The Brief

All this week, we’ve been shining a flashlight on some hair raising history and haunts from across the Southland for our Spooky L.A. series.

For our final installment on this Hallow’s Eve, we take a look at one of L.A.'s most notorious cold cases, the brutal murder of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia murder.

Kim Cooper of Esotouric L.A. leads crime tours across the city, and one of them takes thrill seekers down the same block where the body of Short was found in 1947. She tells us the story of the Black Dahlia.

Who was the Black Dahlia?

Short was in her early 20s when she came to Southern California. Cooper likens her to a transient, having bounced from place to place before finally landing in Long Beach.

Cooper said that one of her friends nicknamed her the Black Dahlia after a motion picture called Blue Dahlia that was released in 1946.

“Just as a funny little lark, her friend said, 'Oh, Beth, you’re like the Black Dahlia with your curly hair, and flowers behind your ear, and those dark clothes you always wear,” Cooper said.

A murder mystery

Nearly 80 years later, Elizabeth Short's murder remains unsolved. Short was found by Betty Bersinger while out for a walk with her child in Leimert Park on Jan. 15, 1947. Instead of taking a main street, the duo went down a quiet, smaller street when Bersinger spotted something in the weeds up ahead. The closer she got, she realized what she was seeing was a body and quickly picked up her child and ran.

Part of what keeps people intrigued is the way Short's body was found.

“She was cut in half and not just cut in half but posed with the body a bit apart,” Cooper said.

The condition of her body led puzzled investigators to believe that perhaps someone with medical knowledge — or a butcher — could have been responsible. Police looked into several people, but, Cooper said, they overlooked a surgeon who lived a block away from Short.

When Cooper takes guests on the Black Dahlia tour, they begin at 39th Street and Norton Avenue and walk down the long block to the murder site. They stop at a fire hydrant, just 50 feet from where Short's body was found.

“Standing there, looking up, when the day is clear, you can actually see the Hollywood sign. And Hollywood is where this person in life, Elizabeth Short, spent so much of her time frolicking. She never was anywhere near there except in that moment of death. It's a heavy place,” Cooper said.

Cooper said she pauses right there for a moment with the tour group.

“She was one of us," Cooper said. "She almost had a chance to grow and live and be happy here. The least we can do is respect her and show a little love.”

Why the Black Dahlia case is so compelling

We asked Cooper why the case is still so compelling after all these years.

“Her story gives us a window into what life was like for these sort of transient butterfly characters who were just flitting around the edges of the wartime world,” Cooper said.

Of the few things that are known about the Black Dahlia, one is that she lost someone she loved during war.

But another reason her story resonates with us now, is that her situation is not unlike one that Angelenos continue to experience — a housing shortage.

“There was an incredible housing crisis, which was a huge part of Beth's short story,” Cooper said. “And I think that empathy, familiarity, and a sense of what if is something that people hold when they hear about this case.”

Cooper added that without journalists, we would not know who the Black Dahlia was. They investigated her like the police did and told her story. The tragic irony is, however, we would not have known who she was, if it wasn’t for her death.

With that thought, we hope you enjoyed this mini series of Spooky L.A. history. Let us know if you would like for us to continue this series next Halloween. Stay safe and happy Halloween!

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

The Trump administration appears poised to gut the central policies that shape Head Start, a popular and long-established early childhood education program that serves the country’s neediest children, including thousands in California.

The federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs posted a notice that it intends to “significantly reduce regulatory requirements” for Head Start, effectively stripping the program of the unique features that have defined it since its creation in the mid 1960s.

The announcement came in late May and will likely go through a review process before becoming official in 2027.

The agency doesn’t specify what exactly it plans to cut, but reports indicate that it could be most of the program’s standards and guidelines. That may include low student-to-teacher ratios, minimum teacher qualifications, and stipulations that Head Start accept all income-eligible children regardless of whether they’re disabled or if their parents are citizens.

The agency also suggested it wants to shift Head Start funding to the states, although it didn’t specify how or when this would happen.

