The idyllic holiday scene — piles of presents, smiles all around — rarely matches reality. Who among us hasn’t faced the awkward silence of a gift that falls flat? Who hasn’t been disappointed by one we’ve received? Why then, do we get it wrong so often? Why are we so bad at giving gifts? I’ve […]
Now that he has a baby, Kyle Mooney doesn’t leave a certain L.A. radius much if he doesn’t have to. And he’s content with that. The “Saturday Night Live” alum spends most of his time in Pasadena, Glendale, Highland Park and, most of all, Eagle Rock, where he lives with his wife and their infant […]
In the summer of 2023, Alix Max, new to town with a cigarette in their mouth, was shooting pool on the patio of 4100 Bar in Silver Lake. They were pretty good, too — good enough to catch the eye of two regulars, Andrea Lorell and Julianne Fox, who recruited them to join their practice […]
We met at a boba shop on Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue perfectly situated between our apartments in the lively heart of West Hollywood. I wore light-wash jeans with rips at the knees and a purple North Face long-sleeve that read “Save the Polar Bears.” My beige jacket was fluffy and felt excessive for […]
Snow has been slow to arrive in Big Bear this year, but the long-term forecast calls for big changes. Bear Mountain resort in Big Bear is adding its first new chair lift in 30 years, a six-seat, high-speed lift that will carry its first customers Thursday. The new Midway lift (also known as Chair 5) […]
Mark Olson at the gym. (Mark Olsen) “Throughout my life I’ve been a skier, weightlifter, hiker and runner, including many local 10K races. Following open-heart aortic valve replacement surgery in late 2023, I embarked upon a cardio rehabilitation program introduced by the cardio center: I do a mix of of high-intensity resistance training, free weight […]
Like most working moms, Los Angeles ceramist Emily Haynes has mastered the art of multitasking. “Please excuse the boxes of popcorn,” she says with a warm smile, leading the way to her ceramics studio in the garage behind her Valley Village home. “Our garage is the holding container for the Cub Scouts’ popcorn,” adds the […]
What gifts might our Gift Guide pickers pick if they were guided to pick gifts from the lists of the other gift pickers to give? Asking that question aloud might be hard to do (go ahead, we’ll wait), but answering it isn’t. That’s because this year, once our collective of elfin scribes finished sourcing all […]
Hanukkah begins on Christmas this year, marking a rare coincidence of the Jewish and Christian holidays, which occur according to different calendars. The alignment invites reflection on how two traditions can inspire each other. The Orthodox Jewish community I grew up in rejected Christmas lights as signs of unwanted assimilation. We lighted the menorahs in […]
The first thing I do each morning is check my watch — not for the time but for my sleep score. As a runner, when the glowing red letters say my score — and my training readiness — are poor, I feel an instant dread. Regardless, I scroll on, inspecting my heart rate variability and […]
(Beth Hoeckel / For The Times; Ann Demeulemeester Black Livia Collar, courtesy of Ssense.com) Anyone who has attempted to breach the magnetically charged ring of ice around a Capricorn knows that their association with their planetary ruler, Saturn, could never be a coincidence. Look deep into the stone-flower eyes of a Capricorn and you will […]
About a year ago, longtime friends Laura Baginski and Susie Lee reconnected at their 30-year high school reunion. As the two women caught up with each other about their careers, motherhood and everything in between. They vented about how they missed going out and had been struggling to find a spot that played music they […]
On a Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, a group of longtime friends recorded a conversation on the side of the road at Grand Avenue and 3rd Street after a long day of skating around the city with legendary photographer Atiba Jefferson, who was heading home after shooting the crew. Lee Spielman, a California native and […]
Before me stands a glistening silver box — sleek, elegant and with boldly defined protruding vertical lines, giving it an ever-so-slight vintage Art Deco look. A golden vent rests at its top, the figures on its grille appearing like alien hieroglyphics. This, I am asked to pretend, is an elevator, which will take me from […]
Muralists living and working in Los Angeles often bring color and culture to the city’s concrete façades. Their work is a tribute to the life and times of the city. For our annual holiday wrapping paper feature, Times art directors commissioned eight L.A.-based muralists to illustrate intriguing designs, from a Dodgers tribute to sweet treats […]
Kelsey Grammer has played Frasier Crane for nearly a quarter century — most recently on a “Frasier” follow-up series that just last month wrapped its second season streaming on Paramount+. So it might be natural for longtime fans to conflate the small-screen psychologist with the man who won four Emmy Awards portraying him. In Sunday […]
• Big Basin Redwoods State Park, near Santa Cruz, is recovering after fire scorched almost the entire park in 2020.• Of 115 miles of trails and fire roads in the park, 31.5 are open. More are to reopen soon. • Many post-fire redwood shoots are 10 to 20 feet tall. Walking among them is an […]
Maison Margiela’s creative director John Galliano, the iconoclastic couturier who previously headed artistry at Givenchy and Christian Dior, is leaving his post at the luxury French fashion house after a decade-long run. The British designer, 64, announced his goodbye Wednesday via Instagram after employees at Maison Margiela were informed about his exit ahead of the […]
Best for: Ultra-luxury travelers who want extra privacy What it’s like inside: Though it doesn’t come cheap, PS is the ultimate commercial-yet-feels-private airport experience. Travelers begin their journey at a facility completely separate from the rest of the airport, with an entrance that is off Imperial Highway. Say goodbye to typical LAX traffic. Upon arrival, […]
In November of 2020, I went on my first mushroom trip. I chose the date arbitrarily, eventually landing on Black Friday because of the poetic ring to it, a wink to the “hero’s dose” I planned on taking — enough to conjure an “ego death,” a temporary pause from the regularly scheduled mind loops and […]
As an art director with a background in theater, Mary Kenny has a flair for interior design that rivals her skills as an event planner in the entertainment industry. For her, there is no such thing as “too busy” when decorating her 600-square-foot apartment. “I like to have a sense of humor,” says the self-described […]
One of the Disneyland Resort’s new holiday offerings is a show featuring the young guitar-slinging character of Miguel from “Coco.” But it’s ultimately rooted in a culture and history that long predates the 2017 film. Show director Tobi Longo pulled from her childhood, her family roots and a cultural heritage in working with her peers […]
• Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena is a neighborhood holiday lights extravaganza that’s taken place nearly every year since 1920.• 135 deodar cedars stretching nearly a mile along Santa Rosa Avenue are strung with lights by volunteers each year for the event.• This year’s lighting ceremony and winter festival takes place from 3 to 9 […]
Molly Baz ended up in Los Angeles by chance. In March 2020, she was vacationing in L.A. with her family when government officials issued a stay-at-home order due to COVID. She didn’t feel comfortable going back to her crowded apartment building in New York. In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their […]
“Wait, you dated her? She’s basically royalty,” said an old schoolmate of my first love when we realized our mutual connection. It was nearly a year after the breakup, but even hearing her name made my heart beat in staccato. I was in my sophomore year at Scripps College in Claremont when our paths crossed […]
