Looking for a quick weekend hike near the Bay Area? Mount Diablo State Park has nearly 20,000 acres of parkland. Mary Bowerman Trail, which loops around the summit on a path less than a mile long, is a great introduction to the mountain. www.californiasun.co/californias-...

The Stahl House, among the most celebrated midcentury modern homes ever built, was just listed for sale for the first time in its 65-year history. Asking price: $25 million. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/i...

“Set table. Whip cream. Figure out pies. Start fires. Turkey out — 6 or 6:30.” Joan Didion, the angsty California writer, was big into holiday dinners. On Thanksgiving, she hosted as many as 75 notables at her home, staging events with military discipline. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/n...

After the LA wildfires in January, a photo of a blue 1977 VW van in the ashy ruins became a symbol of resilience. One side of the van was melted and cracked, and after a restoration, it was unveiled this week at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Roddy Bottum is interviewed on California Sun for his new memoir, "The Royal We!" @califsun.bsky.social www.californiasun.co/podcast/rodd...

A man was captured on video surfing the wake of a massive container ship entering San Francisco Bay over the weekend. He appeared to be using a hydrofoil surfboard along with a “tow boogie,” a remote-controlled vehicle that provides propulsion. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

Two days a year, the setting sun hits the "Stonehenge of Manhattan Beach," a glass keyhole sculpture known officially as Light Gate, “unlocking” a hidden alignment with the heavens. One of those days is this Friday, Nov. 14. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

In 2005, passengers watched the emergency landing of their own plane at Los Angeles International Airport live on their seat back televisions. One of the passengers recently recalled the euphoria of realizing she was not going to die. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/f...

In 1980, the Southern California artist Dustin Shuler bought a 1959 Cadillac for $150, fashioned a one-ton nail out of steel, and had it dropped from 100 feet above through the car’s roof — creating a monument to the end of the “gas-guzzling automobile.” www.californiasun.co/newsletter/a...

When a climber cracked his arm on Yosemite’s El Capitan on Oct. 20, rescuers had to pull of a one-of-a-kind maneuver to save him. Unable to approach from directly above, a helicopter hovered about 20 feet from the cliff face. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/r...

Amid worries of rising hunger in the absence of food stamps, Barstow police announces stepped up patrols at grocery stores to prevent theft. abc7.com/post/barstow...

A new study found that Tesla would have sold at least 1 million additional electric vehicles if not for Elon Musk’s embrace of MAGA politics. In California, the plunge in Tesla registrations derailed progress toward the state’s zero-emissions vehicle goals. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Descanso Gardens, nestled in the San Rafael Hills just north of Los Angeles, is normally a place of tranquility, abundance, and pink camellias. But each October, the dead and malevolent are summoned with 1,000 exquisitely designed pumpkins. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Because California has nine national parks — more than any other state — you can explore more than one in a weekend. Extend the journey a few days to take in three, like this “ultimate road trip” between Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia national parks. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/g...

In California’s conservative far north, yards are dotted with both “No on 50” and “State of Jefferson” signs. Some residents hope the Proposition 50 redistricting fight could be the catalyst for the long-held dream of a breakaway State of Jefferson. californiasun.co/newsletter/l...

Since around 2021, Marc Benioff has lived, worked, and been registered to vote in Hawaii. But the Salesforce CEO, who has urged the deployment of National Guard troops to San Francisco, insists that he has a keen grasp of reality in the city. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

The Cascadia subduction zone, off the Pacific Northwest, and San Andreas fault are two of the West Coast’s most destructive sources of earthquakes. New research suggests that they may be synchronized: one fault has the potential to trigger the other. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/k...

Researchers have found that a visit to the desert can lower stress as much as time spent in green settings. In Death Valley, the pull is especially strong in autumn — when the temperatures are mild, the skies are clear, and the park is uncrowded. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/l...

California is three for three so far during this week's Nobel Prize announcements. A San Francisco scientist shared the medicine prize on Monday, three UC faculty members won the physics award on Tuesday, and a UC Berkeley professor shared the chemistry prize on Wednesday.

October is here, which means it’s time for that oddball American pastime of getting lost on a farm. With each passing year, California’s corn maze designs seem to get more elaborate. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

In the early 1980s, a popular segment on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” involved men in Speedos and shin guards diving from terrifying heights. In March 1983 five such daredevils performed the highest dives ever at SeaWorld San Diego — 172 feet. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

An anonymous group of artists is beaming giant projections satirizing President Trump and his allies on outdoor walls across Los Angeles, including this one of ICE detaining Jesus. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/g...

The modernist master Richard Neutra contributed one residence to Southern California’s famed Case Study House Program, sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine from 1945 to 1966. The Bailey House, in Pacific Palisades, was just listed for $10.5 million. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Between 1971 and 1973, a student photographer turned his camera on his own neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley for lack of a better idea. Many years later, he saw the work as an unintentionally sociological project, capturing a time and place. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/a...

