The Brief

L.A. city crews on Friday started repainting a set of crosswalks around the popular Stoner Park that residents had painted themselves months ago — only to be promptly scrubbed off.

A week ago, the Department of Transportation removed a set of unsanctioned crosswalks painted by community members led by Sawtelle resident Jonathan Hale, who said the intersections are too dangerous for pedestrians and kids who frequent the popular park and its many amenities.

Hale was on hand as crews began work on Friday. In late May, he had gathered a group of friends and neighbors to first put in the DIY crosswalks after learning the ropes from the organization Crosswalks Collective LA.

"I'm really excited," Hale said. "Also, hey, it's a win, you know, I'm really proud."

After DIY crosswalks were removed last Friday, Hale contacted the city and the Department of Transportation to make his case — and vowed to repaint them again.

Councilmember Traci Park also told LAist she had asked the city to keep the unsanctioned crosswalks, without success.

Sawtelle resident Jonathan Hale, who led the community effort to get crosswalks installed around Stoner Park in West L.A. He showed up on Friday morning as city workers put in permanent crossings.

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Dañiel Martinez

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LAist

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On Thursday, Hale told LAist he got a call from that the city saying permanent crosswalks would be installed.

"I've been kind of communicating with the DOT, and then the mayor's office reached out to me yesterday, basically saying that they would make these changes," Hale said.

In addition, he said the city has agreed to meet with the community to take questions about infrastructure needs.

City workers at an intersection around Stoner Park in West L.A. on Friday morning, getting ready to install permanent crosswalks.

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Dañiel Martinez

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LAist

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A Bobcat loader is readying an intersection around Stoner Park in West L.A. to install permanent crosswalks.

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Dañiel Martinez

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LAist

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As to why the city removed the unsanctioned crosswalks in the first place, Hale said he finally found out from the city.

"The first is liability," Hale said. "Having markings at the crosswalk makes it more dangerous because it invites pedestrians to cross the street."

Another reason? Hale said city officials told him that in order to put in the crosswalks, they'd need to renovate the sidewalks to be ADA compliant.

“The City of Los Angeles is installing crosswalks near Stoner Park in West L.A. this morning and sidewalk improvements will be installed in the coming weeks,” the office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told LAist in a statement. "The installation of the crosswalk by LADOT ensures that the crosswalk meets all legal safety requirements.”

No word on why they decided to restore the crosswalks.

West L.A. resident Minal Mehta was thrilled about the turn of events. She said she and her children visit the park daily.

"I want to say thank you to the community effort," Mehta said. "It's really cool that the city actually listens."

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Just a few blocks away from East L.A.’s Whittier Boulevard arch — a symbol of Chicano pride — Sounds of Music has served as a cultural hub for decades. 

The record store, which has specialized in Chicano soul, oldies and “souldies” since 1964, is now at risk of closing if sales don’t improve.

“I was going to close up in January,” owner Mario Reyes said. “We’re kind of month to month right now.”

Reyes inherited the store from his father, Carlos Reyes, who relocated to East L.A. from Montebello in 1967. Since then, it has been a destination for fans of soul, R&B, Chicano rap and oldies, offering vinyl records, cassettes, CDs and other merchandise. It’s something that other record stores in Southern California haven’t been able to emulate, Reyes’ wife, Adrianna, said. 

“It’s the vibe of our store,” she said. “We’re not like Amoeba Records. They’ll carry the regular Taylor Swift, Tupac, Sade and regular artists but they don’t carry oldies like the way we do.”

Preserving Chicano culture in East LA 

Outside the store, a Felix the Cat standee sporting Nike Cortez, a flannel shirt and slacks, invites shoppers to explore East L.A. culture. Inside, Aztec warrior statuettes sit next to Homies figurines.

Bandanas emblazoned with “East Los” and shirts featuring characters from “Blood In, Blood Out” celebrate local heritage. 

An original Silver Dollar Bar sign hangs in one corner, a nod to the building’s history as the site where Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar was killed by a tear gas projectile fired by an LA County sheriff’s deputy during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium. (Sounds of Music moved into the building from across the street in 2018)

A plaque outside and images inside honor his memory. 

An original Silver Dollar Bar sign hangs in the store, referencing the site where Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar was killed during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium.

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Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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But for many longtime customers, the music is what kept them returning. 

“Since 1993 I’ve been coming to Sounds of Music,” Ricardo “Ziggy” Lona said. “I was into oldies as a teenager in the 90s, and Sounds of Music was one of the only places you could get your Eastside Story, your Art Laboe… your favorite artists.”

Lona, who rode the bus from Commerce as a teenager, said he worries the store may follow the fate of other independent music stores.

“With the internet and music being the way it is, record stores just ain’t making it. Sounds of Music has made it this far from the support of the community. It’s more than just the music, it’s about what’s come out of it,” Lona said. 

