The Los Angeles that used to be can be haunting, and the focal point of many a noble pursuit. Such is the case with the long-gone golden angel statues that used to look down on 6th Street at Flower from the top of the also long-gone Richfield Building. A story in today's LA Times tracks the trajectory of one of the sculptures, which has found a new home in the loft of graphic designer and historian Eric Lynxwiler. more ›

Starting late last year, the Downtown "destination" LA Live began to host all sorts of events, including a Grand Opening celebration, a Christmas tree lighting ceremony starring Britney Spears and the Mayor, a big screen broadcast of Obama's inaguration, and the openings of specific "on campus" spots like the Conga Room and the ESPN Zone. Touting itself firmly as LA's answer to Times Square (a promo video shown to some invited bloggers last year at the Ritz Carlton sales office declared as such), the LA Live-ers asserted that the development joining Staples Center, the Nokia Theatres, Club Nokia, and the Convention Center would be both a destination and a pit stop for locals and tourists alike. more ›

LA Observed asks if Secret Headquarters in Silver Lake is the best comic store in the world. Boing Boing editor, Corey Doctorow, says yes! more ›

LA Observed's Kevin Roderick gave blogging some major props in his weekly KCRW report, citing three big names in the local blogosphere who are part of the changing face of mainstream media: the Times' Patrick Goldstein, Patterico’s Pontifications' Patrick Frey, and Witness LA.com's Alan Mittelstaedt. He ends with this thought that hits right at home here: "Blogs, the better ones, are changing the media scene in Los Angeles -- like everywhere. Even with the occasional dishonest actors that go with that, I think we’re all better off." more ›

In May, Kevin Roderick's LA Observed will celebrate its fifth year as one of the city's main online destination for those seeking the inside scoop on media and politics. Roderick, a 25-year veteran of the LA Times and author of two books about Los Angeles, sat down for nearly an hour where talking about the past, present and future of LA Observed, why he thinks people should be wary of Sam Zell, the new owner of the Times, and whether he thinks blogs are harming print newspapers. more ›

• Hey, who's ready for another strike? The actors might be after the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted to split with the Screen Actors Guild, heightening fears that Hollywood may be in for another work stoppage. The last one cost Los Angeles County more than $1 billion. Time to switch from Whole Foods to Trader Joes, actors.
• OK, so the Dodgers lost last night, but the experience was pretty frickin' awesome. If you were not one of the 100 grand lucky enough to attend, read some prose from DodgerThoughts and view some of the sights from what was a very special day and night. But, it wasn't all pretty, the Daily News found.
• Guess who does not like Sam Zell. I'll give you a hint: most people.
• Former Laker, et al, Isaiah Rider was arrested Saturday and released Sunday for driving an allegedly stolen vehicle. This follows a string of arrests for the former basketball star who told courts that his life had spun out of control.
• A mom who stands accused of driving her son and a car full of other gang members to kill a 13-year-old will be tried for murder and could face the death penalty. Police say the mother plotted the attack.
• "There’s a crisis in L.A. city hall," City Councilman Dennis Zine said to LA City Beat about the city's financial deficit. By July 4, Los Angeles could be in a $400 million hole. Better get used to those potholes.
• Shoving matches, tense confrontations and police back-up have characterized a terse and ongoing battle for the state of Texas. First Clinton won the primary, then Obama won the caucus. Now no one is sure who should get all those extra delegates. more ›

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10,500 people packed into the Crenshaw Christian Faith Dome this morning for a very special service for fallen LAPD SWAT Officer Randal Simmons. Police officers from as far as Canada have come to Los Angeles to honor him. More waited outside and people began to gather on the streets along the procession route. more ›

Photo by victoriabernal via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

Photo by laurenp! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

Twenty-four months, three LA Times editors gone, one reason: budget cuts. Jim O' Shea, editor of the LA Times was fired by Times Publisher David Hiller for failing to carry out $4 million in budget cuts at the paper. Apparently, Hiller wanted the money cut during the presidential campaign, a time when newspapers' budgets usually spike. This is the third editor to be fired over two years over the same budgetary issue. Do we sense a pattern here? more ›

The Pasadena Star-News is looking for you. Or if there are problems to rant about in general throughout the SGV, then the San Gabriel Valley Tribune might be where you go. Or hey, same goes for Whittier and the Whittier Daily News. "It's a new year and we are on the lookout for letters to the editor. If you have a person that wants to write one, or is expressing an opinion on an article or photo, direct them to write a letter to editor..." That's Mickie of Mickie's Zoo talking. She's a professional belly dancer (swords are her specialty), a singer in a rock band and a full-time journalist. She also has been crowned the Queen of the 31st Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade that will take place on January 20th. more ›