Coastal Mendocino’s Albion River is an emerald waterway with ospreys, otters, and soaring trees. Then there are the three ramshackle cabins anchored on platforms in the water. Their origins, as well as their code compliance, are murky. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Why does an albino alligator named Claude, who lives in a patch of swampland inside San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, have a cult following? www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Yosemite and Lake Tahoe can be madhouses. But wedged between them is the Emigrant Wilderness, a gorgeous High Sierra landscape. On a recent stay, an outdoors journalist found soaring peaks and stunning alpine lakes — and almost no other people. californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

Make plans now — fall is the season to visit the Alabama Hills. Between October and November, the air is crisp and the turning cottonwoods add splashes of gold to the boulder fields of the Eastern Sierra. Camping options are plentiful. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

In July 1950, LIFE magazine sent a photographer to San Onofre to capture life of the “beach bum.” He returned from the legendary San Diego County surf break with images of paradise, where tanned surfers rode waves all day and drank beer into the night. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/p...

The photographer Todd Weaver takes dreamy analog pictures of the ocean and surfing in California. The project coincided with his own relationship with surfing, which became an obsession in the last seven years or so. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

State legislation has made ADUs easier and faster to build, and companies are offering more and more designs in kits that can be shipped directly to buyers’ homes. Polyhaus, co-founded by an architect in La Jolla, has new fire-resistant cabins. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

David Dunning, of the “Dunning-Kruger effect,” on Trump: “North is up and south is down, and I’m guessing here, because water flows down, if he opens up the tap, water will flow down from Canada to irrigate the crops in California.” www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Scientists created an interactive map showing plumes of toxic pollution seeping from oil and gas sites. It includes 32 leaks in California, all surrounding Bakersfield. Researchers estimate that roughly 24,100 Californians live within 2 miles of such sites. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/r...

In San Francisco, fog moves like the rushing of a river. Eric Thurber recently captured a fantastic time-lapse of the phenomenon known as Fogust, where inland California essentially inhales air from the coast. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/g...

When the Dust Bowl set off an exodus from the Great Plains, more than 300,000 migrants showed up in California. The welcome was not warm. In this caustic climate, a photographer from the Bronx arrived at a migrant camp outside Visalia in early 1940. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

In July 2024 there were nine consecutive days in Death Valley when temperatures hit 125 degrees or higher. Yet roughly a quarter of the national park’s more than 1 million annual visitors go there during the summer. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/y...

Cotoni-Coast Dairies, nearly 10 square miles of mountains, beaches, forests, and prairie along the Santa Cruz coast, just opened to the public — marking the end of a decades-long effort to keep a former ranch and adjacent lands free of development. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/f...

Reviewers have given the Hollywood Premiere Motel an average Tripadvisor rating of 1.7 stars: “garbage,” disgusting,” and “sketchy.” Yet the 1960s structure was just added to the city’s Historic Cultural Monuments list, the first motel to receive the honor. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/r...

When photographer Cam Lindfors first visited the coastal enclave of Isla Vista, it was like “stepping into a sun-drenched dream.” While photographing UC Santa Barbara students over the course of 9 months, he also found a darker side of life there. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/n...

There’s a four-block area in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights with taco offerings that rival any place in the world, including Mexico. Taquería Frontera in Cypress Park, pictured, offers an exquisite taco al pastor. Here's 11 more examples. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/f...

The campground in Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows reopened after a three-year, $26 million renovation. Crews rebuilt aging water and sewer systems; upgraded electrical equipment; and replaced every picnic table, fire ring, and food locker at 336 campsites. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/k...

Joshua Tree seems to be having a post-pandemic moment. In recent months, two new hotels opened at the edge of the national park, both of which emphasize tranquility for guests seeking an escape from the city. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/k...

The former Birkenstock building, a modernist gem rising along Highway 101 in Marin County, will be transformed into a design museum. The heirs of midcentury designers Charles and Ray Eames reportedly paid $36 million for the spiky 1964 structure. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/g...

When cargo ships arrive to the Golden Gate, entering San Francisco Bay is done by harbor pilots who guide them through narrow channels in fitful currents, day or night. The skill and risk means their salaries are close to half a million dollars a year. californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

The Santa Monica Mountains are molehills compared to the San Gabriels. But they offer breathtaking 360-degree views. The highest peak, Sandstone, is just 3,111 feet tall and can be reached in 30 minutes or so along a 3-mile round-trip trail. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

After the rise of the automobile, Los Angeles’ many neighborhood staircases fell into obscurity. But they are still around. Several are carved into hills behind the Hollywood Bowl, where a 1-mile loop winds in one of L.A.’s most unusual neighborhoods. californiasun.co/newsletter/d...

For its 25th anniversary, Bay Nature rounded up its 25 favorite outdoor destinations in the Bay Area, including Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve, 25 miles north of San Francisco, with its gnarled oak trees, plunging swallows, and 5-foot-tall wild oats. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

There’s a hotel on Monterey Bay with a “dog stick library.” Sanctuary Beach Resort has courted the dog-lover demographic, offering water stations, pet beds, and treats. It’s dog heaven, a writer who stayed there says, but be prepared to be awakened by barking. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/b...

Jean-Michel Basquiat, an artist often associated with the New York art scene, first came to Los Angeles in 1982, establishing his own studio there a year later. His prolific Los Angeles period is now being showcased in a new book. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/f...

A curvaceous home in the Cuyamaca Mountains east of San Diego looks like it was designed for a Hobbit family. Designed by James Hubbell — who brought the whimsical Sea Ranch Chapel to life — it comfortably sleeps a family of four full-sized humans. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/n...