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L.A. County Department of Public Health officials are closely monitoring potential reports of hantavirus after three infected people died on a cruise headed to Spain.
A cruise ship headed to Spain captured headlines this week after three people died from the virus. World Health Organization officials reported that as of Monday,, including the three deaths. Two travelers infected with the virus, and one more suspected of being infected, were evacuated from the cruise ship for treatment. The hantavirus is an illness typically carried by rodents, such as rats.
People can contract the virus through breathing in or having direct contact with rodent poop. In rare cases, the virus can also be contracted through a bite. The L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a statement that it is closely monitoring the situation: “At this time, Public Health has not been notified that any of the passengers that disembarked the cruise traveled to Los Angeles County.
There is no indication of increased risk to people in Los Angeles County.
"There is no licensed treatment or vaccine, according to the World Health Organization. Patients are monitored for lung, heart and kidney complications and treated as necessary. The earlier that the infection is caught, the better the chance of recovery. Tom Steyer , the billionaire climate activist running for California governor, pauses for photos with members of the California Nurses Association, a progressive union that endorsed him in part due to his strong support of single-payer healthcare.
Today, leading Democrats in the wide-open race to succeed Gavin Newsom have embraced single-payer as a political necessity, an answer to voters fed up with rising premiums and other spiraling healthcare costs. But with no clear front-runner, they are sparring among themselves in debates and political ads over who is most committed to a government-run model.
No candidate has outlined how California would fund comprehensive health coverage for its 40 million residents, leaving voters unable to discern which candidate has a concrete plan for the nation’s most populous state. Healthcare and political experts said the concept of single-payer has shifted from progressive pipe dream a decade ago to today’s mainstream talking points in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.
Democrats have pledged the model as the best way to lower costs in an attempt to woo voters worried about affordability as ballots arrive for the June 2 primary. The top two Republicans, meanwhile, have dismissed government-run healthcare as a “disaster” and “socialism. ”Today, leading Democrats in the wide-open race to succeed Newsom have embraced single-payer as a political necessity, an answer to voters fed up with rising premiums and other spiraling healthcare costs.
But with no clear front-runner, they are sparring among themselves in debates and political ads over who is most committed to a government-run model. No candidate has outlined how California would fund comprehensive health coverage for its 40 million residents, leaving voters unable to discern which candidate has a concrete plan for the nation’s most populous state.
Healthcare and political experts said the concept of single-payer has shifted from progressive pipe dream a decade ago to today’s mainstream talking points in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1. Democrats have pledged the model as the best way to lower costs in an attempt to woo voters worried about affordability as ballots arrive for the June 2 primary. The top two Republicans, meanwhile, have dismissed government-run healthcare as a “disaster” and “socialism.
” “In many ways, single-payer healthcare has become a progressive litmus test,” said Larry Levitt, a former White House policy adviser and a healthcare expert at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Few voters fully understand the term single-payer, let alone expect the next governor to achieve it, Levitt said. Rather, he added, the term has become more of a signal to voters about a candidate’s approach to healthcare reform.
Xavier Becerra, the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, who for decades backed single-payer healthcare in Congress, has come under criticism from opponents for a nuanced but clear shift away from single-payer. It came after Becerra secured an endorsement from the California Medical Association, a powerful group representing doctors and a longtime opponent of single-payer healthcare bills in California.that’s been stalled for years, but he declined to say whether he’d pursue a California-led effort.
He said his immediate focus would be on mitigating the drastic federal cuts expected to hit low-income and disabled enrollees in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, which covers more than a third of residents.single-payer, Medicare for All, and universal coverage, noting during the debate that “Californians don’t care what you call it, so long as they have affordable healthcare. ” “A lot of people aren’t clear what single-payer is, and they need a metaphor to understand it,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and one of the lead pollsters for former President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
As governor, Steyer has said, he would pass legislation backed by the California Nurses Association that has failed to come to fruition under Newsom’s tenure. Pressed on how he would cover the estimated, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter said she didn’t believe achieving such a system was realistic in the near term, but the Orange County Democrat later told party delegates that she would “.
” Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Democrats who are trailing their competitors in the polls, don’t support single-payer. The top two vote-getters — regardless of party — advance to the November general election. Some of the most seasoned politicians have failed to deliver single-payer.
