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

Rafer Johnson
Alex Trebek
Sean Connery
Eddie Van Halen playing guitar
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Chadwick Boseman
Sumner Redstone
Regis Philbin with Kelly Ripa
Rep. John Lewis in the Civil Rights Room in the Nashville Public Library in Tennessee. His graphic memoir "€œMarch: Book Three" won four prizes at the ALA awards.
"One of the greatest country singers of all time died today. Rest in peace Ray Price." @CharlieDaniels
FILE - In this May 26, 1963 file photo, Carl Reiner shows holds two Emmy statuettes presented to him as best comedy writer for the "Dick Van Dyke Show," during the annual Emmy Awards presentation in Los Angeles. Reiner, the ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man,” has died, according to reports. Variety reported he died of natural causes on Monday night, June 29, 2020, at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 98. (AP Photo, File)
Fred Willard of HBO's 'Family Tree'
Little Richard plays for high school students during a House of Blues Foundation program in 1995.
Roy Horn interacts with Mantecore, the tiger that once nearly killed him, during filming in 2013 of a German television documentary. The white tiger died March 19.
FILE - In this Nov. 14, 1993, file photo, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula is carried on his team's shoulders after his 325th victory, against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. Shula, who won the most games of any NFL coach and led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in league history, died Monday, May 4, 2020, at his South Florida home, the team said. He was 90. (AP Photo/ George Widman)
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, pictured last month, condemned the “savage aggression” of the Israeli assault and said Israel’s “bloodstained hands are stirring up feelings of enormous anger.” But Mubarak also accused Hamas of bringing on the carnage by refusing to renew the truce. “We warned [Hamas] repeatedly that rejecting the truce would push Israel to aggression against Gaza,” Mubarak said.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 11: Actor Brian Dennehy participates in Annual Charity Day hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC and GFI at Cantor Fitzgerald on September 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald)
John Prine performs onstage Sunday at Stagecoach in Indio, Calif.
FILE--Singer Kenny Rogers poses following an interview in New York in this Nov. 10, 1998, file photo. Rogers has sued his manager of 33 years after firing him two months ago. Rogers last week filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Circuit Court against Ken Kragen, saying that he had been disloyal and lured away new teen trio 3 of Hearts from Rogers' Dreamcatcher Management Co. to Kragen's own management company. (AP Photo/Suzanne Mapes, File) ORG XMIT: NY107
“The Seventh Seal” features a chess match between Max von Sydow’s character, left, and Death.
In this 1970s photo, Larry Tesler uses the Xerox Parc Alto early personal computer system. Tesler, the Silicon Valley pioneer who created the now-ubiquitous computer concepts such as “cut,” “copy” and “paste,” has died.
Former NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2015.
Molina, Genaro –– – 094460.ME.0307.mammoth1.GEM (left) Dave McCoy, 89, Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort founder, spends a light moment with resort CEO Rusty Gregory at Mammoth. McCoy is selling the resort after 68 years. 4,000 acres of ski areas at Mammoth and June mountains, 185 ski trails served by 35 lifts, a lodge and more than a dozen stores and dining venues are on the block. The land is leased from the U.S. Forest Service.
Orson Bean performs "Safe at Home: An Evening With Orson Bean" at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice.
Kirk Douglas, born in 1916 as Issur Danielovitch, is acclaimed as one of the greatest male actors in cinema history. Garnering three Academy Award nominations and one Golden Globe award, Douglas' film career spanned over 60 years.
FILE - In this June 3, 2004 file photograph, author Mary Higgins Clark poses in her home in Saddle River, N.J. Clark, the tireless and long-reigning "Queen of Suspense" whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world's most popular writers, died Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, at age 92. Clark's publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced that Clark died in Naples, Fla, of natural causes. (AP Photo/Mike Derer, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2015 file photo, former NBC President Fred Silverman poses in his office in Los Angeles. Silverman, who steered programming for each of the Big Three broadcast networks, died Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, at his Los Angeles area home. He was 82. (AP Photo/Frazier Moore, File)
Injured Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been absent from the team's bench in recent weeks.
FILE - In this June 30, 1994, file photo, Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.), meets reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Stark, Jr., an influential Democrat whose legislative work helped reshape America's health care system, has died. He was 88. Stark's family said he died Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, at his home in Maryland. They did not disclose a cause of death. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)
Debate moderator Jim Lehrer speaks before Friday's presidential debate, the first of three scheduled before the 2008 election.
FILE - In this Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010 file photo, Terry Jones arrives at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Terry Jones, a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, has died at 77. Jones's agent says he died Tuesday Jan. 21, 2020. In a statement, his family said he died “after a long, extremely brave but always good humored battle with a rare form of dementia, FTD.” (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)
Even though he's consistently active, that doesn't mean he's always road ready. Touring requires an additional level of sport-specific training, a.k.a. endless drumming. "Playing a three-hour Rush show is like running a marathon while solving equations," Peart says. "My mind is as busy as it can be, and so is my body; full output all the time."

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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