Latino-owned brewhouse is the first in the area
Paramount taproom. , and then with his solo contract brewing operation Norwalk Brewhouse. Its flagship beer is named Bidi Bidi Blonde Blonde, a blonde ale named after the Selena classic.
Mexican Monk, he said, is the physical realization of what Norwalk Brewhouse was always building toward — a space where the culture isn't a footnote, it's the foundation. The beer list reads like a who's who of the Latino craft beer world — there are six house brews contract-brewed locally, from Sippin' Santos, a Mexican-style lager, to La Blanca 1544, a Belgian-style witbier, all priced between $8- $9.
The remaining taps and a curated can wall of 26 selections draw almost entirely from independent Latino-owned breweries across Southern California and beyond. For food there's six different types of wings, including a spice-forward chorizo dry rub, a nutty salsa macha, and the standout of the bunch, the mole wings, whose chocolatey, earthy depth works surprisingly well with their slightly hop-forward West Blessed, especially after a proper dip in their house-made jalapeño ranch.
The menu rounds out with nine-inch pizzas made with Mexican Monk lager dough and truffle fries. For barber David Salinas, Mexican Monk is a catalyst — the kind of anchor business that he hopes will inspire others.
"Ray and I talked, and we were saying there needs to be a little bit more," he said. "It can't just be his brewery for him to succeed. He needs a community around him.
" That may be growing. When you walk through the door at Mexican Monk, what you find is something quieter and more durable than a protest or a headline. A city imagining what comes next, one pint or plate of wings at a time. Casey Wilson, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood and Andrew Rannells in 'The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Summer.
' Rannells co-hosts the new season of 'The Great American Baking Show' with Wilson. Los Angeles-based actor and comedian Casey Wilson has been co-hosting “The Great American Baking Show” for the past four seasons. In her real life, she says she doesn’t do much baking herself and shared where she goes when she’s looking for a cake or pastry.
) might be the one to have it — despite the fact that she doesn’t bake She has the sketch comedy and acting experience to pull off the show’s opening skits and introductions to the baking challenges. But also, when it comes to chatting with the bakers throughout the episodes, Wilson literally wrote a book titled) — is making chit-chat with someone who’s trying to focus on making some elaborate cake, bread or pastry, and likely also pretty stressed.
“ In real life,” Wilson told LAist, “if you saw the emotional state of the people that are baking, you would immediately know, ‘Let me back up and allow them their space. ’ Meanwhile, are like, ‘Go on in. ’ And Andrew and I always say, we're like, ‘Tell us about your grandpa. ’” Luckily, the contestants are good-natured about the whole thing.
And Wilson and Rannells’ repartee with the contestants, each other and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith just add to the overall good vibes of the competition — in keeping with the tradition of the much-beloved original British version of the show. An added bonus of the American version is some of the cultural confusion that arises, like this exchange featured in the trailer about “box cake”: and her top picks for baked goods in Los Angeles.
When she’s home in L.A. , Wilson says, she’s not so much into baking herself, but because of that, she knows where to go to get a good cake, dessert or bread. She offered this list of her top picks: : “I know now it's, like, a chain, but in L.A. , I love SusieCakes, and I wanna shout it out.
If you have forgotten someone's birthday, it's amazing to order on DoorDash and they have like this old-fashioned cake and they'll write on it. It's wonderful and truly the best cake and cupcakes.
": “ Lark, which is a small bakery in Silver Lake; they have an ice box cake that is tremendous. It's incredible. ”: ”I live in Los Feliz, so that's a drive, and I will embark on it to get these s'mores bites. If I have them, people are angry that I don't have more, and it's the greatest dessert ever.
”: ”My son has celiac disease, so we're always trying to look for gluten-free, which is hard to find, you know, especially for a kid. Cake Monkey is a bakery, more like a Mid-City area, and they have an incredible gluten-free triple berry cake that's great, and they just have a lot of gluten-free options that are awesome. ”: “It's all gluten-free breads, and they have some desserts too.
