# 🤙 Back to School Vibes *Wattstax turns 54 today, the Tar Pits land $236 million, Bombas opens on Abbot Kinney, and a heat advisory runs through tonight.* **Section:** Newsletters **Tags:** Newsletters **Reading time:** 1 min VIBES - THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2026 Wattstax turns 54 today, the Tar Pits land $236 million, Bombas opens on Abbot Kinney, and a heat advisory runs through tonight. ## NATIONAL - [Fox Sports releases its 2026 college football preseason rankings, with USC at 10, my Clemson Tigers at 28 and UCLA at 33](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/rankings-2026-preseason-138) - [Amazon is set to expand drone delivery of lightweight packages to 500 U.S. cities](https://apnews.com/article/amazon-drone-delivery-expansion-walmart-20db399ba65e8bc36a76b547f990b118) - [OpenAI will be a public company in 2027 or sooner, the CFO tells employees](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/open-ai-ipo-timing-2027-friar.html) - [State Farm is sending $5 billion in dividend payments, and here is who qualifies](https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/state-farm-dividend-payments-auto-customers/) - [GTA VI keeps leaking ahead of its gameplay premiere](https://www.theverge.com/games/982338/grand-theft-auto-vi-gta-leaks-videos) ## LOCAL - [The National Weather Service has a Heat Advisory up for Los Angeles County through 8 p.m. Thursday](https://www.weather.gov/lox/) - [How to access California’s new $3,500 EV rebate](https://www.planetizen.com/news/2026/08/138230-how-access-californias-new-3500-ev-rebate) - [More than 500 Ice Age fossils were found beneath Los Angeles, and here is where they ended up](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/more-than-500-ice-age-fossils-were-found-beneath-los-angeles-heres-where-they-ended-up/) - [Bombas opens its first Los Angeles store in Venice on August 21](https://whatnow.com/los-angeles/retail/a-popular-comfort-focused-brand-is-opening-its-first-los-angeles-store/) - [405 Freeway lanes close this weekend, and again next month, through the Sepulveda Pass](https://www.dailynews.com/2026/08/19/405-freeway-lanes-to-close-this-weekend-and-next-month-in-the-sepulveda-pass/) ## FUN - [Gustavo Dudamel’s farewell leads the Hollywood Bowl picks and top performances across Los Angeles](https://smmirror.com/hollywood-bowl-picks-dudamels-farewell-and-top-shows/) - [Friendship Bar is set to reopen in Santa Monica Canyon this September](https://palipost.com/friendship-bar-reemerging-in-santa-monica-canyon/) - [The Hollywood Roosevelt debuts a new lobby restaurant inspired by the penthouse’s most famous guest](https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/news/a-glamorous-new-lobby-restaurant-has-opened-inside-the-hollywood-roosevelt-hotel-inspired-by-the-penthouses-most-famous-guest-081926) - [Betts and Freeman lead a 10th inning charge as the Dodgers sweep the Rockies](https://www.truebluela.com/dodgers-scores-standings/122433/dodgers-rockies-game-recap) - [Things to do this week in Los Angeles, August 17 to August 21](https://www.welikela.com/things-to-do-this-week-in-los-angeles-8-17-2026-to-8-21-2026/) FROM LAST ISSUE: [Most viewed: Bodega & Palms revives Venice’s Little Market](https://bodegaandpalms.com/) ## HEY CUTIE Happy Thursday, CurationsLA Fam! And a happy Back to School to every parent out there who just got eight hours of zen handed back to them. Happy back to regular publishing for us, too. A GitHub outage had developers everywhere scrambling on Tuesday, ourselves included, so this is the first issue since. It is also hot: the National Weather Service has a Heat Advisory up through 8 p.m. tonight, and West Hollywood has already opened the [Plummer Park Cooling Center](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-19-west-hollywood-plummer-park-cooling-center-heat). Thank you to the media outlets that keep sending us stories for consideration. If you have something, [pitch your Good Vibes on The Wire](https://wire.curationsla.com). One note on what we take: no gatekept articles, free or paid. The goal here stays simple. Good Vibes, and as best we can, no politics, no crime, no AI slop 🐇. Have a wonderful weekend, fam. Stay hydrated, stay