Julia Barajas
is following the impact of President Trump's immigration policies on Southern California communities.
Published September 12, 2025 5:00 AM
A study for Panel 3 of the "Vendedoras de Flores" mural at Scripps College.
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The Alfredo Ramos Martínez Research Project
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Courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts
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Topline:
A new exhibition at Scripps College, titled “Pintor de Poemas: Unseen Works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez,” recasts the artist's legacy. The show features a series of mural studies, drawings, and paintings by the acclaimed Mexican modernist — some of which have never been shared with the public.
Why it matters: In art history circles, said gallery director Erin Curtis, there’s a tendency to regard Ramos Martínez’s work, which often featured Mexican landscapes and Indigenous people, as merely “serene, beautiful, decorative.” But the exhibition shows that Ramos Martínez and his work were deeply attuned to injustices around him.
The backstory: Ramos Martínez, who was a respected educator and painter in Mexico, moved to the U.S.in 1929, seeking medical treatment for his infant daughter. In the 1930s,the country expelled or pressured an estimated 1 million people of Mexican descent to leave. Robin Dubin, who guest-curated the show, believes this shaped the artist’s appetite for risk.
Don’t stop with the gallery: In the 1940s, Scripps College commissioned Ramos Martínez to paint a mural in the Margaret Fowler Garden. The artist died before completing the work, but it still stands today and serves as a lesson in fresco painting.
Maybe this has happened to you: A loved one dies, and then, while sorting through their remaining belongings, you discover something about them, something that makes you see them in a different light.
A new art exhibition at Scripps College has the same effect.
In “Pintor de Poemas: Unseen Works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez,” a series of mural studies, drawings, and paintings by the acclaimed Mexican modernist — some of which have never been shared with the public — recasts the artist's legacy.
In art history circles, said gallery director Erin Curtis, there’s a tendency to regard Ramos Martínez’s work, which often features Mexican landscapes and Indigenous people, as merely “serene, beautiful, decorative.”
But the exhibition, guest-curated by Scripps alumna Robin Dubin, shows that Ramos Martínez’s work was anything but apolitical.
A quiet rebellion
The bilingual show is divided into four sections: “revolution,” “labor,” “indigenismo,” and “war.”
In the gallery, kept dim to preserve the artist’s work, viewers will encounter a series of arresting images. This includes: A woman weeping over the body of a loved one; torture victims hanging with their feet and ankles bound; men toiling over the construction of new buildings, while, in another frame, another gaggle of men, clad in suits and bowties, smoke cigars and sip apéritifs; in another frame, four barefoot women — a group of flower vendors — walk in unison, with a determined look in their eyes as they face a day’s work.
Through wall text in English and Spanish, attendees learn that after 10 years of studying art in Europe, Ramos Martínez returned to Mexico City, just ahead of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. During that time, he established art schools, where students were taught to get out of the studio and paint the world around them. In 1929, Ramos Martínez came to the United States seeking medical treatment for his infant daughter, who was battling a serious bone disorder. Then, in the 1930s, amid the Great Depression, the country expelled or pressured an estimated 1 million people of Mexican ancestry to leave, including scores of U.S. citizens.
To understand Ramos Martínez’s work — including what he made public and what he shielded from view — knowing these biographical details is important, said curator Dubin.
At a lecture in 2023, she said the artist “was somewhat pigeonholed by his reputation as a painter of idyllic, rural, and poignant religious scenes.”
“Any commissions that came his way probably would have been with the understanding that this was the type of imagery that they could expect,” she said.
For a Mexican immigrant, failing to abide by expectations could be perilous. In 1932, the famed Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros — one of Ramos Martínez’s former students — was deported after completing “América Tropical” in downtown L.A. The mural, a sharp rebuke of imperialism and the oppression of Indigenous people, was whitewashed after its unveiling.
“Ramos Martínez was the primary earner for his family, which included a sick child who needed regular and extremely expensive medical care,” Dubin added. “Especially in the midst of the Great Depression, it's probable that he could not afford any loss of income ... that could affect his ability to access or pay for medical care for his daughter. These realities likely had an outsized impact on the types of public art commissions he was offered or prepared to accept.”
But, in private, Ramos Martínez was more rebellious.