Newsom, who campaigned on the promise of being a “healthcare governor,”The campaign bus for billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who has made single-payer healthcare a central pillar of his run for governor, in downtown Oakland, California. In 2020, Steyer ran for president opposing single-payer healthcare.from the federal government to redirect billions of dollars from Medicaid, Medicare, and other funding that currently flows to the system — approval not likely to come from the Trump administration.
Danielle Cendejas, a Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant who works with state legislative candidates, said single-payer healthcare increasingly appears on candidate questionnaires from What most California voters want to hear, Cendejas said, is how candidates plan to give them more immediate relief from higher premiums, expensive drug costs, and long waits to access care. The high price tag doesn’t faze Jennifer Easton, a 63-year-old Democrat from Oakland, who said other countries with similar models have proved they can lower costs.
She said she supports a single-payer health system because it’s clear to her that Americans have reached the limits of working within the existing system. But she isn’t expecting any of the current candidates to succeed in implementing one, and she hasn’t decided whom to support.
“No one can in four years,” she said. Seeing a candidate enthusiastically support the concept gives her a good idea of their philosophy.
“It is, if we’re lucky, a 20-year, 25-year plan. ”, focus groups suggest that approval drops quickly when voters realize it could mean losing their current doctor or insurance plan. At the CNN debate, Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate President Donald Trump has endorsed, said Californians would end up with subpar patient care and “taxes sky high to pay for it,” like in his native United Kingdom.
Instead, Hilton suggested the state stop providing “free healthcare for illegal immigrants who shouldn't even be in the country in the first place. ”is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more aboutAll but one Cal State campus have Native American remains and cultural items that federal and state laws require them to return to tribes.
In many cases, the process has been slow. Federal and state Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation laws require agencies and institutions with Native American remains and cultural items, such as the ancestors’ remains. While there was not a deadline for when collections had to be returned, federal law required campuses to complete an inventory of their collections by 1995.
To move forward with repatriation, universities have to contact potential culturally affiliated tribes, based on geographic location or historical evidence, for consultation. Then, tribes can submit a request for repatriation. While the process can be slow, multiple tribal leaders said that the campuses are supportive and are up against federal and state rules that complicate returns for non-federally recognized tribes. There are also times of confusion over who exactly has authority to make those returns.
Though the size of their collections varies, campuses like Cal Poly Humboldt and San Francisco State have made progress in returning human remains and cultural items, with Sacramento State having returned most of its Native collections. But others, like Cal Poly Pomona, have yet to see much progress and Cal State Bakersfield has not made any returns.
The Cal State system holds the remains of more than 2,000 Native Americans and more than 1.57 million artifacts, according to the most recent list of the system's collections. Another 500,000 collections of items are still in storage awaiting proper tribal review to be cataloged. All but one Cal State campus have Native American remains and cultural items that federal and state laws require them to return to tribes. In many cases, the process has been slow.
Though the size of their collections varies, campuses like Cal Poly Humboldt and San Francisco State have made progress in returning human remains and cultural items, with Sacramento State having returned most of its Native collections. But others, like Cal Poly Pomona, have yet to see much progress and Cal State Bakersfield has not made any returns.
The Cal State system holds the remains of more than 2,000 Native Americans and more than 1.57 million artifacts, according to the most recentCampus officials say they are working diligently to follow legal mandates to return items to tribes, but the road can be long and arduous. Last February, members of the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu tribe reburied three ancestors whose remains had been held at Sacramento State since 1963.
The Lake Concow Campground donated 10.7 acres of land to the tribe within their traditional territory in Northern California, where they were able to perform the reburials.
“During the process it’s a very, very heavy feeling,” said Matthew Williford Sr., the tribal chairperson and cultural resource director. “But when you receive the remains back, you feel lighter. It doesn’t feel like so much weight. ”"It's important for us to get that back, because we believe that those items still have spirit," he said.
"They need to come back to the people. " Federal and state Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation laws require agencies and institutions with Native American remains and cultural items, such as the ancestors’ remains from Williford’s tribe, be returned to tribes. While there was not a deadline for when collections had to be returned, federal law required campuses to complete an inventory of their collections by 1995.
