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TimesOC: Kobe Bryant Day in Orange County

Tony Concep works on a new Kobe Bryant tribute mural in Santa Ana.
Artist Tony Concep works on a new Kobe Bryant tribute mural in Santa Ana on Thursday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
By David Carrillo PeñalozaAssistant Editor, Fast Break Desk 
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Good evening, and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter. It’s Monday, Aug. 24.

My name is David Carrillo Peñaloza, the author of the TimesOC newsletter and an editor for Los Angeles Times Community News.

Monday marked Kobe Bryant Day in Orange County, as the date 8/24 has the two jersey numbers the basketball legend wore during his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Fans celebrated the late Newport Beach resident in different ways.

Some wore their favorite Bryant signature sneakers or favorite Bryant jersey. Others visited a Bryant mural in Santa Ana or Costa Mesa. Some just simply showed up to work, putting in the necessary hours to be successful.

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I wrote about a father and son who turned their Huntington Beach home into a Bryant shrine. In the kitchen and dining room areas, more than 2,000 Bryant basketball cards were on display. The living room showcased a hundred magazines and newspapers with Bryant on the cover.

“We’ve got so many cards to look at that it’s so fascinating reading them,” said Alexander Kolosow, 70, who like his son, Alex II, 44, is an avid collector of sports memorabilia. “It’s like picking up a good book today.”

Reporter Matt Szabo caught up with Orange County residents who got a chance to meet Bryant and receive fist-bumps and coaching advice from the Black Mamba.

Ryan Broccolo, with wife Megan and son Brayden admire a mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna.
Ryan Broccolo, with wife Megan and son Brayden, admire a mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, in Costa Mesa on Kobe Bryant Day in Orange County.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

In other county news:

— A day after Orange County came off the state’s watch list, the county’s hospitalizations for COVID-19 stayed below 400.

— Donovan Nguyen, 34, of Orange, was arrested and charged on Monday with impersonating a federal agent.

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— Who is going to move into Orange Coast College’s new 323-unit housing development on campus during a pandemic?

— Four students from historically Black colleges — Claflin, Clark Atlanta, Howard and Lincoln — documented living Black activists during a research fellowship through UC Irvine.

— The Orange County Soccer Club extended its unbeaten streak in Group B of the United Soccer League Championship standings with Saturday’s 2-1 win over LA Galaxy II.

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Get in touch

Have any questions or suggestions for the TimesOC newsletter? Email me at david.carrillo@latimes.com.

If you want to sign up for the newsletter that is delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, visit latimes.com/oc-newsletter. You can also follow me on Twitter @ByDCP and tweet me questions.

See you Wednesday.

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David Carrillo Peñaloza

David Carrillo Peñaloza is an assistant editor on the Los Angeles Times’ breaking news team, the Fast Break Desk. He learned to read because of the newspaper. At breakfast, it was his job to translate stories to his parents, who were unable to read in English. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and Washington Post.