Where I Go: The ‘Meandering, Beautiful, Dangerous’ Angeles Crest Highway

This Pacific Crest Trail Gateway Is Southern California’s Most Accessible Scenic Byway—When It’s Open, That Is

The Angeles Crest Highway winds thousands of feet above the Los Angeles basin, a meandering, beautiful, and dangerous road that leads to the hiking trails of the Angeles National Forest and historic treasures like the Mount Wilson Observatory and Newcomb’s Ranch (the rustic 1939 roadhouse built on the road’s only privately own land). With its western terminus not far from the La Cañada-Flintridge Target, that puts it just 20 minutes from the heart of downtown L.A., making it, arguably, the most accessible scenic byway in Southern California.

When it’s open, that …

by Laura Randall | October 6, 2021

Where I Go: Seeking Peace on the Upper Slopes of Mount Shasta

How Cycling (and Tandem Biking) Has Made My Rural Northern California ‘Neighborhood’ Home

by Tim Holt | May 27, 2021

“Lonely as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California.”
—Joaquin Miller, from …

A Park for Everyone Offers a ‘Vision of What California Might Be’

In Praise of Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, an L.A. Gem That Contains Multitudes

by Joe Mathews | February 2, 2021

It was tricky to get out of the house while the state was under the latest stay-at-home order, much less to find public places that offered both ample social distance …

Nature Needs Greater Diversity—In Its Human Visitors

Drawing More Non-Whites Into Parks and Natural Areas Requires Changes in Access, Staffing, Recruitment—and Narratives

by REED JOHNSON | October 12, 2018

“Is nature only for white people?” was the deliberately provocative query that framed a Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County panel discussion. It was quickly dispensed with by the …

Why Americans Invented the RV

In 1915, New Creature Comforts Created by Technology Merged with the Back to Nature Movement

by Terence Young | September 4, 2018

Zócalo’s editors are diving into our archives and throwing it back to some of our favorite pieces. This week: Before pandemic “van life,” there …

With Rushmore, the Charm Is in the Details

The Quirky Style of Wes Anderson’s Breakout Film Still Draws a Fashionable Crowd

Callie Enlow | September 19, 2016

Upon its release in 1998, the indie comedy Rushmore cemented both director Wes Anderson’s reputation and co-star Bill Murray’s renaissance as patron saint of droll, sad-eyed, middle-aged men in crisis. …

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