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.......

On Saturday, LAist Featured Photos contributor Victoria Bernal found this mural in Echo Park on Morton Place. Unfortunately, it's graffitied. Bernal writes down the quote, adding "and Woman" at the end: "When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are...only by giving life do we find LIFE.......

I wouldn't normally encourage anybody to go out and gorge on a Whopper, but today, the Burger King downtown at Cesar Chavez and Grand Avenue is donating 100% of its sales to the family of SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who was killed last week in a deadly shoot-out in Winnetka. The fundraiser will be running all day today, until midnight tonight. A donation box will also be available at the restaurant for those who......

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY! Come celebrate at LA's annual Lunar New Year Festival! Today the Golden Dragon Parade featuring lion and dragon dancers will thrill over 100,000 spectators along North Broadway. The festival continues until 8pm tonight, and runs from 10am to 3pm tomorrow at Broadway and Cesar Chavez. Parade 2pm-5pm Festival 10am-8pm // Chinatown // N. Broadway & College Street // Free THEATRE The Kinsey Sicks, a "Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet" perform their critically......

The Lunar New Year has officially started, and pigs are like soooo last year. To usher in the Year of the Mouse and Rat, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles is hosting the 109th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and festival on February 9th and 10th. Performers from Beijing will lead the parade, followed by assorted city officials (Villaraigosa et al.), Mickey Mouse as grand Marshall, flower drum dances, a plethora of beauty queens,......

Hoping to reach out to Latino voters, Barack Obama is using Spanish-language television advertising on Telemundo and Univision here in Los Angeles. The commercial began airing yesterday, and is centered around the concept of hope. The message features a Spanish-speaking narrator and the Democratic Presidential candidate hopeful delivering his words in English with subtitles. The content focus on the autobiographical, with the aim of appealing to the largely immigrant community on the basis of......

The Metro's Gold Line Expansion project is causing the First Street Bridge near Downtown to close down for about a month while construction on the light-rail line moves forward. The bridge will be closed to all vehicle traffic starting at around 7:00 Sunday night, but will be open to pedestrian traffic on the south side. The First Street Bridge is between Mission Road and Vignes Street. KTLA reports the detours as follows:Westbound traffic on First......

For those of you driving over the river and through the woods to grandma's house for Thanksgiving -- this picture is going to hurt. This particular Chevron is on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Alameda in Downtown LA. And we're sure it's not the only one around town with prices like these. From today's LA Times: California motorists paid an average of $3.395 for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline, up 2.9 cents......

Although some Dia de los Muertos events were held last weekend, most notably Hollywood Forever and Festival de la Gente, most events will take place on November 2nd, following the traditional date. Self Help Graphics & Art November 2nd 3pm - 11pm 3pm exhibition opening 4 - 8pm children's art workshop 4 - 5pm Procession to Self Help Graphics (Gather at Cesar Chavez and Lorena) 6pm Aztec Blessing and Ceremony 6 - 11pm entertainment......

A woman saved a man's life after spotting 79-year-old Blain Hudson lying on a hill near train tracks in Lancaster. The man had been missing for two days and, authority's said, would not have been discovered if it wasn't for the woman. A Wilshire Blvd. Episcopal church completed a 75-year stained glass window project detailing the history of Los Angeles. The project features images of Cesar Chavez, freeways, traffic and other historically relevant panes.......

Mayor Tony has a busy Sunday scheduled for this weekend, but we're glad to see he's blocked off the entirety of tomorrow to pulling for the underdog Bruins as they square off against Tommy Trojan and the Song Girls. Saturday, December 2, 2006 1:00 PM - PASADENA - Mayor Villaraigosa will cheer on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins as they go up against the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans in......

If you see the LA City Council around any of these intersections, may we suggest that you honk if you're horny. According to CBS2, they've got the green light to put digital cams in 22 intersections and these 22 are on their radar. -- Griffin Avenue and North Main Street -- Beverly Boulevard and Western Avenue -- Broadway and Vernon Avenue -- Arlington Avenue and Venice Boulevard -- Balboa Boulevard and Vanowen Street --......

UPDATE: LAObserved links, and the one-and-only Jonathan Gold responds! Olvera Street is known as the birthplace of Los Angeles. Located near the corner of Cesar Chavez and Alameda streets downtown, it’s kind of like a Latin version of the Farmer's Market on Fairfax with a lot more trinkets and a lot less fruit. LAist likes to walk Olvera every now and then for the pure kitsch factor (Lucha Libre masks abound, and are usually......

Hey, have you heard? Andy Mitch Hurwitz says he's leaving the job of Show Runner for Arrested Development behind. If you haven't heard, apparently this is the only blog you read as we've seen more notices about this non-story on more blogs today than maybe anything else. AD was cancelled months ago, the 4 part series finale gave a fitting end to the show and, really, we're sorry to tell you, that no matter......

The easter bunny is coming back to the Hollywood Bowl after a two-year hiatus. The Bowl's Easter Service, which happens at dawn, will include clergy from six denominations and hundreds of pariticipants; its theme is "Peace on Earth." Doors open on April 16th at 3:30am. It's free. It's not easy being green. The Daily News reports on tensions at the DWP over its Green Power program and the slow integration of renewable energy sources.......

There is something distasteful that in the week before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Los Angeles Times has decided to run a four-part series that maligns the legacy of one of California's greatest civil rights leaders, Cesar Chavez. Of course, if the foundation is bad, if there is graft and corruption, it should be exposed. There's just something about the timing. We're still plowing through this incredibly long article, but we wonder at......

We hope you enjoyed your Cesar Chavez festivities last week, because the timing of the holiday is quite appropriate when it comes to much of the discussion on the Mayor’s race. Chavez’s empowerment of Latinos (what else is “si, se puede”?) awakened both Latino political consciousness and served notice to the mainstream that Latinos were a force to be reckoned with. He became symbolic of the Latino struggle for fairness and acceptance. In a......

LAist didn't want to let the week go by without recognizing Ceasar Chavez Day. Because Cesar Chavez isn't just another crazy, congested LA boulevard. March 31 marked the birthday of the UFW leader, whose life was dedicated to championing labor, civil rights, and social justice. Cesar Chavez Day is a day--not simply for celebration of his life--but to reflect on how we can, in our own lives, actively live out Cesar's legacy. At a......

Belmont. Fafi. Kid Robot....