Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published August 22, 2025 5:00 AM
Since 1996, Pokémon has reportedly produced more than 75 billion trading cards in 16 languages.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
)
Topline:
Nostalgia, curiosity or the desire for a screen-free hobby for your kid are all reasons people might want to learn how to play the Pokémon trading card game. But where to begin? We’ve rounded recommendations from local enthusiasts.
The backstory: Nearly 30 years ago, Pokémon released a trading card game that, along with the video games, evolved into one of the most-expansive media franchises ever.
Why you might want to go: “ Everyone feels that they are surrounded by friends,” said Scott Leslie, who coordinates Pokémon events for kids — and adults — at Burbank’s Geeky Teas and Games. “They can make mistakes. They don't have to be playing perfectly. They can just be learning the game.”
Read on: For places to play Pokémon across L.A.! We have recommendations for beginners and aspiring competitors alike.
Nearly 30 years ago, Pokémon released a trading card game that along with the video games, evolved into one of the most expansive media franchises ever.
Nostalgia, curiosity, or the desire for a screen-free hobby for your kid are all reasons people might want to learn how to play the Pokémon trading card game.
Some shops emphasize casual gameplay.
“ Everyone feels that they are surrounded by friends,” said Scott Leslie, who coordinates Pokémon events for kids — and adults — at Burbank’s Geeky Teas and Games. “They can make mistakes. They don't have to be playing perfectly. They can just be learning the game.”
While at others, you might find players with their sights set on the annual World Championships debating the nuances of the game.
“We don't all agree with each other, we bicker a little bit, but that makes us grow from it,” said Crossing Collectibles store manager Ben Nackman.
Want to suggest a place to play Pokémon?
Email reporter Mariana Dale at mdale@laist.com. Please include the name of the place, the vibe and why you like it.
Here are four places to learn how to play the game in Los Angeles and a few organizations focused on preparing the next generation of trainers.
A Pokédex of sorts
But first, here’s some lingo you might run into on your journey.
Locals: Casual play, often at local card or game stores. "You don't accrue anything besides bragging rights, maybe some store credit,” says Next-Gen Games Pokémon organizer Eddie Sagastume. Players may get promotional (promo) cards for playing or winning. Pokémon maintains a map of places that offer locals and more competitive play.
League Challenge and League Cup: Pokémon-sanctioned local tournaments where players can begin to earn points toward more advanced competitions.
Pokémon Professor: The Pokémon Company bestows this title on enthusiasts who complete an application, which includes passing a test on basic gameplay and a background check. Professors may help host events and judge competitions.
Pre-release party/tournament: An opportunity for players to play with and purchase new sets of cards in the two weeks before the official release. The professors LAist interviewed say the cost usually ranges from $30 to $40 and includes a deck and several booster packs of cards. The next set of cards, Mega Evolution, is scheduled for pre-release in mid-September.
The vibe: This is a store, but it’s also so much more — a tea shop, a cat rescue, and an 800-board-game library. There are themed gaming rooms with a “ nerdy, cozy feel” to reserve. The motifs include a ship at sea, a wooded faery glen, Hobbiton, and a Pokécenter decorated in the style of the Red and Blue video games.
Regular hours:
Monday-Friday: Noon to 10 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. to midnight
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
When to play Pokémon:
Monday at 6:30 p.m. Pokémon hangs and casual tournament play for players 17+.
Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Pokémon hangs for players 16 and under. A casual tournament starts at 4 p.m. All participants get a pack of promo cards and winners earn another. All youth card trading is overseen to ensure fairness and there’s a professor on staff to help kids learn to play.
There is an $8 entry fee ($5 before 5:00 p.m.) for both evenings.
Schedule varies: Pre-release events.
Good to know:
There are decks of cards that beginning players can borrow in-store to learn how to play.
The shop also features memorabilia from other beloved franchises. For example, a recently restored TARDIS, a replica from the long-running and beloved Doctor Who TV series.
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tuesday and Friday: 1 to 9 p.m.
The vibe: Tables and folding chairs occupy the majority of the open, warehouse-like space. A black-and-white mural of iconic characters from the anime One Piece and Pokémon covers one wall.
