It's the end of another year and LA has lost yet another handful of important buildings. LA Weekly has the goods on the "big ones" that were lost this year including the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove, Trader Vic's, Johnie's Broiler, Mann National Theatre and our personal vote for deepest loss of the year, Tail o' the Pup. It seems we're not the only ones who mourn the loss of our favorite hot dog......

Can we please do the OPPOSITE of adding fuel to these fires? A Sun Valley day laborer has been charged with arson after he was caught attempting to start a blaze in the Woodland Hills area earlier this week. Do you use your cell phone? Of course you do. The future of this important device lies in the hands of visionaries, such as the ones who are attending MobileCampLA on Sunday. And you too......

There are a lot of places you can go to feel "LA." For most people, it’s a surface thing--to see the glitz and the glamour, maybe eat alongside some celebrities. You can go to Mozza, Katsuya, Geisha House and see the stars and eat great (well, except at Geisha House), but for some of us, Hollywood is a past as well as a present. And for us, Musso & Frank’s perseveres. As the diners......

The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel was the place to go for live entertainment in Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., and Merv Griffin were among the many legends to perform there. This weekend Pink Martini will recreate the nightclub's magic at The Hollywood Bowl. Merv Griffin was to have performed at these concerts. Now the evening will include a tribute to him. The one and only Carol......

If one were to name an LA blogging power-couple, LAist would look no further than Franklin Avenue's Mike and Maria. Just over the last few months the pair led a 15+ mile walk down the entirety of Wilshire Blvd., Maria was nominated for a Grammy, they've continued their food blog Rate a Restaurant, as well as kept us up-to-date on the very sad demise of the Ambassador Hotel. This morning we join them in bidding......

January 18, 1921: The Ambassador Hotel opens with a ball, with LA's top society figures and Hollywood elite dancing at the Cocoanut Grove. January 16, 2006: The Ambassador Hotel's destruction is complete. The Cocoanut Grove remains, to be retooled by the LAUSD, which will build a school on the site. February 2, 2006: The Ambassador Hotel wake. The brainchild of the people behind the Ambassador's Last Stand, folks at the LA Conservancy and the......

As the Ambassador Hotel has been ignominiously knocked down, we've been following its last days on Ambassador's Last Stand. Well, it's over, kids. Yesterday, as we were overtaken by Golden Globe Fever, ALS announced that the rest of the hotel was gone. Only the Cocoanut Grove remains: the LAUSD has plans for it — it's going to be an atrium or a library. (We can't find the current plan online, but we admit, our......

While we are madly in love with LA, we do have a little crush on New York. So when this week’s copy of the New Yorker arrived, we were thrilled to find a piece by Dana Goodyear on LA’s own Ambassador Hotel and one of its pioneering architects, Paul R.Williams. The hotel, which closed in 1989, has been the subject of a massive financial, cultural and ethical tug-of-war between the LAUSD, who own the......