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Over 10,000 people are scheduled to march today along Hollywood Blvd., and Grammy-award winning singer Alicia Keys will sing in support of the WGA strike which is now into its third week. Beginning at the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. at Ivar Ave. at 1pm, members of the Service Employees International Union, California Nurses Association, Teamsters, actors, musicians, elected officials will join the striking WGA members. Keys is planned to perform at 1:15pm for about... more ›

Emerald City: The how-to-be-green-for-dummies hit Greenopia is coming out with a new edition in a few weeks so don't panic that the first edition sold out. more ›

- Franklin Ave: Photo of Elaine from Seinfeld as she was out on the picket lines, her new show is one of a half dozen that had to stop production today - LA Observed: No LA blog has covered the SB News Press fiasco better than Mr. Roderick, which is tricky since the N-P's website is decidedly Web 1.0. Today we learn that another staffer had to be escorted from the premises. - Defamer:... more ›

LAist had the opportunity to catch up with Jacob Soboroff, Executive Director of Why Tuesday to talk about WT, their upcoming projects and politics. Jacob has worked as a part time advance man for NYC Michael Bloomberg and briefly played the same role for presidential candidate Howard Dean. He moved back from NYC to his hometown of Los Angeles last year, when I first met him, and since returning has video blogged for LA... more ›

A bit of happy news for our sister site over in Texas: the Austin Chronicle just named Austinist Best Local "Fun" News Site. Yay for the Ist-iverse! The correct term is babes, sir: "Point Break Live!" -- yes that's right, as in the classic 1991 Patrick Swayze-Keanu Reeves film -- is coming to a stage near you! NBC is leaving its longtime home in Burbank for the greener pastures of Universal City, or Campo... more ›

We've (finally) had enough of Thai Food: this month, we are checking out all sorts of late-night dining options, from the Valley to Hollywood to Culver City to Venice: Mao's Kitchen, Nak Won House, El Gran Burrito, Little Toni's, Gaby's Mediterranean, Nova Express Cafe, Greco's New York Pizzeria, Cinco de Mayo. Psst! Hey, hey, Mr. Gold? Ix-nay on the owards-hay. Nobody's supposed to know about it. You hearing me? Capisce? Otherwise, feel free to... more ›

George Bush issued the fourth veto of his presidency today, nixing a bill that would have provided insurance to poor children. Bush said the program was too costly, apparently cool with the fact that the Iraq war now costs over $455-billion. That's B for billion. And B for Bitch. Curbed LA takes a gander at a new development planned for West LA. In as much as the structure looks like a monument to cubism,... more ›

- Green LA Girl takes her show to the LA Times via The Emerald City - congrats Siel! - LAT - Laker center Kwame Brown gets popped for Disorderly Conduct in Georgia on Saturday after his cousin was charged with drunk driving after going the wrong way down a one-way street. Laker fans would like to see that sort of effort in the paint - AP - Even though it's only 56-years old, and... more ›

The LA Weekly has been struggling to placate its staff ever since the alt-weekly's publisher, Village Voice Media was swallowed up by not-so-alternative New Times Newspapers nearly two years ago (New Times adopted the VVM name, but not necessarily the flavor). If you haven't witnessed the shift in ideology and coverage in the pages of the Weekly yet, a drastic dip in content quantity -- if not quality -- seems imminent, as the New... more ›

GOOD Magazine launched 6 issues ago on September 12, 2006, raising $383,760 through subscriptions for non-profit Choose GOOD partners. Here's the good in Los Angeles from their first anniversary issue released this week: more ›

Was last night's earthquake cause to some full moon effect madness? Breaking News: "A man from the San Fernando Valley has contracted this year's first human case of West Nile virus in Los Angeles County, health officials said Thursday." (NBC4) A female suspect has been shot by police in a Sylmar Bank robbery. (KABC) "A SWAT standoff in the parking lot of a Taco Bell ended early this morning with the arrest of a... 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 ›

Sometimes the emails that we get from our readers tell the stories way better than we ever could. We had just read the sad news over at LA Observed that filmmaker, writer, and blogger Theresa Duncan had committed suicide, when we got this email: Tony, I'm a long time fan of your blog and LAist. I'm also a huge fan of Theresa Duncan's blog, Wit of the Staircase. LAist did an interview with her awhile... more ›

LA Daily News readers are up-n-arms due to some changes happening at the Valley paper, the most controversial being the removal of ten apparently-popular cartoon strips and the addition of some new ones. more ›

When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced last month that he was getting a divorce from his wife of 20 years, we thought it was tacky that many in the press and local blogosphere were demanding that he reveal if the breakup was due to an affair. We at LAist didn't see how that would be relevant or necessary to disclose since a divorce is an extremely sensitive personal matter whose details should be... more ›