plan to increase safety in the city. good afternoon. i'm kristen sze. larry: i'm larry beil. three days after the contentious supervisors meeting where someone threw a brick into the crowd, the mayor is announcing plans to try to increase public safety in the city of san francisco. kristen: suzanne fawn spoke with the mayor as she talked through the valley today. reporter: she says she's doing everything she can to help businesses thrive in the city. today as she visited retail stores around the valley, she acknowledged more help is needed to keep business owners and residents safe. she says the budget she is proposing will include more money to better staff san francisco's police department. she says applications have been pouring in and now it is about finding the right candidates. >> our goal in the next two years based on the numbers on the numbers and the information i have so far, we anticipate we

will have at least 220 new officers on the ground. reporter: the mayor says she's also adding more support for police officers. >> adding another 22 civilian positions. they are going to replace officers that are inside, matter indoors, that are doing reports and paperwork, so those officers can also be out on the streets. reporter: and then -- >> the other thing we are doing with retired police officers who are ambassadors, we are helping to move them to areas where they can be helpful be the eyes and ears on the streets. reporter: san francisco residents say things are slowly coming back but they are hoping for a change that leads to safer streets and the return of business. >> i've been here for about 10 years. we do need more businesses in the area. downtown near union square, a lot of businesses are gone. a lot of people say it's not quite what it used to be. reporter: the mayor's responding to those concerns. >> i know people want to see something happen now. and something is happening now. it's just not happening as fast

as people want it to happen. reporter: regarding the fentanyl problem? >> there need to be stricter penalties. there needs to be some level of accountability. right now, people are not afraid to deal fentanyl and we have to change that. reporter: when asked about how she plans to pay for the added sevillian and police staffing -- police and civilian staffing, she said -- >> we have looked at some of our various reserves, department cuts over all. reporter: mayor breed says help is also coming from opioid settlement money. we reached out to the san francisco supervisors for a respond. they say they are waiting for additional details of the mayor's specific budget proposals. >> we are confident about what we are planning to propose and we are not aggressively dipping into the reserves. but everyone had to sacrifice this budget cycle. kristen: latest retailer to close along market street or union square in the past few months.

you can see there have been more than a dozen and these are just some of the bigger name stores that have closed. most say it has to do with the lack of foot traffic in the area. kristen: -- larry: phil is here to discuss this now. recognizing it is a challenging time for retail stores. phil: especially the big ones. they are consolidating down. old navy was too big of a store for downtown anymore. but whatever the reason, the bottom line is there are fewer stores in the downtown of san francisco. and that is a real problem. because in other it is not new. we have brick-and-mortar stores closing all over the country. but in san francisco, it is a concentration of them and you have the offices emptying out. it is not just but the offices as well. tourism is down as well. those three together, that's

what the problem is in san francisco. it would be a problem anywhere at this rate. it even the will to because of the other vacancies which leads to a domino effect that keeps going around. less foot traffic, fewer stores, more empty stores, fewer people want to go in. larry: then you have the whole issue, the tax issue in san francisco. >> the taxes are higher in san francisco. and also this, if you are paying an off-duty cop $1000 a day to stand outside your store, that is upwards of $300,000 a year that you are already out. and you don't have to pay that someplace else. you are just going to keep that other store open and close the one in san francisco. larry: that ties in with public safety and the mayor has talked about the budget for hiring more police officers. but a shortage of officers has been going on for years and years. there are hundreds of officers -- they are hundreds of officers down. >> yes, and here's what else was

going on. in 2021, we had absolutely -- hit absolutely rock bottom and people even applying to be police officers. now, they are starting to get applications back. yes, they have the money for cops, they have the money for academy, but that takes time, and then you have to go through a process, and not everybody that signs up to a cop is going to make it all the way through. it is a long-term problem and we need faster solutions. that is what the problem is, the mayor needs quicker solutions than can be afforded right now. larry: one thing they want to get under control is the fentanyl situation. it's it's a part. >> it can help if you have the prosecutors and the judges working together on this. right now we don't. right now the biggest arrest has been done by the feds. but the mayor has gotten three

new district attorney that are going to be doing fentanyl and fentanyl drugs only. that is a big change. that is their job. the second one is, the mayor is working behind the scenes, this might get a lot of resistance, she's going to want to start picking up people that are obviously intoxicated with drugs or alcohol off the streets, taking them somewhere, having them dry out, and holding them for a while, and then citing them. if they are repeatedly cited, she wants to take them to drug court, some people are going to say that is criminalizing a health problem. but one thing san francisco is yet to figure out is, is it a health problem or a public safety problem? which one is it going to be? it's actually both. it's not an either or. larry: as you said, it's not something that's going to get fixed in the next five minutes. >> no, but i've got a mayor in

san francisco and she's going to be up for reelection. so there was a clock ticking. because the public in san francisco across the board want a change. whether she can be the agent of that change, she will have a job, if they can't, they will be looking elsewhere. larry: phil, thanks for the insight. to be continued. kristen: the family of the man shot and killed by a security guard outside the san francisco walgreens store has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. relatives of banco brown are suing walgreens -- banko brown are suing walgreens. the loss of claims anthony was unfit and on edge and brown's alleged shoplifting at the store upset the guard. >> this death case seems so woefully unnecessary. because there was a choice that was made. it was not a heat of the moment, when things were in the middle of a fight. this was not that kind of situation. kristen: the lawsuit claims

walgreens and kingdom protective services, the security company, ordered security to be more aggressive, causing the deadly confrontation. san francisco's district attorney has opted not to file charges against the security guard for the shooting. larry: new details today about the deadly stabbing of a tech executive in downtown san francisco. learning more about the final moments bob lee and nima momeni spent together from newly obtained surveillance images. melanie woodrow has been following this case. she's live in the newsroom right now. reporter: surveillance images were part of a filing from momeni's defense attorney in an attempt to have him released on bail, something the judge recently denied. the filing includes close to 20 character reference letters that describe all many -- describe momeni, greatly different from the crime he is charged with. as he awaits his preliminary hearing in the stabbing death of bob lee, obtained new surveillance images documenting the final moments are to work together the night of lee's

death. the first pictures show lee arriving at the millennium tower home. around 2 a.m., they get into the elevator and leave the building together where they got into momeni'sc ar with lee in the passenger seat. momeni had a large knife between the driver seat and council of the car which he was known to carry regularly in his car. prosecutors said the murder weapon was a kitchen knife taken from the apartment. after driving around, momeni parked the vehicle at the end of main street, according to court documents. people get out of the car. they described the people as indiscernible blurs. when the blurs separate, the bmw drives away. she suggests lee seen walking in these photos appearshealthy any wounded. that is whene

a rideshare van. kenney filed 18 letters in support of momeni from his family, friends and neighbors. said it was hard for the court to reconcile the letters with what appears to be an inexplicable homicide. while money is being held without bail -- momeni is being held without bail and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for tuesday. >> from his perspective, from any criminal defendant's perspective, they are in custody. who wants to be in jail? most people want their things -- their cases to proceed quickly. reporter: in making his recent decision, the judge said he did not believe momeni was a flight risk but he believed he was a danger to others. i will be at tuesday's for luminary hearing and will have the latest then. kristen: melanie, thank you.

a decision on whether to prosecute a san francisco police officer for a deadly shooting has been delayed. family and friends of sean moore rallied outside his scheduled court hearing this morning. the hearing was postponed. he was fatally shot at his home in 2017 by sf pd officer kenneth shaw. moore died in 2020. an autopsy found his death was partly caused by the shooting. the district attorney initially charged the officer with manslaughter. but the current da has said there may not be enough evidence to prosecute the officer. >> i know what evidence they need, that officer is a killer. he is a killer. plain and simple. if you never gets charged i can't do anything about it, but i'm going to be here. kristen: jenkins has backed off the case since taking over as da sang the charging may have been politically driven. larry: coming up, and while plot to kill the queen? can that happen right here in the bay area.

new information now revealed. and the best and worst times to try to hit the road this weekend. and a destination wedding high above the bay area. meteorologist: i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. a damp, gloomy start of the morning. now we are finally seeing sunshine for parts of the bay area. i will let you know a metal stick around for the a chef. a designer. and, ooh, an engineer. all learning to save and spend their money with chase. the chef's cooking up firsts with her new debit card. hungry? -uhuh. the designer's eyeing sequins. uh no plaid. while mom is eyeing his spending. nice. and the engineer? she's taking control with her own account for college.

three futures, all with chase. freedom for kids. control for parents. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours.

kristen: the holiday travel rush is on. more than 37 million people are expected to hit the road sometime this weekend. larry: they will all be in the lane right in front of you. kristen: of course. larry: that's what it will feel like. as we take a look at the traffic situation, not too bad. interstate 80 in berkeley, it's kind of the usual. kristen: yeah. and leaving san jose, too, it's often bad friday afternoon. some folks are getting out of town. larry: not that bad. amend the details -- amanda del castillo has the details. reporter: she has one of the estimated 7 million plus expected to hit the roads for the holiday rush out of town. numbers, putting us at a 6% increase over last year. but still below pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. >> i'm not surprised, because

we are not concerned about covid as well. reporter: some good news, as the getaway begins. gas but he says the bay area has seen a much bigger drop in prices at the pump, compared to the national average. >> the savings are among the most significant in california. prices are coming down much more than last year. the national average is down about a dollar and five cents from a year ago. reporter: but the head of patrol and analysis says relief is relative. >> is not -- it's not scot-free. gas prices are lower but the cost of activities are much higher than it was a year ago. reporter: str says the rate for u.s. hotel rooms last week was $157 a night, up from $150 the same week last year. the average daily rate for other short-term rentals like airbnb jumped to $316 last month. you can save money, avoid the

hassle and headache by opted to stay home. >> i don't need to travel this weekend with all the hustle and bustle. kristen: right time to be on the road, so they say. the busiest. especially after 6 p.m. tonight the worst time monday is between noon and 3 p.m.. on tuesday, 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. -- 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. larry: everybody should be home watching abc7 news at 4:00. meteorologist: the weekend is looking really nice. not where you should be for this time of year in terms of temperatures, but it will be pleasant for your after plans. let me get you outside right now. we will show you our tower cameras. you will notice san rapha the oakland airport showing you some sunshine. some lingering clouds

the coast. cloudy at zephyr cove right now. the breeze has picked up. now gusting 31 mph at a nice onshore breeze keeping us below where we should be this time of year. . you will notice clouds starting to break up a lung parts of the coastline but not everywhere. look at the north bank. -- northbay. clouds extending all the way into santa rosa, holding the temperature down there. the current flow is keeping the clouds from clearing right now. we are seeing thunderstorms firing up in the sierra nevada once again. if you have travel plans, keep that in mind. on the roadways, it looks pretty good in center file. 61 san francisco, 64 oakland, 60's for palazzo.

francisco. almost looks like a summer pattern minus the warm weather. another round of overcast skies and drizzle in the morning. we are looking to warm up a little bit for most areas tomorrow. cool at the coast. mild inland the rest of the holiday weekend. if you are going to bottlerock saturday and sunday, packed an extra layer because the mornings will feature the low clouds and fog, same thing at night. in the afternoons, it will be nice and comfortable, mid to upper 60's both days. notice the marine layer expanding once again tomorrow morning beginning with drizzle and clouds. 7 p.m. tomorrow night, making that push once again across the bay and toward the inland valleys. morning temperatures in the 40's and 50's. drizzle tomorrow afternoon. a mild day in the south bay.

60 and the city. northbay. 60 run -- 68 san raphael, napa. it is going to be mild sunny weather. accuweather seven day and miles are dead, breezy, little bit of a cool down sunday. those temperatures will come up a few degrees for memorial day. and then we go back to below average continuation after the holiday weekend. most of next week, it is going to remain in the 50's to 70's range. which is pleasant. kristen: yes. not a super warm memorial day weekend. meteorologist: no, it's one of those patterns we are stuck in. larry: we don't want it too hot right now because we have breaking news on the peninsula -- one lane of northbound interstate 280 is closed. firefighters put out a grass fire just off the freeway. traffic, pretty slow in the area. you can see they've got it under control. the fire is almost all out.

this is south of highway 92. if anything changes, we will keep you posted. kristen: it is said that art promotes freedom of creative expression. a group of special-education students today displayed art projects at the a.c.t. in san francisco. our senior education reporter, leah melendez, was at the first showcase since the pandemic. ♪ reporter: through these special-education students communicate their feelings and emotions. like any other professional artist, their work was highlighted on stage and enjoyed my family and friends at the american conservatory theater in san francisco. >> we bring them here, they get to perform on our stages, we provide technical support to lighting and sound and a stage manager. it is about giving them the full experience from creating something to presenting it and sharing it with the world. reporter: being on

teaches them about teamwork and growing socially while daring to try new challenges. it is a program within designed specifically for 18-22 -year-olds with disability, founded in 2012. san francisco is your classroom. -- their classroom. sarag s. started -- heidi seratan started >> for me it is my hobby, what are they interested in? music, art, creative expression? reporter: different art mediums, on display and on sale. all the proceeds go directly to the artists and help purchase their materials. francesca smith now calls herself a digital artist. >> i've been doing art for a very long time, when i was like very young. i wanted to push the boundaries of doing something new.

that is not on paper. reporter: will discovered photo shopping and digital art. here's how she describes her body of work. >> it is for value, full of inspiration, full of color and everything in fantasy. -- hans fantasy. reporter: being on stage in front of dozens of people gave them the chance to own the applause. leah kristen: a wedding on top of the world? the bay area destination wedding location that is not so easy to book. larry: and later, chocolates inspired by the flavors of vietnam.

it's spring! non-drowsy claritin knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear.

that's a lot of cereal. prices going up everywhere. it's goodbye steaks. hello, cereal. this is grocery outlet and your family can still have steaks for dinner. follow me. at grocery outlet we have an amazing selection of meats. like beef, pork, chicken, all within your family's budget even today. hello. steak and chicken and pork chops. ♪ grocery outlet bargain market ♪. sorry. got excited.

kristen: a lot of people dream of having a destination wedding and there are a lot of great destinations here in the bay area. larry: one of those is the summit of mount diablo in the east bay. we will take a look at a special wedding there today. reporter: before they decided to say "i do," they decided to do it here. >> i now pronounce you legally married. congratulations. reporter: stephanie and tyler both grew up in contra costa county with mount diablo as the backdrop. they knew this was the spot. >> to celebrate an area we have been up several times in the

mountain, kind of embedded in our childhood. so yeah. reporter: it is iconic. >> for me i have not been here for probably more than a decade, but i look at it every day when i passed by to work. and i thought, it is a beautiful, natural venue and i am so excited we got married here. reporter: it is a small, intimate venue, but it's in big demand. the summit of mount diablo was one of the highest points in the bay area. with views like this is the wedding backdrop. it is only offered for weddings twice a year. with up to 16 couples each go around. >> wonderful. i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. [laughter] reporter: there won't be a honeymoon yet. stephanie is off to grad school. but there will be a bigger wedding in september. [laughter] >> congratulations, honey. reporter: before leaving, the bride took pictures with her dad. the couple says despite the clouds and cooler weather, it

still turned out to be there perfecting. >> i 100% -- being able to look out and see the scenery no matter what, it'll be a very big point in our lives. reporter: that's another reminder. >> i feel so fortunate to be able to have this opportunity. reporter: at the summit, abc7 news. kristen: that's amazing. the spring and summer months are usually considered wedding season. but according to instawork, that now depends on geography and climate. in the bay area, the peak was in may, followed by october. october is expected to be the most popular this year. larry: coming up, new details come to light about a plot to kill the queen? and it was all happening right here 40 years ago in the bay area. plus -- >> i am a single woman, i live alone. >> taking back ownership of our safety and protection. kristen: what was behind some of the most restrictive gun la in the country and how some

are flipping that fear on its head.

