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The most important stories for you to know today
  • Check out some of the best moments
    Roosevelt blocks Garfield’s attempt to move down field during the 91st East LA Classic at Weingart Stadium on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.

    Topline:

    The Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.

    Why it matters: The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.

    Check out ... some of the night’s best moments. The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.

    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.

    Those were just some of the scenes inside Weingart Stadium, where the Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.

    The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.

    Here are some of the night’s best moments.

    Roosevelt High School's varsity team entrance through a banner after halftime at the 91st East LA Classic.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Violet Rodriguez-Aceves
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Garfield varsity football players celebrate with the trophy after their win at the 91st East LA Classic at Weingart Stadium
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Andrew Lopez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Roosevelt High School students hold up signs in support of players at the 91st East LA Classic
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Andrew Lopez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    A young Garfield High School fan holds up a Garfield and Mexican flag.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Fernando Rodriguez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Student mariachis from both Garfield and Roosevelt High Schools walk outside Weingart Stadium before the 91st East LA Classic.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Fernando Rodriguez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Varsity Roosevelt High School football players stretch ahead of the big game at the East LA Classic on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Andrew Lopez / For Boyle Heights Beat)
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Andrew Lopez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Garfield's varsity flag football team celebrates their win at the 91st East LA Classic on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Fernando Rodriguez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    The Garfield High School drill and cheer teams perform
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Andrew Lopez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )

    Roosevelt High School drill team members at the East LA Classic. (Fernando Rodriguez / For Boyle Heights Beat)
    (
    Fernando Rodriguez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )

    Roosevelt High School band preforms at the East LA Classic. (Violet Rodriguez-Aceves / For Boyle Heights Beat)
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Violet Rodriguez-Aceves
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    Roosevelt players stand to watch the game during the second quarter at the 91st East LA Classic.
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Violet Rodriguez-Aceves
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )
    The Garfield Bulldogs stand on the sidelines during the 91st East LA Classic
    The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
    (
    Andrew Lopez
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )

    The post The best moments from the 91st East LA Classic appeared first on LA Local.

  • Felony charges against Alvarez dismissed
    A man stands in front of a tree in a residential neighborhood.
    Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, spoke with LAist on Sept. 16, 2026, about the federal body armor case against him being dismissed.

    Topline:

    The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.

    Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.

    The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.

    Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.

    Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”

    About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.

    Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.

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  • Musical wrestles with politics and justice
    A woman with long dark hair and medium skin tone, wearing a blue long sleeve collared shirt, talks through a black megaphone as two men stand on crates in the background.
    Myrna Velasco (left) performs as Dolores Huerta in “¡Sí Se Puede!” at Boyle Heights City Hall on April 2, 2026.

    Topline:

    An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.

    The backstory:
    Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”

    What's next: ¡Sí Se Puede!’s upcoming free shows are:

    Read on… to learn more about the play’s backstory and how the creators navigated the revelations about Cesar Chavez’s alleged sexual abuse of girls and women.

    An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.

    The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.

    “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”

    Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.

    The next free, family-friendly shows are:

  • CSULA seeks memories from underground music scenes
    A collage of colorful photos and ephemera from earlier decades.
    CSULA is seeking memorabilia from LA's underground music scenes for its research archives.

    Topline

    There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.

    Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.

    Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.

    Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.

    Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.

    “I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.

    She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.

    Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.

    Several people are around a table on which lie objects such as fliers and posters.
    Cal State LA has hosted Sounds of the Underground Archive for the last four years. It's an opportunity for people to donate their underground music scene memorabilia.
    (
    Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles
    )

    “I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.

    Keeping stories alive

    More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.

    Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.

    SOUNDS OF THE UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE

    Date: Thursday, Nov. 5
    Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
    Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles

    Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.

    “From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.

