Didn't get enough of your L.A. Noire fix with last week's then-and-now photo gallery? Check out the map above to find the modern-day locations of the buildings and landmarks featured in last Wednesday's post. Many of the spots are conveniently located within walking distance to Red Line Metro stops. more ›

Tonight all over the world people, businesses, and landmarks will be turning out their lights for just 60 minutes as part of the annual effort to promote awareness of climate change and energy conservation, Earth Hour. more ›

We've been biting our tongue all season so far and not running to the keyboard to spew forth our behemoth recaps of The CW's re-tooled 90210, now in its second year on the air. But we're still watching--and encouraging you to watch, too, like our TV Junkie did yesterday--and last night's episode had just enough on-location action to get our tongues, and fingers wagging. more ›

Forget the gap-toothed grins and the wide-eyed haunted faces; what says Los Angeles on Halloween more than Los Angeles itself on a Jack O'Lantern? LAist readers and Featured Photos pool contributors Sadie and Allison Crabtree set the city on fire...on the faces of their pumpkins. The iconic Hollywood sign gleams while the Griffith Observatory sits majestically on their pumpkin-y perches. Of course, we don't ever want to see those hills burn quite so close to those landmarks--but on a day that's about illusion, trickery, and the darker side, well, why not?
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So many cultures can tell their stories through their food, and for Los Angeles, the same can be said for a landmark like the Original Farmers Market. Not only does the historic meeting place for farmers, cooks, foodies, locals, visitors, and shoppers alike offer delicious fresh produce and tantalizing eats and sweets, it also is a vital part of our city's history. more ›

Where It's At is a new mapping site (run by AOL it seems, and sponsored quite visibly by Visa) that plots points of Pop Culture interest. They take user-suggested locales and plot them, complete with descriptions, images, and relevant links. You can look at maps that show just particular areas, like Los Angeles, or the most plentiful one to date, "Movie Magic." more ›

Los Angeles is one of the many global cities participating in Earth Hour tonight. The annual event, which seems to be gaining popularity with each year, calls for everyone to turn off any non-essential lights for just one hour, and that hour is tonight from 8:30-9:30 local time. more ›

So many times those of us who live in LA play host to out-of-town visitors who want to see all the sights that our amazing city has to offer. It's pretty routine to get asked if and how one can get up to the iconic Hollywood Sign to see it up close, and, sadly, it must be admitted that the sign is off-limits to regular folk. This means that looky-loos, locals, and pranksters who want to "change" the sign are out of luck (which means Brandon, Brenda, Kelly et al would probably not have been able to drape "W Bev Hi 93" over the sign after all). more ›

Could you imagine Los Angeles without the Getty Museum? If that serene white chunk of Italian marble nestled above the 405 suddenly removed its bulk to some other parts, would you notice? Would you care? more ›

Judith Freeman's just-out book, The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and The Woman He Loved is a must-read for any Angeleno worth their salt. Why? Not only does Freeman detail the fascinating life of Chandler, one of L.A.'s most famous writers, but she documents, researches and visits almost every one of the thirty-five homes he lived in during his life in Southern California. more ›

Earlier this week I made a right turn out of a parking lot in order to avoid waiting a lifetime to make a near-impossible left turn. I found myself on a quiet side street in lovely Toluca Lake, and eyeballed my trusty GPS navigation screen in order to see if the road I'd taken would connect me through to a street I knew would hook me up with Riverside Drive and send me on my way home. more ›

We've been looking forward to the "big day" for a long time. Tomorrow was going to be a "big day" because the Cultural Heritage Commission was going to decide whether or not to declare Buk's De Longpre residence a historic landmark. Why should such a residence be declared a landmark? It's where he wrote Post Office & Factotum and was the very residence that plays a central role in Women. more ›

Last weekend we were happy to take part in the Harvest Festival, as part of a year-long 90th Anniversary celebration for the historic San Antonio Winery, a place much loved by LAist. The gracious Riboli family hosted the event, which was held at the winery, which has been in its same location on Lamar Street in East Los Angeles since 1917. There was food provided by the winery's onsite Maddalena restaurant, and wine aplenty... more ›

Lace up those tennies and grab that trusty iPod! Our good friends over at Metro and LADOT in conjunction with the Confederation of Downtown Assoc. are now offering free podcast tours of downtown L.A. through the program Downtown LA Walks. more ›

Somewhere inside the archives of my storage closet resides one of those relics of yesteryear--a recordable audiocassette that, on one Saturday night about fifteen years ago, I stuck in my "boom box" and pressed down the play and record buttons together to capture the KROQ DJ giving his shout-outs to all the folks who'd just called in, including me and one of my partners-in-crime. "And Lindsay and Laurie in La Crescenta are going to Rocky... more ›

Reds 1, Dodgers 0 - Life is wacky in Dodgertown. The pitching staff has been riddled with injuries, but held Cincinnati to one run. This was just days after shutting down Barry Bonds, who has smashed three homers and set the career record since departing LA. Meanwhile, the offense has a catcher hitting almost .300 but they've been shutout in three straight games. They actually haven't scored in 28 innings, making the Angel's post All-Star... more ›

The Watts area of Los Angeles is located in South LA, and is fighting to change the infamous reputation the area has for gang violence, and riots. Named after Charles H. Watts, the area has always been a haven of affordable housing that attracts mostly the working class. With small single story one or two bedroom houses, and housing projects, the Watts community is tightly knit. And being home to the Watts Towers, one of 4 nationally recognized historical landmarks in Los Angeles, Watts is a distinctive community with a unique history. more ›

The Board of Directors of Campo de Cahuenga, the 217 year-old North Hollywood historical site, is locked in a battle with a development firm over the future of the landmark. more ›

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. more ›

- So many horror movies, so little time. Or is it that the 42 horror films this year are not as killer as the past has shown. - Whole Foods anticipated buyout of Wild Oats is not going come and go without a fight. While the two largest organic supermarkets talk, the USDA is considering relaxing some organic food standards. - Grocery Strike Watch: "We've been negotiating for six months," said Rick Icaza, president of... more ›

Ever since I went on vacation in March and found myself flying through four books in four days, I've realized how much I miss actually sitting down and reading real books. Not magazines, not updates on my RSS feed, but a real book. In that regard, I've been fairly indiscriminating in making every effort to cross the gamut from classic to bestseller to inspirational. But even better, I've found the first great beach read of the summer. Being released today, Party Girl by Anna David is the perfect hooked-for-three-days and pass it on kind of book. In fact, I've had a hard time getting it back to even write a review. Both my roommates read it and it is now on my second girlfriend(please subtract 5 from book sales). What can I say, I like to share the love. more ›

Why is this man smiling? Because he doesn't know that he's in ur Google Maps as part of the Street View feature, a new addition to the already-perfect map tool. Now one can see a birds-eye view like a traditional map, a satellite view, a hybrid view of both, and with this new feature one can see what the front of the building looks like and the whole damn block. With the new “Street... more ›

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! more ›

The Ford Amphitheatre opened its 2007 season last weekend with local favorite Charles Phoenix and yet another one of his slide show presentations culled from thrift shops in and around Los Angeles. Locally famous for his "Disneyland Tour of Los Angeles," Charles Phoenix knows his way around a good number of the city's landmarks, past and present. Opening entertainment was provided by an original roller rink organist who was then followed by a world... more ›