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All Episodes

California Sun Podcast — 342 episodes

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Title
1

Joseph Ogilvy tells the story of California's 'Tin Can Coast'

2

Jared Huffman on his 'fight to save democracy'

3

Bill Shaikin on Mark Walter's world series of deals

4

Theo Baker on how to rule the world

5

Emily Hoeven on the inversion of AI's discontent

6

Lainey Feingold: The Case for Design and Access

7

Greg Sarris tells stories of Native California

8

Erika Anderson asks: Can AI be humane?

9

Mark Arax on California's extraction ethos

10

Matthew Stepka and the Silicon Valley that once was

11

Jonathan Weber on what the tech boom cost San Francisco

12

David Beard on Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the music that called us west

13

Dan Walters on the governor's race and ungovernable California

14

Ivo Jeramaz: The Paris tasting at 50 and the future of California wine

15

Joe Mathews on California's generic governor's race

16

Professor William Riggs on why we fear Waymos more than bad drivers

17

Kate Washington on how getting into cold water saved her life

18

Dillon Osleger on the paths we've erased and the stories buried beneath

19

Julia Turner and Julia Wick: making sense of the city with L.A. Material

20

Peter Richardson on how Rolling Stone shaped a social revolution … at least for a while

21

Ann Carlson: When L.A.'s air was both a punchline and a poison

22

Severin Borenstein on global oil shocks and California's price premium

23

Miriam Pawel: The Chavez myth comes apart

24

Caroline Tracey on the strange life and unnatural death of our salt lakes

25

Joe Flint: It's Oscar weekend, but Hollywood's future is unscripted

26

Geoff Davis on soul food, fair pay, and the service fee that sparked a firestorm

27

Valerie Ziegler and Joel Breakstone on teaching students to navigate algorithms and deepfakes

28

Scott Eden discusses a tech bro's fatal gamble on black-market cannabis

29

Danny Goldberg on how L.A. fought back after Rodney King — and what it means for Minneapolis

30

David McCuan on how California's county fairs became corruption hotbeds

31

Laurie Lipton: An artist's insane technique for disturbing times

32

Esther Mobley on California's wine crisis

33

Tom Freston on how MTV changed our music, our culture, and even California

34

Scot Danforth on the fight for disability rights in California

35

Matthew Scott photographs L.A.'s hidden stories, from concrete rivers to palm-lined streets

36

Gustavo Arellano on California families under siege

37

Roddy Bottum: A queer rock pioneer remembers San Francisco's lost era

38

Ashlee Vance on robot gladiators and the future of AI combat

39

Todd S. Purdum: How Desi Arnaz invented modern television and lost himself

40

John Freeman sees California as America's literary center

41

Ari Gold on what happens when 'live cinema' meets family dysfunction

42

Dina Gilio-Whitaker on how California commodified Native identity

43

Mike Magee on building the world's most innovative university

44

Tim Higgins on the battle to take down Apple

45

Jeff Chang on Bruce Lee and the emergence of Asian American pride

46

Satsuki Ina on echoes of Japanese incarceration

47

Peter Jones explores privilege and vulnerability at a school for sons of the Los Angeles elite

48

Eve Quesnel on how nature always shows up

49

Scott Alan Lucas on San Francisco, misinformation, and the killing of Bob Lee

50

Jim Newton on freedom, community, Jerry Garcia, and the Grateful Dead

51

Sam Yebri on L.A.'s decline and a path forward

52

Matt Ritter and Michael Kauffmann on California's iconic native trees

53

Gene Seroka: At the helm of America's busiest port

54

Christopher Beam on how AI safety birthed a killing spree

55

Sharona Nazarian on leading Beverly Hills' Iranian diaspora through crisis

56

Josh Jackson discovers California's BLM lands

57

Gustavo Arellano on demonstrations, deportations, and downtown L.A.

