The Brief

It’s a Wednesday morning at around 6:30 a.m., and people are streaming into Friendship Auditorium in Los Feliz — a spacious venue operated by the city typically used for weddings and other ceremonies. But this morning, what’s on the menu is a hearty breakfast, the chance to “flip the egg,” and an art lecture from Robocop himself, Peter Weller.

That is just one part of the weekly meeting at the Los Angeles Breakfast Club — a gathering that began 100 years ago for the city’s rich and famous to share a meal and have fun while learning something enriching along the way. Today, it remains one of Los Angeles' best-kept secrets.

Walt Disney on his initiation day with Guests and Mickey, September 28, 1932.

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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Joe DiMaggio being initiated on Ham the Sawhorse, with Club Manager Harold Link and member Don Lake, August 18, 1943

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“The original founders, if they came today, would still recognize so much of what’s happening. Most of the traditions date back to the 1920s,” said Los Angeles Breakfast Club historian Rachel Skytt, co-author of the forthcoming book, The Los Angeles Breakfast Club: A Century of Hollywood, Hi-Jinx, and Ham & Eggs.

The club, Skytt and her co-authors say, started after a group of avid horsemen, including local banker Marco Hellman and merchant Maurice De Mond, finished their ride along the trails near Griffith Park.

“They were wealthy businessmen pretending to be cowboys,” said Sandi Hemmerlein, a co-author of the book. “Naturally, they worked up an appetite on horseback, so one of them arranged to serve breakfast out of a chuckwagon.”

Eventually, the group moved the festivities down to a nearby riding academy, hired a chef and some waiters, and built a picnic table in the shape of a horseshoe.

A postcard featuring exterior of The LABC's second clubhouse on Los Feliz Blvd (1937-1965) and cryptogram.

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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A postcard with driving directions to The LABC's second clubhouse on Los Feliz Blvd (1937-1965).

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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Initial membership consisted only of men, but women attended as guests and speakers at the club almost from the start, with opera singer Amelita Galli-Curci as the first honorary member in 1926.

“During that time, the Breakfast Club had two sister clubs, which were women-only,” Skytt said.

It wasn’t until 1981 when the men’s chapter — by that time known as the Los Angeles Breakfast Club — became officially co-ed.

Who’s who in L.A.

Calvin Coolidge and Grace Coolidge on their initiation day with movie star Mary Pickford and others, February 19, 1930

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Since the beginning, the club’s ethos was strongly nonpartisan and nonpolitical — and more about fun than networking and business. Hemmerlein mentions that bitter newspaper rivals Harry Chandler and William Randolph Hearst were photographed shaking hands and smiling here in 1926.

“De Mond and Hellman were both Jewish, and lots of the movie business members too: Jack and Sam Warner, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky, Carl Laemmle, Louis B. Mayer, Sid Grauman,” Hammerlein says.

The club also had at least one Native American member, movie director Edwin Carewe.

Over the years, past members include Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joe DiMaggio, Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney, John Philip Sousa, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and Babe Ruth.

And every one of them has had their hand put onto a plate of fried eggs and learned the club’s special wrist-rotating handshake, a ritual known as “flipping the egg.”

A day at the club

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club's "Ham-and-Egg Cryptogram" is a coded chant recited at their weekly meetings.

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James Bartlett

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LAist

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Alex Evans, Co-Executive Director of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, puppeteers Bull the Frog for the Los Angeles Breakfast Club, February 17, 2021

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That special handshake has endured for decades. But today’s attendees — anywhere from 100 to 200 each time — are a much more diverse bunch. Some have colored dyed hair, while others wear big hats, tiki shirts, or breakfast-themed clothes, and there’s a man carrying a large squirrel hand puppet.

But first, the day starts with the bracing breakfast of ham and eggs and other food staples.

Then the lights go down.

The Roosters, regulars of the club, deliver a friendly heckle during a breakfast meeting in February 2024.

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Larry Underhill

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club

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A breakfast meeting being held at Friendship Auditorium

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Larry Underhill

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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On this particular morning, conductor of ceremonies Kahlil Nelson begins the proceedings by singing his version of “The Lambeth Walk” — the classic song from the musical Me and My Girl — with lyrics about Buckaroo Bonzai and Robocop as an affectionate preamble to the day’s guest lecturer, actor and art historian Weller.

