The LA Times profiles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's relationship with the black community leading off with his rallying support and work with presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama. "The mayor's ascension as an Obama pitchman, while intriguing because of Villaraigosa's support of rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic primary, is a move that promises to work to the political advantage of both men." Even with that, the results still seem very mixed.......

Photo by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Suffering from an Oscar hangover? Then check out the next generation of hot filmmakers at The Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, which begins tonight and runs through the weekend. The studio that brought you such blockbusters as the "Lord of the Rings" franchise will soon become only the merest shadow of its former self: Warner Brothers will be absorbing New Line Cinema, which employs......

Idol-heads and Runway-heads have a lot to celebrate tonight and I'll be damned, look at how busy the schedule is in the 10:00-11:00pm time frame. Since I don't think any of the options are fantastic is it better to have a little or a lot of mediocrity to choose from? In other news, yeah the writer's strike is over, and SNL is finally heading back into production with it's first show scheduled for Feb.......

Since February is Black History month, we asked our friends at Eso Won Books in Leimert Park to recommend ten history books that would provide a balanced overview of black history, filling in any gaps in the American educational system. Included are a number of books that specifically focus on the history of African-Americans in Los Angeles. Before the Mayflower Lerone Bennett "The black experience in America--starting from its origins in western Africa up to......

Want to buy a two-story, four bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house with a view of a local artistic and historic landmark for a price tag of around $400,000? They've got custom cabinetry, marble counter tops, walk-in closets, and two-car garages to boot. Sounds pretty sweet! Do you mind that you're on land that was once a dump, and that you're three blocks from a housing project with bars on its windows? And that landmark? They're the......

It's starting to feel like a Michael Connelly novel chock full of mob hits and urban noir. The Pink Elephant liquor store in Los Feliz, a mysterious suitcase and body parts found in a dumpster. Much is still unexplained after the body's discovery on Friday, which broke in the news last night. A store worker was throwing away boxes at the store on the 1600 block of Western Avenue when he noticed the suitcase and......

The only one of the accused 6 to not post bail, Mychal Bell, is expected to receive his sentencing today in Jena, Louisiana. Local officials tried to impede the traveling march from entering the small town of Jena (population: 2,971) by limiting 5 buses to enter the city limits per 12 minutes. Most locals have fled the city, businesses have closed down. While the arrest stems from the fact that 6 black teens beat a......

8:00pm Going Back to New Orleans UPN/KCOP - Music icon Deacon John Moore documents the unique culture of the Big Easy. 9:00pm Against the Tide: The Battle for New Orleans CNBC - The business side of the New Orleans recovery effort. 10:00pm Still Waiting: Life After Katrina PBS/KOCE An African American/Creole family returns to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, hoping to hold on to their bayou culture. 10:00pm DIY to the Rescue: Katrina Rebuild......

There is so much more to Baldwin Hills than meets the eye. Home to the largest middle and upper middle-class African American community in Los Angeles, this hillside neighborhood ties together one of the most important strongholds of black culture in town, forming the residential nexus of the Crenshaw area. Baldwin Hills has gone through many permutations over the decades, and has been the site of some of the most significant events in the......

With somber news like the string of race-related murders in Highland Park, the battles being waged between black and Latino politicians and the recent prison race riots in Chino frequenting local headlines, it sometimes feels like the Latino and African American populations of Los Angeles are on the verge of a war. Depending on whom you ask, the black-brown race problem is either being blown way out of proportion by the media or it......

Thousands of innocent Angelenos are expected to perish today when a highly advanced robot civilization descends on Westwood. However, the carnage is not expected to ensue until 8:15 p.m. so you'll have most of the day to get your affairs in order. That's right, the LA Film Festival is celebrating the glory of independent film with a mult-theater premiere of the multi-million dollar budgeted Transformers. Indie favorite Michael Bay directs. If such esoteric fare......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

When Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald began a six-week leave of absence Wednesday after being diagnosed with cancer, no one expect that Sunday there would be obituaries being written for the seven-term congresswoman. Rep. Millender-McDonald, the first African American woman to head the House Administration Committee, easily won her district (California's 37th congressional district) in last year's election by 82%. She lobbied to ban smoking in the Speaker's Lobby off the House floor, a request that was......

A week after LAist judged Angel outfielder Garret Anderson for refusing to wear Jackie Robinson's number on Jackie Robinson Day, it appears that the All-Star is agreeing with us. After explaining how Anderson was approached by Major League Baseball to wear the retired number during Sunday's game, the 60th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier, but passed on donning # 42 because it was Ken Griffey's idea, we concluded that anyone that shallow......

