It's not only Echo Park who is getting major kudos from the American Planning Association, the 3.5 mile long Santa Monica Beach was named as one of the Great Public Spaces in America today. "The designation stems from the beach's commitment to accessibility, environmental stewardship and historic preservation, and maintaining its distinctive character," their report says which introduces the space as "the birthplace of 'beach culture,' a place where human theater unfolds daily against the......

Pelicans in Huntington Beach, like these in Marina Del Rey, may have been the target of criminals | Photo by doisneau via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Pelicans in Huntington Beach have apparently been targeted by someone who is deliberately breaking their wings, leading ultimately to the birds' deaths. 11 brown pelicans have died in a three-day span, which has alerted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who are investigating the deaths and......

Most of the locations for this Saturday's Coastal Cleanup Day (view complete map) This Saturday morning, some 11,000 volunteers at more than 70 beaches and inland sites throughout the LA area will be participating in Heal the Bay's Coastal Cleanup. They estimate that this year's cleanup will mark their one millionth pound of picked-up trash since the event began in 1990. And with so many sites, there's always room for more people to join......

Video last month of an albino dolphin via the Beach Blog A Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari of the coast of Dana Point turned into something of a rare event last month when a pod of dolphins joined the side of a boat, including a rare albino or “pink” dolphin (see above video). Then yesterday two were spotted off the coast of Newport Beach by people on the Ocean Explorer, a sightseeing boat out......

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/travel_places/Hottest_Beach_Volleyball_Tournament_of_the_Year_2'; Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor did us proud at the Olympics this year. The two Californians by birth brought us home the Gold. And just one weekend before the games began, Manhattan Beach put on their own famous "Six Man" Volleyball Tournament, which would definitely win the gold if tournaments would compete each against each other. The games are a mix of "world-class players, top college stars and disguised AVP pros"......

Earlier this month, a mysterious fireball flew over the Los Angeles region. And now today, an e-mail tipster sends this to our inbox: "There was some sonic boom noise in Santa Monica, and all my neighbors reported hearing it, but nobody could figure out what this was. Have you heard of it? My coworker swears she saw a 'low flying shooting star that exploded over the ocean.'" Santa Monica Police report no calls about anything......

The official count for Glow in Santa Monica this weekend is now at 200,000 people with 75,000 there at the same time, according to the Santa Monica Police Department. For the most part, comments left on an LAist post (and other sites) about the event were very strong and negative. However, from there, the biannual event can only come back in 2010 as a slamming success, drawing the same large crowd and pleasing even more......

An estimated 44,000 people visited the first Glow Festival tonight in Santa Monica (Update: the estimates are now to 200,000 people total with the highest peak at one time at 75,000 people, according to police) . The 10 Freeway was jammed late into the night and the oceanside city was packed from the promenade to the beach. Tons of people were having a good time, but many were overheard saying, "where's the art?" How was......

The shark attack near Catalina Island this past weekend is the 148 confirmed shark attacks along the Pacific Coast since 1900, according to the OC Register's Beach Blog. They say most have been investigation attacks and not predatory. “The shark was not interested at all in eating her, otherwise it would have stayed in the area and eaten her," explained Shark expert Ralph Collier. Over the weekend, a woman kayaking off Catalina was flung into......

A woman kayaking off the coast of Catalina Island had a close encounter with a shark this weekend. "I couldn't believe it and all of a sudden when I seen the fin I realized this is not a whale -- this is a shark," she told KCAL9. "By the time I thought that ... the shark was already cruising under me and lifting the kayak up with its body, and I landed out of the......

Kayaking the LA River in Sherman Oaks (more photos here) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found the Los Angeles River unnavigable, therefore it is not a river. Critics say it will weaken rules that protect the watershed under the Clean Water Act. "They believe the ripple effect of the decision will make is easier to develop large areas of the Santa Susana, Santa Monica and San Gabriel......

...and then America pants and wheezes after half a block The state fitness data released yesterday found that LAUSD students "are less physically fit than the state average" (Daily News). There's no surprise in that. But you have to admit, it's really lame. We live in California for heaven sakes! This isn't flatland cornfield Illinois where gym class is a required five days a week, kindergarten through senior year (and that state still has......

So at first this was going to be a whole “Chronicle in the Life of a Hollywood Hipster” type of deal. But let's face it. I'm not a hipster, I am hip (in the non-sarcastic, semi-sincere sense), but definitely not a Hollywood Hipster. I hate Hollywood hipsters. Even more than that, I hate Silverlake/Los Feliz hipsters. You know them, they take themselves way too seriously with their severe haircuts and super tight pants. Bastards. Anywho,......

Says the nerd... Maybe 5 questions were too much to start with? Maybe they were too hard. Sadly, with only one serious response and only one correct answer out of those five - it's a sad state of affairs for LA City Nerdisms. Let's help correct that by at least adding 5 new tidbits of LA City Nerdism into the vernacular: 1. Before the 2005 opening of LAPD's Mission Division in the San Fernando Valley,......