California

Huell Howser Lives! | Connecting California

Published

2 years ago

April 30, 2024

Huell Howser Lives! | Connecting California

by Joe Mathews |
April 30, 2024

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most impactful stories and public programs. Connecting California columnist Joe Mathews revisits Southern California author D.J. Waldie’s 2012 essay “The Darkness Behind Huell Howser” and considers why, over a decade after Howser’s death, the public TV’s great California chronicler retains such a hold on us.

“Do you know Huell Howser?”

I got that question recently while chatting with a counter guy at Erick Schat’s Bakery, which produces Dutch pastries and sheepherder bread in the Eastern Sierra town of Bishop.

It’s a question I get at least a couple times a year, in all different corners of California.

I suppose it’s a natural question. People might wonder if I, a longtime chronicler of California’s places, get asked if I know the public television reporter who took viewers into every little town and restaurant and museum, from Alturas to Zzyzx.

It’s a question that never ceases to amaze me. Or stump me.

Because the truth is that I can’t possibly know Huell Howser. And not just because I only met him a couple times. No one can possibly know Huell Howser anymore, because Huell Howser died 11 years ago, of prostate cancer, at age 67.

But the truth is also that people feel like they do know Huell Howser. Because he never really left us. His shows still air regularly on public TV stations in Southern California. And episodes of his California-exploring series—California’s Gold, California’s Green, Downtown, Road Trip with Huell Howser, and Visiting—still attract heavy traffic online.

Why does Huell Howser retain such a hold on us? The best answer to that question came from the Southern California author D.J. Waldie, in a Zócalo Public Square essay published shortly before Howser’s January 2013 death.

Waldie’s thesis was that Howser, in taking viewers to forgettable eateries and little-known places, was finding joy in the thing that Californians most cherish: our broken dreams.

Most people come to California, or grow up in California, dreaming of stardom or riches or invention or new and distinctive lifestyles. Instead, they end up sewing dresses in a little store in Tustin, or working at a dairy outside Turlock. You can feel pretty small doing that kind of work. But when Howser showed up, the public TV explorer in all his geeky ebullience, it made the life you settled for seem big.

When Howser showed up, the public TV explorer in all his geeky ebullience, it made the life you settled for seem big.

“Howser wasn’t just pitching the muchness of California, an abundance anyone should be able to see unaided,” Waldie wrote. “He was pitching the almost infinite otherness within the ordinary of California, particularly when California is considered with joy.”

Waldie wrote that Howser’s deep connection with the regular “folks” of California was not his joy but “the melancholy behind his fierce public niceness.” His TV tours could strike sad notes, especially when his questions revealed wonderful old things that no longer existed. The same relentless dynamism that produces the many wonders of California also destroys the established. Our sunny love of the novel coexists with darkness and loss.

Howser liked to say that his goal was to encourage Californians to embark on their own personal adventures around the state, and investigate the places all around them. Howser modeled that kind of exploration, with a curiosity about everything that showed how fiercely unprejudiced he was.

As Waldie wrote, Howser was not urging Californians to take “a harmless field trip” but rather to begin “an encounter with the differences that reside, intractable, in everyday life—real differences between people, conditions, ethnicities, and cultures that can only be accepted for what they are and mostly with a smile.”

I don’t look or sound like Howser—he was a handsome TV guy with the distinctive accent of his native Tennessee, while I’m a rumpled print guy and fourth-generation Californian. But I suspect I get the “Do you know Huell Howser?” question because my reporting method is so similar to his.

That method: modestly planned, thoroughly unrehearsed wandering—which also happens to be the most practical way to get to know California.

Because Californians are so informal and so flaky (as anyone who has ever invited people to a dinner party knows), I rarely bother to schedule a bunch of interviews in advance when I’m visiting a town. It works much better to show up unannounced, act friendly, and start asking respectful questions about what people do.

I also say, as Howser did, “wow” and “gee whiz” when people are showing me things—a rusting old motorbike, a piece of street art, a loaf of bread—that would seem less than amazing to someone less geekily Californian.

There is no greater flattery in the Golden State than to take an interest in what others do. Californians, whatever their occupation, are instinctive artists, and asking them about their business or their home or their flea market—as Howser did—often elicits detailed and thoughtful responses.

That’s what I was doing at Schat’s. I had been pressing the counter guy. What is that bread? Can I try a piece? What makes it taste so good?

His answer to my last question was perfect: The best bread comes from the baker most determined to make sure you never forget it.

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California

California playoff live update scores, roundup: Nov. 28-29, 2025

Published

3 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

California playoff live update scores, roundup: Nov. 28-29, 2025

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California

Average Thanksgiving dinner cost was higher in California than most of US: Study

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

Average Thanksgiving dinner cost was higher in California than most of US: Study

If you noticed your grocery bill for Thanksgiving staples was more expensive this year, it may be because you live in California, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

A new study by the federation shows that Californians were expected to spend more on traditional Thanksgiving dinner ingredients in 2025, according to its 40^th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey. Its data showed that a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people in California costs $72.61 compared to the national average of $55.18.

Shannon Douglas, President of the California Farm Bureau, said that expenses for what goes into agriculture production in the Golden State are to blame for the disparity.

“We think that’s a couple of things in play. No. 1, it does cost more to grow food here in California,” Douglass said. “In California, we have the toughest regulatory environment, really, in the country. We have some of the highest labor costs. We know that just regulatory costs alone, for some growers, is about $1,600 per acre; That adds up, of course, very quickly. And in California, we’ve got some of the highest transportation costs, the highest energy costs. Much like so much of the other things in California, it just costs more here.”

