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The L.A. Marathon is Sunday. And just like the great city where it is held, this 26.2 mile run is special. Your guide to why is marathoner and our beloved colleague Sharon McNary.
The 5 things that make the marathon special:
Go deeper: Read more about each reason, and find useful information for Sunday's Marathon, by clicking below.
I’ve run a lot of marathons in a lot of places, so I have a strong basis for comparison, but I’m also a SoCal native so, of course, I have a strong local bias. But after 162 marathons, (my 163rd is tomorrow!) these are the things that make the L.A. Marathon very special to me.
Marathoning can be a very white sport. There are lots of theories as to why that I won’t go into here (Runner’s World has a few.)
But in Los Angeles, distance running is for everybody — some 26,000 participants this year, the second largest field in the marathon’s history. You will see it at the free pre-marathon expo at Dodger Stadium where entire families accompany their athlete to pick up their race packets. When I used to volunteer at my running club’s booth at the expo, my conversations with them were as likely to be in Spanish as in English.
And while diversity often means race or ethnicity, I also mean it in the broader sense. You will see every body type at the L.A. Marathon. Sure, the skinnier people are up front running fast. But you will see every size of person taking on the marathon challenge.
There is also a wide diversity of speeds. Forty percent of the field are attempting their very first marathon. The official course keeps streets open for six and a half hours. But lots of people take longer. They will run, or run with walk breaks and even walk the whole route, taking seven or eight hours.
When the streets reopen to traffic at 6.5 hours after the last person crosses the start line, folks move to the sidewalk and continue on to the finish, where volunteers greet them with medals and food, even if it’s a few hours after the official clocks have come down. Some of those late finishers will be the 95 “Legacy” participants who have run every single L.A. Marathon.
Age diversity also sets the L.A. Marathon apart. The oldest man is 90 and the oldest woman is 85. But on the young side, some 3,200 public school kids from nearly 200 public middle and high schools who trained with Students Run L.A will flood the marathon zone in their white shirts. It’s astonishing to see so many young people running so far.
Normally, a kid has to be 16 to register for the marathon but the exceptions are those who train with Students Run L.A. It is a nonprofit organization that trains kids to run long distance races. Training starts in September in small, school-based volunteer-led groups. The volunteers include a mix of teachers, parents and other community saints and over the months, the kids do local training runs and then come together en masse at six races of increasing distances, topping out at 18.6 miles in the Friendship Run at Hanson Dam.
I’ve seen this program develop since the early '90s, and I admire how well-prepared the kids show up to the start line these days.
So many famous things to see on the marathon route. Dodger Stadium, Chinatown, City Hall and other civic buildings, plus Little Tokyo, Disney Hall, Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral.
On Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park, you pass Angelus Temple, founded by pioneering broadcast evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. After around 13 miles, you’d find yourself in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard, passing El Capitan Theater, where Jimmy Kimmel has pranked runners in past years, offering up money for a marathon bib or serving chilled Alaskan King Crab on ice, or super-glueing water bottles to a table.
You’ll go through Sunset Strip and past the West Hollywood cheerleaders, and run on Rodeo Drive past ritzy stores in Beverly Hills. From there, it’s on to the Veterans Administration in West L.A.
The Los Angeles Marathon course, until the pandemic, was a stellar, international destination race, with a route going all the way to Santa Monica. They called it the “Stadium to the Sea." But the pandemic ended Santa Monica’s participation, which is sad because it was pretty epic to be able to run from downtown to the ocean.
These days, you hang a U-turn at the VA campus at mile 22 and head back uphill four more miles on Santa Monica Boulevard to Century City and the finish line at Avenue of the Stars. So now they call it “Stadium to the Stars.” As before, when you run across the finish line, you get your medal and banana and you’re all done, but the limping and bragging.
Students Run L.A. is the largest group I know of that participates in the marathon, but another thing that sets this race apart is how many large scale clubs are training runners and walkers to complete the marathon.
The first of the really big clubs was the L.A. Leggers. (Yes, it’s a pun on the L.A. Lakers.) It was formed in 1989 to take experienced and new athletes through the months of training. It was offering something very new: running with walk breaks, based on the writings of Olympian Jeff Galloway.
This was revolutionary back in the years when you wouldn’t consider yourself a real runner if you couldn’t go under four hours. Adding walk breaks to running helped people go farther with less fatigue and injury.
