Hitting the Road to Resort-O-Rama

Around this time in 2023, I caught wind of a brand-new conference event in Northern California, called Resort-O-Rama. 

It was from the organizers of Tiki Oasis—a huge and long-running tiki festival that takes place every year in San Diego, and that I'd been too intimidated to ever attend (maybe because I wouldn't be "tiki" enough!).

But Resort-O-Rama somehow seemed more approachable to me—maybe because it was new, or maybe because it was more generally centered on Mid-Century aesthetics, which I'd earned my place among as a documentarian of many Mid-Century buildings and as a regular attendee of Modernism Week in Palm Springs. 

But three years ago, I was working harder than I'd worked in over 10 years, with no paid time off—and making less money than I'd made in almost 20 years. I had neither the time nor the money to get myself up to Northern California for a long weekend. 

Fast-forward to 2026, and I hear that Resort-O-Rama is happening again. I'm working a little less hard—still with no PTO—and making a little more money. But, I thought, there's still no way I can get myself there on my own. At least, not just for fun. 

Besides, I've still been working on The Los Angeles Breakfast Club history book—and, although a year later than we initially expected, we're in the final stretch. 

  Courtesy Resort-O-Rama

Photo Essay: Baseball Buzz Returns to Ontario, California With the Opening of ONT Field

Ontario Airport in California's Inland Empire has been staging a major comeback—and it may have launched its biggest flex yet.

I remember when the only way for me to fly JetBlue from New York City to the West Coast was from JFK to ONT or LGB (Long Beach)—and then JetBlue ceased operations out of ONT in 2008 and the mid-sized airport's business declined by nearly half. 

That was back when Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) controlled ONT and didn't prioritize regional air transport. But then ownership of the Ontario airport transferred to the locally-focused Ontario International Airport Authority in 2016—and when JetBlue returned in 2018, that seemed to be a major sign of an upswing. 

By the end of 2019, the number of passengers passing through the airport rebounded to its 2008 numbers. And in the following years, ONT continued to break its own records, celebrate more milestones, and welcome more airlines to its runways and gates. 

 

Now, ONT holds the naming rights for the new baseball stadium in Ontario, called ONT Field. 

Photo Essay: Bonnie Claire Ghost Town's Inspirational House of Quotes

Since my accommodations during my recent superbloom trip to Death Valley National Park were in Beatty, Nevada—and not inside the park or in one of the surrounding towns in California—my geography gave me the opportunity to explore some of the environs east of and in the eastern end of the park for the first time in a long time.

 

Photo Essay: A Superbloom Brings Death Valley to Life

For all the times I've visited Death Valley National Park—starting way back in 2008—I don't think I've ever seen any wildflowers there. 

I remember hearing about wildflower blooms there during the springtime, but Death Valley isn't the kind of place that you can just decide to visit on a whim. It takes some planning ahead to get a room for the night, and some significant driving to get there from Los Angeles.

I missed the "superbloom" that occurred in 2016, having just started a new job and still bouncing back financially from years of unemployment. I've regretted that for 10 years. 

Now, there's a once-in-a-decade bloom happening in Death Valley again—and this time, I was prepared. All the way back in January of this year, I started booking hotels in anticipation of a very good wildflower bloom about the occur. I wasn't sure when it would hit, so just to be safe I reserved a room for every weekend in March, and the first weekend in April. 

Usually wildflower season hits Death Valley later in the spring, following the burst of color that occurs annually—to varying degrees every year—in Anza-Borrego and the Antelope Valley. But this year, the desert environs much farther north of LA caught up to the Southern California floral explosion timing-wise. 

And on the first weekend of March 2026, I'm pretty sure I got pretty close to the peak of the best wildflower bloom that Death Valley has had in a decade. 

 

Photo Essay: The Peabody, A Grand Hotel of Marching Ducks and Memphis Royalty

When we were planning our Memphis trip months ahead of when we'd actually travel for my birthday, our hotel options always boiled down to one clear choice: The Peabody. 

 

I'd heard of it from a friend who'd stayed there several years ago for a work conference, and who'd been delighted by the daily duck parade. That was enough to seal the deal for me. 

 

But then I also realized that it also fit the theme of my destination birthday celebration—that is, Elvis, whose manager Colonel Parker closed a record deal for the rising star with RCA Victor right there in the lobby in 1955. (The budding performer had previously visited the Peabody to attend his senior prom there.)

