Editor’s note: another lovely trip recap from TRT’s newest writer, Jackie, to a place I haven’t been since I was a little kid. For more of her travels, click here to visit her index page. Living in the Los Angeles area, we thought that a few days near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino…
From inside the complex, it’s hard to remember that I’m less than a half hour from downtown Los Angeles. The Ming Dynasty style pagodas and shrines of the Hsi Lai Temple gleam in the sun. The gardens, ornate and calming, stand in contrast to the literally dozens of statues lining almost every passageway. Brown clothed…
All too often, we as humans have the tendency to look for something new and exciting. Many times this comes at the expense of something old and historic. On rare occasions, we are able to balance the preservation of the old while transforming it into something new. Here in Anaheim, in California’s Orange County, I…
There is never a bad day to visit an outdoor architectural history museum. Even on a slightly cool and overcast June day in Los Angeles, the buildings of Heritage Square Museum shine. The exteriors are beautifully restored and/or preserved, and while the interiors vary from fully furnished and restored to states of semi-ruin, the history…
While Los Angeles certainly has its frustrations, it is a place that is unlike many others, and has so much that I love. Walkable neighborhoods, quirky vibes that change every mile or two, cultural diversity matched by few cities on the planet, and great food - these are some of the hallmarks of my hometown.…
In April of 2019, just a couple days after returning to Los Angeles from my three month trip to France, I drove about an hour north from LA to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, just outside the city of Lancaster. This was my first time seeing the phenomenon known as the superbloom, where after a…
This place is nostalgic, and for a couple reasons. First, it reminds me of my childhood; although I didn’t come often, I was filled with awe when I did. Second, it harkens back to an earlier time, one before large theme parks, the days of soda fountains and Ferris wheels. So while it is overly…
Every city has a place like this, a place nearly all first-time visitors have at or near the top of their lists to see, but that locals desperately try to avoid. New Yorkers try to avoid Times Square. It is rare to find Parisians on the Champs Elysee. (Of course there are exceptions, but it…
In 1955, James Dean made this place famous, as one of the most iconic scenes of Rebel Without a Cause was filmed right here at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. Since then, it has become a symbol of Los Angeles, being used to represent the city in dozens of films and nearly…
I am always on the lookout for cool things to do, see, and write about. It is probably the best side effect to my life change in becoming a travel writer, the ability - the need - to notice such things to have enough content to keep The Royal Tour going between trips. So when,…