Life in California is full of vexing questions. Why is a freeway overpass the protest spot of choice? How will Gustavo react to In-N-Out’s dramatic departure? And when will that nice Jennifer Aniston ever find true love?
Alta Journal has enlisted two experts to answer all of your questions: Stacey Grenrock Woods and Gustavo Arellano, both of whom bring decades of hard-won knowledge and laser-sharp insights into the Golden State.
Have a question of your own? Ask a Californian!
What’s the best West Coast spot to put your feet up and read?
—Literature Lover
Stacey: I’d love to direct you to some idyllic, tucked-away spot with a babbling brook and all that stuff I’m supposed to picture when I try and fail to meditate. There are places like that—Huntington Gardens, Descanso Gardens—basically anything called “[Something] Gardens”—but if you’re like me, you won’t be able to concentrate on your book because you’ll be wondering how long you have to sit there and pretend to read before you can go home and read. Yes, home is the best place for reading. Cafés are too full of conversations to eavesdrop on, and beaches are sunny, windy, and sandy—the Three Horsewomen of the Apocalypse if you’re a book.
But you do have to leave the house occasionally, if not just to get more books. That’s why the second-best place to read is the library. It’s quiet (at least in theory), and between the racks of Twilight DVDs, there are other books there (at least in theory) in case you grow weary of Moll Flanders or whatever and want to switch to something like 1001 Ideas for Windows.
Gustavo: Stacey got the Huntington part right but not the right part of the Huntington—that would be the Library, the legendary repository of historic manuscripts (an original Gutenberg Bible! The papers of famed L.A. political powerhouse Gloria Molina! Random crap from my day job at the Los Angeles Times!) that’s #goals for all the humanities nerds of the world. But to get in, you gotta be a nerd and know someone even nerdier than you, so that excludes, like, 99 percent of Californians because y’all are so cool.
I’m not a nature lover like Stacey, so a hard pass from me on reading where coyotes can get you. Instead, why don’t you be the ultimate rebel? Grab an umbrella, find a sidewalk, and start reading in public. A new study from the University of Florida and University College London found that adults have decreased their daily amount of reading for fun by more than 40 percent over the past two decades. It’s such a rarity now that you can even put a tip box in front of you while reading your Joan Didion or Mike Davis and people will probably throw you some bills. Just make sure to ask the hot dog guy for permission to be on their corner, wontcha?
In our lifetime, is there any chance we’ll see the reintroduction of the grizzly to California? (Alta has covered this subject before—and again—but the people are still curious.)
—It’s on the Flag, After All
Stacey: Yes, it is on the flag, for now. The new flag in the works is, I believe, an Aussiedoodle on a grooming table under a drone show.
Will grizzlies come back in our lifetime? Doubtful. A detailed exploration about why exists in Ajay Orona’s 2023 Alta article on this very question, but the reason is basically twofold: The California grizzly is technically extinct—a curious consequence of being mostly all killed—and reintroducing the grizzlies that do exist elsewhere in North America would depend on the motivation of the people who reintroduce bears to places and the availability of places where bears can feast on all their favorites, with the exception of hiker and camper flesh. As Orona learned from paleontologist Alexis Mychajliw, grizzlies thrive on roots, shoots, berries, a bit of salmon, a dash or two of carrion, and tons and tons of acorns. And while you’ll probably recognize this as the standard offer at any Sweetgreen, you’re dangerously underestimating the amount of acorns needed. And anyone who’s ever hosted a party knows how embarrassing it is when you run out of acorns.
Gustavo: The grizzly’s return is inevitable because Californians love reboots and sequels—my God, just look at Freakier Friday, because I didn’t. But reintroducing Ursus arctos horribilis to our mountains and foothills is almost as insulting to the grizzly’s memory as its scientific name, which translates as “horrible bear bear” and was obviously coined by Leo’s character in The Revenant. Just look at what’s happening with the gray wolf.
Eradicated from California by farmers and modernity in 1924, Canis lupus returned to the Golden State in 2011 thanks to male (of course) scientists who named the wolf OR-7 Hecame, then eventually brought over friends—some with benefits, because the California Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are now at least 70 gray wolves in the Sierras, with about 30 of them pups. And what has this great comeback story wrought? Farmers who want to shoot gray wolves for going after their livestock, which is the same reason why their 19th-century predecessors killed off grizzlies in the first place! So while environmentalists will undoubtedly try to bring the bears back, I say no: It’ll be as sad a reboot as the third Star Wars trilogy.
Can you make a case for California being most similar to one other U.S. state? (Or, what state do you think is most similar to CA?)
—Who’s Our Twinsie
Stacey: There is no other state that compares. Unlike the Dakotas, the Carolinas, or the Virginias, and all the other states that are vaguely like one another (they tell me there’s a difference between Delaware and New Hampshire, but I don’t believe it), California is an only child. We’re also the baby of the family (at least spiritually), the golden child, and the prodigal son. We have no siblings, and therefore no twin, anywhere in the country, or the world. We do have a cool aunt, Spain, but she sucks at texting.
Gustavo: Hey, Stacey, don’t forget our older beach-bum half-siblings, Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur, who sadly split from us in that messy divorce called the Mexican-American War—but at least we’re allowed to visit one another for now, until Big Daddy Trump throws another fit. Bizarro California is Florida, of course, while Texas is our doppelgänger—huge, coastal, a lot of Mexicans, hated by half the country, with Beyoncé as our mutual queen—even though neither of us will ever admit it. Oklahoma and Iowa used to send us a bunch of people, so we’re technically cousins, but they’re not it, either. So how about Colorado? Awesome mountains, weirdo conservatives and liberals, a love of chiles—and besides, they follow us when all the states line up in alphabetical order during roll call. Better luck next time, Connecticut!•
Stacey Grenrock Woods is a regular contributor to Esquire and a former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She writes and consults on various TV shows, and has a recurring role as Tricia Thoon on Fox’s Arrested Development. Her first book is I, California.
Gustavo Arellano is the author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. In 2025, Arellano was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He was formerly editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, California, and penned the award-winning ¡Ask a Mexican!, a nationally syndicated column in which he answered any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority. Arellano is the recipient of awards ranging from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Best Columnist to the Los Angeles Press Club President’s Award to an Impact Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and he was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.” Arellano is a lifelong resident of Orange County and is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.
