A billboard in Rancho Cucamonga asking viewers to "imagine no religion" was taken down this week after residents and the city complained about its message. The Freedom From Religion Foundation advertisement was first installed last week causing local conversation and complaints. The pressure quickly built up and the General Outdoor sign company took it down. The foundation's co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor was not so happy, as expressed in a statement they sent out: "Are... [continue]

Photo by lewisha1990 via Flickr Criminal door-to-door "salesmen" of all sorts are all too common in Sherman Oaks (and most likely in other parts of Los Angeles). A couple weeks ago, it was about fake location scouts. Now Senior Lead Officer (SLO) Ron Carter for East Sherman Oaks (that's basically Mulholland to the 101 Freeway, Van Nuys to Coldwater Canyon) warns of aggressive magazine salesmen, one who allegedly told a woman to "at least"... [continue]

Today's L.A. Times has an article about a new bar in Silver Lake that's - guess what? No, go ahead and guess, you're going to be so surprised - ironic!! Isn't that awesome?? I love it! The bar is called Stinkers, and according to the Times it's got a picture of Burt Reynolds in the ladies room, a "cornucopia of vintage bumper stickers," and "brazenly kitschy delights" like fake stuffed skunks and - wait for... [continue]

Two arrests were made last night during the protest against the passing of Proposition 8, one of which was someone known to many online as "Panasonicyouth." The frequent LAist commenter and popular Buzznet user took advantage of the outreaching abilities of Twitter to narrate first his foray into the crowds outside LA's Mormon Temple and then his arrest along with friend and fellow Tweeter formerme. LAist's photog Tom Andrews captured images of Panasonicyouth and formerme's... [continue]

Just 130 miles north of Los Angeles lies some spectacular desert scenery. Red Rock Canyon State Park, in Kern County bears the mark of prehistoric lakes, rivers and glaciers in the colorful striations on the cliffs and the rock formations that rise out from the forest of Joshua trees During the Gold Rush, prospectors passed through Red Rock Canyon, but didn't find any gold there, so continued on to the settlement of Los Angeles. During... [continue]

An estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people gathered protested in the streets of West Hollywood and Hollywood last night (as well as in San Francisco). "Maybe losing a right was what our community needed to get us out of the bars and into the streets, but I feel more energized than ever tonight," wrote blogger Boi from Troy who left the march early when the LAPD showed up. "Things started getting tense, as the crowd was... [continue]

On the day after what many people deem to be a historical election, and a once in a lifetime event, no one seems to be talking about it. At least in California. It seems a little ironic to most people (ok probably 99% of our readers/writers) that many newspapers are talking about how race and discrimination are no longer issues since we elected Barack Obama and yet Proposition 8 passed. It's actually a little shocking,... [continue]

Long early voting lines Oct. 31 at the county clerk's office in Norwalk. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Reports are slowly trickling in from around Los Angeles that, surprise, voting lines are long. LAist contributers Sam Kim and Sarah Ardalani report varying wait times in West L.A. and Echo Park, respectively. At Kim's polling place, lines stretched about 40 minutes long while Ardalani waited about 15 minutes at Golden West Christian Church off of Alvarado and Sunset... [continue]

Photo by A.Wilson via Flickr Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill today banning texting while driving in California. It will go into effect on January 1st, 2009. "Building on legislation already helping save lives in California, I am happy to sign this bill because it further encourages safe and responsible driving," Schwarzenegger said in a release via the Sacramento Bee. "Banning electronic text messaging while driving will keep drivers' hands on the wheel and their... [continue]

It looks like there's one more thing we can add to Sarah Palin's list of hobbies. We've all seen her leaning out of an airplane gleefully shooting wolves, and surely we've delighted in her ability to catch and gut a fish. Now we know that, much like her running mate, she also loves to gamble. Not gambling of the Vegas variety. No sipping free alcoholic beverages as she mindlessly and repeatedly yanks a lever.... [continue]

After Monday night's Radiohead concert at the Hollywood Bowl, Sean Carlson and a friend were passing out flyers for this weekend's F Yeah Fest while their friend Michael Reich of Videothing.com was filming them for a documentary. An incident with the venue's contract security firm and another patron happened to occur in front of them and security didn't like that it was being filmed ("'What the fuck do you think you're filming?' and grabbed at... [continue]

Photo by mackz via Flickr There's a pretty scary and disappointing, but very thoroughly reported story posted today on LA Weekly by Randall Roberts. If all is true and the alleged video survives to make it to YouTube, the internet is going to go nuts on Hollywood Bowl's contract security firm, CSC. In short, Sean Carlson and Phil Hoelting, promoters of this weekend's annual F Yeah Fest, were at passing out flyers after the... [continue]

Photo by Roby Ferrari via Flickr As John Mayer, Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), Eric Roberts, the Screen Actors Guild and others tell their paparazzi horror stories to a regional paparazzi taskforce at City Hall right now (aired live online and on Channel 35), the LAPD is setting up their own press conference for later this morning. But earlier this morning NBC grabbed LAPD Chief Bratton, who thinks this is all baloney, citing that there are... [continue]

Did you feel that? Yes you did. That was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake (preliminary reports stated that it was a 5.8 and then 5.6) out of the Chino Hills area that struck at 11:42 a.m., according to the USGS, who considers this to be a "moderate" earthquake. Chino Hills is 29 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It was a nice and long one too. 10 seconds? 20 seconds? (or maybe out time perspective was... [continue]

What's that sound? Could it be the ubiquitous tinkling tones of the neighborhood ice cream truck? (Or in some cases, Satan's Ice Cream Truck...) Go ahead, you know you want to get one. And why not? It's National Ice Cream Month! Or, if you're one to concentrate your efforts, save all your love for the weekend, because this Sunday is National Ice Cream Day. So really, you have no excuse. But you might have a... [continue]

Yeah you have heard of the Palms Casino, and that its owned by these guys called the Maloof brothers who are really good at making things cool. But you didn't know that the Maloofs are doing the same thing to skateboarding. So they started the Maloof Money Cup, a skateboard contest with the biggest cash prize ever heard of, all the freshest skaters, and its going down July 11-13 at the OC Fairgrounds in... [continue]

Last night at Zune LA, located on Beverly, the eagerly anticipated documentary on Joy Division premiered to an audience that included co-founder and bassist Peter Hook. Hook kicked off the evening DJ'ing to everyone while they were served cocktails and appetizers prior to the film, and generously answered questions after the the film. The movie was excellent. It told the story of Joy Division and Ian Curtis' life by the people who knew him... [continue]

Photo by An Tran/LAist The Silver Lake reservoir has been drained for sometime now due to rare photochemical reaction that created carcinogens. In June, the Department of Water and Power plans to fill it back up, but its use as a place to hold drinking water is being phased out -- it will now become purely eye candy by 2015 (as well as the nearby Ivanhoe Reservoir). So if the water aspect has no... [continue]