In 1932, he used conté crayon and tempera to draw a man on a page from the L.A. Times. The man has high cheek bones and a strong, straight nose — features that according to curator Armando Pulido, the artist typically used to represent Indigenous subjects. The work is titled “El Defensor/The Protector,” and in this image, the unafraid man holds up a fist. This piece is an integral part of the show.
"El Defensor/The Protector," one of several pieces created by the artist on newsprint.
Dubin named the exhibition after reading a line by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, whom Ramos Martínez befriended in Paris.
“Ramos Martínez es de los que pintan poesías ... no copia, sino interpreta. Él expresará la tristeza de los pescadores, la melancolía de las aldeas, los hombres inclinados por el peso del trabajo,” Darío wrote.
Those words are imprinted on a gallery wall: “Ramos Martínez is one of those who paints poetry ... he does not copy, but instead interprets. He will express the sorrow of the fisherman, the melancholy of the villages, the men bent under the weight of the work.”
Where else to visit after the gallery
Just a short walk from the gallery, visitors can continue learning about Ramos Martínez.
About 80 years ago, Scripps College commissioned the artist to paint a mural in the Margaret Fowler Memorial Garden.
The garden is housed in a tranquil courtyard, centered around a small fountain. Draped in wisteria, the garden walls are now home to a Ramos Martínez fresco. Here, students stop to leisurely read a book or catch up with friends. As a student at the women’s college, Dubin spent many afternoons there.
Making a fresco can be tough — it involves painting with water-based pigment directly onto wet plaster, so that the image becomes part of the wall.
Ramos Martínez died in 1946, before he could complete “Vendedoras de Flores (The Flower Vendors).” And because fresco work must be done in stages, viewers can see the progress of his work, how the mural was coming together.
“Las Vendedoras de Flores (The Flower Vendors)" at the Margaret Fowler Garden.
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Julia Barajas
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LAist
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When Ramos Martínez painted the fresco, he was housed in Dorsey Hall, the same dorm where Dubin lived decades later.
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Julia Barajas
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LAist
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One of the walls features a Zapotec woman, wearing the same type of headdress worn by women in Yalálag, a village in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
During her lecture, Dubin reflected on the significance of her presence: “The elevation of this Zapotec woman, as an iconic and powerful figure, is a significant statement on the walls of an institution that in the 1940s admitted very few, if any, students or faculty of color,” she said.
It is also significant that Ramos Martínez painted this image at a school that was “constructed on Tongva land, using Spanish mission revival style architecture,” Dubin added.
In her view, the fresco was and remains an act of defiance.
“She represents a reclamation of Indigenous humanity,” said Dubin, “in a time and place that sought to dehumanize people like her.”
Plan your visit
“Pintor de Poemas: Unseen Works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez” will launch with a free opening reception Saturday from 7-9 p.m. The exhibition ends Dec. 14.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson speaks at a press conference about the city budget as City Manager Tom Modica listens. The two outlined a series of cuts they said are necessary to balance the municipal budget on July 30, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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Topline:
More than 260 city employees could be laid off and over 200 more vacant positions could be cut in departments ranging from fire and police to homeless services in order to close a $58 million budget gap the the city of Long Beach faces next year, according to a budget proposal from Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica.
Why it matters: Layoffs could claim 4% of the city’s nearly 6,000-person workforce, with additional cuts at libraries, parks and the city’s homeless services hub as Long Beach copes with rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts, a clawback of federal grants and a slowdown in the local economy that has stifled tax revenue.
More than 260 city employees could be laid off and over 200 more vacant positions could be cut in departments ranging from fire and police to homeless services in order to close a $58 million budget gap the city faces next year, according to a budget proposal from Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica released on Thursday.
The $4 billion spending plan, which covers the 2026-27 fiscal year, includes some new spending, including a 12-person High Crime Focus Team and expanded real-time crime center in the Police Department, permanent funding for Fire Engine 17 near Stearns Park, money for replacing traffic signs and sprucing up medians, investments in the city’s police crime lab and a $6.5 million helicopter paid for using forfeited assets and a law enforcement grant.
