California
I took my son to California for his birthday, and he planned the itinerary. Embracing my kids' interests helps me stay close to them.
When my son was younger, there were times I wondered whether he’d ever stop talking about his interests. From detailed stories of his latest “Minecraft” session to chattering about his favorite Marvel superheroes, it seemed there weren’t enough hours in the day for him to tell me things. But whoever said “the days are long but the years are short” was right, and in a blink I found myself facing my son’s 17th birthday — his last before technically becoming an adult.
My son and I still talk quite a bit, whether discussing horror movies or analyzing his dating life, but between his first part-time job and getting his driver’s license, I see and hear from him less these days. For his birthday, I let him plan the itinerary for a trip to California — just him and me.
For nearly a week, we hit the Universal and Disneyland theme parks, saw movies in historic theaters, and ate lots of cheeseburgers. It was pretty incredible, both to spend dedicated time with him and to see him embrace the things that interest him most.
Embracing his interests over the years helped shape the trip
Courtesy of Terri Peters
I’ve learned the best way to stay close to my kids is to embrace what interests them. My son is very interested in film, so when he told me he wanted to “go to the restaurant David Lynch always went to” while we were in Los Angeles, I turned to Google. “Do you mean the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank?” I asked.
Lynch, the director behind “Twin Peaks” who died earlier this year, was known to visit the iconic restaurant for a coffee and a chocolate milkshake most afternoons, so we did, too. It was a seemingly silly stop, but one that will be a core memory for both of us.
We’ve always enjoyed going to theme parks together
Courtesy of Terri Peters
When my kids were younger, we visited Central Florida theme parks nearly every weekend. Now, they have their own lives and social schedules, so we go less frequently. Still, when we talked about a trip to California, my son said, “Can we go to Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood?”
It was a reminder that when you build memories with your kids when they’re small, those things stick. We had a great time on rides at Disneyland and doing a movie studio backlot tour at Universal, things we may not have added to our itinerary had we not gone when he was younger.
He’s developed his own interests, too
Courtesy of Terri Peters
My son’s biggest request on our trip was to visit as many historic theaters in California as possible. While staying at Disneyland, we took a drive to Santa Ana to visit an arthouse movie theater he discovered while planning the trip. In Los Angeles, we saw “Sinners” at Universal CityWalk in 70 mm Imax, a filming style my film-enthusiast son said “was the way it was meant to be seen” and something definitely not offered in our small Florida town.
Film is my son’s passion, so I was content to tag along. Part of growing up is learning what makes you happiest, and seeing my kid delight in visiting historic theaters and seeing a movie every single day of our trip made me happy, even if my vacation preferences are more along the lines of lounging poolside and trying distinctive restaurants.
I’m proud I’ve raised such an interesting human being
Courtesy of Terri Peters
Our trip wasn’t just movie theaters and theme parks. My son also requested we visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles and begged to visit stores that sold “physical media” (the film-nerd term for hard copies of movies) so he could add to his 4K Blu-ray collection. He ate 10 cheeseburgers over our weeklong trip, including two visits to In-N-Out Burger, a chain we love but do not have on the East Coast. Though I let him have the reins throughout the trip, I ended up having an amazing time, too.
Our routine has changed over the years, from storytime snuggles and Lego-building contests to college planning and navigating the teenage years. I’m so thankful I took the time to listen when he waxed poetic about video games and comic books for hours on end. Without those moments, he’d probably not include me in his interests today, and his interests are pretty cool, in my opinion.
California
Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years
While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.
It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.
It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.
“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.
The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.
“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”
The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.
“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”
You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.
What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.
“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”
That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.
“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”
While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.
“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”
California
Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter
It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!
The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”
The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.
“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”
We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.
If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’
We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.
In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.
Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies
Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.
When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”
“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”
When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”
Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.
Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.
The primary election is June 2.
No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows
A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
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