Before the Halloween candy bins are even broken down, retailers start to set up the Christmas trees and trimmings in their fluorescent-lit aisles. Yesterday, one more sign of the impending holiday blitz, and our society's possible insanity: KOST-FM has gone to their all-holiday music programming already. Franklin Avenue caught the flip: "The switch happened on Thursday mid-morning, with Barry Manilow's "White Christmas," which is apparently a station tradition. (Why? I dunno.)" Ready or not, it's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. Any early picks for what song in KOST's holiday rotation you'll grow tired of the fastest? Or which holiday song never fails to give you the warm fuzzies? more ›

Birds and tied-up tennis shoes are the domain of the wires that dangle over our streets. A few years ago one artist who calls himself Berd began dangling colorful paper birds "on a lark," but now, as Franklin Avenue points out, celebrity heads are popping up on the wires above us. They've spotted a Tom Selleck, and commenters on their post on the topic said they'd seen similar heads of Cher, Jennifer Lopez, and Resse Witherspoon. So are these hanging heads another guerrilla artist at work? Have you seen them? more ›

Local fans of ABC's long-running soap All My Children will see a familiar face on today's episode: City Council President Eric Garcetti. And that's not the Pine Valley City Council we're talking about. Garcetti is one of two LA political bigwigs... more ›

Today's the day: The Great L.A. Walk, organized by Mike & Maria of Franklin Avenue, departs at 9 a.m. sharp from the Shrine Auditorium in Downtown, and will take participants on a 14-mile "urban hike" all the way to the water's edge via Adams and Washington. more ›

Have you seen this yet? If not, don't worry. But just in case you need to hear Adam Goldberg explain how restaurants in Silver Lake suck (dude, we dig Edendale Grill's Secret 3-Cheese Delight, savvy?) and how Franklin Avenue is difficult to cross, here you go. Thankfully, Goldberg admits his bitching consists of "bourgeois problems" and that this is all in good fun. The vid is in promotion of his NYC-based flick called (untitled). more ›

Franklin Avenue today spotlights someone's attempt to use Google Maps to suggest public transit options to get him from Downtown Los Angeles to Inglewood. Shouldn't be that hard to do, right? So what happened when he plugged in his plan? "Google Maps said the total trip would take 10 hours, 44 minutes by public transit -- and cost $10.50." In fact, that almost 11-hour journey had him getting to Inglewood via...Anaheim! Why does this seem horribly wrong? The answer--or blame--rests with Metro, who did not hop aboard the Google Transit train soon enough to get their routes meshed with the maps. So this trip has the traveler using Metrolink and OC Transit, and not Metro (same happens if you try to plot a public transit trip via Google on the iPhone). We wondered a few months ago if it would happen...it hadn't then, and it seems like it still won't. Silly Metro...what a wasted opportunity you're still ignoring! more ›

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Fires raged across Southern California for the second day in a row. Helicopters joined the effort as did a Boeing 747, according to NBC TV. Also, 250,000 San Diegans were told to evacuate their homes. LAist is on top of recent developments. Fires in the region always make me think of when NBC newscaster Chuck Henry reported on the forest fires in 2003. His news van caught on fire and he and his crew had... more ›

The identity of one driver caught in the horrific fire on the I-5 Friday night might now be identified by the last call he made. Reports surfaced that the fire in the tunnel was so hot, the concrete began to melt. But, things are going smoothly today, officials said. Or as smoothly as rush hour on the I-5 can be. A cockfighting raid in San Diego over the weekend netted 4,400 birds at a... more ›

As I'm really just a longterm visitor to this, your fair city, it gave me some real reassurance to know that I received the same hysterical email about the mountain lion in Silverlake as did Franklin Avenue (which has it in full) and Blogging.la (where Will, who once worked at the zoo, parses the mountain lion/cougar/bobcat thing). more ›

Guest Day Editor LA City Nerd will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read the introductory interview here and check out the nerd's blog. As the LA City Nerd, we have to consult many sources to stay up on the latest news and issues facing the City. Besides reviewing the Council File Index regularly, we have to also consult websites to stay up on the latest issues facing the City or... more ›

Dear LAist, Did you see Entourage last night? When Drama drove to Variety to beat the ass of the TV critic Paul Schneider, was that really Michael Schneider who also is a critic at Variety, appears on E!, and runs the Franklin Avenue blog? Also, where can I get that AD/HD shirt? Nancy, North Hollywood Dear Nancy, We thought the same damn thing! However, if we had tuned into the Franklin Ave. blog on... more ›

blogging.la wins for best fire coverage of yesterday's blaze - blogging.la more ›

