October 13, 2026
Jeanette Marantos started writing for the Los Angeles Times in 1999, doing Money Makeovers until 2002. She returned to write for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2015 and the Saturday garden section in 2016, a yin and yang that kept her perspective in balance. In early 2020, she moved full time into Features, with a
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A massive crack has opened up on a Yosemite National Park cliff face, raising the risk of a dangerous rockfall and forcing the indefinite closure of part of a popular trail, park officials said. Rock climbers recently reported the crack on the western side of the Royal Arches, near a climbing route known as Super
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If you feel like “Bluey” has taken over your household, this is your chance to bring your household inside “Bluey.” Beginning November 6, the Camp store at Westfield Century City will host “Bluey x Camp,” a ticketed event that invites guests to venture inside the Heeler house for what’s basically a live interactive episode of
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To say a lot of people flock to Disneyland and Walt Disney World doesn’t do the mass migration justice. Each year, people descend upon the parks by the tens of millions, and many of them don’t fund the increasingly expensive experience by using their savings alone. Disney die-hard Maddy Thompson of Phoenix says her husband
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After several down years, tourism in Los Angeles County is on the rebound. But the recovery from the COVID-19 lull has been uneven to this point, officials say — with far fewer international visitors making their way to L.A. than during the last pre-pandemic year. “Domestic leisure travel has really led the recovery process” and
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Here in California, there are places that are firmly lodged in the collective psyche as pristine paragons of natural wonder. Think Yosemite Valley. Joshua Tree. The giant sequoias. And then there are places whose majesties remain largely unknown to the masses — until they end up on TikTok. Stoddard Canyon Falls near Mt. Baldy is
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When Jeff Probst isn’t stirring up drama in the jungles of Fiji, you can find him at home in the hills of Studio City — still thinking of new ways to challenge “Survivor” contestants. In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where
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The LAX ground-transport revolution — that is, the unveiling of the automated people mover connecting terminals to bus, Metro and rental car centers — isn’t due until sometime in 2024. But travelers hoping to save some money got a consolation prize today: a new parking lot. Los Angeles International Airport opened a 2,600-space Budget Parking
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Ten years ago, when Bianca Del Rio was crowned the winner of Season 6 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” it was a different time: The reality competition aired on Logo, not MTV. It was a single franchise, not an extended universe of shows from countries around the world. And there was no such thing as a
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In the crests of Elysian Park overlooking Dodger Stadium and downtown L.A., a group has formed a makeshift dance floor on an asphalt plateau tucked away from the park’s dusty trails and grassy hills. Funky soul music flows from two standing speakers as a DJ mixes on digital turntables between them. Everyone dances with abandon,
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You might be reluctant to stay at a $475-a-night inn that warns of flashing lights and foghorns throughout the night, or bans one-night guests from bathing, or requires that you be ready to climb a ladder above roiling seas. But then you hear those four words: Lighthouse on an island. The East Brother Light Station
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There are 63 national parks in the United States, but at the start of 2023, I’d made it to only one. So when my partner, Reanna, bought us tickets to see Big Thief and Lucinda Williams at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, we had an exciting (though surely unoriginal) idea: What if we made it a
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As shocking as the in-flight blowout on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was last week, federal officials initially estimated that the problem that caused a gaping hole to open in the plane’s fuselage would be relatively easy to diagnose and fix. On Tuesday, though, the Federal Aviation Administration said the process will take a bit longer
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Sundays at the Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort, 35 miles southwest of Yosemite National Park’s Arch Rock entrance, are usually buzzing. The 45-bedroom facility in the Sierra Nevada foothill hamlet of Midpines was near its 120-person capacity during the summer months, said co-owner Douglas Shaw. That wasn’t counting non-guests patronizing the resort’s cafe and health
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Death Valley National Park, whose roads and trails were scarred and flooded by August storms, will probably reopen Oct. 15, rangers say. If current repair plans hold, that reopening will give travelers renewed access to many popular park spots, including the lodgings at Furnace Creek, the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, the vistas from Zabriskie Point
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The Queen Mary has for years been a landmark in the city of Long Beach, an iconic ocean liner serving as a majestic sentry at the port and a popular attraction for both tourists and locals. But the aging ship has in recent years become more of a white elephant, in need of millions of
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As we hiked to an overlook on a warm evening in late August, a new acquaintance seemed to be dissatisfied with the luminous full moon shining over Griffith Park. “It’s not blue,” they remarked. Though it was dubbed a “blue moon,” it appeared burnt orange as twilight descended. Beautiful, sure, but its accuracy in question
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As an artist, designer, creative director and bestselling author, Justina Blakeney has always been intrigued by the power of mixing things up, particularly in Los Angeles. When she was a student majoring in world arts and cultures at UCLA in 2001, Blakeney co-created a thesis project called Infinity Magazine that emphasized the hyperlocal diversity of
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When Ethan Wong took his Tinder match to Disneyland, it didn’t end happily ever after. Instead, there were some awkward silences, pricey snacks and a tense fireworks show where a romantic moment felt mandatory. “I didn’t even put my arm around her — I didn’t do anything,” said Wong, who can laugh about it now.
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It’s no secret that one of the best stargazing spots in Southern California is Joshua Tree National Park. The park is an International Dark Sky Place — meaning that aside from some light pollution coming from Palm Springs and the Morongo Basin, it has some of the darkest skies in the region — and it’s
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If fall is a transitional time, perhaps here in Southern California where the temperature stays relatively consistent, we can most clearly mark the season of change through our theme parks. Be it mazes of horror or giant Mickey-eared pumpkins, our cultural institutions are transformed for multi-month, multi-holiday extravaganzas that don’t slow down until January. Disneyland
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On one side of a path in the idyllic hills of Santa Barbara, a dense clump of dried out mustard rises more than six feet. Meanwhile, just across the way, the invasive plant is thinned to wisps. Carolyn Chaney, 77, pointed out the difference in vegetation and also provided the reason: sheep. “This is where
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Anyone who has tried to reserve campsites at a California state park or beach knows how tricky they can be to secure, with spots sometimes being completely booked minutes after slots open up. A bill recently signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to improve access by discouraging residents from reserving campsites they do
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When Halloween arrives on Oct. 31, it will feel like a grand finale, the culmination of a multimonth celebration of events around Southern California. Spending for Halloween is estimated to be at some of its highest levels in history, and social media has had a multiyear obsession with giant skeletons and now a talking pumpkin
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LAHAINA, HI. — Paele Kiakona is not ready to go back to work. Still reeling after August wildfires ravaged his hometown of Lahaina, he doesn’t want to serve tourists, pouring brut Champagne or topping their mai tais with honey-liliko’i foam. “I’ve seen people dead on the street,” Kiakona said. “My grandma’s house is gone. My whole
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We get it. Your L.A. place is the best L.A. place. But people just don’t know. So tell us: Where do you live and what makes it special? It can be a city or neighborhood we’ve covered or one we haven’t made our way to quite yet. (Though rest assured, we’re making our way to
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BLUFF, Utah — When Mayor Ann Leppanen learned that the moon would cross in front of the sun above her home on Saturday, she foresaw calamity: a tidal wave of tourists engulfing her tiny town as they pursued the annular eclipse, with its spectacular ring of fire. The town’s economy has long relied on a
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Los Angeles is — depending on who you ask — glitzy, rugged, meditative, frenzied, lonely, connected, old and brand-new. But we all can agree it’s vast. So we’re helping break it down for you. “This must be the place” is a series of guides to the many cities, neighborhoods and communities that make L.A., L.A.
