The Brief

A blue police box in Burbank has hosted wedding proposals, family Christmas photo shoots and countless excited smiles over the past 15 years — but now, it needs your help.

It’s a replica of a TARDIS, which stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” It’s one of the most recognizable and iconic inventions from the long-running TV series Doctor Who.

This box may not be able to travel through time and is just as big on the inside as the outside, but it was engineered by the late Grant Imahara, a roboticist best known for his work on Mythbusters and White Rabbit Project.

The creation has been in the care of Donna Ricci, friend and owner of Geeky Teas and Games, who is now looking for handy Whovian volunteers who can give the Burbank TARDIS an overdue facelift.

“She’s brought joy,” she told LAist.  ”I love it when people didn't expect her but then stumble upon her. For them, it's like a piece of magic. It's kind of a signal that magic exists somewhere in the world and possibilities are there.”

Grant Imahara poses inside the Burbank TARDIS. It used to make a roaring sound when the door opened.

(

Courtesy of Donna Ricci

)

The origin story

Ricci knew how important Doctor Who was to people even before she watched an episode.

She figured that the TARDIS, a strange ship that carries characters to parallel universes and alien worlds, would be a great addition for her store and community.

Imahara "got so excited when I told him I'm gonna build a TARDIS for people to enjoy outside,” she said. “And he's like, I have some friends at the BBC. Let me get you some plans to help you out.”

He brought back the dimensions from the BBC (the network that produces the show), drew up the rest of the plans from there and gave Ricci a “police telephone box” sign to put on the front door for when it was finished.

The TARDIS has traveled between various store locations over the years, even earning a visit from Doctor Who star John Barrowman. And Ricci still remembers when she realized it meant something to others too.

“ I was in my store late at night and ... I heard brakes on the car go slamming,” she said, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. “ People were just posing with her and having a great time and just so excited that they could open the door and, you know, act like they were coming out of the TARDIS. And that's when I knew.”

TARDIS needs a little TLC

The TARDIS got banged up at Geeky Teas and Games' last location, where it sat in the glaring SoCal sun for about five years.

The heat warped the doors and pulled pieces of wood away from itself. It’s been marred with graffiti and scratches, and someone even threw a full container of orange juice through one of the windows.

“She used to also light up and make the roaring noise when you open the door,” Ricci said. “She doesn't do that anymore.”

The TARDIS definitely needs some work.

(

Makenna Sievertson

/

LAist

)

How you can help

The Burbank TARDIS needs a sonic screwdriver, or at least someone who can help give it a new lease on life.

Ricci is looking for volunteers who have experience in building, carpentry, woodworking or similar skills. Some pieces can be saved, she said, while others need to be rebuilt.

If you’re willing to help, you can reach out to Ricci by sending an email to: donna@geekyteas.com.

She’s hoping to have the TARDIS fixed up by July, the anniversary of Imahara’s death, so it can be part of a new memorial.

TARDIS under construction.

(

Makenna Sievertson

/

LAist

)

The memorial plaque for Grant Imahara.

(

Courtesy of Donna Ricci

)

“ I don't think people knew how kind he was,” she said. “ I'm so grateful that he was always on board with anything I wanted to do and just constantly lending a hand, not to just me, but other people. He was always giving things ...  I wish more people could have known him.”

Ricci is also planning to hang a portrait of Imahara in the lobby of Geeky Teas and Games' new Alameda Avenue location, not far from their life-sized Dalek named Harvey.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

In Koreatown, a discarded chair or mattress can quickly snowball into a larger pile of trash and debris. 

It’s one reason Los Angeles is launching a dedicated cleanup crew to address the neighborhood’s persistent illegal dumping problem.

The Koreatown Youth and Community Center will operate the rapid response team, expected to launch in September, under a one-year contract with Council District 10. The three-person crew will remove bulky items such as furniture, appliances, electronic waste and other illegally dumped trash from the neighborhood.

The rapid response team will not participate in homeless encampment sweeps. If they encounter bulky items near an encampment, they will notify the city’s sanitation department, according to Pablo Cardoso, director of environmental services at the nonprofit KYCC.

Koreatown logged 17,429 illegal dumping service requests over the past year, according to an analysis of MyLA311 data by Crosstown.

Among the city’s 116 neighborhoods and districts, Koreatown ranked second in illegal dumping service requests, trailing only Van Nuys.

