Steve Lopez has a good knack for getting stories about the City of LA in their stupid moments. The latest is about a family store in Highland Park that was getting tagged by taggers and gangsters on an almost daily basis. The family would clean the graffiti, it would soon come back. So the family hired two respected street artists for $3000 to paint a mural and the tagging stopped. Well, someone complained about the......

Combining the thrill of the crime scene with the the dry humor of a better than average sitcom, an LAPD sqaud car collided, in full view of local residents, with a telephone pole on the 300 Block of Ave 57 in Highland Park, while in pursuit of a suspect. According to officers and witnesses on the scene, the suspect was believed to have brandished a handgun, fled on foot, ditched his weapon, and escaped into......

Last Wednesday, Vivid-Alt (MySpace) head, director Eon McKai (MySpace), celebrated the release of his new movie The Doll Underground with a party at the Little Cave (MySpace) in Highland Park. As reviewed by Violet Blue, The Doll Underground "...is one of the best porn films I've ever seen, and it feels like anti-porn — it's almost against the system it came from by being all that it is — a deep investigation of culture......

Last Friday, LA-Underground presented a showcase with Shiloe (MySpace), El Olio Wolof (MySpace), Rademacher (MySpace), and The Monolators (MySpace), at Mr. T's Bowl (MySpace) in Highland Park. El Olio Wolof and Rademacher also performed on Sunday at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake as part of Classical Geek Theatre's show. LA-Underground will be busy this week, (co-)presenting shows tonight with boxViolet (MySpace), Looner (MySpace), Odd Modern (MySpace), and weyou. (MySpace) at The Scene (MySpace) in......

Nobody better covers the LA indie music scene than the local blogs, which include LA-Underground, Radio Free Silver Lake, Rock Insider, You Set The Scene, Squaregirls, Aquarium Drunkard, Classical Geek Theatre, Amateur Chemist, and the now-defunct Buzz Bands. Besides spotlighting up-and-coming artists and posting concert photos, many of those blogs regularly present shows -- Radio Free Silverlake's Let's Independent! have included The Happy Hollows (MySpace), The Deadly Syndrome (MySpace), Castledoor (MySpace), and Everest (MySpace).......

Restored Wood wheel at the LA Natural History Museum | Photo by WILL13 via Flickr Los Angeles was settled in 1781, three years after Chicago. Unfortunately, people who do not know this city write-off the history and focus in on the obvious glitter. Even if this city continues to bulldoze over its past, that in itself is part of the history. The Los Angeles region has over 200 historical organizations, societies, and museums dedicated......

It could be a better day for Metro. The second Metro incident within the city limits of Los Angeles of the day occurred at 8:50 p.m. tonight when a Gold Line train crashed into a vehicle near the Highland Park station. The motorist, a 30-year-old male, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, reported Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two Gold Line vs. car crashes occurred in September......

An Op-Ed follow up to this morning's news... Via The LA Times, it seems all is not well with LA's super Tuesday results: Across Los Angeles County, many nonpartisan voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary have learned to their dismay that their votes in the presidential contest did not matter. ... {California Democratic Party spokesman} had harsh words for L.A. County's voting system. "It's a terrible ballot design," he said. "It requires the......

If it's a day with the folks tomorrow, you might want to head out to Heritage Square Museum as anyone over 65 gets in free ($10 if your a youngin'). And if they know something about Los Angeles in the 1940s or before, they may participate in an oral history project too. "Old-Timers" Day aims to bring together true Los Angeles veterans from 12 to 4:00 p.m. at the museum located in Highland Park (if......

Portland based musician and known as "the Stephen King of Indie Pop," Chris Robley and his band -- Fear of Heights -- play at Mr. T's Bowl tonight in Highland Park. Plenty of MP3s to check out of this indie-pop folk band below. Mr. Lif & The Perceptionists @ The Knitting Factory Jessie Evans, Von Iva, Deadbeats @ Silverlake Lounge Chuck Berghofer Midnight Jazz Band @ Charlie O's (Valley jazz club, not downtown one) The......

While the political establishment sought new and different ways to explain the gifts a Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsement brings to the Barack Obama's campaign, the Time Magazine's and the Salon's missed one key endorsement the winner of South Carolina's Democratic Primary received Monday: Shepard Fairey. Fairey, the acclaimed poster artist and illustrator whose Obey Giant posters have plastered billboards and electrical boxes from Santa Monica to Highland Park, focused on Obama's progressivism in his endorsement.......

Is it still raining? Seriously? Sigh. Since the wet weather is making me loathe to venture very far away from my office, here's a few happy hour spots in Hollywood that were recommended by reader Klodi B. (Okay, and one in Highland Park, but whatevs.) Anyway, she emailed me with her animal-themed picks. I like emails. I like 'em a whole lot, especially when they are all about cheap booze. Or animals. I'm not......

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means The Blue Mask at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park is back after a little holiday break. LA Weekly describes the all-night music party put on by fellow musicians of Motorcycle Black Madonnas as a venue to catch "some of the city’s most respected underground punk, hard-rock and bent-jazz musicians... Best of all, there’s almost no chance that the faux-rock glitterati (or celebrity trash like......

Last Friday night at Bordello, Elite Yelpers gathered for drinks and music to wish Stephy S, Community Manager of Yelp.com for Los Angeles (she's like Tom of MySpace, but goddess style), a farewell adieu as she takes on a larger responsibility for the website up at its San Francisco HQ (sister site SFist should feel so lucky). Since May 2006, Stephy has been leading the way for Yelp.com, bringing in the energy for a site......

Last week, four men targeted a house on Avenue 54 in in Highland Park near the Gold Line. It was early evening - 8, 8:30 - and the team of robbers broke into the house, only to find its resident inside. The home's occupant was pissed. And had a gun. One of the four -- a 21-year-old -- was shot multiple times. By the time his buddies got him to Glendale Memorial Hospital, he......

