https://youtu.be/LofU0m8OsJ4 Every second counts during an emergency response emergency vehicles rely on drivers to do their part and clear the… See the most recent messages from LASD - Temple Station, Los Angeles County Sheriff, powered by Nixle Sign up to receive messages by email & text message and members of the community were invited to participate in the #LASD #mentalhealth and de-escalation #training at the Duarte Community Center The primary Mission of Parking Enforcement Detail (PED) is to ensure the residents of the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County are provided with expeditious vehicle movement to help alleviate parking congestion improve the availability of parking choices and to assist the communities in addressing all parking related matters apportion scarce parking spaces for all legitimate vehicles by insuring those who violate parking regulations are properly addressed through the California Vehicle Codes (CVC) the Los Angeles County Vehicle Codes (LACoVC) and other various municipal codes Each Los Angeles County Sheriff's Station has a Parking Enforcement unit Please visit the Stations page to find your local Sheriff's Station Station Locations Please visit the LA county Sheriff's Department Pay by web site Pay by web For more street services in LA County please report your problem here: Public Works Los Angeles County To contact the proper Sheriff's station for your parking concerns and to send an email request for service; first determine who services your address by entering the area location address and click the "Find" button Official website of the State of California What you need to know: A $3.5 million federal grant will fund cleanup efforts at the recently expanded San Gabriel Mountains National Monument to improve access to the site and enhance water quality on the East Fork of the San Gabriel River a key Southern California water source and recreational site within the national monument SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today highlighted a $3.5 million federal investment to improve access to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and enhance a key Southern California water source that provides Los Angeles County with one-third of its water supply tribal and local partners celebrated the announcement today create new walking trails and install additional restrooms on this popular stretch of the San Gabriel River used primarily for recreation by surrounding underserved communities The State Water Board awarded an initial $1.5 million grant for the San Gabriel project and is planning an additional $2 million investment over the next three years through funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Program. The investments support a multi-phase project that will enhance river access protect fragile forest and riparian habitat and improve conditions for sensitive species Construction on the project’s first phase is expected to start early next year and will include an access trail and stairs to the riverbank increased trash bins and dumpsters and an asphalt parking lot which conserves approximately 1,600 acres of land and is the largest public-private floodplain restoration project in California News, Press Releases, Recent News News What you need to know: The Governor honored the contributions of fallen California law enforcement officers at the annual California Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony California – Honoring the contributions of fallen California peace officers,.. News What you need to know: California applied to the federal government today to update the state's benchmark plan which would expand coverage requirements for essential health benefits (EHBs) like hearing aids and wheelchairs in the individual and small group.. News What you need to know: California remains the #1 state for tourism with record-high tourism spending reaching $157.3 billion in 2024 the Trump administration’s policies and rhetoric are driving away tourists © Copyright document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio Why it matters: The San Gabriel River provides one-third of L.A the east fork of the river above Azusa is a popular getaway from summer heat and existing facilities can't handle the accompanying trash (function(w,d,e,o,u,s,t){w[o]||(w[o]={},s=d.createElement(e),s.src=u,s.async=1,t=d.getElementsByTagName(e)[0],t.parentNode.insertBefore(s,t))})(window,document,"script","oiopub","https://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/wp-content/plugins/oiopub-direct/zones.js") By on December 12, 2024No Comment the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the West San Gabriel Proposed Land Use Policy and Zoning Plan This land use plan will replace the Altadena Community Plan adopted in 1986 The plan will affect residents in unincorporated Los Angeles County portions of Altadena South El Monte Island and Whittier Narrows The policy plans to use the next 20 years to increase walkability The plan is the result of 15 years of community outreach and research.  No actual demolition or construction of buildings come with the plan The passage also does not change income taxes on already purchased properties The plan will not increase density in high fire risk locations The plan’s creation of wildlife crossings and the direction of plant growth away from high density locations are intended to preserve both human and animal life.  While supporters look forward to these changes many oppose the possibility of an increased population within these areas fearing traffic will worsen and strain may be placed on resources The zoning plan chose to increase house limits near places with public transportation in hopes to mitigate this One critical citizen argued that he planned to build multi-generational houses for his family on his land and would now be restricted due to his property being zoned for fewer housing units.  Kathryn Barger celebrated the plan’s “bottom up approach” by including regional planning groups within each community to focus on what each individual community needed She expressed frustration with the state’s efforts to facilitate this from the top down.  “Despite our county’s efforts to complete the housing element update on time a few years ago of Housing and Community Development was understaffed and unable to complete their review in a timely manner,” she said She noted that it was only due to regional committees that legislation was able to bring the county into compliance.  Changes that will directly affect La Crescenta-Montrose include an increase of zoning from nine dwelling units to 18 per net acre along Montrose Avenue near where it intersects with Raymond Avenue Houses close to the intersection of La Crescenta Avenue and Foothill Boulevard will also be increased from nine to 18 dwelling units per net acre A small plot off of Ocean View Boulevard and Foothill Boulevard will be rezoned from nine to 30 dwelling units per net acre A large strip of land where Foothill Boulevard turns into Cloud Avenue will be changed from commercial use to mixed use A plot of land off of Ocean View Boulevard between Honolulu Avenue and the 210 Freeway will be changed from commercial use to mixed use A triangle of land near Sanborn Avenue and Glenwood Avenue will be zoned from nine to 19 du/net ac The northern most end of Goss Canyon Avenue will be zoned for water All property owners on Foothill are advised to check whether their land has been rezoned to mixed use development Three plots near the intersection of Mary Street and La Crescenta Avenue have been upped from single family residences to two-family residences A property on the east most side of Barton Lane increased from single family residents to triple family residents County Board Approves West San Gabriel Proposed Land Use Policy and Zoning Plan added by on December 12, 2024View all posts by CV Weekly → This program is intended for teen audiences an 18-year-old senior at Maui High School and star athlete waits anxiously to find out if she’s been accepted into her dream school when all of a sudden Patsy Mink the first Asian American congresswoman and former valedictorian of Maui High school As Patsy Mink walks Kailani through the many trials and tribulations she faced throughout her political career and life Kailani begins to realize that no matter how many setbacks she encounters during her journey she can succeed as long as she picks herself back up and perseveres The East West Players’ Theatre for Youth touring production offers new ways to see the world through theatre that stimulate students to discover the prominent role Asian Pacific Americans have played in history Theatre for Youth was designed to promote cultural understanding and racial tolerance among youth the program strives to expand the history and curriculum to include stories about pioneering and groundbreaking Americans Attendance is limited, and advance registration is required. To register, click here Many of our advertisers are local businesses that have been impacted directly by the fire we immediately removed all advertisements the day after the fire and transformed our site to provide live updates We felt it would be inappropriate to run ads while our friends and neighbors were being evacuated and displaced we don’t outsource our operations overseas Our priority has been to keep you and ourselves informed with timely even a small contribution of $5 can make a significant difference Please click the blue button below to learn more about how you can assist Support Our News Desk department consists of a collective of news gatherers in order to keep the community informed and safe Colorado Boulevard is your place for informative news and social living for the greater Pasadena area and work together to make a better world for all of us See all articles See all newsflashes Back to articles Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The proposed West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan (WSGVAP) set for a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vote on December 10 has ignited controversy among Altadena residents The comprehensive long-range policy document aims to guide future growth and development in nine unincorporated communities but some fear it could radically alter the area’s character This is 30 units on the corner of Altadena Drive and Lincoln We’re going to have huge apartments going up You’re going to be looking at a lot of increased traffic increased danger to pedestrians,” said resident Alan Zorthian during public comment at the Tuesday would establish new land use and zoning designations across Altadena Town Councilmember Milissa Marona reported that the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission has raised this to the Board of Supervisors for the December vote She noted a fact sheet addressing community concerns voiced at the October 1st land use meeting is forthcoming from Los Angeles County Planning Marona said there will be no density increases in high fire areas under the plan “[Such] properties in the Angeles National Forest cannot achieve maximum density under existing regulations nor with the West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan,” she said Another resident submitted a statement expressing concern that “the passage of this plan will allow for La Viña- type development in high fire zone and already built out areas This will change the characteristics of the neighborhood and negatively affect the environment.” The plan includes a General Plan Amendment changes to land use and zoning designations and an amendment to Title 22 (County Planning and Zoning Code) A Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (Draft PEIR) has been prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and was made available for public review on June 27 The development of the WSGVAP has involved extensive community outreach and collaboration with various stakeholders Residents can submit comments to Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office at kathyrn@bos.lacounty.gov or make comments via telephone before the December 10th vote The Altadena Town Council took no formal action on the plan at the October meeting Residents can find more information on the County website or by contacting their Town Council representatives More » The ‘Humming-Byrd’ House: A Mid-Century Storybook Ranch Surrounded by Nature Pasadena Now has been published daily since April 2004 and is among the very oldest continuously operated community news websites in the U.S Pasadena Now strives to publish a full spectrum of news and information articles in service to the entire community The publication will remain free to readers and will not erect paywalls Copyright © 2025. Pasadena Now | Terms of - Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds offer another way to get Pasadena Now content. Subscribe to our feeds to get the latest headlines, summaries and links back to full articles – formatted for your favorite feed reader and updated throughout the day. Sign up Sign in It's time for everything to do with Dodger baseball Shohei Ohtani made history on Thursday as the first player in Major League Baseball history to record at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season Ohtani’s historic achievement also marked him as the first Dodger to hit 50 home runs in a season breaking the franchise’s record previously set by Shawn Green in 2001 the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) dedicated the proceeds of their 50/50 Raffle on Friday to the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center (ESGVJCC) The ESGVJCC plays a vital role in preserving the cultural heritage of Japanese Americans while offering essential social services recreational activities and educational programs to the community East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center Youth Program Participants.On this special night the LADF 50/50 Raffle jackpot reached $46,690 with the remaining half going to the ESGVJCC “The East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center provides a plethora of services to our community right after Ohtani made his 50/50 milestone We are grateful to the Dodgers Foundation…and with Shohei Ohtani becoming such a big part to our community to represent the Japanese and Japanese American community is a once in a lifetime thing for us This isn’t the first time LADF’s 50/50 Raffle has connected Ohtani’s accomplishments to support a beneficiary the raffle proceeds benefitted “Reading to the Rescue.” That evening the raffle jackpot reached a staggering $131,250 with $65,625 supporting the literacy-focused nonprofit Executive Director of Reading to the Rescue said: “This is really a life-altering gift you have given our organization.” the raffle proceeds benefitted YMCA Feeds LA LADF continues to make a lasting impact for Los Angeles by engaging the Dodger fan community the 50/50 Raffle has raised over $4 million LADF tackles the most pressing problems facing Los Angeles with a mission to improve education homelessness and social justice for all Angelenos including a $50 million pledge in 2024 by its Chairman Mark Walter and Dodgers Ownership marking the largest contribution ever from an MLB ownership group to the organization’s charitable partner Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications - Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation Help County’s West San Gabriel Valley Unincorporated Areas (Photos – L.A Since these County areas are interspersed among many neighboring cities in the San Gabriel Valley residents of all of the West San Gabriel Valley cities from Glendale through Azusa along the San Gabriel mountains as well as West Covina through Pico Rivera to the south and cities in-between should also pay attention and provide comments since the County’s plans will affect all in this portion of the San Gabriel Valley Per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Los Angeles County has developed a Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (Draft PEIR) for the West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan (WSGVAP) to guide zoning and development including building of substantial additional housing over the next 20 years The formal public review period for the Draft PEIR began on June 27 A public meeting about the project will be held virtually, online via Zoom Webinar, on Thursday, July 18th at 6:00 pm. Details are at planning.lacounty.gov/long-range-planning/wsgvap/documents The WSGV Planning Area is 23.2 square miles within the southeast portion of Los Angeles County and includes nine separate unincorporated County communities: Altadena Los Angeles County urges residents to provide comments to the County on this important Project’s Draft PEIR The plan addresses changes to Land Use including Housing Conservation and Open Space; Public Services and Facilities; Economic Development; and Historic Preservation The WSGVAP updates and incorporates the existing Altadena Community Plan into the Area Plan and South San Gabriel Community Standards Districts (CSDs) are proposed to be updated Specifically for housing the WSGVAP anticipates facilitating approximately 10,874 new housing units and 16,243 new jobs within these nine communities over the next 20 years as well as many other aspects of residential and commercial structures Impacts that will be significant and unavoidable even with implementation of feasible mitigation measures include Aesthetics A digital copy of the Draft PEIR is available on the Project website (under “Advance Planning Projects”). Printed copies are also available at various public libraries in Altadena, Pasadena (Hastings), La Crescenta, Montrose, El Monte, South El Monte, Duarte, San Gabriel, Temple City, and Montebello. Dr. Ranajit (Ron) Sahu, a resident of Alhambra, is an engineer and environmental consultant. Colorado Boulevard is your place for enlightening events informative news and social living for the greater Pasadena area See all articles I lived in the unincorporated area for over 1/4 century and this is news to me Nobody asked the residents and the property owners if we want this new zoning For the developers to build more and profit more How can we keep building more block wide condo complexes or any major additional housing when we’re told to conserve water as theres only so much to go around and there will be less and less in the future Casiano Perez said the Theodore Roosevelt quote “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” is an empowering statement that resonates with him The quote reminds him that self-belief is crucial “When you start your day believing in your abilities you’re more likely to tackle challenges with a positive mindset,” he said this quote reminds me that a significant part of overcoming challenges lies in your mindset Believing in your ability to find solutions can help you stay resilient and push through difficulties This self-belief can also motivate you to keep striving for excellence knowing that your efforts are making a difference in the students’ daily lives.” School Transportation News chooses 10 Rising Stars based on nominations submitted by school districts and companies around the industry These individuals have shown exemplary commitment and dedication in the student transportation industry and continue to demonstrate innovation in their roles This year’s Rising Stars are featured in the November magazine issue Prior to joining the student transportation industy Perez worked a couple of years a router for a food service company Following his time with the food service company he served in various roles — coordinating transportation for students with disabilities and ensuring that all transportation activities adhered to school policies and state regulations — for a nonpublic school allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and requirements of pupil transportation particularly for students with disabilities he joined the East San Gabriel Valley Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) as a transportation router he designed and implemented efficient transportation routes for students with special needs “My dedication and expertise quickly led to my promotion to transportation director a position I have proudly held for the past five years,” he noted I have consistently focused on improving transportation efficiency and ensuring the safety and well-being of students My journey has been marked by continuous learning and a commitment to excellence in pupil transportation.” His daily responsibilities as transportation director involve coordinating and managing various aspects of special education across 10 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) Perez explained that he regularly communicates with the LEAs to ensure special education services are being delivered effectively He also attends meetings with LEA representatives and other stakeholders to discuss student needs includes overseeing the planning and optimization of over 120 special education transportation routes to ensure the safe and timely transport of approximately 1,000 special education students Other job duties include working with their transportation vendor and collaborating with bus drivers and transportation staff to address challenges “I ensure that Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are being implemented correctly and that all documentation is up to date while staying informed about state and federal regulations related to special education to ensure compliance,” he added noting that attending student IEP meetings is a key part of my role It’s during these meetings that he provides input and support to ensure that the educational plans meet the students’ needs Perez also coordinates the allocation of resources such as specialized equipment and support staff and organize training sessions and professional development opportunities for school bus drivers and transportation support staff,” he noted Perez said he address any immediate issues or emergencies that arise and maintains open lines of communication with parents to address their concerns and provide updates on their child’s progress “Every day is different and that’s what keeps things interesting,” he said executive director of East San Gabriel Valley SELPA wrote in his nomination that Perez is an amazing leader being instrumental in creating a close partnership with school bus contractor Durham School Services that focuses on high-quality service overcoming barriers such as varying school district calendars and serving primarily a moderate/severe population Perez has developed and maintained ongoing meetings of a safety committee hands-on emergency planning and numerous processes and policies that have been instrumental in providing services to the ten school districts,” Turner added Perez has been regularly recognized by parents and his peers for his dedication to improving services for students with disabilities.” Perez explained that he has expanded on several key projects during his time as director to enhance safety and efficiency One of those focuses has been on staff training and development for school bus drivers East San Gabriel Valley SELPA implemented a comprehensive student management training program that educates drivers on various disabilities they may encounter and how to effectively support those students while on the school bus we have dedicated significant time to emergency planning training to ensure that our drivers are well-prepared to respond to any emergencies whether they occur inside or outside the school bus,” he added “This holistic approach ensures that our drivers are equipped with the necessary skills and tools to handle a wide range of situations ultimately providing a safer and more supportive environment for our students.” A recent challenge amid school start-up was Perez said it continues to be a significant hurdle for not only their operations they worked to establish a strong partnership with Durham which helps them maintain a steady pipeline of trained drivers Transportation staff also ensures that ongoing training and support are provided to the drivers to help them with the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully transport all students we participate in lunches on special occasions such as Love the Bus Month and other events to help keep morale high,” Perez added “This proactive approach helps us mitigate the impact of driver shortages and maintain a high standard of service.” Other initiatives to boost driver morale include regularly acknowledging and rewarding outstanding performance through awards and certificates offering ongoing training and development programs to help drivers advance in their driving careers as well as maintaining open lines of communication between drivers and management and involved in decision-making processes,” he said Within the next five years he said he sees the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA continuing to transform to become more efficient Perez said his goal is to create a system where every student has access to safe and reliable transportation the plan is to fully integrate technology in all aspects of their transportation operations will ensure safety and efficiency to optimize routes reduce travel times and improve communication channels between the SELPA which is essential to ensure transparency and foster collaboration we are continuously upgrading our safety protocols and infrastructure to create a secure environment for all students,” he said “These goals reflect our commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive educational environment for all our students.” East San Gabriel Valley SELPA is committed to transitioning to a greener fleet by incorporating electric vehicles “I would also like to expand training programs for school bus drivers to include specialized training in handling the unique needs of our students ensuring a compassionate and supportive environment,” he said of future projects I aim to create a transportation system that not only meets the logistical needs of our students but also supports their overall well-being and educational success.” is the opportunity to make a positive impact on students’ lives every day I get to ensure that these students have a safe and enjoyable journey to and from school,” he said “It’s incredibly rewarding to see their smiles and know that I’m contributing to their overall well-being and educational experience.” he enjoys the relationships that he’s built with the students and their families “Understanding their unique needs and preferences allows me to provide personalized care and support which can make a significant difference in their day,” he said “The trust and appreciation from both the students and their parents are truly heartwarming and motivating.” He explained that having close family members with special needs makes the work even more meaningful to him “It drives me to do everything I can to be an advocate for these students ensuring they receive the care and support they deserve,” he said he spends his time going to his children’s sporting activities he and his wife enjoy bike riding and participating in local 5-10K charity runs They are fans of the outdoors and enjoy camping or off-roading The Fork Fire burning in Angeles National Forest above Azusa on July 19 by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com which was the latest available update at press time the Fork Fire had burned 301 acres in the east fork of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument section of Angeles National Forest above Azusa The first reports of the fire near East Fork Road which leads from Highway 39 on the Azusa side to Glendora Mountain Road to the east Several people were treated for smoke inhalation in the forest area along East Fork Road the afternoon of July 19 according to Angeles National Forest Public Affairs Officer Dana Dierkes was closed for the weekend due to the fire Hikers and campers in the area were evacuated shortly after it broke out Residents in the Camp Williams area were not evacuated and Ventura County Fire have been working on the blaze with support from the California Highway Patrol You must be logged in to post a comment © 2024 Claremont CourierAll Rights Reserved Print Edition Latest News Obituaries City Government Homes & Apartments Police Blotter Real Estate News Privacy Policy Subscribe / Renew While we don't yet know the official causes of the fires we do know that the weather and climate conditions when they started made for a perfect storm for the rapid spread of the flames MORE: Debunking 5 claims about the California wildfires The first problem is that Los Angeles has been very dry The city has only seen 0.16 inches of rain since May 6 so the regions rainy season is off to an unusually dry start This created a lot of fuel for potential fires But a lack of rain alone didn't lead to the devastating fires we saw this week It was the wind that spread the fires so rapidly once they were ignited An exceptionally strong mountain wave wind event with northerly 80 to 100 mile per hour gusts spread the fires faster than anyone could stop them And we knew the weather conditions were coming. Thirty-six hours before the fires started, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned of "life threatening and destructive winds extreme fire behavior and likely the strongest north winds in southern California since 2011 also brought powerful and destructive wind gusts to much of Southern California Wind gusts up to 97 mph were recorded in the mountains of northwestern Los Angeles County no large wildfires broke out like they did in 2011 A more normal rainfall amount from October to December of that year may have helped avoid the same disaster PHOTOS: Powerful images show destruction from deadly Southern California fires 1 of 43A beach front home destroyed by the Palisades Fire is seen in Malibu HongSanta Ana events typically are associated with northeast to east-northeast winds in Los Angeles County and usually result in very little wind in the San Gabriel Valley and eastern San Fernando Valley areas which are home to many high-populated sections of the LA metro area The atmospheric setup during this recent event oriented winds in a more northerly to north-north easterly direction This sent the high winds right over the regions San Gabriel Mountains in a trajectory that not only helped amplify their strength but made the air even drier as it came rushing down the other side This brought powerful wind gusts to areas that dont typically experience winds at such an intensity What made this a devastating Santa Ana event is that conditions higher up in the atmosphere helped to further enhance winds at the surface an area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere was moving over Baja California dense air associated with this system was positioned at a favorable north-northeast to northeast trajectory over the region The particular setup allowed for the colder air located higher up in the atmosphere to come rushing down towards the surface and enhance the winds already blowing This brought surges of powerful winds across the Los Angeles and Ventura County Mountains crashing into the foothills and some coastal communities The wind direction and topography played a major role as well The San Gabriel Mountains and the wind orientation interacted to produce a damaging wind event that doesn't occur often The mountains can also make the winds more erratic because additional whirls of wind can form as the air moves across the peaks and through the canyons RELATED: What we know about those killed in the LA wildfires So while both the 2011 and 2025 events brought powerful one big difference is how dry it is right now in the LA area As far as climate change we won't know the direct impact until climate attribution studies are done While climate change likely amplified some of the conditions that contributed to the massive it is just one part of a long list which also includes more direct human impacts like rapid urbanization and land management But we do know that wildfires in the West have become larger more intense and more destructive and that human-amplified climate change is one of the key reasons And new research explains how climate change is making hydroclimate whiplash more common Those are rapid swings between intensely wet and dangerously dry weather As Daniel Swain, the lead author of the research and a climate scientists with UCLA explain "This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold: first by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed." Los Angeles had historic flooding and is now facing severe drought conditions RELATED: Before and after photos show scenes of destruction from the California wildfires its important to reiterate that California has and will always be particularly vulnerable to wildfires simply due to its natural climate The state historically experiences highly variable weather and climate conditions typically shifting from periods of very dry to very wet weather California has the most year-to-year variability between wet and dry conditions a climate scientist and deputy director of operations at the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography Take a look at the latest stories and videos on the devastating Southern California wildfires here. ABC News chief meteorologist and chief climate correspondent Ginger Zee ABC News Climate Units Matthew Glasser and ABC News meteorologist Dan Manzo contributed to this report The Los Angeles County Health Officer has issued an excessive heat warning as high temperatures have been forecast for the Santa Clarita Valley and the following areas: A heat advisory has been issued for the following areas: Western San Gabriel Mountains/Hwy 14 Corridor The National Weather Service has issued the following Urgent Weather Excessive Heat Warning: Excessive Heat Warnng in effect from 10 a.m — WHAT…Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 105 expected — IMPACTS…There is a high risk for dangerous heat illness for anyone those without air conditioning and those active outdoors — ADDITIONAL DETAILS…The excessive heat conditions will peak on Monday and Tuesday To check the risk of heat-related impacts for your specific city go to the National Weather Service’s (NWS) HeatRisk website and click on Location Search and enter your city or use the zoom (+) button in the top left corner to see nearby cities more clearly For actions to take based on your city’s HeatRisk category Public Health reminds everyone to take precautions to avoid heat-related illness and those with a chronic medical condition who are more at risk for negative health impacts from extreme heat Public Health recommends the following actions be taken on days with high temperatures: Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water to keep hydrated throughout the day Your body loses water more rapidly through sweating to cool itself down Drinking enough water helps you replenish the lost water and maintain proper bodily functions and reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses lightweight and light-colored clothes and wear a hat or use an umbrella Call 911 if you see a child or pet in a car alone in a car Recognize Heat Illness: Be aware of the symptoms of heat-related illness like heat exhaustion and heat stroke and know what to do to care for them Call 911 right away if you see these symptoms: high body temperature (103°F or higher) Check on People More At-Risk: Regularly check on those at risk for heat-related illness like those who are sick or have chronic conditions Prepare for Power Outages: Visit your power company’s website or contact them by phone to determine if you are scheduled for a rolling power outage “Although it’s crucial that we take care of ourselves it’s equally important that we extend our hand to those in need We must look out for those who are more likely to get ill due to the heat if we make sure to stay hydrated and keep cool we can protect ourselves and our loved ones If you have an elderly or unwell family member or neighbor check on them regularly to ensure they are safe and well.”  County and city partners have planned ways to safely operate cooling centers during times of high heat Residents who do not have access to air conditioning are encouraged to take advantage of these free cooling centers To find a location near you, visit https://ready.lacounty.gov/heat/ or call 211 The NWS HeatRisk takes into consideration: How unusual the heat is for the time of the year The duration of the heat including both daytime and nighttime temperatures If those temperatures pose an elevated risk of heat-related impacts based on data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Los Angeles County residents and business owners including people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs can call 2-1-1 for emergency preparedness information and other referral services The toll-free 2-1-1 number is available 24 hours a day 211 LA County services can also be accessed by visiting 211la.org You can be the first one to leave a comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Discover the top 5 museums near East San Gabriel and cultural experiences in Southern California East San Gabriel, a charming locale nestled in the heart of Southern California, is not just about picturesque landscapes and vibrant communities; it's also a hub for cultural enthusiasts. With its proximity to Los Angeles the area boasts an array of museums that cater to diverse interests from art and history to science and technology we explore the top five museums near East San Gabriel that offer unique and enriching experiences for visitors Just a stone's throw from East San Gabriel This institution is more than a museum; it's a comprehensive experience combining art The art collection features European and American art including famous works by Gainsborough and Mary Cassatt The library is a treasure trove of rare books and manuscripts while the gardens offer a serene escape with themed areas like the Japanese Garden and the Desert Garden the Norton Simon Museum is a must-visit for art lovers The museum houses an impressive collection that spans from the Renaissance to the 20th century featuring works by Rodin and other masters The museum also hosts various temporary exhibitions making it a vibrant center for artistic discourse this museum focuses on California art from the 19th century to the present day It showcases a wide range of artistic mediums highlighting the rich cultural heritage and contemporary creativity of California The museum's exhibitions often focus on social and environmental themes reflecting the state's diverse landscape and communities Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena offers interactive and educational exhibits designed to inspire young minds the museum features outdoor and indoor spaces where children can explore science It's a fantastic way for kids to engage with educational content in a fun and dynamic environment This unique museum in Pasadena focuses on the art and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands spanning from ancient times to the present providing a comprehensive view of Asian and Pacific Islander artistry and educational programs offer a window into the rich traditions and contemporary practices of these diverse regions Each of these museums near East San Gabriel offers a distinct experience enriching the cultural landscape of Southern California these institutions provide opportunities to immerse oneself in art making the area a must-visit destination for anyone interested in culture and learning Does your business rank among the best in California Learn more about our selection criteria and vetting process We’ll be your trustee Little Tokyo guide with a day’s worth of fun things to do in Little Tokyo If you're looking for something fun to do there are plenty of fun and free things to do in San Francisco Feel the knowledge flood from its elegant red-tile roofs as you wander the town’s beautiful college campus in search of hidden finds Enjoy the perfect California spring weather at these ideal spots for a spring vacation in California Check your inbox soon for the latest from California.com. Stream PBS SoCal and your favorite PBS programs to your TV and devices wherever Celebrate AAPI Month on PBS SoCal all May with exclusive programs Find full episodes and educational games from Curious George Support PBS SoCal and watch full seasons of your favorite shows "East of East" is a series of original essays about people The material traces the arrival and departures of ethnic groups the rise and decline of political movements and the use and manipulation of the built environment These essays challenge us to think about the place of SEM/EM in the history of Los Angeles _____________________________________________________________ the SGV has historically been divided by race and class from north to south (though with exceptions such as long established African American communities in East Pasadena racially exclusive areas like San Marino -- the site of railroad scion Henry Huntington's lush estate -- and leisure towns like Pasadena shaped the north Huntington Drive constituted the dividing line in the western SGV north of which people of color could not live this racialized class divide is still salient into the twenty-first century: for example a resident of the northern zipcode was nearly four times more likely to be white and earned a per capita income nearly two-and-a-half times higher than her southern zipcode counterpart enjoy a median household income more than three times as much as residents of El Monte the poorest city; and a per capita income more than five times as much there was a shift from agriculture to manufacturing and technology as the region began to be built out by suburbanization and responded to Cold War industry demands Although Mexican Americans and to some degree Asian Americans had lived in the area in earlier periods this time period brought the beginning of large-scale Asian American and Mexican American suburbanization Chinese and Mexican Americans moved out from central area ethnic enclaves such as East L.A and Japanese Americans returned from internment camps to pursue homeownership opportunities in relatively less racially exclusive suburban developments in the Western SGV cities of Monterey Park and Montebello as well as unincorporated areas such as South San Gabriel Monterey Park was known among Mexican Americans -- somewhat tongue-in-cheek -- as the Mexican Beverly Hills This early wave of Asian American and Mexican American settlement laid the groundwork for the large influx of Asian immigrants to the region beginning in the 1970s and 1980s as ethnic Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong took advantage of new provisions of the 1965 Immigration Act to flee political and economic uncertainty in pursuit of economic also settled in the SGV during this time period In addition to more racially welcoming housing opportunities and a well-developed transportation infrastructure to ethnic Chinese immigrants looking for business opportunities The SGV soon became a top entry point for ethnic Chinese immigrants and a globally significant node in growing ethnic Chinese business networks the growth of Chinese American banking institutions many of which would be headquartered in the SGV (e.g. played an important role in facilitating ethnic Chinese business growth and home ownership the SGV stands as a significant site for multiracial The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries saw a shift in the regional economy from manufacturing and technology to logistics as well as banking 14 The region's population increases have raised concerns about housing leading to the formation of more unified regional governance bodies -- particularly economic and environmental The region's particular demographic mix has also led to unique such as the Monterey Park-based streetwear brand "SGV" -- standing for San Gabriel Valley SGV released a "Chimexica Flag" T-shirt design featuring an altered American flag with the Mexican flag's eagle and People's Republic of China's arc of four stars in place of the usual rectangle of stars representing the fifty states the SGV brand produced many other designs featuring a mix of Chicano and Asian immigrant references: a Sriracha hot sauce bottle with the letters "SGV" on it; a brand of hair cream favored by cholos; and a T-shirt with curse words in Chinese They referenced the lower-middle to middle-class demographics of the area: a T-shirt boasted an ivy pattern that officials had painted on walls as a deterrent to graffiti; a hoodie was embossed on the sleeve with gold stitching proclaiming "Keepin' it middle-classy." 16 The SGV brand the brainchild of local Paul Chan and the "motley crew" of mostly Asian American and Latino skater friends with whom he had grown up claimed the SGV as an Asian and Latina/o space and proclaimed it to be "not just an area east of Los Angeles As the rest of the United States follows California's lead in tilting toward a nonwhite majority in the decades to come the SGV stands as a significant site in multiracial The extent of its cultural and historical richness is yet to be fully realized 2012.2 San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments website "Economic snapshot: San Gabriel Valley working to regain jobs," San Gabriel Valley Tribune Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community: Power and Solidarity (Austin: University of Texas Press "Indian Testimony and the Mission San Gabriel Uprising of 1785," Ethnohistory 50 A People's Guide to Los Angeles (University of California Press 2012).6 http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Chumash/Tongva.html7 Adolfo Flores "Gabrielinos Balk at San Gabriel's Plan to Change City's Motto," Pasadena Star-News 2010.8 For more on the Citrus Belt and its labor relations and racial hierarchies and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles 86-88.10 25.7% of northern zipcode residents were non-Hispanic whites compared with only 6.6% of southern zipcode residents and per capita income for the northern zipcode was $34,836 compared to $14,229 in the south Community Facts for San Gabriel zipcodes 91775 and 91776 (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml) San Marino median household income averaged $139,122 compared to $41,861 in El Monte; San Marino per capita income during the same time period was $76,984 California Quick Facts: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0668224.html; El Monte (city) California Quick Facts: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0622230.html "Chinese-American Banking and Community Development in Los Angeles," Annals of the Association of American Geographers 92 The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park California (Philadelphia: Temple University Press "Agriculture gives way to manufacturing," San Gabriel Valley Tribune http://www.sgvforlife.com (no longer current) PBS SoCal is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.Tax ID: 95-2211661 The San Gabriel Mountains are often referred to as the “backyard of Los Angeles” because of their popularity among city-dwellers looking for a place to hike, swim, and enjoy the great outdoors. Unfortunately, all those visitors take a toll on the local ecosystem, and mountains of trash have piled up along some of the mountains’ most popular locations.  Enter the Canyon City Environmental Project a volunteer group that has been doing clean-ups in the area for more than half a decade Nathan Nuñez founded it as a freshman in college dozens of diverse volunteers still show up to help him fill bins with waste that would otherwise clog up the crystal-clear San Gabriel River “I feel it's the simplest way to get back to land to go pick up trash from other people,” he says “No [matter] which political side you're on what your religious values … we're going up there to protect the land but also to bring awareness to these long-standing issues in the San Gabriel Mountains.” The “bringing awareness” part of the group’s mission has become particularly important in recent years as viral social media posts have drawn even larger crowds to the mountains during peak seasons Nuñez says part of the problem is that LA doesn’t have enough neighborhood green spaces for its residents to enjoy makes it hard to control the crowds and their resulting waste “The bottom line is there's just too many people in the East Fork [of the San Gabriel River] so there has to be a management plan that does control the number of people,” says Nuñez Nuñez says if that expansion is going to happen it should come with real funding and support for forest management too — because as much as they try We can put 100 volunteers up there … and it's not sustainable,” he says “But I see a future where we don't have to do these clean-ups as often because there's a bigger issue that needs to be addressed here.” In the meantime, if you’d like to volunteer for a cleanup, you can follow Canyon City Environmental Project on Instagram and rising sea levels — but UCLA’s Alex Hall believes LA can still be turned into one of the world’s most sustainable.. The San Gabriel Mountains are the largest open public space in Los Angeles but some of the range’s most popular spots are covered in piles of trash The Hall of Fame’s class of 10 includes a range of artists Some of the inductees’ ties to the county are loose FLASH SALE: Snag The OG Black Zip-Up designed by LA artist Chuy Hartman— inspired by the 24/7 service we provide to the LA community ends tonight Get the latest from KCRW in your inbox 3x a week The proposed change came as California is in the middle of redrawing its congressional districts to reflect population changes recorded by the latest census Monterey Park and Rosemead out of their current congressional district — and placed them with predominantly-Latino cities to their east such as El Monte and Baldwin Park — drew protests from Asian American politicians and civic leaders who said their community’s voting power would be minimized “I think we've accomplished many of the things that we set out to do,” Sarah Sadhwani a commissioner from La Cañada Flintridge said Thursday “Certainly things like bringing the San Gabriel Valley back together.” Redistricting maps are not final until the commission takes a vote on Dec But Asian American leaders expressed optimism that the west San Gabriel Valley district would stay intact The communities are currently in the 27th Congressional district represented by Democrat Judy Chu “So many of the things that we're experiencing as a community — from language translation and cultural competence to also experiences around the pandemic and anti-Asian hate — makes it important that we have a representative that understands our community and represents all of us,” Yap said Yap said that CAUSE and other organizations continue to keep an eye on the outcome for Asian-majority cities in the east San Gabriel Valley Rowland Heights and Walnut out of their current district shared with Buena Park and Fullerton which have large Asian American populations and groups them with Latino-majority Gateway Cities including Norwalk and Whittier The 38 Best Tacos in Los Angeles The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Hottest New Restaurants in Los Angeles The San Gabriel Valley just east of Downtown Los Angeles is a trove of incredible dining destinations The expansive area that includes cities like Arcadia and San Gabriel contains some of the finest Asian restaurants in Southern California a guide to essential restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley Probably SGV’s most high-end omakase destination Kogane is a seven-seat counter that serves incredible sushi from chef Fumio Azumi at a price of $300 for dinner Opening co-chef Kwan has since moved on to a new sushi restaurant in Ohio Those looking for a more reasonable experience can check Kogane out at lunch which costs $120 for a smaller nigiri omakase Kogane remains a special sushi experience deserving of the highest accolades This classic fast-food spot makes sliced pastrami an attainable art form and burgers used as a format for serving the preserved brisket The Hat has always been a reliable spot for after-school snacks and late-night munchies in the SGV 15 Great LA Chili Dogs For Those Comfort Food Needs One of the main Sichuan restaurant powerhouses in SGV (the other being always-solid Chengdu Taste) Sichuan Impression has a way of serving polished almost elegant regional dishes with enough spice to draw a decent of sweat on the brow Start with the cold house special noodles and end with the mapo tofu with a bit of steamed rice The Best Dinner Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week 11 Excellent West LA Restaurants Serving Takeout and Delivery This bustling Hong Kong-style cafe with outlets in Monterey Park and Rosemead has a huge menu of everyday Cantonese fare including congee and rice rolls by day and more shareable noodle dishes and stir-fries at night The Best Rice Porridges to Savor in Los Angeles 20 Classic Los Angeles Greasy Spoons Every Angeleno Should Try A modern Asian American restaurant with chef flourishes Yang’s Kitchen made some major changes over the past few years but has settled into good groove in the past year or so including a customizable set meal and cornmeal mochi pancakes check out the ‘dan dan’ campanelle pasta or the claypot mussel stew The Best Restaurants for Lunch in Los Angeles Malaysian and Singaporean flavors haven’t made large inroads in San Gabriel Valley the melting pot of Peranakan and Malaysian flavors that trickled down into Singapore offers a compelling set of flavor-packed dishes like nasi lewak plus beef rendang and the ever-popular bat kut teh an herbal pork soup influenced by Hoklo and Teochew communities Braised meats with huge piles of steamed rice are the name of the game at this Shanghainese late-night diner of sorts lauded by Los Angeles Times critic Bill Addison for its tender soy-braised pork slow-cooked and served with pickles and seasoned boiled eggs The beef noodle and dumpling soups are pretty good too but the comforting meat-and-rice dishes are the reason to come which is pretty late for this part of town The 17 Best Hidden Gem Restaurants in Los Angeles elegant dining room that feels grown up compared to some of its SGV rivals Jiang Nan Spring is a Shanghai-style restaurant with a big menu and elegant cooking across the board The kind of place to have a slightly fancier Chinese dinner if the need arises with a menu and dining area big enough to please a crowd The house special fried fish flecked with seafood is especially good while the saucy pork ribs coated in a sweet sauce will put on anyone’s face The Best Chinese Restaurants in Los Angeles Editor’s Favorite Restaurants to Try This Weekend in LA Arguably the best overall Vietnamese spot in SGV but everything from the bun to the pho are fantastic too People are almost always waiting for one of the small strip mall restaurant’s coveted tables A post shared by Ewa & Jeromy Ko (@nom_life) Los Angeles's 18 Most Iconic Restaurant Dishes With an expansive Cantonese menu with Cambodian influences this huge standalone building in San Gabriel remains one of the region’s top overall restaurants especially for its fresh lobster made with green onion and garlic Everyone makes sure to order the garlicky pea shoots to complement the seafood 20 Classic Los Angeles Restaurants Every Angeleno Must Try A true Cantonese all-day cafe with some of the quickest service anywhere in town Place an order and expect everything from the kaya toast to the Hong Kong milk tea to arrive in mere seconds Comforting bowls of shrimp wonton soup and fried rice give way to one of the best fried fish filet dishes in the SGV The menu’s got all the hallmarks of a classic Chinese restaurant but with affordability Cantonese bakeries are numerous across SGV but Diamond Bakery might be near the best of the bunch with a huge array of individually wrapped pastries to egg custard tarts to full cream-filled sheet cakes A new entrant to the Xian-influenced school of noodle making this cozy restaurant in San Gabriel throws together well-executed biang biang noodles (wide Prices are low enough that bigger groups can order a bevy of noodle plates and share without a huge dent to the wallet Get Into the Guts of LA Dining With 19 Delectable Offal Dishes It’s incredible that 78-year-old Siu Chen went from home cook to restaurant owner during the pandemic The family-run operation is now Rosemead’s hub for Indonesian fare with beef rendang It’s a takeout model where all food is prepared and pre-packaged so order early or walk-in and try your luck 12 Beautifully Spicy Restaurants to Try in the San Gabriel Valley Japanese comfort food is on full display at Ducks a family-owned restaurant serving katsu curry and all manners of tempura at reasonable prices It’s easily one of SGV’s most beloved and enduring Japanese restaurants Don’t mind all the ducks on display inside the dining room In Rosemead lies perhaps the city’s best banh mi spot serving the platonic ratio of ingredients stuffed into a bread baked on the premises with a choice of French roll or light baguette Staff recommends the latter for a lighter crispness and crisp pickled vegetables with the intense spice of fresh jalapeño and bright cilantro The Best Places to Eat on the Drive Between Los Angeles and Palm Springs The Best Vietnamese Restaurants in Los Angeles Previously awarded a Michelin star but no less stellar years after the award Bistro Na’s boasts an extensive menu of palace-style fare with an ambience to match Prices will be commensurate with the quality but there’s no doubt that Bistro Na’s is the most upscale place to eat in San Gabriel Valley Try the spicy dry-braised black cod served in a long oval platter The chef is especially proud of the intricate Chinese-style rice cake desserts The Best Splurge-Worthy Restaurants in Los Angeles Sporting two locations within a mile of each other in Arcadia — one on Baldwin and another on Live Oak — a city already quite blessed with Chinese food let alone terrific noodle spots Lao Xi noodles command one’s attention for its superbly executed bowls of Shanxi-style noodles from husband-and-wife owners Joe Tao and Ellen Li tinted with a tomato-and-egg sauce with stir-fried pork belly offers a picture of the creative but regionally based flavors here Daoxiao-style fried pork noodles (the house special) come studded with guoyou pork Tony He’s most streamlined dim sum and evening Cantonese restaurant which comes from Vancouver has expanded from Arcadia over to a shiny new location on the ground floor of the spacious Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Monterey Park Though dim sum offerings are best available during the day a few popular dishes remain in the evenings it’s best to order Cantonese seafood favorites like salt pepper shrimp The original landing spot in North America for this Taiwan-based chain Din Tai Fung has relocated to inside the Westfield Santa Anita serving Shanghai-influenced xiao long bao and other stir-fried fare try the refreshing cold cucumber appetizer and comforting pan-fried rice cakes There are other mall locations in Century City Save Space for These 22 Orange County Desserts Though LA’s passion for Sichuan cuisine has waned somewhat from a high water mark a few years ago Chengdu Impression has stayed the course and cooks perhaps some of the best overall Sichuan food in Los Angeles right now but the large shareable entrees like chile-flecked sliced snakehead fish in pickle broth are better for showcasing the kitchen’s prowess with spicy flavors The 21 Hottest Restaurants in LA Right Now The region of Gansu might have the best noodles in all of China with the city of Lanzhou featuring a slew of hand-cut or hand-pulled noodles served in soup or with dry spices 1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodle follows much of the same recipe as the lauded Lan Noodle in Arcadia with similarly great broths and spice blends to make every bite interesting Tired of “handmade pasta” and its sky-high prices The portions and affordability of Lanzhou noodles will put a smile on your face With an expansive Cantonese menu with Cambodian influences, this huge standalone building in San Gabriel remains one of the region’s top overall restaurants, especially for its fresh lobster made with green onion and garlic, as well as bo luc lac. Everyone makes sure to order the garlicky pea shoots to complement the seafood. A true Cantonese all-day cafe with some of the quickest service anywhere in town. Place an order and expect everything from the kaya toast to the Hong Kong milk tea to arrive in mere seconds. Comforting bowls of shrimp wonton soup and fried rice give way to one of the best fried fish filet dishes in the SGV. The menu’s got all the hallmarks of a classic Chinese restaurant but with affordability, speed, and big portions in mind. Cantonese bakeries are numerous across SGV, but Diamond Bakery might be near the best of the bunch, with a huge array of individually wrapped pastries to egg custard tarts to full cream-filled sheet cakes. A new entrant to the Xian-influenced school of noodle making, this cozy restaurant in San Gabriel throws together well-executed biang biang noodles (wide, flat noodles), spicy lamb noodles in a red-tinted broth, rich beef chunks with long pulled noodles, and spicy cumin lamb burgers. Prices are low enough that bigger groups can order a bevy of noodle plates and share without a huge dent to the wallet. It’s incredible that 78-year-old Siu Chen went from home cook to restaurant owner during the pandemic. The family-run operation is now Rosemead’s hub for Indonesian fare with beef rendang, lemongrass fried chicken, and grilled pork satay. It’s a takeout model where all food is prepared and pre-packaged, so order early or walk-in and try your luck. Japanese comfort food is on full display at Ducks, a family-owned restaurant serving katsu curry, yaki udon, spicy tonkotsu ramen, and all manners of tempura at reasonable prices. It’s easily one of SGV’s most beloved and enduring Japanese restaurants. Don’t mind all the ducks on display inside the dining room. In Rosemead lies perhaps the city’s best banh mi spot, serving the platonic ratio of ingredients stuffed into a bread baked on the premises, with a choice of French roll or light baguette. Staff recommends the latter for a lighter crispness. With meaty paté, head cheese, ham, chả lụa (steamed pork sausage), and crisp pickled vegetables with the intense spice of fresh jalapeño and bright cilantro, this sandwich has it all. Previously awarded a Michelin star but no less stellar years after the award, Bistro Na’s boasts an extensive menu of palace-style fare with an ambience to match. Prices will be commensurate with the quality, but there’s no doubt that Bistro Na’s is the most upscale place to eat in San Gabriel Valley. Try the spicy dry-braised black cod served in a long oval platter. The chef is especially proud of the intricate Chinese-style rice cake desserts, so be sure to order them if available. Tony He’s most streamlined dim sum and evening Cantonese restaurant which comes from Vancouver has expanded from Arcadia over to a shiny new location on the ground floor of the spacious Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Monterey Park. Though dim sum offerings are best available during the day, a few popular dishes remain in the evenings, like har gow and shu mai. Once the sun goes down, it’s best to order Cantonese seafood favorites like salt pepper shrimp. The original landing spot in North America for this Taiwan-based chain, Din Tai Fung has relocated to inside the Westfield Santa Anita serving Shanghai-influenced xiao long bao and other stir-fried fare. In addition to dumplings, try the refreshing cold cucumber appetizer and comforting pan-fried rice cakes. There are other mall locations in Century City, the Glendale Galleria, and Torrance. Though LA’s passion for Sichuan cuisine has waned somewhat from a high water mark a few years ago, Chengdu Impression has stayed the course and cooks perhaps some of the best overall Sichuan food in Los Angeles right now. The classics are mostly very good, including a terrific version of mapo tofu, but the large shareable entrees like chile-flecked sliced snakehead fish in pickle broth are better for showcasing the kitchen’s prowess with spicy flavors. The region of Gansu might have the best noodles in all of China, with the city of Lanzhou featuring a slew of hand-cut or hand-pulled noodles served in soup or with dry spices. 1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodle follows much of the same recipe as the lauded Lan Noodle in Arcadia, with similarly great broths and spice blends to make every bite interesting. Tired of “handmade pasta” and its sky-high prices? The portions and affordability of Lanzhou noodles will put a smile on your face. Show Search Search Query Submit Search Don't Miss Print Moises Rivera and Marisol Medina had a clear vision in mind when they began their summer excursion in the mountains above blistering Los Angeles recently — and that vision definitely included a cooling dip in the East Fork of the San Gabriel River Urged on by images like-minded urbanites have posted to YouTube the couple looked forward to floating in a picturesque swimming hole where oak and sycamore trees threw shadows over clear Yet even before they found a place to park Chaotic crowds swarmed a 2½-mile stretch of river whose rocky banks were marred by graffiti Roadsides were heaped with all manner of garbage: rotting food “It’s the first thing we noticed,” Medina said Moises Rivera and Marisol Medina encountered a harsh reality when they visited the popular East Fork of the San Gabriel River last week — piles of trash left by visitors a visitor unloaded a carload of excited children and shrugged her shoulders at the reeking piles of trash Nowhere else in San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is a crisis of natural resource management more beautifully framed than at the bottom of a canyon that looks like some High Sierra gorge — only covered with trash. Nine years after President Obama upgraded the region to monument status — an act intended to foster a cleaner and safer wilderness — park officials and volunteers have been struggling to cope with the consequences of surging visitation, particularly in summertime. It’s a problem that has not only blighted the landscape, but also raised worries over contamination of one of the region’s largest watersheds. Just ask Tom Walsh, who for 30 years has helped lead volunteer efforts to clean up areas of the monument and restore habitat for native wildlife including bears, mountain lions and federally endangered Santa Ana suckers. Trash litters a riverbank in San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) “The East Fork is a filthy mess, and things have only gotten worse since the monument was designated,” said the 80-year-old. “That’s probably why we’ve been losing volunteers. There’s no end to the trash.” Their quarry includes hypodermic needles, discards from homeless encampments, human waste in thickets near the Oak Picnic area nicknamed “the East Fork toilet,” and occasional headless chickens and slaughtered lambs believed to be remnants of spiritual rituals. Cynthiann Gamboa, 37, who lives on a ranch by the river, described the East Fork as “a place where heartbreak turns into anger.” Travel & Experiences There are nearly 50 billion pieces of litter along U.S group Pick Up While You Hike Up shares tips for lessening the litter load “Families flock to the river to escape the heat no limits and not a ranger in sight once they get there,” she said “They park where signs say ‘No Parking.’ They build fires where signs say ‘No Fires.’ They walk through trash to get down to the river then leave more trash behind before heading home.” The 346,000-acre monument is a beloved destination for those who wish to escape the heat and grime of the bustling Los Angeles Basin and sits within an hour’s drive of some 18 million people The monument was formed by redesignating about half of Angeles National Forest its creation came with no new government money nonprofits and municipalities to seek funding from public and private donations and from adjusting the budget of the U.S “I wish I could flip a switch and make everyone behave,” said Angeles National Forest Supervisor Roman Torres Angeles National Forest is working on solutions including trying to hire 19 forestry technicians who would focus on tasks such as trash removal and reviewing contract obligations of companies responsible for emptying dumpsters within the national monument “by not throwing trash down on the ground.” East Fork Road and California 39, the winding mountain highway that provides the only access to Crystal Lake and other recreational areas north of the East Fork, are patrolled by Forest Service rangers, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, firefighters and Caltrans crews. California Volunteers joined forces to clean up the trash that was particularly heavily on Zephyr Shoals, one of the least-regulated areas along the shore. On summer weekends, authorities are swamped with reports of rowdy parties, overturned vehicles, lost hikers, burglaries, dangerous automotive stunts along California 39, illegal campfires and traffic tie-ups caused by haphazard parking. Incidents in the monument can have effects far beyond the wilderness, however. In 2012, a vehicle driving through dry brush just off East Fork Road sparked a fire that blackened more than 4,000 acres of the San Gabriel watershed, which provides Los Angeles County with 33% of its water. Litter surrounds a sign promoting environmental stewardship in San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Last year, a car that veered off East Fork Road dripped oil and gasoline into riverbed sands marked with the paw prints of squirrels, foxes and coyotes for five months before it was hauled away by the CHP, officials said. “We’re very concerned about an obvious lack of law enforcement and maintenance at the monument,” said Mark Stanley, executive officer of the state San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. “We recently visited the East Fork area and were shocked.” Refuse has been a health concern in the area since 2000, when the California Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the Forest Service to reduce trash levels in the East Fork to zero within three years. In response, rangers and volunteers were stationed at popular picnic sites to direct visitors to roadside trash bins and provide them with information about environmental issues and litter laws. They also posted “No Littering” signs printed in English and Spanish. That strategy was abandoned a few years later because of budget cuts. Now, there is renewed talk of devising strategies to limit visitors and instruct them on how to be better stewards of the environment. The flood of ill-behaved tourists isn’t the only reason for the area’s problems. Implementation of a management plan for the East Fork, finalized in 2019, was stalled by COVID-19 and a lawsuit. “We desperately need an East Fork stewardship plan that is adequately funded and staffed,” said Isaac Brown, a senior scientist at Stillwater Sciences, a consulting firm specializing in restoring rivers and floodplains. The Forest Service has long complained of high turnover rates in management, chronic budget cuts, and being unable to pay wages high enough to attract sufficient numbers of “forestry technicians” to remove all the trash that accumulates each day along the East Fork. Pay for such positions in Angeles National Forest start at about $43,600 a year, officials said. Most of the Forest Service’s budget is set aside for wildfire protection, as well as repairing campgrounds, roads and infrastructure damaged by torrential rains earlier this year, officials said. Some critics see a connection between chronic overcrowding and the promotional efforts of large nonprofits that seek to increase access to the monument. Critics say the organizations have failed to take into account the toll on wildlife and habitat. “It’s true that we are looking at increased access,” Bernal said. “But during the summer months it’s a whole different ball game. This is a management issue. “We’re not entirely happy about the situation in the monument. Just a year away from its 10th anniversary, it still doesn’t have enough restrooms, dumpsters or even a visitor center.” The Ballona Creek Trash Interceptor 007 collected nearly 155,000 pounds of trash in the first rainy season of its two-year pilot project the East Fork consistently earns an “A-plus” water quality rating from the nonprofit Heal the Bay in an online report card on the health of Southern California’s waterways — despite trash and alterations of natural flows due to illegal man-made dams built out of rocks carpet strips and limbs ripped off nearby trees for the creation of swimming holes are based on water samples typically collected in the morning before the onslaught of large crowds hoping to escape the heat a senior scientist at Aquatic Bioassay and Consulting Laboratories in Ventura “We don’t necessarily test at popular swimming holes,” she said “and we have found potentially harmful higher levels of E coli bacterial concentrations in them around the summer holiday weekends.” “we have seen horrible amounts of garbage in the river Native Americans who have long family history locked within the rugged and geologically active mountains volunteering to help remove the flotsam and jetsam of tourists is a solemn duty “The critical needs are obvious,” Nathan Nunez, 23, said. “They include controlled access, effective and consistent trash removal services, strictly monitored designated parking areas, more law enforcement officers and meaningful conservation programs.” Even with those improvements, however, Kevin Nunez believes there is a limit. “I cringe when I hear large social organizations promoting programs designed to increase visits at the monument,” the 53-year-old said. “It’s already suffering from more people than it can handle.” Los Angeles Times staff photographer Allen J. Schaben is an award-winning journalist capturing a wide range of images over the past 34 years. Before joining The Times, he honed his craft at the Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Wichita Eagle and Connecticut Post. Schaben earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993. World & Nation Climate & Environment Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map In San Gabriel wood framing is starting to rise for a new mixed-use housing development at the former site of a Howards Electronics store which spans the south side of Valley between Euclid Avenue to the east and Palm Avenue to the west is being developed with a five-story structure that will contain 68 residential units and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space at completion Parking will be located at grade and in a subterranean level A rendering of the finished product depicts 300 Valley as a pair of contemporary low-rise buildings divided by a street-level courtyard Los Angeles County Assessor Records list the owner of the 300 E Valley Boulevard property as Lanai Property a San Gabriel-based entity managed by Gerard Ngo while Burrell Construction is serving as the project's general contractor The project site sits one block east of the intersection of Valley Boulevard and Del Mar Avenue, where construction is underway for two additional developments featuring a Hyatt Place hotel, condominiums, retail space, and parking President Obama was in Los Angeles County to announce the formation of the monument encompassing most of the San Gabriel Mountains he left to do what he had really come to California for: fundraising from wealthy donors No money was authorized to improve the mountains and the federal government has done very little Expanding the footprint of the monument does nothing to solve its problems It’s just lip-service offered to a donor class that has never walked the trails to Mt We don’t need declarations and smiling photos the results promised nearly a decade ago that have yet to be delivered let’s get more acreage in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument the monument is overrun with trash each summer The overwhelming trash problem is why the San Gabriel Mountains joined travel magazine Fodor’s “No List 2024,” which encourages tourists to avoid certain destinations around the globe Go Cakes is the hottest dessert shop to hit the San Gabriel Valley the aesthetically pleasing retail space/coffee shop/cake shop is an Instagrammer’s dream come true Complete with blush and rainbow colored-tones each decoration has been meticulously thought through to bring a perfect Go Cakes was originally a highly successful online business that made the leap to a brick-and-mortar store in March of this year is a self-taught baker who has traveled the world looking for inspiration is well-known in the community in her own right She designed every aspect of the Go Cakes store from top to bottom and has a keen eye for detail The most unique and popular item from Go Cakes is their special creation known as the GoPuffy Most customers call in and reserve their GoPuffys as they tend to sell out within hours of opening The GoPuffy is a mini cake that has three layers: caramel It tastes like a fluffy and light Japanese-style cheesecake mixed with a flan the two other best sellers are the honeycomb cake and the strawberry shortcake But where Fong’s talent truly shines is in her custom cakes Fong regularly shares her custom cakes on Instagram where her portfolio includes a life-size mermaid fondant cake and even extravagant wedding cakes that are made according to whatever theme her customers can dream up “Everybody wants a bespoke dessert for every celebration I always talk to my customers about their preferences before I start the design process to bring their dream cake to life I top it off with beautiful fresh flowers and colorful decorations to ensure each custom cake is the central piece and most Instagrammable part of their celebration,” says Fong Go Cakes is also always on the forefront of the food trends Their newest dessert release is a highly Instagrammable collaboration with Beijing Yogurt called the GoYogie cake where customers can choose from three flavors: cornflakes The yogurt oozes out for the perfect Insta-worthy video capture for the foodies and Matcha lattes for customers who want to enjoy some caffeine as they dine in they also offer various classes and workshops on coffee and cake decorating The duo have experts in the field come in and teach classes in both English and Mandarin They also have the option to tailor-make workshops for those interested in hosting a private party or special event while providing all of the supplies and ingredients for activities like cupcake/cake decorating and latte art Go Cakes is only open on weekends for customers who want to drop in and enjoy sweet treats and coffee they are only open by appointment for custom cake consultations Go Cakes is located at 2322 Huntington Dr. is a Japanese street dessert made with batter that is cooked in a unique The pastry/dessert is grilled on low fire until crispy on the outside The center is filled with a filling that oozes out like molten lava with each bite Traditional obanyaki is filled with sweet azuki bean paste although in recent years it has become a trend to fill the pastries with other fillings which have been around for about 300 years is a local mom-and-pop shop owned by brothers Kevin and Kenny Mok Although the dessert is originally from Japan Taiwanese and even Filipinos also have their own versions of obanyaki known under different names Due to Japanese colonization and occupation many other parts of the world were introduced to the dessert and eventually put their own spin to it obanyaki became an institution in the area Many locals may remember obanyaki as a common sight at Asian supermarkets such as 99 Ranch and Hawaii “We felt like this kind of dessert/pastry was really missing from the SGV It was very nostalgic for us that grew up here We wanted to bring it back with a modern twist by adding ice cream to it,” said Kevin Mok Each obanyaki treat at their store is made fresh on the spot Obanyaki’s treats are bigger than your typical obanyakis the Mok Brothers also brought in powerhouse Fosselman’s ice cream from the community to pair with their treats Fosselman’s is an institution in the San Gabriel Valley that has been making all their ice cream on the premises for 100 years Customers can choose to have their obanyaki by itself or to pair it with Fosselman’s vanilla bean The brothers are also playing around with secret menu items to modernize the traditional treat That’s where they put an Oreo cookie and bake it into the obanyaki the brothers have a slew of interesting drinks such as Molasses Milk Frost that has bits of fresh taro and Matcha Horchata with Green Tea ice cream float Obanyaki is located at 2085 S Atlantic Blvd. A malasada is a Portuguese donut made of small balls of yeast dough that are deep fried and then topped with granulated sugar found themselves there due to the Portuguese who went to Hawaii in the 1800s to work on the sugarcane plantations Although traditional Portuguese malasadas do not contain any type of filling a malasada may look similar to any old donut The biggest difference is the eggy dough that is used The sugar is caramelized from the frying process which gives the malasadas a nice crispy crunch Although malasadas are a must-order pasty and even a tourist stop in Hawaii Los Angeles has unfortunately been behind in having malasadas readily available This prompted local food entrepreneur Jason Tsai to open Dot & Dough the founder of multiple Macchiato locations and Next Republic Artisan Kitchen decided to bring malasadas to Los Angeles He took over the space of a previous dessert shop and worked with award-winning pastry chef Nick Mui to create their version of malasadas which he sees as a blend of tradition with a touch of California In addition to the traditional plain malasada Dot & Dough also has unique custard fillings like Nutella They have more than 30 unique flavors that they plan on rotating in and out of the menu “All the ingredients we use in our malasadas are real We actually brew the tea for the Earl Grey custard which takes four hours to make,” said Tsai Dot & Dough has had customers lining out the door for their malasadas The store has done so well that Tsai and his partner are planning another location on Melrose Avenue soon which will be followed by an Orange County location Dot and Dough is located at 141 N Atlantic Blvd. Hang & Eat with our food blogger Kristie Hang as she explores the latest East West food trends. Are Not FDIC InsuredAre Not Bank GuaranteedMay Lose Value Are Not Insured by Any Federal Government AgencyAre Not Deposits East West Bank, compass logo, and East West Bank with compass logo are separately registered trademarks of East West Bank in the United States and other countries. ©2006 - 2025, East West Bank. All Rights Reserved. NMLSR ID 469761 Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article California Nearly a third of Asian Americans in the San Gabriel Valley said they or their family members have experienced anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey found. Asian homebuyers were also drawn to what developers, homebuilders and sellers called “country living” — a design aesthetic and local culture inspired by romanticized, imagined histories of old California as rural, conservative and white. As Asian families built thriving communities in Diamond Bar, Walnut, Rowland Heights and Hacienda Heights, they had to balance maintaining their heritage with adapting to mainstream American and suburban norms. Many Asian residents thus performed the rituals expected of model suburbanites: They tended to family life, prayed and shopped. On the whole, immigrants in these communities largely attempted to fit in. When they tried to establish even conservative or basic institutions reflecting their culture, the pushback — from white residents, but also from pro-assimilation Asian people — demonstrated the stubbornness of Southern California’s suburban ideals. Walnut especially illustrates how cultural pressures to assimilate originated both outside and within the Asian American community. Between 1980 and 1990, as Walnut’s white population fell from 75% to 48% of its total, its Asian population rose from 10% to 35%. The latter group sought modest changes. Take, for instance, St. Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church. North Dakota has outpaced every other in growing its Asian American communities even as California keeps its lead as the state with the largest Asian American population church leaders and an architect approached Walnut’s planning commission and city council with blueprints to build a freestanding parish with a growing Filipino congregation Lorenzo’s design clashed with the suburb’s rural aesthetic calling it “too ultramodern.” Others chided the height of the proposed cross claiming it suggested Catholicism reigned over Protestantism realized the criticism was less about the building plan and more about opponents’ fears that the church would mark Walnut as an Asian community The anti-Asian sentiment here was mostly covert though some white critics specifically argued that the church stymied Filipinos’ abilities to assimilate because it was named after the first Filipino saint Lorenzo’s sizable Filipino congregation made an otherwise typical suburban space — a Christian church — transgressive and inappropriate for country living It took years of disputes (and fatigue between parties) before the parish opened in 1995 But white residents’ criticisms and fears of how Asian people occupied suburbia were echoed by affluent Asian residents too the Taiwanese grocery chain 99 Ranch Market — which launched in Southern California — wanted to open a Walnut location City leaders assumed Chinese homeowners would welcome the plan Chinese suburbanites protested the grocery chain critics stereotypically equated Asian retail hubs with density and disorder They also considered Chinese stores déclassé — a threat to property values and to the image of suburbia While many immigrants believed a local 99 Ranch would be convenient they feared Walnut would become “the next Monterey Park” — in their eyes a cautionary tale of a bedroom community turned suburban Chinatown A loose alliance of white and Asian homeowners ensured 99 Ranch never came to Walnut These Asian suburbanites’ fight to preserve country living’s Anglocentric milieu bolstered their claims of assimilation The east San Gabriel Valley of today is radically different from 40 years ago Suburbs with modest Asian populations in the 1980s had Asian majorities by the new century boba shops and other businesses eventually established a presence in these communities Yet while the demographics have transformed, other characteristics of country living suburbia have barely changed — from its largely right-leaning voter base to the bustling strip malls still ironically upholding the region’s “rural” character Many east valley residents across racial lines continue to promote static ideas of how a suburb should look and feel All of this is a reminder that changing racial demographics can’t tell you exactly how a place will or won’t evolve It depends on how willing and able new residents are to challenge that place’s long-held myths James Zarsadiaz is an associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco and author of the forthcoming book “Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A.” Firefighters received reports that a ninth person was also in the river, but it’s unclear if that information was accurate, Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson Ruben Muñoz said. A 911 call that