Photo by Patrick Doheny via Flickr Update (10:41 a.m.): The CA Supreme Court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples should have the freedom to marry. Read the entire opinion here. _______________________________________________ The California Supreme Court today will issue it's decision on whether or not lesbian and gay couples will have the freedom to marry in the state. The Court heard oral arguments for the case on March 4, 2008. If the Court rules... [continue]

Photo by aussiegall via Flickr Today LA will be taking another look at a water recycling program that could help the city become not only more efficient in usage but lead us towards freedom from costly and precious state-level water sources. Currently, 80% of our city's water is imported. The LA Times reports that this plan "would invest in projects to capture and store rainfall and clean up a sprawling, contaminated water supply beneath... [continue]

LAistory is our new series that will take us on a journey to what came before to help us understand where we are today. We began with Val Verde, the "Black Palm Springs" and now we go to Thelma Todd's Roadside Cafe. This December 16th, it will have been seventy-three years since Thelma Todd was found dead at 29, in the garage of her home. The car she was sitting in was still on.... [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]

An uncharacteristic home on Sunnyslope Ave. in Sherman Oaks | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The Los Angeles City Council passed the first citywide anti-mansionization ordinance today, stopping the development of single-family houses that are built more than the half the size of their lots. Mansionization has been an ongoing point of discussion in neighborhoods as community members saw out of scale and uncharacteristic homes built by developers. For example, on a block full of... [continue]

Tomorrow Los Angeles will take part in Holocaust Remembrance Day--called Yom Hashoah in Hebrew--in ceremonies around the city, with the largest one in California set for early Sunday afternoon in Pan Pacific Park. Mayor Villaraigosa will be among the leaders attending the observance, and Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple is slated to be the keynote speaker. The location of the event is particularly significant, as early this year adjacent land was broken and dedicated... [continue]

Mike Doughty attracts a particular crowd. They are the kind of people who know how to use the term "irony" correctly. They will dance like your crazy hippie friend did in high school and everyone pointed and laughed but you knew they didn't care because, dammit, they were feeling it and having a good time. They will play vigorous air drums with syncopated head bobs. They cannot get enough of a good thing. Mike... [continue]

You can find former baseball player Jose Canseco signing copies of his latest book Vindicated today at Costco in Van Nuys Jose Canseco's first book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big was called "the worst sports book so far in three centuries" by the LA Times. Harsh words like this didn't stop Canseco's tell-all tome from opening at number three on USA Today's bestsellers list and impacting Major... [continue]

This upcoming Saturday, April 26th, marks the 4th Annual Green Gardens Tour, which gives attendees a backstage pass to see six home gardens on the Westside that "demonstrate sustainable designs, practices, and technologies." With conservation issues a hot-topic in the Los Angeles area--and all over the world--the tour is a wonderful hands-on opportunity to see what some people have done in their own yards to pitch in to save our precious resources while creating beautiful... [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]

Miwa Gemini at the Hotel Cafe | Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/LAist When the opportunity to check out New York-based singer-songwriter Miwa Gemini live at the Hotel Cafe came up recently I jumped at the chance based on one line in the PR materials: "Think Nina Simone meets Sparklehorse meets Cat Power, and you're getting close." Intrigued, I showed up Sunday evening to the Hotel Cafe, nabbed a seat in the room's soothing darkness, and... [continue]

Part one of three. Today: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Tomorrow: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Thursday: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. This past weekend, the 2008 installment of the Hotel Cafe Tour (MySpace) rolled back into town (last month it opened with stops in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Anaheim, and the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood) for the last of two sold-out shows during its domestic run... [continue]

Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year. It falls on or around the hottest day of the year in Thailand, and, perhaps as a show of sisterhood, this Sunday's Songkran Festival held in LA's Thai Town neighborhood, took place on what certainly felt like the hottest day of the year...thus far. LAist was looking forward to the 5th annual gathering on Hollywood Boulevard between Vermont and Western, and while some of us strolled... [continue]

It's safe to assume that Walter Meego—who formerly resided in Chicago—wanted to be a star. Otherwise, they wouldn't have picked up and moved to Los Angeles. On their impressive debut, Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck convey knowledge of modish electronic music, but nothing beyond their years. Yet ultimately, it is their proclivity for incorporating the past, present and future that distinguishes them from their contemporaries.... [continue]

LA Times Book Prize Fiction Nominees There are some juicy picks - and even a few underdogs - among the nominees of the two fiction categories for the LA Times Book Prizes that will be awarded later this month. While the National Book Award often goes to the obvious front-runner and Pulitzers (go Diaz!) rarely surprise, the LA Times Book Prize winners are never a sure thing, which is what makes following them all... [continue]

Three dead beach balls that we killed last night. Last night at Dodger Stadium was Helmet Radio Night, where the first 50,000 (or so) receive a free radio shaped like a helmet that receives exactly one station: AM 790. It was also douchebag night, and obnoxious kids with no parents night, and beach ball night, and people with Sharpie eyebrows who show up in the 6th inning and spill beer all over you so... [continue]

Photo via Sha in LA's James M. Wood Blvd. Walk on Flickr In Los Angeles, there are some important streets named for some important people. Beaudry, Wilcox, Van Nuys, Lankershim, Wilshire, Micheltorena, and hundreds of others named for leaders, developers, owners, and others. But, in Los Angeles, there are streets that have been changed in honor of an individual. Santa Barbara Avenue in South Los Angeles was changed to honor civil rights leader Dr.... [continue]

As much as we like to give love to LA's many veg-heads, once in a while, you've got to give equal billing to good old meat. "Snout to tail" cuisine, which encourages the use of every single little bit of the animal, has long been a way for us omnivores to practice a more ethical approach to meat-eating. Now you can enjoy a four-course "Head to Tail" menu, along with a lecture on the... [continue]

The event has been going on for a couple years now, although a bit under the radar. Like Echo Park's First Saturdays, it's more of a neighborhood event with lots of locals. The concept: local merchants open up their doors a little later than usual for a Friday night and invite musicians and supply wine to those perusing the store -- it's all in the name of community and making the boulevard a more popular... [continue]

Brunchtime is one of life's great ironies. You want to go out, relax, enjoy the company of other people, eat enough to fill you up two meals' worth, sip your beverage slowly, and take your time. And because you are not alone in this pursuit, you tend to go where lots of people go, because they want the same thing. But all those people means all that waiting. But what happens when you find a... [continue]