Yesterday, there were not many details about a "freshly-shot" body found at the Glendale-based Forest Lawn cemetery (as opposed to the Griffith Park location). As more details came out, we learn the shooting was likely gang related and that the murder happened within the city limits of Los Angeles, not Glendale. Jason Grey, 29, was visiting the cemetery for unknown reasons when he was shot multiple times in the upper and lower body around......

The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold names his "Top Ten Dishes of 2007" and curious palates all over the Southland take note. His picks include the porcetta at Brentwood's Vicenti (a rotisserie-cooked piece of pork where the "loin and belly are wrapped into a spiral, seasoned with fennel, and spit-roasted to a crackling, licorice-y succulence"), Donut Man's Strawberry Donut, and My Taco's Barbacoa (lamb), which we fell in love with too, when we checked out Garvanza.......

In business since summer and reviewed then by LAist, The York is a gastropub in Highland Park located in the same spot that once housed The Wild Hare and before that, The Dragon. Looking nothing like its more quaint predecessors, The York offers drinks and food to the Northeast LA neighborhood in an updated, contemporary style. When business partners/owners, Ryan Ballinger and Gabe Byer took over the space, they tore out the old wood paneling......

Join the Arroyo Arts Collective this Sunday for their 15th annual tour of artists’ studios & homes in the Highland Park, Eagle Rock & Mt. Washington areas. The auto tour begins at the historic Lummis House and will be an opportunity to check out the works of over 70 local artisans. Everything from paintings, photography, sculptures, & clothing, etc. will be available for perusing. Even Chicken Boy will be on hand, how can you pass......

Liquid Kitty's 11th Annual Halloween Bash Saturday, Oct 27th 6pm-2am 11780 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064 (Between Bundy and Barrington) 310-473-3707 Come celebrate Halloween in style with the strongest drinks and one of the best DJs in town. Costume contests. Blue Mask Halloween Party Saturday Oct 27th Doors at 9pm At Mr. T’s Bowl (5621 ½ Figueroa, Highland Park, Ca. 323-256-7561) With: Backbiter Thrills and chills in Highland Park with The Motorcycle......

Here are a few events for people who like to leave the house before sundown. A few of them are even family-friendly and some involve dogs wearing costumes. Historical Society of Long Beach Annual Cemetery Tour Saturday, October 27, 2007 Sunnyside and Long Beach Municipal Cemeteries, 1095 E. Willow St., Long Beach The dead come to life to tell you about the lives they lived and the way they died at the neighboring Long Beach......

Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crash. McRae participated in the last two X-Games, rolling his car both times at the Home Depot Center. He last competed here on August 5th, his birthday by the way. Complete with an interactive map, Daily News finds that Pedestrian vs. Automobile accidents are high in the Valley. (Author's note: after being hit by a car in a hit and run when I was legally......

Morris Day & the Time, Sea Wolf, The Broken West, Ben Harper, Blonde Redhead, The Emotions, Medusa, Breakestra, Autolux, Culver City Dub Collective, The Parson Red Heads, The Pity Party, Division Day, others @ Sunset Junction (10a-10p) Yolanda Adams, Angie Stone, Clarence Carter, The Laws Family, Eloise Laws, Barbara Morrison, Linda Hopkins, Billy Valentine @ Compton Summer Soul Jam, Par 3 Golf Course Stevie Nicks, ZZ Top, The Pretenders, Stray Cats, Sugar Ray @......

There is a serious water (-ing hole) shortage in Northeast LA. Despite their hipster enclave status, I’m always surprised that there aren’t more places to drink in thriving cultural hotspots like Eagle Rock and Highland Park. The recently opened York on York attempts to correct the problem. The “neighborhood gastropub” is located about halfway between Figueroa and Eagle Rock Blvd. in the increasingly popular small stretch of York that also includes Johnny’s, Marty’s, and......

With somber news like the string of race-related murders in Highland Park, the battles being waged between black and Latino politicians and the recent prison race riots in Chino frequenting local headlines, it sometimes feels like the Latino and African American populations of Los Angeles are on the verge of a war. Depending on whom you ask, the black-brown race problem is either being blown way out of proportion by the media or it......

If you're not really the Guitar Hero type, here's another (drunker) option for your Saturday: the vegetarian-biking-cooking-podcasting team Hot Knivez will be leading their first biking tour of Los Angeles's best beer stores on August 11th, starting at around 10am: we plan on traversing L.A. side streets to collect a wide array of bombers and six packs with the express purpose of throwing a tasting/swigging/gulping/retching party at the finish line. We’ll be starting at......

Once the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement in Los Angeles and a bohemian artists' colony, Garvanza is today one of Northeast LA's hidden treasures seeking to retain its turn of the century identity while creating a liveable neighborhood for the twenty-first century. Although many consider Garvanza to be just a part of Highland Park, this small and hilly area brimming with historic buildings has more than enough charm and character needed to......

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!......

My friend Dawn recently moved to Highland Park and we quickly discovered that there is a theater on Figueroa near Avenue 56 that has movies for $3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -- and not second-run movies either, real, live, first-run movies. In the last month we have gone four or five times and saw "Shrek the Third," "Evan Almighty," "Ratatouille" and "Transformers." (Some pros and cons of the Highland Park theater after the jump)......

Dear Laist, I feel really bad for Paris Hilton. Sarah Silverman made jokes about her yesterday. She obviously wore a black dress to the MTV awards as a sign of mourning. She seemed so sad when everyone applauded at the Gibson that she was going to jail. I would like to write her. Do you know how I can get in contact with her and tell her my prayers are with her? Paris Fan......