I grew up in Southern California, both a child of immigrants and a hungry reader, my tastes guided by what I’d read already — mostly schoolbooks, with the occasional novel my mother brought home from Costco.

As I crunched my way through the American canon, I must have developed an appetite for stories about white men overcoming adversity. It took many, many years for me to question what and who were missing from these stories, even though the answer was always anything and anyone that reflected my own experience.

It is a victory for many Americans to have Laila Lalami’s “The Other Americans” chosen as a finalist for the National Book Awards.

A rich, multilayered work, Lalami’s most recent novel bares the soul of a small town in the Mojave Desert by exploring the lives of its residents — both immigrant and native — all connected by the death of Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant killed in a hit-and-run outside of his restaurant. The restaurant, an American diner called the Pantry (“What could be more American than that?”), was the culmination of Driss’ American success story. This success was hard-earned after his first business, a doughnut shop, was burned down after 9/11 — a crime that changed his American-born daughter Nora’s view of her family’s place in her native country.

Lalami, born in Rabat, Morocco, and a longtime resident of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, captures the essence of the Southern California I know, one defined by both cultural coexistence and collision.

“The Other Americans,” a Los Angeles Times Book Club selection in July, is told almost entirely in the first person. It combines the points of view of nine distinct narrators — among them the members of the Guerraoui family; a white police officer and old friend of Nora’s; an undocumented Mexican immigrant who witnesses Driss’ killing and chooses not to report it; a black D.C. transplant detective tasked with solving the case; and a white bowling alley owner who resents the changes in his town. These voices come together to form a symphonic representation of life in this desert community, its rhythms and textures, its warmth and hopes and fears and animosities.

With elegant prose and emotional clarity, Lalami inhabits the minds of all of her characters. She does this in a way that is both empathetic and unsparing, showing the weakness, the failure, the humanity in each narrator, while never cutting the cord between author and creation, the one that allows a fictional being to breathe on paper.

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This is a book about the “other” Americans. The challenge is there from the front cover onward, to consider who is and who is not “other.” Lalami doesn’t offer an explicit answer, but her novel illustrates a harsh yet lovely truth — that every American, for better and worse, is “other” to other Americans.

Nora, who carries much of the book, is American and Muslim and Moroccan, treated as the “other” by classmates and neighbors, and she stands out against the landscape of American publishing, the white-heavy tradition of the Great American Novel.

As a native Angelena born to Korean immigrants who sort of understand my creative career, I related most to Nora, a jazz composer who is enjoying champagne at a trendy bistro in Oakland when she receives the news of her father’s death. The book’s white veteran turned police officer was much more exotic to me, but Lalami painted him with such grace and attention to detail that I found it easy to connect with him too.

If you believe that America’s character comes from its diverse origins, the folding of countless unique people and communities into one unwieldy, flawed, glorious phenomenon of a country, then this universal otherness may be an exquisite thing.

In “The Other Americans,” Lalami shows both the danger and the promise of the American experiment, the kaleidoscopic effect of disparate lives coming together.

Steph Cha’s latest book is “Your House Will Pay,” a crime novel published in October.

So you cannot possibly endure more Black Friday spam, another battle for mall parking or the passive-aggressive visiting family member asking, “What fun do we have lined up for today?”

We’re here to help. Set aside the screens, the keys and the Googling, and consider the advice of Times critic Charles McNulty and his cohort of theater reviewers. They have recommended the following nine productions, all of which have tickets available for this weekend as of late Wednesday.

“Jitney” at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown L.A. The Tony Award-winning 2017 Broadway revival of August Wilson’s drama has made its way to Los Angeles with a stellar cast and expert direction by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. As McNulty writes in his review, “This supposedly lesser Wilson work is a masterpiece by any other standard.” Performances Friday-Sunday. Review

“Between Riverside and Crazy” at the Fountain Theatre in East Hollywood. One of L.A.’s brightest theater lights has extended the L.A. premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which centers on a former cop shot while off duty by a white officer. The character’s journey, McNulty writes, “has all the hallmarks of Guirgis’ body of work: loud and bruising on the outside, sorrowful and soulful on the inside.” Review

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“The Great Leap” at Pasadena Playhouse. Director BD Wong sat down for an interview with staff writer Ashley Lee to discuss Lauren Yee’s play, which uses a shared love of basketball as the source of understanding between American and Chinese cultures. In her review, Margaret Gray writes: “The title refers, yes, to Mao Tse-tung’s Great Leap Forward, a disastrous economic reform of the late 1950s, but it also calls to mind a gravity-defying dunk. And it works just as well as a metaphor for Yee’s bold playwriting approach.” Performances Friday-Sunday. Review and feature

“Eight Nights” by Antaeus Theatre in Glendale. Jennifer Maisel’s moving new play opens in 1949 with a 19-year-old Holocaust survivor and proceeds to unfurl the decades of a life being forged in the United State. Reviewer Philip Brandes notes parallels to today’s headlines, writing, “Director Emily Chase and her cast bring the human reality of persecuted refugees to life with breathtaking emotional impact.” At last check, the play was sold out Friday and Sunday but tickets were available for Saturday. Review

