The Brief

It's a sparkling afternoon and the Goodyear Blimp is cruising above the southern shoreline of Los Angeles, a few miles from its base in the suburb of Carson.

The airship's slender gondola, which has seats for eight passengers, is a little under the size of a school bus and has a gobsmacking, 360-degree view. Dolphins bounce over waves and seals flop off a floating dock below.

Goodyear Chief Pilot Taylor Deen steers the blimp above Los Angeles' southern shoreline.

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There's no door separating the cockpit from the rest of the craft, so a dizzying display of buttons, switches and levers is on full view. One of them, the "Weight On Wheels" switch (it turns on the transponder allowing air traffic control to track the blimp in flight) is fittingly labeled "WOW."

Grabbing headlines — and the public's attention

The Goodyear Blimp has been wowing people for a century, though it's changed quite a bit since Goodyear's first branded blimp, The Pilgrim, started bobbing gracefully across American skies in 1925. Back then, it was a true blimp — that is, a giant, soft balloon full of helium. Today's Goodyear blimps — the company has a trio of the airships spread across Ohio, California and Florida — are still helium-filled. But they have a semi-rigid frame which supports structures like their tail fins and engines.

Though other companies built airships as far back as the late 19th century for both military and commercial uses, Goodyear's blimps became some of the most famous when they debuted.

A Goodyear blimp lands on top of the Emerson & Orme building in Washington, D.C., in 1928 — one of the many publicity stunts the tire company undertook to draw attention to its brand.

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"All of a sudden, these blimps began appearing all over the United States over parades, during holidays and major events," said John Geoghegan, the author of When Giants Ruled the Sky, a book about airships. "This is how they captured the imagination of the public."

Goeghegan said a string of headline-grabbing publicity stunts also helped bring the Goodyear Blimp into the public sphere, such as the day in 1928 when one landed on the roof of a department store in Akron, Ohio. "And of course that photograph ran in newspapers all across the United States," Geoghegan said.

Soon there were airship toys, airship postage stamps, and airship songs. Early films captured the luxury of long-distance travel by Zeppelin — German craft, which were much bigger than blimps and had a rigid frame.

They also used a more readily available — and more flammable — gas. Hydrogen.

Disasters keep airships in the public eye 

The public's carefree fascination with airships dimmed in the 1930s after deadly accidents started making headlines. Most famously: The Hindenburg.

The enormous Zeppelin airship, which held about 100 people, was finishing up a transatlantic flight in New Jersey in 1937. No one knows exactly what happened. But as it gracefully floated down to the ground, the hydrogen caught fire, suddenly exploding. Thirty-six people were killed. The entire shocking spectacle was captured by the mass media of the day.

"People saw this enormous tragedy happening kind of right before their eyes in the newsreels in theaters and on radio," said National Air and Space Museum Curator Emeritus Tom Crouch. "So it's something people remember."

An advertising, event-covering icon

The Hindenburg disaster meant that the glamorous era of commercial passenger travel on airships was over.

But blimps and other airships continued to hover on the edges of the public imagination in movies, books and songs. The Goodyear Blimp had long been used as a giant advertisement for the company. In the post-war years, Goodyear intensified its efforts, working to get the brand in front of as many ordinary, tire-buying Americans as possible.

"We fly lower than we need to, we fly slower than we need to, because it's a big billboard for Goodyear," said Goodyear spokesperson Dan Smith. "We want people to see it."

Starting in the mid-1950s, the Goodyear blimp provided a vehicle for the live TV coverage of sports events, such as the annual Rose Bowl game in Pasadena pictured here in 1978.

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The blimp has also become an integral part of live TV sports coverage beginning in the 1950s. The airships provided a groundbreaking aerial platform for the coverage of the Super Bowl and the World Series, among other events, adding to the spectacle.

Hollywood took note: The blimp was pivotal to the climax of the 1977 thriller Black Sunday. In the movie, a terrorist group attempts to blow up a Goodyear blimp as it hovers over the Super Bowl.

Cultural nostalgia

Blimps still occasionally show up in the culture — though now they are often steeped in nostalgia for the days when airships ruled American skies, such as with the 2023 steam-punky Airship: Kingdoms Adrift video game.

