Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published December 22, 2023 4:24 PM
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers' latest recruit, plays Team Mexico during the 2023 World Baseball Classic Semifinals, which Japan won.
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Megan Briggs
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Getty Images
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Topline:
The L.A. Dodgers have made a record deal with yet another Japanese pitcher. Yoshinobu Yamamoto reportedly signed a 12-year, $325 million contract — less than two weeks after two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani announced his blockbuster $700 million, 10-year deal with the team. The pairing is expected to boost overseas interest in the Dodgers.
Deep ties to Japan: Before Ohtani and Yamamoto, nine other Japanese-born players have put on Dodger blue, starting with Hideo Nomo in 1995 — or 10 others, if you count Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Okinawa. See the complete list here.
The projected impact: Already, travel agencies that specialize in Japan-U.S. trips say they expect to increased L.A. tourism from Japanese baseball fans.
Travel agent Yoshi Miyajima says his Torrance-based agency is gearing up to book trips and hotel rooms for Japanese baseball fans coming to Dodger Stadium.
“Even more people are interested now since two players are coming,” Miyajima said.
Miyajima is referencing the second blockbuster deal the Los Angeles Dodgers have made this month with a Japanese player. On Thursday night, news broke that ace pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has reportedly signed a 12-year, $325 million contract — less than two weeks after two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani announced a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal.
The acquisition of Ohtani and Yamamoto brings the total number of Japanese-born players who have put on Dodger blue to 11, starting with Hideo Nomo in 1995 — or 12 if you count Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Okinawa.
Japanese-born Dodgers
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2024-)
Shohei Ohtani (2024-)
Yoshi Tsutsugo (2021)
Kenta Maeda (2016–2019)
Yu Darvish (2017)
Hiroki Kuroda (2008–2011)
Takashi Saito (2006–2008)
Norihiro Nakamura (2005)
Hideo Nomo (1995–1998, 2002–2004)
Masao Kida (2003–2004)
Kazuhisa Ishii (2002-2004)
*Manager Dave Roberts is Okinawan-born.
Miyajima said the recruitment of two of Japan’s most famous athletes is generating even more excitement abroad in the Dodgers. While his agency arranged trips to Anaheim for Japanese tourists to watch Ohtani play for his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, Miyajima said that the Dodgers are on another level.
He described the Dodgers as locked in a popularity contest with another iconic MLB franchise. The New York Yankees once boasted legends Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui on their roster.
“But right now, no Japanese pitchers on the Yankees,” Miyajima said.
In Japan, pitchers tend to get more TV time and media attention, said Nicholas Watanabe, who teaches sports management at the University of South Carolina. He recalls watching MLB games during the Ichiro era while living in Japan, when sportscasts would dip into a game to see the star outfielder at-bat, then cut away to another game when he was done.
With two Japanese pitchers on the mound — for Ohtani, not until 2025 because of recent elbow surgery — the cameras will be fixed on the Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, seen here at an Angels-Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium on July 7, 2023, will be teammates next year.
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Ronald Martinez
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Getty Images
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“So a lot more people are going to be watching,” Watanabe said. “Of course, that means more brands, more businesses, advertisers all want to be part of that.”
The newcomers will debut with the Dodgers in Asia, when the team opens its 2024 regular season in Seoul against the San Diego Padres. When they return to L.A., there should be no shortage of Dodgers fans wearing Ohtani and Yamamoto jerseys in the stands.
Los Angeles-based enterprises beyond the Dodgers will benefit from the down-the-line impact of international interest in the team, said Alex Medina, spokesperson for the non-profit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
Shohei Ohtani tries on his No. 17 Dodgers jersey. In the first 48 hours after the Ohtani jersey dropped online, sales surpassed those for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP
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“From the hotel operators, the restaurants around the stadiums, and those vendors who supply the stadiums with what they need, whether that’s the food, whether it's lighting vendors, this is going to have a great impact on our economy,’ Medina said.
Jordan Rynning
has been following this case for months, including interviewing the man at the center of allegations.
Published October 31, 2026 7:00 AM
Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, spoke with LAist on Sept. 16, 2026, about the federal body armor case against him being dismissed.
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Jordan Rynning
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LAist
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Topline:
The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.
Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”
About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday, Oct. 7 that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally serving as the top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles.
The ruling is the latest roadblock to the Trump administration’s effort to extend handpicked acting U.S. attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to bypass confirmation by the U.S. Senate — something that generally requires a degree of bipartisan support.
Essayli “is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote.
The order won’t take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal. Essayli said he doesn’t agree with the court’s order. He said the president and Attorney General “have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department.”
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Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
Myrna Velasco (left) performs as Dolores Huerta in “¡Sí Se Puede!” at Boyle Heights City Hall on April 2, 2026.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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Topline:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The backstory: Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.
“There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.
CSULA seeks memories from underground music scenes
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
CSULA is seeking memorabilia from LA's underground music scenes for its research archives.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles.
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Topline
There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.
Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.
Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.
“I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.
She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.
Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.
Cal State LA has hosted Sounds of the Underground Archive for the last four years. It's an opportunity for people to donate their underground music scene memorabilia.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles
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“I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.
Keeping stories alive
More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.
Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.
SOUNDS OF THE UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE
Date: Thursday, Nov. 5 Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles
Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.
“From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.
She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:
Fliers
Handbills
Zines
Newsletters
Posters
Set lists
Photographs (prints, negatives or digital files)
Cassette tapes, CDs, or vinyl records
Ticket stubs
Wristbands
Band merchandise (stickers, buttons, patches, T-shirts)
DIY press kits or liner notes and correspondence (letters, emails, messages related to music scenes)
Venue or collective ephemera (membership cards, schedules, announcements and more)
