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What inspired you to start teaching?

What do you hope to achieve by the end of the school year?

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1. Do research on the topic of your story

1. It can help you come up with a more creative/specific story angle.

2. Identify sources

2. Prepare your interview questions

1. Ask open-ended questions instead of yes/no questions.

3. Identify and Contact your sources

1. Send an email to see if they are interested in participating.

2. Don't interview over email.

4. Compile Your Equipment

1. You need to ask permission to record.

2. Bring extra pens.

5. Set the Tone for your Interview

1. Start with easy questions, then gradually ease into the interview ones.

6. Wrap It Up

1. Once you asked every prepared question, ask if there's anything else they'd like to add.

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I would ask teachers or school administrators these questions.

1. Why is the enrollment for this school so low?

1. Follow up: Do you believe the decline of media literacy is related to low enrollment in a journalism school?

2. How would the phone policy affect your teaching?

3. What ways would you use AI that doesn't go against the honesty policy?

4. How much do you know about the senior contract?

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This article is bad news, since it is about the Ukraine/Russian war.

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Ukraine’s Incursion Into Russia Reveals a Dramatic Shift

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The offensive was developed in secret, devised to divert Russian troops away from the front lines in Ukraine and seize territory to use as a bargaining chip.

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A student journalist has the responsibility to always have integrity when it comes to their writing, and be on track of deadlines. When it comes to interviews, they must be respectful of the person they're interviewing, even if they dislike what their answers are.

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This is a first week of school article by the Van Nuys HS Mirror. Our publication could do something like this every year, to welcome new students and new teachers to our school.

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A 4.4 earthquake centered near Pasadena struck on the first day of school, causing the school to evacuate.

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On the official LAUSD website, the only people who are addressing the issue of phones in classes are board members and the superintendent. Perspectives from teachers, principals, parents and students are missing.

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1. The presidential candidate is Kamala Harris, and the vice president candidate is Tim Walz for the Democratic party. The presidential candidate is Donald Trump, and the vice president candidate is J.D. Vance for the Republican party.

2. Israeli

3. Hamas

4. Trump

5. Taylor Swift

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1. September 10

2. Brazil

3. Arizona

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This article is weird news, since most of it contains information about how these "Disney adults" have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get their Club 33 subscription back. This was weird news to me because this isn't something that you see on news often, mostly on social media.

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As members of Disney's exclusive Club 33, Scott and Diana Anderson visited the two Anaheim theme parks 60 to 80 times a year.

The private club, with its wood-paneled trophy room and other amenities, was the center of their social life. They brought friends, acquaintances and business associates. As a couple, they went on the Haunted Mansion ride nearly 1,000 times.

For the record:

A previous version of this article referred to Disneyland's Haunted House ride. It is the Haunted Mansion ride.

The club's yearly dues were $31,500, and with travel and hotel expenses, the Arizona couple were spending close to $125,000 annually to get their Disney fix.

All of it came to an end in 2017, when Disney revoked their membership in the club after an allegation that Scott Anderson was drunk in public. Diana Anderson, a hard-core Disney aficionado since childhood, called it "a stab in the heart."

The Andersons, both 60, have spent the years since then - and hundreds of thousands of dollars - trying to get back into Club 33. On Tuesday, an Orange County jury rejected their claim that Disney ousted them improperly.

It had taken the Andersons more than a decade to gain membership in Club 33, which includes access to exclusive lounges, dining, VIP tours and special events.

They finally made it off the waiting list in 2012.

"They finally became part of this special place," their attorney, Sean Macias, told jurors in the civil trial. "That was their spot. That was their happy place, their home."

At about 9:50 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2017, security guards found Scott Anderson near the entrance of California Adventure displaying signs of what they took to be intoxication, including slurred speech and trouble standing, according to trial testimony.

"His breath smelled of alcohol quite a lot," one of the guards said in court.

The club swiftly ousted them.

