The Brief

After eight days of being closed, traffic is once again flowing in both directions of the 10 Freeway through downtown Los Angeles.

The 10 Freeway from Alameda Street to the East L.A. interchange reopened Sunday evening, far ahead of schedule. Last week, officials announced that repairs could take up to five weeks.

At a news conference Sunday, Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Senator Alex Padilla offered thanks for a speedy reopening of a key artery which typically handles 300,000 vehicles a day.

Some surface street and on-ramp closures were expected to linger as longer term repairs remained ongoing.

The 10 Freeway opened lanes to vehicles Sunday night ahead of a Monday morning commute.

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Vice President Kamala Harris, right, walks on the 10 Freeway Sunday morning with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass before a news conference announcing the freeway was just hours away from opening.

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Local businesses that have had to deal with the closure are welcoming its reopening.

Edgar Jimenez’s Mexican food truck, Quesadillas Ja Ja Ja on 8th and Alameda streets, is close to where the fire erupted and said his otherwise regular customers were reluctant to stand in line or brave the traffic, which also affected his operations.

“Even if it's around the corner it will take half an hour to get back to where I am,” he said. “It impacted me, like, really bad.”

The Shell gas station on Alameda and 14th streets that provides a vantage point to the repair work saw an 80% drop in gasoline sales last week, said morning manager Alexander Shenouda.

“We just relied on the construction workers coming to our market,” he said.

A resource center for businesses also opened Monday on Central Avenue, where people can learn about city and county programs, including grants, that can help offset some of the financial effects of the closure.

According to the Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District, some businesses lost 40% to 50% of their revenue during the shut down.

How we got here

After initial fears that the bridge near downtown L.A. would need to be demolished and rebuilt — a process which would have taken months — structural testing instead pointed toward repairs. Still, that work was thought would take three to five weeks.

Instead, Sunday morning, authorities said the freeway would open within hours, in time for the Monday morning commute.

In all, that means the freeway was back in operation eight days after a devastating fire began last Saturday, burning through pallets, vehicles and other flammable material store under the roadway.

"The good news is there was more good news," said Gov. Gavin Newsom at an early morning news conference.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined the group making the announcement. Harris said she was "acutely aware" of how serious the shutdown of the 10 Freeway was for the city and region.

"The work that happened here was extraordinary," she said praising the union contractors who worked around the clock. "Tomorrow the commute is back on."

Where things stand

• The Alameda Street off-ramp, as well as Lawrence Street between 10th Street and 14th Street, will still be closed.
  
• Newsom said on Sunday that permanent repairs will continue, during episodic closures that will take place likely at night.
  
• Bass said Metro ridership jumped 10% during the closure.
  
• Authorities are seeking a person of interest in connection to the arson investigation.
  

• Newsom said Thursday that the fire damaged 10 Freeway was “in better shape than anticipated” and will open no later than Nov. 21, far sooner than initially expected and before the busy Thanksgiving holiday.

  “What a gift for Los Angeles to have right before a holiday to know that your commute will be better," said Bass, who joined Newsom at the burn site to make the announcement.
  

• On Thursday, the L.A. Department of Transportation added an additional left turn lane in each direction along the Alameda corridor to improve traffic flow. 
  
• Additional white-glove traffic officers continue to be stationed throughout the closure area. And With rain expected through the end of the week, Bass directed the Department of Transportation to increase the amount of white-glove traffic officers in the downtown area so commuters can get through intersections faster.
  
• The Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration made $3 million of emergency relief funding immediately available to Caltrans on Wednesday to help repair the freeway. The “quick release” federal funding will go towards traffic control, removing hazardous waste, and temporary shoring of the damaged structure.
  
• On Wednesday, Metro added additional buses to Line 66, which runs along Olympic Boulevard, and Line 251 along Soto Street. These lines saw the most delays Tuesday.

• LAFD is now inspecting all state property under freeways for fire hazard material to make sure they’re safe and that the 10 Freeway “tragedy will not be repeated,” Bass said.
  
• Newsom also said crew would install cameras so that the public can monitor the project's progress, on fixthe10.ca.gov (which currently appears to have photos and a highlight-reel video of repairs.)

The following reporting preceded the reopening.

Why drivers were asked to stay off surface streets

Bass and other top officials had pleaded with drivers to stay off surface streets if they’re trying to get around the 10 Freeway closure.

