What will we remember about 2022, a year that simultaneously felt like a decade and seemed to fly by like a viral TikTok? It was a strange one. Many of us had been cooped up for over two years, forgetting what it was like to do the things we used to take for granted, like going to movies, plays, or concerts. This year, we tentatively reconnected with some of these experiences, reminding ourselves that culture doesn’t just come through our phones or via a streaming platform.
As we look back at 2022, the items found here are the cultural moments from California and the West that we’ll remember. We’re calling these favorite picks our Rosebuds, in tribute to Charles Foster Kane’s feverish deathbed remembrance in Citizen Kane. Think of them as a few things we may recall one day far in the future. Each selection is also, in a way, the first bud of what we hope is a flourishing of books, art, movies, shows, and experiences to come.•
Best Art
A new gallery and its inaugural exhibition celebrate artists without borders.
Best Design
Above one of San Francisco’s busiest roads rests an urban oasis.
Best Documentary
We need to talk about this docuseries.
Best Experience
This bookfair on steroids is a reader’s paradise.
Best Fiction Book
A technologically inclined thriller.
Best Food
Empowered restaurant employees made our mouths water this year.
Best Magazine
2022’s top magazine was also the year’s best comeback.
Best Movie
A genre-bending everything bagel of a movie.
Best Music
Kendrick Lamar’s sixth studio album makes art out of big personal steps.
Best Nonfiction Book
The physical and emotional weight of the Sierra.
Best Podcast
A positively sexy podcast for our unsexy times.
Best Poetry Book
2022’s poet laureate holds tight to our very recent history.
Best TV Show
Not another teen show.