Walt Disney's art school, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita has always brought an interesting mix up to the traditionally Republican and white-flight valley north of The Valley. Though, as time progresses, the face of the 4th largest city in LA County grows lefter and more diverse. And CalArts is still seen as some experimental freak show to many (or to those who know nothing, "a basket......

LAist loves video games. Loves them. And we love Black folk. Half of LAist's Editors over the years have been African-American. Which makes you think that we should be covering more Black History Month stories than what we have, but, whatevs. LAist sees no colors. Last week the blog microscopiq wrote a wonderful post called "The First 11 Black Videogame Stars" where they listed and summarized 11 video game main characters that you *had*......

As the month of February rolls around, I can’t help but think of all the crazy things that have happened during the overly optimistic January. Late nights and early mornings, cheap concerts, and drinking all New Year’s Resolutions away with a bottle of Jack, ah, everything 2007 is meant be. So I welcome February, the month of love and Black history, to devote oh-so-much fun and laughs to a few more amusing hip hop......

- Prosecutors are considering charges against Snoop Dogg after authorities discovered a 21-inch collapsible baton in his bags as he boarded a New York-bound flight, authorities said Monday. - AP - Vickie McDougal is swift and stern when pulling over speeding motorists and red-light runners, but as the Burbank Police Department's first -- and only -- female motorcycle cop, she can also dispense motherly advice on the job. - Daily News - Seventeen people......

Born in Japan as the only child of a Japanese mother and Anglo American father, novelist Nina Revoyr now makes her home in Los Angeles. Nina mines childhood experiences living in South Central to craft exquisite novels about the historical interrelationships between Angelenos of Asian American and African American descent. Indeed, her second novel, Southland, literally explores the historical connection between the two communities as the book's protagonist tries to solve a family mystery involving......

Tamara Gregory is an LA native who enjoys all the perks that our metropolis has to offer. She is a film producer and author. Her first novel, Passport Diaries, which brings an African American perspective to the Chick Lit genre, goes on sale tomorrow. A perfect beach-read, the novel follows LA-based assistant District Attorney, Kia Carson, as she embarks on a European vacation that also becomes a journey of self-discovery about global culture and......

A review of this month's LA Police Department crime blotter reveals that the rain hasn't put a damper on mayhem in the city. A. On Sunday, January 9, 2005, at about 1:00 a.m. North Hollywood officers and Fire Department personnel responded to Vanowen Street west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard for a radio call of a "Man Down." The victim was discovered on the sidewalk suffering from a stab wound to his right thigh. He......

On Saturday, December 11th, Santa Monica Museum of Art will exhibit "Black Belt," a group show of artwork, curated by the Studio Museum of Harlem, exploring the intersection between African American and Asian American cultures from the 1970s and 1980s. The forty five works in different mediums by nineteen contemporary American artists interpret political and philosophical connections among people of color, pop culture, and urban life. When the show opened in New York last......

As part of LAist's commemoration of World AIDS Day, the LAist Interview this week features Shoshanna Scholar, Executive Director of Clean Needles Now. CNN is a grassroots needle exchange organization which also provides a range of crucial services related to HIV/AIDS prevention. Unlike other types of education and outreach efforts, Shoshanna’s line of work deals with one of the more controversial aspects of harm reduction programs. Shoshanna has much to report from the trenches......

World AIDS Day. Minorities at risk....

LAist didn't attend Monday's special Board of Supervisor's hearing to discuss the proposed closure of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center's trauma unit, but our ears are still ringing from all the shouting. According to the Los Angeles Times, Representative Maxine Waters has been at the forefront of organizing the community's response to the proposed closure. Staff writers Jia-Rui Chong, Solomon Moore and Steve Hymon reported, "Monday's hearing at King/Drew Magnet High School was......

The Los Angeles Times has finally discovered krumpin'. Jessica Hundley's story, "Cirque for the Soul," ran on August 21, 2004, several months after it was noticed by writers at The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. What took the LA Times so long to notice something that was always in its own backyard? Oh, wait, that's right...this is The Lost Angeles Times we're talking about. For those still in the dark, krumpin' is the......

You've probably already noticed that we've got a couple of new contributors here at LAist. So without further ado... Born and raised in Pasadena, Adrienne Crew returned to Los Angeles this year after living 13 years in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Her work has appeared in Salon.com and the San Francisco Chronicle. She is working on her first novel about LA-based African American geeks and punks in the early '80s. Jessica Ritz was bred—but......

It's a P.R. extravaganza as Al Sharpton holds a meeting/photo-op with LAPD Chief Bill Bratton in response to the videotaped MAG-light beating of Stanley Miller. Perhaps LAist should cut the cynicism and count its blessings - Bratton is handling this situation in a far better manner than one might have expected from video-game designer Daryl Gates. B&S know what they're doing - the LA press is a lot less, um, aggressive compared to the NYC......