There are are also a handful of blimps that are leased by companies around the country for advertising or surveillance. But some other familiar blimps — like the MetLife blimp — have faded away. There's a worldwide shortage of helium, which makes each trip very expensive.

Yet there have been signs that airships might make a comeback. In the past couple of years, companies in the U.S. and around the world such as Lighter Than Air Research, founded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, have announced plans to launch a new generation of commercial airships.

As for the Goodyear blimp — its footprint isn't what it once was. The company's airships helped cover more than 120 live events in 2014. In 2024, they covered fewer than 70. But Goodyear's Smith says the company plans to up its presence for its centennial year.

"You're going to be hard pressed to not find the Goodyear Blimp somewhere near you this year," he said.

The blimp is also attracting a new generation of fans — largely through social media. It has nearly 140,000 followers on Instagram.

Madison Opdahl and Niklas Tostar are big blimp fans. Goodyear invited them to take a ride in response to Tostar's many blimp-related posts on social media.

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" It's always fun to see the blimp flying around," said Madison Opdahl, a 27-year-old Los Angeles transplant, who recently got to take a ride in the blimp in honor of its 100th anniversary with her college buddy Niklas Tostar.

"We send photos of the blimp whenever we see it to each other," Tostar said. "We'll be at work or wherever the situation is, and it's just kind of a running inside joke, but also at the same time a little bit serious that we like the blimp so much."

Jennifer Vanasco edited digital versions of this story.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Last week, Synergy Quantum Academy students joined regional walkouts protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But with the South L.A. school’s tall metal gate shut, some opted to climb and jump over it.

The school’s leadership wrote in messages to parents and staff that an “unauthorized staff member” then opened that campus gate — in conflict with Los Angeles Unified School District protocol.

That staff member, teacher Ricardo Lopez, said he acted out of concern for the safety of students who might have hurt themselves trying to leave the school.

He said the school fired him the same day. Now his dismissal has spurred further protests and raised questions about whose responsibility it is to ensure safety as students exercise their First Amendment rights.

Here’s what we know 

Thousands of students across Los Angeles walked out during the first week of February to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including students at Synergy Quantum Academy.

Lopez said that after the walkouts on Feb. 4, he heard several students talk about injuring themselves climbing over the metal fences that surround the South L.A. school.

On Thursday morning, during his academic prep period, Lopez said he saw students trying to climb over the metal gate on the north side of the campus.

“When I saw one of my [AP U.S. History] students climbing the fence and jumping…and like almost falling, I started rushing towards the gate,” Lopez said. “ I opened the gate for them so other students wouldn’t get hurt like the day before.”

Guidance from the ACLU of Southern California related to student walkouts states “locking exits to the school can pose serious health and safety concerns for students and staff.”

Lopez said he opened this gate on the north side of Synergy Quantum Academy and Maya Angelou Community High School's shared campus after watching students attempt to climb over Thursday Feb. 5.

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Lopez said within an hour, Synergy’s human resources department informed him that he’d been terminated for insubordination. Lopez said there was no hearing or additional meeting where he was able to defend his actions.

“What hurts even more was that they escorted me out like I was a — I felt like a criminal,” Lopez said.

The contents of his classroom were later boxed and sent to him via a third-party delivery service.

Lopez said it’s still unclear to him why he was fired. He said staff received an email earlier in the week telling them not to participate in student protests, but there was no mention of any policy related to the gate.

“ I wasn't participating [in the protest],” Lopez said. “To me it was about protecting students from getting hurt.”

What has the school communicated? 

The school’s public justification for terminating Lopez intersects with a longstanding source of friction in Los Angeles schools — the co-location of independent charter schools on the campuses of traditional district schools.

Synergy Quantum Academy shares a campus with Los Angeles Unified's Maya Angelou Community High School. Synergy is an independent charter school with a separate staff overseen by a board of directors outside of the district.

In messages to parents and staff, Synergy's principal said opening the gate conflicted with LAUSD protocol.

Synergy Quantum Academy enrolled 564 students in the 2024-2025 school year and is one of several charter schools operated by Synergy Academies.

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Synergy Academies CEO Rhonda Deomampo confirmed Lopez is no longer employed at the school.

In response to LAist's inquiry about which protocol was violated, Deomampo wrote in an email that Maya Angelou Community High School’s safety plan “clearly outlines the authority of the principal or designee in situations like these.” She also said “to date, the school has received no reports of student injuries related to student protests.”