After taking a helicopter ride over the damaged freeway, Bass said all the surface streets around downtown look like parking lots as people try to find their own detours. Officials are still encouraging commuters to stay on the freeways, or take public transit whenever possible.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley added that fire trucks and ambulances have been having trouble getting through the congestion.

“Every second counts when it comes to our emergency responders,” she said. “So please keep that in mind when you are trying to make that decision of where you're going to go.”

What we know so far

• We learned Monday that the fire was likely started by arson. Newsom said CalFire — which finished its investigation 12 hours early — made a preliminary determination that there was malice intent. “That it was arson, and that it was done and set intentionally," Newsom said. "That determination of who is responsible is an investigation that is ongoing.”
  

• While the fire remains under investigation, Mayor Bass told LAist 89.3’s AirTalk earlier this week that speculation on social media and elsewhere is not helpful.

  "There's a lot of accusations against the homeless people that were in the area,” she said. “There is no reason, at this point in time, to associate the encampment with the fire that took place there.”
  

• The company that leased the space under the freeway from CalTrans, Apex Development Inc., is facing lawsuits for subleasing the site to at least five other tenants without authorization, according to Newsom. Officials are now checking to see if the Calabasas-based company is out of compliance with the other leases it holds in the area.

  "So to say the whole thing is a mess is an understatement," Bass said Tuesday, "but this company is going to have its date in court at the beginning of the year."
  

• As for why flammable material was stored under a major freeway in the first place, Bass said: "It's not just flammable materials, it's materials, period and it's also oversight and accountability and all of that I think is going to come the question now because — just in our city alone — you were talking about miles and miles of property underneath the freeways that the state leases out.

  "And so all of that needs to be scrutinized and the governor has assured us that it will be, I mean, especially pallet storage of all things, given the number of pallet fires we have in pallet yards each year in Southern California."
  

The backstory

An aerial view of cleanup crews working beneath the closed 10 Freeway Monday.

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The massive fire that shut down both directions of the 10 Freeway between the East L.A. connector and Alameda Street was sparked over the weekend.

Los Angeles city leaders immediately warned of major traffic congestion after "extensive damage" to the bridge near downtown. Before this shutdown, the key regional connector handled about 300,000 vehicles a day — a number that underscores the dramatic effect of the closure.

Crews have been shoring the bridge — adding in temporary supports — and determined by Tuesday that the bridge could be repaired, rather than demolished and rebuilt. That's a major relief to authorities and the commuting public, with more relief coming Thursday when the reopening timeline was greatly accelerated.

Initial timeline on reopening was 3 to 5 weeks

Authorities say work will continue 24/7 until repairs allow the reopening of the stretch of the 10 Freeway that typically handles 300,000 vehicles a day.

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On Sunday, Bass called for patience from Los Angeles drivers — a call she made again Monday and Tuesday. The mayor invoked the Northridge earthquake in 1994 in terms of the severity and consequences of Saturday's damage.

"For those of you that remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans worked around the clock to complete emergency repairs to the freeways," said Bass. "And this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort."

"Unfortunately, there's no reason to think that this is going to be over in a couple of days," she said.

Newsom said Tuesday that with 24/7 work on repairs, the timeline to reopening would be three to five weeks. Officials were greatly relieved that it wasn't longer — and even more pleased when word came that the major freeway would be opened before the Thanksgiving holiday.

When the 10 Freeway was damaged in the Northridge earthquake, a private construction firm — operating with generous incentives in place — was able to rebuild two bridges in just over two months — 74 days earlier than projected.

Newsom, who declared a state of emergency on Saturday to help with cleanup and repairs, had said Sunday that incentives could come into play.

“The state is mobilizing resources and taking steps to ensure any necessary repairs are completed as soon as possible to minimize the impact on those traveling in and around Los Angeles,” Newsom said.

"We are approaching this issue with absolute urgency," Bass said.

How Caltrans assessed damage

This photo provided by the California Department of Transportation shows an early morning fire along Interstate 10 near downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.

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Damage under the I-10 overpass after a huge fire on Saturday morning in downtown.

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An emergency contract to begin restoration of the structure has been secured by Caltrans, according to Toks Omishakin, California's secretary of transportation.

What we know about the assessment so far:

• Crews took hazardous material samples for lab analysis and then removed debris from under the overpass.
• At that point, structural engineers from the department were able perform a thorough assessment.

