The Brief

It's officially summer in Southern California, and the warm evenings ahead are perfect for taking in the night sky. Today is also the start of the seasonal, free Star Parties at Griffith Observatory that run from June through September.

If you go, you might meet local amateur astronomer, Spencer Soohoo. By day, he’s a research scientist at Cedar Sinai but in his off time, he’s an active member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society.

We asked Soohoo for some advice on how to get into amateur astronomy in Southern California — if you’re already into stargazing — how to up your game.

Getting started

To kick us off, we asked Soohoo to recommend a few places where the stars may be easier to spot:

• Joshua Tree: He says the national park "is starting to get a little more light pollution now than before but it's still fairly decent."
• I-5 near Frasier Park: "There's a couple of turnouts you can go to."
• Saddleback Butte State Park: Soohoo has this caveat: "There's a lot of light now from the Lancaster-Palmdale area. But the last time I went, you could still see the Milky Way without too much trouble."
• For really dark skies: You have to drive a distance, probably about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours away.

Not up for that drive? Soohoo says "to be honest with you, if you're OK with looking at the planets and some of the brighter nebula, you can even do that from downtown L.A."

What can you see in SoCal this time of year?

Soohoo says right now the only night object "really prominent" is Venus.

"If you are up around maybe midnight or 1 a.m., you can see Saturn and Jupiter will rise a couple hours after that," he says.

How to spot planets

We asked Soohoo what he'd recommend folks use if they want to know where the constellations and planets are specifically in the sky.

Soohoo says his favorite smartphone app is Sky Safari ("I think it's about $9 to $10") but there are other free apps to check out.

"They're tied into the GPS in your phone and they'll show you what the sky looks like at that particular time," he says. "Some of them have what they call augmented reality. So they'll actually use the camera on the phone and superimpose the background of what you're seeing along with the sky chart."

Will the northern lights be back in Southern California?

Recently and unexpectedly, people were able to catch a glimpse of the northern lights exceptionally far south. So we asked Soohoo if that's going to be possible over the summer months.

He doubts it.

"It's rare that you'd be able to see them this far south," he says. "But I know that the last time you could see the northern lights from Mount Wilson — that one night that they were visible — the marine layer had moved in and blocked out all the light pollution from downtown L.A. and so you could see the northern lights there."

What to expect at Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory hosts monthly star parties during the summer that are free to the public. Volunteers from telescope groups and the L.A. Astronomical Society are there and Soohoo says participants can expect 25 to 40 telescopes to be set up on the grounds.

"We basically set up our telescopes on the lawn and point them at whatever target we want to and invite people to look through them," he explains. "And I personally focus on the moon because you'd be amazed at how many people have never seen the moon through a telescope in their lives. I can't tell you how many languages I've heard people say, 'Wow, it's just incredible.'"

Soohoo said he got his "greatest thrill" from helping an 82-year-old woman who had never looked through a telescope in her life.

"I showed her the moon and just to watch the expression on her face as it lit up — that's why we do it," Soohoo said.

How to attend

The Griffith Observatory lists the following dates for public star parties:

• Saturday, June 24: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, July 22: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, Aug. 26: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, Sep. 23: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.

You can find more resources and events at the Los Angeles Astronomical Society website or on the Griffith Observatory website.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Friends & Family Flea is returning to Koreatown. Organizers plan to make the flea market a monthly event in the neighborhood and offer reduced registration fees for local vendors.

The market will take place on Nov. 21 and Dec. 12 from noon to 5 p.m. at Un-Other Space at 524 S. Western Ave.

The first market was held in September and drew more people to the space than organizers expected. Friends & Family Flea co-founder Kioh Park said more than 400 people RSVP’d but roughly 650 to 700 people attended.

Some attendees told Park they lived just a few blocks away and had learned about the market through social media or The LA Local’s coverage.

The response convinced the organizers to continue. 

“It was a trial, but definitely we saw the demand from the vendors and attendees,” Park said. “That’s why we want to keep pushing this.”

Organizers plan to invite back vendors from the first market while bringing in new vendors.

They plan to keep the market at Un-Other Space as vendors and attendees responded well to the indoor venue, Park said. 

Attendees play Go-Stop with the LA Hwatu-Hanafuda Club at the first Friends & Family Flea in Koreatown on Sept. 26, 2026.

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Courtesy of Friends & Family Flea

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The organizers are also trying to make the market more accessible to neighborhood businesses. Vendors based in Koreatown can qualify for a reduced registration fee by providing proof of their address, such as a driver’s license or mailing address. Vendors from outside the neighborhood pay a different rate.

“Just so we can have more people who live in that neighborhood and then who do small business there join,” Park said.

The resident-rate program is part of their broader goal of building markets around individual neighborhoods, Park added. 

The flea grew out of Park and Byun’s experience building MAUM Market, a traveling market for Asian and Asian American makers. Park, who grew up in South Korea, first visited Los Angeles in 2016 and later moved to Koreatown, where the two met and developed their business.

“L.A. Koreatown was really, it was really kind of a shock. It feels like a late 1980s, early 1990s, Korea vibe. So it reminds me of my childhood. And there’s a lot of mom and pop shops, so it was really an interesting experience for me,” he said.

Park said he had struggled to apply to established flea markets as a vendor because of language barriers and complicated paperwork.

“Back in the day, I didn’t speak English well, I wasn’t able to understand English well, and the process, paperwork was all very complicated,” he said.

Park said organizers plan to continue their partnership with the Koreatown Youth and Community Center, with proceeds from sales of Friends & Family Flea hats going to the nonprofit.

For more information about becoming a vendor, check out the Friends and Family Flea webpage.

An Orange County judge has approved a $125 million settlement with the company that owns a chemical tank in Garden Grove that failed earlier this year, forcing about 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate for days as the tank threatened to explode.

The agreement between the Orange County District Attorney and GKN Aerospace sets aside up to $100 million for a claim program for residents and businesses who were forced to evacuate.

What’s covered in the claim program?

Those affected can be reimbursed for expenses like hotel stays and loss of wages. That includes:

• Up to $300 a night for lodging, up to five nights
• A $500 payment per household for the loss of using their home
• Up to $500 per day in lost wages for hourly employees who missed work due to the evacuation, up to three working days
• Up to $5,000 per day in lost profits for businesses that had to close during the evacuation

An additional $8.5 million will be used to reimburse government agencies that responded to the emergency.

The company has agreed to a safety plan, which includes new equipment and upgrades to existing equipment, and monitoring and oversight for at least the next seven years.

What’s next?

GKN says it will hold a community event on Oct. 27 so residents can learn about the claim program, though details about the event haven’t yet been released.

The company says now that the agreement has been court-approved, the claim program will open “as soon as possible.” To prepare, GKN said residents should keep receipts related to their expenses during their evacuation.

"Additional guidance on acceptable documentation will be provided when the program opens," according to a company FAQ site.