Chris Wangsaporn, chief of staff to O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do, at the O.C. Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 19, 2023.
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Nick Gerda
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LAist
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Topline:
The longtime partner — and now wife — of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do's top aide was hired by a nonprofit to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, but the work was never completed, a county spokesperson confirmed to LAist. Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.
What was the contract for? The work was intended to advise the county on how to increase access to publicly funded mental health services. The contract called for carrying out a series of monthly listening sessions in the community, and providing quarterly updates, an annual report and a final report to the Health Care Agency.
What we know about what happened: A county spokesperson told LAist they had received none of the work required under the contract, including the reports. Public records show — and the spokesperson confirmed — that all the money was paid out.
It's unclear how many of the listening sessions were carried out. Mind OC said they found a single report connected to the contract, but didn't know whether any work had been turned over to the county.
The longtime partner — and now wife — of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do's top aide was hired by a nonprofit to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, but the work was never completed, a county spokesperson confirmed to LAist.
Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.
At the time, Batres was the longtime girlfriend of Chris Wangsaporn, Supervisor Do's chief of staff. The two were married in December 2021, a year into the two-year contract.
The contract required the nonprofit, Mind OC, to run community listening sessions and submit reports to help the county increase access to publicly-funded mental health services, especially among non-English speakers, foster youth, and other underrepresented communities. The people who spoke with LAist about Do's alleged directive did so on the condition they not be named, saying it could compromise their careers.
Neither Batres nor Wangsaporn responded to multiple requests for comment about the contract. Do did not respond to a voicemail left on his cell phone. Reached by phone, Do's attorney, Paul Meyer, acknowledged receiving a list of questions about the contract from LAist and said he could not talk.
The contract was issued to Mind OC, without competitive bidding, by Clayton Chau, the county Health Care Agency director at the time, according to the agency’s spokesperson. Chau told LAist he didn't remember the contract or any related directive from Do.
In a phone interview, Frank Kim, who was then the county's CEO and supervised the Health Care Agency director and other county executives, also said he did not remember the contract or any related directive from Do.
"If it happened, I'm not aware of that," he said.
He added that Do was closely involved in efforts to improve mental and behavioral health care and had frequent communication with county officials about the county’s programs.
“Supervisor Do had strong opinions,” Kim said. “Did he exert influence? Sure, he was a supervisor."
Jeff Nagel, the county's behavioral health chief, oversaw the contract for the county. He was deeply troubled to learn several months into the contract that Do directed that Batres be hired for the work, according to several people familiar with the situation.
Nagel left the agency in January 2022. He declined an interview for this story.
Marshall Moncrief, who was Mind OC’s CEO at the time of the county contract and now works elsewhere, didn’t respond to multiple phone and text messages for comment.
In a statement to LAist, Mind OC’s current CEO Phil Franks, who was hired after the contract ended, said he had no knowledge of a directive from Supervisor Do to hire Batres.
Ellen Guevara, a spokesperson for the O.C. Health Care Agency, told LAist the agency never received the work required in the contract. That work was supposed to include quarterly updates, an annual report and a final report.
Franks, Mind OC’s CEO, told LAist in a statement that the organization found a single report from Batres' home-based HR consulting firm TalentGate related to the contract, but didn't know whether it or any other related work had been turned over to the county. He didn't respond to a request from LAist for a copy of the report.
It's unclear whether payments went to Batres or TalentGate. Guevara said Mind OC hired Batres as their employee for the contract; Mind OC told LAist it subcontracted with TalentGate to fulfill it.
LAist made multiple requests for documentation of the hiring to the Health Care Agency and Mind OC but has yet to receive any.
The details of what happened
The $275,000 in taxpayer money was paid out to Mind OC over two years in six installments, according to county records.
Multiple people briefed on the contract told LAist that Supervisor Do directed the O.C. Health Care Agency to award the contract to Mind OC, and told Mind OC to hire Batres to do the work.
Josie Batres was hired by the nonprofit Mind OC to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, according to a county spokesperson.