Macias said Scott Anderson had two to three drinks and that Disney did an incomplete and slipshod investigation, with no Breathalyzer or blood tests and no videos of Anderson's behavior that night.

"They have not established that Mr. Anderson was intoxicated," Macias said. Instead, he argued, Anderson's symptoms were the result of a vestibular migraine, which can be triggered by red wine - among the drinks Anderson consumed that day.

In effect, Macias argued, Disney was punishing Anderson for a medical condition.

A medical expert testified for the Andersons that the symptoms of a vestibular migraine could be confused with intoxication, with a neurologist hired by Disney countering that Anderson's behavior was more likely the consequence of drinking.

The September 2017 incident was not the first time the Andersons had run afoul of Club 33 management. The year before, Diana had been briefly suspended for "using some salty language ... a couple F-words," as Macias put it.

Macias told jurors that the Andersons filed suit against Disney to vindicate their reputation. "He doesn't want to be known as a drunk," Macias said. "They love that place. They took the fight to Disney because it's his name."

In their complaint, the Andersons asked to be reinstated to Club 33, with a $10,500 reimbursement for four months of unused membership in 2017. They also wanted $231,000 - roughly equal to seven years in the club.

Jonathan E. Phillips, an attorney representing Disney, said Club 33 membership guidelines forbid public intoxication.

"They did not want to pay the consequences of failing to follow the rules," Phillips told jurors, adding that Scott's conduct "cost his wife of 40 years her lifetime dream of having access to Club 33."

The security guards, who no longer work for Disney, were more credible than the Andersons, Phillips said - "What possible reason did the security guards have to lie to you?"

In their original complaint, the Andersons alleged that Club 33 targeted them for retaliation because they had complained about a club member harassing other members and staff. But Superior Court Judge Deborah Servino curtailed that line of evidence, which the Andersons saw as the death knell for their case.

"My wife and I are both dead set that this is an absolute wrong, and we will fight this to the death," Scott, who owns a golf course in Gilbert, Ariz., told The Times. "There is no way we're letting this go."

He said the lawsuit has cost him about $400,000.

"My retirement is set back five years," he said. "I'm paying through the nose. Every day, I'm seeing another bill, and I'm about to keel over." He said he will appeal.

His wife said she wants to keep fighting.

"I'll sell a kidney," Diana said. "I don't care."

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Disney-obsessed couple lose lawsuit to get back into exclusive Club 33

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The club's yearly dues were $31,500, and with travel and hotel expenses, the Arizona couple was spending close to $125,000 annually. Disney revoked their membership after an allegation that Scott Anderson was drunk in public.

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This past week, the weather has been so scorching whenever I walk outside I feel as if I just opened an oven door. If you don't wear sunscreen, chances are your skin is going to get burnt and start itching. Although I was in Oak Glen for the weekend where it was raining, once I was on the way back I could instantly feel the difference in temperature. Rancho Cucamonga's wind was both humid and full of ashes. Even if you were in the shade away from the sun, you would have to keep your eyes shut before rocks blinded your vision.

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1. Taylor Swift

2. The father of the shooter

3. James Earl Jones

4. The immigrants are eating the cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio...

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What was a memory you had of your sons growing up?

What did it feel like for you once they got their jobs?

How did you feel on the last day you had with them?

What losses did you suffer during 9/11?

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Blaring music drowned out the barking, but there was no masking the neglect inside the sweltering Riverside County garage.

This lead grabbed my attention immediately since the title of the article was about an underground puppy market. I really liked how right away, you can already get an idea of what the article is going to be about because of how descriptive it was.

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I haven't been able to do much, since I've mostly been working on the article about the first weeks of school. I had photos that I took of the assemblies. I could've done a lot better, but I was surprised that Satenik liked my work since Jenny has told me a lot about how strict she is. I hope I can work on a lot more articles and take more photo opportunities.

