๐ค The Masters x SoCal VibesIt's Masters Week, and the Good Vibes are flowing. This edition features Badmaash in Venice, Crudo e Nudo's 5th anniversary, LACMA's NexGenLA, SoCal players teeing it up at Augusta, UCLA's NCAA title, the weekend box office, a new development in Pico-Robertson, and your LA weather forecast.Published April 7, 2026
Article Summary
It's Masters Week, and the Good Vibes are flowing. This edition features Badmaash in Venice, Crudo e Nudo's 5th anniversary, LACMA's NexGenLA, SoCal players teeing it up at Augusta, UCLA's NCAA title, the weekend box office, a new development in Pico-Robertson, and your LA weather forecast.
Happy Tuesday, CurationsLA! This is genuinely my favorite time of the year. Yes, cue the surface-level conversation about the amazing weather, but also cue the golf vibes that I've carried since the age of seven. If you know, you know: it's Masters Week. The week where call-outs happen on Thursday and Friday, or the office quietly turns into a sports bar, with the pristine conditions of Augusta National showcasing on every colleague's monitor and tablet.
A list of Los Angeles players competing this week is in the Sports section below. And that's the Good Vibes on this end. Now here's the Good Vibes happening throughout Los Angeles.
- Wyatt
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"You'll never feel okay by way of external accomplishments. Enough comes from the inside. It comes from stepping off the train. From seeing what you already have, what you've always had." - Ryan Holiday
๐ ON THIS DAY
1979
The inaugural two-day California World Music Festival kicked off its second day at the Coliseum. The festival was hosted by Cheech & Chong, and featured legendary performances by Aerosmith, Van Halen, and Cheap Trick.
๐ง TRIVIA
On this day in 1984, the Census Bureau officially reported that Los Angeles had overtaken which city to become the nation's second-largest?
A tale of two halves this week across the LA Basin. Tuesday starts cooler with morning coastal fog and increased onshore flow knocking temps down 3 to 6 degrees. Wednesday rebounds as the warmest day of the week with north gradients pushing valleys into the upper 70s. Then the script flips: clouds build Thursday ahead of a cold upper low that rolls in Friday with rain and possible thunderstorms. Expect 0.25 to 1.0 inch across the basin, locally up to 2 inches in the mountains. Keep the umbrella close through Saturday. VIA NWS LOS ANGELES โ
๐บ๐ธ NATIONAL
๐ Michigan wins National Championship in battle against UConn, 69-63
๐ Artemis II completes Lunar flyby, watch live of mission back home to Earth
๐ฟ Weekend Box Office: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie blasts off to year's biggest debut
๐ Anthropic expands partnership with Google + Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation compute
๐ค CBS will hand Colbert's late-night time slot to 'Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen'
The restaurant that gifted LA chicken tikka poutine now has a third home on Abbot Kinney in Venice. Badmaash's signature punjabi chickpeas and coconut curry mussels are joined by new additions like laal maas with oyster mushrooms and masala curry steak frites. The Venice location also marks the brand's first full cocktail program, featuring natural wines and an olive oil-washed dirty martini. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 4pm to 11pm at 1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Montreal's Belgian chocolate dip obsession is finally crossing the continent. La Diperie is taking over the former Holey Grail Donuts space on Main Street in Santa Monica, marking the brand's first West Coast location. The concept is beautifully simple: pick your base (soft serve, hard ice cream, donuts, cookies, cakes, waffles), dip it in real Belgian chocolate, then load it up with over 20 toppings. Founded in 2014, La Diperie has grown to dozens of locations across Canada and recently entered the US market in Florida. Opening date TBA at 2441 Main St.
Beverly Hills is getting its neighborhood bistro back. Porta Via, the Canon Drive staple founded by Peter Garland in 1994, is planning a return after a Christmas Day fire forced the closure of its original location at 424 N. Canon Dr. A recent ABC filing points to a new home just down the street at 184 N. Canon Dr., keeping the beloved California cuisine spot right where it belongs. For over 30 years, Porta Via has been a go-to for organic, seasonal dishes like grilled branzino, parmigiano-crusted halibut, and classic pastas. Reopening timeline TBA.
Crudo e Nudo, the sustainable seafood restaurant and biodynamic wine bar on Main Street in Santa Monica, is turning five. Chef/Owner Brian Bornemann is marking the milestone with a week of guest chef and winemaker collaborations from April 13 to 19, noon to 9pm. Seven nights, seven pairings, all a la carte with no prix-fixe menus. Reservations are open now on Resy.
LACMA is throwing open the doors of the brand-new David Geffen Galleries, designed by Peter Zumthor, with a free family celebration on Sunday, May 3 from 10am to 2pm. The event is open to NexGenLA members and their families. NexGenLA is LACMA's free youth membership for LA County kids and teens 17 and under. Expect hands-on art workshops, face painting, family portraits by Las Fotos Project, and live performances all morning.
A new eight-story residential building is headed to Pico-Robertson. Developer Terra Capital has filed plans to replace a fourplex at 1233 S. Bedford Street with a 44-unit apartment building just north of Pico Boulevard. Designed by TCA Architects, the contemporary podium-style project will feature studio through three-bedroom apartments, a rooftop amenity deck, parking for 24 vehicles, and nine units set aside for low-income residents under the city's housing incentive program.