When to play Pokémon:
Local tournaments Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Store manager Benjamin Nackman said the Friday night event typically draws older and more experienced players, whereas weekends typically are more family friendly. “People are super competitive. They're super passionate about this game,” Nackman says. “I think once you get to know the people in the community, you start to realize that there is a place for you.”
Schedule varies: Pre-release events.
Good to know:
The shop is in the alley of a more industrial area, but there’s free parking past the gate on Playa Court.
The vibe: The shop hosts a variety of activities from board games to Magic and Warhammer. ”Our whole vibe is just come on in, play some games,” says Pokémon organizer Eddie Sagastume.
When to play Pokémon:
Thursdays 7 to 10 p.m. AKA “come in and hang out and talk about Pokémon night,” says Sagastume. There’s a local tournament and other people come to watch, trade cards, or play the Pokémon video game with community.
Sagastume says he’s happy to provide a tutorial to newer players. ”There’s no wrong way to enjoy Pokémon,” Sagastume says. “I always tell people, give the game a chance.”
Sharath Cherian and daughter Asha at the 2024 Pokémon World Championship in Honolulu.
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Courtesy Sharath Cherian
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Trainers Guild
What it is: An organization that offers Pokémon after-school programs, summer camps, coaching, and intensives. Sharath Cherian, a Hollywood father of a competitive player, founded the Trainers Guild with coach Ciaran Farah, who’s based in Toronto.
“[Pokémon is] a great way for kids to learn math, strategic thinking,” Cherian says. “This is a way for them to interact with each other that involves a little bit of negotiation skills.”
Zepbound is one of several new drugs that people are using successfully to lose weight.
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Shelby Knowles
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Millions of Americans have shed pounds with help from drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. But people who take these drugs often experience unpleasant side effects.
Why now: At this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, Warren Yacawych of the University of Michigan and other researchers held a session to describe their efforts to understand and solve the side-effect problem.
Read on ... for more on how scientists are approaching the issue of side effects with weight-loss medication.
Millions of Americans have shed pounds with help from drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound.
But people who take these drugs often experience unpleasant side effects.
"They lose weight, which is a positive thing," says Warren Yacawych of the University of Michigan, "but they experience such severe nausea and vomiting that patients stop treatment."
So at this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, Yacawych and other researchers held a session to describe their efforts to understand and solve the side-effect problem.
The weight-loss products are called GLP-1 agonists. They work by mimicking a hormone that reduces appetite and slows digestion.
Yacawych and his colleagues wanted to know if they could tweak these drugs to suppress appetite without making people queasy.
The team focused on two areas in the brain stem where GLP-1 drugs have a big effect.
"The first is affectionately known as the brain stem's vomit center," Yacawych says. "It's naturally designed to detect any accidentally ingested toxin and coordinate the feeling of nausea and the vomit response."
The second area monitors food intake and tells people when they're full.
The team found a way to direct GLP-1 to the area involved in feeling full, while keeping the drug out of the vomit center.
When the researchers did this, the mice no longer felt sick. But they also didn't get thin — probably because there are specific cells in the vomit center that do not induce vomiting but are critical to weight loss.
"So it's very challenging," Yacawych says, "to be able to separate these side effects, like nausea, from GLP-1's intended effects, like weight loss."
A possible workaround came from a team led by Ernie Blevins of the University of Washington. They gave obese rats a low dose of a GLP-1 drug along with the hormone oxytocin, which is itself an appetite suppressant. That allowed the rats to lose weight without feeling sick.
Not just nausea
Another side effect of GLP-1 drugs is a decrease in thirst, which could be dangerous for people who are already losing lots of fluids from side effects like vomiting and diarrhea.
"If you're in that state of dehydration and you're not feeling thirsty to replace those fluids, that would be a problem," says Derek Daniels of the University at Buffalo.
To understand how GLP-1 drugs reduce thirst, Daniels and a team began studying the brains of rats. And they got lucky.
"We had a happy accident in the lab," Daniels says. "And the happy accident involved a rat called the Brattleboro rat."
