Imperfect Paradise is LAist's weekly on-demand news magazine show that pulls back the curtain and dives deeper into the biggest and most consequential SoCal stories of the week from our newsroom. New episodes drop every Friday. 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.
Latest episodes
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30 min
Prop 40: Should California tax its billionaires to fund health care?
Supporters of Prop 40 say it would fill gaps left by the Trump administration’s cuts on healthcare. The opposition isn’t billionaires…. It includes Planned Parenthood, the state’s…
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29 min
California Prop 39: What the voter ID measure may change & the national battle
Prop 39, a voter ID measure that would dramatically change voting in California is on the ballot this November. Proponents say that requiring voters to show a government ID when th…
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34 min
Guide to LA mayor & California governor races: Bass vs Raman, Becerra vs Hilton
The midterm elections are nearly here and the stakes are high for two particular races: the California gubernatorial race and the L.A. mayor race. In the first episode of our Voter…
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34 min
What went wrong with the Lineage fire in Boyle Heights?
It took days to put out the Lineage warehouse fire in Los Angeles this summer. Once the flames were out, the cleanup of rotting food took weeks. Residents suffered health problems,…
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23 min
Why some chefs are trading high-end dining for home kitchens
In the infamously cutthroat industry of restaurants, some chefs are finding untraditional paths towards success. LAist food writer Gab Chabrán dives into the state of restaurants t…
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22 min
President Trump says ‘Hollywood is dead.’ What’s being done to revive it?
In 2025, California majorly boosted its film and TV tax credit program for the first time since 2014 in an effort to keep jobs in the Golden State. One year out, is it working as p…
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25 min
Is your smoke-damaged home safe? The toxic aftermath of LA’s 2025 fires
Many of the homes that survived the Palisades and Eaton fires are still not habitable because of contamination from smoke damage. Residents have been left battling with insurance c…
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27 min
Is LA becoming a public transit city?
Los Angeles has long been considered a “car-centric” city, but is that changing? On this episode of Imperfect Paradise, LAist transportation correspondent Kavish Harjai joins to ta…
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48 min
How one man rebuilt his life, 100 miles at a time Redux
This episode originally aired on January 8, 2025. Struggling with addiction and reentry after multiple stints in prison, Cesar Quijano discovers ultrarunning, a hobby that turns in…
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24 min
Most Californians don't own a home until 47. What that says about the CA Dream
Is homeownership falling out of reach for millennials and Gen Z in the Golden State? LAist housing correspondent David Wagner joins Imperfect Paradise to examine this trend, the ob…
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23 min
More than an internet star: the life & legacy of Big Bear’s famous eagle Jackie
The death of Jackie signals the end of her story with Shadow – as well as for Big Bear Lake, and for millions of fans who followed the eagles’ saga on livestream for years. LAist r…
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32 min
After two years of progress, homelessness went up in LA. Why?
Homelessness increased in Los Angeles this year following two previous years of declines, according to the recently released 2026 “point-in-time” homeless count. It’s a setback for…
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30 min
Can a city built by the oil industry stop drilling for good?
The city of Los Angeles is home to over two thousand active oil wells, many concentrated in communities of color where residents have long reported serious health issues. On this e…
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24 min
Who gets due process? Inside the fight over immigration bond hearings at Adelanto
Immigration bond denials have jumped sharply under the second Trump administration — nowhere more than at the Adelanto ICE detention center in Southern California. On this week's I…
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21 min
More dads are taking parental leave than moms. Here's why.
For the first time ever, more fathers than mothers applied for Paid Family Leave to bond with their newborn child in California. LAist’s Elly Yu dives into the reasons behind this…
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21 min
Has World Cup fever translated into a boost for LA businesses?
Hosting the World Cup was supposed to be an economic boost for Los Angeles, but what effect has it really had on local businesses? LAist reporter Destiny Torres examines this quest…
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22 min
Can this museum rebrand AI art?
Los Angeles has a new museum: Dataland –- the world’s first museum completely devoted to AI-generated art. In a time of high anxiety around the impact of AI on jobs, the environmen…
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37 min
On the ground for LA's historic ICE protests (Redux)
This episode originally aired on June 13, 2025. ICE raids began last Friday across Southern California. People have been detained and there have been confrontations between protest…
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24 min
War, politics, and sports collide as Iran competes in LA for the World Cup
The Iran national soccer team competed in its first match at the 2026 World Cup in Los Angeles – after months of uncertainty over whether they’d play amid the US war on Iran. It's…
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23 min
From immigrant roots to celebrities, how LA became a soccer city
Los Angeles is hosting eight matches for this year’s FIFA World Cup. Today, LA is home to three professional soccer teams and one of the biggest soccer youth organizations in the n…