Nick's, home of delicious breakfast burritos, by Rebecca~James via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr 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......

Much to LA City Beat's dismay, the Metro board voted and passed a motion to "install barrier gates on the Metro Red Line, Metro Purple Line and selected light rail stations in efforts to prevent fare evasion, provide for seamless travel and improve transit station security," says a press release from the agency this afternoon. Expect to see the 379 fare gates within 18 to 24 months from now. The gates will integrate with those......

Photo by Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA via Flickr It was originally reported back in December that Metro was looking into gates and turnstyles for railways at the cost of $30 million. Today, in an opinion piece by LA City Beat, they say it's now $80 million and that there is no need to spend money on this project: This morning (Thursday, February 28), the Metro board is scheduled to give final approval to an......

Federline family values: Fading pop diva and the ex-Mrs. K-Fed who sent law enforcement and the paparazzi into a tailspin last night has lost visitation rights to see her two sons, a court ruled today. Sole custody has been temporarily award to her babies' daddy, meanwhile, Britney remains involuntarily hospitalized. What is it going to take to get Ms. Spears back on track? The homicide tally for 2008 moves up another notch with the reporting......

Over 1,300 illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported over the course of the past two weeks -- many are convicted criminals but many are just undocumented workers. No word on whether or not their bones will be used to build a road to nowhere. LA City Council Member Greig Smith makes a weekly public transportation effort -- but most city movers and shakers do not. LA CityBeat examines what kind of example is......

Today's LA City Beat's LA Sniper column focuses aim on 30th District Congressman Henry Waxman who led the banning of subway construction under Wilshire Blvd. in the mid 1980s. Could you imagine what LA would be like today? A Los Angeles with a subway down the god friggin' most congested city street in America? Instead we have the one of the nation's busiest rapid bus lines, the 720, which the Sniper suggest should be......

Best Lede of the Day "There are parts of the city of Los Angeles that are so ugly they could kill you." (LA City Beat) McPheeverback Fans of Katharine McPhee may be surprised to learn that her debut album is sassy, sexy and promiscuous. And all that is conveyed just on the cover. "It's definitely suggestive and a much sexier image than I have had in the past," McPhee told andPOP last week about......

*Updates listed at the top. L.A. Celebrates 225th Birthday With Historic Nod (CBS2) LA Celebrates 225th Birthday With Traditional 9-Mile Walk (NBC4) Officials Take 9-Mile Walk To L.A. To Celebrate City's Birthday (KABC) Happy Birthday LA! (Fox 11) Happy 225th, L.A.! (LA City Beat) In the beginning: The founding of Los Angeles (Tidings Online) The Settlement of Los Angeles (Los Angeles Almanac) Original Settlers of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (Los......

Last night was Emmy Night. So what did first time amateur ghost hunter/enthusiast, Bekka Reed, do? Go ghost hunting at the Chateau Marmont, which is rumored to be haunted. Did she have any luck, or were there just too many celebrities hanging around after the Emmys? You went out to find ghosts, any luck? Felt definite energy, but no manifestations. I saw many celebrities, but I suck with names. If Heath Ledger weren’t so......

Admittedly, LAist is a bit behind on the Zuma Dogg story. But we figured, there are still a lot of readers who have not seen any of this. "One of the funniest parts of this clip is the clownish guy behind Zuma Dogg holding his hands over his ears." ~ Mayor Sam Who is Zuma Dogg? Why is he doing this? He explains on video (psst... turn down the volume a little). Also, "ZUMA DOGG......

Last month, after watching the two videos (shown after the jump) of LAPD at the Hollywood Minuteman March, we were curious what was to follow. LAPD's blog offered no immediate reasoning, but today, LA City Beat has the story: “We were trying to get back on the sidewalk, and the police guy with the bike comes and rams into us. So they hit us, she’s falling over, and I’m trying to not let her......

SFist was there for the 4.4 Earthquake in the Bay Area, which is a good reason to visit The L.A. Times' EQ coverage archive. LA City Beat combs through the West Valley and finds that it's not so bad. They even talk up Follow Your Heart, which we mentioned last week. That plus Figueroa Street, 818 movies and ‘What is your favorite, secret treasure of Los Angeles?’ LA Weekly reports on the convictions of......

Max S. Gerber has captured janitors, scientists, porn stars, Willie Nelson, Carrie Fisher, Tim Hawkinson, Jim Jarmusch and many more. He's a photographer who does editorial portraiture, and his website features engaging editorializing of its own. His photos have appeared in Time, Newsweek, the UK's Sunday Telegraph Review, the LA Weekly, LA Magazine, LA Citybeat and more. Later this year, his photo series My Heart vs. the Real World will be published as a book.......

The Olive Street blob is still a mystery, the LA Times reports. While the hot-water flushing of a nearby oil well seemed to be the source of the problem, stopping the flushing hasn't stopped the oozing goo. Maybe there's a leak. Maybe a long-stopped oil well in a parking lot on Olive Street has come alive. Only the blobmaster knows for sure. Patrons of the now-dead Al's Bar used to park near the streets......

At 2am officials got a call of stink in downtown LA but found nothing. But 12 hours later a "black tarry substance" was coming up through the ground, manhole covers and sidewalks along Olive Street. Oozing. Bubbling, even. 120 feet of Olive St has cracked and risen about 18 inches. An apartment building was evacuated; it may not be able to withstand the shifting ground. Exactly what the smell or substance is, where it's......

LA Observed pointed us towards LA Cowboy yesterday who wrote about Good Morning America's playing of a supposed Al Qaeda threat against Melbourne, Australia and Los Angeles. The Cowboy wants to know why this isn't front page news for the Times. So does Mickey Kaus who notes that it is in Melbourne. Meanwhile, according to USA Today, Officials [are] put[ing] little stock in televised terror threat. LA Observed delves a little deeper this morning,......

We have yet to find the details on the LA City Council website but according to ABC 7, Olvera Street has been granted up to 12 million dollars for improvements. Among the work that is likely to be done includes construction of the transportation museum, new restrooms and infrastructure repairs (sewers, electrical and streets). The on-going preservation of many of the murals (several of which are quite old now) will also continue. Just a......

Nick Pacheco has announced his candidacy for LA City Council Member from District 14 in Northeast Los Angeles. Pacheco held this position two years ago, then lost it to Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now be vacating it to become mayor. The LA Times suggests that school board president Jose Huizar and state senator Gil Cedillo are also likely candidates for the seat. What do these guys stand for? Judging by a recent interview with......