Good morning. It’s Saturday, and this is your one-minute, weekly roundup of L.A. Material’s best work.
1. Drunks in New York used to call the L.A. Central Library to settle their bets.
Remember the days when you used to have to call a reference librarian to get now-Google-able answers? A longtime employee of the L.A. Central Library has a nostalgic look back at his time in the trenches answering questions for the curious, the inebriated and the lonely. Including great archival photos.
2. Gavin Newsom will face a big test this month.
The governor of California has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto hundreds of bills sitting on his desk. As he eyes a run for the White House, anything he does now could come back to bite him in 2028. Will he sign a slavery disclosure act? What about data center limits? Here’s a look at the hot-button issues on Newsom’s desk.
3. A humble drive-thru sign is one of L.A.’s favorite ways to share big news.
In a city saturated with commercial billboards, the two-tiered sign at Rick’s Drive In & Out in Silver Lake is refreshingly earnest. For years, locals have used its old-school marquee to announce engagements, birthdays, graduations, and even deaths. The best part: It’s totally free.
MORE MATERIAL
A BEHESTED PAYMENT is what happens when a politician asks a private entity to donate money to a pet cause. They’re perfectly legal, although watchdog groups call it “influence peddling.” Mayor Karen Bass has “behested” more than $38 million in donations to outside charities since taking office.
LOOKING FOR specialized spices to up your home cooking game? We asked notable local chefs to share their favorite spice bazaars.
THE REPEATED arrests of a local man known to sniff peoples’ rear ends in public has led to a bemusing evolution in local media: After years of using euphemisms to describe his antics, news outlets have finally gotten comfortable labeling him a “butt sniffer.”
LINKS YOU CLICKED MOST
A LATE-NIGHT fight in Beverly Hills last Sunday left one man dead and another injured in a leafy residential neighborhood just west of Doheny Drive.
L.A. TACO SERVED up a list of the best steakhouses in L.A. Many were selected for vibes as much as food: The Dresden, for instance, “makes you feel like you’re laundering money.”
A FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT in Brentwood Heights is at risk of “demolition by neglect.” Artnet wrote about how the house fell into disrepair.
