Yeah No, I’m Not OK

Part 4: Half a year after Star Garden reopens as a union club, the dancers are still negotiating a contract. LAist producer Emma Alabaster brings you the latest. Plus, some of the dancers have set their sights on a different dream: a worker-owned cooperative strip club. 

Here are some resources that informed our reporting:

• LA Co-op Lab
• U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
• 2021 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report
• Yes, A Stripper Podcast

For more resources 

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Part 3: Building A Music Community To Feel Less Alone

For the next installment of our finding community series, we're talking music! 

Writer's 'Round LA is a Nashville-style, singer-songwriter showcase and hang for artists and non-artists alike. Think a 60s or 70s era Laurel Canyon open mic night. Good vibes all around.  

Today, How To LA producer Megan Botel explores how people are creating strong connections and building community through groups like Writer's 'Round LA. 

Guests: Greg Gilman, singer, songwriter for Greg in Good Company and founder of Writer's 'Round LA; Kat Hamilton, curator for Writer's 'Round LA and singer-songwriter. 

Here are the musicians you heard in the episode, check them out! 

Leah Ashton, listen to her latest album here.

Erica Dawson (who has a show coming up). 

Dylan Kanner, who played the open mic. Check out his dreamy music. 

Greg In Good Company, check out their new single, "Home."

As we continue our series "Revival House," How to LA producer Victoria Alejandro is taking us to The New Beverly Cinema over in Fairfax, where movies are always on film.

The theater, owned by Quentin Tarantino, has a long history as complex as LA's. Join us as we explore the building's history and discover what makes it a special place to catch a double feature today. 

Guests: Theater and operations manager Jules McLean, projectionist Danielle Wakin, and film professor and theater historian Ross Melnick. 

Part 3: The Star Garden Topless Dive Bar reopens as a union strip club, but the fight doesn’t end there. What happens after the victory? LAist Producer Emma Alabaster has the story.

Here are some resources that informed our reporting:

• Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex  (In particular, the essay "White Supremacy in Organizing" by Domino Rey)

• Yes, A Stripper Podcast
• Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry by Siobhan Brooks
• Tits and Sass: Service Journalism by and for Sex Workers
  
  

Click here for more resources 

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Part 2: Speed Dating

Sick of dating apps? Ever try speed dating?

It's part of series from How to LA that examines feelings of loneliness in this town and how people are dealing with it by making new connections. Today we are going with romantic connections. In a city that's perceived as being very hard to date in, speed dating is gaining in popularity, especially among Gen Z.

How To LA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Megan Botel went to two speed dating events – one for straight folks and one for people who identify as LGBTQ  – to check out how this whole thing works and give you some tips!

They also speak to dating and relationship expert Damona Hoffman for some general dating advice.

Guests: Damona Hoffman, certified dating and relationship coach and author of "F The Fairytale"; Andrea Ramirez, founder of The Next Fun Thing (Love In LA); David Greenberg, chief operating officer of The Next Fun Thing (Love In LA)

How To LA is kicking off a new 10-part series we’re calling Revival House.  We are going to take you inside these spaces — the vintage spots and some newer ones — to explore their past and their present…and help you connect with some indie theaters in YOUR neighborhoods.

Our guide is How to LA producer Victoria Alejandro. our Los Feliz girly who loves to explore entertainment and the arts in LA. 

In this episode, Victoria is taking us to a midnight movie at the historic Nuart Theatre.

The Nuart Theatre's art deco marquee lights up Santa Monica and Sawtelle — so head west with us to a screening of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and discover cult cinema past and present. 

Guests: Austin Fresh and Nina Minnelli, performers in the Nuart's "Rocky Horror" shadow cast; longtime, retired Nuart film programmer Mark Valen; president of Landmark Theatres Kevin Holloway; and theater historian Ross Melnick.

Read her love letter to LA's indie theaters: https://laist.com/news/how-to-la/revival-house-movies-hollywood-essay

Part 2: When the Star Garden strippers go public with their union campaign, they get pushback from the club’s management and a group they didn’t anticipate - other strippers. LAist Producer Emma Alabaster reports.

