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It's an uncertain time for Dodger fans. To put things lightly, there are some questions about the ownership. It is not clear who will maintain control of the club. It is not clear what the payroll of the club will be. Despite falling two years a row to the Phillies in the NLCS, the reality is the Dodgers are blossoming into a very good baseball team. I am going on the record in saying I don't want the progression to end. We have miles left in our legs.

USC Broadcast Journalism student Matt Schrader has spent the last three months investigating parking tickets issued for violating street sweeping hours. He finds that tickets are often given on days when sweepers never come by. No surprise there.

Today is the big day. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will name our new Chief of Police. Per former Chief William Bratton's recommendation, the new LAPD leader is from within the department. The candidates are Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

Zeke's Smokehouses in Montrose and West Hollywood are offering an amaaaazing deal (imagine me waving my arms around like in a Crazy Eddie commercial right now)! For only 9.95 you can choose 2 meats and 2 sides! It doesn't sound too different from your usual Southern "Meat and Three" dish, but the amount of food on the plate is unbelievable. Enough for me and my dog, Spot! (cue the tiger) Come on down and see us!

Photo rights advocate blogger Shawn, otherwise known as discarted, recently was taking photos inside the Hollywood/Western Metro Station when two L.A. County Sheriff's approached him. Shawn, who always wears a video camera, caught his whole 25-minute ordeal and uploaded it to YouTube yesterday (an abbreviated version is posted above), sparking off some good debate on photographer's rights vs. public safety.

Evan Kleiman's love of pie began when she was a little girl. A native Angeleno, the Angeli Caffe Chef/Owner and KCRW Good Food host grew up in Silver Lake, and remembers her family getting their baked treats from Sarno's bakery. It was a family tradition to get one of the bakery's rum cakes to celebrate a birthday, however Kleiman soon yearned to branch out. "At some point in my early childhood I started requesting a pie for my birthday," she explains. "And in spite of the fact that my birthday is in July I requested an apple pie." Her request soon led to her having hands-on kitchen time and a long-running tradition: "I went from requesting them to making them," she adds. "Now I still have a birthday pie every summer but I have berry or peach."

lad in Caltrans uniforms a few nights ago, a group of people installed a 12-foot wooden carved fork where Pasadena Avenueu splits at, well, a fork in the road, with St. John Avenue (see a map here). Who did this awesome piece of art and why? "It turns out the fork is an elaborate - and expensive - birthday prank in honor of the 75th birthday of Bob Stane, founder of the Ice House comedy club, who now owns the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena," reports the Pasadena Star News. And the group would like to see it stay there permanently, but that will be up to the Caltrans, which owns the small parcel of land and the city.

The season finale of HBO's "Bored to Death" is this Sunday at 9:30pm and it is a must-watch. There are plenty of McShows out there but this is not one of them and nor will it ever be. The brainchild of author and memoirist Jonathan Ames, the show about an author and part-time amateur private investigator bursts with uncompromised originality in every episode.

This morning, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced he will tap Deputy Chief Charlie Beck as the newest head of the LAPD. While we all wish him luck, we are simply dumbstruck by the uncanny and positively eerie resemblance to Mr. Magnum, P.I. himself. Coincidence or underhanded push to increase film production in Los Angeles?

This morning, as the countdown clock to the 2010 LA Marathon declares there's 131 days until the big event, the official "Stadium to the Sea" course map was released. Beginning at Dodger Stadium, this brand new route takes participants and their supporters through some of Los Angeles' iconic and familiar-the-world-over city and county sights and neighborhoods, including El Pueblo, City Hall, and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown...

We've been biting our tongue all season so far and not running to the keyboard to spew forth our behemoth recaps of The CW's re-tooled 90210, now in its second year on the air. But we're still watching--and encouraging you to watch, too, like our TV Junkie did yesterday--and last night's episode had just enough on-location action to get our tongues, and fingers wagging.

There was a time, not long ago, when the early hours of Sunday night meant only one thing: Mo'Nique. Yes, when that supremely confident "big girl" hosted Showtime at The Apollo, a good time was had by all. You could be sure that the audience would be left in stitches, and by the end of the show, anyone who wanted could come on stage to do the Electric Slide with her.

If we're talking nosh, there's no item perhaps more quintessential than pastrami on rye. The one pictured above hailed from a plate served up at Langer's, a deli that has been a longtime favorite of locals, but has now been praised for offering up the best of its kind in the whole country. The accolade comes from writer David Sax, whose pursuit of the pastrami--and other deli delights--was profiled recently in the LA Times.

Today marks the release of "The Shield: Complete Series" on DVD. This series pushed the boundaries of what could be done on cable television, in terms of content, quality of writing and production, and talent (Academy Award winners galore guested or had long-running storylines). "The Shield" paved the way for current darlings of the critics and viewers like "Damages", "Mad Men", "Breaking Bad", Saving Grace", etc. High quality, aggressive and unapologetic storytelling is not limited to premium cable anymore because of "The Shield".

