Latest From This Author
Southern California’s Thanksgiving celebrations have evolved over the years, from a mostly religious occasion to the more secular parades, football and celebrities.
In bookstores’ L.A. heyday, shops were as ubiquitous as a certain coffee chain is today. But we’re no slouches today, even if the internet removed many stores’ physical presences.
The big pageants like Miss America are nowhere near the cultural touchstones they once were. And the smaller ones — anybody remember an L.A. auto dealership’s Miss New Car Department? — have all but disappeared. What happened?
Los Angeles’ first documented smog attack — yes, we had smog attacks — was in 1943. We’ve been fighting the sources of pollution and the quirks of geography that trap it ever since.
The word ‘California’ was first put to printed page in the 1500s — long before the U.S. state existed, of course. Since then, it’s become the place for dreamers, doers, brainiacs and billionaires.
Cal Worthington (and his ‘dog’ Spot), ‘Madman’ Muntz and other colorful local pitchmen used to claim space in the public consciousness. Our culture may no longer be built for that brand of commercial antics.
A long history of human-on-sea-creature cruelty — whaling and whales in captivity — on the Palos Verdes Peninsula preceded this summer of orca, otter and dolphin attacks.
‘Colonies’ started coming to California not long after statehood. They were associations of affinity, of shared interests — neighbors or fellow churchgoers or the intellectually or artistically or industrially homogeneous.
Take L.A. oilman C.C. Julian, who oversold oil stock and left people destitute and dead. Or Simon Homburg, who flipped sheer mountain lots to unwitting out-of-towners.
Tulare Lake, Owens Lake, Mono Lake and other bodies of water remind us of California’s past — and that, ultimately, nature is in charge around here.
