Lifestyle
29 gifts for the homebodies, brats and design devotees
If you buy a product linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission. See all our Coveted lists of mandatory items here.
Sonya Lee, Maya bag, $200
With its unique angular silhouette and shoulder-length spaghetti straps, the Maya is not your average baguette. This is a sought-after piece with staying power. Purchase ππ½ here.
Comme Si, Yves Cinque sock set, $150
Give the gift of a pair of socks for every day of the workweek with this set from Comme Si, made from breathable, stretchy, mid-weight Egyptian cotton. Purchase ππ½ here.
Flore Flore, EsmΓ© tank, $91
Launched in Amsterdam in 2021, Flore Flore has quickly become the go-to for fashion-forward and thoughtful cotton basics. Picking a color is the hardest part. Purchase ππ½ here.
Relax Lacrosse x Lisa Says Gah, the Bow Pant, $148
(Relax Lacrosse x Lisa Says Gah)
For the friend with flair, these mesh lacrosse pants are the perfect balance of comfortable and cute. Purchase ππ½ here.
Mohawk General Store, Smock Big Pocket tee three-pack, $150
L.A.βs Mohawk General Store has mastered the ultimate wardrobe building block via its Smock Big Pocket tee. This three-pack will keep your gift recipient covered for years to come. Purchase ππ½ here.
The Six Bells, Duck Boot ornament, $19.50
(Tory Williams / The Six Bells)
Deck the halls with cozy fashion ephemera. These felted duck boot ornaments from cottagecore store the Six Bells are the ultimate Christmas tree accessory. Purchase ππ½ here.
Helenβs, Fusilli Palace gift box, $140
Bring L.A.βs iconic Jon & Vinnyβs home with this gift box set, expertly curated for a decadent night in with a bottle of Italian wine, Jon & Vinnyβs homemade dried fusilli pasta, Frankieβs olive oil, tomato paste, the J&V vodka sauce recipe, and a Heather Taylor Home kitchen towel. Purchase ππ½ here.
Cookbook, gift card, any amount
Choice is sometimes the ultimate gift, so load up a Cookbook gift card for the grocery shop lover in your life. Fresh seasonal produce and the best collection of curated goods awaits. Purchase ππ½ here.
Semi-D, Dimes pepper mill, $120
From the minds behind NYCβs lauded Dimes restaurant, comes Semi-D, a design-focused brand exploring various (yet to be determined) mediums beyond food. Each Semi-D pepper mill (its first product to date) is made from turned solid wood, individually hand-painted and finished in a high-gloss lacquer. Purchase ππ½ here.
Fish Wife, Cantabrian anchovies three-pack, $27
Every home cook, pro chef and food lover knows that a good quality anchovy is a pantry staple. Bonus points for this stocking-stuffer size. Purchase ππ½ here.
Formas, Souvenir Tee, $45
Founded by Natalia Luna & Josh Terris, Formas is L.A.βs go-to for rare and highly covetable vintage furniture and design items. Wear your taste on your sleeve. Purchase ππ½ here.
Casa Veronica, MΓ‘gico lamp, from $1,500
(Casa Veronica)
Available in three sizes and five colors, the MΓ‘gico is a hand-built and painted stoneware lamp and lampshade. Each is one of a kind. Purchase ππ½ here.
Commune, light socket, $50
The Commune light socket (with 18 colors to choose from!) is an easy way to elevate just about any space. We highly recommend throwing in its custom socket shade too. Purchase ππ½ here.
Casa Shop, Peter Shire mugs, from $75
These one-of-a-kind Espresso Splatter mugs featuring paintings by artist Peter Shire (best known for his work with the Memphis Group in the β70s) are crafted by Echo Park Pottery in Los Angeles using slab construction and are individually hand-painted. Purchase ππ½ here.
Starface, party pack, $10.99
Instant confidence in a tiny package, the Starface party pack features the internetβs favorite hydrocolloid pimple protectors in four fun colors. Purchase ππ½ here.
D.S. & Durga, Road Trip Hits auto fragrance set, $60
What party? From your car to your closet, the masters of scent at D.S. & Durga have created the ultimate go-anywhere room and wardrobe refreshers. Purchase ππ½ here.
