Good morning. It’s Saturday, and this is your one-minute, weekly roundup of L.A. Material’s best work.
1. L.A. politicians, apparently, love to leave Yelp reviews.
We spent hours scouring the internet for their funniest ratings and put them on an interactive map. The spiciest? Senator Alex Padilla had “what I can genuinely call a terrible experience” at Great Clips in Northridge. And former Congresswoman Katie Porter penned a 500-word jeremiad against a Newport Beach massage parlor.
2. A massive anime expo paid the city just $1,000 to use its Convention Center.
It sounds crazy, especially since the going rate was $460,000. But the shockingly low prices paid by organizers of the 100,000-person Anime Expo belie a more interesting economic story: The costumed expo-goers flood local businesses — especially those slinging booze — with cash. Lots of it.
3. Bringing your kids to a Dodgers game?
We polled parents who shared their best tips, including: Pick shaded seats, find the playgrounds, and make the most of Dodger Stadium’s kid-friendly perks. (In response to this guide, a snarky Redditor advised: “Get a Spectrum subscription.”)
MORE MATERIAL
BOXING LEGEND Manny Pacquiao bought Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s old Hollywood gym, the ultimate troll in their long-running rivalry.
A SWEEPING NEW housing law went into effect earlier this month. We explained how Senate Bill 79 could reshape your neighborhood.
ILLEGAL FIREWORKS wreaked their usual grisly carnage on unfortunate revelers this July 4. But where do they all even come from? We tracked the sprawling illicit network that brings them to California.
LINKS YOU CLICKED MOST
THE FOUNDER OF an L.A. taco stand empire was charged in connection with the grisly death of one of her employees. But the prosecution is in danger after ICE detained one of the defendants and ordered another to leave the country, the L.A. Times reported.
RACHEL WHETSTONE, the wife of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, is a PR superstar who’s led comms at some of the world’s biggest tech companies. She hasn’t attended a single one of her husband’s campaign events, per a fascinating profile in The San Francisco Standard.
THIS LOW-SLUNG California ranch house with a mountain backdrop has a sweet backyard in a highly rated Glendale school district. It’s listed at $1.3 million.
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