“Waiting for Waiting for Godot” by Sacred Fools in Hollywood. Reviewer F. Kathleen Foley notes how this play, having its West Coast premiere, not only pays homage to Samuel Beckett but also serves as a lovely tribute to actors — “those intrepid aspirants who forgo an easy path for the strenuous and oft thankless service of art.” Performances Friday-Sunday. Review

“Key Largo” at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. John Huston’s 1948 classic film noir starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Edward G. Robinson gets a tense, churning stage adaptation that has proved a hit in Westwood. Star Andy Garcia, writes McNulty, delivers a “high voltage portrayal of mobster Johnny Rocco [that] infuses the play with crackling vitality.” Performances Friday-Sunday are nearly — but not quite nearly — sold out. Review

“The Mother … With the Hat” at Theatre 68 in North Hollywood. So maybe this one’s not for sweet ol’ Aunt Mitzi? The Stephen Adly Guirgis play whose expletive-loaded title must be ellipse-ied here has a strong cast that delivers the laughs, according to reviewer Nikki Munoz. The premise: A recovering addict is trying to figure out if his girlfriend is cheating on him — and if so, with whom, based on a hat he finds in their apartment. Performances Friday-Sunday. Review

“Elijah” by Big Victory Theatre in Burbank. Hurricane Elijah is bearing down on Texas, and inside a TGI Fridays restaurant the patrons include people who have come to demonstrate — for and against — the execution of a serial killer in a local prison. Let the storm begin. Foley calls the drama an “emotional whirlwind.” Performance Saturday-Sunday. Review

“Department of Dreams” at City Garage in Santa Monica. This surreal, dystopian fable centers on citizens forced to “deposit” their dreams at a monolithic governmental bureaucracy as part of a campaign of intimidation and terror. At last check, tickets were available for Saturday and Sunday. Review

SERIES

American Housewife Katie and Greg (Katy Mixon, Diedrich Bader) look for activities that will keep them connected as a couple in this new episode of the family comedy. 8 p.m. ABC

Top Elf In this new unscripted holiday competition series, seven kid contestants with building and design skills are challenged by Santa and Mrs. Jingles to make winning holiday themed creations. 8 p.m. Nickelodeon

Fresh Off the Boat Louis (Randall Park) gets a shot as a contestant on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” hosted by Regis Philbin (himself), in this new episode. 8:30 p.m. ABC

Penn & Teller: Fool Us This new episode celebrates the holiday season with magicians, costumes and a trophy. 9 p.m. CW

20/20 Thirty years after she learned she was switched at birth, Kimberly Mays reveals details about her tough childhood and her struggle with her identity in this new episode of the news magazine series. 9 p.m. ABC

Great Performances The Tony Award-winning musical “Kinky Boots” centers on a duo that embraces differences to create a line of footwear. 9 p.m. KOCE

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Host Guy Fieri opens a new season of his popular traveling culinary series in Kansas City, Mo., where the Chiefs’ head coach, Andy Reid, tackles pigskin. 9 p.m. Food Network

The Secret Life of the Zoo In the new episode “Rhino Surprise!,” a pregnant rhinoceros goes into labor after her keepers go home for the night. 10 p.m. Animal Planet

Room 104 Aasif Mandvi, Ethan Kent, Davie-Blue and Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris are featured in the season finale of the quirky anthology series. 11 p.m. HBO

SPECIALS

Frosty the Snowman In this animated classic, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, Jackie Vernon provides the voice of Frosty, the legendary snowman with a corncob pipe and a button nose. Jimmy Durante narrates. “Frosty Returns,” a 1992 sequel, immediately follows. 8 and 8:30 p.m. CBS

MOVIES

The Operative Israeli director and screenwriter Yuval Adler adapted a Hebrew novel called “The English Teacher” for this 2019 political thriller. Diane Kruger stars as a woman recruited by Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency. After some successful missions, she goes rogue and disappears without notice, forcing her handler (Martin Freeman) to determine whether she is now a threat to Israel. Cas Anvar also stars. 8 p.m. Cinemax

Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy This third installment in the “Christmas in Evergreen” holiday movie franchise stars Maggie Lawson (“Psych”) as a novelist and freelance writer who is assigned to write a magazine piece on an idyllic town. Paul Greene, Holly Robinson Peete, Jill Wagner, Ashley Williams, Barbara Niven and Rukiya Bernard costar. 8 p.m. Hallmark

Staging Christmas A woman (Soleil Moon Frye) who stages homes on the real estate market is hired by a wealthy widower (George Stults) to spruce up his home for the holidays, not to sell it but to lift the spirits of his daughter, who misses her mother. Jaleel White also stars in this 2019 romance. 8 p.m. Lifetime

Baking Christmas When a bakery owner (Aloma Wright) decides she’s ready to retire, her three children (Khalilah Joi, Leigh-Ann Rose and Arnell Powell) each seem qualified to run the business, so she holds a Christmas cake bake-off to see who can create the most stunning yuletide confections in this 2019 holiday comedy. Tim Reid also stars. 9 p.m. OWN

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning Susan Page; Kyle Buchanan. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today NCT 127 performs. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Brad Paisley; Garth Brooks. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

The Kelly Clarkson Show Chance the Rapper; Jillian Bell. 2 p.m. KNBC

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Ray Romano (“The Irishman”). 3 p.m. KNBC

The Doctors Paying to have a baby named; a passive workout for everyone; taking a sauna with Dr. Travis. 3 p.m. KCOP

