Results tagged “easthollywood”

A possible arson suspect has barricaded himself somewhere on the 5400 block of Russell Avenue, near the intersection of Hollywood and Western, according to the LAPD. Not many details are available, but police believe he may have a weapon. A good number of police and fire have responded to the situation that is currently ongoing.

      

Before the Smog Cutter was East Hollywood’s most infamously decrepit karaoke joint, it was reportedly one of Charles Bukowski’s dives of choice. While this has yet to be corroborated by the ninety-year-old hunchbacked regular who apparently takes a vow of silence between spirited performances of Clarence Carter’s “Stroke It,” one look at the dingy, faux-wood paneled interior and world-weary patrons seems like evidence enough. You may not be as lucky as I am and live spitting distance from the place, but if you share old Hank’s penchant for stiff drinks, small time hustlers and hard women, you just may have found yourself a home away from home.

Thai Town is priced perfectly for our sorry pocketbooks. We know this. One such standout is Ruen Pair, a restaurant LAist visited for our "Thai One On" series. It was both inexpensive and fantastic in '07, and that hasn't changed for '09. The only difference is a sharp coat of paint. Of course it's LAist's latest Recession Obsession.

Little Armenia business owners are making headway in creating a stronger neighborhood brand. Coming soon are signs on the 101 Freeway near the Sunset Blvd. exits identifying where the neighborhood's location, the Little Armenia Chamber of Commerce announced in an e-mail last night.

Apparently, an East Hollywood woman had a crew come out last year Fourth of July to remove a city curb for a big private driveway. Alyssa Romano, resident and fourplex building owner on the 1100 block N. Westmoreland Avenue, did not obtain a permit for her illegal driveway. Curbed LA reports:

Earlier this year, Council President Eric Garcetti's office hosted a bicycle rack competition for artists to design bicycle racks for East Hollywood. Today, after city and community input, Melrose Hills artist Forester Rudolph and his SpokesQuotes design were announced as the winner.

              

On Sunday, Thai Town hosted the 6th annual Songkran festival, or Thai New Year, which brought out the masses to brave the warm temps and take in the tastes and sights of a colorful and fun neighborhood gathering. Hollywood Boulevard between Western and Normandie was packed on Sunday, bringing together people from all parts of town to celebrate Thai culture and the glory of springtime.

If you can emphasize a balance between form and function, keep it beautiful and make it hip, you might be the artist/designer behind Hollywood Boulevard's newest crop of 24 or so bicycle racks. LA City Council President Eric Garcetti, CRA, the Bike Writers Collective and the LACBC are joining forces to sponsor a competition for "a unique bicycle rack for the East Hollywood community. This project seeks to add visual appeal and transportation amenity to its vibrant East Hollywood streetscape along Hollywood Boulevard between Western Avenue and Vermont Avenue." Download the details here (.pdf) and good luck!

Los Angeles is home to about a zillion and a half people. This includes, I hear, the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Perhaps that's why we have a jillion Thai restaurants. Good thing their food rocks. It's pretty cheap too.

Over on Ron L Hubbard way at the large Scientology complex in East Hollywood, a videographer was filming on the sidewalk when he was all of the sudden surrounded by three alleged Scientologists with cameras who kept on cornering him. This follows city council action regarding the closure of the street on a weekly basis and a contentious video (below) taken on the street on July 4th, 1999.

In an effort to further community relations, LAPD's Northeast Division is hosting their community open house today from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Along with meeting officers and councilmembers, there will be displays by the Bomb Squad, K-9 Unit, LAPD Dispatch Communications, SWAT and others.

Church of Scientology stories are usually left for the internet and are rarely the subject of mainstream media stories. But when two women stood up to City Council last week (video) to tell them what it's like to be a neighbor to the church's L Ron Hubbard Way location during weekly street closures for special events, the Council listened and continued the motion rather than approving it in order to look into the issue a little more in depth. Then CBS2 visited the street in question to check it out for themselves (video below).

At Wednesday's LA City Council meeting, non-Scientologist and resident of L Ron Hubbard Way, Sammi Franklin, and free speech advocate Lisa Derrick stood in the chambers at city hall to explain what it's like to live on a street closed down every weekend of the year.

Submitted and Written By Dan Collins

      

The Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard is gone, leaving a trail of b'day party memories, indigestion and chain link fencing in its wake.

