NEW: Since taking office, Karen Bass has solicited more than $38M to charities from corporations, unions, other foundations & wealthy backers, including $2M from Lineage after the Boyle Heights fire >> lamaterial.com/p/la-karen-b...

How L.A. Politicians Deliver Millions to Pet Causes

The little-known fundraising tool that lets elected officials like Mayor Karen Bass solicit donations from corporations, unions and wealthy backers.

lamaterial.com

Good rundown from @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social on the 'behested payments' Karen Bass has been facilitating — including $2 million from Lineage that she failed to report in time lamaterial.com/p/la-karen-b...

How L.A. Politicians Deliver Millions to Pet Causes

The little-known fundraising tool that lets elected officials like Mayor Karen Bass solicit donations from corporations, unions and wealthy backers.

lamaterial.com

TIL that for nearly 80 years, the city of L.A. has run an asphalt plant, and now the city wants to sell that asphalt to make some coin, but needs voter approval to do so. From @tomokichien.bsky.social lamaterial.com/p/la-wants-t...

On the Ballot This November: Can L.A. Sell Asphalt?

For nearly 80 years, the City of L.A. has run an asphalt plant. Now it wants to make money off it — but voters must approve.

lamaterial.com

21 bars, 7 days: one man’s quest to find LA’s best movie theater bar Great @lamaterial.com crawl through LA movie theaters >> lamaterial.com/p/quest-best...

My Quest to Find the Best Movie Theater Bar in Los Angeles

21 bars in seven days. Can they possibly be great? Can they even be good?

lamaterial.com

BIG NEWS: I’ve got a new podcast! Here at @lamaterial.com we just launched L.A. World, the show where my co-hosts @antocere.bsky.social and @hayesdavenport.bsky.social and I dive into what’s really happening in L.A. Please subscribe and check it out: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

L.A. World

News Commentary Podcast · L.A. World is a new weekly podcast that cuts through the noise to help you understand everything you need to know about what's happening in Los Angeles. Every episode, hosts ...

podcasts.apple.com

NEW: The powerful L.A. healthcare nonprofit whose CEO has his wife and their five kids on payroll lamaterial.com/p/altamed-ce...

AltaMed, L.A. Nonprofit, Pays Millions to One Family: IRS Complaint

AltaMed — pivotal to healthcare in Southern California — employs six members of the CEO’s family.

lamaterial.com

Join us tonight after the debate!! details below

L.A. Material@lamaterial.com · 2w ago

Join us at 8:45 p.m. tonight on Zoom for a post-debate analysis after Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman face off, only for L.A. Material members. Hosted by Jessica Garrison and @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social. Upgrade now to access: lamaterial.com/upgrade

Join us tomorrow night after the mayoral debate >>

L.A. Material@lamaterial.com · 2w ago

Join us at 8:45 p.m. tomorrow on Zoom for a post-debate analysis after Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman face off, only for L.A. Material members. Hosted by Jessica Garrison and @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social. Upgrade now to access: lamaterial.com/upgrade

EXCLUSIVE: LA Jazz Festival was billed as a major cultural event, with John Legend, Janelle Monae, and hundreds of artists. Then it was canceled on the day it was supposed to begin. @sherlyholmes.bsky.social with never-before-reported details inside the fall: lamaterial.com/p/la-jazz-fe...

Inside the Collapse of the LA Jazz Festival

The festival promised John Legend, Janelle Monáe and more than a 100 events across L.A. Instead, it was canceled on the day it was supposed to begin.

buff.ly

NEW: Nikki Finke — the late Hollywood journalist who was loved/loathed for her take-no-prisoners style — wrote a book on the industry that was never published. Now her estate is finally hoping Finke’s book sees the light of day. For @lamaterial.com: lamaterial.com/p/nikki-fink...

Nikki Finke's Last TOLDJA

Nikki Finke, Hollywood’s most-feared journalist, wrote a book before she died. Her estate is now shopping the manuscript.

lamaterial.com

NEW: Nikki Finke died in 2022, but her estate is now looking to finally publish her book on Hollywood — which had various pub dates in the 90s and which Simon & Schuster’s president once promised (in 2014) would be “an event.” For @lamaterial.com: lamaterial.com/p/nikki-fink...

Nikki Finke's Last TOLDJA

Nikki Finke, Hollywood’s most-feared journalist, wrote a book before she died. Her estate is now shopping the manuscript.

lamaterial.com

NEW: A permit has been filed with the city to rebuild the Lineage cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights. This comes as the stench from millions of pounds of rotting food at the facility continues to blanket Boyle Heights and East LA, amidst an ongoing post-fire cleanup effort. Read more:

Permit Filed to Rebuild Lineage’s Boyle Heights Warehouse

The application was submitted six weeks after the fire, as residents continue to endure foul odors, vermin and disruption from rotting food at the site.

lamaterial.com

Ghost Town is a private company clearing Venice's homeless encampments — with persistence, cash payments, and a team that includes former gang members. Clients love them. The people they move do not. Meet the company at the center of Venice's most contentious challenge: buff.ly/j9LspFR

Inside Ghost Town: The Firm Clearing Venice's Encampments

An unusual private company takes on homelessness — with persistence, cash payments, and a team that includes ex-gang members. Clients love them. The people they move do not.

lamaterial.com

L.A. County has agreed to pay out at least $14M to prosecutors who say they were improperly sidelined, reassigned, or otherwise suffered after criticizing former D.A. Gascón's reforms. Read @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social’s full investigation:

The Gascón Era Is Proving Costly

L.A. County has greenlit paying nearly $14 million for retaliation claims and other suits against Gascón and his team. That sum is expected to rise as more cases are settled.

lamaterial.com

85 million lbs of rotten food need to be disposed after the Lineage fire. Here’s our quest to figure out where the food waste from the warehouse disaster is ACTUALLY going. lamaterial.com/p/lineage-fi...

