The Los Angeles basin cannot escape the fact that its climate tends to extremes, particularly of the hot variety. Global warming and galloping urbanization have exacerbated the situation Temperatures…
Casey McQuiston grew up in the swamps of Southern Louisiana, where they cultivated an abiding love for honey butter biscuits and stories with big, beating hearts. They studied journalism and worked in…
Before Mickey and his Magic Kingdom, there was Billie the Alligator and his reptilian pals at the California Alligator Farm. Opened in 1907 and conveniently located opposite Lincoln Park, the farm…
Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and their fiction has been published internationally…
It’s been over forty years, but the water is flowing again at the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial. If you’ve ever driven on Hill Street between Chinatown and the Civic Center, you have passed by an 80…
Independence Day aka the Fourth of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4, 1776. The Continental Congress declared that the thirteen (American)…
Kris Waldherr is an award-winning author, illustrator, and designer. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and her fiction has been awarded with fellowships by the Virginia Center of the…
Seanan McGuire is the award-winning author of the October Daye urban fantasy series, the InCryptid series, and the Wayward Children series. In addition, she writes darker fiction under the pseudonym…
We have written before about Herman Schultheis, the German-born photographer and jack of all film-related trades. With his wife, Ethel, Herman arrived in Los Angeles in 1937 with high hopes of a…
Charlie N. Holmberg was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters, who also have boy names, in Salt Lake City, UT. She plays the ukulele, owns too many pairs of glasses, and finally adopted a dog. Her…
The month of June is Refugee Awareness Month and June 20 is World Refugee Day. This day was established in 2001 by the General Assembly of the United Nations to honor the courage, strength and…
“Habit is persistence in practice.”—Octavia E. ButlerOctavia E. Butler (1947-2006) is a writer, creator, world-builder and genius who made room in the white male-dominated science fiction world for…
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Unfortunately, there is much of gay history that has been forgotten because queer authors and artists weren’t offered publishing…
Ever think about designing your own toys, creating a personalized gift, prototyping your invention, or even replacing a broken oven knob?You can 3D print all these ideas in the Octavia Lab, but you…
T.J. Martinson grew up just outside Chicago. He received his MA in literary studies from Eastern Illinois University and is currently working toward a Ph.D. at Indiana University Bloomington. The…
Read this article in English¿Eres un fan de Star Wars? ¿Conoces a la mayoría de los personajes y a los actores que los interpretaron?*Comienzan los ruidos de espadas láser*Como recientemente salió el…
Probably everyone has heard of this Korean boy band called BTS by now. They are a 7-member Korean idol group called 방탄소년단 (Bangtan Sonyondan), which translates as Bulletproof Boy Scouts. They debuted…
Anthony Horowitz is a prolific journalist and writer for television and the author of both young adult and adult literature. He has been commissioned by the Doyle and Fleming estates to write new…
Los Angeles has no shortage of notorious crimes, nor of great writers. When true accounts of the former are penned by the latter, the results are some fascinating reads. In any good true crime book…
Winter is...going going gone!Sunday is the last episode of Game of Thrones. Are you a GOT fanatic freaking out your favorite show is ending, or are you watching in wonderment at the spectacle because…
Kim Michele Richardson is a resident of Kentucky, where she has worked with Habitat for Humanity building houses and where she is an advocate for the prevention of child abuse, partnering with the U.S…
Whether you want it hot or cool, swingin’ or slow, Dixieland or experimental, there’s jazz to fit your mood, mellow you out, pick you up. Jazz was born in New Orleans—the only place in the U.S. in the…
Yangsze Choo is a fourth-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the author of The Ghost Bride, which is currently being adapted by Netflix into a…
Los Angeles is a city whose theater scene is typically overlooked, yet every now and then we are host to a production that is monumental. One such occasion descended upon Los Angeles 40 years ago this…