The Brief

The 2028 Olympics are coming to Los Angeles as a multi-billion dollar operation funded by massive private and federal government investments and backed by city and state pledges to cover cost overruns.

The current privately funded budget for the Games is more than $7 billion. The federal government has agreed to chip in $1 billion to pay for security and is being asked to contribute another $2 billion to pay for Games-specific transit plans.

But the city of L.A.'s financial exposure is essentially unlimited. The city is on the hook for the first $270 million in losses, if they occur. The California Legislature has agreed to make statewide taxpayers pick up the next $270 million. After that, any additional financial burden will fall on Los Angeles taxpayers.

L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson told LAist that he doesn't think such overruns will happen but acknowledged it was "a risky proposition" for the city. 

"There's a lot of things that can go wrong," he said.

What financial costs have other cities faced?

The last time L.A. hosted in 1984, the Olympics did turn a profit. But that was a rare feat. Many host cities have been left with costly bills. Still, L.A. agreed to be the financial guarantor of the 2028 Games in order to clinch the Olympic bid. 

A general view of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stadium during the 1984 Olympic Games.

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In 2016, Rio de Janeiro became a poster child for the failed promises of the Olympics after the Games ended with crushing debt and derelict infrastructure. Then, Tokyo's expenses spiked when the 2020 Games were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games cost $13 billion — and Japanese taxpayers covered more than half of that, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Unlike other recent host cities, organizers of the Paris Games announced in June that they had a budget surplus.

The Paris Games were cheaper than recent summer Olympics, according to Victor Matheson, a professor at College of the Holy Cross who studies the economics of the Olympics. He attributed this, in part, to reforms implemented by the International Olympic Committee to help keep costs down, including by encouraging host cities to use existing venues rather than building elaborate new facilities. Paris also had plenty of capacity for tourists already.

That's the strategy L.A. is banking on to deliver a financially successful Olympics. The 2028 competition will take advantage of the region's glut of already-existing hotels and venues, from Dodger Stadium to the Rose Bowl to Crypto Arena to SoFi Stadium.

How billions in Olympic costs could hit taxpayer wallets

"We have an advantage over every other city in the world, and that is the existence of the venues and the facilities that we have here," said Paul Krekorian, the former L.A. councilmember who now leads the city's major events office, at a recent Olympic event in Venice Beach.

What protections are in place for L.A.?

L.A. may be hosting the Games, and backing them if costs run over, but the city isn't the one running the show. The event itself is privately planned and intended to be largely privately financed. That effort is led by the nonprofit LA28, a group led by sports agent and entertainment mogul Casey Wasserman. In its latest annual report, LA28 outlined a more than $7.1 billion budget to deliver the games.

The International Olympic Committee, the organization that oversees all Olympic Games, is kicking in around $1.39 billion. After that, LA28 expects to raise the money it needs to run the games from corporate sponsorships, ticket sales and licensing. 

LA28 officials say they are confident in their progress. But there are also some safeguards in place for Los Angeles in case there are overruns. The city's agreement with LA28 requires the organizers to establish a $270 million contingency fund that the city will control. LA28's latest budget includes an overall contingency of $613.5 million, which includes the city's portion.

The organizers are also required to take out a number of insurance policies, including to protect against event cancelation, natural disasters, terrorism, and other potential calamities. Not all of the insurance plans are in place yet, and it's unclear if they will offer enough coverage to fully protect the city.

At an L.A. City Council meeting last week, LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said the Olympics are on track financially.

"We continue to feel very optimistic about our path forward," he told the council, referencing recent corporate partnerships with Google, Starbucks and an electric bus company to transport athletes and Olympics staff.

LA28 has an overall goal of raising $2.5 billion in domestic sponsorships to help fund its budget. Hoover, told the council that LA28 had so far raised about $1.7 billion of that — a figure he said was more money than Paris raised ahead of 2024.

Can the city of L.A. control costs?

The city has only limited ability to intervene in LA28's decision-making.

Zev Yaroslavsky, a former L.A. County supervisor who was on the City Council when it negotiated the 1984 Olympic Games, told LAist that the city doesn't have much legal leverage to dictate Olympics planning. Its main point of influence is political.

