🌱 Puente Hills Park Kickoff + Melrose’s Darkroom Becomes Vegan Lounge

Hello, everybody! Today, we commemorate the end of the American Revolution as we celebrate Ratification Day! It's Saturday in Los Angeles, and I'm back in your inbox to get you caught up on all the most important things happening locally, including news about...

• 🤔 A request to subdivide an Andrita Street lot
• 🆒 The creation of more resilience hubs
• 👟 The need for volunteers to conduct the homeless count

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🌧️ But first, today's weather:

Rain becoming heavier; cooler. High: 56 Low: 49.

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⛽ Three of the Cheapest Gas Stations in the City of Los Angeles

• Berri Brothers at 3860 E 3rd St., $3.87
• United Oil at 9815 National Blvd., $3.99
• World at 7201 S San Pedro St., $3.99

💐 Valentine’s Day Poll! 🥂
Pink hearts, boxes of chocolates, and greeting cards – reminders that Valentine’s Day is coming are everywhere. But responses to the holiday are mixed. What are your feelings about the occasion? Do you celebrate? So far, 50% take a bah-humbug approach, while 41.3% plan on a Valentine’s Day with all the trimmings. 2.2% plan on celebrating Galentine’s Day, and 6.5% focus on Singles Awareness Day.

📰 Here are the top stories today in Los Angeles:

1. Hilda Solis, Los Angeles County Supervisor for the 1st district, announced on Thursday that the “Puente Hills Landfill Park is finally coming to fruition.” In about four years, there’ll be landscaping, multi-use trails, scenic overlooks and programming in the park. “I’m looking forward to seeing families in Hacienda Heights and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley region finally get to benefit from this investment after decades of environmental injustices,” she said. (Hilda Solis)
2. The lot at 3328 North Andrita Street sold four months ago. It’s a 9,601 square foot lot featuring a “front house (that) is a fixer home, and in the rear is a tear down two-bedroom unit.” On Thursday, we learned that a plan check engineer has been assigned to determine if the property can be turned into four lots “with new single family residences with attached two-car garages.” (Redfin, Department of Building and Safety)
3. The city plans to “increase the number of so-called resilience hubs, which provide shade, cooling, internet and transportation services in buildings that are energized with renewables and backed up with battery energy storage.” We learned on Thursday that these hubs would join the current network of cooling centers, which already include the libraries. As noted by the L.A. Chief Heat Officer, “extreme heat is LA’s primary climate hazard.” At this point, insiders expect plans to be finalized “in the spring, making $100 million in grant funding available to applicants later this year” (Spectrum News1)
4. Do you want to volunteer for the 2023 Homeless Count? It will run from January 21 to 26 and offers three to four-hour shifts. In L.A., this means being out and about on January 25 and 26. “The massive undertaking will require thousands of volunteers split into 8,000 shifts throughout the count. Volunteers will be split into groups of four to tally the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles, and make-shift shelters they see in their assigned census tract,” the L.A. Homeless Services Authority explained. (Patch)
5. The Darkroom at 7302 Melrose Avenue is turning from a burger bar to a lounge named APB, which stands for All Plant Based. The anticipated opening date is sometime in February, and you can look forward to “vegan-certified spirits and a menu of vegan sushi.” Another innovation is “an after-work mocktail menu, dubbed ‘zero hour,’ for happy hour vibes without the booze.” (L.A. Eater)

📆 Today in Los Angeles:

• Tea Tasting with TeaWaves at the Miraleste Library (10 AM)
• Christopher Murphy's "Tangle" displays at the Billis Williams Gallery (10 AM)
• Yoga at the California African American Museum (11 AM)
• Jumpin Thumpin at the Melrose House (9 PM)
• Nori Reed works out new material at The Yard Theater (9 PM)

🖊️ From my notebook:

• "Planning a hike? Make sure to check the weather beforehand and to stay away from streams, rivers and channels during and after rain—they can flood suddenly and without warning." (County of Los Angeles via Instagram)
• "The City of Los Angeles is now accepting applications for Personnel Research Analyst! Salary: $80,367 - $138,852 - Closes: January 26, 2023 - Visit https://governmentjobs.com/car... for more information on this opportunity!" (City of Los Angeles - Jobs via Instagram)
• "The City of Los Angeles is now accepting applications for Load Dispatcher! Salary: $119,141 - $183,597 - Closes: January 26, 2023 - Visit https://governmentjobs.com/car... for more information!" (City of Los Angeles - Jobs via Instagram)
• "Los Angeles Unified families: In observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will be no school on Monday, Jan. 16. School will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 17." (Los Angeles Unified via Instagram)
• "We have another fairly large, long period of WNW filling in throughout LA County most of the day creating a high surf advisory through 10PM Saturday according to NWS Los Angeles. Surf is expected to be in the 6-12 foot range." (Los Angeles County Fire Department, Lifeguard Division via Facebook)

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That's it for today! See you all tomorrow for another update.

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Los Angeles Daily? Contact me at losangeles@patch.com