reported people in the river came in shortly after 6 p.m. and firefighters responded to the area of North Todd and West Sierra Madre avenues in Azusa, authorities said. More than a dozen locations along major rivers were overflowing as the storm moved south across California officials said there were seven people in the water but updated the number to eight Five people were assisted out of the river and three were hoisted by helicopter None of the people required hospitalization, but the conditions of the animals were unclear. Fire officials did not explain how the victims ended up in or near the water. During previous storms, emergency crews rescued people living in homeless encampments along the riverbed from fast-moving floodwaters. Fire officials did not know the status of the people who were rescued on Monday. Officials continued to search the river and flood channels until 10 p.m. for the possible ninth person in the water, according to the Fire Department. The migrant town of Pajaro, Calif., was flooded last week during powerful storms that caused a levee to break. Now, another storm is moving in. The reporting party who told emergency officials about the possible ninth person left the scene and did not provide additional information, Muñoz said. “We continued to patrol the area around the flood channels for any signs of bodies and did not locate anyone,” Muñoz said. “They did their due diligence to search for that person.” Nathan Solis reports on breaking news with the Fast Break team at the Los Angeles Times. East San Gabriel Valley residents could soon have a new – and cheaper – way to get to Ontario International Airport and other points in the Inland Empire including a connection point to a planned high-speed rail train to Las Vegas The 19-mile West Valley Connector Bus Rapid Transit project from Pomona to Rancho Cucamonga with a stop at the airport last month moved a major step closer to reality with the presentation of an $87 million check on March 20 from the Federal Transit Administration It marked the last major piece of funding for the $320 million project The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and that county’s major transit operator construction is set to begin this summer and take about two years to complete Like its counterparts in Los Angeles County this bus rapid transit project is a bus-only lane that gets priority during rush hour making the commute time somewhat shorter than conventional bus lines This line will also have a 3.5-mile dedicated bus lane that no other vehicles can access including the three at the western end in Pomona For residents of the eastern San Gabriel Valley this bus rapid transit line will provide the first direct express transit link to Ontario International Airport has a route from the San Gabriel Valley into the Inland Empire but that route passes about four miles north of the airport Passengers seeking to get to the airport must catch a connecting bus line at an additional cost from Metrolink’s Rancho Cucamonga station The other major advantage is that this West Valley Connector bus line costs only $2 one-way versus as much as $10.75 for a one-way trip on Metrolink Passes for frequent travelers on the bus line are also cheaper Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative A $7.6 million project will extend San Gabriel Parkway east to Ronald Reagan Boulevard 28: A total of 159 Angeles National Forest firefighters worked towards containment of the East Fire on Sunday Gusty conditions have pushed smoke from the East Fire Angeles National Forest officials on Friday morning reported the fire at 20% containment after growing to nearly 150 acres since it began Thursday afternoon in the San Gabriel Mountains and evacuation orders were given as the fire consumes brush chaparral and grass along the east fork of the San Gabriel River More: Triple-digit heat wave expected to arrive in the High Desert; temps likely summer's hottest The East Fire was first spotted around 1:43 p.m Thursday near East Fork and Glendora Mountain Road fire officials reported the blaze at 75 acres with nearly 130 firefighters from multiple agencies responding the fire had increased to about 96 acres with 0% containment as firefighters on the ground and in the air battled the fire burning in steep terrain and north toward the wilderness Several roadways were shuttered due to the blaze Glendora Mountain Road from Glendora to East Fork Road 'Hazy skies'The San Bernardino County Fire Department was monitoring the fire in Los Angeles County which it said was no immediate threat to adjacent San Bernardino County The East Fire was about 10 miles east of the county line and about 20 miles southwest of the Tri-Community areas of Pinon Hills and Phelan Phelan resident Cheryl Lester told the Daily Press on Thursday evening that she could detect “a hint of smoke in the air” and that the “mountains looked unusually hazy.” “It’s not like you could see flames or billowing smoke in the mountains,” Lester said “I’m just glad the fire is in a remote area and not in the Cajon Pass or Wrightwood.” Jose Alvarado of Hesperia said he was driving through Phelan when he noticed the "hazy skies" toward the mountains and thought he smelled smoke Barbara Little of Oak Hills said she didn't smell smoke but did notice that the mountain area looked hazy Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz. Part of your membership dues will support our local work Those who visit the San Gabriel River north of Azusa find few clean restrooms or trash cans few interpretive programs and few rangers (especially multilingual ones) to answer questions about the area Water quality has been degraded by trash and aquatic life threatened by human-built dams and mechanical dredging for gold “I think the East Fork Project begins to fulfill the vision the president had when he established the monument in October 2014,” said watershed authority manager Rob Romanek the estimated $10 million to $15 million project could be completed as early as 2019 Funding is expected from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and other agencies The watershed authority and the Forest Service will be soliciting public comment in June on project plans as part of project’s official environmental review Two public meetings  are in the works for the San Gabriel Valley A core principle of the East Fork Project is the sustainable access model It was developed for the watershed authority by Blue-Green Consulting after they reviewed best practices at national parks and national monuments The conceptual design for the project includes informational kiosks to provide visitors with educational and interpretive materials (see rendering at right) Redesigned visitor parking and new transit stops will be concentrated near six well-designed river access points that will channel visitors to multilingual interpretive signs Access points will be connected by a new 1.5-mile East Fork Scenic Trail above the river along the East Fork Road All user-created access points will be blocked Construction will be accomplished off-season to reduce the impact on visitors during the popular summer months The project also addresses issues of diversity and inclusion Ninety-three percent of visitors to the river itself are Latino many in family groups escaping the heat and enjoying the shady river setting The watershed authority's commissioned research shows that many come from park-poor communities Some of these users might disperse into upper canyon areas such as Heaton Flat if there were better display maps of recreational opportunities Current upper canyon users – generally those who park at the East Fork parking lot – are more likely to be hikers The Oaks Picnic Area will be redesigned to improve traffic flow with more grills Non-native trees will be replaced with sycamores and oaks An interpretive botanical loop trail is under consideration that would be suitable for kids “This is a truly visionary project,” said Hop Hopkins Sierra Club Senior Organizing Manager for California "We are very pleased that transit and shuttle stops are part of the design the current plan might reduce overall parking before permanent transit solutions are in place John Monsen is a consultant to Sierra Club National Field Staff in Los Angeles for San Gabriel Mountains Forever and he serves as Co-Chair of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter’s Forest Committee He was a member of the Sierra Club’s National Field Staff in Los Angeles for seven years where he worked on public lands and environmental justice issues He represents the Sierra Club on the East Fork Project Stakeholders Advisory Committee The next time we publish Angeles Newsletter you should get it in your email inbox View Full Social Media Directory > (213) 728-7543Sierra Club Angeles Chapter617 W. 7th St, Suite 702Los Angeles, CA 90017Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 10-5 or by appointmentVisit the Chapter Offices Angeles Chapter HomeSierra Club CaliforniaSierra Club National The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club welcomes your participation in its century of involvement in the enjoyment and protection of our planet's environment The Angeles Chapter spans Los Angeles and Orange Counties in Southern California Sierra Club® and "Explore, enjoy and protect the planet"® are registered trademarks of the Sierra Club. © Sierra Club 2025.The Sierra Club Seal is a registered copyright 2017 at 12:49 pm PT.css-79elbk{position:relative;}WALNUT CA — The Suzanne Middle School Mathcounts team took 3rd place at the East San Gabriel Valley Chapter competition held on February 25 and Deven Tseng qualified for the Countdown Round event ranking in the top 16 during the competition School math wizzes competed in the AMC 10 math competition on February 11 with a 25-question 75-minute multiple-choice exam containing difficult problems that can be solved with algebra and geometry concepts The top three school scorers were Jenny Shen – gold medal 50 students participated in the challenging AMC 8 math contest The AMC 8 questions covered many different topics which exceed the normal middle school curriculum The 40-minute timed competition included 25 multiple-choice questions Jenny Shen took home the gold medal with a top school score of 21 out of 25 She was also awarded an Honor Roll Certificate for scoring in the top 5% of the nation and Bryan Wang earned silver medals with scores of 19 out of 25 They also earned Honor Roll Certificates for scoring in the top 5% of the nation Chandrark Muddana earned the bronze medal with a score of 17 out of 25 “I am honored to have such talented and enthusiastic mathletes in our Mathcounts team and clubs,” said teacher and advisor Amy Erickson Walnut Valley Unified School District Photos Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. 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A China-based real estate investment firm sees gold in a new San Gabriel Valley hotel thanks largely to recent waves of immigrants who have reshaped the eastern flank of Los Angeles County Shenzhen Hazens Real Estate Investment Group hopes to cash in on record numbers of Chinese tourists visiting the county with its 288-room Sheraton is scheduled to open at the end of November The hotel is one of a handful being built in the San Gabriel Valley to cater to visitors from China who are drawn to the concentration of Asian restaurants and prominent Chinese culture The majority of the 40,000 or so residents of San Gabriel are Asian and Asian-Americans An additional 30 cities that combine for 385 square miles also are part of the San Gabriel Valley which stretches east of downtown Los Angeles and nearly to the San Bernardino County line Many of the San Gabriel Valley cities have been magnets for emigrants from China in recent years The arrivals have ranged from fortune seekers with hopes of grabbing the first rung on the ladder of the American dream in Temple City and other blue-collar towns to wealthy émigrés who have driven up property values in toney cities such as San Marino The new hotel sits in the middle of the action “The city of San Gabriel is really in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley in terms of there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants here,” said Teddy Yang director of hospitality operations at Shenzhen Hazens and a 30-year valley resident “Through past experience we know that a lot of Chinese find they like to stay in more Chinese-concentrated areas.” Los Angeles County beat out New York and San Francisco to welcome a record 1 million Chinese tourists last year according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board which projects an increase in Chinese and other visitors both this year and the next Those numbers nearly double the totals reported by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp The San Gabriel Valley serves a base and jumping-off point for tourists to explore the wider Southern California region in addition to serving as a destination in its own right “So many Chinese tourists want to see Southern California and its attractions – Disney Knott’s Berry Farm – but they want to lodge and eat in the San Gabriel Valley,” said Jeff Allred chief executive of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership “San Gabriel Valley has become a magnet for tourism from Asia I think it’s going to continue for the foreseeable future.” Visits by Chinese tourists to the United States have grown since China relaxed travel restrictions and Chinese citizens’ discretionary spending has increased Los Angeles in particular has benefitted due to its proximity to Asia Chinese developers have gotten in on the action creating a hotel boom fueled by investments through the federal EB-5 immigrant investor program which grants green cards in exchange for investing $500,000 to $1 million in projects that create U.S Yet the city of San Gabriel hasn’t had many hotels historically The first hotel to open there was Encino-based real estate investment firm Landwin Corp.’s Hilton Los Angeles/San Gabriel a 222-room hotel constructed around 2005 on Valley Boulevard You’re never going to survive,” said Carl Bolte But the venture eventually proved everyone wrong Business started taking off around 2010 with the influx of Chinese visitors In addition to having a room occupancy comparable with the rest of the county in the 80 percent range the hotel books about 50 to 60 weddings annually The success of the Hilton caught the eye of Shenzhen Hazens it had success with the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport That property was bought and then renovated for $35 million in 2013 The Sheraton Gateway has a 92 percent annual occupancy rate He didn’t share what the company expects to make in revenue or return on investment with the Sheraton in San Gabriel but said he expects an occupancy rate similar to the Hilton in the 80 percent range and to charge around $180 a night initially and more than $200 in the hotel’s second year He said the hotel will represent a new high in luxury in the area It will feature San Gabriel’s first Starbucks and steakhouse as well as a branch of Ba Shu Feng All of the amenities are designed to draw possible overflow crowds of L.A Shenzhen Hazens will pay a percentage of its revenue to Marriott International Inc. A percentage also will go to Pyramid Hotel Group a Boston-based hospitality managing firm that will manage the San Gabriel hotel which has 19,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space that can accommodate up to around 1,000 people was also built with the events business in mind It already has banquets booked for next year Landwin is building a second hotel directly adjacent to the Hilton 80 condominiums and 50,000 square feet of retail a Courtyard by Marriott and a DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton “This whole area will be a destination in three to four years,” Bolte said California’s environmental regulatory system and its systemic failures has been increasingly questioned by residents of the East San Gabriel Valley community in Los Angeles The struggle for a safe environment is exacerbated by Quemetco’s chronic toxic contamination from the byproducts of lead-smelting and the failure of state agencies like the Department of Toxic Substance Control to protect communities from toxic exposure This is further evidenced in the fractured renewal process enabled by DTSC allowing Quemetco to continue its ongoing pollution.  200 community members attended a Settlement Agreement Workshop hosted by DTSC The community demanded answers to DTSC’s failure to regulate Quemetco’s egregious violations such as the containment leak in the building used to store hazardous waste and the failed implementation of a proper groundwater monitoring network for nearly two decades a source of drinking water for 1.2 million SGV residents faces a risk of further contamination due to DTSC failing to fulfill its job Various community organizations like the Clean Air Coalition of North Whittier and Avocado Heights composed of residents who live in the surrounding neighborhoods of Avocado Heights have led the struggle to demand changes from Quemetco for over a decade These residents overwhelmingly agree that Quemetco has not been adequately penalized in the latest settlement an environmental justice professor and the founder of the Clean Air Coalition “The Settlement Agreement Workshop was an attempt to make it look like the DTSC is on the side of the community It was really just a smokescreen for what really happened They let Quemetco get away with breaking California law.”  