California news, stories & travel reviews
Things I’ve learned at Rancho La Brea: 1.) La Brea means “the tar” in Spanish, so if you say The La Brea Tar Pits, you’re really saying The The Tar Tar Pits 2.) The fossils …
A Scribe Amidst the Lions singer/guitarist Kristofer Towne says the band was unloading before a recent gig at L.A.’s Viper Room when… “Out of nowhere, a speeding car [was] careening into the parking lot at …
The La Mesa library recently placed California Wine a Sunset Pictorial, published in 1973 and edited by the estimable Bob Thompson, in a cardboard box outside the building’s front door. A visual history of the …
For hikers, the flattish 5700-foot summit of Mount Wilson -- home of the historic (and still viable) Mount Wilson Observatory -- is a jumping-off spot for vintage trails that run downhill in practically every direction. …
Although relatively unknown among hikers, the Piru Creek gorge offers a rugged wilderness experience less than one hour's drive away from L.A.'s northern suburbs. In 1992 the 220,000-acre Sespe Wilderness was carved out of lands …
"I've been on every day since April of '78 & five original shows a week."
Coyotes howl, water splashes down a willow-lined creek, and hummingbirds flit about in search of nectar. All of this takes place barely a mile from the grid of suburban streets on the fringe of Los …
Anybody who's tried to sign on to municipal Wi-Fi in San Diego knows there isn't any. While other big cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle forge ahead with ambitious plans to provide residents and …
The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott. Carroll & Graf, 2007, 256 pages, $14.95. ABOUT THE BOOK: Francesca, a disgruntled 19-year-old lesbian, tries desperately to pull together the pieces of her scattered life. This novel opens …
The rustic city of Sierra Madre, just east of Pasadena, has long been a departure point for hikers seeking exercise and solitude in the adjacent San Gabriel Mountains. That part of the mountain range, known …
In France, a common mini-scandal is the ménage à trois, a person with two lovers, sometimes under the same roof. The San Diego Chargers, secretly and lustfully eyeing the Los Angeles market, may outscandalize the …
The cool, forested north slopes of Liebre Mountain rear up in stark contrast to the wide, brown Antelope Valley (westernmost Mojave Desert) at their feet. The San Andreas Fault, which lies along the mountain's north …
Sharply terminated by the Los Angeles River and Interstate 5, Beacon Hill stands as the last eastward gasp of a 50-mile-long mountain range -- the Santa Monica Mountains. Back in the early 20th century, the …
Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles: An Accidental Memoir by Kate Braverman. Graywolf Press, 2006; 218 pages; $15 FROM THE DUST JACKET: Kate Braverman grew up in Los Angeles in the late 1950s at …
From the top of Mount Lukens, the high point in elevation within the city limit of Los Angeles, you can peer over a vast and spacious urban plain -- coastal haze and smog permitting. During …