"I want to emphasize that our efforts on this are going to have to be 24/7 to get this roadway back open. But I'm not going to understate the challenge here. It is significant," Omishakin said.

About the fire

The fire started at a pallet yard just north of the 10 Freeway near the intersection of East 14th Street and South Alameda Street at around 12:22 a.m. Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The blaze quickly spread to a second pallet yard, affecting nearly eight acres of the area at one point.

More than 164 firefighters fought the blaze, which was largely contained within three hours. But some hotspots remained in hard-to-reach areas underneath the freeway and robotic equipment was brought in. The fire was fully knocked down later Sunday.

On Monday, officials provided more detail about the damaged infrastructure: About 450 feet of the freeway was affected by the fire, said John Yang, deputy district director for construction for Caltrans District 7. He said that includes more than 90 concrete support columns, each 3 feet in diameter and nearly 16 feet tall.

“We’re inspecting every aspect of it,” he said.

Omishakin said inspectors had been able to take concrete and rebar samples from the underside of the bridge and columns, which they then analyzed.

“Once we analyze these samples, we will get a clearer idea of our repair strategy,” he said.

There were no reported injuries to firefighters — or to others. The cause of the fire is under active investigation.

Officials at Sunday's news conference described treacherous conditions that made getting the fire under control a challenge. At one point, after electrical lines were knocked down by the fire, authorities at the scene were concerned that the water being used to knock down flames could be electrified. That forced them to pull firefighters back and turn to heavy equipment.

Newsom said that the state has begun litigation with the lessee of the pallet yard where the fire started.

"In fact, our inspectors have been out there on a consistent basis with citations," Newsom said at the press conference. "Their lease has expired, they're in arrears, we believe they've been subleasing the space, and we actually have a court date in the early part of the new calendar year."

Newsom said that he could not provide further details on any violations the lessees of the lot may have incurred, but that more updates would be forthcoming.

How to commute

Traffic backed up along a closed Interstate 10 after a fire that severely damaged the freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

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California Highway Patrol warns that traffic diverted from the 10 Freeway closure will impact the 5 Freeway, the 60, and the 101.

Drivers

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation said it is working to establish dedicated detours on surface streets.

"If you are driving on the freeway through downtown, we ask that you do not exit the freeway onto surface streets to bypass the affected area," said Laura Rubio-Cornejo, general manager of LADOT, adding that drivers should stay on the freeway and transfer to the 5, 110, or the 101.

The city has more information on alternate routes here.

Public transportation

The LADOT announced Tuesday that commuter express buses are now free. Commuter express buses connect areas like Northeast Valley, Thousand Oaks, the South Bay and Long Beach with downtown Los Angeles. DASH buses that provide short local trips continue to be free. Riders do not need a tap card.

Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said public transit users can take the E line from Santa Monica through downtown Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley. The J line parallels a portion of the 110 Freeway completely avoiding the closure area. Another option is the A line from Long Beach all the way to downtown Los Angeles.

Metrolink, Wiggins said, is increasing service from Covina all the way to downtown.
 
“There will now be 30-minute service all day, additional trips, six round trips in total that Metrolink has added starting this morning to give people more choices to ride,” she said.

Remote work

Transportation and city officials also asked anyone who works in downtown L.A. to work from home if at all possible — at least for now.

City officials are also hoping businesses in downtown L.A. will lean into work from home policies for the time being to help alleviate traffic.

“I know we've spent this time trying to encourage people to come back downtown, back into their offices,” Bass said at a news conference. “But while we are going through this crisis, we would like for employers who can have their staff work remotely to do so.”

Schools impact

All LAUSD schools were open Monday, but Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said parents and employees should expect delays. Carvalho said in a statement that families who have questions about district transportation should call (800) 522-8737 (1-800-LA-BUSES).

The district said the following schools may be “significantly impacted” by the closure:

• Para Los Niños Elementary
• 9th Street/Para Los Niños Middle
• Inner City Arts
• St. Turibius Catholic
• Metropolitan High  
• 20th Street Elementary
• 28th Street Elementary

Carvalho said Monday that about 42 bus routes felt the impact, out of 1,300; the average delay was anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes. The delays affected 13 schools.

