We have it on good authority that the gentlemen behind Handsome Coffee Roasters are, in fact, handsome. That aside, they make damn delicious coffee, as home brewers of their beans and visitors to their previews and pop-ups will attest. more ›

In a ranty-style self-described "love letter" to New York City, writer Laura L.M. Hill uses Los Angeles--well, her weird, limited version of it--to complain about how hotels are currently doing business. The target of her ire is a new hotel that touts to its guests the need to never leave the property, because the amenities on-site are so terrific. more ›

Los Angeles-based indie soul group Fitz and The Tantrums occupied Wall Street on Thursday, performing unplugged renderings of their hits "MoneyGrabber" and "Dear Mr. President" at Zuccotti Park. Appropriately suited for the times, "MoneyGrabber" sings about being run dry and paybacks while "Dear Mr. President" asks the Prez to please put his foot down. more ›

America's favorite ginger Conan O'Brien will personally perform a same-sex wedding during tonight's show on TBS. Airing from NYC, the event marks the first same-sex wedding on late night television. Please note: The wedding is not a comedy bit. It's a "real, legally binding, same-sex marriage between our show's costume designer, Scott Cronick, and his partner, David Gorshein," explains Conan during last night's mention of the upcoming nuptials. more ›

In a bit over a week "Conan" heads to NYC and we'll be there too. --- We've found a ton of TV/comedy podcasts that you should check out. --- People's Choice Awards nominations start today. --- We have a very simple TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan tonight. more ›

On the morning of July 24, a group of nearly one dozen brave, ambitious, relentless LAFD active-duty members and Southern California firefighters began their "Ride for 9-11" across fifteen states over the course of 47 days. more ›

New York City's investment in television production is bearing a lot of fruit with 23 primetime shows now being made in the city. --- Shawn Ryan, creator of "The Shield" and "Terriers," has a new show in the works for ABC. --- We've got a great clip of Louis C.K. on "Conan." --- Not much on primetime tonight, check the TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan. more ›

Lonely Planet is once again poking the bear of bi-coastal rivalry for the purposes of a poll. The travel guide gurus initially courted controversy in January by starting an SF vs NYC match up, and while SFist noted that "comparing San Francisco to New York City is like comparing chocolate to peanut butter (or something like that)," the silliness of the battle didn't stop the city from clicking, commenting and competing bravely. Verdict: NYC had their tushies handed to them on a cable car. more ›

Before yesterday's arrest of a man suspected of leaving a car bomb in New York City's Times Square on Saturday, Southland police agencies were already taking note. more ›

The love people have for SoCal's In-N-Out burgers is no joke, but the notion of the chain opening up a location right in the heart of New York City is. more ›

Last night New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn visited Occidental College to school Los Angeles on how they improved transportation for New Yorkers. One big suggestion? Pilot programs. more ›

New York City recently lost one of its most popular food bloggers to Los Angeles. Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch, which searches the city for "inexpensive (under $10), authentic, unique and interesting quick service lunch" that can also be "an adventure in urban lunching," is now exploring L.A. one meal at a time, with friends and cohorts continuing his vision in NYC and Philadelphia. more ›

In the interminable search for some of the best pizza in the Los Angeles area, we find ourselves at Mulberry Street Pizzeria in Beverly Hills, an early 90s stronghold now with two additional locations, another in Beverly HIlls and one in Encino. Reviews on Yelp are mostly all positive and raving, but there are those who offer a sharp contrast to this New York style pizzeria--in the battle over pizza in L.A., you can't win them all. more ›

While elections locally weren't exactly a topic around town, they were nationally and the outcomes are still relevant to Los Angeles and California. One year after Prop 8, which banned gay marriage in California, Maine faced a similar fate. After the state's assembly and governor approved gay marriage earlier this year, the voter-initiated Question 1 was placed on the ballot asking "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" Question 1 passed with XX% of the vote. more ›

Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was found dead in New York City today around 2 p.m. local time. Apparently, he hadn't been seen for days until friends contacted authorities who broke down the door to his apartment. "Sources said drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment and cops are looking into whether it was an overdose," said the New York Post. Less than a year ago, Goldstein survived a plane crash that killed four people, and critically injured him and Blink-182's Travis Barker. He was also known for his relationships with Nicole Richie and Mandy Moore. His final tweet was a "New York, New York" lyric from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: "New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems." [Update: Ironically, MTV had ordered a show where AM would help families stage interventions on their drug-addicted loved ones.] more ›