But the cuts outsize the gains. Layoffs could claim 4% of the city’s nearly 6,000-person workforce, with additional cuts at libraries, parks and the city’s homeless services hub as Long Beach copes with rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts, a clawback of federal grants and a slowdown in the local economy that has stifled tax revenue.
A range of positions are set to be cut, spanning more than a dozen departments or offices, from managerial roles to rank-and-file employees. It includes fire captains and police lieutenants, analysts and clerks, crossing guards, librarians and investigators, among others. Officials have said the impact will be felt citywide, in the government’s ability to analyze and respond to emerging issues.
A city spokesman noted that police and fire employees losing their jobs will be transferred to open roles elsewhere in the departments, including in a new patrol beat specific to the shoreline. Many other employees will not be as lucky.
How we got here
This is the first time Long Beach has proposed layoffs for employees paid out of its general fund in nearly six years. Dozens of Health Department jobs were cut in 2024, but those positions were tied specifically to the loss of state grant funding and the conclusion of Long Beach Recovery Act pandemic aid.
The past couple of budgets relied on reserve cash to cover their shortfalls and delay layoffs — $7.8 million in fiscal year 2025 and $5.8 million in fiscal year 2024, the latter pulled from COVID recovery funds. But officials say that strategy was short-term and unsustainable.
The city already pulled $27 million from four reserve accounts to close out the current fiscal year, exhausting its operating reserves and taking $16.5 million from its $50.1 million emergency reserve — money set aside specifically for natural disasters and unforeseen crises.
The moves would save $55.9 million, allowing the city to add $9.8 million back to reserves. It currently has only $33.6 million in reserves.
What's on the chopping block
In public safety, the city proposed shutting down Fire Engine 14, which operates out of the station near Colorado Lagoon, to save $3.8 million, citing data showing it responds to the fewest fire calls in the city and 87% of calls received are for paramedics. Officials also proposed converting one engine from permanent staffing to cheaper overtime; in the Police Department, they suggest eliminating 17 vacant patrol officer positions, cutting $2.68 million in police overtime, consolidating part of financial crimes into property crimes, and eliminating 18 investigator roles.
Pressed by the loss of $11 million in county, state and federal funding, the Health Department faces heavy losses, including 79 positions cut — including eight positions within the city homelessness bureau. The reductions will affect programs and agencies that handle medical shuttle services, weekend homelessness outreach, one of the city’s two mobile homeless outreach centers, workforce development and homelessness prevention.
If approved, the proposed budget would also cut more than half of its motel voucher shelter rooms (from 40 to 15) and offer rapid rehousing assistance to 45 fewer households. City leaders said the cuts are targeted to keep all municipal shelter beds open, a crucial need as Long Beach struggles to reduce local homelessness, which rose by 3.7% in the past year.
Programs and services citywide would also see reductions. Hours and days at five city libraries — Bayshore, Burnett, El Dorado, Harte and Michelle Obama — would be cut to five days a week under reduced hours. Teen programming at Chavez Park, summer swim classes at Jordan and Millikan high schools, and the city’s involvement with the afterschool WRAP program are all expected to be eliminated.
An additional 25 positions would be cut by contracting out services for parking collections, school crossing guards and the city’s reprographics office. To offset administrative cuts in Public Works, parking meters would be installed around City Hall, Lincoln Park, the courthouse and Ocean Boulevard, and citywide parking rates would rise from $2 to $3 an hour, with the revenue redirected to street light repairs, solar conversions, weed abatement and median upkeep.
Several departments would also see agencies consolidated, which officials say is part of a necessary restructuring to focus on emerging issues like traffic safety and community health.
What’s next
Workers were informed of potential layoffs as early as Thursday morning. Civil service rules allow for employees with more experience to bump those with fewer years on the job, meaning workers can move within or across departments, displacing colleagues.
The plan is not finalized yet. Going forward, the City Council will deliberate the budget through a series of public meetings, town hall forums and study sessions until final approval, typically at the end of September.
The earliest potential adjustments came Thursday, during Mayor Rex Richardson’s proposed version of the budget that would restore several programs and reinstate 70 positions.
For example, Richardson said he wants to undo the plan for a rotating engine; keep four of the 17 eliminated police patrol positions and two Quality of Life officers, while reinstating $400,000 for officers’ overtime pay; preserve youth programs, and homelessness programs; add new disease prevention and nursing positions; and continue to fund the Office of Equity position that oversees the city’s deportation defense fund while also adding more money to its account. The defense fund currently has $548,000.