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From LAist Studios, How to LA producer Megan Botel explores how people are dealing with feelings of loneliness – which have recently been declared a nationwide epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General – and how some Angelenos are dealing with it by creating communities and finding new connections in the city.
Through this series, we explore the depths of these feelings for people in all walks of life. And dig into how folks are easing these feelings by creating connections and all sorts of communities around the city.
To kick it off part one, we speak to loneliness expert Cat Moore to understand and, in many ways, re-define our understanding of how loneliness is experienced. We'll also cover specific ways to begin building community.
Guest: Cat Moore, Director of Belonging at the University of Southern California
If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out for help and check out these resources.

Part 1: In 2023, North Hollywood’s Star Garden reopened as the only unionized strip club in the U.S. LAist Producer Emma Alabaster tells us the behind-the-scenes story of the workplace conditions that pushed the dancers into action. 

CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes sensitive content about sexual assault.

For sexual assault and harassment support and resources, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673, which is a service of RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network).

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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Imperfect Paradise Host Antonia Cereijido speaks with philosopher and author of Elite Capture: How The Powerful Took over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) Olúfemi O. Táíwò. They examine the question: are identity politics over? It’s a question that was raised and we began to explore with Imperfect Paradise’s Nury & The Secret Tapes series. Antonia examines that question more deeply with Táíwò and presses him on why he believes identity politics have failed to deliver on their promise to create greater social equity and what he thinks is the more effective political alternative. Antonia’s conversation with Táíwò kicks off the first Imperfect Inquiry, a recurring Imperfect Paradise segment in which Antonia interviews thinkers, experts, and stakeholders on themes, issues, and questions that we examine on the show. 

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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Imperfect Paradise: Yoga's "Queen of Conspiracies": Part 4: RFK Jr. - The Presidential Candidate for Wellness Conspiracists?
A year after Yoga’s “Queen of Conspiracy Theories” first release, Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido explores a new, unexpected chapter in this story with Conspirituality podcast host Matthew Remski, Politico journalist David Freedlander, and LAist Correspondent Emily Guerin, who reported the series. This episode examines how the conspiracy theories, once relegated to a subset of yoga and wellness communities, are being brought into the political mainstream through the presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is campaigning on a mix of conspiracies from both the wellness world and the far right.

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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Part 3: Kundalini Yoga’s #MeToo Moment
In early 2020, just as fears about coronavirus are worsening, women begin accusing the founder of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, of sexual assault. Guru Jagat’s surprising response sets the stage for her radicalization during the pandemic.

CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of Sexual Assault

(Original Air Date: Jan. 18, 2023) 

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Part 2: Kundalini Royalty
Katie Griggs, a young woman from rural Maryland, discovers Kundalini yoga in her early 20s and goes all in. She transforms herself into Guru Jagat, a beloved and controversial yoga and wellness influencer in Los Angeles. In this episode, her friends, family, and coworkers grapple with how she changed in the final years of her life. And we explore the connections between yoga and conspiracies like QAnon.

(Original Air Date: Jan. 11, 2023) 

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Before her sudden death in 2021, Guru Jagat had become a famous Kundalini yoga teacher based in Los Angeles. But as the global pandemic grew, she started talking like a far-right coronavirus conspiracy theorist. What does her journey down the rabbit hole tell us about the appeal of conspiracies in the yoga and wellness community?

Yoga's "Queen of Conspiracy Theories" explores Guru Jagat’s rise to fame and follows along as she responds not just to the pandemic, but to a #metoo movement scandal that rocked the Kundalini yoga world in early 2020. It also explores themes of misinformation, how a healthy distrust in government and medicine can turn dark, the "relativism around truth" in the wellness industry and the influence of social media on radicalization.

The series first came out in December 2022. We're republishing it because it's one of our favorites and remains relevant. We've updated the series with a fourth episode.

In this first episode, Guru Jagat starts the pandemic with an understandable skepticism of official medical advice, but quickly grows to embrace an array of far-right conspiracy theories. 

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Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This week, Imperfect Paradise is featuring Part 3 & Part 4 of a four-part series from How To LA. 

HTLA host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby are taking a closer look at L.A. Mayor Karen Bass's "Inside Safe" program. They also recap some of the big questions we've asked throughout the series, and bring a new question to many of our guests from the previous episodes: "What should the relationship be between mutual aid volunteers and government agencies?"

