Theatre

The movie theater originally opened in the 1940s, built by John Hampton and his wife Dorothy. According to theater historian and film professor Ross Melnick, Hampton was a “massive silent film nut, if you will,” and loved silent cinema growing up in Oklahoma.

The Silent Movie Theatre was a classic mom-and-pop operation — Dorothy sold tickets and worked concessions, while John was in the projection booth screening his collection of silent film prints.

By the '40s, silent cinema was old news, so the theater filled a niche. Hampton’s collection was huge — an archival treasure trove of a medium known for being difficult to preserve. The couple screened films for 38 years.

By the 1980s, Hampton was having health issues and audiences were dwindling. He sold about half of his collection (most of which ended up in the archive at UCLA) and died in 1990. That’s when trouble broke out in his family.

Photograph caption dated February 10, 1980 reads, "'The Silent Movie' in its 30th year of showing films from the silent era on Fairfax Ave., also offers what may be L.A.'s bargain movie price: $1.50 admission."

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Herald Examiner Collection, courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library Tessa Collections

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As Melnick explained, his “nephew came in during a cleaning spree and just threw out hundreds of rare prints, posters, lobby cards — all that would be worth today, probably millions of dollars.”

Dorothy Hampton retained ownership, but the theater was empty until a family friend, Lawrence Austin, began running the space in 1991.

“He improved the theater, he brought in a live organist, and so it was, again, humming as the only operating silent movie theater in the country,” said Melnick. The theater was “attracting people from all over the world, not just those here in L.A.”

A troubled history

Lawrence Austin’s partner, James Van Sickle, was the theater’s projectionist, and the sole beneficiary of Austin’s estate. For about $30,000, Van Sickle hired a man named Christian Rodriguez to murder Austin and make it look like a robbery.

Austin was shot and killed, but another theater employee survived and identified Rodriguez, which led to Van Sickle. It was determined they had worked together, and both were sentenced to life in prison. 

Charles Lustman, a singer-songwriter, purchased the theater in 1999 and reopened the space with silent films, a cafe, live acts and private party rentals. In the mid-2000s, deciding to rededicate himself to music and recently diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, he sold the theater to brothers Dan and Sammy Harkham.

Sammy, a 26-year-old cartoonist and Dan, 24 at the time, took over the space in 2006. Bringing in film producer Hadrian Belove, they opened Cinefamily in 2007. For 10 years, Cinefamily was one of the “hottest places to go see movies,” said Melnick.

Celebrities would come in for events, and you could catch anything from silent films to art house classics to indie premieres and retrospectives. “It was all given this kind of veneer of cool," Melnick added.

In 2017, allegations of harassment and abuse came to light. An investigation found “breaches of acceptable behavior alleged to have happened at Cinefamily offices and events,” according to a statement issued by the Cinefamily board of directors at the time.

Giles Miller, who spearheaded the investigation, told the Los Angeles Times his team reached “findings that were not conclusive, but that the board was able to work with." Executive director Belove and board member Shadie Elnashai apologized, resigned and denied the allegations. Cinefamily shut down permanently.

The Harkham brothers tried to reopen the theater with a new name, the Fairfax Cinema, detached from the former Cinefamily board in 2019, but due to issues finalizing opening night programming and the 2020 COVID shutdowns, the space stayed empty.

What's next?

Brain Dead Studios reopened in the theater almost four years ago with A Nightmare on Elm Street.

“I think spaces always have a history and you have to learn and adapt," Kyle Ng said. "And I think that's what we're trying to do.”

Every month, in addition to director spotlights (this month’s is Wong Kar-Wai), there will be signature drinks in the back with Heavy Head cafe. It’s all part of the storytelling, Ng said.

Patrons order drinks before the movie showing of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the Heavy Head Coffee & Wine back patio behind Brain Dead Studios on March 31, 2024.

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“And we're going to start serving wine. So there's going to be a lot more night events,” he added.

Brain Dead Studios has also been moving beyond just this theater on Fairfax.

“We've been able to [co]produce a couple films like Carpet Cowboys with Memory, which is an amazing documentary,” said Ng. That’s alongside short animations Brain Dead’s produced. “When you come to the movie theater, we have a lot of … incredible short films and animations by so many different artists.”

Ng wants to keep the theater accessible and inviting to the community as a place of inspiration. “That's what makes me happy and sleep at night,” he said.

