When Brian Gordon and his partner bought a home in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, a place that abounds with bears, he had never even seen one. Four years later, he’s grown fond of his wild neighbors, who routinely swim in his backyard pool. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/f...

Boulder Gardens Sanctuary in the Mojave Desert is open to free thinkers, seekers, and misfits. All comers are welcome to stay the night for $50 at campsites set among giant boulders in what one visitor described as a “640-acre Shangri-la bubble.” www.californiasun.co/newsletter/m...

A paddock that’s home to a herd of bison; a tiered garden with 80,000 tulips; and a place to meditate under a canopy of cherry blossom trees and Japanese maples. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco abounds with treasures over more than 1,000 acres. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/e...

Dolly Parton had significant ties to California, with homes in West Hollywood, Idyllwild, and Solvang. In recent years, she brought her Imagination Library to California, sending millions of free books to children. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/a...

The delays and cost overruns plaguing California’s bullet train have been relentless. Yet progress is visible in the Central Valley, where crews have now built 60 major structures and prepared more than 80 miles for track-laying between Merced and Bakersfield. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/c...

Annie Morgan, a former Oakland Raiders cheerleader living in Rancho Cordova, has spent years caring for her special-needs child. The toll has grown quietly. In April, Morgan posted a video on tough school-morning routines. It went viral. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/m...

A marine heat wave is drawing more stingrays to the Southern California shore this year. Bolsa Chica and Huntington State beaches have reported more than 3,100 stingings — twice the number for all of 2025. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/d...

An Instagram account called VHS Dates has amassed nearly 900,000 followers with what are said to be lost dating-service videotapes from the 1980s. A reporter scheduled an interview with the people behind the account, but what he found was unexpected. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/w...

Reaching the Sierra Nevada’s remote backcountry typically involves days of lugging at least 30 pounds of gear. But Aspen Meadow Pack Station has been leading groups into the Emigrant Wilderness, on the northern edge of Yosemite, for more than 80 years. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/h...

A recent story in the Atlantic declared, “The end of reading is here,” citing a sharp decline in the share of Americans who regularly read for pleasure. But in San Francisco, commonly ranked among the most literate American cities, readers are easy to find. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/d...

Bald eagles once soared over all 8 of the Channel Islands before being all but wiped out by DDT dumping by around 1960. But the first eaglets since the 1950s recently hatched and fledged on San Miguel Island, the windswept and westernmost of the archipelago. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/a...

In the middle of a roundabout in northeast Los Angeles, a collection of nine granite sculptures etched with human faces call to mind the ruins of Stonehenge. But the installation known as Egghead Stonehenge displays the faces of actual nearby residents. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/w...

The iconoclastic architect Mickey Muennig gave the Big Sur region its signature flowing architecture. One of his most celebrated homes sits at the lip of a canyon, enveloped by oak and Monterey pines, on the Monterey Peninsula. See pictures 👇️ www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

If you ever wanted to feel like you're in the end times, step off a train at the Palm Springs Amtrak Station. A salmon-colored structure is surrounded by mounds of sand like snow drifts. No staff, no ticket booth, and no connecting transportation of any kind. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

Grace Cathedral in San Francisco is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the U.S. and among the most elegant religious buildings of any faith. Now you can fly through a 3D rendering of the landmark thanks to a remarkable software project. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

The prospect of Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028 has filled many senior party officials with dread. But the former vice president has been leading in polls of prospective candidates, usually by double digits. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...

L.A. County has agreed to pay out at least $14M to prosecutors who say they were improperly sidelined, reassigned, or otherwise suffered after criticizing former D.A. Gascón's reforms. Read @matt-hamilton87.bsky.social’s full investigation:

The Gascón Era Is Proving Costly

L.A. County has greenlit paying nearly $14 million for retaliation claims and other suits against Gascón and his team. That sum is expected to rise as more cases are settled.

lamaterial.com

During an outing in Monterey Bay on Sunday, a group of whale watchers got a rare show as a family of seven orcas attacked a pod of dolphins, using ramming strikes that launched both predator and prey out of the water. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/m...

In the middle of a roundabout in northeast Los Angeles, a collection of nine massive granite sculptures etched with human faces call to mind the ruins of Stonehenge. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/w...

The Diablo Range, stretching along the edge of the Bay Area, was featured in the 2026 International Aerial Photographer of the Year competition. Chengming Liu was honored for this picture of the hills at their greenest after a winter of abundant rain. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/d...

When the photographer Shelby Duncan arrived to Los Angeles in the late 2000s, her home in the Hollywood Hills became a gathering place for a revolving cast of musicians, filmmakers, and other fellow artists. For six years, she documented everything. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/w...

In Yosemite Valley, the Trump administration’s elimination of the summer reservation system has produced hourslong traffic jams and jockeying for space to walk. The chaos, critics say, is demoralizing staff, threatening wildlife, and damaging the park. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/w...

An analysis of 1.5 million reviews of hikes in the Bay Area provided by AllTrails yielded a definitive ranking. No. 1: Marin County’s Dipsea Trail to Steep Ravine Trail Loop. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/b...

Melt-in-your-mouth beef tartare in the Santa Ynez Valley. Lobster risotto along a dramatic cliff above the Pacific. And chocolate truffles from California’s kitschiest hotel. Here's a food itinerary along a road trip from Los Angeles to Big Sur. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/b...

“The revolution has made it quite permissible for even the most proper women to appear on public beaches in costumes which used to be seen only in the rowdiest cabarets.” In 1945, a LIFE magazine photographer set out to document the latest swimwear fashions. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/d...

California, albeit massive, is a walker’s paradise. According to the popular walkability index Walk Score, the state is home to 34 cities that rate as “very walkable” or better. The most walkable of all is West Hollywood. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/t...

Btw, my source for such a wide sweep of CA news is @califsun.bsky.social. The roundup every morning is critical to anyone who cares about the world's fourth largest economy - resident or not. No ads, ridiculously low price. www.californiasun.co

The Eastern Sierra is home to the tallest peak in the contiguous U.S., some of the prettiest lakes anywhere, and trees that sprouted when mammoths still roamed the earth. There’s also a stuffed “two-headed lamb.” www.californiasun.co/newsletter/e...

The great Mark Arax in the Guardian: "Now, the Golden state has spun itself into a new and more menacing age of plunder: the mining of water and the mining of our minds." www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Welcome to California: land of plunder and hypocrisy | Mark Arax

From gold to water, California’s wealth was built on extraction. The AI boom is reviving an old question: who pays the price?

theguardian.com

In 2024, a young software engineer arrived in Sonoma County with renderings of a utopian village that she wanted to build along a bend of the Russian River. As officials prepare to formally consider the plan, some locals are energized by the idea. www.californiasun.co/newsletter/s...