What a crazy story! Via the LA Times: "When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago."

For the past two weeks, Brooklyn-based street artist Dan Witz has been in Los Angeles. And although he's put up about 20 pieces throughout Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood and West Hollywood, he's not about to give away their locations.

78-year-old Mong Kim Tran does not like getting pulled over. Via the Daily Breeze, here's the craziness that took place last week: "When he was told he was getting a speeding ticket, Tran came within three inches of the officer's face and began screaming... When the officer told Tran to back off, Tran took a fighting stance, and struck the officer twice with a closed fist and then kicked the officer in the groin... The officer pushed Tran back to the ground and handcuffed him. Tran sat on the curb while paramedics responded. As more officers arrived, Tran again stood up and kicked the officer in the groin."

What's happening over at Yelp? The powerhouse of a community-driven review website made a big local announcement today, but one many users are not happy with. Yelp said they are "parting ways" with their most recent community manager, Dawson S. That comes after the exit of Stephy S. (LAist interview) and a slew of others. "Gosh. It seems hard to imagine how Yelp will maintain any sort of credibility in the community when the local leadership changes more frequently than I change my oil," noted one user. The onslaught and Yelp hating continues on the Yelp's talk thread. Previously: 5-Star Yelp reviews go up before restaurant opens.

Did you make the mistake, like us, of watching the original "V: The Final Battle" on Syfy last weekend? We can't believe that series was such a big deal when we were kids but here's good news, the remake of the series that airs tonight at 8pm on ABC takes the premise and completely owns it in a very slick and well done (at least for the part of the pilot that we've seen) rendition. We'll be watching and not remotely comparing.

One year ago tonight, thousands of disappointed voters hit the streets to protest the passing of Prop 8 which banned gay marriage in California. Tonight, people will gather again.

She did it. It took a shade over two minutes, 2:00.62 to be exact, but Zenyatta became the first mare or filly to win the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in an improbable come-from-behind fashion that was indeed a classic.

The World Series isn't over yet, but that hasn't stopped the exciting Dodgers offseason from getting a little head start. Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla apparently shot himself in the right leg in his home country of Nicaragua today.

Frustrated with a new (and slower) traffic pattern, one LAist reader earlier this week wrote us an e-mail: "Over the past week I’ve noticed a sharp increase in Eastbound traffic between Bundy and Overland during the morning rush hour, almost doubling the Santa Monica-Century City commute time," he noted. "Any idea as to why this might be? Have they reprogrammed the signals in the area? Perhaps the one at Sawtelle or Sepulveda?"

The Pixies kicked off a three night stand at the Palladium Thursday night with an exhilarating run-through of their classic “Doolittle”, its assorted B-sides, and a smattering of earlier faves. These days they’re riding a wave of nostalgia, rather than a wave of mutilation, but as reunions go, this is one of the more gratifying ones.

Most fans of The Boondock Saints have heard some pretty nasty stuff about its Writer/Director Troy Duffy. I’ve been in this conversation a million times and it starts off by a random Boondock Saints reference, “Thanks for coming out,” something like that. Then there’s shared enthusiasm for the film among those who’ve seen it, “I love that movie!” and bewilderment toward those who haven’t, “You’ve never seen The Boondock Saints”

This week the Magic Castle is commemorating the 100th anniversary by conjuring up a series of celebratory events. Yesterday afternoon LAist was invited to witness Jim Bentley recreate Harry Houdini's famous straitjacket escape trick (see a video embedded below).

On a stretch of Pico where you’re likely to find spicy Caribbean food, or the caloric effort that is Oki-Dog, one might not expect tacos. That's why Sky’s Gourmet Tacos is a great fit. They serve up what they call: "Mexican food with a splash of soul".

The Silver Lake Art Crawl begins tonight with a series of events through Sunday. The majority of art gallery openings are happening Saturday night, but on Sunday, when the "Official Silver Lake Art Crawl Party at Barnsdall Art Park" occurs, a handful of food trucks will arrive to cater.

On tour to pre-promote their December 1st release of Stir the Blood, NYC's The Bravery took to a packed house at the Wiltern Thursday night. Once the band took the stage, it was clear from the feverish enthusiasm of the The Bravery fans that there was no other place to be, despite the fact that the concert calendar for November 5th also featured Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Neon Indian, and Avi Buffalo within a 10 mile radius. Music junkies had to make real choices that night, and The Bravery offered a strong stage presence, excellent showmanship, and catchy dance-rock tunes.

For past week or so, the people behind the Buttermilk Truck have been sneaking around town, previewing its food to whoever came upon it. Although the truck officially debuts Wednesday evening with its late-night menu (think fried chicken and waffles and the Buttermilk Brick--hash browns, eggs over easy, buttermilk biscuit and a housemade chorizo gravy), the truck arrived for a not-so-secret sneak peek of its morning menu at yesterday's Silver Lake Art Craw event at Barnsdall Art Park.