Photo by rawkblog4 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr FEED FEAR THE BIRDS Super cool speakeasy bar, The Edison, will screen The Birds tonight alongside the Jules Verne Festival. This screening marks the first in a monthly series at this bar. Hitchcock's own daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, will be in attendance as well as actress Tippi Hedren. No birds allowed. ENJOY A GLASS To attend a decent wine tasting one must travel to......

A puppet show without Kermit: Concrete Folk Variations at The Manual Archives / Photo by Susan Simpson MEET THE PO-PO The public’s invited to meet the police and talk about safety issues at a neighborhood meeting between the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council, the Glassell Park Safety Committee and LAPD. Senior Lead Officer for Atwater Village Gina Chovan, gang detectives and City Attorney Donna Wong will be in attendance. 4 pm // Glassell Park Community......

OK so the Oscars are this weekend. Even though the writers' strike is over, the prediction is that this will be a ho-hum (excuse me?) Oscars. First of all, the majority of the films presented for consideration are real downers, secondly, because of the strike, many potential presenters thought that the awards ceremony would be canceled or drastically cut back so they made other plans and are now not available to present at the show.......

OK so the Oscars a week from Sunday are what we're building up to but as an enthusiastic follower of Dexter on Showtime, I'm intrigued to see how it will translate to its network debut on CBS at 10:00pm this Sunday. At first I was concerned that the end result would be a heavily edited, several minutes shorter, vapid and empty shell of its former glory. Not so according to my Showtime contact. Evidently when......

Outside the scene of Heath Ledger's death in NYC | Photo by Tien Mao, Gothamist.com Gothamist, parent site to LAist, is reporting the death of Heath Ledger. "Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in downtown Manhattan apartment by the police. Some reports say he died from an overdose." Ledger lived on Broome street. Ledger was a rising star and actor from Australia, known for his work in Brokeback Mountain, which earned him a best......

As Cloverfield set a box office record for a January opening this holiday weekend, we Angelenos should be glad at the local economic boost, but we should also question if it could have been even more successful had the film been set in Los Angeles. Yes, the New York setting drew memories of 9/11 and classic monster movies, but Los Angeles is the city in which this monster would have done so much better......

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company Even though they are the two big releases today, I just couldn't bring myself to lead with the awful Saw IV and the even worse The Game Plan. Save yourself some money and buy the truly entertaining The Hunting Party instead. Remember that Jessica Simpson movie that made only a few hundred bucks in theaters a few weeks ago? It's out on DVD, ready to be ignored again.......

Photograph of the Trump Soho by Riccardo Sinti Gothamist went to the scene of the Trump Soho construction collapse, which left one construction worker dead and others injured (an indirect culprit - Manhattan's hot real estate market, causing rushed construction jobs).Shanghaiist is confused by media reports as to whether Playboy will be available in China during the year of the Olympics.LAist got fugged in an interview with the Go Fug Yourself girls.Torontoist set hearts......

Since its teaser trailer screened in front of Transformers this past summer, there's been a good deal of buzz surrounding Cloverfield. Unlike most movies that arrive loaded with hype, though (Snakes on a Plane anyone?), Cloverfield completely delivers. It is the most visceral, thrilling movie I've seen in years. Not since Trinity's opening bullet-time fight in the The Matrix have I heard an audience spontaneously burst into applause in the middle of a movie.......

A vast knowledge of fine wine and great Italian food are not a prerequisite for visiting Talia's Restaurant & Bar in Manhattan Beach, because you could pick blindly from the menu and whatever arrived would be delicious. It's "one of those" kinda places. Owned by the same people who operate nearby Mangiamo (another great Italian restaurant) Talia's offers an intimate setting that suits the casual beach neighborhood it is situated in. And although i......

Who is brave or foolish enough to go out tonight? No, seriously. Why do you want to leave the house? There are some things to do if you are so inclined (queue writer's raised eyebrow). JAZZ The renowned Alan Broadbent Trio plays two sets tonight at the Jazz Bakery. 8 & 9:30 p.m. // The Jazz Bakery // 3233 Helms Ave. // (310) 271-9039 // $25 FILM Quentin Tarantino hosts a LACMA screening of South......

Venues are still recovering from New Year's Eve as not many concerts are happening tonight. But that doesn't mean there's good music to check out. Local organic hip-hoppers, Swamphouse (a mixture of R&B, rock and jazz), open up at Temple Bar in Santa Monica tonight at 9:30 p.m. They are followed by the Manhattan Beach based reggae band -- International Farmers -- at 11 p.m. Over in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe, find East Coast......

Stage and screen choreographer Michael Kidd died this past Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 92, according to the New York Times. From his beginnings in Brooklyn, Kidd moved over to Manhattan to dance and create dances for dance companies including Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Caravan (1937), Eugene Loring's Dance Players (1941) and Ballet Theater, the predecessor to the American Ballet Theater (1942-47). Soon after dance critic Edwin Denby opined that Kidd’s talents “leaned......

Chief William Bratton has cut crime in New York City and now here. Other cities are trying to do what he does, but it doesn't always work. So how do we model the success? Manhattan Beach solidarity. A two-year veteran of the MBPD is undergoing cancer treatment. Fifty officers, firefighters and city employees shaved their head to support the officer who is going through chemotherapy and one hundred people donated O-negative blood specifically for......

Kids, Santa's surfing and he needs to rest up for another day of waves tomorrow morning. We know, it's Christmas and all, but Santa can't control the weather. It's beautiful out! Professional Photographer and founder of EppicSurf.com (think Facebook and Flickr for Surfers), Branimir Kvartuc, caught Santa surfing this morning at 26th Street in Manhattan Beach. More photos of Santa can be found at Kvartuc's profile. Photos by Branimir Kvartuc, used with permission......

