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The 2020 Range Rover Sentinel, which made its debut in March, contains more than a ton of ballistic steel plate and armored glass inside its body.

It can withstand a pipe bomb exploding from point-blank range and can weather rounds of bullets shot by AK-47s, AR-15s and 9mm pistols. Its 510-horsepower V-8 engine can ford deep water, descend steep mountains and sprint at 120 mph — an admirable feat considering that the Sentinel weighs 10,000 pounds, more than twice the weight of a regular Range Rover.

It also has a hatch that allows those inside to escape through the rear luggage compartment, in case the doors should become unusable. Engineered and built by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations team in West Midlands, England, it’s not the first bulletproof vehicle Land Rover has made in-house, but it’s certainly the toughest.

The Sentinel’s release highlights a segment of the automotive industry that often goes unnoticed: the manufacture and sale of armored vehicles. And today, there’s growing demand from consumers willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for them.

“A lot of regions around the world are developing economically very quickly, and defense expenditures are correlating with that, and we have been scaling with it,” says Philip Nadjafov, whose family founded Toronto-based Isotrex in 2005. He says business overseas, especially to fulfill U.N. peacekeeping and government contracts, has risen precipitously over the last three years. “People are investing in their security.”

While brands such as Audi, BMW, and Land Rover already offer in-house bulletproofing options, it’s the rise of sales by the many private providers across the U.S. that indicates the real profits to be made. No comprehensive data exist for the industry at large, but interviews with many of them have set market growth expectations near double digits, year over year, for the foreseeable future.

In San Antonio, Lawrence Kosub at Texas Armoring Corp., which opened in 1997, is laying plans to open a facility in Central America that can manufacture 200 armored vehicles a year, up from the 50 he now produces annually. In Utah, ArmorMax Chief Executive Mark Burton is working on a government contract to deliver 140 Ford vehicles to various agencies by early 2020. He’s built manufacturing plants in eight countries over the last two decades, and next year Burton will open an outpost in India.

Some outfits, such as O’Gara Group, have been around for more than 100 years; it was providing armored limousines in the 1940s, when Harry Truman was president — and a client. Others sprouted more recently: Manhattan Armor was founded in New York City in 1979; International Armoring Corp. was founded in Ogden, Utah, in 1993; and AddArmor was founded in Jackson, Wyo., in 2017. They remain bolstered by demand from what feels like every corner of the globe: From Brazil to Ukraine, Nigeria to the Philippines, everybody wants protection from any imminent threat.

An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 armored vehicles circulate on streets worldwide, with Brazil leading with the highest per capita number of armored vehicles in the world, according to Texas Armoring Corp. Sao Paolo alone currently receives 800 armored vehicles a month.

But where the perennial hot spot is Brazil, and need has been white-hot in Mexico, demand now comes from West African nations such as Nigeria, whose growing economy is the largest on the continent. It’s also coming from the U.S., where outfits such as Texas Armoring Corp. have seen business double. At ArmorMax, the U.S. constitutes nearly 80% of business, an inverse flip from 20 years ago. Sales to American clients at the subsidiary of IAC have increased eightfold since 1994.

“People are worried about random acts of violence,” Burton says, mentioning he had just spoken on the phone with a prospective private client in Chicago. “They’re the attorneys, they are the doctors, the business executives. They’re worried about their families or their wives being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

It’s a generalized “unsettled” feeling that has sparked the rise, he adds. “People just want peace of mind as they drive around.”

Most vehicles that undergo bulletproof treatment endure an invasive process. The outfitter first removes all nonessential components to lessen the weight of what will inevitably become a very heavy apparatus. That means pulling out some trim and wiring, carpeting and seats. Then, the sides and pillars of the vehicle are sliced open and stuffed or welded with armored panels, most often made from ballistic-grade steel. A lighter-weight composite material can include special resins, ballistic nylon and/or Kevlar, such as that found in bulletproof vests.

Along the bottom and sides of the car, special firewalls can be added. A crumple-zone bumper can be added, too, which enables the vehicle to burst through blockades or out of rubble without damaging the radiator and other internal mechanics.

Elsewhere, wheels are made to run while flat by installing polymer doughnuts where the inner tubes use to be — those will run at 60 mph or so for roughly 50 miles before wearing out. Windows are replaced with “transparent armor,” a 1- or 2-inch-thick sandwich of plastic poly and leaded glass. The thicker it is, the more security it provides: Two inches gets you protection against a single shot from a big-game hunting rifle. Often, the heavier glass requires more-than-routine maintenance: “We have a lifetime warranty on the work we do — but for the glass, we have a 24-month warranty,” Burton says. The motors burn out the fuses that make the windows go up and down.

One man in Mexico who asked to remain unnamed for safety reasons had his life saved by just such a windshield: An attacker fired a gun directly at his Mercedes in broad daylight. The damage was merely a cracked window, which needed to be replaced. “Insurance doesn’t cover the windows,” he says.

Rogerico Pagliari, who lives in Brazil, says the windows of his bulletproof Volvo S70 have never been shot at — but that doesn’t mean they don’t work. “Once, I got in an ambush, and it gave me the confidence enough to gas instead of stopping,” he said.

Sometimes, the goal during manufacture is to make the vehicle look extremely low-key, with no obvious signs that it has been altered for enhanced protection. Unnoticed means unbothered, the thinking goes. Attention creates a target.