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If there’s one thing to know about Maria Bamford, it’s that she loves a 12-step group. The comedian has attended an assortment of 12-step programs over the years, and though she’s not supposed to share which ones she attends, she has a habit of disclosing those secrets to various major publications. These groups are also
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The lights are turned off. Smartphone flashlights are forbidden. You’re instructed to walk down a hall, arriving at the entryway to a home. Through set dressing, we are transported to a rickety porch. And then she appears like an apparition. The Ministry of Peculiarities is an escape room on paper, but it starts and unfolds
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It’s hard to say what’s cooler about the Japanese shōya house at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens — the centuries-old wood structure that was once the center of a small farming village in Marugame, Japan, or the backstory of how it got to its new home at the Huntington’s Japanese Garden. The
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“Frickles are freaking good.” Tiffani Thiessen is sitting in the Elvis corner at Johnny Rebs’ True South in Long Beach. Above her are framed photos of the singer alongside license plates, coffee mugs and other Elvis memorabilia. “You have to be a pickle lover,” she says about Johnny Rebs’ frickles, thinly sliced dill pickles dusted
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When Squid Game: The Trials opens in Los Angeles this December, the immersive experience will have two lofty goals. One, to reflect the tense themes of the hit Korean series in what is essentially designed to be a fun day or night out. And two, to ensure that at least one of the show’s subject
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Prologue We could be on our way to camp — 24 of us are crowded into a charter bus headed north of Los Angeles, our luggage packed in tight underneath the vehicle, the bus swinging widely around scenic turns. We wind our way along the ocean, on Pacific Coast Highway, passing fruit stands, seafood markets
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Desert tarantulas aren’t considered poisonous to humans. That doesn’t mean, however, that they can’t be dangerous. A trio of international travelers learned this lesson over the weekend when the brown, hairy spider’s appearance caused a two-vehicle accident in Death Valley National Park that sent one man to the hospital. A Canadian motorcyclist crashed Saturday afternoon
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What makes a house or an apartment building or an Airstream trailer or a yurt a home for the holidays? Sure, it’s mostly the people (and pets) you share it with. But it’s also the well-considered gifts given and received. This year’s Gift Guide is filled to capacity with delightful suggestions for all kinds of
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L.A. is not a Christmas town. Matt Rogers blames the weather. “You go to anywhere that’s cold like Chicago — huge Christmas town — Boston, New York … you see Christmas happening and you feel that Yuletide sensation in the air and everyone gets a little nicer and a little jollier and a little happier,”
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The real estate market in Southern California is brutal, especially inside Disneyland’s Adventureland. Tarzan has officially been kicked out of his treehouse at the Anaheim theme park, given the boot for a crafty family of explorers. The new residents move in Nov. 10, when the Adventureland Treehouse Inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson (yes,
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SEDONA, Ariz. — The rock formation known as Kachina Woman rises like an obelisk out of a cool green canyon. At its base, more than three dozen women are tucked into crevices in the rust-colored stone, their faces turned toward the warm Arizona sun. Some sit with their legs crossed. Others are curled into a fetal
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In a story with outrageous, less-than-savory personalities, one character stands apart: the stage. Or, in this case, the 13th-story penthouse of the Oviatt, which is the setting for a new immersive theater production running this month in downtown. “Castle in the Sky” aims to tell a slice of a mostly forgotten Los Angeles tale: the
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A travel agency is hoping to be the latest business to capitalize on Taylormania and is selling tickets for a Taylor Swift-themed cruise. Called the In My Era Cruise, the Royal Caribbean trip is scheduled to embark from Miami on Oct. 21, a date that was intended to line up with the end of Swift’s
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A new parade, resurrected shows and a revamped attraction: Disneyland has laid out its 2024 calendar, and it’s heavy on entertainment and festivals. If you’re planning a trip to the Anaheim parks in the next 12 months, here’s what to expect. Olaf, Anna and Elsa perform on a float inspired by “Frozen II” as part
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As skiers and snowboarders flock to the Lake Tahoe and the Eastern Sierra slopes this holiday weekend, National Weather Service meteorologists say the latest storm is expected to drop only a limited amount of snow in Southern California. The only area that could record even as much as 1 to 2 inches of snow over
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During the middle of a Sunday morning jog through West Hollywood with a run club, marketing executive and digital strategist Mark Baroth exclaims: “I hate running!” Later on, when I mention it to Soho House Run Club founder Raymond Braun, he bursts into laughter. He’s used to these divisive feelings. “Running is polarizing,” he says.
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Santa’s Village had become a ghost town, closed for nearly two decades. Rides had been auctioned off, much of its electrical equipment was stolen and bark beetle-infested trees — destined for an incinerator — had once taken up residence in its parking lot. But after an extensive cleanup progress, the park, built in 1955 in
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Kimmy Garris, who describes herself as a “fat solo traveler,” probably had no idea that her 30-second TikTok video was going to cause a sensation when she recorded herself in September politely asking a Southwest Airlines gate agent if she could avail herself of the airline’s “customer of size” policy. Her TikTok post went viral
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Like many a child, no doubt, Kevin Kidney fantasized about living at Disneyland. But he didn’t imagine himself swashbuckling with pirates or cavorting with ghosts. His special place was more serene. Kidney’s spot was the original Swiss Family Treehouse, built in 1962 and tucked away in Adventureland near the Jungle Cruise. His adoration of the
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I was walking in Venice with poet Tom Laichas when he showed me a hard-to-describe object protruding from the strip between sidewalk and street. It was about the size of a fire hydrant, made of cement and decorated with faded hippie hieroglyphs. “If you unearth it, you get to some pre-Easter Island god,” Laichas imagined.