They have a brown butter chocolate chip cookie that's wrong — should be illegal. But their breads are so good, and it's for everybody. People go there that aren't even gluten-free because it's just that good. ”One thing Wilson said people are sometimes surprised to learn is that there are no retakes and the time constraints on the baking challenges are very real.
“It's very pure in that sense,” Wilson said. “They have exactly that amount of time. And even a couple times when it was time to say, ‘Bakers, your time is up,’ I would walk slowly 'cause I'd see somebody needing more time and are like, 'We see you! Walk!
'" Another surprise to her, Wilson said: “You cannot believe how many camera people there are — I mean, 12 roaming at all times” to capture the bakers’ moves. “ It's kind of likeAnd while you might assume that the short skits that she and Rannells film that introduce each episode’s theme are filmed all at once, they’re not. Instead, they’re always filmed in the early morning hours of the second day of each episode’s two-day shoot.
As for what happens during the week, when filming is done, Wilson explained, “ The poor bakers, they have to practice so much, so they're basically like hostages in their apartments, baking every second. But Andrew and I were a bit more footloose and fancy free, you might say. So we bopped around and we saw shows and we hung out a lot with Paul Hollywood, who I love, and it was just a dream.
”The number of unhoused Angelenos living in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice remained relatively steady in 2025 compared to the previous year, but the population of people without any type of shelter continues to rise, according to a study released Thursday. According to the RAND Housing Center, which conducted the study, unsheltered homelessness stayed flat in those Los Angeles neighborhoods between December 2024 and January of this year despite ongoing government efforts to clear tent encampments.
RAND said so-called rough sleepers tend to have “greater clinical need” than those who have some type of shelter, are harder to locate and are therefore harder to place in interim or permanent housing. The latest study builds upon some of RAND's previous findings. Last year, RAND found a 15% decrease in the overall unhoused population in those three neighborhoods in 2024 compared to the previous year. That study also found an increase among"rough sleepers.
"The number of unhoused Angelenos living in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice remained relatively steady in 2025 compared to the previous year, but the population of people without any type of shelter continues to rise, according to a study released Thursday. According to the RAND Housing Center, which conducted the study, unsheltered homelessness stayed flat in those Los Angeles neighborhoods between December 2024 and January of this year despite ongoing government efforts to clear tent encampments.
Within those populations, many more people were seen “rough sleeping” — meaning they had no tents, makeshift shelter or vehicles. According to the study, by January, 44% of the total unsheltered population in those areas was “sleeping rough,” compared to 30% in 2021-2022. The study also found that almost 90% of all tents counted in those neighborhoods were in Skid Row near downtown L.A. compared to 60% four years ago.
RAND said the finding is particularly important because so-called rough sleepers tend to have “greater clinical need” than those who have some type of shelter, are harder to locate and are, therefore, harder to place in interim or permanent housing. Researchers warned that “continued reliance on tent-focused homelessness resolution approaches will likely yield diminishing returns, especially in Hollywood and Venice, where these living arrangements are now uncommon.
” They recommended that city, county and regional agencies use a mixed approach that includes providing centralized service hubs and expanding permanent supporting housing along with behavioral health. • Hollywood and Venice were statistically flat after previous declines in 2024. Out of the three neighborhoods studied, Skid Row was the only one where the unsheltered population had grown continuously since 2021-2022.
• Rough sleeping increased , tent dwelling declined , and vehicle dwelling rose during 2025. Since 2021, the number of tents declined by half and were largely replaced by vehicles and rough sleepers. • For every four tents removed, three vehicles or rough sleepers were added on average each day.
The switch toward fewer tents and more people living in cars or without any shelter at all was “especially pronounced” in Hollywood. 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. South L.A. is becoming a hot spot for live music, thanks in part to a weekly showcase called The Rehearsal.
It gives emerging artists a chance to perform at Mercado La Paloma — for free. The venue also provides free photography, access to their recordings and more. : Yesi Ortiz co-founded The Rehearsal as a way to fight the music industry’s pay-to-play culture and lift that financial burden off the shoulders of new talent. She says artists often have to pay for stage time, as well as their own photography, sound engineering and even recordings of their performances.
