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......

Reports are coming in about firs in the Los Angeles area. At about 3:30, a fire broke out at mobile home near a state park in Malibu Creek State Park. While the home fire was knocked down, the fire has spread to hillside brush and has at least burned through 10 acres. Park visitors have been evacuated. Update: As of 6:43 p.m., the fire had burned 20 acres and was at 90% containment. "Hopefully within......

A fire ripped through an empty for-sale house this morning destroying it and damaging two neighboring others at 21110 Pacific Coast Hwy. prompting an entire closure of the highway (lanes reopened at 7:20 a.m.). The house was being sold for $1-million dollars, but six people were evacuated with no injuries from the two houses. No cause has been determined yet, but thankfully, this fire did not start off another wildfire.......

Last night, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted and passed a ban on plastic bags, according to the City Clerk's Office. A month ago, the city tried to pass the ordinance, but opposition claimed the city did not go through the correct environmental review processes. Nevertheless, one group said prior to last night's meeting they would probably still sue the city over the new law. The oceanside city joins Malibu and San Francisco in plastic......

After both San Francisco and Malibu successfully passed plastic bag bans in their respective cities, Manhattan Beach is taking up the issue tonight at their City Council meeting. The measure is similar in nature to Malibu's ordinance, but opponents, Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, say the city did not go through the correct process to initiate such a ban and threatens to sue. Another issue to them is that paper bags are not addressed, which......

Beverly Craveiro plays Cosme McMoon and Nathalie Blossom stars as Florence Foster Jenkins in "Glorious!" The Zuma Repertory Company will present the Los Angeles Premiere of “Glorious!”, Peter Quilter’s hit comedy at the Malibu Stage Company. “Glorious!” premiered at England’s Birmingham Repertory Theatre in September 2005, then transferred to the West End in November 2005 and ran for more than 200 performances. Nominated for the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award and the Theatregoers’ Choice Award......

New footage has been released of one of the weekend's brawls at Paradise Cove in Malibu, this one shot by a mother who was there with her son. This particular scene proves some of the beach goers were acting just as bad as the paparazzi. Funny Moment: Zuma Dogg being quickly dragged off screen at the beginning of this report. Previously: Surfers Vs. Paparazzi: How Malibu Wants Handle It......

Photo by Happy Birthday to Joe Shlabotnik! via Flickr Two brawls between surfers and paparazzi over the weekend are leading Malibu officials to look more closely into the law regarding 1st amendment rights. "The city of Malibu will do all it legally can to protect and preserve the natural beauty and tranquillity of our town," Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said in a statement, per the LA Times. Last month, the Times reported that......

On Saturday, two paparazzi were reportedly injured when a group of surfers ousted them from Paradise Cove in Malibu. One paparazzo said his camera was tossed in the ocean and on the video you can hear someone make a slight death threat: "you're going to drown." It all started when Matthew McConaughey said he wished they would go away. The other surfers took it upon themselves to do so. The confusing part is that......

At least three paparazzi photographers were attacked in the Los Angeles area over the weekend in two separate incidents. On Friday evening as Britney Spears returned from a trip to Louisiana, a push-and-shove incident occurred between her body guard and a photographer outside an LAX terminal resulting in a minor abrasion to the paparazzo's face, but no charges were filed. On Saturday, two photographers were attacked by a group of surfers protecting Matthew McConaughey's wish......

Neptune's Net Seafood Restaurant in Malibu is a biker hang. But that doesn't mean you have to be one to enjoy crab and fried scallops (unless, Malingering, who took these photos, is living a secret life as a biker). Need more options? A little closer to home? Check here. Submit your Eye Nosh food 'porn' photos and mini-reviews to LAist via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr.......

Diesel, A Bookstore, one of the lesser known (but not for long) indie bookstores in Malibu has announced plans to bring indie lit to Brentwood by setting up shop in a 1,500 square foot space in Brentwood Country Mart. When Dutton's closed in late April, many in the bookish community wondered how they could possibly fill the void and get their local lit fix. Now, after a full Dutton's-less month, the announcement of Diesel's arrival......

Photo by ninjapoodles via Flickr On Monday night, Malibu took a big step for the environment: they forbid the distribution of both plastic and compostable carryout bags. It's the most aggressive plastic bag action to date for any Southland city, according to Heal The Bay. "Grocery stores, food vendors, restaurants, pharmacies and city facilities have six months to comply with the ordinance. Smaller sized retailers have one year until the measure is operative," the......

Restaurants and Institutions' released their list of the top 100 highest-grossing independent (non-chain) restaurants in the United States. Totaling $1.53 billion, all restaurants on the list at least grossed $11.3 million. The Los Angeles region really didn't make an impact, but San Francisco made away with four and Chicago with seven. The top two cities are New York and its 32 restaurants and Las Vegas, which came out with 24, one of them grossing the......

