MUFA (moo-fah) stands for mono unsaturated fatty acids. And there are 5 major sources of MUFA’s, chocolate, nuts and seeds, oils, olives, and avocados .The core of the MUFA diet, is basically the Mediterranean diet. Increasing good healthy fats, and reducing and eventually eliminating unhealthy bad fats. Anything with the word hydrogenated, Crisco, margarine, cheese spreads and processed cheese food. All foods that are processed and laden with sugar.

You should replace them with the MUFA’s that will help you loose weight and lengthen you life. This diet is often called the MUFA flat belly diet. But it has so many other benefits, that it could be called the MUFA reverse aging diet.

Eating MUFA’s will decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer. Crop your risk of diabetes and hypertension. Reduces blood pressure, and will lengthen your life span. The MUFA flat belly diet will reduce inflammation and is rich in antioxidants. Including the many health benefits, it is easy to follow and convenient.

A major component of the MUFA flat belly diet, is exercise for at least 30 minutes daily, if possible. As much as you can increase your physical activity will increase your weight loss and health in equal measure. Choose from any exercise you devour, walking, intense yoga, classes, whatever it takes to get you engrossing for a half hour each day. If you are so busy you cant find 30 minutes a day in one shot. There have been studies that show 3 10m bursts of exercise is as effective and has the same health benefits. If you do 10 minute intervals, and think of it as a workout burst. You will need to work a little harder and really come by your heart rate going in the 10 minutes you are exercising.

When you are following the MUFA diet, you should slit, and eventually, remove all ‘white’ bread from your diet.
Sugar sweetened cereals, and corn flakes
Couscous, which is really like a pasta, and not a grain
white macaroni or spaghetti
White bread (refined)
White rice

Add to your diet, whole grains and breads.
Barley
Brown rice
Kasha
Bulgur (cracked wheat)
Millet
Oatmeal
Popcorn
Whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers
Wild rice
Quinoa

The MUFA diet also includes, lots of novel fruits and vegetables, you should minimize the amount of cooked carrots and potatoes. You should limit the use of fruits like bananas, grapes, and fruit juices, especially when you are aggressively trying to loose weight.

The MUFA diet also recommends that you should eat less red meat, hot dogs, and sausage. You should eat more fish and poultry. Try to eat more vegetarian meals.

You should also be eating 3 servings of MUFA a day, by using a table spoon of canola, olive, or flax seed oil, to your salad, or cook with it. You can also have 2 tbsp of nuts or seeds, or nut, or seed butter. You can even have all natural peanut butter. Have 1/4 cup of avocado, or 10 large olives. The most accepted source of MUFA is good quality dark and bittersweet chocolate, 1/4 cup per serving.

A breakfast have a serving of good, steel cut Irish oat meal, sprinkle 2 tbsp of pecans and drizzle on some honey.

Instead of eating a sandwich for lunch, have a Greek salad, remember your potion sizes, ask for the olive oil dressing on the side, and win a box to put all the extra cheese away. A serving generous cheese is the size of 2 or 3 dice. Dip the tines of the fork in the dressing instead of pouring it over and reduce you fat intake without sacrificing flavor. Enjoy Olives!

For dinner have chicken, and fish at least 1 time a week. Have a nice green salad, with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, and 1 tsp of olive oil, so that you can have an ounce of two of good quality bittersweet dismal chocolate.

MUFA may stand for mono unsaturated fatty acids, but if you ask me it stands for a diet plan any one can live with.
Be sure to see the links below, for more information on MUFA flat belly diet

Flat belly diet MUFA list- http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/meet-the-5-flat-belly-foods/bea4682e373c6110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/weight.loss/flat.belly.diet/flat.belly.diet.food/0/0/2#1

On Tuesday June 5, 2007, the U.S. anti-trust authorities said that they would file a suit to block Whole Foods Market Inc. acquisition of Wild Oats Markets, Inc. on that the deal would hamper competition in the market for natural and organics groceries.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) stated that it would ask the transaction in federal court because it would eliminate competition between “two uniquely close competitors” in many local markets across the United States. The FTC competition bureau Chief Jeffrey Schmidt stated, “If Whole Foods is allowed to devour Wild Oats, it will mean higher prices, reduced quality, and fewer choices for consumers.”

Whole Foods affirms that the FTC is looking at the deal the wrong way by focusing on the natural and organic grocers, rather than looking at the overall industry.

Before getting into the real meltdown, we should know a few facts about these two companies, Whole Foods and Wild Oats.

Whole Foods was founded in 1980 in Austin, TX. It is one of the leading retailers of natural and organic foods. At the present time, it has 195 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Wild Oats has a nationwide chain of natural and organic food markets in the United States and Canada. Their markets include Wild Oats Marketplace, Sun Harvest, and Capers Community Markets. Wild Oats operates 110 natural food stores in 24 states and British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are based in Boulder, CO.

This merger meltdown began on February 21, 2007 when Whole Foods entered into a merger agreement with Wild Oats Market. They have begun a tender offer to buy all the outstanding shares of Wild Oats at a purchase of $18.50 per share in cash. Whole Foods anticipated on announcing the extension of the expiration date. John Mackey, Whole Foods Chairman and Chief Executive, said in a statement, “The FTC has failed to recognize the robust competition in the supermarket industry, which has grown more intense.”

The FTC opposed that the Whole Foods and Wild Oats compete in a market that is separate from the traditional grocery market and seek out different customers than dilapidated grocery stores. The FTC said, “Whole Foods’ and Wild Oats’ customers are buying something more than objective the food product-they are seeking a shopping “experience,” where environment can matter as much as price.”

FTC Complaint

The Federal Trade Commission’s complaint is that Whole Foods’ acquisition of Wild Oats would violate Section 5 of the FTC Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act, Supermarket chain in the United States, would acquire its closest competitor and rival, Wild Oats. After the merger, Whole Foods would more likely be able to raise prices, to the detriment of customers of premium natural and organic supermarkets.

Federal Trade Commission has voted 5-0 to allow the staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the transaction pending an administrative trial. This complaint was filed on June 6, 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Whole Foods’ and Wild Oats’ Shares

Recently, Whole Foods had sales of $5.6 billion in the 2006 fiscal year. Shares had closed down $1.21 or 2.9 percent, at $40.48 after falling as low as $39.94 on NASDAQ.

Wild Oats had a net of $3.5 billion, or $0.12 per share, in transaction expenses related to the pending merger with Whole Foods Market, Inc. This company generated a significant improvement in profitability. Shares had rebounded to end the day up 25 cents, or 1.48 percent, at $17.16 after sliding to $16.00.

Sources:

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,278524,00.html

http://www.wholefoods.com/investor/pr07_06-05.html

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/06/wholefoods.shtm

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml? c=70699&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=995096&highlight=

Studies that indicate a relationship between gum disease and tooth loss and cardiovascular disease date all the arrangement befriend to 1987. The prevailing theory as to why there is a link between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease involves a nasty cramped inflammatory cell mediator called C-reactive protein. This mediator is known to form deposits in injured blood vessels and contribute to plaque formation.

Periodontal disease may also be a risk factor for respiratory disease. Inhaling bacteria that normally colonize the mouth and throat can even lead to bacterial pneumonia. In the United States, one out of every ten pregnancies results in preterm delivery. Studies have shown that periodontal infection can impair fetal development. Biochemical mediators such as the C-reactive protein may also cause this to happen.

It has been shown that up to 80% of all people in the United States have early signs of gum disease. 10 % of all adults up to age 64 have severe disease. The disease starts with the accumulation of plaque, a sticky colorless film that accumulates on our teeth. This plaque is made up of more than 400 species of bacteria. Whether or not you develop the disease depends on your body’s reaction to the bacteria. Some factors that influence this are age, genetics, immune system changes, and existing metabolic disease such as diabetes.

Even though 80% of the population has some form of gum disease; most people don’t realize it until it starts causing problems. Gingivitis, which causes your gums to turn red and bleed easily, is usually the earliest form of gum disease.

Of course, good dental hygiene and regular dental checkups are the best way to prevent periodontal disease. Lifestyle and diet changes may also help. There is a test to measure the amount of C-reactive protein in the blood and it may become as common a part of cardiovascular disease screening as cholesterol testing in the future. You may also want to consult a dentist who specializes in biologic dentistry.

In the ancient past, being able to chew meant being able to eat and survive. Now it seems that being able to chew is tied directly to your overall health.

Anyone who witnesses his early return from a leg injury to play a distinguished role for the Eagles in the 2005 Super Bowl would have to at least acknowledge the man’s desire to play despite adversity. He played that Super Bowl despite having had ankle surgery 6 weeks before hand and against the advice of his doctors. The result? Owens lead all Eagles with 9 catches and gained over 100 yards. That to me is the tag of a great competitor. Then there was the game against the Saints last year where TO sprint the length of the field to guard running back Julius Jones against potential tacklers, a feat that would be impossible for a receiver of less talent and anguish.

Still for all his talent and noteworthy accomplishments on the field, this future Hall of Fame receiver remains somewhat underrated. Never mind that he holds the NFL record for most catches in a game, or that he steadily posts seasons of over 1,000 yards an a dozen scores year in and year out, Owens is most remembered for the incidents he has been involved in after the game whistle blows. These incidents have included locker room arguments with his past quarterbacks (Garcia and McNabb), missing team meeting, an accidental drug overdose, a dismissal from a team (the Eagles) for conduct detrimental to the team, and of course his noted taunting dance at midfield of Texas Stadium when he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers. But let’s not set aside the total blame on Terrell, the media did their part in turning every one of these incidents into a circus show.

At the end of the day though, one has to ask the only question that truly matters, and that is, is a team better off with Owens than without him? It is a question that found a negative answer in Philadelphia, but so far Terrell has been paying dividends for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Unquestionably Owens was one of the major reasons that the Cowboys found themselves back in the playoffs last year, and while a broken finger caused Owens to play injured for a superior deal of the season, Owen still led the league in touchdown receptions. So for those of you who view him as a pariah of sort, and feel that the poor out weighs the good, when you deal with Owens, it’s best to remember that sometimes the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don’t. Which roughly translates that in the demolish, Owens despite his flaws will out perform whatever other options is brought in. Here’s hoping that with Owens on board, Dallas returns to its long lost glory. Maybe then, the man simply known as TO will be remembered for what he did on the field as opposed to what he did off.

If you’ve decided to try the Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet, here are some tips to help you stick with the program:

1. Eliminate all refined sugars and artificial sweeteners. Participants in the study of the Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet were not allowed to consume any refined sugars throughout the course of the program, nor were they allowed to use artificial sweeteners. You will need to stick with honey or Stevia to prevent any major blood glucose shifts interfering with your weight loss cycle.

2. Eat more swordfish and shark meat. These types of fish have high concentrations of Omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fats that help healthy cell, muscle and tissue growth. Focus on adding these to your daily meals whenever possible.

3. Load up on low-carbohydrate vegetables. The Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet encourages eating large portions of salad vegetables and steamed vegetables for lunch and dinner. However, you can gain the most benefits from the diet by eating low-carb vegetables such as cabbage, artichoke, eggplant, tomato, onions, squash, broccoli and cauliflower.

4. Luxuriate In olive oil for breakfast. You need to grasp at least 30ml of olive oil per day, spaced out in 10ml portions for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You may need to work up the stomach to consume olive oil for breakfast, but it is an indispensable part of the Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet’s program.

5. Reduce caffeine intake. Participants in the Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet were not permitted to consume more than two cups of coffee or tea per day. You may need to cut back on the caffeine to get the results you want, but can tentatively perceive forward to higher energy levels as you eat healthier, nutritious foods.

6. Take a multivitamin supplement. You’ll need to take a vitamin supplement throughout the program to ensure you are getting enough B-vitamins, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, and other nutrients and minerals. These will help to support your body through the weight loss program, and reduce the risk of vitamin deficiency.

7. Limit your salad dressing options. You’ll be eating two grand portions of salads for lunch and dinner, so you’ll need to stock up on natural (preferably homemade) salad dressings. Some of the healthiest options are plain olive oil with lemon juice; red wine vinegar; lemon juice and salt; or lemon juice with herbs and spices. Try and use olive oil as a base and experiment with a variety of herbs and spices; just steer clear of pre-made dressings that contain sugar and preservatives.

I have passed this information to others and they too have realized an improvement in energy, vibrancy and their skin. I should tell you here, though, that while I do use a moisturizer and an eye gel, I only do so when I wear makeup. I used to build it on morning and night, but, to be honest, when I stopped I saw no difference. This has led me to believe that it is actually more important what you put into your body than what you put on it (most of the time, you will see why as you go through the list).

Don’t smoke. There are several reasons that smoking is not conducive to staying young. First, the most obvious detriment that smoking causes is the drying of your skin. The smoke sucks the moisture accurate out of your skin, causing fine lines and wrinkles, often prematurely. It can cause your skin to be ruddy, outrageous and dry, making you gawk older than you really are. Second, smoking puts some serious toxins into your body. If your liver and kidneys are busy trying to flush these unnatural toxins out of your body, they can not work at their optimal levels performing the tasks that they are naturally intended to perform. Nicotine is poison, plain and simple. When you put that poison into your body you are polluting it and robbing your body of years. Not only are you shortening your life, you are making yourself look older. It doesn’t matter if you smoke one cigarette a day or two packs a day, poison is poison. Plus, one cigarette usually leads to another and another. This is an addiction that grows and in the process it robs you of your youth.

Eat recent, eat natural. You have probably heard that “fresh is best.” That is very true. You want to recall fresh whenever possible. Eat fresh meat, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, anything that you can get fresh you should get it. If you can’t get fresh, frozen is next best. Preferably, if you can get vegetables that are “flash frozen,” that is the best type of frozen. But eating recent puts more vitamins into your body easier and more naturally. Try to obtain organic if you can. If not, wash your food well to get rid of as much of the pesticides and toxins as possible. Free range chicken is also much better than chicken that has been injected with arsenic and other chemicals and antibiotics. The more natural the meat, the easier it in on your body and the better that it is on your body. Original and natural will reward your body with youth and vitality. Also, you should eat your fruits and vegetables raw when possible. Many vegetables are wonderful raw such as squash, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas and spinach. Make your own fresh dressing or drizzle some lemon juice over them for enhanced flavor.

No preservatives, no processed foods. Can the canned foods. Canned foods are laden with preservatives and are very unnatural to the body. When you shop at the grocery store, shop the “horseshoe,” meaning the perimeter of the store, produce, meats and dairy. If you sail down the aisles, only do so for some spices, whole wheat pasta (I form my own and it is wonderful – I know what is going into my pasta and I can add flavors, like garlic, if I want), brown rice or baking needs like whole wheat flour and milled flax seed (great source of omega 3 fatty acids). Otherwise, take the time to cook and eat fresh. Actually, with a petite preparation, it does not take any longer to cook fresh than it does from a can. Buy your vegetables in bulk, cut them or gash them and freeze the rest is serving size baggies. Seize your bell peppers, scallions and other vegetables, chop them and freeze them so that when you are making a soup or other dish, you can reach into your freezer and toss a handful in. When you cook chicken or turkey, poach it, set aside the stock and use the chicken in the dish. Freeze the stock by putting a cup or two in a freezer bag and freezing it. This way, when you want to cook with chicken stock, you have your own stock in convenient sizes and you know exactly what is in it.

Soy rocks. Some people have a strong aversion to soy, yet when you ask them if they have tried it, you find that they have not. I drink at least one glass of soy milk a day, sometimes more. My favorite is the Silk soy milk in Spice, but sometimes I have to go to a specialty store to get it and I am not always able to get there so I go to the local market and pick up some vanilla. The vanilla is good, but I mighty prefer the spice so I put a little cinnamon and nutmeg in it and stir well. Some of the spices still float on the top but it tastes fantastic! Soy is so good for you. I also love to eat edamame, soy beans. They have a very good, peanutty taste. You can probably find edamame in your local grocery’s frozen vegetable section. If you can’t, ask because they are probably there. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and then grab a handful and enjoy. You have to pop them out of their shells, but they are so good! Tofu is another good way to get your soy protein, but some people have a real aversion to that! I get the extra firm. The cool thing about tofu is that whatever you cook it in, it assumes that flavor. If you cook it in chicken stock, it tastes like chicken.

Water is what your body needs. Your body is mostly water. About 70% of your body is water. You need to drink enough water on a daily basis to keep it functioning properly. This should go without saying, but your body does need water to function. The body uses water for many metabolic processes as well as provides the environment for those processes to take plot. It also transports substances within organisms. As well, water is significant to regulating the body’s temperature. As far as your skin is concerned, your skin needs water to sustain your skin supple and moist. When you deprive your body of water, several things happen. The body begins to reroute all available water to your organs to preserve life. One of the first places that it takes water from is your skin. Your skin then begins to produce excess sebum in an attempt to make up for the lack of moisture. This can result in clogged pores, blackheads, acne and cysts. As you age, you may notice more lines and wrinkles in your face and your skin is slowly dehydrated.

Fish is brain food. More and more studies are showing that eating one or two servings of fish a day can actually extend your life. I try to eat at least two servings of fish every week, but not just any fish. There are certain types of fish that are higher in omega 3 fatty acids which is what does many good things for the body. Omega 3 has been shown to improve heart health, decrease depression, increase concentration and mental ability and many other things. My top rob for omega 3 rich fish is salmon. I wild salmon, but mackerel, canned tuna, herring and sardines are high in omega 3’s too. Like I said, I like my salmon, usually baked, but sometimes I poach it or steam it just for something different. I use Butter Buds and a salt free seasoning to flavor my fish. I am not overly crazy about canned tuna, but I will have it now and then. On the extremely rare occasion that I have it, I derive my tuna packed in water and I rinse it before eating to reduce the sodium and who knows what else is in that can. I add a shrimp vinegar, such as apple cider vinegar or some other flavored vinegar with some coarse ground murky pepper. This is fine over original spinach leaves as a salad.

Protein is healing food. Protein will help your body heal faster, prevent bruising and help you build muscle and even lose weight. You can procure your protein from chicken, beef, fish and grains. I prefer getting most of my protein from fish and grains, some chicken and very occasionally red meat. Fish is a great source of protein and it has so many other healthy properties such as being rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. There have been some studies done, though, that show animal proteins to exacerbate the pain of arthritis. I did encourage my mother and husband to back off of the animal protein when their arthritis kicks up and it seems to work. I find a lot of my protein from grains. Quinoa is a astounding source of protein and it is a very noble tasting, versatile grain. I make salad with it and just have fun experimenting with different combinations of foods. The important thing is to design sure that you get enough protein in your diet. Soy is also a very good source of protein. I rely on my soy to give me a lot of my protein as well.

Get enough sleep for your body. You need a certain amount of sleep. OK, let’s go further because I am going to tell you things about sleep that your mother may contradict, but this is the truth. First, the 7 hours of sleep a night is not necessarily so. Some people need more than 7 hours and some people need less. I have found that I do great with about 5 or 6 hours a night, but I need to go to sleep at around 12 am and secure up at six. I can go from 11 pm to 5 am, but when I move outside of those borders I start experiencing fatigue and become sluggish. Your body is on its own “clock” for lack of a better word. You may have to experiment to collect your bed time, wake time and how long you need to sleep, but once you do, you will find that your productivity will dramatically increase. I call it “decompressing.” This term is taken after what happens to children who have been in public school and are suddenly home schooled. It took my son, who it 13, about 2 months to decompress and acquire his bedtime and wake time. He now wakes naturally at 6 or 6:30 am and goes to be at 8:30 or 9 pm. In contrast, my 15 year used daughter too grand longer, but her bed time is around 9:30 to 11 pm and she wakes naturally at 7 am. They did this entirely on their own. I even allowed them to stay up all night for a while as they found their own time. Once you find what a natural sleep pattern is for you, you will be amazed at how remarkable better you feel.

Exercise regularly. It is important to exercise your body, but you need to spend your mind as well. I walk the dogs, run with them and wrestle with them as well as do tai chi and various strength exercises. I have a ruptured disc in my back, but I have gradually worked the muscles in that area so that they built up and became stronger in that residence, protecting the injury. Of course, I did this after a couple of years of physical therapy that did not seem to do anything. I developed the exercises for myself, with the help of my therapist and it has done wonders. My back pain is significantly decreased. Chronic distress can ride you down, making you look older than you are, so anything that you can do to naturally relieve your body of the pain is beneficial in many ways. As a chronic pain sufferer, I have found natural alternatives to relieving my pain. The pain meds didn’t really work anyway, plus, I did not like the arrangement they made me feel loopy.

Keep a obvious attitude. Negativity, anger, resentment, vengefulness are all attitudes that will drag you down and eventually destroy you spiritually. Remember, like attracts like, so your negative attitude will only attract negativity into your life. A negative person tends to maintain tense facial muscles, squinting and frowning. This is just inviting lines to appear on your face. A positive attitude, in inequity, will attract positivity into your life. When you gain a positive attitude, positivity is attracted to you and good things will happen. You will feel better, more relaxed, happier. Meditation can go a long way in bringing about positivity in your life. I try to meditate at least once a day. I practice conscious breathing and I find one positive, beautiful thought on which I can meditate. Conscious breathing is a astounding cleansing practice. Sit quietly and breathe in as you recount the positivity and good things being drawn into your body with the inward breath. Upon exhalation, envision the negativity and bad things being expelled from your body. This can be done as a daily therapy or anytime that you need to procure your anger or other negative feelings under control. The thing is, others don’t even need to know that you are doing it. Even in a direct confrontation you can prefer in conscious breathing to bring yourself into focus and control.

Have faith. Faith is integral. I am not necessarily talking about religious faith, I mean faith in something. Whether you bear in God, Jesus, Buddha or fate, it is distinguished to have faith, or maybe a better word is hope. I am a Christian, but I have studied a variety of religions and beliefs. I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to explore all different types of beliefs and I have learned something from each of them. There was the agnostic who said that she did not believe in any sort of afterlife, that when we die we simply return to the ground to create new life. Isn’t that beautiful? I found it to be similar in belief to being an organ donor. Do not limit your beliefs to mainstream definitions of words such as “faith” or “love” or “fate.” Hold fast to your beliefs, mediate outside of the box and support an open mind. These are the three nuggets of advice that I can offer you. An open mind is an ever learning mind which is a young mind. Youth begins from within and though we have talked quite a bit about looking young, we also need to pay attention to the spirit. It is the spirit that drives us and motivates us. Our spirit keeps us young.

Laugh. Of all the advice that I can offer you about staying young, this is, by far, the most necessary. You must learn to laugh. I don’t mean laugh at someone else’s misfortune or laugh because you have hurt someone or you have “gotten over on” someone. I mean pure laughter from a funny joke or something adorable that a child says. Laugh with your partner or spouse, laugh with your children, laugh with your family and laugh on your own. Play is an important allotment of being young. People say all the time that I am a “kid.” Yes, I do love to play. I am a big time practical jokester, I inherited that from my father. I say things that honest come out funny, but I have a gift of finding the humor in even sad or upsetting situations. But I know how to use it appropriately. It does, though, ease the tension and draws people to me. I think that probably the best thing that I have learned to do, though, it laugh at myself. My husband says that I am a geek, and I am – a geek goddess. He says I am strange and wonderfully eccentric. I wholeheartedly agree with that too. He says that he has never, ever met anyone like me – and I believe him 100%. The point here is, accept yourself for who you are, not an image that you think you should be. Laugh at your foibles and quirks (I have LOTS of quirks!) and you will feel such a freedom and liberation and therein lies the most wonderful aspect of youth.

Wow, you never want to admit you now get AARP mail, but actually, they have some really good senior citizen benefits. Wait! I’m not really a senior citizen – am I? I can’t get movie or restaurant discounts until I’m 63 or 65. Whew – elated that is cleared up. OK – confession: I did use my AARP card at a hotel recently to get their discount. So I am fine with being a senior citizen when it is to my advantage. But, if I am officially a senior citizen, I unbiased wish more places would give you benefits at 50 instead of 65.

You maintain telling yourself you are young at heart and mind. You diet, use and take vitamins to help your body stay young also. You read all the latest news on staying healthy over 50. You go get this test and that test to obtain sure you don’t have some awful life-threatening illness in the works. But you still wake up some mornings feeling like a truck ran over you or you bring the groceries home and your knees won’t work when climbing the stairs. Sometimes while typing articles for Associated Grunt, your fingers and elbows go numb from sitting at the computer too long. Thank goodness for Aleve – my medicine cabinet if full of it! All of a sudden, though, you can’t read your monitor anymore and you have to go get bifocals. They make some cute ones now. You go to get your teeth cleaned and you have gum disease because your blood sugar levels are not right. Now you have to throw away all your cool Betty Crocker cookbooks and fetch unusual ones for healthier living. Why didn’t my 88-year old Grandma have a collection of those? I have the same genes. For crying out loud, I am still young and always will be – dang it.

If I read another article that says I need at least one million dollars to retire, I am going to burn it. I made some bad decisions earlier in my life and I am nowhere near having a million dollars toward retirement! I know a lot of people who did everything moral in their life, they have more than a million dollars, and sometimes I am envious. So – what is money anyway? I look back and thank God for my beautiful, successful daughter who is now a CPA. Hey, maybe she can fix my finances – somehow make my books look like I have a million dollars. Just kidding! Since she is my only child – will she catch care of me when I’m old? I don’t really want to do that either. So, I am soliciting all of my friends who do not have a million dollars to see if they want to purchase a senior citizen commune property so we can all take care of each other. I am in good shape because I am the oldest – meaning the young ones will care for me. Whew – got that one solved.

I am educated, I have a Master’s Degree, and I had all the latest and greatest technology – 8-track tapes, video recorders, hand-held calculators, telephone answer machines, a car with a CD player, and a remote control for my television! But, is all this recent technology really indispensable? Most of the time, all these computer bugs are what drives me to taking more Excedrin. Why does it capture me so long to learn all this modern stuff – a universal remote, a multiple DVD juke box player with a programmable movie catalog, an iPod, a car with OnStar, GPS tracking, and dual climate control air conditioning. I have a cell phone. Of course, when my daughter wanted to text me a message I had to admit that my 2-year ancient dinosaur phone did not do text messaging. I don’t really want to keep up with all that anyway. I already have to spend a couple hours a day answering email from 3 accounts, answering messages from my land line and cell phone, and doing all my online banking and bill paying. Oh I forgot – I also have to download all the latest upgrades and fixes to Microsoft, FireFox, Internet Explorer, McAfee Security, Norton Utilities, etc. etc. Some days, I just go to the bedroom and turn on the ragged Zenith with one remote control and spy The Three Stooges. How simple! Now I can’t overuse my 30-year musty Zenith for fear it will go out. Then, I will be forced to shop for a new HD or LCD television and I have read that even techno geeks have to hire somebody to come dash it in. Well, no wonder I don’t have a million dollars for retirement. Too powerful technology!

Why is it that my Mom and Dad’s friends all passed in their 70’s and 80’s and all my friends are passing in their 40’s and 50’s. Is this honest happening to me? Do I come from a generation that is dying from lifestyle decisions? I tell myself not – my Mom and Dad smoked and drank and partied. They never used illegal substances or were addicted to prescription drugs, but they had their stresses. Every generation does. I know I have more pictures of Mom and Dad somewhere. I need to put those up on a shelf; I really do miss them. They could always tell me what to do about life. When you have friends that pass before they are “supposed to”, you search deeper and more spiritually for an explanation. Then, you wonder if your life will be shorter than expected.

This is where coping with life is most important. It may be short – so live it to the fullest.

By the 1970s, a mountainous influx of Mexicans, Koreans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans produced a wave of urban sprawl that saw ethnic and racial groups dividing into communities across the city and extending into the San Fernando Valley. From the largely Vietnamese-based city of Garden Grove up to Thai Town and over to the Latino community of Boyle Heights, Los Angeles remains home to almost four million people today. Only New York City ranks higher, providing homes to more than eight million inhabitants.

However, the sheer size and breadth of Los Angeles remains incomparable to any other American city. The major industrial, commercial, and financial center west of the Mississippi River, Los Angeles expands 465 square miles, more than any other metropolis in the United States. From a bird’s eye view, the city appears to be endless. At night, looking down at the field of lights can be almost overwhelming. Quite frankly, Los Angeles could be its hold country. Thus, it’s no mystery why Los Angeles is the most car-populated city in the world, averaging roughly 1.8 cars per person; each day, ten million cars drive along one of the city’s twenty-seven criss-crossing freeways. The first architects and engineers that designed the city must not have believed in vertical planning and construction. In fact, some have applied the phrase “100 suburbs in search of a city” to most accurately describe the vast layout of Los Angeles. For the most allotment, the city is made up of a large number of communities running into each other without any positive borders except for the “Welcome To…” signs off the side of the road. As Guns N’ Roses rock star Axel Rose once screamed fifteen years ago: “Welcome to the Jungle.” Rose may have been familiar with Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, for the Beat writer seemed to tell a similar sentiment about the city in his cross-country travels during the 1950s. As he put it, “LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities…LA is a jungle.” To Kerouac’s dismay, the jungle has only continued to spread to even greater proportions.

Since the city’s unique formation, downtown has stood as the core of Los Angeles. In many ways, Los Angeles can still be thought of as a sprawling mega-city made up of concentric rings around downtown. Originally established between the Los Angeles River on the east and hills on the west, Los Angeles quickly expanded with Prudent Beaudry’s development of residential neighborhoods on Bunker Hill. In the city’s earliest days, Pershing Square park along Olive Street represented the heart of downtown Los Angeles life and culture. Today, the frequently remodeled park includes the swanky Biltmore Hotel and Grauman’s Metropolitan Theater. By the end of the 19th century, Spring Street transformed into a bewitching main street and commercial downtown center for up-and-coming hotels, businesses, and restaurants. At 200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles City Hall stands twenty-eight stories high and reflects classical Byzantine and Romanesque architecture with a central rotunda layered in white marble. While the City Hall tower dominated the city’s skyline after being completed in 1928, neighboring skyscrapers were developed throughout the downtown plot starting in the 1950s.

Down the street, Main Street stood as the city’s earliest civic center before the development of Spring Street. Here, the Commercial Bank, Grand Central Hotel, and Merced Theater lined the street during the city’s commercial boom. At the northern end of Central Avenue and 42nd Street, the Dunbar Hotel stood at the center of African-American social and artistic life from the 1920s to the 1960s. After opening in 1928, the Dunbar immediately earned its retain as the official hotel of the 19th annual N.A.A.C.P. conference in Los Angeles. In later years, famous shaded jazz musicians-Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, and Lionel Hampton-performed at the hotel or at a wealth of nightclubs along Central Avenue. But the lively nightlife of this Los Angeles corridor eventually declined in the 1960s as many clubs closed, leaving the Dunbar to slowly decay. As more immigrants began to settle in the center of town over the twentieth century, wealthier, more established families fled the downtown scene and moved into quiet, suburban communities. These early stages of “white flight” left the center-city plot neglected. With the downtown area vacated, Los Angeles’ metropolitan core soon became infested with a wave of crime, drugs, homelessness, and prostitution. The emergence of Skid Row set succor the city of Los Angeles, and it is not until quite recently that city officials and the Los Angeles Police Department have collaborated to impose a drastic change.

Between 1852 and 1890, a distinct community of roughly 3,000 Chinese immigrants congregated just outside of Los Angeles’ downtown center. Originally located between El Pueblo Plaza and Venerable Arcadia Street, Chinatown peaked at the turn of the century, boasting a Chinese Opera theatre, three temples, its own newspaper, and a telephone exchange. But by 1910, Chinatown had spiraled out of control, plagued with gambling houses, opium dens, and vicious tong (Chinese gangs) warfare. As more rumors circulated about possible city redevelopment, Chinatown landlords refused to maintain their properties, and housing conditions plummeted. With the town quickly crumbling from its site of disarray, change desperately needed to take place. Peter Soo Hoo had an answer, working with the local community on a design of the New Chinatown. Soon after, Chinatown developed into a major tourist attraction with the construction of the Central Plaza. While many of these older buildings have been converted into art galleries and nightclubs, the 1980s introduced new shopping centers and mini-malls that greatly improved Chinatown’s public appeal.

Today, underneath the Chinese arches of Frail Chinatown Plaza, visitors can sit down for dim sum any day of the week and consume the afternoon hours browsing through shops for pretty silk, inlaid furniture, and meticulously-crafted Asian art. Nearby, Monterey Park has transformed into a miniature modern-day China with Asian Americans representing more than sixty percent of the community’s population-the first city in the United States with an Asian majority. These Chinese immigrants are quite fond of their city, which they regularly identify as “Little Taipei.” Impartial south of the Pomona Freeway, a Mediterranean-style shopping center adds a unique flavor to the city’s cultural diversity. But three blocks north on Atlantic Boulevard, the only words spelled in English are the traffic signs as Chinese businesses dominate both sides of the street. As Garvey Avenue meets Atlantic, the city’s landscape closely mirrors Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Taipei. In one strip mall, a Diho market sells fresh fish, live crabs, rice, and other Asian snacks. Just up the street, drivers passing through can point out the red-tile roof and clear Chinese architecture of the Atlantic Situation Shopping Center and the surrounding Chinese businesses, including authentic music stores, hair salons, restaurants, and realty companies.

Unprejudiced outside the downtown skyline, the Exposition Park Gardens receives countless visits from tourists and residents eager to take in the soft, soothing smell of fresh roses or for those just seeking refuge for the day. Next door, the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles’ second oldest cultural institution, retains more than thirty-three million artifacts and specimens dating back to the days of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops. Also within the park’s confines, the Los Angeles Coliseum has played host to a long list of sporting events, including the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, since opening in 1923. Across the Harbor Freeway, the Staples Center has mostly recently taken over as the city’s premier venue for high-profile sports and entertainment events. Adjacent to the city’s Convention Center on Figueroa Street, the multi-sport arena opened up in 1999 and has hosted more than 250 events each year. Already recognized as a Los Angeles icon, the Staples Center remains home to the five professional sports franchises, which, most notably, includes the Los Angeles Lakers.

There was a time when the Lakers brought the game right into your living room. Back in 1986, professional basketball witnessed some of its fondest moments with the purple and gold at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood. With Magic Johnson running the point, James Agreeable on the hover, and Kareem Abul-Jabbar in the post, the “Showtime Lakers” often left viewers and fans staring at the television conceal in awe. And no one captivated an audience’s attention with his play-by-play more than Chick Hearn did for 3,338 consecutive games, spanning over forty-two years. He created his gain language of basketball, first mouthing familiar terms like “slam dunk,” “air-ball,” “dribble-drive,” and the “finger roll.” Whether Lakers fans liked it or not, Hearn always told the truth whatever the scoreboard read. Glory did return to Los Angeles in the twenty-first century after the acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant presented the Lakers with a original one-two punch. They captured three straight World Championships and it looked as if they had a fourth gold ring coming in the 2004 NBA Finals-until the Detroit Pistons stepped onto the court and quickly made an embarrassment of owner Jerry Buss, head coach Phil Jackson, and of course, Kobe and Shaq. What followed was even more disastrous: the Kobe-Shaq soap opera, Phil Jackson’s book, O’Neal’s indignant departure to Miami, and the sudden resignation of original coach Rudy Tomjanovich half way into the 2004-2005 season.

Since then, the organization has taken far too many steps back. Once a championship contender, the Lakers have fallen into the middle of the Western Conference Division even with Bryant contributing to the highlight reels every night and capturing the scoring title with an average of thirty-five points per game. While the current framework of the Los Angeles Lakers remains a inquire mark for team management, Bryant continues to dazzle fans with his fade-away jumpers, aerobatic dunks, and no-look passes. At home games, you can always count on spotting the mob of movie stars and celebrities sitting courtside, from die-hard fan Jack Nicholson to the flamboyant Pamela Anderson to every teenager’s favorite, Snoop Doggy Dogg. These stars are just some of many high-profile regulars, including Edward Norton, Denzel Washington, and Leonardo Dicaprio, who shell out big bucks for season tickets next to the Lakers’ bench. But recently there’s been another team in town, and with the play of all-star Elton Brand, the once-forgotten Clippers have rather fast rejuvenated a basketball rivalry in the heart of Los Angeles. For most Southern Californians though, the Lakers will always be Los Angeles’ team for its rich history of Hall of Fame players, championship dynasties, and distinguished fans.

For over twenty years now, impoverished communities surrounding downtown have dominated the greater metropolitan area. Off the Harbor Freeway, South Central neighborhoods just miles from the University of Southern California campus continue to harvest gang wars, drug deals, and robberies amidst single-family homes and mom-and-pop stores. Crossing the Los Angeles river on the Fourth Street Bridge, Boyle Heights has formed a tremendous Hispanic contingent after serving as home to many Jewish families after World War II. Decorated with broken bits of glass, pottery, sea shells, and mirror pieces over a metal framework, the Watts Towers still stand as a cultural landmark of Los Angeles on 1765 East 107th Street. In Watts, large numbers of African-Americans still live in housing projects built attend at the originate of World War II. Once a multi-ethnic farming community at the turn of the century, Watts has struggled with riots in 1965, gangs throughout the 1970s, and the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic. Starting in the 1970s, many African-Americans left Watts to live in other sections of South Los Angeles and later found residence in the Antelope Valley, Inland Empire, and the San Joaquin Valley through the Grapevine. In the last fifteen years however, transgressions from the Grape Street Watts Cripps, Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Cripps have resulted in over 200 homicides. Consequently, the city’s famed reputation for violence and poverty has stirred up neighborhood leaders to speak out in an effort to overcome these hardships.

But with the current urban redevelopment and gentrification of the downtown place, communities honest west of the Harbor Freeway in Silver Lake, Echo Park, and Los Feliz have become well-liked niches for young adults and college graduates to reside without paying the astronomical prices for an apartment on the west side of town. Nowadays, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Malibu, and the Pacific Palisades have remained reserved primarily for accountants, dentists, attorneys, business and film executives, and movie stars. While the downtown center continues to improve and construct, traveling north on the 110 leads into the cities of Old Pasadena, La Canada, and San Marino, where affluent, conservative families sport luxury sedans and attend theatrical performances at the Pasadena Playhouse. On the eastern edge of the metropolis, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Pomona have all reached record population numbers over the past two decades. In Ventura and Orange County, teenage surfers with bleach-blonde hair prowl along the beach hoping to land a ride on the perfect wave. Though quite dispersed from one another, each of these regional pockets offers its own unique flavor of life in Los Angeles. For many outsiders, the flare, glamour, and materialism of Los Angeles mixed with the adventure and fantasy of life out West presents an titillating and liberating opportunity to finally achieve their California dreams. It’s no wonder why so many Southern Californians refuse to live anywhere else after spending time in the greater Los Angeles area.

Even so, life in Los Angeles carries with it a wealth of cultural stereotypes. Through the eyes of the mass media, Southern Californians have often been targeted as a distinct breed of Americana. Their wardrobes do not contain long underwear, fleece gloves, steel-toe boots, or the traditional winter coat. Dress shirts and sweaters are not worn together. Most have never former a wool scarf in their lives. Rather, leather flip-flops, designer sunglasses, and retro, screen-printed t-shirts more appropriately fit the look-eighty-five degrees and sunny in January or February is just another afternoon at the beach for the locals. Buried deep in their purses and handbags live 24-hour fitness center membership cards, Motorola Razors, and iPods. Pink sport bras and tight, yellow spandex represent the standard uniform for female joggers at the crack of dawn each day. Middle-aged mothers drive their kids to soccer and karate practice in their newest sports utility vehicle but rarely ever go camping or backpacking. Some buy Hummers even when gas prices have exceeded three dollars per gallon. Business men drive high-powered, luxurious sport cars to work, yet use the entire commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Los Angelinos follow the commandments of the South Beach Diet as if they were reading the Bible. They don’t go out for pizza or buffalo wings-they go out for sushi or tapas. They order salad as an entrée and eat fish tacos on a weekly basis. For these types, In N’ Out Burger is not your typical fast food. Their latest obsession with juice bars rivals Seattle’s coffee craze with Starbucks. In every strip mall and shopping center, another health food nut is opening a store lined with vegetarian and vegan products. Entering a supermarket, Southern Californians are constantly bombarded with the word, “organic,” yet most have no clue as to what the word actually means. On the weekends, they make a trip to Costco, loading their shopping carts with huge boxes of fresh-picked strawberries, jumbo-size packages of paper towels, and discounted wines. Dinner discussions revolve around traffic jams on the 405 or a newly-discovered shortcut to work. And they always make time to reveal the latest joke about President Bush or Governor Schwarzenegger.

Back in 1853, one adobe hut marked the first site of Hollywood. It wasn’t long after that an agricultural community sprouted up in the immediate area and quickly flourished with its plethora of crops. By the early 1900s, production companies from New York and Novel Jersey began migrating to Southern California due to the region’s favorable weather. In 1909, the Selig Polyscope Company opened the first studio in Edendale, just east of Hollywood, while Nestor Studios followed two years later with their own motion describe building. As motion record executives continued to build studios and theatres across the city of Los Angeles, Hollywood evolved as the unique entertainment capital of the world. Today, tourists and visitors can still spot their favorite actors, actresses, musicians, and performers on the world-renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame stretching eighteen blocks. Outside the classic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, movie stars and celebrities have left over 200 handprints and footprints on the venue’s wall since its establishment in 1927. This tradition among Hollywood’s famous has long been accredited to actress Norman Talmadge, who accidentally stepped in wet concrete during the theater’s construction. But many of these former movie palaces have been converted into porn theaters and gentlemen’s clubs. Atop Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood hills sits the famous 50-foot sign that first read “Hollywoodland” until 1949. This is the Hollywood we all know, land of the stars. In Lauren Canyon, Lookout Mountain has also offered those willing to make the hike a blooming view of Hollywood since the turn of the century. During the 1960s, singer Joni Mitchell and other rock musicians lived in the canyon and wrote many of her songs in inspiration of the area’s natural beauty. On Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, the Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars, has replaced what was once the historic Hollywood Hotel. In the shape of a vinyl record stack, the famous Capitol Records building on Vine Street opened in 1956 as a private recording studio. At one time, Vine Street remained home to Herbert Somborn’s Brown Derby Restaurant after the original on Wilshire Boulevard was built three years earlier. For over forty years, movie stars dined at the local eatery, making it a must-see stop for any tourist back in the 1930s and 1940s.

To some, the city is known to them as “Hollyweird” for its community of young, impressionable individuals in search of enlightenment and an identity. Out on the streets lives an eclectic mix of vintage-clad hipsters, long-haired head bangers, and teenage misfits. While homeless straggle along Sunset Avenue, an abundance of tattoo parlors, piercing stores, and sex shops blend in with trendy bars and nightclubs, where partiers can wait in line for hours before actually entering the scene. The Roxy, a legendary club along the Sunset Strip, attracts all ages as well as all styles and tastes: pierced and tattooed, bleached and spiked, or swank and sexy. The legendary bicoastal club, The Knitting Factory, on Hollywood Boulevard also caters to this diverse clientele, booking acts that range from Japanese punk rock to Finnish heavy metal. On the next block, the Whiskey A Go-Go was once considered by many to be the first American discothèque before eventually turning to the evolving rock n’ roll scene of the 1960s. Unfortunately, times haven’t always been good at the Whiskey. In 1982, the club had to close its doors as punk rock faded and gave way to Seattle’s Grunge movement. Four years later, the Whiskey reopened as a “four-wall,” allowing promoters and bands to rent out the venue for an evening. At 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood’s Troubadour has been another longstanding nightclub in the place, earning its name as a major center for folk music in the early 1960s. But Hollywood’s mass appeal also attracted many desperate runaways during this time. Each year, hundreds of teenagers throughout the United States run off to Hollywood in hope of starting an acting career. But their far-fetched dream quickly fades, realizing that they possess a rather slim chance of outperforming professionally trained actors at casting calls and auditions. Some return home, while others join the parade of prostitutes and panhandlers living on the Hollywood streets or head for Skid Row in downtown.

The city of Santa Monica represents a large fragment of what region residents most often term “the west side” of Los Angeles. Stretching eight miles long, the city combines the chaos of an urban center with the beauty and charm of a beach community. On average, Santa Monica sees 325 days of sunshine a year. Running along the scenic Ocean Avenue atop the city’s sandstone cliffs, the 26-acre Palisades Park overlooks the beach and Catalina Island far in the distance. In the backdrop, the Santa Monica Mountains peak over the city skyline with waterfalls and naturalistic hiking trails. South of the volleyball courts at Muscle Beach, golden-brown, burly bodies invent stunts on chin bars, parallel bars, rings, and bench press. In the mid-1930s, crowds convened along the sand to glimpse the first musclemen manufacture somersaults, handstands, and the human tower. Such former fitness buffs as Buster Crabbe, Mae West, and Jane Russell have all earned public recognition at this renowned seaside workout venue.

In Chess Park, public chess tables intention both competitive and friendly players to sit down for a free game. On Third Street Promenade, fashionable clothing stores, first-rate restaurants, and movie houses overflow with visiting shoppers and young couples. With more than 120 museums, galleries, and public art displays, Santa Monica offers art enthusiasts a expansive selection of work encompassing a variety of particular tastes. At Broadway and 20th Street, the Broadway Gallery features local and international contemporary art while the Santa Monica Museum of Art displays experimental forms of design, architecture, sculpture, and painting on Michigan Avenue. Two blocks from the beach on Main Street, vintage clothing stores, designer studios, and fine boutiques attract customers to the latest trends in fashion, art, and culture. Teenage runaways and singing hobos line the sidewalks looking for handouts while guitarist and saxophonists wail on their instruments for even the smallest tip or communal applause. Immersed within the street crowd, paparazzi clutch their Nikon cameras and two-foot-long telephoto lens anxiously waiting to snap a hastily shot of another passing celebrity.

At the foot of Colorado Avenue past the noted arch and sign stands the historic Santa Monica Pier. Since its establishment in 1909, the Pier has served as a prominent recreational and entertainment venue for visitors and locals with its assortment of circus rides, quaint retail shops, and cheap food stands. During the summer months, the Pier smooth sees plenty of action as children and tourists enjoy bumper cars, the Ferris wheel, and the five-story roller coaster while local and foreign musicians perform in the background. On the boardwalk, children stuff their mouths with cotton candy and popcorn and chase after soap bubbles dancing in the air. For many photographers and filmmakers, the Pier offers a picture-perfect backdrop for magazine layouts, movies, television shows, commercials, and videos; the panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean often distinguishes Santa Monica as one of Southern Californian’s most exquisite beaches. In the early morning hours, walkers and runners can often catch a glimpse of dolphins slicing through the dark blue sea with their shining, silver dorsals. Whether enjoying the day in the sun at Santa Monica Region Beach, dining at a world-class seafood restaurant, or exploring the nightlife among a myriad of bars and clubs, Santa Monica introduces a unique blend of excitement and entertainment to Southern Californians and visitors of all kinds.

In 1890, Abbot Kinney had a vision. A wealthy tobacco tycoon, Kinney dreamed that one day the Del Rey peninsula south of Ocean Park would signify the “Venice of America.” Picturing a resort town marked with canals, gondolas, amusement piers, hotels, and Venetian-styled structures, Kinney purchased this land now known as Venice and situation out to accomplish his goal. By the fall of 1904, sixteen miles of canals had been dug in the city of Venice before they were eventually filled and converted into roads twenty-five years later. As Venice residents continued to grow in numbers and local businesses boomed, Kinney delved into the amusement industry, calling for the construction of two piers-Abbot Kinney Pier and Fraser’s “Million Dollar Pier”-featuring all sorts of attractions, including a dance hall, fun house, Ferris wheel, and Japanese Tea House. And with electric trolley cars (known as the “red cars” up through the 1920s) providing frequent service from the downtown area to Santa Monica, visitors had easy access to Venice to observe Kinney’s canal network, Venetian-style business district, and collection of amusement rides located on the piers. Kinney’s fascination with outdoor entertainment established Venice as the “Playland of the Pacific.” But by 1946, Kinney’s lease for his pier had expired and the city of Los Angeles refused to grant a renewal.

Venice has always been a place where things were happening. Wait On in the ’60s, you could often catch The Doors playing a show at the Cheetah on Ocean Park Pier. Jim Morrison even made his home on the Venice canals. In fact, Morrison refers to his home in one of his poems: “an appearance of the devil/ on a Venice canal./ Running, I saw a Satan/ or Satyr, moving beside/ me…..” Many Venice locals calm honor the rock legend today, saluting Rip Cronk’s towering mural just off of 18th Avenue. Carroll Hall Shelby also found success living in Venice, breaking grounds in the automobile industry with the opening of his first manufacturing plant in 1964. Once considered one of America’s premier sports car drivers, Shelby designed a Ford Mustang that would outmuscle any driving machine that had come before it. With a loud, gusty engine, the Shelby Mustang eventually transformed the car market as the first apt street-car before production stopped in 1970.

In the early 1960s, Venice desperately needed redevelopment and refurbishment. Beatniks, bohemians, and artists had begun to establish homes along the canals, centering their lives on art, poetry, and the ever-growing avant-garde jazz movement. These creative, spontaneous types rejected American middle-class values and instead stressed spiritual liberation, ecological consciousness, and the evolution of rock n’ roll. Living in a community tolerant of such alternative lifestyles, hippies would soon lift over for the “Beats” in Venice. Flower children of this ’60s generation headed to Venice in search of free expression during their “summer of love.” Residing in the canals, they hosted pot parties, love-ins, and drunken frenzies before their homes were eventually acquired by affluent realtors just a decade later. Their record collections consisted of Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Jefferson Airplane. Originating on college campuses throughout the country, this wave of 1960s youth rebellion feverously rejected the conservative political tendencies and social norms of the 1950s and tenaciously protested the military’s intervention in the Vietnam War. Befriend on the Pacific shoreline, outdoor skating had reached new heights in Venice with the invention of the polyurethane skate wheel in 1976. As tourists flocked to the beach to contemplate this new sport, Venice experienced new life as street performers, sidewalk artists, and t-shirt stands opened up along Ocean Front Coast.

Just south of the Santa Monica city limits, the spirit of the 1960s counterculture movement returns to the Venice Beach boardwalk today. This community of artsy, alternative intellectuals has always marked a classic attraction for visitors and tourists. With several film studious located in the city, Venice has been known to appear in such motion pictures as Speed, Breathless, and the Baywatch television series. Strolling along Ocean Front Walk, crowds gather around street performers dressed in extravagant costumes, watching intently for their next trick. Sometimes Robert Gruenberg can even be found chasing onlookers along the beach while juggling chainsaws in a ring of fire. At other times, Harry Perry can be spotted playing a tune on the strand with his acoustic guitar while waving through crowds of people in his black-and-white roller hockey blades. For some of these Venice locals, performing on the street represents more than just a way to perform a few hard-earned dollars. But most often these dancers, comedians, acrobats, and artists are left with little reward for their efforts. For some, it seems that Venice will always hold that feeling of liberation. Today, unshaven and long-haired hippies stand on the boardwalk, playing acoustic guitars and beating on bongo drums while vendors sell tie-died t-shirts of music legends: Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Marley. One after another lined along the path, Rastafarian merchants display boxes of flavored incense sticks and wooden crafts with intricate layering and design. In every third store, glass cases loaded with drug paraphernalia and water pipes catch the eyes of walkers, joggers, bike-riders, and skateboarders. Just a block from the beach, several tattoo parlors and piercing stores add to the funky, carefree nature of Venice’s beachfront counterculture.

Further south into the city of Westchester, the Los Angeles International Airport serves as the international gateway to Asia and the Pacific islands. Built in 1928 and first recognized as Mines Field, the LAX site serviced military operations early on before running commercial flights at the end of 1946. Designed by architects Gable and Wyant, the Hanger No. 1 building operated as the airport’s first structure for the Curtiss Wright Flying Service. But only until recently has Hangar No. 1 regained its landmark status as a Los Angeles Cultural Monument. As the fifth busiest airport in the world today with nearly ninety airlines, LAX generates $60 billion of the city’s annual economy. Thus, it’s not uncommon to witness departing passengers waiting in security lines that string past the designated terminal building. Then they wait just as long at the gate, hoping that the attendant at the counter will at last call for boarding passes. Other travelers wait in business centers or use internet kiosks before their departure. At LAX, traveling never comes easily-getting on the plane can be unbiased as hard as leaving the airport. One after another, cars, taxis, rental car and hotel buses, and Super shuttles file into the airport to pick up arriving passengers, jamming traffic back through the Sepulveda tunnel. Completed in 1953 as the first of its kind, the tunnel has allowed automobiles to pass under the airport’s runways for more than fifty years now. Back at the airport, arriving passengers continue to stand outside the baggage claim, peering through the sea of moving vehicles while attempting to signal for a ride home. In the center of the airport seventy feet above the ground, the retro Encounter Restaurant takes the form of a four-legged flying saucer straight out of a Jetson’s episode. Originally constructed and finished in 1961, the “Theme Building” as it was once named, now overlooks the airport as a cultural and historical monument of Los Angeles. Under the final approach of runways 24 L&R, spectators can watch low-flying commercial planes touch down on California soil. More recently, fourteen Plexiglas cylinders standing ten stories high on Sepulveda and Century Boulevard cycle through a rainbow of colors, illuminating the airport with a fantastic, iridescent glow. But with LAX notorious for its poor navigation and long delays, passengers can expect to spend a good amount of time within the airport’s confines, again, waiting.

On a large scale, Los Angelinos are infatuated with cars. In Los Angeles, a agreeable public transportation system does not exist. Sadly, you can’t go anywhere without a car. The bus system is tiring,. The metro rail only has stops in Long Beach, LAX, Downtown, and Pasadena. And taxis are unbiased too expensive for getting around town on a daily basis. So it’s understandable why driving in Los Angeles could drive any man to the point of insanity. As Burt Bacharach and Hal David once sang, “L.A. is a great big freeway.” Even a trip to the dentist’s office doesn’t compare to the pain of sitting in traffic on the San Diego 405 Freeway. The 405 is a driver’s worst nightmare-more than half the day the freeway becomes a parking lot beginning at the airport and continuing all the way up to Westwood. Rush-hour traffic begins at five in the morning and continues all day until eight or even nine in the evening. Hence, it’s easy to see why a layer of smog hovers over downtown each morning, tarnishing the picturesque view of the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance. Recently, the city has taken action with the construction of an extended carpool lane further north on the 405. Still, no one can be definite how well such a plan can resolve the ever-growing traffic quandary. When there isn’t traffic on the freeways, Los Angelinos drive maniacal. Unlike most drivers in this country, they don’t drive in the right lane and pass on the left. They drive wherever they want, fast or slow. Too often cars creep up behind a car traveling in the freeway’s fast lane at only the posted speed limit. After awhile, tailing drivers become frustrated, finally zooming by these inconsiderate, oblivious drivers in the right lanes at eight-five miles per hour. Getting around the city is no easy task either. Spiraling, interlaced freeway ramps and interchanges can easily cause a driver to miss a turn onto the next interstate highway. And with the most recent energy crisis, gas prices in Los Angeles have soared to some of the highest in the nation. Driving in Los Angeles is anything but a blessing.

Crawling north past the airport on the 405, a giant honey-glazed doughnut emerges from an army of trees and brush unprejudiced off the Manchester exit. Positioned on the store’s roof, the 22-diameter snack looks as if it could roll right off into traffic at any second. Roadside archaeologists have defined this spectacle as a product of “vernacular architecture.” Often appearing in magazine ads, postcards, montages, movie backdrops, and television commercials, Randy’s Donuts has undoubtedly acquired national exposure despite its uninspired façade. Even pop singer Randy Newman felt inclined enough to mention the 1952 establishment in his widely-known tune “I Love LA.” But Robert Graham’s doughnut sculpture doesn’t mumble the whole story of this 24-hour drive-thru. With its hallmark jelly donut, Randy’s has certainly gained a reputation as Los Angeles’ premiere doughnut bakery. While the building’s outdated exterior might throw some first-timers off, the doughnuts never seem to disappoint. Whether in the mood for an apple fritter, believe claw or chocolate-glazed donut, customers can always count on their pastries to be freshly-baked proper out of the oven. Bordering West Hollywood and Hollywood at the intersection of La Brea and Santa Monica, Pink’s hot dog stand has been a longtime treat for Los Angelinos. Since 1939, this family-owned business has been serving the sloppiest chili dog in Los Angeles. No matter what time of the day, there is always a line. Even those hungry for a late-night snack are guaranteed to wait at least thirty minutes before arriving at the counter to order. Yet few other stands wicked as high in quality and service. Pink’s caters to all types-movie stars, eminent dignitaries, burned-out musicians, businessmen, housewives, and school children have all sunk their teeth into a Pink’s hot dog.

At the corner of Ninth Street and South Figueroa in the center of downtown, groups of business men and night crawlers sit down for an inexpensive all-American meal at The Original Pantry. Inside, the bleak lights, Formica tables, black-and-white city photos, and high-security cashier’s cage all shape the noir style of this antiquated Los Angeles landmark eatery. Owned by former mayor Richard Riordan, The Pantry has become a favorite breakfast spot for politicians working at City Hall or for Lakers fans looking to obtain a late-night bite after the game. Since opening in 1924, there’s never been a dull moment at the 24-hour diner. As the restaurant’s motto states, “Never Closed, Never Without A Customer.” Customers can always expect a line before sitting down to a heaping stack of buckwheat hotcakes, a hearty omelet, or a cut of top sirloin topped off with the house’s signature steak sauce. Nearby on North Alameda Street, Phillippe the Original Restaurant has established a local fan wrong with the first-ever French-dipped sandwich since owner Philippe Mathieu emigrated from France in 1908. With sawdust on the floor, clown posters on the wall, a room filled with miniature trains, and pickled eggs on the counter, Phillippe’s run-down décor often reminds long-time Los Angelinos of life in the 1930s. But the city of Los Angeles offers much more than just its landmark donut shops, hot dog stands, and archaic restaurants. As the second largest metropolis in America, Los Angeles certainly knows food. Whether biting into a fragment of seared rare tuna at Wolf Gang Puck’s illustrious Spago in Beverly Hills or crispy duck breast at Pasadena’s Bistro 45, residents and visitors of Los Angeles can taste some of the finest and most sophisticated cuisine throughout Southern California, from West Los Angeles all the way down to Long Beach.

For many tourists traveling to Los Angeles, Hollywood and Beverly Hills seem to be one in the same. While movie stars, glitz, and glamour all advance to mind when thinking about Hollywood, Beverly Hills, in actuality, is the city that provides the opulence most first-time visitors expect. Beginning as a small train residence named Morocco Junction, Beverly Hills would later become a full-fledged city in 1927 as the movie industry and its celebrities moved into mansions decorated with lavish gardens and more than just one pool. On Rodeo Drive, buses filled with Japanese tourists constantly roll down the finest shopping strip in the world anxiously looking for an opportunity to snap a picture of the latest Gucci and Versace products. Lined with stretch limos, sleek Ferraris and polished Mercedes, this world-renowned street has represented the cornerstone of a dinky Los Angeles town built on wealth and prosperity for the past thirty years. For those fortunate enough to live in such comfort, Beverly Hills signifies a place of absolute beauty and security.

Along Sunset Boulevard, the palm trees and pink decor of the Beverly Hills Hotel can not be missed. Only by chance did Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson pick up his smash here on a hot summer day in 1971. Sitting on the patio of the hotel’s famed Polo Lounge and sipping Singapore Slings with mescal on the side and beer chasers, Thompson made a phone call to Sports Illustrated that would later change the face of outmoded American journalism. While he certainly could not have predicted this monumental feat at the time, Thompson’s correspondence with the sporting magazine initially left him packing for a weekend in Las Vegas. His assignment: the Mint 400. In the words of Thompson, the Mint 400 epitomized “the richest off-the-road race for motorcycles and dune-buggies in the history of organized sport.” For some racing fanatics, the Mint 400 was a “far, far better thing than the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the Lower Oakland Roller Derby Finals all rolled into one.”