58

Michael Hiltzik deconstructs the California dream

59

Eleni Gastis and the ghost students stealing millions from California community colleges

60

Matthew Specktor's Hollywood: when art, commerce, and family danced together

61

Adam Nagourney on the endangered California Dream

62

Joe Kloc explores Sausalito's vanishing 'anchor-out' community

63

Laurie Kirby looks behind the music festival curtain

64

Ben Fritz weighs Hollywood's Next Act

65

Erica Hellerstein on how improving farm worker conditions are now halted by a new wave of fear

66

Olaf Groth explores California's high-stakes dance amid trade and tech turmoil

67

Alissa Wilkinson explores Joan Didion's warning about America's entertainment politics

68

John Garamendi talks insurance, water, and farming under Trump

69

Chris Roberts unearths San Francisco's toxic nuclear legacy

70

Gregory Weaver on how a land conservation program delivered a windfall to mega-farms

71

Randy Shaw champions San Francisco's Tenderloin through decades of change

72

Dr. Shayan Rab is taking psychiatry to the streets

73

Lili Anolik maps the orbit between Joan Didion's cool detachment and Eve Babitz's raw sensuality

74

Dr. Mildred García is driving the CSU system beyond diplomas

75

Daniel Swain on the disasters still to come

76

Stephen Pyne reimagines our ancient pact with fire

77

Jim Carlton takes us inside the inferno

78

David Ulin finds hope in a burning city

79

Daniel Ostroff explores the timeless vision of Charles and Ray Eames

80

Brewster Kahle, the internet's librarian

81

James Tejani examines the audacious creation of the Port of Los Angeles

82

James Tejani examines the audacious creation of the Port of Los Angeles

83

John Francis on 17 years of silence

84

Aaron Betsky makes the case for architectural renewal

85

Joe Mathews on why California must think globally, but act locally

86

Emily Hoeven asks if Gavin Newsom can save the Democratic Party

87

Elsa Devienne sifts through the sands of L.A.'s little known coastal history

88

Gustavo Arellano takes on the myth and reality of Latino political identity

89

Forrest Gander navigates geology and loss in 'Mojave Ghost'

90

Oisin Heneghan believes in San Francisco

91

Zusha Elinson on a life lost over $14.64

92

Sasha Abramsky on the partisan takeover of small-towns: from potholes to culture wars

93

Elizabeth Rosner and the transformative art of listening

94

Alison Owings and Del Seymour on the incredible journey of the "mayor of the Tenderloin"

95

Carol Mithers rethinks rescue with L.A.'s "Dog Lady"

96

Patt Morrison takes the pulse of Los Angeles

97

Roger BelAir and Dan Ostroff on pickleball in prison

98

Zoë Bernard on El Segundo's hard tech patriots

99

Kevin Fagan on the front lines of California's homelessness crisis

100

Caroline Paul on empowerment through outdoor adventure

101

Sara Fenske Bahat navigates art, protests, and politics

102

José Vadi on skateboarding at the edge of culture and creativity

103

Markos Kounalakis on the Golden State's global impact

104

Jan Sramek's vision of California Forever

105

Cecillia Lunaparra wants to change the world at 22

106

Ken Doctor and the little newsroom that could

107

Lauren Petkin and divorce, California style

108

Robert McNally exposes the hidden legacy of John Muir

109

Sylvia Brownrigg's memory and imagination

110

Max Podemski defends multifamily housing

111

Napa's wine industry is not aging well

112

A California voice for a distant land: Amy Wilentz's advocacy for Haiti

113

Bonnie Portnoy and the untold story of California's impressionist adventurer, Tilden Daken

114

Dr. Susan Partovi is taking it to the streets.

115

Andrew Cockburn on Silicon Valley's military fusion

116

James Brosnahan has helped shape our legal landscape for six decades

117

Sarah Swanbeck and Erin Heys decode millennials and Gen Z

118

Harold Bronson on L.A.'s rock record story

119

Matthias Gafni gives voice to the lost souls of San Francisco

120

Roger Rapoport is still searching for Patty Hearst —50 years later

121

Daniel Sokatch on Israel and its local echoes

122

Matt Mahan knows the way to San Jose

123

The mysterious power of 'The O.C.'