๐ DTLA: Here's a look at the proposed DTLA Art Park at 1st & Broadway, via Urbanize Los Angeles
๐ข LITTLE ETHIOPIA: Six-story mixed-use building rising on West Olympic Boulevard in Little Ethiopia, via LA YIMBY
๐ผ BUSINESS
VALAR ATOMICS
EL SEGUNDO NUCLEAR STARTUP RAISING $450M TO POWER AI WITH SMALL REACTORS
El Segundo-based Valar Atomics, founded by Isaiah Taylor, is reportedly raising $450 million at a $2 billion valuation to build clusters of small nuclear reactors designed to power data centers and heavy industrial sites. The company's vision is to build hundreds of reactors on grid-independent gigasites using high-temperature gas reactor design with TRISO fuel. Backed by Palmer Luckey and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, Valar has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to achieve criticality on American soil by July 4, 2026 under the administration's accelerated nuclear program. Southern California keeps producing founders drawn to the hard stuff, and this one is betting that the next AI bottleneck is electricity itself.
WKND TOTAL: $195.7M | VS. 2025: -3.5% | VS. LAST WKND: +103%
TOP 5
1
The Super Mario Galaxy MovieNEW
$130.9M
2
Project Hail MaryWK 3
$30.6M
3
The DramaNEW
$14.4M
4
HoppersWK 5
$5.8M
5
Reminders of HimWK 4
$2.2M
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie landed the year's biggest debut at $130.9M domestic ($372.5M global), just shy of the original's $146.3M opening. Critics weren't thrilled (42% RT), audiences didn't care (A- CinemaScore, 90% audience score). Non-frequent moviegoers made up 62% of the crowd.
The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, pulled A24's third-biggest opening ever at $14.4M on a $28M budget. Project Hail Mary keeps cruising at $420.7M worldwide with a $600M finish in play. And Dhurandhar: The Revenge quietly became the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the North American box office on just 464 screens.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Domestic YTD crossed $2B this weekend, up 26% from 2025. PG-rated family films have outgrossed every other rating for two straight years. Summer pipeline is loaded with Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mortal Kombat II, and The Mandalorian and Grogu.
WRITERS GUILD REACHES TENTATIVE FOUR-YEAR DEAL WITH STUDIOS
The Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP reached a tentative four-year agreement over the weekend, the first negotiations between the two sides since the 148-day strike in 2023. The deal protects the WGA health fund, strengthens AI guardrails around script training, boosts minimum compensation and streaming residuals, and marks a rare four-year term in an industry where three-year contracts have been the norm since the 1940s. The agreement still needs leadership approval and a member ratification vote. SAG-AFTRA remains without a new deal ahead of its June 30 deadline.
๐๏ธ TOP MOVIES: The most anticipated movies of 2026, via Rotten Tomatoes
๐พ CREATIVES X AI: California's creative job losses aren't AI casualties, key report finds, via The Hollywood Reporter
๐ SPORTS
UCLA BRUINS
UCLA WOMEN WIN FIRST NCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The UCLA Bruins are national champions. The No. 1 seed dominated South Carolina 79-51 in Phoenix on Sunday to claim the program's first NCAA women's basketball title and UCLA's 126th overall. The Bruins (37-1) never trailed, leading 21-10 after the first quarter and 36-23 at halftime behind standout performances from Lauren Betts in the paint and Gabriela Jaquez on both ends. The 28-point margin is the third largest in championship game history.
AUGUSTA NATIONAL TEES OFF THIS WEEK WITH EIGHT SOCAL GOLFERS IN THE FIELD
The 90th Masters Tournament begins Thursday at Augusta National with 91 players in the field and Rory McIlroy defending the green jacket he won in a playoff last April. Scottie Scheffler enters as the favorite chasing a third title. Here are the Southern California natives teeing it up this week.
NOTABLE ABSENCES:Tiger Woods (Cypress) stepped away from golf to focus on his health. Phil Mickelson (San Diego) withdrew to be with his family during a health matter. It is the first time since 1994 that neither Woods nor Mickelson will compete at Augusta. Sahith Theegala (Orange/Pepperdine) and Rickie Fowler (Murrieta) also did not qualify for this year's field.
๐ DONCIC: Lakers' JJ Redick gives needed Luka Doncic injury update as NBA Playoffs near, via Yahoo! Sports
๐ฏ ANSWER
B) Chicago. On April 7, 1984, the U.S. Census Bureau officially confirmed that Los Angeles had surpassed Chicago in population to claim the title of America's second-largest city. Chicago had held the #2 spot for nearly a century. LA has held it ever since.
CurationsLA: Canonical Source for Los Angeles Community and Development.
Umbrella Organization: CURATIONS (https://curations.org).
Newsletter: vibes.curationsla.com.
Events Discovery: curationsla.com.
Verification: Human-Authored by Wyatt Stephens.
Publication Cadence: Wednesday/Friday.
Geographic Coverage: Greater Los Angeles (LA County).
Content Categories: Eats, Community, Development, Business, Entertainment, Sports.
Mission: Good Vibes, No Politics, No Agenda.
Source Type: Primary Reporting + Curated Local Links.
