Good morning. It’s Saturday, and this is your one-minute, weekly roundup of L.A. Material’s best work.
1. The streets of L.A. have birthed a new kind of nightcrawler.
His name is Alex Choi, and he’s making a fortune off of quick-hit videos of high-speed police chases and gruesome crime scenes. Night-crawling news videographers are nothing new. But Choi, 26, has mastered the art of harvesting chaos for profit on social media — and has attracted much notoriety in the process.
2. It’s been a year since the start of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
We paid a visit to La Mega 96.3, the reggaeton station that became an unlikely forum for Latinos processing the frenzied summer of 2025. "It got overwhelming," reflected DJ Eddie One, who tracked immigration raids on air and invited listeners to debate topics like whether they’d let their kids work for ICE.
… thanks to slick hype edits by the Orange County-based Nixon Foundation. But interspersed among the “Nixonmaxxing” reels are posts that propagate unfounded conspiracy theories about Watergate. It’s part of a fascinating new strain of Watergate revisionism adopted by young conservatives.
MORE STUFF WE DID
HARVARD-WESTLAKE grads are all over the ballot this year. We compiled a list of alumni from the tony private school who competed on Tuesday, complete with their results — and yearbook photos.
ELECTION DAY WAS kind to most incumbents, with one glaring exception: Hydee Feldstein Soto suffered a blowout loss in the city attorney’s race, shaking up one of the most powerful yet least-understood offices in local government.
DID YOU KNOW that L.A. only has one magic store? The owner of The Magic Apple in Studio City revealed the best-selling items at L.A.’s last bastion of magic.
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
LINKS YOU CLICKED MOST
MUCH HAS BEEN said about the 20-year-old director of the box office hit “Backrooms.” Puck chronicled how yet another 20-something-year-old first discovered the project for A24.
THE L.A. TIMES built a handy map that shows how your neighborhood voted for mayor.
FOR A COOL $5.95 million, you could own this Richard Neutra-designed home in Hollywood Hills with a year-round natural creek.
We rely on your support to produce our journalism. Help us by upgrading your subscription.
