NIGHTBIRDS
We’ve all heard them in the still hours after sunset and before sunrise, but who are the birds that call to each other in the darkness of a Topanga August night? Owls? Certainly! But not all night owls in...
Two Memoirs
Our good friends Pam and Rick moved to Idaho a few years ago and we finally got around to visiting them. With our small camper in tow, we recently meandered through parts of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and into Idaho....
Cashew Coconut Yogurt
This recipe makes a rich, creamy, tangy, and delicious yogurt. It doesn’t particularly taste like cashews or coconut in my opinion, just a creamy, dreamy, yogurt concoction. It’s a great way to make a dairy-free alternative that really hits...
Pepperdine’s Center for the Arts Announces 2024-2025 Season
The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University announces its iconic 2024–2025 season featuring 28 professional presentations, 8 student music performances, and 6 student productions including the theatre department series, opera, and annual dance performance. “We...
Theatricum Presents: The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum presents a touching, powerful, laugh-out-loud funny election year satire by Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award-winning playwright and Topanga resident Bernardo Cubría (Crabs in a Bucket, The Play You Want, The Giant Void In My...
What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do
There are times when we just don’t know what to do—what the right decision is, what the next best step would be, where we should go or not go, etc. It’s a normal part of the strange evolutionary journey...
A Day in Temecula
Warm wind rushes past as you stick your head out the car window and turn your face to the sun. You smell hot earth and sagebrush as your hair whips around your ears. Turning your eyes to the valley...
RCD Creates Video Series to Show HomeownersHow to Protect Their Communities From Wildfire
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) has produced a 12-part educational Wildfire Defense Video Series. The videos cover wildfire preparedness, fire ecology, and how-to’s for home hardening and defensible space. The series was funded by...
Local Democrats Open a New Get-Out-the-VoteCenter in Santa Monica
With the 2024 elections less than 100 days away, local organizations are coming together in a big way to turn out and sway voters. One of Topanga’s own, the Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains, is part of...
SMC Classes
Free Online SMC Sustainability Certificates & Courses Sustainability Classes and Certificates for your current career or to help you onto a new green path. Santa Monica College delivers high quality, relevant education, and training designed to give you the...
A Wee Bit Coin
Bitcoin? Real estate tokenization? Nope. This real estate token predates the current craze for blockchain assets by a hundred years. This coin was struck by the promoters of the Sylvia Park Development Company in 1924, and it offered the...
The Fantasy of Sylvia Park
The coin is a little bigger than a quarter. It isn’t decorative, but it has a nice weight to it, and the words stamped on it remain clearly legible, even though this token was struck a hundred years ago....
The Last Word
We have been reminded lately— on more than one occasion—that the protections afforded by the US Constitution’s system of checks and balances are vulnerable to manipulation by bad actors. This is perhaps most threatening when the singular chief executive,...
Hometown Boys Make Good
Amit Gilad feels authentic from the moment we meet. Clad in a Fire Station 69 shirt, and wearing a big smile, this man is an ambassador of feel good music if ever I’ve seen one. He and his business...
Quinoa Pancakes
Since changing to a gluten-free diet, I have discovered a lot of creative, healthy ways to have some of those dishes that I might otherwise long for. I didn’t used to eat pancakes much, but somehow feeling like I...
African Clawed Frog Removal from the Santa Monica Mountains
Press release written by Luke Benson-WSP AmeriCorps member serving with RCDSMM The Watershed Stewards Program (WSP) is dedicated to improving watershed health by actively engaging in restoration science, civic service, and community education while empowering the next generation of...
THE COASTWATCHERS Chapter Twenty-Three
We rattled down the road in the dark, with only the glow of the fire on the hills behind us for light. Mr Zelle was going slow, despite the growing feeling of urgency. It was good that he did....
Jody Lyle – Superintendent
The National Park Service (NPS) has selected Jody Lyle as the new permanent superintendent of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) beginning July 28, 2024. Lyle first started working with the NPS in 1992 as an environmental educator...
