By John Poimiroo The sonorous tone of mission bells announced arriving travelers along California’s El Camino Real from 1769 to 1834. Increasingly today, the jingle of bicycle bells announce the arrival of cyclists at the 21 Spanish missions beside this Royal Road. Touring the California Mission Trail by cycling or hiking is an “epic adventure”…
By John Poimiroo Sardines circle in a never-ending silver stream above the entrance to the Open Sea exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The spectacle of being beneath the swirling center of a school of sardines is so entrancing that some aquarium visitors are said to lie on their backs on the floor to fully…
By MaryKate Keevins Sunset Boulevard, a 22-mile winding stretch of road, traverses a dozen neighborhoods of Los Angeles and two independent cities. It runs from just north of downtown in urban Chinatown to the ocean bluffs of Pacific Palisades. Los Angeles can’t truly be defined by its busy freeways. You have to take an offramp…
By Toby Saltzman What sounded like a pickup line turned out to be friendly banter from a local who enjoys meeting visitors in his quiet Mississippi River town. Seated on the step of a yellow clapboard house, smile lines wrinkling around blue eyes, he called out, “How y’all doin,’ lovely lady? Are ya off the…
When gold was discovered in a frigid creek running through the Sierra Nevada foothills in January of 1848, a headlong Gold Rush began that soon would change the American West. By the following year, hardscrabble prospectors called “49ers” were discovering gold, silver, copper, lead and other valuable metals in isolated canyons bypassed by earlier pioneers. Today, many 19th-century mining communities are eerie ghost towns whose storied pasts consist of crumbling foundations, swirling dust and dangerous fissures. And yet, over the course of time, as decades become eras before turning into centuries, a few towns have survived the sun, storms and inattention.
By Teresa Bergen As I enter the Terror Ship, the captain tells me that he and his crew have been marooned here for fifty years and all of them have a terrible virus. I can just make out in the near darkness that something is very wrong with his face. Indeed, a closer look reveals…
By Tom Adkinson As I navigated the International African American Museum’s intellectually challenging artifacts and displays, a scene that lasted only a few moments captivated me. A Black man, perhaps in his 60s, stood at a floor-to-ceiling window and gazed out on Charleston Harbor. He was watching a hulking cargo ship approach, carrying who knows…
Southern California is renowned for picturesque beaches, iconic theme parks, Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and vibrant cultural scene. But visitors who travel from Los Angeles south toward Orange County will discover a rich tapestry of diverse Asian communities. America’s Asian population is growing both in numbers and spending power. A 2019 Pew Research Center study…
Tempranillo’s tale begins during the Middle Ages, a turbulent yet transformational period for Spanish viticulture. As the Moors retreated south, the Christian reconquest brought a resurgence of wine production across the Iberian Peninsula. In the wake of Islam’s retreat, people could enjoy drinking again. Historians speculate that the Tempranillo grape was cultivated by monastic orders,…
By Teresa Bitler A flight of five bourbons sits on the thickly varnished wooden bar inside a Louisville, KY tavern. Nearby, office workers and tourists escaping the heat of the day enjoy the tavern’s justifiably famous fried chicken and pork ribs. The food is tempting, but I’m going with samples of middle-of-the-road Kentucky whiskey simply…