Or how to love the invasion
Insufferably loud noise. A weeklong cross between the sound of fires at the gates of hell and the whine of mosquitoes. Overheated rubber molecules mixing with the air you breathe so that your lungs are like a wetsuit. The locust-like landings of all these people with fannypacks, wicked-looking Oakley sunglasses [...]

Mining for waitressing tips at Haskell’s Prospector

PHOTO by RUSS ROCA
“Come on in, anywhere that’s clean,” growls Linda Prichett—sort of—in a way that fits her still-red-in-her-sixties hairdo and somehow translates as a friendly greeting at Haskell’s Prospector.
That wouldn’t work where I wait tables, I’m thinking, stepping inside the locally legendary steakhouse. Every time I’m here (mostly [...]

(Or, how I’ve now met everyone I’ve ever needed to know)

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
I read somewhere that, in the grand artistic scheme of things, being a porn film fluffer is akin to being the guy that walks Ashton Kutcher’s dog. Actually, it’s more like sitting on a crowded LA bus the week before Christmas, waiting [...]

You can go vote. I have better things to do.

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
I was a high school senior during the last presidential election, and my friends and I buzzed about the possibilities. But most of us were underage. When November came around, we couldn’t vote.
Now I don’t care about politics. I am too concerned with [...]

Lessons learned while feeding squirrels

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
Riding my bike along Bixby Park on Broadway when I notice a lady with three overstuffed bags feeding a squirrel that is leaning towards her from his position on a tree.
“Hi. You mind if I take a picture of you feeding the squirrels?”
She smiles and says that she [...]

The LA River is teeming with birds–yeah, the LA River

PHOTO by JOSHUA PERALTA
It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon and I’m standing by the sandy banks of the Los Angeles River at the Willow Street Estuary. Although I can still hear traffic sighing over the bridge in the distance, it’s faint and soon forgotten. The sounds [...]

Why does Long Beach resident Bill Napier want to ‘Free Sheriff Mike Carona’? He has his reasons–and now, one more

PHOTO by JENNIFER STOCKDALE
“Do you know who owns that weird car out there?” I asked, pointing to the strangest Toyota ever glued together—part camper, part car, part spaceship and the part that most interested me, a [...]

Gerry Paules’ one-man campaign to keep California sunny

PHOTO by ZACK PIANKO
If you’ve driven by Gerry Paules’ barber shop at Bellflower and Spring, next to the Christian bookstore, you might have noticed the stark blue and red sidewalk panels in front of the door. You might also have noticed the enormous banner draped above the entrance: [...]

The American Hotel’s bird-spattered remains are historic–but too small to make money

PHOTO by ZACK PIANKO
Across the alley from the new Lennar condos and across Broadway from the historic Middough Brothers-Insurance Exchange Building is an even older building in much worse shape: the former American Hotel property at 221 E. Broadway—where some say there once lived [...]

Self magazine says you worry you’re getting fat while sitting in traffic

Self magazine (“You at Your Best”) runs an annual “Healthiest Cities” list and, in the latest, the megalopolis of Los Angeles/Long Beach placed dead last in what’s arguably the only category that matters: happiness.
Gary, Indiana, is the unhealthiest. The worst eaters live in West [...]