The humanitarian crisis in Gaza as air strikes continue is prompting grief, survivors’ guilt, and “bringing back a lot of baggage.” Seeing a need for support, a mosque and school in Garden Grove have incorporated mental health into their programming.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Topline:
Seeing the images coming out of Gaza is “retraumatizing” for Arab American and Muslim communities. Muslim schools and mosques are taking steps to help people cope.
Why it matters: Some who came as refugees carry trauma from wars and violence in their home countries like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. For others, it’s experiencing anti-Muslim hate during 9/11 and other incidents that have added to the collective trauma of living as Muslims and Arab Americans in the U.S., said Marwa Azab, a psychology professor at California State University Long Beach, said
Why now: With the pictures and videos coming out of Gaza, and in some cases personal loss, unresolved trauma has left the community “bleeding” emotionally, Azab said, “and there's no healing that's going to start if the bleeding doesn’t stop.”
What's next: Azab has been giving talks at local mosques and around the community on what she calls “psychological resilience.” She tries to help people understand the trauma they are holding onto, and offers tips for coping with the distressing news. An important one is limiting one’s time checking the news or on social media.
Every Friday night, the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove becomes a gathering place. Children in the Muslim Youth Group meet to learn about their Islamic faith, then play and socialize on the mosque grounds. The adults unwind and catch up after a long week, seated under fairy lights around long tables.
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3:55
News From Gaza Is Rekindling Trauma For Muslim Communities In Southern California
Until not long ago, the atmosphere here was typically lighthearted and relaxed. But the mood has changed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel that claimed 1,200 lives, and Israel’s subsequent air strikes on Gaza, where as many as 19,000 people have since died.
Now these gatherings serve a bigger purpose: a supportive space for families to grieve and share very difficult feelings, as they cope with the images of destruction and loss.
Children play during recess Orange Crescent School located on the grounds of the Garden Grove mosque.
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The Islamic Society of Orange County serves thousands of Muslims with prayer, educational, and counseling services, including a youth group.
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Families visit the mosque from as far away as Redondo Beach and Pasadena, seeking community and respite. Parents talked while the children made posters using black, white, red and green paint, the colors of the Palestinian flag.
In one room crowded with kids, Tala Haddad held up a megaphone, belting out instructions for how to make bracelets. Haddad, 19, is a youth group coordinator with the mosque; each Friday she leads a group of kids ages 4 to 12. These days, she said, the goal is to give them a safe space to process feelings that may arise from watching the news, or from absorbing parents’ emotions at home.
“A really important thing is having those conversations so that they're not just hearing things and having it stick with them,” Haddad said. “So … we have been allowing the kids to speak their mind within reason, and we're giving them an outlet to talk to their youth group mentors, to talk to their parents. The parents are able to talk to us as well to ask for advice.”
Two teens attend Friday midday prayer at the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove.
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Parents have been struggling, too. Among the dads volunteering that night was Ramsey Nashef, a Palestinian American born and raised in Orange County. He said as the father of two girls, 9 and 2, images he’s seen of dead and wounded children in Gaza have been haunting him.
“I have never been this vulnerable before, like, being emotional and crying, this is something that's not normal to me,” Nashef said. “I just see myself breaking down and I'm like, my mental health is just kind of messed up at the moment.”
Ramsey Nashef, a Palestinian American father and graphic artist from Orange County, pictured with one of his paintings of a Palestinian boy throwing a stone.
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Nashef said he’s felt a duty to check for news, as much as it hurts.
“For me, as a Palestinian, I felt the need and out of respect to have to watch it,” he said.
Every morning, he said, it has felt “almost like I was torturing myself” as he logs in to watch videos of the devastation on Instagram.
A unique trauma
Seeing the images coming out of Gaza is “retraumatizing” for Arab American and Muslim communities, said Marwa Azab, a psychology professor at California State University Long Beach.
“It’s kindling and bringing back a lot of baggage that (was) hidden for a long time, we thought we dealt with,” Azab said.
