"This is the guy who once called me the worst columnist in America," Steve Lopez explained in his column today about downtown activist, blogger and now King, Brady Westwater. "I did not," Westwater responded. "I called you the worst columnist in history."If you move downtown, Westwater will be your neighbor. Try, though you might, you will not be able to shake him. At every turn, you'll see Westwater wearing a cowboy hat and a......

A Word or 22: Earl wasn't all that last night despite the Smellovision but the Office was satisfyingly uncomfortable. Tonight it's nothing but Jerry Lewis until Conan comes on. Tonight - Friday - May 4, 2007 Jerry Lewis Marathon (TCM, 5-??) Starting with the Nutty Professor, it just goes on and on and on White Sox @ Angels (FoxSports, 7:00 p.m.) Ghost Whisperer/Close to Home/NUMB3RS (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) Prophetic ghost foretells/Missing witness found dead/Water......

#4, The Go! Team Some of us got LAist Editor Tony Pierce drizunk today to celebrate several LAist successes and one of us discovered that Tony hadn't written a "Best of 2006" list. When pressed, he admitted that it would be political suicide for him to espouse favorites. Blah blah blippity-blah. After several dozen Jager Bombs we got a list out of him. UCLA beats UCSB once again, biatches. See our editor's list after......

Amy Jo Goddard, aka HoneyToes, is a professor, and professional sexuality trainer and consultant. The UC Santa Barbara graduate and author of Lesbian Sex Secrets for Men (well before the Queer Eye guys showed up), was nice enough to give us a Top 10 Sex accessories list that we are sure you would rather read than this intro... HoneyToes’ Top 10 Sex Paraphernalia for the Adventuresome Spirit of any Orientation 10. A flogger, crop,......

The best eurodisco tune to come out last year came from an LA band called Shiny Toy Guns. There's some guitar in there, keyboards, and a hot babe singer. The synthesizers and drum sound might make you think of 20 years ago, but don't ask Jeremy Dawson on keyboards if they're an '80s band. Well, we’re not from the 80’s and we never got to experience that and have that as a reminiscent angle......

When we asked Guy Zimmerman, Artistic Director of Padua Playwrights, to make a Best of 2006 list, we found that it was a great way for Angelenos to see Los Angeles in 2007. From the shows to the venues he mentions, these are things to add to your "need to check out" list for 2007. He even gives kudos to a play that can be still seen -- The 99c Only Show -- three......

LAist has been down with the Submarines since the day their album dropped, we even reviewed their first show in support of that cd. In fact if we ever got off our ass we'd list their cd Declare a New State in the LAist Top 10 Best of 2006. If you watch Nip/Tuck, you'd have seen that F/X not only used one of their tunes in the show's finale, but really went for it......

A bistro is a café that serves simple meals in a relaxed setting, the kind of place you can go where you don’t have to worry about meeting anyone’s expectations for relative fame or fashionable dress. My favorite places in L.A. this year generally fit this definition. 1. Pazzo Gelato (my review) Many of my friends look at the dessert menu before they even consider a main course, so let’s start there. After lunch......

When you write and sing songs as good as Whisper Town 2000, you can make any list you want. Here are Morgan Nagler's Best CDs of 2006 1. The Beatles The White Album 2. The Rolling Stones Exile On Main St. 3. Neva Dinova The Hate Yourself Change 4. Elliot Smith Elliot Smith 5. Notorious BIG Ready To Die 6. The Jackson 5 Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 7. Tom Petty Wildflowers 8.......

1. Billy Blanks' Tae Bo World Training Center closed. 2. Sherman Oaks Galleria's flagship store, Tower Records, closed and the now outdoor shopping mall "went public" via Douglas Emmett. 3. A Sherman Oaks based political mailer caused controversy in the November election. 4. The Sherman Oaks Street Fair extended to a two day affair. 5. Resident Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg, made big news twice this year and the media always attached "of Sherman......

Bree McGuire, one of Buzznet's Content Editors, is surrounded by new music all day long. Buzznet was at dozens of music fests and events last year and is super tight with the emo superstars Fall Out Boy, which is why we were stoked that she agreed to tune us in to what she was tuned in to last year... 1. The Queen & I - Gym Class Heroes 2. Cheated Hearts - Yeah Yeah......

Ian Blackburn founded LearnAboutWine in 1995. LearnAboutWine has a list of unique classes, events and tours that remain on the cutting edge of the industry and Ian was gracious enough to give LAist some of his top 10s for 2006 including his favorites restaurants, regions and bottles of wine and also wine stores. For more information about Learn About Wine or any of their classes or programs, email Ian here. 10 Best Restaurants to......

For the last two and a half years, Michael Higby has been the editor of Mayor Sam's Sister City, one of Los Angeles' best known and most controversial blog covering municipal politics. He is also the alter ego of the blog's chief writer, the lovable "dead, Republican Mayor," Sam Yorty, which is based on the late Los Angeles Mayor who served during the 1960s and 1970s. Higby has been a community activist in the......

It might not be the most expensively designed site, but The Palms–Village Sun is probably the best neighborhood blog in LA. Written and edited by George Garrigues, a retired journalist who first worked in Palms (in the publications division of Douglas Aircraft) more than 50 years ago. An Inglewood High and UCLA alum, the native Angeleno was a full-time faculty member of a half dozen universities over his career including USC. We are stoked......

photo by hexod.us via Flickr. I know I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon of year-end Top 10 lists, but if there's one thing that never goes out of style, it's food. 10. Foxy's 206 W Colorado St. at Central Ave., Glendale Any place that puts all my favorite things into one omelette (bacon, avocado, onions, tomatoes) as a standard dish on their menu can't go wrong. 9. Rodeo Grill 1721 W. Sunset......

Alright, it's from the Washington Post, but being that I'm a recent transplant from our Nation's Capital, there are a few things I just can't leave behind. One is Ben's Chili Bowl and the other is The List. Each January 1st, for as long as I can remember, Hank Stuever releases his list of Ins and Outs for the coming year. It's not just any list. It's the list to end all lists. No......

Earlier this month saw the launch of Orange County Food Blogs, and in charge of all the online show and tell about OC eats is Chubbypanda. We asked this "Epicurious Wanderer" for his own end-of-the-year list representing the best eats in the County, and for this list, we're going ethnic. 1. Japanese - Frenzy Sushi (my review) The freshness and quality of the fish served at Frenzy Sushi is amazing. The Hamachi no Hara......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

Flickr is full of pictures of women. The only ones worth a damn are the hot ones of women in LA. We will make an exception for photos of cute women. Thanks to Creative Commons it was easier to whittle down the best ones by using those which we are legally able to post on this website / blog / whatever this is. 21 more pictures after the jump so sit back and enjoy.......

We admit it. We love year-end Best Of lists. Why? We think lists by a variety of people are a far better way to see trends and discover new acts than say award shows or sales charts. If it weren't for Best Of lists it's rare that you'd hear so much about TV on the Radio, The Cold War Kids, The Hold Steady, Joanna Newsum, or the Knife - and who knows, maybe it's......

A long time ago in a peninsula far far away (if a 90 minute drive is far), there was a college newspaper so good that Matt Welch's only regular writing assignment was the two or three sentences in the Weather box. Though this was late-'80s Santa Barbara and the weather for an entire year was Sunny and Mild (we were in the midst of a year-long drought), somehow Welch's Weather box was one of......

Even though I call LA home, I didn't always live here. Over the years, I've spent time in various other parts of Southern California. Encinitas, Del Mar, San Diego and Fullerton are all places I once lived. Actually, I still think of Encinitas as my other home but as this is LAist and not Encinitasist, that’s not really relevant at the moment. When I first started coming to LA in the early 90s it......

It's always fascinating when old media attacks new media, and today's example takes on yours truly, LAist. In a piece about Best Of lists on websites, the New York Times leads with this oddity: "As any media consumer knows, this is the season of the list." First of all, in this, the era of YouTube and TiVo and 54 million blogs, is there really such a thing as a "media consumer"? Isn't everyone a......

He goes by the moniker "Bandini" and his mission is to find the city's best tacos. Sound like an ill-conceived Food Network show (maybe not, come to think of it--who do we talk to about a pitch meeting?) or what? Actually, it's the premise of a local foodblog called--what else?--The Great Taco Hunt. And here are his picks for the 10 Best Taco Trucks he frequented in 2006. 1.Tacos El Korita -East Olympic Blvd and......

Anne Smith is the owner of the New School of Cooking in Culver City (which just happens to be a favorite of this LAist), which offers classes for everyone, from beginning to advanced. An aficianado of all things culinary, Smith is also interested in promoting sustainable agriculture, supporting local farmers and reducing our carbon imprint. She recently launched a blog that companions the School's website, and she has also offered us her top ten thoughts......

Just when you forgot that you live in the most beautiful city in the world, LAist is here to remind you. Right: A sapphire sky sets over Zuma Beach. More photos after the jump.......

Though the sun has been doing a bit of a peek-a-boo with us the past few days, we can't help noticing the increase in sunshine since we made it past last week's winter solstice. Hooray sunshine! Much as we like a nice blustery day, one of the main reasons we live in southern California is the intimate relationship with have with ol' Sol down here. Esteemed musician/composer/polar bear/lexicographer of hoot Mike Watt seems to......

Maybe it wasn't cool in the South to go to the record store to get the new Dixie Chicks cd, but on the internet nobody can judge you. The Chicks were boycotted by Country radio and their fans said that they shouldn't have said what they said about President Bush, but when it came down to picking up their new cd, the people let their fingers do the buying. And if you ask us,......

Joseph Mailander is editor of Martini Republic, a local blog, a national blog, a political and cultural blog, but most of all, a toper's blog at heart. Beyond Joseph, Dr. Cocktail (Ted Haigh), Tod Mesirow (of Monster Garage fame) and anonyblogger Alex DeLarge (an obvious surly drunk) all monitor the beverage industry there with the kind of scrutiny that puts them at the top of all beverage industry blogrolls. MartiniRepublic's fabled drinks blog is......

Many things make it into the LAist email box. But when anything is sent from Springfield we mark it Spam immediately. Somehow this slipped through the filter. We keeeed. The Simpsons have been on the air longer than most of you could pee straight and apparently this year they have decided to agree on some resolutions. Here they be... In preparation for the New Year, Homer, Marge and many of their fellow Springfieldians vow to......