Where I Go: L.A.’s Arboretum, Where the Peafowl Hunt You in Packs

Butt-Dancing Birds Have Become My Pandemic Icons

When the pandemic fell upon the earth, my husband Andrew and I went to the L.A. Arboretum. Few other Southern California locations remained open after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued our first stay-at-home order last March. We could go outside to take in some exercise, but where were we going to do this? Andrew and I live in the San Fernando Valley, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy had padlocked the Fryman Canyon and Franklin Canyon trails near us. But the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 25 miles east …