Yesterday, in another timely Earth Day announcement, Governor Schwarzenegger announced California's first natural landmark in Orange County. 40,000 acres of the Irvine Ranch may be recognized with the title, but it does not mean the land is protected or open to the public. Rather, it is to help bring awareness to the land and focus on long-term public preservation. With summer coming, more people will be heading outdoors. Yes, Yosemite may be five hours away,......

Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Getty has its first fridays program. So does the Natural History Museum. However, there's a smaller First Friday in Los Angeles, one with a less grandiose budget, little advertising, but is worth a look at. For the past couple years merchants of Abbot Kinney in Venice stay open until 10pm and often host art gallery openings, live music, or in store events. And if you......

Looks like the Academy Awards don't have the same in with Mother Nature and the big meteorologist in the sky the way the Tournament of Roses Parade does. It's a wet Sunday morning in the city known around the world for its perpetual sunshine, and when everyone's tuned into the 80th Annual Academy Awards this afternoon, the ugly truth will be revealed: It rains in Los Angeles! And it's probably going to keep raining. Cbs2.com......

Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr It might be Oscar season here in LA, but it's also still rainy season. LAist Featured Photos Pool contributor Jonathan Alcorn (aka Sundogg) caught some shots of the setup going on at the Kodak Theatre in preparation for Sunday's big night. Think Mother Nature will dare to rain on Hollywood's most glamorous red carpet parade tomorrow?......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

LA readings and book signings around town for January 28th - Februar 3rd including Judith Freeman, Ron Jeremy, Tamara Jenkins, Mary McNamara, Sam Jones and Tom Dolby....

Torchwood is a guilty pleasure and its new season starts tonight on the BBCA. If you've ever been in a foreign land and seen a slightly dated American TV program come on and felt that queasy embarrassment then you know what watching Torchwood is like. It's cheesy and over-the-top science fiction with British accents and the odd dashing American thrown in. Everyone is hyper-sexed and they don't seem to discriminate between whichever sex they are......

photo of the 2003 Pasadena Freeway bike ride by Virginia Renner Occidental Professor Robert Gottlieb's latest book -- Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City -- is going to be awfully tempting to Angelenos who care about urban planning, the environment and social change. Get a taste when he reads today at Dutton's at 2pm -- and then ask the store to order a copy for you. In his book, Gottlieb......

As the second wave of the massive storm system that wailed on the area last night approaches, here are some updates on conditions and storm-related happenings:We have the power: CBS2.com reports that "Power has been restored Saturday to 31,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers who lost service" due to the rainstorm. A quarter of the outages were located in the San Fernando valley. Some customers, including a few hundred in OC with......

International markets are like a culinary Disneyland. I can waste hours wandering the aisles, peeking into jars of unfamiliar grocery items, buying things that I don't know how to cook, and exploring brave new worlds of snacking. Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon at the Armenian market, Nature's Pride Golden Farms. Most of the products are Russian, with a few British items thrown in amongst the American and Mexican groceries. Let's take a look around!......

Five reasons I am thankful to be living in this city... 1. Urban + Nature It's truly the best of two worlds to live in Los Angeles. My native Angeleno ex-girlfriend used to ask why would anyone want to leave LA? You can surf in the morning and ski at night. She didn't do either and, well, she eventually moved away. Still, pick up a Southern California hiking book or two and you'll find......

Hear that sucking sound? The media's commitment to learning from its many recent mistakes in reporting ethics and the semantics thereof is again being sucked out of the collective memory hole. Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina survivors were initially referred to by numerous media outlets as "refugees." While "refugee" can be inferred to be descriptive of one who "takes refuge," the fact is that -- at least since the 1951 approval of the UN Convention......

José González In Our Nature Mute Records Release Date: 09/25/07 As contrived as it may be, there is a time and place for everything. My father always conveyed this notion to me with the "lightning in a jar" metaphor. When an artist is experiencing the heyday of their career, they have contained this so-called "lightning in a jar". I always thought the point of the whole metaphor was that the volatile lighting in this......

Yesterday morning 10,000 runners (this LAist poster and a few friends included) took to the streets of Downtown Los Angeles for the 5-mile Nike Run Hit Remix 2007. The sea of red t-shirts running from the Coliseum to Staples Center and back was an awesome sight in itself, but the runners were also treated to a crystal blue sky canopy overhead. While it was already a bit too hot at the 9 am race......

Summer has passed and acts such as Suzanne Vega, Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Spoon, and Rilo Kiley have reclaimed the spotlight after significant hiatuses, but the year is far from over. It’s now time to look forward to albums on the horizon that look like winners already: 21. In Our Bedroom After the War – Stars: The popular Canadian indie outfit is poised to take America by storm. (Release date: September 25) 20. As......

If you haven't had the chance to visit Farmlab's weekly salon series, do try. Every Friday at noon, Farmlab, the people behind Not a Cornfield, host a salon with a special guest speaker (except next week when they are doing something different by presenting a play about environmentalism). A complimentary lunch is served and the energy of a lazy Friday is transformed into good vibes by the community that attends the talk in the......

