To mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Los Angeles author and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson thought up the idea of having a 40-hour "murder moratorium" from 6:01 p.m., Friday, to 10:01 p.m. Sunday. Those 40 hours this past weekend saw three murders across Los Angeles county, two of which were in South LA, reported KNBC. A man was murdered one block away from the Watts Tower around noon......

Baby spinach adorns the NY White pizza above, Porco pizza shown underneath. Two of my friends have been raving about this supposed "real Italian/napolitana" pizza in Monterey Park, and after months of accumulated hype I decided to give in and drive 20 miles just for fucking pizza. I even took five other friends in tow for the expedition to Monterey Park, the hotbed for all great cheap eats -- some of my favorites include......

I don't know about you, but I like my seafood fresh, cheap, and in big hearty portions. So when I heard about Seafood VIllage and their crab special, I had to drive over and see for myself. Seafood Village dominates a small plaza on Garvey just a block east of Atlantic in Monterey Park. Park spaces could be a little hard to find in the small lot during dinner rush hour, but street parking......

Last week Monday, Metro released a series of service enhancements and additions including the new Gold Line schedule. In the additions bucket came two new Metro Rapid lines, both starting in Downtown. The 728 runs between Downtown and Century City, mostly along Olympic Blvd. A ride review by Wad at MetroRiderLA finds that the busy thoroughfare "has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect" as it runs through Central American community of Pico-Union, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, South Carthay......

Taste-Buzz will fill you with ramen cravings in this post on Asa Ramen in Gardena. Rameniac (noodle porn!) is also on the scene. More and more, it seems like the real culinary finds in this region are in the cities surrounding central L.A. Is Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) a necessary evil for those seeking high-quality, low-impact organic food? Or is the company less interested in ethical consumption and more involved in "creating a retail......

I am thankful for… Thanksgiving - even though I think it’s a stupid holiday, and I pretty much hate all the food associated with it - for giving me the opportunity to spend the day with family that I love and actually enjoy being around. I am thankful every day that I am able to make a living being creative and doing something I love. (Except for when I’m on strike) I am thankful......

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. Chinese restaurants can generally be categorized into three different buckets: upscale “fusion” dining (aka tamed-down dishes with an "exotic" twist so that non-Chinese will eat them, but served on a pretty square plate so PF Chang’s can get away with charging $20 a dish);......

My name is Elise and I take pictures of food. There, admitting the problem is the first step towards recovery. I know my hobby borders on the peculiar, if not the insane. I was recently snapping a few shots of a take-out carton behind a bar. The drunken regulars pointed and laughed, “Har, har! That girl just took a picture of a SANDWICH!” I am certain that’s what will be engraved on my gravestone.......

Greater Los Angeles can proudly lay claim to another homegrown ethnic food mini-chain. With only two shops -- one in Rosemead and one in Monterey Park -- Mr. Baguette is hardly poised to crush Subway and Quiznos, but this humble yet expanding local sandwich chain offers a wealth of delicious and shockingly inexpensive bánh mì, AKA the Vietnamese hoagie. Combining traditional French baguettes and charcuterie with Vietnamese toppings like pickled carrots, daikon radish, onions,......

Yesterday, stumping former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani stopped by Monterey Park to meet with the Governator and local law enforcement leaders to talk about how to tackle LA's now world-renown gang problem. After the meeting, Giuliani, whose reputation as a crime fighter preceeds him, said California needs to have a "coordinated effort" to battle its gangs. Oh, and that the city needs to be "more organized" than the gang bangers. No offense, Rudy, but......

Friday was the 50th birthday of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat. A few area schools honored the occasion with special events including the release of "THE SEUSS IS LOOSE!: Young Lil' Hats, Writing All That," at The Watts Learning Center charter school. Cabrillo Elementary in Hawthorne went all out for the good doc with a Read-a-Thon and a Green Eggs and Ham Cookoff, and the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library served birthday cake while hat-wearing......

