A tense standoff at UCLA has officers begin making arrests and dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment in May 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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Topline:
A 2021 law requires California law enforcement agencies to make public reports about their use of chemical agents and less-lethal weapons at protests. But LAist found that hundreds of agencies do not appear to document the use of less-lethal weapons. The extent of that documentation varies from agency to agency, making it difficult to hold law enforcement accountable when something goes wrong.
Why it matters: Civil rights attorneys and experts told LAist that monitoring the use of chemical agents and less-lethal projectiles at protests is important because, despite their name, these weapons are dangerous.
Who is responsible: While the California Department of Justice is responsible for posting all such reports on a public website, the agency says it's not responsible for making sure they're written or evaluating their contents. Compliance with the law is left entirely up to the agencies — some of which told LAist they don’t have staffing or capacity to manage.
What lawmakers say: Cristina Garcia, a former state Assembly member from Bell Gardens and primary sponsor of the law, said it should be up to the DOJ to make sure that’s happening.
Read on... for more on what LAist found with compliance and reporting issues.
The last thing David Ramirez remembers, he was protesting peacefully at a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA in the early hours of May 2, 2024.
Then, he said everything seemed to move in slow motion, and there was “nothing but ringing” in his ear.
After the George Floyd protests of 2020, California took steps to reign in violent policing of protests by passing laws restricting how law enforcement uses less-lethal weapons, like tasers and rubber bullets. But high profile protests in 2024 and 2025 – including this summer’s protests against the ICE raids in Los Angeles – have revealed major flaws in those laws. LAist Senior Editor Jared Bennett joins us to talk about an investigation around these flaws and what they mean for people exercising their right to free speech.
Why California's protest law is flawed and the consequences to protesters
After the George Floyd protests of 2020, California took steps to reign in violent policing of protests by passing laws restricting how law enforcement uses less-lethal weapons, like tasers and rubber bullets. But high profile protests in 2024 and 2025 – including this summer’s protests against the ICE raids in Los Angeles – have revealed major flaws in those laws. LAist Senior Editor Jared Bennett joins us to talk about an investigation around these flaws and what they mean for people exercising their right to free speech.
He’d just been shot in the head with a less-lethal projectile by law enforcement officers while they cleared the encampment. Ramirez described his experience at a news conference this past May.
“My first instinct was to remove the foreign object, but it triggered profuse bleeding,” he said while standing in front of a poster bearing the image of his wound.
In 2021, California lawmakers passed a law that was supposed to prevent injuries like the one Ramirez sustained. The law, Assembly Bill 48, forbids law enforcement from targeting peaceful protesters with chemical agents and less-lethal projectiles like the 40mm kinetic energy projectiles that injured Ramirez. Officers also aren’t supposed to aim less-lethal projectiles at the head.
Ramirez and three other people suing law enforcement over the violent response to the 2024 campus protests say officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol broke state law that day.
The law requires that agencies report on their use of less-lethal weapons and resulting injuries. More than a year later, Ramirez still doesn’t know who fired the projectile that hit him in the head, and neither agency has reported injuring any protesters while clearing the encampment.
Four years after California lawmakers tried to rein in violent policing at protests, Ramirez’s lawsuit and more recent protests against federal immigration raids have put law enforcement’s actions under a microscope and revealed major gaps in enforcement of California’s existing protest laws.
LAist found that hundreds of agencies do not appear to document the use of less-lethal weapons, as required by law. The extent of that documentation varies from agency to agency, making it difficult to hold law enforcement accountable when something goes wrong.
While the California Department of Justice is responsible for posting all such reports on a public website, the agency says it's not responsible for making agencies write the reports or evaluating what’s in them. Compliance with the law is left entirely up to the agencies — some of which told LAist they don’t have staffing or capacity to manage.
Cristina Garcia, a former state Assembly member from Bell Gardens and primary sponsor of Assembly Bill 48, said she and other lawmakers passed the law to protect the rights of Californians, and said it should be up to the DOJ to make sure that’s happening.
“Is this [law] being implemented properly, are we meeting expectations, are we breaking promises? That should be asked of the DOJ,” she said. “If we don’t have enforcement, do we really have a law?”
What the law says
California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 48 after seeing the police response to protests in the summer of 2020 that followed the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer.
Still from LAPD body camera footage, showing officer shooting Benjamin Montemayor with a projectile during the protests of 2020.
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Under AB 48, officers are only allowed to deploy crowd control tools — including chemical agents or less-lethal projectiles — in response to violence, physical threats or to an “objectively dangerous and unlawful situation.”
The law forbids authorities from aiming at protesters' heads, neck or vital organs, or firing indiscriminately into a crowd.