Disneyland is turning 70 next year, and the theme park has never missed an excuse to throw a nostalgia-fueled party. The coming months will be no different, and arguably the star of the festivities will be Walt Disney himself, albeit in robotic form. The Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary happenings launch May 16 and are expected […]
On May 20, 2016, my wife and I visited Yosemite National Park. Before we set out on a trail, I talked to a park ranger. I told her that I was looking for a picture of water reflecting the trees. The ranger, a third-generation Yosemite employee, stated that Lukens Lake was one of the most […]
There’s no single smell that defines Los Angeles. Certain scents are often linked to the bustling streets of downtown or the verdant banks of the L.A. River, while others are tied to the more secluded, quiet corners of places like Mount Washington or Bel-Air. The city’s essence shifts subtly as you move through it, with […]
The love story of musicians Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger and Mike Einziger was fortified in a lab. After meeting through a mutual colleague in 2010, the Santa Monica-based couple’s courtship began the following year, as they were collaborating with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer on a series of film scores. Einziger is best known as the founding […]
My first meeting with Aescape, the AI-powered massage robot, was benign enough — if a bit eerie. As if HAL had gotten a job in the Valley. I stepped into the austere spa room at Pause, a wellness center in Studio City, and a sturdy massage table commanded the space. It was deep-sea blue and […]
TONOPAH, Nev. — Business is so good at the Clown Motel, you might expect more of its painted faces to be smiling. But as Vijay Mehar has learned in his years as owner of the creepiest motel in Tonopah, Nev., happy clowns are not what most of his customers want. What they seem to want is […]
By 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of people were crowded outside the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, waiting to get inside one of Los Angeles’ most anticipated events of the year: Born X Raised‘s annual Sadie Hawkins Winter Formal. Since 2014, the beloved L.A. streetwear brand has hosted a holiday season affair where attendees come fitted in their […]
When I asked my mother what she might like for her birthday this year, she quickly texted back: Nothing. We are downsizing. My parents already live in a small house — a former fishing cabin on the edge of a lake. Our family moved a few times when my brothers and I were growing up, […]
Ellen O’Brian hadn’t bought a candy-filled advent calendar in years, but when she saw the festive cardboard box with little numbered panels in her local natural foods store, she couldn’t resist. “It’s put out by a chocolate maker called Divine, and it’s dark chocolate for the dark time of the year,” said O’Brian, founder of […]
Tiffany Haddish names her pets after things she wishes she could have more of. Namely, sleep. Her dog Sleeper and cats Sleepy and Catonic (whom she adopted from the set of the cat-themed movie “Keanu”) make her house in L.A.’s Crenshaw district a home. That and her underwear. “I’ve spent six months here or there […]
I don’t do casual sex. My labels are demisexual and sapiosexual, or some combination of the two, which makes being attracted to someone when there is no intellectual or emotional spark improbable, if not impossible. Ironically, I also have a very high sex drive. This unfortunate condition — that my lady parts have some morality […]
On Saturday, Image co-hosted a party in memory of Género Neutral, the beloved retail shop in Echo Park that closed earlier this year. To mark the end of an era, Ashley SP, one of the co-owners of the shop, wrote the below piece, which is also a celebration of what’s to come. Interspersed throughout are […]
“Code Green” has the trappings of a modern escape room. We enter what we are told is a hidden bunker-turned-research lab. It’s dark, but there are clearly challenges that surround us: patterns in the walls, a cork board filled with notes and images connected by string and, before us on what appears to be a […]
CHONBURI PROVINCE, Thailand — Like most babies, Moo Deng spends a lot of her time sleeping. But for a few hours a day, the 4-month-old pygmy hippo springs to life, gumming on leaves, zooming around the compound and tossing her head in a silent, open-mouthed roar. These moments, captured by her zookeeper at the Khao Kheow […]
Los Angeles is teeming with beautiful places to walk, but for many of us, our favorite paths are those that are closest to home. These are the walks we do again and again, when we need to shake out our blues, get a new perspective or just enjoy some of our city’s famous sunshine. So […]
Holiday gift shopping? It’s chaos. The Grove on Black Friday? Good luck finding parking — it’s a two-hour wait just to squeeze into a spot. And big box stores? Just no. If you’re looking for something less stressful and more creative, there’s a better option: Museum Store Sunday, sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday […]
Manuel García-Rulfo moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago, and now the Guadalajara-born actor says he feels more like an Angeleno than a transplant. “I love this city. It’s cool. It has so much to offer,” he says with a charming smile. In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday […]
I was hanging out with my friend Patrick, comparing notes on our dating lives. We were talking about red flags and whether we had any. “Well,” said Patrick, “I feel like I’m sort of an aerospace cliché. … I’m an engineer, I drive a Subaru and I rock climb.” “How is that a red flag?” […]
Linda Hsiao was standing at a weathered work table inside her ceramics studio in Altadena. It was the day after Halloween, and her two children, Saben Taylor, 5, and Wawona Hsiao, 3, worked alongside her, hand-sculpting clay vessels as wild as a child’s imagination. Like Saben’s handprints in the concrete patio outside the studio, Hsiao’s […]
• The Los Angeles Flower District features more than 70 vendors in two neighboring markets downtown — the Original Los Angeles Flower Market and the Southern California Flower Market.• Combined, the two markets are a vast kaleidoscope of natural and unnatural (i.e. human-altered) blooms, such as perfect roses dyed black and Dodger blue.• The savings […]
Fashion weeks are like summer camps for style sickos. Especially this year’s L.A. Fashion Week, because every event happened at one single location: the W Hotel. You got to see your friends walk a show, or run into a stylist or press rep that you had to do a quick Google Image confirmation on because […]
(Beth Hoeckel / For The Times; Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, courtesy of Ssense.com) Among the ultra-blessed 22 cards in the tarot’s major arcana — that is, the cards that have the power to shift the narrative of destiny — we find “The World.” It’s a card that represents culmination and fulfillment, the joy of completion. It’s […]
This story is part of Image’s November Lost & Found issue, exploring the many lives our clothes and objects have, the many stories that are still waiting to be unearthed. When Swedish brand Hodakova won the LVMH prize this year, it felt extra significant. The finalists for the most sought-after prize in fashion — awarded […]
This story is part of Image’s November Lost & Found issue, exploring the many lives our clothes and objects have, the many stories that are still waiting to be unearthed. Our clothes hold us, shaping our experience and understanding of life in ways both subtle and profound. It’s that feeling of studying a photo of […]
For Kaley Cuoco, Sundays mean one thing: football. Her fiancé Tom Pelphrey first made her a fan. “Because Tom is so obsessed with football, if I wasn’t going to join then I would be an outsider,” she says. “I needed to be included so I jumped in. And by the way, I’m so glad I […]
