05 ๐บ Grammy Hall of Fame Gala announced,
May 8th
HEY CUTIE
Happy Tuesday, CurationsLA! I hope that your
weekend was a good one. Tidbits for this week:
LACMA's David Geffen Galleries officially
swings open Sunday, and the second weekend of
Coachella (somehow) outshined weekend one.
We've got new eats, Good Vibes, and sunshine
for today + this week. Catch you Thursday!
-Wyatt
4-DAY FORECAST ยท LA
TUE 4/21
๐ง๏ธ
64ยฐ
LIGHT RAIN
WED 4/22
๐ฆ๏ธ
62ยฐ
SHOWERS
THU 4/23
โ
68ยฐ
PARTLY CLOUDY
FRI 4/24
โ๏ธ
74ยฐ
MOSTLY SUNNY
DISCUSSION: A moderate-for-April storm slides in overnight,
bringing LA its best rain chance of the week on
Tuesday โ generally under a quarter-inch across
the metro, with heavier totals up the coast in
Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Expect a
cooler, breezier Wednesday behind the front, a
brighter Thursday, and a return to normal-feeling
sunshine and low-70s by Friday.
VIEW FORECAST
๐ญ QUOTE OF THE DAY
โNo man ever steps in the same river twice, for
it's not the same river and he's not
the same manโ
โ HERACLITUS
๐ 1967
Dodgers first rain out in Los Angeles after 737
consecutive games
โ TRIVIA QUESTION
Which pop icon made a surprise appearance during
Sabrina Carpenter's Coachella set on
Saturday?
Mumford & Sons' Ben Lovett
recently opened his cocktail concept
Mitsi
on Naud Street, giving Chinatown its swankiest new
spot for drinks and bites. The 50/50 martini with
gin, dry vermouth, tomato and cilantro is the
savory calling card, and the Negroni gets a
rewrite with palo santo-smoked gin, prickly pear
amaro and umeshu. The kitchen leans into sushi,
halibut and bluefin sashimi, and hand rolls, al to
pair with the drink program.
Designed as a bar first, but one that takes
the food half seriously.
The team behind Lake Tahoe's Smoke Door
launched their first LA restaurant,
Bengara, this past Friday in the former Taberu space on
the edge of the Arts District. The menu is built
around Japan's binchotan charcoal but cooked
genshiyaki-style with meats rendered slowly over
low heat rather than seared fast and hot. Expect
precise, smoke-driven Japanese cooking from Angler
alums who clearly know what to do with a fire.
Reservations are the move.
For The Win
keeps its LA run going with a brand-new Cypress
Park outpost at 1217
Cypress Avenue, now open daily
from noon to 11pm. The homegrown smashburger spot
was born during Covid and has since stacked up
Highland Park, Westwood, Brentwood, and Pacific
Beach locations, with Culver City and Las Vegas on
the way. The double cheeseburger with lettuce,
tomato, and special sauce is still the calling
card at $7 and change, and the crinkle fries
travel well for a quick detour off the 5.
Northeast LA's quietly-hottest food corridor
just picked up
another reason to stop in.
โLONG BEACH: Alfred Coffee
bringing location to Long Beach,
via What Now Los Angeles ๐กSANTA MONICA: Bacio Di Latte
blessing Montana Avenue soon,
via Toddrickallen ๐ฏTHE BEST: The Observer's
list of this month's best restaurant opening
in Los Angeles,
via The Observer
ROW DTLA
turns into a bike-powered
Earth Day playground this Friday
with families pedaling between interactive
stations scattered across the Arts District
campus. Kids can plant seedlings with Weiser
Family Farms, mix natural dyes with Blue Hour
Goods, and add drawings to a community art
installation along the route. The afternoon runs
part scavenger hunt, part creative workshop, set
against ROW's converted warehouses and
open-air walkways. Free, family-friendly, and
rooted in exactly the kind of community-first
sustainability energy LA does best in April.
The Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council throws
Springfest this Saturday, closing
down a stretch of Los Angeles Street for cultural
performances, hands-on activities, and
kid-friendly crafts. The block party is free to
the public with no registration required, running
midday and pulling in families from across
Downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods.
It's a classic small-footprint community
moment with local performers, neighbors, and a
whole lot of spring energy. Drop in, stay an hour,
and wander the rest of Downtown after.
๐งถLA COUNTY YARN CRAWL: Twelve
women-owned specialty yarn shops across LA County
team up this weekend for a knit-and-crochet
passport weekend with free patterns and prize
baskets,
via LA County Yarn Crawl ๐EARTH WEEK PICKS: Salsa Tuesdays
at 2nd & PCH, Earth Day at Descanso Gardens,
and the CSUDH 19th Annual Earth Day Festival
headline this week,
via We Like LA
Hankey Capital is taking fresh renderings to the
Santa Monica Architectural Review Board for a
23-story, 256-foot
glass-and-steel high-rise at 1518-1524 7th Street,
steps from the E Line. Ottinger
Architects designed the tower with overlapping
glass faรงade walls that flare at the top, rising
above a podium of wood slats and stone-colored
fluted metal panels. The project delivers 119
condominiums plus five deed-restricted affordable
units and 216 parking spaces, replacing a 10-unit
rental on the site. It traces back to Santa
Monica's 2023 Builder's Remedy wave,
with Hankey picking up the site from WS
Communities in 2024 and advancing it alongside a
25-story Koreatown tower already underway.
