Photo Essay: A Promise Kept—Woolworth's Is Serving Lunch Again (And More) in Bakersfield, California

Back in 2019, when I first dined at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Bakersfield...

 

...the adjacent Five & Dime Antique Mall was still open and chock full of vintage wares, from furniture to clothing. 

Photo Essay: Paying My Respects with a Final Meal at Saugus Cafe [Updated—Reopened Under New Management]

[Last updated 1/20/26 10:52 PM PT—After being closed for just two weeks, The Original Saugus Cafe reopened as Saugus Restaurant under new management. A report on the reopening has been added to the bottom of this post.]

[Updated 1/10/26 12:54 PM PT to add clarification of some details revealed in an LAist article and The Santa Clarita Valley Signal.]

"While the future plans for the building are currently unknown, we want to share that Saugus Cafe will officially close its doors on January 4, 2026."

 

That was the message posted on the front door and at the cash register at the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles County when I went for (perhaps) a final meal on the second day of 2026.

Photo Essay: The Chicken Takeover of a Sweeping Googie Coffee Shop on Ventura Boulevard [Updated for 2026]

[Last updated 1/19/26 11:34 PM PT—New photos added]

I've lived in Los Angeles long enough to see quintessentially quirky Southern Californian architecture either demolished or saved by Corporate America. 

Googie landmarks like the Holiday Bowl coffee shop, Mission Hills Bowl, and Friendly Hills Lanes are now a Starbucks, a Ross Dress for Less, and a BevMo. Norm's has been threatened with a hostile takeover by Raising Cane's. 

Photo taken 2018

And to save Corky's in Sherman Oaks, a.k.a. the former Stanley Burke's and Lamplighter restaurants...

 

 

...it had to be transformed into a Chick-Fil-A. 

Photo Essay: The Memphis of Elvis, Beyond Graceland

The easy explanation for my recent Memphis trip was that I was celebrating my 50th birthday at Graceland. 

But the truth is, I went to Memphis for Elvis. All of Elvis. 

After all, most casual Elvis fans seem to segregate his career into two eras—young Elvis (à la Jailhouse Rock) and Vegas Elvis—and typically prefer the "earlier" one versus the "late" one. But my favorite Elvis era is a middle era: the '68 Comeback Special, when he was coming out of his Paramount movie career and getting back into performing live, right before he started his Las Vegas residency in 1969. 

And I have much affection for the cape-wearing, lei-laden, karate-chopping Elvis of Aloha from Hawaii, That's the Way It Is, and his final album (a live-and-studio combo) Moody Blue. 

I'd already chased all those Elvises around two states—like at the Honeymoon Hideaway and other sites around Palm Springs, and at the former International Hotel on the Vegas Strip. But now, it was time for me to finally experience what remains of The King in his longtime hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

And that's more than just Graceland (pictured above, of which at least one photo essay is forthcoming.)

Photo Essay: A Nighttime Centennial Celebration for the Breakfast Set

The year 2025 marks the centennial of The Los Angeles Breakfast Club, the storied social club of which I've been a proud member ("Ham-and-Egger," as it were) since April 2017.

The actual birthday is in March—when the club held a special breakfast fête to commemorate the occasion. But this past weekend, we had a big nighttime party to celebrate 100 years of friendship.  

It was held at Friendship Auditorium on Riverside Drive, located on the selfsame site where The Breakfast Club (before "Los Angeles" had to be added to its name for legal reasons) was founded in 1925. But this particular clubhouse building is much more recent—dating back to 1965, built after the club returned to the sacred land after spending a stint at the Ambassador Hotel (now demolished) and an even longer stint at a clubhouse on Los Feliz Boulevard (also demolished). So, it was a double celebration of sorts—the 100th for the club, and the 60th for the auditorium (which is actually owned by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks). 

 

The club could've celebrated offsite—but it's here that guests could party under horseshoe-adorned chandeliers (an artifact brought over from the Los Feliz Boulevard clubhouse) and don eggy top hats at the photo booth. 

A Matter of Taste

With all the work that I've been doing writing The Los Angeles Breakfast Club centennial history book over the last two years, it's no surprise that I would get sick.