“There’s this constant cost that comes with just trying to perform your artwork in front of people,” Ortiz said. “And now you’re in the negative, when you’ve already been in the negative with ... the cost of producing and songwriting that just to perform kind of feels really defeating. ” The Rehearsal aims to be a solution by waiving performance fees and creating an ecosystem of support.
Its founders have their own experience in the music industry — Ortiz is a former host at the radio station Power 106. Co-founders David Tam and Levi Downey are music producers and Shani Bernard is an artist who performs as Marvelous Xe. Artists have the option to pay what they can.
They’ll get access to professional photography and recordings of their performances, which are also live-streamed on YouTube, followed by a Q&A. “We want to be able to give them the tools that they need to be the next Billie Eilish or whoever they want to become as their future,” she said. Ortiz says The Rehearsal is not an open mic. Instead, the showcase looks for artists who are “intentionally working on their craft” and putting effort into their career.
The rise of artificial intelligence is an even bigger motivator to “discover real artists and a real community that believes in supporting that. ” Previous performers include artist Ryck Jane, Coup Deville and sahn. : The Rehearsal will be curating the main stage at NextFest LA, an indie music festival happening at the L.A. County Fair on Sunday.
You can find ticketsor send a DM to The Rehearsal on their Instagram for free tickets. They’ll be showcasing several artists, including Orange County-based singer-songwriter Natasha Mangali.
“She’s a Filipina that combines her Tagalog and English in her music as well. She’s got like a very R&B, soulful sound to her and then you mix all these hip-hop elements,” Ortiz said. Mangali recently performed during The Rehearsal’s eighth season. You can watch her setLater on Thursday, SpaceX is set to conduct a launch of a heavily redesigned version of its Starship rocket.
It'll be a critical test of the largest rocket ever built. The launch comes a little under a month before investors expect SpaceX's much-anticipated initial public offering. The launch is"super important for the IPO," said Franco Granda, a senior researcher who covers SpaceX for the data firm, PitchBook. He believes that if Starship's launch goes badly, it could cause investors' excitement for the IPO"to diminish quite dramatically.
" SpaceX is spending billions of dollars per year developing Starship. The development is eating up the profits from its launch business, which operated at a $662 million loss in the first quarter of this year.ever built. Standing at around 400 feet in height, it's made of durable, but heavy, stainless steel. To overcome its bulk, the spacecraft sits atop an enormous booster called"Super Heavy" that shoots it skyward with 33 Raptor engines.
After Starship separates from the booster, it can ignite its six engines to get to space, while the booster is capable of flying back to earth and landing at its launchpad. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that the ultimate goal is to make Starship return to the pad, allowing the entire system to be reused almost instantaneously. If it works, it would radically lower the cost of launches.
As SpaceX prepares for its public offering, it's undergoing a critical test of the largest rocket ever built.version of its Starship rocket. The new rocket will fly using dozens of new Raptor 3 engines powered by a novel fuel system in the booster. It will also carry upgraded avionics, satellites, and test ports for a future refueling system that could allow Starship to one day reach other destinations like the Moon and even Mars.
The launch comes a little under a month before investors expect SpaceX's much-anticipated initial public offering. Many analysts expect SpaceX to raise up to $75 billion, and to be valued at up to $1.5 trillion. The amount raised could make this the largest IPO ever, and make SpaceX one of the most valuable companies in the world. The launch is"super important for the IPO," said Franco Granda, a senior researcher who covers SpaceX for the data firm, PitchBook.
He believes that if Starship's launch goes badly, it could cause investors' excitement for the IPO"to diminish quite dramatically.
" "Even though tests are inherently tests, and failure typically doesn't dictate what happens later on, I think SpaceX will want to get this one right," he said.released on Wednesday show just how critical the test is. SpaceX is spending billions of dollars per year developing Starship. The development is eating up the profits from its launch business, which operated at a $662 million loss in the first quarter of this year.ever built.