What Oscar Says... Here are the street and sidewalk closures according to them: Friday, Sautrday, Sunday, Monday. City Streets (According to the City) The City of Los Angeles will strictly enforce the parking restrictions and will cite and/or impound vehicles parked on streets at times shown (complete list after the jump). Hollywood Boulevard has been closed between Highland Avenue and Orange Drive since Monday for the construction of press risers, fan bleachers, and pre-show... more ›

If your lips are chapped, you know it must be a City of Los Angeles Red Flag Day. Welcome to yet another one in this unusual season. In other LAFD news, black ice gave them quite a scare when one of their own got pinned by a vehicle that went slippity slip! Maybe now government officials will no longer laugh at this writer when he makes complaints over unruly sprinklers. Pshaw! And please, do... more ›

If one were to name an LA blogging power-couple, LAist would look no further than Franklin Avenue's Mike and Maria. more ›

- You know you've accomplished something good when you go outside and burn a couch. You know you've really accomplished something good when the cops shoot rubber bullets at UCLA kids - Daily Bruin more ›

Franklin Avenue is asking its readers where one can find the best Dutch Apple pie in LA. more ›

- Winners and Losers regarding the LA Times - LA Weekly - Ralph Nader has completely lost his mind - fishbowl la - JD Drew tells the Dodgers to shove their $33 million contract - Dodger Thoughts - Santa Monica plucks their new top cop from the LBC - CBS2 - Pam Anderson had a miscarriage - US - Courtney Love to pose nude for a magazine - Access - Former Fox News reporter... more ›

Is LA really that tough of a market that no one can stand out as the perfect fit in morning radio? Is it really that hard to entertain the infamous Los Angeles morning commute? With billboards in LA proclaiming him The King of Free Media, and with KLAC's station manager calling him not just the future of radio but proclaiming that "there is not a more talented performer on the air today," starting Monday,... more ›

LACityNerd comments on LA Curbed's commentary on Daily Bruin's article about DOT's proactive enforcement of cars in driveway aprons at sidewalks. We've had our own parking problems in Westwood, but as to parking in aprons, you deserve a ticket -- it gets in the way of our bikes. As one commenter on Curbed said, "Living in the City 101: YOU CANNOT PARK ON THE SIDEWALK." NPR reports that in Los Angeles, 67.8 percent of... more ›

Consider this for a second, a bar that has a happy hour from 11 p.m. till midnight Wednesdays & Thursdays where the drinks are half-price. Then consider this bar is conveniently located in the middle of Hollywood. Then consider it also allows women to dance on the bar itself and in their bird cage. Then consider this same bar's bartenders pouring whiskey all over the bar and setting it on fire. Then consider why you're not going there. more ›

Our pallie Mike over at Franklin Avenue has discovered something that he likes but LAist doesn't -- new signs, new font, and a new way to write I's... with a dot on them. more ›

No one knows where he will strike but prolific stencil graffiti artist Banksy (aka Robert Banks) from Bristol, England, will make a much anticipated ”Barely Legal” L.A. appearance (or at least his work will) on September 15-17 at a super secret location that won’t be disclosed until the day of the event. - Caroline on Crack we have a date for the first opening of H&M in SoCal: September 21st in pasadena located at... more ›

Topping the list is a horrifyingly bizarre history of the Sunset Junction area. Including a robbery in the '20s of someone who was sporting some fresh old school grillz.

8. 3900 Sunset: November 9, 1928- A bald-headed man with a mouth full of golden choppers held up the California Bank today, with the aid of a less dramatic-looking associate, to the tune of $4,000. This is the fifth robbery at this particular branch in 18 months, including a notable incident last November, when a dapper (yet toothless) youngster appropriated $3,000 and fled in a stolen green limousine. (Shaken tellers showed no preference for gold teeth over missing ones.) - LA Alternative

-- A prank caller gets on Wolf Blitzer's CNN air and when the caller delivers the punchline, Wolf Blitzer suddenly becomes the least cool person on earth and instant old man when he declares "All right. Well, that sounds like we've just been Howard Sterned, as they say." - NY Post -- There are so few people who want to drive MTA busses for up to $20 an hour that the Mayor is proposing... more ›

The whole airports/power-failure fiasco last night was started by one car hitting one pole up in Palmdale. more ›