Year In Review: 2023 Updates to Past Posts

At the end of each year now, it's no longer only about reflecting on the new experiences I've had over the last 12 months—but also recognizing how the world around me has changed.

And I can't help but document it.

That brings me back to some places—either physically or just mentally and emotionally—that I thought I'd be "done" with after one visit. 

Unfortunately, the scales were tipped way too far in one direction last year. We lost many more people and things than we were able to save.

And, in some cases, it didn't have to be that way. 

But life is loss—constant loss, in fact. And the sooner we come to terms with that, the sooner we can get to appreciating what we've got now. 

One of my most devastating experiences is whenever I find myself saying, "I never got to go."

But as time passes, the sentiment changes. Now, increasingly, it's the heartbreaking statement, "I never got to go back."

Here are some of the updates I made to past blog posts in 2023, reflecting changes that happened in that year or developments that had happened previously but I only got to documenting that year.

Closures/Losses/Deaths/Preservation Threats

Tustin blimp hangar, which burned down in 2023

1. Photo Essay: The Speedway Magic of Lights (Updated for 2023)
2. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (Updated for 2023 — Closed)
3. Photo Essay: Inside the Los Angeles Times, From Written to Printed (Updated for 2023)
4. Photo Essay: The Doomed Domes, Casa Grande's Other Ruins (Updated for 2023—Demolished)
5. A Tropical Escape In a Time of Adversity: Mission Tiki Drive-In (Updated for 2023—Closed)
6. Photo Essay: Is It Auf Wiedersehen For Alpine Village, Our Little Slice of Bavaria in LA's South Bay? (Updated for 2023)
7. Photo Essay: How Billions of Burgers Got Their Start in Southern California (Updated for 2023)
8. Photo Essay: Amboy, A Quintessential Ghost Town Along Route 66 (Updated for 2023)
9. Photo Essay: It's Déjà Vu for Hollywood's Most Famous Imperiled Intersection (Updated for 2023—Demolished)
10. Photo Essay: Marine Corp Air Station & North Hangar, Tustin - Closed (Updated for 2023, North Hangar Destroyed By Fire)
11. Photo Essay: The Secret Street Legal Collection at Vic's Garage (Updated for 2023)

Good News/Preservation Victories/Reopenings

1. Photo Essay: Boney Island's Magical Skeleton Crew (Updated for 2023—Reopened at NHMLA!)

Splitting the Difference (a.k.a. You Win Some, You Lose Some)

1. Photo Essay: Highland Theatre's Hidden History (Updated for 2023)

New Photos/Facts Added

The Nike missile silo entrance at Point Vicente

1. Photo Essay: Where Airplanes Go To Rest (Updated for 2023)
2. Photo Essay: Driving Back and Forth Across Long Beach's New 'Bridge to Everywhere' (Updated for 2023)
3. Photo Essay: Trespassing Through Southland's Military History (Updated for 2023—Silo Added)
4. Photo Essay: LA's New Angel-Winged 'Cathedral of Soccer' [Updated for 2023]
5. Photo Essay: A Former YMCA in Pomona, California Is Getting Ready to Rise Once Again, Ahead of Its 100th Birthday (Updated for 2023)
6. Taking the Stairs to a Tower, a Terrace, a Dell and a Bowl in Hollywood (Updated for 2023)
7. Photo Essay: A Fake Cemetery (with Real Headstones) (Updated for 2023)

Let's hope in 2024 we can get some more good news to help balance out the heartbreak.

Related Posts: 

Year In Review: 2022 Updates to Past Posts

Year-In-Review: 2021 Updates to Past Posts

Year-In-Review: 2020 Updates to Past Posts