Happy People

Older people are, well, old. They are in declining health, confronting death and may already be losing some of the people closest to them. So why do many seniors seem so happy? Research shows that the golden years are often the happiest. The work by Dr. Laura Carstensen at Stanford, author of the book "A Long Bright Future," lays out a lot of the evidence for that theory. Now a new study shows how this phenomenon takes place in the brain. Researchers in Germany used functional MRI brain scans to examine 22 young people (average age of 25)

Gordon Elwood of Medford, Ore., kept his pants up with a bungee cord, accepted handouts from a food bank and refused to have a phone installed in his home because of the cost. When he died in October at age 79, he left a $10-million fortune. Elwood was among a small fraternity of America's upper class: the penny-pinching, often shabbily dressed wealthy who are almost as much a mystery to the people who know them as to the millions of strangers who read their stories and wonder, "Why?"

Al Srnka left behind a North Dakota grain farm when he settled in Orange County nearly 20 years ago -- but not the European music he learned on a button accordion at age 14.

Fabrica da Pompeia (Centro de Lazer) is a happy island in this congested urban center. The expanding project, with its ever-changing facets, might well be described as a gathering place for all seasons and all reasons. Here, people are encouraged to pursue life's simple pleasures at their own pace, in their own style.

FRIDAY 56 Up The latest installment of a decades-long documentary series chronicling the lives of 14 people from all over England who have participated in interviews every seven years since 1964. Directed by Michael Apted and Paul Almond. First Run Features Brief Reunion A successful entrepreneur has his comfortable life in rural New England turned upside down by the unexpected appearance of a former classmate. With Joel de la Fuente, Alexie Gilmore and Scott Shepherd.

TULE RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION - This is a sovereign land of otherworldly beauty. Mist spills down a valley that winds from the giant sequoias to the elderberry and oak of the Sierra foothills. Stars in a black night sky seem as close as the candles that have been lighted in vigil during this tribe's darkest moment. For nearly two weeks, Yokut tribal members have been coming to the Church on the Hill, lighting candles. The gatherings began spontaneously Dec. 8, the night Hector Celaya, 31, killed his mother and two uncles, critically wounded Andrew, his 6-year-old son, and sped off in a Jeep with his two daughters, Alyssa, 8, and Linea, 5. "We held hands tight and we just prayed and prayed for those little girls," said tribal member Shawn Gonzales, who works at the reservation's health center.

THERE'S A THEORY going around -- popularized most recently in a book by British economist Richard Layard -- that money doesn't buy happiness. Earning more money, Layard argues, won't make us happy because most of us are interested in relative wealth rather than absolute wealth. If we earn more money, but our neighbors do too, then we're not going to be any happier than we were before. We quickly grow accustomed to our new level of wealth and begin to aspire to still more.

Santiago Perez and his neighbors went straight to Councilman Eric Garcetti when they heard that a developer planned to build a 62-unit housing and retail development on their quiet street in Echo Park. Worried that the four-story complex would tower over homes and bring excess traffic, the group emerged from their meeting at Los Angeles City Hall feeling relieved. "He told us that, yes, he's with us and he will do everything possible to reject the plan," Perez said. But months later in front of the citywide Planning Commission, a Garcetti representative offered the lawmaker's tacit support for the project, saying it was "designed well" and would bring needed jobs and housing to the area.

Have you been feeling a little down lately? Maybe it's the weather. The rainy days we've had this winter just might touch off a mild case of seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that experts say generally appears during late fall or early winter, when sunshine is scarce. For serious cases, treatment includes light therapy, medications and psychotherapy. But for those of us who are just having a gloomy day or two, there are beauty products that claim to elevate mood.

It's a timeless - by L.A. standards - dispute: What's the right way to pronounce "Los Feliz"? In response to Tuesday's Column One on Anglicized versions of place names in Los Angeles reverting to their original Spanish pronunciations, more than a dozen readers weighed in, and not just on Los Feliz. Three letters responding to the article were published Friday. Several readers whose letters weren't printed offered their own ways of saying "Los Feliz" and other areas whose pronunciations are in friendly dispute.