Holidays are made for family and food and, if weāre being real, putting in some earbuds and catching up on those rich, lengthy stories you didnāt get around to reading this year. Hereās a round up of four of our favorites from 2018.
āIn 1982, a Family Disappeared From Their Valley HomeāWhat Happened to the Salomons?ā

Photo courtesy of Marty and Doreen Laffer
Writer Stacy Perman, a former neighbor of the Salomon Family, attempts to piece together what happened to the family of four, who vanished from their Northridge home 36 years ago.
āThose first few weeks, I expected Michelle to knock on my door. The knock that finally came was from a pair of detectives. I was alone after school and showed them into the living room we used only for special occasions. One of the cops produced bloodied sheets and asked if I remembered seeing them in Michelleās bedroom. A wave of nausea swept over me. āNo,ā I blurted out, dissolving into tears. Thatās when I knew the Salomons were dead.ā
āThis Sperm Donor Didnāt Think Much About His Side GigāUntil 20-Plus Children Surfacedā

Jennifer Roberts
For seven years two decades ago, Peter Ellenstein was a prolific sperm donor. In 2017, his biological children began to surface. Now Ellenstein is playing friend and father figure to a new kind of family unit.
āAlmost as extraordinary to him is that most of his offspring are willing to make a place in their lives for a long-lost biological father. Several have established a tight bond with the āsocial dads,ā as theyāre known, who have raised them to adulthood. For them, Ellenstein will never be a paternal substitute. But for many of the othersāthe ones reared by single, lesbian, or divorced moms, or who are estranged from their social dads and yearning for a father figureāhis presence has been celebrated. āI feel an incredible responsibility to all these people,ā [Ellenstein] says earnestly. āThis was what was lacking in my life. Itās the perfect thing to have come along.'āĀ
āHow I Infiltrated One of L.A.ās Most Vicious Motorcycle Gangsāand Lived to Talk About Itā

Shayan Asgharnia
ATF agent Darrin Kozlowski has infiltrated gangs from West Virginia to the Bronx. In 1997, he infiltrate the Vagos, a ruthless motorcylcle
āEven though Iām retired, thereās a lot I still canāt sayāpartly for my own safety and partly because it would be potentially dangerous for other agents. But thereās one case I can talk about: my infiltration of the Vagos in L.A. back in 1997. It was my first long-term undercover caseāin Los Angeles or anywhereāand it nearly got me killed.ā
āCan the Los Angeles We Know Survive the Death of Its Trees?ā

Millicent Harvey
Los Angelesā trees are dying at a rapid rateāand there are serious consequences for the future. This deep dive illuminates the crisis.
āSo this is kind of a science-fiction story: Los Angeles has become its own hostile planet, and it has to figure out how to become habitable long-term. One answer is to plant more trees. The urban canopy protects us, after all, from the āurban.ā But itās not so easy. Plant- ing trees does tend to interfere with some of the fundamentals of society, like streets and sidewalks and real estate. Historically humans would rather have streets and houses even though these contribute to the environmental effects that kill trees.ā
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