The Wendy Williams Show Luann de Lesseps (“The Real Housewives of New York City,” cabaret show “Countess & Friends”). 4 p.m. KCOP

The Real Lil’ Kim (“Found You”). 5 p.m. KCOP

Washington Week Thanksgiving edition. Impeachment and the presidency, past and present; President Trump and impeachment: Maggie Haberman, the New York Times; Jon Meacham, Time. (N) 7 p.m. KOCE

The Issue Is: Elex Michaelson (N) 10:30 p.m. KTTV

Amanpour and Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; 1 a.m. KLCS

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Kristen Bell; Judd Apatow; Danny Brown performs. 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Jennifer Aniston; Thomas Middleditch. 11:35 p.m. KCBS

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Garth Brooks performs; comic Mike Birbiglia. 11:35 p.m. KABC

The Late Late Show With James Corden Elizabeth Banks; David Tennant; Billy Ray Cyrus performs. 12:37 a.m. KCBS

Late Night With Seth Meyers Robert Pattinson; Al Gore; Nicole Rucker; Jon Theodore performs. 12:37 a.m. KNBC

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

A Little Late With Lilly Singh Model Ashley Graham. 1:38 a.m. KNBC

SPORTS

College Basketball Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, third place, 8:30 a.m. ESPN; final, 11 a.m. ESPN. Orlando Invitational, first semifinal, 8:30 a.m. ESPN2; second semifinal, 1:30 p.m. ESPN2. Wooden Legacy, first semifinal, 11 a.m. ESPN2; second semifinal, 8:30 p.m. ESPN2. DePaul visits Minnesota, noon FS1. NIT season tip-off, third place, 4 p.m. ESPN2; final, 6:30 p.m. ESPN2. Las Vegas Invitational, final, 5 p.m. FS1; third place, 7:30 p.m. FS1

College Football Virginia Tech visits Virginia, 9 a.m. ABC; Texas Tech visits Texas, 9 a.m. Fox; Missouri visits Arkansas, 11:30 a.m. CBS; Cincinnati visits Memphis, 12:30 p.m. ABC; Washington State visits Washington, 1 p.m. Fox; West Virginia visits TCU, 1:15 p.m. ESPN; South Florida visits UCF, 5 p.m. ESPN

NHL Hockey The New York Rangers visit the Boston Bruins, 10 a.m. NBC; the Kings visit the San Jose Sharks, 1 p.m. Fox Sports Net; the Winnipeg Jets visit the Ducks, 1 p.m. FS Prime

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NBA Basketball The Clippers visit the San Antonio Spurs, 5:30 p.m. FS Prime; the Washington Wizards visit the Lakers, 7:30 p.m. SportsNet

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.

When Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles signed on to direct Netflix’s “The Two Popes,” he knew he’d have his work cut out for him. The film dramatizes a series of thorny theological discussions between Pope Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis over Catholic doctrine and the role of the church in a changing world. Not exactly the type of cinematic razzle-dazzle that tends to grab today’s attention-challenged audiences.

“My son even created a commercial for it,” Meirelles says, slipping into the mock-dramatic tone of a movie trailer announcer. “‘Two old men … sitting and talking … about religion.’” He laughs. “Very exciting.”

Fortunately for Meirelles, who is best known for his Oscar-nominated work on the acclaimed 2002 crime film “City of God,” he had one major ace up his sleeve: Those old men would be played by two of the most renowned actors alive, Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce.

Now playing in limited release before hitting Netflix’s streaming service on Dec. 20, “The Two Popes” traces the story of how the Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio ascended to the papacy following the surprise resignation of the German-born Benedict in 2013 amid criticism of his handling of the church’s sexual abuse scandal. The film has drawn strong reviews, with critics praising it for bringing a sense of humanity to a world that has long been shielded behind walls of secrecy and traditions stretching back centuries.

With Pryce as the genial, liberal-leaning Francis and Hopkins as the taciturn, conservative Benedict, “The Two Popes” becomes not just an exploration of the Catholic Church in a moment of transition and crisis but, by the end, an improbable and touching sort of buddy comedy — “The Odd Couple” with long white robes and Bible passages.

Following the film’s successful runs at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, Oscar prognosticators have declared Pryce and Hopkins strong contenders in this year’s lead actor and supporting actor races, respectively, while the film itself is considered to have a shot at a best picture nod. Hopkins, who won the lead actor prize in 1992 for “The Silence of the Lambs,” waves off that sort of speculation. “I can’t be bothered to think about stuff like that,” he says, adding with almost papal sagacity, “My philosophy is: Ask nothing, expect nothing, but accept everything.”

Pryce, 72, and Hopkins, 81, who are both from Wales, have portrayed real-life leaders before; Pryce played King James in the 2005 historical drama “The New World,” while one of Hopkins’ four Oscar nominations came for his starring turn in Oliver Stone’s 1995 biopic “Nixon.” But embodying someone who bears the title His Holiness and is charged with guiding the souls of a significant portion of the world’s population comes with its own special sense of responsibility. “It does have an effect,” Hopkins says of putting on the papal robes. “I looked in the mirror and I thought, ‘God, this really feels extraordinary.’”