    She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:

    • Fliers
    • Handbills
    • Zines
    • Newsletters
    • Posters
    • Set lists
    • Photographs (prints, negatives or digital files)
    • Cassette tapes, CDs, or vinyl records
    • Ticket stubs
    • Wristbands
    • Band merchandise (stickers, buttons, patches, T-shirts)
    • DIY press kits or liner notes and correspondence (letters, emails, messages related to music scenes)
    • Venue or collective ephemera (membership cards, schedules, announcements and more)
  • L.A. exceeds a mark set in 1983, with more to come
    Houses line flooded streets, with the ocean sparkling beyond.
    Tidewaters flood businesses and homes along Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County's Sunset Beach.

    Topline:

    Los Angeles has handily broken its record for most days of coastal flooding in a year. And that’s without including October in the tally and with a wet El Niño winter ahead — a worrying sign for coastal homes and infrastructure.

    The record: The number of days of coastal flooding observed at NOAA’s tide gauge in San Pedro are the highest recorded since observations started being taken in 1923. The previous record was set at nine in 1983, during another El Niño event.

    What's ahead: An oceanographer couldn’t say with certainty when flooding might occur next. She noted that high-risk times ahead coincide with Thanksgiving and Christmas.

    Why? Around then, the moon will be at its closest point to the Earth. The stronger gravitational pull from the moon causes what are commonly known as king tides, a nonscientific term for the highest predicted tides of the year.

    Read on ... for more about the record high tides and flooding.

    Los Angeles has handily broken its record for most days of coastal flooding in a year. And that’s without including October in the tally and with a wet El Niño winter ahead — a worrying sign for coastal homes and infrastructure.

    Researchers can’t yet project how many more days of flooding we’ll have in 2026 — but we’re already well ahead of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s models had forecast up to this point.

    NOAA oceanographer Karen Kavanaugh said models had predicted three to six flood days between May 2026 and April 2027. Those models took El Niño and sea level rise into account. She said that there have already been nine flood days in that window and added that the 12 flood days so far in the calendar year are “abnormally high.”

    The number of days of coastal flooding observed at NOAA’s tide gauge in San Pedro is the highest recorded since observations started being taken in 1923. The previous record was set at nine in 1983, during another El Niño event.

    When might we see more flooding?

    Kavanaugh couldn’t say with certainty when flooding might occur, but noted that high-risk times ahead coincide with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Around then, the moon will be at its closest point to the Earth. The stronger gravitational pull from the moon causes what are commonly known as king tides, a nonscientific term for the highest predicted tides of the year.

    In addition to these factors, the wide range of events affecting our tides this year, including storms, climate change, El Niño and related Kelvin waves, could very well cause other flooding events or cause the existing ones to become stronger.

    Kavanaugh said a combination of factors — specifically Kelvin waves and astronomical high tides — was exactly what was responsible for the flooding seen this week.

    “That could happen, perhaps, again in November and December if we have another pulse of a Kelvin wave,” Kavanaugh said.

    A man paddleboards with his dog along a flooded street.
    Flooding inundated coastal communities around Southern California this week, including Orange County's Sunset Beach.
    (
    Robert Gauthier
    /
    Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
    )

    How high will the tides be?

    Unfortunately, Kavanaugh said, there’s no way to predict the severity of upcoming king tide events at this moment in time.

    “But as we move closer to an event, there are good models that the National Weather Service uses to forecast flooding,” she added. “But they need it to be within seven days, sometimes shorter timelines.”

    High tide resources

    How to prepare for high tide conditions

    Kavanaugh recommended keeping an eye on National Weather Service reports for the latest information and predictions. (There are separate pages for Los Angeles and Orange counties.)

    Kavanaugh stressed that, given this year's unpredictability so far, people should be as prepared as possible.

    “It's an unusual type of phenomenon to plan for for some communities,” she said. “We're used to planning for a big storm, maybe, and flooding from that, but not planning for, ‘Oh, it's gonna be beautiful sunny weather, and also you might have flooding on the roads.’”

    Kavanaugh also recommended paying close attention to local emergency officials’ guidance and being mindful not to park cars in low-lying areas that could end up being inundated.

    “If [local officials are] asking you to get sandbags or things like that, keep those sandbags because you might need them again in a few weeks,” she said.