It's hard to capture a year in a single word, but for 2023, the word might just be turbulent.
Consider the floodwaters that roiled California, the unruly debates that shook Capitol Hill, the strikes that paralyzed Hollywood. And, of course, a new war in the Middle East. Turbulent .
But along with conflict, 2023 also saw moments of discovery and reinvention, tenderness and fun. Relive them and more through the work of L.A. Times photographers.
Themes of 2023 Weather Metro workers help clear a flooded pedestrian walkway at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles in January amid unrelenting rain. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Owner Brang Miller shovels snow off the roof of Mammoth Fun Shop in Mammoth Lakes. Up and down California, snow records fell in 2023. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In central California, vehicles cross a flooded 10th Avenue in Corcoran as a resurgent Tulare Lake, filled by powerful March rains, flows through levee walls. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times In Southern California, a sinkhole opened on Iverson Road in Chatsworth in January, swallowing two vehicles and trapping four people. Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times
Persistent rain undermines a cliff along the Santa Clara River in Castaic in February, sending a recreational vehicle to the bottom. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Homes on Peartree Lane in Rolling Hills Estates continue to slide downhill months after the hillside below gave way in July. A city report would later blame "unusually heavy" rains for the landslide. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
In January, a tree topples at the El Camino Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, trapping some people inside their cars. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Herbeto Estrada rescues two birds from his flooded home in the Central California community of Pajaro in March. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In July, months after pounding rains, the Hansen Farms' pistachio grove remains underwater near the edge of Tulare Lake in Corcoran. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Residents from a senior living facility, held safe by firefighters, are evacuated in a front loader. The facility in Cathedral City was inundated with flooding by Tropical Storm Hilary in August. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The weather in 2023 wasn't all bad. On a sunny day with clear skies in October, a surfer prepares to hit the waves at Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Strikes Writer and producer Bill Diamond joins the Writers Guild of America picket line outside Sony Studios in Culver City. The strike, launched in May, would finally end in September. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Actor and writer Daheli Hall, left, joins picketers on May 2, the first day of the WGA strike, outside Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times Actors Danielle Pinnock, center right, and Lanisa Frederick, center left, lead a SAG-AFTRA march outside Warner Bros. in Burbank. Movie and TV actors joined the WGA strike in July. Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times Actors and writers weren't the only ones picketing. Thousands of Los Angeles city workers go on a one-day strike in August after union leaders accused the city of unfair labor practices. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times
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L.A. and Beyond Nikkie Cox of the Coral Restoration Foundation retrieves young corals from an ocean nursery off the Florida Keys for safekeeping in land-based aquariums. The foundation works to save corals threatened by extremely warm waters because of climate change. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Forest Service firefighters in the Angeles National Forest burn piles of forest debris below Mt. Baldy in November. Controlled burns are part of the service's forest management practices. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A solar eclipse in October is seen reflected in a small set of binoculars. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Transitional kindergarten students discover the wonder of ladybugs at Oropeza Elementary School in Long Beach. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Chupacabrah, a surfing goat (yes, it's a thing), is flipped off a giant surfboard along with five human surfers at San Onofre Beach. Chupacabrah's owner, Dana McGregor, is the only one who manages to hold on. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Mike Israeli breeds, trains and sells protection dogs for up to $70,000 at Delta K9 Academy in North Hollywood. L.A. homeowners have created a market for top-of-the-line guard dogs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Students in an electric and power transmission installation training program hit the power poles at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
At San Juan Bautista Church in Cotzal, Guatemala, Catarina blows out a candle at the end of a workshop held for people who experienced or witnessed violence during the country's 36-year civil war. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Police officers try to keep counterprotesters away from a group demonstrating against LGBTQ+ education near the downtown offices of the Los Angeles Unified School District. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
An aerial view shows the remains of a large pallet fire that burned below the 10 Freeway in November. A portion of the busy Los Angeles roadway was shut down more than a week as crews repaired the damage. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Maurice League, 46, who says he has spent most of his adult life in prison, is confined in an outdoor cage used for segregated or solitary confinement, in the exercise yard of the Short-Term Restricted Housing Unit of California State Prison, Sacramento. The California Legislature is considering another bill (AB 280) to restrict solitary confinement after a similar proposal died last year wasn't passed this year as well. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A dog looks out of its cage at the Lancaster Animal Care Center. A Times investigation found that the Lancaster and Palmdale animal shelters, both in the Antelope Valley, euthanize more dogs — and at a higher rate — than other county facilities. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Read more: Photos: The biggest L.A. sports moments in 2023