The unique power of the role was brought home to Pryce while filming a Mass in front of hundreds of locals in a poor neighborhood in Buenos Aires. “Some of the small children there thought I was the pope, and twice it happened that young women brought their babies up asking to be blessed,” he says. “Fortunately, the real priest stepped in and said, ‘It’s OK — I’ll do it.’ You don’t know where that baby is going to end up if you give him a fake blessing. But all of that added to the authenticity of the thing.

“When you play a fictitious character you can muck about, but when I was dressed as the pope I didn’t make pope jokes,” he adds. “I would do the odd blessing to the crew but I definitely had the feeling of respect for the office.”

While “The Two Popes” presents itself as a rare peek behind the papal curtain, in reality not much is known of what transpired in the three meetings between Benedict and Bergoglio during the period covered in the film. Drawing on extensive research, screenwriter Anthony McCarten, who has earned Oscar nominations for his work on “The Theory of Everything” and “Darkest Hour,” set out to imagine what the two may have discussed, humanizing them with details he discovered along the way, such as Benedict’s love of the soft drink Fanta and Francis’ passion for soccer.

“For me to responsibly speculate, I did a lot of research on their stated positions: newspaper articles, stuff translated from foreign languages, many books, YouTube clips, documentaries,” McCarten says. “The artifice here is that I put these two voices in dialogue with each other and built this papal smackdown, this argument between a conservative and a liberal.”

Early iterations of the project — which was initially titled “The Pope” and focused far more on Francis — had a clearer delineation between “the bad pope and the good pope,” as Meirelles puts it. But over time, the debate between Francis and Benedict became more even-handed and balanced.

“As a dramatist you have to love your characters equally,” McCarten says. “The interesting discovery for me was that, in learning to love Benedict — which was more of a stretch because my politics more naturally aligns with Francis — I began to respect Benedict’s position and see a strength in it that I hadn’t formerly seen.”

Pryce, who is neither Catholic nor religiously observant, was initially drawn to the project out of his own admiration for Pope Francis. “Like a lot of people, I felt a great empathy with Francis, saying what he was saying about society and climate change and the refugee crisis and building bridges not walls,” says the actor, who may be best known to many younger viewers for playing a far more sinister religious leader, the High Sparrow in “Game of Thrones.” The fact that he bears a rather uncanny resemblance to Francis was a happy coincidence. (“The day Francis was made pope, the Internet was full of images of the two of us together. One of my sons called me and said, ‘Dad, are you the pope?’”)

To prepare for the role, Pryce learned as much Spanish as he could. But in the end, Meirelles decided to dub the majority of the actor’s Spanish dialogue with a native speaker. “Jonathan has an English accent and for Latin America it wouldn’t be acceptable to have the pope speaking with a bit of an English accent,” the director says.

For his part, Hopkins was fascinated by the complexity of Benedict, who is depicted in the film as caught between his belief in the supremacy of the church’s traditional values and his private sense of his own fallibility. “He has the wisdom and the knowledge to understand that he’s certainly not perfect,” Hopkins says. “It must have crossed his mind many times, ‘I don’t know everything.’ We are puny little creatures. We think we’re smart but we’re not at all.”

Asked what kind of research he did for the role, Hopkins scoffs cheerfully. “I don’t research,” he says. “I saw photographs and bits of documentary films. But it wasn’t difficult for me to play old because I am old. Acting for me has become dead easy. I don’t sweat it. People want to make it complicated so it’s painful. Fine, if that’s what they believe, but it’s not brain surgery. It’s quite easy if you relax into it.”

While it remains to be seen how major an Oscar player “The Two Popes” may be, McCarten says he is surprised at the degree to which it has resonated with audiences so far. “For a kind of niche movie, who knew?” he says. “I mean, it’s a pretty big niche: 1.4 billion Catholics. Still, it’s two old men in frocks talking about God.”

He suspects the explanation can be found in the film’s message of tolerance for conflicting viewpoints, no matter how deeply held or diametrically opposed.

“Like a couple of prizefighters, these two kind of punch themselves out and then they fall silent, and that silence allows for forbearance and they start to work their way toward a middle position,” McCarten says. “I think if there’s anything people are responding to about the film, it’s the sense that that’s still achievable. We live in a time when people have almost despaired of that ever being possible again. If compromise can be found between these two camps, maybe there’s hope for us all.”

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I didn’t really want to quit my job as house manager of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but I stopped doing something I loved to start treatments for advanced metastasized melanoma.

The first few treatments were killing the cancer, but they also were killing me. I didn’t want to end up as a cancer-free cadaver, and my doctor, Melody Benjamin of UCLA Health Ventura, didn’t want me to either, so I was switched to an immunotherapy drug in 2016.

Success. Six months in, my scans showed no sign of the tumors and virtually no evidence of active melanoma. I felt wonderful and wanted to celebrate my new lease on life.

My husband, Sam, and I decided the first week of November would be a great time to celebrate life, and, coincidentally, our fifth wedding anniversary. I looked at my bucket list and Tahiti jumped out at me. I am passionate about travel and was delighted to have a project to work on.

For me, doing this right meant an over-water bungalow. I spent hours each day researching the islands of Tahiti and the resorts with the accommodations that fulfilled my dream. I also wanted just enough activities to fill our days, restricted to seven because of Sam’s job. He cautioned me — a serial over-planner — not to stuff our schedule because he wanted time to relax and rejuvenate.

