In this newsletter:

• Feature: Primary night takeaway: money helps, but it’s not enough 
• The new rock opera about Pasadena 
• Suehiro Cafe comes back to Little Tokyo, with a little help 
  
• It’s going to be a very sharky summer
• An Eaton Fire survivor who helped the unhoused became unhoused himself
• Get started early on World Cup celebrations — first match is in a week!
   

 Primary night takeaway: money helps, but it’s not enough
by Madeleine Brand

Los Angeles looks shabby — potholes, cracked sidewalks, litter, streetlights out, graffiti — and feels out-of-control. Yes, there are fewer people living on the streets (the annual unhoused count found a drop of 17.5% since 2022), but there are still encampments everywhere. Housing prices are sky-high. We’re not ready for the Olympics. Traffic is insane (can we blame the Waymos? the Amazon deliveries?).

Mayor Karen Bass at her re-election watch party in Koreatown on Tuesday. Courtesy of Karen Bass for Mayor.

No one thinks the city is doing well. Not even Mayor Karen Bass. And yet she came out on top in this week’s primary election and will be on the November ballot. Her strongest challenge came from a reality-TV actor (I’m not going to call him a “star”), who plays an A-I Batman in his viral campaign video. In a way, he also played the Zohran Mamdani of the race — not in his policy proposals, but in getting a lot of national attention for his outsider, online messaging. 

As former city councilman Mike Bonin told me, voters love L.A., but they’re concerned. They range from frustrated (Bass voters) to angry (Pratt voters): “In a runoff, the mayor's challenge is going to be — particularly against Pratt — convincing people that the problems are bad, and she acknowledges it, but she's the steady hand that can get us out of it, as opposed to Pratt who's going to be saying, ‘This ship is sinking; jump in the lifeboat with me.’”

For Bonin, the most interesting storyline on Tuesday was the normally ho-hum City Controller’s race. Incumbent Kenneth Mejia faced a challenge from financier Zach Sokoloff. Mejia, who likes to tweak city officials with his user-friendly pie charts, raised $143,000 (plus city matching funds of $500,000). Sokoloff raised $1 million and his mom spent another $7.5 million on attack ads against Mejia. It looks like all that money was wasted. Mejia is easily cruising to another term.

Money isn’t all-important. It didn’t work for Rick Caruso four years ago. It didn’t work for Adam Miller this year. Sometimes money can’t get you what you want. But if any of these guys wants to buy the city some lightbulbs, that would be much appreciated.

In The Neighborhood

• What would you tell someone about your neighborhood if they lived there 100 years ago? What about a neighbor 100 years in the future? That thought experiment led to the plot of Pasadena Right Here, Right Now, a new rock opera that premieres on Saturday. The music is David Bowie-meets-orchestra, and the lyrics include plenty of Easter eggs for Eastside insiders. Music samples plus an interview with the composer in this fun story by KCRW contributor Steven Cuevas.
  
  
• When multigenerational family business Suehiro Cafe was forced out of Little Tokyo after 52 years back in 2024, dismayed observers notched another loss to gentrification. Now here comes an effort to prevent that tide from pulling under more local culture. KCRW reporter Megan Jamerson tells the story of an experiment in coordinated city policy, non-profit strategy, and free-market economics that’s bringing Little Tokyo 248 new apartments and a reopened Suehiro Cafe outpost on 1st Street. Maybe there’s a model here for other neighborhoods. Check out audio or Instagram versions of the tale.
  
  
• Not to alarm you, but Chris Lowe, director of the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, says it’s going to be a very “sharky” summer. “If you would have asked me 25 years ago, would I expect to see white sharks all along the Southern California coast, I would have laughed at you," Lowe says. "But something has changed.” Yes, of course it’s climate change — but also species recovery after decades of protection, and a better view of the water because of drones. KCRW contributor Susan Valot talked to a surfer who posted an expletive-filled video of a shark circling his paddleboard, and he expressed a stereotypical laidback cool about the whole thing: “If I went down in a shark attack, so be it, you know? … I could fall in the bathtub. There’s probably a better chance of that.”
  
  
• Antonio Martin was one of the thousands who lost their homes in the Eaton and Palisades fires after his apartment in Altadena was set aflame. But unlike his neighbors, he already knew what to do if he experienced this loss. That’s because Martin had dedicated his career to helping the unhoused. “Even for someone like me, who knows how to navigate that system,” Martin told Press Play’s Madeleine Brand. “It was so difficult.” He shared his story on this week's Press Play. (audio starts 28:14). Also, Madeleine spoke to UCLA professor Evan Michael Shannon, who surveyed roughly 500 unhoused people about how the fires impacted their physical health. Listen here. (audio starts 39:56)
  
  
• Just a few of the many things going on this weekend to celebrate the World Cup. Lots more to come after games begin on Thursday, June 11th.
  • Ball is life: Superior Nut is giving away free soccer balls to kids under 14 on Saturday, June 6th.
  • Head to the top: Wear your team’s fútbol jersey and hike to the Hollywood sign with Dodgers Hiking Crew and L.A. Vikings Hiking Group on Saturday, June 6th.
  • Run the field: Or if running is more your thing, wear that jersey to race in a World Cup 5K run at LA Galaxy Park on Sunday, June 7th.
    
    

Local Meme of the Week

KCRW's Local Letterbox

• Things to Do This Week —  Turn up in WeHo at this high-energy LGBTQ+ OUTLOUD Music Festival, June 5-7th, featuring icons like The Pussycat Dolls, Jade, Ava Max, the Blue Man Group, and many more.
  
  

• Art Insider with Carolina Miranda —  For lovers of the beautiful game: You can experience the thrills of soccer in a new LACMA exhibition that, miraculously, features players made of gum wrappers. Plus more art news and links to peruse. 
  

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