SUBSCRIBE TODAY BUY THE ISSUE
Special Section: Gimme Shelter
Intro
What Good Looks Like
The world’s most rigorous environmental certification program for architects seeks to be more than a set of inspirational principles. If only achieving true sustainability wasn’t so difficult. By Jessica Zack
Canyon’s Can-Do Spirit
Life inside a tiny Northern California town built with grit and ingenuity. By Emma Pratt • Photos by Carolyn Fong
How to Grow Good Housing
In California’s farm-labor market, better living conditions are key to attracting workers. By Lydia Lee • Photos by Penni Gladstone
Electrification for Beginners
A plug-and-play guide to saving money (not to mention the world) with fossil-fuel-free appliances. By Laura Fraser • Illustration by Martin Gee
Hello, Human-Scaled City
A new type of residential building is transforming Los Angeles’s neighborhoods into urban villages. By Joseph Giovannini
Sleeping in the Barrel of a Gun
For those dreading the apocalypse, an Airbnb at a decommissioned missile site near Roswell, New Mexico, offers validation of their fears. By Mark Wallace • Photos by Scott Baxter
Every Small Step Counts
Architect Michael Lehrer’s tiny-home villages offer color, light, and cohesion to unhoused people. Interview by Robert Ito • Photos by Gregg Segal
Why This Art: Beneath the Glitz and Glamour
By Adam Mayer
Let’s Go Shopping
Today, some shopping malls are offering more than just nostalgia. These glitzy retail temples are playing a starring role in efforts to address California’s housing shortage. By Lydia Lee
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Tidying Up
How a daughter came to understand her mom’s attachment to stuff. By Monica Corcoran Harel • Photo by Dustin Snipes
California ADUs
By Brent Hatcher and Ajay Orona
Animal Crossing
By Jessica Blough and Lydia Horne
Leveling with Landlords
By Elizabeth Casillas and Lydia Horne
Build Me Up, Zoning Laws
By Lydia Horne and Ajay Orona
Unbuilt Graveyard
By Nasim Ghasemiyeh and Ajay Orona
Features
THE NEXT GREAT CALIFORNIA FLOOD
The deluge of 1862 turned the Central Valley into a lake and destroyed nearly every bridge in the region. Spurred by climate change, the conditions are ripe for an even worse inundation. By Julian Smith • Illustrations by Mark Smith
THE COP WATCHER
After George Floyd’s murder, William Gude began making videos of the LAPD. Initially, he captured COVID-policy violations, but he soon widened his lens to document all types of police misconduct. He’s been harassed, intimidated, and arrested—and in an unrelated case, his son was murdered. Yet he keeps recording. By Santi Elijah Holley • Photos by Tod Seelie
SHIVERING AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD
A voyage to the Arctic reveals how climate change is tied to the extreme weather in California and the West. The polar bears’ fate is tied to our own. By Julia Flynn Siler
THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER
The race to develop the atomic bomb offers lessons for those pursuing artificial intelligence. By Jennet Conant
An Oppenheimer Watchlist
By Will Hearst
A Primer on the Manhattan Project
By Will Hearst
A Trail of Discovery and Destruction
By Will Hearst
THE TREE WHERE LOS ANGELES BEGAN
A sacred, towering sycamore may be gone. But its relevance to the Kizh people remains. By D. J. Waldie • Illustrations by Chris Sickels/Red Nose Studio
Dispatches
Let’s Drain Lake Powell
The Glen Canyon Dam has been rendered obsolete by megadrought, and the states, the feds, and Indigenous tribes want to sue one another over what water remains. It’s time to remove the dam and restore the once-mighty Colorado. By Doug Peacock
A Pivot to Inclusion
Slow Impact, an Arizona skateboarding conference, lowers the obstacles. By José Vadi • Photos by Ted Schmitz
Fancy a Cut?
The heart of North Long Beach beats loud and proud in a hair salon. By Ky-Phong Tran • Photos by Christina Gandolfo
Trailblazer: Mattie Mooney
Amplifying trans voices at home and in healthcare. By Jessica Klein
Books
Q&A: A Conversation with Hua Hsu
By David L. Ulin
Why You Should Read This: Stay True
By David L. Ulin
Why I Write: Being Journalistic
By Naomi Hirahara
Why You Should Read This: Clark and Division
By David L. Ulin
Q&A: A Conversation with Kelly Lytle Hernández
By David L. Ulin
Why You Should Read This: Bad Mexicans
By David L. Ulin
ANAÏS NIN: WRITER AND WIFE TO TWO MEN
The chronicler of desire and sexual adventures was surprisingly domestic—if you ignore her bigamy. By Joy Lanzendorfer • Illustrations by Anita Kunz
Culture
Poetry: “Poem to Be Written by Magnet in Oil for an Exhibit at the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro”
By Jane Hirshfield
Alta Picks: Festival Frame of Mind
Lean into the carefree spirit of summer by grabbing a lawn chair, applying plenty
of sunscreen, and immersing yourself in live music. We’ve assembled a list of eight
festivals ranging from two days of bass-bustin’ EDM to three days of magical jazz
to a two-week-long showcase of soothing chamber music. By Jessica Blough, Elizabeth Casillas, Nasim Ghasemiyeh, and Ajay Orona
Poetry: Yesterday’s Newsreel Was Chasing Me
By Ishmael Reed
Fiction: ‘Magda’s Hen’
By Désirée Zamorano • Illustrations by Victor Juhasz
In Every Issue
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: What the Manhattan Project Teaches Us
By Will Hearst
