2024 was the year of a riveting election cycle. It was also marked by Hollywood’s slowdown, the scandal involving Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter and the truth about California’s legal weed. Some of these news events were among the most-read articles published by the Los Angeles Times in 2024.
To look back on the stories that defined 2024, we compiled our most-visited coverage into three categories: the articles that attracted the highest number of readers, the most popular stories that only subscribers get to read and the pieces that people spent the longest time reading. To highlight as many of our reporters’ stories as possible, we listed a topic’s highest-ranked piece and mentioned similar articles under it.
The lists below demonstrate The Times’ ability to cover breaking news, write compelling features pieces and investigate topics to hold power accountable.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Most-read stories
(ranked by overall number of visits)
1
A notorious hacking group claimed it stole the personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, a Florida-based company that collects personal information for background checks. Four months later, a member of the group reportedly released most of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data.
Also widely read: Massive data breach that includes Social Security numbers may be even worse than suspected
2
In one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, thieves stole as much as $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary at a San Fernando Valley money storage facility where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored. Law enforcement sources said the total stolen surpassed that of any armored-car heist in the city.
3
A woman from Santa Barbara County, fed up with her mail being stolen, took matters into her own hands: She mailed herself a package containing an Apple AirTag — a tracking device that can be used to help find personal items through a Bluetooth signal — and helped authorities retrieve her mail, including the package with the AirTag along with items that were likely stolen from other additional victims. Authorities arrested two suspects.
4
This story is about an Arizona couple’s fight to get back into Disney’s exclusive Club 33 and how they spent about $400,000 on a lawsuit they ended up losing. Scott and Diana Anderson’s membership in the club was revoked after an allegation that Scott Anderson was drunk in public in 2017.
5
An investigation by The Times found alarming levels of pesticides in cannabis products available on dispensary shelves across the state.
Reviews of confidential lab reports, public records and interviews show California regulators have largely failed to address evidence of widespread contamination in the state’s weed crop.
Also, check out the follow-up investigation with more questions and more testing: New tests find ‘hidden’ pesticides, in more California weed brands. Regulators ignored warnings
6
The son of “Sister Wives” star Janelle Brown was found dead at his Arizona home. Brown told police that her son, Garrison, sent alarming texts before his apparent suicide, prompting her to have someone check on him. The story is a reminder to seek help from a professional and call 9-8-8, if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts.
7
Sales of baby food pouches — soft bags with plastic spouts for easy consumption — have skyrocketed since 2010. But experts are concerned that an overreliance on pouches, despite their convenience, can affect a child’s nutrition, food preferences, dental hygiene and speech development. This article is a deep-dive into the popularity of pouches and ways for consumers to see through marketing tactics and more.
8
The oarfish has long been referred to as a doomsday fish, a reference that likely stems from Japanese folklore, which considered spotting such a fish a bad omen of natural disasters. When a group of kayakers and snorkelers came across a dead oarfish at La Jolla Cove, they immediately notified officials about their find, helping bring the lifeless 12-foot-long rare fish onshore for future research.
9
Facing a life sentence for extortion, Ralph Rocha turned on the Mexican Mafia and wore a wire for two years. Unbeknownst to his law enforcement handlers, he also made a secret set of tapes — those tapes, disclosed here for the first time, told a very different story from the one agents and prosecutors presented in a 2013 indictment alleging the Mexican Mafia and La Familia were entwined in a sinister, transnational alliance.
This was the first of the three-part series. Read Part 2: How an informant nearly brokered a cartel alliance and Part 3: A mobster helped the feds arrest drug dealers. Local cops suspected him of homicide
10
After signing a 10-year, $700-million record deal with the Dodgers in late 2023, Shohei Ohtani became an immediate L.A. superstar.
But in March 2024, Ohtani’s attorneys accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation. The Times was among the first to confirm the news, and a few months later Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s ex-interpreter, pleaded guilty to stealing $17 million.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Deep reads
(ranked by average time spent on the page)
1
This is the story of a sibling rivalry played out in court that determined the fate of a real estate empire. About 30 years ago, after the Northridge Earthquake, Shashikant Jogani’s brothers helped him rebuild his real estate empire, Northridge Meadows apartments. At issue is whether two of the brothers had struck an oral agreement about a business arrangement on loan repayment and company shares nearly 30 years ago.
One brother said they shook on it. The other denied there was a deal. What did the jury think?
2
One by one, in the summer of 1984, teenage girls vanished off the streets of the rural California mountain town of Placerville. By the time the third body was discovered in the woods that fall, El Dorado County sheriff’s detectives were under pressure to find the killer, and for a while it seemed they did. They arrested a loner, Michael Anthony Cox — who was arrested and sentenced to death after a trial that provided no physical evidence and relied heavily on the testimonies of two teenage girls.
This story reveals troubling questions about both justice and the justice system. Years later, both young women said under oath that police pressured them, using aggressive interrogation tactics that led them to concoct stories about Cox that were not true. So why is he still on death row?
3
This is a gruesome story about Madie Moore, who went to prison for killing her 8-year-old niece. Moore’s niece’s body was found encased in concrete in 1995. But no one was ever charged for a second body police found — that of Moore’s nephew, Kenny.