“We once had a client request we armor a Ford Taurus Limited,” Kosub says. “You’re talking about a $40,000 car with $100,000 worth of armoring on it. But that’s the type of thing that most of our clients who are serious about security really want — something under the radar.”

Other times, the treatment is heralded as a status symbol, complete with flashing lights, bullhorns and sirens. The level of ostentation often depends on the country. What is accepted in Venezuela may not be so applauded in Honduras.

“In Honduras, you need a permit to have an armored vehicle,” says Carlos Flores, the president of Roco 4×4, which supplies components and armors vehicles under a Blindajes Inteligentes, or Smart Armor, division in Honduras. Flores said the nature of the vehicles there has changed as the drug cartels have lost power and the economy has bloomed: Where people once needed high levels of security against military-grade attacks — options that might include smoke screens and systems to electroshock intruders — now they’re buying more understated options that protect against basic handgun attacks.

Christopher Davis, who owns a bulletproof Audi Q7 in Colombia, said that in Bogota, if they don’t exactly qualify as status symbols, armored vehicles do constitute a certain display of power in a region that experienced gruesome violence in the not-distant past.

“It’s really a defensive measure, because people are really still scarred and terrified of the violence that’s now 20 or so years in the past,” he says. “Bottom line is, people don’t have them for no reason. In Colombia, it’s strange to see a nice SUV that’s not armored.”

Many of the “irritating” laws in Bogota — for example, pico y placa, or the traffic mitigation strategy of limiting traffic over certain hours and days in urban centers — virtually don’t apply to bulletproof cars, Davis says.

“Plus, the police cannot pull you over, since technically they can’t enter your car without an order from the court,” he says. “And some bulletproof cars have the government status to basically act like police cars, in terms of traffic laws, as long as the emergency lights are on. Usually, you will see security guards following these types of vehicles on a motorcycle.”

Regardless of how flashy — or mundane — the vehicle is on the outside, the primary challenge for those who build them is weight. The lightest touch of armor on a small sedan will add 500 pounds. The world’s fastest bulletproof vehicle may be the Audi RS7 Sportback, which the company claims can hit 200 mph. (That’ll cost $205,000, if you’re interested.) At the other end of the spectrum, the most advanced level of protection will add 2,500 pounds or more, as it did to that Sentinel.

It’s a tricky balance. Heavier materials are stronger against attack — but they slow down the vehicle, too. And their weight often requires mechanical reinforcements such as bolstered suspensions and frequent repairs to transmissions and engines. Sometimes, a third hinge will be added onto doors to help carry the bank-vault weight they assume when they’re bulletproofed.

Many of the outfits that armor vehicles advertise their own patented technologies as the lightest-weight and strongest of the lot. They also talk about design.

From offices in downtown Los Angeles and a headquarters in Canada, plus a manufacturing facility in United Arab Emirates, Isotrex makes a Phantom armored personnel carrier with a V-shaped hull designed to disperse any blasts that happen directly underneath its cage. In addition to its thick hull, the unique shape and material composition provide the source of its security.

“It’s about dispersing energy in clever ways that make it even better than just a bombproof car,” says Nadjafov. “These vehicles need to hit certain speeds; it’s about making sure that people get back to their families. That is the main focus behind our design philosophy.”

The weight savings are considerably over the double-your-heft standard of previous generations. But you’ll still be able to feel it from behind the steering wheel. Some armoring companies offer training in conjunction with the vehicles they sell, so that customers will know how to get the best out of their ride — and have a plan for safety, in case of emergency.

“There is a vast difference between [bulletproof and non-bulletproof] vehicles,” says Sean Kealey, a U.S. Army captain on active duty in El Paso. Kealey sometimes drives a bare-bones Humvee “as if it were a scout vehicle” — nimble and capable off road. But the armored Humvees, he says, are much less capable off the beaten path and are prone to rollovers and problems with suspension, engine and transmission stressed from the additional weight: “Of all of the vehicles that we had, the one that struggled the most in the sands in the Arabian Desert was the armored Humvees,” Kealey says.

At least your wallet will be lighter. An armored Toyota Land Cruiser or Mercedes S-Class sedan can start around $100,000. Prices for serious quality products reach much higher: The BMW X5 Security Plus cost $144,000 when it made its debut at the Moscow Auto Show in 2014; Audi’s A8 L Security cost $140,000 upon its 2016 arrival; and Mercedes-Maybach’s Pullman Guard cost $1.6 million when it premiered in 2017. At ArmorMax, the average amount on a purchase ticket is $150,000, Burton says.

Rover declines to name a price for the Sentinel, its latest ballistic retardant feat, but its predecessor cost $445,000 in 2015. A rough estimate puts the latest version near a half-million dollars. The underlying hope, of course, is that you’ll never have to put it to the test.

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Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive officer of nonprofit healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, died Sunday in his sleep. He was 60.

Tyson became CEO of Oakland-based Kaiser in 2013 after working at the company for almost three decades, directing its hospital systems and leading its “Thrive” advertising campaign. He’d since increased the organization’s revenue and boosted membership in its insurance plans.

“Bernard was an exceptional colleague, a passionate leader, and an honorable man,” Edward Pei, a director, said in a statement. “We will greatly miss him.”

Gregory A. Adams, an executive vice president at the insurer, was named interim chairman and CEO by the board.