Civil rights lawyers told LAist in June that the LAPD and other agencies responding to protests that month against federal immigration enforcement appear to have violated this law and the court order. They’ve secured a separate court order forbidding the LAPD from targeting journalists and filed several lawsuits on behalf of protesters.
The law gives agencies 60 days to publish reports about their use of force at protests. The LAPD missed this deadline to report on their response to the protests in June on Aug. 5.
LAPD has not responded to repeated questions about the delayed report.
The LAPD’s website does include reports on previous protests. And the department is among just 32 out of the 624 law enforcement agencies in California that have sent crowd control reports to the California Department of Justice.
LAist reviewed news reports and police documents and found several instances where agencies used less-lethal weapons during protests, yet no crowd control records were posted online as required by state law.
In one instance, an LAPD officer allegedly shot a man in the jaw with a less-lethal projectile on June 8. While LAPD has started conducting an internal investigation into the incident, a report has yet to be generated. It’s been 93 days since the man was shot.
San Francisco police officers fired pepperballs, a form of less-lethal projectile with a chemical irritant, while responding to anti-immigration enforcement protests on June 8, according to news reports. The agency does not appear to file AB 48 reports with the California Department of Justice, and LAist has been unable to locate any such reports on the agency’s website.
The San Francisco Police Department has not yet responded to a request for comment.
In another, UC Riverside PD documented using a less-lethal weapon during a joint response during UC Berkeley’s pro-Palestinian protests in a separate report, yet has not created an AB 48 report for that incident.
UC Riverside Police Lt. Jason Day said his small department didn’t have the capacity to compile the reports.
“A lot of times things are just going to have to get set aside,” he told LAist.
LAPD creates a perimeter to move back anti-ICE protesters on San Pedro Street on June 9, 2025.
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Documenting injuries
Civil rights attorneys and experts told LAist that monitoring the use of chemical agents and less-lethal projectiles at protests is important because, despite their name, these weapons are dangerous.
“They absolutely are lethal weapons. They’ve killed people, they've permanently disabled people, caused really significant and substantial injuries to people,” said Rebecca Brown, an attorney who is representing Ramirez and other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against agencies for allegedly misusing less-lethal weapons. “These should not be brought to a protest in the first place.”
The LAPD and CHP both filed reports about their use of force at the UCLA protest, but neither documented any injuries as a result of less-lethal weapons.
Carlena Orosco, an assistant professor of criminal justice at California State University, Los Angeles, said the nature of protest response, where multiple agencies often respond to incidents together, makes it difficult to document injuries.
“There are going to be data limitations when it comes to not only identifying categories of injuries, but also ensuring that they are reported comprehensively and accurately… especially when we think of a crowd situation,” she said.
For Brown, law enforcement’s failure to fully document the injuries they cause shows a lack of enforcement.
During the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Brown said “CHP and LAPD did not put any effort into identifying who they hurt, identifying what their injuries were, what kind of treatment they needed.” Without an enforcement mechanism making sure they report injuries, she said law enforcement agencies are “only going to report on that when they have to.”
LAPD has not responded to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for the CHP said the agency could not comment due to pending litigation.
Who’s responsible?
Garcia, the former Assemblymember and lead sponsor on Assembly Bill 48, said it should be up to the California Department of Justice to make sure agencies are reporting what they need to comply with the law.
The DOJ doesn’t see it that way. The law requires the department to compile and publish a list of AB 48 webpages from all law enforcement agencies. But according to the DOJ's spokesperson, Elissa Perez, the law doesn’t ask the agency to do anything else by way of enforcement.
“The bill [AB 48] does not include requirements for DOJ to review, audit, or enforce law enforcement agency requirements,” Perez wrote to LAist.
The law also does not outline repercussions for non-compliant agencies.
According to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which sets selection and training standards for California law enforcement, agencies are responsible for complying with the law, but there’s no repercussions if they don’t.
“The way the law is written, there is no stated enforcement mechanism,” Meagan Poulos with the commission wrote to LAist in an email. “The individual agencies are responsible.”
Orosco of Cal State LA said while it’s crucial to ensure law enforcement agencies follow the law, it would be difficult for the DOJ to check what is written in the reports filed by individual departments.
“I don't know how they would go about reviewing every department's information,” she said.
Without proactive enforcement of the law, LAist found there are few options for citizens to hold agencies accountable for their use of weapons at protests.
Officers who violate internal department policy can be punished, but those investigations often take years.
Civil lawsuits can also take years and the financial burden ultimately falls to the taxpayer. Los Angeles has so far paid $20 million to resolve lawsuits stemming from the LAPD’s response to protests in 2020.
Garcia said lawsuits like those cost taxpayer dollars and threaten existing services for constituents, so city officials should be interested in making their police departments follow the law.
Five years after Assembly Bill 48 became law, Garcia says proper enforcement requires constant partnership between cities, police departments, the DOJ, the media and constituents.
“Compliance and accountability is a constant, ongoing situation,” she said. “It's never a one-and-done. It's a partnership.”
Watchdog Editor Jared Bennett contributed to this report.
By Laura Anaya-Morga and Alejandra Molina | Boyle Heights Beat
Published March 19, 2026 8:00 AM
When Los Angeles officials were considering renaming a major Eastside thoroughfare to honor labor rights icon César Chávez in 1993, one 20-year-old resident said she appreciated what he’d done for Latinos — but she hoped the city would find a memorial somewhere else.
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Topline:
The city and LA County did go on to rename Brooklyn Avenue, as well as stretches of Macy Street and Sunset Boulevard that ran from downtown Los Angeles through Boyle Heights to East LA, to Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. Today, businesses along the commercial corridor in Boyle Heights bear Chávez’s name, and murals honor his legacy as an emblematic figure of the Chicano Movement. But for some locals and advocates, the name never sat right.
The background: For years, residents like Vivian Escalante have been advocating to change the name back, not only to preserve the street’s history and its significance in Boyle Heights but also to give credit to the Filipino farmworkers who initiated the historic 1965 Delano grape strike for which the United Farm Workers and Chávez are widely known.
Read on ... for more about the street's complex history in Boyle Heights.
When Los Angeles officials were considering renaming a major Eastside thoroughfare to honor labor rights icon César Chávez in 1993, one 20-year-old resident said she appreciated what he’d done for Latinos — but she hoped the city would find a memorial somewhere else.
The city and L.A. County did go on to rename Brooklyn Avenue, as well as stretches of Macy Street and Sunset Boulevard that ran from downtown Los Angeles through Boyle Heights to East L.A., to César E. Chávez Avenue. Today, businesses along the commercial corridor in Boyle Heights bear Chávez’s name, and murals honor his legacy as an emblematic figure of the Chicano Movement.
But for some locals and advocates, the name never sat right. They pointed to Brooklyn Avenue’s place in their family memories, its association with the area’s Jewish history and Chávez’s complicated legacy. Then came Wednesday’s explosive New York Times investigation, in which farmworker leader Dolores Huerta and other women accused Chávez of sexually assaulting them in the 1960s and '70s.
Now, the calls to revert to Brooklyn Avenue or “La Brooklyn,” or give the street another name entirely, are growing. Among those calling for a name change are LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who said in a statement she will be introducing a motion directing “an exploration of renaming parks, streets, County facilities, real property, monuments, and other County programs that bear the name of César Chávez.”
L.A. City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado also issued a statement Wednesday, calling for the “renaming of all public locations and events that bear his name, as we prioritize accountability and stand with those who have been harmed.”
When Los Angeles officials were considering renaming a major Eastside thoroughfare to honor labor rights icon César Chávez in 1993, one 20-year-old resident said she appreciated what he’d done for Latinos — but she hoped the city would find a memorial somewhere else.
For years, residents like Vivian Escalante have been advocating to change the name back, not only to preserve the street’s history and its significance in Boyle Heights but also to give credit to the Filipino farmworkers who initiated the historic 1965 Delano grape strike for which the United Farm Workers and Chávez are widely known.
Escalante is the CEO of Boyle Heights Community Partners, the local historical society, and treasurer for the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council. A Boyle Heights native, Escalante told Boyle Heights Beat that she recalls the opposition from residents when Brooklyn Avenue was to be renamed following Chávez’s death in 1993. Residents felt that the name change erased the era when Boyle Heights was known for its large Jewish population.
“Many people on Brooklyn Avenue that have been here for decades want Brooklyn Avenue to come back,” Escalante said.
For years, Escalante has worked to advocate for the name to be reverted back and for others to learn the true history of the farmworker strikes. In 2024, Boyle Heights Community Partners went door-to-door to businesses and residents along César E. Chávez Avenue from Cummings Street to Forest Avenue and surveyed 75 residents, who mostly agreed with reverting it back, she said.
Chávez “was not the leader of the farmworkers but took credit for it,” she said, referring to organizer Larry Itliong’s success in getting Filipino farm workers in Delano to strike before bringing in Chávez and Mexican workers. “Therefore, why would we change the name to César Chávez, instead of honoring the Filipino gentleman that actually started the whole farmworker strike?” she said.
When Los Angeles officials were considering renaming a major Eastside thoroughfare to honor labor rights icon César Chávez in 1993, one 20-year-old resident said she appreciated what he’d done for Latinos — but she hoped the city would find a memorial somewhere else.
After finding out about the abuse allegations against Chávez on Wednesday, Escalante said she will reignite the organization’s calls to change the name back and honor the community’s cultural history by forming a committee dedicated to “bringing back Brooklyn Avenue.”
Others are suggesting the iconic avenue be renamed after Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers) alongside Chavéz in 1962 and became one of the most prominent labor rights leaders of the 20th century.
Leaders with California Rising held a press conference Wednesday, calling for the street to be named Dolores Huerta Avenue. Meanwhile, artist Susana Sanchez created an illustration depicting a construction worker in a Dodgers cap, hoisted above a streetlight, replacing César E. Chávez signage with a Dolores C. Huerta placard.
“I am heartbroken,” Sanchez said in her caption. “I stand with Dolores Huerta and every single woman who has had to carry their trauma all this time in silence.
“It’s heavy. Please do not ask why she didn’t speak up sooner. I hope all cities replace his name with hers.”
Amid these calls, Caroline Luce, a director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, pointed to public records showing that changing the street name was not simply about Chávez’s contributions but about the broader Chicano and farmworker movements.
Long before Chávez’s death, Boyle Heights and East LA served as the epicenter of the Chicano civil rights movement with the student walkouts, the anti-war movement in the ‘70s “and the energy coming from the farmworker struggle,” Luce said.
“The guiding sentiment … was to honor that heritage as much as it was to honor the man himself,” Luce said.
Brooklyn Avenue officially became Cesar E. Chavez Avenue on March 31, 1994, Chávez’s birthday. The dedication ceremony took place at the well-known five-point intersection of East César E. Chávez Avenue and Lorena and Indiana Streets, where Boyle Heights and East L.A. meet.
Championed by then-County Supervisor Gloria Molina shortly after Chávez’s death in April 1993, the change was approved by the Board of Supervisors in October 1993, followed by a unanimous vote in the L.A. City Council one day later.
Leading up to the name change, hundreds expressed strong opposition to it, saying that choosing to rename Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights “would be wiping away the memories of the many Jews who lived there years ago and of the many Latinos who connect with the busy commercial strip today,” according to the LA Times.
“It’s important that we recognize a leader like César Chávez, who preached nonviolence and raised the whole nation’s conscience dealing with farmworkers,” said Robert Alaniz, Molina’s spokesman in the LA Times article. “Change is never easy, and some people don’t cope well with change.”
The 66th annual Swallows Day Parade is this Saturday in San Juan Capistrano.
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Courtesy San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Association
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In this edition:
Venice Love Fest, a sake tasting, Ukrainian egg decorating and more of the best things to do this weekend.
Highlights:
Learn about the historic tradition of pysanka and try out the craft for yourself at the Ukrainian Cultural Center’s Pysanka (Egg-Decorating) Festival. There’s also folk dancing, singing and delicious Ukrainian food and drink.
Dive into the L.A. art and tech scene by mingling with the people making it at the next Innovation Social on Music Center Plaza.
Venice is the place to be this weekend for the annual Venice Love Fest, which moves to its rightful beachside location this year. It’s going to be hot, and the music is going to be rocking. Best of all, it’s free.
Artist, dancer and choreographer (and Santa Monica native) Jacob Jonas brings a trilogy about illness and resilience to the Broad Stage for a series of unique performances across three days.
One thing you can be sure of in L.A. is that there’s never an excuse to stay home. Just this week, both the L.A. Phil and the Geffen Playhouse announced their new seasons, and there’s tons of great music and theater on the way this fall — and we haven’t even gotten to summer yet!
Even with Dudamel leaving us for NYC (and don’t worry, there are still many chances to see the maestro before then), the L.A. Phil has a lot of special shows on tap, including an evening with Andrew Bird and a tribute to Philip Glass. The Geffen has two plays coming straight from Broadway, including Branden Jacob-Jenkins' Purpose, directed by Phylicia Rashad, and Bess Wohl’s Liberation. Plan accordingly!
More imminently, your music picks for this weekend from Licorice Pizza include Peso Pluma at the Intuit Dome, Conan Gray at the Forum, Ashnikko with Princess Nokia at Shrine Expo Hall, Jeff Tweedy at the Belasco, Inara George at Largo and Peaches bringing her debauchery and sex-positivity to the Bellwether — all on Friday, though Peaches will be effing the pain away on Saturday, too.
