Destination: California
2007 Travel Movie Awards: Entirely Arbitrary and Non-Comprehensive Picks
by Eva Holland | 02.22.08 | 12:00 PM ET
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Yahoo! Buzz‘Feng Shui-Inspired’ McDonald’s Opens in California
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.08 | 1:57 PM ET
A press release touts the “water elements, earth tones, red accents and exotic fauna” in a design by “Feng Shui Grand Master” Dr. Chi-Jean Liu. Eater LA and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune have photos, if you want to see the Grand Master’s work for yourself. Me? I just want to see if this influences the next Big Mac Index.
JetBlue to Launch LAX-JFK Service
by Jim Benning | 02.12.08 | 1:25 PM ET
It’s about time JetBlue began operating out of Los Angeles International. Starting in May, the budget carrier with excellent entertainment options will offer three daily flights from LAX to John F. Kennedy International and one daily flight to Logan International in Boston. Even if you’re not as big of a fan of JetBlue as I am, it’s good news: It could lead to a fare war among other airlines at LAX. JetBlue is expanding service at other Southern California airports, too.
No Peace Center for Alcatraz
by Jim Benning | 02.07.08 | 11:45 AM ET
San Francisco voters rejected a proposal this week to turn Alcatraz Island—the former prison site and ridiculously popular tourist attraction—into a “global peace center.” Whew. Given the rough U.S. economy, I’m afraid any move that could threaten the bustling Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary souvenir T-shirt industry could be this nation’s ruin. Sure, peace center T-shirts would sell, especially in San Francisco, but they wouldn’t do Federal Penitentiary numbers. For a vicarious visit and a few grim statistics, here’s video of the approach to the island from a tour boat:
What’s Joshua Tree National Park Without Joshua Trees?
by Jim Benning | 02.06.08 | 7:09 AM ET
That’s what park rangers and visitors are wondering, given a new prediction that in just 50 to 100 years global warming will make the southern California park too warm to support its namesake trees. I’ve spent a lot of time at Joshua Tree park, hiking, playing on boulders and even shivering through the 2000 New Year’s Eve there.
Iconic Hollywood Tower Records Building Faces Wrecking Ball
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 11:40 AM ET
Photo by Alan Light via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
We recently noted the end of the rock ‘n’ roll balconies at Hollywood’s Hyatt “Riot House”—the very balconies where Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant once declared, “I’m a golden god!” Clearly, nothing is sacred in Hollywood.
Huntington Beach, Thy Name Should Not be ‘Surf City USA’
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 7:41 AM ET
We’ve been writing about nation branding quite a bit, but here’s a ridiculous story involving tourism and city branding. Thanks to a settlement, the city of Huntington Beach can officially call itself “Surf City USA.”
Tom Petty’s Los Angeles, from a Travelodge to a Long Day in Reseda
by Jim Benning | 01.17.08 | 11:59 AM ET
Photo by SykoSam via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Living in Southern California, which features prominently in so many pop songs, it’s hard not to develop a soundtrack that reverberates through your head. For me, sweet and melancholy Tom Petty songs are a big part of that. I can’t drive along Mullholland, or on the 101 through the Valley, for example, without hearing “Free Fallin” (“I wanna glide down over Mulholland”) or those lines about the “long day living in Reseda,” with the “freeway running through the yard.” In fact, passing through Reseda, against my better judgment, I always find myself keeping my eye out for that sad house by the freeway.
Big Waves Roll Through Mavericks
by Jim Benning | 01.14.08 | 10:47 AM ET
Saturday was a good time to be in northern California. Pro surfers from around the globe and thousands of spectators converged on the legendary surf spot near Half Moon Bay for the sixth edition of the Mavericks big-wave contest. The wave breaks a good distance offshore, and spectators who didn’t want to peer through binoculars had an interesting option.
Why Does Los Angeles’ Metro Rail Stop Two Miles Short of LAX?
by Jim Benning | 01.10.08 | 10:32 AM ET
“I used to believe in conspiracies,” says a former city councilwoman, “until I discovered incompetence.” (Via LAObserved)
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Hey America, Make With the !@~$ High-Speed Rail Already’
Dear Mexican, Why the Yellow Cheese on Tex-Mex Food?
by Jim Benning | 12.10.07 | 11:47 AM ET
Anyone who’s traveled much in Mexico knows you just don’t see much yellow cheese on authentic Mexican food. You’re far more likely to encounter a lighter white cheese. So why are so many Tex-Mex and California-Mex dishes north of the border—heck, throughout the world—smothered in yellow cheese? Gustavo Arellano, who writes the terrific Ask a Mexican column, explains.
Related on World Hum:
* All Hail ‘The Burrito King of Argentina’
* ‘On the Road’ Sites, Including a Mexico City Sanborns, Then and Now
* Eating Fajitas in France
Related on TravelChannel.com:
* Anthony Bourdain: Highlights From Mexico
Photo by HeatherW via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
On the Pineapple Express*
by Jim Benning | 12.05.07 | 1:43 PM ET
It sounds more like a train name than a weather event, but the Pineapple Express is, in one paper’s words, “a strong jet stream of subtropical air originating in Hawaii.” The same Pineapple Express storm that wreaked travel havoc on the Pacific Northwest is now delivering giant waves to California. One big-wave surfer drowned yesterday off Pebble Beach. Moments ago I took this shot off Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, where gawking locals were causing traffic jams and a number of surfers were dropping into double overhead waves—the wave breaking in the distance here has a solid 10-foot face.
Update, 1:05 p.m. PT: Big-wave tow-in surfers in Ireland on Saturday rode waves the size of houses. Um, the Shamrock Express?
In Los Angeles, the Rise of Troubled K-Town
by Jim Benning | 11.21.07 | 10:52 AM ET
I’ve always enjoyed spending time in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. It’s one of those places you can go in the city to immediately feel far, far away from the waspy Westside. But as the L.A. Weekly reported recently, there’s trouble in K-town.
The World’s Most Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotels: From the Amsterdam Hilton to the Chateau Marmont
by Michael Yessis | 11.09.07 | 11:23 AM ET
The Guardian’s Sean Dodson picks 10 sleeping giants of rock, including the spot where John Lennon and Yoko One had their “Bed-in for Peace” (Amsterdam Hilton), the hotel where Led Zeppelin chucked TVs out windows (the now de-balconied Hyatt Riot House, pictured, on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip) and the place where David Bowie lived in Berlin while recording “Low” and “Heroes” (Hotel Ellington). One obvious clunker: The Hotel Rival in Sweden, which is owned by Benny Anderson of ABBA fame. I’ve heard “Dancing Queen.” I’ve seen “Mamma Mia.” ABBA ain’t rock.
Touring the Desolate Streets of America’s Ghost Towns
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.31.07 | 2:43 PM ET
A Halloween question: What are America’s ghost towns really like? Not exactly a trick-or-treater’s technicolor spookfest, writes Hugo Martin of the Los Angeles Times. Martin explored some abandoned towns in the West, offering a not-so-marketable tableau of death, decay, doom and depression. The creepiness includes: