It’s not quite an official prize but we finally feel a bit seen: The annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list just announced that Kato, the omakase-style Taiwanese restaurant at Row DTLA in the Arts District, is the recipient of their 2024 Resy One to Watch award—an honorable mention of sorts. What’s perhaps even more noteworthy is that this is the first time in over a decade that World’s 50 Best Restaurants has brought up any L.A. destination when dissecting the global culinary scene. “Los Angeles has one of the most exciting and diverse dining scenes in the world right now,” Willia ..read more

avsantos.com)" /> When Michelle Kong learned how to play chess during the pandemic, it was the first board game she had ever been captivated by. Soon, Kong found herself obsessed, spending hours competing in online chess matches after her finance job ended each day. But what Kong craved was a chance to play chess in-person, and when she went searching, what she found were two extremes of the spectrum: chess clubs for the very young or very old.  “I was surprised that there wasn’t a community for this sport that everyone plays. I think [young twenty and thirtysomethings] is the largest ..read more

If you happen to be walking around the northeast edges of the Valley and see a feathery-looking mosquito, worry not: There’s a chance these insects have been lab-raised and released by the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District to curb their population. The bothersome mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti—you probably know them best as the absolutely annoying “ankle biters”—first showed up in Los Angeles County more than a decade ago. And according to experts, they have grown accustomed to biting humans and carrying pretty dangerous diseases like Zika and yellow fever ..read more

If you’re the kind of person who lives your life a quarter mile at a time—and maybe has the patience to wait in a line that long—then you’re probably going to be pretty revved up to hear that there’s a Fast & Furious roller coaster coming to Universal Studios Hollywood. First announced in 2023, the theme park officially gave the attraction a name and opening window today: “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” will debut in 2026. In addition, Universal detailed that the high-speed attraction, which you’ll enter via a red brick garage in the park’s upper lot, will f ..read more

Did you know that Michelin, the authority on all things restaurants, is now getting into the hotel game? Starting this year, the organization is giving out Michelin Keys, the equivalent of its culinary stars albeit directed at a city’s most exciting hotels.  This year’s debut picks include two properties in Los Angeles that we are oh-so-proud of (even if we can’t exactly afford to stay at them): the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air. To be precise, the duo received three Michelin Keys each, an honor bestowed to only 11 properties across the U.S. As with its restaurant recognitio ..read more

Yes, 527—and honestly, we wouldn’t be surprised if that number continues to grow. For the second time, Netflix is a Joke Fest is bringing an astonishing number of comedy shows to a couple dozen venues all across L.A. Though it bills itself as a festival, it’s better to think of the event as more of a comedy marathon: There’s not an all-encompassing festival pass, but you can buy individual tickets to shows that run just about all hours of the day between May 1 and 12. You’ll find a pretty remarkable lineup of comedians, too, including Taylor Tomlinson, Conan O’Brien ..read more

As we started to approach summer, we were ready to count out Barnsdall Art Park’s Friday Night Wine Tastings. After all, it’s been nearly five years since we last were able to sample wines on the Hollyhock House’s west lawn, and we hadn’t heard a peep about them since. But one of L.A.’s best seasonal traditions is mounting a comeback: Every Friday evening this summer, from May 31 to August 30, you’ll once again be able to sip wine, grab a bite from a food truck, listen to DJ sets and watch the sunset from one of the city’s most scenic spots during the return of Barnsdall Art Park’s ..read more

For its 2024–25 season, Center Theatre Group will bring some big-name musicals to the Ahmanson Theatre, as well as—after a nearly year-and-a-half pause—step up its programming at the Mark Taper Forum. Parade, Life of Pi, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (a revue that features Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga) and a to-be-announced “highly acclaimed Broadway musical” headline the Ahmanson. Meanwhile, the Taper will host a Deaf West Theatre coproduction of Green Day’s American Idiot in both English and American Sign Language, the world premiere of Larissa FastHorse ..read more

It's official: Sage Plant Based Bistro & Brewery is going non-vegan. After 13 years spent catering to the city's herbivorous masses across a variety of locations, the eatery has just announced that it will be "revamping the entire menu to include regenerative meat, dairy and eggs," according to an official press release. In case you were wondering, regenerative meat is, well, still meat, albeit coming from cattle that lives in cleaner living conditions that other more "conventional" beef. The focus on health is clearly still there. Photograph: Courtesy of Sage Plant Based Bistro & Bre ..read more

A few days ago, public transit sleuth @numble pretty much shocked local travelers when sharing a set of official documents pertaining to the possible renaming of LAX’s terminals, gates and other facilities. The gist: As part of a wayfinding improvement project that goes hand-in-hand with the airport’s increasingly delayed automated people mover, the airport is proposing that most number terminals be combined with their neighbors and for gates to be assigned letters in front of them. Although many people on social media praised the would-be changes, they simultaneously ..read more