Don Moss and Lee Meriwether star in 'A Short Stay at Carranor.' Cute and girlish isn’t what’s called for from a 70-year-old widow. And it isn’t an appealing picture. Lee Meriwether, still beautiful all these years after winning the Miss America crown in 1955, is too visibly “together” to crumple into the coy flirtatiousness... Read more →

DOWNTOWN — Farmer Harry Nicholas dons his “pimp hat” to greet customers — a bright purple cowboy model that stands out even among the low stalls at the Downtown Farmers’ Market. Wearing a weathered blue shirt with a bolo tie, Nicholas, 91, and his loyal customers call him the oldest farmer in the market that takes place every... Read more →

MID-CITY — A 54-year-old patient at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center was dealing with a cancer that had spread. It had started in the abdomen and then moved into the lungs. The patient had a history of abuse within the Southern Baptist Church and wasn’t open to spiritual support, but was in need of emotional help, Lori... Read more →

SUNSET PARK — Jennifer, Emily, Katherine and Sara snoop around looking for food on the ground in a spacious backyard in Sunset Park that houses four plots brimming with tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and banana trees. All four nip and grab at bits of grass or take turns drinking water from a dish. One of the four even jumps into a tree and... Read more →

When I travel, I love to experiment and taste the local flavors, while at the same time maintain a healthy weight. I truly enjoy foods of all kinds and I’m always looking for new ingredients to add to my current cooking repertoire. This summer I vacationed on the Caribbean island of Antigua. I happened to stay at the same resort where... Read more →

Trombone Shorty (Photo courtesy Santa Monica Pier) SM PIER — Since the release of their Grammy®-nominated 2010 debut album, “Backatown,” Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have grown creatively while winning hordes of new fans performing nonstop on five continents. Their latest album, “For True,” offers substantive proof... Read more →

“Rapture, Blister, Burn,” the newest offering at Geffen Playhouse, is a study in feminist history, without becoming didactic or a diatribe. Cathy, a single, successful professor with a sideline career as a renowned feminist author (“the doomsday chick,”) has made a rather unfortunate phone call while under the influence of copious... Read more →

Have you ever thought what it would be like to find yourself alone in a strange foreign city with no reference points, no human connections, no means of communication? That's the position Anne (Mary Margaret O'Hara) finds herself in in filmmaker Jem Cohen's lyric poem of a film, “Museum Hours.” She has come to Vienna from Canada to... Read more →

It’s a good time to be a restaurateur in Downtown Santa Monica. With all the overdevelopment occurring it seems like the city is going for some kind of world record. It’s like an old-fashioned phone booth stuffing, or clowns cramming into a car. Or maybe the city is like the crazy cat lady (or man) that just can’t say no to another... Read more →

WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? The late pop artist Richard Artschwager's BLP project places black marks at unexpected places all over the world like this one seen on Thursday on Santa Monica Radiator on Lincoln Boulevard. (Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com) It's not graffiti. It's not a painter's mistake. It's a black, plain, lozenge-shaped... Read more →