Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published January 11, 2025 5:00 AM
A photo Kevin Cooley shot during the Woolsey Fire in 2018 that was featured in the New York Times. This week, the fire photographer's home was destroyed by the Eaton Fire.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
Topline:
Kevin Cooley is a photographer who takes photos of wildfires and many other subjects. His fine art photos are collected by LACMA and the Guggenheim. And his editorial work is featured in publications such as the New York Times.
Why now: His Altadena home was destroyed by the Eaton Fire this week. He was out in the Palisades shooting the wildfire that had broken out when he heard from his wife that their home miles away was under threat.
Read on... to learn more about the day that changed Cooley's life.
Fire has never been a foreign concept in the life of Altadena-based photographer Kevin Cooley.
It's been a major theme across his work. His fine art photos have focused on smoke, explosions — including those he creates himself — and a man nicknamed the Wizard of Awe who made fireworksin Southern Minnesota.
For his day job, Cooley chases and captures wildfires in California for a photo agency and publications like the New York Times.
"It's hard not to want to go right to the fire, but I often want to find an angle to create an image, a scene where you put the fires within a larger context than the burning house, the burning building, the threat to people," he said.
One of his favorite pieces is a photo taken during the Woolsey Fire in 2018, which burned nearly 97,000 acres in L.A. and Ventura counties and prompted the evacuation of some 295,000 people.
Screenshot of the New York Times story where Kevin Cooley's photo was published.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
The photo was shot on assignment for The New Yorker and was also used for a Times opinion piece. Taken at a house in the San Fernando Valley, the picture was uncannily Hockney-esque in its composition and symbolism.
"It's of a house with a swimming pool in the backyard, beautiful landscape with the fire just encroaching right over the wall behind it," he said. "In a way that's kind of like the end of the California dream."
A photo Kevin Cooley took during the Bobcat Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles in 2020.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
Cooley moved to Los Angeles from New York in 2012, and was already familiar with the city's tendency for destructive wildfires having gone on assignments to photograph them before.
His relationship to his subject deepened half a decade later, when the La Tuna Fire scorched some 7,200 acres — becoming the largest wildfire in the history of L.A., at the time.
That was 2017, and Cooley had just moved into his new home, barely a week or so in, when La Tuna came about a hundred yards from his house.
Instead of wary, he became more fascinated.
"The ecology of Southern California is the chaparral, and the chaparral needs to burn. You know, fire is part of that ecology. We live in its domain," Cooley said.
"That really got me more interested in going to more fires," he said.
But, he added, " I much prefer to go to the fires than have them come to me."
At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, a brush fire started in Pacific Palisades and grew exponentially over the course of the day, fanned by damaging Santa Ana winds unseen in a decade.
Kevin Cooley's new book, Wizard of Awe, is a compilation of photos he took of a man in Minnesota that makes smoke generators for big events.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
Two photos inside Kevin Cooley's collection of photographs, Wizard of Awe. The West Coast launch of the book was postponed due to fires spreading across Los Angeles starting on Jan. 7.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
That morning, Cooley was installing a gallery show in downtown Los Angeles for the West Coast book launch of Wizard of Awe, a collection of photos he took over the course of more than a decade of a man named Ken Miller, who made huge smoke generators at his Minnesota farm for airshows and other splashy events. Some of those photos were published in Popular Mechanics magazine. Those shots, and the accompany story, landed Miller in prison for violating federal explosive laws.
Miller was scheduled to fly out to L.A. to join this weekend's book launch.
But as the Palisades Fire grew in strength, Cooley got a call to go on assignment.
So he left the gallery and headed out.
From Kevin Cooley's "Controlled Burns" series.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
" I've done enough where you can kind of get a sense of, you know, looking at different resources and angles from fire cameras. It's like, 'OK, that's a fire. I got to go.' And you just go," he said. "That was the Palisades that day."
He and a friend spent hours out in the Palisades shooting the unprecedented blaze — until he got a call from his wife saying that a fire had broken out near Eaton Canyon and was growing fast.
" I could tell from the photograph that she sent from our house that it was like, 'We got to get back right now.' It was already that intense," Cooley said.
They hauled back to Altadena and saw firsthand what was happening to his neighborhood.
" I thought the [Palisades Fire] was the most intense fire I've ever been on until I got back to Altadena. And that was more intense, at least for me, because it's my community," he said.
Cafe de Leche, a small coffee shop on Lake Avenue in Altadena, destroyed by the Eaton Fire.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
Cooley, his wife and their 10-year-old son evacuated from their duplex near the intersection of El Molino Avenue and Morada Place, straddling the border of Altadena and Pasadena, at about 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Once they settled into their friend's Bungalow Heaven home in Pasadena for shelter, Cooley headed back north.
"Being the fire photographer that I am, I couldn't sit and I went back straight to my house and it was already on fire," he said.
Kevin Cooley and his family's Altadena duplex consumed by the Eaton Fire on the morning of Jan. 8.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
Another view of the Cooley home.
(
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
A wall of fire was close to engulfing his car.
"I figured I probably should go," Cooley said.
The veteran fire photographer said after leaving his home: "I just went around the neighborhood like I always do, except I knew all the houses."
By early Wednesday morning, on Jan. 8, just hours after the start of Eaton Fire in Altadena, Cooley and his family has lost their home — along with so many people in the area.
He went to Instagram and posted a video of his house being ripped apart by the flames.
Cooley was showing me that shot in the backyard of his friend's Pasadena home that afternoon — while ashes from the fires burning across Los Angeles fell from the sky around us.
A screenshot of the New York Times opinion piece where Kevin Cooley's Palisades Fire photo was used.
He said he isn't sure what's next, what's going to happen, where he and his family are going to go, or whether they'll stay in L.A.
But he did say living with wildfires has become part of living in this city.
"If there's an earthquake, it's not gonna be like we weren't informed. People who live on the beach, [it's not like they] aren't aware that the sea is coming," Cooley said. "It's just all part of our living in this 21st century."
Because so much of Los Angeles teeters at the edge of paradise lost.
Kevin Cooley in front of his Altadena home destroyed by the Eaton Fire.
(
Aaron Giesel
/
Courtesy Kevin Cooley
)
***
The West Coast book launch of Wizard of Awe has been rescheduled:
KEVIN COOLEY | THE WIZARD OF AWE These Days Location: 118 Winston St., Los Angeles Event: Artist Reception + book signing: Jan. 18, 7 - 9 p.m. Exhibition dates: Jan. 18 - Feb. 1
Do you have a question about the wildfires or fire recovery?
Check out LAist.com/FireFAQs to see if your question has already been answered. If not, submit your questions here, and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.
Lawmakers and the governor on Monday failed to extend a state grant program that helped schools upgrade their air conditioner systems, a decision that will allow utilities that funded the program to claw back funds for their ratepayers.
CalSHAPE: The California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency program — CalSHAPE for short — set aside nearly $1 billion in utility funds to help schools assess and upgrade aging HVAC and plumbing systems. But the California Energy Commission abruptly closed applications in 2024, leaving $191 million unused — money that must now be returned to utilities by law. The program helped more than 4,500 schools assess the status of their HVAC systems. Of those, 172 schools made significant upgrades with program funds.
Why it matters: The CalSHAPE-funded assessments revealed HVAC systems in California schools are aging and in disrepair. In Los Angeles, where students endured temperatures above 90 degrees for 12 consecutive days, the Los Angeles Unified School District limited outdoor time for some students. The district received $27 million to assess their air conditioning systems from CalSHAPE but no funds for upgrades.
Read on . . . to find out how the utility receiving the largest amount of claw back funds plans to use them.
Lawmakers and the governor on Monday failed to extend a state grant program that helped schools upgrade their air conditioner systems, a decision that will allow utilities that funded the program to claw back funds for their ratepayers.
The California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency program — CalSHAPE for short — set aside nearly $1 billion in utility funds to help schools assess and upgrade aging HVAC and plumbing systems. But the California Energy Commission abruptly closed applications in 2024, leaving $191 million unused — money that must now be returned to utilities by law.
