The other day I got around to exploring the North Orange County suburb of La Habra. I was joined on the adventure by my friend, Matt, who'd long ago mentioned that should I ever get around to visiting La Habra, he'd like to come along. I like to think that La Habra's motto, "a caring … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring La Habra
Los Angeles was at one time home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan and contributions of Japanese-Angelenos to history and culture are many. It was in Los Angeles that Hollywood created the first Asian-American film star. It was also in Los Angeles that a legal challenge in the Supreme Court re-shaped immigration … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Japanese Los Angeles
There've recently been a couple of articles in the Los Angeles Times about the various state of local mass transit that have got me thinking. Mehmet Baker's "Metro is hemorrhaging riders. It needs to stop studying obvious fixes and start acting" appeared on Sunday, was good but many of the complaints voiced were the sort … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — So Why Are Our Train Stations So Crap?
On 25 March, music critic Ken Tucker reviewed the new solo album by Robert Forster on the NPR program, Fresh Air. In the review, Tucker said, "Along with his fellow songwriter Grant McLellan, Forster led the Go-Betweens starting in the 1990s." In one sentence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic managed to get a couple of things completely … Continue reading After the Go-Betweens — the Solo Albums of Grant McClennan and Robert Forster
INTRODUCTION I finally got around to exploring Newport Beach. I say "finally" because that particular coastal city in South Orange County has held the top spot in the California Fool’s Gold poll for more than a year. You'd be wrong if you assumed that my procrastination has anything to do with unfortunate (but typical) Angeleño bias against Orange … Continue reading California Fools Gold — Exploring Newport Beach
Fast-fashion company Bestseller recently announced their intention to build a 320-meter tall skyscraper as their headquarters in Brande -- a tiny Danish town of roughly 7,000 inhabitants. Few buildings there have more than three stories and the mostly flat skyline is punctuated with the occasional windmill or church steeple. It won't be the first such … Continue reading Highrising — Solitary Skyscrapers of Suburbia
Hi Duk Lee (이희덕) died on 7 March at the age of 79. Two weeks passed before his death was reported on the website L.A. Taco. Only then did the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Korea Times, KTLA, NBC, and ABC run stories on the passing of this pioneer, whose name and accomplishments remain unknown to most Angelenos, including … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Hi Duk Lee, the Father of Koreatown (1939-2019)
