A Rabbit's Foot #14 - California

A Rabbit's Foot #14 - California

In this, our 14th issue, we celebrate a lesser-known side of California—a soulful and sometimes urban California. Within this land of great physical beauty and wildness, which has inspired dreamers and searchers looking to shape their own narratives for over two centuries, lie raw cityscapes and hidden valleys housing residents whose longing for success has often been compromised by the harsh realities of survival in one of the most competitive societies on the planet. These Californians have, through adversity and ingenuity, found their own voice and culture. It is this culture we explore here.

That California has always captured the imagination of free-thinkers and artistic spirits goes without saying. A wide economic demographic and ethnic mix shapes the land with inventors, drifters, and, of course, innovators. And, it has to be said, a fair share of crackpots too. True Californians—at least the ones I have grown to know and love over the past 40 years—cherish the wildness of the spirit of the place where anything is possible, or so it seems. And the geography of the land is breathtaking: here, the wide beaches and breaking waves, ringed as they are by the mountains in the south and north, have bred a culture like none other. Waiting on their boards to catch the right wave, surfers, both old and young, include enthusiastic professionals, urban cowboys, and the Hollywood set. Doctors and tech billionaires. Writers and urban planners and scoundrels and minstrels and so on.

This intoxicating mix of natives and the newly arrived live to surf the giant breakers and venerate nature and the sun; unbothered by the fires and earthquakes, or the traffic and the white light. They are buffered by the rise and fall of the swell, and, if there is no tomorrow, well then, right here and right now is just fine!

A Rabbit’s Foot is a magazine and digital platform devised by producer, writer, and filmmaker Charles Finch, with an informed but free-spirited focus on film, art, and all aspects of culture. Based in London since 2022, our team covers stories from all around the world, speaking with the most illustrious artists for in-depth long-read conversations that we are now known for doing. Whether you’re a film student, a creative looking for inspiration, or an industry expert, A Rabbit’s Foot is your reliable companion in film, art, and culture.