Funding, he explained, could come from a line of new sources, like the $7 million to $8 million expected annually from the voter-approved county Measure ER, an updated cost-recovery agreement with the Port of Long Beach for fire services adding $5.9 million and $1.5 million saved from not holding a general election because races were already decided in the June primary.
Sparing no detail on the starkness of the economic picture, officials say it figures to get worse before it gets better. After a $27.3 million deficit expected next year, officials are confident they will have consecutive years of meager surpluses.
Despite the headwinds, they say, Long Beach is on solid footing, with a 17.5% drop in overall crime, with paramedics responding 30 seconds faster than they did last year, with 12% more city shelter beds, thousands of new, high-paying aerospace jobs, and work underway on new streets, bridges — and a very expensive pool — as part of a billion-dollar infrastructure plan ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
The city also welcomed a new amphitheater and an independent baseball team in the past year, and it continues to draw $2 billion in tourism and economic impact — outpacing San Diego, Anaheim, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco in key hotel use and visitor metrics.
By following the city’s plans, Richardson said Long Beach would achieve a structural surplus by 2028 — the first in more than a decade.
“Our responsibility today is not only to today’s budget, it’s to the long-term financial health of our city and to the thousands of employees who depend on a stable and sustainable organization,” Richardson said. “Our employees deserve to be more than temporary fixes that simply postpone difficult decisions. They deserve a city with a stable financial future. That’s why I believe we have to stay the course.”
How to participate in upcoming meetings
The city will hold community meetings Aug. 5 to Aug. 14. The first session on Aug. 5 will run 6 to 7:30 p.m. To watch virtually, click the Zoom link here.
The following meetings will be held inside the Civic Chambers at 411 West Ocean Blvd in downtown Long Beach.
Budget Oversight Committee meetings
Tuesday, July 28 (1 to 3 p.m.): The budget committee will approve its schedule, hold a budget community engagement overview and hear the first half of the Health Department overview.
Aug. 4 (noon to 2 p.m.): The first half of a proposed Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy, plus informational updates on federal funding and tenant assistance.
Aug. 11 (1 to 3 p.m.): An overview on Measure US (a 2020 voter-approved oil tax) and a fee study audit on development impact fees.
Aug. 17 (5:30 to 7 p.m.): Public comment only. An evening session for residents to speak their minds without competing against staff presentations and recognition ceremonies.
Aug. 18 (1 to 3 p.m.): Traffic safety improvements overview alongside a Public Works traffic and transportation deep dive.
Aug. 25 (noon to 2 p.m.): Part 2 of both the Health Department overview and the Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy.
Sept. 1 (1 to 3 p.m.): Department presentations for Economic Development & Opportunity and the City Manager’s Office.
Sept. 8 (1 to 3 p.m.): Final committee meeting to lock in the official list of budget recommendations.
City Council Budget Hearings
Aug. 4: The City Manager will unveil his proposed budget and talk about departmental budget cuts.
Aug. 10-11: Public safety, including Fire, Police, and Disaster Preparedness.
Aug. 10: Health & Human Services
Aug. 25: Parks, Recreation & Marine programs/services, alongside Library, Arts & Culture.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published August 1, 2026 5:00 AM
With multiple locations throughout Southern California and global-inspired flavors, Wanderlust is a local favorite among much of the LAist audience.
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Courtesy Wanderlust Creamery
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Topline:
LAist asked AirTalk listeners for their favorite SoCal ice cream spots, and the responses — paired with picks from LAist food writer Gab Chabrán — turned into a sprawling, only-in-SoCal list of scoop shops.
Why it matters: The region's ice cream scene is always evolving — old standbys like Fosselman's and Scoop's are still going strong, but they're now sharing the spotlight with a newer wave of artisanal shops built around Persian, Indonesian, Latino, and Asian American flavor traditions.
Read on…for the mega list spanning Los Angeles and Orange counties.
As summer marches on, expect the heat to stick around.
With these high temps, many of us are searching for a sweet frozen treat to cool off and maybe indulge a little.
