Volunteers flocked to scrub protest graffiti off the Japanese American National Museum

Images of the vandalized walls at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo popped up on Kimiko Carpenter’s social media feeds, and the West L.A. mom and hospice volunteer felt impelled to help.

So she stopped at Anawalt Lumber to buy $50 of rags, gloves, scraping brushes and canisters of graffiti remover, drove east to downtown and quite literally rolled up her sleeves.

Wiping sweat off her brow with the elbow of her white button-down shirt, Carpenter said she had no official affiliation with the museum but was half Japanese and had volunteered there years ago as a teenager.

Working to remove the spray paint scrawled across the windows felt like a tangible thing she could do in the few hours she had before she had to pick up her young children from school on the Westside.

A museum that knows about othering

JANM, as it’s known, is an institution that knows a thing or two about immigrants in America, belonging and othering, and what it looks like when rights are suspended without due process.

The museum centers on the Japanese American experience in the United States and the excruciating lessons of the community’s incarceration during World War II.

“This is the very last place anybody should be tagging,” said Susan Jekarl, a Glendale-based activist who’d separately shown up with several friends in tow to scrub windows at JANM.

Jekarl, a former docent at the museum, said her “soul just like dropped” when she saw the first tags outside the building while marching on Sunday. There was far more defacement over the next 24 hours.

“We want peaceful resistance. We don’t want people hurting Little Tokyo,” she said. She was confident the “agitators” didn’t know what this place stood for.

A calmer Monday, but still some damage

Monday’s protests were largely calmer than the havoc on Sunday, but damage was wrought downtown, particularly around Little Tokyo and in the Jewelry District.

Mayor Karen Bass decried the violence and vandalism in downtown neighborhoods as “unacceptable” but also reiterated that it was limited to a small geographic area.

“The visuals make it seem as though our entire city is in flames, and it is not the case at all,” Bass said.

She spoke to the terror and uncertainty rippling through immigrant communities after the raids and said she was unsure what the Marines arriving in Greater Los Angeles on Tuesday planned to do. On Tuesday evening, she implemented a local overnight curfew for most of downtown, which she said would probably remain in place for several days.

Defense Secretary and former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday that the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles would cost at least $134 million and last at least 60 days.

Today’s top stories

An anti-ICE sentiment was spray-painted on a crosswalk in Little Tokyo.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Protesters or agitators: Who is driving chaos at L.A. immigration protests?

• Violence and widespread property damage at protests in downtown L.A. have diverted public attention away from the focus of the demonstrations — large-scale immigration sweeps in such predominantly Latino cities as Paramount, Huntington Park and Whittier.
• Instead, the unrest has trained attention on a narrow slice of the region — the civic core of Los Angeles — where protests have devolved into clashes with police and made-for-TV scenes of chaos.

How the federal immigration raids could disrupt California’s economy

• The surge in international migration in the last two decades — both by legal and undocumented workers — has been key to the growth of California’s economy.
• Industries such as construction, leisure and hospitality, healthcare and agriculture rely heavily on immigrant workers.
• Some of the most obvious effects will hit the construction industry, given that early protests centered on a Home Depot in Paramount, where casual workers seek employment.
• What other businesses are the feds targeting during L.A. immigration sweeps? Here’s what we know.

How L.A. law enforcement got pulled into the fight over Trump’s immigration crackdown

• Leaders at the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have long maintained that they have no role in civil immigration enforcement.
• And yet the region’s two largest police agencies are suddenly on the front lines of the Trump administration’s crackdown, clashing in the street with demonstrators — most peaceful and some seemingly intent on causing mayhem.
• Sheriff Robert Luna told The Times that deputies are prepared to support federal agents in certain circumstances — even as the department maintains its official policy of not assisting with immigration operations.

What else is going on

• Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Trump of intentionally fanning the flames of the Los Angeles protests and “pulling a military dragnet across” the city during a Tuesday night video address.
• California asks a federal court for a restraining order to block National Guard and Marine deployments in L.A.
• ICE expands immigration raids into California’s agricultural heartland.
• Lawmakers revive an effort to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
• The fight to reduce homeless service worker burnout in a grueling industry.
• LAUSD will deploy school police to set up safe zones around campuses and graduations amid ICE raids.
• Democrats pick the first woman of color to be the next state Senate president.
• Paramount lays off several hundred employees amid linear TV declines and ‘dynamic macro-environment.’

Commentary and opinions

• Trump detests the very thing we love about L.A., argues columnist Anita Chabria.
• Guest columnist Cindy J. Cho asks: When an unnatural heat wave kills, has Big Oil committed murder?

This morning’s must reads

California

All of L.A. is not a ‘war zone.’ We separate facts from spin and disinformation amid immigration raids

What’s actually happening during the ICE sweeps and protests across Los Angeles.

June 10, 2025

Other must reads

• At a troubled fashion company, workers found community. Then ICE came.
• ‘Say Nothing’ courted a global audience. In Ireland, it sparked a heated debate.
• What do young Angelenos think of cellphone bans and Instagram age limits?
• A timeline of Sly Stone’s career in 10 essential songs.

For your downtime

A waterfall cascades down boulders just off the Swift Creek Trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• Hiking: Avoiding Yosemite’s summer crowds? This California wilderness is a spectacular alternative.
• Photography: Want a Spider-Man-style kiss over a canyon? Call an elopement adventure photographer.
  

Staying in

• Books: In his new book, “It Rhymes With Takei,” George Takei talks about his experiences growing up gay at a time when it was much less safe — and thus less common — to be out.
• Television: What’s the matter with men? The year’s most-talked-about TV shows have answers.
• Recipes: Here’s a recipe for weekday breakfast burritos with seared tomatoes and avocado.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... your photo of the day

Invitations to Allee Willis’ pink house were once coveted prizes. Now anyone can see inside with a new pop-up book that shows off her over-the-top kitschy style.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Myung J. Chun at famed songwriter Allee Willis’ home, dubbed Willis Wonderland, which has been reimagined as a pop-up book so anyone can see inside.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Julia Wick, staff writer
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.