When my old boss Mike wrote to me a couple of weeks ago to tell me about Alligator Tacos in the valley, I was immediately sold. Big vicious remorseless killer reptilian taco? I'm so there! Hot's Cantina is in Northridge, inconspicuously occupying a single storefront in a mall. It seemed like this place is all about the ridiculously large nachos and tacos. (Nachos, by the way, were the size of costco pizzas.) Boy, there......

Try hard and you might get this hang loose feeling from checking out the Hawaiian Fest in Northridge Photo by bhollar via Flickr Annual Northridge Ho Olau lea (Hawaiian Fest) Say Aloha to the the 50th state with a taste of the food and fun of Hawaii. Lots of Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, vendors with all sorts of goods, fresh floral leis, loads of food (shaved ice!!!!), and beer. Luckily it won't be......

View Larger Map Within four hours last night, two people were shot dead and another eight were injured in a spree of gun violence that went from Northridge to North Hollywood to Sylmar, the Daily News is reporting. It began in Northridge between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. where one 16-year-old boy was shot, but survived with non-life threatening injuries. Then one hour later, two men were shot and killed in related cases on Coldwater......

Someone trying to kidnap you is never a fun memory. At least when the alleged kidnapper was nude, it's a good story to tell in years to come. Last night around midnight, the victim, walking alone, was on Parthenia Street near Wilbur Avenue in Northridge when a car pulled up and began tailing her. Then at one point, the man in the car, stopped, got out and began chasing her. It was only when he......

Photo by DRB62 via Flickr Two female bank employees, ages 41 and 39, were transported to Northridge Hospital in stable condition after they were exposed to a $100 bill at San Fernando Valley Washington Mutual this afternoon. The incident, which took place at 10370 Mason Ave. in Chatsworth, happened around 1:00 p.m. The Los Angeles Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Squad were deployed after one teller complained that her hand was burning after touching the......

The city seems to have gone completely mad. From a 16 year-old shot in Northridge to a 70 year-old stabbed to death in Hollywood, Sunday was just another day in what is starting to feel like an out-of-control crime wave. In just the last few months, a man stabbed people in a movie theater while they watched a horror movie, a woman stabbed her own mother, and a man dressed as a skeleton terrorized......

Good news regarding last week's LAPD shootout in Glassell Park. The fourth and last suspect, a Northridge resident who was the driver of the suspected car, was arrested Monday in Granada Hills. It wasn't that hard either: "he was in the same vehicle police believe was used in the driveby," according to a report by the Daily News. Last Thursday, a drive-by shooting occurred in the late morning, resulting in the death of a man......

Photo by WishByNight via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The neighborhood lock-down in Glassell Park is over after an earlier shoot-out involving police left one dead and other suspects unaccounted for throughout the afternoon. Skateland in Northridge is turning 50! Time to call up the extended family and ask them if they have any good memories of this classic Valley fun zone. (Because my family is FROM here. Babies.) What's with all......

Photo by susan catherine via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A meeting last night in Oxnard brought out hundreds of parents angered over the recent shooting death of 15-year-old Lawrence King at the hands of a fellow teenager. They called for more vigilant security on campus and for more help for students who suffer from bullying. A multi-vehicle accident earlier this afternoon had two lanes of the 405 in Westwood shut down.......

Have you had enough of $5 coffee? $99 burgers? $125 martinis? I know I am -- doesn't anybody in this city want to find the cheapest drinks, meals, and booze? Los Angeles Magazine comes through this month with a feature on great deals and bargain finds on everything from martinis to furniture to underpants. We went straight for the food section, of course -- and here are our top food bargain picks from the......

Here at LAist, we really love local folk music, especially The Hollow Trees. In fact, we love them so much that we've interviewed them three times: a little ">over a year ago, then in May about Stagecoach (the roots version of Coachella) and this last December. We'll spare any in depth analysis this morning, but will just say if you're looking for things to do late this morning, whether your a parent or babysitting some......

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Los Angeles is the Cultural Capital of the 21st Century. From visual art to cutting edge music to innovative theatre and live performances to some of the world's leading cultural institutions - we truly have it all. But all great cultural capitals have - in addition to the arts and culture as mentioned - a forum for public discourse. The Greeks had the agora for assembly, education, and interaction; and though we have our......

Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old Northridge girl who died two weeks ago because her health care provider denied funding of a liver transplant, was buried yesterday. $151 million: That's the amount in salary and benefits that the The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers say that writers have lost since the beginning of the strike. $10.64: The new minimum wage or "so-called living wage" for workers at hotels near LAX. More than a 1,000......

62-year-old retired LAPD officer Barry Bowman is now a very wealthy man - all because a dump truck hit him while he was riding his motorcycle in Northridge. The LA Times reports that a jury has awarded Bowman $15.7 million in his case against the city and city-contracted Tommie Wyatt Trucking for a collision that has left Bowman with brain injuries that require 24-hour care. The accident occurred at the end of the truck driver's......

Apparently, a liver transplant is "experimental." 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan was fighting leukemia when a bone marrow transplant from her brother failed. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center told CIGNA Healthcare that she needed a liver transplant on December 11. CIGNA denied funding the operation, citing the procedure was experimental and outside the scope of coverage. In an e-mail statement before she died, the health care company said "there was a lack of medical evidence showing the......

Hold on to your hats just a little while longer! High-wind warnings are still in effect this morning for the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Gusts this morning have been clocking in at speeds of up to 60 mph. A less severe wind warning--but a warning nonetheless--has been issued for the mountainous areas of San Bernardino and Orange Counties until mid-afternoon. Lonely, horny men looking for a hookup on Craigslist in the......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

Rain is always a nice change of pace to life in the city, but sometimes it doesn't bring the good out of it. As the storm heads East, here's what it left behind: 280 car accidents between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. in LA County. An average may be around 75 in the same time frame on a normal day. 1.14 inches dropped in downtown Los Angeles. 10 hours of no electricity for 25,500 customers......

An “acid bomb” is capable of a 300-foot blast radius. So why did a 12-year-old bring one to school today in the OC? Cal State Northridge (CSUN) is building a 1,700-seat, performing arts center and just received their largest donation of one million from Attorney and civic leader David Fleming and his wife, Jean. Oh noes! Charlize Theron's home got robbed last week! Save up those quarters, DASH will not be accepting Metro passes......

The Hollow Trees are the best folk band "for families" that you have never heard. By "for families" we mean little kids would love it as much as their parents. Mixing Americana, folk, and pop, The Hollow Trees keep it simple enough for children with the G-rated lyrics. The music, however, is authentic, pure, and as good as anything you'd hear from your grandpa's best bluegrass records. This year the Hollow Trees have gone......

Most insane picture and story of the day: a cruise ship strikes submerged ice in the Antarctic and begins to sink, 154 passengers escape to safety. I guess the holidays just really stress some people out: "a 27-year-old man turned himself in to police early this morning after allegedly shooting his brother-in-law to death following a Thanksgiving celebration." Christ, did somebody burn the turkey? And the long lines waiting for Black Friday deals weren't......

Norman Mailer, the controversial and beloved novelist and winner two Pulitzer Prizes died today in New York City of acute renal failure. The author of almost 50 books, Mailer lived a life beset by tragedy, triumph and tribulation. He once ran for Mayor of NYC and was almost stabbed to death by one of his wives. Mailer was 84. Out of the ashes of one fire in San Diego, a man sold a charred,......

a writer's perspective The negotiating committees for the WGA and AMPTP are meeting today in a last-ditch effort to avert a strike. Personally, given the vitriolic rhetoric that has been spewed between the two parties, the cocky swagger of the producers, and the overwhelming solidarity of the writers, I find it hard to believe that we are headed anywhere other than the picket line come first thing tomorrow morning. There is a perverse inexplicable......

Sometimes I think the sign out front ought to read: EL INDIO: PROUDLY HELPING DRUNKS SOAK UP THE ALCOHOL FOR OVER 30 YEARS! 24-hours a day, this Northridge taco stand buzzes with a steady stream of policemen, students, and blue collar joes. But El Indio really starts hopping after the bars close down. Everyone in the valley knows this is the hotspot for post-party tacos. I secretly enjoy eavesdropping on packs of club-hopping young......

If the department stores can put their Christmas merch out already, we can sure as hell start celebrating Halloween! Friday, October 12th Rosemary's Billygoat, who always put on a special-effects extravaganza along with some serious rocking, will be playing at The Haunt at the Northridge Fashion Center. There will also be three haunted houses and a Fall Festival. Rosemary's Billygoat plays at 9pm. The CIA (California Institute of Abnormal Arts) in North Hollywood's Fright Night......

Bloc Party, Justice, Satellite Party, Kinky, Comedians of Comedy, Turbonegro, Teddybears, The Raveonettes, Shout Out Louds, Autolux, Celebrity Skin, others @ Detour Festival Dengue Fever, Mia Doi Todd, Chuchito Valdes, The Pity Party, others @ Eagle Rock Music Festival Kenny Burrell, The Pete Escovedo Family Orchestra (with Sheila E.), others @ Jazz at Drew Natalie Cole, Sheryl Lee Ralph, RuPaul, Linda Hopkins, Loretta Devine, Ann Nesby, Deniece Williams, Jennifer Holliday, others @ Divas Simply......

Every time I go to a city of Los Angeles fair of some type, I walk away with a lot of free quality swag. I've made off with countless CFL lightbulbs, useful maps, emergency supply kits and even Port Police lip balm (yeah, sexy). Today, is one of the four 16th Annual Dare to Prepare Emergency Preparedness Fairs (.pdf) taking place in the city this month, which happens to be National Preparedness Month. If all......

A recent study put out in the September issue of Geology has concluded that the Los Angeles basin is in a 1,000 year seismic “lull”. Meaning the era we are living in has smaller and less frequent earthquakes than the Los Angeles area normally has. (Normal referring to the average for the last 12,000 years) Now my first reaction is to say, what? Lull? This certainly doesn’t seem like a lull period to me,......

Every time I meet someone who just moved here, I am able to spew out facts that surprise them. For one, except for this past year, it rains here in the winter. Sometimes weeks at a time. Two, we have a subway and if they happened to find their first apartment near it, well lucky them for avoiding some gridlock. Finally, the 1994 Northridge earthquake was nothing compared to what's coming, so welcome to......