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Politics In an event billed as the People's March, Gov. Gavin Newsom crosses Tower Bridge in Sacramento prior to his inauguration ceremony in January. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield is elected speaker of the House of Representatives in January on the 15th ballot. It was the first time in 100 years that the speaker was not elected on the first ballot. He set another record in October, becoming the first speaker ousted by a vote of the chamber. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass chats with Jawonna Smith, 33, who lives in a tent on a sidewalk behind the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, before she was moved to a motel under the "Inside Safe" program. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tells a crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley that a "woke mind virus" was infiltrating schools, corporations and other institutions in California. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington in May. It was her first hearing after an illness kept her away from the Senate for almost three months. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, left, pays her respects as Sen. Dianne Feinstein lies in state at San Francisco City Hall. Feinstein, the first woman to represent California in the Senate, died Sept. 28. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Read more: Photos: Times features photographers' favorite moments in 2023
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Migrants Border People who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border are led, single file, to a Border Patrol processing center along the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Border Patrol agents meet migrants hoping to cross into the United States from Tijuana to apply for asylum. Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times A migrant, one of thousands who had gathered in Piedras Negras, Mexico, crawls under razor wire after crossing the Rio Grande to reach the Texas side of the river. Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times A Chinese immigrant watches videos on his phone while other migrants who crossed from Mexico huddle around a campfire at a camp near Jacumba Hot Springs, a community along the California-Mexico border. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times Drug Epidemic Israel-Gaza L.A. and Beyond Maui Migrants Border Monterey Park People Politics Strikes Weather
Losses Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies hold a vigil for Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, who was killed Sept. 16 in Palmdale when a gunman in another vehicle pulled up to his patrol car at a traffic light and shot him in the head. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Combat Veterans Assn. view a growing memorial to victims of a mass shooting in September at Cook's Corner in Trabuco Canyon. A gunman killed three people and wounded six others before he was fatally shot by Orange County sheriff's deputies. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Journalist Keith Morrison, second from right, walks with police investigators near the Pacific Palisades house of Matthew Perry, who died there in October. Morrison is married to Suzanne Perry, the actor's mother. Authorities would later say Perry's death was accidental and the result of acute effects of the drug ketamine. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A traffic safety group, Streets Are For Everyone, hosts a "Ghost Tire Memorial" for four Pepperdine University students killed in a crash along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams were on the side of the road, among parked cars, when a BMW struck them, police said. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Maui Driven by fierce winds, a fire raged through the Hawaiian island of Maui in August, killing more than 90. A man stands amid the wreckage of Lahaina, a historic city devastated by the fire. More than 2,000 structures were destroyed in the disaster. Hawaiians join hands in prayer after delivering a boat load of supplies for Lahaina fire victims at Maalaea Harbor, Maui. Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times
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Monterey Park The Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, after police tape was taken down. Eleven people died when a gunman opened fire during a Lunar New Year’s Eve celebration. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times The body of the dance studio gunman appears slumped over in a van in Torrance the day after the shooting. The 72-year-old gunman shot himself after authorities tracked him down. Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times Mourners gather in Monterey Park to mourn the victims of the the worst mass shooting in modern Los Angeles County history. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times
Drug Epidemic L.A. and Beyond Losses Maui Migrants Border Monterey Park People Politics Strikes Weather
Israel Gaza A Palestinian boy slings a rock at Israeli forces as local Palestinians protest Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Top: A Palestinian boy slings a rock at Israeli forces as Palestinians protest Israeli occupation in the West Bank. Israeli forces respond with tear gas, flashbang devices and live fire. The conflict erupts a week after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Bottom: Israeli Merkava battle tank units assemble near the border with Gaza in southern Israel. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Two people embrace as they pay their last respect to MirelaOs son Daniel Levy who was killed in the BeOeri Kibbutz
Top: Jeffrey Ludmir, center left, embraces his sister, Mirela Ludmir, as they mourn Mirela's son Daniel Levy, who was killed when Hamas attacked Be'eri, a kibbutz in southern Israel. Bottom: Mourners carry the bodies of nine Palestinians killed in an Israeli assault on Nour Shams, a refugee camp in the West Bank, in October. Four other Palestinians also were killed in the assault. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Drug Epidemic Mexicali police officer Sergio Lopez checks for a pulse after a man overdoses on drugs in the Mexican border city. Red Cross paramedics arrive soon after to assist and take him to the hospital. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Matthew Morales smokes fentanyl on the Metro Red Line leaving MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. By the time the subway train arrives at the Wilshire/Western station, Morales is doubled over and near motionless. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Drug Epidemic Israel-Gaza L.A. and Beyond Losses Maui Migrants Border Monterey Park Politics Strikes Weather
People The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence participate in the WeHo Pride Parade in West Hollywood. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Dennis Kasumba throws an old tire to build strength outside his home in Guyaza, Uganda.
Top: Dennis Kasumba, an aspiring baseball catcher from a poor Ugandan village, builds up his strength with improvised training equipment. His training efforts gain him a worldwide following on TikTok. Bottom: Invited to play in the MLB Draft League during the summer, Kasumba signs autographs for fans prior to a game with the Trenton Thunder in Trenton, N.J. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Richard Teer, an inmate at the state prison in Lancaster, readies his cap and gown to participate in a graduation ceremony for inmates who completed a program that trained them to become alcohol and drug counselors. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .