Exterior of the Catalina Island Museum, a small, cream stucco colored building.

Catalina Island: A Tale of Chewing Gum, Grave Robbing, and Movie Stars

June 3, 2019, 4 Comments

On Sunday, Patrick and I finally made it over to the little island of Catalina. If you aren’t familiar with California geography, Catalina is a small island, roughly 30 miles off the coast of Long Beach, accesible by ferry from a handful of ports on the mainland. At just under 75 square miles, about 4,000…

To the left, the Babylonian arch/bridge, over six stories in height. A white elephant sits atop a pillar to the right, also towering over five stories tall.

The Shopping Mall Based on the Set of a Silent Movie Flop

August 29, 2018, 4 Comments

Lost Places Update: Hollywood & Highland has been recategorized as a Lost Place. Why? Ovation Hollywood, formerly known as Hollywood and Highland, underwent a $100 million remodel after being purchased for $325 million in 2019 by Gaw Capital, a Hong Kong real estate investment firm. The remodel began in 2021 with the removal of the…

Exploring the Historic Santa Monica Pier

July 27, 2018, 2 Comments

Nothing quite says summer like a day at the beach, especially if that beach is lucky enough to have a pier filled with a carousel, roller coaster, games and more. Around the turn-of-the-century California’s coast was dotted with what was known at the time as “pleasure piers” a wooden boardwalk along the coast that offered…

The Packing House, a mission revival styling building with cream colored stucco and orange color domes. A large orange with "Sunkist" across it pops just slightly from the middle above the door.

The Food Hall Hiding Inside Anaheim’s Former Citrus Packing House

June 8, 2018, 9 Comments

Orange County. There is a reason it’s called that. It’s well known that the area that is now the Disneyland Resort was once orange groves, and well, that is what most of Anaheim was like. In the late 1800s and through the early part of the 20th century citrus was king here. And where did…

Fair Oaks Pharmacy neon sign, done in green, red, and white.

Sip Forgotten Soda Fountain Concoctions at Fair Oaks Pharmacy

May 2, 2018, 5 Comments

One of the new things to this version of Atomic Redhead is the addition of “Sleep & Eat” a section dedicated to the hotels and restaurants we visit. It should be noted that I am by no means a foodie, so these posts are not so much reviews, as they are going to be along…

Las Vegas’ Ghastly History on Display at The Mob Museum

April 11, 2017, 1 Comment

Patrick and I are finally home from our road trip to Idaho! Why Idaho? Well, my grandfather on my mom’s side passed away, so we went for his services, but I figured if we had to go, why not make the best of it, and do a road trip? The first stop on our trip was…

Dressing Downton

March 19, 2017, 4 Comments

Earlier in the week, myself, Patrick, and a friend went to Anaheim’s Muzeo as they were hosting the touring exhibit, Dressing Downton, which features the costumes of British show Downton Abbey. As a fan of the show and vintage fashion, I leaped at the opportunity to visit! If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it chronicles the…

Mid-November

November 15, 2016, 4 Comments

It’s still hard for me to believe it’s mid-November, and that Thanksgiving next week. And with that comes thoughts of Christmas, so over the weekend Patrick and I went out to do a bit of shopping at the antique malls near us. I can honestly tell you I’m clinging to fall color palettes like crazy. I…

The Hollyhock House

July 16, 2015, 3 Comments

Today Patrick and I visited another incredibly icon of Los Angeles architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House. Originally designed as a residence for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, the Hollyhock House house began construction in 1919, and was completed in 1921, and was Wright’s second ever project in California. It included a water feature that ran…

The Old LA Zoo

February 3, 2015, 4 Comments

As already established, I adore abandoned buildings. I love the spookiness that is created when nature begins to reclaim man-made structures, and it is this that sparked my interest in visiting the old Los Angeles Zoo at Griffith Park, which we went to after our turn about the Merry-Go-Round. The zoo opened in 1912, but…