We could probe the universe and witness stars being born in a distant galaxy. We could find moments of grace. But we could do little to alter the course of this disease.
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What most Californians will remember about summer 2020 will be George Floyd and the protests over racial injustice. But will the movement survive?
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Science denial has long been at the center of GOP politics, but this year it killed tens of thousands of people.
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You know things are bad when you’re asked to write a column about ‘the way we live now’ for an end-of-year review.
2020 will go down in history as the year Californians could no longer ignore climate change.
Orange County has grown more diverse and its politics increasingly purple, but in 2020, the O.C. crazy burst forth.
One can’t help but wonder: What could Trump have done — other than his tragicomic efforts after the fact — to produce a different election outcome?
We lost theaters, concerts, museums and theme parks. But Hollywood is adapting and so are audiences.
When did you realize that the COVID-19 pandemic would profoundly alter your life? For this reporter, it was the last week of February 2020.
The death of Kobe Bryant, his teenage daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash plunged Los Angeles into mourning less than a month into 2020.
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Polarization has been part of American politics for decades, but in 2020, President Trump took us into dangerous new territory.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the struggles of 2020, the year included moments of compassion and joy.
Visuals
Photos look back at 2020’s wild ride in the Golden State.
Sports
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Disingenuous choruses of ‘stick to sports’ — as if race and sports have ever been separate issues — rang particularly hollow this year.
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The postponement of a March 11 game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder because of a positive coronavirus test changed the sports world.
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A timeline looking back at the triumph, tragedy and push for change in the sports world in 2020.
Looking Back
Notable events from 2020
Looking Ahead
What will future generations think of 2020 as they sift through the hidden caches of face masks, hand sanitizer and “I Voted” stickers? That it was a blip of infection and insanity, the moment the world changed forever — or both?
What we lost
Charting 2020
TV
Los Angeles Times television critic Lorraine Ali chooses the best TV shows of 2020.
Los Angeles Times television critic Robert Lloyd chooses the best TV shows of 2020.
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Music
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Five women take the top 3 spots, with Taylor Swift’s quarantine album leading our year’s best.
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From Fiona Apple to Yves Tumor and a head-spinning assortment of artists and genres in between, these are, alphabetically ordered, our favorite songs of 2020.
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From homegrown jazz to furious punk to raw hip-hop recorded from prison, these 10 albums highlight L.A.'s creative spirit in a hard-scrabble year for musicians.
It was the year Latinas took over the Super Bowl, and Bad Bunny — like everyone in quarantine — twerked alone.
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In a year marked by COVID-19 and social unrest, music stars such as Fiona Apple, Killer Mike, Bad Bunny and Bob Dylan have risen to the occasion.
“The Bigger Picture” elevated Lil Baby from streaming champ to voice for a generation. But like everyone else, he just wants life to get back to normal.
Beyoncé, Drake, Lil Baby and Megan Thee Stallion are among the artists with tunes contending to be 2020’s song of summer.
Arts and Entertainment
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Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang’s best movies of 2020 include ‘Nomadland,’ ‘First Cow’ and ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things.’
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No game mattered as much to 2020 as “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” But it’s not the only game that made an impact while COVID-19 kept us shut in.
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“West Side Story,” “Hamilton,” Laura Linney, Andrew Scott and “What the Constitution Means to Me,” the last of which gave us two reasons to applaud.
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This year’s list is devoted to pandemic doers: Dudamel, Salonen, Sharon. Gehry, Borda, Kopatchinskaja, Sorey, Gupta, Grazinyte-Tyla and Edmunds.
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The very best of the year, from authors including Natasha Trethewey, Rumaan Alam, Lily King, Douglas Stuart, Raven Leilani and James McBride.
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In a noisy 2020, it was too easy to overlook these 10 literary gems, from Miranda Popkey’s “Topics of Conversation” to Mieko Kawakami’s “Breasts and Eggs.”
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COVID-19 has had a severe impact on everything from theaters and production to agencies and cable news. Some parts of the business may never be the same.
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Often lampooned, shows like ‘Ghost Adventures’ — full of investigators, mediums, intuitives — helped bring closure in TV critic Lorraine Ali’s own life in 2020.
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The Whitney Museum exhibition “Vida Americana” shows that to admire 20th century American painting is to admire its Mexican influences on artists such as Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Jacob Lawrence and Charles White.
Special Projects From the Times
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Subscriber exclusive: Of the many mysteries that surround the Golden State Killer, one of the most consequential is exactly how authorities caught Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. four decades after his murders began.
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As the country grapples with the role of systemic racism, The Times has committed to examining its past.