If your not ready for the races mentioned in our Alt Races Guide, then maybe you are up to a race of a different breed: Nike's 5-mile Run Hit Remix: The PowerSong Edition featuring live performances along the route by Naughty by Nature, Sir Mix-A-Lot, The Sugarhill Gang, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and a finish line concert by MC Hammer on September 15th at 9 a.m. (you might also spot Caroline on Crack......

Tokyo Police Club - "Nature of the Experiment" Nine Inch Chili Peppers @ The Joint Dub Club @ The Echo The Nedra Wheeler Quintet @ Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel Merchants of Moonshine @ Harper's Bar & Grille Rush @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Tokyo Police Club, Dappled Cities Fly, Minipop @ The Troubadour Snowdrift, The Comforters, Cosio, The Jackal Headed Front @ The Mint Conjunto Guama @ El Floridita Jazz at the Movies @......

Thanks to ESPN Classic for bringing back American Gladiators. This clip, from the show's first season, may go down as one of the greatest moments in Gladiator history. Watch Malibu, who went on to put together quite the career as a thespian explain the healing powers of Mother Nature after taking "the most excellent hit" from a Human Cannonball.......

In the next several weeks, LAist will embark on a series of hikes and present to you an ambitious 6-part photo essay. This is the fifth one. Here are parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. As always, LAist encourages you to get out and take advantage of and experience the beautiful landscape of Southern California. Most of us forget that we are fortunate to live in such a diverse and ecologically unique locale that......

In the next several weeks, LAist will embark on a series of hikes and present to you an ambitious 6-part photo essay. This is the fourth one. Here is parts 1, 2, and 3. As always, LAist encourages you to get out and take advantage of and experience the beautiful landscape of Southern California. Most of us forget that we are fortunate to live in such a diverse and ecologically unique locale that offers......

We're all about creative dissent here at LAist. You got the pro view on the new Star-Vu Drive-In from Ryan Young. Now for something completely different. Here's an opposing take on the Star-Vu experience written especially for LAist by Josh Tate. The words of Ian Malcolm troubled me as I surged onto the 405-N. "Dinosaurs had their shot and Nature selected them for extinction." The last three and a half hours of my life had......

In the next several weeks, LAist will embark on a series of hikes and present to you an ambitious 6-part photo essay. This is the third one. Here is parts 1, and 2. Stunt Ranch is a 67-acre private UCLA reserve with public access to its trails. It is located on the north-central flank of the Santa Monica Mountains just outside of Malibu (4.5 miles North of). It was recently devastated by a wildfire......

Now that the winds seem to have subsided, we're ready to dive into what promises to be a beautiful weekend, and we're pretty much ready for it to start now. Say it with us: T.G.I.F! Doesn't that feel good? We thought we'd tell you what we were up to this weekend, in case you needed a little inspiration, or in case you wanted to tell us something else you think we can't afford to......

We live in a beautiful part of the world, don't you think? Despite the fact that sometimes it feels like all we ever see are the taillights and inane vanity plates of the car we're stuck behind, if we take some time to check out all the flora and fauna that our soil produces, we might get that nice swift kick in the rear from Mother Nature we didn't even know we needed. On......

Monday Paul Cummins signs Two Americas, Two Educations 7pm @ Dutton’s Tuesday Daniel Alarcon presents Lost City Radio 7:30 pm @ Skylight Books Jane Hirshfield reads poetry from After 7pm @ Hammer Museum Catherine Allgor presents A Perfect Union 7pm @ Vroman’s Brian Doherty Radicals for Capitalism 7pm @ Book Soup Tara Ison presents The List 7pm @ Borders Century City Wednesday Dinaw Mengestu signs The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears 7pm @ Dutton’s......

Monday Barbara Hambly presents Patriot Hearts: A Novel of Founding Mothers 7pm @ Vroman’s Tess Gallagher reads from Dear Ghosts 7:30pm @ Geffen Playhouse Tuesday George Hass presents Forcing Nature: Trees in Los Angeles 7pm @ Book Soup Margaret MacMillan presents Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World 7pm @ Central Library T Cooper & Chris Abani present their latest books 7:30pm @ Skylight Books Caille Millner presents The Golden Road: Notes......

Teeming with dolled-up jailbait and smelling like a fraternity house basement, The Music Box at The Henry Fonda Theater was ground zero for trendy sneakers, ballet flats and perky ponytails on February 5th as Lily Allen played a sold-out show at the only LA stop on her MTV-sponsored “Discover and Download” tour. Her album Alright, Still dropped domestically one week prior, and had already taken the #20 spot on the Billboard 200, selling over......

Before we prepare for today's 4:20 Video Time, how about giving it up to Mother Nature today. Anyone who saw the Super Bowl last night, or have relatives in the midwest where it is below freezing, and worst when you factor in the wind-chill, knows that Mother Nature is saving all her love for us. So thank you baby, and it's to you that we dedicate this video of a commercial for Bud Lite......

I humbly present this week's offering of classic crooners, underground rappers, David Bowie, heavy metal, art rock, prog rock, and even a little yacht rock. 'Tis a pity we are built with only two ears. Rock Age of Nemesis - Terra Incognita (Magna Carta) *America (feat. Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, and Adam Schlesinger) - Here & Now (Burgundy) Isabelle Antena - Carpe Diem/Les Derniers Guerriers Romantiques (LTM / Boutique NL) Atrophy - Socialized Hate......