Southern California is the NFL training camp mecca. Here’s a look at some of the action
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday, August 4. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:
- NFL training camp fever is in full swing across Southern California.
- Rent caps arrived in parts of Los Angeles County.
- Chevron, after 145 years in California, is relocating to Texas.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper
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Five training camps are located in Southern California
As the NFL preseason commences for most teams this week, there may not be a better place to watch the march toward the season’s kickoff than in Southern California.
Los Angeles and surrounding counties are hosting or have hosted training camps for five teams: The Rams (Westchester) and Chargers (El Segundo), the Dallas Cowboys (Oxnard), the Las Vegas Raiders (Costa Mesa) and the New Orleans Saints (Irvine).
NFL reporter Sam Farmer and photographer Brian van der Brug held their own version of “Hard Knocks,” visiting each camp in a single day. Here’s a peek at their trek for if you’re interested in a similar journey — or if you’re normal and just want to visit one.
As Hank Williams Jr. used to sing, “Are you ready for some football?”
Oxnard is the “second home” to the Dallas Cowboys
A Cowboys billboard just outside town lets guests know that they’re on the right path.
Banners with the faces of star players, and merchandise tents with cups, miniature helmets and other paraphernalia, greet fans en route to the practice field.
The Cowboys have been venturing to Ventura County since the 1970s but didn’t stake their claim in Oxnard until the early 2000s.
Camp runs from July 25 to Aug. 21, with practices open to the public, food and drinks and autograph sessions before the team returns to the Lone Star State.
Chargers receive a new “Bolt” of energy
Farmer and Van der Brug next drove 67 miles from Oxnard to El Segundo and the Chargers’ new summer pad.
The lightning-bolt-shaped practice facility, dubbed “The Bolt,” boasts an equipment room that looks like a sporting goods store, a team auditorium that would rival any IMAX theater and a Wolfgang Puck kitchen that includes a pizza oven made to look like a giant Chargers helmet.
There was also a digital imagery department that allowed for meticulous measurements for perfect-fitting helmets and cleats.
The Chargers are hosting the Rams at a joint practice Sunday at 11 a.m. that is available only to season ticket holders.
The team is offering open practices Monday through Thursday, with tickets available through the team site.
A temporary summer home
Farmer and Van der Brug enjoyed a shorter drive to the next spot, Loyola Marymount, which served as the Rams’ temporary home while their new facility is under construction.
Training camp wrapped up Saturday.
The Rams practiced in a smaller venue, having left UC Irvine. LMU, however, allowed for lodging with players able to walk from their rooms to the practice field.
LMU has only one practice field, however, which was lined with bleachers for fans, who signed up online to obtain free tickets. There were fan areas and food trucks and a gentle breeze coming off the ocean.
“Everyone’s trying to get a piece of L.A. because of the weather,” said Maurice Jones-Drew, a former UCLA and NFL running back who’s now a color analyst for Rams radio.
Saints and Raiders are also in town ... sort of
Initially, the Raiders and Costa Mesa had grand plans for open practices, fan appreciation events, youth clinics and the like. Then NFL stepped in, however, and curtailed that.
Teams are largely free to hold training camps where they want, but what they can’t do is market themselves in the territory of another franchise. The Cowboys are the exception, since they were here long before the Rams and Chargers relocated to L.A. and were grandfathered in.
Another problem for the Raiders was they also didn’t inform the Rams or Chargers they were coming. Those teams each paid more than $600 million in relocation fees to the rest of the league for exclusive rights to the L.A. market.
So even though the Raiders are back in Southern California, someone could drive past the Jack Hammett Sports Complex and not notice they are there. There are a few silver-and-black signs and opaque fencing surrounding the 2½ football fields, but the footprint is discreet.
If the Raiders are low-key about camp, the Saints are downright stealthy. They’re in Irvine for only a year while their facility in Metairie, La., is getting upgraded. They gave the Rams and Chargers a heads up they were coming, and their camp is closed to fans.
While those camps may be closed, check out more information and photos about Farmer’s and Van der Brug’s football tour.
The week’s biggest stories
Housing, Homelessness and Real Estate
- Check out which L.A. County cities are building the most and the least ADUs.
- Los Angeles County agrees to buy downtown skyscraper.
- Gas was cut off at Rancho Palos Verdes neighborhood hit by landslides. Electricity may go next.
Election Season
- A Kern County supervisor resigned amid a criminal probe and allegations of sexual assault.
- Can Democratss unseat a thrice-elected GOP congressman in this battleground L.A. County district?
- Kamala Harris secured enough delegate votes for the 2024 nomination, Democratic committee chair says.
Olympic Games
- U.S. men’s soccer team sees its Olympics run end in blowout loss to Morocco.
- Simone Biles’ memo to Trump: ‘I love my black job.’ No one is replacing the gymnast at the Olympics.
- Behind the lens: A photojournalist’s take on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Crime, courts and policing
- Police arrested hundreds of pro-Palestinian students in L.A. The fallout continues.
- El Segundo is sued by Black resident who alleges racial profiling by police.
- Scammers are leaving fake parking tickets in Alhambra, police warn.
Fires, health, conservation and environmental issues
- Dangerous fire weather continues as another heat wave kicks off across California.
- COVID surging in California. Is it time to bring back masks and hand sanitizer? What experts say.
- Firefighters worry that heat and thunderstorms could fuel the already massive Park fire.
- Displaced again: California family loses home in Park fire, years after relocating from Paradise.
- ‘The virus wants to live.’ California’s big COVID spike isn’t expected to ease any time soon.
More big stories
- Undocumented immigrants should soon be able to get state cell service subsidy.
- Lakers unveil new statue honoring ‘Girl Dad’ Kobe Bryant’s bond with daughter Gianna.
- In a treeless dystopia run by robots, glimmers of humanity and hope.
- This deaf football team was famous for losing — until something changed.
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Column One
Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:
As little as an hour before Suni Lee stood on the third step of the Olympic all-around podium, Jess Graba couldn’t imagine this moment. In December, the coach’s star pupil was “rotting” in her bedroom, mourning the gymnast she used to be and uncertain about the woman she would become after two kidney diseases morphed her body beyond recognition. On the first day of August, Lee was an Olympic all-around medalist again.
More great reads
- The fight to save L.A.’s Little Tokyo before it’s too late.
- The hidden role of public pensions in raising rents in California.
- The last days of California’s oldest Chinese restaurant: From anonymity to history.
- A renewed bid to protect burrowing owls is advancing. What changed?
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your weekend
Going out
- 🥞 Follow instrumentalist and singer Andrew Bird as he wakes up with pancakes and jazz on his best Sunday.
- 🏖️ Here are 12 great beaches in Southern California beloved by locals to check out.
- 👀 Estevan Oriol and Teen Angel see eye to eye in the exhibition ‘Dedicated to You’ on Melrose.
Staying in
- 📺 Here’s Sunday’s Paris Olympics TV schedule.
- 📚 If there’s room, here’s 10 books to add to your reading list in August.
- 🧑🍳 Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Here’s a Mrs. Fields-like recipe.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.
L.A. Affairs
Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
He was playing guitar and singing at Harry’s Night Club & Beach Bar, a block from the pier. Daylight on the beach is nice, what with the sunshine and all, but moonlight on the beach is incredible. He leaned in and kissed me, and I let him. I blame moon magic and too many Coronas with lime.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Lozano, news editor
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