A little boy looks down at the men during Friday prayer at the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque.
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Friday prayer at the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove.
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Some who came as refugees carry trauma from wars and violence in their home countries like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. For others, Azab said it’s experiencing anti-Muslim hate during 9/11 and other incidents that have added to the collective trauma of living as Muslims and Arab Americans in the U.S.
Hundreds of people attend Friday midday prayer at the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque.
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Now, with the pictures and videos coming out of Gaza, and in some cases personal loss, unresolved trauma has left the community “bleeding” emotionally, Azab said, “and there's no healing that's going to start if the bleeding doesn’t stop.”
‘Psychological resilience’
Azab has been giving talks at local mosques and around the community on what she calls “psychological resilience.” She tries to help people understand the trauma they are holding onto, and offers tips for coping with the distressing news.
An important one is limiting one’s time checking the news or looking at social media.
“They have to have a budget in terms of looking at these videos, because they will very quickly run into compassion fatigue,” Azab said. “Where the people they love and they desperately need to connect with, they won't be able to.”
Marwa Azab, a psychology professor at California State University Long Beach.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Psychology and mental health books in Marwa Azab's home office.
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Being able to remain emotionally present for one’s family is key, she said. Timing news consumption is important, too, she said, because disturbing news can keep one up at night.
For intrusive thoughts during the day that interfere with work or school, Azab recommends writing those on a sticky note — and coming back to them later.
Azab also says people right now feel like they can’t express their grief, for fear of being misjudged — so community is important.
A FEW COPING TIPS
Budget time for checking news and social media
Be mindful of when you check (Will this news keep me up at night?)
Write down intrusive thoughts on a sticky note, to return to later (i.e., ‘I'll attend to you after I'm done studying’)
Have a support system: have potlucks, see friends, meet at the mosque or community center
Stress on kids and parents
During recess one recent afternoon at the Orange Crescent School, on the grounds of the Garden Grove mosque, the sounds of laughter and children playing tag filled the air. Some kids kicked around a soccer ball, others played basketball. The tall steel fence around the campus was covered with posters expressing support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Children play during recess at Orange Crescent School located on the grounds of the Garden Grove mosque.
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School principal Maisa Youssef said that in the weeks following the Hamas attack, and Israel’s subsequent declaration of war, she began seeing a shift in the school community. The murder of 6-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume in Chicago, which authorities are investigating as a hate crime, left students and parents feeling “definitely scared,” she said, “wondering if they are able to go to the store.” All of this has put undue stress on the kids.
“We've actually seen a decline” in children’s behavior, Youssef said. “I think kids are just in another space realizing they're still processing.”
Maisa Youssef, principal of Orange Crescent School. It's located on the grounds of the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove.
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A mural outside of a classroom at the Orange Crescent School located on the grounds of the Garden Grove mosque.
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As for the parents, Youssef said, sometimes they “don't want to talk, separating themselves from kids, being extra snappy, just kind of wanting to be alone.”
The school has shifted gears to incorporate mental health programming alongside lessons. The school recently hosted Azab to speak with parents, and has brought in mental health experts to speak with children and teachers as well.
Giving children ways to cope
Tala Haddad, the youth group leader at the Garden Grove mosque, is Palestinian American. Her parents came to the U.S. as refugees and settled in Orange County, where she was born and raised.
Between coaching the kids at the recent Friday night gathering, Haddad talked about how she feels a sense of survivors’ guilt when she thinks about how people in Gaza are living now. The vast majority of the population has been displaced amid the continuing airstrikes, and there is a lack of access to clean water. Recent flooding has made things worse.
“Anytime I do anything I feel so immensely guilty whether it's little things like driving and knowing I'm gonna get to my destination safe,” she said. “Or putting my food in the microwave and knowing I'm having a warm meal.”
Children's backpacks hang outside of a classroom at the Orange Crescent School, located on the grounds of the Garden Grove mosque.