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1. Springfield

2. A Florida golf club

3. P. Diddy

4. Tiktok ban & Age limits on Instagram

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I'm at an 8 today, since I'm having a relatively okay day but I'm slightly nervous for the protest today.

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1. Lebanon

2. Assassination

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I couldn't come up with one 😞

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1. Lebanon

2. Hurricane Helene

3. Tim Walz & JD Vance

4. Jimmy Carter

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It started off as a normal day for Fiddler Pig, until a vagrant wolf blew his house away into the wind.

"How was I supposed to know it was a wolf?" Pig said. "I should've paid more attention to what my mother told me and my brothers."

Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Pig were all attacked in their houses on May 27. A homeless wolf knocked on each of their doors while pretending to be a sheep, looking for an easy meal. The first two pig brothers had their houses blown away by the wolf and were attacked shortly before police showed up.

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1. Milton

2. Helene

3. November 5

4. Trump

5. Indigenous Day & Columbus Day

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1. How long have you been working at Daniel Pearl?

2. What was the atmosphere like back when the school was part of Birmingham?

1. How did it compare to now?

3. Are you looking forward to Portola? What are you looking forward to/dreading?

4. If you could say one thing to your students at Daniel Pearl, what would it be?

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1. Justin Trudeau

2. Kamala Harris

3. Lilly Ledbetter

4. JD Vance

5. Sean Combs

6. Donald Trump

7. Liz Cheney

8. Tim Walz

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I labeled this weird news, since the title made it sound like it was a world-level threat that needed all hands on deck or something.

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La Jolla's coastline is being conquered.

Its colonizers have made their home in the seaside neighborhood's rocks, terraces, beaches and caves. They make their presence known by barking and wailing all day and night. And they absolutely reek.

They're sea lions - and they're here to stay.

Unlike harbor seals, which have occupied La Jolla's Children's Pool Beach since the 1990s, the sea lions are a newer phenomenon. Sightings stretch back to the early 2000s, but the creatures started pupping - having babies - around Point La Jolla roughly a decade ago.

Since then, a battle has been brewing over to whom La Jolla's beaches belong. Some longtime locals want the sea lions out, claiming that California's coast belongs to its people. Activists want increased protection for the sea lions, many of which have died due to human contact.

And over the last few years, a new group has entered the conversation: the rest of the world. As sea lion videos go viral - some cuddly-looking, some giant and combative - busloads of tourists haul in to La Jolla every week, and thousands of others blast their thoughts on social media.

The sea lion presence is a sign of nature recovering - once overhunted mammals growing so large in number that they're expanding into a habitat that humans have ruled for more than a century.

Experts say La Jolla is just the first beachhead in a larger campaign to claim, or maybe reclaim, territory. As overcrowding and water temperatures disrupt the sea lion population, they say new colonies will form up and down the coast - whether locals want them there or not.

The blubbery beasts have altered La Jolla's vibe, from a place of placid beach nooks to something feeling a bit more feral and briny, akin to the rugged North Coast. A day on the sand now turns into a timorous dance with a wild animal that might weigh 500 pounds. And sea lions, even the cute smaller ones, pack a brutal bite.

But the first provocation from the neighborhood's new residents hits you well before you step foot on the shore: the stench.

"This whole place is like a giant toilet," said Emily Hanson, 9, holding her shirt over her nose while she spoke.

Hanson and her family drove in from Escondido for a day at the beach, but decided to leave early after Emily got a headache from the inescapable odor that blanketed the area.

Besides their natural musk, the sea lions, along with the pelicans and cormorants that roost in the area, poop constantly, and the sun bakes the feces into the rocks and bluffs to the point where you can smell it from blocks away. Some of the cliffs are white with bird guano.

Brockton Villa, a popular brunch and dinner spot, is one of the closest restaurants to the rookery. Its owner, Megan Heine, said they experience the animals with all senses.

