/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71175006/1229757901.0.jpg)
On Friday, July 29, Los Angeles County officials anticipate a return to requiring face coverings at indoor restaurants, bars, cafes, and businesses. With infection rates and hospitalization levels steadily increasing (the Los Angeles Times has even noted an alarming outbreak at Los Angeles International Airport), the mandate appears inevitable, though the city of Beverly Hills and a county supervisor are not in support of it.
ABC-7 reports the Beverly Hills City Council decided yesterday that officials will not enforce the mandate, if and when it is reinstituted. Though Beverly Hills resides within Los Angeles County, the council and mayor Lili Bosse claim it will not use resources to follow the health order. Supervisor Kathryn Barger also chimed in, saying the mandate should be used in health care and on public transit, but believes the rule isn’t effective unless surrounding counties are in alignment with the mandate. This wave of omicron subvariants has already pushed Los Angeles County into the high community level as of July 14.
LA County is four days away from potentially reinstating its mask mandate and tonight @CityofBevHills says it won’t enforce it.
— Christiane Cordero (@abc7christiane) July 26, 2022
Mayor Lili Bosse: “We are not where we were in 2020, and now we need to move forward as a community and be part of the solution.”@ABC7
A fried chicken crawl in a rooster car
The Los Angeles Times’ Jenn Harris took a fun drive with Hotville Chicken owner Kim Prince in the backseat of a 1973 Oldsmobile 98 topped with a rooster head. As the two rode around LA, they visited 10 female-run restaurants that serve fried chicken in one day, including Gritz N Wafflez and Annie’s Soul Delicious.
A Skid Row market and community safe space
Los Angeles Times columnist Frank Shyong spent time at Skid Row’s ‘Everything Store,” documenting a very Los Angeles story about community, compassion, and relationships between Koreans and LA’s Black community.
Two longstanding restaurants close shop
One of Southern California’s oldest spots, Watson’s Soda Fountain and Cafe, will soon close. Watson’s opened in Old Towne Orange in 1915, and as of next month will become a new Mexican restaurant called Hector’s on the Circle, writes ABC-7.
Slightly further north of Orange, Long Beach’s Buona Gente also closed permanently. The old-school Italian joint opened in 1988, following a string of similar restaurants that recently closed, writes Longbeachize.
Silver Lake’s Needle closing permanently
Silver Lake’s modern Hong Kong corner restaurant Needle announced its final week of service via Instagram.