I recently sat in for an AirTalk segment with fill-in host Josie Huang, where we both shared some of our local favorites to get ice cream and other frozen treats and heard from listeners who shared theirs.
Take a look and see if your go-to places are here.
Pasadena
A scoop from Kinrose Creamery, dusted with spice and topped with a dried flower.
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Robert Haleblian
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Courtesy Kinrose Creamery
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Kinrose Creamery is one of my personal picks. Owners Maria Oveysi and Moe Kamal make Persian and Egyptian ice cream. Signature flavors include saffron pistachio rose, kanafeh, walnut baklava topped with pashmak (Iranian cotton candy) and sour cherry.
Locations:
140 Mills Pl., Pasadena (Old Town Pasadena)
16915 Ventura Blvd., Encino
Downtown L.A.
Sad Girl Creamery's Strawberry Animal Cookie Sundae layers strawberry tres leches ice cream with strawberry jam, rainbow sprinkles, frosted animal cookies and housemade vanilla bean whipped cream.
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Courtesy Sad Girl Creamery
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Sad Girl Creamery is another one of my picks. Run by SueEllen Mancini, the pop-up ice cream stand is at Smorgasburg every Sunday, hawking Mancini’s nostalgic Latino ice cream novelties. Flavors include her riff on the iconic Choco Taco, along with a Gansito Sundae made with Mexican vanilla ice cream, strawberry-raspberry-hibiscus jam and yellow cake. Mancini always has something worth stopping by for.
Location: ROW DTLA, 777 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles
Leimert Park
Listener Camille emailed to recommendAll Chill, a shop specializing in small-batch and artisanal ice cream, with a built-in hip-hop museum (yup!). The shop ties the flavors to the neighborhood's cultural identity. Fan favorites include bean pie and, as a non-dairy option, cognac and currant.
Location: 3415 W. 43rd Place, Los Angeles
Arcadia
626 Ice Cream is another of my picks. Founded in 2020 by Amber Tan and Waldo Yan after both lost hospitality jobs in the pandemic, the duo took over the longtime Ace Frozen Yogurt space. With a completely reimagined space and menu, flavors include black sesame, roasted green tea, Yakult, lychee strawberry, mango calamansi, and malted chocolate.
Location: 160 E. Duarte Rd., Ste. E, Arcadia
Atwater Village
Wanderlust's Tokyo Rainbow Sherbet blends ramune soda, tart yuzu and creamy strawberry Calpis, inspired by Tokyo summers and childhood conbini treats.
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Courtesy Wanderlust Creamery
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Listener Ann-Marie from Whittier emailed to sayWanderlust Creamery is like a “travelogue featuring flavors from all over the world, and the quality is top-notch. When you walk outside and eat a cone, it doesn't instantly start melting like so many other places' ice cream." Signature flavors include sticky rice mango, Japanese Neapolitan, and Vietnamese Rocky Road.
Locations: Atwater Village, Costa Mesa, Venice, Irvine, Sawtelle, Pasadena, Tarzana, Topanga Social
Altadena
Camille's email also flaggedBulgarini. Owner Leo Bulgarini, a Rome native and trained sommelier, places sourcing as his gelato shop’s reigning ethos — think Bronte pistachios from Sicily, Vestri chocolate from Florence, and Hawaiian macadamia for his various creations. And if you're interested in making a whole meal around your visit, the shop also serves a small pasta menu and tasting dinners a few nights a week.
Owner Tai Kim may have quietly started the artisanal ice cream revolution when he opened the firstScoops over 20 years ago. The original has since closed, but two more locations have opened since — one in Highland Park, where Kim still makes the ice cream for all Scoops locations, and one in Chinatown. As listener Marty from Mt. Washington put it in an email, Scoops "make[s] different flavors all the time, very unusual flavors, and they make non-dairy options too" — case in point, the shop's signature Grape-Nuts–infused brown bread (my personal favorite) and its basil coconut.
Locations:
5105 York Blvd., Los Angeles (Highland Park)
727 N. Broadway, Ste. 125, Los Angeles (Chinatown)
AWAN is another of my picks. 100% vegan, gluten-free, Indonesian-inspired. Started as a West Hollywood walk-up window; now has brick-and-mortars in Larchmont and Venice. Signature flavors include Balinese vanilla, chocolate Oreo, soursop mango ripple, and blue yuzu.
"Definitely Fosselman's in Alhambra. Chocolate-covered strawberry is the best," listener Vicki from San Gabriel emailed to say. Josie backed her up, noting the shop still has that 1950s fountain-soda-shop vibe.
"Mateo's Ice Cream and Paletas," listener Loretta emailed. Founded in 2000, Mateo's specializes in Latin American-style ice cream and paletas — think mango chile, black sapote, and horchata, alongside more classic flavors.
Locations:
1250 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles (Koreatown)
4234 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles (Mid-City)
4929 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City
11551 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles (West L.A.)
Tarzana
"I just had the roasted strawberry and also pistachio baklava. Delicious," listener Caroline from Woodland Hills emailed aboutMagpies Softserve. Founded by chefs Warren and Rose Schwartz, Magpies also has locations in Silver Lake and Highland Park.
Locations:
2660 Griffith Park Blvd., Los Angeles (Silver Lake)
5049 York Blvd., Los Angeles (Highland Park)
18971 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana
Culver City / West 3rd Street
"Lately I've fallen in love with Ginger's Divine Ice Cream," listener Jerome from Laurel Canyon emailed. The shop started in Culver City before adding a Mid-City/West 3rd Street location near the Beverly Center.
Tocumbo didn't come up on air, but it's worth including. The shop takes its name from the small municipality in Michoacán that's considered the epicenter of Mexican ice cream and paletas — there's even a giant popsicle monument there. Siblings Jennifer Clausen-Quiroz and Ricky Quiroz started Tocumbo to continue that tradition, using recipes sourced directly from Michoacán. Standouts include ice cream sundaes made with Gansitos (chocolate-dipped snack cakes filled with cream and jam) and a wide selection of paletas, including chamoy, and a chocolate ice cream made with chocolate imported from Zacatecas.
Location: 956 S. Euclid St., Anaheim
Laguna Beach
"Gelato Paradiso in Laguna Beach is the cutest little shop right on the PCH and the flavors are always rotating. My favorite lately has been their take on the Biscoff – Biscotti-flavored ice cream. It is divine," said Fahim Khan, an LAist producer.
Location: 448 S. Coast Hwy, Ste. A, Laguna Beach
Multiple locations
Handel's is Josie’s family standby — a homemade ice-cream chain that's been scooping since 1945, with dozens of locations across SoCal. Her family always gets the four-mini-scoop sampler (mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream, rocky road, and mango) when they can't agree on just one flavor.
"I'm aSalt & Straw diehard. The quality is unmatched," said Lindsay Wright, LAist senior producer, citing the Portland-born chain's rotating, offbeat flavors as the draw.
Keep up with LAist.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published August 1, 2026 5:00 AM
Artist Betye Saar with one of her new collages at Baum/ Silverman Gallery in May 1981.
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Ken Hively
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Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
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Topline:
Lots of work by groundbreaking artist Betye Saar on view now in L.A., but not for long. Here’s the list.
Why it matters: The artist died on Sunday, July 26, at 99, after a long career of shaking up the art world and inspiring generations of artists.
Why now: Saar was receiving accolades — and galleries had organized shows ahead of her 100th birthday this week. Her work is up now for the public to see at LACMA, The Huntington, the Hammer, and galleries like Hauser & Wirth, and Karma . The most extensive L.A. exhibit is at Roberts Projects which includes more than 200 pieces, including fashion, wearable art, jewelry and photos from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The last piece: The Huntington has a piece by Saar titled "Drifting Toward Twilight," through Nov. 30, 2027. Saar worked with the ideas of memory and transition including spiritual transition.
Betye Saar’s long art career was the subject of media profiles and art shows in the years and months leading up to a milestone birthday this week. She died Sunday, July 26, four days before she would have turned 100.
Betye Saar in her studio in Los Angeles on January 22, 2026.
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David Sprague
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Courtesy Roberts Projects
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Saar had deep roots in Southern California. She was born, raised and educated in the Los Angeles area. She was firmly rooted in the region and in various Black communities, but her art was not provincial.
Saar took on the global, national and regional issues that affected Black Americans in her drawings, paintings and assemblages. She redefined, broke apart and juxtaposed issues related to stereotypes and racism, as well as mysticism and spirituality.
She exhibited widely in the U.S., and her pieces are in the permanent collections of many museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The piece I’ll Bend But I Will Not Break on view at LACMA.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist
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The next few weeks provide a unique opportunity for people who live in or are visiting L.A. to see a wide spectrum of Saar’s work — from the fashion, jewelry and costume designs she created early in her art career to the final commissioned piece she made a few years before her death.
It’s a work that takes on the concepts of memory and transition.
A piece in the museum Betye Saar grew up going to
Saar grew up in Pasadena, and when she was young, she frequented The Huntington in nearby San Marino. In 2023 the museum unveiled one of Saar's pieces, titled "Drifting Toward Twilight," on display through Nov. 30, 2027.
To create the work, Saar used found objects, metal cages and animal horns, and placed them inside a wooden canoe. The vessel rests on a bed of branches and twigs she collected from the grounds of The Huntington. The piece is displayed in a room where the walls have been painted in three shades of blue and where the lights subtly change, illuminating seven shapes representing the stages of the moon.
The piece Drifting Toward Twilight was Betye Saar's last commissioned piece before she died. It's on display at the Huntington until the fall of 2027.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist
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“She's basically drawing up a scene for us in our minds, so that as we engage with the installation," said Lauren Cross, the Huntington’s associate curator of American decorative arts. "We are in the canoe on a journey with her, traveling along, and experiencing the work with her.”
Cross said Saar was working with the idea of transitions, including spiritual transition related to death.
A 16-minute video created for this exhibit, based on Betye Saar’s life as an artist, plays in a room next to the gallery.
A mother and an artist
The exhibit that’s likely to give the deepest view of Saar’s art is on view for a few more weeks.
A piece made in 1969 by Betye Saar on view at Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.
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Robert Wedemeyer
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Courtesy of the artist andRoberts Projects, LosAngeles
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"Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar" is at Roberts Projects until Aug. 22. It features more than 200 objects, including costume designs, photographs, drawings, garments, jewelry, artworks and historic materials from the 1950s to the 1970s as Saar was becoming a nationally recognized artist.
The show demonstrates how deeply Saar created for stage productions in L.A. such as for the Inner City Cultural Center, a multicultural performing arts group started after the 1965 Watts Rebellion.
The decorative art she created would have defined a remarkable career, but then around the late 1960s she moved on to assemblages, works made with found objects. These works took on lifelong areas of interests such as spirituality and racism.
The piece Souvenir of Friendship (1977) by Betye Saar is on view at Hauser & Wirth in downtown L.A. until August 16.
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Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
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One of the most poignant pieces, titled "I’ll Bend But I Will Not Break," from 1998, is on display at LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries. Saar uses a vintage ironing board, wood clothespins, a flat iron and a white bedsheet to comment on women’s work, slavery’s dehumanization and the enduring racism that seems to infuse much of U.S. society.
Detail from the piece I’ll Bend But I Will Not Break on view at LACMA.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist
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“Betye is very much alive in her work,"said Carol S. Eliel, senior curator emerita of modern art at LACMA. "There's so much of her personality, her fierceness … she had an iron spine. She was a very gentle, lovely, beautiful person, but you could not steamroll her and I think the work reflects that.
Betye Saar in North African dress in 1968 in a photo that's on display at Roberts Projects.
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Carol A. Beers
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Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.
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“It makes me happy that someone who had such a long and rich and productive career will live on through these amazing works,” she said.
The LACMA piece is part of the museum's permanent collection. Much of the other work by Saar in L.A. will come down in the next month and a half.
Here’s a guide to help you plan a Betye Saar L.A. art tour.
Places in L.A. where you can see Betye Saar’s work now
Roberts Projects has the most extensive collection of Saar’s work currently on display in L.A. "Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar" is up until Aug. 22 and features more than 200 objects, including costume designs, photographs, drawings, garments, jewelry, artworks and historic materials from the 1950s to the 1970s, as Saar was becoming a nationally recognized artist.
Cato Hernández
covers important issues that affect the everyday lives of Southern Californians.
