Some of my other writings that live on, on the Inter-Web
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A Legendary Voice Deserves a Voice
All hail the Vin Scully bobblehead! Now, if only the Dodgers made it a talking bobblehead, we could've heard Vin utter these five calls for the ages. Click here for full article.
Heard on the Street: "Little" Santa Monica Speaks
Threatened with a name change, "Little" Santa Monica in Beverly Hills is the Rodney Dangerfield of streets. In this piece I penned for LA Observed, I give it a voice.
Dodgers Must Replace Vin Scully With Another Blue-Chip Pick
Like others, I'm in denial about Vin ever retiring. But with Magic & Co. now running the Dodgers, at some point they're going to have to have a plan in place for Vin Scully's successor. I have a few thoughts on Patch.com. Click here for full article.
L.A. Uprising: Curfew at the Edge of Koreatown
On the 20th Anniversary of the L.A. Riots, I was asked to pen my recollections for Patch.com. Click here for full article.
Addressed to the Nines
My first piece for Los Angeles Times Magazine's dearly departed SO SoCal column, about the uniquely L.A. phenomenon of business and street names formed by the streets around them. Click here for full article.
My Christmas Gift from Eartha Kitt
Incongruously, I reflect on a renowned sex kitten every Christmas. Click here for full article for LA Observed.
Mountains Among Us
Another Los Angeles Times Magazine essay in appreciation of L.A.'s Santa Monica Mountains, whose natural bounty I tapped into to woo my now-wife. Click here for full article.
Billy Beane, Meet Morris Buttermaker
Oakland A's GM Billy Beane and The Bad News Bears' charity-case manager, Morris Buttermaker, as played by Walter Matthau, are more alike than you think. Each speaks to a singularly American love of underdogs and rebels. Guest stint on Baseball Musings. Click here for full article.
The Faces of Hollywood
They're watching you. The faces of Hollywood. Hiding out in plain sight. Don't believe me? Check out this article I wrote for Discover Hollywood magazine in Fall 2012.
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Two Men and Their Baby at the 1993 IFFM
In the early '90s, post-film school, my buddy Don and I wrote, directed, shot and edited a feature film... only to run out of money before we could strike a print. We took our incomplete, future masterwork to a film festival in New York, looking for finishing funds and a distributor. We watched Kevin Smith hit the lottery with Clerks while we went home to lick our wounds. I wrote this piece in a frenzy about our experience. I hate the title of it (that's an editor for you -- heck, Two Men and a Baby was already 6 years old!), but I was very happy that Filmmaker Magazine thought enough of it to run it in their Winter 1994 issue -- my first published article at 27.
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Conquer the Big Island On Bike
Ever wanted to bicycle around the Big Island of Hawaii? No? Too bad... here's a firsthand account on how to prepare for -- and tackle -- the Aloha State's Big Kahuna. Appeared in L.A. Sports & Fitness. (Only in print -- each page is a separate Download.)
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Other Authors
In Praise of Baseball on the Radio
This is about as eloquent an essay you'll ever read about the merits of listening to ball games on the radio. It's written by Philip Connors (Fire Season). Click here for full article.
A screwball chain of events led the Dodgers to Fernando Valenzuela
Jerry Crowe's L.A. Times article from 2011 lays out the origins of Fernando's unlikely path to the Dodgers. Fernando's upbringing in Mexico has been well-documented. But on the U.S.-side of things, it all started at a rec center in Boyle Heights in 1976. Click here for full article.
National High Five Day: Did Glenn Burke, Dusty Baker And 1977 L.A. Dodgers
Pioneer The High Five?
Who knew there such a thing as "National High Five Day"? This article theorizes on the salutation's origins. Click here for full article.