Reporter Leo Stallworth and Chief Bratton have a difference of opinion and at yesterday's press conference about violence in South LA, the no-nonsense East Coast sensibilites of LAPD's top cop came out in front of everyone... and ABC aired it. Stallworth asked about racial tensions, maybe in a more speculative way, based off interviews with community members. Bratton did not like that and responded. "We have to work with fact and speculation... You're a......

Sara Melson has been in LA for some time now after graduating from Harvard with a degree in English (she's shy about this fact). First it was acting, now it is music. She loves living in classic Los Angeles area neighborhoods, especially those with history, roots and the word "canyon" in it. Currently living in Beachwood Canyon, which she describes as a "true oasis," her past homes have been Topanga Canyon and Laurel Canyon, both......

Bargain airliner Skybus is adding a route into Burbank's Bob Hope Airport starting Monday. The airline has two US hubs, and has been operating flights to and from the one in Columbus, Ohio for some time now, and is now linking BUR with its other hub in Greensboro, North Carolina. The big draw with Skybus is that they sell ten seats on every flight for $10 each (plus all those pesky fees and taxes, of......

Okay, it won't be even close to this dramatic looking when the food is pulled | Photo veganstraightedge by via Flickr Trader Joes, based here in Southern California in Monrovia, made a big announcement today regarding imported food from China:Garlic, frozen organic spinach and other "single ingredient" food items from mainland China will be phased out by April 1, although products that include ingredients from both China and other sources will remain. The company......

Local singer/songwriters Meiko (MySpace) and Priscilla Ahn (MySpace) share similar qualities -- they are part-Asian (Meiko is quarter-Japanese and Ahn is half-Korean), and originally from back east (Meiko from Georgia and Ahn from Pennsylvania). So perhaps it was coincidental that both were booked in back-to-back shows last week at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, with Meiko onstage last Wednesday and Ahn last Thursday. Meiko, a one-time Hotel Cafe waitress, became a favorite of controversial......

The WGA Board voted unanimously last night to not picket the 50th Grammy Awards, February 10th at Staples Center. If there was an exasperating gasp of relief following the WGA vote, excuse us for missing it. For most of our lifetime the Grammys has done little more than exemplify just how out of touch the so-called mainstream is with Gen x+y's musical taste (with apologies to The Dixie Chicks). The only way this Grammy Awards......

Venues are still recovering from New Year's Eve as not many concerts are happening tonight. But that doesn't mean there's good music to check out. Local organic hip-hoppers, Swamphouse (a mixture of R&B, rock and jazz), open up at Temple Bar in Santa Monica tonight at 9:30 p.m. They are followed by the Manhattan Beach based reggae band -- International Farmers -- at 11 p.m. Over in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe, find East Coast......

I was born and raised in LA. My first experience with public transportation was at age 6 when my mom said we could ride the bus to the mall. We waited at the bus stop for 30 minutes but the bus never came. So we walked home. That pretty much sums up how I feel about the bus right now. For 5 years (during and after college) I lived on the East Coast; I......

Taste-Buzz will fill you with ramen cravings in this post on Asa Ramen in Gardena. Rameniac (noodle porn!) is also on the scene. More and more, it seems like the real culinary finds in this region are in the cities surrounding central L.A. Is Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) a necessary evil for those seeking high-quality, low-impact organic food? Or is the company less interested in ethical consumption and more involved in "creating a retail......

It’s a beautiful, wonderful day! Why, you ask? Have they pulled the troops from Iraq? Is America’s Next Top Model going to be syndicated twice a night, every night? Has the retail industry decided that Christmas should just be about spending time with family and loved ones, and yanked their holiday marketing bonanzas? No…it’s even better. For those of you who missed it this morning…Dunkin’ Donuts coffee will now be available for purchase in......

I was a bit skeptical at first, I knew nothing about chiropractics. But I kept having this pain in my neck that no amount of massage or yoga could take away. I was at a loss and then I met Dr. Robin Hawkey who explained, for the first time in my life, what exactly chiropractics was without any strings attached at a dinner party we both attended. So I decided to try it. My......

Our trust and honor system on the subway, at the light rails and over at the Orange Line has been stripped away. Last Thursday, Metro voted to install the first phase of gates at stations, 275 to be exact (what's going to happen to those TAP Here machines that are everywhere?). The original intent behind the current honor system is "to buck East Coast practices and reduce operating costs," according to the New York......

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......

My folks are Republicans. I am not. On a recent visit from the East Coast, they wanted to go to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. I kinda didn't. But since they were only in town for a few days -- to see me and I wanted to spend time with them -- I put our political differences aside and drove them out to Simi Valley (via the 118 -- the Ronald Regan......

Whitney Bedford is a truly unique artist. Her subjects- shipwrecks, pirates, and impending disaster, are far from the norm of what L.A based painters are doing these days. In her most recent exhibit at Cherry & Martin, Bedford takes on one of the biggest celebrities of the roaring 20’s Harry Houdini. The life-sized images in ink & oil on paper catch the showman mid –escape, in his most harrowing moments. Some of the lines......

