San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has won over his city

SAN FRANCISCO — They once called this the City That Knows How. More recently, it felt more like the City That Wasn’t So Sure. With a downtown sagging beneath homeless encampments, sidewalks piled with garbage and addicts doubled over in fentanyl-extremis, most San Franciscans said, “Enough.” Their fervor for a fresh start became obvious in January when they elected Daniel Lurie mayor.

Lurie became the city’s 46th elected leader and a rarity in San Francisco, a first-time politician rather than a veteran of the city’s rambunctious and often self-involved political class.

Nearly 11 months later, the philanthropist and an heir to the Levi Strauss denim fortune continues to impress most San Franciscans. An astonishing 71% in a recent poll of 600 likely voters approved of Lurie’s performance, including 30% who strongly approved. On my recent one-day visit to The City, I had a hard time finding locals who weren’t pleased with Lurie, even in the wake of his first serious blunder.

San Franciscans told me they see fewer tents and shanties, a decrease in open-air drug use and somewhat cleaner streets. He won points for using quiet diplomacy to persuade President Trump not to send his immigration enforcement agents to the city. Most locals said there’s a long way to go to return the city to its glorious past, one in which columnist Herb Caen justified every Golden Gate Bridge toll hike, saying outsiders were lucky to visit the City by the Bay. But they’re hoping a turnaround has begun.

SF’s cleaner downtown

On a brisk and sparkling Friday last week, Caen’s old San Francisco felt within grasp. Locals in tweed and visitors in sweatshirts sipped espresso in outdoor cafes. The once moribund blocks around Union Square almost bustled with holiday shoppers. A young Union Park ambassador in a natty green uniform scrubbed graffiti off a pillar. A moment later, I got a reminder of the work left undone, as a bedraggled woman squatted beneath some bushes to wash her hair. With adequate affordable housing still rare, some locals worry the unhoused might merely be shuffled off to other neighborhoods.

Lurie appeared at a news conference to tout the city where he was born, the son of a rabbi and a mother who in her second marriage partnered with Levi heir Peter E. Haas. “I am just so fired up about what’s happening in our city,” Lurie, 48, proclaimed, urging people to come to Union Square to shop. “I want everybody to know, when you come downtown, you’re gonna be safe.” Police foot patrols in the neighborhood have been doubled, he said. “We have your back.”

As he strode away from the news conference, artist Robert Hightower stopped the mayor for a selfie. Hightower told Lurie: “My family watches your Instagram every night!” He added afterward: “He’s not trying to overhaul all of San Francisco in a weekend. He’s getting little wins here and there. That’s how you get a bigger win.”

Lurie, a late-vintage Gen-Xer, saturates the social media sphere like a millennial. In recent weeks, his feed has shown him cheerleading cops, celebrating at coffeehouses, noodle shops and myriad other businesses and donning a slicker to clean out a storm drain after a downpour. The posts dependably take credit and say more will be done.

Lurie’s controversies

The centrist Democrat scored an apparent victory in late October when he dissuaded President Trump from an announced “surge” by immigration agents. The mayor did it not via the open contentiousness of some other Democrats, but working quietly with several tech magnates to suggest that improvements already were at hand. Trump backed down.

The mayor’s most ham-handed move came in November, when he named former pet shop owner Isabella “Baya” Alcaraz to a vacant seat on the county Board of Supervisors. The clearly underqualified 29-year-old almost immediately had to step down after the media found evidence her business had been poorly run and, as Mission Local reported, that she paid workers under the table and skimped on taxes.

“We missed a few things,” Lurie conceded in a brief interview. He said he would do better.

Karla Scott, an insurance industry worker, said she voted for another candidate but has been won over by Lurie, forgiving his misstep with Alcaraz.

“I think he came out immediately and said, ‘I screwed up,’” Scott said. “There was a willingness to fix it and not make an excuse. I liked that. … He’s always in a suit, like super-nerdy. I like him.”

Today’s top stories

Crowds of holiday travelers inside the Tom Bradley International terminal at LAX on Nov. 25.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Thanksgiving air travel is expected to hit a 15-year high

• More than 360,000 flights will take to the skies this week through Dec. 1, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
• In a chart posted on X, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that 16.9 million people would fly throughout this holiday week.
• Los Angeles International Airport officials estimated that 2.5 million travelers would come through the airport from Nov. 20 through Monday. Sunday is expected to be the single busiest travel day, with more than 230,000 people making their way through the terminals.

