Month: May 2022

How to create a budget-friendly DIY drought-tolerant garden

How to create a budget-friendly DIY drought-tolerant garden

Published by Sam Flores

Long before the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California declared a water shortage emergency and ordered outdoor watering limited to two days a week, Sarah Lariviere, an avid gardener, was thinking about ways to conserve water. Classic stories from the Los Angeles Times’ 143-year archive During the pandemic, the young-adult author found inspiration on the long walks that she and her husband took in their Burbank neighborhood. It wasn’t the endless series of lush green lawns that moved her, however, but the occasional drought-tolerant landscape that would materialize, sandwiched between the turf. “I grew up in the Midwest so I was drawn to the nonlawn landscapes,” says the 46-year-old. “I love the wild look of colorful wildflowers.” Precipitated by three years of record drought in California, Lariviere decided to educate herself about waterwise gardening. She took an in-person class on California native plants at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants. She consulted the SoCal Water Smart website, which offers step-by-step guidelines on how to transform your lawn using drought-tolerant alternatives to grass. …

What happened to former child star Lora Lee Michel?

What happened to former child star Lora Lee Michel?

Published by Sam Flores

SCHULENBURG, Texas — When Leslie Hannah and her sister were children, their aunt, Lora Lee Michel, appeared to them as a spectral figure, becoming real only when she appeared on screen. A child actress in the 1940s, Lora Lee at 7 was billed as a “sensation” with “the greatest appeal since Shirley Temple.” She appeared in more than a dozen films, sharing the screen with Humphrey Bogart, Glenn Ford and Olivia de Havilland. “We’d be watching TV and there’d be these films Lora Lee was in and my mom would turn them on and show us,” Hannah said. “That’s her. You can hear her voice!” But Lora Lee was a shooting star — one that would quickly crash-land. At 9, during the height of her celebrity, she stood at the center of a scandalous custody trial that grabbed headlines and captured the country’s imagination. It set in motion a chain of events that not only cut short her promising career but led to the unraveling of her life. Just before her 10th birthday, a judge ordered Lora …

Best Los Angeles flea markets for antiques, vintage

Best Los Angeles flea markets for antiques, vintage

Published by Sam Flores

Remember the camaraderie of high school, when, for better or for worse, everybody knew everybody else? That’s how this market feels, like a comforting stroll through familiar corridors, with vendors who greet you — and each other — warmly. The market, run by SNA Estate Sales & Auctions, opens at 7 a.m. and by midmorning, the vendors have begun joining the customers, checking out competitors’ offerings through closing at 2 p.m. They greet one another like old friends, sharing gossip in the vintage world while casually eyeing wares and politely stepping aside when it looks like someone is going to make a sale. It costs $2 to enter this swap meet at the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura, where you’ll find clean, ample restrooms and plenty of free parking. And since you’re shopping on a Wednesday morning, it has that nervous, thrilling feel of skipping school to go to the circus. There are vegetable stands at the entrance, along with a man who sells plants and fruit trees, and then the …