The Brief

LAX is the butt of many jokes around Southern California.

People often dislike driving there because of the intense traffic and time it takes. Still, it’s an important part of Los Angeles life if you want to fly.

But what if air travel here had turned out differently? Back in the late ‘60s, eye-popping plans emerged to reshape flight in the U.S., along with a dream to create a sort of LAX extension — on an island.

The supersonic age

The aviation industry was looking into high-speed passenger flight in the 1950s — and it was a technological race the U.S. wanted to win.

Commercial supersonic travel was in early development around the world. Countries were trying to build new aircraft that could fly passengers across long distances faster than the speed of sound.

But the U.S. was losing ground to the Soviets, who were further ahead in development. That’s largely why in 1963, federal aviation officials created the supersonic transport program, also known as SST.

At this point, the U.S. still was in the mockup stage. The SST program called for aircraft that could reach at least Mach 2 with 300 passengers on intercontinental flights.

But breaking the sound barrier like that comes with very loud booms — which residents protested. Noise and environmental concerns slowly became a problem. How would these new potential planes fit into the populated LAX area?

Santa Monica Island

A map of Santa Monica Island.

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R. Donald Jaye

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Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

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One answer was to construct an island off the coast. It would’ve been a few miles into the Pacific Ocean, between Santa Monica and Marina del Rey.

Architect R. Donald Jaye rendered a design of it in 1968. It included a subway route that connected the island to the main LAX airport. Travelers also could hop on a route right off PCH near Santa Monica Pier to get to the island.

The island could’ve had room for the whole shebang — a commercial area, hotels, apartments, and even an aerospace university. There also would’ve been two 15,000 foot runways, which gave the planes plenty of takeoff room.

It’s unclear how seriously city officials pursued this dream, but it clearly didn’t happen. Why?

Plans never came to fruition

The plan eventually was scrapped.

In 1968, the city of L.A. and the county decided to put all their supersonic chips in a spot north of the city, which was called the Palmdale Intercontinental Airport.

Thousands of acres were purchased for this airport, just west of Air Force Plant 42. While a small terminal opened in 1971, it doesn’t have commercial service today. The city of Palmdale hopes to bring it back, according to its website.

Ultimately, while the U.K. and France jointly introduced the supersonic Concorde in 1976, commercial supersonic development fell apart in the U.S. mostly because the SST program became pretty controversial.

Part of this was because of how the aviation industry and policymakers handled the program’s negative ramifications, like intense sound levels and pollution.

According to physicists Joel Primack and Frank von Hippel in “Advice And Dissent: Scientists In The Political Arena,” there were active attempts to hide information from the public, including suppressing unfavorable reports and commissioning others to criticize or supersede them.

After years of backlash, Congress canceled the SST program in 1971.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

A local pastor, an ACLU organizer, and the leader of an immigration advocacy group showed up early Tuesday to a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting to demand answers after their scheduled presentation on federal immigration raids was canceled.

The groups had been invited to brief the commission on the impact of federal raids and ways to better protect immigrant communities, but on Friday they received a call saying the presentation was canceled. They convened a press conference soon before the commission meeting was scheduled to begin, with dozens of supporters holding “ICE out of LAPD” signs.

The police department has struggled for months to explain to city residents its role in federal immigration sweeps that have resulted in more than 14,000 being detained in the region last year. 

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has wavered between publicly criticizing state laws designed to hold  federal agents accountable when they refuse to identify themselves and promising full compliance with Mayor Karen Bass’ order for more immigrant protections.

Police Commission President Teresa Sanchez Gordon offered in a March commission meeting to invite immigrant groups to give presentations about their work and concerns regarding the raids.

The commission did not respond to a request from The LA Local for more information about the canceled presentation.

Father Brendan Busse, from Dolores Mission Church, speaks during a news conference calling for LAPD compliance with Los Angeles sanctuary policies outside LAPD headquarters.

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Martin Romero

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The LA Local

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Father Brendan Busse, of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights and LA Voice said he helped organize efforts to protect people during aggressive federal immigration sweeps last year.