Torontoist discovered their city's most ridiculous holiday lights setup, with 80,000 lights and two––two!––synchronized music routines. Naturally, they snagged a video. Chicago tragically loses one of its most recognizable neighborhood icons, the pigeon man of Lincoln Square. LAPD leaves body in car at crash scene, then tows it. Massachusetts plus mullet equals PR mayhem. Londonist sleeps in a Haunted plague pit. UC Berkeley students strip naked and race through campus, NSFW floppiness ensues. Phillyist......

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? An article in yesterday morning's LA Times reconsiders the Richard Meier-designed edifice in the light of its 10th anniversary, and in doing so, asks some important questions about the nature and integrity of architecture in Los Angeles. "there is......

The white smoke flowed from the chimney, doves were released, and virgins scattered to deliver the Good News that the newest Editor of LAist is Zach Behrens. Valley boy Zach has been a contributer to this fine blog since 2005, he's an outdoorsman, he sits on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, he's a vegetarian, he volunteers selflessly, and yes ladies, he's single. Softspoken, strong-willed, and determined to get you to ride public transportation, Zach......

"The surf was so big, no one was surfing here and the Pier was closed. Apparently, all the surfers were in Redondo," explains LAist Featured Photos contributer, Jake Rome, about yesterday's surf. LA Times: No big waves yesterday. We beg to differ. [LAist] Lure of waves draws many from workaday world [LA Times] The Day of Waves [Daily Breeze] Photo by jakerome via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr......

If you're looking for 20-25 ft. waves, you better at least head up to Point Conception or past Eureka for even higher ones. If 7-14 ft. waves are your style, then stay LA.The surf will build throughout today and tonight, peaking Wednesday. By Thursday, the swell is expected to diminish into the 5- to 7-foot range, Seto said. A rainstorm from the Northwest is expected Thursday through Saturday, bringing more than an inch of......

It’s been a whirlwind of a day here at LAist. Early this morning our Editor told the staff via email that he would soon be accepting a new job at the LA Times running all of their blogs (of which there are about 25, currently) and that he would be starting in just a few weeks. We all knew this day would come, but so soon? Since the moment Tony Pierce began at LAist back......

Stuck in the muck of collegiate winter fun (and by fun I mean endless hours of non-comprehension of Middle Eastern languages and religious legal texts, staring and pretending to read as your eyes begin to learn to work under the constant rain of exhaustion), I, in my perpetual procrastination mode, rummaged through my emails to find the title "The Wolf of Wall Street" leap out at me. Needless to say, I was as ecstatic......

The Nightwatchman @ Hotel Cafe James Taylor, Carole King @ Troubadour Café Tacuba @ Gibson Sam Phillips, Joel Hodgson @ Largo MXPX, Dr. Manhattan, Nothing More, Victim Effect @ Key Club Authority Zero, Black President, Pulley, Pour Habit @ Knitting Factory Something For Rockets, Jupiter Rising @ Safari Sam's Oslo @ Viper Room Powerman 5000, The End of Silence, My Sweet Revolt, Amprage @ Whisky......

While it is hard for most to understand or imagine, once you have become entrenched in the archipelagic enclave of skyscrapers and bona fide mass transit that is Manhattan Island, it is difficult to leave. For a New Yorker, geographic displacement can fester into a self-induced internalized affront (even if just for a few short days). But the compelling lure of a free trip to Los Angeles to accompany my aunt on a business trip......

The Dan Patrick radio show recently debuted in Southern California (check 570 KLAC in the mornings), but this isn't what he meant by "En Fuego." While often immune to the real world, local sports have been impacted by the disaster in several ways. Of course, let's keep this all in perspective ... the real losses are to the families and the real heroes are the firefighters. - The San Diego Chargers are practicing in Arizona......

Silly Jack Weiss! He thinks the Valley is different from the City. Tsk tsk! The Daily News takes the Councilman to task (lovingly) for his slip of the tongue. Halloween events abound in the city this time of year, and LAist is your best source for the hottest spooky spots: check out our continuing Halloween coverage here. OMGZZZ Kitten Cops! I can has ratburgerz?? The LAPD is recruiting feral cats to root out rodents......

That's an average of 90.1 mph for the 2,794 miles between Classic Car Club in Manhattan and the Santa Monica Pier in California. Get this, and no traffic stops, no tickets (that would cost a detrimental 15-minutes). Feel bad now about getting pulled over recently? Meet Alexander Roy and his 2000 BMW M5 and welcome to the "subculture of illegal endurance racing" and the efforts to break transcontinental records, as the New York Times......

I met up with the Hacienda Prints Collective at the opening night of the Chemical Brothers tour at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. There they were, a trio of guys from LA at an incredible event in NYC, doing live screening of t-shirts commemorating the night. Not only were they doing t-shirts, they were also taking lots of pics (see to the left) as well as documenting the tour on video. They were on......

Wait a damn minute. You people demanded that Van Halen get rid of the Red Rocker and reinstate Diamond Dave. Sure Michael Anthony had to step down so as to get replaced by Eddie's boy Wolfgang on bass - but doesn't that make for better rock? Not according to slow-as-molasses ticket sales here in the Southland where none of the four Van Halen shows at Staples or the Honda Center have sold out. [Update:......

So I'm sort of a musician and a writer, albeit aspiring, who after feeling like a misfit among yuppies that I continually ran into in the South Bay where I grew up, was thrilled to finally make the move into L.A. a couple years ago, specifically Koreatown and then Los Feliz. Finally, I was free to wear whatever the hell I wanted to wear, and not get hostile looks from people (I once wore......