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  Featured image credit: Japanexperterna The convenience stores we’ve come to know in our travels are rapidly changing. In a pivot to meet the changing needs of consumers, convenience stores (often abbreviated to simply “c-stores”) are adopting vastly expanded menus while investing in appliance upgrades, store expansions, and innovations that prioritize convenience. No false advertising there! It’s a savvy move to combat the growing competition from supermarkets, fast food restaurants, and food delivery apps.  Looking Beyond Today Photo credit: Todd Van Hoosear While the number of convenience stores across America declined last year, c-store CEOs are still optimistic about the future of their revised business models. According to the 2025 NACS/NIQ TDLInx Convenience Industry Store Count, the number of convenience stores across the nation has declined by 0.1%. California, despite closing eight c-stores last year, remains just behind Texas as the st...

  Featured image: United States Department of Energy In Hollywood, studios compete to put their movies in front of as many eyes as possible. Yet, one studio did the opposite; working to make sure that no one saw their films unless absolutely necessary. In the sun-kissed Hollywood Hills California boasts as a center of creativity, Lookout Mountain Air Force Station stood alone as a high-production film and still photography studio that operated in absolute secrecy. And to say it was prolific is an understatement. Lookout Mountain allegedly churned out around 19,000 films during its two-decade run spanning 1947 to 1969. But we’ll be lucky if we see more than a few dozen of those in our lifetime.  G.I. Joe in Wonderland Photo credit: lookoutamerica.org In 1943, military developers selected an unassuming two acres of land alongside Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon as the future site of the Los Angeles Flight Control Center. Its primary function? Coordi...

  Featured image credit: Photograph by Don Ramey Logan Angel’s Gate Lighthouse Don Ramey Logan.jpg from Wikimedia Commons License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Since 1913, a welcoming beacon has been greeting sea-weary captains as they enter the busiest container port in the country, Los Angeles Harbor. It’s a verdant glow that promises smooth sailing ahead; a visual equivalent to the moment a sailor disembarks from a galley to kiss the grainy ground beneath their feet. Earning its place on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s frequently regarded as Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse but listed in the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Light List simply as Los Angeles Light. But chances are that if you know of it at all, you know it as Angels Gate Lighthouse.  Experience the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse… from Afar Photo credit: Don Haynes – Port of Los Angeles Landlubbers and seadogs alike will find the Los...

  Featured image credit: LADWP You could argue that architecture is, by definition, functional art, but one building in Los Angeles takes this concept further than most. We’ll call it by its official name, the John Ferraro Building. But you likely recognize it as the headquarters of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), colloquially referred to as the LADWP building. In a textbook example of “walking the walk”, the John Ferraro Building exhibits a slew of energy-saving features that marry seamlessly with its sophisticated aesthetic.  The Streamlined Aesthetic of the John Ferraro Building Photo credit: LADWP In 1965, workers completed construction on a 17-story design in the International style by A.C. Martin and Associates that would immediately serve the needs of the largest municipality utility in the country. With each floor (15 above ground and two below) measuring approximately an acre, it adequately accommodates just under one-t...

  Featured image credit: Codera23 Even casual fans of modernism need no introduction to Richard Neutra. The Austrian-American architect was integral to the popularization of mid-century designs with his forward-thinking structures peppering Southern California. It was almost as if he were using human progress itself as a building material. To see some of Neutra’s most iconic masterpieces, set your coordinates for Palm Springs where he’s a revered star, celebrated most emphatically in the city’s annual Modernism Week . But if you want to see where Neutra lived and worked, then you’re better off driving over to Silver Lake. It’s the neighborhood where his legendary Neutra VDL house still stands to this day.  Even Legends Need Loans Sometimes Photo credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library Constructed in 1932, the Neutra VDL house was distinguished from other Neutra homes in that the architect himself planned to reside in it ...

  Crossroads of the World is one of those LA landmarks that everyone recognizes but very few have visited. There’s not really much to see there these days outside of the beautiful architecture. But that wasn’t always the case. In the late 1930s and into the 1940s, this Los Angeles mall redefined how a shopping center could be designed… even if the end result wasn’t a wild success. It’s also the site of a double murder. In fact, it might not even exist if it weren’t for the blood shed on the grounds.  What is the Crossroads of the World? Photo credit: donkeyhody Motorists caught in Sunset Boulevard’s traffic jams will be painfully familiar with the Crossroads of the World. Its tower proudly raises a miniature planet Earth to the sky above, extending from a Streamline Moderne reference to an ocean liner. For a moment, your bumper-to-bumper frustration might have melted away as you asked yourself, “What is the Crossroads of the World anyway?” You could hav...