The sun has just set over the Palos Verdes hills, and the tennis court lights are buzzing to life. I’m enjoying time with my husband, Steve, standing between clean lines on the deep blue courts made bluer by the artificial glow. It feels familiar and self-contained, the two of us alone in our little rectangle-shaped […]
Splash Mountain’s eviction is complete. With the opening Friday of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Disneyland has formally rid itself of an attraction that came to be seen as problematic. In its place is a ride that serves as a celebration, boasting a statement about the communal power of music and a narrative that serves as an […]
In our household, beauty wore different names. This was back in 1995, when we lived on 58th Place, in the upstairs unit of an ash-white triplex in Ladera Heights, many miles south of the glamour and stock beauty of Hollywood Boulevard. The beauty in our home didn’t announce itself like it did in the movies […]
SEOUL — The election of Donald Trump has sparked a surge of interest in the United States in South Korea’s 4B movement, a radical feminist crusade that preaches the four B’s: bi-hon (no marriage), bi-yeonae (no dating), bi-sekseu (no sex) and bi-chulsan (no childbirth). Since Nov. 5, there have been more than 500,000 Google searches […]
The game started as an experiment. A way to look at emergent behavior — the coordinated and mesmerizing flight of a flock of birds, for instance. For artist and researcher Hillary Leone, the concern was that the world was becoming more divisive. She wanted to create a new language, one that showed the power of […]
DeLoyce Alcorn is 92 years old — and pressing nearly four times that in weight at the gym. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Alcorn — dressed in a T-Shirt that read “Be Strong. Be Resilient. Be You.” — slid into the leg press machine, which was set at a whopping 312 pounds. He gripped the […]
For every time you hear an Angeleno smugly say “I thrifted it,” there’s a story behind the last hands that held the garment. Maybe it belonged to a fabulous Hollywood costume designer. Maybe it was languishing at the back of a Silver Lake dad’s closet. Either way, our clothes carry memory. While there are the […]
Asia White defines herself as an “idea person” — someone with an expansive imagination and a tendency to get overexcited. “I want to do lots of things. I’m always thinking of concepts, but I move on too quickly,” says the 27-year-old food influencer, more commonly known as the Foodie Bitch. “It’s like I live several […]
Want to know the secret to longevity? Hint: It can’t be found at the bottom of a serum bottle or at some luxury doctor’s office. The key is to consistently engage in “multicomponent” physical activities that encompass aerobic activity, muscle strengthening and balance training, according to the national Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. For older […]
It’s fall, and for many that means it’s “Gilmore Girls” season. Though its original run ended in 2007, the series about the mother-daughter escapades of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore has remained a viewing behemoth, often returning to the top 10 of Nielsen’s streaming chart during the autumn and winter months. Consider it a soothing symbol […]
If you had asked me to go on a date with someone who was barely out of prison, my answer would be an immediate no. I am not someone with Bonnie and Clyde syndrome, and I have never initiated anything with a known ex-con. My dad used to make fun of me for being someone […]
“Hello, old friend.” That’s the phrase that popped into my head at the start of my favorite walk recently. It was a warm October evening and the swaths of black mustard weed on the trail had completely dried up, leaving the towering stalks spindly and bare. Some were more than 8 feet high. They lined […]
Walking is considered one of the healthiest ways to exercise, but let’s be honest: Unless you have a dog dragging you to the door or a friend pulling your arm, it’s easy to find reasons to stay on the couch. Especially in a place like L.A., where cars typically take us from point A to […]
When it comes to “walkability,” L.A. gets a bad rap. To the weekend visitor, our city can seem like a maze of twisting freeways and roads built for cars, walled off to pedestrians. But those who really know L.A. can tell you it’s a pleasure to stroll through, replete with blooming bougainvillea, rich history and […]
According to the census, nearly a third of Los Angeles residents are over 50. And we’re aging collectively — according to a Times report, L.A. County’s median age rose 2.6 years between 2012 and 2022. Thankfully, L.A. is an enticing place to grow older, and not just because of the temperate climate. The city is […]
Sometimes the best gift is not another item to keep track of but an experience where you can lose yourself entirely and find serenity, healing or replenishment. Fortunately, L.A. is filled with unexpected places that provide an escape from the supersonic speed of our daily lives, and many of them offer gift cards. From a […]
Shauna Bookless never imagined she’d become her own pharmacist. But after gaining more than 20 pounds during undergraduate and graduate school and feeling unhappy with her weight, the Hollywood resident found herself mixing vials in her kitchen to create her own doses of a popular weight-loss drug. “I’m playing doctor,” Bookless said, describing her foray […]
Plant people are easy to buy for — and hard too — because the really die-hard gardeners usually want nothing more than their favorite battered clippers and an old table knife for weeding. The truth is, many of those cutesy have-to-have garden gifts look pretty at the store but serve little purpose in the real […]
You won’t find any clowns at the L.A. leg of the traveling Balloon Museum, but there are plenty of other carnival-inspired sights and sounds to be experienced: massive inflated tents, queue lines marked by bright primary colors and concessions fit for the midway. The award-winning contemporary art museum unveiled its “Let’s Fly” show last week […]
Credits Creative Director: Amy KingFeatures Editor: Brittany Levine BeckmanLead Gift Guide editor: Marques HarperProject editors: Jen Doll, Philip Gray (books), Betty Hallock (food), Michelle WooWriters: Lisa Boone, Stephanie Breijo, Kailyn Brown, Cindy Carcamo, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Danielle Dorsey, Betty Hallock, Jenn Harris, Jeanette Marantos, Todd Martens, Deborah Netburn, Bethanne Patrick, Christopher Reynolds, Jessie Schiewe, Adam Tschorn, […]
The City of Angels, La La Land, Tinseltown, the Big Orange — whatever you call this city and however you’ve made a life in it, you probably have an obsession or three about Los Angeles and our great state. We’ve put together a lush array of coffee-table books covering at least some of those interests, […]
It was 1996, and while traveling through the Lost Coast in far northern California, my boyfriend and I were camping without a tent on the beach. We’d been to Yosemite and some other places, but we’d just gotten there. We took this road that goes up and through the Lost Coast area. We finally get […]
Louis Vuitton at the Americana Louis Vuitton has joined the lineup of designers and boutiques at shopping destination Americana at Brand in Glendale. Its new retail space illustrates the spirit of the heritage fashion house, offering men’s and women’s accessories, leather goods and ready-to-wear. Customize your leather goods and fragrance bottles with hot stamping and […]
Sophie Thatcher isn’t in L.A. at the moment — but “Yellowjackets” fans will appreciate the reason. She’s in Vancouver filming the new season of the hit Showtime series, in which Thatcher’s character Natalie was revealed last season as the ringleader of a soccer team marooned deep in a mystical wilderness after their plane crashed on […]