After a red-eye flight from LAX, we arrived, rented a car and drove to the resort, the highly rated InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa in Faaa. We arrived too early to check in, so we headed to the market, just a mile from the resort. There we stocked up on wine, cheeses, various charcuterie, fresh local fruit and a freshly baked baguette.

Our suite was ready when we returned. We were almost euphoric: It was one of the last bungalows away from the central building. A young man pulled up in an open-air vehicle to take us to our accommodations. The whole scene seemed like something out of “Fantasy Island.” Smiles, everyone, smiles!

He showed us into the bungalow, complete with a thatched cathedral ceiling, teak and wicker furnishings and the most luxurious bathroom I’d ever experienced over the water: a huge Jacuzzi tub, a rainwater shower, polished teak counters and Italian marble everywhere.

The bedroom and living room opened out to an upper deck that welcomed us with down-padded chaise longues and a view that went on forever.

Sam wanted to settle in, but I insisted we take a spin and see Topatari Falls. He acquiesced. We fought traffic and took treacherously narrow roads to get to the well-publicized sight. Then we walked through damp ferns, fighting off mosquitoes and other flying objects.

When we arrived at the spot between two trickling waterfalls, Sam looked at me and said, “Now can we just go back to the bungalow?”

We scurried to the car and took the fastest route, skipping my itinerary.

Sitting on the deck, watching our first Tahitian sunset, I lifted my glass of sparkling French wine and said, “Happy anniversary.”

Embracing the moment, Sam replied, “Know when you’ve won.”

For the rest of the week, we took morning and evening swims and snorkeled off our deck, occasionally stopping by the pool for an umbrella drink from the swim-up bar. We dined at the hotel’s fine restaurants and on our deck, sometimes ordering room service, sometimes enjoying items from the local market.

A win indeed. Smiles, everyone, smiles!

Departure Points explores the ways traveling changes us, whether it’s a lesson learned or a truth uncovered. You can submit a first-person essay of 700 or fewer words to [email protected] using “Departure Points” in the subject line. Please include your first and last names and your contact information for editorial consideration.

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Cheap airline tickets. Discounted tours. Reduced hotel rates. And don’t forget Vegas, which has fee-free stays, second rooms for free and dollars off regular rates. It’s a bargain hunter’s bonanza, thanks to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and also thanks to our time zone.

My name is Catharine Hamm, and I’m the travel editor for the Los Angeles Times. What’s better than a Thanksgiving dinner? Discounts. Freebies. Any chance to stretch your travel dollars — and sometimes earlier than Friday, because many of these start just after midnight in the Eastern time zone, when it will still be a reasonable 9 p.m. Thursday in Southern California.

We also shine a light on places where you can see the holidays take on a certain glow, including an amazing show in Solvang. If you’re a little overwhelmed with turkey day detritus, take some time to dream about a weekend getaway to Todos Santos, Mexico. Or if you’re headed home already, we offer a primer on how to drive with… snow chains? Yep. Plus: why you need to keep your mouth in the closed position on a car trip, and a host of survival tips for those whose plans include an airport.

Happy Thanksgiving, readers. May your blessings be as numerous as the vehicles stuck in L.A. traffic.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday travel savings

Here, from Mary Forgione and Jay Jones, our intrepid bargain hunters, is a compendium of travel tips, trips, ideas and awesome savings:

— In Vegas, bargains include as much as 40% off rooms.

— Airfare deals, including a sub-$400 fare to Stockholm and other savings tips for finding fares.

— Want to take a tour? Find some of the best bargains in this roundup — hotels, too.

See the light

There’s just something about a beautiful display of holiday lights that can set the mood, and April Orcutt has gathered some of the best in the West, including some close to home. Consider too, Mary Forgione writes, seeing a different kind of show, this one done by drones in Solvang.

Holiday travel help

You may be at your destination now but you’ll still have the trip home to contend with. Here is some of what you need to know about:

— Driving. Chains may be required for some destinations, and Chris Erskine tells you how to cope.

— Getting Uber, Lyft or a taxi home. Christopher Reynolds explains how to navigate the new rules for leaving LAX.

— Finding parking at LAX. If you don’t have a reservation, Bharbi Hazarika writes, good luck. And you’ll know for next time.

— Keeping your trap shut. In my On the Spot column, we pose this question: Are you the Satan of back-seat drivers? Whether you’re going 50 or 550 miles, you might want to cool it with the unwanted advice — always, but especially around the holidays.

Picture this in Vegas

It used to be verboten to take photos inside a Las Vegas casino, partly for security reasons but also because it can be disruptive. But now, in some places you can photograph to your heart’s content, Michael Hiller writes. In fact, they encourage it. Find out where you can snap your ultimate selfie.

Take a break from the kitchen, and think Baja

Stop for a moment to embark on a quick mental vacay and read Christopher Reynolds’ article about Todos Santos. It’s not quite the oasis of sanity it used to be, but it’s not Los Cabos, either. Some great fare, plus baby turtles. Can you beat that combination? We think not.

What we’re reading

Want to feel like the great unwashed? Fly economy class, where you parade by those who spend money on your way to join those who save money. But now even economy comes with its own aeronautical hierarchy, Chris McGinnis writes for SFGate, explaining the gradations in seating and why you might want to think again before accepting the lowest of the low fares.

