Los Angeles vs. San Francisco, detailed food sensitivity requests, secretly Zillowing the value of your friends’ homes: there are a lot of complexities to the culture of California. Alta Journal has enlisted two longtime California residents and experts, reclusive desert-dwelling memoirist Stacey Grenrock Woods and Anaheim-raised VW-bus evangelist Gustavo Arellano, to pen Alta’s first advice column, “Ask a Californian.” The pair join Alta Live to answer your Golden State questions in real time, reveal some of the queries that didn’t make the column’s cut, and debate the finer points of living the Cali lifestyle. Grab your avocado toast and join us for what’s sure to be a fast-paced and fun Alta Live.
About the guests:
Gustavo Arellano is the author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and has been an essayist and reporter for various publications as well as a frequent commentator on radio and television. He was formerly an editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, California, and penned the award-winning “¡Ask a Mexican!,” a nationally syndicated column in which he answered any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority. Arellano is the recipient of awards ranging from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Best Columnist to the Los Angeles Press Club President’s Award to an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition and was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.” Arellano is a lifelong resident of Orange County and is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.
Stacey Grenrock Woods has contributed to Esquire and is a former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She writes and consults on various TV shows and had a recurring role as Trisha Thoon on Fox’s Arrested Development. Her first book is I, California.•
