Waking up at 5:30 a.m. and being rushed out of your downtown Wilshire Grand hotel room is not the ideal experience for your Los Angeles stay. However, better safe than sorry when the 10th floor of at least 80 people was evacuated due to pepper spray being released. In an e-mail alert, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Meyers said 20-30 people were evaluated with none needing treatment or transport to a local area hospital.......

Photo by highervision via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This evening a public viewing will be held for slain LA High football star Jamiel Shaw, with funeral services to follow tomorrow. Shaw's tragic murder has prompted many LA residents to refocus on the senselessness of gang-related violence. Go, stop, go, stop: Commuters northbound on the 57 and the 605 transitioning to the 210 westbound this morning were greeted by the new traffic......

It ends tonight at 9 p.m., and really, an art walk is more fun at night anyway. Tonight lends itself well as a great chance to go see © Murakami Exhibit at the MOCA that we told you about back in October. If not that, from comedy to smaller art galleries, the Downtown Art Walk is worth a trek to LA's central core. And if you head towards The Edison first, happy hour runs......

Best way for LA to bring in the new year: win the Rose Bowl. USC killed Illini at 49-17, winning their 23rd Rose Bowl title. 750 bills go into effect this year and the minimum wage is now $8 per hour! The news battle in Santa Barbara continues: Wendy McCaw, owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, has lost in court over illegal firings. She "must re-hire and give back pay — to at least......

As of last Wednesday, Downtown now has six farmers markets: three on Thursday, two on Wednesday and one on Friday. "It was only back in June that we marveled at the new Bank of America market, but it seems a mere five markets each week wasn't sufficient," writes Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. Find the complete interactive map at Blogdowntown.......

Eric Richardson of Blogdowntown snaps the above shot from a downtown commercial shoot yesterday: "Pictured is one scene from the commercial being shot, where a gaggle of females drop their workout to come press up against the window and see some brown guy. I would hope this'll make more sense by the time we see it on TV." Out best guess is that he is made out of chocolate. Los Angeles could soon be......

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. Downtown News dedicated about half of its July 30 issue to the long-awaited opening of Ralph's at Ninth and Flower. The cover story is here with more here, here, and here. Kathleen Nye Flynn examined the......

- Are you a racist? Are you sure? Take this quiz and find out - Harvard.edu - Two Chatsworth High baseball players drafted in the first round of the MLB draft - Daily News - Lede of the day: "Two false eyelashes. A maroon-colored toilet. Brandy snifters, burning candles, a Viagra three-pack and a box of Mylanta tablets. These formed part of the tableau de l’amour that cops and coroners found at Phil Spector’s......

It's only Monday and we have a winner! Don't forget to read the whole thing as it includes Dodger Stadium/Public Transit talk and Downtown Blogger Eric Richardson (go to his picnic on Saturday), all on Internet Page 3 of the article. Photo by bunnicula via Flickr......

According to a recent study by the neighborhood blogging aggregator Outside.in (backed by Netscape and Ning cofounder Marc Andreesen, among others), Downtown LA is #3 on the list of "America's Top Ten Bloggiest Neighborhoods": "The common themes are real estate prices and local politics," Outside.In CPO John Geraci told CNET. "People also post reviews about restaurants and other local businesses." Well-earned congrats to our friend Eric Richardson for being singled out per below:3. Downtown......

DJs spinning old-time jazz, 200 choices of whiskey, and a dark mellow vibe with a twist of a thirty something crowd is making the old Clifton's Silver Spoon location another reason downtown nightlife is coming abuzz. Seven Grand, named after its nearest intersection, just opened this month and it feels as if it has been here for ages. Compared to the generalized and typically terse doormen, cocktail waitresses and bartenders of Hollywood, Grand's staff......

OK if you're going to play this, play it now without brushing up on anything. Click here and as soon as the page loads you will have 10 minutes to type in as many states as you can. LAist did pretty well with 48 but we still haven't had our coffee yet. No fair using maps or the web or anything, just look at the screen and type for 10 minutes and see how......

Last Saturday morning, the Board of Public Works invited all neighborhood councils to attend a meeting to kick start the go-happy 1950s Keep America Beautiful program. Los Angeles has been chosen as the kick off location for the national program, the Great American Clean Up, that takes place from March 1 through May 31. Along with a crowd of about 50 folks, bloggers/downtown neighborhood councilmen Eric Richardson from Blog Downtown and Brady Westwater of LA......

#41 Toddler Dies While Wandering into a Car Wash - Fox News #42 Foster Parent Accused of Sexual Abuse with Four Teenage Boys - St. Pete Times #43 California Citrus Woes are nothing compared to Low Florida Fruit This Year - Orlando Sentinel #44 Construction Worker Dies After Falling into a Woodchipper - CBS4 #45 Manatee Deaths Up in Florida - TC Palm photo by Eric Richardson......

Don't have the extra $75 for Giant Village this Saturday? Maybe you're concerned over the possibility of a freak rainstorm canceling the party? Don't worry. We've got you covered thanks to the Music Center and their latest "make Downtown a hip place to be" event. And hey, it's so hip, you can't even take photos of the skyscrapers (via LAO). The first of four NocTOURnals begins Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. But it's sort......

Tonight the New Otani rooftop beer garden opens again, meaning summer is truly upon us (as if the June gloom wasn't enough hint). In addition to unique views of downtown's skyline — debate the relative merits of the new Caltrans building, close-up — the beer garden offers reasonably priced pitchers and affordable bar-b-q snacks ... and a tabletop hibachi! Drink and char to your heart's content without having to worry about the mess. Or......