"The only leverage the city has is the bully pulpit," Yaroslavsky said. "City Hall and the LA28 committee have their reputations on the line."

L.A. City Council greenlit re-locating Olympic diving from Exposition Park to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

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In terms of legal leverage, the city's contract with LA28 requires that city appointees comprise at least one-sixth of its board of directors. In addition, LA28 gave the city council veto power over decisions to move a venue outside of the city. This summer, the city council greenlit LA28's plan to move Olympic diving from Exposition Park to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena, when LA28 organizers said that change would save millions of dollars.

The city is also currently negotiating with LA28 to define what extra city resources Olympics organizers will need to pay for, such as additional police officers on the streets. That was supposed to be completed by Oct. 1, but the two sides haven't come to an agreement yet.

What role will the federal government play?

One factor outside of both LA28 and City Hall's control is President Donald Trump. The president has named himself the head of a federal Olympics task force and allocated $1 billion in federal funds for Olympics security. How those funds will be spent remains to be seen, but some of it is expected to flow to local and state law enforcement agencies. Hoover told the city council last week that LA28 is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on how that money will be dispersed.

At the council meeting, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield asked Hoover, LA28's CEO, to have a back-up plan in case federal funds don't come through, or are withheld.

"What I'm concerned about is while they're being cooperative now, at some point they're gonna do what they've done with funding to universities and others. And they're going to create a condition that we cannot meet," Blumenfield said of the federal government. "What protections do we have in place to protect us against that kind of last minute extortion?"

Hoover responded saying that no one at the White House or in the federal government has put a condition on support for the Games so far.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a task force on security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

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"Now, what the administration will do later, I wouldn't sit here and be able to say or predict what they would do," he said.

Another big ticket item organizers are expecting the federal government to cover is a giant fleet of additional buses to transport fans during the Games. Those buses will be key to hosting the mega-event, which will span three counties in Southern California. Metro is seeking more than $2 billion for that project. 

A spokesperson for LA28 told LAist that the federal government provided financial support for bus programs for the 1996 and 2002 Olympic Games, in Atlanta and Salt Lake City.

"Our public agency partners are requesting similar support for 2028," Jacie Prieto Lopez, LA28's Vice President of Communications said in an email. She also said that LA28 had a "positive partnership" with the federal government. 

How will the Convention Center factor into costs?

One city project that could throw a wrench in L.A.'s Olympic plans is the controversial $2.6 billion expansion of the downtown Los Angeles Convention Center that the City Council approved in September. The plans include connecting the West and South halls and adding an estimated 325,000 square feet of space. 

That project, which is not expected to be finished until 2029, broke ground last month. But the Convention Center is slated to host a handful of Olympic competitions come 2028. 

Construction will need to pause and restart for the Games, according to a report from the city administrative officer. 

L.A. City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the budget and finance committee, estimated that pausing and restarting construction would cost the city $30 million. She voted against the expansion project.

If construction gets in the way of Olympics planning, organizers would have to find somewhere else to host a number of sports, including fencing, taekwondo and table tennis.

Ted Rohrlich, Kavish Harjai and Frank Stoltze contributed to this story.

A group of employees at the Los Angeles region’s homelessness authority says hundreds of frontline workers will face layoffs as L.A. County transitions funding away from the agency.

Staffers from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, wrote an open letter to the county Board of Supervisors this week, demanding that no county-funded workers be displaced.

Its members say the transition would hit workers and unhoused clients harder than county officials have acknowledged.

“ A lot of the workers are in this because we care and we want to help our fellow neighbors and don't want to see see all kinds of people homeless on the street,” Jacqueline Beltran, a LAHSA employee who signed the letter, told LAist.

County officials said they are committed to “clearing pathways to employment” for county-funded LAHSA workers within the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.

“We are continuing to explore all available options,” new department director Sarah Mahin said in a statement.

Mahin said funding and staffing will be finalized in the FY 2026-2027 Measure A spending plan for the fiscal year that ends in 2027. The county released a draft of that plan last month. 

