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.
Los Angeles
In the Footsteps of a Killer
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.
The Zankou Chicken Murders
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.
The Hollywood Exec and the Hand Transplant That Changed His Life
“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.”
Hollywood’s Information Man
As editor-in-chief of Variety, Peter Bart was one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry. This piece got him suspended.
The Voice Actors Behind Video Game Characters Are Famous, but Also Nearly Invisible
What it’s like to have thousands of fans who don’t recognize you.
Who’s Been Killing the Feral Peacocks of Palos Verdes?
A case of peafowl dividing a neighborhood.
The Deputy Who Disappeared
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.
When Is A Rescuer A Hoarder?
The life of Kimi Peck, a former screenwriter, once married to Gregory Peck’s son, who turned to “saving” stray dogs.
Under the Skin
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.
A Mobster, a Murder, and a Moll with a Secret
Nearly 70 years after Bugsy Siegel’s unsolved murder in Beverly Hills, a family finally comes forward: they know who did it.
Casualties of War
A couple’s only son is killed in Iraq.
Escape from Cuba
Yasiel Puig’s journey to the Dodgers.
The Hugo Problem
The downfall of Hugo Schwyzer, feminist.
Downfall
The undoing of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who resigned in January amidst multiple swirling scandals.
The Secret Life of Johnny Lewis
A murder involving the late actor leaves unanswered questions.
Ghost Cat
On the mountain lions of Los Angeles.
Freeway Rick Is Dreaming
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.
Broken Promise
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.
The Tip of the Spear
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).
This Is Amazing!
A profile of Huell Howser, the happiest man on TV.
23 Reasons Why a Profile of Pete Carroll Does Not Appear in This Space
An attempt at writing about the football coach.
End of the Line
Suicide-by-subway, and how the dead haunt the living.
Doctor's Orders
A profile of Doc Johnson, “the Procter & Gamble of sex toys.”
Empire of the Bun
How one man made millions with a fancy hamburger.