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As a child, her family tuned in to in-language television news reports of violence in the Middle East. On TV Haddad would see “gruesome pictures of kids that were just like me” who had been killed. Then, on her drive to school, she said she would hear on the radio “these people deserve it, these people are terrorists, these people — they don't want peace, they want chaos.”
This trauma followed her through childhood, she said. All through school, she would tell classmates she was Jordanian “because I felt like if I opened the door to being Palestinian, it would open so much resentment for myself and my family.”
“It definitely felt like a really, really heavy burden to carry,” Haddad said. “And I think that I carried that with me my entire youth.”
Now, as a youth coordinator, she wants to help children have an outlet for their emotions and a safe space to ask their questions.
These children, she said, should not have to carry a burden, “it's not like they’re to blame for anything.”
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published March 1, 2026 7:39 AM
A man raises the historical Iranian Lion and Sun flag during a rally in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday.
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
Details: Local demonstrations protesting U.S. intervention took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties. In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned for today and tomorrow.
Read on to see photos from Saturday's demonstrations.
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
A coalition of organizations, including the National Iranian American Council, the ANSWER coalition and 50501, held protests nationwide in reaction.
Local demonstrations took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties.
In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned for today and tomorrow.
Here are photos from Saturday.
Westwood
Hundreds rally seeking regime change in Iran in Westwood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. The rally was organized after word spread that the U.S. and Israel had bombed Iran overnight, Pacific time, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among others.
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Hundreds rally waving the historical Iranian Lion and Sun and American flags in Westwood on Saturday.
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Los Angeles Times
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Hundreds rally in Westwood seeking regime change in Iran.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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A man walks under the colors if Iran while joining hundreds in a rally seeking regime change in Iran in Westwood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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Downtown Los Angeles
A protester holds a poster reading "drop the files not the bombs" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 2026.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A crowd gathered at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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A protester holds a portrait of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a flag of Iran during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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Protesters hold placards reading "no new US war in the Middle East" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A man holds a sign at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran.
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published March 1, 2026 6:08 AM
L.A. street artist S.C. Mero stands next to her latest installation in the Arts District, a utility box theater.
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Topline:
Utility boxes are a popular canvas for public art, but a Los Angeles street artist has taken the idea further — transforming one into a miniature theater.
Why now: Since S.C. Mero installed the box theater just a few weeks ago, dozens of performers have already reached out and begun using the space, ranging from poets to musicians and clowns.
The backstory: Mero often transforms overlooked street fixtures into pieces about urban life. A previous installation at the same corner — an oversized mailbox symbolizing the elusiveness of homeownership — stood for about five years.
Walk through cities around the world and it's easy to spot the trend: utility boxes painted and transformed into public art to spiff up neighborhoods.
In downtown Los Angeles, street artist S.C. Mero has taken the idea of the utility box as art in a different direction with one she’s installed in the Arts District.
“Would you like me to open it up and you can see?” she asked on a recent morning.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary electrical cabinet — gray, about the size of a refrigerator, with slotted vents. But instead of the usual fire-resistant metal, this one is made of wood with a faux concrete base.
The box theater incognito.
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Mero spins two combination locks and pulls open the door.
A hidden theater
Inside, instead of a tangle of cables and cords, red crushed velvet covers the walls from top to bottom.
A gilded clock and gold-framed pictures of two other electrical boxes (“possibly its mother, and its great-grandfather”) adorn the tiny interior, inspired by one of downtown’s oldest and grandest movie palaces, the Los Angeles Theatre.
“The first time I went into that theater, the feeling that I had, I wanted people to have a similar feeling when they opened this up,” she said.
Like the theater, the box is meant to bring audiences together. Mero invites performers to step inside, and since its installation a few weeks ago, some 30 poets, magicians, puppeteers and clowns have reached out about using the space.
Many are female artists.