Despite being an independent brand in an industry that’s not known for being a cash cow, Ng said that “even if it's hard, we will do our hardest to make sure that this place always has its lights on.”

The lobby and concession stand of Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles on March 31, 2024.

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Check out the Brain Dead Studios calendar of upcoming films here.

With the Lunar New Year starting Tuesday, a certain type of cuisine may be on your radar.

Most of us probably chow down on "Chinese food" without really thinking about what style it’s in or from which region it comes. Given that China is similar in size to America, it would be like eating "American food" without realizing that maybe you’re eating Maryland crab, Louisiana gumbo or New York-style pastrami sandwiches.

If you want to explore further, there's a wide variety of regional cuisines in L.A., from Cantonese dim sum to fiery and numbing Sichuanese food, as well as other lesser-known, delicious styles.

There are eight “great traditions” of Chinese cuisine, plus variations within them. Certain cities like Shanghai are also well known for their own style of food and dishes.

Here’s a guide to 12 restaurants you should check out.

Colette (Pasadena)

Region: Guangdong / Hong Kong (Cantonese)

An array of colorful dishes at Colette in Pasadena

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Cantonese food is one of most common Chinese cuisines in L.A., with Hong Kong cafes and dim sum restaurants all over the San Gabriel Valley. Colette in Pasadena, however, serves some Cantonese dishes that are harder to come by, like Cantonese-style lamb stew. A must-order is the hundred flower chicken (labeled “crispy stuffed chicken” on the menu).

XIBEI (Arcadia)

Region: Shanxi and Inner Mongolia

XIBEI serves oat noodles, characteristic of this Northwest region of China.

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The term “xi bei” means “Northwest” in Mandarin, so naturally XIBEI serves food from the Northwestern part of China, which includes Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Dry and mountainous, oats grow more easily in this area compared to wheat and rice. That’s why you’ll find oat noodles on the menu at XIBEI, including honeycomb-shaped noodles topped with a tomato-based sauce. XIBEI also serves various lamb dishes that are typical in Inner Mongolia, from grilled lamb to lamb soup with turnips.

Hengry (Alhambra)

Region: Guizhou

Guizhou food is known for its sour and spicy flavors

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Guizhou is an inland province in Southwestern China with mountainous terrain. One of the unique characteristics of its food is its sour and spicy flavor, as the area historically relies on fermentation to preserve food. Guizhou is also known as a home to the Miao and Dong ethnic groups, both of whom have their own food traditions. Hengry in Alhambra serves a traditional Miao sour soup, made using fermented tomatoes. (The proprietor’s father visited a Miao tribe in order to learn its recipe). Another Guizhou staple at the restaurant is the spicy chicken, stir fried using Ciba chili paste.

Chef Tian's (City of Industry)

Region: Hunan

Chef Tian’s originally opened in Vancouver, B.C., but recently brought its Hunan-style cooking to City of Industry. Instead of the numbing spice of peppercorns used in Sichuan cuisine, Hunan food tends to use fresh chopped chilies. Some of the signature Hunan dishes here include baby abalone and pork, stir fried with chopped chilies, of course. Being from Vancouver, Chef Tian’s menu also showcases the fresh seafood that the Pacific Northwest is known for. One of the special dishes at Chef Tian’s is the geoduck, a large clam, wok-fired with a heaping pile of chili peppers.

Dolan's Uyghur Cuisine (Alhambra)

Region: Xinjiang

Uyghur food is a combination of Chinese and Middle Eastern influences.

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Xinjiang is an autonomous region in Northwestern China that is home to a Turkic ethnic minority group called Uyghurs (pronounced WEE-gers), who've been in the news because of their persecution by the Chinese government. The food at Dolan’s Uyghur Cuisine is a combination of Chinese and Middle Eastern influences. The Uyghur dish called polo is reminiscent of pilaf: a plate or rice with carrots, onion, raisins and lamb. Lamb is the protein of choice in Uyghur cooking, used in everything from kebab to laghman, the traditional hand-pulled noodles stir-fried with meat and vegetables.

