Category: California Fool’s Gold

California Fool’s Gold — A Riverside County Primer

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 84 Comments

In 2007, California Fool's Gold began exploring Los Angeles County one community at a time. In 2010 I expanded my adventures into Orange County. It's now 2015 and I would like to turn my sites to Riverside County. ***** Riverside County is one of the ten counties of which Southern California is comprised. At 146,366 … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — A Riverside County Primer

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Victor Heights

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 32 Comments

FOREWORD Most of the communities that I explore and feature in California Fool’s Gold were chosen by popular vote but I explored Victor Heights for different reasons. Firstly, as one of the more obscure corners of Mideast Los Angeles (MELA), it’s long-held for me a certain appeal. Secondly, Big Red’s check engine light went on and … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Victor Heights

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Anaheim

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 39 Comments

FOREWORD For over a year now, Anaheim has topped the polls of communities to be the subject of an episode of California Fool's Gold. Until now I postponed my exploration for several reasons. For one, Anaheim is huge and contains so many points of interest that I suspected (quite rightly) that exploring it to my own satisfaction … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Anaheim

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Franklin Hills

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 19 Comments

FOREWORD Franklin Hills DOT sign Usually, I determine what communities to explore for California Fool’s Gold based upon results of a poll. However, I explored the small neighborhood of Franklin Hills in August of 2014 not based upon the vox populi but in preparation for an art show of my maps which I called, Taste … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Franklin Hills

California Fool’s Gold Guide to Ice Skating in Los Angeles

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 1 Comment

Outside of the high mountains and high desert, we don't typically get a lot of ice and snow in the Chaparral-dominated landscape of Southern California. For some this is all the necessary proof that there are no seasons in California -- and most certainly no winter. In reality, all climates have their own sorts of seasons … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold Guide to Ice Skating in Los Angeles

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring San Diego’s Little Italy

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 8 Comments

In Los Angeles, nearly all of the city’s officially-designated ethnic enclaves are for Asian ethnicities. Eurasia’s Armenian community has Little Armenia and Russians in eastern West Hollywood have earned it the nickname “Little Russia” but French Town, Greek Town, and Little Italy have all faded into assimilation and obscurity albeit acknowledged with the odd street … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring San Diego’s Little Italy

Nobody Drives in LA — Visiting the Pasadena Model Railroad Club

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 2 Comments

With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. There are numerous model railroading clubs in Southern California, all devoted to various scale standards, and spread throughout a region not especially well-served by actual passenger rail. I recently … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Visiting the Pasadena Model Railroad Club

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Terminal Island

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 39 Comments

TERMINAL ISLAND The other day I explored Terminal Island with Matt. Terminal Island is a fairly large (11.55 km2) island that is administered by the cities of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Although most of its area is dominated by container terminals (APL Container Terminal, APM Terminals Pier 400, Pier T Container Terminal, Seaside Container Terminal, … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Terminal Island

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Atwater Village

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 27 Comments

INTRODUCTION Moorish-inspired homes in Atwater Village Atwater Village popped up on my radar soon after I'd moved to Los Angeles in 1999. My roommate with a job had found us an apartment just across the Los Angeles River in Silver Lake (Ivanhoe tract, to be exact) but we all frequently headed across the river — usually … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Atwater Village

California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Westlake, Garden Spot of the Old Westside

~ Eric Brightwell ~ 41 Comments

INTRODUCTION TO WESTLAKE Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography's oil paint map of Westlake -- currently misplaced so no art prints or merchandise available Los Angeles's Westlake neighborhood is home to more people than the entire populations of well-known California cities like Berkeley, Inglewood, Burbank, Compton, Santa Monica, and Santa Barbara. In fact, the neighborhood and Pico-Union … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Westlake, Garden Spot of the Old Westside