A collection of the best California travel stories featured in The Statesider US Travel Newsletter: Northern California | Southern California
Also see: Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Mountain West
Northern California Travel Stories
Black History and US National Park Rangers: Jill Robinson talks to Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson about equity and the American outdoors, including the complicated legacy of John Muir and how Black history intersects with the parks. 🏞️ Read this Statesider Interview 🏞️
Airport Cuisine: When Britta Shoot goes for diner breakfast, she heads to the airport. The regional airport, that is. These runway-adjacent restaurants draw pilots, planespotters, and paraphernalia celebrating the magic of flight. 🛩️ Read this Story 🛩️
California Overland: In 1769, a Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá set out from San Diego to explore the territory to the north. Some 250 years, author Nick Neely followed their route on foot. A few things have changed in the intervening years. ⛺ Read the Statesider interview with Nick Neely ⛺
High Times in Weed: In the shadow of Mt. Shasta, the little town of Weed went from selling novelty weed-themed t-shirts to embracing the new weed economy. Thomas Fuller, New York Times
The Ponderosa Way: California once had an 800-mile-long firebreak cut into the Sierra Nevada during the Great Depression. Look carefully, and parts of it are still there. Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle
Feral Acid Monkeys: Do Ken Kesey’s LSD-dosed apes still roam the hills behind Stanford University? Sure, why not. Rae Alexandra, KQED
From the Feminist Ghost Town Desk: One woman bought a California ghost town and turned it into a feminist haven. Then the fire came. Rachel Leibrock, Bust Magazine
Boont Harpers of America: Fewer than 20 people still speak Boontling around California’s Anderson Valley, but don’t be a backdated chuck and go harpin about burlap around town, okay? Mike McPhate, California Sun
Wrestling Today: We’re tagging you in to spend a moment immersed in this beautifully captured story of the underground wrestling world of Oakland, California. Joseph Bien-Kahn (words), Jessica Christian (photos), San Francisco Chronicle
Feathers & Ink: Think you know what birding is all about? Come to the Quill Festival, a celebration of tattoos, birds, and climate activism. Dominic Arens, Audubon
Riverhood: The Klamath River now has the legal rights of a person. Anna V. Smith, High Country News
Alcatraz: 50 years ago, Vince Maggiori documented the occupation of Alcatraz by a group of Native Americans. Many of the photos were never published. Peter Hartlaub, SF Chronicle
The Last Gun Show: Shoppers can no longer leave the gun show with a working gun. Abené Clayton, The Guardian
Accessible Eats: A diverse group of disabled diners share their experiences eating out, both the challenges and what makes them feel welcome. Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle
A Winter Travel Warning: One of the most memorable stories of the year for all the wrong reasons. Don’t be these people. “Fights, feces, food shortages: A restaurant’s crazy weekend in the Tahoe snow traffic snarl.” Justin Phillips, San Francisco Chronicle
Go West: Forget trains and planes, how about a Conestoga wagon? Did these people really travel Highway 50 by covered wagon? In 2019? For… fun? Alexis Coe, New Republic
Mystery Fruit: Go to San Francisco’s famed Fillmore Auditorium and grab a free apple. Why do they give out apples? It might just have to with a Nazi Germany escape story. Ryan Levi, KQED
Splashdown: The magical allure of swimming holes in the summertime. Jenny O’Dell, New York Times
Get In the Car, Kids: In praise of the family road trip, run-ins with killer elk and hippie Froot Loops be damned. Vanessa Hua, San Francisco Chronicle
Redwood Empire: Want to go to Grunkle Stan’s Mystery Shack? A trip with Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch in search of strange tourist traps. Mike Gencarelli, Media Mikes
Yosemite: Goodbye Majestic, and welcome home Ahwahnee. Yosemite’s historic names are finally back. Nancy Bouchard, Outside[Editor’s note: 1. The old names have some historical baggage that’s worth understanding; 2. Trademark trolling the National Park Service is some serious horseshit.]
Pacific Crest Trail: Land deal protects a spectacular stretch of the West’s iconic trail near Mt. Shasta. Greg Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle
Float On: The Statesider’s Andy Murdock pours a big, frosty mug of nostalgia with this story on the centennial of A&W Root Beer. And wait — the largest hotel chain in the world started as an A&W franchise? San Francisco Chronicle
Disaster Tourism: Disaster tourists descend on Paradise in the wake of California’s deadliest wild fire. Some are artists, some are helping, others are just getting in the way. Greg Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle
California Time Travel: These days, Charley Parkhurst would be they/them. Those days, Parkhurst was just a badass Gold Rush stagecoach driver. That’s all. Jessica Placzek, KQED
We’re Here, We’re Native: Scenes from the largest native LGBTI gathering in the nation, San Francisco’s Bay Area American Indian Two Spirit (BAAITS) Powwow. 562 Blog
San Francisco Ghost Signs: There are stories behind that fading paint. Oakland artist Kasey Smith collects them on the Ghost Sign Mapping Project.
