California Sun Podcast

Peter Jones turned his camera on his former classmates from the Harvard School for Boys, a former military academy for boys in Los Angeles, for his new documentary "Fortunate Sons," chronicling the lives of the 1974 graduating class through their 50th reunion. What started as pandemic Zoom calls became surprisingly honest conversations about addiction, suicide, and the pressure of living up to successful fathers. Jones discovered that wealth can't shield against every hardship, and that the men now in their 60s were finally ready to drop the macho act and talk about what really happened.

Eve Quesnel, author of  the new book "Snow Fleas and Chickadees: Everyday Observations in the Sierra," joins us from her home in Truckee. For more than two decades, she's been paying close attention to the Sierra Nevada, finding evidence that "nature will show up" everywhere — even in urban cracks and sidewalks. Quesnel discusses making a conscious effort to step outside our digital distractions, the importance of knowing your neighborhood ecosystem, and how simple daily walks can transform our understanding of the natural world around us.

Jim Newton joins us to discuss his new book "Here Beside the Rising Tide," exploring how Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead emerged from 1960s California to become unlikely architects of America's counterculture. Newton reveals Garcia as a reluctant icon who feared leadership yet created a multigenerational community that thrives decades after his death. We explore the Dead's anti-commercial ethos, their role as cultural catalysts rather than political activists, and how their California values of freedom and authenticity continue to influence everything from music to tech culture.

Sam Yebri, a young Yale-educated labor attorney and board president of the civic organization Thrive LA, offers a stark assessment of Los Angeles's decline. Yerbi arrived as a refugee from Iran to L.A., where he has embodied the American dream in a city that has served as a beacon for immigrants and dreamers. But he paints a not-so hopeful picture of crime, homelessness, and corruption overwhelming the city. Yebri believes change is possible but requires new leadership and greater civic engagement.

Matt Ritter, a botany professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Michael Kauffmann, a research plant ecologist, have written a new definitive guide to California's 95 native tree species, "California Trees." The authors discuss their field work across the state, from the rare conifers of the Klamath Mountains to the Joshua trees of the Southern California desert. They reveal how citizen science and new mapping techniques are documenting biodiversity hotspots, and how climate change and wildfires are rapidly reshaping California's forests.

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, oversees a gateway that handles 20% of America's incoming cargo and powers one in nine jobs in Southern California. In this conversation, he reveals how the 7,500-acre complex serves as an economic bellwether, highlighting trends months before consumers feel them. From automation debates to tariff-induced cargo swings, Seroka explains how what happens at the port ripples through California's economy and shapes global trade.

Christopher Beam, in a recent New York Times investigation, reveals how a group of brilliant minds from Google, NASA, and the rationalist movement in Berkeley became part of a murderous cult-like group known as the "Zizians." He story recounts six deaths, from a blood-soaked Vallejo property to a fatal Vermont shootout. Unlike Charles Manson's dropouts, these tech elites weaponized artificial intelligence fears and rational thinking into deadly extremism, which was enabled by California’s tolerance for radical ideas.

Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian fled Iran with her family during the revolution to escape religious persecution, learning English as her third language before building a career in clinical psychology. Now the first Iranian American woman to lead the city, she governs a diverse community where roughly 20% of the population trace its roots to Iran. As war unfolds in the Middle East, she's tells us how she's become the de facto voice of a diaspora caught between American dreams and a longing for peace in their homeland.

Josh Jackson, author of the new book "The Enduring Wild," found a hidden refuge in the mountains and prairies of California's 15 million acres of Bureau of Land Management lands. In times of crisis and uncertainty, we often turn to nature for solace and perspective. These overlooked "commons," dismissed as leftover lands too harsh for homesteaders and too ordinary for national parks, offer free camping, wildlife corridors, and democratic access to wilderness. They now face threats from proposed selloffs and budget cuts.