St. Turibius Catholic School is blocks away from the now-closed section of the 10 Freeway. Principal Audrey Blanchette said her commute from Montebello tripled from 15 to 45 minutes.

“There's just a lot of big rigs on the regular streets that we usually see on the freeway,” Blanchette said. She got off the 60 at Whittier Boulevard and crossed the 6th Street Bridge to get to Central Avenue.

Blanchette said most of the school’s nearly 100 students live nearby and walk or take public transportation. Most of her staff and students made it to school on time Monday, but she’s bracing herself and staff to expect delays for weeks to come.

How we're reporting on this

Reporter Yusra Farzan is reporting from Union Station on commuter experiences. Susanne Whatley, who hosts Morning Edition for LAist 89.3, interviewed Mayor Karen Bass Monday morning and Karina Gacad is our AM Editor. Our AirTalk show has a number of experts on Monday morning's show that will be added as that information becomes available. Over the weekend, Associate Producer Kevin Tidmarsh and Weekend Host Julia Paskin anchored coverage with contributions from Weekend Editor Fiona Ng, PM Editor Tiffany Ujiiye Reporter Makenna Sieverston and Nick Roman, who hosted special coverage Sunday afternoon. Additional reporting Monday by Mariana Dale and Frank Stoltze. Additional editing by Ross Brenneman, Redmond Carolipio, Megan Garvey, Jason Wells and Tony Marcano.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes and/or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

What questions we asked

• What is the timeline for rebuilding?
• Can the freeway segment be repaired or do we need to demolish and start over?
• How does this compare to the damage and rebuilding efforts following the 1994 Northridge earthquake?
• What are the environmental impacts of the smoke and debris?

Your questions or ideas

Warner Bros. Discovery's blockbuster announcement Thursday that it would accept Paramount Skydance's takeover bid shouldn't be thought of simply as seeking to unify two major Hollywood players, two big streaming platforms and two leading TV news divisions under one roof.

It is certainly that. The nearly $111 billion Paramount-Warner marriage would unite their studios — and their back catalogue of shows and movies. It would add such franchises as D.C. Comics, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones to Paramount's Top Gun, Mission Impossible and Star Trek powerhouse. Paramount+ and HBO Max. CBS and CNN.

But there's more to it.

Paramount Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison is relying largely on the financial backing of his father, Larry Ellison — the co-founder of software giant Oracle, the lead investor in TikTok US, and one of the richest people on the planet.

The Ellisons have staged what appears to be a lightning-swift ascent through social and legacy media relying heavily on their connection to the Oval Office.

Should the Ellisons receive a green light from regulators to proceed with the deal, the minnow will have swallowed the whale. Warner currently has more than five times the market value of Paramount.

That's on top of acquiring Paramount itself and a major stake in TikTok US — all in less than a year. And that's in addition to Oracle, which runs much of the digital backbone of the nation's commerce and government.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, right, sits next to media mogul Rupert Murdoch as they listen to President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office.

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"It's tech giants becoming media giants," argues Jon Klein, a former top executive at CNN and CBS News.

But history shows such mega-mergers often end in tears. The movie business is expensive. Cable television is highly profitable but in steep decline as viewers cut the cord. The combined company will be saddled with debt. So why would the Ellisons spend their billions this way?

David Ellison has sought to be a force in Hollywood for years. He helped to produce movies with Tom Cruise at his family's company Skydance Media. But for his father, Larry Ellison, it's about more than just making his son's very expensive dreams come true.

"Beyond any dollars that they can derive — it's the data about consumer habits, down to the specific identity," Klein says.

He says the push into artificial intelligence by Oracle creates a thirst for more insight into how people view news and entertainment and what products they buy online. The streaming channels and social media giant both offer greater and more granular information.

"That's the prism that you've got to look at this Paramount/WBD deal through," says Klein, co-founder of HANG Media, a Gen Z social video engagement platform. "Oracle... wants to be one of the major players in AI. That's what Oracle wants to get out of media."

The deal still hinges on acceptance from antitrust regulators in Washington and Europe, who can seek to block the transaction. California's attorney general made clear Thursday night he would also give the acquisition tough scrutiny.

"If a merger substantially reduces competition in any market, it's illegal. Courts sort of take that literally," says University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner, who held a senior antitrust position in the U.S. Justice Department under former President Joe Biden.

"But in practice, the Justice Department has discretion on whether to challenge these mergers," Posner tells NPR. "And the courts have discretion on whether to block them."

