The Brief

Los Angeles has long had a reputation for being smoggy and traffic congested. Angelenos in this sprawling, gas-guzzling city love their cars.

Of all people who commute to work, 89% take cars, trucks or vans, according to an analysis of census data. But there are other options, and a lot of time and money have been spent across L.A. city and county to expand our modes of transportation.

A push for more transit in LA

The new Metro rail map.

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Courtesy Metro

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There are six rail lines, which include four light rail lines (the A, C, E and K lines) and two rapid transit lines (B and D lines) that serve 101 stations from San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, and areas in between.

L.A. has one of the largest bus fleets in the nation with 2,320 buses and more than 100 routes. Plus, there are around 100 miles of bike lanes in the county, although not always connecting.

It's far from perfect, but there’s a big push to do more — and do better. LA Metro, the county agency that makes decisions about public transportation, has been on a mission to increase ridership.

For one, L.A. aims to be a zero carbon emission zone by 2050. Officials want to increase the number of Angelenos who walk, bike and use non-gas guzzling transit to 50%.

Another big reason is that the Summer Olympics and Paralympics are coming to L.A. in 2028 and officials aim to complete several transportation projects beforehand.

"The overall goal for the games for us is to enable all ticketed spectators to travel to the competition venues by public transit, or walking or cycling," said Ernesto Chaves, a senior executive at LA Metro.

Here are some of the ways Metro hopes to meet these goals:

• Provide residents with access to good transit choices within a 10-minute distance
• Reduce wait times for public transit to a maximum of 15 minutes at any time
• Improve the average travel time on buses by 30%

Still, even if all is achieved, the challenge of getting people out of their cars is very real.

Taking the bus

To understand this a little bit better, the How To LA team is turning the lens inward. Most of us (including yours truly) drive our cars all over town. But we want to be better. We want to mix up our transportation modes to be gentler on the environment, traffic patterns and our wallets.

I don't know about you, but it seems like a significant portion of our paycheck goes to gas every week. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the average hourly wage for someone who lives in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim region is $33.43. The average gas price for the area is about $4.50 a gallon — less than it’s been but still more than a dollar above the national average.

So today we take a stronger step towards using public transportation. Today, we are learning how to ride the bus (we’ll tackle rail in another story).

How to LA producer Evan Jacoby and Aaricka Washington check out a bus route on an LA Metro map in Silver Lake

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Kenya Romero

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LAist

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There are 10 million people who live in L.A. County and, of those who commute to work, only about 4% take the bus, according to an analysis of census data.

It can be daunting. L.A. is a big place. You have to figure out where each bus is going and when. It can also take a lot of time and the bus isn’t always punctual.

To help us get over the intimidation factor we reached out to Eric Brightwell, a cartographer, bus advocate and a self-described adventurer, who has been car-free for 13 years.

The How To LA crew who joined the bus ride included me, producer Evan Jacoby, host Brian De Los Santos and social media editor Kenya Romero (because if not on Insta or TikTok, it didn’t happen, right?).

Here’s how it all went down:

11 a.m. download a transit app

We meet Brightwell in Silver Lake, where he lives and works, to figure out a good, scenic route for our 30-minute bus trip. He recommends we take the #4 bus line from the 99 Cent Store by the Sunset Triangle Plaza to downtown. He says it comes pretty often.

He told us to download a transit app to plan the trip. Transit apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps and Moovit can show you how to travel through the main areas of L.A. County. Since I’m a forever Google Maps girl, I stick with what I know. You simply tap in where you would like to go, click on the “directions” button and the app will show you various methods of how to get to your destination.

Host Brian De Los Santos and Associate Editor Aaricka Washington go in search of their bus stop in Silver Lake

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Kenya Romero

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LAist

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LA map maker Eric Brightwell talks to How to LA's Aaricka Washington about the pros and cons of riding the bus

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Kenya Romero

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LAist

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“So I'm checking my transit app, and it says [the bus is] coming in 10 minutes, and then again in 21 minutes,” Brightwell says.