Santa Cruz Spooky: From Harold and Maude to The Lost Boys to 2019’s Us, a brief history of the (often creepy) movies filmed at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Wallace Baine, San Francisco Chronicle
Butterflies by the Bay: A San Francisco man is bringing back one of the rarest butterflies in North America. Catherine Bolton, The Epoch Times
To Freedom! Can one of the controversial e-scooters of America’s cities be used to escape America’s cities? “I would keep going north along the coast until the scooter died. Then I’d finally be free.” Joe Veix, Gizmodo
Fresh-Baked San Francisco: How an old-school Italian bakery in San Francisco’s Mission District became the go-to spot for the Bay Area’s Ethiopian and Eritrean communities. Ruth Gebreyesus, San Francisco Magazine
Into the Woods: A secret old-growth redwood forest becomes public. Clara Hogan,Outside
Delta Exploration: Locke, California, a tiny town built against the levee in the Sacramento Delta. Locke is America’s last rural Chinatown, the only town in the country built by Chinese laborers for Chinese residents, and is home to many, many cats. Locke’s annual Chinese New Year celebration takes place on February 16, 2019. Andy Murdock, San Francisco Chronicle
Mud Flat Monsters: For about 30 years, the Emeryville mud flats were home to a collection of weird junk monsters. Jessica Placzek, Maddie Gobbo and Sarah Hotchkiss, KQED
Guitar Capital, USA: “Why are there so many guitar manufacturers in California?” so he went and asked them. Not only are they happy to tell you, many also welcome visitors for tours. Read more at the San Francisco Chronicle
Southern California Travel Stories
Tatooine is so hot right now: With Joshua Tree over, where else are you going to get your desert on? The otherworldly Trona Pinnacles, apparently. (With pointers to more terrestrial So Cal getaways). Rachel Schnalzer, LA Times
➡️ Wait, Joshua Tree is really over? Chris Clarke, Letters from the Desert
Wall Town: Welcome to Jacumba, California’s surreal hot springs town overlooking Trump’s border wall bits. Jackie Bryant, SF Gate
A Bridge Too Far-Fetched: Tucked away in the San Gabriel Mountains near L.A. is a bridge that has become a destination even though the bridge itself takes you absolutely nowhere. Christopher Reynolds, L.A. Times
Thinking and Driving: “I pointed my car north, on a route that took me through cities and suburbs and endless fields and through the intersection where James Dean smashed a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder into the side of a 1950 Ford Tudor. They cleared the wreckage a long time ago. There’s a great souvenir shop nearby. In California, there always is.” Sara Benincasa, Medium Travel
To Sur, with Love: Twelve hundred acres on the California coast return to native hands. It’s about time. Joe Kukura, SFist
We Will Not Apologize for More Taco Content. Chicano Batman (a taco) and a Los Angeles band team up for charity. Patricia Escárcega, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles: An inside look at the Black Panamanian culture of L.A. Jenise Miller, BOOM California
Death Valley Donkeys: The Park Service wants them gone. But the donkeys of Death Valley might be helping native species survive. Asher Elbein, Undark
From the Hobo Files: For hobos, graffiti was a way to stay connected in a notoriously unpredictable world. They also help historians piece together the movements of certain well-known tramps, like Jack London. Susan Phillips, Boom California
Pancake Me: While everyone was giving out tiny candy bars, this writer’s grandfather fed the neighbors pumpkin pancakes. Jess Huang, Thrillist
What, No HOV Lane? On Santa Cruz Island in California’s Channel Islands National Park, the closest thing to a traffic jam is six kayaks. Christopher Reynolds, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Border: What a story. Joining the hikers that trek into the Sonoran Desert to leave water for migrants — and avoiding the Border Patrol who wants to stop them. Jackie Bryant, Sierra Magazine
The Price is Still Right: How do game shows survive in the streaming era? Two writers go to a live taping. Audrey Pham & Kanishka Mehra, Daily Bruin
L.A. Rodeo: Old Mexico meets Los Angeles in the Rodeo Without Borders from ranchera superstar Pepe Aguilar. Gustavo Arellano, LA Times
Hollywood: Mix two shots of 100 years of reality with a hefty slug of pulp fiction and you get Musso & Frank Grill. David Kipen, Alta
Desert Drives: Where travel is measured in decibels not miles. Seeking silence in the California desert. George W. Stone, National Geographic
Geek Road Trip: Is your ride nicknamed “Car Car Blinks”? Yousa wanna read about this Star Wars–themed road trip. Rob Owen, Seattle Times
Airstream Mania: A glamping company wants to build a 55-unit Airstream hotel in Joshua Tree. Locals have thoughts. Amy DiPierro, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Remapping Los Angeles: Spanish tile and Han dynasty style eaves on the “most LA thing ever.” It’s a gas station at the junction of Chinatown and a historic Mexican plaza. Remapping LA means revealing the cultural forces that shape this sprawling city. Carolina Miranda, Guernica
Pastrami, World Traveler: Los Angeles loves its Jewish delis as much as its Mexican food and America fast food. And sometimes it loves them all under one roof. Farley Elliott, Eater
California Castle: Hearst Castle turns 100, and visitors can now roam freely. Robert Earle Howells, San Francisco Chronicle
Koreatown Lights: A job well-done in L.A.’s Koreatown speaks far more convincingly than any sign could. Lisa Kwon, L.A. Taco
Hallucinogens: Please don’t clap, and other rules you probably don’t know about attending an ayahuasca ceremony. Katie Bain, TheLAnd Magazine
Filipino Pie: Chef Isa Fabro combines the Filipino flavors of her youth with classical pastry techniques and serves exciting dishes (Royal Bibingka pie? Ube pili nut pie?) at pop-ups during LA’s Chinatown After Dark. Hungry? Do not look at her Instagram. Amy Scattergood, LA Times
Los Feliz: A visit to the House of Pies. “Imagine David Lynch and Edward Hopper bumping elbows at the counter and get lost in the late night glow.” Michael Darling, Los Feliz Ledger
Once Upon a Time: Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, also opened a pie shop in 1968 named after his second wife (who divorced him the same year). The shop didn’t last either, but there are photos. Vignelli Center for Design Studies
Happy Lunar New Year: One Los Angeles chef has turned making bánh chưng, the sticky rice cakes traditional for Tết, the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year (February 5), into a huge annual party in West Compton. Tejal Rao, New York Times