“The complete gutting of these goals ignores what we know really works in early childhood education,” said Deborah Stipek, a former dean of the Stanford School of Education who’s researched the topic. “If you’re going to spend money on something, wouldn’t you want it to have positive effects?”

The agency said in its announcement it expects the cuts to be “well-received by Head Start programs, since they will welcome reduced (administrative) burden and increased flexibility.”

It also said it would allow local Head Start programs to keep policies that “best address the needs of their communities.” But individual Head Start programs are unlikely to comply with standards that aren’t required, particularly if they’re facing pressure to serve more students, said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California, a nonprofit that advocates for California’s 1,813 Head Start centers.

In the same announcement, the agency said it also planned to boost the nutrition and physical exercise components of Head Start, but didn’t offer further details.

‘It will be very different’

So far, Head Start has evaded major budget cuts, and the federal government doesn’t appear poised to slash funding now. A handful of California Head Start programs shuttered during the government shutdown last fall, but reopened when legislators returned to work.

But a reduction in standards would, eventually, have a significant impact, Cottrill said. It’s likely Head Start will have less qualified teachers, larger class sizes and fewer opportunities for parent involvement, she said.

“Those standards are what make Head Start a high quality program,” Cottrill said. “Head Start will still exist, but it will be very different from what it is today.”

Head Start, launched in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, is a federal childcare program that serves the country’s lowest-income families – those earning less than $33,000 a year for a family of four. The federal government issues grants directly to school districts, nonprofits or other organizations that run Head Start programs, sometimes in combination with other funding sources.

Head Start offers health screenings, meals, curriculum focused on literacy and math, and resources for parents such as parenting classes. Children who attend Head Start are more likely to go to college and hold professional jobs later in life, a 2022 study found.

In California, about 70,000 children are enrolled in Head Start. The number would be higher but programs have had to turn away families because they struggled to hire staff. Early childhood educators sometimes earn less than fast food workers and turnover is high, Cottrill noted.

Cost of losing disability screening

One Head Start standard that could be especially costly to eliminate is disability screening. Identifying and addressing disabilities such as dyslexia early can reduce the need for special education later on, potentially saving thousands of dollars, Stipek said.

Beth Meloy, an early childhood education consultant who worked on the federal government’s Head Start standards, said that simplifying and streamlining the standards is probably a good idea. Navigating too many standards may be overly burdensome for some local Head Start programs, she said.

But gutting them entirely would be a disaster, she said.

“Head Start is built around a mission of giving low-income children a path to sustained education and life outcomes,” Meloy said. “These changes lack the thoughtfulness that these children deserve.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

New campaign finance data shows who’s bankrolling the closely-watched race for Los Angeles mayor — and most of the money is backing Mayor Karen Bass.

Money supporting Bass — whether in direct donations, public matching funds or outside spending — has outpaced money backing City Councilmember Nithya Raman by about 3 to 1.

The disparities in the mayor’s race are much starker among groups that handle the largest donations because they’re not subject to contribution limits. Those money flows from independent expenditure committees have backed Bass 36-to-1, compared to Raman.

Among money raised directly by candidates, donors who gave $1,000 or more account for 47% of Bass’ donors and 18% of Raman’s. Those donors are subject to an $1,800 per donor limit.

A look at the top spenders

The largest spender so far is the LAPD officers’ union, which reported spending $1.2 million on ads against Raman — who made the runoff — and progressive community organizer Rae Huang, who didn’t. The data covers what’s been reported so far for the 2026 election cycle, including the lead up to the June primary.

The second-biggest is Airbnb, which reported giving $750,000 to a committee backing Bass. This year, Bass advanced a proposal backed by the company to relax city regulations by letting Airbnb hosts rent out second homes and investment properties through 2028.

Another large spender is Douglas Emmett, which is a large property investment company. It gave $525,000 to the police union’s main spending committee, of which at least $225,000 was disclosed on anti-Raman ads by the committee.

