Good morning. It’s Saturday, and this is your one-minute, weekly roundup of L.A. Material’s best work.
1. A federal judge declared a mistrial in the Palisades fire arson case.
My colleague Matt Hamilton, who previously profiled Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. Attorney in Southern California, called the mistrial “one of the most high-profile losses of his tenure, which has been marked by a steady exodus of seasoned prosecutors.” Related: Matt wrote a cinematic account of the hike that the arson suspect took with federal agents as he slowly realized he was under investigation.
2. We hosted a panel about air quality after the Boyle Heights Fire.
You can watch the full video here. But if you’re short on time, we wrote a rapid-fire summary of the invaluable advice dispensed by our panel of health experts from USC, UCLA, and UC Irvine. Among the tidbits: Watch out for visible dust blowing from the facility, and don’t rely wholly on AQI numbers — they’re a floor.
3. California bureaucracy nearly destroyed this Hockney treasure.
In 1987, the British artist David Hockney painted a squiggly mural on the bottom of the pool at the Hollywood Roosevelt. It has found a new wave of online appreciation since the artist’s death earlier this month. But did you know that, soon after Hockney painted the mural, state officials nearly ordered its destruction? Read about the fight to preserve the Hockney treasure.
MORE MATERIAL
DOCUMENTARIAN Greg Ruben profiled the wacky, museum-worthy McDonald’s in Glendale, which may be one of the franchise’s most unusual locations in America.
TWO YEARS AGO in Washington state, another cold storage facility owned by Lineage burst into flames. Local officials there told us about the health issues their residents — and pets — faced.
Bub and Grandma’s Pizza has landed in Highland Park! Come visit our new pizza spot, dear L.A. Material readers, order a slice in person, and get the second slice for FREE. That’s right. Just make sure to mention the promo code below and that extra triangle is all yours. One use per person.
Promo Code: BUBMATERIAL26
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THE FAMILY BEHIND the vegan chain Café Gratitude has decamped to a small town in Texas. Now they’re betting on meat — and are all-in on the MAHA movement, Alta Journal reported.
COMMUNITY NEWSLETTERS, including L.A.’s own Eastside Rag, are the hottest new matchmaking platforms for singles, according to the Atlantic.
THIS FOUR-BED, four-bath Topanga abode is the perfect moneyed bohemian getaway, listed at $1.7 million.
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