Guy Garvey is a busy... um... guy. As the frontman for one of the UK's most critically acclaimed bands, Elbow, he and his bandmates are in the middle of their global tour's North American leg, which ends here in Los Angeles Friday night at the Avalon. They have a newly-released album, The Seldom Seen Kid (read the LAist CD review here). On top of this, Guy is still selecting songs for his weekly BBC......

Notice that all of the San Fernando Valley is covered except Studio City and Toluca Lake. Other parts of the city that fall into the hot zone are on the Eastside and South LA | Map via Dept. of Water & Power This map shows summer average daily temperatures for the microclimates of the City of Los Angeles and was performed by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at UCLA. The two temperature zones were......

I can't believe I called in sick to work to watch this utterly terrible Dodger game. The Blue Crew lost 12 to 1 to the Mets at their monthly mid-week day game today. Maine was pitching a complete game shutout into the 9th until the Dodgers managed to squeak out one run to wipe that big fat 0 off the scoreboard. Not much to say about this one. It sucked balls. A bunch of......

An uncharacteristic home on Sunnyslope Ave. in Sherman Oaks | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The Los Angeles City Council passed the first citywide anti-mansionization ordinance today, stopping the development of single-family houses that are built more than the half the size of their lots. Mansionization has been an ongoing point of discussion in neighborhoods as community members saw out of scale and uncharacteristic homes built by developers. For example, on a block full of......

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Beautiful_Photos_of_Anonymous_at_Hollywood_Courthouse'; While a worldwide Anonymous protest is scheduled for Saturday, May 10 (Update: see photos from May 10 here), a small group of hardcore Anonymous protestors took to the streets Monday both in Hollywood at the Church of Scientology Office of Special Affairs and then Downtown at the United States District Court, Roybal Federal Building. Downtown, Anonymous lawyer Graham Berry was the subject to a deposition by Scientology lawyers. According to Anonymous......

The Mexican/Spanish restaurant-lounge Senor Fred has cemented its reputation as a Ventura Blvd. hot spot for drinks, but it's also a nice lunch destination for those of you trawling the Sherman Oaks area. The place fulfills at least two requirements of a good Mexican restaurant: spicy salsa that tastes homemade (their version has a nice smoky flavor to it), and strong, simple margaritas. The food is far superior to Mexicali's questionable menu, but about......

Security personnel place warning cones in front of the closed gates at the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles. West Coast cargo traffic has come to a halt as port workers stage anti-war protests to commemorate May Day. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) In the name of ending the war, all 29 ports along the West Coast, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, have halted operations for one shift. "We are supporting the troops and......

Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Whether you are attending a rally or just going to work, using Metrolink or Metro Rail (Red, Blue, Gold) are your best option for entering downtown, but expect more crowded than usual trains. Below, you will find information on the Marches, Traffic/Street Closures, Metro, DASH and Commuter Express. Marches & Rallies Sources: Downtown Center BID (via e-mail), blogdowntown, LADOT Map (pdf), LADOT ASTAC The first three marches listed here will......

Photo by consiglieri80 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Have you been talking about anything else this week? Grand Theft Auto 4 is set to break all kinds of records today. Not only are they ugly, they are hazardous to your health! New safety warnings are being issued for Mario Batali's signature footwear, Crocs. More first-person reports from the Los Angeles Times Book Festival over at LA Observed. Some badass large-scale guerrilla......

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Now here's something par for the course: President Bush blames congress for the high price of gas. On the business side of things, Mark Lacter notes that "Royal Dutch Shell and BP both reported record first-quarter numbers, beating analysts’ expectations. Shell’s net income rose 25 percent to $9.08 billion. Exxon Mobil and Chevron are set to report later this week." (Emphasis added) In Los Angeles, the ">average price of a gallon of regular gas is......

Smoke as seen from the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles | Photo by Callie Miller On air news reports are saying that one whole city block is basically destroyed in a fire that started in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles around 2:15 p.m. this afternoon near the major intersection at Western and Slauson, more specifically at the industrial block of Gage and Gramercy. As of 4:30 p.m., fire officials said......

A strong fire is rocking through a one-story commercial warehouse that manufactures and stores wooden palettes in an industrial part of the Hyde Park neighborhood in South LA at 6236 Gramercy Place (map below). The wooden palettes are fueling the fire so much, it is being described as a huge bonfire. Not too long after the arriving, Los Angeles firefighters had to evacuate the building because the damage to the building made it unstable and......

You may remember a few years back when the workers of the South Central Farm, who maintained a grassy patch of garden just south of Downtown, were evicted from the land in a rather bitter eminent domain battle. Now, the collective has purchased land outside of Bakersfield, in a town named Buttonwillow (home to a speedway and not much else), in anticipation of rebuilding and replanting their farm. Thanks to a sizable donation from a......

This is going to be brief. I am lucky to be alive after 3 hours in scorching 90+ degree heat, and my very last ounce of energy will be used to get these photos up before I pass out. Literally. The Dodgers started Loaiza, which is usually a death sentence but today he only gave up two earned runs! This is a huge improvement! The Rockies started Jeff Francis (0-2), who didn't throw nearly......