Brightwell told us about his trips to Tokyo, Thailand and Barcelona where the wait times were much shorter than in the United States.

“The average wait for a bus in Barcelona is two minutes,” Brightwell says. “So you know, 10 minutes here. It's not the end of the world [but] it could be better.”

11:30 a.m. Buy a TAP Card or reload funds

A TAP card can be used to ride the bus, train or to check out an electric bike. For the bus, a single ride from Sunset Triangle Plaza to downtown costs $1.75. But you can add any amount between $2 and $300 to each card.

There are several places to buy or reload funds on a TAP Card. You can download the TAP app to your smartphone. You can type in your city, neighborhood or zip code on the website to find a TAP Vendor in L.A. County. There are also TAP Vending Machines at the Metro rail stations. Here’s how to find one.

You do not need a physical card. We download ours onto our phones.

If you pay online or through an app, you can use credit card, TAP account cash, Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal. Cash is accepted at TAP vendors, TAP Vending Machines and bus fareboxes. If you ride the bus again within the hour of your first ride, it’s free.

Here’s what else you need to know about fare capping. To incentivize ridership, LA Metro limits the amount of money one has to spend to ride the bus. Regular bus riders don’t have to pay more than $5 a day, or $18 within seven days. There are also reduced bus fares for seniors, people with disabilities, students and low-income riders.

The bus stop

The navigation on Brightwell’s transit app leads us to the #4 bus stop at Sunset and Maltman Avenue. We’re taking the downtown LA - Santa Monica local bus route.

As we wait, I have a question: how does the bus driver know we’re waiting on them?

“I always stick my hand out and wave,” Brightwell says. “There’s obviously a big group of people, but I try to make sure I get their attention. I have been sitting at the bench before and it just goes by and I'm like, ‘Oh, I guess I wasn't obvious enough about wanting to use that bus.’”

Good to know.

Brightwell adds that he takes the bus to get to specific destinations, but also to see the city — something he recommends to friends. He says just get on a bus and go somewhere; don’t transfer.

“From my place in Silver Lake, you can get on the bus here and go all the way to Burbank, to Glendale, to Americana, to Din Tai Fung, to downtown. All you have to do is just walk two blocks, pay $1.75 and sit down.”

Our bus arrives. It's 4 minutes late.

11:50 a.m Tap your card, take your seat, watch the city go by

The bus pulls up and we get on. We get out our phones, open up our digital Apple Wallets to “pull out” the TAP card and tap our phones on the bus farebox.

It’s not crowded at all — only six other passengers. We sit down in the middle of the bus and it takes off smoothly.

On our journey to Hill and Third Street downtown the bus makes 20 stops. As we rode along Broadway and then on Sunset Boulevard, Brightwell points out a few spots along our route and notes some of the history.

More than 130 years ago Rancho Los Feliz landowner Griffith J. Griffith (yep, that Griffith) and Charles Sketchley had a joint venture to raise and show off ostriches. According to Los Angeles Magazine, this farm and the Ostrich Farm Railway that helped get tourists back and forth from the farm, was how Griffith Park and Sunset Boulevard took shape.

“That was one of the major tourist attractions,” Brightwell says. “And I guess not just tourists, like, people that lived in Los Angeles were like, ‘let's go, go see those ostriches. It's the weekend.’ There’s history all around you.”

The Ostrich Farm Railway is now the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the hilly landscape of Echo Park and Silver Lake.

Along the route there were also a lot of murals I'd never noticed before.

There’s one vibrant “Welcome 2 LA” mural on 2702 Sunset Boulevard from artist Cache Uno that features cats and chickens.

“He’s a Guatemalan vegan artist, “ notes Brightwell. “He always has chicken motifs in his street art. You definitely notice that kind of thing if you’re riding on a bus or on a bike.”

As we continue down Sunset, he talks about businesses that have come and gone and points out the diversity of the strip: the Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church and what used to be a Vietnamese Chinese market that’s now a food hall, the Little Joy bar.

“That is one thing that I love about the buses, you can drink and not drive,” Brightwell says.