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Tyson’s ascent to the CEO role coincided with the implementation of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a transformative time in American healthcare. The insurer’s revenue grew during his tenure, from $53 billion in the year he took the reins to $79.7 billion last year, according to the company’s website. It oversees health plans for more than 12 million customers, with about two-thirds of those in California.

In 2017, he was named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list.

“During his tenure, Bernard has focused on public health and preventive care, rather than just treating disease, seeking to provide high-quality, affordable, accessible health care to all of its members,” wrote Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). “And from his position of considerable influence, he has brought an often overlooked aspect of medicine to the forefront: mental and emotional health.”

I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, with a look today at holiday travel.

There have been a number of alarming stories recently about the nightmare of getting out of Los Angeles International Airport amid a new policy of steering taxis and ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to an off-site lot.

Though LAX officials are scrambling to smooth things out, nothing can be done to ease the headaches that come with going anywhere during the holiday season. And the days before and after Thanksgiving are typically some of the worst.

AAA estimated that more than 54 million Americans traveled last year at this time, up nearly 5% from the year before. With the economy doing relatively well, things could be even more ferocious this year.

AAA and the online travel site Expedia say the busiest travel day will be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — that is, Nov. 27. But AAA is forecasting that Tuesday, Nov. 26, could be just as bad as people rush to get a head start on their trips.

Consumer Reports, meanwhile, warns of hassles (and costs) if you’re traveling with young ones. If you’re flying coach, there may be no guarantee you’ll be seated with your kids unless you pay a little extra to reserve seats.

That’s obviously a terrible policy on the part of airlines, which risk having children separated from their parents in the event of an emergency. In 2016, Congress directed the Department of Transportation to take a more active role in prodding carriers to keep families together.

But three years later, Consumer Reports found no such instructions being issued. Instead, it says, the Department of Transportation “simply added a section to its website offering advice to families about sitting together and linking to airline websites for information about their policies on family seating.”

Tip: Even though an airline may not be obligated to keep your family together, it never hurts to ask. Call a reservation agent and see what can be done. You can also beg for mercy at the gate.

If you have a bad experience in the unfriendly skies, don’t be shy about lodging a complaint with the government — this is frequently the only way authorities know how big a problem something is. You can do this here.

Oh, and if you’re already planning ahead for Christmas, most travel sites expect Saturday, Dec. 21, to be the busiest travel day. Things will peak again on Saturday, Jan. 4, when everyone struggles to get home.

Now then, here are some recent stories that caught my eye:

STORY LINES:

Activism in tech: On Nov. 1, 2018, thousands of Google employees marched out of their workplaces in frustration. That protest helped set in motion a year of activism in the tech world, bringing changes to Google and beyond.

#MeToo hits finance? Financier Ken Fisher’s crass comments caused pension funds to pull billions of dollars in holdings from his firm, marking a rare moment when the investment world has publicly reckoned with its culture in the era of #MeToo and Time’s Up.

Automate them first: Plans to automate jobs at the port exposed a stark economic divide between two sets of Southern California workers: unionized dockworkers facing the prospect of automation and truckers, who are mostly independent contractors and are rooting for the machines to take over.

What a trip: Timothy Leary’s former LSD ranch in the San Jacinto Mountains has sold to another enigmatic and eccentric leader of youth culture: YouTuber Logan Paul.

What we’re reading:

The heist: If Bitcoin is digital cash, then this wasn’t a bank robbery — it was a theft of the presses that actually print the money. Vanity Fair tells a story of crypto crooks in Iceland.

Peril in the Amazon: Logging isn’t the only threat to the world’s biggest tropical rainforest. Illegal mining is a profitable and pernicious enterprise that threatens a critical environment and indigenous communities, the New Yorker reports.

Let me know what you think of the newsletter. My email is [email protected], or you can find me on Twitter @Davidlaz. Also, tell all your social media pals to join the party.

Until next time, see you in the Business section.

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BEIJING — 

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported nearly $60 billion in sales Monday part way through Singles Day, an annual marketing event that is the world’s busiest online shopping day.

The day was a temporary relief to retailers that face fading demand as Chinese consumers, anxious over slowing economic growth and the tariff war with Washington, tighten their belts.

University students created Singles Day in the 1990s as an alternative Valentine’s Day for people without romantic partners. Alibaba adopted it as a marketing tool a decade ago. The creators picked Nov. 11 because the date is written with four singles — “11 11.”

Rivals including JD.com, China’s biggest online direct retailer, and electronics seller Suning joined in. The tactic has caught on in other Asian countries, too.

On Monday, retailers offered discounts on goods from smartphones to craft beer to healthcare packages.

“Yesterday night, I was browsing past 11 p.m. Many of my friends around me were staying up till 2 a.m. to buy stuff,” said Zhu Yirun, a graduate student in Beijing.

Alibaba said sales by merchants on its platforms totaled $31.7 billion by 6 p.m., passing last year’s total of $30.8 billion. JD.com reported sales of $25.6 billion by midafternoon.

Alibaba kicked off the event Sunday night with a concert by Taylor Swift at a Shanghai stadium.

E-commerce has grown rapidly in China due to a lack of traditional retailing networks and government efforts to promote internet use. The country has 800 million people online.

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Alibaba, JD.com, Baidu and other internet giants have expanded into consumer finance, entertainment and offline retailing.

Monday was Alibaba’s first Singles Day since its founder, Jack Ma, stepped down as chairman in September. He stayed on as a member of the Alibaba Partnership, a 36-member group with the right to nominate a majority of the company’s board of directors.