Long Beach is not Los Angeles. The suburb, if that’s something you can call the seventh-largest city in California, is geographically close to the City of Angels but emotionally distant. The hometown of both Snoop Dogg and Billie Jean King — a set of Long Beach Polytechnic High graduates with pretty disparate skill sets — […]
For many people, stress related to the approaching presidential election is palpable. Even, at times, unbearable. Judith Martinez, 32, a nonprofit founder in Los Angeles, says the election feels like an existential crisis and has contributed to bouts of insomnia. “Beyond what happens in November, one of the hardest things for me to grapple with […]
One of the best parts of new parenthood is figuring out what your child is going to be for Halloween. Considering the costume possibilities for my 15-month-old, I have been surprised and often delighted by what one can find on the internet. For a reasonable price, you can dress your baby up as Cher Horowitz, […]
No one has ever applauded me for getting out of bed before. But for the last week and a half a tiny, cheery red machine has been rewarding me with a fanfare when I decide to rise. Its digital screen explodes with animations of parade-like confetti, and my first stretch of the morning is greeted […]
• In April, comedian Allan McLeod launched “Walkin’ About,” a podcast in which he and a guest stroll somewhere in the L.A. region.• His walking companions have included actor Dan Stevens, Ed. Begley Jr. and comedian Jon Gabrus. • Through his many adventures on foot, Mcleod has discovered that walking “can be really complex and […]
As a woman prepares to pitch her friend to an audience of roughly 200 eager singles, a few of their pals skip around the room, hold up cardboard signs that say “Team Jason” and hype up the crowd. A live band plays early 2000s pop music while the eligible bachelor makes his way to the […]
• The Wallis Annenburg Wildlife Crossing now spans the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, but weather issues have pushed completion to sometime in 2026.• Builders plan to cover the crossing with “engineered” soil inoculated with local microbes early next year so more than 5,000 native shrubs and wildflowers can be planted.• But the crossing won’t […]
This story is part of Image’s October Luxury issue, exploring what luxury really means to artists, designers, aestheticians, architects and more. My first influencer event was in the summer of 2017 at the Museum of Ice Cream in L.A. I was there for an Instagram magazine for which I’d been writing beauty roundups. I’d decide […]
This story is part of Image’s October Luxury issue, exploring what luxury really means to artists, designers, aestheticians, architects and more. My love of bathrooms stems from them being a personal space, and that it’s really a time alone in there (for the most part). People don’t often think about making it feel comfortable, or […]
• Eric Blackwell is making a name for himself with his handcrafted artworks made largely from reclaimed guitar wood, featured in California boutiques like Trina Turk and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation store.• His passion for guitars led him to a job at Tom Anderson Guitarworks; after setting out on his own, he crafts functional […]
You’re a Yankees fan headed to Los Angeles for the first time. Of course you have questions. After all, you’ve come west from an old, dense, stinky, shrinking, corruption-plagued city while we wait here in a young, sprawling city that’s — well, OK, also stinky, shrinking and plagued by corruption. But we have In-N-Out. And […]
The last time the Dodgers were in the World Series, it was in the thick of the pandemic. So all the games were played at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas, and the capacity was capped at 25% of capacity. The big ‘fit that year was face masks. Which is to say, Dodger fans weren’t […]
The first two surprises, as you roll up Old Highway 80 into this dry and silent Sonoran Desert town, might be the steam and the music. The steam rises from two pools at the recently reborn Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel. The music seeps from a bathhouse ruin where the hotel stages weekend performances. On this […]
Over the course of J.B. Smoove’s decades-long career as a comedian, actor and writer, he’s become known for many things. His fast-paced, New Yorker cadence and quick-witted comebacks. His wide-brim hats and dapper suits. And of course, his most beloved character, Leon Black, on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which catapulted him into superstardom. In Sunday […]
I saw Trevor around the gym for months — scattered tattoos and black tank top with a cute smudge of climbing chalk on their ears. They always made sure to say hi, looking in my direction frequently. They first asked me to hang out in December. I asked when they were free, and they replied, […]
The industrial food supply will be the last bastion of the luxury economy, and we might mirror the cannibals in doomsday movies before we cede our idiosyncratic eating habits to austerity. Capitalism is amazing because it inspires unrelenting competition between brands and the branding of items that should be generic — organized and categorized by […]
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. — Emily Markstein, a sinewy rock climber and skier who has spent seven years living and working in the Sierra resort town of Mammoth Lakes, opens a large sliding door and welcomes a stranger into her home. One of the gleaming multimillion-dollar mansions nestled among towering pine trees and granite peaks in […]
Barely four hours after he had arrived in Los Angeles from Georgia to attend his nephew’s birthday bash, James Huling was seated at a bar rolling a joint and sipping a cannabis-infused agua fresca on a recent Thursday afternoon. “I’m trying to find out about that Cali life,” said Huling, 71, with a grin as […]
• Famed cougar P-22 is a rock star in the wildlife world, inspiring a novel, songs, murals, documentaries and festivals that have drawn thousands since his death in December 2022.• An advocate credits his life story with making the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing a reality and inspiring legislation to build more.• But attempts to get […]
When Alexander Payne’s wine-drenched dramedy “Sideways” first came out, Santa Ynez Valley didn’t have the luster of Napa or the breadth of the Russian River Valley. It still doesn’t match the touristic draw of either, but the spunky kid sister of the California wine countries has grown up since 2004, when Paul Giamatti and Thomas […]
The Black Dumpling Sculpture by Jess Sellinger Ceramics via ssense.com. (Beth Hoeckel for The Times) It can be tempting to fall prey to the lore around Scorpio. There is no other sign (except for, perhaps, Gemini) that has come to possess such a polarizing reputation in the public imagination. Our sweet Scorpio finds herself constantly […]
This story is part of Image’s October Luxury issue, exploring what luxury really means to artists, designers, aestheticians, architects and more. In the 2005 Chanel miniseries “Signé Chanel,” French filmmaker Loïc Prigent offers an unprecedented inside look at the storied luxury fashion house. In one scene, the film ventures to a farm in rural Paris, […]
Water-hungry lawns are symbols of Los Angeles’ past. In this series, we spotlight yards with alternative, low-water landscaping built for the future. Like most families stuck at home during the pandemic, psychologist Angel Black and her husband, philosophy professor Tim Black, struggled with maintaining their careers while helping their children manage their learning. Angel Black […]
A skin, hair or makeup routine is never just a skin, hair or makeup routine. We dived deep into the beauty rituals of artists and aestheticians across L.A., and in turn learned more about their relationships to themselves and the world around them. A beauty ritual is as much personal as it is a portal: […]
A skin, hair or makeup routine is never just a skin, hair or makeup routine. We dived deep into the beauty rituals of artists and aestheticians across L.A., and in turn learned more about their relationships to themselves and the world around them. A beauty ritual is as much personal as it is a portal: […]
