Even before the invention of the automobile, Angelinos have escaped the city to play in the nearby mountains, the desert, and the seashore. Enjoy an armchair vacation while we explore their favorites, then and now. We visit Del Mar, Coronado Island, San Diego, and Tijuana to the south; Ojai, Montecito, and Santa Barbara to the north; the San Bernardino Mountains, Palm Springs, Death Valley, and Las Vegas to the east; and Catalina Island to the west. Note: These are two of five parts that will be offered throughout 2023.
Part 1: Beach vacation spots from Santa Monica south to Tijuana, north to Santa Barbara, and west to Catalina Island.
Part 2: Desert vacation spots including Palm Springs, Arizona, Death Valley

Sharon Boorstin is a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times, specializing in lifestyle, food and travel. In 2019 she won Visit California’s Eureka Award for Best Newspaper Travel Article. In the 1970s and ‘80s Sharon was the Restaurant Critic of the (late) Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and in the ‘90s she edited the annual Gayot Guidebooks for Los Angeles and other cities. She also wrote for magazines including Bon Appetit, Smithsonian and Town & Country Travel. With her husband Paul, she wrote dozens of screenplays for feature films and television including Angel of Death (ABC) starring Jane Seymour. Her memoir/cookbook, “Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship” (Harper-Collins 2002), was a selection of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Sharon moved to Los Angeles in 1966 after earning a California Lifetime Teaching credential at U.C. Berkeley. She taught high-school History, English and Social Studies in L.A. for 11 years.

Fifty and Better was designed to offer university-level courses and lectures (no tests, no homework) taught by experts in the field, and to host social engagement activities for individuals age 50 and older.