124

David Kipen chronicles California's soul: from letters to tweets

125

Ryan Bedsaul learns about L.A's parts unknown

126

John King's portal to San Francisco

127

Jonathan Taplin vs. the tech billionaires

128

Katya Cengel's story of resilience and recovery

129

Conor Friedersdorf: D.E.I. vs. free speech at California colleges

130

​​Robert Sapolsky and our Illusion of free will

131

Brian Conrad unpacks California's 'math misadventure'

132

Rosanna Xia on California against the sea

133

Evelyn McDonnell peels back the layers of Joan Didion's world

134

Paul Carter on Richard Nixon's California

135

Chris Tilly navigates California's labor landscape and growth challenges

136

Julie Johnson and the threat of smoke to California's firefighters

137

Tony Platt unveils UC Berkeley's original sins

138

Dashka Slatter explores virtual harm and real consequences

139

Pico Iyer's half known life

140

Kate Flannery on L.A.'s fashion faux pas

141

Faith Pinho on fortunetellers and the Romani community

142

Margot Kushel explains homelessness in California

143

Joe Hagan wonders if anyone can fix California

144

Andy Dolich and the exodus of Oakland sports teams

145

Greg King saves the Redwoods

146

Captain Brett Crozier on the essence of military life

147

Maureen Ryan wants to burn down Hollywood

148

Clare Frank's love at first fire

149

Kevin Kelly on old wisdom and new progress

150

Richard Rushfield on Hollywood's doom loop

151

Erik Davis and 'The Visionary State'

152

Nicholas Goldberg reads the L.A. Times

153

Victoria Chang and the art of poetry

154

Dean King tells of the friendship that saved Yosemite

155

Eric Porter's history of SFO

156

Malcolm Harris's Palo Alto

157

Susan Straight's California Mecca

158

Kanishka Cheng tries to hold TogetherSF

159

Lila LaHood is looking for local news

160

Mark Rozzo and an L.A. Time Machine

161

Peggy Orenstein's pandemic yarn

162

John Gedmark is taking off

163

Ali Winston & Darwin BondGraham vs. the Oakland PD

164

Lee Herrick and the power of words

165

Erica Gies tells us what water wants

166

Erica Hellerstein on "solastalgia"

167

Mark Thompson played the hits...and a lot more

168

Zev Yaroslavsky: 40 years of service to L.A.

169

Leighton Woodhouse on mean streets, bad politics, and civilization past its prime

170

Stephen Galloway on the future of movies

171

Sam Quinones on our homelessness and fentanyl election

172

Rabbi Noah Farkas takes on anti-semitism in L.A.

173

Alex Shultz on how Charles Johnson is striking out with S.F.

174

Erika Smith on the most corrupt big city in America

175

Joe Mathews on Newsom and California

176

Lee E. Ohanian argues that it doesn't have to be like this

177

Katherine Blunt on the fall of PG&E

178

Lydia Chavez and Joe Eskenazi are on a mission

179

The Cheech

180

Severin Borenstein is all about the energy

181

Matt Doig responds to Paul Pringle

182

Paul Pringle's story of peril and power in L.A.

183

Erica Gies explains why water always wins

184

Diane Zimmerman remembers the Nut Tree

185

Gale Holland & Claire Hannah Collins: Inside their LA Times Story on Mckenzie Trahan

186

Jim Hinch on drugs, homelessness, and California policies

187

Gary Kamiya on what is happening to San Francisco

188

David Koepp turns out the lights

189

Alexa Koenig leads U.C. Berkeley's Human Right Center

190

Matt Richtel on inspired California

191

Professor Fernando Guerra: Can L.A. be governed?

