ArcaMax

LOS ANGELES -- She was 63.

I was 33.

We shared cocktails at a rooftop bar overlooking Sunset Boulevard during golden hour. And the connection was palpable.

No, this isn't the start to an "L.A. Affairs" romance column. But it is about a love affair of sorts. My best girlfriend of the last two decades is 30 years older than me.

I met Loraine ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- On a bench near the Santa Monica Farmer's Market in July, Peggy Cheng recalled the time a television writer pitched her a wacky sitcom centered around the unlikely scenario of a young woman who had befriended her elderly neighbors.

Cheng, who was working in TV development at the time, wasn't impressed.

"She thought it was so ...Read more

Dear Eric: I had a very close relationship with my father, until he remarried in my mid-20’s. When he remarried, he told my brother and me that we would be excluded from his trust. He stated that he had raised us and was done with any financial support.

Since then, we have had a superficial relationship at times, and a conflicted one at ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm involved with a man whose sister recently died. I rented a car, bought his kids clothes for the funeral and made sure everything was in order. The funeral was out of town. I wanted to be there for support, but he didn't invite me. I took off of work and he left with his kids.

When I told him how I felt about not being invited, he...Read more

Dear Eric: How should I tell my husband he has breasts? He is not a vain man, and I suspect does not study himself in a mirror. He is on many new meds which can result in developing this condition.

For the most part he is fully dressed, but it’s summertime and he may, at some point, want to remove his shirt to swim with friends. I’m sure ...Read more

Dear Eric: Before he passed years ago, my father transferred his beach house to his six adult kids. We did not ask to become owners of a shared house, and I always thought it was a horrible idea.

Most of us kids tend to travel to different places, while one has always loved to vacation at the beach house. My father would hand expenses to those ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 33-year-old male on the autism spectrum. I have a friend, "Katie," who has been a big part of my life for the last few years. I have been a mentor and friend for her three little boys, and she, in return, has been a good friend to me.

Katie deals with a lot of anxiety (she considers herself neurodiverse, possibly on the High ...Read more

Dear Eric: My sons are currently 26 and 24 years old. Both went to amazing colleges and currently have six-figure careers. They both moved back home when their colleges shut down for COVID.

Neither son is looking to "launch" from the nest, blaming high costs of living in our area, blaming boomers for ruining the world, etc. They have a bad ...Read more

By now, we’ve all probably experimented with AI tools like ChatGPT — maybe to help us write an essay or outline for work, to help us plan a vacation, or maybe just for fun to see what kind of answers would come up to silly questions while sitting around with friends. But it recently came to my attention that some are turning to chatbots for ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 89-year-old mom is a button-wearing, T-shirt slogan, lifelong Democrat. She is also afraid of confrontation. My younger sister's husband, who leans Republican, forwards my mother texts from Fox News and people on X making fun of Democrats. Sometimes she's so upset she can't sleep because what he forwards may seem funny to him, but ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’m a bisexual woman, married to another woman. We’ve been together for four years and things are generally good. The big issue is that my wife works as a photographer, and she’s constantly shooting with attractive models, which I totally get and I'm cool with. But here's the thing — every few months, there's a new model she'...Read more