By 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of people were crowded outside the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, waiting to get inside one of Los Angeles’ most anticipated events of the year: Born X Raised‘s annual Sadie Hawkins Winter Formal.
Since 2014, the beloved L.A. streetwear brand has hosted a holiday season affair where attendees come fitted in their freshest formal looks — some of which they plan months in advance — along with a date (or a group of friends) who matches their fly. Born X Raised co-founders Chris “Spanto” Printup and Alex “2Tone” Erdmann held the first Sadie Hawkins dance at a small wood-paneled hall in Highland Park with simple balloons and streamers. It’s since evolved into a F.O.M.O-inducing, invite-only function where both supporters and A-list celebrities cross their fingers to slip inside before the venue reaches capacity.
“It’s like L.A.’s unofficial New Year’s Eve,” says Erdmann, who wore a champagne-colored suit to this year’s event. “This is the party that you drive around trying to find. Everyone comes here.”
With a surprise performance from rapper YG and another from a mariachi artist, last year’s event was dedicated to Printup, who died in a car accident in June 2023. Erdmann says he considered canceling the event following his business partner’s death — the party was Printup’s “baby” — but he decided to push forward because it’s become a festive tradition for so many Angelenos every November.
This year’s gathering marked the 10-year anniversary . To celebrate the milestone, Erdmann and organizers constructed a wedding chapel where guests could tie the knot under the tagline “Born X Raised Marriages Last Forever, This Is Legally Binding.” There was also a photo booth decorated with a nostalgic balloon arch and dozens of red roses, which guests filtered through as DJs including Kitty Cash and Giselle Peppers played sets in the background. The soundtrack for the evening was Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, “GNX,” West Coast classics and other party bangers.
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We caught up with attendees at the high-energy party, which one person called “the Met Gala of L.A.,” to ask them about their outfit inspiration. These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Nyles Washington
Nyles Washington
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Age: 28
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Neighborhood: Mid-City
Have you been to this party before? This is my first time, but I’m familiar with Born X Raised.
Tell us about your outfit. I went to Goodwill. I knew that whatever I found I was going to look good in it. I got everything but the hat and the shoes from there.
I’m from Houston. My girlfriend got me these Harley-Davidson cowboy boots. My hat is from Texas and it says my name inside of it.
Why do you think this event is so special? My good friend is helping out with everything. I’ve heard that it’s really insane, but once you get in, it’s super worth it.
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Queenie Sateen and Anatole Heger
Queenie Sateen, left, and Anatole Heger.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Age: Sateen: [Declined to answer]
Neighborhood: Sateen: Hollywood
Have you been to this party before? Sateen: No, but my friend comes every year and said it’s fun.
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Tell me about your outfit. Sateen: I was just trying to match my boyfriend. It’s giving funeral. I wanted to be [rudest] at the funeral.
Lorenz Christopher
Lorenz Christopher.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Age: 26
Neighborhood: Downtown L.A.
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Have you been to this party before? I’ve been here like four times.
Tell us about your outfit. I just came back from Japan, so I had to cop Kapital out there. I have Ed Hardy on, a one-of-one with a rhinestone embellishment on the back, and I have a gold chain with Jesus on it. Shout out to God.
Why do you think this event is so special? The people. The vibes. The brand itself. Shout out to Spanto and shout out to all of the homies who work for them as well.
Kacey Littleton
Kacey Littleton.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Age: 25
Neighborhood: Echo Park
Have you been to this party before? I had a couple of friends say I should come, so I came.
Tell us about your outfit. This was kind of loosely inspired by English horse riding. I got the chaps on and the riding boots. I was just feeling like royalty. The mask brings a little twist like I’m at some secret party. It’s like the movie “Eyes Wide Shut.” I already owned this. I like to keep it pretty crazy and have a bit of spice every day. It keeps me going.
Why do you think this event is so special? It just brings a great group of people together. I recognize a lot of people here and I ran into a lot of friends, so it was really cool seeing that crossover from my own life, but also this event.
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Blair Quinones
Blair Quinones.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Age: 27
Neighborhood: Altadena
Have you been to this party before? I’ve been once like three years ago. I wore Moschino last year.
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Tell us about your outfit. I wanted to wear gold jewelry, so I planned to wear an all lace dress, but I found this gold one in my closest and thought it was a little more classy. My sister gave it to me years ago.
Why do you think this event is so special? I feel like the people who are from L.A. are embracing it more than ever because there is a lot to be prideful about. And then of course, the people who knew Spanto are celebrating him. I didn’t know him personally, but my friends did and so there’s just so much appreciation for him.
Zackariah Arceyut
Zackariah Arceyut.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Age: 25
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Neighborhood: Boyle Heights
Have you been to this party before? I’ve been at least five times.
