The Brief

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on May 16, 2025.

Across from a vendor stall at El Mercadito adorned with El Niño Dios dolls, rosaries and paintings of La Virgen and The Last Supper, dozens of grinning elf-like figurines are stealing the spotlight.

Shoppers, young and old, stop to admire the dolls dressed in Dodgers gear, Gucci overalls or popular fast-food-chain-inspired outfits.

“I kind of like the Starbucks uniform,” one customer whispered to a family member. A young girl tugged at her mom’s shirt, asking when she could get her first Labubu — the wildly popular rabbit-eared toy from Chinese manufacturer Pop Mart that’s taken the Eastside, and much of the world, by storm.

“Everybody at school has one,” 12-year-old Kevin Martinez said, curious if the Labubus on display were authentic. “I think people find them cute and then it becomes a popularity thing. But I think the trend might go away one day.”

While many turn to online sales to score the latest collection, the Labubu craze has become a cash cow for local vendors and small businesses — from Cesar Chavez Avenue street sellers to Eastside shopkeepers capitalizing on the soaring demand for the tiny dolls. Vendors are riding the trend to draw crowds, but they’re also building a mini-economy, offering affordable prices and creating community.

Several Labubus sporting clothing and accessories hang facing the El Mercadito hallway.

(

Andrew Lopez

/

Boyle Heights Beat

)

The frenzy has led Enar Romero to make Labubus the centerpiece of his toy and collectible shop at El Mercadito. A wall is dedicated to miniature clothing options — including what appear to be Gucci and Prada knock-offs — and tiny plastic cameras and glasses to further accessorize what’s become a fashion accessory in itself.

“It’s just a really hot item. I can’t really explain it,” Romero said.

And he’s not alone. Shirts and dolls of various colors are also found across corners and corridors on the Eastside. Vendors stock oversized Labubu dolls, themed tumblers, backpacks and T-shirts emblazoned with El Chavo del Ocho-themed Labubus. Some dolls — with questionable authenticity but just as much flair — wear sombreros and serapes.

Maria Morena holds up a Labubu outside her toy stand at El Mercadito.

(

Andrew Lopez

/

Boyle Heights Beat

)

Inside the Eastside Labubu economy

On Pop Mart’s website, dolls from a series called “The Monsters” sell for around $30, but some exclusive drops can go for much more and resell for upwards of $700. Limited or not, Labubus are known to sell out in minutes online.

Part of the craze is driven by its “blind box” model, which gives buyers a random toy from a set, according to Sandor Ferencz, a professor of international trade finance at Cal State L.A. When customers have a particular variant in mind, they’ll keep buying until they get the one they want, he said.

“If we think of the blind box as a model economically, it’s unique because it combines collectibility, scarcity and it’s random,” Ferencz said. “It monetizes this desire for that rare product, and that uncertainty, it’s successful.”

But the trend could be short-lived as President Trump’s proposed tariffs on Chinese imports threaten to raise prices and choke supply.

Ferencz said the tariffs could hurt the vendors’ ability to sell both licensed and unlicensed products, potentially driving up prices. And because the item is still a hot commodity, parents and collectors may rush to buy it before prices change.

For shoppers seeking more affordable prices, the tariffs may limit supply of unlicensed Labubu dolls and accessories. Romero, who resells authentic Labubus at his shop, says he also stocks unlicensed options at lower prices to make the trend more accessible.

“They still like it,” he said. “I even have grown-ups come up to me saying they don’t want to carry a $60 toy on their purse and get it dirty.”

But if Trump’s tariffs continue to disrupt the supply chain, he may be forced to raise prices.

“Companies are not shipping like they used to,” Romero said, referring to the ongoing effects from tariffs first imposed under Trump, which have recently been temporarily reduced. “Most likely, we are going to have to change prices because of that. We don’t know, maybe next week or the following, because the merchandise is not flowing like it used to.”

Labubu plush dolls hang at a vendor’s stall at El Mercadito.

(

Andrew Lopez

/

Boyle Heights Beat

)

Toys building community

Twenty minutes before business owner Yesenia Castro opened the doors to her restaurant, Pink & Boujee, a line wrapping around the block had formed ahead of a Labubu-themed brunch in February.

“It’s honestly been so crazy because I didn’t know how many Labubu fans there were out there,” Castro said. “We had families that came out, the moms, the grandmas, buying Labubus, dressing up their Labubus and having that connection with each other.”

After seeing people taking selfies with a human-sized Labubu and obsessing over Labubu lattes and cookies at her restaurant, she started holding a small vending pop-up to sell the coveted creatures, accessories for the dolls, Sonny Angel figurines, and other blind box toys.

The 29-year-old business owner’s first Labubu-themed brunch was so successful, she held a second similar event in April and said more may be on the way.

”It might just be a trend, but I think beyond that, it could really be like healing your inner child in a way,” Castro said, explaining how she’s seen her mom filled with excitement while unboxing Labubus.

Contrasting some analysts’ claims that Labubus are “recession proof,” Ferencz, the professor, believes, similarly to Furbies or Beanie Babies, the trend may not last forever. “It’s a bubble. And at one point this bubble will deflate,” he said.

But until it does, vendors like Romero and Castro will continue offering miniature Louis Vuitton shoes, Dodger bucket hats and clear, plastic protective carrying cases for their customers’ Labubus.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

(

Destiny Torres

/

LAist

)

Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

(

Destiny Torres

/

LAist

)

Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.

California’s unemployment agency kept paying cellphone bills for 4 1/2 years without checking whether its workers actually were using the devices.

That’s how it racked up $4.6 million in fees for mobile devices its workers were not using, according to a new state audit detailing wasteful spending at several government agencies.

The Employment Development Department’s excessive cellphone bills date to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it shifted call center employees to remote work and faced pressure to release benefits to millions of suddenly unemployed Californians.

It acquired 7,224 cellphones and wireless hotspots by December 2020. State auditors analyzed 54 months of invoices since then and found half the devices were unused for at least two years, 25% were unused for three years and 99 of them were never used at all.

The investigation, which auditors opened after receiving a tip, identified 6,285 devices that were unused for at least four consecutive months, and said the department spent $4.6 million on monthly service fees for them.

From the beginning, the department had about 2,000 more cellphones than call center employees, according to the audit. The gap widened over time after the pandemic ended and the department’s staffing returned to its normal headcount.

As of April, the audit said the department had 1,787 unemployment call center employees, but was paying monthly service fees for 5,097 mobile devices.

“Although obtaining the mobile devices during COVID-19 may have been a good idea to serve the public, continuing to pay the monthly service fees for so many unused devices, especially post-COVID-19, was wasteful,” the audit said.

Department officials told auditors they were unaware of the spending, but auditors pointed to regular invoices from Verizon that showed which phones were not being used.

“We would have expected EDD management to have reconsidered the need to pay the monthly service fees for so many devices that had no voice, message, or data usage,” the audit said.

The unemployment department began acting on the auditors’ findings in April, when it canceled service plans for 2,825 devices. It has since implemented a policy to terminate service plans for devices that go unused for 90 days.

The California state auditor highlighted the mobile devices in its regular report on “improper activities by state agencies and employees.” The audit also showed that the California Air Resources Board overpaid an employee who was on extended leave as he prepared to retire by $171,000.

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