cool, and we will see you back here Tuesday. Something pressing? Email me directly at [wyatt@curationsla.com](mailto:wyatt@curationsla.com). **- Wyatt** ## THE WEEK IN SKY THU 89/69 Sunny, heat advisory · FRI 88/69 Sunny · SAT 89/69 Sunny · SUN 90/69 Sunny The National Weather Service has a Heat Advisory up for parts of Los Angeles County through 8 p.m. Thursday. Downtown runs sunny and near 89 today with a light south southwest wind, then holds in the high 80s Friday and Saturday before nudging to about 90 on Sunday. Overnight lows stay near 69 all week, so the mornings stay soft and the afternoons do the work. Drink water, find shade, and check on your neighbors. ## QUOTE OF THE DAY > Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela ## ON THIS DAY 1972: Wattstax fills the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stax Records staged it seven years after the Watts uprising, set tickets at a dollar so the neighborhood could actually get in, and drew more than 100,000 people. Isaac Hayes closed the night. People have called it Black Woodstock ever since, but it was really Los Angeles showing up for itself. ## TRIVIA Los Angeles High School, the oldest public high school in Southern California, opened in 1873 on a downtown hill with a gloriously unserious name. What was that hill called? It sounds like something you would order for dessert. ## TRIVIA ANSWER Poundcake Hill. Los Angeles High opened in 1873 at Temple and Fort Street, the street we now call Broadway, on a rise everybody knew as Poundcake Hill. It was two stories of wood with a clock tower on top and steep wooden stairways climbing up from the street below. The hill later became the site of the Los Angeles County Courthouse, and the school moved several times before settling on Olympic Boulevard in 1917. The motto still nods back to that first campus: always a hill, always a tower, always a timepiece. ## EATS ### HERMOSA BEACH: Chicas Tacos Opens on The Strand in Hermosa Beach Chef Eduardo Ruiz has taken his 2016-founded LA taco brand to the sand. The Hermosa counter sits on the back patio of **The Deck** at 1272 The Strand, the renovated former Poop Deck and one of the oldest oceanfront bars on the walk, and it opened Saturday, August 15 with a beach lounge out front. Tacos run carne asada, beer-battered fish, shrimp, chicken, braised pork and a plant-based option on hand-pressed corn tortillas, plus nachos, quesadillas and churro bites. Open daily 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. **One catch worth knowing:** The Deck is 21 and over, so a family lunch means the public tables next door rather than the patio. Come down the bike path and skip the parking hunt entirely. [READ THE STORY](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-16-chicas-tacos-hermosa-beach-the-deck-the-strand) · [WEBSITE](https://www.chicastacos.com) · [MENU](https://www.chicastacos.com/menu) · [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/chicastacos/) ### CHINATOWN: Frank n Frank’s Serves Focaccia Sandwiches Until 1:30 AM Amboy alum **Brian Ayala** and former Howlin’ Ray’s chef **Mario Aguilar** took the old Burgerlords space at 943 N Broadway and opened on June 10. The name belongs to Ayala’s brother Frank, who died in 2024. Five sandwiches, all on sesame focaccia from Ceor Bakery, all with chips: the Spicy Italian with ‘nduja stracciatella, the Chrissy with Burbank pastrami, the Nostalgia turkey club, the mortadella GodFrank, and a peanut butter and jelly pressed hot with candied Nueske’s bacon. **The real move is the clock.** Friday and Saturday it runs until 1:30 a.m., which makes it one of the only kitchens still working in Chinatown Central Plaza after midnight. Order window and patio only, no dining room, closed Monday and Tuesday. Bring a layer. [READ THE STORY](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-16-frank-n-franks-chinatown-focaccia-sandwiches-late-night) · [WEBSITE](https://www.franknfranks.com/) · [MENU](https://www.franknfranks.com/#menu) · [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/franknfranks/) ### ALTADENA: Ferrazzani’s Pasta & Market Sets a New Altadena Address **Leah Ferrazzani**, who owns Semolina Artisanal Pasta, has a new Altadena address in the frame at 2082 Lincoln Avenue. It is the same operation that turned a Lincoln Avenue pasta shop into a full Italian American deli: sandwiches, fresh and dried housemade pasta by the pound, Italian ice and pantry shelves. **Watch item, not an opening.** No public opening date has surfaced yet, and current listings still point to the Pasadena shop at 1976-1978 Lincoln Avenue, open daily 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Use those links today and keep 2082 on your list. Lincoln Avenue is quietly becoming one of the better food corridors north of Pasadena. [READ THE STORY](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-18-ferrazzanis-pasta-market-2082-lincoln-altadena) · [MENU](https://menu.ferrazzanis.com/menu) · [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/ferrazzanispastaandmarket/) ## MORE EATS - **FOR THE KIDS** Kid-friendly restaurants with playgrounds, sand and room to run. ([THE INFATUATION](https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/best-kid-friendly-restaurants-la)) - **EATER EATS** The best dishes Eater LA editors ate this past week. ([EATER LA](https://la.eater.com/where-to-eat/306041/best-dishes-eater-editors-ate-this-week-august-17)) - **CHIPOTLE X GEN ALPHA** Chipotle launches the Salish Matter Order, built around one of Gen Alpha’s biggest celebrities. ([CURATIONSLA](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-19-chipotle-launches-the-salish-matter-order-inspired-by)) ## COMMUNITY ### RAIL: Amtrak Lands $5.3 Billion for New Trains, New Track and Bottleneck Fixes Amtrak picked up **$5.3 billion** in federal funding on Friday, spread across **41 projects in 23 states**. Those were chosen from 103 applications that asked for more than $11.6 billion, so roughly two of every three requests went home empty. The money arrives through the new **National Railroad Partnership Program**, which folds together several older grant programs from the 2021 infrastructure law. **$2.05 billion** of it is equipment, funding **43 new trainsets**. The rest goes to bridge repair, signal and track work, and new double track aimed at the bottlenecks that make schedules slip. The California detail worth knowing: more than **$2 billion** of this pot was redirected from grants previously cancelled for the California High Speed Rail project. Trains.com has the full project-by-project list. ### LANCASTER: Antelope Valley College Becomes California’s NASA Aerospace Workforce Hub NASA named the **Antelope Valley Community College District** in Lancaster one of just a handful of new **State Hubs** under its Aerospace Skilled Technical Workforce initiative, alongside groups in six other states. Read the job list and the point becomes obvious: **welders, electricians, machinists**. This is not a degree pipeline, it is a trades pipeline, aimed at people who want to build the thing rather than write about it. Over the next three years the hub will line up employers, community colleges, high school career and technical programs and apprenticeships into one route into the industry. Siting it in the Antelope Valley is the part that makes sense. Lancaster sits next to Edwards, Plant 42 and decades of aerospace payroll, and now a kid from the Valley has a marked path into it without leaving home. [ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE](https://www.avc.edu/) ## MORE COMMUNITY - **WEST HOLLYWOOD** The L.A. Kids Book Festival returns to West Hollywood Park this Sunday. ([BEVERLY PRESS](https://beverlypress.com/2026/08/l-a-kids-book-festival-returns-to-weho-on-aug-23/)) - **PASADENA** The City of Pasadena considers $7.5 million for street repairs tied to water projects. ([PASADENA NOW](https://pasadenanow.com/main/pasadena-could-spend-7-5-million-on-street-repairs-tied-to-water-projects)) - **COOLING STATIONS** West Hollywood activates the Plummer Park Cooling Center as high heat returns. ([CURATIONSLA](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-19-west-hollywood-plummer-park-cooling-center-heat)) ## DEVELOPMENT ### MID-WILSHIRE: The La Brea Tar Pits Revamp Lands $236 Million in State Bond Financing The state has put **$236 million** in bond financing behind the long-planned overhaul of the La Brea Tar Pits and the George C. Page Museum. The **Weiss/Manfredi** design reworks how the whole 13-acre park reads, pulling the museum, the pits and Hancock Park into one continuous walk instead of a building sitting next to a fence. First phase completion is expected **mid-2028**. It is the biggest thing to happen to that stretch of Wilshire in a generation, and it is happening while the rest of Museum Row is also in motion. [WEISS/MANFREDI](https://www.weissmanfredi.com/) ### RESEDA: 244 Units of All-Affordable Senior Housing Approved on Sherman Way A **244-unit** development at 19300 West Sherman Way has been approved, and every unit is affordable and reserved for seniors. Five stories, roughly 68 feet, about 161,322 square feet of residential floor area, and 125 parking spaces around shared landscaped open space. It cleared through the **Affordable Housing Incentive Program**, which is what allowed the floor-area ratio to go to 2.9:1 instead of 1.5:1. The site belongs to the **Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging**, with **Meta Housing Corp.** developing and **Y&M Architects** designing. No construction timeline has been confirmed yet. [Y&M ARCHITECTS](https://ymarch.com/) ## MORE DEVELOPMENT - **SFV** The Valley College Arts Center opens after a decade of construction. ([SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SUN](https://sanfernandosun.com/2026/08/19/new-valley-college-arts-center-to-open-after-10-years-of-construction/)) - **LA28** The Los Angeles City Council moves to streamline 2028 Olympics construction. ([LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS](https://www.dailynews.com/2026/08/19/la-fast-tracks-2028-olympic-construction-projects/)) ## BUSINESS ### DOWNTOWN LA: VOID Turns a One Night Show Into a Case for Collaboration Over Competition **Anastasia Surkova** and **Shanaya Santos** founded VOID as a Los Angeles creative house working across fashion, photography, film and immersive experiences. Both are immigrants, both are recent graduates, and both built the thing they could not find: a room where emerging artists collaborate instead of compete. Their first chapter, *Performance of Self*, ran one night on July 18 at Al’s General in Downtown Los Angeles. Original work from the founders sat alongside four curated LA artists, and close to 100 people came through. The detail that stays with us: disposable cameras handed out during the night, developed afterward, and shown next to handwritten letters to Los Angeles that attendees wrote on the spot. That is a real idea, not a launch party. Congratulations on this launch, Anastasia and Shanaya! [WEBSITE](https://www.voiidcollective.com/) · [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/voiidcollective/) ### VENICE: Bombas Opens Its First Los Angeles Store on Abbot Kinney Bombas lands at **1140 Abbot Kinney** on **Friday, August 21**. It is the brand’s first Los Angeles store and only its fifth anywhere, following the New York flagship that opened last fall. The company started in socks and has since grown into underwear, tees, slippers and shoes, all running on its one purchased equals one donated model. It says customers have moved more than **200 million** clothing items to people who need them through a network of over 4,000 giving partners. First 150 customers get a pair of exclusive Sushi Socks. Hours are Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m. [WEBSITE](https://bombas.com/) ## MORE BUSINESS - **CONVENTION CENTER** The Los Angeles Convention Center signs over a dozen new shows. ([LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE](https://lamag.com/news/los-angeles-convention-center-signs-over-a-dozen-new-shows/)) - **SOUTH LA** Kaiser Permanente gives a $25 million grant for emergency services at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Willowbrook. ([LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL](https://labusinessjournal.com/healthcare/hospital-gets-32-million-infusion/)) ## ENTERTAINMENT ### LUCASFILM: Ryan Gosling Is Kade Auberon in Star Wars: Starfighter Gosling took the D23 stage with director **Shawn Levy** to introduce *Star Wars: Starfighter*, landing **Memorial Day 2027**. He plays **Kade Auberon**, described by Gosling as “a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built.” The