The agency is in the hotspot for what the community sees as a slap on the wrist While DTSC is legally allowed to fine facilities as much as $25,000 per day for unauthorized Quemetco could have been fined anywhere from $150 million to $2 billion for the 29 violations they have committed A fine within this margin would have been proper considering that the facility brings in an annual revenue of $34 million “If they really used the fining mechanism to deter a facility like Quemetco from committing violations on a regular basis then that fine would be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars because of how long it’s been going on and how serious these high level violations are The DTSC had a chance finally to really put a [dent] on the company Quemetco’s violations will no longer impede the facility’s permit renewal It also places Quemetco closer to realizing a long-contested expansion that will surely further contaminate the SGV — a clear failure of DTSC’s fundamental responsibilities Fractured permitting division and weak enforcement The broken permit renewal process and DTSC’s inability to enforce regulations shows the agency’s blatant disregard for the public Residents around Quemetco have waited for the permit renewal decision since the facility’s permit expired in 2015 California also has a track record of allowing waste facilities to operate for an extended period with expired permits has been operating in Santa Fe Springs with an expired permit since 1996 the Clean Air Coalition has worked on preventing postponements and to pressure DTSC to deny Quemetco’s permit renewal the grassroots efforts are highly outmatched by Quemetco’s ability to hire expensive lawyers to draw out the process near indefinitely Overmyer-Velázquez commented: “We don’t get much but at least every 10 years we’re supposed to get a say in how these facilities operate That’s almost 20 years where DTSC has let Quemetco do whatever it wants without public oversight You can’t help but think that there’s intent here to just keep us waiting and finally have us give up.”  In the City of Industry environmental laws are just a formality.  The DTSC’s mission claims to protect California’s people communities and environment from toxic substances the agency has failed to carry out its most basic function An investigation conducted by Consumer Watchdog found that the agency serves as a revolving door for corporate lawyers along with other patterns that reveal the extent of the influence that industry holds over the agency These groups manipulate the system of regulation to empower their associates — polluters and other private entities — to make a profit When asked why DTSC fails to regulate Quemetco “A lot of the people that are lobbying for Quemetco are former employees of the agency Quemetco’s consultants are good at bobbing They’ve managed to influence the agency and [let] … Quemetco slide.” The controversy surrounding the DTSC’s new Board of Environmental Safety also reveals the ongoing influence that industry poses over the agency a statewide effort led by environmental justice organizations succeeded in pressuring the state of California to institute a new set of reforms The campaign for reform was born out of years of distrust of the DTSC by impacted communities The BES’s intended purpose is to promote transparency and thus better oversight of the DTSC’s staff But the Board has already fallen short of grassroots and community expectations It is understaffed and structured to prevent the public from actively playing a decisive role The BES enacted new set policies that defers decision-making to the DTSC staff regarding appeals This defeats the purpose of the Board at its core and allows DTSC to have the final word on appeals to its earlier decisions essentially keeping DTSC corruption intact Quemetco is among a number of facilities that pollute the environment protected from accountability through its extensive wealth in reality it is successfully upholding its real interests of serving the polluters either through feigning attempts at regulation or through undermining its democratic processes and refusing to enforce industry compliance DTSC and Quemetco have worked closely to maximize profits as they pollute the community for generations Holding both institutions accountable and reclaiming the right to a healthier environment from industry benefactors will take a grassroots-led movement regulatory agencies like the DTSC must be composed of community members — those who live adjacent to hazardous waste facilities who best understand the consequences of improper regulation and weak enforcement composed of residents in surrounding neighborhoods not because they have a private stake in the matter Similar community-led struggles offer hope to the CAC was shut down permanently in 2015 through a long people’s struggle CAC is building a campaign to stop the DTSC from renewing the facility’s permit The public comment period will begin on June 21 and a decision is expected by the end of the year Over the next couple of months the coalition will continue to draw more neighbors into the struggle pressure local representatives to take a stand conduct demonstrations to make their voices heard and pressure the DTSC to side with the people once and for all The Party for Socialism and Liberation is comprised of leaders and activists, workers and students, of all backgrounds. Organized in branches across the country, our mission is to link the everyday struggles of oppressed and exploited people to the fight for a new world. Interested in joining? Click here! If you've ever visited the San Gabriel River in the mountains north of Azusa you've probably seen folks standing ankle deep in the water panning for gold An initial study published this month by the City of San Gabriel reveals new plans for a mixed-use apartment complex along a busy stretch of Valley Boulevard which would rise from a vacant L-shaped property at 205 E is described in plans as a four-story structure featuring 51 apartments above 10,542 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a two-level Plans call for a mix of one- and two-bedroom floor plans ranging from 755 to 1,126 square feet in size The Architech Group is designing 205 Valley which is portrayed in renderings as a contemporary low-rise structure which matches the L-shaped footprint of the project site In addition to housing and commercial space the project also calls for a rear courtyard fronting the northern property line construction of 205 Valley is expected to occur in a single 24-month period City records list the property owner and applicant as Valley SG Landplus Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn In the early 1930s, a mini gold rush hit San Gabriel Canyon. Writer Jean Bosquet reported on the gold prospectors in the Sept. 25, 1932, edition of the Los Angeles Times: If you can imagine such a thing as a leisurely gold rush, then you can go out along the noisy banks of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, deep in the canyon bearing that name, and actually see something approximating an unhurried hunt for precious metal. It never was much of a rush, this quest for San Gabriel Canyon gold which began two years ago and drew thousands of hopeful prospectors with no more prospects than the tailings of a really frenzied rush of another, earlier day. But the glittering metal has been found daily along the boiling canyon stream since the first of the modern gold seekers pressed into the depths of the canyon, their automobiles and sometimes modern camping equipment in sharp contrast to memory pictures of what had gone on in there 60 years before. It isn’t much gold that they find, but such as it is, the leavings of that other rush, it has provided today’s seekers with at least a livelihood. Their equipment is as makeshift as their quarters — a bit of wire, an old metal bucket, a shovel, a few lengths of abandoned stovepipe and a perfume bottle being enough for most of them. From office, factory, store, farm and restaurant have come the men who muck for the tailings of gold to be found on the canyon’s steep sides, where the tunnels of yesteryear’s miners create a honeycomb and the ghosts of a gold-maddened horde stalk by night. The gold that is found is chiefly dust, few nuggets having been left by those who picked the canyon walls clean more than half a century ago. The precious metal is washed out of the dirt with which it is mixed by a panning, sluicing or washing process in the river below. A grocery clerk pushed his steaming truck up the five miles or so of riverbed road, his laboring conveyance bounding over boulders and crossing and recrossing the lustily singing river at least seven times before “Upper Klondike” is reached. The grocer offers $16 an ounce for the glittering stuff carried in the perfume bottles of the miners. He sends it to the mint in Sacramento and clears a couple of dollars an ounce for his trouble. The man with the grocery truck doesn’t buy as much now as he formerly did. The gold seekers nowadays for the most part prefer to drive to Los Angeles, 40 miles away, and send the stuff to the mint themselves to get its full value. They go in about once each month. … “We don’t let ’em use hydraulic drills or anything that would take out the soil in a wholesale manner,” says Marshall. “The tailing in here have enabled a lot of unemployed folk to at least feed themselves since we began letting them work in the canyon. And there’s enough gold left to feed a lot more families if no one tries to get rich all at once. …” There is no form of city government in Upper or Lower Klondike, the largest settlements of miners and their families. Klondike used to be called Ragtown, but the dignity of some of the gold seekers asserted itself and the name has been changed. The two settlements are about 300 yards apart and are separated by a bend in the stream. … While it is hard to obtain from any of the quiet miners a definite average as to what they are taking out of the canyon, with its memories of that hectic earlier gold hunt, the word along the winding river is that it’s about $1.50 a day. ... Seven photos accompanied Bosquet’s story in the Sept. 25, 1932, edition of The Times. The photographer is unknown but was probably a Los Angeles Times staff photographer. I found one print from this story in the Los Angeles Times print archives, but there was no photo credit on the back. A dozen of the original 4-by-5-inch nitrate negatives for this 1932 article are at the Los Angeles Times Archive at UCLA. I used eight of these images for this post originally published on Sept. 20, 2013. Print An $18,500 stipend to help pay for graduate school And the chance to serve the under-served — “with dignity.” “Do Worthwhile Work,” the new marketing campaign of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health highlights these perks on its website in the hope that job candidates will see the benefits of public sector mental health work “Your work can change lives,” the campaign reads with 1,890 vacant positions and just over 4,800 employees For decades, the department didn’t need marketing campaigns or too many perks to get people to apply for jobs the largest county mental health department in America has seen a decline in applicants If workforce trends continue, California is projected to experience a shortage of 5,000 mental health practitioners by 2026, according to research by consulting firm Mercer Internally, the Department of Mental Health still hasn’t recovered from the 18-month countywide hiring freeze, implemented by the Board of Supervisors at the start of the pandemic to save money amid disaster. That left many important administrative positions unfilled. And it can still take months to get hired at the county because of civil service rules that dictate how hiring must be carried out. Of the 103 people the department hired in August , it took an average of 227 days from the time the candidate submitted an application to when they started their job. The county’s Department of Mental Health says people declined or left positions for various reasons during the pandemic including the opportunity to work full time in telehealth But the county says it’s beginning to see a rebound in interest it took an average of 27 days to see a county psychiatrist in clinic It has also led to burnout among existing staff who work longer hours to make up for the lack of new talent a point supervisors discussed at a recent meeting CARE courts open in several California counties Oct Some families and others question the voluntary-compliance aspect of the mental illness law These challenges have forced the Department of Mental Health to get creative It has started holding hiring fairs where applicants get offers on the same day they interview These events have especially targeted hard-to-fill positions — and are showing results In the last five months, Hahn said, the mental health department hired 272 people at fairs, including 37 to join its homeless outreach teams and 30 who will respond to emergency mental health calls, which have seen a recent improvement in response times. These hiring events are like a speed-dating session between employers and applicants. On a recent Thursday at the department’s headquarters in Koreatown, dozens of recent master’s of social work graduates filed into a meeting room to hear elevator pitches from almost 20 mental health clinics. Each hiring manager briefly explained the benefits of working at their location. “We’re one of the busiest clinics” in our service area in Willowbrook, one manager said. “What helps in our work is to have purpose and meaning, and you can find it there,” a manager from a Compton clinic said. A supervisor from a San Pedro clinic said it has “one of the strongest housing programs” in its area. “We like to celebrate,” a manager from a Long Beach clinic said, describing its many potlucks and nacho dinners. “We try to support one another.” The energy among participants was jovial, a mix of nerves and polite laughter — until a social worker in the audience asked about caseloads. The supervisor from a Skid Row clinic shot straight. If hired there, she said, they’ll have about 150 clients, which will include patients who come in twice a year for check-ups of their medicine regimen as well as clients in crisis who come in frequently. “Many of these other clinics have that many [on their caseloads] too,” she added, to polite laughter around the room. Marina Barrios, a substance abuse counselor, meets with a client at L.A. County’s East San Gabriel Valley Mental Health Center. The county is trying to fill hundreds of mental health positions. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) Nicole Pyles sat nearby, reminding herself to start breathing again. Pyles, a recent graduate of the USC School of Social Work, had ranked that Skid Row clinic as her No. 1 choice before the event started. “I thought, ‘Pssh, I got this, I’m not worried about it, I’ve had caseloads as high as 30 people,’ ” said Pyles, 47. “When she said 150 people, I think my heart jumped out of my mouth and was somewhere on the floor.” Pyles previously worked as a substance abuse counselor, which doesn’t require a master’s degree to get certified and see clients. But Pyles knew that for many of her clients, their addiction was much more complicated than brain chemicals making them crave a substance. She wanted to get to the root of the problem, namely the trauma fueling their addiction. Such work requires a master’s degree. Pyles was happy enough, though, working in her last job with pregnant and postpartum clients struggling with substance use disorders. That was until a client who’d diligently worked with the program for a few months asked for help. The client’s court date to keep custody over her newborn baby had been moved from Monterey Park to the Antelope Valley, and she needed a ride. Pyles thought she could help with that. Her supervisor, though, told Pyles she was “enabling” this woman and declined the request. In that moment, Pyles realized she wanted the power to help in a bigger and more meaningful way. “A friend of mine told me, ‘If you want to make those calls, and you want to be able to make the decisions, you’ve got to get your education,’ ” Pyles said. “And that’s exactly what I did.” After finishing her master’s at USC, she agreed to work at the downtown Skid Row clinic — committing to the county for a year after accepting an $18,500 stipend. “My goal is to remain at DMH, and move up to leadership,” she said. These are the kinds of practitioners that Lisa H. Wong, director of the Department of Mental Health, said her department has started to attract. The department and its contract agencies did take a hit early in the pandemic, when workers across the country reassessed the type of work they wanted. Do you know who your L.A. County supervisor is? Do you know how to get her attention? Use Shape Your L.A. to get active in your community. Wong said when she worked as a clinical supervisor at a facility in Skid Row 15 years ago, she held recruitment events that brought in dozens of candidates who wanted to work there, even though “admittedly [it] is not for everyone.” Comparatively, about a year and a half ago, when she held a recruitment effort for adult mental health positions across the county, she got just 13 applicants. But in recent months, Wong said the department has noticed another shift. “I know I’ve been accused of being an optimist at times, I do think the tide is turning,” Wong said, noting that hiring and promotions have increased 200% this year. “What we’re seeing now is sort of the blessing in disguise of the nationwide