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.

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Journal of Alta California

S for Survival

A Punk’s Progress • Sometimes it can take a lifetime to learn how not to throw a punch.

Sunflower Poem

THE MAGIC OF MALIBU COLONY • Inside a gated haven where movie stars, rock stars, and wealthy nonconformists roam the streets—and the beach.

The Slag Heap of History • Stonewall Jackson’s statue should be melted down. Instead, the Confederate general is bound for Los Angeles.

The Grizzly Next Door • Researchers show that it is possible to reintroduce the iconic brown bear to California. Will people go for it?

The Transgender Experience in California • The state likes to see itself as a sanctuary. But its past—and present—doesn’t always support that ideal.

A Superhero on Steroids • In response to grim statistics on abuse, one woman learns to defend herself so that she may “walk in peace.”

How to See a Black Hole • The Event Horizon Telescope has given us the first-ever images of these mysterious phenomena. Next, the James Webb Space Telescope will join this project to better understand their behavior, including their eating habits and how they’ve shaped the cosmos.

California’s Monuments Men and Women • During wildfires and other natural disasters, art and artifacts often get left behind. Colonel Kirk Sturm and his team aim to rescue these cultural treasures.

‘Look Out or You’ll Be Poisoned’ • A TALE OF LOVE, TAINTED MARSHMALLOWS, AND MURDER AT THE CARMEL ARTIST COLONY.

NO PITY • In Portland, a band of fed-up citizens are fighting back against car thieves and chop shops. They’ll step in where law enforcement can’t and do repos on behalf of crime victims.

THE BULLFIGHTER DRAWS HER SWORD • In her quest to become the first matadora in modern Spain, 23-year-old Honey Anne Haskin gave the performance of a lifetime.

‘AGUA, AGUA’ • In 1905, prospector Pablo Valencia survived a week without water as he walked—and stumbled, and crawled—more than 100 miles in the Sonoran Desert. Seventy-five years later, high school teacher Bill Broyles retraced his route and lived to talk about it.

P-22’S LIFE IN L.A. • Hazards stalked him every day. But somehow, Griffith Park’s big puma survived in the wild for more than a decade. His death devastated the city he called home.

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Venture at Your Own Risk • There’s nothing like surviving a terrifying plummet into chilly Northern California waters or dodging a falling stalactite deep beneath the earth’s surface in Utah. If danger calls to you, here are six activities to try this spring. But we must warn you—these thrills are not without peril, so proceed with caution.

Because Here Is Nowhere Steady

A Conversation with Percival Everett

A Conversation with Charles Yu

the search for mardou fox • She was the inspiration for Jack Kerouac’s The Subterraneans, but who was Alene Lee?

The California Gaze • Together with his novel and earlier memoir, Terry McDonell’s Irma defines a uniquely West Coast perspective, one of perpetual curiosity and self-discovery.

IMPERIAL DREAMER • More than a century ago, Harold Bell Wright’s bestseller The Winning of Barbara Worth promised California it could make its deserts bloom. Now we’re paying the price.

‘The Last Black Calligrapher in San Francisco’ • Hunter Saxony III relies on centuries-old calligraphic techniques to create conceptual art that explores identity, justice, and mortality.

The...