“La Memoria de la Tierra,” a mural by Judith Baca on the north side of Ackerman Union at UCLA in Los Angeles, on Nov. 9, 2022.89% of the human remains and 68% of the cultural items on their campus. That means control of the collections has been legally transferred to a culturally affiliated tribe, but collections may remain physically held by the campus if requested by the tribe.
The figure also does not include what the campus holds for other state or federal agencies.
“Some tribes want us to hold on to collections, in which case we might do a held trust agreement, where we just are saying, 'We’re holding this for you until you’re ready to take it for repatriation,'” said Sarah Eckhardt, Sacramento State’s repatriation coordinator. Eckhardt has been the repatriation coordinator for more than six years, overseeing the university's compliance with repatriation laws and policies.
Eckhardt shared that the campus has a good relationship with local tribes, to whom the majority of their collections belong, allowing them to repatriate the collections effectively. The amount of cultural items at Sacramento State decreased significantly from about 30,000 in 2024 to about 6,000 in 2025. To move forward with repatriation, universities have to contact potential culturally affiliated tribes, based on geographic location or historical evidence, for consultation.
Then, tribes can submit a request for repatriation. While the process can be slow, multiple tribal leaders said that the campuses are supportive and are up against federal and state rules that complicate returns for non-federally recognized tribes. There are also times of confusion over who exactly has authority to make those returns.
Sacramento State reported an increase in their collection of human remains from 171 in 2024 to 223 in 2025, which Eckhardt said was due to some confusion over who manages them.
“There were several collections that we thought were the responsibility of another agency, that they denied responsibility for and so we accepted responsibility for that,” said Eckhardt. Near the end of 2024, 32 boxes containing three human remains and cultural items previously held at Sacramento State were returned to Williford's state-recognized tribe.
But since they are not federally-recognized, federal law meant they'd have to partner with a federal tribe to claim the collections on their behalf, and also have local tribes sign off on the handover, said Williford. That process took about six months after a notice was published to the federal registrar, which informs other tribes in case any want to rebut the claim. To him, that was a quick timeframe.
“At least they’re trying… I think they need to up their game on helping nonfederal tribes with federal repatriation,” said Williford. San Jose State has run into a similar situation. The university has returned all the remains belonging to federally recognized tribes, but still possesses remains affiliated with non-federally recognized tribes, posing the biggest challenge, according to Alisha Marie Ragland, the campus’ repatriation coordinator.
As of December 2025, San Jose State reported having 514 human remains and more than 5,000 collections of stored items waiting to be reviewed.
“SJSU will continue to work with tribes to find appropriate and respectful means of sending the Ancestors home,” said Ragland via email. “Repatriation can take years. Just for what we consider one artifact potentially could take up to a couple years,” said David Silva, the repatriation coordinator at Cal State Bakersfield. Cal State Bakersfield is still in the process of consulting with tribes to determine what the boxes under their care contain, he said.
“There’s no direct timeline for our tribal partners to have to conduct consultation,” said Silva. “The only timeline is really when we start to submit notices or when we complete that inventory verification. ”Curtis Alcantar is a member of the Tejon Indian tribe and a tribal representative for the NAGPRA committee at the Bakersfield campus, working with Silva.
Alcantar said he has had a good experience working with the university and other Cal State campuses and that he believes the system is moving in a positive direction. Before, Bakersfield housed items in five different rooms spread throughout campus, creating a hassle for tribal members. They recently moved to a new building on campus, allowing tribes easier access to review collections.
When he first started helping with tribal consultations, Alcantar was troubled by how many Native American remains and cultural items were still in possession of museums and universities. Universities acquired Native remains and items through excavations and research often from anthropology and archeology disciplines. Some collections were acquired through donations. At the time, it was difficult for him to understand how much Native American collections museums and universities still held and were refusing to give back, said Alcantar.
But now, he says that people are more open minded and The process does take a lot of research and time, he added. For him, the most helpful tool Cal State has provided is the, making it easier to find which campuses have collections from Kern County, his home base. According to the map, eight different Cal State campuses have collections from Kern County and Cal State Bakersfield has collections from 18 California counties.