For Julie Bowen, mom of three teenage boys, a perfect Sunday would include plenty of “me time.” “My whole family calls laundry and dishes my ‘hobbies,’” she said. “No, no, my hobbies are reading, going to museums, hiking and playing pickleball. Those are my hobbies. They’re like, ‘No, it’s not. It’s laundry and dishes, Julie.’” […]
He handed me a brown paper bag — mind you, just a regular lunch-size kraft paper bag that was still flat and folded — and in all seriousness said, “Just in case you need it.” Turning to look at him — an almost-stranger I was about to embark on a coffee date with — I […]
A skin, hair or makeup routine is never just a skin, hair or makeup routine. We dived deep into the beauty rituals of artists and aestheticians across L.A., and in turn learned more about their relationships to themselves and the world around them. A beauty ritual is as much personal as it is a portal: […]
Rolly Crump had an outsized reputation. A rebel in the Disney fold. A beatnik. An unapologetic tell-it-like-it-is you-know-what. Crump, who died last year at the age of 93, also forever changed the look of Disneyland. His art can be found in the Enchanted Tiki Room and, along with close friend and fellow artist Mary Blair, […]
Approaching Laguna Beach on the hike from Newport Beach to San Clemente. (Tom Courtney) This charming stroll will transport you back to the 1930s, through popular Laguna Beach, with its throngs of tourists and stylish art galleries, to Dana Point, where fishing tourism is big business, and finally San Clemente, equally known for its regal […]
When model Josephine Lee, known online as Princess Gollum, arrived in Studio City for a skincare brand photo shoot in November 2021, she had all her signature accessories in tow. An eerie-chic partially shaved head, spooky colored contacts and a green, matcha-flavored vape in the grasp of her long fingernails. Despite a recent health scare […]
Any Dodgers fan visiting New York is bound to have questions. Why is the Statue of Liberty calling for a right-handed relief pitcher? Why does the wait for trains along the High Line seem like forever? Can I trust these tacos? When the game is over, are we going to hear Randy Newman? We have […]
DIXON, Calif. — Deep inside one of the world’s largest corn mazes, where the tri-tip sandwiches and soft-serve ice cream purchased at the concession stand have become but a memory and all that can be seen in any direction are dirt paths and dead-end walls of green plants whispering in the breeze, people tend to reveal […]
During this year’s early September heat wave, I sat in a shaded courtyard at USC struggling to write after teaching my classes. The oppressive noon heat stifled my brain while sweat streamed from my temples. After a few minutes of internal debating — it’s after Labor Day, it’s time to work — I fled to […]
Dressed in 7-inch neon heels and translucent yellow bell-bottoms, Mary Serritella was defying gravity and expectations on a recent Wednesday night at Hollywood’s Bourbon Room. Spinning gracefully around a silver pole to disco medley, she contorted her body into a series of improbable positions with even more improbable names like “The Chopstick,” “The Jade Split” […]
• After years of living in a condo, the Hinch family was ecstatic about the giant backyard of their new Porter Ranch home. • Then they got their first water bill of $3,000 and tore out much of their lawn.• The Saddleridge fire in 2019 incinerated most of their remaining yard, so they created a […]
BISHOP, Calif. — Just after dawn on Thursday, I pointed my car up a long, steep hill outside Bishop and climbed through the high desert scrub toward the towering peaks of the Eastern Sierra. For about 15 miles, the land and most everything on it was the same color: a muted sandy gray. But at about […]
Imagine it: Soccer legend Abby Wambach, five years old and a gifted forward, scoring 27 goals in her first three youth soccer games. Now widely known, it’s a story that Wambach shares often to emphasize the importance of working with teammates, or what she calls her “wolfpack.” “After my third game, my mother asked me […]
“Dale!” drag king Mauro Cuchi shouts into the mic. “Eso!” the crowd roars back. A spotlight shines on two glistening bodies facing off on the wrestling mat, each scantily clad and grappling to subdue the other in a takedown. But just as one manages to top the other, they start aggressively making out. The packed […]
“I don’t want to go.” “I get it.” I was on the phone with my emotional support friend Jill, who was trying to pump me up to meet someone new despite her awareness of my latest soul-crushing connections. “You have had a challenging run lately, but you never know when it might turn around,” she […]
I can think of nothing more luxurious than choice — the simple ability to dictate rather than be dictated to. We take for granted that we can pick from seven different brands of coffee makers or thousands of hours of filmed entertainment on a streaming service. I don’t even know how I picked my dry […]
As contemporary Angelenos, seeing the immersive “Little Women Ballet” might be as close as we’ll ever get to stepping into a time machine. The series of dance works about Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 19th century novel are staged inside the stately Victorian homes of Northeast L.A.’s Heritage Square Museum. Dancers and actors are dressed in […]
I started strength training about nine years ago for admittedly vain reasons. Fresh off a breakup at the time, weight training offered a welcome distraction and the prospect of a revenge body. I trained two or three times a week — nothing crazy, just good old fashioned bicep curls, weighted squats, plank holds. But the […]
Todd Lerew is curious. He likes lists. And he doesn’t like doing things halfway. This is why he collects pictorial maps, why he has visited 248 public libraries in Los Angeles County and 401 of the 483 municipalities in California. It’s why he recently joined the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Elks, Moose International, Oddfellows […]
Hollywood’s upper-class elites have found a new way to show that they’re out of touch. And I fell for it. Chain, a recent darling of social media and beneficiary of articles that speak of its nostalgia-fueled good times, promises the in-the-know somewhat exclusive access to the latest celebrity chef creations, specifically those from Tim Hollingsworth […]
It is summer in the Midwest, hot as soup, and I don a frock the size of a twin bed sheet in cooling cotton. “Going full women’s studies professor today, are we?,” my wife comments appreciatively. I give her a magisterial stare over the top of my reading glasses. “Where are my clogs?,” I ask, […]
Howdy! I’m Jaclyn Cosgrove, an outdoors reporter at the L.A. Times. I write about the best trails, bodies of water, campgrounds and more that you should visit in and around Los Angeles County. I’m also the voice behind The Wild, our weekly outdoors newsletter. I am often out hiking alongside Maggie May, my trusty trail […]
When pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth first began visiting Los Angeles in the early 2010s, he remembers landing at a house near Mount Olympus with an incredible view. Though he‘d only recently become a legal adult, he’d already built a following as a YouTuber, posting covers and singing intro songs for popular creators on the platform. […]
For Halloween lovers, there is only one major problem with spooky season: it ends. But in a city where the change in seasons is more of a shift in mindset anyway, it doesn’t have to. Where there is a will to celebrate Halloween all year long in Los Angeles, there is a way. There’s a […]
Some people might wonder: Is true love at first sight just a romantic fantasy? Or does it ever actually happen? These weren’t thoughts that had yet occurred to me when I was 13 years old. I was old enough to have started noticing girls, but the notion of true love, let alone at first sight, […]