Brattleboro rats are laboratory rodents with a genetic mutation that makes them thirsty nearly all the time. But the scientists discovered that these rats are also very sensitive to GLP-1 drugs, which drastically reduced their water consumption.
The team studied the rats' brains to see where GLP-1 was influencing thirst. That led them to several areas of the brain that appear to affect thirst but not appetite.
The discovery could help scientists preserve thirst by designing drugs that "target good places but not bad places," Daniels says.
Appetite and addiction
A team from the University of Virginia found that GLP-1 drugs are already targeting a brain area that plays a role in addiction as well as eating. It's a region involved in emotion and the reward system.
When the researchers delivered GLP-1 to this brain area in mice, it reduced their desire for "rewarding food, like a burger," says Ali D. Güler of the University of Virginia.
But the animals continued to eat healthy, nonrewarding foods, he says — a bit like people choosing a salad bar over dessert.
Identifying this brain area should help scientists find GLP-1 drugs that target the reward system while avoiding areas involved in appetite, Güler says. And that could lead to new treatments for alcoholism and other substance use disorders.
The finding also could explain the observation that people who take GLP-1 agonists tend to reduce their consumption of alcohol.
The State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on June 1, 2021.
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Eric Gay
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AP
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Topline:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.
What's next: The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.
Read on ... for more on how this decision may affect other Congressional map battles across the nation, including in California.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.
The court's conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.
The order came about an hour after the state called on the high court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas.
Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump's efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year's elections, touching off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Hispanic voters were likely to win their case.
If that ruling eventually holds, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
Texas was the first state to meet Trump's demands in what has become an expanding national battle over redistricting. Republicans drew the state's new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.
The redrawn maps are facing court challenges in California, Missouri and North Carolina.
The Supreme Court is separately considering a case from Louisiana that could further limit race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It's not entirely clear how the current round of redistricting would be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.
The fire started on a cargo ship at the Port of L.A. started Friday evening.
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Courtesy CBS LA
)
Topline:
A fire broke out Friday evening on a cargo ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. At one point, more than 180 firefighters were battling the fire.
Why it matters: Hazardous materials were in some of the cargo bays, according to LAFD captain Adam VanGerpen.
Injuries: Authorities say all crew members on the ship are accounted for with no injuries reported.
Read on ... for the latest updates.
The fire that started on a cargo ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles is now "substantially contained," according to the Port of Los Angeles.
Authorities say fire crews and ship crew members are continuing to put out the fire.
LAFD captain Adam VanGerpen told LAist the cargo ship — "ONE Henry Hudson" — was moved to open waters, less than a mile from the port, to ensure the safety of those living in San Pedro and Wilmington, as well as port operations.
A shelter-in-place order for residents in San Pedro and Wilmington has been lifted, according to VanGerpen.
Authorities say all crew members on the ship are accounted for with no injuries reported.
At one point, more than 180 firefighters were fighting the fire, which was reported at 6:38 p.m. by crew onboard as an "electrical fire" that started below deck. An explosion was reported by authorities about an hour later.
A number of cargo bays contained some hazardous materials, VanGerpen said.
He said a number of containers are believed to be damaged, but the extent won't be known until the fire is fully contained.
"Many of these cargo containers are stacked one on top of another, and they were not able to get cranes in there to start removing these," he said.
The derelict shopping center has a remarkable past
Cato Hernández
has scoured through tons of archives to understand how our region became the way it is today.
Published November 22, 2025 5:00 AM
Valley Plaza Surplus when it opened in 1957. The store used to be located at 6330 Laurel Canyon Blvd.
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Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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Topline:
Valley Plaza in North Hollywood has been neglected for years. As some buildings are getting demolished, we look into its legendary past and why it fell from grace.
How it began: When Valley Plaza opened in 1951, it was right when the shopping experience was changing. The developer behind the center, Bob Symonds, created a new masterplan of specially picked stores in an area that prioritized freeway access and lots of parking.
Why it was unique: Back in those days, his ideas were novel. Instead of going to individual places, customers could visit a huge range of stores at one center, including the largest Sears at the time. It became one of the most important shopping centers on the West Coast because of its design, which fueled the local economy.
