A Dream Job... Deferred?

My professional life has experienced a lot of upheaval since I was forced to quit my job back in 2009. And I still haven't gotten back on my feet again.

It really feels like the guy that made it impossible for me to stay in that job back then didn't just destroy my career. He also ruined my life. 

But that's another story for another day. 

Photo by matthiasboeckel on Pixabay

I'd been so proud of myself when I got a full-time editorial job back in 2015 after being destitute in the wake of two layoffs and some poor career choices that led me astray. I was even more thrilled in 2018 to be able to say I was finally a full-time writer.

Then I got laid off from that job in July 2022—that's a whole 'nother story, too—and, lucky for me, the freelance writing I'd been doing for our local public TV station KCET for over seven years turned into an inhouse gig just two weeks later. 

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: The Museum Preserving Showgirl History in Post-Jubilee Las Vegas

What is Las Vegas without its showgirls?

 

Well, that's Vegas right now—because since the "Jubilee!" show at Bally's closed in 2016, there's no longer a showgirl show.

Just the girls wearing feathered headpieces standing outside the Flamingo or the Venetian, or on Fremont Street, trying to get cash for photos. 

Well, except the 50-foot ones that were installed on the North Strip section of Las Vegas Boulevard. 

   

Since October 2023, the closest thing the city has had to a good old fashioned showgirl spectacular is Dita Von Teese's DITA LAS VEGAS: A Jubilant Revue in the Jubilee Theater at Bally's (which was rebranded as Horseshoe Las Vegas in December 2022). Unfortunately, that closed this weekend—but the good news is, I made it back to Vegas in time to see a performance of it on its second-to-last weekend.  

 

But this post isn't about Dita—and, as I learned at the Las Vegas Showgirl Museum, neither Dita nor her production qualifies as a showgirl show, even though it used some of the Jubilee sets and original costumes designed by Bob Mackie.

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: A Last Look at the L.A. Times Olympic Printing Plant Before Its 2024 Closure

Well, I've known for years it was coming—but it's hard to believe it actually happened.

 

The Los Angeles Times Olympic printing plant has closed for good. 

Photo Essay: An Unnatural Superbloom at a Wildlife Crossing to Come (And Breaking News of a Possible Successful Crossing Into Griffith Park)

The news came out today that there have been some unconfirmed reports of another mountain lion making an appearance in Griffith Park. 

The timing was perfect, as I'd just happened to have taken a tour of the site of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing under construction over the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains in Agoura Hills, California.

 

Photo Essay: Saturday Night at the Los Angeles County Fair

For some reason, I let 10 years go by after my first visit to the Los Angeles County Fair in 2012. (That year, I actually went twice—for the fair itself and then for the Demolition Derby.)

And when I went back to Fairplex in Pomona a decade later—in 2022, after the event had shifted from September to May—it rained. And I didn't have a great time. 

This year, I returned to the fair because I had a ticket to Pat Benatar's Grandstand concert—and that gave me the chance to explore the grounds for the first time at night.

Photo Essay: The Sphere Has Landed in Vegas—And What An Experience It is

Las Vegas may have changed a lot since my first visit in the 1990s—and I may feel nostalgic for a version of Vegas I never actually got to experience—but I still love to visit the place, as ever-changing as it may be, even just to admire its audacity. 

 

The latest addition to the Vegas skyline is the Sphere—the world's largest spherical structure with the world's largest screen, which opened in September 2023 after five years of construction. 

Photo Essay: L.A. Circus, A Prop House Providing Everything Under the Big Top to Hollywood and Beyond

It takes a lot to surprise me. Especially after living in LA for 13 years and seriously exploring Southern California for about 16 years. 

 So I was thrilled to be introduced to a place I'd never heard of—LA Circus in Riverside, California—and have the chance to tour it with the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation. 

Photo Essay: Warner Brothers Adds the TCM Classics Film Tour to Its Studio Backlot Experience

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the media preview of the TCM Classic Films Tour, a brand-new experience offered by Warner Brothers Studio Tours focusing on the movie studio and backlot's heritage of legacy films (as opposed to current productions).