Koreatown’s high population density makes the neighborhood a priority for the targeted cleanup effort, according to officials.

“Given how densely populated Koreatown is, we are launching this targeted pilot program to enhance local maintenance efforts specifically for this community,” Council District 10 spokesperson Devyn Bakewell said.

The council office approached KYCC earlier this year about operating the program, Cardoso said. Officials did not immediately provide the full cost of the program.

Crew members will work eight-hour shifts Monday through Friday, focusing on major corridors bounded by Olympic Boulevard, Pico Boulevard, Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard. Council District 10 will direct crews to priority locations and respond to residents’ requests for service.

“I’m sure you’ve driven around Koreatown and seen bulky items just everywhere,” Cardoso said.

From April through December 2025, the neighborhood logged 12,640 illegal dumping service requests, according to the latest available MyLA311 data compiled by Crosstown. During that same period, the intersection of Fourth Street and New Hampshire Avenue received 206 reports — the highest total for any single location in the city.

Tam Phan, a Koreatown resident who has volunteered with No Harm KTLA since 2022, said her group regularly encounters illegally dumped furniture and other debris during its twice-monthly neighborhood cleanups.

Until recently, volunteers met at 6th Street and Kenmore Avenue. But after that area became noticeably cleaner, they moved to other parts of Koreatown, including around Wilshire Boulevard, Western Avenue and Vermont Avenue.

“We’ve noticed there are lots of stray trash, sometimes food waste that’s fermenting in the sun and lots of furniture that people leave outside their apartments that’s been there for quite a while,” Phan said.

Volunteers typically bring trash bags during cleanups, but recently started bringing large rolling bins to collect more waste. When they come across bulky items they can’t haul away, Phan said they report them through the city’s 311 system.

Once a pile of trash appears on the sidewalk in Koreatown, it’s common for more to follow, according to residents.

(

Kristen Muller

/

The LA Local

)

Phan said she hopes the rapid response team will help address the problem.

“I think most people think it’s the norm to leave something out and the city will miraculously show up and clean it up,” she said. “As the weeks go by, we see the same item there.”

While KYCC’s litter abatement crews have occasionally removed bulky items, Cardoso said this will be the nonprofit’s first crew dedicated exclusively to that work.

“I think this is something that is absolutely needed,” he said. “There’s a lot of illegal dumping that goes on out there and this will be an asset to Koreatown.”

As part of the partnership, KYCC is recruiting local residents to staff the crew. Bakewell said local hiring was a priority to ensure the team is familiar with the community it will serve.

While the current contract runs for one year, Cardoso said KYCC hopes the pilot becomes a permanent resource for the neighborhood.

Tracking sharks off the California coast is a full-time job. One program that does that is on the brink of losing its funding, even as they want to help track sharks during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

The Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach recently announced a plea for private contributions to fund another year of research and data collection focused on keeping the public safe.

The plan leading up to the 2028 Summer Olympics is to create a tracking system specific enough to share real-time monitoring information with local lifeguards through state-of-the-art autonomous boat and drone technology.

“There are going to be Olympic events in Long Beach Harbor, down in San Clemente – there are white sharks in all those places,” said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab, highlighting the importance of the tools not only for athletes, but for the public also visiting from all over the world.

“Lifeguards will be scrambling for monitoring data, and they won’t have it if we run out of money,” Lowe explained.

In 2019, the lab’s Shark Safety program began after it received nearly $4 million from the state to set up a research program to tag white sharks and use drones to monitor them from the air, while using new EDNA technology to measure their presence in the water.

“That money was scheduled to last 5 years; we made it last 6,” Lowe said. “Last year we tried to get state money back, but we were told ‘the budget’s too bad, we can’t fund you this year.’”

State Sen. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach put in a request this year for $1.7 million in NOAA funding. “The funds requested for FY 2026–27 represents the immediate need to prevent program reductions as existing funding expires and to maintain continuity of operations,” said Strickland in his budget request. The lab’s annual operating budget is around $1 million, and the hope was that the extra funding could expand the program to Monterey Bay.

Since Strickland’s request was denied from this year’s budget, the lab’s funding is set to run out in September. Going a year without funding would be detrimental to the program’s support system, Lowe said. He says half of the budget goes toward the salaries and training of highly experienced and educated technicians, required to keep the program moving.

The lab monitors sharks up and down the California coastline.

