All the rage back home
Drug dealer Rick Bolivia exhales a hit of methamphetamine in his room in the Pacoima area of Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 22, 2015. Photo by Joshua Duarte
The lighter clicks on, the flame burns the glass, the smoke fills the room, it smell like burning plastic. He puts the pipe to his lips and inhales. Two seconds go by...
Corbin’s Monsters
Tucked away in a cramped garage in Calabasas, California, monsters are created. The smell of burnt fuel and melted metal stains the atmosphere. The monsters that leave this space are flame-spitting, ear-splitting, sensory-polarizing devil’s chariots.
Corbin Goodwin, a 25-year-old mechanical engineering major at CSUN, gained notoriety when his first mad creation was featured on the /Drive Channel on YouTube. His...
Guitars for the Stars
Eric “Chaz” Czechanski is one of the only true guitar luthiers in the San Fernando Valley. Working out of his small shop in Los Angeles, Czechanski’s guitar shop is carved into the side of the same complex where the legendary Sound City once stood. He has provided, and continues to provide, a one-of-a-kind service to a clientele, both local...
Laying down a beat
The mass of fans, packed into the Troubadour in West Hollywood, chant “Eve6, Eve6!” with religious fervor. Later, the opening notes of “Inside Out” are played, driving the crowd to scream and shout. As the lead vocalist sings into the mic, the fans echo the lyrics with mounting enthusiasm.
Q: When did you start writing music?
Jon Siebels: I started writing...
Welcome to the Game Grid
The kids’ audible joy melds with the bleeps and bloops of arcade machines that are old enough to belong to their parents. Air hockey pucks smack around the tables, punctuating the laughter and talking that fills the room.
The 2,500 square-foot facility is packed, almost every machine occupied by an eager kid or parent trying to get to the next...
The Call of Music
On a sweltering night inside a dim cantina, glasses clink and patrons burst into drunken laughter, while on the center stage blinding fluorescent lights illuminate the faces of mariachi players. The musicians are clad in suits that match the lit sky, sweating from the hour-long performance of singing, strumming and seducing the audience with love songs.
The final notes...
A dream deferred
The military offers a solid alternative for the unemployed in hard economic times, but with rough challenges. William Melendez helps visualize what being in the military is like in times of war.
Time Lost in the Carrizo Plains
Story By: Lisa Richardson
Beyond the limit of overly populated cities and busy highways is a place in California lost in time.
This remote landscape of geographic and historic significance, the Carrizo Plain, is a wilderness untouched by time and real estate developers.
Dusted with sprawling ranches and relics, nestled into rolling hills, Carrizo is reached mostly by unpaved roads that send...
From Lost Boy to Homeboy
As a riverboat passes by on a quiet river in Tennessee, an ex-gang member from Pacoima, Calif. sits on a dock nearby. Just watching. Breathing. Living.
This serene setting is a world and life away from where a 12-year-old Neil Gutierrez was issued a seven-year sentence for beating up his mother’s boyfriend. He walked into her house to pick up clothes...
Living Dreams
Story by: Michaia Hernandez
Photo by: Lynn Levitt
Illustration by : Lauren Vellve
Dream tending is a new trend is psychoanalysis
It all started when he was about 12 years old.
Stephen Aizenstat was at Zuma Beach in Malibu when he wandered away from his family and found himself on the less populated area of the shore. Lost in his thoughts, he sat on...