Adam Gropman

Brothers Paul and Emmett Loverde are sitting in folding chairs next to the bike path at Santa Monica Beach. A folding card table in front of them has a sign: "Free Advice." A young man approaches and asks: "How do you succeed in this world?" Emmett replies: "Hard work and......

"Tell me one thing, one very simple thing," an enthused, smooth-spoken 30-something woman says to the crowd of about 50 gathered in a small LAX Westin conference room. "Would you jump out of a plane without a parachute for $2 million?" The listeners shake their heads. "Four is a very......

Contestant Devon Pedde is in the spotlight, both literally and figuratively. A slender, rakishly handsome young man with a look equal parts austere, intellectual poet and casually cool indie rocker, Pedde stands in the bright lights as he is playfully grilled by a host. Live video of the proceedings is......

The moment Jaron Lanier takes the stage at the solidly packed Actors' Gang Theater, even those unfamiliar with his work sense that he's the real deal — a Bay Area–based computer wizard/philosophical thinker/experimental musician with decades-long influence on cultural, political and economic movers and shakers. But let's start with appearances......

Porn superstar Tera Patrick stands tall and poised behind the rear counter of Book Soup, signing copies of her new autobiography, Sinner Takes All: A Memoir of Love and Porn, in pink Sharpie and making charming, occasionally giddy small talk with her book-buying fans. She is businesslike and well-spoken, with......

Vincent O’Brien rises before 5 a.m. most mornings at his Azusa home, heads to the 10 freeway and drives the distance to Tucson, Arizona — without leaving Southern California. Indeed, O’Brien runs up that mileage on just one stretch of the 10, roughly between the 710 and the 605, which......