After last-minute negotiations, lawmakers passed a budget trailer bill giving schools that had already received funding an additional three years to finish projects before the state claws back the money. But they dropped a separate measure that would have reopened applications for schools to make upgrades because it did not have support from Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
“I don't understand why [Newsom] doesn't have the backs of everyday people in California, and why he doesn't think that children deserve a safe place to learn with air conditioning,” said Leah Stokes, a political science associate professor at UC Santa Barbara who has advocated for the program. “This is all on him.”
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the governor, declined to comment on the matter.
‘A disillusioning conclusion’
School administrators have praised CalSHAPE, saying the program offered schools the chance to improve class environments for students.
The program helped more than 4,500 schools assess the status of their HVAC systems. Of those, 172 schools made significant upgrades with program funds.
But the program’s future has been in question since 2024, when the California Energy Commission abruptly stopped accepting applications. Much of the controversy centered on whether ratepayers should be responsible for funding a school grant program.
Consumer advocates said the program doesn’t directly benefit ratepayers, while school advocates questioned why the state would pull back money already designated for schools.
In its June 2024 notice pausing the program, the commission cited budget constraints. Later that year, the governor signed an executive order directing the commission to examine ratepayer-supported programs “whose funding might more appropriately come from a source other than ratepayers.”
In a letter opposing the budget measure to extend CalSHAPE, San Diego Gas & Electric Senior Vice President Mitch Mitchell said its customers contributed about $189.6 million to the program.
The company stands to get back $100 million — the most of any participating utility — which would amount to about $24 per customer, divided into $2 monthly payments over a year, according to a legislative analysis. Utility officials said they are committed to returning all unspent funds to customers through bill relief.
“Policymakers cannot credibly elevate affordability while simultaneously redirecting unused customer dollars away from bill relief,” Mitchell said in the letter. “If affordability is truly a legislative priority, then these funds should be returned to customers as intended under existing law.”
School advocates questioned whether returning the money would make any meaningful impact for ratepayers. SoCal Edison ratepayers would receive $1.25 per month for a year and Pacific Gas & Electric customers would receive 20 cents per month for a year, according to the legislative analysis.
Meanwhile, the CalSHAPE-funded assessments revealed HVAC systems in California schools are aging and in disrepair.
“Extending CalSHAPE deadlines so existing funds could go to repair or replace broken school HVAC systems should have been an easy win,” said JuNelle Harris, founder of Clean Air Allies, a nonprofit that advocates for healthy air in schools. “Instead, this campaign has been a multiyear saga that’s come to a disillusioning conclusion.”
Schools cope with heat
The most recent heat wave left classrooms sweltering as many students returned for their first weeks back to school. School districts throughout the state reported having to adjust school times or cancel classes altogether.
In Los Angeles, where students endured temperatures above 90 degrees for 12 consecutive days, the Los Angeles Unified School District limited outdoor time for some students. The district received $27 million to assess their air conditioning systems from CalSHAPE but no funds for upgrades.
In San Diego, average temperatures stayed in the mid to high 80s, far above the average for the coastal city. The Coronado Unified School District shut down classes for all students.
Cody Petterson, a trustee on the board of the San Diego Unified School District, said he’s disappointed the governor would rather see CalSHAPE funds returned to ratepayers, when there is so much need for air conditioning in schools. He also criticized the CalSHAPE process, saying it limited schools from completing projects on time and disincentivized applications.
“No child should be in a classroom that is overheating because they cannot learn, they cannot achieve, they cannot grow,” he said. Petterson added that he’d prefer the state fund HVAC upgrades as categorical investments, rather than through a grant program.
San Diego Unified received $12 million to assess school air conditioning systems, but no funds to upgrade them.
Advocates said they were confused about the governor’s lack of support, but will continue to advocate for school HVAC investments from the state.
“It’s deeply disappointing that lawmakers, starting and ending with the Governor, have chosen to treat our children’s and teachers’ interests as secondary to those of big utility companies,” Harris said. “As our outdoor environment is transformed by more extreme weather events and wildfires, safe classrooms where children can learn and grow have never been more important.”
