Make the check out to City of Los Angeles

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, April 22. You can expect the valiant California sun to ultimately prevail over a gray morning (mid 70s).

In today’s newsletter, we have millennials reviving century-old social clubs, the unexpected rise of Xavier Becerra in the governor’s race and a wagyu brouhaha. But first, the city’s next fight over vacation rentals is likely coming soon.

Deep in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ proposed budget, there is a single passage that, to the untrained eye, reads like another speck of bureaucratic jargon in a 524-page sea of it: 

The city budget is a Talmud-like text, obscure and virtually inscrutable to someone not trained to read it. But there is great — potentially even explosive — meaning to be derived for those who know how to correctly decode some of its terse declarations. 

The operative word here is “pre-payment” and the unseen meaning is that the mayor appears to be suggesting that home-sharing companies like Airbnb could make an advance payment on the bed tax they might collect ahead of the Olympics.

There doesn’t appear to be much of a precedent for a private company making a “pre-payment” to the city to settle a tax bill on revenue it hasn’t earned yet. 

Here’s where things get even more interesting: Home-sharing rentals in the city have been strictly regulated. But Airbnb has long lobbied for a more permissive policy — one that critics argue might cut into the city’s agonizingly limited housing supply, if landlords were to convert their units into short-term rentals. And the pre-payment proposal is seemingly tied to the city approving a more lenient policy for home-sharing platforms. 

This particular line of budget-ese is in a section called Exhibit H, where the mayor deviates from the nuts and bolts of department funding to illustrate what policy actions she thinks must be taken by her and the City Council to “effectuate” the budget — a quasi to-do list. 

And the item directly above the passage in question is a direction to the City Planning Department to develop a policy that would allow home-sharing rentals in second homes or investment properties through the Olympics — something Airbnb has been pushing for for years. 

(Under current regulations, Angelenos can only host rentals in their “primary residence” on home-sharing platforms — meaning they can’t convert secondary properties into full-time Airbnbs, or rentals on other home-sharing platforms.)

“Airbnb is a committed partner to the city, and we're doubling down on our efforts to support L.A.'s resilience and provide critical tax revenue that helps fund essential city services,” Airbnb Public Policy Senior Manager Justin Wesson said in a statement. 

The mayor’s office did not respond to a question about the terms of the proposed pre-payment.

This is an excerpt of a longer L.A. Material story — read the full report to learn how this has been riling City Hall, and how the gambit fits into the broader fight over home-sharing vacation rentals in the city.

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Across the city, century-old organizations that a decade ago seemed to be on their last legs are being inundated with new members in their 40s, 30s and even their 20s. In Highland Park, the Garibaldina Society has more than tripled its membership since 2020. In Lincoln Heights, the Adventurers’ Club shook off a century-old ban on women members and welcomed several in recent months.. And the 101-year-old Los Angeles Breakfast Club has seen a rush of new membership.

In this new piece, L.A. Material contributor Meghan McCarron looks at why old-fashioned, IRL clubs are powerfully appealing to a subset of the creative middle class and what it says about making a life in Los Angeles

TRUMP’S MAN IN LOS ANGELES: In case you missed our L.A. Material exclusive yesterday, Matt Hamilton went deep on U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who serves as the face of President Trump’s immigration and fraud crackdown in Southern California. But defending his own family’s fraud case, with the ACLU’s help, pitted Essayli against the office he now leads.

STUDIO REAL ESTATE: Netflix is reportedly in talks to buy the historic soundstages Radford Studios for a fraction of its $1.85 billion 2021 sale price, Bloomberg reports. 

XAV-MENTUM? After months on the gubernatorial back bench, Xavier Becerra has seen soaring poll numbers and boosted fundraising after Eric Swalwell’s fall. 

WAGYU USED TO MEAN SOMETHING: These days, what qualifies as Wagyu might depend on whom you ask. The NYT’s Tejal Rao investigates. 

STOPPAGE TIME: Hospitality union Unite Here, which represents workers at World Cup host arena SoFi Stadium, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board last week, pressuring the Trump administration to ensure that federal immigration authorities don’t participate in security for the mega event. Daniel Miller at Politico looks at the labor unrest as part of a deeper dive into uncertainty surrounding the World Cup across the American host cities.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, @Partymads with an only-in-L.A. image in the #pics-and-video channel:

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “i am running into a new year” by Lucille Clifton. This poem comes recommended by L.A. Material reader Candice Cho.

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