192

Gustavo Arellano's guided tour of L.A. politics

193

John Waters reminds us where the wild things are

194

Carolyn Chen on how work became Silicon Valley's religion

195

Tripp Mickle on how California's most valuable company lost its soul

196

Lettie Teague on Napa Valley's new cash crop

197

Ryan Gattis on 30 years after the L.A. Riots

198

John Markoff on Silicon Valley's own Zelig

199

Thomas Walsh and Karen Maness on the lost art of the Hollywood backdrop

200

Vanessa Hua is a triple threat

201

Susan Sorrells and her own desert town of Shoshone

202

Libby Schaaf's love affair with Oakland

203

Frances Dinkelspiel on the power of local reporting

204

Peter Hartlaub and the S.F. Chronicle are one

205

Sebastian Mallaby on the real power in Silicon Valley

206

Erich Schwartzel on how China may deal Hollywood a fatal blow

207

Alice Waters delicious conversation

208

Mark Fainaru-Wada wrote the book on Barry Bonds

209

Marty Nemko on the future of work in California

210

Elizabeth Weil on California's relationship with fire

211

Sammy Potter and Jackson Parell's excellent adventure

212

Susan Handy on why not all infrastructure spending is good for California

213

Max Chafkin on the "godfather" of Silicon Valley

214

Darrell Steinberg thinks he can solve Sacramento's many problems

215

Bob Calhoun's obsession with the gruesome and lurid

216

Dan Walters' post-pandemic biopsy of California

217

Jassen Todorov tells us stories through music, photography, and flight

218

George Geary on California's real culinary legacy

219

Doug Thompson and Robin Kobaly on the thirsty golf courses of the Coachella Valley

220

Richard L. Brown and California's public employee unions

221

Michael Hiltzik on the Gilded Age, then and now

222

Gene Slater on the unsavory history of California's real estate industry

223

Miriam Pawel wraps up the recall and looks at what's next

224

Woody Hastings and Jenny Blaker think we have enough gas stations

225

Lizzie Johnson on how Paradise portends a future written in flames

226

Daniel O'Connell and Scott Peters on local farmers vs. industrial agribusiness in California.

227

Mizgon Zahir Darby on California's Afghan diaspora

228

Jaime Lowe on fighting fires and doing time

229

Rick Doblin on the value of psychedelics

230

Katie Hill's second act

231

Supervisor Matt Haney's candid look at San Francisco

232

George J. Sanchez and the wonder of Boyle Heights

233

Rosecrans Baldwin's L.A. embrace

234

Steve Wasserman returns to his roots

235

Colleen McCain Nelson now leads our capital city's newspaper

236

Mick LaSalle takes California to the movies

237

Justin Zhu talks startups, LSD, and anti-Asian discrimination

238

Denise Hamilton on L.A.'s post-apocalyptic vibe

239

Joel Selvin on the soundtrack that defines California

240

Michael Storper on the L.A. vs. Bay Area conundrum

241

Ron Brownstein on the magic of 1974 Los Angeles

242

Joe Mathews on how L.A. is failing California

243

Matthew Shilvock on the re-emergence of the San Francisco Opera

244

Molly Knight on baseball in Los Angeles

245

Emilio Garcia-Ruiz and the remaking of the S.F. Chronicle

246

Michael Tubbs still has Stockton on his mind

247

Tess Taylor and her poetry of California

248

Bradley Tusk on California's corporate exodus

249

Jill Tucker on San Francisco school debates

250

Shane Bauer on the Vallejo PD

251

Roman Mars is anything but invisible

252

Joan Didion talks about California

253

Casey Newton on tech platforms as the new town square

254

Hank Sims on the success of local journalism in Humboldt County

255

Kathryn Olmsted talks California unions, from farm to Google

256

Heather Knight on the ups and downs of San Francisco

257

Tracy L. Chandler on photography, memory, and connection

258

Daniel Lurie and Sam Cobbs on the fight against poverty in the Bay Area

259

At 25, Alex Lee is California's youngest state legislator

260

Gary Kamiya, Paul Madonna, and an unknown city by the bay

261

Chronicle journalists on Propositions 22 and 19

262

Peter Lunenfeld reimagines Los Angeles

263

Esther Mobley on days of wine and smoke

264

Kendra Atleework's "Miracle Country"