Photo Essay: The Life and Career of Elvis Presley, As Seen Through Graceland's Costume, Car, and Airplane Collections

It actually never really occurred to me that going to Graceland would mean more than just visiting the mansion that Elvis Presley lived in until his death in 1977. 

 

But actually there's more—a lot more—across the street, including the "Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum."

Photo Essay: How Southern California Inspired the Creation of This Memphis Cemetery's 'Crystal Cave'

I took a trip to Memphis for my milestone birthday at the end of September, mostly to finally visit Graceland and cross that off my bucket list. 

I really wanted an Elvis-themed weekend, so I shied away from attractions that weren't rooted in the history of rock and roll or its king. 

But there was one exception to my rule, something I definitely did not want to miss: the Crystal Shine Grotto. 

It's touted as "the world's only man-made crystal cave" (I guess the Crystal Cave in Yucca Valley, CA doesn't count because it's foam?)—and from the outside, it looks like a geological oddity tucked away in the middle of East Memphis's Memorial Park Cemetery. 

 

 

Photo Essay: Sequoia National Park's Only Public Cave Reopens (Claustrophobes Beware!)

Sequoia National Park is just one of those places that has intimidated me ever since I moved to California. 

For some reason, I've been able to tackle all the unforgiving deserts—but give me giant sequoia trees, and I shrink away at the enormity of it all. (I feel the same about Yosemite.)

So even though I've been spending 6-8 hours a day on my book—in addition to working full-time—I took the opportunity to join some friends who were headed up north to Sequoia-Kings Canyon for the weekend. 

Their main draw? Touring Crystal Cave after its four-year closure.

There are a few magic phrases in this life that can make me spring into action, like saying "Open Sesame" to a secret passage door hidden in a bookcase. One of them is "never open to the public," and another is "reopened after being closed."

Needless to say, I didn't think twice.

 

A number of natural factors caused the public tours of the cave to cease—first, the 2021 KNP Complex fire, and then the winter storms of 2023. Up until then, it was the only publicly accessible cave in the combined national parks of Sequoia and Kings Canyon. 

 

 

Photo Essay: The Uphill Battle at Sequoia National Park's Moro Rock

"We're doing what?!"

That might not be what I said out loud, but it certainly was what I was thinking. 

We'd spent the day driving from LA to Sequoia National Park—and I was already battling altitude sickness just from the little walk to the General Sherman giant sequoia tree.

But it wasn't my trip—I wasn't in charge of the schedule, which is how I wanted it—so I had no choice. 

We were going to climb Moro Rock to watch the sunset.

 

Not to be confused with Morro Rock near San Luis Obispo, Moro Rock in Central California's Sequoia park is a dome-shaped granite rock formation that's more for hikers than rock climbers. 

Photo Essay: The Glorious Human-Powered Sculptures of the Kinetic Grand Championship

Why fly to Sacramento and drive five hours to Arcata, California in Memorial Day Weekend traffic?

To spectate the Kinetic Grand Championship, of course!

This kinetic sculpture race goes back the year 1969, when artist Hobart Brown raced a souped-up version of his kid's tricycle in the town of Ferndale, California. 

Now, it's expanded into a three-day, all-terrain event — and there are kinetic races in other cities across the country, like Ventura, California and Baltimore, Maryland. 

 

It's called the "Triathalon of the Art World"—but to me, the land, water, and sand races sound more like a Tough Mudder obstacle course. 

Photo Essay: The 'Tunnel Tree' of the Northern California Redwoods

We were driving three hours south to Fort Bragg from Arcata, California, where we'd spent the night to watch the lineup of the Kinetic Grand Championship races in the morning. 

Our next stop was to ride the Skunk Train. 

But after we twisted and turned down the 101 South (a.k.a. the Redwood Highway), following the course of the Eel River's South Fork, we turned onto Highway 1 and saw a sign that caught our eye.

 

"Drive-Thru Tree?!" I exclaimed. And my passengers all chimed in, "Can we go?!"

This Giant Concrete Arrow Pointed the Way for Pilots Delivering Mail By Air Between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City

I was in Southern Nevada for Thanksgiving to visit dear friends—practically family. So I wanted to spend plenty of time with them, but I also wanted to carve out an opportunity to go on a couple little adventures. 

That sent me in search of one of the many gigantic, concrete arrows that dot the desert in the Battle Born state—well, actually two of them. I had to abort the mission in search of the first one, the one in Mesquite, since I was coming back from The Donkey Museum a little too late to have enough sunlight to navigate the rough dirt road to get to it. 