12:09 p.m. End of the line

We get to our destination on Hill and 3rd. We pull the signal cord by the window to hop off of the bus.

In total, the ride took 19 minutes. We went through Silver Lake, passed El Pueblo and Chinatown and rode along Cesar Chavez and High Streets. I really think it would have taken me an extra five minutes to drive my car.

“It’s not a bad time, and it flew by pretty fast for me,” Brightwell says. “I will say it flies by faster if you have people you’re talking to, or if you’re reading a book.”

He says he’s lost track of the time before and missed his stop. His pro tip: pay attention once in a while, listen for your stop and set alerts on your transit app.

We walk to Grand Central Market for a bite. After lunch, we went to the bus stop at Broadway and Fifth and head back to our starting location.

Tips for riding the bus if you have additional needs

LA Metro has some accessibility goals that are currently underway. For those who are 50 and older, LA Metro has an On the Move Riders Program. To learn more, stay up to date and connect with a peer-to-peer travel training club, sign up for emails here.

Seniors and people with disabilities can watch this video to learn about how to ride the bus and rail. LA Metro can accommodate a variety of wheelchairs with a ramp device that lowers to the concrete so people can wheel themselves onto it.

Also, people who are 62 and older, disabled or are Medicare customers can apply for a Reduced Fare TAP card and save up to 80% off regular Metro fares. People with disabilities can ride the bus for 75 cents and and for only 35 cents on off peak times (weekdays between 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., weekends and holidays).

Familiarize yourself with your rights. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), transit providers must offer audible announcements about fixed route stops for those who are visually impaired or have other disabilities. Service animals are also welcome on Metro buses and trains. If you have any concerns or complaints about anything ADA-related, this site can help you navigate how to file a service complaint.

If you are a bike rider, there are racks for you on Metro busses. Make sure that you remove all of the loose items not attached to your bike and take them with you before securing your bike to the rack. LA Metro recommends that you monitor your bike while riding the bus, and that you tell the bus operator that you will be getting your bike from the rack when you exit through the front door. Find more safe bike tips from LA Metro here.

Pros and cons

As a frequent bus rider, Eric has some closing thoughts on what he thinks about the system — the good and the bad.

The upsides:

• Bottomline: “It’s good for the environment, it's good for the city, it cuts down on sprawl,” he says 
• You don’t have to worry about parking and driving under the influence
• It’s safer and cleaner on the bus than on the train 
• You get to experience the city in a way that you never would in a car because you can watch it go by

The challenges:

• Sometimes buses don’t stop 
• Wait times between buses are too long
• Buses can be late
• Buses can also get stuck in traffic in parts of L.A. 

What could improve:

• More frequent buses
• More dedicated bus lanes so buses can pass traffic
• More amenities at bus stops and train stations  

Extras are “severely lacking,” says Brightwell. “If you go to any East Asian city, like Taiwan, or Korea or Japan, at least I can say from personal experience, there's waiting rooms for women with kids and there's like feeding stations, self cleaning restrooms, vending machines at restaurants, bakeries, cafes, art galleries.”

In Closing

Of the How To LA group who traveled on the bus, three of us were pretty much newbies and I will say, despite its issues, we all enjoyed riding it.

Now, this was a pure pleasure ride. We were not on a strict schedule and did not need to be at our destination at a specific time. There were no real stakes involved.

It’s a different matter to use the bus for one’s daily commute.

But speaking for myself, I learned a lot riding with Brightwell and I got over the intimidation factor of using the bus to get around L.A. It’s actually pretty easy once you get the basics down.

I think I just might ride the bus to work next week!

For our next story on bus ridership. We are going to dig a little deeper into these challenges and what’s being done to address them and make the experience of riding the bus a better one.

If you’d like to share a story about your experience riding the bus, tell us here. We may include it in our next article.

Listen: How To LA rides the bus

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How easy (and fast) is it to ride the bus in LA? Well — that definitely depends. With more than 100 routes traveling all over L.A. County, it can be a little intimating to figure out where to go but if you're looking to save a little green for your wallet AND the planet, it's worth trying out!