Saturday’s a big night, with Jeff Tweedy playing a second show at the United Theater, Maggie Lindemann at the Regent, Spiritual Cramp at the Teragram, Paul van Dyk at Avalon and Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder at Townhouse Venice. If you’re feeling nostalgic, there’s the "I Love The 90s Tour" with Vanilla Ice, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Milli Vanilli, Tone Loc, Color Me Badd and Young MC at Great Park Live. Finally, end your weekend on Sunday with the "Boys 4 Life Tour" at the Forum, Hawthorne Heights at the Belasco or local punk icons Redd Kross at Alex’s Bar.
Sunday, March 22, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Ukrainian Cultural Center 4315 Melrose Ave., East Hollywood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Trust me, your supermarket egg dyes have nothing on the intricate designs of Ukrainian Easter eggs. Learn about the historic tradition of pysanka and try out the craft for yourself at the Ukrainian Cultural Center’s Pysanka (Egg-Decorating) Festival. There’s also folk dancing, singing and delicious Ukrainian food and drink.
Innovation Social
Friday, March 20, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Music Center Plaza 135 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Learn more about the L.A. art and tech scene by mingling with the people making it happen at the next Innovation Social on Music Center Plaza. While there, check out the latest from Iranian multimedia artist Armon Naeini’s The Music Center Presents ID Pt. III, which uses motion tracking to generate responsive visuals that shift and change as you move.
Venice Love Fest
Saturday, March 21, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Windward Ave. and Ocean Front Walk, Venice COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Create Entertainment
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Venice is the place to be this weekend for the annual Venice Love Fest, which moves to its rightful beachside location this year. It’s going to be hot, and the music is going to be rocking, with some of my favorites (including the Midnight Cowgirls) taking the Love Fest stage. Best of all, it’s free. Plus, Passion Pit is playing a free set at the Rivian space at 7 p.m., and the Venice Heritage Museum is reopening in its new location on the same day. Wander over to 1234 Pacific Ave. to check it out on your way to or from.
Jacob Jonas: Keeping Score
Through Sunday, March 22 Broad Stage 1310 11th St., Santa Monica COST: FROM $35; MORE INFO
Innovative artist, dancer and choreographer (and Santa Monica native) Jacob Jonas brings a trilogy about illness and resilience to the Broad Stage for a series of unique performances across three days. Jonas, a Stage 4 cancer survivor, has taken his journey onto the stage, creating a visceral piece that “intersects contemporary dance, performance art, musical composition, and theatrical storytelling to explore how early life trauma, illness, and resilience are encoded in the body.” Inspired by The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, the work — which includes a combination of dance, film, binaural sound, meditation and conversation — looks at the before, during and after of illness.
VinylCon
Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22 California Market Center 110 E. Ninth St., Downtown Los Angeles COST: FROM $8.75; MORE INFO
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Vinyl-heads, this is for you. Head to California Market Center for "the largest record fair in California that anyone can remember," complete with a DJ lineup that includes The Gaslamp Killer and DJ Nu-Mark, plus more rare and vintage vinyl than you can possibly get away with bringing home.
Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off
Saturday, March 21, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tony’s Darts Away 1710 W Magnolia Blvd., Burbank COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Enjoy chili and craft beer at the vegan chili cookoff, where favorite spots like Highland Park Brewery and Ogopogo Brewery will compete for the crown at Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank. Your entry ticket includes five servings of vegan chili, so come hungry. Plus, you’ll get to cast your vote for the People's Choice Award!
66th Annual Swallows Day Parade
Saturday, March 21, 11 a.m. Downtown San Juan Capistrano COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Association
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The Swallows — Las Golondrinas — make their way back to California from Argentina like clockwork every March, and San Juan Capistrano is ready. This year’s Swallows Day Parade includes equestrian units, historical reenactors and community groups celebrating the heritage of the historic Orange County town.
Art Jam
Sunday, March 22, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Boomtown Brewery 700 Jackson St.,Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Maybe the next Linda Lindas will be discovered at this year’s Art Jam, an all-ages youth arts and music event at Boomtown Brewery with a teen battle of the bands, live car painting, hands-on art workshops, a photo show, art vendors and more — all benefiting Mount of Angels and their free art programs for L.A. youth.
Sake tasting
Friday, March 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Gamble House 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena COST: $50; MORE INFO
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It’s sakura season in Japan, but you can celebrate without hopping a plane to Tokyo at this sip and learn event at Gamble House. Coinciding with the exhibit From Strand to Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Basketry, the event includes a lecture from Asian art historian and former Curator of East Asian Art at Pacific Asia Museum Meher McArthur about the 2,000 year-old tradition of sake-making in Japan and the art that evolved around it, followed by a guided sampling.
