California Love (old feed)
by LAist Studios
California Love is a blend of memoir, pop culture analysis and oral history. The newest season, K-Pop Dreaming, is about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles. Host Vivian Yoon takes listeners on a journey from K-pop’s origins in Korean trot music and American presence in post-war South Korea to the 1992 LA Uprising and the booming global popularity of K-pop in the present day, all juxtaposed against Yoon’s own coming-of-age as a second generation immigrant in Los Angeles, struggling to fit in and come to terms with her own identity.In the first season Walter Thompson-Hernández was inspired by Tupac and Dr. Dre's "California Love"- a love letter and anthem for a generation. Walter invites listeners to join him in his family home, on horseback through the streets of Compton, and up into the sky to examine belonging.
Episodes
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Imperfect Paradise: Prop 40: Should California tax its billionaires to fund health care?
Supporters of Prop 40 say it would fill gaps left by the Trump administration’s cuts on healthcare. The opposition isn’t billionaires…. It includes Planned Parenthood, the state’s biggest teachers union and Governor Newsom. In this episode of our Voter Game Plan series, we break down Prop 40 with...
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Imperfect Paradise: California Prop 39: What the voter ID measure may change
Prop 39, a voter ID measure that would dramatically change voting in California is on the ballot this November. Proponents say that requiring voters to show a government ID when they cast a ballot would increase peoples’ trust in the election process. But opponents say the measure would add...
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Imperfect Paradise: Guide to LA mayor & California governor races: Bass vs Raman, Becerra vs Hilton
The midterm elections are nearly here and the stakes are high for two particular races: the California gubernatorial race and the L.A. mayor race. In the first episode of our Voter Game Plan series, fill-in host Josie Huang sits down with KQED’s Marisa Lagos and LAist’s Frank Stoltze to dive into...
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Imperfect Paradise: What went wrong with the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights?
It took days to put out the Lineage warehouse fire in Los Angeles this summer. Once the flames were out, the cleanup of rotting food took weeks. Residents suffered health problems, businesses lost customers and many questions are still unanswered. Who should be held accountable and what’s being...
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Imperfect Paradise: Why some chefs are trading high-end dining for home kitchens
In the infamously cutthroat industry of restaurants, some chefs are finding untraditional paths towards success. LAist food writer Gab Chabrán dives into the state of restaurants through the story of one chef who traded in his high-end dining job for a home kitchen operation. Grow your business –...
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Imperfect Paradise: President Trump says ‘Hollywood is dead.’ What’s being done to revive it?
In 2025, California majorly boosted its film and TV tax credit program for the first time since 2014 in an effort to keep jobs in the Golden State. One year out, is it working as planned? And why is President Trump now calling for a national incentive program? On this episode of Imperfect…
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Imperfect Paradise: Is your smoke-damaged home safe? The toxic aftermath of LA’s 2025 fires
Many of the homes that survived the Palisades and Eaton fires are still not habitable because of contamination from smoke damage. Residents have been left battling with insurance companies over who is responsible for post-fire cleaning and testing. LAist’s David Wagner dives into where we are…
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Imperfect Paradise: Is LA becoming a public transit city?
Los Angeles has long been considered a “car-centric” city, but is that changing? On this episode of Imperfect Paradise, LAist transportation correspondent Kavish Harjai joins to talk about the history of transit in L.A., the backstory behind the much-delayed People Mover train at LAX, and whether...
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Imperfect Paradise: How one man rebuilt his life, 100 miles at a time Redux
This episode originally aired on January 8, 2025. Struggling with addiction and reentry after multiple stints in prison, Cesar Quijano discovers ultrarunning, a hobby that turns into his addiction and salvation. Through Cesar’s story to complete a 100-mile race, Imperfect Paradise host Antonia...
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Imperfect Paradise: Most Californians don't own a home until 47. What that says about the CA Dream
Is homeownership falling out of reach for millennials and Gen Z in the Golden State? LAist housing correspondent David Wagner joins Imperfect Paradise to examine this trend, the obstacles to homeownership and why we may need to shift our conception of what housing looks like in California. Grow...
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Imperfect Paradise: More than an internet star. The life & legacy of Big Bear’s famous eagle Jackie
The death of Jackie signals the end of her story with Shadow – as well as for Big Bear Lake, and for millions of fans who followed the eagles’ saga on livestream for years. LAist reporter Makenna Cramer joins Imperfect Paradise to examine how the eagles turned the tides for a fight against luxury...
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Imperfect Paradise: After two years of progress, homelessness went up in LA. Why?