According to Douglass, the bureau’s findings aren’t completely bleak for residents who live in the Golden State. The holiday dinner’s centerpiece was cheaper in California in 2025, she said.

“Turkey, actually, was down, which was a helpful one, and interestingly enough, stuffing is less expensive,” Douglass said. “… But most of the other products were up, particularly like the dairy products in California were a little bit higher.”

In addition to overall costs being more expensive in California, the reduced labor force has also posed a challenge and contributed to the increase in costs.

“We have lost a lot of farmers in California because of this tough regulatory environment that we’ve been forced to navigate,” Douglass said. “In the last 10 years, we’ve lost about 20% of the farmers in the state, and that’s significant, of course. Unfortunately, we’re one of the leading states in the country in farm loss … so, we certainly have that as a challenge.”

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost for a classic Thanksgiving dinner for a party of 10 by region was:

West Coast – $61.75
Midwest – $54.38
Northeast – $60.82
South – $50.01.

Still, the California Farm Bureau acknowledged that the average cost in California was significantly higher than in the West Coast region.

To read The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 40^th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey, click here.

To read the California Farm Bureau’s study, click here.

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California

Why Southern California’s most vulnerable youths face hunger during school holidays

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Press Room

Why Southern California’s most vulnerable youths face hunger during school holidays

The holidays are a time when people gather with loved ones and celebrate abundance, but when California’s most vulnerable young people aren’t going to school because they are on break, it means even more uncertainty over where to find food. And that leads to even greater risk.

That’s the finding of a coalition of Orange County nonprofits that is tracking 500 at-risk youths to better understand what they need to live more stable lives and steer clear of abusive situations.

The collaboration uses a new tool for digital case management, research and prevention, developed by EverFree, which supports human trafficking survivors, in partnership with UC Irvine. It allows the nonprofits to collect information from young people, ranging from those in elementary or middle school to 24-year-olds.

Almost half the students tracked with the digital tool, who were referred by social-work case managers, said they aren’t living a healthy lifestyle, the nonprofits said. One in 5 said they often don’t know how they’ll eat and one-third said they struggle with mental and emotional well-being.

All of the participants come from families that are either unhoused, living in temporary housing such as motels or sharing crowded dwellings with multiple, unrelated families, said Shelby Feliciano-Sabala, a social worker who is chief partnership officer at Project Hope Alliance, a nonprofit that helps children experiencing homeless. The organization is working on the project with EverFree and Stand Up for Kids Orange County.

School can be much more than a place to learn, Feliciano-Sabala said.

“Youth experiencing homelessness get a sense of belonging, safety and routine when they’re at school,” she said. “When you don’t have that routine, and you don’t have access to that food, that disrupts your regular life.”

When already-vulnerable youths undergo even more uncertainty about getting food, there is often someone waiting to exploit that situation by luring them into coerced labor and sex work or subjecting them to gender-based violence, said Kelsey Morgan, co-founder and chief executive officer of EverFree.

“We’ve heard stories from many of our other partners of youth who run away and are approached by a trafficker who simply offers a McDonald’s cheeseburger,” Morgan said.

Feliciano-Sabala said she’s heard of traffickers winning over young people with a gift as meager as a bag of Takis rolled tortilla chips.

“Food insecurity is actually resulting in runaway situations where kids are so desperate that any person willing to offer them something small is winning their trust,” she said.

Feliciano-Sabala said private nonprofits represent “critical infrastructure” all year round, but particularly during the holidays, when the need tends to spike.

For families living in their cars, for instance, her nonprofit distributes gift cards to restaurants where they can eat in more comfort and safety, she said. Families staying in hotels with nowhere to cook can receive prepared food such as turkeys and tamales. Her nonprofit also distributes food from its small pantry or buys groceries for families in need.

Inadequate food is an ongoing problem for young people and families across California and the U.S., and it’s not only school-age children who are at risk.

One in 4 college students nationwide has an unreliable food situation, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office, which provides fact-based information to Congress. However, most of those who are potentially eligible are not enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — the GAO found.

Congress passed a law in 2024 designed to raise enrollment in federal food-aid among students by giving the U.S. Department of Education the authority to share student data with both federal and state SNAP agencies to determine their eligibility. But in a report this year, the GAO said that the department still had not made a plan to share this data, or given states guidance about the benefits of the law.

Self-assessments completed by young people ages 18-24 in Orange County as part of the nonprofits’ data collection mirror the food-access concerns that young adults across the country report. The research shows about half go to an institution of higher learning full-time, a third go to school and work part-time and the rest work full-time. So even though they have income, many are worrying about food, Morgan said.

In fact, getting enough to eat ranked higher than adequate clothing and safe, stable housing among college-age students who shared their top priorities ahead of the holiday season in 2024, she said. The nonprofits plan to release more insights about youths they’re tracking in 2026.

“When you look to the data of what these youth are asking for, it sheds a lot of light on what those core vulnerabilities are,” Morgan said. “These are individuals who want, desperately, dignified employment. They’re prioritizing things like savings, household income, money management, skills for employment and healthy lifestyles.”

Feliciano-Sabala said the digital tool was developed in response to the desire among case workers to offer help that is more tailored to those in their care.

The nonprofits hope to share their findings with service providers and policymakers to better address what young people say about their lives and dreams.

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