Having two autoimmune diseases puts me in the crosshairs for various illnesses anyway—but then I went to the Lady Gaga concert at the Forum—the first such thing I'd done in a long time—and I think that's where I caught a bug. 

But this wasn't just any bug. What started as a loss of appetite, sore throat, and the sniffles turned into the worst headache of my life—one that almost sent me to the emergency room.

Photo Essay: May Showers Bring Cactus Flowers

"The cacti are probably in bloom around now," my friend said. And until then, it had never really occurred to me to go to the Ethel M. Chocolates Factory Cactus Garden in Henderson, Nevada during the day.

After all, it's so magical at night during the holiday season. What else could there be?

 

But after taking a morning bus tour of Henderson and an afternoon walking tour of the Hoover Dam, I was looking for a little zen on my way back to Vegas. 

A Foodie's Farewell Tour

I have this little ritual of going for a "last supper" before having some kind of medical procedure done that might restrict my eating in some way. 

I think it goes back to when I used to go on a "detox" back in my NYC days, which was basically my way of trying to lose weight by quitting alcohol and fast food for short spurts of time. I'd always binge right before it, like an addict on one last bender before being hauled off to rehab.

Before my oral surgery last November, which would put me on a diet of soft foods for weeks on end, I ordered all the crunchy things during my final meal—chips and guac, Caesar salad with croutons, taquitos, and the like. 

I had similar "last hurrahs" the nights before my colonoscopy in February, another oral surgery in March, and my upper endoscopy in June (both the one that didn't happen, and the one that did). 

But now, it's the results of that endoscopy that's got me on my latest eating spree. 

Because they found what they were looking for: signs of celiac disease. It's not definite, but I already scored practically off the charts on the blood test. Both of these test results strongly indicate the presence of the disease, but they don't prove it.

To do that, I'll need to eliminate gluten.

If I feel different—or, hopefully, better—after that, it'll confirm the diagnosis. And it'll change the course of how I eat for the rest of my life.

Smoked salmon sandwich at Gjusta in Venice, CA

Photo Essay: The Huntington, Where Billiards and Bowling Gave Way to the Rose Garden Tea Room

The Huntington is one of those places where I just keep discovering new things, every time I visit. 

 

Towards the end of last year, I'd wanted to go back because I knew I'd missed some historic faux bois (fake wood made of steel-reinforced concrete)...

 

 

...so my quest to see that in person led us to the rose garden on Black Friday. 

Photo Essay: Finding Out How a Luffa Becomes a Loofah

File under: I was already in the area, so why not?

 

I'm endlessly curious about the world around me, the way things work, and the odd origins of familiar things—so naturally, I made a trip to The Luffa Farm while visiting California's Central Coast last weekend. 

Photo Essay: Good Fortune at the Cookie Factory, San Francisco

The first time I visited San Francisco, back in 2006, the internet just wasn't what it is today. And so although we figured out some fun things to do—take a nighttime tour of Alcatraz, for instance—there just wasn't that much I was familiar with, beyond cable cars and restaurants.

 

That was totally different this time around, when I've had nearly 20 years to add places to my map and learn more about the city by the Bay from afar. And when I visited a couple of weeks ago, I knew I wanted to go to Chinatown.

 

Because who wouldn't want to go see how fortune cookies are made?!

Hot Dog (on a) Stick Returns to Santa Monica's Ocean Front Walk... A Bit Different

They thought that it would look the same. And from afar, it almost does.

 

But I'm sad to say, the replica of the original Hot Dog on a Stick stand by the Santa Monica Pier is not the same.

Photo Essay: Earth Day at Los Angeles Eco-Village

Some people live wherever they can find a place they can afford—even if they have nothing in common with their neighbors.

I have been that person my entire adult life, surrounding myself with strangers and mostly hiding from them inside my apartments and avoiding them in the hallways. We have not been bound to each other by a shared ethnicity, religion, or set of values. 

Just a similar budget and vague geographic preference. 

But other people live in intentional communities—where everybody's working towards the same goal and more or less living there for the same reason.