Thank God for the New York Times and its latest scintillating trend piece, which bravely goes out on a limb to inform readers that as crazy as it may sound, Koi and Republic aren’t the only two restaurants in Los Angeles. What? A New York publication writing arrogantly and stupidly about some aspect of Los Angeles culture? Stop the presses! In her New York Times regional trend essay Los Angeles: Where Stars Are in the......

Mayor Tony has a busy Sunday scheduled for this weekend, but we're glad to see he's blocked off the entirety of tomorrow to pulling for the underdog Bruins as they square off against Tommy Trojan and the Song Girls. Saturday, December 2, 2006 1:00 PM - PASADENA - Mayor Villaraigosa will cheer on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins as they go up against the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans in......

- Last week Santa Monica extended its tyrannical smoking ban to now include restaurant patios, bus stops, ATMs and movie theater lines(!); now Burbank wants to further restrict freedoms. Why not grow a pair and just ban the sales of smokes? Oh thats right, you like the taxes you collect on them. - LA Daily News - CBS wants you to know that Terry Lee Shields, 350 lb., accused child molester, of Anaheim, 51......

Happy Summer Solstice! Summer is finally here. It's time to chill out, take a vacation, sit on the beach and get lost in a good book. Angelenos are lucky to have so many literary choices and librarians like Eileen Ybarra, a young adult librarian at the Los Angeles Central Library, to guide our tastes. As Eileen notes below, the library is still one of the best places to access information, preserve free speech and celebrate......

In Los Angeles, it's easy to run out and sample super fresh and authentic food from all over the world, or even any sub-region of a nation, like the many provinces of China, Sometimes you can stumble into a dim little deli in Chinatown and emerge with rich and tender pastries. Sometimes you can head out to a Monterey Park banquet hall, and end up with plate after plate of delicious dim sum. And......

So when the fights first broke out at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic last week, people tried to explain why. Some say that dorm-style jails are at fault. Some blame racial tensions. At one point, a clergy tour of the facility set off a new series of disturbances. Head Sheriff Lee Baca's immediate response was to say that his department doesn't have enough staff; there aren't enough sheriff's deputies. The numbers seem to......

Being a vegan presents a very specific range of challenges. There are a wide range of animal ingredients in all sorts of food products, especially in commonly available brands. Something that would seem harmless to a vegan, like Chinese food, is still pretty iffy—oyster sauce, eggs, honey and whey are not uncommon—aside from the obvious egg rolls or beef with broccoli. Such is the case with wonton wrappers, which nearly always contain eggs or......

All the weatherpeople are telling us that temperatures Saturday and Sunday will top 80 degrees. Which isn't all that hot compared to 1971, when February 11th and 12th hit 88 and 91, respectively. But considering our East Coast bretheren are buckling down for a blizzard, we're pretty lucky. What to do to enjoy the great warm outdoors? On Satuday you could start by taking a guided walking tour of Echo Park and then head......

L to R: Janet Dulin Jones and her dog Warren, Charles Dickens, and Paul Lazarus. Writer Janet Dulin Jones has been working on a screenplay, now a play, about the life of Charles Dickens since 1990. Director and co-writer Paul Lazarus has worked with her for the past 3 years. Now they've collaborated with the Antaeus Company, Los Angeles's classical theatre ensemble (Pera Palas, Mother Courage, Chekhov x 4) to bring Dickens to the......

Southern California is lucky to have Domenic Priore, 45, as a native son. The author and documentary filmmaker has focused his considerable energy on documenting the heyday of the Sunset Strip music scene and Beach Boys hagiography resulting in books like his latest "Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece," which can be considered an adjunct to the documentary on Brian Wilson called "Beautiful Dreamer," and his upcoming book "Riot on Sunset Strip:......

California Peace Action is an organization that honors legislators for leadership on human rights and foreign policy. This Friday, September 3rd, at 7:00 P.M in Monterey Park, the Southern California branch of the organization will honor Representatives Hilda Solis and Henry Waxman with the 2nd Annual Democracy in Action Award for their leadership in Congress and their support for Peace Action's Campaign for a New American Foreign Policy. State Senator Gloria Romero will introduce......