No, the California Dream isn’t dead—it has just moved south, where myriad planned communities rub shoulders with Fortune 500 companies and four-star hotels in the once vast ranchland of Newport-Irvine. Joseph Cleary, a former surfer, at age 44 earns enough money producing commercials

Orson Moses, owner of the trendy Di Fiori on Camden Drive in Beverly Hills is pondering another location for his posh shoe store. “What do you think?” he was heard asking a fashion-savvy friend. “Should I open a store on Rodeo Drive? Or should I try Fashion Island or

It was a tragic, indefensible accident that could have happened to almost anyone. But as a result, 28-year-old Michael Wesley Reding is terrorized by ghastly nightmares of dead children. When a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder for the 1984 drunk-driving collision that kil

Tony Tetro stands outside Margaritaville in Newport Beach, California, resplendent in his rumpled early-evening uniform—faded jeans, untucked Hawaiian shirt, white tennis shoes, white cotton socks. He might just have rolled out of bed in these very clothes, for his eyes are still red

Last year I received an assignment from Men’s Health for a piece on busy executives—the governor of New Mexico, a billionaire CEO, a TV talk-show host. Men who had as much, or more, on their plates as the rest of us, but who also took time to stay in shape. “These aren’t typical men,”

Bobby had such a hot hand at the blackjack table that he forgot he was “slumming” in a casino in Indio, California. In just under six hours, he’d raked in more than $10,000 after starting with only six $100 bills. “I’ve got enough bank to pay off a few ou

“Andale!” Coach shouts. It’s Friday night, 10:15 or 10:20, no later than that. The Angels have been on patrol for more than two hours and they have finally found some action. Coach’s command sends Baler, Stretch, Cat and the rest into a sprint through the crisp

“I just love it here,” Jamie Rose says, as she stands in the Speed Queen lavanderia on the bear Southwest Side of Chicago, her right hand waving in midair. “I love the way the smell of bleach permeates the air.” She takes a deep breath, as if smelling for linge

Almost 10 years after the miniseries made TV history, some of its performers find many Hollywood racial barriers still in place. Actress Beverly Todd was nervous. For the first time in four years, she was about to step on-stage at the Improvisation Comedy Club in West Hollywood. Todd

It looks, at first glance, like any other personal letter—a quick scrawl on school notebook paper. You start to read, though, and a macabre sense of recognition rivets you to the page: Dear Jodie, There is a definite possibility that I will be killed in my attempt to get Reagan. It is