Chris Erskine spent 30 years making Los Angeles laugh, and occasionally cry, as a columnist for the LA Times. Now, free of deadlines and editors, he uses this newsletter as his therapist’s couch.

Twice a week, he writes about family, friendship, food, the absurdity of getting older, amid the strange beauty of life in Southern California. Sometimes he makes you laugh. Sometimes he makes you cry. It’s unclear which he prefers.

He also runs the Happy Hour Hiking Club and the Gin & Tonic Society of Greater Los Angeles, because a man needs hobbies.

Welcome aboard. Pull up a chair.