>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ larry: new details a to kill queen elizabeth during a visit to san francisco 40 years ago. according to newly released documents, the threat was made in a call to an sf pretty officer who frequented the dover club. he was popular with sympathizers of the irish republican army at a time. the officer said the caller claimed his daughter had been killed by a rubber bullet in northern ireland. the man said he was going to drop an object off the golden gate bridge onto the queen's royal yacht or try to kill her when she visited yosemite.

the documents did not indicate whether any arrests were actually made. kristen: tomorrow night, abc presents "our america: hidden stories," featuring journalist nicole hannah jones. larry: the creator of the 1619 project, now one of the themes of the series is fear. kristen: hours social justice reported looks at how the fear of black people led to california having some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, and how some are now flipping that fear on its head. reporter: on a quiet sunday morning in concord, a group of first-time shooters is learning the basics of firearm safety. what is unique about this class? the students. all black women for this woman's only course. what inspired you to want to learn? >> taking back ownership of our safety and protection. that was one of the main reasons for coming out today. reporter: samantha jones

had never held a gun before today. she even brought her sister ashley along, also eager to learn. >> i am a single woman and i live alone. so i want to have that extra security at home. reporter: samantha, and the rest of the women in the class are a part of the fastest growing group of new gun owners in the country. black women. according to 2021 numbers from the national sports shooting foundation. >> you got it? reporter: nathan the head of the bay area black gun owners association said, he is seeing this same trend. >> it is a queen's only class here today, the women are out here, they are excited and motivated. >> it is the most popular class that we offer. 70% of our members right now are women. reporter: why is it important for black folks to legally own guns and also know about gun safety? >> to understand the history is to understand why this club exists. this whole thing is a rebuttal to centuries of gun restrictions, against people of

color specifically. reporter: with waiting period's, universal checks and restrictions, california had some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. those restrictions are rooted in racism. according to xavier buck, executive director of the dr. huey p. newman foundation. he founded the black panther party in oakland in 1966. first as the black panther party for self-defense, in response to police against black citizens. the radical organization was known for openly carrying guns on the street, keeping a close watch on police, until california lawmakers made it illegal they are after the group was founded. >> i have these black panthers appear with guns on the second floor. >> they were shocked they had the audacity to come to the state capital and protest

against the gun restrictions. reporter: the bill limiting the right to openly carry loaded guns was supported by the national rifle association. signed into law by then governor ronald reagan in 1967. >> it says the second amendment not apply to black people. it is the only time the national rifle association has ever wanted to respond with morgan restrictions. reporter: back at the range, after a day of learning safety and sharpening skills, these black women are writing a new page in the history books. >> remind me which number you work in. >> number six. number six. reporter: let's talk about this transformation. you are smiling, beaming right now. two hours ago, you were a little shaky. you were a little nervous. all that is gone now. >> when i looked and saw that i was able to hit the target, and everything was in the middle, gave me that extra confidence. -- it gave me that extra confidence. it's exciting.

it really is. i'm enjoying it. [laughter] kristen: you can see julian's story and the rest of the stories from our race and culture reporters from across the country, "our america: hidden stories" tomorrow night at 9 p.m. here on abc7. larry: next, danger in the air. two wild incidents. and the cl

kristen: it's time for the four at 4:00. there are some really bizarre things happening on planes, specifically two incidents -- the first 1, 1 passenger opened a door during an asiana before landing. nobody was seriously hurt. you can imagine how scary that was. in san diego, a southwest pilot hado climb to a cockpit window after he goloed out of the flight deck. a passenger accidentally closed the lockedooto the cockpit while trying to use the restroom. i have so many questions. beginning with, how is it tt passenger can accidentally locked the door from the outside ofheockpit? right? what about the copilot? could do copilot not open it up and go, hey, come on in. larry: so many questions and so few answers. i think he's going to have some x planning to do. reporter: you know what i think --

>> you know what i think? i think that passenger grew up in a household where the mom and dad always said, "shut the door behind you, don't leave the door open." force of habit. shutting random doors you should not be shutting. kristen: yeah, there's got to be a mechanism by which a pilot on the outside can open that. larry: one would think. kristen: especially when you have two people in the cockpit. larry: clearly they were not close to taking off. who knows? kristen: it is funny we were fascinated by that story when the other one is even scarier. larry: the oakland a's have released the first renderings of the proposed new ballpark in vegas. the a's are planning to build on a nine acre site on the tropicana. this rendering takes up all theater five acres of land owned by valleys. it is 38 stories tall.