County authorities have said they would fully integrate the services performed by LAHSA into the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing by next July.

The transition

In April, the county Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million from LAHSA and create a new county homelessness department to administer the funds.

That motion also directed county agencies to consult with Service Employees International Union 721, which represents county-funded LAHSA employees, to try to keep them employed — or prioritize them for transition into the new department’s workforce.

But the LAHSA Workers Coalition said that’s not happening.

The group demands in its letter that the county halt all staffing reductions at LAHSA and argues the county has a legal obligation to protect the workers. The group is made up of employees represented by SEIU 721, but the union’s leaders did not cosign the letter.

The union did not immediately respond to LAist’s questions about it Thursday.

In February, an L.A. County report said the agency had 900 staff positions and nearly 200 vacancies. More than half of the positions were funded by L.A. County, according to the report.

LAHSA reported last month that it employed 686 people.

Demands

Last year, county voters approved the Measure A sales tax to fund homeless services and affordable housing. The ordinance says that contracts funded with Measure A revenue "must not result in displacement of public employees.”

In the letter, the coalition argues the county is out of compliance with that requirement and is urging the board to discuss the matter at its next meeting.

Mahin said Measure A does not prevent the county from restructuring programs but instead “protects public employees from being displaced by outside service providers funded through Measure A.”

The county is facing a deficit of more than $300 million in funding for homeless services, Mahin said, adding that it must make “difficult but necessary decisions about how we invest our limited resources.”

The workers coalition is demanding that existing LAHSA employees be transferred directly to the new department, instead of having to reapply.

They’re also asking the board for a full public disclosure of staffing cuts related to the transition.

In addition to the Board of Supervisors, the coalition sent the letter to several other county and state oversight entities, including the county office of the inspector general, the civil grand jury, the state auditor and the attorney general.

When Terri Huerta called local winemakers about a problem with a meandering vine at Mission San Gabriel in the city of San Gabriel, she thought she'd get gardening help. Instead, she sparked a revival of L.A.'s oldest wine.

Mission San Gabriel's 250-year-old grapevine, one of the oldest living vines in California, continues to produce grapes for the Angelica wine revival.

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The vine in question isn't your typical grapevine. It's a 250-year-old beast with a trunk so massive two people can't wrap their arms around it. Because it served as the source for cuttings that spread throughout California's early vineyards, it’s now known as the Mother Vine.

For centuries, it just sprawled across the mission courtyard like some ancient, living pergola that refuses to quit, with no one taking any notice of the grapes flourishing each season.

But now, thanks to a group of determined local winemakers, that fruit is being transformed into Angelica, a sweet wine fortified with brandy that Franciscan missionaries made there in the 1700s — making it the city’s oldest wine.

A limited edition batch was launched Nov. 28 by the Angeleno Wine Company. There are fewer than 200 bottles for sale, and at $75, it's not cheap. But break that down by the vine's age, and you're paying 30 cents per year of history.

How it started

The collaboration began in 2020 when Huerta, director of mission development at Mission San Gabriel, reached out to the Los Angeles Vintners Association looking for help to manage the grapevine.

The association — a partnership among three L.A. wineries: Angeleno Wine Company, Byron Blatty Wines and Cavalletti Vineyards — sent winemakers Mark Blatty, Patrick Kelly, Jasper Dickson and Amy Luftig to assess the situation. They found something bigger than a courtyard cleanup project. They found grapes. A lot of them.

"The vine was full of fruit, and I told them it was just a nuisance every year," Huerta recalls. "They asked, 'What are you going to do with all this fruit?' and I said, 'I really don't know.'”

That's when the group offered to help take it off Huerta’s hands.

Grapes from Mission San Gabriel's 250-year-old grapevine used in the Angelica wine revival.

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Wine history

Although the Napa Valley now reigns supreme as the region’s wine industry, L.A. once was the center for the entire state. Mission San Gabriel’s vine was planted by Franciscan friars after the establishment of the mission in 1775 to make sacramental wine to be used during mass. DNA analysis has since revealed its forebears: It's a hybrid of Spanish Listán Prieto grapes and native California Vitis girdiana.