Does anything feel quite as warming on the tongue as a spot of tea? As we endure these rainy days (or revel in them), take a tea trip through Taiwan, courtesy of Laura Kiniry, writing for Smithsonian. She treats tea with the kind of precision and care you’d expect from a wine writer and brings alive the flavors. She also doesn’t neglect the much-consumed boba. It isn’t in the same league as, say, Alishan tea, which she describes as the “Champagne of teas,” but could a tea story ignore this popular drink?

Add sharks to the many charms of Kansas. (Don’t say it; you know I love the place, and you’ll hurt my feelings.) Before it was fields of wheat, corn, soybeans and milo, Kansas was part of a watery pathway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, Isaac Schultz writes for Atlas Obscura. Some 91-million-year-old teeth were discovered a decade ago in Mitchell County, about 200 miles west of Kansas City, Mo. They’re from a creature that is thought to be a relative of the great white, although ponderous, according to the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The teeth are in the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Ft. Hays State University in western Kansas.

Our holiday wish for your reading list

The Los Angeles Times. It just makes sense to subscribe. Where else are you going to find out what restaurants and stores are open on Thanksgiving and how to navigate LAX during the holiday madness, plus read the moving story of a Paradise, Calif., football player who gives thanks in the face of loss? Where else can you find something that’s made every day just for you? Check out our subscription deals.

The newsletters of the Los Angeles Times. We’re partial, of course, to this one and our newly reformatted Vegas newsletter, but there are many, many other excellent choices. Best of all, they are free and definitely worth far more than you pay for them. Check them out at our newsletter center.

Your emails. We like hearing from you, happy or sad, mad or glad. Tell us how to improve or just tell us you like us, you really like us. But don’t forget to write: [email protected].

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End paper

April Orcutt’s story on holiday lights brings back happy memories of holiday lights on our house.

At least, the lights on the house were happy for me. Not so much for my father, whose job it was to put them up. It was especially arduous the five years we lived in Syracuse, N.Y., where there were two seasons: winter and July 7.

My mother wouldn’t allow the lights that early (and also insisted they be taken down in January), so he would get out there on a ladder and have my mother standing by with a pan of warm water. He’d nail up a few, then climb down, put his hands in the warm water (because you can’t hang Christmas lights wearing thick gloves), dry his hands, go back up the ladder, nail in a few more, then back down. Up and down, until they were all done and his adoring daughters could run out to see them, then run back inside because, darn it, it was cold.

The child’s world remembers the magic; the grown-up’s imagines the misery. (I also imagine how happy he was when we were transferred to Honolulu and Manila, how sad when we ended up back in Washington, D.C. But he never complained, although he might have looked a bit pained.)

No wonder they retired in Southern California. He still hung the lights but he put up hooks (and painted the hooks to match the house so they weren’t an eyesore the rest of the year).

He died in 1990, but I continued to string those lights every year until my mom moved into a retirement home in 2008. He’d made it easy, and I thanked him silently every year.

I still put up lights — solar now — on my own house. On the shortest days of the year, arriving home and seeing them twinkling reminds me that there can be, should be and will be light even in the gloom of a December evening.

Wherever you are this holiday, travel safely and well, look for the light, and remember that we’ll always be here to welcome you home.

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, San Francisco’s always-jumping Union Square ups its game. A towering Christmas tree aglow with thousands of lights and ornaments rises from its center. Skaters whirl around an ice rink, grooving to holiday and pop music. Street performers entertain in and around the square. Festivities include Hanukkah menorah lightings and an annual Drag Queens on Ice show (Dec. 5). Last year, as we have almost every holiday season for a decade, my daughter and I joined in Union Square’s merry madness. We checked out the dazzling window displays of the department stores that rim the square. Fluff trumped bling at Macy’s, where kittens and puppies available for adoption played and snoozed in the windows, charming a large crowd. We also toured some of the area’s decked-out hotel lobbies. The elaborate sugar castle at the Westin St. Francis didn’t disappoint. And the short but steep climb up Nob Hill to see the Fairmont’s two-story gingerbread house was worth the effort. (Hop a Powell Street cable car or hail a taxi if you’re not up for a workout.) The tab: About $220 for a one-night hotel stay, plus $125 for meals.

THE BED
We bunked at the elegant Palace Hotel, built in 1875 and just a five-minute walk from Union Square. Our room’s contemporary leather headboards, dark furniture, and muted gray-and-cream palette blended with the crown molding and other original architectural details. The Palace’s public spaces retain their Old World splendor, thanks to soaring marble columns, graceful archways and Austrian crystal chandeliers. My daughter loved the large indoor swimming pool with its skylight roof.

THE MEAL
We stuck with tradition and ate at the Rotunda, a swanky spot for lunch or tea, on the fourth floor of Neiman Marcus. I usually go for the satisfying NM chicken salad. This time, I tried the pappardelle pasta with red wine-braised short ribs. It was rich and filling, especially after indulging in the popovers that come with every meal. Snagging a coveted table overlooking Union Square is tough during the holidays. Luckily, the Christmas tree that stretches from the ground floor through the dining room’s circular opening is just as mesmerizing, as is the ornate stained-glass dome ceiling.