HTLA's Aaricka Washington recently rode her second-ever bus in L.A., and she brought the team along with her for the ride. We go from Silver Lake to her home neighborhood of DTLA, and along the way we learn about what makes LA's bus network an imperfect jewel in the world of public transit, at least according to one regular user and self-described city  explorer. 

Guest: Eric Brightwell, neighborhood cartographer and avid bus-goer.

Wanna Go Car-Free? Try The Bus

How easy (and fast) is it to ride the bus in LA? Well — that definitely depends. With more than 100 routes traveling all over L.A. County, it can be a little intimating to figure out where to go but if you're looking to save a little green for your wallet AND the planet, it's worth trying out!

HTLA's Aaricka Washington recently rode her second-ever bus in L.A., and she brought the team along with her for the ride. We go from Silver Lake to her home neighborhood of DTLA, and along the way we learn about what makes LA's bus network an imperfect jewel in the world of public transit, at least according to one regular user and self-described city  explorer. 

Guest: Eric Brightwell, neighborhood cartographer and avid bus-goer.

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Get comfortable with the heat because it's here to stay. The dry weather and windy conditions will continue to make conditions ripe for fire.

The National Weather Service says coastal areas will continue to see cooler weather today with highs in the mid 70s to low 80s, while temps along the inland coast are expected to reach mid 80s to low 90s. In Orange County inland areas will see temperatures from 81 to 90 degrees.

For the valley communities, temperatures there today will reach 89 to 98 degrees again, and up to 99 to 104 degrees more inland.

Coachella Valley will be scorching today with highs from 113 to 118 degrees. Meanwhile, in the Antelope Valley, expect highs from 101 to 110 degrees today, and around 93 to 98 degrees for the cooler hills.

Wind gusts today could reach up to 35 mph but otherwise expect southwest to northwest winds of 10 to 25 mph.

Make sure to stay hydrated and check in on any loved ones who might be vulnerable to the heat!

Need a place to get out of the heat?

You can find cooling centers via the following links:

• L.A. County
• Orange County
• San Bernardino County
• Riverside County

Sometimes 8-year-old London Cook can convince herself the temporary digs for her elementary school are her old campus, the place where she first discovered her love of math and P.E. — that “this is just Rosebud.”

It’s been a year and a half since the Eaton Fire tore through the Pasadena Rosebud Academy, destroying the TK-8 charter school founded in the Altadena foothills nearly 20 years ago to promote Black and brown student excellence.

London and the 175 students and staff moved to modular buildings on the campus of the Don Benito Fundamental elementary school, nearly seven miles away in Pasadena.

London, one of a third of Rosebud students displaced by the Eaton Fire, says: “I think it’s nice of them to let us share their campus.”

But administrators at Rosebud say it’s time for students to have their own campus again and have embarked on a capital campaign to rebuild in the Pasadena area. They’re holding their biggest fundraiser yet this Sunday with the “Stand Up For Students” comedy show at the Alex Theatre in Glendale hosted by writer-producer Chris Spencer.

“Our kids deserve the best, we want them to have the best, so we won't settle for just making it work,” said Shawn Brown, Rosebud’s founder and executive director.

It’s hoped the event — with a lineup of comedians like Jesus Trejo and Aida Rodriguez who have been showcased on Funny AF with Kevin Hart — will raise a significant sum toward the school’s eventual rebuild, projected to cost upward of $50 million. It also offers a check-in on where Rosebud stands now: still in recovery.

“We don’t want people to forget about us and think that because we’re somewhere, that we are where we need to be,” Brown said. “We still have a long journey.”

Brown, who also lost her own home in Altadena in the Eaton Fire, said the school has been trying to make the portable classrooms work as much as possible but faces challenges to hands-on learning.

With no sinks in the classrooms, for example, the students are limited to art and science projects that don’t require much handwashing.

The old Altadena campus of the Pasadena Rosebud Academy.

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Courtesy of Pasadena Rosebud Academy

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The campus of the Pasadena Rosebud Academy after the Eaton Fire.