logline: a cynical rogue is confronted by his mysterious past and hurled across the galaxy on a crash course with destiny. The release date is the whole flex. **Star Wars opened Memorial Day weekend in 1977**, so Starfighter arrives exactly **50 years** later, to the weekend. Levy called it an honor, and cited American car culture, *The Outsiders* and Lucas’s own *American Graffiti* as what he had in his head while making it. Kathleen Kennedy produces with Levy, Jonathan Tropper wrote it, and the cast runs Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings and Amy Adams. Gosling turned up in a Mickey Mouse Club jacket first: “I owe a lot to Disney.” [LUCASFILM](https://www.lucasfilm.com/) ### BOX OFFICE: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is the Fastest Film Ever to $800 Million Domestic Sony confirmed Wednesday that *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* crossed **$800 million** in North America in just **19 days**, the fastest any film has ever done it. The running domestic total is **$803.9 million**, good for fourth on the all-time chart and closing on *No Way Home* at $814.8 million. It also cleared **$2 billion worldwide** over the weekend, the eighth film ever to get there, and passed Sony’s own all-time mark along the way. Destin Daniel Cretton directed, Tom Holland stars. ## MORE ENTERTAINMENT - **MADONNA X MTV** Madonna leads the 2026 MTV VMA nominations as the show heads to Los Angeles on September 27. ([CURATIONSLA](https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-19-madonna-leads-mtv-vma-nominations-ahead-of-los-angeles-broadcast)) - **TOM HANKS** Warner Bros is locking down film rights to Allen Levi’s bestseller Theo of Golden, with Tom Hanks set to star. ([DEADLINE](https://deadline.com/2026/08/theo-of-golden-movie-tom-hanks-1237045316/)) ## SPORTS ### NFL: Chargers and Rams Land in the 2026 Division Sweep Odds Fox Sports put out 2026 odds on which teams could run the table inside their own division, and both Los Angeles clubs are in the conversation. The **Chargers** have the stronger case on paper: they went **5-1** in the AFC West last season, which is the kind of number that makes a sweep look less like a fantasy. The **Rams** draw the harder road. The NFC West has not handed anybody a clean sweep in a long time, and it is not getting friendlier this year. Both playbooks below track it all season. [RAMS PLAYBOOK](https://www.curationsla.com/sports/rams) · [CHARGERS PLAYBOOK](https://www.curationsla.com/sports/chargers) ### COLLEGE FOOTBALL: USC and UCLA Draw Their 2026 Big Ten Title Odds Early odds for the 2026 Big Ten championship are out. **USC** sits at **+1600**, in the mix but behind Ohio State and Oregon. **UCLA** is a genuine longshot at **+17000**. The Bruins number is the interesting one. New head coach **Bob Chesney** and quarterback **Nico Iamaleava** are walking into year one together, and a longshot line in August is exactly the sort of thing a program like this would enjoy making look foolish by December. [USC PLAYBOOK](https://www.curationsla.com/sports/usc) · [UCLA PLAYBOOK](https://www.curationsla.com/sports/ucla) ## MORE SPORTS - **DODGERS** The Rockies lose the series finale in 10 innings and get swept by the Dodgers at Coors Field, 6-4. ([DENVER POST](https://www.denverpost.com/2026/08/19/rockies-swept-dodgers-coors-field/)) - **ANGELS** Pecko fans four in his MLB debut and Vázquez hits his seventh homer as the Astros beat the Angels 3-2. ([ESPN](https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/401816594)) - **NBA 2K27** NBA 2K27 just rewrote the sports game story mode. ([GAMESPOT](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nba-2k27-just-rewrote-the-sports-game-story-mode/)) SCHOOL X WEEKEND VIBES --- Curated by Wyatt Stephens · Published 2026-08-20 Source: https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-20-back-to-school-vibes Cite as: CurationsLA, "🤙 Back to School Vibes", https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-20-back-to-school-vibes (published 2026-08-20). License: CC-BY-SA-4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Structured manifest: https://www.curationsla.com/vibes/2026-08-20-back-to-school-vibes/manifest.json