Joe Mathews

What Makes Sriracha Stink

It’s Not the Sauce. It’s Cities Like Irwindale.

News item: A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last week ordered the Irwindale, California plant that produces the highly popular “rooster sauce” Sriracha to cease operations until it can stop emitting odors that are “extremely annoying, irritating, and offensive to the senses warranting consideration as a public nuisance.”

Reaction: Too bad the judge didn’t apply the same logic to the city government of Irwindale and shut it down too.

As this small and smelly San Gabriel Valley controversy has grown into a global drama covered by outlets from Toledo to Taipei, …

by Joe Mathews |

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The War On Thanksgiving

Don’t Weep For Christmas. It’s the Excess Of Turkey Day—Big Family, Big Spread, Big Football—That’s Under Siege.

by Joe Mathews |

I miss the days when Thanksgiving felt as big as all of California.

When I was growing up in Pasadena, we’d drive out to my great-grandmother’s place in Redlands, 60 miles …

Three Words: Cal Poly Sacramento

Don’t Build a Money-Pit Arena For the Second-Rate Kings. Make an Investment That Will Transform (and Maybe Save) California’s Capital City.

by Joe Mathews |

We Californians need to help Sacramento.

Before you start hyperventilating, I’m not talking about our state government. I’m talking about the city and county, the capital region. With little notice or …

Los Angeles Is Not a Sin

‘Chinatown’ Was a Movie, Not a History of Our Water. It’s Time to Stop Thinking Our City Is Real-Life Film Noir.

by Joe Mathews |

Newsflash! Los Angeles, a famously dry place, this month has been suddenly inundated. The source is not rain, not El Niño. Nope, we’re experiencing a flash flood of commentary tied …

We Are LAX

Last Week Reminded Us That the Embodiment of Los Angeles Is Its Cruddy Yet Tolerated Airport

by Joe Mathews |

Ask a person from Los Angeles what the city’s signature public place is, and you’d probably hear about Griffith Park, Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, or a favorite beach. But …

Even Halloween Has Become Aspirational

Why Get To Know the Neighbors When the Trick-or-Treat Experience Is So Much Classier In Another Part of Town?

by Joe Mathews |

Last Halloween, I felt like the victim in a horror film. I was the guy ignoring the wise warning of my older next-door neighbor.

You’ll need at least 15 bags to …


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