Years later, while Moore was trying to get out of prison, her daughter, who hoped Moore wouldn’t go free, addressed the California parole board.
“Why,” Candice Moore asked, “are we not talking about Kenny?”
4
From Colman Domingo to Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White and Martin Scorsese, Hollywood’s biggest stars dressed to impress. Check out the images from the red carpet, backstage and The Times’ portrait studio at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.
Also widely read: All the looks from the 2024 SAG Awards red carpet
And: All the looks from the 2024 Oscars red carpet
5
“They say that all the time — ‘I’m over it,’ ” Ariana Madix of “Vanderpump Rules” fame told The Times, assuming the voice of an irritated fan. “But them saying that feels a little bit like, ‘Oh, you own my life? You’ve decided that you’ve consumed enough content?’ ” In this interview, Madix speaks out on Bravo covering for ex Tom Sandoval, the critics who say she’s just cashing in and her next chapter: Broadway’s “Chicago.”
Two L.A. sports card collectors owned a rare LeBron James rookie card that they hoped to sell for big bucks. The brothers consigned the card to Goldin Auctions, a New Jersey-based powerhouse in the world of sports memorabilia. Its founder, Ken Goldin, is an auctioneer dubbed the “King of Collectibles,” who upended the brothers’ plan.
7
Thirty years after the release of their debut LP, the members of Weezer reveal how their self-titled debut album — known as the Blue Album because of its cover (and the fact that the band kept naming additional albums “Weezer”) — came to be.
8
A woman falsely confessed to a shocking murder and was exonerated nearly two decades later from a wrongful conviction that derailed her and her sons’ lives.
Part of a Times investigation into the shocking series of murders that stunned Placerville, Calif., in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the 1980s, this is a story of murder, controversial police tactics and justice delayed in a California community.
9
A woman who accused former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault was indicted by a grand jury on two felony charges. Three other women accused him of sexual assault; he denied all their claims and alleged each of the women had turned consensual sexual encounters into an opportunity for extortion. What does this mean for Bauer and his MLB future?
10
Already a beloved figure who starred at running back for UCLA’s last Rose Bowl team a quarter-century ago, new UCLA coach DeShaun Foster spoke with The Times about the start of his tenure, what he hoped to change and how he wanted the Bruins to compete.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Subscribers’ favorites
(subscriber-exclusive stories ranked by number of visits)
1
This investigation is so popular, it also landed on our list of overall most-read stories.
2
This series attracted a high number of readers and also landed on our list of overall most-read stories.
3
A video of Victor the Bear swiping at a woman’s leg and what happened next fueled a raging debate over humanity’s coexistence with wild animals, particularly those that inspire both awe and terror.
For some, the video is an example of people baiting wildlife with perilous consequences. To others, it illustrates the problem of wild animals becoming habituated to interacting with humans.
4
Authorities say Danielle Johnson, a well-known astrologer, self-described “divine healer” and Reiki practitioner, left a trail of violence in her wake on Aug. 8, the day of the solar eclipse. She fatally stabbed her partner, pushed her two children from a moving car on an L.A. freeway, killing her infant daughter, and then rammed her speeding vehicle into a tree.
Her actions — which have been linked to her alarmist obsession with the eclipse — raise a question: How could someone so trusted, respected and concerned for the spiritual well-being of others have been so unwell herself?
Also, read the profile of Danielle Johnson: A celebrated L.A. astrology influencer’s stunning fall from ‘healer’ to solar eclipse killer
5
A violent clash between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and supporters of Israel outside a synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles was condemned by Mayor Karen Bass, who ordered more police patrols in the area and at houses of worship around the city.
6
The massive ripple effects of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are still being felt by tens of thousands of people in Hollywood and adjacent industries. Crew members were hit especially hard and are fighting to find work.
“I am currently in the worst place I’ve ever been in my entire life financially,” said Heather Fink, a boom operator and director. “The industry is in a crisis. It is not back to normal. We are in debt.”
Also widely read: Hollywood’s exodus: Why film and TV workers are leaving Los Angeles
7
In Palm Springs, a cap on short-term rentals in specific high-demand neighborhoods has all but frozen the market in those communities.
Sales are down. Homes languish on the market for months. And investors who bought up Palm Springs properties during the COVID-19 pandemic are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
8
These affordable communities are far-flung and a long drive from the bustle of the city. But locals say the bargain prices and charms make the trade-offs worth it.
And because this is California, some wonder how long it will be before others discover what they have and move in.
Also widely read: We ranked the top 25 best places to retire in California for most people. Would you live here?
9
Beyond the financial blows inflicted by the pandemic and the actors’ and writers’ strikes, the vast Los Angeles-based entertainment industry known as Hollywood is facing the far greater forces of economic disruption that have already struck the rest of the United States.
The decades-long way of making money in the film and TV industry has been turned upside down by new technologies, changing public appetites and the globalization of the workforce.
10
This delicately curated guide steers Southern Californians toward the best tacos in one of the world’s most eclectic food scenes. Spanning regional styles from Tijuana, Sinaloa, Mexico City and beyond, this is a comprehensive list that reflects history, regional cooking styles and innovative adaptations that have become part of L.A. food culture.
Also widely read: These are the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
And: 20 of the most picturesque restaurant patios in Los Angeles
