Averaging more than one incident a week so far in 2008, there have been nine incidents between people/cars, or in one case, a fire hydrant, and mainly Metro busses, except for one incident involving a Big Blue Bus, Santa Monica's transit agency and another with an unknown transit agency at this time. According to Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) records, there have been a total of forty-three injuries, ranging from minor to critical (some......

Beware of the Google Gawker.........

Sometimes it seems like this city is out to beat us up, put us down, and lead us terribly astray. Even those of us who have lived here for years can't help but feel let down sometimes by L.A.'s impersonal and often contradictory nature. And we're just talking about transportation. But more often than you might expect, if you just open up and let the city happen to you, you'll find that L.A. is......

I think reasonable people would agree that Deadwood was one of the best shows on television over the last few years. It never got the pub that The Sopranos did, but I know which show I was more excited to see (Tony Soprano's lucky he never had to face Al Swearengen). And while John from Cincinnati was confusing as hell sometimes (okay, most of the time), I still tuned in for every episode. Anyway,......

Well, if that’s not the reason for us encountering a shortage of a particular cough syrup this week at area drug and grocery stores, then it must be the cold and/or flu season hitting the LA area. (Extra Extra told us on Friday night that the first case of the flu was recently reported in the Valley – so maybe that’s causing the Robitussin run.) First, we drove to our neighborhood Longs Drugs in......

[O]ur friends at Found LA have decided to get together and throw us a party at their amazing gallery in Silverlake (Google Map here), with free drinks and a cake to boot. It goes from 8PM - 10PM this Saturday (12/15) and is bound to be a blast......

TOYS FOR TOTS Everyone has that one special moment when it really starts to feel like Christmas. It might be shopping Thanksgiving weekend, baking cookies or buying the tree. For me, it is that magical moment while stuck in traffic when I am taken unawares by a phalanx of motorcycles zooming by carrying giant stuffed bears on the back. That is truly the spirit of Christmas. The bikers are part of an annual Toys for......

Ever try to get in the left-hand lane hoping you'll get that green arrow, but only end up waiting thru one series of lights after another? Imagine you drive a truck for UPS and you find yourself in that situation day after day, year after year. Then multiply those trucks by the tens of thousands. Think about how much gas is being wasted and how much CO2 is being released due to idling. The......

LAPD concluded that no crime was committed in the possible rape being investigated early this morning on USC's University Park Campus. We have no crime," said Los Angeles Police Department Officer April Harding of the Media Relations office. "The woman was interviewed and she admitted she was drinking and passed out. She was not raped." -- Fox The woman, a USC undergrad, was reported as passed out in a basement classroom around 3:30 a.m. by......

The Geminid Meteor showers are set to peak this week, especially on Thursday and Friday. Um, great date night, anybody? Astronomers studying the phenomenon, David Levy and Stephen Edberg, are terribly enthused: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor.' Those guys are serious!!! "The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing......

Angelenos should be empathizing today with their Coloradian brothers and sisters today, who were shocked by the tragic shooting deaths of two staff members at a missionary center in Colorado Springs. There were two mysterious shootings last night in very different parts of the city: The first occurred around 7:40pm in Tujunga, where an unidentified man was gunned down by an assailant in a moving car. The man was found dead of two shotgun......

Everyone has a guilty pleasure when it comes to terrible movies (mine is Autumn in New York--don't ask). Tonight at the glorious old Vista in Los Feliz, the good people from the So Bad It's Good Film Fest will be screening one of the true standards of the genre: Road House. Patrick Swayze stars as James Dalton, a "cooler" who is brought in to tame the rowdy Double Deuce bar in Jasper, Missouri where......

James Jean signing at Gallery Nucleus....

Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by LAPD officers (and their subsequent acquittal) sparked the Los Angeles riots in 1992, was shot late last night, according to San Bernardino police. King was shot in the face and arm with a pellet gun (LA Times) or perhaps a shotgun (KNX, USA Today) while riding his bike home to Rialto. King, the 42-year-old man who gained national fame when his 1991 beating by Los Angeles police was caught......

The Onion has published a companion Google map to promote their new laugher of a world atlas, Our Dumb World. Click on the markers in the map below for gems like Brazil ("Boasting some of the sexiest people ever to be stabbed repeatedly at night..."), France ("Heated conversation that will ultimately end in sex..."), and Mexico ("Now Hiring 2.4 Million Busboys"). View Larger Map In other Google Maps news, a new "terrain" layer has been......

Here's a map of central LA traffic at around 5pm the day before Thanksgiving. Ooof. Good luck out there, guys -- and you can keep track of the gridlock you'll be encountering over at Google Maps. Godspeed, my friends, and please be safe. Respect your fellow drivers, hook up with a carpool, and take your time.......

