On an unseasonably warm June morning a three-story crane lined up at the corner of Market and McCoppin. Bruce Chapman lifted his head to see a bright blue sky pierced only by faint filaments of cloud clinging low in the air. It belied the unmistakably cold and gloomy scene to which he was forced to bear witness. For more than six decades, the iconic neon sign of It’s Tops — 18 feet high, 5 feet wide, nearly half a ton in weight — had signaled to the street that a soda fountain and coffeeshop...

This cheese-centered journey to Emilia-Romagna, Italy is a seriously delicious vacation. Parmesan is so ubiquitous in Italian cuisine that little thought goes into what it actually is. Well, technically any hardened cheese could wear the label. Most of them would be imposters, however. There is but one authentic example of the style: the original Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is as much a place as it is a product. And it’s well-worth seeing for yourself. Any self-respecting gourmand needs to make a...

Denali National Park encompasses almost 9,500 square miles of wilderness. If it were its own state it would be the 43rd largest in the US—slightly smaller than Maryland. It’s lowest point along the Yentna River is only 223 feet above sea level. From here it rises some 20,000 feet to the site of its eponymous peak: the continental ceiling of North America. All this is to say, you could easily spend a lifetime exploring and not even crack the surface of this immense landscape. Yet one intrepid...

On assignment in Hawaii as coronavirus swept the nation, one travel writer shares his love for a place that unexpectedly became home. It was pitch black. Lava flows, hardened by the ages, scraped against the soles of my feet. I struggled to stay upwards, plodding towards the ocean’s edge, guided haphazardly by the periodic crash of waves upon shore. Suddenly, a distant radiance revealed the way. The dark horizon yielded intermittently in the presence of what surely must have been a...

STYLE FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Restaurateurs are going far beyond the usual apps, including producing videos to accompany 16-course omakase requests. Before March 2020, there were roughly 8,500 restaurants in and around Los Angeles. It's unclear exactly how many will remain by the time lockdown is over. On July 30, downtown L.A.'s Patina restaurant closed permanently after 31 years. What seems certain is that the places that carry on will owe it partly to adaptability. And for many, that has...