East Hollywood will transform into Thailand West this Sunday, April 13th, as the Thai community comes together to celebrate Songkran (the Thai New Year) with festivals, parades, and ceremonies all day long (check out the general Thai Festival website here for more info). All along Hollywood Boulevard, from Western to Vermont, vendors and sponsors will be presenting a kaleidoscope of food, crafts, dancers, Thai boxing demonstrations, costume competitions, and even the largest international curry festival in California.

      

Remember that scene in I Am Legend where we see a gas station selling a regular gallon for $6.63. Well if we're lucky those prices won't hit us until 2012, along with vampire zombies.

After releasing a transportation vision on YouTube last week, the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council took yet another step in becoming a more transit friendly neighborhood, specifically in regards to bicyclists. The Bike Writers' Collective, a coalition of top bicycle bloggers in Los Angeles (which includes an LAist contributor) presented the "Cyclists' Bill of Rights" to the council, who unanimously passed a motion to endorse it.

This week the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council released their video (shown below) on transportation within their district (map), which is a small but dense 1.5 square miles with a population of 52,000 people that includes the neighborhoods of Thai Town, Little Armenia and the unofficial Bicycle District (some call it, ugh, Hel-Mel for Heliotrope/Melrose). They say the area is a multi-modal community with transportation opions such as the 101 freeway, arterial streets, three metro red line stops, twelve Metro local lines, five Metro rapid lines and two DASH routes.

Square One Dining on Fountain Avenue, tucked behind the Scientology Center that extends from Sunset to Fountain in East Hollywood, is a restaurant of little pretension and noble purpose: it serves one of the finest breakfasts in Los Angeles. Although two years ago, LAist had careless service at Square One, despite the great food (it even made a staffer’s top ten list), the service on this and previous visits was attentive and polite – and the food is still great.

Mural of a dancing couple in Silver Lake.

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...

Imagine our surprise when we discovered from the LA Times' Buzz Bands blog last week that our friends Rocket were not only on the new tv show The Next Great American Band but they had made it pretty far already. Rocket is the all-female pop rock band from East Hollywood who we first told you about during the summer of last year when they were playing shows almost every day in LA. Then this...

If you heard the hysterical sounds of laughter coming from the Los Feliz, Little Armenia, Thai Town and East Hollywood section of Los Angeles Saturday night, it was me. First of all the UCLA Bruins lost to Notre Dame? The fact that Ben Olson got injured in the first quarter and they brought out walk-on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson to replace him shows something fundamentally wrong with this Bruin program. When Patrick Cowan went down...

If you like spicy food, Jitlada is the place to go. Not only does LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold call the Southern Thai specialty restaurant "the most exciting new Thai restaurant of the year," he claims one of the dishes, the kua kling Phat Tha Lung (thick brown curry with shredded beef) "may be the spiciest food you can eat in Los Angeles." Jitlada recently gained popularity a few months ago when a Chicago blogger...

LA is home to dozens of classic, independent, rock clubs. Many of these clubs helped launch most of your favorite bands. But those bands would have never made it on stage if it wasn't for the booker, the person who actually schedules the bands to play the show on the particular date. We start this series in Little Armenia at Safari Sam's, a club that was originally created 20 years ago in Huntington Beach...

LAist Editor Tony Pierce has blogged here non-stop for more than a year deserving a well-earned vacation (and did he ever earn it). While out of town, we decided to have a little fun and bring some guest day editors in from around the blogLAsphere. Monday we had Green LA Girl and Tuesday saw Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA.Zuma Dogg took Wednesday and LA City Nerd yesterday. Today, former LAist Editor Carolyn Kellogg makes a comeback!...

LAist Editor Tony Pierce has blogged here non-stop for more than a year deserving a well-earned vacation (and did he ever earn it). While out of town, we decided to have a little fun and bring some guest day editors in from around the blogLAsphere. Yesterday was Siel of Green LA Girl, today is Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA. All Aboard! 1. Age and occupation: 26 yearz old. I'm a freelance motion graphics designer, whatever that...

This summer LAist is going to tackle an ambitious project. We are going to attempt to do a post about every neighborhood in Los Angeles based on LA City Nerd's 172 known designated communities. It might take us into the fall, but every neighborhood/community will be covered, in this lighthearted, and clearly not definitive, tour of LA. If you would like to send us information, tidbits, little known facts, or full blown posts about...

interview by Carolyn Kellogg A year ago Tony Pierce took over the reigns of LAist, and I have to say he's done wonders with the place. It's bigger and shinier and got a gorgeous crowd standing out front (that's you). Will he tell us what it's like behind the LAist editor's curtain? Can we ever really know the man, the blogger, Tony Pierce? Carolyn Kellogg: Where'd you grow up, Tony? I was born in...