The man behind Arthur Magazine, Jay Babcock, recently took the indie rag's operation to Brooklyn where he decided to resettle. Soundboard, the LA Times music blog, got a hold of him for a short interview. His answer to the first question, "what prompted the move to Brooklyn?", is quite a read: New York is just a more hospitable environment than L.A. ever has been or will be. L.A. is devolving quickly, and I think......

Looking for a fun weekend excursion at one of the most foodie-friendly locations in LA? Melting Pot Tours will be leading a walking-and-tasting tour of the Farmers Market at 3rd & Fairfax to the Beverly Center at 3rd & La Cienega this Friday and Saturday at 9:30am. Tours are expected to last about 3.5 hours and will include tastings and small bites at various restaurants and eateries along the route. Tickets are limited, so......

Photo by crichton91 via Flickr Last night, gay friendly Laguna Beach became one of the first cities in California to officially oppose Proposition 8, which will appear on November's election ballot and asks voters to ban same-sex marriage in the state. Bob Gentry, the city's former mayor and a previous councilman was one of the first openly gay mayors in the country. "I mean this is just who we are," said Councilmember Elizabeth Pearson.......

Photo by xxjetlab via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A week ago Sunday, the London paper, Mail on Sunday, revealed "compelling evidence suggesting" the identity of the famous and anonymous street artist, Banksy, as Robin Gunningham. To date Gunningham nor Banksy's agent or spokesperson, have not confirmed this. And a note from Banksy's on his website says "anyone described as 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me." Banksy frequented Los Angeles and......

Driving or Walking from the streets of Santa Monica to the Beach Yesterday, Google introduced a new Google Maps feature: directions when on foot. "Starting today, you can tell Google Maps that you want walking directions, and we'll try to find you a route that's direct, flat, and uses pedestrian pathways when we know about them," explained Andy Schwerin, Software Engineer, on Google's blog dedicated to maps. "Just get directions as you normally would.......

The Bicycle Film Festival takes over the Vine Theatre on Friday and Saturday and wraps with an all day BFF Street Party at Heliotrope and Melrose (aka "The Bicycle District," aka "HelMel"). Valet parking is available (for bikes!) and the line-up includes favorites such as LA BIKE SCENE, KING OF SKITCH and ROAD TO ROUBAIX. Documentaries, Mockumentaries, Comedies, Alleycat Races, Olympic Races, Tests of Bravado and a local favorite, THE BIKE LANE, all come together......

Part of an ongoing series. Earlier this year, Boston-based and self-described "punk cabaret" duo The Dresden Dolls (MySpace) performed at The Wiltern, with guest appearances by cellist Zoë Keating (MySpace), formerly from Rasputina, and violinist Meredith Yayanos (MySpace). Opening were Seatle-based Smoosh (MySpace) and locals Lavender Diamond (MySpace). On August 4th, Dresden Dolls' frontwoman Amanda Palmer (MySpace) begins her solo tour, in support of her upcoming album Who Killed Amanda Palmer? at The Troubadour......

Part of an ongoing series. Earlier this year, local singer/songwriter Annie Stela (MySpace) performed at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake in Silver Lake, opening with Trainwreck (MySpace) and Hot Hot Heat's Luke Paquin (MySpace) for Rocco DeLuca and The Burden (MySpace). Next Tuesday, Stela opens for singer/songwriter Jay Brannan (MySpace) at the El Rey Theatre (MySpace), and tickets are onsale now.......

Photo by maxedaperture via Flickr Remember Walkscore, the website where you type in your address and the spit out a score rating the walkability of your neighborhood? Today, they released America's Most Walkable Neighborhoods and Los Angeles came out at #9. #9?!?! Well, it's not for the city as a whole, but rather for certain neighborhoods, specifically Mid City West, Downtown, Hollywood. Ahead one step of Los Angeles is Long Beach at number 8......

Yesterday, the LA City Council voted for increases in fees for things relating to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (like the boot fee went up $30 to $150). What the majority of the city deals with are parking meters, which are going to a minimum rate of $1.00 an hour citywide (but remember, it's prorated, so a quarter is 15-minutes). Some high usage parts of the city will have higher fees, costing up to......

Amid budget concerns, the Los Angeles City Council voted today to increase parking meter rates and to extend hours of operation. Citywide, hourly rates will be soon be at $1.00 an hour at the minimum. On the high end, some high usage areas will have rates as high as $4.00 an hour. However, you can still can deposit smaller amount of coins for prorated minutes. Meter hours, which are traditionally 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.......

In the comments section of the Franklin Canyon Wednesday Workout post, we were chatting about a supposed plaque that marked the center of Los Angeles. Despite my familiarity with the park, I had never seen it. So, the search was on. And it wasn't that hard as, of course, Franklin Canyon staff had it clearly marked on a free map available at the Sooky Goldman Nature Center within the park. The late Allen Edwards worked......

Councilman Eric Garcetti once explained to a group of people that traffic is a sign, a good sign. A sign of a strong economy. If there was no economy, people wouldn't be traveling to their jobs, thus causing traffic. Today in the print edition (and in the blog yesterday), LA Times' Road Sage, Steve Hymon, backs that theory up. He shows two different maps: one of population density and another of job density. "The maps......

Looking for a way to express your inner gastronome this Bastille Day? Lucky for you, L.A. is full of fine French dining (as well as some options for the more budget-minded). A number of restaurants are offering prix-fixe menus if you're feeling like a splurge: $130 per person at Melisse, $85 at La Cachette, and $48 at Comme Ca. Or, you can try out the newly opened Anisette, which LAist conveniently checked out last......