THE FIND
After lunch, we strolled the Astroturf-carpeted stretch of Stockton Street known as Winter Walk SF. Holiday revelers have replaced vehicles in the pop-up park the last five years. Family-friendly entertainment and food trucks rule here. Adult treats include craft cocktails, beer and wine. This year’s event runs through Dec. 31 on Grant Avenue between Geary and Post streets.

THE LESSON LEARNED

If you want to skate, hit the rink early for prime ice conditions and sparser crowds.

Palace Hotel, 2 New Montgomery St., San Francisco; (415) 512-1111. 553 rooms, including wheelchair-accessible accommodations, from about $210 during the holidays.

The Rotunda, 150 Stockton St., San Francisco; (415) 249-2720. Open for lunch and afternoon tea; see website for holiday hours.

Union Square Ice Rink, 333 Post St., San Francisco; (415) 781-2688. Skating through Jan. 20. Visit website for tickets and hours.

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Global stock markets fell Thursday after President Trump signed a bill supporting human rights in Hong Kong, potentially increasing tensions as the U.S. and China talk about ending their trade war. Trading volumes were muted, however, with the U.S. closed for Thanksgiving.

China reacted with indignation to the legislation, which Congress passed with overwhelming support. Beijing summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad for a dressing down and issued multiple statements threatening unspecified countermeasures.

In Hong Kong, where sometimes violent protests have dragged on for nearly six months, the Hang Seng index lost 0.2% to 26,893.73. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5% to 2,889.69.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,402 and the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.3% to 5,908. Germany’s DAX declined 0.4% to 13,235.

U.S. futures were modestly lower, with the contracts for both the Dow Jones industrial average and theStandard & Poor’s 500 losing 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. U.S. markets will remain closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and will open for half a day Friday.

Trump’s move did not come as a surprise, given the pressure from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers to support the legislation. But it’s unclear if the human rights bill, which Beijing views as “meddling” in China’s internal affairs, might derail recent progress in trade talks with Washington.

“We urge the U.S. to not continue going down the wrong path, or China will take countermeasures, and the U.S. must bear all consequences,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Markets appeared to be taking the developments in stride, said Stephen Innes of AxiTrader, “on the assumption that the U.S. legislation is unlikely to torpedo Phase 1. But of course, it does provide a stark reminder that on one level or another, U.S.-China frictions are always going to be a thorn in the markets’ side.”

The key question in China-U.S. trade negotiations is whether they will be able to reach a deal before Dec. 15, when new tariffs are set to kick in on many Chinese-made items, including smartphones and laptops.

Pressure is building on both sides to complete a limited “Phase 1” deal before the deadline, though the Trump administration could end up postponing it, as it did in October, to allow more time for talks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.1% to 23,409.14 while the Kospi in Seoul shed 0.4% to 2,118.60. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 6,864.00. India’s Sensex added 0.1% to 41,059.51.

On Wednesday, investors capped a day of light trading on Wall Street by serving up another set of stock market record highs. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq closed at all-time highs for the third straight day.

Benchmark crude oil lost 22 cents to $57.89 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 30 cents on Wednesday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gave up 12 cents to $62.89 per barrel.

The dollar slipped to 109.50 Japanese yen from 109.54 yen on Wednesday. The euro was steady at $1.1007.

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Martinis are the biggest thing in cocktails. That’s why they’re shrinking.

Having quietly become fixtures at bar industry events, baby martinis — or ’tinis, in bar world lingo — are sweeping into top bars. Among the most striking reason for today’s teeny martini: Even the drink’s most ardent fans think today’s martinis are too big.

“About 10 years ago, there was a trend for these huge 16-ounce martinis,” said Miranda Dickson, Absolut Elyx’s global brand director. “My goodness, that’s all spirits. It’s just not a pleasant way to have that drink.”

“I’ve always said that a martini is the most sophisticated way of downing five shots of gin in one go,” Fords Gin founder Simon Ford joked.

Order a martini at a craft cocktail bar, and you’ll be presented with 4 ounces of liquid, give or take a few splashes. Specs vary based on preference, but a classic martini contains from 2 to 3 ounces of gin or vodka, with a smaller, or equal, portion of modifier such as vermouth. (Around an ounce of water is added when the drink is stirred or shaken, if you insist, with ice.)

A cocktail with several brisk ounces of booze raises a particular conundrum for martini drinkers. You either drink it quickly at the proper temperature, and get tipsy, or you sip it slowly and watch it pool into a glass of warm gin.

“Those first two sips are like falling into a swimming pool,” said Toby Cecchini, owner of Brooklyn’s Long Island Bar. “It’s the most perfect thing.” But with an eye toward the rest of his night, he often won’t finish his.

Since 2014, luxury vodka brand Absolut Elyx has featured Cecchini’s martinis at the annual bar industry conference Tales of the Cocktail. Three years ago, the drinks started to get noticeably smaller.

From his Cecchini Tini Corner, the famed bartender doles out petite custom concoctions. One summer, they were served in antique 2-ounce cordial and liqueur glasses sourced from Sweden. “If you give somebody something very small, it de facto becomes precious,” Cecchini said. “People take note.”

With an eye on trends, Absolut Elyx debuted a 3-ounce copper martini coupe. In December, consumers will be able to purchase Elyx mini-martini sets in copper for $49.

