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Ever since moving to Los Angeles in 2006, I’ve spent so much time in my car that I gave the car a name: Junípero for Father Junípero Serra, the Franciscan monk who created California’s mission system. Junípero has taken me to visit many of those missions and has transported me, and my oboe, to countless performances across California.
I make my living by teaching oboe …

Growing up in Merced, I did not feel that the town was accepting of gay people, or of me in particular. People around my public high school would carelessly throw out homophobic slurs and make fun of openly queer individuals. This made it hard to accept who I was as a teenager, much less express myself. Even though Merced is home to a great new …

You know the feeling when something gets caught in your eye? It could be an eyelash that has loosened, or a cold wind hitting your visual nerve.
It’s not a pain that really hinders you from seeing. Nevertheless it is irritating. You look in the mirror to find this little something and get rid of it.
This is the kind of irritation I have been experiencing …

Thirty years of commercial real estate experience in New York and around the country have taught me a few things, including this: what’s old is new again. If you’ve lived in Los Angeles long enough, you might remember when Abbott Kinney in Venice was a rundown stretch of homes. Today, it’s an upscale shopping and dining district.
You might also remember when downtown Los Angeles faded …

President-elect Trump’s criticism of our trading relationship with China and our trade deficit with that nation has produced predictable reactions. Economists warn against “protectionism” and the dangers of trade wars. Alarmed diplomats remind us of the American interest in maintaining good relations with China to deal with such matters as North Korea’s threatening behavior.
These reactions are predictable because we have heard them all before. …

Max Amini is a stand-up comic who performs around the world and an actor who is a regular on Rob Schneider’s new series Real Rob. Before participating in the Zócalo/UCLA panel “Has Political Correctness Really Killed Humor?”, the UCLA alumnus professed his ongoing affection for Mr. Bean and the Laugh Factory in the Zócalo green room.

Q: What food won’t you eat?
A: I don’t eat pork. …

Carina Chocano’s writing has appeared in Elle, The California Sunday, and The New York Times Magazine, where she is a contributing writer. She is also the author of the upcoming book You Play the Girl. Before moderating the Zócalo/UCLA panel “Has Political Correctness Really Killed Humor?”, she talked in the Zócalo green room about going to a church to worship art, her rather austere choice …

My knee-high lace-up moccasins made me
forget the nights my mother was lost in vodka.
I walked deep in the gunk of Hollywood.
The stretch of sidewalk glittered. Vendors
sold band pins, bumper stickers, pot leaf
and mushroom patches. In the old man’s apartment
was an aquarium that held snakes, spiders,
pigeons. In our glorious India prints,
monkey boots, plaids, and Venice Beach jewelry
we frequented the all night newsstands and
Ben Frank’s. Kurt and …

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian, and writer who has created five solo shows and one ensemble play that have toured across North America and the U.K. Before joining the Zócalo/UCLA panel “Has Political Correctness Really Killed Humor?”, the UCLA alumna sat down in the Zócalo green room and let us in on who she roots for on Shark Tank and the condiment that …

The reception for the Modesto Art Museum’s 2014 architecture movie night was well underway and about 200 people were mingling in the lobby of Modesto’s art deco State Theatre. Everyone was sampling Mediterranean foods, sipping wine, and chatting away as if these were the only reasons why they came to the event. That was actually the point.
An art museum is about more than just …