Zuma Dogg was nice enough to post this video on Mayor Sam today which lays out a proposal that Jan Perry wants to inflict on the residents of South Central. Even though the councilwoman is ignorant in regards to the neighborhoods in her district, she does know that the people she represents are fat. They're so fat (and in her mind, ignorant) that she seems to want to protect them from themselves. It's her......

Los Angeles has over 180 official neighborhoods. These are those communities designated with the city sealed blue sign. However, if you tried to figure out your neighborhood and its official boundary, there's a good chance you are going to come upon a) conflicting information b) no information, or c) confusing information. Trust us, we know. We've been digging into official Los Angeles city neighborhoods with our Neighborhood Project and have yet to come upon......

*UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: The concert will now take place at 2:45 p.m. and at 2300 Alameda, not 3300 Alameda. Here's a map. Yesterday we interviewed Scottish sensation KT Tunstall before she played to a sold-out Avalon, and we featured her in Tonight in Rock. Today we are receiving word that she is going to be playing at an address that sure sounds like NBC in Burbank to us. as many of you may or......

10 Freeway westbound Normandie on-ramp, 8:45 a.m. Imagine a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles with no schools and no government. But the rest of us still had to go to work. Enjoy your Veterans Day Monday commute!......

This week five fresh&easy grocery stores er, "neighborhood markets," opened in metro Los Angeles. We visited the Glassell Park store located in a gutted Albertson's on Eagle Rock Blvd (map) for our first impression of UK-based Tesco's (the world's third-largest grocer) attempt to hook finicky West Coast consumers. The array of fresh&easy branded products is impressive. The packaging is minimalist, reminiscent of a Safeway or Walgreen's branded generic. But as you'll see in the slideshow......

Monday Shalom Auslander presents Foreskin's Lament 7pm @ Vroman's Valerie Plame Wilson presents Fair Game 7pm @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach Barbara Firestone presents Autism Heroes 7pm @ Dutton's Slash presents Slash 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Lawrence Wright presents The Looming Tower 7:30pm @ UCLA Tuesday David Plante, with host Mark Danielewski, presents ABC 7pm @ Book Soup Michael Lent presents Christmas Letters from Hell 7pm @ Vroman's Tommy Lasorda & Bill Plaschke......

The LA Times is reporting today that Metro may be seriously looking at an extremely different route for half of the proposed Purple Line subway extension that would take commuters from Downtown to Santa Monica. However, the idea discussed here would take underground riders from the Hollywood/Highland station to Wilshire Blvd. along Santa Monica Blvd., traveling through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills hitting near the Beverly Center mall and Cedars-Sinai:The new concept is still......

Keep updated on this map as the day goes by, check the traffic before leaving work by clicking here. It looks as if all of LA is running smoothly right now. That's because it's lunchtime, not crunch time. If you didn't take the 405 this morning, then you were spared some extra special traffic caused by some unfortunate events:Most lanes of the 405 at La Tijera Boulevard are closed this morning after the 4:45......

Here are a few events for people who like to leave the house before sundown. A few of them are even family-friendly and some involve dogs wearing costumes. Historical Society of Long Beach Annual Cemetery Tour Saturday, October 27, 2007 Sunnyside and Long Beach Municipal Cemeteries, 1095 E. Willow St., Long Beach The dead come to life to tell you about the lives they lived and the way they died at the neighboring Long Beach......

These photos were taken by amateur photographer Chris Mesaros of Santa Clarita, who submitted them to us. We think they're brilliant! Their local government has also posted a neat google map of all the fire incidents. Donation to the rescue efforts can be made here. More great photos after the jump! (photos have been posted with permission from artist)......

Some would say that one of the nice things about LA is our lack of Wal*Marts. Truth of the matter is, in order to give the Walton Family your money you pretty much have to leave LA County. Digg today reminds us what we're missing. Here we have a birthday cake that was (hopefully) ordered over the phone. Although the quality is (hilariously) lacking, you can bet that the price was right.......

That's what Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said this morning:If we had more air resources, we would have been able to control this fire. Instead we've been stuck in this initial attack mode on the ground where we hopscotch through neighborhoods as best we can trying to control things. But OCFA is not the only frustrated agency in Southern California, as losses grow to an estimated $1 billion in San Diego County......

Welcome to the all fire, all the time edition of Extra Extra! The weather is not expected to abate until tomorrow, and fire fighters are still days away from containing major blazes. The New York Times is liveblogging the fires; they are reporting that over 500,000 people have been forced to evacuate so far (although other reports are estimating up to one million people have had to flee their homes). The Daily News is......

Larry Himmel is CBS8 San Diego's neighborhood guy -- the personable reporter with the know-how, the hip tips, and just enough wackiness to make any story interesting -- a sort of Huell Howser of the deep southland. But in nearly 30 years of entertaining San Diegans with stories of local and human interest, nothing could have been more personal -- or painful for Himmel than his on location report this afternoon, from the site of......