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Yeah, It Is

May 2013

Posted on 4/16/2013 2:42:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
You seem like reasonable, self-aware people who aren’t afraid to confront hard truths, and who no doubt have, from time to time, asked the very same question we pose on this month’s cover: Is Orange County worth it? Guessing here, but you probably asked it the last time you felt your soul die a little on the 405, or while gagging at a real estate ad for a million-dollar hovel miles from the beach. It’s OK. We’ve all been there. Read More

Ode to a Jerk

Posted on 3/20/2013 11:13:00 AM by Martin J. Smith
As redemption stories go, “The Man Who Would Be You,” by David Haldane, is more complicated than most—which to me makes it a terrific piece of writing. Read More

Weird Magic

March 2013

Posted on 3/6/2013 3:16:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
There’s no bigger fan of Walt Disney’s handiwork than yours truly, which helps explain this month’s exuberant cover story [“Secrets of Disneyland,” Page 78]. I’ve lived for almost 30 years within a short drive of the man’s signature theme park, and have witnessed its magic through the eyes of my own kids and others sporting the same delighted smiles. Read More

Trust and Hope

February 2013

Posted on 3/6/2013 3:01:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
Journalists—the good ones, anyway—trust no one, at least not until they’ve conducted what I call the “full proctological”—a thorough background check. When a reporter asks you to correctly spell your name, it’s not simply because they want to be accurate, but because it’s critical to spell it properly when searching civil and criminal court indexes, incorporation papers, bankruptcy filings, and other public records that might support or undercut your claims. (“So you say you love your mother? Great! Now, spell her name.”) Read More

Earthbound

January 2013

Posted on 12/12/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
I was, until recently, blissfully unaware of my body’s mass. Gravity? Not really an issue. I moved through life with reliable and reassuring weightlessness. High hurdles? I glided over them in high school, despite the handicaps of being 5-foot-7 and having legs far too short for my ambitions. Soccer? Even as I played through my 40s and well into my 50s, I could accelerate, decelerate, cut, and pivot on instinct, without thought or effort. Not so long ago I still annoyed my wife by bounding into the air and clicking my heels together, just because I could. Read More

The Label-Makers

December 2012

Posted on 11/8/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
Fools can be parted from their money in so many ways, but declaring oneself a vintner is right up there with top-fuel drag-racing and responding to emails with “Nigerian fund transfer” in the subject line. The wide-eyed often succumb to the same fantasy as hitting the lottery, except a lottery ticket only costs a buck. Read More

The White Lie

November 2012

Posted on 10/9/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
About 30 years ago, I decided to try a new barber. Forgive me; they were called hair stylists by then. As I recall, she was kind of a babe. I remember this because the story I’m about to tell you happened in one of those places where everyone was more beautiful and infinitely hipper than I could ever hope to be. Read More

12-Step Hiking

October 2012

Posted on 9/24/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
The troubling phrase “nature deficit disorder” entered the American vernacular in 2005 with the publication of journalist Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods,” a bestseller that argued direct exposure to nature is essential to a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. Read More

The Culinary GPS

September 2012

Posted on 8/15/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
My first dining adventure in Little Saigon was the culinary equivalent of the Hindenburg disaster. No one at the noodle house spoke English. The menu was an indecipherable hieroglyphic of unfamiliar words, accents, double accents, and diacritical markings. This mystified me in 1985, as it does now.  Read More

O.C.’s Biggest Export

August 2012

Posted on 7/18/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
In the winter of 1985, I had dinner in a tiny Balboa Peninsula restaurant with Steve Hawk, with whom I was sharing an apartment, and a group of his lifelong surfer friends. Freshly arrived from Pittsburgh—and with the Beach Boys and Jeff Spicoli as my only points of cultural reference—I was sure I was in for a vapid conversation about hot babes and tasty waves. Read More

Personal Bests

July 2012

Posted on 6/6/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
Perhaps, like me, you keep a list. Maybe not a written list, but at least a mental catalog of stuff you consider life’s best things. Read More

The Earl’s Pearls

June 2012

Posted on 5/21/2012 12:00:00 PM by Martin J. Smith
Planning this month’s cover story about Orange County’s best sandwiches took an interesting turn a few months ago. The staff gathered to discuss some of our local favorites, and how to best present the results of dining writer Gretchen Kurz’s research to our Orange Coast readers. Read More