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Screenshot via YouTube
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The contract is one of several LAist has uncovered over the past year in which Orange County taxpayer funds went to people close to Do during the pandemic without competitive bidding or disclosure on public agendas. In several cases, contractors didn't provide proof of how the money was spent, as required under those contracts.
LAist has reported that Supervisor Do directed more than $13 million in taxpayer funds to a nonprofit where his daughter Rhiannon Do held top leadership positions, most of it awarded outside public view, according to county records. Supervisor Do didn’t disclose his family relationship, and county officials say the group has refused to account for what happened with most of the money.
In August, county officials sued Rhiannon Do and others connected to the nonprofit, Viet America Society (VAS), for civil fraud, alleging they “brazenly plundered” millions in public funds for home purchases and renovations, and made “voluminous, unaccounted for ATM cash withdrawals.” Last month, Supervisor Do was publicly condemned by his colleagues on the O.C. Board of Supervisors through a censure. He’s facing multiple calls to resign, including from fellow Republican elected officials. He has not attended board meetings since his home — and homes owned by Rhiannon Do and others with ties to Viet America Society — were searched by federal agents on Aug. 22.
Rhiannon Do, a UCI law student, previously told LAist in April that she worked hard to buy the house and has done nothing wrong.
The contract was awarded without going on a public meeting agenda for a vote by the full Board of Supervisors.
Instead, it was awarded by Chau under COVID emergency contracting authority the board established during the pandemic, according to the county’s contracts database and Guevara, the county Health Care Agency spokesperson. The contract itself doesn’t say it’s related to COVID or the pandemic — nor was there a memo explaining why it was issued through emergency authority, as other contracts issued that way did at the time.
The contract was authorized by Chau, the then-director of the Health Care Agency and county health officer, according to Guevara. Chau told LAist that since the contract was small, it was unlikely to have been something he followed closely.
He added later via text message that his primary concern at the time was responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. "I had to rely on my department head to do their job on small contracts," he wrote.
In business filings with the state, Batres is listed as the CEO, CFO and secretary of TalentGate, the company Mind OC hired to fulfill the contract. TalentGate’s city business license listed it as a “home office for human resource consulting” located in San Gabriel at the time of the contract. Batres and Wangsaporn lived at the company’s address at the time they were married in late 2021, according to their marriage certificate.
TalentGate's LinkedIn profile says it’s a human resources company that addresses “organizational bottlenecks across the employee lifecycle.” Mental health is not listed in the "specialties" section of the company profile.
The county Health Care Agency says it never received the required reports detailing the results of the contract work. Guevara, the agency’s spokesperson, told LAist in an email that the county’s behavioral health team does not know whether the listening sessions were carried out and has no records showing how the money was spent.
“The funds were paid to [Mind OC],” Guevara wrote. “No details on what [Mind OC] did after that.”
She said the $275,000 was funded by the Mental Health Services Act, a voter-approved tax that’s meant to pay for mental health services, including treatment and prevention.
Pandemic contracting rules
In most cases, government contracts are subject to competitive bidding. Before the pandemic, county rules required a vote from the O.C. Board of Supervisors for all non-competitive service contracts (also called “no-bid” contracts) above $75,000 per year.
But starting in March 2020 the board waived this and other rules for awarding contracts, in order to fast-track hiring vendors for “services related to the COVID-19 Emergency.” Instead, for about the first year of the pandemic, county staff were allowed to award large contracts outside public view. In some cases that was done in response to requests by individual supervisors.
The state has passed several reform laws in recent months inspired by LAist's investigation into millions in COVID funds awarded by Supervisor Do to Viet America Society with little oversight and no public disclosure of family ties.
The full O.C. Board of Supervisors must now take a public vote before awarding district discretionary funds to a nonprofit or community group, and the details of the agreements must be posted online.
Statewide, it will become a crime starting in January 2026 for elected officials to be involved in awarding government contracts to organizations if they know their adult child is an officer or director of the vendor, or if their adult child has at least 10% ownership.
Statewide, starting this coming January, all county supervisors will have to disclose any family ties to a nonprofit’s employees or officers before awarding public funds to the group.