"They draw thousands of visitors to the area, which is great for business," she said. "The smell is not evident inside of our restaurant, but it's quite pungent at the street level and probably is a deterrent for folks to enjoy the area on some days."

The city of San Diego tried to fight the smell by spraying microbial foam years ago, but the acrid odor returned.

A group called Citizens for Odor Nuisance Abatement sued the city in 2013, claiming that the smell hurt local businesses.

The suit alleged that Floyd Mayweather and his entourage booked $5,000 worth of rooms at the La Valencia Hotel, which overlooks La Jolla Cove, but left after 15 minutes because of the smell. A judge dismissed the suit.

There's also the sound: guttural grunts and yelps, a cacophony of barks, screeches, wails and farts.

"The sea lions don't sleep lol. We thought they would stop barking at one point but they literally bark all night long," reads a Google review of La Jolla Cove Hotel, which sits just across the street from the colony.
An unlikely colony
From a geographical standpoint, La Jolla seems like a natural landing place for a sea lion colony. The coastline, especially at the pinniped hotspots of Point La Jolla and La Jolla Cove, has gentle waters and sandy beaches with boulders and rock terraces to snooze upon. The surrounding cliffs offer shelter.

Females, especially pregnant ones, don't have much tolerance for disturbances. Unfortunately, La Jolla, even with the cliffs, offers disturbances aplenty.

While aquariums and zoos separate the humans and animals with cages and barriers, La Jolla's coast now feels more like a safari, with the two species coexisting, lounging side by side in the sand and swimming together in the waves.

On a foggy Tuesday in October, the creatures put on a constant show: a pair of pups do flips in the water as two females joust over who gets to lie on the biggest rock on the beach. Meanwhile, the alpha male makes his rounds, flopping up and down the cove like a massive inchworm.

Federal law says to stay at least 50 yards away from sea lions, but since the beaches in La Jolla Cove are so small, experts advise a distance of 20 to 30 feet, a guideline that goes largely unheeded.

Someone leans in for a selfie, and others follow. Two staircases descend to the beach, and people crowd onto the steps for a closer view.

A local woman gets in for a swim, and four men in matching American flag button-downs watch in awe as the sea lions swim around her. They start peppering her with questions.

"Is anyone allowed to get in the water?"

"Yeah," she replies.

"How close are we allowed to get to them?"

"Ask the lifeguard," she says.

The lifeguard sits in a tower behind gates and tinted glass, heard only by loudspeaker when he shoes a kayaker away from the swim-only zone near the shore.

"Screw it, let's do it," one of the men says.

One chugs a Budweiser, and a minute later, they're running into the water for a closer encounter with the sea lions.

It's a scene that plays out in different ways throughout the afternoon.

At one point, a sea lion pup, mere months old, awkwardly climbs onto the ledge at the bottom of the stairs and lays down in the sun, taking a respite from the waves. Tourists swarm, pushing phones and cameras inches away from the pup's face.

Carla Pennington, a volunteer with the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club Seal Society, swoops in and stands guard, warning onlookers not to get too close.

"The pups love the stairs, so I just try to make sure everyone keeps their distance," Pennington said. "This is their home, but obviously we like to come here too. So we have to coexist."

This summer was a particularly deadly one for the baby sea lions in the cove. Pups are born from late May to early July, and most mothers in the colony give birth over in Point La Jolla, a rocky area that's completely closed to the public. Four of 44 pups died - a typical mortality rate, said Robyn Davidoff, chair of the Sierra Club Seal Society. But the cove is less protected and more open to the public. Of the nine pups born there, seven died.

"Sea lion babies are like our own babies," Davidoff said. "They're extremely vulnerable at birth. They nurse for around a year, they can't swim at birth, and they can't eat solid food for about four months."

Davidoff said the pups died from unintentional human interference: people standing at the tideline and blocking access to land, causing pups to drown, or separating pups when their mothers are out getting food by crowding around them, forming unintentional blockades.

