After spending most of the weekend driving up and down half the state of California, trekking through the Grapevine to wine country and up and down the curvy coast, I couldn’t help but think of the quote above from artist Anri Sala that I read in this article in Frieze Magazine a while back. Sala’s work deals [...]

A few words by Joan Didion about California, which – according to this New York Times article – belongs to her. …Not the California where everyone wears aviator sunglasses, owns a Jacuzzi and buys his clothes on Rodeo Drive. But California in the sense of the West. The old West where Manifest Destiny was an [...]

A few years back, a friend of mine gave me a copy of California, Amra Brooks‘ novella about growing up in California from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.  The book struck a chord within me and I have found myself returning to it over the years, remembering parts of it and embellishing others in the same [...]

The days are the longest during summer which makes for perfect trips to the beach.  I can hear the ocean now, see my makeshift fort for sun relief and taste the sweet fruits of the picnic. My two Southern California favorite beaches are Crystal Cove and Leo Carrillo.  These two spots feature beautiful California coast [...]

In 1915, 18 acres were purchased by San Franciscans Oliver and Isabel Stine with the intention of creating a hillside summer retreat for family and friends. Inspired by one of her favorite places in Japan, Fuji Hakone National park, the retreat was aptly named The Hakone Gardens. The Hakone Gardens are located in what was [...]

“When you’re in the muck you can only see muck. If you somehow manage to float above it, you still see the muck but you see it from a different perspective. And you see other things too. That’s the consolation of philosophy.” – David Cronenberg A favorite spot of mine is located on a fire [...]