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Whether you’re planning to take a plane, train or automobile for your Thanksgiving travels this year, experts recommend you prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Fifty-five million travelers are expected to head out between travel Wednesday through Nov. 26, according to projections from AAA. The Transportation Security Administration expects to break records
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The thing that first brought MC Lyte to Los Angeles? New York’s historic Blizzard of 1996. “I always said I wasn’t going to do another winter in New York, but then when that snowstorm happened I was like, ‘Oh my God. I gotta get out of here,’” the Brooklyn native recalls. In Sunday Funday, L.A.
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My 13-year-old son has entered his thrifting era. It started with an off-chance trip to Goodwill over the summer while he was skating through Glendale with a friend two grades ahead. He came home with a decent pair of Nikes and some questionable acid-wash jeans. The purchase totaled $26. The Nikes haven’t left his closet,
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In Big Sur, land meets sea in the most amazing ways. Meanwhile just up the road in Carmel, nature meets art, cars, charm, golf and money. It’s hard to look away. And once you get there, hard to leave. At least that’s how it seemed a few weeks ago when my wife and I dropped
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I live in Boston and want to visit my daughter in Los Angeles. Easy, right? Book a flight, visit daughter, fly home. If only. I use a power wheelchair that costs about as much as a small SUV. I’m terrified it could be damaged by an airline. My chair, a Quantum Edge, is essential to
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While many families spent Thanksgiving watching football in their living rooms, some lucky few spent it watching killer whales punt a sea lion 20 feet into the air in Monterey Bay. About 120 people aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch boat Thanksgiving morning witnessed a rare sighting of a pod of killer whales hunting sea
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This holiday season, Disneyland is already looking ahead to 2024, and today announced a new offer for Southern California residents. Each local resident who pays $225 will receive three one-park-per-day tickets to be used on separate visits from Jan. 2 though June 2. This discount works out to $75 for each admission. For a cost
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Of the dozens of Sunday Fundays we’ve published, no celebrity has name-dropped as many sponsorships or brand deals throughout the conversation as effortlessly as Paris Hilton. And that’s to be expected. She is the influencer of all influencers after all. From her velour, candy-pink Juicy Couture sweatsuits to her army of extravagantly dressed puppies and
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Pickleball leagues around the city host what’s called “open play,” where anyone can show up and jump into a game with strangers. Usually, there’s at least one court reserved for beginner players, with the rest split between intermediate and advanced. Some places charge a small fee for open play; at some locations it’s free. Most
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ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — In the cold dark of a November night, beneath the jagged cliffs of Zion National Park, Dani Hsia posed a question that mystics and religious thinkers have pondered for millenniums. “Why are we here?” she asked, a headlamp illuminating her handwritten notes as the first stars began to emerge in the
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You’ll need a reservation to drive into Yosemite National Park by day this summer, even if you’re not spending the night. The National Park Service announced Wednesday that it would impose an updated version of the reservation requirement that it tested in the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022, when pandemic-wary rangers were looking to
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It’s never too early for travelers to prepare for their 2024 spring and summer trips, even though the national backlog on passport processing has lessened. And there’s one U.S. Postal Service site in Los Angeles that wants to help travelers with their passport applications. The Barrington post office in Brentwood is hosting a passport fair
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A new Pixar-themed daytime parade and enhancements to the “Star Wars” attraction Star Tours — The Adventures Continue are coming to the Disneyland Resort in 2024. Numerous festivals and celebrations will also dot the theme park calendar for the upcoming year, which was unveiled Monday morning by the resort. Returning in 2024 is a reimagined
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Death Valley’s temporary lake, fed by one powerful summer storm, is down to inches as it dwindles in the park’s Badwater Basin. But as it evaporates, other parts of the national park are reopening. In the aftermath of an Aug. 20 storm that caused widespread flooding and forced the closure of the park, the shallow
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Actor, comedian and musician Craig Robinson (“The Office,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Hot Tub Time Machine”) is upfront about his ideal L.A. Sunday. “It’s spent at home chilling,” he said. “My day is a blank canvas.” The star of “Killing It,” a two-season sitcom that finds him playing a python-wrangling fictionalized version of himself (all 18 episodes
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