Mien Nghia (Rosemead)

Region: Chaozhou (Chiu Chow)

Chaozhou (or Chiu Chow in the Cantonese pronunciation) is a city in the Chaoshan region of the Guangdong province. While Mien Nghia is a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant, it actually serves Chiu Chow (also called Teochew)-style noodle dishes, as Chiu Chow people have had a history of migration to Southeast Asia since the 18th century, including to Vietnam. Chiu Chow food tends to be more delicate in flavor compared to some of the other regions, so the noodles, like the ones found at Mien Nghia, are served in a light, clear broth and usually topped with fish or meatballs, shrimp, fish cakes and quail eggs.

Chengdu Taste (Alhambra)

Region: Sichuan

Chengdu Taste in Alhambra is recognized as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the city

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Today, one of the most popular regional Chinese cuisines you’ll find around Los Angeles is Sichuan food. Numerous Sichuan restaurants have opened here, but this recent popularity can be attributed to Chengdu Taste in Alhambra, which opened in 2013 and was quickly recognized as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Sichuan food is known for its spicy and mouth-numbing flavors, thanks to the combination of chili peppers and peppercorns used liberally in dishes like toothpick lamb or boiled fish with green peppers.

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle (Monterey Park)

Region: Yunnan

One of the most famous dishes from Yunnan, an inland province in Southwestern China, is called Crossing the Bridge noodles, the name of which comes from a story. Once upon a time, the wife of a scholar would bring him lunch while he was studying on an island in the middle of a lake. The wife would bring a noodle soup with all the ingredients in separate bowls in order to keep the chicken broth warm. She would combine all the ingredients once she crossed the bridge and reached her husband. Today, at Yunnan rice noodle shops like Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle, all the ingredients are still served in separate bowls, and the guest combines them at the table. The restaurant’s name refers to the hot soup cooking the other ingredients in ten seconds. Typical toppings for this noodle soup include thinly sliced meat, corn, pickled vegetables and more.

Liu’s Cafe (Koreatown)

Region: Taiwan

While not part of the People’s Republic of China, the island of Taiwan’s culture and cuisine are certainly deeply rooted in Chinese culture and cooking. Taiwanese cuisine is a blend of the various groups of people who inhabit the island, both in the past and present. It draws from Hakka and Hokkien (Fujian) cuisines, indigenous Taiwanese and influences from Japan, among others. Take for example the iconic dish of Taiwan, the beef noodle soup (niu rou mian). The dish was created by migrants from China’s Sichuan province who adapted the Sichuan beef noodle soup to the local palate. Taiwanese restaurants around L.A. like Liu’s Cafe serve classic comfort dishes such as cold sesame noodles, braised pork belly over rice and Chiayi chicken rice.

Bang Bang Noodles (Downtown)

Region: (Shaanxi)

Biang biang noodles are hand-pulled, chewy noodles that are unique to the region of Shaanxi

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Not to be confused with Shanxi mentioned in the entry for XIBEI, Shaanxi is a province in northern China that actually borders Shanxi to the east. Shaanxi is known for its rich history as its capital, Xi’An, was the eastern end of the Silk Road. It is this history that brings about one of Shaanxi’s iconic dishes: biang biang noodles (the restaurant, Bang Bang Noodles, uses an Anglicized version). Biang biang noodles are hand-pulled, chewy noodles, unique to Shaanxi, that are typically tossed in a spicy oil made with chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic and more. They’re also topped with lamb, which is commonly used in Shaanxi cooking.

Auntie Qiu Kitchen (Alhambra)

Region: Shanghai

Shanghai is one of the four cities in China that is not part of any province, and Shanghai has evolved its own style of cuisine, which is generally characterized by its use of soy sauce and its sweeter flavor compared to other regional cuisines. Auntie Qiu Kitchen is a locals’ favorite that serves up Shanghainese street food, including what is perhaps the most famous Shanghainese dish, soup dumplings or xiao long bao. Equally good, though, are the pan-fried pork buns, or sheng jian bao. Auntie Qiu also serves Shanghai-style shumai, filled with sticky rice instead of the more commonly found version of pork and shrimp.

Traditional Guilin Noodles (Monterey Park)

Region: Guilin

Guilin is a city in Southern China that is most famous for its limestone mountains and rice noodles. Guilin rice noodles have been a local specialty since the Qin Dynasty over 2,000 years ago. These rice noodles at Traditional Guilin Noodles are silky and bouncy, typically served with a savory and spicy sauce made of chili and fermented soy beans. It’s usually topped with slices of meat, roasted peanuts, scallions and pickled vegetables, which should all be mixed together with the noodles and sauce. Traditionally, the noodles are served without soup, although these days, places like Traditional Guilin Noodles also offer a soup version.