 

 

Is this a euphemism for "commune" or a modern-day version of a utopian community? I haven't quite figured that out yet. But it's the basis for the Los Angeles Eco-Village on LA's Bimini Place—a kind of co-op that reuses old buildings to provide affordable housing and eco-centric services and support to its residents. 

Photo Essay: Returning to the Pueblo Mágico of Tio's Tacos, Riverside

[Last updated 6/1/23 3:37 PM PT—Video player embedded at the bottom of this post.]

Last September, I spent the day in Riverside, California researching one of my SoCal Wanderer articles for KCET—and while I was in town, I made sure I returned to Tio's Tacos.

 

No, it wasn't my lunch stop—I wasn't there for the tacos.

A Turkey-Free Thanksgiving at a Storied Mountain Lodge Outside of LA

When I was working as a field agent for Atlas Obscura a few years ago, I really wanted to host a dinner at Saddle Peak Lodge—specifically, a game meat dinner. 

I was fascinated with intimidating foods and thought that a communal experience would create a comfort level that I, and others, might not have alone. 

I couldn't get that event approved, so I finally went to Saddle Peak Lodge on my own a few years ago—but I wimped out both gastronomically and financially and just went to brunch. I don't remember the meal, but I'm pretty sure I had eggs (and not, like, ostrich eggs).

So, I've felt like I hadn't really experienced the restaurant—and when the 2018 Woolsey Fire swept through the area, fortunately sparing it, the urgency to return intensified.

I finally made it back yesterday, for Thanksgiving dinner—not because this colonial holiday is important to me (it's not), but because I felt like I needed the excuse of a special occasion to splurge on it. And since it's a Michelin star-receiving establishment, it also charges Michelin star-level prices.

Photo Essay: Monte Carlo Deli & Pinocchio Restaurant, A Red-Sauce Reverie Inspired By A Fairy-Tale Boy Puppet

Walt Disney once considered building Disneyland in Burbank, California instead of Anaheim—on the lot that now houses Walt Disney Animation Studios and ABC, across from Walt Disney Studios. 

But today, the only place in Burbank where the public can get a taste of Disney—since there's no studio tour offered—is at the Monte Carlo Deli and Pinocchio Restaurant on Magnolia Boulevard, in Magnolia Park. 

A Dream Encounter With the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile (Or, the Day We Had Hot Dogs For Breakfast)

The first time I ever got to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile up close, it was in Palm Springs in April 2021. (I might've seen one in the wild on the freeway or from a distance before that, but I can't quite remember.)

 

circa 2021

Photo Essay: St. Vincent Court, The Historic Los Angeles Alley Where Coffee and Kebabs Converge

Between the St. Vincent Jewelry Center on the corner of 7th and Hill and the Burlington (Coat Factory) department store at 7th and Broadway, there's a breezeway that leads to an alley, traversed by two multistory air bridges.

 Photo: Google Streetview circa February 2022 

This is St. Vincent Court. 

 

 

From Country to Rock and Glam: The Sunset Strip's First High-Rise Hotel (With the Tallest Rooftop Pool In All of L.A.)

When I would have to visit Los Angeles for my work in the music industry back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it had become passé to stay at the Hyatt House, a.k.a. the Riot House—where bands like Led Zeppelin had famously partied in the 1970s.

But the Sunset Strip was still cool back then, even 20 years ago. We just stayed across the street at hotels like The Standard Hollywood (now closed), the Mondrian, or The Grafton on Sunset (now Hotel Ziggy)—and we felt the Riot House's presence, looming over Sunset Boulevard.

circa 2020

Photo Essay: Tail O' the Pup Once Again Unleashes Frankfurters Out of A Giant Hot Dog—This Time on Route 66

The Tail O' the Pup hot dog stand has been in storage ever since I moved to LA in 2011 (technically it got mothballed in 2005).

But I've always felt something of a connection to it. 

Maybe it's because its prior two locations were both in my neighborhood, at intersections I pass on a nearly daily basis (Beverly and La Cienega, basically where the Sofitel is now, and, after 1986, Beverly and San Vicente).

 

And now it's back in my neighborhood—in a new location on Santa Monica Boulevard, the old Route 66 in West Hollywood.