Matthew Taylor of Vero Beach, Florida is now a sworn enemy of the L.A. art scene. Arrested without incident on Thursday morning, Taylor, a former art dealer, faces a federal indictment that alleges he stole paintings from an art gallery in L.A. and sold the works to a collector under the false pretense that the works were those of esteemed artists. more ›

Manny being Manny may include more violence than previously thought. The former outfielder for the Dodgers was arrested yesterday in Florida after his wife told police that he hit her across the face with an open palm, reports NBC LA. Juliana Ramirez told police that she and Manny were on their bed at about 4:30 p.m. when they started arguing and he hit her in the face, sending her head into the headboard. more ›

Diana Nyad, 61, abandoned her 103 mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage Tuesday morning at 12:45am. Nearing the halfway point, Nyad made the call to stop at hour 29. more ›

The exhausting stretch of ocean from Cuba to Florida totals 103 miles and is estimated to take 60+ hours. Nyad began her venture around 7:30pm on Sunday night. To put your minds slightly at ease, she is accompanied by two boats armed with shark shields, transmitting an electric shark field into the water. more ›

We've come a long way, baby, since Miami rap group 2 Live Crew got the authorities all riled up with their "Nasty" music. These days toddlers in tiaras gyrate to Britney Spears to win pageants, fewer words get bleeped from the television, and a song called "Me So Horny," well, shrug--that ain't no thing. But in June 1990, U.S. district court Judge Jose Gonzalez ruled 2 Live Crew's album As Nasty As They Wanna Be obscene and illegal to sell. Well, a few folks decided not to take that lying down. more ›

Local radio personality Diana Nyad, 61, is getting ready to finish something she started 30 years ago: a swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, reports the Washington Post. Nyad, who hosts sports show "The Score" on KCRW, has been a long-distance endurance athlete for most of her life. In 1978, when she was 29, she attempted to swim the distance between a point on the shore in Cuba all the way to Florida. more ›

According to the L.A. County sheriff's department, Daniel Brazelton, the army private who escaped from military custody last week in Georgia, was captured at a Daytona Beach, Florida motel on Friday, reports KTLA. Pvt. Brazelton is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Los Angeles County. more ›

He played a California Highway Patrol officer in the 1970s TV show CHiPs, but lately actor Larry Wilcox, 63, has been on the other side of the law. Wilcox was sentenced today to three years of probation, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of $100 for conspiring to commit securities fraud, according to the AP. more ›

A unknown Florida pastor has been rocketed into infamy for his plans, which may end up being canceled, to hold a Quran burning event. Terry Jones' rally, which would take place on Saturday, September 11th, is in protest of the controversial Islamic community -- erroneously called a mosque -- center planned for near Ground Zero. The news has sparked protests in the Middle East and offiicals are worried that if the Quran burning goes through, it will endanger the lives of Americans. more ›

Volunteers from a San Pedro bird rescue facility are working in the Gulf Coast region to help "save as many birds as possible after the British Petroleum oil-rig disaster," according to abc7. more ›

With the ongoing recession and continued threat of piracy, 2009 may have been tough for the multi-billion dollar adult industry, but it was also Sasha Grey's most prominent thus far. With the leading role in Steven Soderbergh's labeled her "The Dirtiest Girl in the World" and Fleshbot included her in their Top Ten Crush Objects of 2009 (NSFW). So it's no surprise that she will be honored with The Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year at the AVN Awards this Saturday at the Pearl Theater inside the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. more ›

Although the original source of the controversial Obama poster appears to be a student in Chicago (he made the joker face and posted it on Flickr. Then someone apparently mashed it up with the word "socialism"), a conservative radio talk show has exploited the posters further making a contest out of it. The posters were first noted in Los Angeles back in April and received widespread attention beginning August 3rd. Seeing an opportunity, talk show host Alex Jones began a contest encouraging people to put up more posters. The poster had "Democrats and Obamanoids going ballistic," his website said. Some of Jones' posters--with his website address on one version--have appeared in San Francisco, but around 500 appeared in a Florida town leading to the questioning of at least one teenager. Previously: Shepard Fairey Opines on Obama Socialism Posters. more ›

Playa Del Ray resident Joe Talamo is not your average 19 year old. The guy's already earned $4 million in purse money as one of horse racing's hot young stars, he's been featured on a reality television series, Animal Planet's Jockeys and in all likelihood is on his way to one of the biggest events in sports - The Kentucky Derby. more ›

