Journal of Alta California

Featuring great stories, in-depth reporting, beautiful photography, smart thinking — Alta is the magazine and website that bring you everything California.

A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER • WINTER 2021 / ISSUE 14

PHOTO SECTION CONTRIBUTORS

Journal of Alta California

Art, Beauty, and Passion

Take No Prisoners • Architect Deanna Van Buren is building positive alternatives to the criminal justice system.

POETRY

BIRD-WATCHING GOES BOTH WAYS • A new study of urban raptors reveals their close attention to human behavior, even during a pandemic.

The Resurrection of Sister Aimee • The pioneering Christian evangelist received a second life in a pair of television series, once again mixing entertainment and religion—with a little faith healing thrown in.

THE ACCIDENT • Dreams and dangers on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Fishing for Poetry and More • Recommendations for the best of California and the West

Songs for the Final Passage • The Threshold Choir provides music and comfort to the dying.

A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER • How photographers across the West saw 2020.

The Safe Place That Became Unsafe • San Francisco’s Cameron House began providing refuge in 1874, protecting those vulnerable to sexual abuse. That changed with the arrival of pastor Grandpa Dick in the 1940s.

The Thrill Is Gone • Forty Oakland blues musicians gathered in 2003 in front of Esther’s Orbit Room. Today, seven of the performers have passed away, the venue is closed, and the once lively scene is memorialized by a Walk of Fame. But it’s never too late for a repeat performance.

New Beginnings

A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky

1181 Durfee Avenue

America Is Not the Heart

Desert Notebooks

Unforgetting

The Sellout

The Bath

Try Not to Die

Southland

L.A.’s Black Woodstock: Wattstax

Butchering the Mythic West • A long white Cadillac and a pair of John Williams novels help set the story straight about America’s frontier.

Portrait of a Bracero as José Olivares

Historical Fantasy • Developers’ theme-park plans for Copperopolis may be good for its economy, but their visions ignore the mining town’s past.

THE SEARCH OF A LIFETIME • In 1952, a vicious double murder at Crater Lake stunned the nation. The FBI and the Oregon State Police came up empty-handed. Then, 26 years ago, the granddaughter of one of the victims picked up the case.

Embarrassment of Riches • Three prominent archives of rare materials that document the history of Black film land in Los Angeles.

Larry’s Biggest Mistake

Paltry Gestures • A winter road trip to California’s northern high desert in search of familial belonging provides hope—even in the face of futility.

Your Year in Review • Did you take a photo that wraps up 2020 in one image? Alta wants to see it!

ALTATUDE