In recent years, the company is known for attempting the largest eviction from rent-controlled housing in Los Angeles in at least four decades, citing a need to upgrade fire sprinklers. The city declined to legally intervene on behalf of the renters, who ended up suing and winning a 2024 court ruling that found the evictions were illegal.

Significant spending for Bass has also comes from several other large unions for workers, including about $200,000 from Laborers’ Local 300 — which represents workers in construction and maintenance — and $180,000 from affiliates of SEIU, which represents most of the city government’s staff.

The latest spending numbers come from city data based on disclosures required by state law to be filed by the spending committees. Friday was the deadline to submit a more complete set of filings showing all raising and spending in the first half of this year.

Bass had a head start for years, entering this year with a hefty $1.5 million in her re-election account. Raman started fundraising in February.

Other big spenders

• $100,000 to a pro-Bass committee from the construction workers’ group State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.
• $50,000 to a pro-Bass committee from Kaiser Permanente CEO Gregory Adams.
• $50,000 to a pro-Raman committee from Arts District redeveloper Yuval Bar-Zemer.  
• $25,000 to a pro-Bass committee from the real estate company of Frank McCourt.  McCourt co-owns the parking lots around Dodger Stadium and has been seeking approvals from the L.A. Metro board — which Bass serves on and now chairs — for a controversial gondola project.

Records show unions spent big against candidate and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who did not make the runoff. The umbrella group for unions in the region — the L.A. County Federation of Labor — reported spending about $500,000 against Pratt, paid by a committee largely funded by the union for L.A. County sheriff’s deputies.

Pratt was supported by about $329,000 in spending by the Save L.A. committee. The committee was funded largely by four executives: John Hering, the San Francisco-based founder of cybersecurity company Lookout.; Jason Larian, the L.A.-based president of Zero Point Capital; Redwood City-based David Dollinger of Silicon Valley landlord company Dollinger Properties; and Phillip Sarofim, the L.A.-based founder of the investment firm Trousdale Ventures.

How the biggest donations flow

Direct giving to the candidates’ campaigns is legally restricted to $1,800 per donor each election cycle. So the biggest donors instead spend through “independent expenditure” committees, or “IEs.” State law allows individual donors to spend unlimited amounts on elections through IEs, as long as it’s not coordinated with the candidates’ campaigns.

That IE money often flows through multiple committees — many of which combine money meant for candidates in multiple different races — on its way to election ads, which can make the money hard for the public to easily track.

The general election will take place Nov. 3, with ballots mailed to registered voters about a month ahead of time.

At the Hollywood Bowl last week, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jose Rizo, longtime afternoon host at our local jazz station, KJZZ. Jose is a walking history lesson in the California jazz scene and beyond. The encounter inspired a rewatch of La La Land and reminded me about the excellent jazz clubs — like Sam First by LAX — that we have at our fingertips. Plus, it’s extra fitting because this week kicks off the first-ever L.A. Jazz Festival, which is bringing a slew of mostly free concerts to venues across the area.

If you’re not a jazz person (and like Sebastian says, if you hate jazz, you just don’t have context), check out Licorice Pizza’s picks for some rock ‘n' roll.

Music

Patti LaBelle will be at the Pacific Amphitheatre this week.

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Erika Goldring

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Wednesday

• ZZ Top & Cheap Trick at the Hollywood Bowl
• Sierra Ferrell at the Wiltern
• Die Spitz at the Fonda

Thursday

• YG at the Grammy Museum
• Patti LaBelle and the O’Jays at the Pacific Amphitheatre
• Alejandro Aranda aka Scarypoolparty at the Echo

Friday

• Grupo Frontera at the Intuit Dome
• Macy Gray plays the first of her two nights at Blue Note
• Counting Crows begin their two-night run at the Hollywood Bowl

Saturday:

• Ed Sheeran with Myles Smith at SoFi Stadium
• Little Feat at the United Theater
• Yoko Only celebration at the Broad

Sunday:

• Lionel Richie with Earth, Wind, & Fire at the Intuit Dome
• Free Latin Grooves show at Pershing Square Park 

Monday:

• John Mellencamp plays the Hollywood Bowl
• Benson Boone with special guest Ashe at Crypto.com 
• Cruz Beckham — yes, David and Victoria Beckham’s son — at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever

Tuesday:

• Rüfüs Du Sol continue their run at the Forum
• Jill Scott begins her two-night run at the YouTube Theater

Events

10 Years LA!

Through Saturday, Aug. 15; Summer Party event Thursday, Aug. 6, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Sprüth Magers
5900 and 6145 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Catch the expansive group show at Sprüth Magers (and the former Sizzler down the street) before it’s gone. The exhibit includes the gallery’s artists from the past decade who have represented Los Angeles in a variety of forms, from Jenny Holzer’s electronic messages to Barbara Kruger’s room-sized wall installations to L.A.-based artists like Sterling Ruby and Analia Saban. Thursday’s event at the Sizzler space includes 22 video works from the late 1960s to the present, plus there will be hot dogs by Tail O’ the Pup; music by Wormwood Star, Mo0d and Yacht; and a cash bar.

Two Gentlebots of Verona

Through Saturday, Aug. 15 
Media Park
9091 Culver Blvd., Culver City 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Shakespeare in the Park … but make it robots? Welcome the most gentlemanly robot overlords into your theater life this summer as The Actors’ Gang does their (50-minute! You can handle this!) take on the Bard’s Two Gentlemen of Verona in Two Gentlebots of Verona. The action takes us to fair Culver City, where the bots’ friendship is tested over their love for Silvia Dot Matrix. Order your Coco to the park (or maybe not, the organizers may get mad at me for that one!) and see what happens.

LA RiverFest

Sunday, Aug. 9, 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. 
L.A. State Historic Park
1245 N. Spring St., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy dubroWORKS

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Friends of the LA River host their 5th annual LA RiverFest, full of arts (including an environmental art gallery), entertainment, family-friendy “eco-activities” and more at the L.A. Historic Park. Plus, there will plenty of treats from local food trucks. You can even sign up to volunteer here.

World Taste of the Anaheim Packing District

Tuesday, August 11, 5 p.m to 9 p.m. 
440 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim
COST: $33.85; MORE INFO

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The annual World Taste of the Anaheim Packing District coincides with the big Disney fan fest D23 this year, so they are making all the events D23-themed. Disney fans and fanatics of all ages will enjoy Disney-themed trivia and giveaways, plus you can punch your World Taste passport for all different bites at the wide range of restaurants along the way. LAist readers get 15% off using the direct link here.

Iceage

Thursday and Friday, Aug. 6 and 7
The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
5970 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
COST: $37.75; MORE INFO

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Danish post-punk outfit Iceage returns to Los Angeles for a two-night residency at the Masonic Lodge in support of their new album, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter — one of the most critically acclaimed releases yet as part of the band's ascent. Their sound is hard to pin down, but there's an instant familiarity to each listen, paired with wry lyrics that feel sharply attuned to the moment — songs like "The Weak," "No Fear," and "Tender Blades" among them channel everything from Beggars Banquet-era Rolling Stones to Bends-era Radiohead, with a heavy dose of sardonic wit throughout, just enough to feel something. – Gab Chabrán

Blueprints of Nature: A Cyanotype Sunprint, Tea Blending & Sound Journey

Sunday, Aug. 9, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 
1451 Carroll Ave., Echo Park
COST: $80, sliding scale available; MORE INFO

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I remember making cyanotypes as a kid (I think we knew them better as sun prints back then), and in the past couple of years I’ve seen them making a resurgence both as craft — like this fun workshop in Echo Park — and even in fancy art galleries. Get your inner artist inspired by learning how to make your own cyanotypes alongside a relaxing tea blending and sound experience.