Photo by astacia5 via Flickr We've heard before that the sinking housing market would actually serve to increase the rent on apartments in Los Angeles, and we've had a few lively discussions about proposals to undo rent control laws. But who knew the rate increases would be so drastic? Today's LA Times is reporting on the going rates for a four-bedroom, eight-bath (eight???) Malibu beach house: $150 grand. Per month. Alright, granted this is......

Photo by highervision via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This evening a public viewing will be held for slain LA High football star Jamiel Shaw, with funeral services to follow tomorrow. Shaw's tragic murder has prompted many LA residents to refocus on the senselessness of gang-related violence. Go, stop, go, stop: Commuters northbound on the 57 and the 605 transitioning to the 210 westbound this morning were greeted by the new traffic......

Today was the day that the first Barbie doll made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York in 1959. Make fun of her all you want, but Barbie's an icon whose life has been far more interesting than any reality show, and yes we know if she were real her head wouldn't be supported by her body dimensions or some such thing, but come on. Even Dolly Parton named her......

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: I read the home......

Photo by pink_fish13 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Police are investigating the tragic shooting death of Los Angeles High School's Jamiel Shaw. The football MVP was gunned down by gang members last night. The 17-year-old's mother is on her second tour of duty in Iraq. The suspect in last week's shooting at a South LA bus stop is facing 15 felony counts and was arraigned today on the charges. The 24-year-old......

Spaceland is A Place To Bury Strangers | Photo by Redboy via the band's MySpace. More great concert photos by Redboy here SambaLá @ Blue Cafe (Long Beach, Upstairs Room) The Ditty Bops @ McCabe's (Santa Monica) Pigeon John @ Malibu Inn (Malibu) Grizzly Bear @ Walt Disney Concert Hall (Downtown) Aceyalone @ Temple Bar (Santa Monica) Bad Religion @ House of Blues (West Hollywood) Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers, In Waves......

And you thought your monthly rent was high... TMZ has gotten their hands on some paperwork form Love Shack Trust sent to Britney Spears over her Malibu rental home. Says TMZ: "The documents, dated February 14, states that Brit was more than two weeks late in paying her $35,000-a-month rent. A $2,100 late charged kicked in, which was not paid. The documents state that Love Shack must either pay up or "surrender and deliver up......

Don't be angsty like this lady...go out tonight! / Photo by Plankton 4:20 via LAist's flickr pool. FILM “Animation Nite: From Halifax with Love” is a program at the Echo Park Film Center that features short animated and semi-animated films by women who’ve all lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, eh. The screening includes work by host Siloën Daley and six others. Music by local band Foot Foot follows. 7:30 // Echo Park Film......

Van Hunt plays the Temple Bar tonight, Feb. 19 and March 6 | Photo via his MySpace page In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked......

Last week we created a map showing primary election results by county in California and today we'll break it down further. Below is a map with a headshot of the winning candidate in the center (more or less) of each district. Click on each placemarker to see that district's results. View Larger Map Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama by a similar margin in LA County as she did in the state, and by significantly greater......

Yes, kids, Clinton took the state for the Dems, and McCain nabbed a GOP victory here in California, but the rest of yesterday's ballot had some very important propositions and measures on the line. Here's how things shook out:Proposition 91 (Gasoline Tax): DEFEATED Proposition 92 (Community College costs lowered): DEFEATED Proposition 93 (Term Limits): DEFEATED Propositions 94-97 (Indian Gaming): PASSED LA City Proposition S (the "phone tax" prop): PASSED Area-specific Measures: Measure B, a communications......

The Super Bowl isn't just the center of the universe for the sports business, but also for anybody working at E! or People. Even TMZ had a giant mobile billboard just outside the stadium in Glendale -- probably reminding party-goers to send them any interesting photos. While the teams were sequestered away under heavy guard (a cop only seemed to half-joke about shooting me when I pulled into a wrong driveway near the Giant's hotel),......

Sitting besides Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Allegria is a cozy and warm fine Italian restaurant. As part of DineLA Week, we visited to try the prix-fixe menu. LAist has been offering you some great coverage of Restaurant Week: to join in the party, you can find a listing of participating restaurants at DineLA.com. Participating restaurants typically offer a three-course lunch for $22 and dinner for $34.......

LA's homeless population is filling up local shelters, with some trying to gain permission from officials to allow people to stay inside 24 hours a day. Extra cots have been set up, and shelters like the Union Rescue Mission are at capacity. Many Southern California Edison customers found themselves without power last night thanks to the weather. The primary concentration of outages was in the Lake Arrowhead area. Traffic woes: Roads through Griffith Park were......

We get to call it a "Winter Storm" because it's storming and it's January, and not to overstate the obvious, but it is Winter Storming like nobody's business out there. Although the rain may have tapered off somewhat in the overnight hours, the greater Los Angeles area is bracing for another onslaught of downpours, with more high winds, flood risks, and snow. Snow? What? Huh? Yes, Angelenos, we're talking the little white specs that......