Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Laufey
Icelandic Chinese vocalist and songwriter Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) has an appreciation for life’s many wonders. It’s apparent in her music, which fuses the sounds of jazz and classical giants past with romantic storytelling, punctuated by a deep vibrato and modern-day references. And it’s apparent in her enthusiasm for her current hometown of Los Angeles. Though the 25-year-old alto has been around the world — growing up in Reykjavik, attending cello band camp in Beijing and bopping around Boston as a Berklee College of Music student — she was still struck by L.A. when her burgeoning music career brought her to West Hollywood in the summer of 2021
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“I was just running around enjoying the sunny weather,” she said. “I was really so enamored by L.A. and couldn’t believe it was real. I still to this day feel like that.”
The TikTok-savvy songstress has since settled in, even referencing L.A.’s “weeping” mountains, and Sunset Boulevard in a collaboration with the Icelandic Philharmonic called “California and Me.” Her career reached new heights in February when her first album, “Bewitched,” won a Grammy in the best traditional pop vocal categories. (The “Goddess Edition” of that aforementioned album is out today.)
In the midst of her whirlwind recording industry success, Laufey’s appreciation for the city’s little joys hasn’t waned. Now situated in central L.A., her perfect day involves picking up Icelandic catch from her local fishmonger, relaxing with a good book by the beach, practicing Frederic Chopin’s children’s tunes as a form of meditation and spending more time on her phone than she cares to admit.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
8 a.m.: Rise and sip
I’m an early riser. Even on a Sunday. I love the day. I love running around and doing things and I don’t want to miss even an hour of it. So I usually wake up at around 8, maybe 9 on a Sunday. And I’ll immediately get coffee. There’s so many fun coffee shops. I love Maru, so I go to Maru a lot. I also really like Damo in K-town, they have really good matcha. [I’ll] sit and read, sit and journal, sit and call my parents. They’re in Iceland, so morning is the best time to call them.
11 a.m.: A taste of home
Then I like to go to the farmers market. I love the farmers markets in L.A. I think it’s one of the best things about L.A. And the produce is so fresh. I love the one in Larchmont because it’s just small and sweet. Larchmont Village is like my favorite place. And I love the one at Melrose Place as well. It’s a little fancier, it feels more like an event, almost. So I also like the Hollywood one, the Studio City one. I like changing it up and getting a different vibe from each neighborhood.
Jyan Issac Bread bakery has a rye bread — like a Danish rye bread — that I always have. Because it reminds me of the bread that I had in Iceland growing up. I toast it and I put butter on it.
I think the fruit and veg vendors at Larchmont are probably my favorite. And then they always have Icelandic fish, Nordic catch, at every single farmers market it seems. At least at Melrose, Hollywood and Larchmont they have Nordic catch: salmon, cod, everything. So I like to pick up fish there every Sunday as a little taste of home. Seeing that in L.A. is always so fun — these fishies were in Iceland recently. [Laughs]
1 p.m.: Little European treats
After that I like to grab a lunch, brunch. My eating is all over the place on a Sunday because I’ll basically just get little treats. Like whenever I have a coffee I’ll probably have a pastry. Or a matcha, I’ll have a pastry.
[For] lunch, Loupiotte Kitchen in Los Feliz is my favorite. It’s so cute and it feels almost like being in Paris. But it’s so fun because the weather’s really nice all year round. And the people — there’s always cute kids there. It feels very familial.
I like sitting outside. They have really good eggs. They make this egg scramble with crème fraîche that’s very French and very yummy. They have really good toasts as well. Avocado toast. They have a summer toast that has a ton of different veggies on it. They also have good pastries. And I like having a little orange juice as well.
I’ll usually be with a friend and just yap. I’ll end up talking until 3 p.m. or something. I’ve got to get it out of my system.
3 p.m.: Tuna and books pit stop
I love the Brentwood Country Mart. I stop there on the way to the beach. There’s a really nice bookstore there called Diesel that is one of my favorites in L.A..
I go to the Farm Shop, I get another coffee. I get coffee like three times a day. I like picking up there. Specifically they have a tuna salad that is so yummy, and you can put it on bread. So I’ll sometimes pick up bread, just like a loaf of bread at Farm Shop and get one of their tuna things — I’m literally making myself hungry right now — and spread it on at the beach.
3:30 p.m.: Long walks on the beach
I’ve been going to the beach. I’ll drive either to Malibu or just out to Santa Monica. And I’ll just walk on the beach.
I grew up near the ocean in Iceland. So the smell of salt, the smell of fish and ocean really reminds me of home. That’s why I love going to the beach so much. There’s something that just makes me feel like it’s all connected. It’s all the same ocean in a way. So I like that. I like looking at the birds, the scary seagulls. I just like to sit on the bench and look out, read, eat my bread and tuna.
I am reading “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. And I’ve also been reading “The Shards” by Bret Easton Ellis. “Midnight Library” I just started, because it’s my book club read for the month. “The Shards” I’m really excited to read because I’ve heard there’s a connection between “The Shards” and “The Secret History,” which is a book by Donna Tartt, which is my favorite book ever. I’ve heard that there’s some common threads there, so I’m excited to discover those. But I always loved some kind of dark academic thing, which “The Shards” definitely is.
