Featured image credit: Hermann Luyken Cirque du Soleil has become such a fixture of the Las Vegas experience that it’s hard to recall that the first permanent venture was a major risk. Up until then, the expectations of Las Vegas nightlife were drastically different. While most will agree that Siegfried and Roy did the heavy […]
Featured image credit: Jessie Eastland What is it about the isolation of the desert that drives people to search with such determination for profound, meaningful communication? It’s the conditions that birthed the Mojave Phone Booth: a remote payphone that inspired togetherness amongst lonely people at the end of the 1990s. And the Amargosa Opera House: […]
Featured image credit: Visitor7 We often talk about the history of Los Angeles on this blog, but today we’re going back to the very beginning. Sort of. Indigenous people lived in the area we call Los Angeles for centuries before the city’s first stone was laid. But if you ask locals to take you to […]
Featured image credit: Russ Allison Loar The Queen Mary has quite the reputation. No, we don’t mean a disgraced monarch. We’re talking about the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary permanently moored in the Port of Long Beach. You know, the allegedly haunted Queen Mary? She ferried the world’s ultra-wealthy across the globe’s blue highway for […]
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 […]
Feature Photo Credit: Envato Elements As the chilly autumn air sweeps across SoCal (or so we hope), there’s no better way to kick off the season than by exploring the best pumpkin patches around! From u-pick fields to fun and festive attractions, and delicious snacks, these local gems offer the perfect excuse for a cool […]
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: 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 […]
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 […]