California’s job market is taking a hit

• California has shed 158,734 jobs through October, the most of any state outside Washington, D.C., as layoffs ripple through the tech and entertainment sectors.
• Artificial intelligence is fueling a wave of cuts, cited in 48,000 job losses nationwide this year.
• The downsizing has contributed to California having the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.5% in August.

SoCal’s wildfire crisis

• A court has ruled that a statewide Cal Fire program risks making fires worse by removing native chaparral and allowing the spread of more flammable grasses.
• The program aims to use prescribed fire plus tree and brush cutting to reduce the risk of a wildfire igniting, exploding out of control and jeopardizing lives and property.
• After a massive hazardous materials fire ignited at the Port of L.A. last week, it took nearly six hours for an order to be issued telling residents to shelter in place due to air quality concerns.

Filming in L.A.

• A new report has shown that as the number of scripted projects filmed in L.A. decreases, the U.K. has seen gains.
• U.S. networks — long based in Los Angeles and New York — are shifting game show production overseas for massive tax credit savings that can cut per-episode costs by millions.

Effects of early California storms

• The recent storms have filled reservoirs and are building up snowpack in the Sierra.
• The early-season rain helped lift much of the state out of drought and significantly reduced the risk of wildfires.

What else is going on

• A thief has stolen Thanksgiving turkeys meant for hundreds of needy families.
• A wealthy California coastal city has banned pickleball, saying it “turned into a madhouse.”
• California could get its first gasoline pipeline. Would that lower gas prices?
• Does the Metro board need to debate the Dodger Stadium gondola? No, says Metro.
• Californians are sharply divided along partisan lines about immigration raids, a poll finds.
• Why outrage is erupting over Trump’s plan to exclude nursing from “professional” designation.

Commentary and opinions

• California’s first partner pushes to regulate AI while Trump and tech bros thunder forward, writes columnist Anita Chabria.
• Steve Cherundolo’s departure shouldn’t ruin LAFC’s 2026 MLS title aspirations, staff writer Kevin Baxter argues.
• This Supreme Court loophole could help Texas’ illegal voting maps survive the midterms, contributing writer Erwin Chemerinsky writes.
• Yes, immigrants have the right to a lawyer, but finding one is getting harder, guest contributors Ingrid Eagly and Steven Shafer write.

This morning’s must reads

Entertainment & Arts

Who really designed this San Diego museum? An architectural whodunit

When the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park opened in 1965 it was credited to a San Diego architecture firm. Two local architecture buffs believe that internationally renowned Richard Kelly and Philip Johnson made significant contributions.

Nov. 25, 2025

Other must reads

• Trump’s transit chief longs for the “golden age” of flying. Banning sweats won’t cut it, experts say.
• With a record-breaking Forum performance, Maná gets crowned as the “Kings of L.A.”
• This Sonoma County town banned chain businesses. So, how did a Little Caesars get city approval?
• Rams’ Kobie Turner living up to his nickname as “The Conductor.”
• “Zootopia 2” traffics in real-world ideas — even if they’re covered with fur or snake scales.

For your downtime

Robert Therrien, “No title (folding table and chairs, dark brown),” 2007, mixed media

(Joshua White / The Broad)

Going out

• Museums: Browse a wide variety of art at “Robert Therrien: This Is a Story” at the Broad.
• Movies: Tap into your inner detective with “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
• Exhibit: See an AI Jesus at this new interactive exhibit at the Christ Cathedral in Orange County.

Staying in

• Television: Relive the Bears’ “Super Bowl Shuffle” with new HBO documentary “The Shuffle.”
• Books: Learn about the crossword’s radical history in “Across the Universe.”
• Recipe: Ditch your normal dessert and make Ligia Rossi’s Alfajores instead.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.

And finally ... your photo of the day

A helicopter drops water on a fire threatening a home in Topanga Canyon on Jan. 9.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Genaro Molina of a helicopter dropping water on a fire in Topanga Canyon on Jan. 9. The Los Angeles County Fire Department announced plans to order Topanga residents to shelter in their homes during extreme wildfires when evacuation through winding mountain roads isn’t viable.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew Campa, weekend reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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