Explore California this fall by taking a road trip

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Nov. 4. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• The ultimate guide to fall road trips
• Six Flags and Knott’s Berry Farm to merge in a theme park megadeal
• 80 wonderful gift shops you can find only in L.A.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper

The ultimate guide to fall road trips

Road tripping is one of the best ways to explore California, and this is the best season for it.

You can ride with the windows down without sweat dripping down your face, and you’ll meet fewer crowds at your destinations.

We put together the ultimate guide to fall road trips just for you.

Even after years as a road tripping Californian, I was unprepared for the road to Big Bear. For miles, there is nothing but trees, mountains and cars zooming past the twists and turns. My playlist started and stopped as cell service came and went, and my friend and I worried about whether we’d have to pee out in nature. (We had emergency toilet paper in the trunk!)

(Brady Enger / Visit Big Bear)

We ended up at the Woodland Trail in the San Bernardino National Forest for an easy hike and grabbed lunch before heading back to L.A.

The key to a great road trip is keeping it manageable for a single day.

It’s much easier in the fall. And more beautiful. For instance, Mammoth Lakes is very popular during the summer, but when it’s mostly empty and the leaves are changing — as is happening now — you can’t beat it (plus, if you tend to get carsick, the road is much straighter).

But there’s so much more to this state than mountains. When a friend and I came upon windmills in the desert outside Palm Springs, with the mountains behind them, it felt like we had been transported into a postcard.

(400tmax/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

California’s mountains, deserts and beaches are easily accessible nearly anywhere in the state. That’s one thing I remind my relatives when they ask why I insist on living in one of the most expensive places in the country.

Grab some water and snacks, fill up the tank and drive. Oh, and don’t forget to make a playlist, which is as essential as deciding where to go. For me, it’s a must to at least have music cued up from Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder.

The week’s biggest stories

(Willy Sanjuan / Invision/ Associated Press)

Remembering Matthew Perry

• Hollywood remembers ‘comedic genius’ Matthew Perry: ‘His legacy will live on.’
• Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ co-stars react to his ‘unfathomable’ death in shared statement.
• Inside the investigation that will determine how Matthew Perry died.
• ‘Fools Rush In’ has its issues, but Perry and Hayek’s chemistry gave us a charming tale of intercultural dating.

Climate and Environment

• Climate change is turning swaths of California’s mountains into ‘zombie forests.’
• How two scorched giant sequoias kicked off a controversy about controlled burns in California.
• This California desert oasis has lessons for climate change.
• Highland fire forced residents to flee. ‘I went outside and couldn’t breathe.’
• Millions of sterile fruit flies are being dropped on L.A. to fight an infestation.
• Exxon scraps plan for new pipeline after 2015 spill — but may try to resurrect old one.

Politics

• Porter and Schiff are polling neck and neck in the California Senate race and are in the lead for a runoff.
• Why the fall of Kevin McCarthy leaves California Republicans in a tough spot.
• Washington is getting tough on China. Why that’s bad for California.
• ‘Double the legal limit’: Assemblymember, L.A. council candidate arrested on suspected DUI.
• Is ’90 Day Fiancé’ having an effect on visa approvals? A new report argues it is.
• Shasta County ditched its Dominion voting machines. Now, residents are braced for turmoil on Nov. 7.

Courts and crime

• Allegations of sexual harassment and an armed surgeon roil top L.A. teaching hospital.
• The LAPD fireworks explosion has cost the city $9.5 million so far, with the number expected to rise.
• L.A. Unified to pay $19.9 million to settle sexual abuse claims against a teacher’s aide.
• The 9th Circuit stays a ruling against California’s assault weapons ban, pending an appeal.

More big stories

• Californians with past-due water bills can get help with payments. Here’s how.
• The economy is good, but that’s not what polls show. What’s going on?
• Six Flags and Knott’s Berry Farm owners to merge, reshaping the theme park landscape in mega-deal.
• L.A. was taken over by giant box houses that favor size over style.
• Hidden costs for remote workers moving out of California.
• A divide over the Israel-Hamas war flares at UC Berkeley Law.
• Contra Costa County links 11 confirmed tuberculosis cases to a Pacheco casino.
• Earning a master’s degree in prison is now possible in a ‘groundbreaking’ California program.
• Daylight saving time is ending. Should we not do the time warp again?
• Californians who need help paying for round-the-clock home care are stuck on a state waitlist.
  

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Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

A $7-million dream: Steinbeck’s vintage sardine boat makes its modern debut. John Gregg’s childhood dream was rooted in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. And $7 million later, he owned a piece of it: the 1937 sardine boat that had plied the Sea of Cortez.

More great reads

• Millions of sterile fruit flies are being dropped on L.A. to fight an infestation.
• Meg Ryan on the essentials of good rom-coms — and her long-awaited return to them.
• Monarch butterflies appear to be everywhere these days. Is the crisis over?
• ‘Housewives’ made Bethenny Frankel a star. Now she says it’s ‘nothing short of disgusting.’
• Review: Colman Domingo brings the activism drama ‘Rustin’ to life, thrillingly so.
• Column: She set out to build robots. She ended up exposing big tech.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

Animation is projected on the Pleasure Med building.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 😮‍💨🌿 ‘What’s better than sex and weed?’ How about a new West Hollywood one-stop pleasure campus.
• 🖼️ A show about L.A.’s rambunctious 1960s Ceeje Gallery proves that progress in art is an illusion.
• 🥟 If you’re looking for the best dumplings in Southern California or a place that serves a Hong Kong-style breakfast, Monterey Park is the place.
• 🛍️ 80 wonderful gift shops you can find only in L.A.

Staying in

• 🏈 USC vs. Washington four things to watch: Trojans have ‘golden’ Pac-12 revival chance.
• 📗 In this Korean immigrant saga, California is no escape from brutal battles back home.
• 🥧 Here are 12 essential recipes for your classic Thanksgiving.
  
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

L.A. Affairs

(Rasato Ma / For The Times)

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

I had three boyfriends. Did I really need another? The men Rosa had been dating were really handsome, and the “crazy Italian photographer” was not. But when she saw his photographs, she fell in love.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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