The California Report Magazine

Encore - LA’s Former Poet Laureate on Storytelling and Survival

Luis Rodriguez credits reading and writing for keeping him resilient his whole life. He’s best known for his 1993 memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., which chronicles how he joined a gang at age 11, found himself homeless and using heroin, and wound up in the juvenile justice system. He went on to write 17 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and he served as poet laureate of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2017. As part of our series on resilience, host Sasha Khokha sits down with Luis Rodriguez to talk about his life and work, and what advice he has for getting through tumultuous times. This episode first aired on July 25, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reena Esmail's Sitars and Symphonies; Exploring Point Richmond's Fairy Houses

This holiday week, we’re bringing you two joyful stories from 2025.  Reena Esmail’s childhood in Los Angeles had two soundtracks: the Western classical music her parents loved, and the old, scratchy Bollywood tapes her paternal grandparents would play over and over. Those multicultural influences shaped what would become the driving question of her work: how do you invite people from different cultures onto the same stage to build a relationship and create music together? Composing is how Esmail has made her mark — by putting Western classical musicians in conversation with Indian artists, building bridges between violinists and sitar players, tabla drummers and western singers. She has also composed with unhoused singers from Skid Row, and her music has been performed by major orchestras and choirs all over the world. In May, as part of our series on California composers, host Sasha Khokha brought us this profile of Esmail. Artists are often the people in our communities who bring people together in ways that are creative, spontaneous, and surprising. That’s true in the East Bay neighborhood of Point Richmond, where a local artist has created dozens of miniature fairy houses brimming with the personality of their imaginary inhabitants. In this story from April, Pauline Bartolone set out to explore these hidden treasures, and meet the person who created them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Chu’s, the Family-Owned Chinese Restaurant that Grew Up With Silicon Valley

Have you been to every one of California’s 58 counties? Reporter Lisa Morehouse has. For more than ten years, she’s travelled around the state, profiling people at the heart of food and agriculture for her series California Foodways. On this week’s show, for Lisa’s 58th and final story, she takes us to her home county, Santa Clara, to visit a local Chinese restaurant. Over its 55-year history, Chef Chu’s has witnessed fast-paced change in Silicon Valley, and has been visited by luminaries in entertainment, politics and business. Both the family behind it, and the community it feeds, can’t imagine life without this beloved institution.  And it's crunch time for the crews building floats for Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade. But out of the dozens of massive, ornate, flower-covered floats, only five are built by volunteers from the communities sponsoring them. One of those communities is the foothill town of Sierra Madre, just north of Pasadena. It’s been building floats for 108 years, and 2026’s theme is special: it celebrates the first responders that helped protect Sierra Madre from the deadly Eaton Fire. Reporter Steven Cuevas gives us a sneak peek as the group races to meet their New Year's Day deadline.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sikh Community's Growing Concern Over ICE; Richmond's 'Minister of Food'

San Jose is home to the largest Sikh temple – or gurdwara – in the U.S., and for decades, it has been a place of sanctuary and refuge. But lately, another feeling has settled in for worshippers: fear.ICE enforcement has ramped up over the past year, with some of the sharpest increases in California. And Sikhs, many who are from the Indian state of Punjab, worry their sacred spaces could become targets. South Asians aren’t always the first group that comes to mind when we talk about undocumented communities. But according to U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement, 35,000 people from India were apprehended at the border this year.  Journalist Tanay Gokhale has been out reporting in the South Asian community, and joins host Sasha Khokha to talk about what he’s been hearing from Sikh worshippers at gurdwaras and those who’ve been detained by ICE.  And we visit CJ's BBQ and Fish in Richmond. Owner Charles Evans calls himself a "World War II baby." He was born in Richmond to parents who moved to the Bay Area from Arkansas, part of a migration of African Americans west to work in the shipyards. His dad created BBQ pits out of washing machines and refrigerators in their backyard. His mom insisted all of her kids learn to cook, clean, and sew. After driving AC Transit buses for many years, Charles opened CJ's BBQ and Fish 30 years ago, putting his own born-in-California spin on the barbeque and soul food recipes his parents taught him. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse discovered CJ’s is not just a celebration of Richmond’s Black history and Southern roots, but also a place of refuge and delicious comfort for everybody. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When We All Get To Heaven: New Podcast Takes Us Into a Queer Church During the AIDS Crisis

This year, for the first time since it was established in 1988, the U.S. did not commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1. That’s despite more than 630,000 deaths from HIV-related illnesses in 2024, according to the World Health Organization. This week, we’re traveling back in time, to visit a queer church that provided refuge and support to San Francisco’s gay community during the height of the AIDS crisis. We’re bringing you the first episode of a new podcast called We All Get To Heaven, which draws on sound from 1,200 cassette tapes – recordings of songs, memorials, and sermons from the Metropolitan Community Church.  It brings to life voices of loss, and of faith, of people who refused to abandon their spirituality or their queerness, and who built a community that could hold both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices