Road Trip U.S.A.

A visit to a legendary spot in the boxing community as it fights, once again, to hold on to tradition.

The phone call came at one in the morning, just as I was leaving the High-Hat Lounge. My brother-in-law never sounds frantic, and he didn’t sound frantic now. But he was calling me at one in the morning, and that …

Heading deep into the desert with a friend who has made a forgotten piece of the world into her new home. “It’s a drive,” Patricia told me, then held up the map. About an hour down the highway, we’d take …

A return to a former home, my old college campus, a show I started 15 years ago, and the years when I started to grow up. I tell my grandmother, over the phone, that this is where the pivot happened. …

The real shock was seeing Spring again. The last time we saw each other—the only time we saw each other—was nine years ago, in Spain. I was still married, still in my twenties. She was still a rumor until that …

I took the red line down to Koreatown on L.A.’s still brand spankin’ new mass transit system. I was advised not to take it at night because “nobody uses it.” I can’t say whether or not that’s true. I rode …

My sister gave me a good primer on how she learned to live Los Angeles: “Just accept that you’re always going to be in traffic and that everybody’s a tool, and you’ll be fine.” It’s a bit harsh, but that’s …

Snaking over 650 miles down California’s coast, the Pacific Coast Highway is both an engineering marvel and one of the most spectacular drives in the country. It’s a bit easier to get there now, as long as you have the …

There comes a point on any trip when the arc away from home ends, and the arc of returning begins. This doesn’t necessarily have to be at the halfway point, either in time or distance. It’s more of a state …

My first view of the Pacific came after driving through fire. If you’ve been following the news, you know about the wildfires that are blanketing California in a thick haze of smoke. On Highway 299, for pretty much the entire …