Railtown 1897: Hollywood’s Favorite Railroad Nestled in the Sierras

September 22, 2026, Leave a Comment on Railtown 1897: Hollywood’s Favorite Railroad Nestled in the Sierras

Last month Patrick and I ventured back to our home state of Oregon for his sister’s wedding. We decided to drive, taking some of California’s lovely backroads through gold country, and stopped at Railtown 1897, a wonderful rail museum nestled in Jamestown. While central and northern California are well known for their gold, the area…

View of the a grand staircase in the lobby with a fountain at the top of the staircase.

Step Into the Hauntingly Beautiful Los Angeles Theatre

June 17, 2026, 1 Comment

As mentioned in my Orpheum Theatre post, Patrick and I attended another night of Last Remaining Seats, hosted by the Los Angeles Conservancy, this time we got to step inside the Los Angeles Theatre to see one of my favorite films, LA Confidential, complete with author of the book, James Elroy, in attendance. We also…

Night time of the Orpheum marquee, a multi-colored neon sign with a LED screen advertising the LA Conservancy event. Above is a long blade style sign also reading Orpheum.

Behind the Curtain of LA’s Century Old Orpheum Theatre

June 10, 2026, Leave a Comment on Behind the Curtain of LA’s Century Old Orpheum Theatre

Downtown Los Angeles was once home to dozens of theatres, often grand movie palaces that look like they are right out of a fairy tale. As the decades went on, these once glittering monuments to the silver screen fell by the wayside, abandoned, bulldozed, or converted into stores. Today a handful cling to life, typically…

Angled view of Johnie's Coffee Shop, a blue and stripe butterfly roof hangs low, with red letters reading "Johnie's Coffee Shop and Restaurant"

Step Inside the Googie Masterpiece Johnie’s Coffee Shop Thanks to Artist Gary Baseman

May 21, 2026, 2 Comments

Every time I would visit the Petersen Automotive Museum or the Academy Museum I would gaze longingly at Johnie’s Coffee Shop. The red, white, and blue Googie masterpiece has sat empty since 2000, and I longed to step inside. Well, I finally got that chance, thanks to artist Gary Baseman. Baseman was born in LA…

Inside Greystone Mansion: Money, Murder, and the Movies

March 25, 2026, 2 Comments

Looming over the luxurious city of Beverly Hills sits Greystone Mansion, a sprawling estate built by Los Angeles’ first oil tycoon family, the Dohenys. It is also home to one of Beverly Hills’ earliest scandals. Typically Greystone keeps its doors closed, with only a handful of exceptions. Thankfully my friend, Kristen, was able to secure…

TWA Hotel: A Time Capsule of Air Travel on the Eve of the Jet Age

July 8, 2025, Leave a Comment on TWA Hotel: A Time Capsule of Air Travel on the Eve of the Jet Age

John F. Kennedy International Airport bustles with millions of travelers coming and going, but amid the chaos is the opportunity to travel back in time, back to the swinging 1960s; the TWA Hotel, the last stop on our New York trip. In the middle of the 1950s JFK, then known as Idlewild, sought to become…

Overall view of the Liberty Island with hundreds of people outside.

American Reflections: A Visit to the Statue of Liberty

June 25, 2025, Leave a Comment on American Reflections: A Visit to the Statue of Liberty

In November 2001 I made my first trip to New York City. Just two and a half months after the attacks of September 11 (we had booked our trip back in July), it was a surreal experience, as my dad and I attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rockettes Christmas show all amid…

Close-up of the marquee in color, red neon script reads "Whisky a Go Go" and below in interchangeable block letters it reads "Robby Krieger"

Time Traveling back to 1966 at The Whisky A Go Go with Robby Krieger

August 8, 2024, 1 Comment

If you pick up any book about music in the 1960s or 70s, there is a more than likely chance that one venue will be mentioned more than any other, and that is The Whisky A Go Go. In the summer of 1964 The Whisky opened its doors, eventually becoming a legendary mecca for the…

Perched atop a small hill overlooking the Bates Motel is the ominous Victorian Psycho house.

Universal Studios Circa 1997

June 19, 2024, Leave a Comment on Universal Studios Circa 1997

Universal Studios Studio Tour celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and when I was working on my blog post about the celebration, it got me thinking about how much has changed in the last couple of decades since my first visit back in 1997. Patrick and I recently cleaned out the garage and stumbled across…

Exterior of the top portion, which features a tower of neon reading "Studio City" below the marquee reads "Bookstar" in neon and "Barnes and Noble" on the marquee.

From Movies to Books: The Studio City Theatre Barnes & Noble

June 5, 2024, 1 Comment

As mentioned before, I love a good small neighborhood cinema, and it’s always sad when one of them goes dark. But it’s even more sad when they can’t have a second life. Many go on to become music venues, but others get a little more creatively repurposed, such as the CVS in East Los Angeles,…

Atomic Redhead

filming location

Railtown 1897: Hollywood’s Favorite Railroad Nestled in the Sierras

Step Into the Hauntingly Beautiful Los Angeles Theatre

Behind the Curtain of LA’s Century Old Orpheum Theatre

Step Inside the Googie Masterpiece Johnie’s Coffee Shop Thanks to Artist Gary Baseman

Inside Greystone Mansion: Money, Murder, and the Movies

TWA Hotel: A Time Capsule of Air Travel on the Eve of the Jet Age

American Reflections: A Visit to the Statue of Liberty

Time Traveling back to 1966 at The Whisky A Go Go with Robby Krieger

Universal Studios Circa 1997

From Movies to Books: The Studio City Theatre Barnes & Noble