Standing at around 400 feet in height, it's made of durable, but heavy, stainless steel. To overcome its bulk, the spacecraft sits atop an enormous booster called"Super Heavy" that shoots it skyward with 33 Raptor engines. After Starship separates from the booster, it can ignite its six engines to get to space, while the booster is capable of flying back to earth and landing at its launchpad.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that the ultimate goal is to make Starship return to the pad, allowing the entire system to be reused almost instantaneously. If it works, it would radically lower the cost of launches. That's key to SpaceX's short-term and long-term vision. The rocket is expected to carry larger, more capable satellites for the company's Starlink internet service.
It's also being developed into a lunar lander for NASA and as a possible rocket to Mars. Most recently, Musk proposed that Starship could be used toin March to unveil a new chip fabrication facility. To achieve SpaceX's goals,"you need massive payload to space, and Starship will enable that.
" The new financial disclosure document reveals just how much of SpaceX's future relies on Starship's development. "Any failure or delay in the development of Starship at scale or in achieving the required launch cadence, reusability and capabilities thereafter would delay or limit our ability to execute our growth strategy," the document says. It also puts real numbers on how much money SpaceX is spending to develop the giant rocket.
In 2025, the company spent a little over $3 billion dollars. In the first quarter of 2026, it spent another $930 million on Starship development. SpaceX's new Raptor 3 engines deliver more thrust and contain numerous technological improvements, but they have yet to be tested in flight. Success is far from assured.
The first version of Starship launched in April of 2023, but failed to separate from its booster and tumbled out of control. It took three tries before the rocket eventually reached space. The second version of the spacecraft was plagued by multiple failed attempts throughout 2025, though its final two launches went as expected. This third version is an ambitious redesign, said Scott Manley, an engineer and YouTuber who closely tracks Starship's development.
Manley said that the latest version of Starship is more refined. Heat tiles appear more carefully placed, and clunky, temporary fixes, like a"hot staging ring" that was bolted onto the booster after the first accident, have been integrated into the design. Manly said he's particularly interested in how the rocket's new Raptor 3 engines perform. The engines have been heavily redesigned to increase thrust and eliminate the need for bulky shielding on the bottom of the rocket.
The engines have been extensively tested, but they haven't been to space before.
"We don't know how they're going to perform under flight circumstances. " Even if the newest version of Starship flies as expected, the space launch company faces a long path towards making the behemoth rocket work as a business proposition. Starship's heat shield has not yet proven durable enough to survive multiple trips through the atmosphere and the spacecraft itself has yet to attempt a landing at the pad in Brownsville, Texas.
Getting all the parts of Starship to work as planned is far more complex than what SpaceX has done with its existing rocket, the Falcon 9, said Tim Farrar, the president of TMF associates, which analyzes mobile satellite services. Starship is"a multidimensional problem that they haven't actually solved yet," he said.
"You can't justify a valuation well in excess of a trillion dollars based on what SpaceX is doing today," Farrar said. "You've got to believe that Musk will come up with something much bigger than that. "
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Taylor Sheridan Isn’t Giving Up His Paramount+ Crown Anytime SoonThe Madison, the binge-worthy neo-Western from the mind of Taylor Sheridan, has reached 1 on Paramount Plus streaming charts.
Read more »
Paramount reportedly aims to finalize Warner Bros. Discovery deal as soon as JulyThe David Ellison-led company has publicly said it expects the $110 billion deal to close by the third quarter, or Sept. 30.
Read more »
Late Show Host Stephen Colbert Cancelled Just Before Trump-Loyalists Take Over Paramount GlobalUS President Donald Trump celebrated the cancellation of Late Show host Stephen Colbert's show in the wake of his frequent criticism, while a guest by Bruce Springsteen condemned the actions of Trump's supporters.
Read more »
Pfeiffer Struggles With Montana Set Challenges in Upcoming Paramount+ Series The MadisonMichelle Pfeiffer struggles with the harsh Montana conditions and lack of amenities in her upcoming Paramount+ series The Madison. Despite the challenges, she committed to the role without reading the script first.
Read more »