experiences

By December of 2023, Paul Preston realized that his girlfriend Susan Huckle was a big fan of road trips and lists. So for Christmas, he gave her L.A. Times’ ”101 Best California Experiences” zine, a traveler’s bucket list highlighting my top destinations throughout my four decades of traveling the state.

The gift, I’m delighted to hear, was a hit.

Preston and Huckle went through it and checked off locations they’d seen already. Then they hit the road.

And now, after two and a half years of roaming the state between work assignments, they’re back to report that they’ve covered all 101 locations on that list. Though the two have also traveled beyond state lines, the quest to cover California “totally informed our lives for the last two or three years,” said Huckle, who sent me a note of thanks after ticking the last box.

After the note arrived, I was eager to call them and learn more. I caught the couple, of course, in the middle of a day trip.

“We’re out exploring,” Preston said. “So you’re getting what we’re about.”

They’re also now married. That happened last July in Yosemite Valley, which, yes, was on the list.

Huckle, 41, an actress, a host on “L.A. This Week” on Channel 35, a Universal Studios performer and an author, grew up in Santa Maria on California’s Central Coast.

Preston, 56, is also an actor. He leads movie location tours and hosts podcasts, movie trivia nights and special events. He grew up and went to college on the East Coast, so he had fewer California miles under his belt when the couple met in 2020.

Their California 101 travels began in early 2024 with a trip to Paso Robles, where they saw the green slopes along Highway 46, Morro Rock and the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas near Hearst Castle.

“And then,” Preston said, “we just kept going.”

Some of their most satisfying stops, the two agreed, were places they hadn’t heard of, such as Orange Works in the Central Valley town of Strathmore and Angel Island State Park, sometimes known as the Ellis Island of the West. Huckle called Angel Island “a marriage of natural beauty with great, powerful, historic information.”

By early this year, there were only a few destinations left to check.

In April, they did the Indian Canyons and Sunnylands estate near Palm Springs, the Integratron near Joshua Tree and the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside. In June, they rafted the South Fork of the American River, along with stops in Old Sacramento and, last of all, Columbia State Historic Park. Then they made their own favorites lists.

Susan Huckle’s top 10:

Yosemite Valley
Badwater Basin
Mammoth Mountain
Angel Island State Park
Cheech Marin Center
Joshua Tree National Park
American River South Fork
The Marshall Store on Tomales Bay
Santa Cruz Island
Sunnylands

Paul Preston’s top 10:

Yosemite Valley
Hollywood Bowl
Griffith Observatory
Catalina
Mammoth Mountain
American River South Fork
Erick Schats’ Bakery in Bishop
Huntington Library and Gardens
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
Balboa Park, San Diego

Now that they’ve seen so much of the state, I had questions. For one, which spots not on the list would they have included?

Alcatraz, they agreed. Also, as an admirer of redwoods, Preston liked Calaveras Big Trees State Park. As an avid cyclist, Huckle liked the 22-mile Marvin Braude Bike Trail from Torrance to Pacific Palisades.

And was anything on the list a disappointment?

“The Carmel Mission,” Huckle said quickly. “It’s beautiful and the missions are an important part of California history.” But she said the mission’s account of its own history seemed “whitewashed,” saying little about the Native loss and trauma that historians are increasingly recognizing in accounts of the missions.

Said Huckle: “I was like, ‘C’mon guys, nobody really thinks this any more, right?’”

Now that they’re done with the Times’ “101 Best California Experiences,” what what will shape their next trips?

They have a list for that. Huckle picked up an L.A. guide, Danny Jensen’s “Secret Los Angeles,” and the couple plans to start where the book does, with the Triforium, a many-colored sculpture that went up outside City Hall in 1975 (and once featured music).

After that? Maybe the Faces of Elysian Valley, a traffic circle sculpture that Huckle said “looks like Easter Island in the middle of Cypress Park.”

That will leave only about 138 more destinations in the book to cover.

If anybody can do it, it’s these two.

Los Angeles is the best food city in the United States. When considering breadth and scope, quality of ingredients and cooking, diversity and innovation, and sheer volume, it just can’t be beat. There’s no beginning and no end to its wonders.

But it’s more than that. Although our city can feel chronically fractured, our foods and restaurants may be the only possible glue that binds us. So we asked our Food writers, what are the local dining experiences that define living in our city?

This is our answer. The following are not the definitive “best” restaurants or meals in L.A. — we have a proper critics’ list for that each year. Instead, these experiences are the foundation for understanding what it means to love L.A. through its foods.