Then everyone gets on their feet, doing some light stretching, led by exercise goddess Carole Nese, who is sporting multi-colored LED wristbands. Naturally, everyone groans melodramatically as they bend to touch their toes: This club loves a good ham.

Today, there is a new member initiation: A woman sits on Ham the Sawhorse, blindfolded, as Club President Mickey Corcoran asks her to repeat a specially written membership vow based around the initiate’s hobbies and interests.

The main course of the morning is the lecture, the subjects of which have ranged from Googie architecture and old-school restaurants to the city’s parrot population.

Today, Weller is holding court on Italian art throughout history.

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club podium with two fresh sunny-side-up eggs ready for initiations.

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Judging by the audience reaction, the talk is a hit, and Weller concludes by saying:

“You guys are the warmest and strangest group of people I’ve ever met!”

Quite a compliment coming from the man who starred in the movie adaptation of William S. Burrough’s Naked Lunch.

How to join and how to visit

Los Angeles Breakfast Club meets every Wednesday at 7 a.m. Fees and details on membership can be found at www.labreakfastclub.com

The Trump administration on Thursday released its plan to open up federal waters off the coast of California to oil drilling, taking a momentous step that state leaders and environmentalists had long expected.

The Interior Department’s proposal, which sets up a direct confrontation with Sacramento on energy and climate change, would also allow drilling in federal waters off the coast of Alaska and the Southeastern U.S. It would rip up a ban on new offshore drilling in most of these places that President Joe Biden signed a few weeks before he left office.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order repealing that ban on his first day in office in January, and last month, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled Biden had overstepped his authority.

Administration officials argued that the move to open federal waters to new oil and gas leases will help restore energy security and protect American jobs.

“By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a press release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom previously said the plan would be “dead on arrival” and promised attendees at an international climate conference last week that California would immediately sue.

On Thursday, his office quickly blasted the proposal as “idiotic” and “reckless.” He added that it “endangers our coastal economy and communities and hurts the well-being of Californians.”

Companies have drilled very little oil off the coast of California since the 1969 Union Oil platform blowout spilled 4.2 million barrels of crude into the waters 6 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, catalyzing an environmental movement.

Newsom’s press release included a photo of a bird covered in crude oil, with a caption that said, “If Trump gets his way, coming to a beach near you soon!”

Numerous California lawmakers, including Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Jared Huffman, hastily convened a media call to push back on the plan.

Padilla called it “another outrageous announcement” from an “out of control administration.”

Rep. Jimmy Panetta compared the proposal to Trump’s controversial renovation of the White House.

“The California coastline is not the East Wing of the White House,” he said.

The Democratic lawmakers are supporting legislation that would prohibit new oil and gas leases off the West Coast.

The public will have a 60-day window to comment on the plan when it appears in the Federal Register on Monday.

Orange County isn't where you'd expect to find your next great bagel. But that's exactly what's happening in Irvine and Costa Mesa, where bakeries are proving that the future of bagels isn't about replicating New York — it's about reinventing it with California's best ingredients.

Three shops have quietly been reinvigorating an old formula, taking inspiration from traditional East Coast-style bagel shops while using farm-sourced ingredients to create something unlike anything else in Southern California (or the country).

Read on and enjoy these maximalist offerings.

RISE Bagels (Irvine)

The One Fish from RISE Bagels in Irvine, featuring a bright, silky lox bagel layered with sweet yellow tomatoes, pickled onions, and plenty of dill.

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Ron De Angelis

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Chef John Park's bagel philosophy stemmed from his desire for something lighter than traditional, heavy New York bagels. Park and his team opened RISE Bagels earlier this month in an upscale Irvine business park, tucked away like an oasis among pristine high-rise buildings.

Park aims for bagels with a crispy crust and more air pockets. These aren't special sourdough or crazy fermentation projects — just a focus on achieving lighter crust and crumb.

RISE offers signature open-face options like the One Fish ($20), featuring smoked salmon with citrus notes (orange, lime, lemon, dill, coriander, fennel, black pepper), a balanced sweet-salty ratio, and pickled onions with yuzu kosho, a fermented paste containing chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt. The Two Fish ($23) adds dashi-marinated salmon roe for a touch of sweetness and smokiness.

