Julia Carmel writes about travel and West Coast experiences for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the features team in 2022, Carmel has ridden in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, jet skied nearly 30 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island, taken a 34-hour-long train ride from L.A. to Seattle, hugged several cows, and wandered America’s largest IKEA while high.They previously worked at the New York Times covering nightlife, culture and queer communities and wrote stories that include an investigation into Subway’s “tuna” sandwiches, a feature on local burlesque performers and a weeks-long interactive project on the return of New York City nightlife. Carmel also worked on the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that covered the global spread of coronavirus.