6 p.m.: Cooking with Nat King Cole
After that, I’ll return back and usually cook whatever I have from the farmers market that day. It’s more often than not fish, salmon. I love picking out any veggies that I haven’t used before, and then I just challenge myself to get home and figure out a recipe, or find a recipe. But anything super colorful I’m really drawn to, so if it’s like a really purple cauliflower, I’ll be like: “I’ve gotta figure that out tonight.”
My mother, she cooks a lot. And she’s taught me a lot of recipes. She’ll teach me by FaceTiming me. I’ll FaceTime her while I’m cooking. It’s so fun, it’s like a live cooking tutorial. All my recipes are hers.
I really like just cooking for myself, honestly. I do like cooking for others but pretty much only my twin sister because I’m scared that I’m going to disgust the people I cook for. My people-pleasing can’t handle hosting too many people at once. I play music. I love playing Nat King Cole. He lived in my neighborhood, so I feel extra connected to Nat King Cole.
8 p.m.: Chopin for the soul
I’ll practice cello, piano, guitar. [On] Sundays especially I like playing classical pieces. I don’t push myself too hard to write something new or original, I just pull out sheet music to pieces I played when I was younger, classical pieces, and it just always roots me. I think it’s the best way to end the week.
[I play] these little Chopin pieces. A lot of children’s music. Classical music that kids learn first, because it’s just very simple and meditative. And it’s not hard. And it’s oftentimes really beautiful melodies that are good for the soul.
9 p.m.: TikTok time
Realistically I’ll probably stay on my phone in bed or read or watch a TV show or something until like midnight.
I’ve been seeing a lot of these TikToks of this little Chinese boy making food. Like street food kind of? He’s making these really elaborate dishes outdoors on a plate and it’s so cute. He’s so good. He’s like a 3-year-old or something. And he’s so professional when he does it. And he always hands it to his grandpa or like the old person in the village.
There’s this older Japanese couple that posts their outfits together every day. Aki and Koichi. And they’re so chic. So I’ve been following that every day. And they do live in L.A. They’re so cool.
[I scroll on TikTikTok for] longer than I care to admit. [My screen time is] not great. But, you know, a lot of my job requires being on the phone. So I see it as work.
Midnight: A strict bedtime
I have a very regulated circadian rhythm that runs from midnight to 8 a.m., and if i don’t follow it, things get thrown off, I may not fall asleep. So I try to follow it very strictly.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday May 18, 2026.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Broadcasting Inc.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert comes to an end this week amid a lot of changes in the business and the country. Some of the sources of tension include the economics of late night, the approaching merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers, and President Donald Trump’s constant criticism of late-night hosts. But for Colbert’s fans, it’s the end of a friendly, funny, candid show. So we’re talking about the legacy of Stephen Colbert in late night.
Kars4Kids advertisements, like this TV commercial on a hot-pink set, feature children turning the charity’s phone number into a catchy jingle. But they do not disclose that most of the proceeds go to a Jewish nonprofit that supports programming for young adults.
Kars4Kids/Screenshot by NPR
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Kars4Kids/Screenshot by NPR
The “Kars4Kids” jingle — with its chipper melody and high-pitched, pre-tween singers — has been wedged firmly in many Americans’ heads for two decades. But it may soon go off the air in California after a judge banned it for being “deceptive.”
Judge Gassia Apkarian of the Orange County Superior Court ruled earlier this month that the ad violates California’s laws against unfair competition and false advertising because it does not disclose Kars4Kids’ religious affiliation.
The case has put the jingle — and the charity behind it — in the headlines. And it inspired us to check in on some other nostalgic favorites (more on that below).
The Kars4Kids case, explained
Kars4Kids says it gives most of its proceeds from used-car donations to Oorah, an Orthodox Jewish nonprofit based in New Jersey that provides opportunities like summer camps, adult matchmaking services and trips to Israel.
Kars4Kids makes the connection to its “sister nonprofit” clear on its website, though not in its infamous jingle: “1-877-Kars4Kids / K-A-R-S Kars for Kids / 1-877-Kars4Kids / Donate your car today.”
That omission prompted California resident Bruce Puterbaugh to sue Oorah in 2021.
According to the judge’s order, Puterbaugh testified that he donated a 2001 Volvo station wagon after hearing the Kars4Kids advertisement “over and over,” believing the money would benefit California kids in need. Puterbaugh, a self-described “not a computer person” in his 70s, said he never visited the charity’s website and only learned the truth from a casual conversation with his Lake County neighbor after the car was picked up.
“He testified that he felt ‘taken advantage of’ upon discovering — only after the donation — that the funds did not stay in California but supported a specific religious mission in the Northeast,” Apkarian wrote.