Closed sandwich options include Get Jjigae With It ($18), with beef bulgogi, kimchi jjigae, scrambled eggs, American cheese, sesame leaf, soy-pickled radish, cucumber, and ssam jang schmear made from fermented soybeans and chili paste. The Jersey Boy features Taylor ham, soft scrambled egg, American cheese, ketchup, and Tokyo Negi schmear — a Japanese long onion spread sourced from Girl and Dough farm in San Diego.

On my recent visit, the One Fish delivered a level of freshness that nearly knocked me off my feet — a touch of salty brine as if it had just been harvested from nearby San Clemente beaches. The Jersey Boy brought me back to land with sweet, gooey flavors from soft scrambled egg, melty American cheese, and ketchup, with just the right amount of salty notes in between.

Boil &  Bake (Costa Mesa)

Boil & Bake in Costa Mesa features fresh figs over cream cheese with a heavy drizzle of hot honey and a scatter of sesame seeds on their black and white sesame bagel.

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Carlos Perez's bagel education began at 8, working under his father, also named Carlos, when the family took over Shirley’s Bagels, an Orange County staple. But the son of Guatemalan immigrants wanted to move beyond Restaurant Depot products and machine-made dough. After working his way from dishwasher to manager at local restaurants, he felt ready to open his own place. He connected with Chef Luke Bramm, who'd trained in fine dining kitchens and specialized in curing meats, through a mutual chef friend. Together, they opened Boil & Bake in Costa Mesa, developing a three-day sourdough process and strict farm-sourcing philosophy, seasonally editing the menu — removing items entirely when local ingredients aren't available.

The menu splits between open-face bagels and sandwiches, emphasizing California ingredients and house-made products. The O.G. features Guatemalan-style longaniza sausage with cilantro aji crema (a nod to Perez's heritage), while The Dodger pairs Native Cure smoked salmon with pickled onions instead of traditional capers. The Fully Loaded Lox ($20) goes maximalist with house-cured fish, cucumber, radish, and sprouts. The M.F. takes a more inventive route with maple-fennel sausage and sweet-onion Aleppo aioli. Valdivia Farms heirloom tomatoes and La Bahn Ranch eggs appear throughout, reinforcing the local-sourcing philosophy. Most items range from $14 to $17.

On my visit, I ordered a black-and-white sesame bagel topped with black figs and hot honey, that day's special. Quartered black figs with their deep purple-red flesh glistened under a drizzle of hot honey. It feels more California farmers market than traditional East Coast bagel shop, with fresh-tasting, light flavors that work well together.

Deli Seoul Bagels (Costa Mesa)

A beautifully chaotic egg, tofu, and cheese combination — runny, melty, and nestled inside an egg bagel, made with Irene's chili mayo from Deli Seoul.

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Also in Costa Mesa is Deli Seoul, a mother-and-son operation run by Jun and Irene Wang. Irene opened Deli Seoul in 2008 in a busy shopping center off Harbor Boulevard as a traditional bagel shop. Jun joined later after leaving the tech industry. It was only in the last year that the family decided to lean into their Korean heritage in bagel form.

The breakfast menu operates on a build-your-own model: customers start with a bagel or bread ($7.50 base, $9.85 with protein), then add cheese and protein. Korean options set it apart: Seoul steak with a sweet sauce, spicy pork, sweet-glazed Spam and marinated organic tofu sit alongside traditional bacon and sausage. Specialty bagels include coconut, pineapple, and Asiago. Sauces range from standard mayo to Irene's Korean chili mayo and chipotle mayo. It's customization that appeals to both traditionalists and adventurous eaters.

Jun Wang and his mother Irene pose together in the kitchen area of Deli Seoul in Costa Mesa.

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By my third stop that day, I was experiencing a bit of bagel burnout, despite my love for them. So I ordered something different: a bagel sandwich with scrambled egg and marinated tofu, with Irene's Korean chili mayo on an egg bagel. The combination was surprisingly light and flavorful, perfectly summing up what Deli Seoul offers — a delightfully diverse array of flavors from an approachable perspective that still represents what's happening with bagels in Orange County.

Infant formula linked to a botulism outbreak that has sickened dozens of babies across 15 states may still be on store shelves even after being recalled, federal health officials say.

As of Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said, 31 cases of suspected or confirmed infant botulism have been reported in babies who consumed ByHeart Whole Nutrition formula and got sick between August and mid-November.