The O.C. Board of Supervisors also directed its internal auditor to review all county contracts to ensure oversight and compliance, including those funded by federal COVID dollars. The auditor's report is due before the end of the year.
Payments from Viet America Society to Batres
Federal tax filings for Viet America Society — the nonprofit accused of fraud by the county — show it paid $40,000 to a company named "TalenGate" in 2020, based at the same home address as Batres’ company TalentGate. It was the organization's highest paid independent contractor that year, receiving $40,000, according to LAist's review of a VAS public tax filing.
That year, Viet America Society was funded by county dollars meant to feed needy seniors, which flowed to VAS through another nonprofit, Hand to Hand Relief Organization, according to public records obtained by LAist. The county also is suing Hand to Hand for alleged fraud in diverting those taxpayer funds in 2020, which Supervisor Do also had awarded.
The following year, VAS’ public tax filing shows it paid "TalenGate" another $10,000, while VAS’ financial ledger it filed with the county shows it paid the same amount to Batres herself in January 2021.
Reached by phone in April and this month, Batres declined to answer LAist’s questions about what the payments were for. VAS’ attorney, Mark Rosen, told LAist last week that he could not answer questions about them. The tax filings list the payments as being for “PUBLIC RELATION.” No further detail was provided.
Relationship between Chau and Mind OC
Chau worked as a high-level executive at Mind OC before he took over the county health agency in May 2020, according to a county news release about his hiring. Mind OC's public tax filing shows it paid Chau $133,000 that year for that work — the same year the agency awarded the no-bid contract at issue to Mind OC.
Mind OC has faced recent troubles in its relationships with the county and O.C. cities.
In August, the county abruptly canceled a major contractwith the group to manage the county's signature mental health campus, Be Well, in the city of Orange. That contract was ended a little over two years into a three-year, $63.8-million deal with the county. The rupture came after an audit found Mind OC failed to provide proper oversight of mental health and substance use treatment services on the campus.
In a joint statement, the county and Mind OC said the decision was "based on an ever-evolving public, private partnership model."
Additionally, two cities, Newport Beach and Anaheim, recently canceled their contracts with Mind OC to provide mobile mental health crisis response to residents. Newport Beach City Councilmember Lauren Kleiman told LAist the service hadn't been effective in getting unhoused people with mental health problems off the streets.
"Given the voluntary nature of street outreach, the data over the past year did not demonstrate their ability to produce street exits in a way that justified the use of taxpayer funds to extend the contract," Kleiman wrote in an email to LAist in late August.
When asked about Anaheim ending the contract in September, Mind OC CEO Franks told LAist in a statement that the organization and the city had mutually agreed to sunset their agreement. A spokesperson for Anaheim said the city no longer needed the services.
Supervisor Do’s ties to Mind OC
Mind OC was formed in 2018 to coordinate a public-private network of mental health providers and resources known collectively as Be Well OC. The concept arose, in part, from a Board of Supervisors ad hoc mental health committee formed in 2015 and run by Supervisor Do and then-Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. At the time Mind OC was created, the county was under fire for failing to spend state funds allocated for mental health services, and for the severe shortage of psychiatric care available to residents.
Supervisor Do has been a consistent champion of Mind OC and Be Well. In a video posted earlier this year to his YouTube channel, Supervisor Do dates the origin of Be Well to a meeting seven years ago between himself, county health care leaders, and Dr. Richard Afable, a former Hoag Hospital CEO who has been Mind OC’s board president since the group was formed in 2018.
O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do (left) and Dr. Richard Afable, the president of the Mind OC board of directors, speak in a 2024 video about the Be Well campus under construction in Irvine.
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O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do's YouTube page
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The highly produced video features Supervisor Do and Afable — in hard hats and bright yellow vests — signing beams at the construction site of a planned Be Well campus in Irvine. Do and other supervisors have awarded the organization at least $40 million in public funds to build that second campus.
Afable did not respond to a request for comment.
In May, the county signed an additional $95 million, three-year contract with Mind OC to run the Irvine campus, starting in January.
