It's always sad to hear when a paper totally goes away. "It is with great regret that as of the March 26, 2009 issue, Southland Publishing, Inc. has decided to discontinue publishing the Los Angeles CityBeat alternative weekly publication," company President Bruce Bolkin wrote in a memo to staff and others about the closure. Citybeat started in 2003 and was a blast this summer when Alan Mittelstaedt got on the transportation and water efficiency beat. "Sources inside the paper expressed surprise at the decision. Under CityBeat publisher Will Swaim's direction the paper had recently gone from operating at a loss to breaking even," finds Tina Dupuy at FishbowlLA more ›

piece titled, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" the subhead reads: more ›

• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

Much to LA City Beat's dismay, the Metro board voted and passed a motion to "install barrier gates on the Metro Red Line, Metro Purple Line and selected light rail stations in efforts to prevent fare evasion, provide for seamless travel and improve transit station security," says a press release from the agency this afternoon. Expect to see the 379 fare gates within 18 to 24 months from now. more ›

It was originally reported back in December that Metro was looking into gates and turnstyles for railways at the cost of $30 million. Today, in an opinion piece by LA City Beat, they say it's now $80 million and that there is no need to spend money on this project: more ›

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Today's LA City Beat's LA Sniper column focuses aim on 30th District Congressman Henry Waxman who led the banning of subway construction under Wilshire Blvd. in the mid 1980s. Could you imagine what LA would be like today? A Los Angeles with a subway down the god friggin' most congested city street in America? Instead we have the one of the nation's busiest rapid bus lines, the 720, which the Sniper suggest should be... more ›

By week's end, LA is littered with dozens of free rags. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, let us know, or better yet drop it in the comments section below. LA Weekly reviewed the gaffe-filled Q & A between Democratic presidential hopefuls and Hollywood gays. While not one candidate came out clearly in support of gay marriage, Bill Richardson slipped so hard as to insinuate that... more ›

Photo by LAist Editor-at-Large Carolyn Kellogg via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

By week's end, this town is regularly littered with a handful of free rags. Combined, these publications put the Tribune Company's Spring Street operation to shame as far as reporting on the dozens of municipalities that make up this metropolis of more than 12 million people. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, pretty please let us know, or better yet, drop it in the comments section... more ›

By week's end, Los Angeles is regularly littered with a handful of free rags. Combined, these publications put the Tribune Company's Spring Street operation to shame as far as reporting on the dozens of municipalities that make up this metropolis of more than 12 million people. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, pretty please let us know, or better yet, drop it in the comments section... more ›

"There are parts of the city of Los Angeles that are so ugly they could kill you." (LA City Beat) more ›

*Updates listed at the top. L.A. Celebrates 225th Birthday With Historic Nod (CBS2) LA Celebrates 225th Birthday With Traditional 9-Mile Walk (NBC4) Officials Take 9-Mile Walk To L.A. To Celebrate City's Birthday (KABC) Happy Birthday LA! (Fox 11) Happy 225th, L.A.! (LA City Beat) In the beginning: The founding of Los Angeles (Tidings Online) The Settlement of Los Angeles (Los Angeles Almanac) Original Settlers of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (Los... more ›

Last night was Emmy Night. So what did first time amateur ghost hunter/enthusiast, Bekka Reed, do? Go ghost hunting at the Chateau Marmont, which is rumored to be haunted. Did she have any luck, or were there just too many celebrities hanging around after the Emmys? You went out to find ghosts, any luck? Felt definite energy, but no manifestations. I saw many celebrities, but I suck with names. If Heath Ledger weren’t so... more ›

Admittedly, LAist is a bit behind on the Zuma Dogg story. But we figured, there are still a lot of readers who have not seen any of this. more ›

Last month, after watching the two videos (shown after the jump) of LAPD at the Hollywood Minuteman March, we were curious what was to follow. LAPD's blog offered no immediate reasoning, but today, LA City Beat has the story: “We were trying to get back on the sidewalk, and the police guy with the bike comes and rams into us. So they hit us, she’s falling over, and I’m trying to not let her... more ›

SFist was there for the 4.4 Earthquake in the Bay Area, which is a good reason to visit The L.A. Times' EQ coverage archive. LA City Beat combs through the West Valley and finds that it's not so bad. They even talk up Follow Your Heart, which we mentioned last week. That plus Figueroa Street, 818 movies and ‘What is your favorite, secret treasure of Los Angeles?’ LA Weekly reports on the convictions of... more ›

This post is like Lewis Black on Sometimes there are stories that slip through the cracks, big and small, around LA and we don't get to them during the week. Stories We Missed is here to catch them and bring them to you. Better late than never, right? more ›

- And, finally, Dakota Fanning -- who shares top billing with Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise -- also shares tagalongs and samoas with the Chatsworth Girl Scouts. more ›

LA Observed pointed us towards LA Cowboy yesterday who wrote about Good Morning America's playing of a supposed Al Qaeda threat against Melbourne, Australia and Los Angeles. The Cowboy wants to know why this isn't front page news for the Times. So does Mickey Kaus who notes that it is in Melbourne. more ›

We have yet to find the details on the LA City Council website but according to ABC 7, Olvera Street has been granted up to 12 million dollars for improvements. Among the work that is likely to be done includes construction of the transportation museum, new restrooms and infrastructure repairs (sewers, electrical and streets). The on-going preservation of many of the murals (several of which are quite old now) will also continue. more ›

Nick Pacheco has announced his candidacy for LA City Council Member from District 14 in Northeast Los Angeles. Pacheco held this position two years ago, then lost it to Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now be vacating it to become mayor. The LA Times suggests that school board president Jose Huizar and state senator Gil Cedillo are also likely candidates for the seat. more ›

L.A.'s long-neglected literary scene is due some media attention, but we�re disappointed that Los Angeles City Beat forgot to mention the big literary guns enticed to speak at the consistently excellent ALOUD and ZACALO programs presented by Los Angeles Public Library. more ›