We’re deliriously happy to bring you our first-ever California issue. With this issue, we wanted to delve into some of what’s happening outside our county lines and offer our readers a feeling of connection to a larger community of people who call California home. There’s so much to explore.

We’re going surfing with women in Santa Barbara who picked up the sport later in life, and, we’re looking at a California crisis: Birth centers are closing due to regulatory red tape, leaving parents-to-be—especially low-income and minority mothers—with few options for where they can give birth. We’re also climbing to the tops of California’s iconic palm trees and learning about a scientist’s mission to save them from being eaten alive, talking to the new lead singer of a truly quintessential SoCal band, traveling to a town determined to preserve its stargazing, taking a trip to Channel Islands National Park, and stepping inside an improbable opera house in the desert. Plus, we’ve got a massive, stunning visual smorgasbord of some of California’s most underrated destinations.

This magazine is packed like a California rush-hour freeway.