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HOW FERNANDO WON THE HEARTS OF LA
Fernandomania became a cultural phenomenon in 1980s Los Angeles as a young Mexican left-hander became the toast of the city and ultimately an icon as big as any matinee Idol.
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ALEJANDRA CAMPOVERDI’S ‘FIRST GEN’: A TALE OF STRIFE AND SUCCESS
NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK! Alejandra Campoverdi explores many things familiar to first-generation kids: the invisible inheritances passed onto us from our family, being a “parentified child,” imposter syndrome, balancing two cultural identities, and guilt for breaking away from our families in some way. ALEJANDRA CAMPOVERDI HAS BEEN A CHILD on welfare, a White House aide to…
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IS RICK CARUSO THE LAST BEST HOPE FOR SAVING LA?
Rick Caruso may not be the last best hope for saving Los Angeles, as some of his faithful followers insist, but he does offer a hope and a vision — and you can trust that you won’t read about him skirting politica, ethics laws and being carted off to prison or thereabouts like too many…
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LETTERS FROM L.A.: BATHING WITH JOAN
Separated by 50 years but united by Hollywood, wildfires, and the endless hum of ‘the deal,’ two writers share a bath in Los Angeles. On Monday I took a bath with Joan Didion. She was gracious, took the faucet end. She didn’t mind my nudity, carried on talking as if nothing unusual was going on,…
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THE SANTA ANAS
More than half a century after publishing the work that established her reputation as a gimlet-eyed cultural critic — Slouching Towards Bethlehem — Joan Didion continues to be an outsize influence and figure of fascination in the literary world and among Angelenos.
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Alatorre: ‘I Am Not The Apostle’
The Richard Alatorre I knew, the Richard Alatorre who said he had to change the world — and to a great degree, he did just that… that Richard Alatorre dramatically altered the political landscape for Latinos in California and ultimately became The Godfather of Latino Politics. By TONY CASTRO September 14, 2023 IT IS MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY IN…
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GAME, SET, MATCH, CHAMPIONSHIP, MR. TRUMP
Maybe it’s because I’d been vegging out watching every single moment of the previous fortnite of Wimbledon, that the instant I saw a bleeding, wounded Donald Trump rise up defiantly, waving a clenched fist and chanting “Fight! Fight!” that my first instinct was to say, “Game, Set & Championship. Mr. Trump.”
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If Marilyn Had Been the Ultimate Ferrari…
If Marilyn Had Been a Ferrari… Is the LA monthly.org story that one the 2024 Southern California Journalism prize for best entertainment feature writing for author Tony Castro.
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MY LIFE BREAKING THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE WITH JIM MORRISON
IT’S AMAZING WHAT can happen when you live right off the Sunset Strip. About 15 years ago on a warm balmy December night, I was in my living room of my apartment, watching a movie on my laptop when suddenly a breeze blew into my window. I was startled and then inexplicably began to say in…
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L.A. IN THE SHADOW OF RUBEN SALAZAR
I HAD BEEN IN LOS ANGELES only a few days when the pressures placed on Chicano journalists in this city first began to settle on me. Fittingly, it happened in a bar at the Ambassador Hotel, where I was living at the time, not far from the pantry where Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated.
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MARILYN’S GENIUS, FORGOTTEN AND FOUND
Marilyn was more than a cinematic icon; she was a strategist, an intellectual force navigating the treacherous labyrinth of male-dominated Hollywood in an era when women were often dismissed as ornamental.
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Joe DiMaggio, Baseball Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You
Baseball used to be about “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” peanuts, Cracker Jack, and strategy you could chew on for nine innings. I
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LARRY MCMURTRY: THE ‘MINOR REGIONAL NOVELIST’ WORTHY OF THE NOBEL PRIZE
‘Terms of Endearment’ followed ‘The Last Picture Show’ with great fanfare, but it was his Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Lonesome Dove’ that cemented his legacy as one of America’s best writers The list of Texans that have spent their writing lives chronicling their roots is rather long and impressive, and includes names like Dobie, Webb and Graves.…
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The Sad, Sudden Passing of Lucy’s El Adobe Café Heiress Patty Casado
Lucy’s El Adobe Café heiress Patricia Casado is doing the unthinkable. She’s trying to resurrect her family’s restaurant facing a mountain of challenges that would make even the most seasoned restaurateur throw in the towel.
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MY LIFE AS MARILYN, MY DEAD OLDER SISTER
The LA Monthly interview with actress Catherine Hicks, who portrayed Marilyn Monroe in the 1980 TV feature Marilyn: The Untold Story as well as in the Arthur Miller play After The Fall and also Bus Stop on the stage By Justin Bozung ACTRESS CATHERINE HICKS made a solid career for herself in Hollywood but it was her unforgettable Emmy nominated role…
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RANDY NEWMAN: WHY I WROTE ‘I LOVE L.A.’
There are few songs that echo in L.A. quite like Newman’s winking civic anthem, which manages to be both sunny and subversive at the same time with its “big nasty redhead” cruising the boulevard. “Hey,” Newman protested, “I meant ‘nasty’ in the very best sense of the word.”
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Leaving L.A., Will the Last Person Here Turn Out the Lights?
Any new LA Metro security forces are overwhelmed. There is a literal scourge of drugs, crime, homelessness, filthy, stinking people, one of those filthy long-term homeless ladies with a reeking cat in a cage and a huge pile of basically trash, and it’s horrifying.
LA Monthly
The National Magazine of Los Angeles