E-commerce has created some of China’s biggest fortunes.

Ma, 55, is China’s richest entrepreneur with a net worth of $39 billion, according to the Hurun Report, which tracks the country’s wealthy.

Colin Huang of Pinduoduo was No. 7 on Hurun’s list at $19 billion. Zhang Jindong of Suning was No. 15 at $14 billion and Richard Liu of JD.com was No. 28 at $11 billion.

Last year, Alibaba reported Singles Day sales of 30.8 billion, or more than 13 times its daily average of about $2.3 billion.

Suning said sales of smartphones and other electronics passed $160 million in the first minute after midnight. The company said later sales were up 86% over 2018’s Singles Day but gave no total.

Dangdang, an online book retailer, said it sold 6.8 million copies in the first hour.

Chinese online spending is growing faster than total retail sales but also is weakening as the economy slows. Growth declined to a multi-decade low of 6% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in September.

Online sales of goods rose 16.8% over a year earlier in the first nine months of 2019 to $825 billion, according to official data. That was more than double the 8.2% rate for total consumer spending but down from an average of about 30% in recent years.

E-commerce made up 19.5% of Chinese consumer spending, compared with about 11% of spending for American consumers.

Yang Wei, a migrant worker in Beijing, planned to skip the online rush.

“I feel like the difference [in price] is not that big, and since everyone’s buying all at once, the logistics and delivery are slower,” said Yang. “I think that it’s actually better for me to buy when not everyone’s buying.”

I was living in the San Fernando Valley, going out dancing with friends and hitting up night clubs. I was dating — a lot — but never seemed to find the right fit.

There was always something missing.

When the guys were good-looking, they had no personality. When they were successful, they weren’t very attractive. When they had personality, well … that’s another story.

A girlfriend called me and said there was a singles’ Hanukkah house party happening nearby and that there would be a good crowd. No cover charge — just bring food to share.

I got dolled up — in a shimmery gold top, black leather pants and big hair. (I mean big.) And baked up a tray of my favorite chocolate brownies. The house party was crowded, and before I even placed the brownies on the buffet table, a cute, dark-haired guy wearing a red flannel plaid shirt grabbed one off the plate.

He grinned at me as he scarfed the brownie down in one big bite. I couldn’t help but laugh. He introduced himself. Alan and I got to talking and soon began discussing what we’d both been up to during the holiday season. (The date happened to be Dec. 26 — it was one of those years when Hanukkah ran right up against Christmas.)

“So what did you do yesterday?” on Christmas, I asked.

“Well,” he said, munching away on a second brownie, “I celebrated my birthday.”

I stopped.

I screeched.

“No, you didn’t! I celebrated mine!”

We both stared at each other in awe, wide smiles crossing our faces.

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What were the odds of two Jewish kids who were both born on Christmas Day meeting up at a Hanukkah singles’ party on Dec. 26?

Suddenly, we couldn’t stop talking, searching for other things in common. There were many. We had similar backgrounds: We both lost our parents at a young age. We both owned homes in the Valley. He was in marketing, and I was a legal secretary working in Century City, but we both had creative side projects we were working on. (I was developing a cartoon about a talking flamingo, and he worked in theater in his off hours, and dreamed of being a Broadway producer.)

Fast forward: Soon, we were cuddling up in a small chair, making out, and ignoring the rest of the party. It seemed like no one else in the world was there.

When he asked me to come home with him that night — he said for cake and coffee and to see his etchings — I assumed he had bigger ideas in mind. I told him no, leaving him on the front steps of the party in disbelief. We exchanged phone numbers, though, and then I headed out with my girlfriend.

Several weeks passed — and I didn’t hear from him.

I thought, “Oh, no, another one of those guys who takes your number and never calls.” But I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I finally got up the nerve to call him.

When he answered, it sounded like he’d been expected me to call. (I found out later he thought he was playing “hard to get.”)

We chatted for a while and finally he said, “So, what are you doing Friday night?”

He took me down to Santa Monica to a small Ethiopian restaurant (I haven’t had that food since), and it was a magical night (except for the food — not a fan). It was like we’d known each other our whole lives and were so comfortable with each other. It was so easy to be with him. Did I mention he was cute too with beautiful dark thick hair?

When he kissed me outside after dinner under the bright starlit night, I knew that he was The One.

By Valentine’s Day of the following year, we’d started seeing each other more often, even though I had to push him on a bit.

When he gave me a key to his house in Sherman Oaks, I knew he was finally serious about me.

It would be another year before he asked me — on Christmas Eve — to marry him. By chance, while visiting a very good friend in Orange County a short time after the wedding, we ended up falling in love with Laguna Beach. We bought a home there, with a beautiful ocean view.

We wanted to have children, but unfortunately things started to unravel.

I had a miscarriage. And then I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My mother had died of breast cancer, so I was grateful: My doctor said I was lucky to catch it so early. I had lymph nodes removed. “You really shouldn’t try to get pregnant again,” my doctor had told me. I survived that ordeal with the support of my husband and friends.

When I was recuperating, I became more involved in the arts. The arts are everywhere in Laguna Beach. It’s addictive — in a good way.

I started taking painting classes and ceramic classes. My husband bought me a kiln, for my pottery. Then, the cancer came back again, and the battle started all over again. But my art always took me back to a good place.