The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus turns 40 this year, with a staggering list of honors and accomplishments to its name.

Those include a Grammy win (along with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel) for a concert choir in 2022, performances in countries around the world, on composer John Williams’ 2017 album, on NBC’s The Tonight Show, on Disney+ with Billie Eilish (an LACC alumna) and features in documentaries, among them the Academy Award-nominated Sing! in 2002.

But the impact on the daily lives of the thousands of young people who’ve been through LACC’s choral music training program is what matters most to artistic director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, who has headed up the chorus for eight years.

The LACC approach to music education

“The audience experience,” Malvar-Ruiz says, “it's not gonna sound right, but it's secondary to me. I think about [the choristers’] experience. The first thing is to create a sense of community, a sense of belonging, no matter where you come from. ... That alone is transformative.”

There’s also the transformative power of working together to accomplish a common goal and of what happens from being able to join voices with others, which Malvar-Ruiz describes as something “physiological.”

“Just think about, in a sports stadium, when everybody sings their team song, something happens,” Malvar-Ruiz says. “ Or in a temple or in a church, when they sing a hymn or a song, something happens. ... There's some innate urge to join our voices with others. And that is also transformative.”

And the ultimate aim, Malvar-Ruiz explains, is to create a positive, fun environment that sets the best foundation for learning.

“When they come here, if we manage to laugh and to have a great time, to learn something, to create beauty together with other people, then that's my job,” he says. “The byproduct is that the audience will love it. That's why I don't worry about it. But it’s certainly the byproduct of what we do.”

And while LACC does have auditions, they’re not about finding out who’s good enough to join.

“ I really believe, we believe, that everybody can sing,” Malvar-Ruiz says. “It's just they haven't been taught properly. So the auditions are more of a placement process.”

‘Music is everything to me’

The students who make up the choir also point to the power of music to help them express themselves and their emotions. Those in the choir today have been through a lot in recent years, from the pandemic to the fires last January.

Tenth-grader Mila Gustafson, who has been with LACC since 2018, lost her family home in Altadena in the Eaton Fire. When it comes to explaining what music means to her, she says, “Music is everything to me.”

 "It's a way of sharing and a way of communicating,” Gustafson explains. “[I can] express all my emotions with it, and I feel like that's very, very important.”

A satellite choir expands access in LA

Established in 2024, the LACC choir at Heart of Los Angeles, a nonprofit in the Koreatown/Westlake area, is part of an effort to increase access to LACC’s programs beyond its base in Pasadena.

Right now, it serves students in grades two through six, but the aim is to expand offerings as the students progress. And there already are glimmers of the transformative effects of choral music on the kids in the LACC@HOLA choir.

Second-grader Hadassa Lopez says she joined the choir two years ago because she wanted to learn to sing.

“At first, I was shy,” Lopez says, “because I was new. But I got used to it.”

You can hear the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus in person at their benefit concert Feb. 22. More information here.

Everyone in L.A. knows that Valentine’s Day is the worst traffic day of the year, but since it’s a Saturday this year, maybe it won’t be so bad? There are plenty of ways to feel the love for the special people, romantic or otherwise, in your life this weekend, from the literal (a matchmaking festival) to the philanthropic (a fundraiser for Minnesota’s restaurants).

If you, like me, refuse to go out on Valentine’s, you could do the most romantic thing possible — and by that, of course, I mean get a head start on your taxes. It’s going to rain anyway. Libraries around the area are hosting free tax prep and filing clinics; find one here.

After crunching some numbers, you’re going to have to dance it all out, whether that’s to the oldies with The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz at the Cerritos Center on Friday, or to indie darlings Pearl and the Oysters at Scribble or British post-punks Dry Cleaning at the Wiltern, the latter two also on Friday. On Saturday, you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with synthpop trio Nuovo Testamento at the Roxy or at Aloe Blacc’s final Blue Note show. Finally, since it’s a three-day weekend, you can stay up late on Sunday at the Forum with Cardi B or at Largo with Suzanne Vega. You can find more music picks over at Licorice Pizza.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can learn how the L.A. Conservancy is tracking Altadena’s historic sites for the first time and grab a ticket for Sunday’s Go Fact Yourself Live with Dree Hemingway and Eric Winter.