Joanna Angel, nominated for 14 AVN Adult Movie Awards, including Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year, blogged (NSFW) about her experience: more ›

As mentioned previously, AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards took place earlier this month in Las Vegas, with the convention running for four days at the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the awards show taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. more ›

Even though Southern California is the nexus of the adult industry, next week the industry and its fans will convene in Las Vegas for AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards. more ›

Big media is coming out against Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that seeks to eliminate same-sex marriage in California. Last week Google said no to the proposition followed by the New York Times on Sunday. more ›

The point of the show is to showcase videos, and music. Pete Wentz throws to videos, a panel of three video experts (including Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes) critiques the video premieres, artists from the premiering video chat with Pete, the studio audience votes on the videos with text messages, AND bands come in to perform live. more ›

• Boy am I glad I don't live in this Torrance neighborhood, where a cache of machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were found in a house Friday. The residents may be terrorists, police say, but the owner of the weapons said he is just a collector. Do you think he also collects dead bodies in the basement?
• Does the name Chuck Quackenbush ring a bell? He was the Insurance Commissioner for Califorina until he was forced to resign amid corruption allegations in 2000. Gosh, I wonder what he's doing now. Probably tanning on a beach...wait, oh, um, turns out he is now a Sherrif's deupty and just shot a suspect in Florida who was allegedly resisting arrest. OK, now he can go and tan on the beach as Chuck was placed on paid administrative leave.
• More bad news for area newspapers as positions at the Long Beach Press-Telegram were eliminated recently. Earlier in February, the LA Times reported they were going to cut up to 150 jobs and this week, the Daily News cut 22 people from their staff. Christ people, don't you read on paper anymore? I mean, when you're not checking LAist and the hundreds of other sites we link to, that is?
• Speaking of the LA Times, new owner Sam Zell stands to profit to the tune of $15 million if an eminent domain a June ballot initiative passes. Just think how many strip club ads he could buy with that.
• Owing mostly to the Writers Strike, L.A. County lost more than 75,000 jobs from December to January.
• Victoria's Secret is saying its line of revealing lingerie is too sultry and will "get back to the ultra feminine and not just sexy look." In other news, 300 million men started a letter writing campaign today with Justin Timberlake as their spokesman.
• John Wooden, Bruin legend and inventor of winning, remains in the hospital but is "in good spirits" after he fell Thursday night and broke his left wrist and collar bone. I have a feeling beating Arizona tomorrow will really help lift the spirits of the 97-year-old former UCLA coach.
• Tomorrow is the L.A .Marathon. Don't say we didn't warn you. Good luck to all those running, walking, cycling and wheelchairing! more ›

It's March 1 and in addition to it being the first official day of spring (in Southern California at least -- cuz we said so): more ›

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Celtics 104, Clippers 76 - The NBA's top team won last night in the Staples Center, and it wasn't the Lakers. more ›

Our crack political team is projecting "reason to believe" that both Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination very soon. more ›

The eyes of the nation are turning to the Ronald Reagan Library today, where debates for the Republican front-runners will begin. This is the last debate opportunity for the GOP before "Super Tuesday" next week (LAist is throwing an Election Party to celebrate). more ›

3 Gainesville (Fla.) High School students investigate: Why are we so dumb, yo? more ›

I wasn’t much of a Tom Petty fan in my pre-L.A. years, but like most people, I knew him from the basics…I had caterwauled the lyrics to "Free Fallin’" alongside other angsty Massachusetts teens at a dance or two, and I had been baffled by, but pretended I knew what the hell was going on in, the "Mary Jane's Last Dance" video. more ›

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Jennifer Lopez's twins will receive the royal treatment- the mommy to be was seen picking up onesies that read "Prince" and "Princess" - NY Daily News more ›

Days after making up with rapper Kanye West, legendary daredevil Evel Knievel has landed himself in the news once again, not for making an improbable stunt landing, but for doing something one day all of us regular folks are going to do. He died today in his home state of Florida at the age of 69. The AP is reporting:Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for... more ›

I apologize for the lack of football recaps, but I found it very hard to write about college football this season. With all the upsets it just seemed like not even the college players were all that passionate about playing the game. Look at the following lists and you’ll see what I mean. This season seven #1 and #2 ranked teams have been defeated by unranked opponents. Compare that to last season when the... more ›