By Matt Johanson Keep your footing on the steep and slippery granite. Fight for breath in the thin air. Navigate a tight passage packed with hikers on the exposed mountainside. Above all, grip the cables like cold death, because that’s what awaits those who falter. Half Dome has more than a dozen climbs leading atop…
By Jacqueline Swartz New Orleans is not the only French city in America. From the cafes near the French Consulate to the celebration of Bastille Day; from the Museum of the Legion of Honor (a copy of the one in Paris) to the Matisse paintings donated by the Gertrude Stein family to the Museum of…
By Marlene Goldman Towering above Uptown Oakland’s Broadway corridor, an Art Deco masterpiece still holds its head high nearly a century after its grand debut. The Paramount Theatre, now a National Historic Landmark, was built as a movie house with intricate decor to rival any theater in America. The majestic lobby evokes a South American…
Why visit Santa Catalina Island at the onset of winter when it’s too cold to swim and clouds often blanket the resort town of Avalon? Because in the off season Southern California’s favorite weekend escape offers gourmet restaurants without crowds, colorful bars where it’s actually possible to meet locals and hotels glad to provide deep discounts since only 30% of the town’s 1,051 hotel rooms and vacation rentals are occupied.
Pasadena Craftsmanship By David DeVoss Every New Year’s Day America turns its attention to Pasadena, California to watch the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl football game, which this year will showcase Penn State and the University of Southern California. The spectacles are marvelous advertisements for the city, which almost always enjoys winter sunshine while…
Cycling California’s El Camino Real is an 800-mile (1,287 km) epic adventure. The appeal of visiting picturesque missions established by Spanish friars between 1769 and 1823 is enhanced by traveling a route that still looks much like it did 200 years ago. Says writer John Poimiroo: “This is not like the Camino de Santiago in Spain where every community and business along the route expects pilgrims. The El Camino Real runs through open country with few directional signs and services. Along some stretches you must make your way much as the padres did.”
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…
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…