Kavish Harjai
writes about how people get around L.A.
Published August 25, 2025 5:00 AM
Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Janice Hahn speaks at a special board meeting called by Metro on April 4.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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In an interview with LAist, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn reflected on her time as Metro Board chair. She discussed the need to secure the Metro system against weapons, the status of the $3.2 billion Olympics funding request, and what she thinks public transportation’s responsibility is during protests.
Immigration enforcement fears: “I never thought I would live in a time where our own federal government, through the Office of Homeland Security, would come in and engage in these irresponsible and reckless raids and sweeps of good people who are going about their lives,” Hahn said.
Olympics funding: “We’re still asking. I don’t know if we’re gonna get the whole $3.2 [billion].”
Read on … for more highlights from LAist’s interview with Hahn and also an unedited audio version of the interview.
To the critics who call her a “fake Metro rider,” L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn says “fair enough.”
Hahn’s monthly rides from San Pedro to downtown L.A. for Metro’s board meetings, a practice she committed to when she became chair last year and one she said she’ll continue to do, are regular but minimal — and she acknowledges that. Still, Hahn insists they were invaluable.
Hahn said she met the diverse set of people who ride the system and experienced what happens when the bus breaks down on your way to work.
Hahn said her time on the bus influenced some of her policy decisions, including promoting proactive outreach to homeless riders and establishing a Know-Your-Rights campaign in the wake of federal immigration enforcement.
The Metro Board Chair turns over yearly, cycling among a county supervisor, city representative, and the mayor of L.A. In July, Hahn passed the gavel to Whittier City Councilmember Fernando Dutra. As a county supervisor, Hahn will remain on the board.
Below are selections from an interview with Hahn, in which she reflected on the challenges and accomplishments during her time as chair.
You can listen to the unedited interview here:
Listen
27:45
AUDIO: L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn's full interview with LAist's Kavish Harjai
Hahn’s fears about federal immigration enforcement were 'exceeded' by reality
Kavish Harjai: You directed Metro to launch a Know-Your-Rights campaign earlier this year. What were your fears about immigration and the administration back then, and have they come true?
Janice Hahn: I never thought I would live in a time where our own federal government, through the Office of Homeland Security, would come in and engage in these irresponsible and reckless raids and sweeps of good people who are going about their lives, they’re going to work, they’re taking their kids to school, they’re sitting on a bus stop ready to ride our system, they’re going to their court appearances for their hearings.
To think that these ICE agents have come in with no respect and [are] treating people like they’re treating [them] — I honestly never thought I would live in this time to see grown men slammed to the ground, their faces pressed into chainlink fences, whisked away in unmarked vans with no ability to contact their families. I honestly did not think that I would see this day.
In L.A. County, we are trying to do whatever we can, to the best of our ability, to protect our residents, making sure our residents understand their rights because they absolutely do have rights as a resident of Los Angeles County.
Closing Metro stations should be a 'last resort'
Los Angeles, CA - June 14: Protesters clash against law enforcement at the "No Kings" Day demonstration in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, June 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
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Los Angeles Times
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Kavish Harjai: The board approved a motion calling for updated protocols for station closures and service interruptions. [...] If you could make service better during the “No Kings Day” protest, what would that have looked like?
Janice Hahn: I mean for me, it has to be a last resort to shut down service or close a station [...] We have to be a neutral party here — we have to be the transportation agency that gets people safely to a protest and safely home.
These protests are, many people think, not just our right but our obligation to protest against a government that we disagree with. Well, Metro is that public agency that has sort of promised to get people where they need to get to, safely, and to home again.
I’m hoping that the protocol would speak to that last resort option to shut down service because of a lawful protest.
Expansion of weapons detection necessary to 'keep system safe'
Kavish Harjai: The second phase of the weapons detection program launched at the end of April. Those detection pillars were installed at the Norwalk C-Line station and the San Pedro A-Line station. Do you think this is a system-wide, like scalable solution?
Janice Hahn: I think it should be. I don’t think we can afford not to. If we want our system safe, particularly when we’re preparing for some of the mega events, I think it’s a must. I think we need to figure out the technology that exists so it doesn’t slow people’s commutes down. And also, it’s a big message that you can’t take a weapon onto our system. We already know that it’s kind of been a deterrent. We think people that see the pillars in place decide, “Oh, maybe today’s not the day that I board with this weapon.” So we think it’s a deterrent as well, but I think it should be part of our system going forward.
A new "weapons detection" system was installed at the San Pedro Metro stop along the A line going towards Long Beach. Metro security officers are present to search riders when the system detects metal objects.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LA will 'absolutely' be ready for the Olympics
Kavish Harjai: There are some challenges, specifically with the Olympics, which is Metro’s ask for $3.2 billion [in federal funding]. What’s the status of that ask?
Janice Hahn: We’re still asking. I don’t know if we’re gonna get the whole $3.2 [billion]. A lot of what we need is to lease extra buses. We’re gonna lease close to 3,000 buses, which also means we need to lease the drivers of the buses, which means we need to figure out where they’re gonna stay and live, and the training that they’re gonna need to navigate our streets in L.A. County because the Olympics venues are all over. They’re not just in the city of L.A. So that’s a big undertaking.
I will say that I was interested in seeing the recent development from the White House, where President Trump has appointed himself to head up the 2028 Olympic Games Task Force. There was Casey Wasserman, who is the head of our LA28 Games, standing with him. So maybe that kind of an interest from the president in our games might cause the resources to flow, as well. We’re kind of waiting and seeing, but clearly this is a huge undertaking, and we’re going to need help.
Kavish Harjai: You obviously have connections in Washington. What is your role specifically here?
Janice Hahn: My connections used to be better in the last administration [laughs]. I think our role is to continue to position these Olympics as the United States is hosting the world. We’re going to continue to advocate, to write letters, to lobby for what we need to make this a successful games.
A lot of people are like, “Are you sure that L.A. should host the Olympics? There’s so many things on the horizon that could be against that.” To that I say, “Absolutely.” We’ve been planning for these Olympics for almost eight years, and we’re going to be ready. It’s going to be fantastic.
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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.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday, Oct. 7 that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally serving as the top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles.
The ruling is the latest roadblock to the Trump administration’s effort to extend handpicked acting U.S. attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to bypass confirmation by the U.S. Senate — something that generally requires a degree of bipartisan support.
Essayli “is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote.
The order won’t take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal. Essayli said he doesn’t agree with the court’s order. He said the president and Attorney General “have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department.”
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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)