(

Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab

)

Roughly $700,000 worth of equipment is set up in the ocean, monitoring around 260 white sharks from Morro Bay to San Diego. “That’s a lot of money in the water that we have to constantly maintain and download… but it provides huge amounts of data, and we share that data with everybody,” said Lowe.

Lowe is also worried about the potential crisis local beaches may face in the event of an incident such as a shark bite, as the public may be dissuaded from visiting a beach following an incident.

Lowe sees education as a crucial way to mitigate that risk and raise awareness. The Shark Lab created summer outreach programs led by undergraduate students that visit beaches along the coast, teaching beach safety surrounding marine life and risks like rip currents.

“We’ve teamed up with psychologists to look at people’s perceptions, and we’ve teamed up with an economist to look at what those costs really are,” Lowe explained.

“These are all projects with the goal of keeping both people and sharks safe,” Lowe said. “We just need help. We need financial help.”

This article was originally published by the Long Beach Post, an LAist partner newsroom.

Voters in Orange will decide in November if the city should become a charter city.

The City Council approved 4-3 at its July 14 meeting to bring the question to voters. Councilmembers Arianna Barrios, Ana Gutierrez and John Gyllenhammer opposed the measure.

Orange is currently a general law city, which means it’s bound by state law and mandates. Charter cities still have to follow state law, but can establish their own rules on issues such as mayoral authority, term limits and financial management. Each charter city varies in how they establish those rules. (Read more about the nuts-and-bolts of Orange’s proposed charter city below.)

In California, 121 cities have adopted charters, including Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Huntington Beach. Other cities, including Fullerton, have also discussed adopting a city charter.

Why this matters 

Supporters of the ballot measure have said that a city charter will give Orange more control over city planning, contracting and revenue. The city is facing a budget deficit and largely lacks the revenue to sustain operations, according to consultants.

Last year, consultants warned Orange officials that if big changes aren’t made, the city could go bankrupt by 2029.

Councilmember Kathy Tavoularis introduced the charter idea earlier this year, saying the move could help the city face its financial problems.

“If you talk to people from other charter cities, Anaheim included, they'll tell you the benefits that they have from it,” Tavoularis said. “I will respect what the voters say. It's just an option, and I want to keep giving the voters options.”

Is a charter really the solution to Orange’s problems? 

The answer might not be straightforward. Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College, told LAist that the charter can help with finances, but it all boils down to how it's written.

“The idea that being a charter city absolves you of all state regulation is not true,” Balma said. “How does a charter city change the finances? That depends what's in the charter. But cities get their revenue from taxes. The charter itself does not magically give the money.”

Voters can amend the charter later, she added.

“Residents can put charter amendments on the ballot,” Balma said. “Some of the cities have done good governance charter amendments, or written it in to begin with, and other cities have used that power to block the public out.”

For a city to adopt a charter, it requires a majority approval from voters. Adopting a charter alone will not cost the city, but placing the measure on the ballot will incur a cost.

What do opposing council members say? 

Other council members questioned the timing of the ballot measure and whether the city was moving too fast on the idea.

“My actual issue about not voting for this right now has to do with the timing against the other things we've brought forward,” Barrios said. “I don't think it's a bad idea. I think we need more time to get there.”

Councilmember Guttierez also said the charter item could have been tabled to prioritize more pressing city issues.

“I'd be happy to discuss this in the future after we get ourselves out of this structural deficit that we have,” Guttierez said.

What would the city’s proposed charter do?

Here are some highlights of what the 10-page proposed charter would accomplish: 

Fiscal responsibility: The proposed ordinance includes several rules concerning finances. For example, the city is required to adopt a balanced budget. An annual independent audit to be presented to the City Council would also be required under the ordinance. When deciding where to use general funds, repairing public infrastructure, replenishing reserves and reducing outstanding debt are among the city’s top priorities, per the charter.

Term limits: The ordinance governs all manner of elections, district boundaries, term limits and qualifications. For example, a resident must reside in Orange for 30 days or more to qualify to run for office. And no person can serve as mayor for more than two four-year terms in a lifetime. Also, no person can serve as a city council member for more than three four-year terms in a lifetime.

Open space reserve: A unique section in the proposed charter ensures the preservation of parks, wildlife habitat and other natural resources. The designated areas would be restricted to certain uses like recreation and park use.

You can read the full proposed charter here.