Glamour was the order of the evening at Bouchon's opening event Monday night. After ascending the staircase, we were greeted by servers offering champagne near a caviar station with caviar quenelle and whipped cream cheese-topped bagel crisps surrounding the biggest ice volleyball in the world. Gliding down the elegant hallway, we came across a full bar on the right serving Bouchon's signature drink of Grey Goose vodka, Lillet Blanc, and Brizard Peche with an Orange Baton/Lemon Twist. A raw bar around the corner was shucking oysters at lightning speed.

As Thanksgiving approaches, the airports fill up. Officials at LAX today are warning passengers of the expected increased traffic at the airport for a ten day period, beginning tomorrow. Of those ten, the three busiest are expected to be tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 25; and Sunday, Nov. 29 because "airlines are forecasting passenger load factors approaching 80 percent on most flights and some flights fully booked."

We've reached Thursday which means it's comedy night topped by "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" on FX at 10pm providing some insight into how Dennis manages to score with so many women. We also had a chance to see the "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" Holiday special, "A Very Sunny Christmas": a 43 minute featurette that's been getting a lot of promo on FX the last couple weeks. If you're a fan, you have to get a hold of it, no question there, it's on DVD & Blu-ray at Amazon. What do you get: Danny DeVito nude and greased up; a supporting role from veteran actor David Huddleston; brilliant casting of "young" Mac, Charlie, Dennis, and Dee (they appear to have used cloning!); classic animation in the style of Rankin/Bass; a disturbing and surreal Christmas sing-a-long with the gang from Paddy's.

Okay, it's time to stop munching on that mac and cheese. On the heels of a major makeover to the Los Angeles Marathon route , two new half marathons for Los Angeles were announced today by separate companies. Come this January, the 13.1 Los Angeles Marathon will run through the Westside and next October, the popular Rock n' Roll Marathon will make a debut in Los Angeles, replacing the City of Angels Half Marathon.

I’ve been following Marked5 (one of the children of the post-Kogi mobile foodscape boom) on Twitter for a few months. Doing so kept reminding me, in 140 character bursts, that their Japanese burgers were roaming the city, awaiting taste buds.

The blog LA Eastside has designed some fake signs (online only) for new Eastside Extension of Metro's Gold Line. Needless to say, it's causing some controversy within the comments section of the post as well as apparently prompting confused calls from riders to Metro. So what does Metro do? They blog:

Today, for the most part, is much more peaceful than yesterday's protest about the move to increase tuition at University of California by 32%. Yesterday, when 14 were arrested (up from the 8 we reported) and one reportedly tasered, was a bit more out of control (see some photos)--here is one video showing that at the front lines (man, that one bicycle cop is sure angry).

Good Luck Bar celebrates its 15th anniversary tonight with a special event that features Chinese burlesque (10 pm, 11 pm and midnight), DJ Travis Keller and the Kogi Truck in attendance. Drink specials include: $5 Stolis, Sailor Jerry, Cazadores or Jack Daniel's cocktails; selected beers for $2. The party’s on from 7 pm to close.

It's official, protests be damned, the controversial tuition hike has been approved by the Board of UC Regents, according to a live report on KCAL9. The 32% increase, which would begin by Fall, will add $2,500 to tuition, bringing it over $10,000.

Tonight the Swell Season, an indie folk duo formed by Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová, will be closing out a two-night stint at the Wiltern with Idaho's own pop folk singer-songwriter Josh Ritter in tow. Austin-based electro-pop duo Ghostland Observatory (LAist Review, #2) are poised to headline the Keyclub. And, lastly, local electronic mastermind Daedelus will be performing at the Silent Movie Theatre. But we strongly suggest heading over to the Troubadour to catch Athens' own garage rock revivalists the Whigs. LAist favorites, Portland-based indie rockers the Dead Trees are slated to kick things off.

      

The Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 makes its West Coast debut today at the Skirball Center. It features more than 160 images that were taken by professional and amateur photographers and social activists to chronicle the injustice in America and helped build the momentum for the civil rights movement.