While dancers in bikinis bared their bellies for the crowd outside, Paris Hilton put on a wild, wild show at the gala opening of Jet Nightclub, Mirage’s 20,000-sq.ft. party center. She made a scene — and a statement — by screaming on the phone with her friend Stavros Niarchos. Then, she reportedly climbed atop of…
Since 1980, a small restaurant in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood has thrived on word-of-mouth, despite its location in an alley and its competition from more fashionable restaurants on nearby Union and Chestnut Streets. The Brazen Head had a very small sign on its door, no neon lights and no advertising. Yet, it filled up…
One review called the San José Hotel in downtown Austin “an exercise in class, comfort and urban renewal” and “a welcoming Texas comfort that underlies the hotel’s signature austere sytyle.” This 1939 edifice has been transformed from a motor court into a 40-room, bungalow style, garden hotel in the city’s hippest hood, complete with Jo’s…
As a scuba diver, most of the hundreds of jellyfish I’ve seen in the world’s oceans are as big as your hand. I’ve seen some in aquariums that are as big as your head. But a Sumo Wrestler-sized jellyfish that can be up to 2 meters (6 feet, 7 inches) in diameter and weigh up…
As a native son, I know that my ancestors survived the April 18, 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, which, at 8.3 on the Richter Scale, ranks as one of the strongest of all time. (It was 140 times stronger than the 6.9 Loma Prieta quake in 1989!) The 270-mile-long rupture along the San Andreas Fault lasted…
After seeing how frighteningly cold it is in Russia and other parts of the world, it’s high time to escape the winter doldrums. So where do those who have the means go? Some go to the Leeward Island of Anguilla, in the British West Indies, nestled between the Caribbean and the Atlantic. And those who…
On a recent trip to Mobile, Alabama, I discovered the truth about Mardi Gras — and I have a hurricane to thank. It was about two months after the storm last summer and The Museum of Mobile was closed and licking the wounds caused by Katrina’s fury. The Battleship Alabama was listing and off limits…
Maybe I’m watching too many Twilight Zone reruns. Or maybe the recently opened Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs looks like an exotic space ship from a sci-fi movie. This place is tragically hip. Its 163 oversized guest rooms uniquely blend plush textures with cool stainless steel, oversized furnishings with trendy faux fur throws. Amenities include…
If you’re going to Turino for the Winter Olympics in a few weeks –– or even if you’re not –– the city of Asolo in the Italian Alps is an oasis amid the chaos. Populated since the Neolithic period and located north of Venice, it was a Roman Municipality in the 1st century B.C. Still…
A few miles south of my San Francisco childhood home is the sleepy town of Half Moon Bay. Twice a year, this hamlet becomes a mecca for thousands of people. Once is during the month of October as families flock to the Great Pumpkin Festival; the other is annual Mavericks Surf Contest where, on just…
Forty degrees F. above zero seems colder in the damp fog of San Francisco or London. Twenty below zero is definitely chilling, but doesn’t seem as bad when you’re skiing because you’re wearing many layers of clothing and you’re generating body warmth. But yesterday in Russia, you could have frozen your piroshki off when temps…
My pal Alex Russell has written about indoor skiing and snowboarding at BigAir Fukuoka in Japan. And I’ve told you about the Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark in Michigan. But now, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East is making news with its real snow, year-round desert snowdome known as Ski Dubai. It opened…