Part 8: How Giving Back Can Make You Feel Less Alone 

We're back with another installment of our How To Not Be Lonely In LA series. 

Today, we're talking about volunteering your time to a cause, and how doing so can make you feel a lot less alone. 

Call it selfish, but doing some community service is a really great way to create connections, broaden your perspective of life, and ultimately give you a greater sense of belonging. 

Producer Megan Botel is at Growing Hope Gardens in Santa Monica to get her hands dirty in some soil and talk about the benefits of volunteering. 

Guests: Carolyn Day, founder and executive director of Growing Hope Gardens; Eleu Navarro, garden and farm team coordinator; Cat Moore, director of belonging at USC. 

Some places to volunteer around the city: 

• Heal The Bay 
• Downtown Women's Center
• Pico Union Project

Daniel Zamora  waits for the decision on his deportation appeal and has to figure out how to make a life in Mexico — find work, get an apartment.  All the while, Daniel tries to keep up his cross-border relationship. Lorena Ríos reports. 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Listen to Reimagining Democracy for A Good Life, hosted by longtime equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell. Available now at policylink.org/reimagining-democracy or wherever you get your podcasts

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

Daniel Zamora took a roadtrip in 2011 that would take an unexpected turn to the Texas border. That detour would shatter the course of his life. Journalist Lorena Ríos reports.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes mention of suicidal ideation. 

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers services to talk to a skilled counselor. If you are feeling distressed and need to talk to a counselor, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or visit https://988lifeline.org/.

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Listen to Reimagining Democracy for A Good Life, hosted by longtime equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell. Available now at policylink.org/reimagining-democracy or wherever you get your podcasts 

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

Carol Kwang Park was 12 years old, working as a cashier at her family’s gas station in Compton, California, when the 1992 LA Uprising forever changed her life. Her mom was at the gas station that day and Carol was unsure if she’d even make it home. At the time, she didn’t understand why tensions came to a head in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King. She also never understood why her mother insisted on keeping the business going, especially after the Uprising. As an adult, a personal crisis prompts Carol to finally start processing that event and her place in history. 

Content Warning: This episode contains racial slurs and discusses police brutality. 

How can I support? Inheriting is entirely funded by supporters like you. If you want to hear future seasons of the show, go to LAist.com/Inheriting and click on the orange box to donate.

LA was rocked on March 4 when Dave Fink, a golf influencer, posted a viral video on Instagram detailing how brokers - largely using a Korean messenger app- were snatching up prime time tees at Los Angeles’ public golf courses and reselling them. Here’s how an unlikely crew of golf enthusiasts’ fight to keep golf in L.A. accessible and affordable is paying off. Host Antonia Cereijido reports.

 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Listen to Reimagining Democracy for A Good Life, hosted by longtime equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell. Available now at policylink.org/reimagining-democracy or wherever you get your podcasts

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

Go back to the movies with us!

It's heating up in the city, so Revival House continues with a classic of spring and summertime in L.A. — a film at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Run by Cinespia, you can picnic and catch a revival film on the iconic grassy knoll. What keeps people coming back year after year? What's the history of it all? Listen along to find out.

Learn more about the cemetery tour here: https://www.cemeterytour.com/

Find more about Cinespia here: https://cinespia.org/

Guests: Cemetery tour guide Karie Bible, Cinespia founder John Wyatt.

Part 7: Looking For Community? Go Find Your 'Church' 

How To LA is back with our series on How NOT To Be Lonely in LA.

Today we explore the connection between religion…or lack thereof…and loneliness.

For decades, Americans relied on their church, temple or mosque, or other religious institutions, for a sense of built in community. But with more and more people disaffiliating from organized religion in recent decades — particularly since the 90s — we, as a society, haven't really found a replacement for those spaces, and the community and sanctity that comes with them.

Today, producer Megan Botel speaks to USC professor of religion Diane Winston about what has been lost on a personal and community level in the decline of religiosity. She also explores the Pico Union Project, a non-denominational church in L.A. that might offer a solution to some who are looking to find a place to gather with people and share in some sense of spirituality. 

Guests: Diane Winston, professor of media and religion at USC; Craig Taubman, founder and artistic director of the Pico Union Project; Ross Chait, talent booker at the Pico Union Project.

LAist Correspondent Emily Guerin gives us insights into the making of The Gen Z Water Dealmaker series. In this bonus episode, Emily speaks with Luke Runyon, the co-director of The Water Desk at the University of Colorado-Boulder's Center for Environmental Journalism about how she thought through the series that follows the epic negotiation over the Colorado River's future during the current historic water crisis.

 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Listen to Reimagining Democracy for A Good Life, hosted by longtime equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell. Available now at policylink.org/reimagining-democracy or wherever you get your podcasts

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

Revival House says goodbye for now with a look at one of the biggest programming groups in town, the American Cinematheque. 

 

Celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, screening 1500 movies a year in three iconic theaters across Los Angeles, the American Cinematheque has a movie for everybody, every night of the week. In this episode, How To LA producer Victoria Alejandro jumps into the history of these movie theaters and this programming group to shine a light on a little L.A. moviegoing history and spotlight the future of the American Cinematheque in this city.

 

Check out our deep dive into the Egyptian Theatre's history and reopening here:  https://omny.fm/shows/howtola/revival-house-the-egyptian-theater-redux

 

Guests: Professor and historian Ross Melnick, American Cinematheque artistic director Grant Moninger, Programmers Imani Davis and Cindy Flores, Senior Film Programmer Chris Lemaire

Host Antonia Cereijido speaks with negotiations expert Victoria Medvec about how to make the best possible deal. Medvec also helps  identify ways the Colorado River water rights representatives could still change tactics and reach an agreement before time runs out.

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Listen to Reimagining Democracy for A Good Life, hosted by longtime equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell. Available now at policylink.org/reimagining-democracy or wherever you get your podcasts

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.