The Brief

It is said that art is subjective, or something to that effect. But at its best, art also inspires community.

And that’s the aim for Free Little Art Galleries, or FLAGs as some fans call them.

What are they?

FLAGs have been around (unofficially) since 2020. They’re very much like little libraries or other small displays that house items for free or are donation-based. Some allow you to donate/leave art and/or take it home for yourself, in effect creating a community exchange.

I’ve browsed through several Instagram pages and some of the artwork is dope. Even the very amateur endeavors are inspiring. I’m amazed at how folks can paint, draw or create in smaller formats that’s not your usual gallery piece. Most accounts tag the artist, some of whom are professional, and you can follow them or maybe even pay for a larger piece. There are so many possibilities in the interaction with these homespun galleries (also the element of surprise is pretty sweet).

Many are found outside homes on sidewalks, but there are also community centers, museums and schools that have set them up.

Seattle-based artist Stacy Milrany is credited with having started the first free little museum, according to FreeLittleGalleries.Art, a website dedicated to sharing what the hobby is about. There are hundreds of them all over the world now (that have been mapped), including several in Southern California cities and neighborhoods like Long Beach, South Pasadena and North Hollywood.

“It’s great to have this movement that’s democratizing art,” Tyler Tork, founder of the website, told me. Everybody can have something to contribute, “and it might mean something to them.”

(P.S.: There is no official FLAG organization, so curating information for the website has been voluntary.)

From novice to FLAG pro

Tork isn’t a professional artist, but that didn’t stop him from getting involved with FLAGs — and ultimately being the person behind an online encyclopedia about them.

He says a friend introduced him to the concept in 2022 when she asked for some art for her own FLAG in Baton Rouge, La. Tork was so intrigued he created his own FLAG outside his Lafayette home. It has housed different samples of art; paintings, graffiti, ceramics and other items.

When Tork started his FLAG journey, he relied on information culled from Facebook Groups and other social media sites to find everything from specs about sizes, to gallery blueprints to answers for the many questions he had.

Tork, who has supported other organizations by building their websites, decided to create “a headquarters for all things FLAG,” he says, and so FreeLittleGalleries.Art was born. He volunteers his time to update the site with information sent to him (there’s a button to add your own FLAG to his map) and create what ultimately is a curated list these unique endeavors.

“The FLAG movement is special because it encourages people not only to share, but to create,” Tork says. “Generally, the contributors to a Little Free Library didn't write the books themselves, for instance, but most art in a FLAG comes from the heart and soul of the person who contributed it, which is a whole other level of awesome.”

Starting your own FLAG

• For the residents who don’t have space

I currently don’t have plans to start my own FLAG, but Tork and the website had many resources to share.

At first, I thought that living in an apartment building could be complicated.

Tork had a suggestion:

You also don't have to start a miniature space yourself — you can just make the art, and mail pieces to different FLAGs around the world via this listing on the website.

• Making the gallery: buying or constructing

The popularity of these hobbies has crafty folks creating and selling some of these sidewalk galleries already — check seller's websites like Etsy. Here’s a guide if you’ve rather buy one. Many have the specs to hold books, so they may differ.

There’s also a step-by-step guide on creating your own on the website.

• How to display the art

Get creative or as straightforward as you want. People have added solar lighting, different levels/tiers, mini easels, magnets to hang up arts — you know, the works. Maybe your gallery is devoted to one medium, or several.

The inside of the Free Museum in South Pasadena.

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Brian De Los Santos

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LAist

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• Ideas

Create your gallery with a theme, or not! I saw folks honoring Pride Month and Black History Month with their art exhibitions during those celebrations.

Tork also sent over a list of Facebook Group that can inspire you.

• Tiny Art Gallery Group
• Artist Trading Cards
• FLAG Curators
• The Art Abandonment Project

• Map it 

Part of the essence of this community is sharing what you have created — both the gallery and the art inside of it. Make sure you add the location of your little art gallery to the website’s map locator tool here. Tork says that there are also more regional websites/maps that you can look into.

“I love it when people take on the job of mapping all this fun stuff local to where they live, and if people send me links to the ‘sidewalk joy maps’ of their city, I have a section for these on the website,” he says.