the retractable roof is way taller than that. why is that a problem? the airport is right behind the stadium. the faa will not allow something like that, that tall in that location. you want to talk about foul ground here? it looks like the a's in their haste to throw something out to the public just took a picture of the coliseum. . look at the expense of foul territory. you wouldn't build a park like that. it's kind of like it took the coliseum picture and slapped it on something else and put the mgm grand in the background. here's the new stadium, everybody. i could go on and on about the a's but i don't want to bore you. karina, you obviously love baseball. the thought of having your team ripped away and relocated is so hard for so many fans. >> it is. even just seeing that, the bad artwork rendering,

which was just wishful thinking on the artist's's behalf, it is devastated. that is all you can say. -- devastating. that is all you can say. on so many levels. larry: i feel sorry for the players, the manager, mark, the fans dwindling in number, in a sign of protest. >> and all the people that work for the team. you think about concessions. you think about the security. you think about all of the people that work for a baseball team at every game. even the parking lot attendants. there are so many people impacted by this. larry: one more thing on this -- i'm sorry. when you drop the renderings that are ridiculous on a friday, going into a holiday weekend -- kristen: hope nobody sees it. larry: bingo. kristen: tiktok is the latest company to test out ai on its platform. it is rolling it out in the form of a chatbot called tyco which

recommends videos based on questions you ask it. they see the future could radically change search and navigation. right now it's only being tested in the philippines, before being rolled out here in the u.s. is not really necessary based on questions that you ask it? shouldn't it just know if it is truly good ai? [laughter] >> you have a point. perhaps of trying to cater to your individual needs, kristen. [laughter] >> you are asking a lot of questions about certain things. what you want to know about, so maybe -- kristen: could they integrate it with my searches on google so they really know what i want to see -- wait, that sounds scary. [laughter] larry: is that what you want? kristen just wants to be able to quickly pull apart dances that she's posted. it is so much easier if you have the ai. kristen: right, karina? >> yeah, sure. it is interesting. i was looking to see how this would work. it is only being done in the

philippines. if you're watching a video and you want to learn a little bit more about that video, you can ask the ai chatbot, tell me more about the history of this event, or whatever, the stance -- this dance, whatever it is, technically it is a little bit more educational. kristen: after you watch my dance clip, you can ask, what else does kristen to? where can i learn such a thing? >> let's see those dance moves, kristen. larry: abc7 news at 4:00 if you are lucky. to another hot story. check out new images shining a light on the sun's surface, captured by the inouye solar telescope in hawaii. they reveal sunspots in stages of activity. some are actually the size of earth. the size of our planet or larger. they hope the images will answer

key questions about the sun and its origins. as a stargazer, you have to be riveted about something like this. >> it is amazing. i can totally see where this is going and a lot of people would be fascinated by it. i don't think just for sky gazers, look how cool that is. if we can find out more about the sun -- >> isn't it incredible what our telescopes can do now? how far it can see? to be able to get these images? kristen: so detailed. is that the one, larry? larry: i believe so. it's captivating. we could watch these images all day long. but we can't do that right now. because we are out of time. kristen: but we can watch my dance videos. [laughter] larry: i highly recommend it. >> teach larry, kristen. larry: the four at 4:00 is really over now. we'll b

one grocery store will stop at nothing to make sure you save more on the brands you love. starring produce, and...... you... as the super saver, in....bargain bliss todd we talked about this. our deals are just so epic. i know, todd. i know. ♪ grocery outlet bargain market ♪ ♪

what would you give for a child you loved, to make their wish come true? to help them fight a critical illness, just imagine what you'd do. every single one of us can make the stars align. because when we come together, hope and joy will shine. ♪ ♪ kristen: larry: and today is all about chocolate, artisanal chocolates inspired by the flavors of vietnam. kristen: suzanne fawn a taste. >> i actually started making chocolates when i was just 19 years old in santa rosa and sonoma county.

