2020 Year In Review

Kobe Bryant, the coronavirus, social justice, wildfires and one of the most contentious elections in American history. We look back at 2020.

A year unlike any other. COVID made sure of that

The Times' Year In Review print section cover comes together.

We had time for everything, and then we had time for nothing

Monrovia, CA, September 15, 2020 - Iris, 4, and Castle Snider, 8, look on as flames engulf the hillsides behind their backyard as the Bobcat Fire burns near homes on Oakglade Dr. (Robert Gauthier/ Los Angeles Times)

Lopez: California’s ‘climate damn emergency’ can’t be ignored

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA -- FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2020: Thousands of protesters rally at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in the``March to Open California'' to call on Gov. Newsom to relax the state's stay-at-home orders under COVID-19 in Huntington Beach, CA, on May 1, 2020. Mounted police line up to keep protesters on the sidewalk. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Arellano: The year Orange County reminded us it’s still Orange County

A watch party for Thursday's presidential debate at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

What could Trump have done to produce a different election outcome?

HOLLYWOOD, CA - JULY 28, 2020 - - A street performer, dressed as Spider-Man, looks for customers to pose for photos on a deserted section of Hollywood's Walk of Fame against a backdrop of the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on July 28, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape in LA's Hollywood/Highland corridor. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

COVID-19 walloped our cultural industries. Some may never be the same

Cars line up for Covid-19 testing at Dodger Stadium.

The moment the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic sank in

Lakers star Kobe Bryant watches a tribute video at Staples Center before the final game of his career on April 13, 2016.

Kobe Bryant’s death shocked L.A. and the world in ominous start to 2020

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2020, file photo, police use chemical irritants and crowd control munitions to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Portland, Ore. New York, Seattle and Portland, three cities recently labeled "anarchist jurisdictions" by the U.S. Justice Department, are suing to to invalidate the designation and to fight off the Trump administration's efforts to withhold federal dollars. The lawsuit, filed, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, ridiculed Trump's action as offensive to the Constitution and common sense, but said the consequences of withholding federal money during a pandemic "are deadly serious." (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

McManus: Will the 2020 presidential campaign turn out to be the low point in modern political civility?

DOWNEY, Los Angeles CALIFORNIA-MARCH 31, 2020-Namiko Ishii-Danganan, left, and her daughters Ami Ishii, center, and Miya Ishii, right, and are fostering Sky, a one-year-old "blue-nose pit bull", at their home in Downey, California. Photo taken on March 31, 2020. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many more people are stepping up to foster and adopt animals. Photo taken on March 31, 2020. ( (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Yes, there was good news in 2020 too

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Visuals

These photos reveal California’s harrowing year, month by month

"2020" with images of the year flashing over it

This is 2020: A visual journey through a historic year

Sports

Looking Back

Australian firefighters battle a wildfire near the New South Wales town of Nowra.

What a year it was: A 2020 timeline

Notable events from 2020

Looking Ahead

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 09: A discarded face covering is seen on the beach in Santa Monica o

McNamara: Quite soon, 2020 will be history — will we learn from it?

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What we lost

The pandemic’s toll: Lives lost in California to the coronavirus

Notable deaths 2020
Rafer Johnson
Alex Trebek
Sean Connery
Eddie Van Halen
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Chadwick Boseman
Sumner Redstone
Regis Philbin
Rep. John Lewis famously shed his blood at the foot of a Selma, Ala., bridge in a 1965 demonstration for Black voting rights, and went on to become a 17-term Democratic member of Congress. An inspirational figure for decades, Lewis was one of the last survivors among members of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle. He was 80.
Country music firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels started out as a session musician, which included playing on Bob Dylan’s 1969 album “Nashville Skyline,” and beginning in the early 1970s toured endlessly with his own band, sometimes doing 250 shows a year. In 1979, Daniels had a crossover smash with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which topped the country chart, hit No. 3 on the pop chart and was voted single of the year by the Country Music Assn. He was 83.
Carl Reiner
Fred Willard
The flamboyant, piano-pounding Little Richard roared into the rock 'n' roll spotlight in the 1950s with hits such as “Tutti-Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.” The Georgia native’s raucous sound fused gospel fervor and R&B sexuality, profoundly influencing the Beatles, James Brown (who succeeded him in one of his early bands), Jimi Hendrix (one of his backup musicians in the mid-'60s) and Bruce Springsteen. He was 87.
Roy Horn
Don Shula
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak crushed dissent for decades until the 2011 Arab Spring movement drove him from power. During his presidency, which spanned nearly 30 years, he protected Egypt's stability as intifadas roiled Israel and the Palestinian territories, the U.S. led two wars against Iraq, Iran fomented militant Shiite Islam across the region and global terrorism complicated the divide between East and West. He was 91.
Brian Dennehy
John Prine
Kenny Rogers
Max von Sydow
Larry Tesler
Katherine Johnson
Dave McCoy
Orson Bean
Screen icon Kirk Douglas brought a clenched-jawed intensity to an array of heroes and heels, receiving Oscar nominations for his performances as an opportunistic movie mogul in the 1952 drama “The Bad and the Beautiful” and as Vincent van Gogh in the 1956 drama “Lust for Life.” As executive producer of “Spartacus,” Douglas helped end the Hollywood blacklist by giving writer Dalton Trumbo screen credit under his own name. He was 103.
Mary Higgins Clark
Fred Silverman
Kobe Bryant was just 18 when he started playing for the Lakers, but by the end of his 20-year career — all of it as a Laker — the Black Mamba was a five-time world champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and 18-time All-Star. His post-basketball career included an Oscar for the animated short “Dear Basketball” and a series of children’s books that became New York Times bestsellers. He was 41.
Pete Stark
Jim Lehrer
Terry Jones
Rush drummer Neil Peart was one of the most accomplished instrumentalists in rock history. Peart often cited swing-era drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich among his primary inspirations, although he also credited Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and John Bonham as major influences. He was 67.

Notable Deaths

Charting 2020

The final moments of Kobe Bryant’s fatal flight, turn by turn

California favors Biden, but Trump still raised $61 million. Who are the donors?

Homeless Housing in L.A.

What happened to L.A.'s $1 billion for homeless housing?

The guide to the Internet

Tracking the coronavirus in California

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TV

What Lorraine is watching.

Ali: The best TV shows of 2020

What Robert's watching

Lloyd: The 10 best TV shows of 2020

Music

The 10 best Latin music moments

Music’s winners (Lil Baby) and losers (John Lennon) for this Godforsaken 2020, so far

Lil Baby owned 2020. Wait until you hear about his 2021

What is the song of summer? Music insiders spin the soundtrack for a once-in-a-lifetime season

Arts and Entertainment

Special Projects From the Times

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