265

James Thebaut's lens on California's watershed

266

Davie Pina and Johnny White: Inside their personal firefight

267

Nick Neely takes a walk through time

268

Leon Panetta: A life of public service born in California

269

Jeffrey Tumlin attempts the impossible

270

Buffy Wicks in her own words

271

Geoffrey King: Vallejo Police Department on the brink

272

Dr. Jennifer Brokaw on keeping our first responders healthy

273

Anthony Rendon on California's shifting priorities

274

Alia Volz's homebaked journey

275

David Randall on the last California pandemic

276

Dr. Robert Wachter on Covid, California, and the future of medicine

277

Connie Rice on policing and economic despair

278

Lt. Ben Kelso on the blurred lines between Black and Blue

279

Peiley Lau on how staying at home made a difference

280

Eloy Ortiz Oakley on the future of California Community Colleges

281

Alex Padilla on the challenges of the November election

282

A fire in Paradise

283

Steve Inskeep on the 19th-century explorer who helped shape California

284

Richard Rushfield talks the future of movies

285

Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Berkeley's spirit of caring

286

Carl Nolte = San Francisco

287

Dr. Jessica Mega and Verily's intersection of health, data, and research

288

Randy Shaw discusses housing in the age of Covid-19

289

Dan Walters sees California government headed to the ICU

290

Matt Richtel on the anti-virus program we already own

291

Chip Walter looks into Silicon Valley's immortality machine

292

Steve Lopez and a 20-year conversation with his readers

293

Conor Dougherty on why every problem is a housing problem

294

Naomi McDougall Jones and the exclusion of women in Hollywood

295

David Talbot's stroke provides a parable for our time

296

Ken Turan talks Oscars, Hollywood and Netflix

297

Sen. Scott Wiener argues for SB 50

298

Dr. Jared Farmer on how trees define our California history

299

Thomas Wolf's Tenderloin resurrection

300

Paul Kitagaki Jr. photographed the survivors of WWII internment camps

301

Sam Dodge on California's greatest crisis

302

Sam Liccardo on San Jose and PG&E

303

David Ulin explains Joan Didion

304

Can California's 478 cities really work together?

305

Paul Theroux introduces us to our neighbor

306

Andrew Yang: If you think tech is under siege now, just wait

307

Dr. Manuel Pastor sees California as America on fast forward

308

Lincoln Mitchell connects the dots of the last 41 years of San Francisco

309

Willow Bay on educating our next generation of journalists

310

Soleil Ho: Every restaurant tells a story

311

Hollywood's Golden Age told through the passion of personal letters

312

Dr. Joely Proudfit on California Indian culture, sovereignty, and education

313

Is traffic heading the wrong Waze?

314

Autumn McDonald on the power of social entrepreneurship

315

Anne Lamott and reasons for hope

316

D.J. Waldie and the end of California exceptionalism

317

2 powerful L.A. City Council members on the city's present and future

318

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto and a deep dive into the San Francisco estuary

319

Tom O'Neill's 20-year journey into Charles Manson's world of darkness

320

Noam Cohen on how Silicon Valley undermines an authentic life

321

David Ulin on the joys and challenges of Los Angeles

322

Joe Talbot on "The Last Black Man in San Francisco"

323

Leah Garchik on 47 years at the S.F. Chronicle

324

Tony Serra offers a defense of his Ghost Ship client Derick Almena

325

Allison Haley on California's death penalty debate

326

Paul Schrade on the California primary tragedy of 1968

327

Julian Guthrie and the "alpha girls" of Silicon Valley

328

Mark Arax on chasing water and dust across California

329

The California dream inspired and destroyed Robin Williams

330

Roy Choi on bridging the food divide

331

David Talbot and a tale of San Francisco gone wrong

332

Leslie Berlin on Silicon Valley's origin story

333

Randy Shaw on the sabotaging of California housing

334

Richard Walker on the crises and contradictions of Silicon Valley

335

Nancie Clare on Beverly Hills and the birth of celebrity politics

336

Audrey Cooper on the future of local news

337

Dr. Tom Hoffman on the Mars-California connection

338

Mike Fitzgerald on Stockton and the "other California"

339

Mike Davis and his alternative view of California

340

David Kipen shares five-hundred years of opinions about Los Angeles

341

Miriam Pawel on the future of public education in California

342

Dr. Kevin Starr on the California Dream