I joined the Leggers in mid-1990 and ran my first L.A. Marathon in 1991. So many people wanted to join and eventually other large groups formed including L.A. Roadrunners, the Pasadena Pacers, Loma Linda Lopers, Frontrunners and more recently, Keep It Run Hundred, Skid Row Runners and many other groups.
Then there are the many charity groups. The marathon itself is now run by the McCourt Foundation, raising money for research of neurological diseases. And other charities use participation in the marathon to raise funds as well.
One of the things I most enjoy about running a marathon is seeing all the people who come out to cheer. Sometimes I can see the same groups of people a dozen times as they drive, ride or take transit from place to place to see their person.
Some carry funny signs, like, “Never trust a fart” (bathroom humor is big among marathoners) or “Your feet hurt so much because you’re kicking so much butt!” Sometimes kids hold out their hands for a high five, which I never comply because, well, they have no idea where my hands have been that day, and vice versa.
It’s possible to use Metro trains to follow your athlete partway along the marathon course without having to deal with hassling road closures.
If you want to track a person during the race, there’s an app for that, but only if they are willing to carry a phone with them. Download the “Active Experience App” from your app store and then search for the 2024 Los Angeles Marathon.
You can see when all runners and walkers hit various milestones in the race, as well as race results Check your athlete’s race results here.
Go to our comprehensive guide for other information on the marathon here.
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Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, capping a sudden and dramatic ascent for a career politician who is running on his experience and his willingness to take on President Donald Trump.
The backstory: Becerra, who had lingered in the single-digits in polling, surged in popularity following the political implosion of former frontrunner Eric Swalwell, with establishment Democrats favoring the former Health and Human Services secretary and former state attorney general over former Rep. Katie Porter and the outsider Tom Steyer.
Why it matters: The decision comes at a particularly consequential time for California. Residents face a crushing cost of living, nation-topping gas prices made worse by the war in Iran, wildfire risks that have driven insurance companies out of state, an unstable state budget, impending federal cuts to the state’s expansive health system and an economy dampened by immigration enforcement.
Read on ... for more on the California governor race.
This story was originally published by CalMatters.
Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, capping a sudden and dramatic ascent for a career politician who is running on his experience and his willingness to take on President Donald Trump.
Becerra, the former state attorney general, has secured nearly 27% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with about two-thirds of votes counted as of Friday afternoon. If elected in November, he would be the first Latino to serve as California governor in more than a century.
It’s still unclear who his opponent will be: Returns so far show Republican Steve Hilton most likely to advance with more than 26% of votes counted, though the trailing Democrat Tom Steyer has not conceded and could make up ground in the nearly three million votes that remain to be counted.
California uses a top-two primary system; the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November ballot regardless of party.
The November race could differ dramatically depending on the opponent. If it’s Hilton, Becerra would be heavily favored to win: Democrats in California outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one, and Hilton is endorsed by Trump, whom Californians disapprove of in high numbers.
If it’s Steyer, California can expect an all-out slugfest between opposing wings of the Democratic Party, supercharged by the hundreds of millions of dollars Steyer has spent from his personal fortune on the primary alone.
While the hedge fund manager-turned-Democratic donor and climate activist has run a progressive campaign and garnered the support of Bernie Sanders surrogates, Becerra is favored by more of the Democratic establishment.
Becerra, who had lingered in the single-digits in polling, surged in popularity following the political implosion of former frontrunner Eric Swalwell, with establishment Democrats favoring the former Health and Human Services secretary and former state attorney general over former Rep. Katie Porter and the outsider Steyer.
It was a surprising and swift ascent for the mild-mannered career politician who was previously part of a crop of lower-polling Democratic candidates that party chair Rusty Hicks was publicly pressuring to drop out of the race.
“Guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight,” Becerra said at an election night rally Tuesday in Los Angeles, calling his near-victory “the everyday miracle of living in a state that regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.”
The decision comes at a particularly consequential time for California. Residents face a crushing cost of living, nation-topping gas prices made worse by the war in Iran, wildfire risks that have driven insurance companies out of state, an unstable state budget, impending federal cuts to the state’s expansive health system and an economy dampened by immigration enforcement.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
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Nearly three months ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to fund homelessness prevention programs to the tune of $177 million. Despite approval by Mayor Karen Bass, the funding still has not been cleared by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. Now, some city leaders want answers about the delay.
Seeking answers: A motion submitted earlier this week by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said the “contracts remain unexecuted without explanation.” The motion goes on to say the setback has caused “$17 million ... in emergency rental assistance to sit unused” and has put “services for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy.”
What’s next: If approved by the full council, Jurado’s motion would call on Feldstein Soto to report back to the council within 30 days about the reasons for the delay. Representatives with the City Attorney’s Office did not respond to LAist’s repeated requests for comment.
Read on … to learn the year-plus backstory on why this tenant aid funding has yet to be disbursed.
Nearly three months ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to fund homelessness prevention programs to the tune of $177 million. Despite approval by Mayor Karen Bass, the funding still has not been cleared by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.
Now, city leaders want answers about the delay.
A motion introduced earlier this week by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said the “contracts remain unexecuted without explanation.” The motion goes on to say the setback has caused “$17 million ... in emergency rental assistance to sit unused” and has put “services for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy.”
If passed by the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee and later approved by the full council, Jurado’s motion would call on Feldstein Soto to report back to the council within 30 days about the reasons for the delay.
Representatives with the City Attorney’s Office did not respond to LAist’s repeated requests for comment.
Tenant aid providers said they’ve entered their third month without funding from the city. They said without an executed contract, legal aid organizations may soon have to lay off staff and stop taking eviction cases.
“The people who are providing the services are all in nonprofit organizations that don't have a great deal of extra funding to cover this contract that isn't being paid,” said Barbara Schultz, housing director at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
Feldstein Soto has held up the tenant aid funding since April 2025, when she refused to sign a previously approved five-year funding deal with the Legal Aid Foundation. At the time, she argued the contract should have gone through a competitive bidding process.
City officials responded by putting out a request for proposals. They ultimately selected the Legal Aid Foundation, along with several other tenant rights groups, to receive funding set aside for rent relief, tenant education, enforcement of the city’s tenant anti-harassment ordinance and programs that provide free attorneys to tenants facing eviction.
Much of the funding for these homelessness prevention programs comes from the city’s Measure ULA, also known as the L.A. “Mansion Tax.” That tax is now facing potential elimination from a statewide November ballot measure from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Feldstein Soto has frequently clashed with tenant rights advocates.
She previously attempted to remove the word “right” from the city’s “Right To Counsel” ordinance, which supplies free eviction defense attorneys to qualified tenants.
Feldstein Soto also has faced criticism for not prosecuting more landlords accused of rent gouging in the wake of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.
She also was accused of failing to defend the rights of tenants at the high-rise apartment complex Barrington Plaza, who went to court to successfully fight wrongful evictions from landlord company Douglas Emmett, which donated to a campaign opposing Feldstein Soto’s opponent in the 2022 election.
Feldstein Soto launched an audit of the Legal Aid Foundation last year. So far, no findings have been released.
Schultz said the organization has provided all the financial and administrative documentation requested by the L.A. Housing Department related to the contracts.
The Legal Aid Foundation is the lead contractor for the city’s eviction defense funding, but the money is shared with other legal aid organizations as well.
Elena Popp, who leads the Eviction Defense Network, said her small team of lawyers can’t continue to take on tenant cases until funding is approved.
“We're contemplating layoffs effective June 15 unless we can raise the part of the money that is our budget from the city,” Popp said. “If we lay people off, then tenants won't be served.”
Anna Urena, a paralegal with the Eviction Defense Network, says her organization would normally do intake for about 300 tenants per month.
“We're not taking on new cases. We're not representing new people right now because we don't know what's going to happen,” she said. “We really cannot leave our tenants behind.”
Jurado’s motion has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee.
Based on her third-place showing so far in the June primary election results, it appears Feldstein Soto will not be L.A.’s city attorney much longer. Popp said Feldstein Soto’s lame duck status doesn’t bode well for the contract getting signed soon.
“She now has no incentive to sign, and pressure on her will not get her to sign,” Popp said. “If that happens and the City Council doesn't take charge of this, maybe hire outside counsel to get the approval, then we won't see any money until the new city attorney comes in.”
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Millions of people are about to pack stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the World Cup, starting June 11. Public health officials have been working to ensure the health and safety of the masses of fans they're expecting at the 104 matches across 16 cities through mid-July.
L.A. Co Health Department prepares: In Los Angeles, which is hosting eight games, risk-assessment teams will monitor the surroundings for chemical exposures and biological threats. In L.A., diminished federal assistance means the health department is counting on existing staff to do the extra work. "Most of our staff are not taking vacations during the month of the World Cup because they'll need to work -– we'll be obviously accruing overtime costs," says Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. county health director.
Diminished federal presence: Ferrer hopes these events will help authorities see that public health is key to public safety — and worth investing in. On the federal level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which serves as the nation's public health agency, has a muted presence this year. The current Trump administration has pushed thousands of workers out of the CDC workforce and tampered politically with some of its functions. Other governmental groups that would typically be involved, such as the National Security Council's biosecurity group, the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, have been disbanded, left vacant or don't have permanent .
Millions of people are about to pack stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the World Cup, starting June 11.
Public health officials have been working to ensure the health and safety of the masses of fans they're expecting at the 104 matches across 16 cities through mid-July.
In the U.S., World Cup preparations are coming in a time of a diminished federal health presence and funding. It's upped the workload for host city health departments, as they're also strapped for federal funding.
Nevertheless, World Cup host city health officials say they're prepared for the many challenges that come with large-scale celebrations and gatherings.
"We've been focusing on expecting the expected" — issues related to weather, health and human behavior, says Dr. Marcus Plescia, district health director for Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta.
Planning for the event is ongoing, says Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services in Texas. "To be able to begin preparations a year out is a luxury for us, compared to a lot of the situations that we deal with," he says.
For public health departments, the World Cup is a big deal –- but they're well prepared for the biggest challenges.
Summer heat, for instance. "We call Atlanta 'Hotlanta' for a reason," says Georgia's Dr. Plescia, "It's going to be hot and humid here -– so heat-related injuries are going to be an issue."
Atlanta is hosting eight World Cup matches and the team from Uzbekistan. At downtown Centennial Olympic Park, a month-long fan festival is expected to draw some 15,000 people a day. Cooling stations will offer air-conditioning and hydration.
Then there's feeding the crowds. "The biggest lift for us and for all health departments is that our environmental health workers have to inspect all of the food vendors — and there will be a whole lot of food vendors," Plescia says.
Inspectors will check every day to ensure the facilities are in working order and the food is safe to eat. "We want to make sure that people feel confident that they can go out to eat and have a good time –- and they don't have to worry about getting food poisoning," Plescia says.
When lots of people gather, germs tend to spread. "We're worried about sexually transmitted infections because there's going to be a lot of people here and it's going to be a festive atmosphere," Plescia says. "And then we're worried about things maybe we wouldn't have been worried about as much before, particularly measles." Measles is highly contagious among those who haven't been vaccinated, and there have been 30 U.S. outbreaks this year.
Dallas is hosting nine World Cup matches — the most of any city. The health department is stepping up disease surveillance in wastewater, expanding sites and covering more area, says Dr. Huang, the county health authority. Beyond looking for typical threats like influenza and COVID, they're also testing for "whatever might appear" through genomic sequencing, he says.
They're also broadening mosquito surveillance –- setting insect traps and testing for pathogens they can spread. "We always test for West Nile virus," Huang says, "But we're also increasing our testing for dengue, chikungunya and Zika because of all the [incoming] international travel."
Medical staff are also looking out for symptoms of Ebola or hantavirus, due to outbreaks.
Keeping track of which diseases are circulating means they'll be able to alert hospitals and the public quickly if they see a spike. "It's a lot of things we normally do but certainly more enhanced," Huang says.
They're also preparing health tips for the public in different languages: Wear a hat and sunscreen and hydrate when it's hot out. Bug spray and long sleeves help prevent mosquito bites. Stay home if you're sick. "It's the same messages [we always share], but it's really concentrated because we've got so many people coming during a hot period of time in Dallas," Huang says.
The World Cup finals are jointly hosted by New York and New Jersey on July 19.
Officials have been running practice simulations to prepare for outbreaks and mass casualty events. "We plan for the worst case scenario and go through it before it actually happens," says Dr. Alister Martin, New York City's health commissioner.
They've also set up "incident command" to "divert resources from normal stuff so that we can manage any potential emergencies," Martin says, adding that the operation will continue through much of the summer, for other big events planned in New York, including America's 250th anniversary, Pride month and the Puerto Rican Day parade.
In Los Angeles, which is hosting eight games, including the U.S. opening match versus Paraguay, risk-assessment teams will monitor the surroundings for chemical exposures and biological threats.
In L.A., diminished federal assistance means the health department is counting on existing staff to do the extra work. "Most of our staff are not taking vacations during the month of the World Cup because they'll need to work -– we'll be obviously accruing overtime costs," says Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. county health director.
And much of their regular work, like routine food inspections, gets put aside. "I know it would be easier if we weren't in a resource constrained environment," Ferrer says. "But I want to provide assurance that even in a resource constrained environment, we're well prepared."
Ferrer says they've successfully planned and managed other events of national significance, like the 2022 Super Bowl. "This work isn't new to us," she says, adding that staff are making great efforts "to make sure this is a joyous time in L.A. county and [that] we're all safe."
This year's experience will better prepare Los Angeles to host other events, she says — like the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Ferrer hopes these events will help authorities see that public health is key to public safety — and worth investing in.
On the federal level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which serves as the nation's public health agency, has a muted presence this year.
"Usually, the CDC is a visible lead when we have international events in the United States, particularly across the country, versus just in a single state," says Dr. Debra Houry, former chief medical officer for the CDC who resigned last year.
The current Trump administration has pushed thousands of workers out of the CDC workforce and tampered politically with some of its functions, such as setting vaccine policy and publishing scientific papers. The agency's scientists rarely speak directly with the public anymore; their messages are filtered through politically appointed leadership.
Other governmental groups that would typically be involved, such as the National Security Council's biosecurity group, the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, have been disbanded, left vacant or don't have permanent leaders, Houry says.
The diminished federal presence serves as the backdrop for the World Cup.
Emily Hilliard, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees the CDC and ASPR, wrote in an email response to NPR: "HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are actively coordinating with state, local, and global partners to ensure public health and safety during FIFA World Cup 2026 and enhance any measures, as needed."
Localities have found that the federal presence is late in coming, and not as coordinated as it may have been in the past, says Lori Freeman, CEO for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represents health departments.
Freeman says the CDC started holding coordination calls and issuing some guidance a few months ago –- long after host cities started their own preparations. She notes: "When it comes to merging public health, emergency response and preparedness, that is an area we worry constantly about because the federal government is the agency that must manage across state jurisdictions between and among states."
Some have stepped up to fill perceived gaps. For instance, Georgetown University has set up a Health Security Operations Center to track infectious diseases and send out daily reports, to inform places expecting an influx of travelers throughout the World Cup.
Copyright 2026 NPR
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If you’re looking a great place to watch the upcoming World Cup on the Westside of L.A. — particularly if you can’t break the bank for a ticket — there’s O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica. The owner sat down with Larry Mantle, host of AirTalk, to discuss sports, authentic Irish cuisine and quality Guinness.
What you'll find at the Irish pub:
1. Most notably, an Irish coffee. The alcoholic drink contains coffee and Irish whisky and is topped off with cream.
2. Quality Guinness. The pub keeps a short beer tap line — meaning it goes from keg to glass quickly — and cleans the tap line every two weeks.
3. Potato skins, banger sandwich and full Irish breakfast
The ultimate O'Brien's experience: St. Patrick's Day, obviously. Otherwise, any day when you can sit down for the full Irish breakfast and coffee.
If you’re looking for a great place to watch the upcoming World Cup on L.A.'s Westside — particularly if you can’t break the bank for a ticket — there’s O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica.
Owner Willy O'Sullivan sat down with Larry Mantle, host of AirTalk, to discuss how the pub has managed to maintain its customer base, while others — like Brennan's and Britannia Pub — have had to close their doors. He says it all comes down to partnerships with local sports fans, trivia nights and maintaining their authentic Irish pub food and brews.
A native of Cork City, the second-largest city in Ireland, O'Sullivan arrived stateside in 1987. He opened the pub in 1994, and as interest in soccer has grown, he's built a community around European football matches, especially after subsequent World Cups. Along the road, he's also built a following for New York sports teams.
St. Patrick's Day, obviously.
But ... any other day he'd recommend coming in for the Irish breakfast with a coffee in hand or "the best Guinness in Southern California," in his words.
Because Guinness is the pub's signature drink, he's made sure to give it a short beer tap line, meaning it goes from keg to glass quickly. He also makes sure to clean the tap line every two weeks to ensure quality.