How to Get Rid of 85 Million Pounds of Rotting Food

Our quest to figure out where the food waste from the Lineage warehouse disaster is going.

lamaterial.com

To put this legal settlement into perspective, it is 4x the size of the budget for LA's Emergency Management Department, which oversees disaster prep + response, including for Palisades fire. lamaterial.com/p/la-pedestr...

Bad Crosswalk Will Cost L.A. $20 Million and Counting

Plus, an In-N-Out ban, gossip from Dan Tana’s, and a treasured Palisades park reopens.

lamaterial.com

California’s sweeping new housing law, SB 79, takes effect today, with the potential to remake neighborhoods near transit in the years ahead. @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social breaks down what the law does and what changes Californians can expect. Read the full story: lamaterial.com/p/sb79-housi...

SB 79: New Housing Law Could Reshape Your Neighborhood

The landmark (and incredibly contentious) law SB 79 goes into effect July 1, with the potential to remake neighborhoods near transit in the years to come.

lamaterial.com

Paraguay — one of L.A.'s smallest diasporas at only 500 countywide — just had its big moment at the World Cup: eliminating Germany in a sudden-death shootout, 4-3. It's the Paraguayan National Team's first appearance at the World Cup in 16 years.

The World Cup has arrived in L.A.

Plus, SoFi parking woes and L.A. Material’s own Culinary Cup.

lamaterial.com

The time they tried to paint over David Hockney’s Hollywood Roosevelt pool mural Nice story from @antocere.bsky.social for @lamaterial.com lamaterial.com/p/hockney-ho...

The time they tried to paint over Hockney’s Hollywood pool mural

The fight to preserve the squiggles at the Tropicana Pool.

lamaterial.com

From Good Samaritan to arson suspect: the untold story of the eight hours when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them. Read the full story: lamaterial.com/p/palisades-...

Interview with an Arson Suspect

The untold story of the eight hours when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them.

lamaterial.com

How worried should you be about this air? Join L.A. Material on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for a Zoom conversation with experts about L.A. air quality amid the ongoing Boyle Heights warehouse fire. Register now: lamaterial.com/airquality

NEW: The untold story of the 8 hours (!) when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them. My dispatch from federal court for @lamaterial.com >> lamaterial.com/p/palisades-...

Interview with an Arson Suspect

The untold story of the eight hours when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them.

lamaterial.com

NEW: The untold story of the 8 hours (!) when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them. lamaterial.com/p/palisades-...

Interview with an Arson Suspect

The untold story of the eight hours when Palisades fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht welcomed two detectives into his home — and went hiking with them.

lamaterial.com

This @lamaterial.com story is for anyone wondering wtf happened to election endorsements at the L.A. Times. lamaterial.com/p/la-times-e...

The Endorsement Vacuum

Politicos bemoan the first modern election where the L.A. Times made no local endorsements.

lamaterial.com

NEW: The recent June primary was the first modern election in which the L.A. Times provided no endorsements on the local candidates and measures on the ballot.  What was the impact? Why did the paper stop endorsements? lamaterial.com/p/la-times-e...

The Endorsement Vacuum

Politicos bemoan the first modern election where the L.A. Times made no local endorsements.

lamaterial.com

Fake murder and a real orgy: inside an L.A. “play party.’” L.A. Material contributor Arielle Dachille boarded a yacht docked at an undisclosed location to attend a murder mystery soiree with a twist: a lot of sex. Read the full story: lamaterial.com/p/murder-mys...

All Aboard the Murder Mystery Yacht Orgy

Sex, status, and stagecraft collide on a night at one of L.A.’s ticketed "play parties."

lamaterial.com

The shocking budget crisis hitting one of L.A.’s ritziest school districts. Manhattan Beach parents are pointing to one culprit: a state funding formula that directs more money to disadvantaged schools. Read the full story for free: lamaterial.com/p/manhattan-...

The surprising budget disaster hitting Manhattan Beach schools

“All you ever hear about is how Manhattan Beach schools have all the funding, all the money.”

lamaterial.com

NEW: Mayor Karen Bass’ brother’s Malibu home burned in the Palisades fire. Now he and his wife are suing the city of LA: lamaterial.com/p/karen-bass...

Karen Bass' Brother Sues City After Home Burned in Palisades Fire

Ken Bass' longtime Malibu home was leveled by flames. Now he's suing the city his sister leads.

lamaterial.com

Meet the Harvard-Westlake caucus: @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social and I took a look at the 5 (!) Wolverines on the June ballot, and how they fared in the primary. lamaterial.com/p/the-harvar...

Meet the Harvard-Westlake Caucus

Alumni from the elite private school were overrepresented in L.A. political races this year.

lamaterial.com

Five alumni from Harvard-Westlake, one of L.A.’s toniest private schools, ran for office this cycle. They brought wealth, privilege and social connections to local races. Here’s how they fared. Read for free: lamaterial.com/p/the-harvar...

Meet the Harvard-Westlake Caucus

Alumni from the elite private school were overrepresented in L.A. political races this year.

lamaterial.com