Thursday Look at the news in a different light tonight in North Hollywood, as NoHo Gallery presents Art of News II. Photographs, paintings, and sculpture make up this exhibit of works by various broadcasting professionals. - thru June 1st Opening reception – 6:30-10:30pm 5108 Lankershim Blvd. NoHo 818.761.7784 www.nohogalleryla.com... [continue]

Wandering through an unfamiliar neighborhood, it's important to find a comfortable place to down a beer and get your bearings. The Pike Bar and Fish Grill on 4th in Long Beach is one of those dives that immediately makes you feel at home. With great food, lots of beers on tap and Black Flag on the jukebox, walking into this bar is like finding "your people". It has the feel of a neighborhood joint that... [continue]

The geniuses at Common Craft created this video explaining Twitter in plain English. We only wish that governments would hire them to explain how parking ticket revenues worked and how to best follow a city council motion from creation to approved city ordinance. LAist tweets too, you can follow us here. Related -- What is RSS? Common Craft explains RSS on RSS Day -- Using Twitter in Car Culture -- Los Angeles, What Are... [continue]

Tomorrow night, after the May Day rallies, is Taco Night, as declared by the organizers at SaveOurTacoTrucks.org, a petition and effort to raise awareness about an LA County law going in effect on May 15th that will harshen penalties placed on taco trucks who sit in the same spot for over an hour in unincorporated areas such as East LA. So who better to go explore taco truck food with than the two behind the... [continue]

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD, died at his home near Basel, Switzerland on Tuesday. Hofmann synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) in 1938 and five years later became the first person to experience a full-blown acid trip. On April 16, 1943, Hofmann inadvertently absorbed a little LSD-25 compound in his fingertips at the Sandoz laboratory (now Novartis) where he worked. In a note to the lab director he described what happened next:“I was... [continue]

Yup, that's right. Ding, dong, Roger Water's pig is dead. Found, slaughtered in two parts at the La Quinta country club. The Desert Sun reports: Susan Stolz called The Desert Sun this morning saying she and her husband found a glob of vinyl in their driveway yesterday at the Hideaway Golf Club in La Quinta. Not sure what it was, they threw it away. This morning, they read about the missing pig in the newspaper... [continue]

There were at least a handful of LAist contributors at this year's Coachella Festival, and as we slowly recover from our Coachella "hangover" we'll continue to upload photos and tell the stories from another epic weekend in the desert... (or at least the parts we can remember) Part 1 of 5: THURSDAY - Peanut Butter Cream Pie and Riot Police Our plan was to leave LA by 2pm (or 3 at the very latest) to... [continue]

Last week, the attention of LAist's family of contributors was directed to Yahoo Music blog List of the Day, and an entry called The Ten Most Annoying Singers. Now normally, we love lists like this. Not only do we get to vent our seething jealousy of the success of idiots, but much needed schadenfreude washes over us like an embittered baptism. Now, no disrespect to Rob O'Connor (who frankly has a job we'd love), but... [continue]

Let’s face it, there are a lot of bar events going on in our city that we hear about every day. When we heard about a new Wednesday night social in Hollywood called Down With the Nerdsters (DWTN), one had to ask, “What the heck is a nerdster?” Promoter Griffin Marcus clued us in: “Nerdsters is a term that I came up with to describe what people call hipsters. I don’t find those kids very... [continue]

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Do you like ice cream? Do you like free stuff? Do you hate free stuff, but like ice cream? Then get thee to an Ice Creamery. More specifically, high-tail it to the nearest Ben & Jerry’s, because today is Customer Appreciation Day, and that means free scoops of Groovy Brownie Nougat-Chunk Hippy Nut-Swirl Fudge-Monkey for everybody! While “Free Cone Day” sounds like something LAist might have come up with when we recently celebrated “Make Up... [continue]

In a first of its kind study released today, it was found that potential immigrant voters and their children could constitute nearly one-third of state voters by 2012, according to the LA Times. The analysis detailed populations in each of the state's legislative districts. At 2.7 million immigrants, Los Angeles County had the highest number of potential voters, those that are "naturalized U.S. citizens, legal immigrants eligible for citizenship and their children ages 12 to... [continue]

Mike Whitaker, with Riverside CAL Fire, uses a hose to control a fire Monday, April 28, in Sierra Madre. Firefighters struggled in tough conditions Monday to push back the stubborn wildfire burning above homes in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ric Francis) While 300-400 people are being let back into their homes on the Eastside of the fire in Sierra Madre, Fifty-one homes in Pasadena were evacuated... [continue]

Photo of Next Door Tapas interior by Zach Behrens for LAist Next Door Tapas is a swanky and intimate little lounge in Studio City, perfect for a weekend or late evening bite -- just don't plan on being there before 6pm. Despite the 5pm opening that's advertised on most review websites, we showed up at 5:30 only to find half-dressed tables and an unready staff. The wine menu was quick to arrive once we... [continue]

Artist: Clinic Album: Do It! Label: Domino Records Release Date: April 2008 Listen to "Free Not Free": Long-established fuzz-masters Clinic have a ringer with Do It! In this parallel reverse universe, LA's No Age is the Beach Boys' answer to Clinic's Beatles question - even though I now have this answer, I don't know which Spock I am, but I know that I can say "She's dead, Jim" with conviction and authority. With not a... [continue]

Video by reason.tv via EaterLA While a taco truck fight is brewing in unincorporated part of Los Angeles county, there's a bacon dog battle currently in play. Armed with a crew from reason.tv, actor and comedian Drew Carey took the streets of downtown Los Angeles on a reconnaissance mission.... [continue]

My new favorite book is the intriguingly titled The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It was one of those titles that called to me from a library shelf, and the story has stuck with me so much that I went out and bought it this past week to read again. Connolly is normally a mystery/thriller writer, so you may have to look for it in that section, but The Book of Lost Things... [continue]

Tonight's Dodger game was amazing in so many ways. The emotions ran high, ranging from the elation of witnessing Matt Kemp's grand slam to top off a 10 run first inning, the fear and helplessness of watching umpire Kerwin Danley get hit in the head by one of Penny's pitches, and then the absolute anger and frustration that I personally experienced sitting in front of the most annoying fucktard ever. Sometime around the 5th... [continue]

I hardly ever drive, and it amazes me that in the short time since I last traversed our city's freeways, lane merging is no longer standard practice. In fact, it is not even allowed. Our city's drivers have decided en masse to never let anyone merge. Ever again. Remember merging from driver's ed? Or at least traffic school? Right-of-way does not make you invincible. Right-of-way does not give you the right to kill me.... [continue]

The cast of Klub | Photo by Jean Louis Darville If you are in the mood for a wild evening in the theatre, head over to the Actors' Gang to experience the existential world of Klub. Bloody, desperate starlets: Check. Wacky, colorful wigs: Check. Hilarious songs about "Annie": You are in the right place. LAist talked to playwright Mitch Watson to get the inside scoop on The Actors' Gang and Klub. With shows on... [continue]