This vine’s cuttings helped launch the many vineyards that began to crop up around the newly founded grape fields, which became numerous. By 1850, L.A. boasted over 100 vineyards. If you look carefully, even today, the city of L.A.’s seal has a bunch of grapes hanging at the top.

The official seal of the city of Los Angeles.

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The wines were popular with fortune seekers headed north to the Gold Rush. The industry flourished until 1883, when an outbreak of Pierce's Disease destroyed thousands of acres of vines across SoCal. Urban sprawl replaced vineyards with housing through the mid-20th century.

Today, almost nothing remains of L.A. 's once-dominant wine industry — with the exception of the Mother Vine and a handful of its descendants scattered across the city.

Across from Union Station a direct descendant is still growing over tourist and vendor heads. It’s a 200-year-old vine at Olvera Street's Avila Adobe, the oldest standing residence in the city of L.A.

Storing up the grapes

The winemakers started picking the fruit at the Mission in 2020. But it wasn’t enough to make a substantial batch of wine, so the grapes were stored. For the past five years, the winemakers, joined with volunteers, have harvested the fruit each season, carefully packing it away.

In the meantime, they began to dig into mission records for mentions of grapes and winemaking. One day they came across a document from the 1800s, which outlined a recipe for Angelica, a fortified wine made from grape juice and brandy.

"Angelica is said to be made by mixing one gallon of grape brandy with three of grape juice, fresh from the press," it said. "It is a thick, sweet and strong drink, yet of very delicate flavor."

The fortification wasn't just about taste — it was a necessity. In an era before refrigeration, adding brandy preserved the wine, allowing it to survive California's heat and long journeys between missions.

Two of the winemakers, Dickson and Luftig, were especially interested. They’d been making wine from grapes grown locally in the SoCal region since 2018 at their winery Angeleno Wine Company, which produces everything on-site near Chinatown.

They became intrigued by the idea of recreating Angelica. Following the historical recipe, they pressed fresh Mission grapes and fortified the juice with brandy before fermentation. Then they used the solera system — a traditional Spanish method that blends wines across multiple vintages — aging the wine in oak barrels for years.

Initially, they made limited batches solely for the company’s wine club members, which quickly sold out.

This year’s Angelica is the group’s third batch but the first to go on sale to the public. It includes grapes that have been harvested from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The wine pours a pale cherry color and has a syrup-like consistency. The brandy comes through right away, caramel and warm spices with refreshing acidity cutting through the sweetness. It's thick, decadent and undeniably strong — a small glass (or two) is all that’s needed after a warm holiday meal.

The harvest

Harvesting the grapes doesn't look like the romantic wine country fantasy you see in magazines.

Instead of long rows of vines with grapes easily accessed, harvesters have to pick the fruit from below the canopy.

"Everyone has to bring ladders because we're picking like this," Dickson says, gesturing upward in the Mission’s courtyard. "We're literally placing ladders on ancient monks' tombstones to reach the fruit above the graves."

This year the harvest happened in October.

Volunteers harvest grapes at Mission San Gabriel for the Angelica wine revival project.

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John Pryor, a volunteer, has done multiple harvests. He describes it plainly: "You're not in a vineyard. You're in a garden at a Catholic church. The vines are trellised 12 feet high and go on for a hundred yards."

For his daughter, 27 year-old Meg Pryor, seeing the massive trunk drove home what "old" actually means.

"Whenever we're there, I'm thinking, 'People were doing this a century ago, two centuries ago,'" she said.

John and Meg Pryor help harvest grapes from Mission San Gabriel's historic grapevine for the Angelica wine revival project.

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Understanding who most of those workers were centuries ago means confronting some difficult issues. Huerta of Mission San Gabriel acknowledges the mission system relied on Indigenous labor, and the vine's hybrid nature suggests native plant knowledge may have contributed to its development.

But she doesn't shy away from the complexity.

"You can't tell Mission history without including all the parts," she says. "You can't tell one story without telling another story. Winemaking has always been a part of L.A. history. The grapes were brought by the Franciscans. They didn't just start here in California. They started in Mexico, so its complexity makes it interesting, but it also makes it controversial."

Going forward, Angeleno Wine Company plans to release a limited batch of Angelica as a seasonal offering each year, as long as the Mother Vine continues to produce fruit.

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election.

The decision released Thursday boosts the GOP's chances of preserving its slim majority in the House of Representatives amid an unprecedented gerrymandering fight launched by President Donald Trump, who has been pushing Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to benefit Republicans.

The high court's unsigned order follows Texas' emergency request for the justices to pause a three-judge panel's ruling blocking the state's recently redrawn map.

After holding a nine-day hearing in October, that panel found challengers of the new map are likely to prove in a trial that the map violates the Constitution by discriminating against voters based on race.

In its majority opinion, authored by a Trump nominee, the panel cited a letter from the Department of Justice and multiple public statements by key Republican state lawmakers that suggested their map drawer manipulated the racial demographics of voting districts to eliminate existing districts where Black and Latino voters together make up the majority. For the next year's midterms, the panel ordered Texas to keep using the congressional districts the state's GOP-controlled legislature drew in 2021.

But in Texas' filing to the Supreme Court, the state claimed the lawmakers were not motivated by race and were focused instead on drawing new districts that are more likely to elect Republicans.

In November, after the panel blocked the new map, Justice Samuel Alito allowed Texas to temporarily reinstate it while the Supreme Court reviewed the state's emergency request.

The mid-decade redistricting plan Texas Republicans passed in August sparked a counter response by Democratic leaders in California, where voters in a special election in November approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats gain five additional House seats. A court hearing for a legal challenge to that map is set for Dec. 15.

The rest of the redistricting landscape remains unsettled as well. Lawsuits are challenging new gerrymanders in places like Missouri, where there is also a contested referendum effort. And other states, including Florida, Indiana and Virginia, may also pursue new districts prior to the midterms.

Last week, a federal court ruled to allow North Carolina's midterm election to be held under a recently redrawn map that could give Republicans an additional seat.

Another wave of congressional redistricting may be coming soon depending on what — and when — the Supreme Court decides in a voting rights case about Louisiana's congressional map. After the court held a rare rehearing for that case in October, some states are watching for a potential earlier-than-usual ruling that may allow Republican-led states to draw more GOP-friendly districts in time for the 2026 midterms.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey
Copyright 2025 NPR

Growing up in Whittier, tamales have always been part of who I am — whether from local bakeries like La Moderna, where my mother always orders the day after Thanksgiving, or our annual tamalada with family friends, where we churn out hundreds in slightly drunken assembly-line fashion.

Over the years, I've explored beyond the traditional Mexican versions: El Salvadoran styles from What's That You're Cooking in Orange County to the Chinese lo mai gai found at dim sum spots across the city. My pursuit of new tamal variations is relentless, especially this time of year.

So when I heard about a $27 lamb neck tamal in Venice, I had to know: could an elevated, chef-driven approach ever justify that price? Since a few other restaurants are also recreating the humble dish with a high-end approach, I decided to go and try them.

What I discovered was that these aren't replacements for traditional tamales — they're explorations of what happens when fine dining ambition meets this centuries-old form.

Si! Mon (Venice)

Si! Mon opened in 2023 in the former James Beach space, a collaboration between chef José Olmedo Carles Rojas and restaurateurs Louie and Netty Ryan, known for Venice-adjacent mainstays Hatchet Hall and Menotti's Coffee Stop. Si! Mon offers Carles Rojas' take on Panamanian fine dining, drawing on Panama's melting pot of Chinese, French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences.

For the holidays, Carles Rojas is offering a $27 lamb neck tamal — a clear departure from the Mexican versions most Angelenos know. And while the price might cause some sticker shock, it’s worth considering what goes into it and how much food there is.

Wrapped in a banana leaf, the tamal uses a lighter, softer masa enriched with the lamb neck’s braising liquid. Rojas pulls the meat, tosses it with sofrito until it takes on a sauce-like consistency, then adds Indian-style quick-pickled dates for sweetness and olives for brine. Finally, the tamal is finished in Si! mon's wood-fired oven, adding subtle smokiness.