Kogi BBQ is making a special New York City appearance today in Midtown, drawing hundreds of curious about our city's food truck sensation. It seems, not even New Yorkers are used to this kind of attraction. "Wow, that's some crazy line! I think it will be easier to just hope on a plane to LA!" said one commenter on Gothamist. The blog Midtown Lunch live blogged the one hour appearance, watching 200 people get a kimchi quesadilla along with a chocolate mousse with peanut butter center from Kogi's host, The Dessert Truck. Of note was that Lee Anne Wong from season one of Top Chef was cooking. "She is now the executive chef of east coast operations of Kogi BBQ and will be in charge of the first Kogi BBQ truck in New York," the blog announced. more ›

While hovering helicopters are commonplace for Angelenos, folks in downtown Manhattan (understandably) are wary when they see low-flying planes. And that's what happened this morning: They spotted a low-flying plane being tailed by fighter jets. Some buildings were evacuated while others told employees they were staying put—and then the FAA explained "the Defense Department is conducting a photo op that involves deploying two F-16s and escorting a Boeing 747 in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty... the maneuver was not an emergency and was coordinated in advance with the FAA and state and local officials." (The Boening 747 was one of the planes that the President uses, but President Obama was not on board.) Of course, the warning from NYC government came right at the same time as the maneuver, not in advance, because the feds apparently didn't want the flight to be disclosed. So, this is clearly a Department of Defense FAIL, right? Update: NYC Mayor Bloomberg is "furious" (apparently he didn't know about the flyover!) and now t he White House has apologized. more ›

Last night, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people gathered for a protest outside the Church of Latter Day Saints' Manhattan Mormon Temple and march down Broadway to Columbus Circle. more ›

This is one of those times it's good to be behind in the polls. Chicagoist reports: "We're third in population, but first in murders. For the first time in 10 years, Chicago has surpassed New York City in murders (and L.A. to boot). As of Tuesday, Chicago has had 426 murders so far in 2008 compared to 417 for New York City and 302 for L.A." more ›

After reports that 10 members of congress, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein, received letters and photos in the mail that possibly claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing in Times Square, the FBI did the obvious thing: go to the man's house who was listed on the return address. Nothing turned up when they questioned the man. "We're continuing to investigate, but right now there is no evidence linking the individual being questioned to the incident in New York or the letters themselves," Eimiller said to KNBC. more ›

Update 8:25am, 3/7: "Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said an individual was questioned there about the letters to Congress and "there is no evidence linking the letters, which contained no threat, to the bombing," according to ABC7.

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It's about time. As of today, NYC Streets Renaissance's StreetsBlog has officially franchised out to our city, that is, you know, duhhhh, full of streets and the love and hate of them. NYC Blogger Aaron Naparstek welcomes the LA Editor and so do we! more ›

If you cannot make it to hear the amazing jazz vocalist, Julia Fordham, at The Roxy tonight, opening up at Hotel Cafe tonight is Tiffany Randol, who we caught at one of <strong>Alex & Sam's Tangier shows. The front woman of NYC based glam rock band, Valeze, has now gone solo singer/songwriter style, making Los Angeles her second home, and is bringing out a new sound that is more folk-acoustic-pop than anything. The LA newbie can belt out her lyrics like a pro and her body and hips swing as if the music has seduced her in some kind of trance. Later at the Hotel Cafe, one of acoustic favs plays his last night of the Hotel Cafe residency -- stay for Brian Wright and the Waco Tragedies. ~ Z.B. more ›

The first rule of Monday Night Fight Klub: Leave the dancing to the stars and the singing to wannabe idols. The MTV2 show is auditioning rap stars to be on the show’s second season. more ›

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. I'm sure they will have enough presenters but perhaps there won't be as many "mega-stars", thus leaving room for more indie-types. more ›

I discovered this street art on 8th, just west of Grand in downtown LA last week. more ›

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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 they were shooting Dexter, for scenes that were gory, had nudity, or strong language, they shot alternate footage meant for broadcast TV. On Sunday we'll see if the result is a dumbed down and boring version of our favorite serial killer. more ›

If you're like me and you hate pro football, or if you're looking for something to do after Football Team A defeats Football Team B in the field of Superbowly Combat, go to The Scene in Glendale tonight, and see NYC based Indie Pop Band Murder Mystery, along with LA's The Tartans and Oxnard's Maria. more ›