No deaths have been reported. But all 31 babies were hospitalized with the illness, which can cause a potentially life-threatening form of gradual paralysis in infants less than a year old.

"Epidemiologic and laboratory data show that ByHeart Whole Nutrition infant formula might be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, which is causing infant illness in multiple regions of the country," the FDA said.

ByHeart Whole Nutrition recalled two batches of its infant formula earlier this month before expanding the recall to all of its products — which include cans and single-serve packets — last week. They are sold at major retailers — including Target, Publix, Walmart and Whole Foods — and online nationwide, with some products shipped to customers outside the U.S.

ByHeart, which describes itself as a "next-generation baby nutrition company," first hit the market in 2022. The FDA says its products make up "approximately 1%" of all infant formula sold in the U.S., so it does not have concerns about a potential shortage.

In an apology note to parents, ByHeart says it is cooperating with the FDA and "investigating every facet of our process" to identify the cause of the outbreak.

In the meantime, the company — along with the FDA — is urging adults to stop using the formula and monitor their babies for symptoms of botulism. The FDA is also asking stores to stop selling the product.

But in its Wednesday update, the agency said it had "received reports that recalled formula is still being found on store shelves in multiple states." NPR has reached out to the FDA for more information but did not hear back by publication time.

The FDA says it is working with state partners and retailers "to ensure an effective recall" as its investigation into the outbreak continues.

ByHeart infant formula was removed from shelves at a Walmart store in Temecula, Calif..

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What we know about the outbreak

As of Wednesday, the FDA said the 31 cases had been reported in 15 states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.

The outbreak has grown since the FDA first announced its investigation on Nov. 8. At that point, it said that out of an estimated 83 cases of infant botulism reported nationwide since August, 13 of the infants had consumed ByHeart formula at some point.

That raised red flags because botulism is uncommon in dairy products and "there is no historical precedent of infant formula causing infant botulism," the FDA said.

In response, ByHeart promptly recalled two batches of its products. The next day, it announced that the California Department of Public Health had tested a sample from one of those batches, and the result came back positive for Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that causes infant botulism.

That sample came from an opened can, which ByHeart originally said did not prove that its product was to blame (as the bacteria can occur naturally in places like soil and dust). But in an FAQ on its website, it now says further testing by a third-party group identified the bacteria in some samples of unopened formula, too.

ByHeart says the FDA informed it in a "late-night call" on Nov. 10 that it had found two more cases of infant botulism in babies that had consumed its formula. The next day, ByHeart, citing "too many unanswered questions," recalled all of its products and released information for parents about how to switch to a different formula brand.

What to know about infant botulism 

Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by Clostridium botulinum. When a baby swallows the spores, "they grow in the gut and make toxin," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms can appear three to 30 days after consuming the bacteria, and generally start with constipation, poor feeding, difficulty swallowing and loss of head control.

"If untreated, infants with infant botulism experience a progressive, flaccid paralysis that can lead to breathing difficulties and require weeks of hospitalization," the CDC says.

Treatment for infant botulism involves an antitoxin known as BabyBIG, which is administered through an IV.

The CDC says parents should stay vigilant for several weeks after their baby last consumed ByHeart formula. They are advised to wash contaminated surfaces and label any leftover powder "DO NOT USE" and store it safely for a month, in case their infant develops symptoms and the state health department wants to test it.

The CDC says parents should seek immediate medical care if they see any concerning symptoms, and also directs them to an infant botulism outbreak hotline from the California Department of Public Health set up specifically to respond to this outbreak.

What the company is doing 

ByHeart says it is conducting its own "extensive testing" and giving the FDA "complete and unrestricted access to all of our facilities and products for their investigation."

The company has released more resources for customers in the days since the recall, like a 24/7 support hotline and refunds for purchases since October.

It has also pledged to implement stronger safeguards and testing in the future, saying that Clostridium botulinum was "not among the pathogens routinely tested for across the industry" — until now.

In the meantime, several affected family members have taken legal action.

The parents of two four-month-olds who were hospitalized with infant botulism — in Arizona and Kentucky — filed separate federal lawsuits last week. They accused ByHeart of negligence and are seeking compensation for medical bills and emotional distress after both their daughters required hospitalization. A separate class-action suit filed in New York alleges deceptive marketing.

ByHeart told NPR over email that it cannot comment on litigation, but reiterated its commitment to supporting families and the FDA's investigation.
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