So, two days later, I made a second try—this time to get to a second arrow, this one in the Moapa Valley community of Logandale, not far off the 15 Freeway. 

 

Photo Essay: Riding a Steam Train Through the Redwoods at an Abandoned Army Camp

I struggled with whether or not I should travel up to the Bay Area last weekend, given my uncertain employment and my certain commitment to be writing a book. 

But I hadn't taken a trip since Memorial Day weekend, and my feet were getting itchy. 

Turns out, it was the perfect time to get away from Los Angeles—which was in the throes of a 110-degree heatwave—and embrace the cooler environs up north. 

One of the draws for my trip was the annual Doors Open California weekend, hosted by California Preservation Foundation. And one of the places the program was giving special access to was the Redwood Valley Railway in Tilden Regional Park, just east of Berkeley. 

Photo Essay: A Los Angeles Carousel Has Made San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Its Home for Over 80 Years

This is just so typically me. 

I go years (or decades) without visiting a place—and then as soon as I go back once, I end up going back a bunch of times. 

Because it's so easy for me to shift my attention elsewhere. But once something gets back into the front of my mind, I realize how much I've missed out on. 

Such is the case with San Francisco. 

I was just there in January, after having not really been there since 2006—save for a couple of hours two years ago—and ever since, I've been itching to go back. 

This time, California Preservation Foundation's Doors Open California program gave me the perfect excuse to return. 

But first, I had a lot of places to cross off my list. 

 

Take Golden Gate Park, for instance. It feels very much like San Francisco's version of Central Park in New York, with meandering paths and sprawling lawns and a few historic points of interest—including its own vintage carousel. 

Photo Essay: The Ups and Downs (And Ins and Outs) of San Francisco's Historic Cable Car System

I remember riding at least one cable car during my San Francisco visit in 2006. 

It seemed like a novelty to me at the time—something I'd only seen in Rice-A-Roni TV commercials as a kid. 

 

 

I was less into trains back then than I am now—so I wanted to re-experience this mode of public transport upon my return visit to SF earlier this year. 

 

Trying to get around in the rain with a bum foot made the cable car a necessity this time around.

This time around, there was something else at the top of my list, too: the city's cable car museum, which I had no clue about until after I'd returned home to NYC from my SF trip, nearly 20 years ago.

 

Sure, I wanted to learn about the history of cable cars—but this is no ordinary historical museum. 

Photo Essay: Glimpses of Grace Cathedral's Art and Architectural Treasures

We had some time to kill while we were exploring San Francisco back in January. 

 

So, I asked my friend—who's not religious, but neither am I—if we could go to Grace Cathedral to take one of the tours they offered.

Photo Essay: A Long-Awaited Celebration for Long Beach Airport's Historic Streamline Moderne Terminal

It had been the year 2010 since I'd flown in or out of Long Beach Airport—LA's oldest municipal airport, originally known as Daugherty Field, established in 1923. 

It's just not convenient to where I currently live. 

But I love it so much, I arranged to tour its Streamline Moderne-style terminal building (by architects William Horace Austin and Kenneth Smith Wing, circa 1941) back in 2016. 

And then in February 2023, it ceased operations as LGB's main passenger terminal and closed for a renovation that would last over a year. At the time, I thought, "Aw, too bad"—because it had been such a delight to travel through there, I was sad for the passengers who'd never get to experience it.

 

Photo Essay: The California Mission Ruins Hiding Inside a Humble Hay Barn

If you know where to look, you can find remnants of California's Mission Period throughout the state—whether it's old dams and aqueducts, or even a former winery for communion wine.

 

And sometimes, you find an actual mission in the most unexpected of places—like the former Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia (founded 1787-90), which is hiding in plain sight in the now-privately-owned Santa Margarita Ranch in California's Central Coast. 

Photo Essay: A Triple Train Tour Through Santa Margarita Ranch, via Pacific Coast Railroad

Last Christmas, I finally got the chance to ride in one of the original Disneyland Railroad cars that are now running on a private railway, the Pacific Coast Railroad, in Santa Margarita, California. 

But because it was a nighttime holiday lights ride, I felt like I hadn't gotten the full experience. 

So I immediately committed myself to coming back and riding the rails on Santa Margarita Ranch during the day. 

Only problem? There's once a year the public can do that: Memorial Day weekend, during the Best of the West Antique Equipment Show. (Otherwise some lucky few get to ride the trains during private events like weddings and such.) 

 

 

So, this year I finally hauled my cookies up to the Central Coast to ride the trains—all the trains they offered that weekend, which was three. 

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.