And I had my husband with me through the worst of it; he was so supportive and vigilant in getting the me best doctors and the best treatment.

Our only experience raising a baby would be with our dog, Bogart, a beautiful black-and-white Cocker Spaniel who lived for 18 years.

We haven’t found a replacement since.

But I don’t just want to tell you about the sad times. We have had many wonderful experiences together. We’ve traveled the world — Asia, Europe and Israel. We just returned from a trip to Spain. We’ve been to the Oscars, the Clinton inauguration and to the Knesset in Israel. Our love of theater led us to work on a script together. And Alan hasn’t given up his dream of Broadway: He is working on a play.

Life is not always perfect, and we’ve had many ups and downs over the years. Fights over silly things that seemed so significant at the time. And fights over money. Work dried up for us both during the recession, but houses still have leaky roofs and plumbing problems that need to be taken care of.

There were times where I thought we’d break up for good. But something always brought us back together again.

Things always somehow worked out. We’ve come a long way since meeting in the Valley.

It seemed bashert — that’s Yiddish, for “meant to be” — that we met that day.

And besides, it’s always fun making up.

This holiday season, in addition to celebrating our birthdays, we’ll also be celebrating 30 years of marriage. And I know just what he’ll wear for the party.

Those red plaid shirts are still in style!

The author is an artist living in Laguna Beach. She wrote about her cancer journey in the anthology, “A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors” and she showcases her work at the Sawdust Art Festival. Her website is designsbyrosalie.com

Straight, gay, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary: L.A. Affairs chronicles the search for love in and around Los Angeles — and we want to hear your story. You must allow your name to be published, and the story you tell has to be true. We pay $300 for each essay we publish. Email us at [email protected]. You can find subscription guidelines here.

I’d come home from another good day at my middle school teaching job, but my spirits sank as I opened the front door to that hollow feeling of an empty house. As I checked the mail, I found a large envelope addressed to me by hand. Hmmm. Never got many of those. It was from Jere Johnson, a name I didn’t recognize.

I opened it to find several impressive editions of a middle school newspaper — the Bonita Vista Scroll — with a note attached from Jere. She introduced herself and said we had many mutual friends and that she had been given my mailing address by a fellow teacher named Phyllis. “I thought it might be fun to share publications,” she wrote. I too was a newspaper advisor, and as I glanced through the school’s newspaper, I found Jere in a photo. “Wow!” I thought.

The next day at school I tracked down Phyllis: “So, who is Jere Johnson?”

“Jere!” she said gleefully. “She would be perfect for you!”

Like all my pals, Phyllis was all too aware that I had been alone for many years after my divorce. It wasn’t that bad when my daughter was living at home, but at the time she was in college back East. Phyllis told me a bit about Jere. As it turned out, Jere and I had much in common. Both her daughters had graduated from college and she too was looking to start a new chapter in her life.

I had spent time on Match.com trying to find romance with someone my age, but after countless first dates and few second dates, I decided to give it a rest. I had been alone for 15 years and sometimes wondered if I was ever going to meet that someone special.

I called Jere that night to thank her for the newspapers. I shared my enthusiasm for her publication and we connected right away, as teachers do. (We also commiserated about the trials of middle school teaching.)

Although I generally thought it best to spend time getting to know someone before risking rejection, in this case I decided to give it a shot. “I know this is short notice, but if you happen to be free on Saturday night, I’d like to take you out to dinner,” I said, and suggested finding a place in her neighborhood in San Diego.

“I know just the spot,” she said, and my evening brightened considerably. Funny how everything takes on a glow when you have a date for the weekend.

Saturday night found me knocking once again on a first-date door. Nervous but not a wreck. If it didn’t go well, life would go on. I knew enough not to be taken in by first impressions, but when the door opened, I couldn’t help myself. Prettier than her picture with a warm, welcoming smile. So far, so great.

We ended up tucked in at the corner table at Volare in Point Loma, and we spent the evening getting to know each other. As baby boomers, we had an instant connection: We laughed about watching old western TV shows like “Rawhide,” “Bonanza” and “Wagon Train” and that we could still sing their theme songs. As for popular music, we grew up on Elvis and matured with the Beatles.

Heck, our moms even cooked the same dinners: meatloaf, spaghetti, fish sticks, chicken pot pie and roast beef on Sundays. We discovered not only a shared past but found out we liked the same things: books, movies, plays, board games, sports, travel and crossword puzzles.

Digging deeper, we realized that we both knew the pain of divorce, the challenges of single parenting and the sadness of lonely nights.

After our meal, I asked Jere, “Do you like ice cream?”

The smile that was winning my heart said it all. After two scoops and even more intimate conversation at Baskin-Robbins, neither of us wanted the evening to end. We went back to her place to play cribbage.

When it was finally time for me to make the drive home, Jere mentioned she had tickets to a play at the Old Globe theater in about a month. Would I like to join her?

“Great! Just so you don’t make me wait that long to see you again.”

Her drop-dead gorgeous smile told me all I wanted to hear. A goodnight kiss sent me home dreaming that this might really work.

The next few dates involved a walk on the bluff at Torrey Pines beach and a visit to the Getty Museum. The play turned out to be a dud, but the date itself was good.

It didn’t take me long to know that Jere was Mrs. Right. And she seemed taken with me. The next hurdle was the daughters. (Although they were all out of the house, they were very much in our lives.)

Fortunately, everyone hit it off.