“That’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s what we’re here to ask LAPD to do: To serve and to protect, ” Busse said at the press conference. “Safety and sanctuary go together.”

He described being at a raid in the city’s Fashion District last year, saying “They threw tear gas and flash grenades at all of us.” Others said LAPD officers had established a perimeter around the federal sweep and were seen escorting agents.

In February, Mayor Karen Bass ordered the department to draw a clearer line between the work of local police and the federal government’s deportation efforts. McDonnell soon after established policies requiring officers to identify federal agents at sweep sites and be present only to protect the public. 

But Martha Arevalo, executive director of the Central American Resource Center, said that LAPD continues to respond to federal immigration agents requesting aid and is “effectively assisting ICE operations in ways that undermine the local sanctuary protections.”

The Los Angeles City Council established a sanctuary ordinance in late 2024, partly restricting how city employees and resources can assist federal immigration enforcement. Last year, the council passed additional legislation directing the commission to further limit LAPD interactions with immigration agents.

“As a city and as a police department, we have to ask the question: ‘Who are we here to protect?’” Arevalo asked the dozens gathered outside LAPD headquarters, later adding, “You should be wanting to have dialogue about these issues.”

Andrés Kwon, Senior Policy Counsel and Organizer at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, speaks during a news conference calling for LAPD compliance with Los Angeles sanctuary policies.

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Martin Romero

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The LA Local

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Andrés Kwon, senior policy counsel and organizer at the ACLU of Southern California, told The LA Local that he and others from the groups met with Sanchez Gordon and Inspector General Matthew Barragan in recent weeks. They were invited to give the 20-minute presentation, he said. 

Then, he added, “We got pulled.” He said they did not receive an explanation for why their presentation was canceled.

Kwon said they had planned to provide statistics on the impact of immigration raids and a history of the groups’ work since the 1980s helping immigrants fleeing persecution and war.

“We need LAPD to not just blindly trust ICE and Border Patrol,” Kwon said

Several people spoke during the public comment period of the commission meeting requesting that the groups be invited again to present on how to further protect the city’s immigrants.

The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to requests for comment about this story.

Oil prices plunged and stocks surged as global investors breathed a sigh of relief after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and President Donald Trump backed off his threat to wipe out Iran's "whole civilization."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,000 points in early morning trade, while the S&P and Nasdaq also rallied, following strong gains in Asian and European stocks overnight.

Meanwhile, both U.S. crude futures, as well as Brent, the global benchmark, plunged amid hopes that ships could soon transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which about 20% of global oil flows. The strait had been virtually shut down by the war, sparking a global energy crisis.

The strong market reaction comes after Trump announced the ceasefire on social media Tuesday evening, less than two hours before a deadline he had imposed for Iran to meet his demands or face wide-scale destruction.

Wild swings in the markets

Trump's threat — and its reversal — marked the latest rhetoric to roil Wall Street and global investors since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago.

Investors have swung from hope that Trump and Iran will de-escalate the war, to panic when it appears that the conflict is heating up, and back again.

Trump said his agreement to a ceasefire is contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz immediately. It could take some time for global energy markets to recover, since some damage has already been done to oil refineries and other infrastructure in the Middle East.

The energy crisis sparked by the war with Iran has hurt consumers all over the world, including in the U.S., where national gasoline prices have risen above $4 per gallon.
Copyright 2026 NPR

It's going to be a warm Wednesday here in Southern California.

Overcast skies will be more present along the coast this morning, followed by a mostly sunny afternoon. Temperatures along the beaches will reach the upper 60s to mid 70s for the inland coast.

Meanwhile, over in the valleys, temperatures will rise up to the mid 70s and low 80s, up to 85 degrees in the Inland Empire. Coachella Valley will be sunny with temperatures ranging from 92 to 97 degrees.

The Olympics ticket pre-sale for locals wraps up Wednesday, but some in Southern California left the first ticket drop empty-handed after seeing the high prices.

Fans — or potential ones — reported sticker shock, big purchases and broken hearts after logging on to secure a spot at the 2028 Games and finding prices as high as $5,500, and a 24% service fee. Tickets for $28 for many events sold out fast, as did many many for under $100.

