The Brief

Panic has continued to spread through immigrant communities across California ever since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in the light of his promises to conduct mass deportations.

Some immigrant families say this sense of fear is already affecting their daily lives — and heightened by frequent rumors of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sightings locally.

Concerns have also been stoked by the new administration’s reversal of a 2011 Department of Homeland Security policy that kept immigration agents away from “sensitive locations” like schools and churches.

According to the California Immigrant Data Portal, in 2021, 20% of minors in the state – around 1.8 million people – were either undocumented or living with someone undocumented. This was true for 32% percent of Latino teens and children, and 19% of Asian American youth.

So if you are part of a family that has been affected by the administration’s deportation plans, keep reading for how experts and advocates recommend parents and guardians can talk to young people about their rights when it comes to immigration enforcement — and how to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

Bear in mind that this is not legal advice, and it’s always recommended that you consult an immigration attorney for guidance on your family’s specific situation.

What does a ‘family preparedness plan’ look like?

Kristina Lovato, the director of the Center on Immigration and Child Welfare Initiative at UC Berkeley, said that it’s “really important” for every family who could be affected by immigration enforcement to have what agencies and organizations call “a family preparedness plan” in case of an emergency.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) has a thorough tool kit with guidance on ways to prepare for such a scenario, focusing on a care plan for children.

For example, ILRC suggests that parents should identify a trusted adult to take care of their kids, in case they are detained or deported. (There is a possibility that a child may end up in the child welfare system after a parent is detained or deported.)

There are three avenues to designate a trusted adult to care for for your child:

• Find another adult who can verbally agree to take care of your child in a situation where you cannot. The downside of a verbal agreement is that the trusted adult may not be able to make certain decisions for your child, like medical decisions, in the event that their parent or caregiver is deported.
• Complete a Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit so that the trusted adult can also make school and medical decisions on behalf of your child. This option does not impact your parental rights.
• Have the court appoint a guardian for your child by filling out a GC-211 form. This new guardian can, in certain situations, make more decisions than an authorized caregiver on behalf of your child, and the guardianship can also be made conditional, to “kick in” if a parent or caregiver is deported. This route does not take away your parental rights, but it does suspend them by granting legal custody of your child to someone else — making it “a serious decision” to embark on, notes ILRC, and one which should be accompanied by legal advice.

In any case, parents or caregivers should let their children know about their plan, recommends ILRC — telling them exactly who they would stay with if they were not there.

The toolkit also suggests documenting your child’s medications and medical conditions, such as allergies, and giving a copy to their school, and another to the adult you designated as an emergency caretaker.

Regardless of your child’s nationality, advocates suggest making sure they have a passport.

What should families know about ICE in schools?

Be familiar with California policy

Since the election, California has prepared to challenge Trump administration actions the state deems illegal. And while ICE can still operate in California, the state is not providing resources to them for immigration enforcement, except for cases of detaining people convicted of serious crimes.)

“No matter who is in the White House, in California, we will continue to lead with California values,” State Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a December news release. “My office will continue to use the full force of the law and every tool at our disposal to protect the rights of California’s immigrants – and we need staff at these critical locations to do the same.”

“We cannot let the Trump deportation machine create a culture of fear and mistrust that prevents immigrants from accessing vital public services,” said Bonta.

California law limits state and local participation in immigration enforcement activities. Bonta’s office updated its official guidance surrounding immigration enforcement in the state, stipulating that state courthouses, public healthcare facilities and public schools are required to adopt these policies “or equivalent policies.”

The state’s updated guidance for staff at schools and campuses asks that they do the following:

• Notify the local educational agency administrator of any immigration officer’s request to enter campus.
• Ask to see — and make copies or notes of — the officer’s credentials, including name and badge number; the phone number of their supervisor; any documentation that allows school access, like a warrant.
• Document the actions of any officer who enters the premises without consent.
• Notify children’s guardians as soon as possible of ICE activity, and do so before an officer questions or removes a student for immigration-enforcement purposes (“unless prevented by a judicial warrant or subpoena”).
• Notify the California Department of Justice of any attempt by an immigration officer to access a school site or a student by emailing immigration@doj.ca.gov.

According to the state attorney general, your family and your children have the right to:

• A public education, regardless of a parent or caregiver’s immigration status.
• Have documents remain private and protected by schools, which can only be released by guardian permission or in response to a court order or subpoena.
• File a complaint or report a hate crime.