If you want to learn more about mutual aid in Los Angeles, check out Evan's reporting on LAist.com

Or, if you want to learn about mutual aid groups in your neighborhood and maybe join them, check out these resources:

Los Angeles: 

• https://mutualaidla.org/get-involved/
• https://thepeoplesproject.la/get-aid/

National:

• https://www.mutualaidhub.org/

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains strong language and includes sensitive content about drugs, rape, suicide, and death.

For substance dependency and mental health support and resources, call SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or text 988.

Guests in Part 3: Nono, unhoused resident of an Inside Safe motel in Palms; Nick Gerda, LAist Unhoused Communities Reporter; LA Mayor Karen Bass; Councilmember Kevin de León of Council District 14; Councilmember Nithya Raman of Council District 4; Hawk, U.S. Veteran & Skid Row Resident

Guests in Part 4: Aria Cataño, founder of WaterDrop LA; Ndindi Kitonga, founder of Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA); Councilmember Nithya Raman of Council District 4; Benjamin Henwood, PhD, professor of social policy and health at the University of Southern California

Music in Part 3 episode composed by: Chris Schlarb, Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Geir Sundstøl, Meitei, Ricky Eat Acid, Woo

Music in Part 4 episode composed by: Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Ill Considered, Meitei, Nala Sinephro, Ricky Eat Acid

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Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

This week, Imperfect Paradise is featuring Part 1 & Part 2 of a four-part series from How To LA. 

Unsheltered life in L.A. can be dangerous and even deadly — and there has been a massive increase in the death rate for unhoused people in the county over the last few years.
There is work being done by the mayor’s office to get people off the street and into temporary housing. But the promise of services — whether in the form of housing, treatment for substance addiction, or mental health counseling — cannot help if people aren’t alive in 6 months, a year — or 5 — to receive them.
While they wait, many unhoused people have come to rely on mutual aid volunteers to cover their immediate needs, from overdose prevention to fresh drinking water.
In this mini-series from How To LA, host Brian De Los Santos and producer Evan Jacoby explore what these mutual aid groups actually do for our unhoused neighbors, and where these service gaps come from in the first place.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains strong language and includes sensitive content about drug overdose and death.

For substance dependency and mental health support and resources, call SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or text 988.

Guests in Part 1: Ndindi Kitonga, founder Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA); Jesse Goldshear, volunteer with PUMA and postdoc researcher studying public health at the University of California, San Diego; Aria Cataño, co-founder of WaterDrop LA; Sade Kammen, volunteer with WaterDrop LA and social worker in Skid Row

Guests in Part 2: LA Mayor Karen Bass; Councilmember Kevin de León of Council District 14; Councilmember Nithya Raman of Council District 4; Hawk, U.S. Veteran & Skid Row Resident; Sade Kammen, Volunteer With WaterDrop LA; Nick Gerda, LAist Unhoused Communities Reporter

Music in this episode composed by: Chris Schlarb, Dexter Thomas, Evan Jacoby, Floating Points, Geir Sundstøl, Ill Considered, Imaginary Softwoods, indiegamemusic.com, K. Leimer, Laurie Spiegal, Nala Sinephro, Laurie Spiegal, Meitei, Ricky Eat Acid, Woo

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Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Part 4: What’s the history behind the on and off-stage gender dynamics in Western magic? And what impact did the summer of 2020 have on the field of DEI? Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido explores these questions with magic historian Margaret Steele and Amber Johnson, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff of the Division for Equity and Inclusion at UC Berkeley.

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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Part 3:  Carly Usdin is at risk of getting kicked out of the Magic Castle. Plus, after 2020, the Magic Castle makes changes to address issues of inclusion, including setting up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee. LAist Senior Producer Natalie Chudnovsky explores how the Castle’s promises to do better pan out, several years later. 

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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Part 2: Once inside the iconic members-only Magic Castle, queer hobbyist magician Carly Usdin starts to become disillusioned with the club. LAist Senior Producer Natalie Chudnovsky dives into how this comes to a head in 2020, when the Magic Castle faces allegations of racism and sexism. 

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Part 1: When Carly Usdin moved to Los Angeles, they became obsessed with getting inside its iconic members-only club for magicians, the Magic Castle. LAist Senior Producer Natalie Chudnovsky tells the story.

For more, visit https://LAist.com/ImperfectParadise

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