The Brief

A record number of people are expected to travel within the U.S. for Thanksgiving, be it plane, train or automobile.

Nearly 82 million are projected to travel at least 50 miles from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, an increase of 1.6 million people compared to last year's holiday, according to an AAA report released on Monday.

Most of them will be hitting the road in a car, with about 73.2 million people expected to drive, AAA said. That's 1.8% more car travelers compared to the 2024 holiday period.

AAA projected 6 million people to travel by plane within the country for the holiday, a 2% increase from last year. Due to concerns over recent flight delays and cancellations, however, AAA also said that number could end up dropping slightly if travelers make last-minute arrangements to use other forms of transportation. Staffing shortages during the prolonged government shutdown earlier this month resulted in mass flight disruptions.

The FAA lifted its directive that called for an emergency reduction in flights, allowing airlines to return to operating normally. Aviation experts warned it could take some time before flights return to normal, but industry leaders appeared confident that airline operations would return to normal pre-shutdown levels in time for the Thanksgiving travel frenzy. Weather forecast to bookend the holiday in some parts of the country could cause flight disruptions and delays.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it expected the upcoming holiday rush to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel time for air travel in 15 years, with Tuesday being the busiest flying day.

Travel across other transport modes — bus, train and cruise — was forecast to increase 8.5% this year, with a likely uptick in last-minute bus and train bookings

"People are willing to brave the crowds and make last-minute adjustments to their plans to make lifelong memories, whether it's visiting extended family or meeting up with friends," Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel said in a statement on Monday.

Here is what else to know:

Driving in the afternoon? Think again

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon are expected to be the most congested times for drivers in major metro areas, according to INRIX, a transportation analytics firm.

If driving, the best times to hit the road for the holiday will be before noon on Tuesday and 11 a.m. on Wednesday to avoid backups, according to the firm. Thanksgiving Day will have minimal road traffic impacts.

When returning home after the holiday, travelers are advised to start driving before noon on any day except Monday. The Sunday after Thanksgiving will likely have heavy traffic most of the day and the best time to travel Monday will be after 8:00 p.m., INRIX said.

Weather could be messy, but should clear up for your trip back

During peak travel times, from Monday through Wednesday, rain extending from Southern Texas up to Minnesota will move across the country to the east, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

"Monday into Tuesday will probably be a little problematic anywhere from Texas, eastern Oklahoma, into Arkansas and northwestern Louisiana," Bob Oravec, lead forecaster for the NWS, told NPR.

By Thanksgiving Day, things will be a little drier across the U.S. Temperatures will be colder than average for a majority of the country on Thanksgiving morning, with central parts of the U.S. seeing temperatures in the teens. On Black Friday, there will be warmer than average temperatures from the Great Plains to the West Coast, with places like Denver, Colo., seeing temperatures in the mid-50s, Oravec said.

Some of the worst weather will be across much of the central and eastern U.S. where there will be lake-effect snow showers coming off the Great Lakes, Oravec said.

For holiday travelers returning home on Friday and Saturday, the weather should be decent for a large portion of the country, he said. But a storm system is expected to develop over the weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday, the system could bring heavy snow across western Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota as well as parts of Minnesota into Wisconsin, according to Oravec. On Sunday, from Texas up into Missouri and Illinois, chances of rain are forecast to increase.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

Founders Jenny Yang and Chris Capizzi spent seven years operating as a pop-up without a brick-and-mortar location. Opening their doors to local vendors pays homage to their own roots selling at Los Angeles markets, from the Melrose Trading Post to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market.

“Mega giant online sellers have the scale and the resources and the patience and the reach to capture most people,” Capizzi said. “Whereas for us, I think we have to be really creative — we have to band together.”

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

(

Nick Ducassi

/

The LA Local

)

Yang and Capizzi’s long history of vending at markets taught them how isolating running a small business can be. At their market, they aim to build connections with each vendor and strategize the best timing and layout so everyone can succeed.

“[Amazon and Barnes & Noble] are Goliath, and we’re not even David — we’re just the ant underneath David’s foot,” Capizzi said. “I think we can do what we do and try to get as many people, at our level or even smaller, to get together.”

Weekly markets at A Good Used Book have captivated the neighborhood since its opening in October 2023, with charming names like “Sunday Funday,” “Saturday School” and “Hi-Fi Friday Night,” plus hand-drawn flyers by well-known artist Noah Harmon. Now, it’s become a weekly occurrence where LA pop-ups can display their own crafts, allowing local readers to indulge in a little more than a pocket paperback.

Each week holds a Pandora’s box of niche snacks, crafts or trinkets you didn’t know you needed, ranging from Southeast Asian-inspired trail mix to natural incense sticks to vintage Japanese audio equipment. One week you might be enticed to adopt a kitten from a rescue booth outside, another week you might impulsively get a stick-and-poke tattoo in the back of the store.

