SoCal

I’ve already watched “New Year’s Eve,” starring none other than Sarah Jessica Parker and Zac Efron, but I’m still craving more New Year flicks. I feel like this should be a bigger subgenre. Luckily, L.A. is packed with NYE events to fill the void. I’m Steven Vargas, your L.A. Goes Out host, and here are the top events for the upcoming weekend recommended by the crew (sign up here for the newsletter):13 events to start 2024 Gloria Molina Grand Park’s NYELA event includes a lineup of DJs, family…

The Los Angeles area is heading for a wet end to the year, with rain showers forecast for later this week, raising the possibility that Rose Parade attendees might need a poncho or umbrella on New Year’s Day.This week will be overcast, and a light storm is expected to arrive in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties by Wednesday, dropping a quarter of an inch of rain or more, according to the National Weather Service. Los Angeles and Ventura counties could receive a quarter of an inch of rain Friday heading into…

Southern California’s stormy week is set to wind down Friday after two storm systems that brought tornado warnings, heavy flooding and at-times historic rainfall rates, especially in parts of Ventura County.At least 60 homes were red-tagged in Ventura County as a result of flooding, which hit Oxnard and Port Hueneme hard.For the most part, the bulk of the rain seems to be past. Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said rain was expected to continue in moderate amounts Friday with a slight chance…

Lily Parniani loves her job, but like so many Southern Californians the 24-year-old investment analyst has to put up with a soul-sucking commute.It can take more than two hours to get from her office in Orange County to her home 44 miles away in Riverside County.“In total, I lose about 4 hours of my life every day to commuting,” she said. To make matters worse, she spends around $450 per month on automated tolls to try to make her commute more bearable.“With the way California freeways are designed,” she said, “it…

Nicki Minaj’s headlining set at Rolling Loud California next year will be a moment for life for her Los Angeles area fans. The 2024 rap festival at Hollywood Park, near Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, will be the only Southern California stop on the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper’s recently announced Pink Friday 2 tour. Just days days after dropping her first studio album in five years, the 10-time Grammy-nominated artist announced Monday that she would take “Pink Friday 2” across the country, Canada and parts of Europe…

A high-speed rail project between the Inland Empire and Las Vegas landed a $3-billion federal grant that sets it on track to be open by 2028, in time for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, officials said Tuesday. Brightline, a private company that opened an intercity rail line connecting Miami and Orlando, Fla., this year, secured the U.S. Department of Transportation grant as part of the historic infrastructure package, Nevada‘s U.S. senators said. The rest of the funds for the $12-billion project are expected to be…

The Hollywood Reporter was named best website at the 65th annual SoCal Journalism Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. THR was recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club in several other categories as well, including features, photos, social media and commentary. A list of THR’s first-place wins follows. Website, Traditional News OrganizationThe Hollywood Reporter Staff, The Hollywood Reporter Feature Film/TV, over 1,000 wordsGary…

As they do on any other sunny day, people packed into the narrow cabin of the bright yellow SS Nautilus, a semi-submersible owned and operated by Catalina Adventure Tours, on Friday to experience an under-the-sea adventure off the shores of Avalon, Calif. — but not too deep.But this wasn’t any other day. Just 24 hours earlier, after days of dramatic headlines, the U.S. Coast Guard had declared that a submersible called the Titan suffered a “catastrophic implosion” during its descent to inspect the wreck of the Titanic on…

Cities in Northern California saw more severe drops in population during the pandemic than those in Southern California, new census data show, with Bay Area communities hit particularly hard. The same data show that many of the cities that grew the most between July 2020 and July 2022 were in Southern California.Experts said that several factors might explain the north-south divide. But one likely reason is the Bay Area’s tech-rich economy. Many tech companies allowed employees to work from home and it is likely that…

The Hollywood Reporter has received 46 nominations for the 65th Annual SoCal Journalism Awards, including best website, best investigative story and best cover art. Rebecca Keegan is also nominated for journalist of the year in the print (over 50,000 circulation) category. In addition, Seth Abramovitch, Samuel Braslow, Kim Masters and Scott Roxborough all received nominations for best investigative story in a magazine. Daniel Fienberg and Angie Han are among those nominated in the criticism of TV…