Day Four began with jazz hands. I started off at Cake Shop to see NY native Patrick Cleandenim. He struck my interest with his brand of flamboyant, jazz-infused pop. However, it'd be nearly impossible for him to replicate the orchestral backing live and thus his live performance seemed a bit flat. Regardless, Patrick is destined for large things. His latest effort Baby, Come Home was recorded in Kansas at a studio I am quite......

La Cabana has been one of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles almost since the day I arrived four years ago. It's just about perfect for anything you need. Want to show your East Coast parents "real Mexican food?" Check. Want to go on a good first date with some of the best margaritas in Los Angeles with mariachi music playing live - but not too obtrusively? Check. Want a nice girls night......

Wait a damn minute. You people demanded that Van Halen get rid of the Red Rocker and reinstate Diamond Dave. Sure Michael Anthony had to step down so as to get replaced by Eddie's boy Wolfgang on bass - but doesn't that make for better rock? Not according to slow-as-molasses ticket sales here in the Southland where none of the four Van Halen shows at Staples or the Honda Center have sold out. [Update:......

I’m not a fan of hip- hop. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate the impact it has made on our society or certain songs that take me back to my middle school Sadie Hawkins dance days, but I’m more of an alterna-rock kind of gal. This is ironic because my current boyfriend is a Wu-Tang loving, Jay Z worshipping, Biggie quoting fool – but somehow we work. And since I’ve been very busy......

"Yeah, I do think this one sounds grittier, but the songwriting on both are kind of dark. On the first album, some of the songs are immediately catchy, where some of the people don’t realize it’s dark and on the second one, the music can be a bit darker, immediately."...

Visiting Washington D.C. during the summer is like reliving all your high school field trip nightmares. Every snotty-nosed kid and their mother was there. Despite the heat, humidity, and the rampant smell of Republican carcass, I had a great time. When Maryland and Virginia donated some land for Charles L'Enfant to build Washington D.C., as a capital city for this nation, I don't think they envisioned the polarity and contrast that metropolitan east coast city......

I've complained about the scheduling of my beloved Trojans' games in recent years. We seem to have had a lot of late starts. 5:00, 5:30, 7:30pm... someone seemed determined to maintain the oft-speculated upon "East Coast bias" by making sure half the country was getting into bed before USC had finished its first quarter of ball. My feelings were reinforced when I saw that this year there are only three games that start by 1:30pm......

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was born on Jan 10, 1924 in New Land, NC. He would go on to become one of the all-time great masters of rhythm. Max Roach's command of instrument, and his musicality as a drummer -- anchored and accelerated the evolution of jazz and moreover everything that is good music. A primary catalyst of the progression of bebop to hard bop -- Max Roach made the drums the hottest instrument on......

Smirnoff's new tea-flavored malt beverages sound, um, unique. But the East vs. West ad campaign is pretty funny. Watch the East Coast version, the see the West represent. East: West:......

As over 150,000 Dodger fans spent three days showing Barry Bonds as much hate as they could muster, Sporting News saw fit to profess its love to Los Angeles. Yesterday, in an article entitled "Best Baseball City: Los Angeles," Managing Editor Stan McNeal expounded upon why he believes this to be the best town in which to be a fan....

So there I am last night, in my non air conditioned house, trying to put my makeup on while simultaneously trying to sip my pre-date glass of wine and not have a complete hissy fit because I keep sweating off all of my concealer. Why does it feel like one hundred degrees at nine o’clock at night? After numerous attempts to position myself under my ceiling fan at the best angle to get the most......

LA’s Stones Throw Records are quickly becoming the most important purveyors of independent hip-hop in the new millennium, much like East Coast indie stalwarts Rawkus were in the late 1990s. There is, however, one particularly notable difference between the two. While both labels are known for their independent spirit and bohemian rosters of hip-hop artists (Stones Throw with Madlib and his many aliases, MF Doom, J Dilla, et al and Rawkus was with Mos......

Another day, another win for the Dodgers. Currently having the best record in all of baseball at 12-5, the Dodgers show no signs of falling apart like the deep depression of 2005*. Even when a high-priced starting pitcher** goes down, the Dodgers have a lizard-like quality to replace him with someone just as effective. While I’m deeply impressed with what they’re doing now, 2005 is still in the back of my mind. I’m happy......

Today is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's! Does Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day translate on the West Coast the way it does on the East Coast? I have to start with a disclaimer that I actually went to the University of Vermont, which means Free Cone Day was a borderline holiday and the line went around the block and the Ben & Jerry's stores in town (especially Church Street) usually closed by......

City Year is coming to Los Angeles this fall and is hosting their first annual "Alumni and Friends Fundraiser" Tuesday night in the Foundation Room at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. So what exactly is City Year? Founded in 1988, City Year's signature program, the City Year youth corps, unites young adults ages 17 to 24 in a year of full-time rigorous service during which they work in diverse teams to......