Stokes said Newsom “sat on it as an executive for years,” while disadvantaged communities went without air conditioning. “Why would he do that? Seems very Trumpian to me.”
California schools won’t be able to access more funds for upgrades, but hundreds of schools could have more time to complete projects in the works. According to the energy commission, 216 out of 719 school districts that were awarded a grant have pending projects.
US officials declares an end, origin still unknown
By Mike Stobbe | The Associated Press
Published September 11, 2026 11:00 AM
This undated photo taken through a microscope and provided by the CDC shows Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts found in a fresh stool sample which had been prepared with a formalin solution and stained with safranin.
(
CDC
/
via Associated Press
)
Topline:
The largest cyclospora food poisoning outbreak in U.S. history is over, U.S. health officials said Friday.
Why now: U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they are confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific outbreak is off the market.
Questions remain: Even with the outbreak deemed over, several questions remain, including about its origin. The parasite is spread through human feces, and it still isn’t clear how sewage could have contaminated enough food to sicken so many people.
Read on... for more on the outbreak.
The largest cyclospora food poisoning outbreak in U.S. history is over, U.S. health officials said Friday.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they are confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific outbreak is off the market.
Nearly 13,000 reported cyclospora cases were tied to the multistate outbreak, federal officials say. They represent the bulk of an unprecedented surge in the parasitic diarrheal illness this year.
Even with the outbreak deemed over, several questions remain, including about its origin. The parasite is spread through human feces, and it still isn’t clear how sewage could have contaminated enough food to sicken so many people.
“This contamination can happen if produce is grown in soil or comes into contact with water that has been contaminated,” said Ellen Shumaker, director of outreach for a North Carolina State University food safety program, Safe Plates.
Since May 1, the government has received reports of nearly 20,000 lab-confirmed cases, or more than 16 times the number reported during the same period last year. More than 6,100 suspected cases also have been reported.
The worst previous year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported nationally.
This year’s surge in cases was dominated by an outbreak in 21 states linked to iceberg lettuce. But there are thousands of other cases that have not been linked to that outbreak.
Michigan was the hardest hit state, with the most reported cases and the two U.S. deaths tied to the outbreak.
Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.
The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source.
In this outbreak, investigators initially zeroed in on lettuce served at Taco Bell. Federal officials subsequently focused on Taylor Farms as the source of the lettuce, and the company recalled iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico.
The Taylor Farms recall involved thousands of packaged salad products combining iceberg lettuce with other vegetables. The products were shipped to major U.S. restaurant chains, including Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
The FDA has ended its on-site inspections and sample collection at iceberg lettuce growers and the processing facility in Mexico, the agency said Friday. Samples from the on-site inspections are pending analysis, the FDA said.
The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Keep up with LAist.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
City declares local emergency from coastal erosion
Makenna Cramer
covers the daily drumbeat of Southern California — events, processes and nuances making it a unique place to call home.
Published September 11, 2026 10:57 AM
A beachgoer takes a dip as high surf rushes up in Laguna Beach on Sept. 4, 2026.
(
Don Leach
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
Laguna Beach is now in a local emergency because of coastal erosion, city officials announced Thursday.
The backstory: The emergency proclamation follows a loss of sand from the ocean swell of Tropical Storm Marie, which caused damage along parts of Southern California’s coast, including Dana Point, Malibu and Long Beach. In Laguna Beach, the city says six oceanfront homes have been yellow-tagged, and the parking lot for Aliso Beach "has partially failed," leaving the lot and three other areas temporarily closed.
Why now: Dave Kiff, city manager, said most residents haven’t seen this much sand leave the city’s beaches at once. “We expect it to come back, but we are not counting on it, and with a very strong El Niño forecast we need the ability to act quickly to protect homes, beaches and public infrastructure,” Kiff said in a statement. The city didn’t immediately respond to LAist’s request for an interview.
The details: You can see the full proclamation here.
What's next: Forecasters said Thursday that El Niño is strengthening, and that there is a more than 90% chance of a “very strong” El Niño in our region this year into next. Those conditions raise the risk of additional coastal erosion, according to Laguna Beach.