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

(

Nick Ducassi

/

The LA Local

)

On one sunny Sunday afternoon, Brandon Stanciell hand-tossed fresh pizza dough on the sidewalk outside the bookstore. His 2-year-old pop-up, Pizza Ananda, which he named after his daughter, is an homage to her and to Italian cooking, a hobby he started during paternity leave. An hour before the market closed, Stanciell had already sold out and garnished his last pepperoni-and-hot-honey pie for one lucky customer.

“I love that places like this allow us all to meet at once to share what we have and give it to the community around us,” Stanciell said.

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

(

Nick Ducassi

/

The LA Local

)

For the owners, building a community market is about deepening relationships with the people who walk through their doors. In an increasingly digital landscape, it is also a reciprocal partnership among local businesses.

“A lot of people talk about community building nowadays as a marketing strategy,” Capizzi said. “But I think the actual community building comes from talking to each vendor and each customer and being a consistent presence in the neighborhood.”

Nestled between Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park is a bookstore turned artisan craft space turned food market, all within 900 square feet. Every Sunday, A Good Used Book on Glendale Boulevard transforms from a retail bookstore into what they call “Sunday Funday Market.”

(

Nick Ducassi

/

The LA Local

)

While customers browsed for unique titles, Gerin del Carmen worked her booth of ceramic dishware, oyster-shaped trinket holders and vases resembling miniature boxes. As a ceramicist, del Carmen draws from her Filipino heritage, including the Balikbayan boxes that represent immigrants sending gifts to family in the Philippines.

“Sharing the community and your space is such a big deal. This is not a huge, gigantic Barnes & Noble store,” del Carmen said. “It has so much foot traffic, and the fact that [the owners] are setting up and sharing the space once or twice a week with other vendors and other artists is huge.”

Yang and Capizzi may think of themselves as an “ant underneath David’s foot,” but A Good Used Book is building a colony of vendors, rooted in community.

Whether you and your friends are looking for a brunch spot to cater to everyone's palates, or taking a trip to the historic Grand Central Market, food halls make for an easy, affordable place to satisfy cravings — especially in SoCal, where diverse selections of dishes reign supreme.

But these spaces fill a void much deeper than our appetites. They bring new life to old storefronts, factories or even airfields (see list below), and can offer a way to keep dollars within the community by becoming a hub for local businesses.

With that said, here's a short list of food halls where you'll get more than just a killer meal.

For good vibes

BLVD MRKT food hall on the corner of 6th Street and Whittier Boulevard in downtown Montebello.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

BLVD MRKT is an open-air food hall in downtown Montebello that feels like a party. The 8,500-square-foot space currently has five eateries, or "concepts" as they're known in the restaurant industry, and hosts live DJs every Friday night and Sunday during brunch. They also host Open Vinyl Night on the second and forth Tuesday of every month, where patrons get $2 off beers and margaritas from Alchemy Craft if they bring a vinyl record to be played in the BLVD courtyard.

The space is pet-friendly and has growing concepts like Los Taquero Mucho, which offers classic al pastor, grilled chicken and slow-cooked carnitas tacos, as well as specialty flavors like vegan tacos with whiskil sautéed in coconut milk, and Pork Belly Cochinita Pibil Tacos, perfect for those who crave crispy, slow-roasted pork with a hint of sweetness.

Los Taquero Mucho participates in BLVD's incubator program, run by co-founders Barney and Evelyn Santos. The program offers mentorship to local entrepreneurs until they can set up shop permanently.

Pork Belly Cochinita Pibil Tacos with salsa from Los Taquero Mucho at BLVD MRKT in Montebello.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

BLVD MRKT is part of the couple's commercial real estate development firm, Gentefy. Its mission is to invest in retail and hospitality projects that ignite economic development and revitalization in Black and brown neighborhoods.

"Blvd Mrkt is our first project," Barney Santos wrote in a text message. "It was our social proof to prove to banks, investors and cities that a socially conscious business model could exist in a traditionally overlooked area."

VCHOS Pupuseria Moderna also has a spot in the BLVD courtyard, offering handmade pupusas with filling choices such as shrimp with spinach and cheese, and tender beef birria with a side of consommé, onions and cilantro. Coffee lovers can get an Oaxacan Mocha at Cafe Santo, or stop by Cold Pizza for a wood-fired slice.

For eclectic tastes

Rodeo 39 Public Market in Stanton.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

An O.C. favorite, Rodeo 39 Public Market lives on Highway 39, also known as Beach Boulevard, in Stanton. This 40,000-square-foot space is an eclectic mix of more than 20 food and drink concepts and retailers. There are three outdoor patios and five murals, plus an arcade, tattoo shop and photo booth. Food options cover everything from Lil' Breezy's adobo breakfast burritos to Cajun crab fries at The Crawfish Hut.

