Lifestyle
Looking for good vibes in L.A.? 22 readers share their 'happy place'
“Just before visiting Los Angeles in summer 2008, I read a story in the Los Angeles Times about the opening of the first public park in downtown L.A. in more than 100 years. I was intrigued by the description of the park created at a former oil field in a low-income area where residents are less likely to have access to a free public park. I remember being amazed during the first visit at how well the area formerly described as a weed-infested, dusty lot had been transformed into an urban oasis with wonderful views of downtown Los Angeles.
Kristy Serratos in Vista Hermosa Park in April 2022, photographed by her husband, John Sowell.
(John Sowell)
“I love that Vista Hermosa Park provides free access to anyone who can walk, ride a bike or drive to it. I get great pleasure watching children of different ethnicities climb the rocks, play in the pond and the short waterfalls and on the soft toy snakes and turtles. I like to walk along the paths looking at the flowers and different trees that grow in the park. It’s a little harder to view downtown as some of the trees have grown a lot since Vista Hermosa opened.
“I got married two years ago and introduced my wife, Kristy, to the park on our last visit in 2022. It was fun to match up the scene from the 2013 music video ‘The Walker’ from Fitz and the Tantrums, where the character walks across the grass toward the city skyscrapers in the background. It was unmistakable the first time I saw the video that’s where that scene took place.”
— John Sowell, Boise, Idaho
Lifestyle
‘Baldmaxxing:’ Why a growing number of men are embracing baldness (CT+) : Consider This from NPR
An entire industry is built around men hanging onto their hair — pills, foams, transplants, expensive treatments.
For a long time, the general assumption was that if a man noticed he was going bald, he’d do everything he could to stop or hide that fact.
These days, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Consider This host Scott Detrow talked with Harry James, the self-proclaimed “CEO of baldmaxxing,” about the movement to embrace baldness.
To unlock this and other bonus content — and listen to every episode sponsor-free — sign up for NPR+ at plus.npr.org. Regular episodes haven’t changed and remain available every weekday.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen moved to California to work with Jack Nicholson.
It was 1977, and Steenburgen — an Arkansas native — had been waiting tables in New York at night while studying acting with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse during the day. She’d been pounding the pavement for about seven years, she says, when her “overnight moment came” and she was called in to read for a film Nicholson was both directing and starring in called “Goin’ South.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Getting the role, Steenburgen says, changed her life in every way. “I flew out [to film] and had an amazing introduction to the town,” she explains. “I lived at the Chateau Marmont and went to Paramount Studios every day, where [Nicholson] would screen movies for me and then come in at the end to give me a little film-slash-acting lecture about each one. It really helped me get ready to dive into the big leagues.”
Though she spent some years in an old Ojai farmhouse in the 1980s raising her kids with former husband Malcolm McDowell, she’s always had a base of operations here in L.A. She shares her L.A. abode now with husband Ted Danson, whom she married in 1995 and with whom she’s starred in numerous projects, including the Netflix series “A Man on the Inside.” L.A. is also where she filmed her latest movie, “The Dink,” an Apple TV comedy centered on one of her favorite pastimes: pickleball.
Here’s how Steenburgen would spend her perfect, pickleball-filled Sunday in Los Angeles.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
5:30 a.m.: Early morning meditation and mental exercise
We always wake up early. After so many years of going to work at 5 in the morning, we always wake up between 5 and 6 now.
We’re morning meditators, or we try to be since our dog [Blue] just sits on our laps and stares at us until he’s been fed. Then we have to do all the New York Times games, and then I’ll try and find a pickleball game. We love Spelling Bee. We have to get to Genius, at least. Occasionally we’ll get to Queen Bee, but if we don’t get to at least Genius, then my day is ruined.
If my husband and I are working that week, whoever’s not working will have to run lines with the one who is. So we’ll generally spend a few hours doing that in the morning, too.
8:30 a.m.: Light gardening
I love my garden. A lot of it was hand-planted by me. Not the big trees — someone else planted those — but everything else, like the ground cover and smaller plants, I did. So I’ll spend a little time out there, too.
I like to go to Armstrong Garden Centers. They hire very knowledgeable people there. When I first started planting my garden — I live on a hill and it was all dirt back there and not everything grows well that way so I was looking for ground cover that would grow quickly but also didn’t mind a hillside. The people at Armstrong knew the answer, and they were great.
10 a.m.: Pickleball-palooza
I try to play pickleball for at least two hours a day, if I can. I try to find a game with friends, or I’ll go and play in different parks.
This morning, I played at a friend’s house. She has a beautiful tennis court and they put tape down on it so we can use it for pickleball, too. I played with her daughter and her friend.
I also have a pickleball coach and sometimes we’ll go play at this place called Pickle Pop that’s on the Third Street Promenade. Other times, I’ll play at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center.
My son just brought eight members over from [one of] London’s biggest pickleball club[s], Lemon Pickleball, and they all stayed with me. We played all over the place and we had so much fun. They loved Southern California, and seeing it through their eyes made me love it even more.