“Maybe it's because of the scale of it, they feel like they can actually have a chance to get inside,” Mero said.
A tradition of unexpected art
The box theater sits on the 800 block of Traction Avenue, across the street from the historic American Hotel, an early hub for artists in the neighborhood.
Jesse Easter, the hotel’s night manager, has a front-row seat to the box theater performances.
“The Arts District is still alive,” he proclaims.
Easter first arrived in the neighborhood in the 1980s, a blues and rock musician who also professionally installed art.
He said the Arts District has long been known for unconventional public art. Famously, in 1982, artist Dustin Shuler pinned a Cessna airplane to the side of the American Hotel with a 20-foot-long nail.
“I was one of the people that was in the hotel that saw the room that the nail came down into, went through the brick wall, into the floor and stopped,” Easter recalls.
Easter says Mero’s installations boldly continue that tradition of guerrilla street art in the neighborhood.
After graduating from USC in 2011, she started to make sculptural works with overlooked street fixtures, exploring issues such as addiction and homelessness.
Before the box theater, there was a giant mailbox.
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Before the theater box, Mero installed an oversized mailbox at the same corner, towering over passersby, symbolizing a housing market that remains out of reach for many Angelenos.
Elsewhere in the Arts District on Rose Street, she has installed a 13-foot-tall parking meter sculpture, commentary on the overwhelming nature of parking in the city.
Realizing a dream
The box theater is perhaps the piece that has invited the most participation.
Jesse Easter, a musician and night manager at the American Hotel, prepares to perform at the box theater.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Last week, Mero asked Easter and other local artists to perform there. He played a blues song he wrote more than 40 years ago when he first moved to the Arts District.
“It was sunset, and I was thinking, this kind of is the bookend,” he said.
Other participants performed spoken word poetry and played saxophone.
One performer, Mike Cuevas, discovered the theater by accident.
An Uber driver, Cuevas was waiting for his next delivery order by the box theater as it was being prepped ahead of the night’s performance.
Mero recalls him getting out of his car to look at what she was doing.
“He's like, what's going on here? This looks so cool,” Mero said. “He said as he's driving throughout the city, in between his rides, he writes poetry.”
Cuevas, who goes by the pen name Octane 543(12), left to make a delivery in East L.A., but he said “something in his heart” told him to return that evening.
After watching others perform, he stepped up to the box and read his poetry in public for the first time, a piece about Latino pride.
Mike Cuevas, aka Mike Octane 543-12, publicly reads his poetry for the first time.
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“Another generation will pass through,” he recited. “And they'll understand why we honor with proud delight, the continuous fight for the history of our brothers and sisters.”
Cuevas didn’t know Mero by name or anything about her work, but thanked her for giving him a venue.
“I just felt something beautiful with her art,” Cuevas said. “It's time for me to start expressing myself. She inspired me to do exactly what she's doing, but through poetry.”
He now plans to read again at an open mic in downtown L.A. next week.
An overture to look inside
Mero says the project has spoken to her personally, too. Growing up in Minnesota, she loved art as a child but later focused on playing lacrosse and hockey. At USC, she studied public relations.
“Once I started getting so into art, everyone was kind of shocked,” Mero said. “That's why I really want to encourage people to go inside themselves and see what's there, because you never know.”
Mero is hoping for a long run for the box theater. Its predecessor, the supersize mailbox, stayed up for five years, only toppled, she heard, after skateboarders accidentally ran into it.
In the meantime, the small theater sits unassumingly on the sidewalk waiting for its next performer, its exterior starting to collect graffiti like any other utility box.
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A Super Blue Blood Moon hovers over Los Angeles in 2018.
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AFP
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Topline:
A total lunar eclipse is happening this Tuesday. That's when the earth will move directly between the sun and moon, casting a “blood” red color onto the moon.
What: It's going to be the first lunar eclipse of the year. The process is slated to start around midnight and last until dawn on Tuesday. It’s called the “Blood Moon” because of the red hue the earth’s atmosphere refracts onto the lunar surface as light from the sun passes through it.
