Yeah No, I’m Not OK

Part 3: The Star Garden Topless Dive Bar reopens as a union strip club, but the fight doesn’t end there. What happens after the victory? LAist Producer Emma Alabaster has the story.

Here are some resources that informed our reporting:

• Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex  (In particular, the essay "White Supremacy in Organizing" by Domino Rey)

• Yes, A Stripper Podcast
• Unequ...

As we continue our series "Revival House," How to LA producer Victoria Alejandro is taking us to The New Beverly Cinema over in Fairfax, where movies are always on film.

The theater, owned by Quentin Tarantino, has a long history as complex as LA's. Join us as we explore the building's history and discover what makes it a special place to catch a double feature today. 

Guests: Theater and operations manager Jules McLean, projection...

Part 3: Building A Music Community To Feel Less Alone

For the next installment of our finding community series, we're talking music! 

Writer's 'Round LA is a Nashville-style, singer-songwriter showcase and hang for artists and non-artists alike. Think a 60s or 70s era Laurel Canyon open mic night. Good vibes all around.  

Today, How To LA producer Megan Botel explores how people are creating strong connections and building communit...

Part 4: Half a year after Star Garden reopens as a union club, the dancers are still negotiating a contract. LAist producer Emma Alabaster brings you the latest. Plus, some of the dancers have set their sights on a different dream: a worker-owned cooperative strip club. 

Here are some resources that informed our reporting:

• LA Co-op Lab
• U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Neon! Mullets! Video stores! Relive the 80s with us...

As we continue our series "Revival House," How to LA producer Victoria Alejandro is taking us to Eagle Rock to check out Vidiots. The iconic video store opened in Santa Monica in the 80s, and closed its doors in 2017. But, Vidiots reopened last year in the historic Eagle theater. And yes, all of its 60,000 DVDs made the move too.

Vidiots has made renting a movie cool ag...

Part 4: Why Are Men So Lonely These Days?

For the next installment of our series on How to Not Be Lonely in LA, we're honing in on one demographic: Men.

In all the conversations we’ve been having with people about loneliness and human connection...be it with experts or every day Angelenos …this theme kept coming up:

In a nation in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, A LOT of people are lonely. But men, typically, are the loneliest....

Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido is joined by LAist Senior Health Reporter Jackie Fortier and Higher Education Correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez to break down their investigation into why many students and faculty across California's public universities don't know that medication abortion is mandated on their campuses. This is the latest LAist Investigates episode on Imperfect Paradise that highlights reporting from our ne...

As we continue our series "Revival House," How To LA producer Victoria Alejandro is taking us to the South Bay of LA. We're checking out the Gardena Cinema, which pivoted to revival screenings relatively recently. 

The theater has been owned by the Kim family since 1976, and is now a non-profit run by Judy Kim and a team of 40 volunteers. Kim has saved the cinema from closures a handful of times now, and has also built up an incred...

Part 2:

Adolfo learns that there was a dark side to Oscar’s experience in the Chicano student movement. 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Co...

Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary, the 2022 podcast from LAist Studios, has been optioned by Participant and is simultaneously being developed as a scripted and documentary limited series. 

Part 1:

Oscar Gomez was a star of the 1990s Chicano student movement and then, unexpectedly, he died. A rattling event in host Adolfo Guzman-Lopez’s life spurs him to investigate Oscar’s death. 

Grow your business–no matter wha...

Revival House is breaking format for this episode, and we’re saying goodbye to a historic first-run movie theater.

The Highland Theatre in Highland Park was one of the only movie theaters in Northeast LA. A designated historic cultural monument, the exterior will remain intact, but its future is uncertain. 

In this episode, How To LA producer Victoria Alejandro chats with host Brian De Los Santos about community memories, the h...

In our next installment of our series on How Not To Be Lonely in LA, we’re covering all the ways moving in synchrony together promotes closeness. Really, it’s just an excellent way to make friends.

Luckily in LA, there are unlimited amounts of classes, courses, leagues and clubs one can join based on your particular interests. Whether it’s a dance class, sports league or a mixed martial arts training, there’s literally something fo...

Part 4:

Adolfo finds a briefcase with information that could lead to clues about Oscar’s death. 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corpo...

Part 3:

Adolfo gets his first lead on a person possibly involved in Oscar’s death.

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Pub...

We're back with another episode of Revival House, but this time we're not heading to a 100 year old theater...

The David Geffen and Ted Mann theaters at the Academy Museum of Motion Arts and Pictures are a new addition to L.A's revival programming. In this episode, we explore what the theaters, which only opened in 2021, have to offer our city's moviegoing landscape. And hopefully, we demystify what seeing a movie here is actually ...

Part 6:

Adolfo reckons with his own relationship to his past and the Chicano student movement. And he finds someone who may have clues about what happened the night Oscar died. 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles ...

Part 5:

Was Oscar going to leave the Chicano student movement? Adolfo discovers new information about Oscar’s last months. 

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made po...

Go back to the movies with us!

We're still profiling LA's repertory theaters in Revival House cause there are SO MANY to check out! In this episode, we explore a cool space with some deep, messy history.

Fashion label Brain Dead has taken over a site that some would consider....a little cursed. Originally opened in the 1940s as The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, the venue was home to premieres and parties. Until a theft and murde...

Part 8:

Adolfo finds new information about the night Oscar died, and has to have a difficult conversation about what really happened to Oscar.

Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This...