What Happened to the Salomons?
In 1982, a family disappeared from their Los Angeles home. A writer and former neighbor is still trying to put the pieces together.
Great articles, every Saturday.
In 1982, a family disappeared from their Los Angeles home. A writer and former neighbor is still trying to put the pieces together.
Stacy Perman Los Angeles Jul 2018 30min Permalink
From 1976 to 1986, one of the most violent serial criminals in American history terrorized communities throughout California. He was little known, never caught, and might still be out there. The author, along with several others, couldn’t stop working on the case.
Michelle McNamara Los Angeles Feb 2013 30min Permalink
The creator of the California-based food chain kills his mother, sister and, finally, himself.
From Hollywood to Anaheim, he had opened a chain of fast-food rotisserie chicken restaurants that dazzled the food critics and turned customers into a cult. Poets wrote about his Zankou chicken. Musicians sang about his Zankou chicken. Now that he was dying, his dream of building an empire, 100 Zankous across the land, a Zankou in every major city, would be his four sons’ to pursue. In the days before, he had pulled them aside one by one -- Dikran, Steve, Ara, Vartkes -- and told them he had no regrets. He was 56 years old, that was true, but life had not cheated him. He did not tell them he had just one more piece of business left to do.
Mark Arax Los Angeles Apr 2008 40min Permalink
“It is a beautiful hand: strong, with long, slender fingers and smooth skin, its nails ridgeless and pink. If you didn’t know Jonathan Koch—if you first met him, say, on the courts at the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Club—you might not suspect that his hand previously belonged to someone else.”
Amy Wallace Los Angeles Mar 2017 35min Permalink
As editor-in-chief of Variety, Peter Bart was one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry. This piece got him suspended.
Amy Wallace Los Angeles Sep 2001 45min Permalink
What it’s like to have thousands of fans who don’t recognize you.
Brandon R. Reynolds Los Angeles May 2016 20min Permalink
A case of peafowl dividing a neighborhood.
Mike Kessler Los Angeles Jan 2016 25min Permalink
In 1998, a cop named Jon Aujay went for a run in the desert. He never came back. The department decided it was suicide, but that is not the only theory.
Claire Martin Los Angeles Oct 2015 40min Permalink
The life of Kimi Peck, a former screenwriter, once married to Gregory Peck’s son, who turned to “saving” stray dogs.
Carol Mithers Los Angeles Jul 2015 25min Permalink
A West Hollywood aesthetician made headlines after allegedly trying to have a business rival killed. But the real story, involving ongoing harassment and a member of the so-called Bling Ring, may be more complicated.
Greg Nichols Los Angeles May 2015 20min Permalink
Nearly 70 years after Bugsy Siegel’s unsolved murder in Beverly Hills, a family finally comes forward: they know who did it.
Amy Wallace Los Angeles Sep 2014 15min Permalink
A couple’s only son is killed in Iraq.
Steve Oney Los Angeles Jun 2007 50min Permalink
Yasiel Puig’s journey to the Dodgers.
Jesse Katz Los Angeles Apr 2014 30min Permalink
The downfall of Hugo Schwyzer, feminist.
Mona Gable Los Angeles Apr 2014 25min Permalink
The undoing of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who resigned in January amidst multiple swirling scandals.
Celeste Fremon Los Angeles Mar 2014 15min Permalink
A murder involving the late actor leaves unanswered questions.
Bill Jensen Los Angeles Jan 2014 20min Permalink
On the mountain lions of Los Angeles.
Mike Kessler Los Angeles Nov 2013 25min Permalink
A profile of legendary L.A. crack dealer Freeway Rick Ross, now out of jail and trying to sell everything from weaves to his own biopic, written by a journalist who has known him for decades.
Jesse Katz Los Angeles May 2013 30min Permalink
On the meeting of shaggy-haired American ping pong ace Glenn Cowan and Chinese master Zhuang Zedong (who died this week), and how their fleeting friendship thawed relations between the twon nations during the U.S. team’s historic 1971 tour of China.
David Davis Los Angeles Aug 2006 10min Permalink
A reporter who investigated Scientology tracks down the man who once ran the church’s intelligence operations – and who may hold the secret to years of harassment (and the mysterious death of a pet dog).
Joel Sappell Los Angeles Dec 2012 30min Permalink
A profile of Huell Howser, the happiest man on TV.
Tamar Brott Los Angeles Nov 2003 25min Permalink
An attempt at writing about the football coach.
J. R. Moehringer Los Angeles Dec 2007 45min Permalink
Suicide-by-subway, and how the dead haunt the living.
Charles Fleming Los Angeles Jul 2012 15min Permalink
A profile of Doc Johnson, “the Procter & Gamble of sex toys.”
Dave Gardetta Los Angeles Jul 2012 25min Permalink
How one man made millions with a fancy hamburger.
Lesley Bargar Suter Los Angeles May 2012 15min Permalink