Mural by artist David Flores outside of Joystix arcade at Rodeo 39 Public Market.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

Rodeo's menu choices make it well-suited for a casual weekend brunch. At its entrance sits Here & There, where you can grab a coffee or matcha latte, or try one of their signature drinks like the Iced Vienna, a combination of milk with caramelly demerara sugar and your choice of matcha or espresso, topped with sweet cream and garnished with sea salt. The result is a drink that's smooth and not too sweet.

Eggyo bulgogi egg sandwich with spicy mayo at Rodeo 39 Public Market.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

Eggyo, a recent addition to Rodeo, offers Korean corn dogs and fluffy egg sandwiches on crispy, house-baked milk bread. Try the bulgogi option with spicy mayo for a savory kick. If you crave a cocktail, venture over to CAPO, which also serves craft beer. Or just sit on one of their sun-filled patios while you decide what to try.

For a page from history

The Hangar in Long Beach.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

The Hangar is a 17,000-square-foot food hall that pays homage to Long Beach's aviation history. It sits on former Boeing Co. land where military and commercial aircraft were built. Today, it serves as a dining destination at the Long Beach Exchange Shopping Center, or LBX, neighboring the city's international airport.

This space currently has a mix of 14 food concepts and two retail shops. Patrons can enjoy local favorites outside their flagship locations, like the Joe's Special bagel sandwich from Cassidy's Corner Cafe, with bacon, egg and the star of the show — tangy jalapeño cream cheese. Fans of spice can try Jay Bird's Nashville Hot Chicken, which offers chicken sandwiches and tenders, and Blazin' Fries, all with six levels of heat.

Historic aviation photos are displayed above food concepts at The Hangar food hall at LBX in Long Beach

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

Inside, there are vintage pictures of aircraft that were built at the site, and a wall of clocks showing the time in cities named Long Beach across the country.

A Pan Am Hawaii travel poster (left) and a TWA Spain travel poster (right) at the patio of The Hangar food hall.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

Outside, you'll find patio seating with umbrellas where you can sit and watch the occasional plane fly overhead. Or sit and enjoy the adjacent display of towering Pan Am and TWA posters promoting travel to Hawaii, Spain and Paris.

For fun and work

Mercado La Paloma on Grand Avenue in South L.A.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

Open since 2001, the approximately 34,000-square-foot Mercado La Paloma sits in the Figueroa corridor of South L.A., and is known for its focus on community, art and culture. From rotating art exhibits to colorful tiled tabletops, this space feels like it was made to nurture creativity.

Interior of Mercado La Paloma.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

There are meeting rooms to rent starting at $25 an hour. It's a space where locals can bring their laptop to work or study, or have a long conversation with a friend, with bites from six acclaimed restaurants.

Holbox's Erizo dish at Mercado La Paloma.

(

Audrey Ngo

/

LAist

)

At the Mercado, visit Holbox for Michelin-starred seafood dishes like Erizo — velvety sea urchin laid atop a bed of tender scallop ceviche. The combination is fresh, flavorful and oceanic. Tip: If you can swing it, come on a weekday to avoid a long line, or order ahead.

For something sweet, walk over to Oaxacacalifornia Cafe & Juice Bar for a Spicy Pineapple Juice with a gingery kick, or go for the classic pairing of Hot Oaxacan Chocolate, made with your choice of water or milk, and light-as-air conchas crowned with a solid layer of vanilla or chocolate streusel.

Vinyl records and cassette tapes are nice and all, but when it comes to '80s nostalgia, few things make a bigger statement — or at least take up as much space — as arcade games and pinball machines.

Just ask Chris Campbell, who runs Captain's Auction House in Anaheim that specializes in these refrigerator-sized consoles.

Campbell (he says everyone calls him "Captain") founded the O.C. business in 2008, but he’s been in the trade for more than 25 years, having auctioned off, or directly sold, "tens of thousands" of the machines.

Chris "Captain" Campbell, owner of Captain's Auction House in Anaheim.

(

Courtesy Captain's Auction House

)

Auctions take place around every four to six weeks — both in-person and online. The priciest pinball he auctioned off was for around $48,000. And he recently sold a 1990 arcade game for $70,000.

Currently, Captain says he has about 1,200 machines in his inventory — housed in about 40,000 square feet of space. On Sunday, a special lot of about 100 machines belonging to musician Ryan Adams will go on the auction block.

Adams, Captain said, is an avid collector. "When he's played concerts, some of the equipment that he has on stage with him are arcade games," Captain said.

Along with the machines, a handful of musical equipment owned by Adams will also go under the hammer, including a vintage Gibson Barney Kessel hollowbody guitar estimated to fetch up to $10,000.