"This is an amazing place, but people are killing pups by loving them to death," she said.
La Jolla's new identity
La Jolla's sea lions - around 250 to 350, according to the Sierra Club Seal Society - make up around only 0.1% of the West Coast's total population. But their local effect has been huge.

Tourism around the cove has shot up, with visitors staying at hotels touting sea lion views and spending money at local restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques. Specialized tours offer snorkelers and kayakers close-up views of the marine mammals. Gift shops sell sea lion stuffed animals and keychains. A weekend at an Airbnb near the rookery costs $800 up to $3,000.

"I am very concerned that La Jolla is being run for tourists at the locals' expense," reader Melinda Merryweather wrote in the San Diego Union-Tribute in August.

For homeowners, the sea lions have become either a welcome amenity or a reason to skip town.

Jay Becker, a real estate agent in La Jolla, said he has had clients move out of the neighborhood because of the foul scent.

"People will have units with outdoor patios or open windows and they don't want to deal with the smell anymore," Becker said.

However, he suspected that the smell-sensitive crowd is in the minority, saying that the sea lions probably have helped the housing market more than hurt it.

"Many of the properties I sell are second or third homes for people, and the novelty of the sea lions exceeds the negativity of the smell," he said.

Becker is listing an oceanfront condo overlooking the coast for $6.5 million. He said the current owners bought the unit partly because of the sea lions, since their seven grandchildren would like them. The unit's listing description touts their presence as a positive.

"Dolphins and whales playing in the surf, baby sea lions cuddling with their parents ... in direct view," it reads.

Other locals are less enthused.

"They're a plague," said Jason Sanders, a homeowner. "This is a beach town, not a zoo."

Sanders said the smell, the noise and the droves of tourists have altered the community's identity.

"I'd like to see the city step in and find a way to safely send the sea lions elsewhere," he said.

Bob Evans serves as president of La Jolla Parks and Beaches, a nonprofit group that has advocated for the city to remove sea lions from La Jolla Cove.

"Our concern is a sea lion takeover," Evans said. "If it continues, there will be nothing else the city can do but close the beach down entirely."

"Everyone on social media wants to close our beaches down, and people have called me a vile human for wanting to preserve beach access for people," he said. "It's La Jolla vs. the rest of the world, and the rest of the world doesn't understand what our parks and beaches mean to us."

In 2023, the San Diego City Council voted to close public access to Point La Jolla year-round. But as more of the coastline closes, officials and wildlife advocates fear an uptick in violence against the animals.

Last September, a sea lion was found with a knife stabbed into its snout in Oxnard. In August, a sea lion was shot dead on Bolsa Chica State Beach.
Population explosion
Once hunted by Native Americans on the Channel Islands, then killed for bounty by fisherman, sea lions have endured a hazardous history on the West Coast. Their comeback coincided with the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a federal law enacted in 1972 making it illegal to hunt, kill or harass certain marine mammals.

The West Coast sea lion population has soared ever since, rising from about 90,000 in the 1970s to about 250,000 today. The vast majority of them breed on two of the Channel Islands: San Nicolas and San Miguel.

But even those, which are largely uninhabited, have run out of space to hold all of California's sea lions, said Sharon Melin, the lead sea lion biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Melin has spent her entire career tracking California sea lions and said there are two reasons why the creatures are leaving their longtime home of the Channel Islands: food and space.

If there's not enough food for all the mothers to feed their pups, some will set out to find a new place. And once the pups are born, mothers spend a day or two connecting with them, learning their scent so they know whom to return to after they spend a few days fishing at sea.

To make that connection, they need isolated space alone with their pup. If it's too crowded, they'll find someplace else.

As the Channel Islands hit carrying capacity, sea lions have formed small colonies up and down the coast: Año Nuevo State Park, the Farallon Islands and the Big Sur coast. Typically, these are isolated areas free of human contact.

That's why the La Jolla colony is such a head-scratcher.

Melin suggested the move may have been because of El Niño events and heat waves that warmed waters from 2012 to 2016 or so, shrinking their prey base of fish. The places they choose must have enough space for females to spread out with their pups, but also be close enough to food sources so that new mothers can quickly load up on fish and get back to their hungry pups.

Whether La Jolla wants them there or not, it may be too late. Melin said once a breeding colony is established, it's difficult to stop it.

She said other coastal communities need to be prepared. If a city wants the added boost of tourism, they can learn from San Francisco, which removed boats from Pier 39 and dedicated the slips to sea lions after a group started hauling out there in 1989.

But if cities don't want the animals and the smells and sounds that come with them, they'll need to be proactive in stopping it. Legal deterrents include fences, rails, lights and noisemakers.

"As habitats change and the climate changes, sea lions will be moving," Melin said. "They'll be looking for places to rear their young, and they'll show up in places we've never thought about."

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Sea lions are driving La Jolla into a frenzy. Your beach town might be next

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La Jolla's thriving sea lion population is a delight for tourists and a headache for some locals. Other coastal communities may face a similar problem soon.

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Most of the work I've done for this class has been about the displacements and what happened because of it. I'm especially proud of the displacement and protest articles, since those were the ones that won Best of SNO. I had fun working on the schedule article, although it hasn't gone up yet. I could've done better on the celebrity endorsement one and the Spirit Day photos. I'm really looking forward to working on the October podcast with my best friend Jenny, and getting new articles to work on since I'm not actively doing anything right now.

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Sophomores Valerie Sanchez and Linus Bossardt discuss songs related to the five freedoms of the First amendment for Constitution Day on Sept. 17.

"It was fun coming up with songs," Sanchez said. "Even though Linus kept rejecting every idea I had."

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1. Always identify people left to right. Include grade levels or titles: Freshman Maria Sanchez

2. Captions should include the 5Ws and How

3. They should not just state the obvious of what's in the photo. Avoid using POSE

Formula for writing a well-written caption

1. First sentence: Written in the present tense. Avoid -ing and avoid using HAD plus another verb

2. Second sentence: More context. This is written in past tense

3. Ideally a quote, use attribution

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Sophomores Kaiis Pratt and Haskell Fay play a game of basketball during their period 1 P.E. class today. Students were given the option for free play instead of their current unit.

"It was fun playing with everyone," Fay said. "I wish Mr Fernandez would let us do this more."

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1. Anthony Blinken

2. McDonalds

3. Dodgers & Yankees

4. Fernando Valenzuela

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Senior Lilli Miscione creates posters for the Homecoming Dance during her period 4 Leadership class on Oct. 16. The Homecoming dance took place inside the MPR on Oct. 18.

"I'm glad Homecoming was finally here," Miscione said. "Since it was postponed, people looked forward to it this time."

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Original: Quincy Jones, legendary composer who shaped Michael Jackson's solo career, has died

Inspired: Jenny Marquez, online editor in chief of the Pearl Post, single handedly delays an American Airlines plane

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1. Elon Musk

2. Haiti

3. The 10 commandments

4. Gaza

5. Bitcoin

6. Beyonce

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1. Yearbook idea: What students are up to during Thanksgiving break

2. Holiday drinks videos

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B is the best for AP style

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Original headline: The Civic Center mall is nearly dead. The city is looking to revitalize it

Inspired headline: The Pearl Post publication is nearly abandoned. The staff is looking to bring it back

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When James Sears came back to work in the Los Angeles Mall in the fall of 2022, he hoped he wouldn't be alone. He had been away from his shoe repair shop for a year and a half.

The mall, across the street from City Hall in the Civic Center, was a wasteland, its walkways empty, the food court and most restaurants locked or boarded up. Except for some palms and other trees, the landscaping had been reduced to dirt. The fountains were dry.