• Other types of galleries

We love art and little libraries, but there’s a whole universe of sidewalk projects. The following list, sent over by Tork, might inspire you to build other things or just be an observer of the world’s wonders.

• PDX Dinorama
• Sidewalk Ducks
• Museum of Unremarkable Objects
• Buffalo Pothole Bandit

Yes, you could put a screen in your backyard and call up your friends to watch a particularly compelling World Cup game after the tournament begins June 12.

But FIFA is turning each game into a public celebration, sponsoring 10 outdoor Fan Zone watch parties with large viewing screens across L.A. County through the final on July 19.

Details were released on Monday, including locations, dates and prices.

The Fan Zones open in a staggered schedule from one day to four days each, starting with the Original Farmers Market on June 18 - 21, and then popping up across the region until the glorious end on July 19 in downtown Burbank.

Ticket prices range from free (City of Downey, Union Station L.A., “Magic” Johnson Park, Whittier Narrows) to over $300 for a VIP experience with a viewing lounge and a concert at the downtown Burbank Fan Zone on the day of the World Cup final match on July 19.

Fan Zone kick off

At the first Fan Zone, at The Original Farmers Market from June 18 for four days, entry will cost you $5 per day or $17 for all four days. Kids age 3 and under are free. (FIFA says the zones are family friendly).

You’ll be able to see four matches there each of the four days, including Mexico vs. South Korea on June 18 at 6 p.m. and USA vs. Australia on June 19 at noon.

FIFA World Cup 2026 scarves are displayed during the ribbon cutting for the LAX/Metro Transit Center rail and bus public transportation station at LAX on June 6, 2025.

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Patrick T. Fallon

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You won’t have to squint to find your favorite player or catch the goals. The Farmer’s Market will include a 30-foot viewing screen as well as a 15-foot secondary screen to watch the games. There will be beer gardens, and you can purchase food from the Market's dozens of establishments.

Other Fan Zones

The West Harbor L.A. Fan Zone will give people an opportunity to experience the newest major development along the San Pedro waterfront, a 42-acre waterfront district that’s been years in the making.

The Union Station L.A. Fan Zone on June 25 is free and includes match viewing, music, food, and immersive fan experiences, featuring live DJs.

The final Fan Zone opens July 18 and 19 in downtown Burbank for the World Cup’s last two matches. FIFA says it’ll include “an adjacent international street fair filled with global flavors and cultural experiences.” Tickets range from $25 to over $300

The full list of the Fan Zones is here.

This of course, isn’t the only opportunity to watch World Cup matches with groups of people in SoCal. The city of L.A. will host its own watch parties.

Up against a massive court backlog that can drag their cases for years, asylum seekers face steep costs when pursuing their dreams of college in California.

Asylum-seeking students in California often face a double blow: they are charged higher tuition for nonresidents and excluded from most financial aid. For students and their families, this can mean thousands of dollars paid out of pocket and years of financial stress as their immigration cases remain unresolved.

Before establishing residency, asylum-seeking students are charged non-resident rates, which are about three times what state residents pay for public universities and roughly eight to 13 times more for community colleges, depending on the district.

All asylum seekers are disqualified from federal financial aid. The few who qualify for California’s state aid may never know their options, or face hurdles in obtaining it due to a patchwork of financial aid processes.

The state’s higher education systems are not mandated to track asylum seekers, making state budget impacts nearly unquantifiable during legislative attempts to expand financial aid eligibility.

“I only see them struggling,” said Eric Cline, social services program director at OASIS Legal Services, which supports LGBTQ+ asylum seekers across the Bay Area and Central Valley. “I’m always surprised (when) a few clients tell me 'I just graduated from college.’ I think, ‘Wow, how did that happen?’”

Policy changes stoke uncertainty for asylum seekers

Asylum seeking is one of the least-protected immigration statuses in the U.S. Asylum seekers, who’ve fled their home countries fearing persecution and are asking the U.S. for protection, differ from refugees, whose status is granted before they enter the country. Asylum seekers apply upon arriving in the U.S.

Applicants can stay as their cases remain pending for years, though experts say the Trump administration is expediting deportations for numerous asylum seekers and ending cases before they can receive a full hearing.

As of February 2026, a little over 2.3 million immigrants are awaiting asylum hearings nationwide, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which tracks federal activity. The most recent data shows California alone had about 169,000 pending asylum cases in its immigration courts by the end of 2023 — the second-largest backlog of any state. The average wait for an asylum hearing in California was 1,412 days at that time.

The Trump administration paused asylum cases in November, creating even further delays. The administration has now allowed cases to resume for applicants from all but 40 countries. In the San Francisco immigration court system, which is popular among asylum seekers due to higher acceptance rates, a combination of firings by the Trump administration, retirements and relocations whittled the 21 immigration judges to two, according to reporting in Mission Local. Left behind is a caseload of nearly 119,000 immigration cases, the highest of any immigration court in California.

President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” also established new fees for asylum seekers, placing additional pressure on an already low-income population. Applicants must now pay an initial $100 application fee plus $100 per year while their case is pending, $550 for a work permit, and $745 each year to renew the permit. In addition, a new rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security would effectively end the ability of asylum seekers to obtain work permits at all.

Royce Hall on the UCLA campus

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As they await a decision, asylum seekers are excluded from federal aid and some state financial aid programs, including Cal Grants under California law.

For one asylum seeker, Carol, being ineligible for financial aid meant she had to take time off from school to work to make ends meet. CalMatters is not using her full name because she fears speaking publicly may jeopardize her asylum case.

Carol did speak before the Assembly Higher Education Committee in 2023 urging lawmakers to pass AB 888, which would have expanded Cal Grant eligibility to certain asylum seekers. The bill ultimately did not pass.

She said she arrived in the United States at 17 and had spent more than six years waiting for her case to move through immigration courts, a period during which she said she was ineligible for financial aid.

“I’ve had to delay my educational journey several times, including going part-time and even taking a semester off from school to work,” Carol told lawmakers.

Without access to aid, she said she experienced homelessness, couch surfing and at one point slept on a mattress topper on a hardwood floor because she could not afford a bed. She worked multiple jobs at a time, skipped meals and attended class without the required course materials.

Her story, she said, was not new. Carol told the committee that four years earlier her brother had testified with a nearly identical experience on behalf of a previous bill that was ultimately vetoed, a cycle she argued could have been prevented.

“Had California taken action then, I wouldn’t have had to face the harrowing experiences that I shared with you today,” she said.

Despite the barriers, Carol graduated from Cal State Long Beach and worked as a caseworker with the International Rescue Committee, helping resettle refugees and asylum seekers. She told lawmakers she hopes to pursue a law degree and become an international human rights attorney.

The narrow path to college aid for asylum-seeking students

Many asylum seekers arrive eager to continue studies they began abroad, but quickly run into what Cline calls “a brick wall."

“All of our clients are low-income … they’re almost never eligible for generalized financial aid,” he said. “When you take away the financial aid aspect, it makes (college) pretty inaccessible.”

For California residents, annual undergraduate tuition is $15,588 at the University of California, $6,838 at the California State University and about $1,380 for 30 units at a community college. Students classified as non-residents — including some asylum seekers before establishing residency — can pay $54,858 at a University of California, about $20,968 at a Cal State before campus-based fees, and roughly $10,140 to $13,560 for 30 units at a community college, depending on the district. These figures do not include campus-based fees, housing or living expenses.

Even when students do manage to establish residency, the cost is still steep. For the many asylum seekers who arrive in the United States as adults, they may not have attended a California school previously, barring them from qualifying for state financial aid.

AB 540, the 2001 law that exempts undocumented students from paying non-resident tuition, only applies if the student attended a California high school or community college for three years.

Those who qualify through AB 540 can fill out the California Dream Act Application for state financial aid, such as Cal Grants, university system-specific grants, state loans, and the state’s middle class scholarship.

The application process can still be confusing for asylum seekers whose status is not fully accounted for in the design of the application. For example, asylum seekers often have Social Security numbers for work authorization, but affirming so while answering the financial aid pre-screening questions leads to undetermined eligibility because the questions don’t take into account the nuances of applying as an asylum seeker.

