Journal of Alta California

Featuring great stories, in-depth reporting, beautiful photography, smart thinking — Alta is the magazine and website that bring you everything California.

The Spirit of This Era

Atomic Petrifaction

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Lost Highways • The roads of the American West are an endless frontier of beauty, ecstasy, and spirituality.

Model Citizen • Deep in the SFMOMA basement, Sarah Choi creates an art lover’s wonderland, in miniature.

Hot Pepper Advocate • An Orange County lawyer grows Peru’s beloved ají amarillo for big-name chefs and home cooks alike.

Foie Gras Faux Pas • The culinary misadventures of a California couple deep in the heart of duck liver country.

Paul Bowles

THE LAST WORD

TO LIVE AND DIE AT THE L.A. TIMES • Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times and inherited a hot mess of plummeting revenues, declining circulation, unionization, and a damaging cyberattack. That was the easy part.

A DOVE’S EYE VIEW • PLANET HAS ABOUT 140 SHOEBOX-SIZE SATELLITES THAT TAKE 1.2 MILLION PICTURES A DAY. THEY’VE SPOTTED NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR TESTS, THE MASSACRE OF MUSLIM ROHINGYA, AND CALIFORNIA FOREST FIRES. THESE IMAGES ARE CHANGING HOW WE LOOK AT THE EARTH—AND TECHNOLOGY ITSELF.

LIKE ‘A FALLING STAR’ FROM OUTER SPACE • The mystery of Sputnik, a $50,000 reward, and a possible cover-up.

FROM BENCH TO BEDSIDE • Calibr’s revolutionary approach to drug discovery may shorten the distance from research to patient care.

SILICON VALLEY’S HIDDEN FIGURES • Meet the women who were outnumbered, insulted, and sidelined in the male-dominated tech industry—they helped create some of the world’s most successful companies.

THE HAPPIEST CATS ON EARTH • Disneyland is an unlikely battleground in the war between feral-cat lovers and public health officials.

THE FIRST AND LAST LIVES OF JACK LONDON • Wolf House represented the author’s ambition and success, but the Sonoma County mansion burned to the ground before he could move in. It was an emotional loss he never recovered from.

Sanctuary Symphony • At 100, the L.A. Philharmonic welcomes the next century with open arms.

1919 • The year Los Angeles grew up.

Los Angeles Underground

Muscle, Soul, and Vision • Charles White: A Retrospective and Oscar Rejlander: Artist Photographer

Onward, Christian’s Soldiers • Phantoms exorcises past crimes and confronts current issues against the backdrop of two wars.

Arts and Crafts Icon • Each year, 25,000 visitors flock to the Gamble House, an architectural masterpiece built in 1908.

Qui Nguyen Finds a Home in Orange County • South Coast Repertory has a knack for birthing influential new work like Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks.

Alta Picks • Lit Hub: An Online Reading Room for the Literati

Knife-Edged Beauty • One-of-a-kind hand-forged knives by Aaron Wilburn are wonderful to look at and use.

Serving with a Smile • Blake Nordstrom’s passion for customer service was infectious.

Bonfire of the Vanity Plates • Digital license plates may soon offer personalized messages, Amber Alerts, and ads—and fewer trips to the DMV.

ALTATUDE