Special Reports

For nearly a week we roamed: from Santa Monica and Hollywood and from Downtown to Pasadena, Pomona and Claremont. We reveled in the wackiness and tackiness of it all and fought our way through traffic. Our reward: a handful of worthy shows, some of them life-changing.

From Boulder to LA, Roland Reiss and his progeny cut a wide swath. Three recent Southern California shows – two from Reiss and one from his former students and colleagues – demonstrate the impact of one of LA’s most revered artists and instructors.

The Bay Area got a jolt of adrenaline when the SF Fine Art Fair came to town, filling 50,000 square feet of Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion with $300 million worth of art from 500+ artists represented by 80 galleries from the West Coast, New York, LA, Asia and Europe.

When the new International Airport terminal opens in late 2011, visitors will be greeted by a 56-foot rabbit that appears to be diving from the ceiling into a suitcase. Your first-time of this city will be transformed.

Fallon (pop: 7,536) may be the hippest little town in the way-out-there West. Need proof? Check out Bob Brady at Oats Park Arts Center, a cultural oasis where you can also catch big-city jazz. Joe Lovano, anyone?