The GLOW festival started at sundown Saturday night and didn't stop until after sunrise Sunday morning. The event was hosted by the City of Santa Monica and The Santa Monica Arts Foundation. It was sponsored by local businesses including The King's Head Pub as well as larger corporations. There were various installations, performances and exhibits scheduled throughout the night, so the experience changed drastically as the event progressed. Earlier arrivals had many more entertainment options,... [continue]

This mysterious shot was found amongst my father's belongings. The marker appears to be concrete, so we can assume he probably didn't find the Titanic, It would be safe to assume this shot was taken somewhere in the Los Angeles Harbor or Catalina, his favorite dive spots. Coincidentally, the LA Harbor was undergoing improvements in 1912. Businesses like canneries, oil drilling and shipbuilding were growing so quickly that the city decided to dredge and... [continue]

UPDATE: Further down the page, I refer to Jonah as an idiot. That's not really fair, and I apologize. He's a fu an incredible idiot: One small point in response (I know, I know: Why bother?). The 13th amendment lists involuntary servitude and slavery as different things. If they were the same, the founders wouldn't have wasted the ink repeating themselves. In case you're curious, here's a brief description of just how much of an... [continue]

Lori Drew appeared in Los Angeles federal court Monday to respond to charges stemming from the "MySpace suicide" hoax. Drew is accused of setting up a fake MySpace profile that is believed to have contributed to the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier. According to the New York Times, the Missouri mother pleaded not guilty to charges of internet fraud and conspiracy to inflict emotional distress. Drew and her attorney declined comment. According to the Associated... [continue]

LAistory is a series that takes us on a journey to what came before to help us understand where we are today. So far we've been to Val Verde (the "Black Palm Springs"), Thelma Todd's Roadside Cafe, a house in Beverly Hills, Echo Park's Bonnie Brae House, and the long-gone Marineland of the Pacific. Now we're taking to the skies and flying back to the Golden Era of air travel right here in Glendale...... [continue]

The new McDonald's "Southern Style Chicken Sandwich" head-to-head with the Chick-fil-a sandwich About once a month, I make the 25-minute trek to Redondo Beach to get a taste of Chick-fil-a (This was the subject of a post I wrote almost exactly a year ago). With the price of gas up around the $4 a gallon mark, this isn't exactly the smartest move, but I believe their chicken sandwich, a piece of chicken on a... [continue]

Although Los Angeles is by most standards a young city, it is a city full of history, regardless. In LAist's past we've looked at the mysterious Spider Pool ruins, the life of James M. Wood, and Campo de Cahuenga, but have barely scratched the surface. Today we're introducing a new feature on the site, LAistory, which will take us on a journey to what came before to help us understand where we are today. We... [continue]

Move over, Michael Jackson. An Orange County man has redefined the meaning of "crotch grabber." In the early morning hours of April 15th a suspect broke into Fullerton's Erogenous Zone, and helped himself not to the till, but to a rubber replica of porn actress Jenna Jameson's own erogenous zones worth $250. (Unlike Ms. Jameson, however, the item is described as "Open-ended for easy cleaning." Whatta woman!) Determined to get his piece of Jenna, video... [continue]

Say you're going to kill the President and the feds will see you in court a week later. That's what happened to a 50-year-old Pacoima man last week before getting arrested, according to the Daily News. Charles Madrid told the Secret Service what he would do if Bush were present right at that moment: "I'd deck his ass." And Vice President Dick Cheney? He also "needs an ass kicking." Some thought Madrid was mentally ill,... [continue]

Photo by JeremyRyan via Flickr No more are the days where Mayor Villaraigosa is a rock star celebrity who stood as a symbol of change for Los Angeles. The LA Times this weekend, along with LAist late last week, questioned the Mayor's time on the road with the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Mayor says the trip scheduled to end Wednesday comes to an end today because a lot was already accomplished, but the Daily... [continue]

LAist catches up with Michael J. Nelson, a former host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, as he talks about his latest project, RiffTrax. In the interview, he also gives us the scoop about political ads, bloopers and a possible live event in Los Angeles.... [continue]

Despite being considered as quirky nonsense, the mystery of freakish falls from the sky has become a regular occurrence over the years, and Los Angeles hasn't been exempt from such bizarre downpours and surreal showers. The setting was the Santa Monica Freeway, near Crenshaw Boulevard. The date December 19th of 1984. The weather was poor to say the least as traffic began to build on the freeway after severe storms battered the roads and heavy... [continue]

Photo by Skampy via Flickr For the second time in recent months, the federal government tells California that they cannot tell cars, and now, ships to lower their emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency argues that "unlike smog and diesel fumes, climate change is a global problem, not a state one," says the LA Times in their leading California section article today. And the EPA is right, it is a global problem. But time is... [continue]

How many ways can you say “Today I walked in a circle for three and a half hours”? Thankfully, after 50-odd posts, 100+ days, a 2.5 billion blow to the local economy, and 217 donuts eaten by me, you can finally close the book on “The Writers Strike of ‘07”. Last night, the WGA announced that its members had voted “overwhelmingly” to ratify the new MBA contract. With over 4,000 votes cast, Guild members... [continue]

Many LAist staffers, contributors and readers were deeply troubled by the news of Dutton's closure. We all have a favorite memory of Dutton's - a particular book we discovered there, an admired author we met at a reading, a certain afternoon spent browsing. We'd like to honor the many unique memories of Dutton's that we all share with a series of posts about what Dutton's meant to us and what it meant to you. Our... [continue]

What's the solution for outside Solutions? | Reader submitted photo by Robert T. Last year on August 28, we reported that the Elliott Smith wall had been tagged once again, this time with a rather large "Mouse" tag. Today, almost six months later, the tag still sits there, now with new balloon font tag over it. A Little Background Immediately after the reports of his death began to spread, fans in LA began writing... [continue]

The main theme of the seminal grunge documentary Hype! is how something that by its very nature was anti-commercial became commercialized. One thing that particularly struck me about Hype! was the grunge scene's intense resentment against the greater culture for appropriating the look and style elements of their subculture. Anti-fashion became the fashion. It lost all meaning. It fell victim to something I call the “Punk Rock Quincy” phenomenon. That feeling of resentment strikes a... [continue]

In the wake of the big Fidel Castro seemingly-non-news of him stepping down as president (meanwhile the US recently bombed Pakistan without notice or permission), it's interesting to look back at the impact of the man on Los Angeles. The divide between those who wanted to work with Castro's Cuban government and those who vehemently opposed it led to violence -- eleven such terrorism incidents occurred in the Los Angeles area alone according to Cuban... [continue]

a writer's perspective So now that the writers have voted overwhelmingly to end the strike, what next? Well, now we’re in the midst of the contract ratification process. Last week, interested writers were asked to provide the WGA with “camera ready” statements for or against the new contract. Over the next few days, guild members will be receiving ballots along with the pro and con statements, and will have the opportunity to vote as to... [continue]

There are good bookstores and there are great bookstores. If you’re a booklover, any store that contains books makes the cut. If you’re selling books and you give us a chair, we’re there. If you stock a few harder-to-find books, pipe in great music, and hire staff that loves books as much as we do, we’re there a lot more often. Toss in excellent author events, pour some wine, and you’ve got us for... [continue]