The Los Angeles Times

You never forget the first time, Sydney Leroux says.

In her case it came when she was just 13, after a bet with her mother over how many goals she would score in a national soccer tournament.

LOS ANGELES -- The wall of flowers and messages that grew outside the Seal Beach salon in the days after the shooting had long been taken down. Now, workers are gutting the place, clearing away the last visible reminders of the day a gunman walked in and started shooting, killing eight people whose lives intersected one afternoon in October.

In many ways, life in the beachside city has regained its small-town vibe: Retired couples window-shop along Main Street, surfer dudes hang out on the sidewalk and young moms get together for lunch, going through the day at the same pace as the soft sea breeze.

LOS ANGELES — Clifford A. Wright is an earnest culinary scholar who has worked at the Institute of Arab Studies and has written 14 books. His kitchen is a history of his travels. But over his sink hangs a Franklin Mint plate on which Larry, Curly and Moe, wearing chef’s jackets, are about to get to work on a turkey.

Wright takes food seriously, with a dash of Three Stooges demeanor.

A careful look around reveals charm and humor again and again. As he puts it: He is a scholar who writes for people who watch their happiness before their weight.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Their Yosemite Valley tour was nearing its end, and the church ladies and gents from South Los Angeles had heard enough. Almost.

"He's been telling us stories he thinks we want to hear for two hours," said Ann Hale, 70, heaving a sigh of frustration from the back of the tram.

In fact, guide William Fontana had been regaling his listeners -- most of them white -- with stories about John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, about fur trappers and rock climbers.

"We're still waiting for at least a few words about Yosemite's African-American Buffalo Soldiers," Hale grumbled to a fellow passenger.

After filing off the tram, some women from Grace United Methodist Church surrounded Fontana on the sidewalk outside the Yosemite Lodge.

"Questions, ladies?" he asked.