Stickers and flyers on a table in the Undocumented Community Center at the College of San Mateo in San Mateo, on Nov. 28, 2023. At this center, undocumented students can access financial and legal aid as well as guidance in navigating grant applications.

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Amaya Edwards

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CalMatters

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Asylum seekers often require extra help from financial aid counselors, but even counselors may not know how to help navigate eligibility rules. Students often wind up seeking help from undocumented student resource centers on public campuses, which are designed to help students who lack legal residency and those from mixed-status families find aid and academic support.

Kaveena Singh, the director of immigration legal services at the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, which provides legal services to low-income immigrants, noted that she herself has written letters to financial aid offices to help explain the in-between nature of the few asylum-seeking students she has served.

As an asylum-seeking student in his mid-20s, L. ended up qualifying for state financial aid through AB 540. However, he misunderstood for six years exactly what aid he qualified for. L. wished to withhold his name and the names of the institutions he’s attended for fear of negative impacts on his pending asylum case.

Initially, community college didn’t cost him anything — but when he transferred to a large four-year university, the cost of college soared. He went to his university's financial aid office for help so often that all the staff there knew his name. It was a "big relief” when he was finally able to successfully fill out the California Dream Act Application, and obtain financial aid for his summer and fall quarters.

L.'s asylum case has been pending for nine years. He, his dad, mom and younger brother arrived in the United States in the winter of 2016, claiming asylum under fear of political retribution. His father organized political assemblies in China, and his mother was forced to have an abortion under the one-child policy.

“I just wish I could go home and visit family and friends and catch up for a good few weeks in the summer here and there to reconnect with my past,” L. said. “It's like there's two separate lives, like two entities being artificially cut.”

L. worked throughout high school and college, and worried about affording school.

Most days, the combination of family trauma and the limbo of waiting for his case means L. survives through “constant compartmentalization.”

In the meantime, he tries to carry on — he studies politics, and is interested in international relations and human rights.

"As rough as all that's happened, the silver lining is that one day hopefully I get a passport and a green card," L. said. "To help other people avoid such a hassle will be just as fulfilling for me."

Previous legislative efforts have failed

Legislative bills to extend state financial aid eligibility to asylum-seeking students have been introduced at least twice in recent years but have failed.

One attempt came in 2019, when Sen. Ben Allen, a Democrat from El Segundo, introduced SB 296, a bill that would have extended Cal Grant eligibility to students with pending asylum applications. The measure passed the Legislature with some bipartisan support, but was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said that it would "impose costs on the General Fund that must be weighed in the annual budget process."

“That was frustrating, but I understood it,” Allen told CalMatters. “The real issue is that we don’t have good data. Our schools don’t track asylum seekers, so we can’t easily calculate the cost.”

UC data on asylum-seeking students is protected due to privacy policies, according to Stett Holbrook, a UC spokesperson. The Cal State system reports it has less than 500 students with "asylum status," which includes both those who have an asylum granted and asylum seekers, according to Cal State spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith. The numbers are self-reported during the admissions process.

In spring 2025, 13,507 students self-identified as “refugee/asylee” across the California Community Colleges — up from 11,537 the prior semester — per the CCC DataMart. The data does not include a category for just asylum seekers. Students can self-identify their immigration status while applying, but asylum seekers are not specifically tracked, according to the college system’s spokesperson Melissa Villarin.

Four years after SB 296 failed, Democrat Sabrina Cervantes — then representing Riverside in the Assembly and now as a state senator — revived the proposal through AB 888, introduced in 2023. Like Allen’s earlier bill, AB 888 sought to make Cal Grants accessible to students with pending asylum applications by creating a direct eligibility pathway outside the AB 540 residency requirements. The bill passed the Assembly unanimously but was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee last September, effectively ending its chances for the year.

Cervantes declined an interview with CalMatters. “My Assembly Bill 888 would have created a new pathway for pending asylum seekers in California to apply for Cal Grant financial aid in pursuit of their higher education,” Cervantes wrote in a statement.

Newsom’s office declined to say whether he would support a future version of the proposal, pointing instead to his brief 2019 veto message.

