Southern California Guide

by Valerie Summers At last visitiors from foreign countries arrive and depart in  Los Angeles at a terminal that Angelenos can be proud of.  Although not entirely completed, it is a good start.  The area for arriving passengers is now comfortable and attractive with places to have a drink or a bite to eat while […]

by Valerie Summers Multi-talented does not begin to describe  Daniel Beaty, star of The Tallest Tree in the Forest which just opened at the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center.  In this one-man show, Beaty artfully and believably portrays the life story Paul Robeson but embellishes the tale with more than a […]

by Valerie Summers More than a century ago, real estate baron Henry Huntington brought super-surfer George Freeth from the surfers’ paradise in Hawaii to the Southern California seaside resort of Redondo Beach.  This exciting new addition to the fledgling beach town proved only the beginning of the diverse community which it has become. Today, vacationers […]

In the charming, rustic open-air Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, I was deeply touched by the story of the aftermath of the 1988 crash of Pam Am 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, the first of what would become many senseless acts of terrorism.  Inspired by a true story, The Women of Lockerbie, by Deborah Brevoort, […]

by Valerie Summers The iconic blue and yellow striped tent is back on the beach next to the Santa Monica Pier.  An excited crowd gathered  under the gigantic tent in anticipation of what was in store.  The newest Cirque du Soleil continues to amaze and delight audiences with its unique themes, amazing talent and comedy.  […]

The Skirball Cultural Center’s original exhibition, Women Hold Up Half the Sky opens October 27 and continues through March 11, 2012.  Inspired by the book penned by  Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, this unique exhibit presents a call to action. […]

Cirque du Soliel has done it again!  Iris — A Journey Through the World of Cinema debuted last night at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, home to the Oscars.  Appropriately named after that colorful part of the human eye which gathers light and enables vision as does the lens of a camera, Iris offers a salute to […]

The ten enormously talented and versatile men and women of Diavolo  had members of the audience holding our collective breath as we viewed their unique performance at the 2011 season opening of The Broad Stage.  The show combines  ballet, modern dance, gymnastics, martial arts and acrobatics enhanced by a dramatic musical score. Founded in Los […]

Every seat in the casual, intimate Celebration Theatre in Hollywood was filled to capacity for the opening night (July 16) of the Los Angeles premiere of a new musical, “title of show.”  Fresh from Broadway, this unique musical is a show about making a musical created by and for people who love musicals, and the […]

One of my favorite summer outings is enjoying theatrical entertainment in the rustic Will Geer Theatre Botanicum in Topanga.  Over the weekend I viewed a fascinating play about the famous opera diva Maria Callas in Master Class which I enjoyed at the Los Angeles Music Center more than a decade ago.  This was more a […]

Last night I attended the opening of a strikingly original black comedy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a blistering graphic satire with a moral message about violence, which closed with a standing ovation followed by a private party honoring the actors.  The play is set on a rocky Irish island where a hard-boiled terrorist considered too […]

At the newly opened Steven Matthew Tappan Memorial Pool, Devi, Sumithi and Tembo, three female Asian elephants took part in the San Diego Zoo’s first ever Elephant Pool Party. Elephants doused themselves under the waterfall, grabbed up apples and played with brightly colored beach balls while visitors looked on. The pool parties will continue on […]