Why it matters: The city says the proclamation means officials can immediately take steps toward emergency shoreline protection, adding sand, removing debris and doing repairs — without the delays of typical contracting procedures.
O.C. responds: An Emergency Operations Center is being activated in Orange County after the local emergency proclamations from Laguna Beach and Dana Point, Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Katrina Foley announced Friday. Foley's office said she's also asking for a local emergency for the county, which would "support requests for additional state and federal resources as damage assessments continue."
Un Solo Sol, a vegan restaurant located on 1st Street in Boyle Heights, will close its doors on Sept. 28.
(
Andrew Lopez
/
Boyle Heights Beat
)
Topline:
For 16 years, Carlos Ortez, 64, has opened the doors of his restaurant, Un Solo Sol, near Mariachi Plaza, eager to share the philosophy behind his plant-based dishes and the importance of nourishing the body through holistic food. It’s what he’ll miss the most when the restaurant closes on Sept. 28, Ortez said.
Why now: “This decision was not made lightly,” Ortez wrote in an Instagram post announcing the restaurant’s closure. “Rising operational costs, inflation, and the broader challenges facing the restaurant industry have made sustaining a small footprint increasingly difficult.” The announcement comes after years of declining sales and mounting economic crises that have driven customers away, including the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration raids, and recently, the Lineage warehouse fire.
Want to visit? The restaurant will close on Sept. 28. Until then, hours are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m The restaurant closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Un Solo Sol is located at 1818 E. 1st St.
For 16 years, Carlos Ortez, 64, has opened the doors of his restaurant, Un Solo Sol, near Mariachi Plaza, eager to share the philosophy behind his plant-based dishes and the importance of nourishing the body through holistic food.
It’s what he’ll miss the most when the restaurant closes on Sept. 28, Ortez said.
“This decision was not made lightly,” Ortez wrote in an Instagram post announcing the restaurant’s closure. “Rising operational costs, inflation, and the broader challenges facing the restaurant industry have made sustaining a small footprint increasingly difficult.”
The announcement comes after years of declining sales and mounting economic crises that have driven customers away, including the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration raids, and recently, the Lineage warehouse fire.
The restaurant stopped making a profit in 2022, and ever since, Ortez has been using personal funds to sustain it, he said.
“We’re closing the front door right now so that I can think,” Ortez said. “How am I going to fit a small restaurant with these ideals … in Los Angeles, in Boyle Heights, in the world?”
Carlos Ortez, 64, owner of Un Solo Sol, stands in front of the restaurant on Sept. 10 in Boyle Heights.
(
Laura Anaya-Morga
/
Boyle Heights Beat
)
Un Solo Sol’s origin
Ortez, a career engineer-turned-business owner, launched Un Solo Sol in 2005 with his ex-wife as a food-service provider for charter schools. In 2010, Ortez opened the brick-and-mortar across the street from Mariachi Plaza, serving primarily vegan and vegetarian dishes before becoming fully vegan in 2022.
The menu features Latin-American staples like pupusas from Ortez’s native El Salvador, pozole and enchiladas, as well as cuisine from cultures around the world.
The yellow and green storefront near the corner of Boyle Avenue and 1st Street has become part of the fabric of the 1st Street business corridor. In neighborhoods like Boyle Heights, losing a small business disrupts “the cohesiveness of the community,” Ortez said.
On social media, customers grieved the loss of one of the only vegan restaurants on the Eastside.
“Thank you for the many years of delicious meals made with love,” one user commented.
“Carlos you poured your heart out for the Vegan community and Boyle Heights,” another wrote.
What’s next
While the restaurant will close its doors, Ortez said his work isn’t over. He plans to stay in the community and take time to consider how his naturopathic, whole-foods-oriented restaurant concept can continue in a different form.
“The plan is to reemerge,” Ortez said. “It’s not that I don’t have the capacity to let go, it’s that I’m still alive.”
Want to visit?
The restaurant will close on Sept. 28. Until then, hours are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m The restaurant closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