Friendly ties to Trump

President Donald Trump's Justice Department is a wild card. Last year, the department's then antitrust chief, Gail Slater, took an aggressive stance against Google in court. Last month, the Justice Department sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion acquisition of a wireless tech competitor. Slater resigned under duress this month, however.

The Federal Communications Commission is unlikely to intervene, as no broadcast licenses would change hands in the Paramount takeover of Warner. But its chair, Brendan Carr, may well advise the Justice Department and he has lauded David Ellison's moves at CBS.

Even before sweetening its offer this week, Paramount proclaimed its "confidence in the speed and certainty of regulatory approval for its transaction."

Publicly, it argues that such consolidation is needed to take on streaming giants, very much including Netflix but also Amazon Prime, Apple, Disney and YouTube.

Behind the scenes — and sometimes in not-so-hidden ways — the Ellisons have become cozy with President Trump. Larry Ellison is a backer and adviser.

On Tuesday night, David Ellison attended Trump's State of the Union address as a guest of the president's ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. Graham tweeted out a photo of the two men making Trump's signature "thumbs-up" gesture ahead of the speech.

The president cares deeply about TV news. He has publicly said he wants new owners for CNN — which he has blasted repeatedly as "fake news" — and has proven willing to interfere in corporate matters in his return to the White House.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos departs the White House on Wednesday. Sarandos was there to discuss Netflix's bid for Warner Bros. just hours before Warner announced its preference for Paramount.

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Netflix chief Ted Sarandos met Thursday with administration officials at the White House — though notably not with Trump, according to an aide — in a last-gasp effort to salvage his company's competing bid. By the end of the night, Netflix had given up the fight.

The shadow cast over the process by the president has inspired sharp criticism of the path that Paramount and the Ellisons took to land the Warner deal.

"A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want," Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in a statement. "With the cloud of corruption looming over Trump's Department of Justice, it'll be up to the American people to speak up and state attorneys general to enforce the law."

"It is not just the seemingly open corruption of this entire process that leaves me shaken," writes Jeffrey Blehar in the conservative National Review. "I am shaken by how little people will care."

Said Seth Stern, head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, "Ellison will readily throw the First Amendment, CNN's reporters and HBO's filmmakers under the bus if they stand in the way of expanding his corporate empire and fattening his pockets."

CNN's future hangs in the balance

The Ellisons' acquisition of Paramount followed a similar path.

Last summer, the previous owners of Paramount announced the end of late night host Stephen Colbert's CBS show as they sought federal approval to sell the company to David Ellison.

While they cited economics, Colbert's was the top-rated late night show on network television — and he has been a lacerating satirist of the president. Colbert called the cancellation a "big fat bribe."

Ellison subsequently made additional pledges to the FCC's Carr to win support. Among them: he promised the cessation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives throughout Paramount and the addition of an ombudsman to field complaints of ideological bias. He named the former head of a conservative think tank to that role.

Carr blessed the sale. He has since praised the shifts made at CBS News.

The question of what happens to CNN hovers prominently over the Warner sale. The network has undergone rounds of cuts under a series of owners seeking to reduce debt; Paramount would be its fourth corporate parent in under a decade.

Other elements are in play as well.

CBS's new editor in chief is Bari Weiss, founder of the center-right opinion and news site The Free Press. Ellison bought the site and added it to Paramount's portfolio.

Bari Weiss, CBS News' editor in chief, interviews conservative activist Erika Kirk in a CBS town hall event in December.

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Weiss has contended CBS and much of the rest of the media has been too reflexively hostile to conservatives and the president, and she's sought to revamp the newsroom.

CNN's Anderson Cooper, who has also served as a correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes for two decades, recently announced that he would leave the show, citing the desire to spend time with his small children. Associates, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal network matters, say he was concerned about the approach that Weiss has taken at CBS.

She is considered likely to have a role over CNN as well, should the deal go through.

CNN CEO Mark Thompson urged colleagues to focus on their news coverage. "Despite all the speculation you've read during this process, I'd suggest that you don't jump to conclusions about the future until we know more," he wrote in a memo Thursday.

Perceived value beyond the bottom line

The deal David Ellison struck for Warner is valued at nearly $111 billion. The new company would carry substantial debts and have Saudi and Emirate backing. The profits are currently relatively modest.