The neighbor, Neal Roberts, is a lawyer who went on to represent him in the case. Roberts told NPR that the ad — which has aired on the radio since the turn of the millennium and on TV since 2014 — is ubiquitous in California. But he said Apkarian, the judge in the case, doesn’t watch TV and hadn’t heard the jingle until it was played at the four-day trial in November.
“She heard it the first time, and then she heard it the second time, and then the rule in the court was, ‘Do not play that jingle again,’” he said with a laugh. “So I thought that gave us some idea that we might have a chance.”
According to the judge’s order, Kars4Kids’ Chief Operating Officer Esti Landau confirmed at trial that the charity’s primary function is not helping economically disadvantaged children but “Jewish kids and families throughout their lives.” She said the charity has “no functional programs in California beyond a ‘backpack giveaway’ characterized as a branding exercise,” the judge wrote.
Landau confirmed on the stand that in 2022 — among other expenditures — Oorah transferred $16,500,000 to North Africa and the Middle East, and spent $16.5 million to purchase a building in Israel. She testified that while the Kars4Kids ad features kids ages 8 to 10, the programs Oorah funds “often target young adults (17-18) and matchmaking as well as Jewish families.” And she conceded that a donor would “have to go to the website” for that information.
Neither Kars4Kids nor Oorah responded to NPR’s requests for comment. But in a lengthy statement on its website, Kars4Kids said the judge mischaracterized its work and its testimony at trial.
“Kars4Kids’ ads have one purpose: to remind listeners that Kars4Kids offers a quick and easy way to dispose of an unused vehicle,” it wrote. “The ads are targeted to vehicle owners, not specifically to people considering donating to charity.”
The charity said “helping children often means engaging parents and families as well,” and stressed that its mission and religious affiliation are prominently stated on its website.
But the judge ultimately sided with Puterbaugh, writing that “a reasonable consumer is not required to be ‘computer savvy.’” She gave the charity 30 days to stop airing the ad in California unless it is updated to include an “audible disclosure of its religious affiliation and the geographic location of its primary beneficiaries and the age of the beneficiaries.”
The judge also ordered the charity to pay Puterbaugh $250, the value of the car he donated, though acknowledged that “money cannot ‘un-donate’ a car or restore the donor’s belief that they were helping a local, needy child.”
Kars4Kids says on its website that it plans to appeal the ruling, which it said is “deeply flawed, ignores and misrepresents the facts that were presented at trial, and misapplies the law.”
The charity also called the case as “a lawyer-driven attempt to siphon off charitable funds for their own gain.” Roberts dismissed that accusation, saying the only money his client stands to gain is the $250 for the car and lawyers’ fees. The bigger win, he said, is putting Kar4Kids — and potentially other charities nationwide — on notice about the consequences of false advertising.
“I think anyone who knows the facts would think that there was wool being pulled over people’s eyes,” Roberts said.
Where are they now?
J.G. Wentworth’s catchy “Viking Opera” commercial, featuring elaborately costumed, structured settlement-winning opera singers in need of cash, has been airing on and off since 2008.
J.G. Wentworth/Screenshot by NPR
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J.G. Wentworth/Screenshot by NPR
This story sent us down a head-bopping rabbit hole of nostalgic jingles, confirming they never truly leave the depths of your brain. And it turns out, some of them are — in a sense — new again.
Remember Zoo Pals, the early-aughts, dipping sauce-friendly paper plates shaped like animals (pig, bee, frog, duck) that, per their peppy theme song, “make eating fun!”? Hefty discontinued the onetime birthday-party staple in 2014, but brought the plates back in 2023 — and has also introduced disposable cups and plastic bags in the years since. No word yet on whether the commercial might make a comeback too.
Folgers, the coffee brand, has had people humming “The best part of wakin’ up / is Folgers in your cup” since the cozy jingle first aired in 1984. Its various iterations have managed to hold viewers’ attention in the years since (the 2009 sibling version inspired a slew of parodies and fan fiction). In 2021, public performance royalties for the song — which is actually titled “Real Snowy Morning” — were auctioned off online. The winning bidder, identified as “Josh C.,” paid $90,500.
And earlier this year, the brand released remixed versions of the ad, fusing the original jingle with several popular wake-up songs spanning genres and generations (including the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence).
Just this week, comedian John Oliver parodied JG Wentworth’s Viking opera (“877-cash-now”) jingle for an episode examining the structured settlement factoring industry. Oliver’s version, warning people to be skeptical of such companies, features stars like singer Megan Hilty, actor Victor Garber and Larry David, in a nod to the original earworm’s prominent cameo in the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Sometimes a jingle outlives the very thing it’s advertising. Consider: “I’m a Toys R Us Kid,” the toy store ditty belted enthusiastically by generations of trike-riding kiddos since the 1980s. The franchise shuttered due to bankruptcy in 2018, though it has since been partially revived through a partnership with Macy’s. The jingle has staying power — much to the delight of prolific thriller author James Patterson, who helped write the lyrics in his early career in advertising.
“That’s a big moment in my life,” Patterson said when asked about it in a 2024 appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark. “That’s a fun one, and kids obviously loved it. And we do remember it, which is great.”
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