Pavement

Finally released after spending half of his life in prison, and still he had to wait. So Christopher Boyce hung around the prison parking lot, rubbernecking, taking in the fresh air around Sheridan, Ore., unsure what to make of freedom. A half hour went by before the big Suburban at last came lumbering up the driveway, carrying his father, a former FBI agent, and his mother, once a Catholic nun.

The city's neon lights vibrated in the polished hood of the black BMW as it cruised up Las Vegas Boulevard. The man in the passenger seat was instantly recognizable. Fans lined the streets, waving, snapping photos, begging Tupac Shakur for his autograph. Cops were everywhere, smiling. The BMW 750 sedan, with rap magnate Marion "Suge" Knight at the wheel, was leading a procession of luxury vehicles past the MGM Grand Hotel and Caesars Palace, on their way to a hot new nightclub.

On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels. The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.

The drive down Pasadena's Del Mar Boulevard under a canopy of ultraviolet-blue jacarandas has lost none of its effect on Roland Clements after all these years. Clements first saw the blooming trees that gracefully line the boulevard in 1984 when he moved here from central Florida. He dreamed then of making his home on the postcard-perfect roadway. Five years ago, the real estate agent moved into a restored Craftsman with an inviting front porch.

The 17-year-old high school student who was at the wheel when his car spun out of control in a horrific Memorial Day crash in Newport Beach did not have a valid driver's license, according to DMV records. The crash left five teens dead, all high school students from Irvine. Two sisters were among the casualties. Police said speed was a contributing factor to the wreck. Investigators didn't say how fast the teen's Infiniti was going, but the mayor in the beach city said he was told the car may have been traveling at 100 mph or faster.

After leaving college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh last year to move to Los Angeles, 23-year-old Odin Gray debated for several months whether to buy a health insurance policy. An avid bicyclist, he finally decided in December that it was time to buy coverage. "I knew that if anything happened," Gray recalled, "I was going to be in serious trouble and that it could bankrupt me financially. " His decision, it turns out, was a smart one. In January - just one month after buying a policy - he took a spill on his bike while heading to work, he said.

When the last Jungle Cruise boat docks for the night and lights fade to black on Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the real work begins. At lush Pixie Hollow, gardeners don miner's headlamps as they begin uprooting stubborn weeds. On Main Street, custodians scrape chewing gum off the sidewalk. And over at Mickey's Toontown, painters sand and recoat chipped handrails. Few see it happen, except perhaps for the dozens of feral cats that emerge from their hiding places to prowl the park after hours, stalking rodents.

The gig: Emily Schuman, 30, is the lifestyle maven behind the popular blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, a confectionary collection of stylish outfits, recipes, home decor tips and do-it-yourself projects. Think Martha Stewart meets Carrie Bradshaw. The blog also led to a book deal for the California native. Titled "Cupcakes and Cashmere: A Guide to Defining Your Style, Reinventing Your Space, and Entertaining With Ease," it hit shelves last August and landed on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list.

Pete Maravich came to town 25 years ago, Jan. 5, 1988. No newspaper, local or national, had an obituary prepared. No need, presumably. Everything seemed normal that morning in the gymnasium at the First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena. Maravich had flown in from his Louisiana home to do some radio work with James Dobson. Maravich had become a born-again Christian. Dobson was the nationally known head of Focus on the Family, his spacious headquarters located at the intersection of the 57 and 10 freeways in Pomona.

In a city with a grim history of high-profile car wrecks, even veteran police and firefighters seemed stunned by the death toll on Jamboree Road. They called the Memorial Day wreck in Newport Beach the single worst solo-car crash in memory. They groped, and failed, to come up with a worse one. The violent collision, just down the road from Fashion Island and the Newport Beach police station, killed five teenagers from neighboring Irvine, scattering debris and bodies across the pavement.