Beats by Dre, Solo Buds, $99.95
βLooks tiny, sounds hugeβ is the tagline for these earbuds in the juiciest shade of cherry red. Purchase ππ½ here.
Bonnie Clyde, Groupie glasses, $178
For the ultimate fan, the Bonnie Clyde Groupie sunglasses come in seven shades to suit every mood and genre. Purchase ππ½ here.
Pela, London Fog Chestnut Checkers iPhone case, $65
Plastic phone cases are a major drag. Thankfully, Pela has developed the first 100% compostable and durable phone case with hundreds of original styles to choose from. Purchase ππ½ here.
POJ Studio, Yuzu Leaf incense, $32
This incense is almost too beautiful to burn. Made in Japan, each pack contains five handcrafted incense leaves, wrapped in 100% plastic-free packaging. Purchase ππ½ here.
Habit, Organic Masala Chai tea blend, $19.95
Skip the cafe line and make your own gourmet chai latte with Habitβs delicious loose-leaf chai tea blend, which is organic and fair trade. Purchase ππ½ here.
The Good Liver, Zig Zag wine opener, $84
(The Good Liver)
Equal parts object of design and functionality, this accordion-style corkscrew wine opener is made of nickel-plated steel and was first invented in France in the 1920s. Purchase ππ½ here.
Art of Play, the Family Game, $36
This is not your average family card game. Donβt be afraid to dig a little deeper with 100 unexpected and thought-provoking questions dreamed up by the gameβs inventors, the School of Life, a global organization helping people to lead more fulfilled lives through useful resources and tools. Purchase ππ½ here.
Houseplant, pebble match strike, $125
Keep your matches handy and organized with this multi-purpose pebble match strike that looks like two stones stacked on top of each other. Purchase ππ½ here.
Activist, MΔnuka honey mask, $65
MΔnuka honey has gained a cult following for its naturally healing and soothing properties, suitable for all skin types. Purchase ππ½ here.
Sky High Farm Universe, All-purpose Tallow Balm, $38
Sales of Sky High Farmβs Tallow Balm go toward sustaining its nonprofit farm in upstate New York, which aims to address food insecurity by increasing access to fresh, locally produced food. Purchase ππ½ here.
F. Miller, Necessity Kit, $128
A travel-friendly set of daily essentials, the Necessity Kit includes mini versions of F. Millerβs bestselling products like its face and body oil, packaged in a reusable washed paper bag made from recycled content. Purchase ππ½ here.
RΕz Hair, Foundation Mask, $48
A celebrity favorite, each bottle of L.A.-based RΕz Hair Foundation Mask comes with a handy key for getting the last little bit of product out. Purchase ππ½ here.
Living Libations, Best Skin Ever Seabuckthorn, from $32
For friends who love efficiency, the Living Libations Best Skin Ever is an all-in-one cleanser, exfoliator and moisturizer. Itβs also available in three sizes and refills. Purchase ππ½ here.
Romany Williams is a writer, editor and stylist based on Vancouver Island, Canada. She is a contributing editor at L.A. Times Image.
Students walk on the Stanford University campus on March 14, 2019, in Stanford, Calif.
Ben Margot/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Ben Margot/AP
When Theo Baker arrived at Stanford University a few years ago, he joined the student newspaper, following the path of his journalist parents, Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Susan Glasser, a writer for The New Yorker.
Through his reporting as a student journalist, he eventually broke a story about manipulated data in Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s neuroscience research that helped lead to the university president’s resignation.
Theo Baker’s book, How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University was released May 19. In it, Baker describes Stanford as a place where proximity to Silicon Valley gives rise to a parallel system of influence, recruitment and money, with investors looking to identify promising students almost as soon as they arrive on campus.
He told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep there was “a sort of Stanford inside Stanford,” where elite students are drawn into an “alternate reality” of excess and access to cut corners.
In the interview, he discusses how Stanford is not just a university but also a pipeline where status and power can matter as much as ideas.
We reached out to Stanford University for comment and have not heard back.
Listen to the interview by clicking play on the blue box above.