Yet Klein contends larger motives are in play. Just look at Google, he says, which owns what many consider the dominant media company, YouTube.

"They want to know what you watch, and where you come from, and what you buy when you watch, and where you go after you buy, and what you post in the comments and what you like and love and all that," Klein says.

"And if you can combine that with your streaming content and your studio decisions and your marketing for all the content product you're creating," he adds, "you're in a very very powerful position."

Copyright 2026 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The Serving Spoon has been an Inglewood cornerstone for four decades, dishing up grilled corn bread and fried turkey chops. 

Now, though, the whole country is in on the secret. 

The breakfast and lunch spot on Centinela Avenue was announced Wednesday by the James Beard Foundation as one of six winners of the America’s Classics Award, an honor the foundation says goes to “timeless” local institutions. The foundation is also responsible for the James Beard Award, one of the nation’s top culinary honors. 

The Serving Spoon joins a pantheon of other L.A.-area eateries to win the classics award including Guelaguetza, Langer’s Deli and Philippe the Original. 

Jessica Bane, part of the third generation to run the family-owned restaurant, said the honor is still sinking in, but that it validates decades of work. “It’s being done out of love,” Bane said.

The Serving Spoon has been an Inglewood cornerstone for four decades, dishing up grilled corn bread and fried turkey chops.

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The award announcement hailed The Serving Spoon as an “anchor” of L.A.’s Black community, run by staff who genuinely care for their customers.“The restaurant is cherished for its joyful hospitality and as a place where all can gather and feel at home,” the announcement read. 

The Serving Spoon didn’t exactly need Beard recognition — the diner is often packed and already has  pedigree as Snoop Dogg and Raphael Saadiq’s breakfast spot of choice in the 2000 Lucy Pearl song “You” — but Bane said the award takes the diner’s reputation national.“The recognition is beyond appreciated,” Bane said. 

The Serving Spoon was founded in 1983 by Bane’s grandfather, Harold E. Sparks. He passed the restaurant down to Bane and her brother, Justin Johnson, through their parents. 

The menu looks much the same as it did four decades ago, Bane said, though some of the dishes have been renamed for regulars. 

During the Thursday lunch rush a day after the announcement, The Serving Spoon’s vinyl booths were packed, as usual. Bane oversaw the dining room while Johnson marshaled plates of fried catfish through the kitchen. 

Tina and Kevin Jenkins waited for a table outside. The L.A. natives each have been coming to The Serving Spoon since childhood. They live in Lancaster now, but make sure to come back to the diner whenever they’re in town. 

“It’s the atmosphere, our people, our music,” Tina Jenkins said.

Despite taxes on imports at levels not seen in a century, Long Beach’s seaport had a good year in 2025. And a decent January.

Port officials said Wednesday they started the new year by leading the nation in trade, responsible for moving more than 847,000 shipping containers in January — 51% of the total cargo at the San Pedro Bay Complex, which it shares with neighboring Port of Los Angeles.

In a call with reporters, Port CEO Noel Hacegaba said that despite a “fair share of doom and gloom” at the time, the seaport finished 2025 as its busiest year on record.

This comes days after President Donald Trump signed new, across-the-board tariffs on U.S. trading partners, and later added he would raise the tariffs to 15%. It’s a direct response to a recent Supreme Court decision that found his tariffs announced last April were unconstitutional.

The new tariffs would operate under a law that restricts them to 150 days, unless approved by Congress.

Asked to measure how much this will affect the seaport, traders, logistics companies and consumers, Hacegaba reiterated a word he has evoked heavily in the past 10 months: uncertainty.

“Our strong cargo volumes do not suggest we are not being affected by tariffs,” Hacegaba said, adding the Port saw a 13% decline in imports driven by major reductions in iron, steel, synthetic fibers, salt, sulfur and cement.

Economists are somewhat more confident, saying it would take nothing short of a national economic crisis to reverse the seaport’s fortunes. “Even if the market is affected, our standing at the Port of Long Beach, even compared to other ports, is strong,” said Laura Gonzalez, an economics professor at Cal State Long Beach.

But experts caution that the ruling will heap the most damage on businesses, especially smaller enterprises, as well as the average consumer who already bore the tariff’s costs last year.

Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, held his first State of the Port in Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.

