Sunset

Golnesa Gharachedaghi talks like a real soon-to-be housewife of Beverly Hills. The 30-year-old self-proclaimed Persian princess, who doesn't shy away from confrontation or dropping expletives, explains her simple tastes. "There are two things I don't like. I don't like ants, and I don't like ugly people. " Another time, the young woman who says she is eager to settle down offers a guiding principle of her active night life: "Looking good, and not repeating outfits, is imperative.

Angelini Osteria is almost everyone's favorite Italian restaurant in midtown: an informal room with well-designed trattoria cooking, a place to settle into for a plate of bombolotti or a Sunday saltimbocca, where whatever diet you happen to be on at the time will be accommodated without a fuss. Some nights, it feels as if everybody in the room knows one another, but you're in on the party too. You drink well, you eat well and you go home. A lot of chefs have come out of that kitchen, including Ori Menashe of Bestia.

If you’ve wondered whether Al Capone or Robert Stroud (the “Birdman”) haunt Alcatraz, an upcoming cruise-tour might let you glimpse a specter. The long-established Red and White Fleet plans to launch a “ City Lights Cruise ” next month that will depart around sunset. It will cruise along the San Francisco waterfront past Ft. Mason, the marina and the Presidio and then loop around the infamous former prison island, among other sights. It will also cross under the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.

The time has come to put the Medical Board of California out of its misery. The board oversees the licensing of doctors and their discipline for misdeeds or incompetence. It also has jurisdiction over doctor-owned surgical clinics. Long ago the board acquired the reputation of being one of the least effective regulatory bodies in Sacramento. But evidence has mounted that it's worse: It's a danger to the community. Because of its ineffectiveness in a variety of spheres, patients have died.

Lee Cohen celebrated his 56 th birthday in April by trekking on the back roads of California's Central Coast. Near the end of his trip, he visited Oso Flaco Lake Natural Area just north of Pismo Beach. Standing on the bridge that spans the northern end of the lake, Cohen shot this photo as "the last rays of the sun shone over the ocean and the lake, ending a remarkable day on the California coast. " The Signal Hill resident used an Olympus Pen E-P2. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

Times reader "phreader" captured this photo of L.A.'s iconic Griffith Observatory during a recent trip. "Visited family in L.A. in mid-January and caught 85-degree weather, fantastic sunsets and scenes like this," the photographer said. "Golden memories for sure. " Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park opened May 14, 1935. The observatory sits on 3,015 acres of land donated to the city of Los Angeles by Griffith J. Griffith, a mining and real estate mogul. Griffith donated money to build the observatory to make astronomy more accessible to the public.

Some sunsets just burn into the memory. Patricio Bejarano, a court interpreter who lives in Newport Beach, was lucky to preserve this one as a photograph as well. Last September, during a 10-day vacation in Bali, Indonesia, he and his girlfriend were in a tiny beachfront restaurant waiting for glasses of wine. Bejarano zoomed in with his Canon PowerShot A70 to capture these fishing boats. "What was funny was that the glasses of wine never arrived," he said.

Kathleen Brenzel, editor of Sunset's latest book, “The 20-Minute Gardener,” understands the time-strapped reader's dilemma. “You just want [your garden] to look its best, with a minimum of work on your part,” she writes in her introduction. She understands you're busy “juggling career, family and community obligations.” And so she promises a solution: “We show you how to keep your garden looking good in as little as 20 minutes a day.” Chockablock with ideas and projects, decorative tips and well-styled photographs, many culled from the pages of Sunset magazine, the book ($24.95)

The $287,500 Sunset Handicap had become the forgotten stake on the Fourth of July weekend at Hollywood Park. Despite the Sunset's reputation as a major race, more attention was being paid this year to today's Silver Screen Handicap, with Preakness winner Snow Chief running, and to speculation about whether Melair, the undefeated filly, would run against Snow Chief or start instead in Sunday's Hollywood Oaks.

"There's as much good physics in a thunderstorm as in a synchrotron," writes James Trefil. This is the third in a series of books in which Trefil demonstrates that the working of natural laws are as apparent in nature as in the laboratory. He starts by answering a question dreaded by all parents of inquisitive youngsters: Why is the sky blue?