The scoreboard shows the results of the women’s singles final match between Iga Swiatek of Poland and Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 12, 2025.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Fifteen points in tennis? Nice. Thirty, 40 β even better. Advantage β that sounds good. “Love” β that also must be great, right? Well, not quite.
As the French Open rolls on and Serena Williams has announced her return to the sport, maybe you’ve been paying a little more attention to tennis. The sport’s scoring system is notably distinct, and can sometimes be hard to grasp for newcomers. But even tennis aficionados might not know why, or how, “love” became the unmistakable callout for zero points. For this installment of NPR’s Word of the Week, we’re exploring how a word that signifies trailing behind got such a sweet name.
“Love” comes from the heart β or an egg?
It’s hard to pinpoint when the first tennis ball went over the net. Tennis is a derivative of lots of other sports, such as “jeu de paume,” a handball game played in France, said JT Buzanga, the collections manager at the International Tennis Hall of Fame museum.
But tennis became a patented, official sport in 1874, said Steve Flink, a journalist whose tennis coverage got him inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It has retained its unique, mysterious scoring system ever since.
“By and large, the original system has held up almost entirely,” Flink said.
The use of “love” goes back to the late 18th century, said Jesse Sheidlower, a lexicographer. But it was used earlier than that in card games such as whist and bridge. Before the term made its way to tennis, the sport favored plain old “nothing,” or “nil,” he said.
Why love in the first place, though? Historians don’t really know for sure, but there are a few theories.
The French could have something to do with it. Some historians believe “love” derives from “l’oeuf,” which means “the egg” in French. Because eggs are shaped like zeros, terms such as “goose egg” and “duck’s egg” have been used in other contexts to mean zero, Sheidlower said.
It’s also possible English speakers mispronounced l’oeuf as “love.” But Sheidlower isn’t convinced that’s the answer.
“It’s the French equivalent of an English expression. But since that expression doesn’t appear in French, the French word wouldn’t have been used,” he said.
To be sure, France has had a lot of influence on tennis culture, Buzanga said. For example, “deuce” or a game tied at 40 points, comes from the French word for “two”: “deux.” But he prefers another prominent theory: that “love” comes from the idiom “for the love of the game.” Even if a player hasn’t scored, it doesn’t matter, because their heart is in it. It’s the theory Sheidlower said is the most plausible, because the idiom was used by the English before tennis was popularized.
Another variation of the “love of the game” theory is that the word could have come from the Dutch “lof,” or “honor” β or the Latin “amare,” meaning “to love,” Flink said.
But if tennis’ “love” doesn’t come from a French word, the theory at least has a French sensibility.
“I think the ‘for the love of the game’ is kind of romantic,” Buzanga said.
“Love” probably isn’t going anywhere
Tennis used to be a sport of leisure. The style of play has changed a lot over the years; players are more athletic and competitive, for instance, Flink said. But the rules of the sport are more steadfast, he said.
“There’s this incredible, enduring respect for tradition in tennis,” he said. “Changes are not made easily.”
There has been one major change in modern history: the tie-break. Matches can go on and on because players have to score two consecutive points to break a deuce, or by two games to break a tied set. But the onset of television meant matches would have to get shorter if the sport wanted to capture a larger audience, Flink said.
Change even came for “love.” An alternative sprouted up in the 1970s, and is still used today: “bagel,” named for its zero shape, Sheidlower said. Novices may say “zero,” and insiders will understand what they mean, but they “will needle them about it,” Flink said.
But “love” still prevails.
“People kind of like it,” Flink said. “It’s different. Why say zero when you can say love?”
-
World6 minutes ago
Europe Today: Costa speaks exclusively to Euronews as EU-Western Balkans summit underway
-
News31 minutes agoTrump, Netanyahu at odds / Elusive Iran deal : Sources & Methods
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours ago'Top Gun: Maverick' actor identified as victim stabbed to death in Tarzana
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoStorm chances return, which could impact Motor City Pride, graduations this weekend across Metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoHilton campaigns in San Francisco as California primary votes still being counted
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoCrews cover up AT&T branding as stadium becomes
-
Miami, FL3 hours agoMiami leaders gather for FIFA World Cup Host Committee Gala
-
Boston, MA3 hours agoPackage fire outside Boston’s Museum of African American History under investigation