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Monica Bushman
produces arts and culture coverage for LAist's on-demand team. She’s also part of the Imperfect Paradise podcast team.
Updated March 19, 2026 5:00 AM
Published March 19, 2026 5:00 AM
Singer Shaboozey, musician Raphael Saadiq, singer songwriter Miles Caton and dancer Misty Copeland perform onstage during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
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Patrick T. Fallon PATRICK T. FALLON
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Topline:
While Misty Copeland's appearance at the Oscars on Sunday was planned before actor Timothée Chalamet’s dismissive remarks went viral, the fact that a ballet dancer (one raised in SoCal, we should note!) took center stage on Hollywood’s biggest night seemed to fly in the face of Chalamet’s assertion that ballet, as opposed to movies, is something “no one cares about [...] anymore.” At the same time, ballet company directors in Los Angeles had some understanding for where Chalamet may have been coming from.
L.A. ballet companies weigh in: Maybe surprisingly, neither Julia Rivera, executive director of Los Angeles Ballet, nor Lincoln Jones, founder of American Contemporary Ballet, took offense to Chalmet’s remarks. And Rivera says there's been some positive impact to the increased conversation around ballet for LAB: "We've certainly seen an uptick in sales in the last couple of weeks, and also in donations, because people […] want it to be known that this is a value to them."
Read on ... for more about what sets the ballet scene in Los Angeles apart, and when and where you can experience it yourself.
The conversation around the cultural relevance of ballet and opera — sparked by Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet’s recent dismissive comments about the art forms — came to a culmination at the Academy Awards on Sunday, with a joke about the backlash from host Conan O’Brien and a performance by celebrated ballet dancer Misty Copeland.
While the Copeland appearance was planned before Chalamet’s remarks went viral, the fact that a ballet dancer (one raised in SoCal, we should note!) took center stage on Hollywood’s biggest night seemed to fly in the face of Chalamet’s assertion that ballet, as opposed to movies, is something “no one cares about [...] anymore.”
It got us here at LAist wondering about the state of ballet in Los Angeles, so we reached out to leaders of ballet companies who explained what sets the ballet scene in Los Angeles apart, and where it stands in terms of cultural relevance right now.
‘His remarks come from a place of insight’
Maybe surprisingly, neither Julia Rivera, executive director of Los Angeles Ballet, nor Lincoln Jones, founder, choreographer and director of American Contemporary Ballet, took offense to Chalmet’s remarks.
Rivera told LAist that while ”it's not very neighborly of one artist to bash the other's art form,” once she learned that Chalamet’s grandmother, mother and sister studied ballet and performed with the New York City Ballet, she had more understanding for where he may have been coming from.
“I think his remarks come from a place of insight,” she said. Because he probably heard conversations “lamenting [how] we're always trying to fund these organizations.”
“It is a daily struggle,” Rivera said. And “for a young person, wanting to have a career,” it’s understandable that they may not want to be involved in a nonprofit industry where funding is always a challenge.
‘Like watching ballet in IMAX’
Jones, who co-founded American Contemporary Ballet in L.A. 15 years ago, said Chalamet’s remarks were relatable.
“What I understood him to be saying was that he wanted to be part of an art form that was central to the cultural conversation,” Jones told LAist. “And I actually agree with that. When I was choosing what to do artistically myself, I actually struggled with that a lot.”
While Jones said he was enthralled by ballet from a young age, his brother made a career shooting cover photos for magazines like Vanity Fairand Rolling Stone and later directing film and TV. And he saw the appeal in that as an artist.
“You want a big audience, you want to have people understand what you're doing in a visceral and vital way,” he said. “But I just couldn't get myself away from ballet. I just loved it so much. And so my big thing became ‘How do I do this in a way that is culturally relevant?’”
That’s led Jones to a unique, more modern approach to ballet that’s designed to be more cinematic, and at the same time more intimate.
Much of what sets American Contemporary Ballet apart from other ballet companies is that they always perform with live music and in unconventional spaces, like warehouses and soundstages, instead of in theaters.
”So it's not like you're sitting in this room where there's darkened chandeliers, and you're looking through a frame, which feels a bit 19th century to me,” Jones said. “Instead, it's sort of like, for lack of a better term, like watching ballet in IMAX. The dancers are larger compared to where you are, you're in this shared space and it just feels much more majestic to me.”
The pros and cons of staging ballet in L.A.
As for the state of ballet in Los Angeles, Rivera described it as “appreciated, valued and growing.” The company received its first seven-figure gift from a donor just last season.
“Audiences are very interested,” Rivera said. “The more ballet that is offered in L.A., the more audiences want. That is very good news.”
But she said there are also some challenges for a ballet company that are specific to Los Angeles: ”We are a company town and the company is screened entertainment. But the arts also compete with theme parks and sporting teams and the weather and things that have significantly larger budgets.”
Navigating that “and finding ways for the voices to break through some of that noise,” Rivera said, “is really tricky. It can be done, but it's a challenge.”
Lincoln Jones agreed that running a ballet company in Los Angeles does have its challenges, but said he also saw a unique benefit to founding his ballet company in L.A.
While Jones first incorporated American Contemporary Ballet in New York, he’s originally from Southern California, and every time he would come home he felt “there was an energy and an openness [here], and a lot of that came from the film industry.”
And his view is that ballet has the potential to be just as exciting as popular films can be.
“When I was growing up, people were lining up to see the second Matrix, the first Matrix blew their mind. And now, ‘Oh my God. We have to see what happens in the second one.’ And that doesn't happen in ballet, but that is absolutely what I'm striving for.”
Los Angeles Ballet has also had some fun with the firestorm Chalamet’s remarks ignited, offering a ticket promotion with the code “SUPREME,” a reference to Marty Supreme, the film the actor earned an Oscar nomination for this year.
So far, Chalamet’s comments seem to be having a positive effect.
Rivera, who’s been with the company for 11 out of its 20-year history, said they’ve seen an uptick in ticket sales and donations in recent weeks.
“Any time we can talk about opera and ballet is a good day,” Rivera (who also previously worked with L.A. Opera) told LAist. “I'm sorry that it's at one artist's expense, but he opened the door.”
Where to see ballet in L.A.
The next Los Angeles Ballet performances (of Giselle) begin April 30.
American Contemporary Ballet has remaining performances of Balanchine: Twin Masterpiecesrunning this Thursday, Friday and Saturday and next Thursday through Saturday as well.
“ I guarantee you've never seen ballet like this,” Jones said. “And if Timothée Chalamet wants to come, I will get him a ticket.”
Makenna Sievertson
covers the daily drumbeat of Southern California. She has a special place in her heart for eagles and other animals that make this such a fascinating place to live.
Published March 19, 2026 5:00 AM
A bald eagle caring for chicks in the Twin Rocks territory of Catalina Island.
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Courtesy Institute for Wildlife Studies
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Topline:
Big Bear’s famous bald eagles — Jackie and Shadow — are often in the spotlight, but they’re not the only wild bird nests in Southern California starring in their own livestreams and capturing human attention.
Why it matters: There are dozens of bald eagles with more than 20 nests across the Channel Islands, clinging to cliffs and tree-like bushes from Santa Catalina to Santa Cruz off the coast of Ventura.
The backstory: Several decades ago, there were no bald eagles left in Southern California, according to the Institute for Wildlife Studies. But after years of work by the Northern California-based nonprofit, the population has returned to its historic coastal habitat and grown to an estimated 60 birds across five islands.
What's next: “One of the reasons why we want to keep doing this is we're trying to figure out what's causing some birds to do really well, and other birds to not do as well,” said Brian Hudgens, vice president of the institute.
Read on ... to learn more about SoCal's coastal bald eagles.
Big Bear’s famous bald eagles — Jackie and Shadow — are often in the spotlight, but they’re not the only wild bird nests in Southern California starring in their own livestreams and capturing human attention.
There are dozens of bald eagles with more than 20 nests across the Channel Islands, clinging to cliffs and tree-like bushes from Santa Catalina to Santa Cruz off the coast of Ventura.
Among them are Jak and Audacity, the resident duo on Santa Cruz Island whose nest is featured in a livestream and followed by dedicated viewers.
Several decades ago, there were no bald eagles left in Southern California, according to the institute.
But after years of work by the Northern California-based nonprofit, the population has returned to its historic coastal habitat and grown to an estimated 60 birds across five islands.
“Here's this great success story of nature coming back, and it's happening, you know, really close to one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world,” said Brian Hudgens, vice president of the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Lay of the land
According to the institute, the Channel Islands eagle population is stable and could grow. As many as 25 eaglets fledge, or leave their respective nests, each year.
But challenges linger for Southern California’s only remaining coastal population of bald eagles. Some pairs continue to have failed nests.
Jak and Audacity have struggled to produce fledglings “not even half” of the years they've tried to breed in their Sauces Canyon territory, according to Hudgens.
Other Channel Islands nests successfully lay eggs and raise chicks almost every year.
“The challenges that they face is this variation from territory to territory and how good they are, and it's one of those things that we don't yet understand,” Hudgens said. “One of the reasons why we want to keep doing this is we're trying to figure out what's causing some birds to do really well, and other birds to not do as well.”