Sears, 81, tried to be patient. He dusted the counters and chairs. He cleaned up where there had been a water leak, and he waited. But no one came. One day, he posted a handwritten note and slid shut the steel gate.
CLOSED Will reopen when people start to wear shoes.
Sears' decision reflects a truth about downtown Los Angeles that is forcing small businesses, landlords and property managers to think hard about the future. With buildings standing empty and shops still boarded up, the traditional use of space is no longer viable.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Mall is unique in both design and ownership. It is located below street level - two sunken courtyards connected by a broad tunnel under Temple Street - and is owned and managed by the city of Los Angeles, which once counted on the income from tenants like Sears.

Sears has stopped paying rent, and while the city has forgiven what he owes, its Department of Water and Power has not. His past-due for utilities is about $4,000, he said.

Absent any activity, his shop stands frozen in time: a commendation from the city and a photograph of his father on the wall, racks of shoe polish, laces and an empty gumball machine.

The city is "welcome to do what they want with it," he said. "But what are they going to do?"

The city is wrestling with that question, which is relevant not just for Sears' shop but also for the mall and the Civic Center, roughly 12 blocks around City Hall with courts, police and sheriff's headquarters and city transportation, records and licensing agencies.

"The pandemic has changed many things related to work in the city of Los Angeles," said Blair Miller, a principal project coordinator with the Los Angeles Department of Economic and Workforce Development. "It may continue to alter how we work going forward, compared to before the pandemic."

'Nothing has changed but its obsolescence. It's still functional, just not popular.'

Miller also leads her department's real estate group, whose responsibilities include evaluating surplus and underutilized properties - at the request of the City Council - that have potential for redevelopment.

Once bustling with city employees - and residents needing city services - these few blocks lying in the shadow of City Hall have been made desolate by telecommuting options and online access to municipal departments. The customers who supported the mall have largely disappeared, and few believe they will ever come back.

"Used to be that you couldn't walk out there without bumping into somebody," said Sears. "It was that crowded."

Sears' father, David, opened the shop in 1987 for his son to run. It was the family's second shoe repair shop. The city charged about $800 in rent, and during a good year, Sears earned up to $90,000 before expenses.

Sears remembers when mayors - Tom Bradley, and later Richard Riordan - passed by and when then-LAPD Chief William Bratton needed a repair. Business first started to drop off when longtime customers retired and no one took their place, he said.

Now, since the COVID-19 pandemic - with a decreased need for office space and an increased need for housing - the city may want to start to think about "repurposing the Los Angeles Mall and surrounding properties ... whether they could be reused in a way that revitalizes the whole area," Miller said.

Proposals for the redevelopment of the Civic Center go back almost 30 years, but the 2013 closing of Parker Center, the former LAPD headquarters, led to an ambitious plan that called for new offices, apartments and retail space linked by a series of paseos east into Little Tokyo.

The plan, unveiled in 2017, was shelved just before the pandemic, a fortuitous turn that is now allowing planners to adapt to a radically different city.

A new report and analysis is expected to be presented to the City Council early next year, said Miller.

Opened in 1975, the mall was the Civic Center's crown jewel.

Almost two blocks long, between First Street and the 101 Freeway, the mall took $70 million and 17 years to complete, part of an ambitious overhaul that included the construction of the 18-story City Hall East.

Critics argued at the time that a municipally owned and operated shopping mall would never work, but the Los Angeles Mall opened with a nearly 80% occupancy rate.

Its success was attributed not only to the number of people working in the Civic Center (36,000, second only to that it Washington, D.C.) but also in details meant to entice shoppers. Artists were commissioned to design sculptures and water features. The subtropical landscaping cost more than $6 million.

John Sheppard, a retired senior real estate manager for the city, was fascinated by the mall after moving to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C., almost 40 years ago.

The fountains were flowing. A street musician played to lunchtime crowds, and during the holidays, lights festooned the parapets.