If anyone in California suspects that a school or its staff are assisting ICE, state Bonta urged them to report these concerns to his office.

Know your right to remain silent

An ICE agent can approach a minor in a public space to ask questions or ask for their identification, said Lovato. But in this case — and almost all cases with law enforcement — the young person should know that they do not need to respond to any questions, according to legal experts.

Advocates counsel that children should not run away, and try to stay calm.

“A minor can state that they want to remain silent until they speak with a lawyer,” Lovato said. “Do not answer any questions about your birthplace, immigration status or how you’ve entered the United States.” Lovato also recommended not giving an ICE agent “any personal information about yourself or anyone in your family.”

Advocates say it may also be helpful for a child to carry a card that details their rights with them when they go out. You can find a printable version from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

KQED also has a guide on what advocates and legal experts say you can do during ICE encounters, which includes details like how to tell an ICE agent from a police officer and what advocates recommend you do if ICE knocks on your door.

If it is safe, legal experts say your child can also attempt to record ICE’s actions. KQED also has a guide on your rights when recording officers.

What can ICE do with children?

ICE is obligated to hand children over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement — part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — within 72 hours. (This rule has, however,  been violated before.)

If you are looking for a minor who has been detained, you can call, text or message through WhatsApp the Office of Refugee Resettlement at (800) 203-7001 or email information@ORRNCC.com.

If your child is 18 or over, you can use ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System to search for them. According to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, it might take a few days for a person to show up in this ICE database. If this person has still not shown up in the database after those few days, you can contact advocacy organizations like Freedom for Immigrants through their form online or call (209) 757-3733.

Other organizations that support children include Legal Services for Children, Kids in Need of Defense and the Immigration Center for Women and Children.

Nicole Vara (left), with the Latino Task Force, stands with a group of elected and public safety officials, labor leaders, and community members fill the steps in front of City Hall in San Francisco on Jan. 28 during a press conference to reaffirm San Francisco’s commitment to being a Sanctuary City.

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Beth LaBerge

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KQED

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How should you talk to your kids about ICE in the news?

Lovato studied the impact of deportations on Los Angeles families during the first Trump administration. She said many young people in these families faced an “ambiguous loss” after seeing a parent forcibly separated from them, coupled with the uncertainty of when they may be reunited.

“It’s a type of loss that is often unnoticed by the general public,” she said. She also noted many children in the study who had seen their parents deported then experienced anxiety that they themselves — or other family members — would be next, even if they had documentation.

It’s easy for young people and children to pick up on any tension around them — and kids “overhear everything,” said Ioanna Angelakis, a marriage and family therapist based in San Francisco.

“They might hear [something] in a certain way that they can’t understand and they can’t process,” she said. "This stress can appear in different ways for kids, like acting out in school.”

Because of this, she said, parents and caregivers should try to explain things to their child in age-appropriate language. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) has this advice on how to explain traumas, especially in schools, to different age groups. KQED also has multiple guides on how to talk to children when the news is disturbing.

Some concrete advice advocates suggest for parents and caregivers:

Reassure your children

Angelakis said that while it may be difficult, parents need “to get their own fears under control.”

She said that parents should explain to their children — even if they’re teenagers — that their family will “continue to protect them” and will do everything they can to “make sure that the kids remain safe.”

“There is no easy solution for all of this, and it is truly terrifying if a family is in danger,” she said. But Angelakis said that a parent’s reassuring tone can help children from developing tremendous anxiety — or from mirroring their family’s stress.

Tell your child you have a plan

Angelakis said parents should try “putting some containment” on the anxiety their child is feeling, and let them know that “our family has a plan and we’re doing everything that we can to stay safe.”

These plans would include the back-up childcare and guardian situations suggested by the ILRC.

Tell your child they don’t have to say anything to law enforcement

Like adults, children have the right to remain silent when interacting with ICE under the law.

What’s more, for some children, advocates acknowledge that going to a police officer or providing information to people or schools might not be helpful for them or their families. This can be the case for a child from a mixed-status family, or a young person whose community has historically experienced violent responses from the police.

Lovato explained that immigration organizations have been encouraging parents to tell their kids and engage in a household practice of “saying no to ICE. Actually verbally, reciting it and practicing: just saying no.”

