Featured image credit: Alexander Migl It’s not quite the Hotel California, but it’s still allegedly quite difficult to check out of the Roosevelt Hotel Hollywood. At least if you believe the rumors. The ones about haunting melodies carrying down corridors from unidentifiable sources. Or shadows moving in ways that shadows shouldn’t move. Even the occasional […]
Featured image credit: Jim Heimman from his book California Crazy & Beyond – Roadside Vernacular Architecture It’s understated to be sure, but there’s something special about the autumn in Southern California. You wouldn’t think our arid, sunny, and often sweltering atmosphere would be particularly welcoming of cinnamon and spice. And, sure, you won’t find many […]
Featured image credit: Altadena Historical Society It seems like everyone grew up with tales of a gravity hill. And if you didn’t, maybe you just heard it under another name, like “mystery spot” or the popular “spook hill.” They’re common enough that it seems every town that isn’t flat as a pancake has one. Yet, […]
Few cities highlight the bond between humans and animals quite like Los Angeles. Have you really been to LA until you’ve stood behind an influencer cradling her Frenchie in the line at the Trader Joe’s on Vine? No matter where you turn in this city, people are treating their dogs, cats, and even the occasional […]
Featured image credit: Netflix For being such a gorgeous, in-demand neighborhood, Los Feliz sure has its shadows. We examined the Sowden House, rumored to be the actual site of the notorious Black Dahlia murders. We explored the ancient curse allegedly levied against Griffith Park. But we’ve yet to discuss the Los Feliz murder house. We […]
When we watch horror films, we’re effectively transported to a world in which nightmares come true. But there’s always that thin screen protecting us. The monsters aren’t real, the killers are just in our imagination, and those haunted houses don’t actually exist. Not so fast with that last one. The structures that serve as the […]
Featured image credit: Lake Lou When searching for that perfect paint color for your front porch, someone somewhere may have suggested the color “haint blue”. If that somewhere was in the southern United States, the probability of the suggestion goes way up. Never heard of haint blue? It refers to a range of color shades […]
Featured image credit: Difference Engine Ever wanted to eat Jell-O in an enchanted forest? Then mark your calendars for October 18. It’s the long-awaited date for the Grand Reopening of Clifton’s Republic, an event only bested by the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round on the “when’s this going to re-open?” scale. While portions of the eccentric cafeteria-turned-multi-level […]
Featured image credit: Chalmers Butterfield Here in the post-internet world, it’s hard to recall just how dramatically the automobile changed the country. Few American cities felt the cultural impact quite like Los Angeles. The arrival of the family car in Southern California created fertile ground for a series of architectural movements with none more over-the-top […]
Photo credit: Stuart Guest-Smith If you’ve visited Exposition Park in the last hundred years or so, you may have overlooked one of LA’s most unassuming luminaries. Yet, just in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stands the oldest of the palm trees in Los Angeles. Or perhaps we should clarify the oldest known palm […]
