Out & About
O’Melveny Park spreads over 672 acres, second on the list of largest parks within the City of Los Angeles, right after the much-more-spacious Griffith Park. Noted for its picture-perfect picnic grounds with white fences and …
There’s a reason why so many poets and authors have called Laguna Beach home for some part of their lives (hint: not because of the great bar scene). It’s undoubtedly charming. Artists in the early …
Stark and barren, yet glorious in their nakedness, Anza-Borrego’s skeletal mountain ranges conceal more than they reveal to casual passersby. If you want to know them better, you must leave the security of the automotive …
A few years ago, when the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown converted the Santa Fe Depot’s old baggage-claim area, it did what museums all over the country have been doing in recent years, from remote, …
The name “Sycamore Canyon” in California geography plays a rather redundant role. How many canyons have specimens of native sycamore, and how many of those were named (either in English or in Spanish) after that …
The practically straight-up Vital Link Trail connects popular Wildwood Canyon Park in the Verdugo foothills with the Verdugo Mountains crestline. Almost every step on the trail yields a higher vantage for the panoramic view of …
Flat Cat Canyon is the curious name given to a rugged gorge southwest of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor center and not far outside the community of Borrego Springs. Park rangers once found a …
On the Mount Zion loop hike, you get to discover plenty of wild territory tucked back into the steeply rising “Front Range” of the San Gabriel Mountains. Why Front Range? Because these fortress-like ramparts form …
Straddling the San Diego–Riverside county line, Rockhouse Canyon and the broad, sloping alluvial basin drained by it — informally known as Rockhouse Valley — constitute one of Southern California’s truly forgotten places. Not much more …
What? Never heard of Capitola? If you haven’t yet ventured that far north, you’re missing one of the Bay Area’s well-kept secrets. A quaint, colorful village, Capitola-by-the-Sea, ten minutes south of Santa Cruz, is slightly …
Upper Las Virgenes Canyon, near Calabasas at the edge of the San Fernando Valley, is one of those places where you can make the sight and sound of a huge metropolitan area simply disappear after …
Winter is an often-ideal time for watching the sun rise or set in and around San Diego. Picture yourself on a clear late afternoon, perched atop a seaside bluff or on one of the hills …
A long and leisurely ramble up the sinuous course of Harper Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park leads hikers to Harper Flat, a four-square-mile valley hidden from casual view by rock-strewn ridges and peaks. The …
Clear, late-autumn skies and cool temperatures inland beckon you to visit southwest Riverside County’s premier ecological showplace: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve. The leisurely half-day Punta Mesa loop hike will introduce you to virtually every …
Against the backdrop of the magnificent Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada, the Alhambra, meaning “red castle” in Arabic, was named for the reddish-golden hue of its walls. Dating back to the 9th century, it became …
Serene Dos Picos County Park, outside Ramona, nestles into East County’s sweet-smelling chaparral hillsides like a dewdrop caught in the hollow of a leaf. The name refers to two prominent mountain peaks nearby, though which …