Celebrate your weekend. | Photo by ronnie44052 via Flickr Not everyone is going to Coachella this weekend. For those who choose to stay put in Los Angeles, the city is literally filled with events this weekend: AltBuild Expo at SaMo Civic Auditorium: an eco-friendy building & design expo LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA: a must see & do Fiesta Broadway at Downtown: party!......

It's almost the weekend... | Photo by Kim Shattuck via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr See, I prefer the silent treatment to the stabby treatment: "A woman was in custody today for allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend during an argument at their South Los Angeles home." Watch out, flight-goers: get drunk and mean on a plane ride, and your fellow passengers might just duct-tape you to your seat! It happened to one......

It started, as many good things do, with the internet. In the early aughts (what all the cool kids are calling the ‘00s these days), a group of people assembled in an imaginary space to collect and trade cheesecake photos taken in the late nineteen forties to the early nineteen sixties. As the site describes it, this is not pornography; it is “young ladies in various modest states of undress.” (Though let’s not fool......

Reigning MLS champions Houston Dynamo visit The Home Depot Center this Saturday night to take on the blue-and-gold. The Dynamo look a lot like the same team that won MLS Cup last November and are lead by Canadian international midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and US national team member (and ex-Galaxy) Brian Ching. However, they lost the scoring tandem of Joseph Ngwenya and Nate Jaqua (two other ex-Galaxy players) in the off season and the......

As mentioned yesterday, Eric Richardson of blogdowntown is visiting Portland on a delegation to study the city's public transit, namely the streetcar system. One of the biggest concerns is construction -- the time it takes and how it affects traffic, both auto and pedestrian. One of the biggest opponents was Mike Powell, of Powell's Books fame. But after the construction came and went, he became a fan....

It started as SB 1771, a bill that would implement a program teaching homeowners how to navigate through the current mortgage crisis. Then, all of the sudden, it was about the NFL in the City of Industry. It may seem tricky, but that's the game when it comes to "spot bills," or placeholders with text and intentions that may be the goal or not. Developer Ed Roski Jr., owns 600 acres of land in Industry......

Part three of three. Tuesday: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Yesterday: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Today: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. Again -- last Saturday, Hotel Cafe Tour 2008 (MySpace)'s Greg Laswell (MySpace), Priscilla Ahn (MySpace), William Fitzsimmons (MySpace), Joshua Radin (MySpace), Meiko (MySpace), Jim Bianco (MySpace), Jessie Baylin (MySpace), Ingrid Michaelson (MySpace), Cary Brothers (MySpace), and Jesca Hoop (MySpace) performed a sold-out show at the......

Tonight you can dine out at some of L.A.'s top restaurants and support a worthy cause at the same time: it's time again for Dine Out LA 2008, a city-wide event that raises money for the organization Aid for AIDS. Check out the list of participating restaurants, which are donating 20% of all profits to the charity, which helps prevent homelessness and hunger for individuals and families impoverished and disabled by HIV/AIDS. There are......

Part two of three. Yesterday: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Today: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Tomorrow: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. Recapping -- last Saturday, Hotel Cafe Tour 2008 (MySpace)'s Greg Laswell (MySpace), Priscilla Ahn (MySpace), William Fitzsimmons (MySpace), Joshua Radin (MySpace), Meiko (MySpace), Jim Bianco (MySpace), Jessie Baylin (MySpace), Ingrid Michaelson (MySpace), Cary Brothers (MySpace), and Jesca Hoop (MySpace) performed a sold-out show at the......

The Mae Shi Versus Orochon Ramen. All photos by Carrie Meathrell So I think The Mae Shi are robots. I know, I know – they look like your typical cute-as-shit L.A. indie band, but start talking about the Book of Revelations and cybernetic intelligence with them, and you’ll start to get this funny inhuman feeling. And they’re certainly not clunky, "Forbidden Planet!" style robots, but super smooth Cylons, like something out of a Dan......

Part one of three. Today: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Tomorrow: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Thursday: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. This past weekend, the 2008 installment of the Hotel Cafe Tour (MySpace) rolled back into town (last month it opened with stops in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Anaheim, and the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood) for the last of two sold-out shows during its domestic run......

75 years ago: Long Beach earthquake | Photo by Jan Bruce, great aunt of LAist Featured Photos contributor victoriabernal Did ABC's Eli Stone and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborate to put us all on an earthquake watch today? Last night's episode of the San Francisco based "visionary" drama, where Stone's brain aneurism causes him to see the future, was about a giant earthquake hitting the bay city causing the Golden Gate bridge to collapse......

Kobe Jumps Over an Aston Martin....

If waiting until Coachella to see Portishead reunite is causing you to grind your teeth with impatience, then maybe you'll be stoked to find out that you can try and win tickets to see them play a private rehearsal for their upcoming and highly anticipated Coachella performance on April 26....

Charles Phoenix at Union Station Walking through the Broadway Arcade mall near the Jewelry District, Charles Phoenix rued the changing face of Downtown. The mall, built in 1922 and billed as Los Angeles's oldest shopping center, was the fourth stop on what could be Phoenix's last tour of some of the oldest and grandest sites in a city long accused of lacking history. But it was in the mall, where naked upper floors could......