Morning Brief: Reopening Day, Earthquakes, And Trans Pride

Good morning, L.A. It’s June 15.

Today’s the day: after 15 months of lockdown, openings and closings, and color-coded tiers, L.A. and California will allow businesses and public spaces to reopen, with few to no restrictions.

For bars and restaurants, my colleague Elina Shatkin reports that the move will essentially amount to a soft reopening.

While restaurants have, over the past few months, been allowed to slowly invite customers back, bars that don’t serve food have seen more restrictions. It wasn’t until the county reached the orange tier that alcohol-only establishments could bring patrons back, and even then, it was only at 25% capacity, outdoors.

Now, those spots will likely be able to get rid of protocols requiring distance between tables, limited capacity, masks for customers and limits on how many households can be seated together.

Of course, some restaurateurs and bar owners aren’t quite ready to let everyone in, willy-nilly — especially because the county’s health department still hasn’t issued guidelines about how to safely conduct this mass reopening.

"The problem with this June 15th change is that there's still no guidance," said Dina Samson, co-owner of Rossoblu and Superfine Pizza, both in downtown L.A. "So for us at Rossoblu, we probably will not make any big changes until the beginning of July, just to be safe and make sure that we have all the guidelines right.”

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• The attorney for two witnesses in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city says her clients’ testimony backs up allegations of inappropriate conduct by Rick Jacobs, the former City Hall deputy chief of staff and longtime advisor to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.
• California’s proposed budget includes unprecedented funding for Asian American and Pacific Islander initiatives.
• Why is it that earthquakes seem to happen at night?
• Nerdstrong was a gym getting national attention, but the pandemic shut it down, permanently.

Before You Go ... This Week's Event Pick: Trans Pride L.A.

(Photo by calvinfleming via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)

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The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s virtual celebration of the Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, Intersex, Non-Binary (TGI/ENBY+) community expands to three days with online workshops, panel discussions, a Big Queer Convo and the highly anticipated VarieTy Show.

Or, you could: Enjoy happy hour at home — with a queen. Visit an art exhibition created from hula hoops. Explore the science of SpongeBob. Attend Dodgers and Angels games with capacity crowds. And more.