#211: This year of the Dragon is bringing about a thousand new additions to California's legal system. Some of these bills are little things like amendments to existing laws, but some are the real deal.

2023's Hot Labor Summer left its mark and brought in several new workers protections. There's also new laws for everyone from parents to cannabis smokers to campers. So if you're a healthcare worker and a prospective parent who loves smoking weed in Sequoia - we got you covered.

We're diving into all of it with CalMatters reporter Alexei Koseff, who covers CA legislation.

#209: Hey, How to LA listeners! We’re trying something new and hanging out with friends and colleagues from L.A. who are checking out interesting, fun, new happenings in the city.

Guests: Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido and Marty Preciado, an arts and culture executive who serves as commissioner for LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis and works to advance community strategies for The Ford, LA Phil, LA Opera and other organizations.

Here’s what each person pitched for YOUR social calendar:

• 100 Carats: Icons of the Gem Worldat the Natural History Museum
  Currently on view (until April 2024)
• The Great Wall of Los Angeles, by Judy Baca 
• Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy
  
  If you wanna tells us what you’re doing on your weekends, holler at us howtola@scpr.org 

#132: Continue our year-end roundup with us! Today, our episode about the 50th anniversary of hip hop. 

Original episode description below:

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Hip Hop officially turns 50 this weekend - Aug. 11th to be exact. As we all know by now, its roots are in New York. The west coast sound developed later but, when it finally hit, LA made Hip Hop its own. 

It's the late 1970s, disco is dead and funk is hitting the clubs in LA. Alonzo "Lonzo" Williams is at the center of it all — DJing, producing and bringing acts at his club, Eve After Dark in Compton.

As a new genre borne out of funk and disco – hip hop – is taking over the East Coast, Williams wants to make sure his dance floor is packed. Run DMC performed there, the crowd went wild, and it clicked for him: bring hip hop into the L.A. club and music scene. He then started World Class Wreckin' Cru, and the West Coast hip hop sound took off. 

How to LA speaks to Williams, known as the "Godfather" of West Coast hip hop, about the beginnings of the sound. We sat down with him in his Gardena studio, where many of the greatest hip hop hits were recorded. 

#66: Continue our end-of-year wrap with some of our favorite episodes from 2023! Yesterday we played one of our longest productions - so today, fittingly, we feature one of our shortest. Last February, the team met up with some flower vendors to learn more about the sidewalk hustle that accompanies cupid's favorite holiday.

Original episode description below.

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On certain holidays – like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day – flower vendors are out in force on the streets of LA, selling all sorts of goodies on corners, major boulevards or at the end of freeway off ramps. But what does it take to make that hustle happen? How did they get there? And do they make much money doing it? HTLA host Brian De Los Santos and the team spent the day finding out.

#87, 89, & 93: Finish your year right by listening to our round up of our favorite HTLA stories this year. Up first is the DACA series, featuring host Brian De Los Santos's story of visiting his birth country of Mexico for the first time since he was 2 years old.

Original episode descriptions below.

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#87: Brian is surprised by a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It’s his Advance Parole document. He can travel to Mexico – his country of birth – for the first time in 30 years. The days ahead become a sprint to prepare and make travel plans. He only has a month to return to the U.S., or he could lose DACA and be denied reentry.

"Finding Home con DACA" is a special three-part series from LAist Studios and How To LA. Part 1 follows Brian as he prepares for his journey and dives into the Advance Parole process – all the way through the moment he leaves LA. We'll continue with Brian into Mexico next Thursday in Part 2: "Hecho en Mexico."

Guest: Roberto Gonzales, a professor of sociology at University of Pennsylvania, who has testified before Congress on immigration policy.

Music from this episode composed by: Chris Schlarb, Dexter Thomas, Geir Sundstøl, Mamman Sani, Nicklas Nygren, Old Saw, and Yeahman

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#89: How to LA host Brian De Los Santos arrived in the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 2. He found out as a teenager that he was undocumented. Then he got DACA -- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It let him get a driver’s license, get a work permit and helped him build a successful career as a journalist. But even with DACA, Brian wasn’t able to the leave the county to visit even visit family. That is, until he qualified for something called “Advance Parole.”

In part 2 of Finding Home con DACA, Brian finally sets foot in Mexico. His audio diary chronicles what it was like to feel at home, but also feel like an outsider, in the place where he was born. 

Music from this episode composed by: Floating Points, Geir Sundstøl, Modarchive, Yeahman

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#93: How to LA host Brian De Los Santos arrived in the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 2. He found out as a teenager that he was undocumented. Then he got DACA - deferred action childhood arrivals. He was able to get a driver’s license, qualify for in state college tuition and establish a path to a good career.

But even under DACA Brian wasn’t able to the leave the county... until he qualified for something called “Advance Parole,” earlier this year. It's a program that allows DACA recipients to travel outside the U.S under certain conditions. Brian had, maybe, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to his country of origin. 

In part 3 of the 3-part series, Finding Home con DACA, Brian returns to Los Angeles. But his ideas of "home" have changed.

Music from this episode composed by: Geir Sundstøl, Modarchive, Natalia Lafourcade, Old Saw, Woo, Yeahman

#208: This is the fourth and final episode in our multi-part series on volunteers who provide services for unhoused people throughout Los Angeles. In this debrief episode, HTLA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby recap some of the big questions we've asked throughout the series, and bring a new question to many of our guests from the previous episodes: "What should the relationship be between mutual aid volunteers and government agencies?"

If you want to learn more about mutual aid in Los Angeles, check out Evan's reporting on LAist.com

Or, if you want to learn about mutual aid groups in your neighborhood and maybe join them, check out these resources:

Los Angeles: 

• https://mutualaidla.org/get-involved/
• https://thepeoplesproject.la/get-aid/

National:

• https://www.mutualaidhub.org/

Guests: Aria Cataño, founder of WaterDrop LA; Ndindi Kitonga, founder of Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA); Councilmember Nithya Raman of Council District 4; Benjamin Henwood, PhD, professor of social policy and health at the University of Southern California

Music in this episode composed by: Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Ill Considered, Meitei, Nala Sinephro, Ricky Eat Acid

#207: Last month, the 10 freeway was in critical condition after an arson fire burned more than 90 support columns of an overpass near Alameda Street. The repair job was surprisingly fast – taking less than two weeks. And now, for most of us, things seem back to normal. But the ripple effects for some businesses along that corridor are still being felt.

Guests:

• Chase White, owner of Recycled Movie Sets
• Alfredo Carlos, professor of labor studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills

#210: The How to LA team is ringing in the New Year with a few good tidings and recommendations for starting 2024 off right! Enjoy.