“That was originally how you had a cocktail,” Dickson, of Absolut Elyx, said. “If you went to someone’s house, you’d be served a little drink.”

And in 2016, Fords Gin began hosting martini-and-oyster pairing events where drinks were no bigger than 2 ounces.

“We started doing it almost by default,” Ford said. “We didn’t want to give people three full martinis.”

“Glasses in the day of the three-martini lunch used to be smaller, about 4 or 5 ounces, and usually filled with maybe 3 ounces of liquid,” said Robert Simonson, author of “The Martini Cocktail” (Ten Speed, $19). “Glasses started to become really big in the ’70s and ’80s, and then you jump up to the 9-ounce glass. You were getting three wholesale martinis in one glass.”

“If you go to steakhouses today,” he said, “you’ll still get that 9-ounce glass.”

Last fall, Hendrick’s Gin kicked off “Tini Martini on Tour,” with stops in London, Amsterdam and New Orleans. The concept: little martinis from notable bars such as London’s Lyaness, New York’s the NoMad, and Paris’ Little Red Door served in diminutive 1-ounce pours.

“It was clear that there is renewed interest in the martini, but from the perspective of the new cocktail age,” said Charlotte Voisey, William Grant & Son’s director of brand advocacy. A reverence for the martini is coupled with an awareness of drinking less and better-quality drinks, she said.

“For me, a smaller-size martini is God’s gift. It answers all my prayers.”

This fall, vodka distillery Ketel One debuted a national animated TV commercial depicting a man served a martini bigger than his head. He squints at it, then shrinks it to a petite portion.

“Moderation is marvelous,” the tagline reads. The Drink Marvelously commercial spots, first seen during the Emmys telecast in September, position the brand as the choice for today’s health-conscious sophisticate.

Fueled by trends in moderation, as well as an aim to serve the drink at its coldest possible temperature, teeny ’tinis are popping up on the menus of the world’s best bars.

At London’s new Tayēr + Elementary, you can order the One Sip Martini, a premixed and prediluted vodka martini with sherry and vermouth. It is just over 2 ounces, served bracingly cold straight out of the bottle. A short walk from Tayēr is the Whiplash Martini at Fare, which is also prediluted, very cold and tops out at 2 ounces.

New York City’s Dante has offered a 2.5-ounce Fords Gin martini ($5) for the past year.

“There’s a perception of a martini as a frozen fishbowl of vodka,” Dante co-owner Linden Pride said. “We wanted to go back to making it accessible for people. They can have a little tipple.”

The serving shrinkage also is kicking off in Los Angeles, where Bibo Ergo Sum has just introduced a special baby martini service.

“At 11 o’clock, our servers will go around and let people know that it’s tiny ’tini time,” owner Tait Forman said.

The acclaimed bar Death & Co. is opening its third venue in Los Angeles next month. The inaugural menu features a 3-ounce Vesper martini for $5.

“You will get these ridiculously perfect and straight-out-of-the-freezer cocktails but just have this one amazing sip,” co-owner David Kaplan said.

“This is one trend I would be completely happy with if it just continued on and on,” Kaplan said of small serves. The drink “is better colder. It’s perfectly diluted. It’s hospitable to the guest, because it’s this really delightful and boozy thing, but it’s not a huge glass of it.”

Elva Ramirez writes for Bloomberg.

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The French Normandy-style condominium building in Hancock Park dates to 1928. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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Faubourg St. Denis. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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Architect James N. Conway laid out the building in a symmetrical H shape in keeping with the dictates of the style. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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The building is designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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A four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit is for sale in the building. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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The unit has 2,154 square feet of living space. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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The dining room. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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The kitchen. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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A bedroom. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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A bathroom. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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Outdoor space. 

(Gabriel Felix)

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The pool. 

(Gabriel Felix)

Faubourg St. Denis is a French Normandy-style building in Hancock Park originally designed as apartments.

When it was constructed in 1928, composer George Gershwin premiered his orchestral piece “An American in Paris.” Romantic notions of the French countryside and the bustle of its cities captivated the public’s imagination.

Architect James N. Conway laid out the building in a symmetrical H shape in keeping with the dictates of the style. The central courtyard is accessed by a gated archway adorned with scrolled wrought iron work. The shape recalls Louis XIV’s triumphal arch, La Porte Saint-Denis, along Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis in Paris.

A wide walkway leads past formal gardens to the double-door entry. Quoin stones anchor the corners, dormers punctuate the slate tile roof, and balconies with balustrades add a decorative effect to the exteriors.

Initially, each lavish apartment spanned an entire floor. Today the structure, which is designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, has been reconfigured to house four condominiums per floor.

A four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit currently for sale has hardwood floors, a working fireplace and other period details throughout its 2,154 square feet of living space. The foyer, with elegant marble floors, leads to a living room with beamed ceilings. The dining room retains its original cast plaster medallions.

The master bedroom features a dressing room, a walk-in closet and a marble bathroom. A center island kitchen, a laundry area and a maid’s suite complete the floor plan.

Amenities include a recently redone swimming pool, gardens and secured underground parking for two vehicles.

Unit 402, at 306 N. Sycamore Ave., is priced at $2.199 million. Jill Galloway of Compass is the listing agent.

This occasional feature celebrates Southern California’s architectural heritage through residences built before 1960. Submit candidates for Vintage SoCal to [email protected].

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