So it finally looks like the rumors were true: famed chef Thomas Keller will indeed be opening a branch of his restaurant Bouchon in Beverly Hills. We mentioned this earlier in the week, but the arrival of the true American top chef in the City of Angels warrants a closer look. The Los Angeles Times and EaterLA have both confirmed that this third incarnation of Bouchon (there is already one in Vegas and one......

At the Grove | Photo by Damien Newton of StreetsblogLA There was an iPocalypse this morning when owners of the now older version of the iPhone went to upgrade the phone's software via iTunes. Users found that the process ended up resetting their phones and because iTunes servers became overloaded as thousands of people across the nation bought the new iPhone 3G, they could not activate the phone, therefore rendering the phone useless for......

Chicago graphic designer, Jenny Beorkrem, designs neighborhood posters of various cities in her own simple typographic style. A couple weeks ago, she released the Los Angeles one (available in three colors, see large image here), adding to the collection of other cities that include San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The 24” x 36” (that's 6 sq. ft.) eco-friendly posters (100% recycled paper with soy-based inks) show 111 neighborhoods in Los Angeles represented by......

What High Speed Rail could look like in Burbank | Image by CHSR The California High-Speed Rail Authority announced the completion of the route yesterday. The project has been some 10 years in the making and this November, Proposition 1 (pdf) on the ballot will help determine the future of the project that would take passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in about 2 hours and 40 minutes by 2030. The last step......

Mahalo Daily hit the streets of Santa Monica and interviewed people about gas prices and how it was affecting them. They also asked gas price predictions for January 1st, 2009. Everyone said at least over $5. The current average price of a gallon of regular gas in Los Angeles is $4.576. The highest reached was 4.626 on June 21.......

July Fouth's "road rage" incident on Mandeville Canyon was reported here on Monday morning and the story quickly gathered steam with TV stations clamoring to interview the cyclists, the Police Captain reporting that the case would proceed as a criminal assault case and then culminating with Councilman Bill Rosendahl going on TV (video above) and referring to the Cyclists' Bill of Rights (PDF version), which addresses equality and access as basic civil rights that......

Photo by fauxen via Flickr As weather in Los Angeles is still normal, Central and Northern California could be in for another round of dry lightning storms. There are two areas of thunderstorms across the West over the next day or two that have potential to create new wildfires over California. "The combination of hot air and relatively high dew point temperatures will allow a few thunderstorms to erupt over the Sierra Nevada of......

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, is greeted by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tuesday, July 8, 2008, at the League of United Latino American Citizens in Washington. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Here's Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama pumping fists with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at yesterday's League of United Latin American Citizens convention in Washington D.C. The Illinois Senator wasn't the mayor's first choice, but he's certainly showing "dedication" as......

The average price of a gallon of regular gas continues to steadily get lower. Today, the average is $4.58. To contrast California's prices, the national average broke a record today nearing $4.11. A barrel of oil is now at $141 today, which is four dollars down.......

A firefighter continue to clear brush from the path of the gap fire on Sunday July 6, 2008 (AP Photo/ LA Times, Spencer Weiner) With another spike in temperatures on its way, firefighters may not have as much help as they did this weekend with the cooler weather with its moist air currents. 100+ degree weather will take over starting today in the San Fernando Valley. Up north in Santa Barbara County near Goleta,......

Los Angeles County firefighters putting out the fire in Malibu on 4th of July (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas) Yesterday's wildfire in Malibu charred 25 acres before LA County Firefighters were able to full contain it at 8:14 p.m. The fire, which started at 3:27 p.m. in a mobile home park near Las Virgenes Street and Las Virgenes Canyon Road, was knocked down but had quickly spread to nearby brush, prompting more than 200 campers at......

Buddyhead has been an LA institution of sorts since it launched in 1998 by Travis Keller and Aaron North. After two years they got into the record label business and have put out releases by The Icarus Line, Your Enemies Friends, Shat, Radio Vago, modwheelmood, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Gayrilla Biscuits, 400 Blows and many more. Throughout the years they have been most notorious for their now-defunct-but-soon-to-hopefully-be-resurrected gossip page and pranks. They would frequently give......

The Flag ceremony at the Van Nuys Civic Center is enough to bring tears to your eyes.......

The National Weather Service is saying weather this holiday weekend "poses modest danger for fire," per the LA Times. But winds are expected to remain calm while humidity stays within critical ranges. Temperatures this weekend are forecasted to range from the mid-70s to the mid-80s to high 90s, depending if you are in a coastal area, in the city or in a valley, respectively.......

Photo by Zeroth57, used with permission The use of fireworks and explosives are prohibited in the City of Los Angeles, but that doesn't stop people. The city estimates illegal fireworks caused a total of over $380,000 in property damages in 2007. Eeek! However, for most residents, it's all about enjoying the fireworks displays around town. Tonight, there will be about eight fireworks shows from Altadena to the Hollywood Bowl (Go Dodgers!) to Norwalk. On......

About an hour before today's bomb scare at LAX, a man walked into the World Bank in Washington D.C. and went up to a security guard with a suspicious package claiming it was a bomb. The incident prompted nearby streets to close and people inside the bank were not allowed to leave. An hour later, a man walked up to an LA World Airports police officer and said he had a bomb in his backpack,......