Out & About
“John McCain is such an easy target,” says Bill Hurd, press secretary for the political satire comedy troupe The Capitol Steps. “He’s the oldest candidate we’ve ever had — therefore you can make all the …
With a drop-off-and-pick-up transportation arrangement, you can enjoy a challenging hiking traverse across the north end of the Verdugo Mountains, ascending through La Tuna Canyon Park on a rough foot trail and descending toward the …
“Those who look like the artists they are portraying will probably go far,” says producer Randy Wood. “A Michael Jackson impersonator — with all the dancers and everything — went to Mexico last year and …
In the 1970s, the once tiny and now thoroughly suburbanized community of Alpine displayed a sign along its main highway boasting “Best Climate in the USA by Government Report.” The town’s boosters eventually got what …
In 2003, a big parcel of land on the west rim of the San Fernando Valley — the private Ahmanson Ranch — was reborn as the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve. The new …
“One electric motorcycle, called the ‘Killacycle,’ goes from zero to sixty in one second,” says Paul Thomas, organizer of the Kick Gas Festival, an electric-car-racing and eco-fair event being held at the Barona Drag Strip …
Few travelers on Interstate 8 in eastern San Diego County fail to be impressed by the enormous stacks of rounded boulders thrusting skyward over the high-desert landscape. On this hike, you’ll get up-close and familiar …
Inside Alliance Gym, near downtown Chula Vista, Eric Delfierro bustles from one end of the gym to the other, sweating almost as much as the 15 mixed-martial-arts fighters he is training. Of those 15 fighters, …
“Squash is associated with Ivy League schools and expensive athletic clubs,” says Renato Paiva, executive director of Surf City Squash. “But that image is changing. Right now there are 55 colleges in the country [with …
A rambling patch of newly acquired open space that goes by the long-winded name of Michael D. Antonovich Regional Park at Joughin Ranch spreads over a south-facing slope that culminates in a 3747-foot summit called …
The six-mile-long Big Laguna Trail, high in the Laguna Mountains, wends its scenic way over gently rolling hills and grassy dales, never dipping below 5400 feet of elevation nor rising to more than 5900 feet. …
“You should keep it to no more than six kinds of wine at a party,” says Christopher Silva, president and CEO of St. Francis Winery and Vineyards of Sonoma. “You don’t want your guests to …
“Anybody who is first learning how to ride should get a longboard,” says skateboarder Brad Harvey. “It’s definitely more stable, like a longer snowboard or surfboard would be. Bicyclists think we’re nuts when they realize …
Diminutive Corral Canyon Park is one of the newer parcels of open space to be added to the archipelago of public lands known as the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. A lazily looping hiking …
Surf, sand, and picturesque bluffs. Salty breezes and the ever-present licorice scent of wild fennel. The rhythmic bumping of your bike tires over the pavement of an old four-lane highway, abandoned save for the occasional …
“One of the most important predators in the kelp forest is the California sheephead, a fish that changes sex during its lifetime,” says marine ecologist Edward Parnell. All California sheephead begin life as females and …