The New Deal is a nondescript little cafe sitting on the corner of Magnolia and Avon. It’s a cozy spot, with mix-and-match seating and an extensive local brew selection. But open up the menu and you’ll notice something interesting; Every menu item is inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. Try FDR’s favorite sandwich, a grilled cheese on white bread! Or a Cobb salad recipe lucky straight from the 30s! Each dish is inspired by American cla

This particular event happened almost two months ago, but my manager Monica still manages to bring it up every time she sees me. I was helping a man find the shoelaces. They’re a small item, kind of hidden, so I offered to show him where they were located. I don’t know if my offer seemed overly friendly, but as we reached the shoelaces he introduced himself and asked for my name. Now, we wear name tags at work. And if a customer asks for our name, we have to give it to them

This year was my first working at a large Box Store for Valentines Day. Prior to this, almost every retail job I worked was at the mall, in a store that only sold clothing. It made life pretty simple- If you’re coming into this store, you probably want clothes. But working at a Big Box store is SO different. People show up here with no idea what they want, and somehow that means it must be a good idea to ask ME. This all reached an unexpected peak in the days leading up to

Despite sharing a name with the show, Carrie Bradshaw’s weekly newspaper column Sex and the City very rarely makes a significant appearance in the show. It’s something fans love to poke fun at; that Carrie manages to live such a glamorous and upscale lifestyle despite only writing one column a week. And that despite that column being relatively short and about a predetermined topic- sex, and the city, Carrie always seems to be overly stressed, running late, and facing an imm

There’s been a lot of Oscars buzz this year, not about who won, but about the show itself. Coverage of the event itself seems to be largely negative, with the shows viewership dropping to a four-year low . I’m here to argue that that number doesn’t matter, because what was up for the Oscars this year was social media engagement , something I’d argue is more important than live viewership. For weeks after the event, clips circle on social media of red carpet looks, celebrity

I’ve lived in Burbank for almost two years now, and one of my favorite places to bring people isn’t Universal Studios or the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it’s actually a nondescript repurposed office space called Geeky Teas . Geeky Teas is the game lover’s paradise. Whether it’s role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, deck building games like Magic The Gathering, something classic like Chess, or something new like Cryptid . For $8 per person, you get all-day access to thei

This past December, my roommate and I acquired a three month old tabby rescue named Tom. He was being fostered by a friend of my roommate. All of his siblings had been adopted, Tom was the only one left. The friend was leaving town for the holidays, so my roomie offered to cat-sit. We fell in love with Tom immediately, he was the sweetest little boy. But a man had already filled out all the paperwork to adopt him, and would be coming to pick Tom up on the 22nd as a gift for

This seems to be the year of shutting down Lydia’s favorite places: this month, the boutique clothing store Francesca’s started shuttering stores across the country. Francesca’s , a Houston-based clothing company founded in 1999, found its niche as a boutique-style clothing store. Their seasonal drops were intentionally small and all within the same color palette. The intention was that you could pair any number of items from the store and they would all match, allowing the

For a semester in college, I worked as a film screener for the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Athens, OH, not Athens, Greece, unfortunately. But, all the same, AIFVF can be considered a substantial film festival. The festival has been occurring every spring for over 50 years, and is an Academy Award Qualifier. For those who might not know, in order to submit your film to certain awards ceremonies like the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, or the Canadian Screen Awards,

This weekend, I checked off a longtime bucket list item of mine: attend an LA flea market. For this excursion, I finally had an excuse to visit the Silver Lake Flea, one of my newest friends lives just across the street from where the main body of the event takes place. I went in with no expectations, and I actually got a bit of a watered-down first run. With the Oscar’s load-in sending most of Hollywood into a gridlock, many vendors had opted to take the week off. All the

I typically work the closing shift at one of Burbank’s largest box stores, and I’ve seen some unusual things; an ex-disney star live-streaming her shopping trip, multiple parking lot arrests, even a guy riding his motorcycle into the store. All of these things, I can deal with. But the most annoying by far is the trend of setting up shop in a fitting room and making yourself at home. It operates almost like a daycare. A girl will drop off her bored boyfriend while she shops

As a lover of animation, I don’t understand how Primal managed to slip by me for so long. With the release of the new season, a billboard for the show was recently put up along my daily route, and I decided to give it a go. Let me tell you, this show is a MARVEL. It’s completely devoid of dialogue, telling the story instead through a gripping soundtrack. The production quality is simple, obviously handmade by a small team. But rather than being a detriment, it creates a un

Moving to California from Ohio, one of the biggest culture shocks for me was that, out here, people take their dogs EVERYWHERE. Restaurants, stores, even to work. The last company I interned at had a regular attendance of six dogs per day. Now, back working in retail, I see people bring in non-service animals all the time. But, in my opinion, your dog probably doesn’t want to be at target. It’s loud, it’s bright, it’s full of new people and smells. It’s overstimulating in a

I pass the abandoned JoAnn’s near my apartment every time I get on the freeway, and every time I feel a twinge of sadness. Growing up with family from Appalachia, sewing was a cornerstone of my home education. I was surrounded by quilting, knitting, sewing, weaving, embroidery. Textile crafts defined the way I interacted with clothing. Learning to sew taught me the importance of taking care of my things. It gave me a feeling of self-sufficiency, to be able to repair or alter

Last year, I had the pleasure of working for an extended period as a wardrobe assistant on Netflix’s late night show, Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney . Over the course of our four months, I assisted a team of celebrity stylists, and I began to notice a pattern. Every two weeks, the stylists would all show up with freshly manicured nails. Usually in a neutral color, with softened edges. I didn’t think anything of it, until one of the stylists mentioned that she included th

I was working as an intern in a development studio when KPop Demon Hunters came crashing, slashing, and high-note-hitting into the animation scene. Originally created at Sony Animation, KPop Demon Hunters was doubted by execs. Sony sold the project to Netflix for a flat fee, meaning that after the completion of the film they forfeit all rights to the property. This also means that any chance of monetary gains or losses is transferred to Netflix. Despite this, Netflix exec

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the last year, you’ve probably seen AI generated content. And in the comments of that content you’ve probably seen a reoccurring word used to describe it: slop. As of late, the term “slop” has been reassigned to pretty much exclusively refer to AI generated content. In 2025, Merriam-Webster even chose it as their word of the year . In the eyes of my generation, slop captures the essence of what generative AI does; chewing up original

Hi! I'm Lydia! I'm a 24 year old living in LA a lot of opinions and very little money. I graduated college knowing only one thing: I have no idea what I want to do with my life. So, like any sane person, I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. I figured if I don't know what I want, might as well go where they have everything. Since then, I've been on a journey of career discovery. I've worked on late-night TV, designed websites, interned at lit management companies, and ha