Read on…. to learn more about Angelenos’ personal memories with the space.
Demolition is underway in parts of Valley Plaza, a shopping center in North Hollywood. The razing comes after years of vacancy and a vote to declare six of its dilapidated buildings a public nuisance. But did you know that this was once one of the most important shopping centers on the West Coast?
Valley Plaza may look like an ordinary strip mall that kicked the can due to the rise of online retail, but it’s actually a shell of what it once was. We’ll explore its past and wax nostalgic about its heyday with tales from Angelenos.
The novelty of Valley Plaza
The plaza first opened in 1951 at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards, and with it, the San Fernando Valley began a new era. Post-war, the suburbs were rapidly growing, and this center was right in the middle of all the action.
The shopping experience we know today — where you can go to one large location and find every store you need — was just starting to take shape. When developer Bob Symonds designed Valley Plaza as an open-air shopping center, it was believed to be one of the first of its kind in the United States, especially one to do so at such a scale.
His “ultra-modern” plaza got national attention for a few reasons. For one, Symonds is credited as a pioneer in Southern California for recognizing the potential of putting retail hubs next to freeways. Most developers still focused on boulevards. He also put hundreds of parking spots in front of the mall, rather than in the back, which was the normal practice. The “mammoth” shopping area, as it was hailed, was ultimately special because it brought together a huge range of stores.
I put out a call on social media for people to send me their memories.
“I remember how excited we were to have real stores near us,” wrote Pat DeCurtins, who lived in North Hollywood between the ‘40s and ‘60s. “We no longer had to order all our clothes from Spiegels Catalogue. We could buy clothes in a REAL store.”
A flooded intersection next to Valley Plaza in 1962.
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Gordon Dean
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Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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One of those was Sears, which opened its largest location at the time in the U.S. at Valley Plaza (it apparently smelled like popcorn, too). Sears joining was the key to getting other companies onboard. Thrifty also opened a store, signing the longest lease in its history at the time for 25 years.
Symonds was known for courting big companies and curating the plaza’s stores to blend the essential, mundane and desirable. It had mom-and-pop shops, innovative self-service grocery stores, a theater, an ice skating rink and restaurants like the Hawaiian spot Kel Luau.
“My little son and I would go to this tropical style restaurant in Valley Plaza mall across from the ice skating arena,” wrote Cassandra Adams. “We would have blue drinks from a glass shell with two long straws. They would put a sugar cube floating on top and light it on fire. It was really fun!”
Valley Plaza’s downward spiral
Valley Plaza was a roaring success for a while. It brought in $100 million in annual sales in its first five years and was a big employment boost for the community. The plaza would later expand to cover more than 1 million square feet, ranking it as one of the largest in the nation.
A group of store managers pose in front of new Valley Plaza signage with developer Bob Symonds and honorary Valley Plaza mayor Anita Gordon in April 1957.
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Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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It even had the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley with the Los Angeles Federal Savings and Loan Tower, now known as Valley Plaza Tower. Built in 1960, the 165-foot-tall building was one of the first skyscrapers constructed after the repeal of the city of L.A.’s building height limit a few years prior.
In the decades after, Valley Plaza slowly declined. The area’s demographics shifted, meaning shopping habits changed, and vacant spots in the center weren’t replaced with similar quality stores. The plaza’s future was also hard to plan because it had dozens of owners at one point, ranging from corporations to a 90-year-old widow, according to UCLA research.
But one event may have sealed its fate: the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. According to an L.A. City Council motion, many of the buildings were red-tagged, and tenants who didn’t have the capital for repairs got evicted.
Since then, Valley Plaza has been a thorn in L.A.’s side. While some of it has been redeveloped, numerous plans for the center have failed. Owners haven’t fixed the broken-down lots. L.A. leaders even explored the possibility of using eminent domain to take it over.
It’s not known yet what will happen to Valley Plaza once demolition is completed, but some say it will be sorely missed.
“So many memories,” wrote Rhonda Theodoulou, who had her ninth birthday there. “It’s been a shame what that area has looked like for many years. I hope it’s developed into a newer thriving area again.”
