If you live in Santa Monica and have ever wondered why the city seems to have so little control over what gets built near the beach, the answer traces back to a bureaucratic failure that […]

By Charles Andrews I DIDN’T START OUT THIS WAY I was a good kid. Stayed away from trouble. But I was a lousy student, despite scoring high on aptitude tests, was a National Merit Scholar, […]

Santa Monica officially reports numerous new business openings, often highlighted by the media as signs of economic recovery. However, a walk through the streets tells a different story; it appears less like a revival and […]

Walk down Ocean Park Boulevard, and you can feel something coming. Development signs announce seven- and eight-story buildings that will tower over local shops and restaurants. Almost 1,000 mostly luxury units. Across Santa Monica, neighbors […]

By CHARLES ANDREWS NOW, THAT’S JUST SILLY With all that’s going on in the world, you’re going to use this precious space to complain about… sports on TV? (Hang with me on this.) That was […]

Attached is an article SMa.r.t. wrote in 2018, and short of a brief comment, I’m not going to edit or alter it, as it is prescient to what we are no doubt about to experience […]

By CHARLES ANDREWS NEXT FRI 5/1: GENERAL STRIKE We have the numbers, we have the economic power. We have seen that pushing back, protesting in large numbers, works. Trump and his clowns back off. The […]