How to watchdog local government
One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.
Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published May 22, 2026 6:42 PM
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.
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NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Topline:
NASA plans to open the contract to manage the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge to a competitive bidding process, according to a memo the lab released Friday.
The backstory: Since NASA was established in 1958, Caltech has managed JPL for the federal space agency "through a contractual relationship that has been regularly reviewed and renewed," according to Friday's memo. NASA began its regular process of evaluating the contract last year.
Why it matters: JPL has been through several rounds of layoffsin recent years. The lab and the university are leaders in civilian space science, with missions that have sent spacecraft into Earth orbit, to Mars and as far from Earth as any man-made object. The lab is also a major employer in the region and hosts massive classes of interns from around the world. The news about the contract was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which said opening the contract to bidding is a first in JPL's history.
Why now: NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in "a long letter discussing organizational changes" to staffers Friday that the space agency intends to issue a request for proposals for management of JPL. "This process will take several years, and I do not anticipate it having any impact on the projects underway or the location of the facilities," Isaacman wrote. "It does, however, provide an opportunity to evaluate management costs, overhead burdens and ideally find ways to get after the science faster and more affordably."
What's next: Caltech's contract runs through the end of September 2028. "This announcement comes as no surprise," Caltech's president and JPL's director wrote to staffers Friday. "Caltech is well prepared with a team established last summer to ensure we are positioned for success, and we will respond to the request for proposal (RFP) once released."
Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published May 22, 2026 4:21 PM
A recently released juvenile southwestern pond turtle swims in the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
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Topline:
There’s a day for everything, and Saturday is World Turtle Day. This is the story of how humans helped a vulnerable native California turtle.
The backstory: Southwestern pond turtles in the San Gabriel mountains were almost wiped out by the Bobcat Fire in 2020. But biologists rescued 11 adults that were held at the San Diego Zoo until 2024, when they were released.
The baby boom: But then something happened that scientists didn't expect: "One baby, two baby, three baby, four baby. Fifteen babies later," is how a wildlife care manager at the zoo described it. Yes, the rescued turtles had laid eggs in their temporary home, and the hatchlings were emerging.
A new generation: Once they'd grown a bit, the zoo released the young turtles into San Gabriel River where they belong in April.
Read on ... for more about this conservation success story.
After fires and floods, Southern California’s only remaining native freshwater turtle recently got a boost.
Just last month, 15 southwestern pond turtle hatchlings were released into the San Gabriel River — a major milestone in an effort to restore the vulnerable turtle population.
But this wasn’t a typical raise-and-release scenario.
These turtles’ parents went on a harrowing journey before they were born.
The fire eventually scorched more than 180 square miles — mostly forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. For comparison, the 2025 Eaton Fire burned about 22 square miles.
Lights from a fire truck illuminate firefighters working the Bobcat Fire in September 2021.
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Frederic J. Brown
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Getty Images
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As the Bobcat Fire spread, biologists grew worried. The fire was burning in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, a biodiversity hotspot and refuge for bears and mountain lions, the federally protected Santa Ana sucker fish and the mountain yellow-legged frog.
It’s also home to the largest remaining — and possibly only — population of southwestern pond turtles in the entire watershed. Their exact numbers aren’t known, but it’s likely less than 200.
What is a southwestern pond turtle?
The small, shy turtles grow to about 8 inches and range from Baja California to just south of the San Francisco Bay. They spend most of their lives in streams, rivers, lakes and other watery environments. They primarily eat small insects and plant matter.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists them as a Species of Special Concern, and they're being considered for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
“Because this hadn’t burned in decades and decades and decades, there was big concern about debris flows,” said Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientists hoped the turtles would be able to ride out the fire itself by staying in the water, but any rain after would likely lead to a deluge of mud, trees and other burned materials. That would be akin to an avalanche for the turtles in the river, and it had the potential to wipe out the entire population.
Once the flames died down, Fisher and a team of biologists, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service, trekked to the home of the pond turtles.
“It was a moonscape,” Fisher said.
They waded through ashy, murky waters, eventually collecting 11 adult turtles.
World Turtle Day’s SoCal cred
There’s a day for everything these days, but World Turtle Day (May 23) has surprisingly local roots.
Susan Tellem and her late husband, Marshall Thompson, coined the day in 2000 after founding a turtle and tortoise rescue 10 years earlier at their home in Malibu.
“When I first started helping turtles, there were hardly people helping the needs of turtles,” Tellem told LAist. “We decided to help educate people internationally so that turtles can live a longer and happier life.”
A temporary home and 15 surprises
The turtles were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where the plan was to hold them until their mountain habitat recovered enough for them to return.
By 2024, the San Gabriel Mountains were looking far better — biologists even found some pond turtles that survived major debris flows.
But right before the turtles were set to go back home, scientists got a surprise.
“Just before we were getting to release, we found a baby turtle, which is amazing,” said Brandon Scott, wildlife care manager of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “You don't know how long it's going to take to restart that process of them actually being able to breed, with the stress and it's a new habitat.”
A juvenile southwestern pond turtle is weighed before being released to the wild.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
)
The turtles and the new baby were all returned to their home in the San Gabriels. But then came another surprise. And another.
“We just continually, every day, started finding a baby in that habitat,” said Scott.
Female southwestern pond turtles lay and bury their eggs in late spring or early summer. Juveniles emerge months later, only about the size of a quarter.
Fifteen babies later, conservation staff were shocked and pleased.
Their goal for the 11 rescued turtles was to make sure they could thrive before being released back into their habitat. “But in the process,” Scott said, “yes, we made it comfortable enough for them to breed.”
A hopeful release
The new generation of southwestern pond turtles was released in April near the spot their parents were rescued from in the San Gabriel River.
Such rescues of vulnerable wildlife are becoming increasingly common in the face of more catastrophic fires. All but two of the biggest fires in recorded history have been in the last 20 years.
Fisher said a similar rescue of pond turtles had occurred only once before, after the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriels. That time, the turtles were quickly returned to their habitat.
A staff member of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance releases a juvenile southwestern pond turtle into the San Gabriel River.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
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That rescue, in part, inspired the U.S. Geological Survey to work with the San Diego Zoo to build a conservation habitat for southwestern pond turtles nearly two decades ago. And the Bobcat Fire became the first time it was used for wild rescues, Fisher said.
Ironically, the Bobcat Fire could eventually help the local population, Fisher said.
“We’ve known about [the population] for decades, but it’s not really thriving,” he said. “So this helped give it a head start. And because the fire was so intense, it opened up a lot of habitat.”
With less tree canopy and more sunlight, the cold-blooded reptiles could thrive in warmer waters and on sunnier rocks.
Threats to southwestern pond turtles
Southwestern pond turtles have lived here for millennia, but invasive species and habitat destruction have nearly wiped them out. They’re currently being considered for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Nonnative turtles — such as red-eared sliders, many of which are abandoned pets — are outcompeting them in their habitats. And native pond turtle hatchlings are easy prey for invasive animals such as bullfrogs and crayfish.
On top of that, pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts, which dries out the streams and rivers where they live. Worsening “weather whiplash” means more dangerous mudflows after fires, which can wipe out entire aquatic animal populations.
But the new generation is key.
“Because the site was so forested and hadn’t burned in so long, we don’t think they were having good success at breeding,” Fisher said. “Now we think we’ve really enhanced the population by putting more animals out there, especially young animals.”
Scott and Fisher said the saga has inspired preliminary conversations about formalizing breeding efforts to support the population. The little turtles' myriad threats have yet to let up, so they’ll likely need more help in the future.
But at the moment, there’s a little more hope — at least 16 hatchlings and 11 adults' worth of hope, to be exact — for California’s only native freshwater turtle.
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Crews clean the scene along Cesar E. Chavez and Eastern avenues, where gallons of crude oil spilled onto the street.
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Andrew Lopez
/
The LA Local
)
Topline:
Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River. The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line.
Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affectedareas. If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.
Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.
Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River.