"Nothing has changed but its obsolescence," he said. "It's still functional, just not popular."

The mall is an elegy for what mid-20th-century politicians and progressives imagined downtown Los Angeles could be: a city with a vibrant core, accessible by freeways, anchored by a City Hall with encomiums inscribed above entrances exalting the public good.

Time is frozen on the face of the antique clocks positioned in the courtyards. The towering Triforium, the art piece that brought music and lighting to the public space, is quiet. Drought has withered the palms, and the escalators are still.

Some customers still make their way down the stairs. At lunch, Rafiq Karim does brisk business at the Lotto convenience store, its windows covered with announcements of "big winners." For anyone buying scratchers, he will happily wave his hand over the cards for good luck.

Karim has worked here for 15 years, cutting back his hours when foot traffic fell off. By midafternoon, he's often ready to close.

Bob's Big Boy is now California Pita, whose grand opening in 2007 occasioned a commendation from then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The manager, Manuel Arvea, 38, has worked here for six years. He wishes that parking were less expensive and that the city would open up the restrooms for those living on the streets, who often sleep on the benches.

Repurposing has been the city's approach to the vacancies. The Children's Museum is now an interim homeless shelter. The CVS is now a storage facility. The Hallmark store houses the city's Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department.

Other city departments - mail services, moving services, the city employee benefits association - work out of former stores and provide a glimpse of what the future might be.

"We're exploring whether it's financially feasible to convert some of the other space into hoteling space for city employees," said Yolanda Chavez, an assistant city administrative officer.

Hoteling - when employees have a common work space rather than dedicated desks - would better accommodate "the new world we work in," she said.

The city is about to issue a telecommuting policy. Once departments work out their schedules, Chavez said, her team will reallocate office space in the mall.

Some city employees have been working in leased buildings throughout downtown. The mall provides an opportunity to eliminate that expense.

"We're trying to make the best use of our city space so that we're not paying for private leases," said Chavez.

By realigning the workforce, the city is forcing a greater question about the Civic Center. While the first impulse - given the housing crisis in Los Angeles - may be to build more housing, followed by commercial and retail development, there are other factors to consider, Miller said.

If city employees return to the Civic Center, businesses like Sears Shoe Repair might see more customers. But a civic center isn't just a commercial destination. It is an expression of how civic leaders and citizens frame a city's identity.

Creating that identity today, said Miller, is "a balancing act."

"We need to take a look at what makes effective city government - in terms of the public accessing services, in terms of interaction of city employees, building relationships and knowledge across departments," she said. "Once you're looking at that, then you need to ask: How does your space work with that?"

Meanwhile, Sears, who scoffs at the idea of retirement, goes to work each day at the store his father opened in 1973 on Flower Street in the Financial District. Business is better there, he said.

Whatever the city's plan, he hopes to keep a store in the Civic Center and would like to be relocated on street level, where more customers will find him - once they "start to wear shoes" again.

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The Civic Center mall is nearly dead. The city is looking to revitalize it

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Once bustling with city employees, the Civic Center mall has been made desolate by telecommuting options and online access to municipal departments.

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I am grateful for everyone who is in my life, whether that's my parents or my friends. I show gratitude by writing poems about the people I love or by hanging out with them whenever I can.

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Seniors Giselle Garzon and Keira Van Der Molen stand behind a photo-stand in as senior Jasmine McNair takes their picture at a field trip to see Cirque du Soleil's "Kooza" in Santa Monica on Nov. 20. After the performance, students were given the opportunity to explore the fairgrounds.

"I thought the field trip was pretty fun," McNair said. "It was really funny seeing how Giselle and Keira looked posing."

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1. Biden pardoned his son

2. He said he would pardon people from the January 6 riot.

3. He was going to take down the FBI building and turn it into a museum.

4. Kwanzaa - Black Americans

5. Hanukkah - Jews

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