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Throughout 2008, the Los Angeles Times will produce a series of weekly dispatches, each one a postcard from a different community in Southern California. The articles will serve as a portal for readers to offer feedback, discuss their own communities and learn more about the people and places that make up our rich mosaic.
OUT THERE
The locals -- old-timers who live on their little boats -- have a lot to lose as development encroaches.
OUT THERE
Funded largely by West Hollywood, the racy Web show promotes safe sex at a time when diagnoses of AIDS and HIV are rising. The target is men too young to recall the disease's early devastation.
OUT THERE
Residents in Windsor Hills and nearby communities -- with a 1,000-acre oil field at their center -- are concerned about decreased property values, noise and fumes.
OUT THERE
In the battle for the historic area's future, the neighborhood council is ground zero.
OUT THERE
Three sisters take over the dome in Landers, where therapeutic 'sound baths,' time travel and who knows what else are said to be possible.
Years after first skating into the popular consciousness and then fading away, roller derby is hot again.
OUT THERE
In the inland city, sold as a sort of Napa of Southern California, as many as 15% of the 22,500 single-family homes may be bank-owned or in some stage of foreclosure.
OUT THERE
The man who watched his brothers fall victim to the streets found refuge in art. Many of his Locsters -- such as 'Tattoo Tony' -- are real people depicted as toys.
Millions are being spent in the area along Whittier Boulevard that in its heyday was a center of Latino pride and activism.
OUT THERE
No one called police for over an hour as the victim cried for help near Poinsettia Park. Residents say the area has been growing more dangerous, and they are organizing to fight crime.
OUT THERE
In the conservative Orange County town, where 'hippie' is a weight problem, homegrown activists are springing up to fight what they see as unchecked development.
OUT THERE
For nearly a quarter of a century, Sister Nuala Ryan has taught music and been the Catholic chaplain at Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona.
John Hood, a Navajo and Vietnam vet, has created many works in his job as a Caltrans graphic artist. But the picture of an immigrant family running has resonated far beyond his office cubicle.
Pain and dreams, hellos and goodbyes. In notes stuck in a table, L.A. says, 'I was here.'
OUT THERE
A massive housing project may mean the end for Neenach, in the Antelope Valley.
SCOTT GOLD | Out There
One afternoon a week, police remove the drug detritus from a skid row park so kids can play
Norco is divided over plans to regulate the disposal of equine manure. Many in 'Horsetown, U.S.A.' see a threat to their lifestyle.
Books & Authors
Called by some the nation's gayest city, it is described as a center of aging men with sexual hyper-drives.
The sun splashed onto the roof of a church, filling the faces of two golden statues of angels who opened their arms to the sky. It was the first light of the morning, which made everything look pretty, even the hardened heart of South Los Angeles.
Badminton changed Don Chew's young life in Thailand. Now the successful immigrant businessman is on a mission to raise the game's profile in his adopted homeland.
The designation of tiny El Porto's commercial strip as North Manhattan Beach marks the evolution of the once-raucous enclave and leaves some locals feeling the colorful past is being cast aside.
Where should Out There go next?
Delano, CA. I often wonder how this small farm town has become a safe haven for gang leaders and their destruction. 
— Reader Mary Beth.
Share your ideas here and read other readers' suggestions
Delano, CA. I often wonder how this small farm town has become a safe haven for gang leaders and their destruction.
— Reader Mary Beth.
Share your ideas here and read other readers' suggestions
About the reporter
Scott Gold has been a Times staff writer since 1999.
Among the major news events he has covered in that time: the recount of the presidential vote in 2000, the terrorist attacks of 2001, the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and last fall's wildfires. In between, he has explored Southern California, writing about a beauty pageant scandal in Barstow and urban preservationists intent on saving the "76" gas station balls.
Born in Laguna Beach, he has also lived in Irvine, Sierra Madre, Long Beach, Glendale and Los Angeles, where he lives today.