Metro is 17 days out from opening Section 1 of the
D Line Subway Extension on Friday, May 8th, adding
three new underground stations at Wilshire/La
Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega.
The 3.92-mile, $3.7 billion extension pushes the
Purple Line beyond its long-time Wilshire and
Western terminus in Koreatown, running under
Hancock Park, Windsor Square, the Fairfax
District, and Carthay Circle into Beverly Hills.
The Wilshire/Fairfax station alone is projected to
add 33,000 riders once the D and future K Lines
meet there. This is the
first phase of a three-section build designed to lock in Westside rail connectivity
well ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
๐ก REDONDO BEACH: 43-unit
townhome community proposed on Pacific Coast
Highway in Redondo Beach,
via LA YIMBY
๐ผ B U S I N E S S ๐ผ
BANK OF HOPE
HOPE GROWS ITS LA BOOK
Bank of Hope, one of the largest lenders serving
Los Angeles' Korean American community, is
acquiring SMBC Manubank's California-based
commercial banking unit
in a deal announced Monday. The acquisition
deepens Hope's commercial banking bench
across the state and adds an established roster of
middle-market clients already rooted in Southern
California. LABJ framed the move as a meaningful
consolidation play in LA's regional banking
scene, where community-focused lenders have been
scaling up to compete with the national giants.
Terms of the transaction were not publicly
disclosed.
Westwood-based
Niagen Bioscience
lands the cover of LA Times Studios' April
Business magazine, profiled for a rare double play
in the wellness world. Under CEO Rob Fried, the
company runs a profitable consumer supplement
brand, Tru Niagen, while simultaneously funding a
clinical drug pipeline aimed at rare diseases. Its
proprietary NAD+ IP has opened up an expansion
into skincare, a category the magazine pegs at
roughly $227 billion globally.
The piece positions Niagen as a case study for how
LA biotech is bridging mainstream wellness and
serious clinical science.
๐นPASADENA SMALL-BIZ + JPL: April
update from Pasadena's Economic Development
Director spotlights new openings, small business
grants, and a fresh JPL partnership,
via Pasadena Now
๐ฌ E N T E R T A I N M E N T ๐ฌ
INDIO
WEEKEND TWO STEALS THE SHOW
Coachella 2026 closed Sunday with a second weekend
that was widely judged the stronger of the two,
headlined by surprise guest spots few people saw
coming.
Madonna joined Sabrina Carpenter
for 'Like A Prayer' on Saturday, while
Justin Bieber serenaded Billie Eilish and
pulled SZA onstage
for 'Snooze' during his Weekend two
closer. Olivia Rodrigo, Peso Pluma, J Balvin, and
Billy Idol all dropped in across the two nights,
stacking the festival with moments Variety and the
LA Times agreed outshone week on. The Polo Fields
quietly reclaimed the pop calendar.
Josh Groban + Teddy Swims added to perform a
Warner Records tribute at the 2026 Grammy Hall of
Fame Gala, joining previously-announced George
Clinton and Heart's Ann & Nancy Wilson.
Iconic LA music-industry moment taking shape at
The Beverly Hilton on May 8th. Tickets/press info
via
recordingacademy.com
๐ฌ MORE ENTERTAINMENT
๐MICHAEL: What the critics are
saying about the Michael Jackson biopic,
via Deadline
โพ S P O R T S โพ
LAKERS
BPI PICKS LAKERS FOR 2-0
The Lakers chase a 2-0 series lead
tonight
in Houston (7:30pm, NBC), and the numbers quietly
love LA's chances.
ESPN's Basketball Power Index projects Lakers
by 0.3 with a 51% straight-up win probability, a
rare model lean toward a road underdog sitting at
+4.5 on the Vegas line. But the math tracks:
Houston generated more looks in Saturday's
107-98 game one loss and still couldn't
convert, Kevin Durant is a game-time decision on
the knee, and Fred VanVleet remains out. LA could
win it the same way that they won game one: LeBron
orchestrating, Luke Kennard spacing, and Marcus
Smart pressuring the ball with Luka Doncic and
Austin Reaves sidelined. Win tonight and the
Lakers fly home with a stranglehold
๐GAROPPOLO: Jimmy Garoppolo
considering retirement over Rams,
via Turf Show Times
โ TRIVIA ANSWER
Madonna
The Queen of Pop made a surprise appearance during
Sabrina Carpenter's set on Saturday, joining
her for a duet of, 'Like a Prayer,' that
became one of the defining moments of Coachella
2026