But what was supposed to be a 250-word caption for the magazine quickly turned into a wild, episodic 200-page fresh loaded with drug binges, violence, debauchery, massive hotel bills, and extreme paranoia. Thompson realized that he could not separate himself from the story and that the only way to speak the truth was through his deranged, drug-induced experiences. So he locked himself up in a room at the Ramada Inn in Arcadia, just up the road from Pasadena and right across the street from the Santa Anita racetrack. There, hopped on bustle and a galaxy of uppers, Thompson pounded away at his IBM Selectric typewriter in between sips of Chivas Regal. Developing his own style of reporting, Thompson captured the spirit and ideology of the 1960s counterculture movement in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. The book, however, was not what Thompson had envisioned. He firmly believed that the eye and mind of the journalist should function as a camera, for this method could assure that the writing would not only be selective but unedited; that is, free of any alterations. In his eyes, the Vegas lumber was ultimately a “failed experiment in Gonzo journalism,” a “vile epitaph for the Drug Culture of the Sixties.” But to his critics, Thompson’s novelistic and personal come to his subject ultimately transcended the customary practices of American journalism. Although Thompson’s unexpected death last year proved to be a sad day for the entire journalism community, he left his mark on Los Angeles, from Hollywood to East Los Angeles, in a fire-apple convertible with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, twisted on every drug imaginable.

Bordered by West Hollywood on the north and Beverly Hills on the west, the Fairfax District has commonly garnered such titles as Park La Brea and the curious Beverly Hills Adjacent. On the busy Fairfax Avenue, traditional Jewish businesses line a section of the street that Angelinos still refer to as Kosher Canyon or even “The Bagel District.” Since the early 20th century, the Fairfax District has stood as the center of Los Angeles’ Jewish community. With the increasing influx of Mexican immigrants in the greater Los Angeles region, middle class Jewish families moved west from Boyle Heights, City Terrace, East Los Angeles, and Montebello to seek out novel housing across town. What they soon discovered was a unique village centered on a main street consisting of kosher delis, restaurants, butcher’s and baker’s shops, and fish markets. Not long after, religious schools began to spring up throughout the neighborhood while the construction of a Jewish Community Center brought Jews from all different backgrounds together. As more establishments developed around the district during this time, Jewish immigrants fled from Israel and Russia to begin a new life in Los Angeles. More synagogues were built throughout the 1930s, and by 1945, the tally was already up to twelve. At the conclusion of World War II, Fairfax continued to flourish as more Jews, particularly Holocaust survivors, began to infiltrate into the community. But by the late 1970s, some Jewish families had vacated the Fairfax District and spread out to other sections of West Los Angeles. This next generation of Jews did not follow their parents, attending college and securing white-collar careers instead of owning one of the traditional shops along Fairfax Avenue. Subsequently, many of the storefronts from these early days have vanished and been replaced with modern-day shops. For the most part, the center of Jewish life in Los Angeles has migrated southwest to Pico and Robertson Boulevards just miles east of Century City.

Even so, many Jewish families have remained loyal to the Fairfax District today. Walking down Fairfax Avenue, Hebrew music pours out of the local Jewish record store while Hasidic men and young boys stroll along the district’s sidewalks in gloomy suits, white dress shirts, tzitzit, and yamakas. Down the street, the famous Canter’s Delicatessen has served Los Angelinos for seventy-five years and counting. Starting as a family-run business in Jersey City, New Jersey, the restaurant moved to Boyle Heights before relocating to the Fairfax District. Over the years, hundreds of celebrities, from Muhammad Ali to John Travolta, have walked through the deli’s doors for a Canter’s Fairfax-a house specialty that features a half-pound of corn beef and pastrami on a two pieces of rye bread. In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller could often be spotted sitting down for a bite to eat. Other customers favor the chicken matzoth ball soup, which has also earned public recognition as “the Jewish penicillin,” to cure a common cold or the flu. Next door, the Kibitz Room has become a musical haven for local rock and jazz musicians over the years. In the early 1990s, The Wallflowers regularly appeared at the club’s Tuesday night jams, introducing many of their soulful, folk-rock tunes to crowds itching to hear songs void of glitz and glamour.

Ever since Arthur Fremont Gilmore struck oil at the turn of the century on his Los Angeles ranch, the Gilmore Island has developed into a Los Angeles landmark. While Gilmore really was just seeking a new home for his family on the booming West Hover, his world-renowned institution started as a purchase of two Los Angeles ranches. But when Gilmore and his partner decided to split, they drew straws. With the acquisition of 256 acres, Gilmore’s straw helped shape a highly successful dairy farm. And one day around the turn of the century, he struck oil while inconsequently drilling for water to give his herd of dairy cows. Five years later, the dairy had been replaced by the Gilmore Oil Company, providing the fuel that would give birth to the first automobiles.

In 1921, a new Gilmore generation took control of the property. Earl Bell Gilmore, Arthur’s son, established an extensive oil and gas distribution network with his independent oil company, the largest in the west at the time. Roger Dahlhjelm and Fred Beck, two entrepreneurs fighting against the struggles of the Great Depression, approached “E.B.” with a business plan that would transform the district’s landscape into a village square. There, artisans could offer handmade goods to customers while farmers sell their produce to a pack of housewives. With Gilmore’s widespread acreage, the architectural vision of these two businessman was born. The construction of wooden stalls followed, and Dahlhjelm and Beck proposed a modest business approach where farmers were charged fifty cents per day for rent. At the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street, the Farmers Market has attracted many Jewish families to its open-air vegetable stalls and cafes as part of their weekly shopping routine. This open-air supermarket first got its start in 1934 when a group of eighteen farmers drove up and parked on a strip of vacant land at Gilmore Ranch. There, in a muddled dirt parking lot, they sold fresh produce-fruit, vegetables, and flowers-to locals out of the back of their trucks.

With current goods and an atmosphere that was quite casual, the Farmer’s Market brought Los Angelinos together to converse as well as shop. Inside these cream-colored buildings laced with green roofs and brick-colored trim, butchers, bakers, and other vendors sell various candies, nuts, and gourmet cheese. Passing by the stands, visitors can often hear over twenty different languages being spoken among them and sometimes, they even catch themselves taking a second look to verify a celebrity sighting-the Los Angeles Times peaceful ranks the Farmers Market as the top location for spotting Los Angeles movie stars. In fact, A.F. Gilmore had no idea that enthralling from Illinois to Los Angeles in 1870 would have so worthy reward. By the end of the 1920s, the Farmers Market had grossed more than six million dollars, but monetary gain had not been Gilmore’s considerable goal for building his well-liked marketplace. Rather, this vacant land at Third Street and Fairfax Avenue represented a central meeting place for Angelinos and a tourist attraction for out-of-towners, hosting circus acts, parades, petting zoos, and stargazing.

Only a few months before the Farmers Market opened, the younger Gilmore built the first race track for midget racers out of his love for the sport. He made winners out of his racers, taking them to the Winner’s Circle at the Indianapolis 500. A member of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Gilmore would later pitch the idea to develop the sport of modern stock car racing. But Gilmore’s fascination with cars extended further than just the construction of Gilmore Stadium, which also remained home to the Bulldogs, Los Angeles’ first professional team, rodeos, wrestling matches, and even swimming meets. Art Aragon, the Golden Boy of boxing, also fought in front of a packed crowd at the 18,000 seat stadium, and President Harry Truman delivered his classic “stiff upper lip” speech inside its doors. In 1938, the Hollywood Stars, a minor league professional baseball team owned by jazz musician Bing Crosby, actress Barbara Stanwyck, and movie director Cecil B. DeMille, moved into Gilmore Stadium with young prospects Spark Anderson and Chuck Connors, “The Rifleman.” With the stadium seats right on top of the field, Los Angelinos rapid fell in savor with America’s pastime, and by 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers were headed to Los Angeles to originate its first season on the West Wing.

In 1941, Farmers Market featured the newly-constructed Clock Tower with the word’s “An Idea” inscribed into its surface to honor the entrepreneurship of Gilmore, Dahlhjelm, and Beck. With the arrival of a new millennium, the A.F. Gilmore Company dedicated a large majority of the available property to shopping and entertainment venues. The North Market, home of the original Gilmore Bank, played host to a number of street-level and two-story office buildings. Today, CBS Television City dominates the northern section of the Fairfax District while the southern portion has been converted into the “Grove,” an outdoor shopping mall and theater complex decorated in early 1900s architecture. With its small-town atmosphere, this upscale mega-mall offers a host of quality clothing stores, including Nordstrom and Banana Republic, for tourists and high-class shoppers to explore.

Winding along the four sun-soaked lanes of Pacific Coast Highway 1, surfboards jut out the relieve of Volkswagen buses and mini vans. Beach houses crammed one next to the other watch the waves crumble into white wash, and each block another surf shop appears with boards stacked outside. One highway road sign says it all: “Malibu, 27 miles of scenic beauty.” Perched on the brush hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Spanish-style houses and other elaborate homes decorate these Malibu neighborhoods. Acquiring property in Malibu requires a fat pocketbook-residential lots can range from five million dollars all the way up to twenty-five. Peppered along the coastline, Duke’s, the Chart House, and other pricey surf-and-turf restaurants invite surfers, professionals, and wide-eyed tourists to sink their teeth into filet mignon or a grilled piece of Ono. At Neptune’s Net, customers can devour fresh lobster, crab, or shrimp from the live wells all while taking in the sound of waves crashing on the beach. Other Malibu locals flock to Malibu Seafood for a fish-n-chips basket, a bowl of clam chowder, or fresh Maine lobster in a more casual, yet scenic setting.

When it comes to spotting a celebrity in Los Angeles, Malibu has its own community of Hollywood stars. After the sale of La Costa area for six million dollars in 1928, a wave of movie stars fled to Southern California to lease beachfront homes from real estate developer Art Jones. From Tom Hanks to Mel Brooks to Bill Murray, the Malibu Colony has become a approved vacation hideout for movie stars since the early 1930s. Today, this gated community calm serves as an oceanfront playground for members of the movie and music industries along with distinguished writers, producers, and business types. In the last few years however, state officials have begun to favor the public’s right to section Malibu’s coastline. While the California Coastal Commission hopes to launch up these privately-accessed beaches to the public with new pathways, this celebrity community continues to fight relentlessly to keep surfers and tourists out of their backyards.