Living in Los Angeles is a lot like folding a fitted sheet: It seems almost impossible to do well — until someone shares a tip or two that smooths things out and makes the whole process infinitely easier to navigate. I’ve been the beneficiary of many a Los Angeles life hack over the years. Some […]
Van Cleef & Arpels pop-up at South Coast Plaza The ultimate in luxury, Van Cleef & Arpels has a pop-up at South Coast Plaza this fall. Interact with the Ludo collection, an array of Art Deco-influenced pieces inspired by Louis Arpels’ nickname. Created in 1934, the Ludo bracelet features updates like delicate mesh in hexagon […]
My brother dropped me off curbside at Los Angeles International Airport and yelled, “Run!” Our timing getting to LAX was thwarted by the kind of notorious L.A. traffic that airline change fees and crushed dreams are made of. Departure to Newark, N.J., was at 8:05 a.m. It was 7:25 a.m. I raced through the terminal […]
(Textile sculpture of crafting materials and tools made by Los Angeles artist Mashanda Lazarus; photo by Robert Hanashiro / For The Times) Los Angeles’ creative class extends far beyond Hollywood. In this series, we highlight local makers and artists, from woodworkers to ceramists, weavers to stained glass artists, who are forging their own path making […]
Once upon a time — well, in 1928, actually — the city of Los Angeles took the progressive step of opening the Commonwealth Nursery in Griffith Park, which over the next 50 years grew millions of trees and plants — many propagated from native seeds — for the city’s parks and public buildings. The nursery […]
On a Tuesday in September, Mary Ruble walked up to the barre of the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica for a 7:45 a.m. ballet class, joining about 30 women of all different ages. They stretched and chatted until the teacher gave them their first warm-up combination — a series of stretches and pliés […]
To get to ceramist Raina Lee’s tree house, you enter through an iron gate with a dog warning sign and climb a long wooden staircase that creaks beneath your feet. You’ll then cross a suspension bridge, and you’ll hear, “Be careful, it’s very wobbly,” before seeing Lee, 48. There, you’ll likely find her with a […]
It was early morning in mid-December when I awoke to the sounds of steady rumbling while lying in the top bunk in my 9-by-5-foot family room in Amtrak’s Southwest Chief train. I climbed down a ladder to find my husband and 5-year-old daughter still snoozing in the lower bunk. Grabbing a seat on the gray […]
The dress code caused mass chaos in the group chats: “Dripping in romance,” taking inspiration from the night’s theme, “L.A. Vie en Rose.” Any good prompt is both esoteric and hyper-specific enough to let your imagination run wild (and trigger an existential crisis). But mostly, we used it as a framework for the kind of […]
I knew “The Morrison Game Factory” had its hooks in me when I started talking back to it. There I was, alone and at home, and in conversation with a fictional machine. Puzzles were sprawled around me. Colorful dice, a small board, little plastic rocket ships and a stack of cards with seemingly disconnected drawings […]
“Are you leaving again? ” I asked my husband, Rob, as he packed for his second trip with the guys in three weeks. “Only for a few days.” I could sense the elation he felt in escaping. He was heading out to chase ski runs, and I was staying home, taking care of the dogs […]
Even though he officially retired from competition more than two decades ago, skateboarding legend and entrepreneur Tony Hawk seems to be everywhere these days. If you’re an avid video game player, you can watch him (or maybe even help him) defy gravity in a long-running series. If you watch TV, you might catch him pitching […]
As a Black woman who grew up in New York City in the late ’90s and early aughts, double Dutch has always been near and dear to my heart. In the summertime, the balmy Bronx streets would be filled with kids hanging out on their blocks with time to kill and limited means. We’d fashion […]
I’ve been crying a lot lately. I find myself sitting on the couch in my living room, folding laundry between Zoom meetings, the U.S. Open on in the background, my aging hands in the foreground, and I break into tears. I’m not sobbing because Zverev won or because my hands remind me of my grandmother’s, […]
Wendy Ramirez, co-founder of online learning website Spanish Sin Pena, saw firsthand how música Mexicana affected her students — many of whom are of Latin American descent — during a recent language immersion trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, organized by her company. At the end of a long day trip, the group sat down at a […]
• Fifth-generation circus performer Daniel Eguino is guided by his focus and his faith as he performs inside the locked metal cage known as the Globe of Steel at Circus Vargas. • A Sunday with the “most unique congregation on earth”: from the jugglers to the flying trapeze artists to the daredevils — and Father […]
We all have regrets. And they come in myriad shapes and sizes. Some people stew over a minor bad decision, like an unnecessary impulse purchase. Others ruminate over major fork-in-the-road moments, like turning down a potentially exciting career opportunity. For some, regret might be slow-brewing indecision that amounts to loss, like not having children. But […]
As the Bridge fire spread from the East Fork of the San Gabriel River to the beloved mountain communities of Mount Baldy and Wrightwood last week, questions arose about what would be left in its wake. And those included which beloved hiking trails in the region were affected. Now that the fire is 25% contained, […]
One day in the late 2020s, if the people at Brightline West deliver on their promised fast train between Southern California and Las Vegas, you’ll be able to order a drink while rolling toward the Strip. And apparently you’ll be sipping that drink in a railcar that may remind you of a spacecraft interior. Brightline […]
This story is part of Image’s September Image Makers issue, celebrating some of the most daring and innovative artists working in fashion today. This belt pays tribute to the studded belt, and is reminiscent of what Edward Bohlin would have done, which through a few Google searches you’ll see is amazing stuff. [He was designing […]
This story is part of Image’s September Image Makers issue, celebrating some of the most daring and innovative artists working in fashion today. Eric Solis describes his photos as “cyberghetto,” “flow 2000s,” “raver chic.” Models wearing cargos layered with neon mesh shorts, stand among the rims at a car lot, using a purse inspired by […]
Edward Humes thinks a lot about garbage — and how we should deal with it. “Garbology,” the Pulitzer Prize winner’s book on “our dirty love affair with trash,” came out in 2012, and “Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World” was published earlier this year. This interview has been edited […]
Some of you may be thinking that plastic is convenient to use, but is it convenient to kill the planet? As time passes, more and more plastic is being thrown into landfills, burned and thrown into the ocean. Plastic is what’s forming our future. I’m an animal person. I love the water. I love swimming. […]
From an early age, Christina Najjar, better known by her moniker Tinx, recalls the grip that “Sunday scaries” had on her household. “I remember my dad being kind of stressed out, and it was the day that everybody went to bed early because we were getting ready for the week,” she says. Now that she’s […]
Claudia Rivera, a Peruvian-Parisian creative director and photographer, is known for building worlds in Paris that are colorful and communal, events that feel like a home away from home for the Latino community there. Rivera pulls up to Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea in El Sereno for our interview between L.A. meetings. She is wearing […]
I took an old point-and-shoot digital camera to New York Fashion Week because, haven’t you heard? It’s 2006 again, baby — when I was 11, I would lock myself in my room and give myself flash blindness by taking dozens of blown-out pictures of my face on a pink Sony Cybershot that I would upload […]
At 5:11 p.m. on a Friday, my phone buzzed with a message from Matt. I was deep in work for my graduate program, and his text left me momentarily stunned. The same Matt who had ghosted me despite promising to call was now reaching out again. “Hey! Are you in OC still? I’m visiting Noah […]
Water-hungry lawns are symbols of Los Angeles’ past. In this series, we spotlight yards with alternative, low-water landscaping built for the future. When Aurora Anaya bought her little Art Deco house on a corner lot in Whittier, Calif., she was excited about the chance to create her own garden. And then she met a man […]
Worldwide criticism of fast fashion’s waste, labor abuses and carbon emissions has done little to slow down the industry. But new legislation could alter the flood of goods — like the floral print jumpers priced at, say, $2.99, the kids’ T-shirts selling for $4.26 or the tank tops for $4.88. The term “fast fashion” — […]
As a young aspiring ballerina, I was transfixed by ribbons. Attached just so, winding up the ankle like a vine, tied expertly on the inside of the leg — to me, nothing completed a ballet slipper like a ribbon. I anticipated receiving my ribbons — normally achieved when a dancer reaches Grade 3 in the […]
Two things are certain in pet parenting: 1) your furry loved one will one day have to visit the vet and 2) the cost of veterinary care is increasing, rising more than 60%, over the last decade, according to a recent New York Times report. Stacie Straw, in Long Beach, Calif., spent about $30,000 in […]
Zana Bayne and Mariano Cortez are two of the most low-key yet cultishly-loved designers in L.A. dealing in leather and latex, respectively. They also happen to be a couple. Zana wears Zana Bayne corset, Black Suede Studio boots, Calzedonia tights, Pinsy bodysuit. Mariano wears BustedBrand shirt and pants, Ugo Cacciatori bracelet, Other People’s Property rings. […]
On a sweltering July afternoon in Echo Park, Miranda Due approached a table topped with a trio of flavored syrups and a spread of toppings: diced pickles, Kool-aid powder and gummy bears. Behind it, Dria Yellowhair pulled a pre-filled cup of crushed ice from a cooler, and asked Due what flavor she wanted. Upon requesting […]
On a glorious summer day, a preschooler named Roger teetered on rocks dotting a creek in eastern Orange County, unsure if he could make it back to where his classmates and caregivers were waiting. A volunteer youth mentor with Earthroots Field School stuck out her hand, reassuring the 3-year-old, who grasped it and took one […]
Does it sometimes seem as if social media has turned American popular culture into a perfectionist parody of itself? Last week, I followed a social-media-spawned debate over whether a home decor trend called “fridgescaping” was worthy of media attention. I guess it must be, because Architectural Digest recently explored what it called “romanticizing your refrigerator.” […]
How do you know how to dress someone when that person technically doesn’t exist? This inane yet genuine question burned in my mind when I sat down to interview Natasha Newman-Thomas, an award-winning costume designer. Newman-Thomas is the sartorial mastermind behind TV shows including HBO’s “The Idol” and Childish Gambino’s iconic “This Is America” music […]
Jay and I matched on Hinge the night I was going to delete my account. His profile painted a picture of intellect and being well-traveled, active and fun. His messages were witty, and he knew how to keep the conversation going. I was more invested in getting to sleep, so I eventually replied with a […]
How does one become a stylist to the stars? When you hear the story of Zerina Akers, stylist to Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion and Karol G, you learn that success not only takes devoted work but also genuine community building. One builds a career alongside others. Visual artist Maria Maea has had the unique experience […]
Esther Perel’s trajectory from private practice psychotherapist to internationally renowned relationship expert is deeply entwined with technology. It was her publisher’s printing presses that distributed her 2006 breakout bestselling book, “Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence” (HarperCollins), in more than 30 languages. The videos of her subsequent hit TED talks that brought her theories on […]
One night when I was out at a bar, reporting for a story, I struck up a conversation with a comedian who was in her early 30s. I’d recently turned 29 and I expressed that I was feeling anxious about my impending milestone birthday. “The worst part about 30 is 29,” she told me in […]
Carlos Leon found himself in a depressed state — a personal relationship was stalling and his career seemed directionless. What he craved was an escape, one inspired by the fantasy worlds he devoured as a child and continued to consume into adulthood. Think those inspired by “The Lord of the Rings” and Dungeons & Dragons, […]
Louis Vuitton Art Silk Squares A tradition since 1987, Louis Vuitton’s Art Silk Squares project invites select artists from around the world to design their own Louis Vuitton silk square. This year, L.A.-based pixel-art collective eBoy created a square that explores the theme of the iconic LV Monogram Flower motif. Titled “Maze of Precious,” the […]
Based on the number of local L.A. content creators that have visited Tian Xiang — a small, nondescript herbal medicine shop in Los Angeles’ Chinatown — you might think it’s the single best Chinese pharmacy in Los Angeles. Its TikTok star, in particular, is rising. You can find more than two dozen videos on the […]
There’s no place in the world quite like L.A. If you’ve spent any time living in this diverse, vibrant city, chances are you have a few stories under your belt that only could have happened here. Here are two favorites from my own life: Several years ago my husband and his parents took my 8-year-old […]
When NFL Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez was growing up in Torrance, he remembers spending Sundays watching the Los Angeles Raiders on television. After all, “they had Bo Jackson,” Gonzalez says of the famous running back. (The Rams, led by quarterback Jim Everett, were a close second.) Like Jackson, the 48-year-old grew up […]
I am an 81-year-old widow with shaky balance. But friends have told me that I have a face and outlook as those of a younger woman. Not too long ago, after I finished breakfast, a strange feeling came over me. My whole body, mind included, felt numb and spaced out. Seated at my dining room […]
On a recent Monday in August, Kevito Clark hosted a video conference call to discuss the next installment of a game night he runs at the LINE LA, a hotel in Koreatown. But over the course of the hour-long meeting, he never said a word. Instead Clark, who has a shaved head and a full […]
Tourists view a variety of locations during the Sony Studios lot tour, with Tony Tasset’s 94-foot, 2012-constructed rainbow that references “The Wizard of Oz” in the distance. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) Best for: Game show devotees and a vision of Oz The Times first wrote about a tour of the famed MGM Studios lot […]
Just five hours north of Los Angeles sits a national park that should be on your outdoor bucket list. It features a valley carved millions of years ago by glaciers, hulking mountains made of granite and other rock, countless waterfalls, massive ancient trees and a cool, clear river. I know what you’re thinking: “That sounds […]
As the Latin trap anthem “Singamo” rings over the speakers at the Echo in Echo Park, more than 50 people sing along and twerk on stage. Dina Ben-Nissan and Courtney Hollinquest take turns spinning tracks by artists from around the globe while images of flags from countries such as Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico rotate […]