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Courtesy of Pasadena Rosebud Academy

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Yet, despite these constraints, the school community is growing stronger and expects to hit its highest enrollment yet this coming school year, with 215 incoming students.

Meanwhile, displaced families are still driving in from places including downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

“The fire really kind of brought us together more,” Brown said. “It kind of reminded us of who we were, who we are.”

Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 after years teaching middle school. She said she kept seeing Black and brown students arrive well below grade level and believed a different kind of school environment could help them excel.

Brown said Rosebud curricula is built around five pillars: critical thinking, financial literacy, exposure and experience, cultural awareness and service.

There is the added benefit, she said, for students of being around other young Black and brown people with similar life experiences.

"Another big thing is you are working with teachers and staff who believe that you are capable of achieving at a high level, and knowing that they have a fair shot in the future to be successful," Brown said.

London Cook and is picked up from school by her grandfather Joseph Shambrey.

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Josie Huang

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LAist

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For London’s grandfather, Joseph Shambrey, the school has been one of the few constants after the fire.

Shambrey, who with his wife are London’s legal guardians, are living in a Pasadena apartment post-fire as they work toward rebuilding their house in Altadena.

There was no question that they would keep London at Rosebud, even when they were temporarily staying in Gardena and the commute stretched to more than an hour.

Shambrey said London is a “very happy” child, which he credits in no small part to Rosebud.

Whether London will enjoy a new campus is unclear. Brown said the timeline of construction will be decided by the pace of fundraising.

But London is just looking to the year ahead when she enters fourth grade and hopes to make even more friends.

“She always loves coming to school,” Shambrey said. “She does not like staying home.”

The City Council in Culver City will consider a citywide ban on new drive-thrus after a group of neighbors raised concerns that a proposed In-N-Out could hurt air quality and create safety issues for pedestrians.

 "Density is inevitable, and development is inevitable,” said Vanessa Martin, a city resident organizing support for the drive-thru ban. “We want to be proactive and smart about it.”

Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish, who sits on the city’s mobility subcommittee that voted to recommend staff draft the ban in May, said drive-thrus are fundamentally incompatible with the vision the city set for itself in its general plan. The planning document was adopted by the city in 2024.

“We need to be creating more walkable, bikeable, safer streets for people of all modes, and drive-thrus are the antithesis of that,” Fish said.

Drive-thru bans aren’t unprecedented in California. Culver City already bans drive-thrus in its downtown corridor. Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo have had citywide bans for decades. Carlsbad’s citywide ban that began in the late 1990s was recently softened to allow for consideration of new drive-thrus on a case-by-case basis.

Critics of such bans have called drive-thrus an important option for consumers, including people with disabilities and families with children.

In-N-Out did not provide a comment to LAist, saying “as a private, family-owned company, we generally don’t comment publicly on business matters.”

What’s the status of the ban and the In-N-Out?

In early June, the city council passed a 45-day moratorium on approving permits that involve a new drive-thru. In the meantime, city staff is drafting an ordinance banning new drive-thrus. The ordinance will first appear in front of the city’s planning commission for guidance and recommendation before heading to the city council for a vote. Those dates have not yet been set.

If the council approves a citywide ban, the already-existing eight drive-thrus in the city would not be affected — only new businesses. In-N-Out would be the first new drive-thru in Culver City since 1997, according to a city staff report. 

In-N-Out hasn’t yet submitted the formal application for a permit it was preparing when Culver City City Council passed the moratorium, according to city spokesperson Dustin Klemann.

According to a copy of the proposed site plan, the In-N-Out in Culver City would include 61 parking spots and a drive-thru lane that could accommodate 26 vehicles.

Grassroots campaign against In-N-Out drive-thru

After In-N-Out held required community meetings earlier this year about its planned development, Culver City resident Paul Hewitt began distributing flyers calling the project a “terrible idea” to his neighbors.

“I had several people contact me as I was passing out these flyers saying, ‘Hey, I wanna join forces with you,’” Hewitt said. “I gathered up a little ragtag group of neighbors, all different ages, all different backgrounds.”