“The fulfilling part for me is seeing the objects go back home, watching the ancestors just finally get their journey back home,” said Alcantar. Cal Poly Humboldt has repatriated about 39% of the 23,889 cultural items initially in its possession, according to figures provided by Megan Watson, the campus' NAGPRA coordinator. San Francisco State has repatriated roughly 36% of its original 44,000 collections of stored items, according to Robert King, the campus’ director of communications.
The campus has about 250 remains, a number that hasn't budged much in recent years. Since November, it has returned two remains with about 260 collections of items, the official said. Cal State's updated list was released in December after, for the first time, all Cal State campuses completed an inventory review. Sonoma State has more than 1.52 million cultural items, by far the highest count in the system.
Meanwhile, Cal State Fullerton holds the most remains with 534 individuals counted, and San Diego State has the highest collections of stored items awaiting tribal review, totaling more than 426,000. One reason for Sonoma State's high count is that it has a large facility to house those collections under proper care, said Samantha Cypret, a member of the Mountain Maidu tribe and executive director of the office of tribal relations for the Cal State Chancellor’s Office, which oversees NAGPRA compliance.
Campuses with large anthropology or archeology departments also tend to have larger collections, she added. Multiple members of Sonoma State’s NAGPRA team were contacted for comment. Some declined an interview while others did not respond. Assembly Bill 389.
The assembly bill required the Chancellor's Office to adopt a systemwide policy and committee, and that committees form at each campus. Cypret said that the policy took time to enact after the audit was issued and the Assembly Bill passed because they wanted to make sure they were letting tribal voices take the lead, learning about what tribes wanted to see included in the policy.
“We also really wanted to make sure that we were centering tribal voices in the development, in the implementation of this policy, so we held over 30 tribal outreach sessions in about the year and a half that this policy took to create,” said Cypret. The new system policy outlines responsibilities of each campus, such as employing a full-time repatriation coordinator, conducting ongoing surveys of holdings and forbidding the use of collections for teaching and research.
Cal State allocated $3.7 million for campuses with Native American collections for the fiscal year 2025-2026 to support the costs of staffing repatriation coordinators, reburial costs, reimbursing tribes for travel costs, and other expenses related to repatriation. Williford said that his tribe has made formal requests to receive two woven baskets from UC Berkeley that are part of his tribe's dogwood collection.
For him, helping return collections for his tribe has helped him feel connected to his dad who passed away in 2015. He said his dad was part of a “lost generation” that knew who they were but didn’t have a lot of cultural information. But today, the tribe's elders find meaning when returns are made. Cal State will review its systemwide policy again in November 2026 after tribal consultations.
Brittany Oceguera is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
If you need a last-minute Mother’s Day gift and want to shop local, here are six Los Angeles shops that have you covered. Let’s face it: Many people have procrastinated on gift-giving at some point. Life gets busy with work, family and other responsibilities, and special occasions can slip by.
What better way to thank your mama—or someone who raised you like their mama — for giving you life and care, and probably sacrificing a lot to give you everything — than with a more meaningful, locally sourced gift that feels personal, rather than the standard flowers and chocolates. Yup, calling you out. Let’s face it: Many people have procrastinated on gift-giving at some point. Life gets busy with work, family and other responsibilities, and special occasions can slip by.
What better way to thank your mama—or someone who raised you like their mama — for giving you life and care, and probably sacrificing a lot to give you everything — than with a more meaningful, locally sourced gift that feels personal, rather than the standard flowers and chocolates. Yup, calling you out.offers an alternative to major online retailers that helps you shop local and find thoughtful, unique gifts — even at the last minute.
Customers browse the shelves at Burden of Proof, where wall-to-wall non-alcoholic spirits share space with a communal farm table and a miniature shopping cart — sober shopping, elevated. In the past six months, co-founders Anthony Abaci and Nic Clar have operated Gallop a retail delivery platform that connects customers with independent small businesses across Los Angeles.
The idea for Gallop stemmed from Abaci’s personal difficulty finding the right gifts, along with a goal to create a one-stop shop that delivers items within hours while supporting local businesses.