“There’s nervousness around anything that involves new expenses," Allen said. “... We’re going to have to spend some time seeing what information we can get with regards to better data to get better estimated costs. I think that will help to better inform the conversation."

Andrea Baltodano and Chrissa Olson are contributors with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

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

Los Angeles will host more than 100 World Cup watch parties for free this summer during the global tournament through its “Kick it in the Park” program.

The parties are scattered across the city at more than a dozen recreation centers.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that the idea is for all Los Angeles residents to enjoy World Cup festivities.

“We are bringing the matches to every community in Los Angeles with free events that the whole family can enjoy," Bass said. "This moment belongs to all Angelenos, and we’re making sure of that."

L.A. will host eight FIFA World Cup matches this summer at SoFi Stadium, including the USA’s opening match against Paraguay on June 12. Tickets to the game and others have drawn criticism for sky-high price tags.

What to know

The city’s event series will take place throughout the duration of the World Cup tournament, between June 11 and July 19. Two to four rotating park sites will be activated on each of the match days.

Each city district could put its own spin on the event, but each watch party is guaranteed to have a big screen, soccer clinics and family fun zones.

Events will take place at 18 park sites, including MacArthur Park, Northridge Recreation Center, Echo Park Lake and more.

Attendees are recommended to bring blankets, water, snacks and sunscreen.

How do I participate? 

Unlike the official FIFA Fan Fests and Fan Zones, no registration or ticket purchase is required. Up to a thousand soccer fans can show up to any watch party site with a blanket or chairs.

More information can be found at the city’s “Kick it in the Park” website.

LACMA, The Grove and the Beverly Center will soon be just a few stops away for many Angelenos after Metro adds three new stations to the D Line on Friday, May 8. To mark the launch, Metro will host multiple events at each station in collaboration with local businesses.

The extension will add new stops after the Wilshire/Western station in Koreatown, including stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega.

Metro riders and visitors will be able to check out a range of activities and events at each of the new stations, including farmers markets, salsa classes and coffee, during the first 90 days after the opening on May 8.

The three stations are expected to bring in about 16,200 new daily riders to the system, according to Metro.

LACMA, The Grove and the Beverly Center will soon be just a few stops away for many Angelenos after Metro adds three new stations to the D Line on Friday. To mark the launch, Metro will host multiple events at each station in collaboration with local businesses.

Here are the events taking place after the launch:

Salsa Classes with PRO Dance Studios

• When: Every Saturday starting on May 9 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. 
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station
• The station’s outdoor plaza will be transformed into a dance floor, with free salsa classes available for riders who sign up in advance.

Local vendor market hosted by Small Shop

• When: Every Monday and Tuesday starting May 11 from 8 a.m. to noon
• Where: Wilshire/La Brea station
• The station will offer riders the options to browse through the goods of local businesses that will have stands set up. 

Coffee Offerings

• When: Monday through Friday starting May 11 from 7 to 11 a.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax (Ellas Coffee); Wilshire/La Brea (Crenshaw Coffee); Wilshire/La Cienega (to be announced)
• Riders will be able to grab coffee from local vendors at each stop.

Weekly Farmers Market

• When: Every Tuesday starting May 12 from noon to 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station
• Farm Habit Farmers Market will be offering fresh fruits and vegetables and local products. 

Pickleball with PIKL LA 

• When: Monthly on the second Thursday starting May 14 from 3 to 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Brea stations
• Visitors who sign up in advance will have the opportunity to play pickleball at the stations. 

Food & Music Festival with LATINAFest

• When: May 16, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station
• The event will spotlight businesses owned by Latinas, with a focus on food and music.

Cultural Ethiopian Event 

• When: May 20 from noon to 6 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station
• Ethiopian cuisine, music, and small businesses will be showcased at this event.

Basket Weaving with Craft Contemporary 

• When: Every first Sunday starting June 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station
• Visitors can take part in a guided basket weaving activity.

California Cultural Festival

• When: June 27 and July 25 from 4 to 8 p.m.
• Where: Wilshire/Fairfax station 
• Wellness activities like yoga, meditation and live music will be a part of this event.

The post Salsa classes, pickleball, coffee: Metro celebrates D Line expansion with celebration at new stations appeared first on LA Local.