Events

Attune Sound and Light Experience

Saturday, February 14, 4:30 p.m. 
Various locations
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

It's almost impossible to miss the latest installation from NOW Art — the public art collective will launch sound and light experiences across multiple L.A. and Long Beach locations on Valentine’s Day, featuring works from artists like Sarah Rara, Odeya Nini, L. Frank and more, all focused on the theme of “Amplify Love.”

Wild Mushroom Fair

Sunday, February 15, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Ayres Hall at the L.A. County Arboretum 
301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia 
COST: FREE WITH ARBORETUM ADMISSION ($18); MORE INFO

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Celebrate the mighty mushroom at the Arboretum’s annual Wild Mushroom Fair. Aside from having the BEST poster for your favorite college kid’s dorm room, this event is for all my mycelium fiends and Michael Pollan fans out there. Whether your taste is magic or morel, you’re sure to meet some fungis. Come on, it’s Valentine’s weekend, after all.

Dudamel Conducts Beethoven and Lorenz

Friday through Sunday, February 13 to 15 
L.A. Phil 
111 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FROM $112; MORE INFO 

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

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Dudamel, Beethoven, Cate Blanchett, Jeremy O. Harris — need I go on? These heavy hitters are all on hand for Harris' new interpretation of Goethe’s Enlightenment tale, Egmont, narrated by Blanchett, and with the Beethoven score sure to be a jewel in the crown of Dudamel’s final L.A. Phil season. The program also includes the world premiere of Ricardo Lorenz’s Humboldt’s Nature and Yunchan Lim performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto. If you’re the flexible schedule type, there’s even an 11 a.m. performance on Friday.

Altadena Walk Club

Saturday, February 15, 9:30 a.m. 
Meet at Unincorporated Coffee
3045 Lincoln Ave., Altadena
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

Celebrate Altadena’s rebirth with a walk that ends in coffee — the best kind of walk. Bring your dog, your friends, your kids — it’s all ages, all abilities and all caffeine levels.

Hard to Read

Sunday, February 15, 6 p.m. to late
Variety Arts Theater
940 S. Figueroa St., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Taking place within the immersive art installation What a Wonderful World (on through March 20 — more on that soon, watch this space!), this event is a roaming night of live activations and readings staged throughout the spaces of the historic Variety Arts Theater. There will be performances by 10 different artists, an all-ages coloring space and much more. 

L.A. Matchmaking Festival 

Saturday, February 14, 12 p.m.
Benny Boy Brewing 
1821 Daly St., Lincoln Heights
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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If you’re single and ready to mingle (sorry guys, I’ve been out of this game a while), the Next Fun Thing folks are hosting a huge (and free!) Matchmaking Festival for Valentine’s Day (not awkward at all, promise). There are tons of events for whatever you and your potential sweetheart are into, from an oyster-and-cider pairing to an apple-pie-eating contest to, ahem, a banana condom relay. Love is in the air!

L.A. Loves MN fundraiser 

Saturday, February 14
Now Serving
727 N Broadway, #133, Chinatown
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

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Show your support for our friends in Minneapolis at the L.A. Loves MN fundraiser at Now Serving, the cookbook shop in Chinatown. The “ultimate baker’s box” full of treats from local pastry chefs will be available for pickup; orders open on Feb. 11. Donations will be shared between Haven Watch and @thesaltcurefund, which provides emergency grants to restaurants in Minnesota.

Tiana Gee x Maydan Market

Through early March 
Maydan Market 
4301 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams 
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

Chef Tiana Gee of Filipino/soul food fusion pop-up SoulPhil is bringing a limited-time residency to the new Maydan Market in West Adams. Timed to coincide with Black History Month, L.A. native Gee will serve up adobo short ribs, coco nana pudding, cornbread and more reflecting her Black and Filipino heritage at the Club 104 space.

Samantha Herman is geeked about cyborgs — about the way technology and human bodies can integrate. The second-year doctoral student at UCLA’s Anatomics Lab is part of a research team that’s working on bionic technology to prevent unnecessary amputations.

Traditional joint replacements, Herman explained, tend to loosen and fall out. Then, “people will get these really nasty surgeries that limit their range of motion and lead to a decreased quality of life.”

"The joint replacement that we're building [at UCLA] bends like a spring to move," they added excitedly. "And because it does that, there's no wear and tear." The implants, they explained, could last forever.