When: Although the eclipse begins around midnight, it won’t reach totality until 3:04 a.m., at which point it will be visible to the naked eye for about an hour. All of Southern California should be able to see it.
How else can I watch: The Griffith Observatory will be hosting a live virtual broadcast of the celestial event from midnight to dawn.
What's next: This isn’t the only lunar eclipse happening this year, but it is the only “total eclipse,” according to NASA. Another one is set to occur in August, but it will only be partially visible in North America. A solar eclipse will occur Aug. 12.
An adult gray whale and its calf approach tourists.
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Courtesy José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez
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Topline:
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
What might you see? Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school-bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
Read on ... for tips on where and how to spot whales near you.
It’s whale watching season, which always makes me think of the novel Moby-Dick.
In the book, Captain Ahab chased a whale for vengeance. I recently chased whales off the coast of Los Angeles, but in my case, it was in pursuit of the beauty and majesty of the natural world.
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
According to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium program director Jim DiPompei, many whales can be seen right in our backyard.
“There’s a little over 90 species of cetaceans (marine mammals) in the world, and we see about 30% of the species we could possibly see here in Southern California,” DiPompei told The LA Local.
Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
But where should you go to actually get a good look at whales? Don’t worry — I got you. Here’s The LA Local guide to cruising the Blue Highway.
Top spots to watch whales from shore
Point Vicente Interpretive Center 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes Free, laid-back, on the mountains!
At the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, you’ll find an overlook dedicated to whale watching. While this is a great free spot for amateurs to come and look out for whales, this is no playground. Professionals conduct the annual whale census here, tracking the migration of whales.
This is a great place to bring a picnic basket and some binoculars to relax while scanning the ocean. Even if you don’t spot any whale action, you can visit the free natural history museum inside, which focuses on the region and its most famous inhabitants: whales. Afterward, step outside and chat with a museum docent accompanying the census watch.
If you want to see whales, stick to the coastal canyons. Canyons aren’t just massive structures above water — they are also mountains beneath the surface, offering depth, cold water and nutrients that attract food for whales. Gray whales tend to follow the canyons to stay away from the dangerous orcas.
Whale spotting 101
Whale watching season typically runs from December through May. It peaks from January to March.
When looking for a whale, try to spot their water mist blowing above the water. Gray whales typically surface for air every five minutes. When they do, they’ll blow out a water mist — that’s your chance to spot and track them until they surface again.
Get on a boat!
If you want to get eye-to-eye and really feel a cetacean’s scale, there are plenty of whale-watching cruises. They typically depart from Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point and almost anywhere with a port.
Many cruises have a naturalist on board to answer questions and provide expert context to ocean wildlife.
On my tour departing from Long Beach, we saw five gray whales and a swarm of common dolphins feeding.
But be warned: If you get seasick easily, this trip might not be for you. On our two-and-half-hour trip, the boat rocked emphatically as we approached feeding sites. It’s fun if you can imagine yourself on a see-saw, but it might not be that enjoyable if that sounds nauseating.
While boat captains are not allowed to approach the whales too closely due to environmental protections, the whales can approach the boat if they choose. Sometimes the whales seem curious and watch us in return — it’s up to them and how they are feeling.
Get involved
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro
If you really catch the whale-watching bug, you’re in luck.
At the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, they offer a whale-watching naturalist program where you can volunteer and train to be a naturalist on board whale-watching cruises.
DiPompei said they train anyone over the age of 18 “who’s interested in learning about whales and volunteering their time to be on these whale-watching boats to talk to the general public and to talk to students.”
This program was started in the 1970s by John Olge, one of the founders of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, with an emphasis on education and showing schoolchildren the beauty of our natural world.
The aquarium is also a great place to introduce whales to children. With kid-sized exhibits and educational programs throughout the year, it’s an ideal way to show young ones just how big and beautiful our oceans are.