we specialize in vietnamese inspired flavors. we have chocolates that are not typical. we have a vietnamese coffee chocolate, a durian truffle, a saurashtra truffle. we try to find different desserts and things that we grew up with and enjoy and put it into the chocolates. ♪ have worked really hard to reinvent chocolate to reflect their heritage using really interesting ingredients. >> the sriracha flavor mixed with dark chocolate, a little bit of garlic. it is about a six out of 10 in terms of spiciness. everyone can have this chocolate. >> this is really lovely. you can take something that has that flavor without it being super overpowering. it's really good. [laughter] >> i'm currently piping durian

ganash into dark chocolate shells. durian is a very pungent fruit. some say it smells like gasoline and onions mixed together, but i don't think so. it is a fruit from southeast asia. it is a special occasion fruit for us and usually during family celebrations that we have. those chocolates are only part of our little saigon box, are most popular box available year-round. it is basically a four course meal in the form of chocolate. a vietnamese meal. the first course is jasmine tea, truffle and a vietnamese coffee truffle, the second course is spices chocolate in pho, paired with a sriracha truffle, and then dessert, guava lychee, passionfruit, and of course durian. the last of course is cognac. with family gatherings, there is

karaoke and sometimes it canhelt least make them think they sing better. ♪ our parents had a nail salon. everyday after school, we would go there to help out. this meant going across the street to the santa rosa plaza on our bricks and eating free chocolate samples every day. after having hundreds of chocolates, i finally wanted to learn how to make the chocolates. so i found a recipe in gourmet medicine -- gourmet magazine and that is when i went down a rabbit hole and started spending all my money buying dipping forks, molds, learning about the techniques to make chocolate. there were not a lot of programs to make chocolates back then. this was 20 years ago. it was a journey that i set up on my own. the curiosity then was like, why are there no vietnamese labors in the chocolate? i had to experiment and tinker on my own to create these new recipes to reflect my heritage. and that's probably the most

joy, spreading chocolate to friends and family that reflect my heritage and my culture. ♪ so we have our bar collection where we launched our durian bar, turron inspired by one of my employees, she loves that dessert. ♪ >> it is definitely turron-tasting. good job. >> a jasmine chocolate bar and dark chocolate. jasmine tea. strawberry matcha. and indian rice pudding pure we should celebrate all the time. but it's a very special time. we got to see all the cultures and uplift each other. ♪ >> what's the best part about making chocolate? >> it's very relaxing. i got into a zone when i am

making chocolates and it is all i focus on. i don't have any worries. i'm just focusing on the chocolate right in front of me. i think it's just the whole experience of enjoying chocolate. it makes you feel good. there's always something to discover about the flavors. it's just something that makes you happy and something you can share with other people in the experience and travel through just eating chocolate. it can to get t a happy placeo, a childhood memory, somewhere you have traveled to. ♪ larry: i want chocolate now. kristen: i've had their products before. absolutely amazing. larry: now to a whole new world from the little mermaid. -- from "the little mermaid." kristen: we will take you ♪ under the sea ♪ come on, larry. larry: it's all

kristen: you just heard "the little mermaid" is back on the big screen. we have a look at the new live-action film. >> ♪ i want to be where the people are i want to see, want to see them dancing ♪ reporter: as kids, they were inspired by the original animated movie. >> when i first saw the original "little mermaid," my whole world changed. reporter: now they are bringing

a new version tilde big screen -- to the big screen. lin-manuel miranda lyrics to new music from the original composer, harold ashman. among those interpreting the songs is habib diggs from the original cast of miranda's "hamilton." he lends his voice sebastian, the crab. >> oh, hey, didn't expect to find you here. reporter: that is agua fina -- aquafina as the s she is worth the price of admission all by herself. but the veteran has met her match in hallie bailey. >> just to feel hallie

be that little mermaid, we are going to feel that for a long time. reporter: little girls have already seen and reacted to the trailer. now they are in for the treat -- for a treat, as a movie star is born here. >> my 5-year-old little self , if she could've seen me now, she would just be blown away. >> ♪ under the sea ♪ kristen: doesn't parent company of abc7. that's going to do it for abc7 news at 4:00. abc7 news at 5:00 with dan and ama is coming up next.

it's spring! non-drowsy claritin-d knocks out your worst allergy symptoms including nasal congestion, without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin-d. (swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. so many hotels. ah! ah! ah! trouble booking the family vacay? come on.

comfort has free hot breakfast for the whole fam. they have waffles! and splendid pools. cannonball! book direct at choicehotels.com. ♪ [children playing outside] reynolds wrap makes it easy to cook and clean up meals in no time. ♪ [food sizzle] so i don't miss all the fun stuff. [whoosh] [splash] easy prep, cook and clean. with reynolds wrap. announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> summer outlook is looking