Jeffrey Burbank

For nearly a decade, professor Kara Cooney has educated students — and the public at large — in the ancient ways of the land of the pharaohs. She's UCLA's Nefertiti of Near Eastern studies, and she's as statuesque as some of the granite likenesses she's studied in the field....

Death is the great equalizer, and nowhere is that more evident than at Inglewood Park Cemetery, where not only do many of America's jazz and blues greats lie in repose — Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Etta James, Chet Baker and Big Mama Thornton — but where an eclectic who's who......

Once the Southern California hotel for presidents (Richard Nixon got married here, and fellow California prez Ronald Reagan honeymooned here), the portraits in the Mission Inn's Presidential Lounge reflect the other chief execs who have stayed there, including presidents Taft, Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt and George W. Bush....

This sartorial throwback on parking-challenged Third Street is a comforting refuge for even those guys who hate shopping for clothes. An emporium without mannequins, fancy window dressings or extensive racks, Douglas Fir is a minimalist delight, precisely because it offers customers so little to choose from. Proprietors John Noble and......

Amid all the trendy eateries that have sprung up in Sawtelle Japantown, there is a thriving gift shop, Black Market, that is one of the city's best choices for hip outfitters. Owner Jisook Lee has succeeded in curating a quirky and diverse inventory that ranges from dime-store novelty items —......