Art
October 7, 2021
From California Artists, a Stinging Critique of Texas’s Relationship to Its Land
An ambitious traveling exhibition asks how we became a state of endless fences, dams, and gas flares.
California
Best Thing In Texas
August 20, 2021
A Wine-Obsessed Austinite Wins the Viral Vineyard Job of a Lifetime
With an Elle Woods–inspired application video, Lindsay Perry bested the competition for a paid position living, learning, and drinking on a California winery.
Tacos
May 14, 2021
Homesick Californians, Rejoice: This North Texas Taqueria Has Stellar Cal-Mex
The next time you hear a California transplant claim that there’s no good Mexican food in Texas, send them to Valerie’s Taco Stand.
Politics & Policy
February 11, 2021
Californians Could Ruin Texas—But Not the Way You Might Think
Lone Star State leaders have worried about transplants importing West Coast values and politics here. But they’ve largely ignored the more pressing challenges newcomers are bringing with them.
Travel & Outdoors
May 23, 2019
A Few Other Ways Laredo Is Better Than Los Angeles
The Port of Laredo overtook the Port of Los Angeles as the nation’s busiest for trade in March. How else do the second and 80th-largest cities in the U.S. stack up?
The Texanist
April 7, 2019
The Texanist: Can My California-Born Wife Call Herself a Native Texan?
An Austin man argues that his spouse’s impressive Texas ancestry should count for something.
BBQ
July 19, 2018
Texas-Style Brisket and Otherworldly Pulled Pork in … Huntington Park, California
Ray Ramirez fell in love with Texas BBQ and started an underground L.A. barbecue joint before they were cool.
BBQ
December 16, 2017
Tri Tip Grill
At the Dallas Cowboys’ Star complex, the barbecue comes from California.
BBQ
September 16, 2015
Maple Block Meat Co.
It’s my job to travel this great country—and parts outside Texas—looking for notable barbecue joints. But searching for good brisket in California can feel like waiting for a cool September day in Texas: both exist, but mainly in theory. After making my way through a solid Southern California itinerary
BBQ
August 19, 2015
Interview: Lolis Elie
Author: Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue CountryAge: 52In the mid-nineties, Lolis Elie and photographer Frank Stewart travelled around the country eating barbecue for the book Smokestack Lightning. There aren’t many books as influential to my writing about barbecue than
BBQ
August 5, 2015
Interview: Kevin Bludso of Bludso’s BBQ
Owner/Pitmaster: Bludso’s BBQ; Opened 2008Age: 50Smoker: Steel offset smoker and gas-fired rotisserie smokerWood: Red oak, pecan, apple, and mesquite charcoalKevin Bludso’s roots are in Compton, but he earned his barbecue chops in Corsicana, Texas. His great aunt, Willie Mae Fields, ran a semi-legal barbecue business at a local gas
BBQ
June 3, 2015
Santa Maria BBQ Restaurants
Santa Maria style barbecue is probably the least familiar of any barbecue style in the country, especially for those outside California. That’s likely due to how hyper-regional the menu and the fuel are, but also how limited its representation is outside the Santa Maria area. Even three hours in either direction,
BBQ
June 2, 2015
California’s Native Barbecue
California is known for a lot of things—sunshine, wine, earthquakes—but its barbecue scene isn’t one of them. Which isn’t to say they don’t have it at all. There are, of course, the smattering of “Texas-style” and “Louisville-style” and all the other ex-patriate homages to various barbecue iterations. But California has
BBQ
November 18, 2014
Totally Smoked in the Golden State
Texas seems to export our barbecue styles as far and wide as our natural gas. Earlier this year I noted how often the aesthetic of meat on butcher paper, a decidedly Texas design is imitated on both coasts (and a few places in between). But as anyone who has
Business
February 7, 2013
So Governor Brown Called Governor Perry’s Pitch to Californian Businesses “Barely A Fart”
How likely are Californian businesses to move to Texas?
October 23, 2012
Watch an Incredible Time-Lapse Video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour
Watch a stunning time-lapse video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final voyage through the streets of Los Angeles.
Business
August 30, 2012
More Jobs Created in California Than Texas
New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that California added some 142,000 more jobs than Texas in the last twelve months.
December 7, 2011
Another Earth? Scientists Discover a Habitable Planet
Kepler-22b is situated in the “Goldilocks” zone, which could make it just right for maintaining life.
Politics & Policy
June 12, 2010
Should Texas adopt Proposition 14?
Proposition 14, adopted by California voters on Tuesday of this week, calls for open primaries, similar to a process that was used in Louisiana from 1975 until 2008. In an open primary, all candidates for an office are listed on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters go into a
The Culture
May 31, 2010
Where I’m Home
This is our second “Where I’m From” special issue, in which the entire magazine, front to back, is given over to stories about growing up in Texas. Last time, most of the essays were by staff writers. This time we turned to some of our favorite authors, folks like
Politics & Policy
March 1, 2008
Bear Market
The historic showdown between Texas and California has been a cold war, a simmering ideological feud between two great powers. And the winner (for now) is . . .