That group included Martin and her wife Cynthia, who created an online petition urging residents and the city council to oppose the In-N-Out “mega drive-thru” because it would create traffic congestion, worsen local air quality and present safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists.

The petition has gathered just under 950 signatures in five months.

'Auto-centric' design

Drive-thrus are an element of city planning that urban planners call auto-centric design since it’s a portion of land exclusively devoted to people in cars. Drive-thrus, for example, require breaks in the sidewalk for cars to enter the queue, according to David Morley,  research program manager at the American Planning Association.

Vehicle speed, which is the main factor determining the level of harm to pedestrians during collisions, is less of an issue with drive-thrus. Still, increasing the number of places where a car might interact with pedestrians creates more risk, UCLA’s Madeline Brozen said.

“In a city where we are trying to reduce traffic crashes and fatalities, we need to be very cautious about anything that is going to increase the likelihood for conflicts,” Brozen said.

Drive-thrus don’t necessarily have to come at the expense of walkability and safety, said Jill Bahm, a partner at land consulting firm Giffels Webster.

Bahm said communities could only allow drive-thrus in areas near highway access or where there isn’t a lot of bike or pedestrian traffic. Or they could set drive-thrus behind a building or landscaping to make the business itself more inviting to people not in cars.

Is a ban the right answer?

Jot Condie, the president of the California Restaurant Association, said he sees drive-thru bans as generally “shortsighted.”

“You’re essentially banning quick-service restaurants without specifically stating that,” Condie said.

According to the American Planning Association, 70% of all fast food sales come from customers placing orders at drive-thrus.

When San Diego considered a partial drive-thru ban in 2021, the California Restaurant Association sent a letter saying such a ban would block certain groups, including people with disabilities, access to products and services.

Councilmember Fish said he understands accessibility concerns but thinks there are other ways to make Culver City more accessible, from encouraging walk-up windows, increasing handicap parking and investing in other city services.

How to keep tabs on the city council

The city council meets on the second and fourth Monday of most months in Culver City. Meetings start at 7 p.m.

Here's how you can follow along:

• Attend in person: Mike Balkman Council Chambers, Culver City Hall, 9770 Culver Blvd., Culver City
• Watch the live broadcast or view the archive
• Here's how to submit a comment or contact the council

Norway’s historic World Cup performance has brought together Southern California’s relatively small, but spirited Norwegian community.

They’ve been packing into a San Pedro Church, a Westside Irish bar and have taught people to row like a Viking at watch parties throughout the region, after Norway qualified this year for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

Several Norway soccer watch parties, including the one at Joxer Daly's in Culver City, promise waffles.

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Courtesy Elise Maeland

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“This whole experience also just reminded me of why I'm proud of being Norwegian and all of these values that the society and my parents instilled upon me from a young age,” said Vilde Vevatne, who was born and raised in Oslo but now lives in L.A.

She’s proud of the team’s performance on the pitch but also its attitude outside of the matches.

“  How kind and humble the team are being. … They're not bragging unnecessarily,” Vevatne said. “They're genuinely just excited to be there. They're doing their best job and not thinking they're better than anyone else.”

Vevatne says it’s the embodiment of the Law of Jante.

“That's like an unwritten rule in Norwegian culture where we're taught from a young age — ‘Don't think you're special. Don't think you're better than everyone else,’” Vevatne said. “Just be part of the pack and just be a nice, genuine person."

Norway's Erling Haaland has scored seven goals in the World Cup as of July 8. “ I think he has just exploded as a superstar coming out of the game,” said Erik Steigen.

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And now SoCal’s Nordic community has an open invitation for anyone looking for a team to support during the quarterfinals.

Row with us. (The practice of imitating a Viking longboat of warriors rowing into battle started within the last year, but quickly became a viral phenomenon.)

“ We're a small country. We need every fan we can have,” said Petter Isaksen, who helped organize the watch parties at the Norwegian Seaman’s Church in San Pedro.

Waffles, rowing and Norwegian soccer

The Norwegian Seaman’s Church or Sjømannskirken was founded in 1941 to serve the community of Nordic sailors in San Pedro.

“Now there are almost no Norwegian sailors left, but there's still a lot of Norwegians in L.A. and in SoCal,” Isaksen, who works as a host at the church, said. “We're there for them as a church and as a cultural center,”

There are about 42,000 people who reported Norwegian ancestry in L.A. County according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey estimate.

The church hosts groups for toddlers, knitting and Norwegian language classes in addition to a Sunday Lutheran service that welcomes all faiths.

And five days a week, there are waffles for sale — always heart-shaped and with your choice of goat cheese, jam or sour cream.

“We can eat several,” Isaksen said.

The Seaman's Church in San Pedro has long been a gathering place for Southern California Norwegians and has hosted watch parties since the World Cup qualifying matches.

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Courtesy Petter Isaksen

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Isaksen has followed Norway’s football team “since I was born” and started organizing the watch parties at the church during the qualifying matches.

He said dozens of people, including several new to the church, have attended each watch party for communal singing, waffle eating and rowing.

“Everyone, whether they're, like, 12 weeks or 99 years old, they're in on it,” Isaksen said. “It's so much fun, and it brings so much togetherness.”

Cathrine Chiaro, left, and Petter Isaksen, right, both work at the Norwegian Seaman's Church in San Pedro.

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Courtesy Petter Isaksen

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‘Where are all the Norwegians at?’

A Culver City Irish sports bar has become another bastion of Norwegian pride during the World Cup thanks to Erik Steigen.

When he first moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago to work in the music industry, he didn’t prioritize seeking out his countrymen.

“I'm not moving to the US … to hang out with Norwegians and eat lutefisk,” Steigen said, referencing the divisive dried, lye-soaked fish. “I'm here to try to build a career and pursue my own dreams.”

But that changed about a decade ago.

Petter Wichman, right, and his son Erik, left. During the knockout game against Brazil, they lead the whole bar in a session of rowing, despite the fact that most people were cheering for their opponents.

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Courtesy of Petter Wichman

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“I started wondering, ‘Where are all the Norwegians at?’” Steigen said. He joined the board of the Seaman’s Church in San Pedro and today helps organize events through Peer Gynt LA, a cultural group that evolved from an early 20th century chapter of the Sons of Norway lodge.

“When you're from a different country — I've spent most of my life in the U.S. now — I think you become extra patriotic about your native country,” Steigen said.

So why organize a watch party at an Irish sports bar?

Steigen is a lifelong soccer fan, but when he first arrived in the U.S., the national team’s games didn’t broadcast in the states. So he adopted the Liverpool Football Club and often catches the games at Joxer Daly's in Culver City.

When people asked him where to watch Norway play, he defaulted to his home bar.

Steigen wasn’t sure if anyone would show up to watch Norway take on Iraq in their first match, but dozens did — and Norway won 4-1.

“ It's amazing how many Norwegians really exist in L.A. that you've never heard of,” Steigen said.

From left, Erik Steigen, Finn "The Viking" Orvin and Henning Gabrielsen are among the many Norway fans that have watched the matches at Joxer Daly's in Culver City.

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Courtesy Erik Steigen

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Elise Maeland, has attended several of the matches at Joxer Daly’s.

She’s made a handful of Norwegian friends since moving to Southern California more than a decade ago for grad school, but outside of May 17, Norway’s Constitution Day, she said there are few large Norwegian gatherings.

“I feel like that was what was really cool about the World Cup is that it really brought Norwegians together in L.A.,” Maeland said.

She hasn’t decided whether she’ll watch Saturday’s quarterfinal at Joxer Daly’s or join a larger watch party in Venice Beach.

“ I'll go where the most Norwegians go,” Maeland said.

Where to watch the game

Saturday’s quarterfinal game between Norway and England in Miami is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. local time.

The Seaman’s Church / Sjømannskirken

Joxer Daly's

Los Angeles World Cup 26 Fan Zone at Venice Beach