Sarah Maizes of Miracle Mile got a slot to buy tickets and wanted to get seats at artistic gymnastics for her daughter, who's a huge fan. But after she saw the limited options and the high prices, she didn't end up buying any.

"I understand tickets to events are expensive. I have paid for Taylor Swift tickets," Maizes said. "Here's the problem. The campaign made you feel like you had a shot at an insider deal because we are hosting the Olympics and this is our town…and I'm looking at tickets online for $400 a person, $600 a person, $2,100."

The high prices reflect a stark uptick in sports tickets across the board in recent years, amid hyper-focus on wealthier fans, an ever-increasing demand for live entertainment, and dynamic pricing — where sellers can adjust prices based on that demand.

In the case of the Olympics, the local organizing committee LA28 is counting on ticket and hospitality sales to bring in a whopping $2.5 billion to cover the costs of putting on the Games. If they don't hit that mark, public funds could be on the line.

Still, Olympics super-fan Denny Nivens in Hermosa Beach, who said he's attended eight summer Games, said the prices were the highest he'd ever seen, by a long shot.

"It's completely unprecedented," Nivens said. "I think they're pricing a whole lot of people out completely."

How many $28 tickets are left?

LA28 has not laid out how many tickets it released in its drop for locals, or put out official prices. Instead, it laid out that 1 million tickets would be $28, more than half would be over $200, and 5% would be more than $1,000.

But Angelenos who participated in the ticket drop told LAist they felt drawn in by the promise of $28 tickets, only to see astronomical prices on their screens.

Many reported that the cheapest tickets were almost entirely unavailable. By Monday, one buyer reported only seeing $28 tickets left for women's golf prelims and women's soccer matches outside of Los Angeles.

LA28 spokesperson Gigi Gutierrez told LAist via email that hundreds of thousands of $28 tickets had been sold — and tens of thousands remained available as of Monday.

"That's hundreds of thousands of Angelenos that were able to get incredibly affordable tickets," Gutierrez said.

She said that the future availability of $28 tickets would depend on how many were sold in Drop One, indicating that cheap tickets could only become harder to come by.

Why are tickets getting more expensive?

Olympics prices aren't the only ones on the rise. FIFA has also come under fire for the cost of attending this year's World Cup, which have been listed for thousands of dollars. It's a trend that fans are seeing not just in mega-events but in average sports seasons, too.

One reason that tickets are rising, sports economist Victor Matheson told LAist, is simple: there are more people than ever who want access to sporting and music events and can afford to pay for them. But capacity remains basically the same.

"The Coliseum in Rome at 2,000 years old is about the same size as the Coliseum in L.A.," Matheson said. " You have more and more people, and more and more money, fighting for basically the same number of seats and the same amount of entertainment."

But he also pointed to the ever-smarter technology sports teams and events organizers have at their fingertips that allow them to jack up prices. These techniques and the many fees associated with ticket purchases have come under increasing scrutiny, as consumer experiences increasingly cater to the very wealthy and fans wonder who profits when ticket prices jump.

Ticket revenue is a major part of LA28's budget

The success of ticket sales in Los Angeles will be critical to the success of the Olympic Games. Organizers currently have a $7.1 billion budget to put on the Olympics — and much of the expected revenue will come from ticket sales.

LA28 hasn't said specifically how many Olympics tickets are for sale, only that together with the Paralympics, there are 14 million tickets in total.

But Rich Perelman, who worked for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, recently estimated that if 12 million of those tickets are for the Olympic Games in particular, the average ticket price would need to be $208.33 to hit the $2.5 billion in expected revenue.

"That’s why they are so expensive," Perelman wrote on his website The Sports Examiner.

Matheson, the sports economist, said high ticket sales could help LA28 stay out of the red.

" [It's] actually pretty good for taxpayers," Matheson said of Olympics tickets being high. "In that the more money that's raised from ticket prices, the less likely any taxpayers will be on the hook for cost overruns at the Olympics."