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Tariffs added $1,700 in costs to the average U.S. household, as importers raised prices to offset higher import taxes — especially on clothes, shoes and electronics from China and other Southeast Asian nations.

Consumers, Gonzalez said, should budget over the next six months “for essentials.”

Priyaranjan Jha, an economics professor at UC Irvine, said historically trade policies since 2018 have shown that for every dollar of duty imposed, consumer prices rose by about 90 cents.

Even if tariffs are reduced or reversed, and pressure is relieved on importers, consumers shouldn’t expect lower sticker prices right away, he said. “Firms do not always reduce prices as quickly as they raise them, especially if contracts or inventories are involved.”

Richer San, a former banker and business owner in Long Beach, said he’s in regular talks with shops across the city’s historic Cambodia Town that have been crushed by the increased prices of imported ingredients.

“Most of these are family-owned businesses operating on very small profit margins,” he said, adding there is little to no margin to “absorb higher costs.”

Many companies managed to avoid price increases last year in part by stockpiling inventory in the first half of the year to be sold through Christmas and the start of the year. As stock dwindles, many businesses might be less willing to eat the cost of a new set of tariffs.

Marc Sullivan, president of Long Beach-based Global Trade and Customs, said his logistics company saw a brief boom last year in ordered goods, mostly medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

But by June, orders dropped 35%, a trend that continues today. It’s forced him to freeze any new hiring in the past year and at least through the next six months as he waits for federal officials to settle on tariffs that will determine the cost of shipped goods.

“For the companies that I work with that are importing into the state here, it’s just ‘hold on and let’s see what happens,’” he said.

“I’d like to hire a salesperson to go out and chase new business, … but it’s just a bleak outlook,” he added.

In the interim, he’s received a steady flow of calls (that started “within minutes” of the ruling) from importers looking to claim refunds or recoup their tariff expenses. The U.S. Treasury had collected more than $140 billion from tariffs enacted under emergency powers, and the Supreme Court left the decision of how to appropriate the refund proceedings to lower courts.

His response: They might be stuck waiting for a while. “Customs doesn’t pay anything back quickly,” he said. “It could be a year before you ever see anything back to you.”

Sullivan said he knows of companies that spent upwards of $20,000 per shipment for months.

“They’re going to want that money to be able to reinvest it,” Sullivan said.

But some experts say that consumers, as well as small businesses, deserve a share of refunds.

“The importer may receive a refund even though consumers bore much of the cost,” Jha said. “Courts generally refund the statutory payer, not downstream buyers, but that opens the possibility of follow-on litigation. Small businesses that directly imported goods and paid tariffs should qualify for refunds.”

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A long turtle lineage: Dubbed “Porkchop” by aquarium staff due to her hefty appetite, the young female green sea turtle represents one of seven sea turtle species worldwide (six of which occur in U.S. waters). These animals have called our oceans home since at least the time of the dinosaurs — about 110 million years ago, according to NOAA. All species of sea turtles found in the U.S. are listed as either endangered or threatened and are protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Porkchop’s healing journey: Aquarium vets had to amputate Porkchop’s right front flipper after tangled fishing lines severely cut off her blood flow. She also had a fishing hook removed from her throat. First rescued after being spotted in the San Gabriel River by volunteers with the aquarium’s sea turtle monitoring program last March, her healing journey took nearly a year. She now swims and eats as well as her four-flippered kin and after a final physical exam, blood sample and X-ray, vets determined she was ready to return to her wild roots. She also now has a microchip, so if she ends up stranded again, scientists will know it’s her.

An ambassador for conservation: Porkchop became the aquarium’s first public-facing ambassador for its expanded green sea turtle rescue efforts. A new holding tank, viewable by the public, doubles the aquarium’s capacity to rescue green sea turtles and provides firsthand education about their conservation efforts. The aquarium is currently caring for another larger and older female green sea turtle — she weighs more than 200 pounds — rescued from the San Gabriel River in January. She’ll be in the public viewing tank in the coming months when she’s recovered a bit more.

How to help local green sea turtles: Green sea turtle populations are actually doing quite well in the San Gabriel River, but trash, debris and pollution remains a big threat. If you fish the San Gabriel River, never litter fishing lines or hooks. If you see a stranded sea turtle in the San Gabriel River or elsewhere, call the West Coast Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Network’s hotline at (562) 506-4315. You can also donate to the aquarium’s rescue program.