Pacoima’s Cool Pavement Project A Year Later (And Other Headlines)

I don’t know about you, my friend, but every time I step outside, I immediately want to hop in a pool. The longer, hotter heat waves driven by the climate change crisis are NO JOKE, and Angelenos like those in Pacoima — one of the hottest neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley — have been looking for solutions.

How did Pacoima's cooling down project go?

One possible solution the city started last year was painting asphalt with a special coat of paint that reflects solar radiation instead of absorbing it. For the How To LA podcast, my colleagues Brian De Los Santos and Erin Stone visited some of the uniquely painted basketball courts and parking lots at Hubert H. Humphrey Park last year.

Now, a year later, Erin is back to let us know how that initiative between GAF Cool Community Project, Pacoima Beautiful and the city of L.A. is going.

While the verdict on the long-term success of “cool paint” technology is yet to be determined when it comes to our experience with heat, Melanie Paola Torres, a community organizer with Pacoima Beautiful, said residents are seeing this as a productive, effective endeavor.

“We’ve seen things that do work,” Torres said. “So we just keep hoping to add and stack onto that and really create a climate-resilient community.”

And the Pacoima community is not just stopping with cool pavements. Read Erin’s story to find out what they want to do next for the neighborhood’s residents.

Stay safe and cool, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading.

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More news

(After you stop hitting snooze)

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• The FDA recently approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive that will be available OTC, but how much would it cost and what will insurance coverage look like? KFF Health News’ Michelle Andrews answered some questions you may have.

Wait... one more thing

Enter The World Of Barbie

Irene lacayo, 35, mother to, Crista Ramirez,5, pose inside a Barbie box at the World of Barbie in Santa Monica on June 25, 2023.

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Julie Leopo

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Wear your hottest pink outfits and get all your girls together to go inside the World of Barbie in Santa Monica. The exhibit presents all things Barbie just in time for Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie movie, which comes out today.

Listen to the latest How To LA podcast episode about how Barbie has always been an authentic California girl. And make sure you listen to the LA Made: The Barbie Tapes podcast where co-hosts Antonia Cereijido and M.G. Lord talk about the history behind the world’s most popular doll.