Report LA Fellow Kelsey Ngante:  

I was devastated when I heard that the Hollywood Arby’s was closing. Like many other LA residents, I felt so-so about the roast beef chain but claimed the one on Sunset as a cultural landmark. The hat’s iconic! It’s a relic of a lost time. My feelings about the store paled in comparison to those of the owners and loyal customers, who shared intimate details about the goings on at the restaurant. Apparently, someone lost their virginity at that Arby’s. And someone else “named” their son after the store. Fun stuff!

Goodbye Arby’s: Hollywood cowboy hat shop’s final rodeo

The Leviton and Husch families owned the Arby’s on Sunset Boulevard for 55 years before closing it in June — due to a decline in business, tens of thousands of dollars needed for repairs, and an expired lease. In an era of $20 salad bowls and smoothies, a roast beef sandwich doesn’t match the regional appetite anymore.

Social media flooded with petitions to save the sign, and heartfelt goodbyes from customers. Debby Husch says she read posts calling Arby’s “a spiritual center of LA” and a classic “first date spot.”

Gary Husch says their family didn’t realize just how much the store meant to Angelenos until they announced its closing. “It was just one after another of people pulling into the parking lot and talking to me … ‘why, what’s happening?’ and ‘oh my god!’” he recalls.  

Now, that stretch of Sunset is more corporate. The Arby’s building will soon become a drive-thru location for Prince Street Pizza.

Offshore wind: California doubles down on climate plan

On July 10th, the California Energy Commission unanimously approved an ambitious plan to establish hundreds of giant wind turbines at two locations on the state’s central and northern coast. Millions of federal dollars have already gone toward creating this nascent industry. California’s goal is to get five gigawatts of offshore wind power online by 2030 and ramp up to 25 gigawatts by 2045.

Building, assembling, transporting, and placing that infrastructure is expected to generate lots of power and lots of jobs. Once the pieces of the turbine are manufactured, they’ll get put together at the Port of Long Beach, and held there until the seas are calm enough and boats are available to tow them to their final location dozens of miles offshore.

What makes these turbines so different from the ones that are already operating? They float!

Corbin Bleu joins Disney actors for nostalgic concert

This July 19th and 20th, the LA Philharmonic will perform the ultimate throwback called Disney ‘80s–‘90s Celebration in Concert, featuring Corbin Bleu (High School Musical) and an all-star cast. The songs come from Hercules, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, A Goofy Movie, and more.

“This particular concert, for me, is just bringing up all the nostalgia goodness from Disney, not only from the songs that we're getting to perform, but who I'm performing alongside,” says Bleu. “I mean, we have Disney legends. We have Jodi Benson, who is the voice of Ariel in the movie The Little Mermaid. We have Susan Egan, who was the singing voice of Meg in Hercules.”

What it takes to preserve a legacy at Boulevard Recording

When Clay Blair first laid eyes on the old recording space on Hollywood Boulevard and Gower Street in 2010, he described it as “dingy” and smelling of “mildew and smoke.” But “the live room sounded so good." He signed a lease the same day. 

As it turned out, “there were historic records done here, like Pink Floyd's The Wall, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Steely Dan's Aja, and Gaucho,” Blair says. "Ringo Starr worked on his first album here. Carly Simon, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand. In my opinion, it was probably the pinnacle of analog recording in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s.”

The restoration process was laborious and costly, involving everything from rewiring and signal routing to sourcing both vintage and new equipment to match the needs of the space. Clay’s dedication to this new project was ignited by a deep respect for the studio’s history and a desire to restore its place in the music industry.

“I don't know anybody that gets into the studio business that expects to make a bunch of money on it,” he says. “Cause that's just like, not what it is. We do it because we love it, and we pour our whole beings into these places. This room is so much of me and my life in the past 14 years.”

Can’t find Zyns? Tell KCRW where you get your fav nic fix

Philip Morris International has halted the online sale of Zyn products, the tobacco-free nicotine pouches, following a subpoena ordered by the Washington D.C. attorney general last month. In-person stock is flying off shelves, and resellers are limiting the amount people can buy at once. Last year, the company sold 1.2 billion tins. 

Are you a Zyn user who’s been affected by the shortage? Where do you typically buy your Zyns, and are they still available? Have they gotten more expensive? Have you had to resort to new stores or resellers? KCRW wants to know your experience. Your response might be used for an upcoming story.