On their last night here, I called a wonderful family I know that cooks fantastic Mexican food, because I knew [the Brits] hadn’t ever really experienced great Mexican food. I met them because they’re set up every weekend in the parking lot at Rustic Coffee [in Santa Monica]. They’re lovely folks. So they came over and cooked, and we had a wonderful night for the Brits, putting up all kinds of lights and decorations too.
12:30 p.m.: Magical brunch with the grandkids
We go to Kreation a lot for lunch, just because it’s nice and it’s very healthy. I was just there yesterday with my granddaughters, after we all played Pickleball.
Actually, this weekend we all went to the Magic Castle together, too. I hadn’t been for decades and two of my five grandkids were here, and they’d never been either. Mostly it’s no kids at the Magic Castle but on weekends they do a brunch where kids can come so we went to that. The last magician in the show even called my granddaughter up on stage to be a sort of assistant, and it was very cute.
3 p.m.: Hiking with the dog
Because we work a lot and our days often belong to someone else from early in the morning until pretty late at night, weekends are more laid back.
We like to go on hikes and walks around Santa Monica. We have this big Australian Shepherd and we take him for long, slow walks. They’re slow because he has to say hello to every dog and person along the way — especially babies, who are his absolute favorite.
There’s something magical about my dog, I think. People will say, “Oh, my dog hates all dogs” and then my dog pulls me over and the dog that hates all dogs just melts. It’s like he calms other dogs. He even calms people that think they don’t like dogs. I know I’m very prejudiced, but I’m also very proud.
6 p.m.: Breakfast (or Goop) for dinner
We’re big on breakfast for dinner, so maybe we’d have some poached eggs on toast or poached eggs on creamed spinach.
If we order in, we might get food from Goop Kitchen. They have so many healthy, fantastic choices. Even their pizzas are pretty healthy.
8:30 p.m.: TV in bed
Sometimes I read a book at night, but we also have a show we absolutely love to go to sleep to, even if you’re not supposed to do that. It’s this British game show called “Would I Lie to You?” and unfailingly it makes me laugh. I’ve seen every single episode — some of them twice — and I like to go to sleep laughing.
I also just said to Ted that I think we’re going to have to start “Cheers” again soon. We just lost our friend Jimmy Burrows, who was a magnificent human and so important to Ted’s whole career, and one of the great things about watching “Cheers” is, if you know Jimmy’s laugh, you can actually pick it out multiple times during each episode.
It’s been a long time since we’ve watched “Cheers,” and it honestly never gets old. I first watched it in Ojai when I was married and had young children. We would watch it with our best friends on Thursday nights, like everybody would go down to their house in their pajamas and we’d watch “Cheers” and then I’d come home to put the kids to bed. Then, when I was going through my divorce I would watch it at 10 o’clock at night because I was very lonely and it was the thing that cheered me up at the end of the day during a hard time in my life. Little did I know that one day I’d be sleeping with Sam Malone.
Lifestyle
Wait Wait for July 18. 2026: With Not My Job guest Vicki Peterson
Musician Vicki Peterson of The Bangles performs during the 2014 LA Gay Pride Festival on June 8, 2014 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images
This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with guest host Tom Papa, judge and scorekeeper Alzo Slade, Not My Job guest Vicki Peterson and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Helen Hong, and Dulcé Sloan. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who’s Alzo This Time
Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back To The Salad Bar, A Presidential Spat, and The Next Pumpkin Spice
Panel Questions
Armpit of Despair
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists tell us three stories about something new in funerals, only one of which is true
Not My Job: Vicki Peterson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of The Bangles, answers our questions about mummies
Vicki Peterson co-founded the Bangles with her sister and some friends in high school, and went on to become one of the biggest acts of the 80s. She’s now writing and performing with her husband, John Cowsill. But, can she answer our three questions about mummies?
Panel Questions
Jungle Gym, Haute Happy Meal
Limericks
Alzo Slade reads three news-related limericks: Work Doh, Sweet Workout Bro, and Barnyard Couture
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else
Predictions
Our panelists predict, what’ll be the big surprise at the World Cup final?
-
Los Angeles, Ca6 minutes agoSuspects entered home through upstairs bedroom in Encino burglary: police
-
Detroit, MI30 minutes agoLions training camp preview: Will Blake Miller win the starting RT job?
-
San Francisco, CA42 minutes agoSFPD faces fresh round of questions on Pride weekend arrests
-
Dallas, TX48 minutes agoCowboys news: Christian Parker labeled a ‘big question’
-
Miami, FL54 minutes agoBillionaires like Ken Griffin are moving to Miami—but middle-class earners can’t copy them and reap the same benefits, real estate experts say | Fortune
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoLooking back at the World Cup: Fans drank Boston dry, got permanent tattoos, sold out famous BBQ joints, and drove up small business revenue | Fortune
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoHow much are Denver Broncos worth after Seahawks’ reported $9.6 billion sale?
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoSeattle Weather: A sunny Sunday, temperatures heating up