The excerpt provided from the 206-page safety plan states it is the responsibility of the principal or designee to “maintain adequate safeguards to ensure the safety and welfare of students” during a walkout. The plan states “if students leave campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students.” The document provided does not explicitly prohibit a staff member from opening a gate.

How is LAUSD involved? 

A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said while independent charter schools are expected to follow district policies related to walkouts, the district does not weigh in on personnel decisions.

“Independent charter schools are responsible for the supervision and management of the charter school employees,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Lopez said at Synergy, like many charter schools, he was an “at-will” employee, which means he can be terminated with or without cause and does not have the additional protections associated with union membership.

Community calls for teacher’s reinstatement

Lopez said he has a shared background with many of his students as the son of undocumented, working, immigrant parents who didn’t have an opportunity to pursue higher education themselves.

“That's one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher because a lot of things that I learned [in college] really helped me grow,” Lopez said. Teaching was a way to pay forward that knowledge.

“ I really miss my students, you know, I miss being in the classroom,” Lopez said. “ I just want to be reinstated, you know, and just keep, keep doing what I'm doing, teaching and supporting my students and protecting my students.”

Lopez said he is also worried that the termination could jeopardize his teaching credential or ability to get future jobs as an educator.

On Tuesday, dozens of students from both Maya and Synergy joined with organizers from Unión del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators to rally for Lopez’s reinstatement.

Ayleen was a junior in Lopez's AP U.S. History class. “ When he sees that a student's not OK, he asks them personally and he doesn't embarrass them in front of everybody," she said.

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Synergy junior Ayleen said she didn’t participate in Wednesday’s walkout, but heard about peers who’d jumped the fence and gotten hurt. Ayleen requested to be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy.

“We truly believe that he shouldn't have been fired for protecting a student,” she said. “That's his number one priority as a teacher, protecting his students, and he's the only one that upheld that that day.”

Lopez was Ayleen’s AP U.S. History teacher. AP classes culminate in a rigorous test where students can earn college credit.

“He has this way of teaching that he helps so much because he re-words questions,” Ayleen said. “It sounds simple, but so many teachers don't do that. He genuinely helps us to learn.”

Ayleen’s mother, Mary, said she supported her daughter’s decision to join the Friday walkout in protest of Lopez’s termination and would like the school to bring him back.

According to an Instagram post, students from Maya and Synergy plan to participate in another walkout Friday — still against ICE, but now also in support of their former teacher.

The National Park Service is asking for public input for its study on whether the L.A. coastline between San Pedro and Santa Monica should qualify for national park designation.

Federal officials held a public meeting Wednesday and outlined the study process.

Congress passed a law in 2022 that called for this study and greenlit funding for the three-year effort.

Lawmakers will use the findings to decide whether to designate the stretch of coastline — which includes the Santa Monica Pier, Ballona Creek and RAT Beach — a national park.

Sarah Bodo, project manager at NPS, said the coastline is interpreted as part of the sea to approximately 200 yards inland.

“The 200-yard number is an effort to include the beach areas and the public lands, while excluding private property from the study area,” Bodo said. “In cases where private property is within 200 yards, those properties are excluded from the study.”

What are the criteria?

To become a national park, the area needs to contain nationally significant resources, not already be in the national park system and require direct NPS management.

Sequoia National Park, for example, was recognized in 1890 to protect the giant trees from logging.

Officials will also consider where the access, cost and size of the area can be managed by the department.

The National Park Service is studying whether the red portions of the L.A. coastline should qualify for national park designation.

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“A study area must meet all four of the criteria,” Bodo said.

What happens now?

The agency is early in the study process. If you have thoughts on the matter, now is the time to share them.

The public comment period is open until April 6.

In the coming months, the agency will review that feedback before preparing a study report for Congress.

Only Congress and the president have the ability to designate a new national park.

“At that point, it will be up to Congress or the president to take action or not. There is no timeline for further action from Congress or the president,” Bodo said. “The completion of the study does not establish a new park unit.”

The process could take years. The last designation given to Missouri’s Ste. Genevieve National Historic Park in 2018, according to the Associated Press. Congress ordered the study for that park in 2005.

Outstanding questions

One question raised at Wednesday’s meeting was what the benefits and downsides of having NPS manage this area are.

Bodo said that would depend on what the legislation would say if designated and how management would work.

“The National Park Service is required to conserve unimpaired scenery, natural and historic objects, wildlife of parks, and to provide for their enjoyment by the public. That's our overall mission,” Bodo said. “National parks can also generate economic activity in nearby communities.”

And, if designated, how exactly would management of this area work?

It’s also still too early to say, but existing property owners, like the county or city, could continue to own and manage the property, Bodo added.

“If this were to be designated, there maybe wouldn't be significant changes in that arena,” Bodo said. “The Park Service would seek to work collaboratively with local communities and existing agencies on common goals for resource protection and recreational opportunities.”

Another question asked was how might Park Service involvement along the L.A. coast affect fishing and hunting regulations?

“That's really dependent on land ownership, so if land ownership did not change, nothing would change,” Bodo said.

How you can participate

The National Park Service is looking for public input. A second virtual meeting will be held March 11 at 6 p.m. You can join here.

Public comments are also being accepted online here.

Want more Olympics updates? Subscribe here to get our newsletter, Rachel Goes to the Games, delivered to your inbox for a behind-the-scenes look at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

MILAN — U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim's quest for a historic Olympic halfpipe three-peat was foiled by none other than her teenage protégé.

Kim took home silver, after 17-year-old Gaon Choi of South Korea rebounded from a dramatic crash to overtake her in the final run.

"It's the kind of story you only see in dreams, so I'm incredibly happy it happened today," Choi said afterward.

Kim, 25, was within arm's reach of becoming the first halfpipe snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic golds. Despite a last-minute shoulder injury, she cruised easily through Wednesday's qualifiers, which were actually her first competition of the season.

And she was looking like a lock through much of Thursday's final — under a light nighttime snowfall in Livigno — which hinged on the best of three runs.

Kim's strong first showing gave her 88 points and an early lead, which she held for the majority of the competition as many other contenders — including her U.S. teammates Bea Kim and Maddy Mastro — fell on one or more of their runs.

A big crash nearly ended Choi's night early, but after a medical exam she returned to the halfpipe slope for two more runs.

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Choi also took a heavy fall on her opening run, needing a concussion check. She almost missed her second turn, only to fall again. But an impressive third run propelled her to the top of the leaderboard, with 90.25 points.

"It wasn't so much about having huge resolve," she said later. "I just kept thinking about the technique I was originally doing."

Then all eyes were on Kim, the last rider of the night, with a chance to retake the lead. But she fell on her cab double cork 1080, a trick she had landed cleanly in previous runs, which stuck her with her original score. Choi and her team broke down in happy sobs and cheers immediately.

As Choi wiped her eyes, a beaming Kim greeted her at the photo finish with a warm hug. As they lined up alongside bronze medalist Mitsuki Ono of Japan, Kim stood to Choi's side and pointed at her excitedly.

"I've known [Choi] since she was little, and it means a lot to see that I've inspired the next generation and they're now out here killing it," Kim said afterward.

Choi is the same age Kim was in 2018 when she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboard medal.

The two have known each other for nearly a decade, a bond that began when Choi's father struck up a friendship with Kim's dad — who emigrated from South Korea to the U.S. — in the lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Kim (R) gave Choi (L) a warm reception after the last run of the night.

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"Chloe's dad did a lot of mentoring to my dad," Choi said after winning the first World Cup she entered in 2023, at age 14. "I didn't know much because I was young, but Chloe's dad gave my dad a lot of advice. It made me who I am today."

Kim and her dad helped bring Choi to the U.S. to train with at California's Mammoth Mountain, and maintained a supportive relationship. Kim spoke highly of Choi at an earlier press conference, calling it a "full-circle moment" and saying she sees "a mirror reflection of myself and my family."

"We're seeing a big shift to Asians being dominant in snow sports," she added. "I've had aunts telling me that I shouldn't snowboard, get a real career, focus on school. It's cool to see that shift happening."

Choi's victory makes her the first female Korean athlete to win a medal in snow sports. This is also South Korea's first snowboard gold.

"I want to introduce this sport more to my country through my performance at this Olympics," Choi told Olympics.com before the Games. "I also believe that enjoying the Games is just as important as achieving good results."
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