Tell us if you disagree, or if there’s anything you think we missed. Whether you’re a hard-boiled native or a first-time visitor with a big appetite, we’re confident that any combination of these 50 dining experiences will make your heart sing with love for L.A.’s invincible food scene. — Daniel Hernandez

Here in L.A., you can find plenty of yoga studios that are only a short walk from the beach. But Sol Seek Yoga — The Loft is the only one where, when your instructor tells you to “extend your feet towards the ocean,” you might actually wonder if you’ll get your toes wet.

Perched just above the Strand in downtown Manhattan Beach, this cozy studio has sliding doors that open up to a full, unobstructed view of the pier, beach and ocean only a few hundred yards away. The sound of sea waves infuses the room with nature’s original white noise, adding a sense of marine tranquility to every class.

“Because of our proximity to the ocean, we’re very connected to nature,” says owner Justin Randolph. “To be able to hear the waves and connect to that rhythm, especially during corpse pose — it’s a little slice of calm.”

In fact, calm is something of a specialty at this studio, which focuses less on high-intensity aerobic classes than on restorative, therapeutic methods. Soothing Yin classes are offered nearly every day, and Chair Yoga sessions are tailored for students who are nursing injuries — or just prefer a slower, deeper practice.

To keep your visit stress-free, it’s best to plan in advance for the challenges of beachfront parking. If you’re lucky, you might be able to snag a nearby metered space or a spot in one of the lower pier lots. Otherwise, your safest bet is the large parking structure at Metlox Plaza, about five minutes away by foot.

Single class: $30
New student offer: $59 for 21 days of unlimited in-studio, outdoor and livestream classes
Unlimited monthly membership: $149

From: The 27 best yoga studios in L.A. for stretching, sweating and spiritual awakenings

If you’re planning a trip to Japan, don’t just go to the big cities, instead head to another island which has golden sands and an unbeatable experience you’ll never forget

A stunning island just three hours away from Tokyo must be added to your Japan bucket list, because it was one of my favourite days of our five-week trip.

The little-known island is about 15 minutes by boat from Ishigaki, off Okinawa, and we actually flew from Osaka and were meant to fly direct to Ishigaki. However, our flight was cancelled without our knowing, so we ended up having to fly to Okinawa, and then catching a (very tight) connection to Ishigaki. However, flight drama aside, when we decided to go to Taketomi, we didn’t think there would be much to do or that we’d want to spend very long there. But we were so wrong…

Taketomi is within the Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Taketomi is one of the Yaeyama Islands, which are a tropical archipelago in southwestern Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, known as the nation’s southernmost and westernmost inhabited islands.

They feature coral reefs, lush jungles, and a laid-back, rural atmosphere, serving as a popular destination for snorkelling, diving, and experiencing traditional Ryukyu culture.

When we went, we immediately got a minibus to where we could catch a ride on water buffalo carts. It is an iconic 30-minute guided tour through the traditional Ryukyu village, featuring red-tile roofs and sandy streets.

It was absolutely amazing, an experience we’ll never forget, and our tour guide even played traditional Okinawan music on a sanshin, which is a stringed instrument. I felt like I was in a movie! It was certainly an experience that I won’t forget in a hurry.

Then, once we bought the professional photo (we had to), we headed to get some lunch. It’s worth remembering that an estimated 300 to 360 people live on Taketomi, so don’t expect any chain restaurants or anything you’re probably used to if you’re from the UK.

But the total change of pace to even big Japanese cities was amazing, and it was nice to spend time doing a variety of things while we were in Japan.

After, we went to the beach, where I was gobsmacked by the golden sands and the clear sea. Ishigaki was the first proper tropical island I’d ever been to, and Taketomi had all the same fantastic features. I’m now enamoured.

We had a little paddle in the sea, and I was gobsmacked to find that it was actually so warm, and while you’d have to go quite far out into the sea to actually be able to swim, it was definitely worth paddling.

If you’re going to Japan, make sure you add Okinawa or Ishigaki to your list of places to visit. I’d highly recommend Ishigaki, but I’m definitely biased. I think that Okinawa is a lot more touristy now, so Ishigaki suited us perfectly, especially as my partner is a scuba diver.

We loved it so much that we hope to go back to another of the Yaeyama Islands in the future. It is worth noting, however, that Ishigaki is located in an earthquake-prone area; tsunami awareness is essential year-round. Typhoon season runs from June to November, with the highest risk occurring from July to October.