Tell us about your outfit. It’s basically a mariachi-inspired outfit. My jacket is from a Mexican-owned L.A. brand called Vertical Authority. The studs on it remind me of my best friend’s [heritage]. He’s from Southeast Asia. So my outfit is like intertwining my culture — I’m half Mexican, half Nicaraguan — with my best friend’s culture.
Why do you think this event is so special? I love that it brings multiple cultures together and everybody’s having a good time. There’s never any issues. And I love how they are honoring Spanto. I think it’s beautiful that we can continue this in his name. It’s one of the ways we can continue to honor him and have so much love under one roof.
Dime Jones
Dime Jones.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Age: 32
Neighborhood: Leimert Park
Have you been to this party before? I’ve been three times.
Tell us about your outfit. My outfit inspo was Fran Lebowitz. Strong woman making moves.
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Why do you think this event is so special? I think it gives L.A. a form of culture. L.A. is so spread out, so you don’t get to see people, their style and how they’re dressing, so this is a great way to bring people together at the end of the year.
Have you been to this party before? Cash: I’ve been here six times. Schneider: This is my first one.
Tell us about your outfit. Cash: I have on pinstripe with the white loafers. Schneider: I wanted to wear something elegant and timeless.
Why do you think this event is so special? Cash: Born X Raised is family. Spanto and all the homies. It’s my community. It’s my culture.
Jermaine Mitchell
Jermaine Mitchell.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Age: 32
Neighborhood: Downtown L.A.
Have you been to this party before? This is my third year in a row.
Tell us about your outfit. I’m wearing Theo Official. They dress me a lot. I wanted something festive to wear.
Why do you think this event is so special? I love the community. I love coming together as a group and looking fabulous.
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Brisedia Leon
Brisedia Leon.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Age: 27
Neighborhood: Long Beach
Have you been to this party before? This is my first time. I learned about the Born X Raised brand a year ago from my friends.
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Tell us about your outfit. I got my look from small L.A. businesses. I want to stand out. I got this necklace … from a brand called Jiggly Junk.
Dame
Dame.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Age: 47
Neighborhood: Los Angeles
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Have you been to this party before? I’ve been before. I’m friends with the owners.
Tell us about your outfit. You’ve got to get dressed up, so I wore a suit.
Why do you think this event is so special? I just think people need to be cultured and come together.
Freddie Gibbs, Grammy-nominated rapper
Freddie Gibbs
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Have you been to this party before? I’ve been at least 5 or 6 times. Spanto was one of my best friends.
Tell us about your outfit. I knew everybody was going to dress in dark colors, so I wanted to stand out.
Why do you think this event is so special? Because of Spanto. He was the nuts and bolts of all of this [stuff]. He brought all these people together. He [was] a real star. I was at his memorial last year. We’re doing it for him every year.
Zolee Griggs, actor
Zolee Griggs.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Have you been to this party before? I’ve been four or five times.
Tell us about your outfit. I wanted to go old-school Hollywood, dramatic sequins.
Why do you think this event is so special? I think what makes it special are all the L.A. natives who are still able to make it out, and I love that it’s the one time of the year for L.A. people to actually dress up.
Guapdad 4000, rapper
Guapdad 4000.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
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Have you been to this party before? I’ve been going since I moved to L.A. eight years ago.
Tell us about your outfit. I didn’t even want to go outside because something weird happened to me after this event last year, so my energy was [messed] up. I put this [stuff] together last minute because the universe is always going to find a way to remind me that I’m a great [person].
Why do you think this event is so special? I was introduced to it as something my musician, creative and fashion friends just went to. It was already established. The culture was already there, so I had to catch up.
The French government confirmed this week that it has granted citizenship to George and Amal Clooney — pictured on a London red carpet in October — and their 7-year-old twins.
Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
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Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
One of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars is now officially a French citizen.
A French government bulletin published last weekend confirms that the country has granted citizenship to George Clooney, along with his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, and their 7-year-old twins.
The Clooneys — who hail from Lexington, Ky. and Beirut, Lebanon, respectively — bought an 18th-century estate in Provence, France in 2021. In an Esquire interview this October, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker described the French “farm” as their primary residence, a decision he said was made with their kids in mind.
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“I was worried about raising our kids in LA, in the culture of Hollywood,” Clooney said. “I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don’t give a s*** about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”
In another interview on his recent Jay Kelly press tour, Clooney mentioned that his wife and kids speak perfect French, joking that they use it to insult him to his face while he still struggles to learn the language.
This week, after a French official raised questions of fairness, France’s Foreign Ministry explained that the Clooneys were eligible under a law that permits citizenship for foreign nationals who contribute to the country’s international influence and cultural outreach, The Associated Press reports.