Deep down, I think, they were relieved we each had finally found someone.

The last 20 years have been bountiful. Jere and I led student tours to Australia, Europe and Central America and then sold our condos to buy our dream house in Point Loma before retiring.

We were blessed by each daughter’s marriage and now spend weekdays helping our six grandchildren with school work and weekends at their sports games.

Every anniversary we marvel at our good fortune by reenacting our first date. We dine at Volare and toast our good friend Phyllis for bringing us together.

The author is a retired middle school teacher in San Diego.

Straight, gay, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary: L.A. Affairs chronicles the search for love in and around Los Angeles — and we want to hear your story. You must allow your name to be published, and the story you tell has to be true. We pay $300 for each essay we publish. Email us at [email protected]. You can find subscription guidelines here.

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When you say you are going to spend the afternoon in Paramount, you might have to correct your friends from thinking you are doing a tour of Paramount Pictures studios.

The city is nestled between Compton and Bellflower, with the rap-famous street Rosecrans Avenue running through the northern half while Alondra Boulevard (see rapper-singer Buddy’s “Harlan and Alondra” album) cuts through the south.

Paramount is a fairly quiet city and a respite from the overstimulation of DTLA or Hollywood. (While nearby Compton has been immortalized in part for its ties with pop culture icons N.W.A, the Williams sisters and Ava DuVernay, Paramount finds itself in the history books for a different reason: as the site where the first Zamboni was created and rests to this day.) On this tour, we also include the Columbia Memorial Space Center in nearby Downey to give you a full four-hour experience.

Take some time to slow down, soak in some Americana and remind yourself that the sky’s the limit.

11 a.m. Find parking on Columbia Way and walk to the Columbia Memorial Space Center at 12400 Columbia Way, tucked into a residential area and across the street from a 24 Hour Fitness. Despite its unassuming exterior, this small museum is a cosmic trove of goodness. It’s only $5 and is well worth the stroll through two floors of exhibits and displays. It’s not exactly a state-of-the-art venue, but the charm is its simplicity. Visitors are greeted by an interactive bottle rocket display and two large artifacts, a Rocketdyne J-2 engine and an Apollo command module that are like works of art.

The museum is on the former campus where these mind-blowing machines were made in the race to put the first man on the moon. Downey was once known as the “cradle of the cosmic age” because of its role in nurturing pioneering technology for space exploration. Visitors can explore a day in the life of a worker as well as learn the stories behind the scenes of the Apollo missions, from the tragedy of Apollo 1 to the success of Apollo 11. Watch columbiaspacescience.org for special events celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch, which succeeded in putting the first man on the moon. (The Apollo capsule will be decorated with holiday lights Dec. 5 through Jan. 2.)

There are several interactive activities for kids, or kids at heart, and there’s a wall of sticky notes asking visitors what “Apollo” means to them. The answers include the Greek god, memories of a person who was suffering with chicken pox when Apollo 11 landed, and sentiments of inspiration that the sky’s the limit. Note: The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Noon Drive to Paramount Plaza: Go south along Columbia Way as it turns into Clark Avenue, turn right on Somerset Boulevard, then left on Downey Avenue to pass Progress Park, where there’s a farmers market every Friday. Or follow Clark all the way to Alondra Boulevard to take in all the businesses that keep the community running.

12:15 p.m. Arrive at Horchateria Rio Luna at 15729 Downey Ave., a little gem hidden in the back corner of Paramount Plaza. The horchata is perfectly sweet, and the churros are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, just as they should be. Try them with guava drizzle for an extra treat. The seasonal menu is also fun. Order the pumpkin horchata frappe if you like pumpkin spice lattes. The conchas are sugary and satisfying. As you sit back and enjoy the lively Latin music, admire work from local artists, along with tributes to Frida Kahlo, reflections on Mexican heritage and explorations of the supernatural. Flip through a free copy of the Paramount Pulse Beat to get a glimpse of local happenings in English and Spanish.

1 p.m. Drive or walk to nearby Paramount Iceland at 8041 Jackson St. Grab your sweater, head inside, and purchase a skate session and rent some skates. Skate around for a bit and rest on the bleachers when you need a break or just want to sit and chat. The first Zamboni sits unassumingly in the back left corner with a few informational placards. Its wooden structure has a quaint appeal, but, back in 1949, it was the leading technology for ice sports.

Frank Zamboni’s machine cut ice resurfacing time from over an hour to just about 10 minutes. The cherry red Zamboni Model C11 is also showcased. This one was built on top of a Jeep and served the University of Denver for 30 years. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the latest and greatest Zamboni 560ac at work on the ice in between sessions. Browse the other placards throughout the facility to educate yourself on figure skating history. Note: Public session hours vary by day, so check before making your way over.

2:15 p.m. Did you work up an appetite? Good. Walk north on California Avenue and turn left onto Monroe Street. It looks like the street cuts off, but have faith and walk between the buildings to find Maya Teriyaki House at 16212 Paramount Blvd. Wrap up your afternoon at this hole in the wall. Get the bento box, which comes with chicken, rice, salad, miso soup and a few pieces of California roll. It’s enough food for another meal, or two, or three, all for $11.99. It’s a Japanese restaurant that plays a local Latin music radio station. Maya isn’t exactly known for its cheerful service, but the teriyaki is tasty and it’s a nice spot to unwind after your active afternoon.

