The 2023 corpse flower bloom attracted hundreds of people for its day-long bloom at The Huntington Library in San Marino.
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
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Topline:
It’s hot, it’s sticky, and it smells like death. But time and again, hundreds of visitors flock to The Huntington Library’s muggy conservatory each year to see the infamous corpse flower. This year it’s expected to bloom and emit its putrid odor around July 22.
What’s the big deal? A corpse flower typically only blooms once every few years. Some people come just to catch a whiff of the plant, which gives off a rotten, decaying smell. Others want to catch a glimpse of the bloom that lasts for just a day or so.
What's with the smell? The plant has evolved to emulate the scent of rotten flesh, and it does a good job of it. As it turns out, flesh flies and carrion beetles are drawn to the stench. “The plant being so devious, it's trying to mimic that to attract pollinators in hopes that they will pollinate it, and of course, produce fruits and then seeds.”
How to see it: Though the flower is expected to bloom sometime in the next 10 days, factors like heat and cloud cover can make the exact timing hard to predict. The Huntington sends updates on expected blooms on their website so you can plan your trip to the grounds in San Marino. But if you'd rather watch the flower bloom from afar — sans stench — you can check a livestream here.
It’s hot, it’s sticky, and it smells like death. But time and again, hundreds of visitors flock to The Huntington Library’s muggy conservatory each year to see the infamous corpse flower. This year it’s expected to bloom and emit its putrid odor around July 22.
So, why do people line up to see this giant flower unfurl?
First thing’s first — the corpse flower typically only blooms once every few years. But the Huntington has a collection of more than 40 of them, so at least one is in its bloom cycle every year. Some people come just to catch a whiff of the plant, which gives off a rotten, decaying smell. Others want to catch a glimpse of the bloom that lasts for just a day or so.
And then there are the people who expect something more elegant and graceful, like a big rose.
“Then they smell it, and the reactions are hilarious,” said Brandon Tam, a curator who oversees horticultural operations at the Huntington. “They see this gigantic plant. It's huge and it's funky looking. It's almost alien-like. … People are disgusted by it. They're amazed by it. They're intrigued by it.”
What’s the big deal?
For starters, the plant is massive. It's been called the largest flower in the world, but it's actually an inflorescence — that’s botany speak for a plant that holds many flowers. It can grow up to 12 feet high, 4 feet wide, and at its peak development, the monster can grow 6 inches per day.
It blooms just once every two to three years, according to Tam, and only for a day before it starts to wilt. It happens even less frequently in the wild, where there are fewer than 1,000 corpse flowers left, according to the U.S. Botanic Garden.
But thanks to conservationists, a corpse flower now blooms many times a year at the Huntington’s Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science, where they’ve successfully cultivated 43 specimens since 1999.
A corpse flower blooms at the Huntington Library's Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science in 2023.
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
)
What the heck is that smell?
Against our better judgment, most of us want to sniff this thing. Tam couldn’t explain why, but he said it's definitely the biggest draw to the tropical plant native to Sumatra and Indonesian rainforests.
“People compare it to gym socks, runny eggs, things like that. So it's actually quite pungent,” Tam said.
The plant has evolved to emulate the scent of rotten flesh, and it does a good job of it. As it turns out, flesh flies and carrion beetles are drawn to the stench.
“The plant being so devious, it's trying to mimic that to attract pollinators in hopes that they will pollinate it, and of course, produce fruits and then seeds.”
How to see (or smell) the flower
Though the flower is expected to bloom sometime in the next 10 days, factors like heat and cloud cover can make the exact timing hard to predict. The Huntington sends updates on expected blooms on their website so you can plan your trip to the grounds in San Marino.
But if you'd rather watch the flower bloom from afar — sans stench — you can check a livestream here.
Jordan Rynning
has been following this case for months, including interviewing the man at the center of allegations.
Published October 31, 2026 7:00 AM
Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, spoke with LAist on Sept. 16, 2026, about the federal body armor case against him being dismissed.
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Jordan Rynning
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LAist
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Topline:
The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.
Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”
About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.
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Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
Myrna Velasco (left) performs as Dolores Huerta in “¡Sí Se Puede!” at Boyle Heights City Hall on April 2, 2026.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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Topline:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The backstory: Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.
“There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.
CSULA seeks memories from underground music scenes
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
CSULA is seeking memorabilia from LA's underground music scenes for its research archives.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles.
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Topline
There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.
Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.
Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.
“I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.
She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.
Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.
Cal State LA has hosted Sounds of the Underground Archive for the last four years. It's an opportunity for people to donate their underground music scene memorabilia.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles
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“I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.
Keeping stories alive
More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.
Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.
SOUNDS OF THE UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE
Date: Thursday, Nov. 5 Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles
Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.
“From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.
She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:
Fliers
Handbills
Zines
Newsletters
Posters
Set lists
Photographs (prints, negatives or digital files)
Cassette tapes, CDs, or vinyl records
Ticket stubs
Wristbands
Band merchandise (stickers, buttons, patches, T-shirts)
DIY press kits or liner notes and correspondence (letters, emails, messages related to music scenes)
Venue or collective ephemera (membership cards, schedules, announcements and more)