Building alongside community

To raise funds for the longstanding store, Reyes and Lona recently organized a pop-up on the property. Artists sold custom clothing, vinyl records and other artworks while DJs played funk and oldies to a lively crowd in the parking lot behind the store. 

Boyle Heights resident Christina Fernandez said the store holds a special place in her heart. 

“My brother’s nina, we called her ‘Guera.’ She’s the one that introduced me to all of this,” Fernandez said. “She brought out all her records when I was little so that’s how I learned about all of the Eastside Story Records and I just fell in love with all of that.”

Fernandez even honors her ‘Guera’ with a forearm tattoo of her name stylized like an Eastside Story album cover.

“It’s just a part of our culture. The familiar sounds bring back memories of people who are no longer here with us and bring us back to that time,” she said. 

Records, cassettes, CDs and other merchandise are in stock at Sounds of Music. The store specializes in soul, oldies and Latin music over the decades.

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Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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Economic struggles as ICE raids shake East LA

Like many other Eastside small businesses, the Reyes family was affected by immigration raids.

“People weren’t buying at all because they didn’t want to shop because they were scared to come in,” Adrianna Reyes said. “It really affected our business and brought sales down.” 

Reyes added that sales haven’t returned to the pre-raids levels and is afraid they may never return. Mario Reyes had said his father had to loan him cash to keep the store afloat at the start of the year.

To keep the store alive, Reyes urges patrons old and new to stop by. 

“You don’t have to buy a lot, just buy something,” he said.

Sounds of Music is located near the arch in East LA.

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Alma Lucia

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Boyle Heights Beat

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The teenage birth rate in the U.S. fell by 7% in 2025, continuing decades of decline, according to a report published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics.

"A 7% decline is really quite extraordinary," says the report's lead author, Brady Hamilton, a statistician demographer with the center, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Overall, nearly 126,000 babies were born to mothers ages 15 to 19, according to the analysis of provisional data. The birth rate for that age group was 11.7 births per 1,000 females. By contrast, the teen birth rate in 1991 was 61.8 births per 1,000.

The report also explored other topics related to births in the United States. The overall birth rate fell 1% from the previous year, also continuing a long decline. The rate of preterm births was unchanged. And the cesarean delivery rate increased to 32.5% in 2025, which is the highest rate since 2013, continuing a slight upward trend.

Notably, the provisional report does not include an analysis of births by the mother's race or ethnicity, even though those were included in this report in the last few years. CDC told NPR in a statement that this year's report is "covering fewer topics than previous provisional birth reports," but also that race data is still available on CDC's WONDER online database.

This provisional report comes out every year in the spring based on more than 99% of registered births for the previous year. "It gives us basically a sneak peek at some key factors that we can expect when we get the final data for that year," Hamilton says. The final data is usually published in August.

The harder "why" question

While birth certificates provide a great deal of demographic, geographic and other kinds of detail about a birth, "the birth certificate does not allow us to address the question of why," Hamilton says.

Many factors are driving the 35-year decline in teen birth rates, says Bianca Allison, pediatrician and associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

"What is actually affecting the birth rates are likely lower rates of teen pregnancy overall, which is in the context of higher use of contraception and lower sexual activity for youth, and then also continued access to abortion care," she says.

While there has been a lot of concern about the declining general birth rate in the U.S., the decline in teen births is harder to parse as a good or bad news story.

"I think it depends on who you're talking to and how they're positioned and looking at the data," says Allison, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, an advocacy group that favors abortion rights and supports health equity. "From my perspective, as somebody who specifically studies the provision of high-quality reproductive health care and access for young people, this should be celebrated as long as this is aligned with what people are actually wanting for themselves."

She adds that there are a lot of negative narratives associated with teen parenthood in terms of educational and career potential. "Many of those outcomes are due to the lack of societal, institutional and systemic supports that young people receive to parent, not their lack of ability to parent," she argues.

She hopes that the declining teen birth rate doesn't make people think this issue is gone. "We cannot get our foot off the gas pedal of continuing to invest in supports" for teen parents to help them reach their goals. They need educational, social and medical help to thrive, she says: "All those things are incredibly important."
Copyright 2026 NPR

The Getty Center will be closed starting on March 15, 2027, for about a year for major renovations.

The center called the upcoming facelift the most “significant series of modernization initiatives” since it opened in 1997. The scheduled reopening in spring 2028 comes just ahead of the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Renovations and improvements include spiffier galleries that bring “art in dialogue with nature,” according to the Getty; upgrades to the tram system that will improve accessibility; improvements to Wi-Fi and cell service

“Our mission has always been to make art accessible to our Los Angeles community and visitors from around the world. In the coming years, guided by our commitment to All for Art, we will enhance the visitor experience across the Getty Center campus through reimagined spaces and new offerings, while prioritizing sustainability,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement.

Some galleries are currently closed as the center makes upgrades to its air conditioning system.