You want to know about the BART system? Here is it in five minutes.

A poet draws inspiration from the mean streets of the Tenderloin neighborhood he’s lived in for nearly a decade. Creosote Minidoc #1

Orange County reacts to Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and its own history of trauma.

Richmond, like most of the Bay Area, reveals itself through its murals.

The current SF Bay Guardian is devoted to a slice of literary life in San Francisco, and filled with small, intimate personal essays – a rare thing in any kind of newspaper.

Golden West Signs in Berkeley keeps a vanishing craft alive.

The big bass horn now boasts L.A. street cred, and schools are keeping an eye on their band rooms.

Martin Luther King Jr Way has a stillness and a golden light all its own: from the corner stores and vacant lots to art studios and community gardens.

Big letters, the undead, skulls, and street signs: Polk Gulch graffiti.

Three people were shot a block from my Tenderloin apartment earlier this week. My neighbor said it was about drugs.

Larry Rothe, author of a new history of the San Francisco Symphony, talks about the City, the orchestra, music, and writing.

Levi Pata’s solo debut at Kokoro Studio in San Francisco displays worldly inspiration along with elemental flow.

Erin Heath traces the urban rail history hidden under Oakland’s streets.

After two months of marked tolerance towards the Occupy Los Angeles camp, L.A. joined the trend of raids and evictions in major cities.

The winter literary quarterlies are hitting bookshelves in San Francisco—Zyzzyva, 14 Hills, and McSweeney’s.

Héctor Tobar’s new novel takes a sprawling view of Los Angeles, from the gated communities to the back alleys and side streets where the marginalized and the forgotten create their own vibrant community.

Ice Cube has recently turned heads for appearing in a new role: as a cultural ambassador for the West Coast—his hometown of L.A., specifically.

The first time I ever experienced Death Valley, it was the middle of summer, I’d just turned 21 and I was on a roadtrip across the West.

What I saw last Wednesday was people gathered together, a bit raucous, pissed off but happy to be in each others presence, encouraged by a show of resistance.

Like the 4.2 magnitude earthquake last week that jolted the Bay Area, Litquake 2011 came and went quickly this October, leaving us all with different impressions.

The Scanners Project is a temporary bookstore meets art installation, a showcase of the tactile pleasures of physicality of books.

Dan Fante provides a refreshing and much-needed examination of his father, John Fante’s life, and the cloud of dirty glamor that surrounds it.

To say this was a lively debate would be stretching it, but it was encouraging to see the candidates in agreement on the importance of the arts.

Steven T. Jones (aka Scribe) takes a deep look into Burning Man’s history and inner workings in his book, The Tribes of Burning Man.

Dealing in candles, incense, herbs, and effigies, the botánica exists in that blurred region where rigid definitions of religion and culture no longer reign—like Los Angeles itself.

The second annual Art in Storefronts event merged with the unique textures and elements inherent to Mid Market: porn shops, neon signs, old businesses, grand buildings, active street corners and the artery of trains, taxis and buses.

In the Bay Area, there’s an online clamor for late-night hours on BART, one that’s gained the attention of the media and BART leadership—but what will the results be?

Bolinas Ridge, up above the bohemian coastal town, has panoramic views, open roads, and lots of cattle.

Last year, a mountain lion was encountered, then killed, on the streets of Berkeley. Why was it there?

A New Year’s celebration to ring in the Year of the Metal Cat in San Francisco’s Little Saigon neighborhood.

Perhaps most amazing about the mussel gathering and preparation process is the act itself: so simple and essential.

California Route 160 is the highway cutting through the slow, rich delta region, connecting the Bay Area with the Sacramento Valley.

On the Venice Beach strip, the Venice Beach Freakshow is one of the most eye-catching – and ear-catching – establishments competing for your attention.