Regulate your own anxiety

Angelakis said in many situations, fear is warranted and rational — since for so many, ICE headlines hit close to home.

But she emphasized that parents should try to regulate their response when talking to their children. A way for guardians to check on their own anxiety by consulting with other trusted people in their life, and make sure they are not getting “caught in [their] own head,” said Angelakis.

This includes “making sure you breathe right,” she recommended. And that “we pass on the relevant information to the child” in a way that isn’t “skyrocketing anyone’s anxiety.”

Ways advocates suggest you can do this include:

• Having your child express their feelings, but not letting them try to comfort you.
• Giving a child some positive forms of control, like deciding what to have for dinner or choosing a game to play.
• Being a role model on how to handle distress and conflict, like making sure anger looks “in-control” rather than “out-of-control.”

Angelakis said that while families can also try to limit their news intake, she acknowledges that many families are hearing about “terrifying” situations which are hard to ignore.

“It’s really important that we do have these conversations with kids, and [that] we do minimize any kind of anxiety evoking or anxiety increasing conversations.”

But she emphasizes: “Kids are pretty incredible. And super resilient and awfully smart.”

This story contains reporting by KQED’s Tyche Hendricks and Ki Sung.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said environmental tests have concluded the Boyle Heights warehouse fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools.

However, on Tuesday they reported lead levels in the soil at two elementary school campuses that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold. Officials announced the results one day before classes resume at dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.

The district promised to give families advance notice of testing results ahead of the start of school on Wednesday. Those results were posted in a 561-page document uploaded to a district website Tuesday morning.

The district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety concluded that schools near the disaster “remain safe for occupancy and that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread residual contamination or conditions at LAUSD campuses posing a health hazard to students or staff.”

District officials said indoor and outdoor testing found the presence of ammonia, formaldehyde and manganese, but at low levels that did not raise concern about fire-related contamination that could harm the health of students or school staff.

While some parents have told LAist they feel safe sending their children to schools in the area, others have said they’re worried about potential health impacts from the fire, which covered the neighborhood in smoke for more than a week and left tons of food to rot in the sun.

Two campuses with elevated lead levels

Officials said they found elevated levels of lead in soil samples from two elementary schools. City Terrace Elementary School had 170 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, while Christopher Dena Elementary School had 120 milligrams. Both exceeded the 80 milligram threshold considered “acceptable” by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.   

Carlos Torres, director of LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told LAist the district doesn’t believe the lead is tied to the warehouse fire.

“Most likely this could be from things like lead-based paints from use in the past. It could be from agricultural use,” Torres said. “There isn't such a thing as clean soil anywhere.”

How the testing works

LAUSD tested 10 schools out of the more than 50 campuses located within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.

The report said the schools were selected based on their proximity to the warehouse and in relation to wind patterns that may have influenced where the fire smoke deposited contaminants. The district also tested one school farther from the fire, but similar to those near the warehouse because of its proximity to other industrial sites and a freeway.

The tests were conducted from July 28 to August 7.

The district collected:

• Dust wipe samples from indoor and outdoor spaces including desks, drinking fountains, tables, and playgrounds 
• Soil samples from unpaved areas and gardens 
• Air samples from indoor and outdoor areas including athletic fields, classrooms and gyms 

The district tested for substances that included metals identified as potential contaminants from the fire, including arsenic, lead, lithium and manganese, as well as ammonia, formaldehyde and hydrogen fluoride in the air.

The report said the district consulted with an industrial hygienist, a UCLA researcher, a geologist and a third-party environmental consulting firm to create the testing plan.

The samples were evaluated by a third-party lab and then compared against both state and federal screening levels.

How the district cleaned schools 

District officials have described their response to the warehouse fire in several virtual meetings, including:

• Inspecting and twice replacing air-conditioning filters with those rated MERV-13, an indicator of the filter’s ability to trap small particles
• Deep cleaning, including by washing walls and furniture, waxing floors and pressure-washing outdoor areas and playground equipment
• Placing air purifiers with carbon charcoal filters in all classrooms

What's next

Torres said the front lawn at City Terrace and the tree wells at Dena, where elevated levels of lead were detected, have been fenced off. He said district staff are reviewing the lab results and could decide to conduct more testing that could lead to the removal or remediation of the soil, for example, by laying down mulch.

The district plans to hold another virtual meeting for East L.A. parents on Monday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.

LAist reporter David Wagner contributed to this story.

Alexandra Lozano Kennedy — a former immigration attorney who made wide use of social media and Latino religious iconography to attract clientele — had offices across the U.S., including one in the city of Commerce in Southeast L.A.

Lozano Kennedy was licensed by the Washington State Bar Association, which enabled her to represent clients nationwide. In May, she resigned in lieu of discipline for misconduct and is permanently barred from practicing law in that state. As of June 2026, she is also suspended from practicing before the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; immigration courts; and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Lozano Kennedy, who had tens of thousands of clients, is accused of falsifying stories of trafficking and abuse without her clients’ knowledge, according to lawsuits and immigrant advocates.

At her office in Los Angeles County, clients were met with a large image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the reception area, flanked by flowers and votive candles, much like a scene inside a local Catholic church. This holy image was also on business cards distributed at the locale. Lozano Kennedy’s use of this iconography as a business strategy harmed community members, said M. Lucero Ortiz, supervising attorney at Loyola Law School’s Immigrant Justice Clinic.

“A lot of them are questioning their own faith," Ortiz said.

“Her fraud really only had a shelf life of about five to six years, because that's how long these cases take to be processed,” Ortiz added.

The clinic she supervises is using social media to help Lozano Kennedy’s former clients navigate the fallout amid the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation campaign.

Lozano Kennedy billed herself as a miracle worker, Ortiz said. The work permits clients received as their applications made their way through the immigration process bolstered this belief.

"Clients would think: ‘Oh, my gosh! Everybody else told me that my case was too complex, but this woman got me a work permit in six to nine months,’" Ortiz said. “But what they didn't know is that, five years later, that case would be denied. And they would be in removal proceedings.”

What is Lozano Kennedy accused of?  

According to the Washington State Bar Association, Lozano Kennedy's alleged misconduct includes:

• directing staff to use a script that contained false and/or misleading information when communicating with prospective clients
• filing applications for immigration benefits with USCIS when she knew the clients were ineligible for those benefits
• using nonlawyers to perform legal functions on behalf of clients, and/or delegating legal functions to non-lawyer staff, such as performing client consultations and providing legal advice 

Find a full list of her alleged misconduct here. Lozano Kennedy has denied any wrongdoing.

What do advocates recommend?   

If you were represented by Lozano Kennedy and have petitions or applications pending before USCIS, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Loyola Law School’s Immigrant Justice Clinic have provided guidance for former clients. The latter recommends former clients take the following steps:

• Open an account online at my.uscis.gov. This allows people with pending immigration cases to manage and track their status in real time, including filing applications, receiving digital notices, uploading evidence and communicating securely with USCIS officers.
  
• Submit a change of address (USCIS Form AR-11) request. Be sure to file online and mail the request.
  
  • Cases with a receipt number starting with EAC should mail the request to the Vermont Service Center, USCIS Service Center Operations, Attn: Humanitarian Division, 38 River Rd., Essex Junction, VT 05479-0001.
  • Cases with a receipt number starting with LIN, should mail the request forms to the Nebraska Service Center, USCIS Service Center Operations, P.O. Box 87918, Lincoln, NE 68501-7918.
• Send USCIS a revocation of legal representation letter expressing that you no longer want the attorney of record to represent you and that you will be representing yourself (pro se) while you hire another attorney.
  
• Request a copy of your case file online at USCIS FOIA and through email from Luz Legal.
  
• Check your case status at USCIS and immigration court.
  
• Submit a request to the victims’ compensation fund with the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA).
  
• After you receive a copy of your case file, consult a licensed and experienced attorney about the strategy in your case.

Ortiz, the supervising attorney at the clinic, stressed that these are all steps community members can take for themselves, without the help of an attorney. You can find details for each step here.

The Immigrant Justice Clinic also addressed these frequently asked questions:

• Should all of Lozano Kennedy’s former clients withdraw their pending USCIS application?
  
  • No, if a pending case is withdrawn, it can lead to a notice to appear (NTA)/deportation process. Consult with a licensed and experienced attorney before making any decision regarding your case.
• Are all former clients eligible to join the two pending civil lawsuits against Lozano Kennedy?
  