The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line, according to the LA County Fire Department.
The leak has been controlled and is no longer releasing crude oil in the streets, health officials said.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued guidance for residents as agencies continue with cleanup efforts.
Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affected areas.
Skin exposure: If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.
Odor exposure: If you smell odors outdoors, close windows and doors, turn off HVAC systems and air conditioners that pull in outside air and stay indoors until the odor has passed. After the odor outside is gone, open the windows and doors to air out your home and turn on fans or HVAC system to help ventilate indoor air.
Try to limit exposure to strong odors as much as possible. Odors may cause or worsen:
Headaches
Nausea
Eye, nose, throat irritation
Dizziness
Breathing problems (asthma)
Brief exposures usually do not cause long-term health effects, but if you experience severe or persistent symptoms, talk to your medical provider. If you don’t have a medical provider, call the Public Health – Community Health Complaint Line at (626) 430-9821.
Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors, and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.
At-risk individuals: Monitor those most at risk of developing symptoms, such as older adults, children, pregnant persons and those who are immunocompromised.
Report odors: Complaints of odor can be reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD): (800) 288-7664
Manny Valladares
is always looking for the next tasty bite to feature on "AirTalk" Food Friday on LAist 89.3.
Published May 22, 2026 2:35 PM
Lucky Baldwin's most popular dish is their fish n chips.
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Lucky Baldwins
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Top line:
With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but Lucky Baldwins Pub — with locations in Pasadena and Sierra Madre — brings you close.
What makes their fish and chips special? Using a British favorite — cod — and dipping it into their special beer batter.
Their ultimate experience: Sit on their patio with a Belgian beer in hand on a sunny day.
"Listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," says owner-operator Peggy Simonian.
Read more ... for more of their food and details on the events they host.
With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but a local British pub with a few locations to choose from brings you close.
The operators of Lucky Baldwins Pub joined AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to explain what makes their atmosphere special — it's all about the sports and traditional British bites, pints and pasties.
About the owner
Owner-operator Peggy Simonian was working for the British Tourist Authority when they decided to bring a pub to Pasadena. Three years after opening, they got their following after hosting their first Belgian Beer Festival.
Listen
13:39
World Cup pub crawl: Lucky Baldwins Pub
What sets their food apart? The beer batter
"I think there's this stigma around British food that it's a little bland," said general manager Patsy Sutton.
She says the fish and chips knock people's socks off — and it all comes down to the beer batter.
They use locally sourced Pacific cod instead of its Atlantic relative and an undisclosed pale ale. This combo drives the taste.
Lucky Baldwins' most popular dish is the fish 'n' chips.
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Courtesy Peggy Simonian
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The ultimate experience in the eyes of the owner
"I like it when it's a nice sunny day outside our patio in Old Towne ... enjoy a nice Belgian beer ... listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," Simonian said.
She added that her go-to beers currently include a Belgian lager, blonde or tripel. It's all about the mood.
Restaurant details
Lucky Baldwins Pub first opened in 1996 and now has two Pasadena locations and one in Sierra Madre.
They're an official bar partner with LAFC.
They host: Pasadena Reds, a local Liverpool FC support group; Los Angeles Hammers, a West Ham FC support group; and Eastside Gooners, a local support group for Arsenal FC.
They also have special events tied to the Belgian Beer Festival and Oktoberfest.
Menu items we tried
Fish 'n' Chips — cod dipped in ale batter with a side of steak fries and tartar sauce
Bangers and Mash — two pork sausages with peas and mashed potatoes (also available with fries).
Cornish Pastie — a handheld pie with minced meat
Chicken Curry Pastie — a handheld pie with traditional British chicken curry
How to visit
Address (Old Town Pasadena): 17 S. Raymond Ave, Pasadena
Hours: Monday–Sunday: 9 a.m.-1:30 a.m.
Cost: Fish 'n' chips cost $18; bangers and mash cost $19; and the pasties (with a choice of crisps or fries) cost $14.
You can find the times for their Delirium Pub by clicking here, and their Trappiste Pub by clicking here.
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