This is exactly the type of work Herman set out to do when they joined the lab. “I wanted to do work that matters, that would help people,” they told LAist.

Last summer, that work suddenly came to a halt when the Trump administration froze hundreds of federal research grants that had already been allocated to UCLA, accusing the school of tolerating antisemitism as a justification.

That experience has led Herman and other researchers to lobby the state to make its universities less susceptible to national politics.

Responding to federal cuts

When the freeze began, Herman was called to a meeting led by Tyler Clites, an assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

“I think that we can weather this for three months,” Clites said at the meeting. “But after that, I might have to start letting people go."

The worst-case scenario Clites feared did not come to pass. By late September, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation — the two largest federal funders of research at U.S. universities — were forced to restore some 800 grants at UCLA in response to federal court orders.

Still, the temporary freeze was long enough to cause permanent damage to some research teams. Plus, students and professors fear that budget reductions at the NIH and NSF may threaten their research capabilities and professional futures.

And so, at the start of 2026, Herman — along with researchers across the UC system, Caltech, Stanford and USC — journeyed to Sacramento to host a science fair. The effort was inspired by the success of similar science fairs hosted at UCLA, back when the researchers’ funding had not yet been restored.

At a building on K Street, Herman and their colleagues vividly described their work to lawmakers and congressional staff.

Isaac Aguilar was a first-year doctoral student at Caltech in Pasadena when the destructive Eaton Fire broke out.

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Their hope is to garner support for SB 895, a bipartisan bill that aims to create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research. The foundation would be tasked with awarding grants and making loans to public and private universities, as well as research companies, institutes and health care organizations engaged in scientific research and development.

The foundation would be funded by a $23 billion bond, which would need to be approved by state voters.

The deadline to get measures on the ballot is typically at the end of June. “And when it comes to bonds, that's always a deliberative process involving the governor and the leadership of the Senate and Assembly,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, one of the bill’s authors.

“We're not guaranteed to get this on the ballot,” he said at a January press conference. “I want to be clear: It's going to take a lot of hard work and advocacy and organizing.”

Why this bill matters to researchers 

Isaac Aguilar, a second-year doctoral student at Caltech’s division of geological and planetary sciences, also participated in the science fair in Sacramento. His current project focuses on the environmental impacts of ash contamination from the 2025 Eaton Fire.

After a fire, potentially hazardous materials in the form of ash can find their way into “our soils, our playgrounds, our schools and our backyards,” he said.

Though Aguilar’s work was not affected by last summer’s temporary freeze, he wants lawmakers and the public to understand that “[our] ongoing monitoring and efforts to remediate some of our polluted cities require a stable source of funding.”

In his view, the proposed bill is key to establishing “continued support to operate these instruments, to run our samples and to be able to track how these contaminants behave in the environment.”

Herman agreed.

“To go from an idea to an implant that can be in a person is [a process] on the order of a decade,” they said. “We can't deal with the volatility of four-year election cycles. It just isn't possible to do this kind of research in that environment.”

Wiener added: “We are at risk in this country of a scientific brain drain because the Neanderthals who are running the country don't believe in science."

He views the bill as an opportunity for California “to really step up [and] help preserve [scientific] leadership” in the U.S.

When asked about the possibility that federal research conditions might be restored under a different administration, Wiener added: “My concern is that even as we try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, there's going to be a lack of confidence. ... You know, are we going to have to have this disaster, or risk of disaster, every four years?”

“I think it's important for California to be like a rock in the storm,” he added. “So that we're just ... creating scientific advances [here] year in and year out, regardless of what's happening with the federal government.”

The projected ROI for Californians

Wiener and the bill’s other proponents also underscore that the bill is intended to let California share revenue off the licensing and royalty fees from inventions and technologies produced by the bond-funded research.

That means fees “for every drug and treatment created will be sent to California's general fund. So, a direct benefit to California taxpayers,” Wiener said. At the press conference, he also promised that pharmaceuticals developed through this research will be made available to Californians at a discount.

Elle Rathbun, a neuroscience doctoral student at UCLA who’s researching potential treatments to repair the brain after stroke, said she’s “in total support” of the bill. But, she added, this funding “should be additive, instead of a replacement.”

The NIH, NSF and other federal institutions have a responsibility to all U.S. taxpayers, Rathbun said, and that should not be relinquished.

Disclosure: Julia Barajas is a part-time graduate student at the UCLA law school.