TRAVEL: Whales put on a real show near Pismo Beach
“Oh my gosh look at that!” exclaimed the boat’s captain. “A huge breach!” Michael Brink, who runs the SLO Tours whale watch boat rides in Avila Beach, was looking out the window of his boat, and still excited, after all these years, of seeing a whale jump into the air out of the water. Who […]
Manhattan Beach Education Foundation Art project Unveiled
Story and photos by Jefferson Graham The members of the Manhattan Beach City Council and school board, plus other local dignitaries, gathered at Metlox Saturday morning for the unveiling of the “Seeds of Knowledge” art installation. Created by artist Betsy Schulz, the installation shows a young girl reading a book at the park, with the […]
Transatlantic Guitar Trio combines Django, Chet Atkins and more
If you love great music, and watching three master musicians at the top of their game, do yourself a favor and get hip to the Transatlantic Guitar Trio. Take German gypsy guitar master Joscho Stephan, who plays in the style of Django Reinhardt and two Nashville guitarists, Richard Smith, who usually performs solo shows in […]
TRAVEL: What I learned photographing Japan
I’ve brought my cameras all over Japan, from Tokyo to Kyoto, Osaka to Kobe and then some, and learned a lot about how to get the best shots and avoid some common mistakes. So in the first of what I hope to be a new series of installments, I lay out 21 things I learned […]
TRAVEL: Under-rated top 10 Japan city Kobe
Kobe, Japan is one of the ten largest cities in Japan, but many people skip it to visit nearby Osaka (no. 2 city) and historic Kyoto, home to ancient shrines and customs. Kobe, however, is a great stop, home to terrific mountain views, an international port and more bakeries than you’d ever imagine in the […]
TRAVEL: Explore Osaka, Japan’s no. 2 less frenetic city
Most people start their Japanese adventures in Tokyo, as it’s the largest city, (biggest world population at 40 million!) and easiest to get to on a direct flight. Tokyo is wild, colorful, electric and jammed with people. But as cool as it is, how about a smaller, less intense city that also happens to be […]
Travel: Foodie & photo feast in Kobe Japan’s Chinatown
I recently spent ten days in Japan, touring the central part of the country, the Kansai region, which is home to the historic city of Kyoto, where you’re most likely to find women dressed in kimonos walking down the street and geishas, Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, and the port city of Kobe, […]
TRAVEL: Get lucky with Las Vegas Parking Roofs for photos
It’s hard to get a great free photo of the Las Vegas Strip from down on the ground, as you’re right in the middle of it. You can try standing in one of the overhead crosswalks, but they are covered in dirty glass, making it hard to get a great shot. You can pay $20 […]
Thanks a Million, PhotowalksTV fans
It happened this week: I was attending the WPPI convention in Las Vegas, a meeting of wedding and portrait photographers, when I received an e-mail from VidIQ, a YouTube analytics tool. “Congratulations, you reached 1,000,000 views.” Or, let’s put it this way: After five years (first episode posted 3/26/2018) of beating the drum for PhotowalksTV, my travel […]
TRAVEL: Backroads Florida gem, Safety Harbor
If you’re like me, you’ve heard of Tampa, Florida and other West Coast beach towns like Clearwater and St. Pete, but Safety Harbor hasn’t made your radar. I stumbled onto it when I went to Florida on business recently, near Tampa, and got invited to lunch on Main Street in this cute, tiny town of […]
TRAVEL: Explore Solvang’s Danish town for history, food and photos
If you shop well, you can score a non-stop flight to Copenhagen from LAX, and it will take 11 hours to arrive, and cost just over $700 roundtrip, depending upon when you fly. That sounds “wonderful, wonderful*” (who gets the reference?) but even cooler, if you live here in the South Bay, is a […]
Wind cracks Manhattan Beach Tree; falls on apartment and truck
The strong winds of Wednesday night, February 22 caused a huge tree in Manhattan Beach’s Tree Section to crack and fall over portions of an apartment building and parked truck. The tree lives on the backside of the Pacific Lanai apartment building, at 777 Pacific, and the accident occurred on the 1100 block of Laurel. […]
Travel: San Francisco’s remote Angel Island
Just 6.2 miles from the Ferry Building in San Francisco is another world, far from crime, thefts, murder, traffic, congestion, homeless issues and all the other ills of urban life in the city. Try a tiny island that can be explored in a 5.5 mile loop on foot or bike, with just 12 full people […]
MB Rabbi blasts Super Bowl for Kanye song in halftime show
Rabbi Joshua Kalev, the rabbi for Manhattan Beach’s Congregation Tikvat Jacob, has called out Super Bowl organizers and singer Rihanna for featuring a song by controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West during the halftime show. “Kanye continues to spew antisemitic statements in almost every interview,” wrote Kalev in a note to his congregants. […]
TRAVEL: Walk from San Diego to Mexico–what they don’t tell you!
The brochures and hype hit me: you no longer have to sit in your car at the border crossing for hours to go from California’s San Diego to Mexico. Instead, why not take the trolley or drive to the border town of San Ysidro and just waltz over the pedestrian bridge to Tijuana? I was exploring San Diego for […]
TRAVEL: Four Iconic San Diego Beach towns
Just like the South Bay’s Redondo/Hermosa/Manhattan Beach trio of beach cities, each unique and different from each other, California’s second largest city, San Diego, has four distinct beach cities as well, all worth exploring. For the latest episode of #PhotowalksTV, I brought my iPhone 14 Pro Max to San Diego to explore life outside of […]