The house, a French palace on a Santa Barbara bluff, stands as undisturbed as a crime scene, a pair of unstrung harps in the music room, china laid out on the dinner table, waves crashing on East Beach below. This is the mansion that heiress Huguette Clark left behind — well, one of them. For […]
His Bumble bio and photos were appealing. He also traveled frequently and loved to dance. Over the phone, he came across as dorky to me. But when he suggested that we go salsa dancing for our first date, I decided dorky was doable. I love dancing too. There was a lesson at 9 p.m. followed […]
When Jessica Alba reminisces about her Sundays as a child, the first things that come to mind are sleeping in and having Sunday dinner with her tight knit family. “We would do enchiladas, al pastor or a more elaborate dinner that took more time,” says the Pomona-born actress, adding that one of her fondest memories […]
Nothing screams “summer” more than a day spent by the water. And Angelenos have many ways to access it, including a long coastline hugged by the Pacific, plenty of pools and refreshing swimming holes galore. But consider the local lake, an underrated option. Unlike the ocean, the lake is a calm body of water. The […]
On a bench near the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market in July, Peggy Cheng recalled the time a television writer pitched her a wacky sitcom centered around the unlikely scenario of a young woman who had befriended her elderly neighbors. Cheng, who was working in TV development at the time, wasn’t impressed. “She thought it was […]
She was 63. I was 33. We shared cocktails at a rooftop bar overlooking Sunset Boulevard during golden hour. And the connection was palpable. No, this isn’t the start to an “L.A. Affairs” romance column. But it is about a love affair of sorts. My best girlfriend of the last two decades is 30 years […]
“Want a glass of wine?” my friend yelled at me down the hall, yanking a cork out of a wine bottle. My writer’s group had rented a lake house in Vermont this past June on an island in the middle of Lake Champlain, where shorebirds and ducklings paddled past. The thought of relaxing at the […]
(Beth Hoeckel / For The Times) Not everyone may want to encounter a Virgo, but everyone will need to do so at one point or another. No matter how much you might resist their tutelage, or how stubbornly you might deride the sixth sign for the nagging demon of perfectionism that seems to curse their […]
Last year, the nonprofit where I work went from requiring employees to come into the office twice a month to three times a week. I was grumpy about the change. It’s not that I don’t like the people I work with. I genuinely do. It’s just that, particularly at rush hour, I’m not such a […]
Hella Academy by Chris Echevarria Pennant Chino in khaki, Field Ready Rugby in hunter green, Schoolboy Blazer in navy, Weekender Bucket Hat in shell, Ellis Penny Loafer in chocolate, Vibram 1757 Lug Sole. When we talk about “traditional American menswear,” rarely do we ask what that actually means. Whose “American tradition” are we pointing to? […]
A few minutes after the play begins, the actors stop, empty their pockets and repeat their last few lines. And then they do it again. And again. And again. This live approximation of a vinyl record that catches on loop goes on for a few more minutes, the actors getting slightly louder and a tinge […]
In Awkwafina’s new movie “Jackpot!” (co-starring John Cena and Simu Liu and directed by Paul Feig; it’s now streaming on Prime Video), the rapper and comedian plays an aspiring actor turned winner of a multi-billion dollar lottery ticket. So when we recently sat down for a Zoom interview about her ideal Sunday, one of the […]
Meet Zia, my dilute calico who enjoys chasing droplets of water in the tub and lying flat on her back, like a fluffy rug in a log cabin. In her two years of life she’s spent quite a bit of time at the vet, for eye infections and painful cold sores, among other things. The […]
As a kid, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to wear on the first day of school. I loved going shopping for new supplies, clothes and shoes. Then, the night before the first day, I would lay out my look — backpack and all — and daydream about how […]
Artist and founder of Tlaloc Studios Ozzie Juarez, and film director-model-multidisciplinary artist Pablo Simental. The photos are warm and grainy, some of them taken at an angle. They show four young men smiling — no, beaming. It’s 1991: The jackets are puffy, the shoes are high-top, and the hair is specific. In the photo, the […]
On a balmy summer evening, Sary Gil of Norwalk tediously repairs one of his T-shirts with red thread using decorative stitches that look like rosebuds. You wouldn’t know it, but just three weeks ago, he sewed for the first time. Ever since, on Wednesdays after work, he’s attended Radical Sewing Club in Huntington Park. His […]
“Have you ever pickpocketed?” No, I have not. At Knott’s Berry Farm, it was suggested I give it a try. Thieving, the man gushed, is freeing, and, by it’s very nature, comes with a reward — or spoils. But I was in the presence of an unreliable narrator, for I was leading “Honest” Cody Sullivan […]
Let’s start with some common sense: Covering the Earth with plastic carpet is a terrible idea. And yet we continue to cover an ever-growing swath of our public and private open spaces with artificial turf in a way that will surely leave future generations scratching their heads in confusion. It’s time to embrace healthier, cheaper […]
As an only child who moved around a lot, Emma Specter learned to comfort herself, as a lot of kids do, with familiar foods — whether it was the Dunkin Donuts she sought out in Rome or the candy bars she stock-piled from Manhattan bodegas. By the time she entered high school, she’d begun using […]
Los Angeles is brimming with special slices of nature, tucked high in the mountains or along the coast. So when we put together a guide highlighting some of the best first-come, first-serve campsites in the city, we asked readers to share their favorites too. What we received were notes from nature lovers that waxed poetic […]
If you overlook the polluted Seine, Paris looks so pretty on TV, so quintessentially Parisian, that it raises the question: How will Los Angeles compare when it hosts the 2028 Olympics? We can rhapsodize about our fabulous mountains and beaches, gorgeous parks and gardens, and many breathtaking residential drives. But that’s not what people see […]
The outside tables at Figaro Bistrot are far too close to one another. A group of women is seated beside us, drinking white wine and leaning together to murmur while giving me side-eye. My date gets up, excuses himself and heads to the bathroom. One of them leans over: “So is that your dad?” I’m […]
For more than a decade, visitors say the Children’s Garden at Elysian Park was a shady showcase for indigenous plants, with dense stands of mature native trees and shrubs lining the paths of the grounds just west of Grace E. Simon Lodge and creating a cool, restful places to walk, play and learn. Then, in […]
In the final months of summer, intensifying heat causes many of us to alter our daily routines. We wait until the cool air of the morning or evening to exercise, dust off our biggest water bottle and slather ourselves in SPF 75. But what about your furry friend, panting by your side? Many pet owners […]
I sat in my car, in an El Segundo shopping mall parking lot, looking up at a new storefront touted as a one-stop shop for feeling physically fit, emotionally grounded and socially connected. My shoulder ached. It was my good luck that on the same day I was touring Love.Life — a new luxury health […]
Imagine that your local public library is inhabited by an undiscovered race of tiny people. They’ve hidden themselves in the racks, tucked behind books and magazines, amidst history and fiction, new media and old. If you’re lucky, you might spy them — or at least their tiny homes, which are filled with minuscule beds, microscopic […]