  • No, not all former clients will be able to join the pending lawsuits.
  • To learn more, former clients can share their contact information and a summary of their case online at https://lozanocivilaction.com/#register
  • In California, the statute of limitations for civil fraud claims is three years.
  • A civil lawsuit will not address or fix an individual’s pending immigration case.
    

As another Los Angeles Unified school year starts Wednesday, district leaders say they hope to maintain recent academic progress while they also contend with a series of budget cuts needed to make ends meet.

"The decisions will be hard, but we cannot lose sight of what defines us," said Andrés Chait, the district’s new superintendent, in a July speech kicking off the start of the new academic year. "We are the system that lifts students to opportunity, turns potential into achievement, creates spaces of belonging, healing [and] growth."

The country’s second-largest school district resumes classes as federal immigration raids continue along with the detention of area parents and children.

What we are hearing

For the most part, LAUSD students told LAist they’re experiencing the usual mix of nerves and excitement associated with the first day of school.

They’re also aware that local and national politics are reshaping their education, including who is in the classroom.

Andrea, a sophomore at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Lincoln Heights, said there were days last year when so many students were absent that teachers would pause their lessons.

“What's the point of teaching it if half the class is gone?” Andrea said. “That really makes everybody behind.”

Educators have patrolled the neighborhood near Andrea’s school to notify families of any ICE activity nearby.

“That definitely made us feel more safe and more respected in the school,” she said. Throughout the year, she noticed more of her peers return to class.

A looming shortfall

LAUSD’s spending is budgeted to exceed revenue by $2 billion this school year. For the third consecutive year, the district plans to pay the difference with reserves that were largely built up by one-time federal pandemic relief dollars.

The district’s financial projections show LAUSD will be short $231 million by November 2027.

The L.A. County Office of Education, which oversees the finances of local districts, intervened in July after the board approved new labor contracts for LAUSD’s largest unions.

“The financial reality before the District raises serious concerns regarding its ability to meet its financial obligations,” wrote Debra Duardo, L.A. County Superintendent of Schools, in a July 2 letter.

If district officials decide to request an emergency loan from the state, it would trigger a rare takeover that would strip LAUSD’s board of decision-making power and likely take years to undo.

The county appointed a fiscal advisor to the district, but did not grant that person the authority to override the board or superintendent’s decisions.

The county directed LAUSD to provide more details about the district’s plan to stabilize the budget through $3.6 billion in cuts spread out over three years. District officials said their plan envisions furloughs for all employees in the 2027-28 school year — a move that requires negotiating with the unions that represent those employees.

“I think what they expect to see from us… is frankly a prove-up around the fiscal stabilization plan,” Chait said. “They want to see that we can actually implement what we put into that plan.”

District staff have previously said that plans to stabilize the budget could lead to more than 6,000 layoffs, amounting to more than 10% of LAUSD’s current workforce.

One unknown is how future state funding will change the district’s budget projections. While California education funding has risen in recent years, the state plans to hold back $3.9 billion for schools and community colleges in the most recent budget.

“No one is asking the state for anything more or less than what we are due,” Chait said. “We are not asking for a handout.”

New, but familiar leadership

Though Chait is new to the district’s top job, he is familiar to many from his nearly three-decade tenure as a district educator and administrator.

District principals greeted Chait with a standing ovation at his first opening-of-schools address in July.

“As I was preparing for this talk, I was thinking about how to introduce myself,” Chait told a crowd of several hundred administrators at James A. Garfield High School. “But then I realized you don't introduce yourself to family.”

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Andrés Chait speaks with educators and support staff at Pacoima Middle School on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.

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Allen J. Schaben

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Chait highlighted preliminary results from the state’s standardized reading and math tests that show a third consecutive year of improvements.

However, even with that progress, the majority of students do not meet the benchmark for either subject. It’s unclear how LAUSD’s performance compares to the state because those results have yet to be released.

Chait is the first LAUSD insider to serve as superintendent in a decade. His hire came after two high-profile external hires — Alberto Carvalho, a former Miami schools leader, and Austin Beutner, an investment banker and former publisher of the L.A. Times.

LAUSD’s elected seven-member board, which has the final say on the district’s financial decisions, is unchanged. Voters re-elected incumbents to this year’s three board races from a sparse field of candidates in June’s primary contest.

Ongoing enrollment challenges

LAUSD is projected to enroll 378,000 students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade this school year.

