Greater LA

LA currently has zero lesbian bars. Since the closure of LA’s last remaining gay bar in 2017, the second-largest city in the U.S. has been left without any brick and mortar center of lesbian nightlife. It’s a trend reflected across the U.S., which only has 21 lesbian bars. Now young queer women are part of a new wave in LA to feed the hunger of LGBTQ Angelenos and are building new spaces.

More people are experiencing homelessness in New York City than in all of LA County. But fewer people sleep on the streets in  New York — partly because of its state law guaranteeing emergency shelter to every person who qualifies. Now one state lawmaker is proposing a similar law in California.

After 15 months of the pandemic, the Golden State is no longer requiring capacity limits, masks, or social distancing in most places. LA business owners and employees must make some decisions, like whether to ask customers for vaccination proof and whether to leave plexiglass at checkout counters. KCRW speaks with a bar owner and a grocery store worker as they try to navigate this new terrain.

Crowns & Hops, based in Inglewood, will be LA’s first Black-owned brewery. Co-owners Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter are on a mission to protect Inglewood’s culture in the midst of a development boom while diversifying the craft beer industry.

Businesses on the road to reopening are traversing a complex path with rules about distancing, capacity limits, and masks. Now imagine having to deal with two separate rulebooks — one for restaurants and another for performance spaces. That’s what the Candlelight Pavilion dinner theater in Claremont is navigating. Over the nearly 15 months it was closed, the family that runs the Candlelight wondered how it would survive, but it faced the virus head-on, and jumped through a lot of hoops to bring guests back inside. 

High school seniors say their in-person graduation ceremonies this year are surreal and sentimental. Some graduates of 2020 waited a year so they could turn their tassels in-person with classmates.

The disappearance of Kristin Smart in San Luis Obispo has gone unsolved for 25 years, and among those demanding justice are local women who grew up following her case. As the prime suspect, Paul Flores, awaits trial, many women continue to unpack the ways her disappearance impacted their childhoods and personal experiences with sexual violence.

Some of the world’s largest corporations like Amazon, Walmart, Google, and UPS are all looking into using drones to deliver small packages. The Federal Aviation Administration is granting approvals right and left for growing these types of operations. However, there are questions of privacy and surveillance if thousands of drones are allowed to take up LA’s skies to take pictures and gather data. Could local control start regulating the skies for Angelenos? 

Locals identify Crenshaw Boulevard as the main artery of Black culture in Los Angeles, while the man it’s named for was white. But past efforts to rename the street after a Black hero have foundered on difficult questions. Who is a hero? And who decides?

Today’s entire show looks deeply at the Boyle Heights neighborhood of LA. It’s predominantly Latino these days, but through the years, it’s been home to Black Americans, Jewish Americans, and Japanese Americans.