Desert X — the free, Instagram-optimized art biennial in the Southern California desert — began Friday, and people were already flocking to see one of the installations. Pictured above, “Never Forget” by Native artist Nicholas Galanin makes a comment about the meaning of monuments. Desert X 2021, running until May 16, will feature 13 artworks that organizers say “pose urgent questions about our pasts while imagining the possibilities of a shared future.” The Desert Sun offered an overview.

“First her mother began foaming at the mouth and then went still. Her 5-year-old sister died soon after. Her uncle went next, followed by her aunt.”

On May 18, 1986, 9-year-old Desireé Rodriguez watched helplessly as her family members died after their boat capsized off Catalina Island. Rodriguez was rescued by two young men who happened by on a fishing boat. She never saw them again — until last month. The L.A. Times wrote a tear-jerker of a story about their reunion.

“I’m Desireé.” Here’s the big moment from their emotional surprise meeting. 👉 YouTube

The New York Times: “The best bagels are in California.”

A century after Jewish immigrants introduced the bagel to Manhattan, West Coast bakers are now driving a great bagel boom, wrote food critic Tejal Rao. At Boichik Bagels in Berkeley, for example, the bread is “thick but yielding, chewy but not densely so, with a shiny, sweet-and-salty crust and a rich, malty breath that fills up the bag before you even get home.” The internet had opinions.

The lowriding phenomenon emerged in the 1940s in a collision of post-war prosperity, Los Angeles car culture, and courtship rituals from the old country. It’s since blossomed into a bona fide American art form, expressed in lovingly detailed Impalas that wiggle and bounce down Whittier Boulevard. The photographer Kristin Bedford spent five years embedding with lowrider enthusiasts in Los Angeles for a new photo book titled “Cruise Night.” The Guardian published a selection of 16 images.

Jay Caspian Kang wrote a smart column that takes on difficult questions around anti-Asian violence. He opens with the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when more than 2,000 Korean stores were looted or burned, then connects it to recent attacks against Asian Americans in the Bay Area. “The answers to the question ‘Why does nobody care?’ has unearthed a series of contradictions that always lurked right beneath the surface, unmentioned in polite company: We are not white, but do we count as ‘people of color’?” N.Y. Times

An hour north of Lake Tahoe is a little-known natural paradise of 8,500-foot peaks, quaint mountain towns, and more than 50 glacially carved lakes. Dubbed the Lost Sierra, it also offers a crucial advantage over Tahoe: very few people. Lodging options are limited, but one includes an amazing draw: a clubhouse with 60-foot high ceilings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. SFGate.com | Architectural Digest

A taste of the scenery in the Lost Sierra. 👉 Vimeo

For decades, activists have been fighting for the removal of four dams choking the Klamath River, which courses through Indigenous lands in Northern California. In a long-shot email last summer, tribal leaders invited officials from Berkshire Hathaway, whose subsidiary owns the dams, to join them on the river. They agreed. But as the group drifted along, a floating blockade came into view. It was a group of some of the Klamath’s most ardent activists, who took turns addressing the powerful executives. “Don’t think this is an Indian problem,” one said. “It’s your fucking problem, too.” No one can pinpoint for certain the moment Berkshire’s posture toward dam removal shifted. But some believe it was that day on the river. North Coast Journal