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Six Months After the End of the World 
For many, the devastation created by the Palisades Fire felt like the end of the world. Six months later, most of the fire debris has been removed, but stark reminders of the damage remain, as residents and local governments...
The Fire Followers 
As communities struggle to rebuild and recover from the devastation of the Palisades fire, nature is also in the process of regenerating.  When Topanga Canyon Boulevard reopened at the end of May, drivers were met not with bare hillsides...
Amusement Piers 
A pier is a folly, a highway to nowhere. Whether lined with fishermen or filled with the cries and clattering of a roller coaster, whether thick with the aromas of hotdogs and fries or freshly gutted fish, they are...
California Mustard: Beauty or Bane 
A beautiful but unwelcome tide of golden blossom is sweeping over the Santa Monica Mountains this year. The late—and light—rainy season has resulted in few native wildflowers but an abundance of mustard, an opportunistic invasive that thrives even in...
Books & Such

BRUCE 

In the early 1970s, Rock and Roll icon Bruce Springsteen recorded his first albums inspired by the lives of the blue collar working class. His 2016 autobiography, Born to Run, begins with a gritty and acutely personal reminiscence of...
Books & Such

Spy Games 

British intelligence officer Kim Philby spent nearly his entire career as a double agent (from 1934 to 1963), in the employ of the Soviet Union. A bona-fide historical account of his enduring double life is told by journalist and...
Books & Such

1865 

Discussions of modern political divisions in the United States often include comparisons to the most divisive moment in the country’s history, the years leading up to the American Civil War (1861-1865). The suggestion here is that we should probably...
Books & Such

On Hume 

In The Great Guide: What David Hume Can Teach Us about Being Human and Living Well, independent scholar Julian Baggini proposes the idea – upon the inspiration of eighteenth century Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) – that we might...