The Magic of Mumbai
By Roger Allnutt Located on the west coast of the country facing the Arabian Sea, Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, is India’s most vibrant city. It’s the financial capital of India, the country’s busiest port, a thriving center for film production (Bollywood) and a dynamic and cosmopolitan city whirling with color and activity. The city is […]
Traveling Near and Far: The Kenai Peninsula
By Joann Deutch Most road warriors who set off for an Alaskan adventure head off to the Denali. My mission – to see the Bering Sea and the Aleutians Islands – took me in the other direction. My route took me from Anchorage to Homer by car, then the Alaska Marine Highway’s passenger ferry to […]
Aurora’s Silent Prayers
By Rachel Melikian An orphaned unknown teenage girl, the greatest, bravest woman in history, miraculously arrived alone in the United States 101 years ago, after three and a half years of wandering on foot from her hometown in Western Armenia. She had escaped slavery and a harem after her entire village had been massacred by […]
MGM and The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
By Rachel Melikian What do Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Franz Werfel, Clark Gable, Sarky Mouradian, and Sylvester Stallone have in common? They were fascinated by the Armenian heroism explored in Franz Werfel’s book, “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.” This literary-historical gem was published in 1933, translated into 18 languages, and instantly became a national and international […]
The Lovely and Luxurious L’Auberge Del Mar: A Review
By J.C. Thomas The seaside village of Del Mar, just north of San Diego, is surely one of the loveliest spots in all Southern California. More than 2 miles of sandy beaches bound Del Mar, encompassing coastal parks, playgrounds, top-notch surf spots and a dog-friendly beach. The bluffs abutting those beaches are high and craggy, […]
Experience Endless Summer at Newport Dunes
By J.C. Thomas Newport Beach, one in a string of glorious beach towns along the coast of Orange County, has a reputation for being fancy. There’s no denying it’s a gilded playground of sorts, profuse with country clubs and yachts, high-end boutiques and such natural beauty to command an arm and a leg of anyone […]
“Eat the Peas”
America, We Thank You By Rachel Melikian On Oct. 29 this year 405 Congress members struck a historic bipartisan vote for the house resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to 1923. The H. Res, 296 strives to “commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance.” Sadly, some of the histories of the Americans’ […]
There’s Still Time for Pre-Snow Fun in Big Bear
By J.C. Thomas Many SoCal residents are eagerly awaiting the arrival of snow in Big Bear, whether it’s by nature or machine. But with temperatures across California still on the warmer side, we’ll all just have to be patient. Real winter will soon hit the mountains, but there’s plenty of outdoor action to experience in […]
Hotel Irvine – An Ideal Venue in Orange County’s Urban Hub
By J.C. Thomas Irvine is commonly characterized by the hundreds of corporate headquarters whose high-rise office buildings tower over the city’s neat and sunshiny master-planned landscape. This makes it easy to overlook Irvine as a vacation destination, but look beyond its businesslike veneer and you’ll uncover the vibrant urban epicenter of Orange County. Unlike the […]
Charles Aznavour: A Century of Performance
One year after his death, the “last of the giants,” is still on stage By Rachel Melikian He was short, plain and not conventionally attractive, yet against the odds, he climbed to the global heights and was named “France’s Frank Sinatra” and global “Entertainer of the Century,” surpassing Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan in popularity. […]
Broken Worlds in a Photographic Gallery
By Rachel Melikian Photographs preserve history and teach us about the past without any language involved, but as the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. Now most of us are amateur photographers using smartphones to capture selfies and personal photographs, gather images when we travel, and chronicle our personal histories. Professionally skilled […]
Visiting Oakland? There’s No Better Place to Stay Than the Waterfront Hotel
By J.C. Thomas If you have never considered Oakland as a travel destination, may I suggest you think again? National Geographic Traveler recently named Oakland one of the “28 Best Places to Visit in the World for 2019.” The world. It is only one of four locations in the United States and the only one […]