The French government specifically cited the actor’s clout as a global movie star and the lawyer’s work with academic institutions and international organizations in France.
“They maintain strong personal, professional and family ties with our country,” the ministry added, per the AP. “Like many French citizens, we are delighted to welcome Georges and Amal Clooney into the national community.”
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They aren’t the only ones celebrating. President Trump, who has a history of trading barbs with Clooney, welcomed the news by taking another dig at the actor.
In a New Year’s Eve Truth Social post, Trump called the couple “two of the worst political prognosticators of all time” and slammed Clooney for throwing his support behind then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election.
“Clooney got more publicity for politics than he did for his very few, and totally mediocre, movies,” wrote Trump, who himself has made cameos in several films over the years. “He wasn’t a movie star at all, he was just an average guy who complained, constantly, about common sense in politics. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Clooney responded the next day via a statement shared with outlets including Deadline and Variety.
“I totally agree with the current president,” Clooney said, before referencing the midterm elections later this year. “We have to make America great again. We’ll start in November.”
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Clooney and Trump — once friendly — have long criticized each other
Clooney, a longtime activist and Democratic Party donor, has remained active in U.S. politics despite his overseas move.
In July 2024, he rocked the political establishment by publishing a New York Times op-ed urging then-President Joe Biden — for whom he had prominently fundraised just weeks prior — to drop his reelection bid to make way for another Democrat with better chances of taking the White House. A growing chorus of calls led to Biden’s withdrawal from the race by the end of that month.
In a December interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, Clooney said his decision to speak out on that and other issues generally comes down to “when I feel like no one else is gonna do it.”
“You’ll lose all of your clout if you fight every fight,” he added. “You have to pick the ones that you know well, that you’re well informed on, and that you have some say and you hope that that has at least some effect.”
Clooney has been a vocal critic of Trump throughout both of his terms, most recently on the topic of press freedoms during the actor’s Broadway portrayal of the late journalist Edward R. Murrow last spring.
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And Trump has been similarly outspoken in his dislike of Clooney, including in an insult-laden Truth Social post — calling him a “fake movie actor” — after the publication of his New York Times op-ed.
In December, just days before this latest dust-up, Clooney shared in a Variety interview that he and Trump had been on good terms during the president’s reality television days. He said Trump used to call him often and once tried to help him get into a hospital to see a back surgeon.
“He’s a big goofball. Well, he was,” Clooney added. “That all changed.”
In the same Variety interview, Clooney — the son of longtime television anchor Nick Clooney — slammed CBS and ABC for abandoning their journalistic duty by paying to settle lawsuits with the Trump administration. He expressed concern about the current media landscape, particularly the direction of CBS News under its controversial new editor in chief, Bari Weiss.
Weiss responded by inviting Clooney to visit the CBS Broadcast Center to learn more about their work, in a written statement published in the New York Post on Tuesday. It began with “Bonjour, Mr. Clooney,” in a nod to the actor’s new milestone.
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Clooney told NPR last month that he will continue to stand up for what he believes in, even if it means people who disagree with him decide not to see his movies.
“I don’t give up my right to freedom of speech because I have a Screen Actors Guild card,” he added. “The minute that I’m asked to just straight-up lie, then I’ve lost.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky health officials are warning the public of possible measles exposures in northern Kentucky earlier this week.
A post on the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Facebook page said it “identified potential measles exposures in Grant County.” According to the post, the exposure was traced to “an unvaccinated, out-of-state traveler” who stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Dry Ridge from Dec. 28-30.” That person also visited the Ark Encounter on Dec. 29.
Measles, a highly contagious respiratory virus, can cause serious health problems, especially in young children, according to the CDC’s website. The virus spreads through the air after someone infected coughs or sneezes. It can then linger for up to two hours after the infected person leaves.
The virus can also be spread if someone touches surfaces that an infected person has touched. Symptoms include a cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by white spots that appear on the face and down the body. Two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine is the best protection against measles, according to health officials.
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Contact your healthcare provider if you think you or someone in your family may have been exposed.
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Every year around this time I present a “new names in the news” quiz. I’m going to give you some names that you’d probably never heard before 2025 but that were prominent in the news during the past 12 months. You tell me who or what they are.
1. Zohran Mamdani
2. Karoline Leavitt
3. Mark Carney
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4. Robert Francis Prevost (hint: Chicago)
5. Jeffrey Goldberg (hint: The Atlantic)
6. Sanae Takaichi
7. Nameless raccoon, Hanover County, Virginia
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?
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Challenge answer
Ague –> Plagued / Plagues / Leagues
Winner
Calvin Siemer of Henderson, Nev.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge is a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