Yoko Only 

Saturday, Aug. 8, 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. 
The Broad 
221 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: SOLD OUT; MORE INFO

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Artists from Rufus Wainwright to Sleater-Kinney to Silvan Esso will gather to give Yoko Ono her (long past!) due at this super-group tribute concert curated by Yuka Honda celebrating Ono’s solo show at The Broad. The show is sold out, but keep an eye out for last-minute availability. The exhibit is on through October and is well worth checking out!

National Oyster Day deal 

Wednesdays in August
Evangeline Swamp Room
701 N. Spring St., Downtown L.A. 
COST: $25 per dozen; MORE INFO 

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Christy Linder

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National Oyster Day may only be one day (it’s today, August 5), but the Evangeline Swamp Room downtown is making it last all month. Every Wednesday in August from 5 to 9 p.m., the New Orleans-themed hot spot will be offering its signature Charbroiled Oysters for $25 per dozen (usually $25 per half-dozen). They’re charbroiled in a beer and butter sauce, topped with white cheese, breadcrumbs, Cajun spices, onion, bacon bits and served with lemon. Wash them down with an Abita beer or a classic New Orleans cocktail for a perfect summer dinner.

Ice-Age discoveries are still happening at the La Brea Tar Pits while the museum is closed for renovations.

And for the first time in Los Angeles, researchers have found a new species of extinct amphibian, according to a study released Wednesday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The little amphibian is a type of spadefoot toad — which technically aren’t toads but have the word in the common name. The researchers have affectionately named it Spea labreae (spay-ah lah-bray-eye) — a nod to the location where it was discovered.

How they found the amphibian

Spea labreae is now one of only two amphibians found from this era in North America. The other is a tree frog in Florida.

The study’s lead author, José Alberto Cruz, discovered the spadefoot while reviewing a collection of bones that had been barely touched since they were excavated from Rancho La Brea in 1929.

This incomplete sacro-urostyle bone (base of the spine that connects to the hips) is the holotype specimen used to describe the new species, Spea labreae.

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At first, he said, he thought the sample came from a sick or injured amphibian in the already known spadefoot family. But as he compared the bones, he realized that couldn’t explain the differences in what he saw.

“[I thought,] 'Oh my god, this is a new species that is [being kept] in a drawer,'” he said. “And now it’s in the light to the world.”

This was Cruz's first discovery of an extinct species. He said he measured the bones to determine the size. According to his research, it was a bit larger than today's spadefoots. (Reporter’s note: Sorry to anyone who was hoping for it to be huge, like I was.)

As for the name, Spea labreae may seem self-explanatory, but there’s another reason.

“ The team [is] amazing,” he said. “All the people inside, the curators, the collection managers, the excavation lab — all the people are great.”

Why the discovery matters for climate change

Amphibians are incredibly sensitive to climate changes and need water. Because of that, researchers can learn more about what conditions were like during the Ice Age, such as precipitation and temperature, just from a frog's presence.

“ The birds, they can fly. If the conditions are very bad, they move,” he said. “But in the case of toads, frogs … they can’t move a lot.”

Co-author Emily Lindsey, a  vertebrate paleontologist at the La Brea Tar Pits, said the new discovery could offer insights about a much colder, wetter L.A. region.

Reconstructions of the dark Spea labreae at the center and right in the La Brea Tar Pits, compared with Spea hammondii (light spadefoot, left), which is the species in L.A. today. The Mexican burrowing toad is at the bottom.

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“ If we’re trying to understand what Los Angeles looked like during the Ice Age, these are some of our best clues that can give us information about that,” she said.

For Spea labreae, L.A. is its only known home so far. But researchers also found the first record of the Mexican burrowing toad here, which today is only found in southern Mexico.

Lindsey said something big may have happened that made the toad move, such as climate changes during the late Ice Age or the arrival of humans.

Although the new discoveries won’t be in a dedicated exhibit when the museum reopens, they will be incorporated into the format.

“ Toads are definitely going to be represented in the new museum,” Lindsey said, “along with insects, songbirds, pack rats and all of the other plants and animals that make up an ecosystem.”