“A lot of these store owners, they’re competing with big-box retailers and need help with online sales, so we bring them new customers,” Abaci said. In the early days, Abaci and Clar handled deliveries themselves, offering two-hour door-to-door service while also managing coding, store onboarding, customer service and marketing. The platform has since expanded to about 50 stores, from northeast Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley.
It now offers express 3-hour and next-day delivery, employs a team of drivers and recently introduced gift wrapping for an additional fee.
“Moms are one of our biggest customer groups. They like using us as a convenient alternative to Amazon and Target,” Abaci said. , a Koreatown-based home goods store. Abaci said Yoo holds exclusive U.S. import rights for some of the store’s products.
Gallop’s mission centers on preserving local shopping culture and helping customers discover products not typically found at large retail chains. But if you need a last-minute Mother’s Day gift and want to shop local, here are six Los Angeles shops that have you covered.is a Los Angeles-based shop founded by Ibi Yoo in 2018 that showcases high-end Korean home goods, ceramics and artisan-made lifestyle products.
The Koreatown showroom highlights both traditional and contemporary Korean craftsmanship, offering a curated selection that brings Korean design and culture to a wider audience.is a women-owned neighborhood shop and community hub in Highland Park. Shoppers can find locally made greeting cards, mini dried floral bouquets, wellness products, coffee and tea bags and handmade candles. Or, create a custom Mother’s Day gift basket with La Vecina’s Mexican and Latin American pantry staples.
Let’s face it: Many people have procrastinated on gift-giving at some point. Life gets busy with work, family and other responsibilities, and special occasions can slip by. What better way to thank your mama—or someone who raised you like their mama — for giving you life and care, and probably sacrificing a lot to give you everything — than with a more meaningful, locally sourced gift that feels personal, rather than the standard flowers and chocolates.
Yup, calling you out.in Atwater Village or downtown Los Angeles, you’ll find a women-owned shop offering a wide range of products, including makeup, skin care, home goods, mother-and-baby items, jewelry and vintage clothing. The store’s plant-based, non-toxic items make it a good fit for moms who prefer natural products. Let’s face it: Many people have procrastinated on gift-giving at some point. Life gets busy with work, family and other responsibilities, and special occasions can slip by.
What better way to thank your mama—or someone who raised you like their mama — for giving you life and care, and probably sacrificing a lot to give you everything — than with a more meaningful, locally sourced gift that feels personal, rather than the standard flowers and chocolates. Yup, calling you out.is a nonalcoholic bottle shop and market in South Pasadena owned by married couple Dean and Obreanna.
It offers an eclectic selection of nonalcoholic wine, spirits, beer, snacks, coffee and South Pasadena merchandise, making it a good gift stop for moms who enjoy a well-crafted mocktail or a sweet, fruit-forward wine alternative. Let’s face it: Many people have procrastinated on gift-giving at some point. Life gets busy with work, family and other responsibilities, and special occasions can slip by.
What better way to thank your mama—or someone who raised you like their mama — for giving you life and care, and probably sacrificing a lot to give you everything — than with a more meaningful, locally sourced gift that feels personal, rather than the standard flowers and chocolates. Yup, calling you out. is a plant nursery known for its community-focused workshops and selection of plants, pots, soil, decor, Latinx merchandise and more.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, the shop is offering two workshops Saturday: Bootquet and Molcajete Mamis.is a chocolate shop owned by partners Kala and Dale, offering a wide selection of chocolates from around the world, including truffles, cocoa powder, chocolate butter, bars and almonds. For Mother’s Day, the shop has selected a range of chocolates, including a rose petal bar, a wine and fig bar and assorted caramel chocolates.to bring its coffee to the people of Pasadena in a space where owner Pablomanuel Maldonado can chat up his customers and serve his Latino-inspired signature coffees.
Nearly all of his drinks have names in Spanish, a nod to his Mexican roots. By far his best seller is the “Cereal Killer,” a cinnamon brown sugar latte with a cereal garnish, where customers can choose between Cocoa Puffs or Cap’N Crunch Crunch Berries.
The Caffeinated Cart began in 2020 when Maldonado started selling bottled lattes in his hometown of Compton before eventually popping up at local markets like Just inches away from where workers warm up handmade tortillas at Guisados in Pasadena, Pablomanuel Maldonado puts the finishing touches on different drinks before calling out to his customers.
“Provecho,” Maldonado, owner of coffee pop-up the Caffeinated Cart, says to each customer before quickly redirecting his attention to the next, treating each one like he’s known them for years.to bring its coffee to the people of Pasadena in a space where Maldonado can chat up his customers and serve his Latino-inspired signature coffees. Nearly all of his drinks have names in Spanish, a nod to his Mexican roots.
By far his best seller is the “Cereal Killer,” a cinnamon brown sugar latte with a cereal garnish, where customers can choose between Cocoa Puffs or Cap’N Crunch Crunch Berries. Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, prepares a Cereal Killer at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.
Though he’s only been operating at this location for the past three weeks, small touches — like Virgen de Guadalupe candles, a new coffee blend from local roaster“For the first time, I don’t feel tired. I feel mentally at peace, and it’s like, ‘Damn, this is what I love doing,’ you know? ” Maldonado told The LA Local.
“I get excited to come here. I get excited to get out of bed. ” Maldonado recently transitioned from working full-time at Bristol Farms during the week and doing coffee pop-ups on weekends to serving coffee full-time at Guisados. The Caffeinated Cart began in 2020 when Maldonado started selling bottled lattes in his hometown of Compton before eventually popping up at local markets like Only a couple of years after he started, Maldonado was selling out at the pop-ups.
Today, he has over 23,000 followers on Maldonado’s partnership with Guisados began in 2025 via an Instagram story when owner Armando De La Torre Jr. put out a call for coffee pop-ups at his Guisados location in Long Beach. A photo illustration of the Caffeinated Cart’s most popular drink the Cereal Killer, a cinnamon brown sugar latte with a cereal garnish, at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.
After connecting with De La Torre, Maldonado began popping up outside the Long Beach location for six months. But Maldonado said permitting issues with the city’s Health Department forced him to stop. Nearly a year after their initial collaboration, De La Torre invited Maldonado to Pasadena to show off the space he had in mind for him, but the Caffeinated Cart owner had mixed emotions.
Maldonado was concerned about going to Pasadena and leaving behind the community and regular customers he had in Long Beach, but he was excited by the idea of finally having a physical space, even if it wasn’t completely his own. Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, hugs his former boss who visited him at his new coffee residency at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.
“We’re in a world where… everybody gatekeeps and then everybody stops each other from growing, and coffee’s been so welcoming, man,” Maldonado said. “The community I’ve built around me has just been so welcoming, and a lot of people just truly do trust us. ” Leo Abularach, co-owner of Picaresca in Boyle Heights, has been a longtime supporter of the Caffeinated Cart.
He told The LA Local that he loaned Maldonado over $3,000 worth of equipment to help him get started. Abularach even let him use his business delivery service, so Maldonado would no longer have to run to the store for things like extra milk.
“He has always been there for Picaresca. He is part of our family,” Abularach said of Maldonado.
“He is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and I think his personality is one of the reasons why people love the Caffeinated Cart. ” Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, pours coffee beans into a grinder at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.
“It’s amazing. It tastes really good. Like, no notes. Amazing,” Acevedo said after finally trying the coffee in real life on a recent Wednesday morning.
Pablomanuel Maldonado, right, talks with customers Adriana Acevedo, left, and Eilene Gonzalez, centert, at the Caffeinated Cart inside of Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026. The two praised the welcoming service offered by Maldonado, and after Acevedo mentioned she loves caffeine, Maldonado even gave her an additional shot.
“I’m all about making it affordable. I don’t charge extra for alternative milks. You want extra shots? Bro, get extra shots.
I’m not going to charge you extra,” Maldonado said.
“We’re all for the people,” he said. “We want to make sure people can still come back and not have to feel like ‘Was the $7 coffee worth it? ’” Though it was only a Wednesday, customers kept trickling in, keeping him busy throughout his shift, and even Maldonado’s old boss from Bristol Farms, Dina Urquilla, came to support.
Maldonado said he’s still saving to open up his own shop in the future, but for now, he says he looks forward to making coffee every day in his corner of Pasadena. A view of some of the trinkets at the Caffeinated Cart inside of Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.
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