HANOI, Vietnam — 

A Vietnamese court on Monday sentenced a 70-year-old Australian to 12 years in jail on terrorism charges, state media reported.

The Tuoi Tre newspaper said Chau Van Kham, a Sydney resident of Vietnamese origin, was found guilty of “terrorism to oppose the people’s administration” in a half-day trial at Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.

It said two Vietnamese men, Nguyen Van Vien and Tran Van Quyen, were also sentenced to 11 and 10 years respectively on the same charge.

The newspaper described the three men as members of Viet Tan, an overseas-based political group seeking Vietnamese political change that Vietnam’s government has branded “terrorist” since 2016. It said Kham was in charge of the group’s Australian branch and was assigned to raise funds to finance what it called “reactionary activities” in Vietnam.

Viet Tan called the charges “baseless” and said the legal proceedings were a sham.

“We challenge the Vietnamese government to provide any evidence linking them to ‘terrorism.’ The Vietnamese authorities are criminalizing human rights advocacy,” Viet Tan chairman Do Hoang Diem said in a statement.

Viet Tan said it “advocates for social justice and democratic change through peaceful means.”

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The newspaper said Kham was arrested in January when he crossed the border from Cambodia into Vietnam using false ID documents after taking Vien and Quyen on a training trip in Cambodia.

Kham served in South Vietnam’s army during the Vietnam War and fled to Australia several years after the Communist North defeated the South and reunited the country, it said.

He will be deported after serving his jail term, the newspaper said.

The group Human Rights Watch said Kham received “what is essentially a death sentence.”

“He has been incarcerated on bogus, politically motivated charges that demonstrate just how fearful Vietnam is about people exercising their rights and demanding genuine democracy,” Phil Robertson, the New York-based group’s deputy Asia director, said in a statement.

The statement said Vietnam has recently arrested and imprisoned a number of people allegedly affiliated with Viet Tan.

ANKARA, Turkey — 

A U.S. national who is a member of the Islamic State group has been deported home, a Turkish official said Monday, as Ankara began repatriating captured foreign IS fighters.

Turkish Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency that a German and a Danish national would also be repatriated later on Monday, while seven other German nationals would be returned on Nov. 14.

The U.S., Germany and Denmark did not immediately comment on Ankara’s announcement.

Turkey has over the past few weeks criticized Western nations, including Britain and the Netherlands, for refusing to take back their nationals who had joined the militant group and vowed to send back IS militants — even if their citizenship has been revoked.

Cataki did not provide further information on the IS suspects being sent home but said they were held in Turkish deportation centers.

Two Irish nationals, two German nationals and 11 French nationals who were captured in Syria would also be transferred to their countries of origin soon, he added.

“This morning, a foreign terrorist fighter from the United States was deported from Turkey after the procedures at the deportation center were completed,” Anadolu quoted Catakli as saying.

Catakli stressed that Turkey is determined to return “the foreign terrorist fighters to their own countries.”

Earlier, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that Turkey is not “a hotel” for IS militants and announced that the deportations would start as of Monday.

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Turkey has been accused of enabling the influx of thousands of foreign IS sympathizers into Syria over the years and at the height of the extremist group’s “caliphate,” the Turkish border crossings were the main route for those hoping to join the IS in Syria.

Soylu did not provide any numbers or further details on those who would be sent back. He previously said about 1,200 foreign IS fighters were in Turkish prisons and 287 members, including women and children, were re-captured during Turkey’s military offensive into northeast Syria last month.

Turkey’s move comes amid Ankara’s frustration with Western nations that have refused to back its invasion of northeastern Syria and its offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom Ankara considers terrorists linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting inside Turkey. Many countries have voiced concerns that the Turkish incursion would lead to a resurgence of the Islamic State group.

Several European countries, including Britain, have stripped IS fighters of their nationalities, to prevent their return.

LONDON — 

From his elite education to his posh accent, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is, despite his shambling appearance, the very embodiment of a wealthy, powerful and privileged British establishment.

But as the 55-year-old prime minister crisscrosses the country in advance of an enormously consequential election next month, he is casting himself in a role that has served him well throughout his political career: a cheerfully down-to- earth guy, a full-throated man of the people.

In a campaign dominated by Brexit — Britain’s tortuous effort to leave the European Union — Johnson is wielding the populist cudgel in ways that many critics fear could have long-term, damaging effects on the country’s centuries-old democratic traditions. He bashes Parliament, pooh-poohs the authority of the courts and accuses political rivals of seeking to thwart the will of the people, as expressed in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The prime minister, who assumed his office in July on the strength of a leadership vote by about 160,000 dues-paying members of his Conservative Party, is for the first time the party’s standard-bearer in a general election set for Dec. 12, two years ahead of schedule. Much is at stake: If Johnson can win a parliamentary majority, he vows to swiftly push through a thrice-delayed Brexit, brushing aside fears of economic upheaval and social disruption.

This election is being portrayed in many quarters as a far-reaching referendum on Britain’s status as a pillar of a postwar order that has kept peace in Europe for seven decades and perhaps, ultimately, whether the United Kingdom will remain united.

But on the campaign trail, Johnson hews to a simple, repetitive message: “Get Brexit done!”

Opponents struggling to connect with voters are left to voice more nuanced themes: That leaving the European Union, rather than representing a clean break, will only mark the start of decades of complex and contentious negotiations. That rather than asserting its sovereignty, a post-Brexit Britain will find itself at the mercy of potentially predatory trading partners, perhaps including the United States. That the lifting up of society’s “left-behinds” must involve a recalibration of domestic priorities and won’t be achieved simply by turning Britain’s back on its closest partners.

A scant month before the vote, opinion polls give Johnson’s party a commanding lead. But analysts say traditional party loyalties may break down as voters seek to find a way to express their views on whether to “leave” or “remain.” That was the ballot question on the June 2016 Brexit referendum that resulted in a narrow 52%-48% vote to depart the bloc and has left the country at loggerheads since.

“Brexit identity is more powerful than party identity, and people will try to vote to get the best outcome in line with that,” said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London. That scrambles the notion of simple party-line loyalties and introduces the notion of “tactical” voting guided by Brexit, he and others say.

Under Johnson, the Conservative platform centers on getting out of the EU — but the even harder-line, single-issue Brexit Party, created this year to contest European Parliament elections, says Johnson has already ceded too much ground to EU negotiators. It could thus siphon off votes cast by the most die-hard Brexit advocates, who would prefer to see Britain “crash out” of the bloc without a withdrawal accord.

President Trump, in commentary delivered via Twitter and soundbites from the White House, has called on Johnson to strike an electoral pact with Nigel Farage, the far-right politician who is not contesting a seat, but is leading the Brexit Party’s national campaign.

“What I’d like to see is for Nigel and Boris to come together,” Trump told reporters last week.

But although Trump considers both men his ideological allies and calls each his good friend, a public embrace by the two is considered unlikely. Many moderate members of Johnson’s party are put off at least in part by Farage’s longtime association with nationalist-fringe figures who openly espouse racist and anti-Muslim views.

The Labor Party, the main opposition, has sought to tread a centrist path, saying it would negotiate a new Brexit accord and then put it to a popular vote. But it is hampered by the seeming ambiguity of its Brexit stance, and by the personal unpopularity of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who is considered by many voters to be too radical and is also dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism.

That leaves the straight-up “remain” stance to voters scattered among smaller opposition parties such as the Liberal Democratic Party and the Scottish National Party, Scotland’s largest. The latter represents a direct challenge to Johnson not only in opposing Brexit, which Scottish voters emphatically rejected, 62% to 38%, but also by seeking to revive an independence referendum if Britain pushes ahead with plans to leave the EU.

The prime minister has said he would try to block any new Scottish breakaway vote, saying Scotland’s failed 2014 independence referendum settled the matter.

Mindful that Johnson benefits from a divided opposition, some of the smaller parties are forming an alliance, looking at dozens of constituencies across England and Wales where candidates would step aside in one another’s favor in a bid to garner more seats for members of Parliament opposing Brexit.

Amid this fragmented landscape — and even before the campaign’s formal start last week— Johnson has alarmed many critics with his willingness to batter democratic norms and institutions, including some important precepts of Britain’s unwritten constitution.

When Parliament voted this year to prevent the prime minister from crashing out of the EU without a departure accord, Johnson angrily branded it a “surrender” bill, saying his hands had been tied because he could no longer seek to win concessions from the bloc by threatening a chaotic split.

When he suspended Parliament, limiting the time for weighing Brexit-related matters in advance of a then-scheduled Halloween departure date, he received a highly unusual smackdown from the Supreme Court, which ruled that he had acted unlawfully in sending lawmakers home — and strongly implied, while not saying so directly, that he had lied to the public, and to Queen Elizabeth II, about his motives. Johnson grudgingly acceded as Parliament was reconvened, but his lieutenants railed bitterly about judicial overreach.

His opening campaign salvos have revolved around accusing his opponents of bad faith and of undermining democracy — a script that may sound familiar to those following the impeachment proceedings unfolding across the Atlantic against Trump.

“We can take back control!” Johnson told cheering followers at his party’s election launch. “This country is aching to move on…. Let’s make 2020 about the people of this country, and not its politicians!” In a headline-sized quote splashed across the front page of the Telegraph newspaper last week, he likened his opponents to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

While Johnson’s populist rhetoric may sound incongruous coming from someone with a background redolent of the spoils of Britain’s class system — he attended preparatory school at Eton, an incubating ground for future prime ministers, and studied classics at Oxford, where he was the president of the Oxford Union debating society — the prime minister has long proved adept at presenting himself as a champion of the downtrodden, analysts say.

“He knows exactly how to raise the volume, how to make people get angry and jump up and down,” said Johnson’s biographer Andrew Gimson. “And he knows exactly how to use humor to puncture anyone being pompous or dull — in the theater of politics, people see him as one of the most enjoyable performers.”

Still, a freewheeling style that worked well in lower-stakes endeavors — Johnson was an extremely popular mayor of London, despite or perhaps because of a sometimes-bumbling image — may play less well in an election in which Britain could have a great deal to lose.

And in the long run, his jabs and gibes directed at the establishment could erode faith in the very institutions that the country will rely upon as it seeks to navigate what is generally regarded as one of its most polarized political climates of modern times, analysts say.

“This country has been split right down the middle, and frustration has mounted on both sides,” said Bale, the political scientist. “Political identity is freighted with all sorts of misconceptions and prejudices about the other side, so it makes for this really poisonous atmosphere.”

And as the vote draws closer, he said, passions are likely to only intensify.

“Campaigns tend to get dirtier as they go on,” Bale said. “So it’s already ugly, with one thing certain: that it’s going to get uglier.”

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