How To LA

BONUS: The Tournament of Cheeseburgers is over! And we have your winner. Read alll about it here: https://laist.com/news/food/drumroll-please-we-announce-the-winner-of-the-laist-tournament-of-cheeseburgers

This pop up joint along with some of the runner ups will be at Smorgasburg at The Row in DTLA this Sunday! Make sure to check out the free event and enjoy some excellent food.

RSVP here: https://laist.com/events/tournament-of-cheeseburgers-at-smorgasburg-la

To honor this delicious moment we are sharing again a great live event I co-hosted with LAist food editor Gab Chabrán earlier this year, featuring the one and only winner of the Tournament of Cheeseburgers and other amazing burger entrepreneurs and chefs LA. 

Watch the event here: https://laist.com/events/culinary-connections-hamburger-fry

#284: Happy 4th of July! It's the last day of our holiday Cheap Fast Eats marathon. Whether you're hosting the BBQ for your family and friends - OR you're just kicking it solo - if you're anything like us, the summer is all about FOOD. So kick back and enjoy some fireworks, or protect your dog from the big spooky boom booms, and do it while noshing on some of the best food L.A. has to offer.

Original episode description below:

Gab. Brian. Food. You know the drill — Cheap Fast Eats is back! This time, LAist food editor Gab Chabrán is taking HTLA host Brian De Los Santos to some of the best spots west of Sepulveda Blvd in the 818.

A century ago Wheat and Lemon were the undisputed kings of LA's San Fernando Valley, a spill of land that existed almost exclusively to be farmed. But in the 1950's, as a post-war Los Angeles was flirting ever so closely with car-culture, the first strip malls of suburbia were born.

Today we know these strip malls as the humble homes of the best food the Valley has to offer. Join us to hear about Gab's favorites - and check out his full guide on LAist.com.

Restaurants visited: Cupid's Hot Dogs, Ay Papa Que Rico, New York Chicken & Gyro

Music in this episode composed by: E Ro 3, Troye Sivan, Herb Ellis, Dexter Thomas, Slumberville, The ModArchive, Makoto Matsushita, Austin Cross

#239: Today we're continuing our holiday marathon of Cheap Fast Eats! Whether you're hosting the BBQ for your family and friends - OR you're just kicking it solo - if you're anything like us, the summer is all about FOOD. So kick back and enjoy some fireworks, or protect your dog from the big spooky boom booms, and do it while noshing on some of the best food L.A. has to offer.

Original episode description below:

Cheap Fast Eats is back! Did you miss us? It's our monthly segment featuring LAist food editor Gab Chabrán and all his favorite spots to grab a quick and inexpensive meal throughout L.A. This time we're in Boyle Heights - the true East Side, for those who know.

Come along as we eat our way through some rainy day comfort food.

Restaurants featured in this episode: Pioneer Chicken, Brooklyn Ave Pizza, Mariscos Jalisco

For Gab's full list of Cheap Fast Eats in Boyle Heights, check out his article on LAist.com: 
https://laist.com/brief/news/food/cheap-fast-eats-chow-down-in-historic-boyle-heights-for-10

#193: What better way to celebrate the summer's favorite holiday than a marathon of Cheap Fast Eats! Whether you're hosting the BBQ for your family and friends - OR you're just kicking it solo - if you're anything like us, the summer is all about FOOD. So kick back and enjoy some fireworks, or protect your dog from the big spooky boom booms, and do it while noshing on some of the best food L.A. has to offer.

Original description below:

It's Cheap Fast Eats time again, and that means LAist  food editor Gab Chabrán is hitting the streets with HTLA host Brian De Los Santos. Mid City is close to EVERYTHING...Museum Row, Park La Brea, Fairfax, West Hollywood. It's a good place to know some gems to get some cheap grubs.

Locations: Qi Steam Kitchen, Del Mar Ostioneria, Burger She Wrote

#134: The great thing about Los Angeles is that you can do the urban thing – go to museums, clubs, concerts and eat at good restaurants – and you can get out in nature whenever you want... or need. 

There are ton a beautiful parks, sunset spots and hiking trails right in the middle of the city. Or if you are feeling more adventurous, you can venture out to farther flung places across the county. 

Last fall we asked our listeners for their favorite places to get outdoors and we turned it into an episode. This summer, we did it again. Here are some of their suggestions. Enjoy – and get outside!

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.

#295: Don't get us wrong, we LOVE Los Angeles... but sometimes we just gotta get out. You know the feeling? Well, if you're looking for some inspiration for some summer day-trips, about 3 hours or less away from the city, we got you covered.

From Santa Cruz Island to Idyllwild, we have some of suggestions for high adventure and a few ideas if you just want to chill and enjoy a new scene. Check out the recs from the team... and from some of you! 

Today we have another story from LA On The Margins, the collection of stories produced by students at USC where every episode we profile an Angeleno struggling in some way to make it in this city.

This time, a transition home that aims to help those who’ve struggled with their mental health and/or a history of addiction. 

For years, LA county has funded programs to address cycles of incarceration and homelessness that often affect those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. People would go from one institution —say a jail — right into another, usually with few results. 

Reporter Kira Brenner takes us somewhere different: a place that mixed counselors, therapists, and enrichment opportunities – like art classes – into something that would feel more like a home. 

Take a listen.

Editor's Note:

We mistakenly said in the version of this podcast that the Paris Olympics started at the end of June. It kicks off at the end of July and THAT will start the countdown until the games come to Los Angeles in 2028. During the 2028 games, the L.A. Memorial Coliseum will again host the track and field and Para Athletics events, making it the only stadium in history to host these competitions for three different Olympic Games. To celebrate this milestone, we want to revisit the Coliseum’s history and replay this episode from 2023…during the stadium's centennial year!

#147: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is one of several L.A. landmarks hitting the century mark this year, and we thought it’d be fun to take a look back on them as we celebrate our one-year anniversary of How To LA this September.

We explored The Biltmore Hotel downtown (if you haven’t listened to that episode already) and we’ll be featuring the story behind the Hollywood sign pretty soon.

When it comes to the L.A. Coliseum (the "memorial" in the full name refers to the fact that the stadium is a memorial to the Americans who served in WWI) there’s no denying that it has a rich history. For example, it played a role in the desegregation of the NFL, and it will soon be the first location to ever host three Olympic Games. But the stadium's history goes way beyond sports.

Guests:

• Frank Guridy, Professor of History and African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University, and author of the forthcoming book, "The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play"
• William Deverell, Historian at USC and Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
• Marina Fote, Assistant to the General Manager, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The performances from Wattstax in this episode are Carla Thomas singing "Pick Up the Pieces" and The Bar-Kays performing "Son of Shaft/Feel It"

Today we're bringing you another installment of LA on the Margins. This is a collection of pieces produced by students at USC, which profile people in our community as they work through the many challenges we face in our city.

Along South L.A.’s Figueroa Corridor, activists have been calling for the closure of motels they say are complicit in sex trafficking and drug dealing. A campaign called “Free The Land,” run by the nonprofit Community Coalition, seeks to shut these businesses down and convert the buildings for other uses, like housing for L.A.’s unhoused population.

Erick Treviño meets the people behind the campaign, and learns how their own experiences growing up on the corridor have shaped their activism.

For more information, check out Community Coalition.