Photo: Wgreaves, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Nani and I do the tourist thing: drinkwith Beat ghosts at Vesuvio bar, glancelovingly at one of many book-loverMeccas, and try to read in the loudand dark but for noise-cancelling airpodsand weak, weak window...
Photo:Willis Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons The post-modern painting forced into this context of high-key low-brow art again greets you as you begin your shift. A gobsmacked cousin of a Keith Haring hound, its fuel ever-hovering above empty, always catches...
My husband and I crawl along the 101 northbound on our way to see author David Sedaris read at UCLA. We treated ourselves to events like this before Mom descended into dementia. But lately, my cell phone has me jumping, and Mom’s facility doesn’t call to share good...
Photo: Chris Leipelt via Unsplash He took me to Big Sur by way of Monterey, where we stayed in Carmel-by-the-Sea, tucked away in separate motel rooms because I was unsure of his capacity for control, not that I had any reason to doubt it other than I knew my body and...
The Alphabet Disciple greets me with open arms in the lobby at the train station. “Welcome stranger,” he says, “to the City of Angels.” He’s wearing faded jeans and an L.A. Kings T-shirt. It’s 8:00 a.m. on a Tuesday and I’ve just arrived from my hometown. I’ve got an...
Photo: Emelissamn / Shutterstock.com Another day of pruning, another fake-out rain. Never halfway to average here in L.A.Donner Pass is snowed in again. Screen door open to the risk of traffic on the Five.If the dog doesn’t chase that dove, the cold might scrub...