Captain says about his auction house has an inventory of about 1,200 arcade games and pinball machines.

(

Courtesy Captain's Auction House

)

Captain said the things that get brought into his auction warehouse still blow his mind "almost every day." He's seen his share of Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong — mainstream and highly collectible coin-operated games — but he's also gotten his hands on lesser-known titles like Mazer Blazer. It's a 1983 game where one or two players shoot down aliens to protect a spaceship. It used a special magnifying lens to create its fisheye look.

"What makes it so cool is some of these games were very prototypical. Companies were trying different things," he said. "It's just a different-looking game."

Then there are pinball machines, evolving from their electromechanical beginnings in the '50s, to their early solid-state transition in the '80s, to their ongoing technological evolution today — both multifaceted and singular in all their forms.

 "The one cool thing that melds them all together is the idea of mechanical and electronic playing together," he said. "But the main part of pinball that makes it so nice is it's still very visceral."

One of his wows is the "Black Knight" trilogy — machines made by legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie that were released in 1980, 1989 and 2019.

Captain said the machines feature super-fast shooting, great gameplay and, for the 2019 version, a soundtrack created by Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian.

"It's not super rare, but it's like one of my favorites because it's an in-your-face pinball machine, you know?" he said.

And Captain's Auction House has all three machines in its possession.

"I'm fortunate enough that I — the captain — get to be around them, play them, know a little bit about them, learn more about them," he said. "And I love to buy, sell and trade just like everybody else."

A rich trove of Asian American and Pacific Islander history lives in academic journals and university library stacks that many students don’t know how to tap into.

A new multimedia textbook developed out of UCLA's Asian American Studies Center is trying to change that.

Called Foundations and Futures, the online platform combines written chapters, archival documents and artwork with videos and podcast clips, geared at students in high school and up, along with their teachers.

“It’s the largest collection of Asian American and Pacific Islander histories in one location — free and open access for anyone with an Internet connection,” said Karen Umemoto, director of the UCLA center and one of the project’s co-editors.

The textbook officially launched this month — Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — after some six years of development with contributions from more than 100 authors and curriculum developers from across the country.

Designed with the TikTok generation in mind, the platform is optimized for phones and tablets for easy scrolling.

“A lot of young people, of course, are really into TikTok videos and Instagram posts,” Umemoto said. “So we thought, 'Let’s leverage that.'”

Responding to invisibility 

The project was seeded in 2020 when Umemoto and co-editor and fellow UCLA professor Kelly Fong began drafting proposals chapter by chapter.

At the time, California was moving toward implementing an ethnic studies graduation requirement. The professors worried AAPI histories could still be sidelined without dedicated resources.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge in anti-Asian hate incidents.

“There’s so many people who have no idea who we are, where we come from, how we got here,” Umemoto said.

The textbook grew into a $12 million project, supported through a mix of state funding, grants and private donations.

A major boost came in 2022, when the California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus helped secure a $10 million state allocation.

Much of the textbook does focus on AAPI history in California, like the Filipino farmworker movement and Vietnamese refugee communities in Orange County.

But other modules cover Chinese immigrant garment workers in New York and Asian American communities in the South.

Getting into schools

Umemoto said the textbook is for anyone to use as needed, but a major goal is helping educators incorporate AAPI perspectives into existing courses.

“We’re so woefully invisible and underrepresented in educational curricula,” she said, noting that there are few teachers to instruct from lived experience. Just 2% of public school teachers in the U.S. are AAPI.

The plan is to offer everything from two-day in-person teacher workshops to national webinars in partnership with teachers unions.

Even with the project’s launch, organizers say their work continues with raising funds for teacher training, as well as outreach and operations.

The team is seeking another $5 million for the next three years.

"I'm a professor not trained in doing startups or ed tech projects, and so I didn't realize how much it would take just to keep the lights on," Umemoto said.

All the while, the team is building the textbook to 50 chapters. It's currently at 42.

Learning amid polarization

The project arrives amid charged political debates over how race and identity are taught in schools.

Umemoto acknowledged that some critics view ethnic studies as divisive, but she said the goal of the textbook is the opposite.

“We need to learn about each other’s history so that we can build an inclusive society,” she said.

For Umemoto, the work is deeply personal.

She said she grew up knowing her parents and grandparents had been forced into camps during World War II, but did not fully understand the broader history behind the incarceration of Japanese Americans until later in life.

“I grew up thinking everybody was in camp,” she said.

Ultimately, she hopes the textbook helps students better understand both themselves and one another.

“In all my years of teaching, there has not been a student who has left the classroom unchanged,” Umemoto said. “If we want to deal with the problems of polarization, we need to start in the classroom."