My verdict? After taking that first bite, I can tell you… it’s worth the splurge. One tamal is meant to be shared between two people, which partly explains the price point (though I had no problem finishing mine solo). I’ve had plenty of Central American tamales over the years — Salvadoran versions with their silky masa, Nicaraguan nacatamales loaded with vegetables and pork — but Carles’ take pulls out all the stops. This is a deluxe, bells-and-whistles vision: sweet, salty, and deeply savory all at once, comforting yet unlike anything I’ve tasted before.

Yes, it is a high price, but I’d say it reflects the time, technique and premium ingredients behind it.

KOMAL (South L.A.)

A Guatemalan-style chuchito tamal from KOMAL at Mercado de Paloma in South L.A.

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KOMAL is L.A.'s first craft molino (mill), founded by Fátima Júarez and Conrado Rivera, former employees of Michelin-rated Holbox, who opened this masa-centric counter inside South L.A.'s Mercado La Paloma. The name is Nahuatl for "comal," the traditional flat griddle used to cook tortillas.

I wanted to try the chuchito ($11), a regular menu staple at KOMAL. Júarez refers to the dish as a gift — both for the unwrapping it requires and the labor of love behind it. Each one takes more than 22 hours to make, starting with nixtamalizing heirloom corn to create the masa. (Nixtamalization, an ancient Mesoamerican process, involves soaking and cooking corn in an alkaline solution to improve its flavor, texture, and nutrition).

The result is a fluffy steamed tamal filled with tender pork and crowned with roasted pepper and tomato sauce, pickled cabbage and vegetables, and crema. The dish honors her kitchen team, most of whom are from Guatemala, and it's KOMAL's way of putting their heritage front and center on the menu.

KOMAL’s strawberry tamal dulce comes bright red and crowned with pineapple and fruit compote.

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Komal’s tamal verde at Mercado de Paloma comes stuffed with tender chicken and topped with zippy green salsa.

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Beyond the chuchito, Júarez is offering three special tamales as holiday pick-ups for Christmas and New Year's: a deep, complex tamal rojo filled with sweet corn and squash calabacita, a vibrant tomatillo-based tamal verde filled with chicken, and a tamal de leche made with oranges and strawberry jam, a sweet version that hints at the pre-Hispanic tasting menu they're developing.

After the holidays, these tamales will transition to appearing exclusively at Komal's planned ancestral and ceremonial dinners in 2026 — making this a rare chance to try them before they become part of a more formal dining experience.

Available by the half-dozen ($45) or the dozen ($90), they can be ordered for pick-up at KOMAL on Tuesday, Dec. 23, or Tuesday, Dec. 30.

Campesino Café at The Ecology Center (San Juan Capistrano)

Aaron Zimmer, head chef of Campesino Café at The Ecology Center, works within a unique constraint: everything on his menu comes from the 28-acre regenerative organic farm surrounding the restaurant. That includes the corn he grows, dries, harvests and processes into masa for his tamales.

For the winter season, Zimmer is offering two versions that reflect what's abundant on the farm right now. The shelling bean and cheese tamal ($21) features beans from one of four varieties they grow on-site — shelling beans are harvested before they're thoroughly dried, prized for their creamy texture and delicate, earthy flavor. The cooked-down beans are incorporated into the fresh masa with cheese, then topped with chili con queso made with pickled giardiniera from their summer harvest.

Campesino Café’s tamal duo pairs winter squash in walnut mole with a shelling-bean-and-cheese tamal topped with chile con queso.

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The winter squash tamal ($21) features squash finished with a walnut mole sauce. The sweet, nutty texture, combined with the squash's sweet, earthy flavors and soft, fresh-tasting masa, creates a highly multidimensional bite.

Both are wrapped in masa and steamed in corn husks, then topped with whatever's available in the larder at any given moment, such as freshly grown cilantro or pickled onion.

It's a hyperlocal, intensely seasonal approach that makes each tamal a snapshot of what the farm is producing — versatile, sustainable, and entirely tied to the land it comes from.