Kathleen Brenzel, editor of Sunset's latest book, “The 20-Minute Gardener,” understands the time-strapped reader's dilemma. “You just want [your garden] to look its best, with a minimum of work on your part,” she writes in her introduction. She understands you're busy “juggling career, family and community obligations.” And so she promises a solution: “We show you how to keep your garden looking good in as little as 20 minutes a day.” Chockablock with ideas and projects, decorative tips and well-styled photographs, many culled from the pages of Sunset magazine, the book ($24.95)

Singer Katy Perry has listed her Sunset Strip-area compound for sale at $6.925 million. The gated Mediterranean-style house, built in 1925, sits on nearly three acres with two guesthouses and a swimming pool. The house, which the singer never occupied, features a baronial stone foyer with sweeping staircase, stained-glass windows and a carved fireplace mantel in the living room, a pub, a study and a media room. Including a four-room master suite, two guest suites and staff quarters, the house has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

The gaudy yellow-and-red signs have been painted over and the huge album cover posters that once covered the windows are long gone. There's little left at the Sunset Boulevard street corner that speaks to the crowds that gathered here for free concerts by Elton John and Duran Duran or the faithful who sifted through the racks of vinyl or eight-track tapes inside. Still, the West Hollywood Historic Preservation Commission would like to set the record straight and acknowledge the significance of the Sunset Strip's legendary Tower Records building.

Damian Gadal got this shot of a human-and-dog jogging duo at Santa Barbara's Butterfly Beach, a popular spot for dog owners and their pets. He used a Sony Alpha NEX-7. "Depending on the tide, this is a great beach to photograph sunsets, provided it's low tide," Gadal says. "At high tide the beach more or less disappears. " Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page  or  reader submission gallery .  Follow us on Twitter  or visit  latimes.com/socalmoments  for more on this photo series.

Chinese on Sunset: A Chinese restaurant for the Sunset Boulevard set is expected to open this spring from Innovative Dining Group , the name behind Sushi Roku, BOA and Katana. Chi-Lin will open in April next to IDG's latest, RivaBella (a collaboration with Gino Angelini that debuted in January). IDG says it has partnered with Cecile Tang of Joss, and Studio Collective is designing the space. How to get into Koreatown speakeasy Lock & Key New drinks at Freddy's: Pico Boulevard gastropub Freddy Smalls in West L.A. has a new bar director, Johan Stein, who formerly worked at Red Medicine and Sotto.

The Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli has more than 2,000 wines and an eclectic beer selection. The pastrami sandwiches ($10 and $12) are amazing. It's family-run, with a friendly staff and lots of regulars. Entrees $8-$20. Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli, 16635 Pacific Coast Highway, Sunset Beach; (562) 592-3167, http://www.brixsunsetbeach.com Sharon Reich by email

"After the Sunset" is an unalloyed delight, bright and breezy escapist fare that's pure entertainment, filled with romance, adventure, humor, action, suspense, beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Best of all, it's got more emotion than gadgetry and special effects -- although those are spiffy indeed. It just goes to show there's nothing like a clever script, along with perfect casting and, above all, direction that's feather-light.

Persian Gulf Arabs ended their annual Ramadan fast after sunset Friday and prepared for a three-day Muslim feast.

In July, Jennifer Burstein and her family visited Lakeside, Ariz., and stayed at the Lake of the Woods resort. From the patio of their cabin, she photographed her husband, Mark, right, with their son, Dave, at the resort's lake. "My family loved fishing while watching the sunset," she said. "It was very serene. " The Santa Clarita resident used a Fuji Finepix S5100. To submit your photos, visit our reader photo gallery . When you upload your photos, tell us where they were taken and when.

Video may have killed the radio star, but it also sounded the death knell for the era of the rock 'n' roll billboards that dominated a 1.7-mile strip of Sunset Boulevard for three decades starting in the late '60s. Slick ads for fashion and TV shows have replaced those hand-painted monuments to rock gods such as the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin that might have been relegated to the memories of a generation were it not for the foresight of a curious 16-year-old. Robert Landau was living with his father in the hills above Tower Records when he walked down to Sunset Boulevard one morning and saw a 15-foot-high replica of the Beatles strolling single file in a zebra crossing from their "Abbey Road" album cover.