Homelessness increased in Los Angeles this year following two previous years of declines, according to the recently released 2026 “point-in-time” homeless count. It’s a setback for the region, and for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass who’s touted prior declines as evidence that her approach to addressing…
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Imperfect Paradise: Can a city built by the oil industry stop drilling for good?
The city of Los Angeles is home to over two thousand active oil wells, many concentrated in communities of color where residents have long reported serious health issues. On this episode of Imperfect Paradise, LAist’s Erin Stone takes us inside one neighborhood’s fight to shut down a drill site,...
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Imperfect Paradise: Who gets due process? Inside the fight over immigration bond hearings at Adelanto
Immigration bond denials have jumped sharply under the second Trump administration — nowhere more than at the Adelanto ICE detention center in Southern California. On this week's Imperfect Paradise: LAist's Jared Bennett follows the case of a 70-year-old L.A. street vendor held at Adelanto for…
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Imperfect Paradise: Can this museum rebrand AI art?
Los Angeles has a new museum: Dataland –- the world’s first museum completely devoted to AI-generated art. In a time of high anxiety around the impact of AI on jobs, the environment and human creativity, can Dataland change the conversation around human-AI collaboration? LAist All Things…
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Imperfect Paradise: War, politics, and sports collide as Iran competes in LA for the World Cup
The Iran national soccer team competed in its first match at the 2026 World Cup in Los Angeles – after months of uncertainty over whether they’d play amid the US war on Iran. It's the first time in the tournament’s history that a host nation has gone to war with a participating nation. In our…
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Imperfect Paradise: From immigrant roots to celebrities, how LA became a soccer city
Los Angeles is hosting eight matches for this year’s FIFA World Cup. Today, LA is home to three professional soccer teams and one of the biggest soccer youth organizations in the nation, but did you know its history with soccer goes back over a century? With the world cup at our doorstep, LAist...
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Imperfect Paradise: Voter Game Plan Part 1 — What you need to know about the June primary elections
All month long on Imperfect Paradise, we’re bringing you a special series devoted to the June primaries. Whether you’re voting for L.A. mayor, school board or superior court judge, we'll help you make an informed vote. To kick off the series, LAist Community Engagement Senior Producer Brianna Lee...
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Epilogue
We close the series with a meditation on how 28 years after the 1992 Riots, for many in L.A., things feel exactly the same.
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Ellie
Eleuteria “Ellie” Hernández moved to Los Angeles from a small town in Mexico when she was 14 and fell in love with the city. In this episode, Walter sits down with Ellie, his mother, to understand her relationship to L.A. and how it shaped his own. California Love sponsors include: UCLA Extension...
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Compton Cowboys
There’s a horse ranch in the heart of Compton that may hold the answers for salvation and redemption for the city’s black cowboys. Read the original NYTimes article, "For the Compton Cowboys, Horseback Riding Is a Legacy, and Protection." Read Walter Thompson-Hernández's book The Compton…
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Parrots: A Parable
A first-parrot perspective into legends and myths of how L.A. became home to the world’s largest population of green parrots. This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first month of online therapy at BetterHelp.com/LAist California Love is a…
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Kobe
Walter dives deep on what Kobe meant to him in his life and how the icon’s death spurred a collective mourning throughout the city. This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first month of online therapy at BetterHelp.com/LAist California Love is a...
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P Line
A story about a wild party line that many Los Angeles’ teenagers used to create a fantasy world. California Love sponsors include: Stream We Are Freestyle Love Supreme beginning July 17, only on Hulu This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first...
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Scared Straight
Walter was just eleven years old when he was admitted to L.A.'s infamous Scared Straight program for graffiti related crimes. In this episode, Walter, through a chance encounter, checks-in with his friend who went through the program with him, their anti-tagging arch-nemesis, and how they have...
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Prologue
Host Walter Thompson-Hernández returns home to L.A. and reflects on how much the city has changed since he was a child. California Love sponsors include: Stream We Are Freestyle Love Supreme beginning July 17, only on Hulu This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners…
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About this show
California Love is a blend of memoir, pop culture analysis and oral history. The newest season, K-Pop Dreaming, is about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles. Host Vivian Yoon takes listeners on a journey from K-pop’s origins in Korean trot music and American presence in post-war South Korea to the 1992 LA Uprising and the booming global popularity of K-pop in the present day, all juxtaposed against Yoon’s own coming-of-age as a second generation immigrant in Los Angeles, struggling to fit in and come to terms with her own identity.In the first season Walter Thompson-Hernández was inspired by Tupac and Dr. Dre's "California Love"- a love letter and anthem for a generation. Walter invites listeners to join him in his family home, on horseback through the streets of Compton, and up into the sky to examine belonging.
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