Bringing the birds back
Bald eagles used to be found on all eight Channel Islands, but the population dwindled and eventually disappeared by 1960, according to the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
The damage was driven by long-term exposure to high levels of DDT, a once-popular synthetic pesticide.
The U.S. banned DDT in 1972, largely because of its environmental effects and toxicity to wildlife. For bald eagles specifically, DDT poisoned the birds and caused egg shell thinning that resulted in many failed nesting attempts, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
That’s where the Institute for Wildlife Studies comes in. In 1980, the nonprofit took on its first project — reintroducing bald eagles to Catalina Island by relocating wild birds from Pacific Northwest nests.
The first eggs from those early breeding pairs were laid on Catalina Island in 1987, but they broke soon after.
“They had problems with their eggshells still being very thin because these birds are now feeding in the waters that are contaminated by DDT,” Hudgens said, adding that the eggs had some of the highest levels of DDT on record.
To help the reintroduced Catalina Island population, wildlife biologists removed the fragile eggs from eagles affected by DDT and replaced them with decoy eggs so the adults would continue to incubate.
The real eggs were then artificially incubated in special chambers, Hudgens said. The chicks that hatched were fostered back into nests on the island, as were chicks from wild eagles and those from the San Francisco Zoo’s Avian Conservation Center.
Peter Sharpe of the Institute for Wildlife Studies places a 2-week-old bald eagle chick in a nest on Catalina Island as part of the Bald Eagle Recovery Program via helicoptering to cliffs.
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Annie Wells
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Getty Images
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Dozens more juvenile bald eagles were released to Channel Islands National Park, and by 2006, some of the birds started hatching eggs on their own. It marked the first known natural nest hatching on Santa Cruz Island since 1950, according to the institute.
“So we stopped going in and interfering because the idea is always to do as little as we need to,” Hudgens said. “Ever since then, they've been hatching well and [the] population has been growing quite steadily.”
How to support the Institute for Wildlife Studies
The Nest Adoption Challenge is the organization’s annual fundraiser to support its Bald Eagle Restoration Project, running from March to June.
People who donate $50 or more can sponsor a favorite eagle territory or pair, while donations of $1,500 can name a wild eaglet. Under a new grant, donations up to $50,000 will be matched 2 to 1 during this year’s fundraiser, according to the institute.
The Channel Islands are now home to 60 bald eagles and nearly two dozen breeding pairs, according to 2022 estimates from the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Institute for Wildlife Studies biologists work on banding a bald eagle on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park in July 2004.
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Spencer Weiner
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Getty Images
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A biologist with the Institute for Wildlife Studies carries a juvenile bald eagle to a hack tower on Santa Cruz Island in 2005.
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Stephen Osman
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Getty Images
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Erin Weiner, the nonprofit’s eagle project lead, told LAist the islands’ largely undisturbed coastal habitat is "pretty unique," especially for California.
Rather than sticking to tall trees as seen in Big Bear or Alaska, a lot of the Catalina eagles nest on cliffs, using sticks to shield from the sheer drops, Weiner said. On Santa Rosa, some of the birds build their nests in bushes.
“On the islands, you get a lot of, like, gigantism,” Weiner said. “So, things that are bushy and small on the mainland become tree-like on islands, and so you have eagles nesting in these tree-like bushes.”
As part of the organization’s efforts to study the Channel Islands eagle population, Weiner hikes around all the known historic territories during breeding season to research the adults, eggs and chicks.
Trail cameras are set-up to keep track of the nests when humans aren’t around. Weiner occasionally has to repel down cliffs to maintain the equipment when the birds are no longer breeding.
There are also livestream cameras on a few nests through a partnership with Explore, featuring eagle pairs like Chase and Cholyn in Two Harbors or Andor and Cruz in Fraser Point.
Cruz was the first known chick to hatch naturally on the Channel Islands in decades, but Jak and Audacity in Sauces Canyon are probably the most famous pair right now, Hudgens said.
“I really appreciate the people who spend the time to watch those birds, and often they're telling us what's going on before we have any idea,” he said with a laugh.
The bald eagle population has spread to other islands in the area, including Santa Rosa and Anacapa. Some have flown as far as British Columbia, while others are setting up territories in places like Anaheim Hills in Orange County, Weiner said.
A bald eagle arrives with a fish to feed two chicks in north Orange County in 2023. The tag indicates it's part of the Institute for Wildlife Studies project to rebuild the bald eagle population on the Channel Islands, was hatched in 2013 at Santa Rosa Island and given the name La'i.