There is no doubt that Los Angeles has distinguished itself throughout the world as a classic surf destination. Long before surfing came to California, Hawaiians living on the Big Island in the late 18th century learned to stand erect on heavy timber “plank” boards and flit down the face of a wave. By 1907, Hawaiian George Freeth had introduced this concept of surfing in Southern California, but it wasn’t until 1927 when the renowned Duke Kahanamoku began to teach the sport to early Malibu surfers for the first time. Adjacent to the Malibu Pier on the 2300 block of PCH, Surfrider Beach marks the beginning of surfing in America and on a respectable day, can offer one of the best right breaks in the world. With twenty-one miles of coastline, Malibu has developed over time other hot surf spots-Point Dume, Pirate’s Cove, Trancas, and El Pescador-for locals and surfing aficionados to explore. At Leo Carrillo Space Park, tide pools, offshore reefs, and canyon streams invite surfers, explorers, and backpackers to esteem the coast’s natural resources.

Out on the water, middle-aged men climb onto their long boards and cruise across the ocean’s glassy surface, tip-toeing up to the nose of the board and abet as if they were balancing on a circus tight rope. Younger surfers gain the next set that comes in, scaling across the wave before instantly whipping the nose of the board in a 180-degree turn back down the face. Other surfers pop off the lip of the wave, soaring through the crisp California air while grabbing the edge of the board for additional style points. On some occasions, the wave’s push tweaks human balance, knocking the rider over the side of the surfboard-even surf wax does not always provide surfers with the best grip to steer out of traffic. Emerging from the water’s surface, the surfer spots his board, jumps on, and paddles out to stand up on the next promising wave. Over the weekends, enormous crowds make it difficult for anyone to stand up for a clean ride. Sometimes competition can become fierce between locals and visitors-stealing waves from each other, cutting off another rider or trash talking are all allotment of this game out on the ocean’s surface.

On the other side of Los Angeles, the city of Anaheim contains a diverse racial and ethnic composition of Latinos, Vietnamese, and African-Americans. Originally settled as a German colony, Anaheim’s rural, agricultural landscape quickly transformed into a bustling industrial center with the production of electronics, aircraft parts, and canned fruit soaring to new heights. Surprisingly, the Ku Klux Klan made Anaheim its home in the 1920s, secretly electing four of its members to the city’s Board of Trustees. Even more frightening, in fact, was that nine of Anaheim’s ten-man police squad actually acted as Klansmen. Yet as World War II came to a close, Anaheim grew with the arrival of military serviceman eager to experience the constant sunshine and new opportunities that Southern California offers its residents.

Discharged from his military term in France, Walter Elias Disney ultimately gave new life to Anaheim in the mid-1950s. After heading one of Hollywood’s most successful movie studios with his brother in 1923, Disney had plans for a permanent family fun park. Using television as his source of advertisement, he created the show, “Disneyland,” for the American Broadcasting Company. With the financial support of the television network, Disney’s dream soon came true in the summer of 1955 with the opening of Disneyland as the first member of the Magic Kingdom. From day one, crowds have flocked to the park, and many people today still travel to Anaheim for a vacation with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Snow White. By the 1990s, Disneyland underwent major construction, turning the theme park into a designated vacation resort with the Big Californian Hotel right inside its gates. Just five years ago, the park expanded with the opening of Disney’s California Adventure Park and the novel restorations of Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in 2004 set the stage for the park’s fiftieth anniversary celebration, the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth,” a year later.

Even with these recent additions, Disneyland isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be. A versatile playground for children and other though-provoking youngsters, the world-renowned park rolls a day’s worth of cheap thrills, long lines, and overpriced fast food all into one unaffordable notice price of fifty-nine dollars. Southern Californians looking for a real rollercoaster often fabricate the drive north out to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, where guests can take a ride on the spinning and looping Riddler’s Revenge or scream from the 250-foot opening drop and high speeds (an average of eighty-five miles per hour) of Goliath. Other theme park enthusiasts can develop their method up to Universal City to jump on Jurassic Park…The Tear or experience the eye-popping, hair-raising effects of Shrek 4 at Universal Studios Hollywood. And in Buena Park next door to Anaheim, Knott’s Berry Farm, America’s first theme park, has its own mix of screamers, spinners, and family rides. Originally established as a small farmland on Highway 39 for cultivating the world’s first boysenberry, the amusement park invites children and adults from all corners of Los Angeles to luxuriate in over 165 rides, attractions, and theatrical shows for less than forty dollars per person. In any case, the city of Anaheim has been regarded as a world-class destination for both leisure and business. Recognized for its hip, rich youth culture, this major metropolitan center forty minutes south of Los Angeles presents endless opportunities for surf bums, fashion goers, and ritzy executives. And with contemporary television shows like FOX’s The O.C. and MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real O.C., the Orange County location has grabbed the national spotlight with its vibrant assortment of theme parks, distinguished shopping centers, plentiful sunshine, sandy beaches, and renowned surf culture.

Sitting on the southern cliffs that overlook the dark blue Pacific Ocean, Palos Verdes has grown to be a safe haven for high-class corporate executives, physicians, and attorneys. Tucked away along the coastline’s Peninsula, this Los Angeles suburb has been rated as one of the best places to live in the world due to its close proximity to the ocean and host of golf courses and country clubs. In fact, finding available property these days can take several years for those hoping to live in one of the Peninsula’s four cities: Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, and Palos Verdes Estates. But long ago in 1827, Palos Verdes first came to life at the hands of Don Dolores Sepulveda. The rancher from Mexico took control of the area after receiving an original land grant to Rancho Palos Verdes, the “range of green trees.” Soon after, the 75,000 acres of rolling hills herded thousands of cattle along with a booming hacienda. In the early twentieth century, New York banker Fred Vanderlip purchased the entire peninsula for only 1.5 million dollars, the value of most homes in the immediate dwelling nowadays.

Today, joggers, cyclists, and horseback riders often employ time along the snaking two-lane roads and switch-backs that cover both sides of the hill. At the center of the Peninsula, the outdoor shopping mall, the Avenue, combines trendy clothing stores with family entertainment, including a multiplex cinema, year-round ice rink, and center plaza fountain. Off dry land, surfers, scuba divers, and fishermen often relish the natural wonders of the Pacific at Abalone Cove and Long Point, now a current spot for filming movies and television series. Along the city’s coastline, Point Vicente represents a favorite location in February for viewing gray whales heading south to Baja California. And across the channel, Santa Catalina Island offers an hurry from the big-city atmosphere for millions of tourists and boy scouts with its abundance of hiking trails, endangered plant life, and distinct wildlife. At Lunada Bay, one surf spot has remained a well-kept secret due to a vicious local surf gang. Known by locals as the “Bay Boys,” these PV surfers display no mercy for non-locals. In fact, they have been known to harass, intimidate, and assault outsiders hoping to surf the Bay’s perfect curl during the winter months. Several strangers and other aspiring surfers from outside the area should expect a hostile greeting when traveling t o surf Lunada Bay’s break, which can reach heights of twelve to fifteen feet on a big day. This infamous gang of PV surfers regularly waits on the beach for non-locals to return from a session out on the water before confronting them, leaving their surfboards cracked in half and their car tires slashed. But with its rolling hills and cool off-shore hurry, Palos Verdes is more of a vacation resort than a place for permanent residence. Whether golfing, hiking, or just savoring the shimmering color of an afternoon sunset, Palos Verdes presents its residents with a quiet, reserved community hidden away from the daily hustle-and-bustle, smog, and bumper-to-bumper traffic that habitually comes with living in the ever-chaotic city of Los Angeles.

Children need a well-rounded, balanced diet and this holds especially true for children with food allergies who may miss out on many of the foods that are usually included in a healthy diet. Common allergens that must be omitted from these children’s diets are gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish. A parent of a child with food allergies must provide the recommended servings of grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein without these foods.

As a parent, you want your child to safely enjoy the same foods that many other kids eat. This can be achieved by substituting ingredients. For example, in recipes that call for milk, you can replace with with rice milk, almond milk, or coconut milk. There is an egg substitute by Ener-G in powder form that can be purchased at some grocery stores and health food stores. Tapioca or cooked oatmeal can also sometimes be used as a binding agent. Cooked rice can take the place of pasta in many recipes. There are also pastas made with rice or quinoa that can be purchased at health food stores and some grocery stores.

With a little ingenuity and a lot of label reading, children with food allergies can appreciate many of the same foods as kids without them. I have found that starting with fresh ingredients like current fruits and vegetables and minimally processed meats gives me the most flexibility with recipes while keeping the food safe. Below is a recipe that my son with five of the accepted food allergies loves:

Chicken and Rice

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 c. dry brown rice

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 c. chicken broth (without any common food allergens)

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. onion powder

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Heat large skillet and add olive oil.

Add chicken breasts seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper.

Cook until juices accelerate clear.

Add rice and chicken broth and simmer for 45 minutes or until liquid is gone.

Wait On hot.

Patients should continue standard oral hygiene procedures but the intervention of a dentist may be needed to stop the progress of the disease and or remove teeth depending on how far it has progressed., Gum disease stats when harmful bacteria normally present in the mouth start to overwhelm th bodies immune systems. The response of the body to the build up of too much plaque and tartar generally makes the condition worse before treatment starts.

If gum diseases such as gingivitis are caught early before too much damage is done to the bones that attach the enamel to the tooth. While the “deep cleaning” procedure old to start treatment sounds like it should not involve a significant amount of pain, the Healthatoz website warns people undergoing it to expect some discomfort. The plaque and starter will normally be removed by means of an ultrasonic device. The dentist will remove plaque and tartar from the gums and teeth. To get the plaque around the teeth and the receding gum lines the dentist will need to scrape away the tartar build ups with a tool called a curette, which is a scoop shaped surgical instrument for removing build ups from body cavities. Initial treatment for gum disease should catch about a week in be finished in 3 or 4 visits.

Most dentists will prescribe antibiotics to help fight the bacteria in the mouth. Should deep cleaning fail to remove the pockets, you may have to undergo surgery to remove the pockets or to reduce them. If the gums have receded to discontinuance to the bone, tissue grafting may be essential. If the teeth become too short, a procedure known as crown lengthening – adding enamel to the tooth may be recommended.

While it is nice to know that treatments exist for gum disease, I think I will simply redouble my oral hygiene efforts and stock up on dental floss and Listerine. None of these procedures sound like something I want to undergo. Regardless of the diagram used, most dentists will do follow up care to make clear the condition does not return.

Sources:

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp? requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/enth/peri/treat.jsp

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp? requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/enth/peri/causes.jsp

Your Health IQ. Reader’s Digest. Novermber, 2006