As birth rates decline, fewer students are enrolling at schools throughout the state. The drop in enrollment is steeper in areas with high costs of living, such as L.A.

California funds schools based on an average of how many students show up to class each day, with additional money for every student in the district who is low-income, an English-language learner, unhoused or a foster youth. Over time, fewer students could lead to less funding.

District leaders attributed last school year’s larger-than-expected drop in students to the “fear and instability” associated with federal immigration raids.

Even students who continued to attend school reported changing their behavior in response to the raids.

Alvira, a junior at Lake Balboa College Preparatory Magnet K-12, is an immigrant from Bangladesh. She started carrying a photocopy of her passport until she could get a REAL ID.

“Just in case anything happens, I can prove that I'm a citizen,” Alvira said.

Dîner en Blanc — the DIY, fine, alfresco meal held in secret locations — has returned to L.A.

The event had been on hiatus here for seven years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and struggles to find a new volunteer host.

But on Aug. 1, around 1,500 people dined and danced right on the street in front of the Beverly Hills City Hall. Past locations include the Santa Monica Pier and the plaza at the Music Center in downtown L.A. The mostly volunteer organization says it's looking to come back in March 2027 with double the attendance.

I heard about Dîner en Blanc about 10 years ago and always wondered if it was worth the hype, a question I’m asking myself more frequently as many pop-ups are more geared towards cool photo-ops as opposed to a good experience.

The event is held in cities around the world, but started in France and is rooted in both celebrating French culture and the tradition of gathering to break bread together —- a concept I can get behind.

Attending requires some planning and legwork, including online registration, a membership fee, a nice picnic, carrying a table and chairs, not knowing where you are going because the location is kept secret until the last minute, and working with a group of strangers to find the spot and set up everything.

Everything you wear and put on your table has to be white. Not eggshell. Not cream. Not even off-white. Paper and plastic are discouraged.

Guests are encouraged to get extra fancy with their table decor and outfits, and awards are given out for both. Those who go all out wear full costumes with wigs, masks and hats, and some tables are decorated with shining glass and twinkling lights.

Then there’s the cost

Creative table settings are encouraged, and judges choose one for a prize.

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Julia Paskin

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LAist

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Entry is $65 per ticket, plus a $14 membership fee. Tickets are sold in pairs. 

It's $15 for table and chairs rental (optional instead of bring your own). This is worth it if you don’t already own white folding chairs. Plus you don’t have to transport anything.

A multi-course meal for two is prepared by Todd English, a celebrity chef. That costs up to $125 — or you can bring your own. The prepared meal is a good option with enough food for two people (if that’s in your price range), but I enjoy putting a picnic together, so I would personally opt to do that part myself in the future.

For beverages:

• Water: 18.5 ounces, optional instead of BYO, $4, or $32 for a box of 12.
• Wine: There's no BYOB. Packages including Chambord and chocolates, from $25 to $68.

And none of that includes parking, gas or rideshare costs.

So was it worth it?

To quote first-time attendee Lilli Burrows: “I don’t need more stuff, I need experiences. I need to have fun things to do and create wonderful memories.”

Guests await the ceremonial napkin wave to start the meal after setting up Dîner en Blanc in Beverly Hills recently.

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Julia Paskin

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LAist

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Hector Gama also attended for the first time and was already planning for next year.

“We kind of downplayed it this time, but I’m sure next time there’s going to be a lot more stuff,” he said.

Alexa Kushner, 26, was invited by friends. “It feels like a really socially unique experience, and it's bonding the community of Los Angeles in a really fun way,” he told me.

Pro tips from guests

• Don’t worry about getting your outfit, meal or table set up perfectly. Be as extravagant as you want, but there are no fashion police or even any judgey vibes. 
• Wear comfortable shoes since you have to carry your items or at least walk to your table.
• Bring a stain remover. Sharing a Tide Pen will make you very popular.

As for me?

• I would pay the extra 15 bucks to not have to bring my own table and chairs.
• I would not pay more than $100 on the pre-made meal when I can bring a cheaper picnic that's more to my taste.
• Would I recommend it? Its a festive event with food, music and sparklers which could make for a fun holiday-like tradition with a group of friends, or if you just want to meet new people in a friendly atmosphere. If that's not your cup of tea, there's plenty of great picnic spots in L.A. that are free.

Get notifications for next year’s Dîner en Blanc here.