staffing shortage — who we’re getting now are those people who are the true believers, the urban missionaries.” Beyond the hiring fairs, the department is also renewing academic affiliations with graduate programs, which will lead to more internships there, and for the first time, will start recruiting at conferences and campuses out of state. The department went to recruit at the American Psychological Assn. conference in Washington, D.C., where LGBTQ+ clinicians told county staff they really wanted to move to California because they didn’t feel safe in their home states. “But alongside that, we had a lot of people say, ‘I would love to move to California, I would love to live in L.A., but I don’t think I can afford it,’ ” Wong said. Wong said they will focus much of their attention on recruiting at historically Black colleges and universities, bringing current county staff who are alumni to talk about working at the department. “We need more clinicians who look like our community,” Wong said. “I would love for an African American little boy to be able to meet with a Black psychologist, and know that not only can they open up and have some cultural understanding but also this is somebody he can aspire to be as well.” Print For nearly two decades residents of the northern and eastern San Fernando Valley watched as Los Angeles County officials opened new rail lines to the Westside the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles hoping that the Southland’s transit building boom would someday reach them The Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted unanimously to bring a light-rail line to the East Valley addressing long-standing complaints that transportation officials have neglected the needs of a poor 2018An earlier version of this story misspelled Metro director Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker’s first name as Jacqueline The $1.3-billion rail line will run along Van Nuys Boulevard the street most synonymous with the Valley’s post-World War II car culture Pacoima and San Fernando to the county’s growing rail network (Swetha Kannan / Los Angeles Times ) Metro officials had originally recommended enhanced bus service along Van Nuys frustrating residents who watched a rail line with far lower ridership projections win approval in the San Gabriel Valley eventually securing $810.5 million through Measure M “We have a long way to go before the East Valley is served with the kind of transit it deserves,” Coby King the past chair of the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn. Construction on the line is scheduled to start in 2021 Officials hope that the Van Nuys line and the Orange Line dedicated busway will carry spectators to the Sepulveda Basin to watch equestrian events and canoeing during the 2028 Summer Olympics But the rail line’s most important purpose will be serving the more than 62,000 residents of Pacoima and other areas of the northeast Valley who are transit-dependent The Van Nuys corridor has the seventh-highest transit ridership in the county and the line will carry an estimated 47,000 daily trips by 2040 Rail service could also stitch together the Valley’s other transit options Officials have planned for transfer points with the Orange Line and Metrolink stations in Van Nuys The Van Nuys line will also serve as a key piece of Metro’s plans to bring rail transit to the Sepulveda Pass Early route options suggest the route could run from Westwood or West L.A through the Santa Monica Mountains and terminate at a station on the Van Nuys Boulevard line The rail line will mark a new chapter for Van Nuys Boulevard once the heart of the Valley’s cruising culture carloads of teenagers took over the street every Wednesday Residents said they hoped the line would also help the area return to its roots as a destination for shopping dining and retail — perhaps chasing away some of the check-cashing stores and bail bond shops that dot the blocks surrounding the Van Nuys Civic Center particularly in the North Valley,” said Francine Oschin Her family ran a savings-and-loan on Van Nuys Boulevard more than five decades ago Community advocates said they welcomed investment in better transit but that they were concerned that more development near the rail line could drive up rents The share of residents who live below the poverty line along the rail route is three times the county average “We need to make sure that the benefit is inclusive of all of the community,” said Faramarz Nabavi of the Transit Coalition He urged Metro to pursue housing cooperatives or affordable developments that could assist any tenants displaced by rising rents Metro had planned to run 2.5 miles of the line underground Roscoe Boulevard and the Van Nuys Metrolink stop saying they would have doubled the project’s cost while shaving only 90 seconds to two minutes from the line’s 31-minute route The Van Nuys line will run entirely at street level which is much cheaper but can create problems which runs at street level along most of its route has one of the highest fatality rates of any U.S Commuters frequently face delays when trains strike vehicles or pedestrians on the tracks Running a train line at street level “can be a challenge to operate reliably in real-world traffic conditions,” Metro director Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker said during a meeting last week She questioned whether Metro’s trains would be forced to wait at traffic lights as they do along portions of the Expo and Blue lines The city of Los Angeles controls the traffic lights along the majority of the Van Nuys route and will decide whether trains will be forced to wait at red lights with passenger vehicles and trucks said Metro transportation planning manager Walt Davis we’re hopeful that we can secure greater signal priority” than on previous projects Board member and Duarte Mayor John Fasana questioned whether Metro’s plans for the line include enough passenger capacity The plans call for 270-foot platforms at stations which would accommodate three-car trains that carry up to 400 passengers Many platforms in the Metro system can’t support longer trains because they’re not long enough In areas where rail lines run at street level longer trains could block multiple intersections at once “I think it’s important to at least look at laura.nelson@latimes.com For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter. Laura J. Nelson covers politics and campaign finance for the Los Angeles Times. 2018: An earlier version of this story misspelled Metro director Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker’s first name as Jacqueline 2016Crews battled the San Gabriel Complex Fire throughout the night as the blaze scorched the Angeles National Forest above Azusa and Duarte.AZUSA (KABC) -- Two fast-moving brush fires continue to burn through dry brush in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa and Duarte Tuesday fire officials are now referring to them as the San Gabriel Complex Fire The Fish Fire has prompted mandatory evacuations in Duarte and fire officials are considering issuing some for Monrovia and the Bradbury area Los Angeles County Fire Deputy Chief John Tripp said progress on the Fish Fire's east bank was controlled but they are worried about the west flank because it has a massive amount of fuel that has never burned California Highway Patrol officers received a call around 10:57 a.m Monday about a pickup truck going over the embankment of Highway 39 near the Morris Reservoir Dam which officials believe may have sparked the blaze About 90 minutes later, the Fish Fire broke out above Duarte and quickly began to spread through the brush Water drops were continued overnight in an effort to keep the fires away from homes The Reservoir Fire has burned about 2,400 acres and the Fish Fire has scorched about 3,000 acres PHOTOS: 2 fires burn above Azusa, Duarte in Angeles National Forest The two brush fires are only a mile and a half apart About 1,040 firefighters from multiple agencies are working to control the fires One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion during the firefight amid triple-digit temperatures on Monday Azusa police ordered evacuations for Mountain Cove An evacuation center was set up at Duarte Community Center an evacuation order was issued for homes north of Fish Canyon between Encanto Parkway and Greenbank Avenue Officials later announced extended mandatory evacuations for areas north of Markwood Street between Westvale Road and Greenbank Avenue areas north of Deerlane Drive between Greenbank Avenue and Mountain Crest Road Residents in the Mount Olive Drive area just northwest of Conata Street including residents in the Spinks Canyon Road and Tall Pink Drive areas were also mandated to evacuate the area Large animals can be taken to the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center at 11127 Orcas Ave and small pets can be taken to Wonder Dog Ranch at 220 Taylor St Though there were no mandatory evacuations in effect for Monrovia officials urged residents east of Myrtle Avenue and north of Greystone Avenue to prepare for possible evacuations if winds change direction or increase in intensity About 600 residents in the Duarte area have been affected by the blaze and 770 homes were evacuated north of Royal Oaks Drive Smoke from the forest fires was seen by residents across the Southland The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory due to the fires AQMD officials said air quality could reach unhealthy levels in areas impacted by smoke including portions of the East San Gabriel Valley the San Gabriel Mountains and metropolitan Riverside The public was urged to exercise caution and avoid unnecessary outdoor activities in any area directly impacted by smoke The Fish Fire has prompted road closures for the following streets: The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report On a recent trip from the East Coast to California’s San Gabriel Valley “Here” not only meant where we were having lunch — Porto’s Bakery & Cafe in West Covina — but also the general food scene in San Gabriel Valley which is located in Southern California just east of Los Angeles’ city limits Savvy travelers to Los Angeles may know this nearby cluster of cities that make up SGV as a great place to get dim sum but locals know it’s so much more than that As home to some of the largest majority Asian American communities in the U.S. SGV is where locals and visitors alike can use their palates to travel to China “Many restaurants here are more authentic than even in Asia,” said Kristie Hang host and social media influencer who specializes in covering SGV From authentic Asian to Asian-fusion and fancy dinners to casual desserts SGV has something for every adventurous foodie but SGV’s sizable Hispanic population also contributes to the wealth of culinary options here I compiled this list with the help of local friends and prominent local food bloggers Bistro Na's a one Michelin-star bistro in Temple City is the first restaurant in the U.S to serve Imperial Chinese cuisine — recipes that the emperor of China would have eaten The interior of the restaurant is decked out with traditional Chinese architecture and musical instruments on display the chile tofu skin salad and the limited-time chef specials these items include stir-fried crab meat and fish maw Other standout menu items include smoked pork ribs and crispy shrimp (which is so crispy the shells can be eaten The restaurant also offers handcrafted desserts and a unique take on staple dishes such as Beijing zha jiang mian noodles — thick wheat noodles with fried soybean sauce View this post on Instagram A post shared by Porto's Bakery & Café (@portosbakery) No trip to Porto’s is complete without ordering the classic Cheese Rolls Potato Balls and Refugiados — strudels stuffed with cream cheese and guava jam Signature cakes include the delectable Parisian Chocolate which come in individual slices and full sizes salads and beverages inspired by Cuban recipes If clients miss Porto’s when they return home they can order a variety of best-selling pastries and cakes that ship nationwide and bake them at home Ipoh Kopitiam in Alhambra serves co-owner and chef Kenji Tang’s family recipes from the Ipoh region of Malaysia The word “kopitiam” itself is a portmanteau of “kopi” (“coffee”) in Malay and “tiam” (“shop”) in Hokkien Chinese Ipoh Kopitiam entices crowds daily with its signature Hainan chicken which comes with seasoned rice and three distinct dipping sauces Clients should also try the “char kway teow,” a popular Southeast Asian street food comprising flat rice noodles stir-fried with vegetables Two rooster statues flank the entrance to Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant a Rosemead dim sum spot that always draws large crowds Sea Harbour was one of the first restaurants in SGV to forgo the typical dim sum carts in favor of making items to order Customers pay slightly higher prices in exchange for freshly made food In addition to the usual shumai and chicken feet chef Tony He offers a unique spin on common dim sum items such as squid ink har gow (dumpling) with gold leaf and fried rice with roe and truffle egg whites “Chef Tony serves the best dim sum in the area,” according to Justine and Jocelyn Wong, the sisters behind food review Instagram account @HangryDiary. Their favorites include the steamed barbecue pork buns and the steamed rice noodle with Chinese donut and shrimp. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sea Harbour Seafood (@seaharbourseafood) This family-owned Chinese Vietnamese eatery reimagines popular meat-prominent dishes such as bun bo hue (rice noodle soup) and lemongrass chicken allowing vegetarians to enjoy the best flavors that Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines have to offer Established in 1978, Taco Nazo was one of the first businesses to bring Baja-style fish tacos to LA County Specialties include beer-battered shrimp and white fish tacos topped with rich crema Add the house-roasted chile salsa and seasoned Clients can visit the original La Puente location or any of its other four locations in and around SGV Clients with a high tolerance for spiciness will enjoy Chengdu Taste which brings the heat to both its locations in Alhambra and Rowland Heights by cooking with numbing Sichuan peppercorns The key is to balance the spice with other flavors Hang’s favorites are the peanutty dan dan noodles The boiled sliced fish in hot sauce is another fiery dish that comes highly recommended Tony Xu, the co-founder and chef at Chengdu Taste, was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2018, and also founded Mian which specializes in Sichuan-style dishes featuring house-made noodles customers can adjust spiciness and numbness levels to their taste The casual noodle house has four locations throughout LA County On a typical weekend, you might see the line snaking out of Chicha San Chen in San Gabriel and wonder The answer is yes, according to the International Taste Institute which awarded the franchise’s drinks the rough equivalent of two and three Michelin stars in 2021 This boba tea establishment brews every customer’s tea to order with patented “Teapresso” machines using tea leaves sourced from its mountain farms in Taiwan Although this translates to higher prices and longer wait times (and no large size option) it results in a depth of flavor you won’t find anywhere else First-time customers should get the high mountain pouchong or dong ding oolong with boba pearls and the mousse topping Founded by Wong Fu Productions co-founder Philip Wang and his longtime friend Eric Wang, Bopomofo Cafe in San Gabriel aims to share Asian American culture through unique recipes inspired by the pair’s upbringing “Bo,” “po,” “mo” and “fo” are the first four syllables of the Chinese phonetic system and the cafe embodies this foundational spirit by using high-quality rather than powdered creamers or artificial flavors Customers can choose from a variety of tea in addition to signature items such as strawberry corn milk and the seasonal sesame milk or watermelon oat milk the popcorn chicken with Thai basil aioli is a customer favorite These shops and restaurants have locations in the city of Los Angeles (and beyond) but are still a good idea to visit when in the San Gabriel Valley the franchise also offers limited-time seasonal items At the Arcadia and Century City locations of Ramen Nagi and customers can adjust nearly every aspect of their bowl to their taste Clients should try the award-winning Original King they can opt for the spicy Red King or the squid ink-infused Black King Fusion options include the cheesy Green King and vegetarian Veggie King Every few weeks, it seems like Sunright Tea Studio opens a new location Its extensive menu and fresh ingredients draw many Their favorites are the Sunright Fruit Tea — made with four seasons tea and orange and lemon slices — and Taro Milk Tea Copyright © 2025 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. 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Los Angeles LaymanA complete guide to East LA and SGV breweriesDrink up at these East LA and SGV breweries where small production craft brews are making a big impact at least 10 breweries now complement the area’s acclaimed alehouses and tasting rooms to make it an official craft beer destination Lowe Brewing Company making its way to Arcadia by the end of 2016 here is your complete guide to breweries in East LA and the SGV RECOMMENDED: Our guide to craft beer in LA Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! twitterinstagramspotifyAbout us Contact us Time Out magazine