Published July 31, 2026 4:55 PM
Construction workers build a home to replace one destroyed by the Eaton Fire on March 19, 2026, in Altadena.
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David McNew
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Duplex projects will be allowed to move forward once again in two Southern California cities affected by last year’s fires. It comes after advocates for denser housing challenged the legality of the local restrictions on state law.
What is SB 9? The state housing law SB 9 allows single-family homeowners to subdivide their lots and build duplexes. They can create up to four units in some cases.
How this started: After the Palisades and Eaton fires, local jurisdictions were allowed to suspend SB 9 projects in certain areas. Advocates for increased housing development sued them and the state, alleging the bans were not legal.
About the result: Pasadena and Malibu are now backing out of the lawsuit, agreeing to settle with the plaintiffs. The two cities have until the end of September to repeal their SB 9 bans. L.A. County, the city of L.A. and the state are still fighting the lawsuit. However, a proposed state housing bill could impact what happens next in Altadena.
Read on…. to learn more about what the settlement means.
Duplex projects will be allowed to move forward once again in two Southern California cities affected by last year’s fires. The change of course is the result of a court showdown between advocates for denser housing and local elected officials who wanted to ban more units from cropping up in burn zones.
The cities of Malibu and Pasadena have agreed to settle with the plaintiffs who brought forward a lawsuit that challenges local jurisdictions’ suspension of Senate Bill 9 in high fire risk zones, according to documents obtained by LAist.
Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the result will help residents get more out of their properties.
“I want them to know that they can build,” Trauss said.
How we got here
SB 9 allows single-family homeowners across the state to build duplexes and split their lots. It became state law in 2021. SB 9 applicants can use the law to create up to four units where a single-family home once stood, in some cases. The law takes away the ability of local governments to block these projects.
However, after the 2025 fires, some homeowners affected by the fires erupted with anger over the prospect of their burned-down neighborhoods being rebuilt with denser housing. They argued more homes — and the additional residents that come with them — would clog evacuations and hurt neighborhood character.
In July 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order giving local leaders the power to block the law in very high fire hazard areas within the Palisades and Eaton fire burn zones.
Elected officials in L.A. city, the county of L.A., Pasadena and Malibu followed suit and adopted policies to stop processing SB 9 applications in those areas.
Advocates for increased housing development, including YIMBY Law, sued the governments, alleging they didn’t have the authority to suspend laws passed by the legislature.
Trauss told LAist housing advocates believe the order is being misused for political purposes.
“ It chips away at the policy,” she said. “Especially in the Palisades, everybody could watch the political back-and-forth that caused that to happen.”
The backlash on social media to SB 9 projects in the Palisades was led by former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the fire and later mounted an unsuccessful campaign for L.A. mayor.
What the settlement means
According to the settlement documents, Malibu and Pasadena have agreed to repeal the local ordinances that blocked SB 9 projects by the end of September. The settlements still require City Council action to undo those bans.
The cities are also supposed to process any pending SB 9 applications that were submitted, paused or rejected.
Another plaintiff in the lawsuit — Andrew Slocum, CEO of Green Development Company — said he thinks Newsom never should have signed the executive order in the first place.
Slocum said he hopes to see recovering homeowners have more options when rebuilding their properties. Last year, he told LAist he was working with homeowners on SB 9 projects.
The settlement “allows for the people to hopefully be able to come back and resubmit that application,” Slocum said, “because most people who are doing SB 9 are the homeowners themselves.”
The Pasadena City Council took the first step toward repeal on July 20, according to city spokesperson Lisa Derderian. She said they’ll start processing SB 9 applications once the vote is finalized.
“The City reached a conditional settlement with YIMBY in recognition of the uncertainty inherent in litigation and the significant passage of time since the Eaton Fire in January 2025,” she said in a statement.
LAist contacted officials in the city of Malibu for comment but has not heard back.
What’s next
The county and city of L.A. are still fighting the lawsuit. They control land use in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, home to the lion’s share of properties affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires.
State officials also continue to defend the restrictions. Newsom’s office stands behind the executive order and plans to defend it in court, according to a state official.
Trauss said the parties met for a trial setting conference a few days ago.
“ I want the folks in the county and in the city of L.A. who could build … to have hope,” she said.
