Los Angeles, we have good economic news! The city's marketing and travel bureau announced today that tourism is up, bringing more people, thus more money to the City of Angels. more ›

Netheads may be over the "Shit People Say" meme, but the videos just keep coming. And as of today, two videos showcasing shit said in Los Angeles have been uploaded to YouTube. more ›

Lonely Planet is once again poking the bear of bi-coastal rivalry for the purposes of a poll. The travel guide gurus initially courted controversy in January by starting an SF vs NYC match up, and while SFist noted that "comparing San Francisco to New York City is like comparing chocolate to peanut butter (or something like that)," the silliness of the battle didn't stop the city from clicking, commenting and competing bravely. Verdict: NYC had their tushies handed to them on a cable car. more ›

Dodger fans and those concerned about the fate of the team may have to bite their nails for another six weeks. After months of scandalous details, wild accusations, confusing post-nuptial agreements and eleven days in court, the McCourts are no closer to settling their divorce, according to KTLA. more ›

Usually, the faces change but the places stay the same. At least that’s the idea when it comes to the myriad of comedy houses peppered throughout Los Angeles. The names come and go (some bigger than others), but the brand and the comedy philosophy stay with the space. Groundlings, ACME,  iO West, and UCB (a relative newcomer, but still not-so-quietly celebrating their 5th anniversary this month) all preach a very specific form of comedy, and have been doing it in one form or another for years. Each of these, however, pale in longevity to ComedySportz LA, which holds a very unique distinction as not only the most tenured comedy theater in town, but is actually the longest running stage show in Los Angeles. All of which could change without your help. more ›

The tech lover’s “unconference” BarCampLA-7 is being held this weekend (May 2-3) at OTX Research in Culver City. For the uninitiated, BarCamp is an international network of user-generated conferences for people to share and exchange information in an open environment. The weekends are part party, but are highlighted by intense discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. But unlike corporate conferences where you get talked at, and get bad hotel food for thousands of dollars to boot, BarCamp is free. more ›

LA graffiti artist Chaka (Daniel Ramos) moves his work from the street to the studio. His solo show "Resurrection" opens Saturday night at Mid-City Arts. more ›

It's 4.20! Smoke all your smokes and whatnot. You'd think I'd hype The Smokes show at UCB tonight at 7, or the 4.20 Crash Test show or SOMETHING, but nope. Smoke free since 1983, playas! Anywho, UCB has so much else going on this week you can't believe it. The great shows like CDR are killing it this week and Nick Kroll as Fabrice Fabrice is a must, even if you have to hit the standby line. Largo drops off this week, but looks very promising in the near future. Email Farley if you want to spread your own love. Eww. more ›

The Kings were riding a comfy 3-0 lead late in the second period on Thursday night, and were ready to cruise to a victory, but they didn't account for Anaheim's Bobby Ryan. The rookie who began his season in the minors and was called up in November put on a clinic, scoring a hat trick (three goals) against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick in the span of 2:21 to set a new franchise record and also tie the game. more ›

Plans to vote on a $25 billion bailout for the "big three" automakers were scrapped by congress yesterday after discussions focused, not on how the industry will fix the problem with taxpayer money, but on how they each used corporate jets to travel to Washington DC. more ›

The Sunday LA Times has a new addition--well, an old addition reinvented, sort of. It's LA, the new Los Angeles Times Magazine, but it's only available in print. more ›

Burton Snowboards loves skateboarding so much that buying Alien Workshop wasn't enough to satisfy their thirst. So they started this big fat half-pipe on their roof this monday and construction will be finished by Wednesday night. more ›

Along with their art opening last week in London featuring the new "LA" work, pixel art group eBoy released the artwork as a poster in a series of many including Tokyo and New York City. more ›

On March 5th, I called Osteria Mozza to make a reservation for April 5th (they only take reservations a month in advance.) I thought I would call at lunchtime when they would first be open. A critical mistake. Turns out that the reservation line for both Mozzas opens at 10 am. I could get 5:30 or 9:45. Not being a New Yorker, I took the earlier time. more ›

Two of my friends have been raving about this supposed "real Italian/napolitana" pizza in Monterey Park, and after months of accumulated hype I decided to give in and drive 20 miles just for fucking pizza. I even took five other friends in tow for the expedition to Monterey Park, the hotbed for all great cheap eats -- some of my favorites include Shakas and The Boiling Crab. more ›

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Luckily, since SXSW Music officially starts on Wednesday, tonight's massive line-up of residencies is hardly affected, save for The Voom Blooms who are replaced by We Barbarians and others at the Viper Room tonight (full list of tonight's residencies after the jump). However, the exodus of Los Angeles based bands is upon us. more ›

Matt Belknap is changing the way people experience comedy. As founder of Aspecialthing.com , Matt's created a place where comedy nerds, whether they be fans or the artists themselves, can discuss the art form they love so much. But Belknap isn't only a comedy fan. He runs See You Next Tuesday at the UCB Theater, is producer of and panelist on Never Not Funny, one of the I-Tunes picks for best Podcasts of '06 and '07, and founder of Aspecialthing Records, which in 2007 put out comedy albums by comedians Jen Kirkman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jonah Ray, and The Sklar Brothers. LAist got a hold of Matt's email and sent him a few questions about his plans for AST, his thoughts on comedy, and got some details on what new AST releases are planned for 08. more ›

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• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here's this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the level of talk going on in the comments: more ›

1. With 7.1 seconds left to go, Cal's Ryan Anderson turned the ball over under full-court pressure from UCLA's Russell Westbrook and Josh Shipp. No foul call. more ›

The state's budget woes may soon have a massive casualty list to its credit, culled from our already ailing school systems. Who's getting kicked out of school? Educators! more ›

Today was the day that the first Barbie doll made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York in 1959. Make fun of her all you want, but Barbie's an icon whose life has been far more interesting than any reality show, and yes we know if she were real her head wouldn't be supported by her body dimensions or some such thing, but come on. Even Dolly Parton named her newest record "Backwoods Barbie." more ›

Getting a parking ticket just downright blows, agreed? It can be the ultimate day-ruining moment, especially if you're having the proverbial "one of those days" to begin with. more ›

Non-profit mentoring group WriteGirl is putting on a screening of Girls Rock! which is a documentary about a rock n' roll girls' camp, and hosting a panel discussion after the film. Scheduled panelists include WriteGirl's founder and executive director, singer-songwriter Keren Taylor; Grammy-award winning songwriter and WriteGirl mentor, Michelle Lewis; and Grammy Foundation Coordinator, Education Initiatives, Valerie Vanderwest. more ›

In the wake of last week's shooting death of 17-year-old Los Angeles High football star Jamiel Shaw, his community--and the community of LA at large--are mourning the loss and trying to make sense of how a kid who was on the right path in life was in the wrong place at the wrong time. more ›

Matt Belknap is changing the way people experience comedy. As founder of Aspecialthing.com , Matt's created a place where comedy nerds, whether they be fans or the artists themselves, can discuss the art form they love so much. But Belknap isn't only a comedy fan. He runs See You Next Tuesday at the UCB Theater, is producer of and panelist on Never Not Funny, one of the I-Tunes picks for best Podcasts of '06 and '07, and founder of Aspecialthing Records, which in 2007 put out comedy albums by comedians Jen Kirkman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jonah Ray, and The Sklar Brothers. LAist got a hold of Matt's email and sent him a few questions about his plans for AST, his thoughts on comedy, and got some details on what new AST releases are planned for 08. more ›