Ah, summer. Santa Monica is packed with locals and tourists, fun and food seekers, fishermen, and families. But the Santa Monica Pier wasn't the main draw a half century ago--it was all about Pacific Ocean Park a few miles down the way, which was built to rival Disneyland, but ultimately fell into disrepair. Your video lunch today is a look back at "POP" through the lens of years gone by, and a few vintage videos. more ›

Santa Monica was home to the first food truck lot, but, despite its success, it lasted one whole day. The city shut it down over zoning issues and put the concept to study. That was January. more ›

Several years ago, I used to be a Westsider and part of my weekly routine was to hit up the beach, whether playing ball on the blacktop at Venice, laying out and reading a book at Ocean Park, or people watching at Santa Monica. It was super-relaxing to be out in the sun, soaking up the ocean breeze, and enjoying the local culture. Part of the culture was stopping off at some of the eccentric beachfront shacks to grab a bite and talk with the help. more ›

Few new businesses get me as excited as new used bookstores. For a city this large, L.A. can certainly afford some new additions. I was happy to hear about Kulturas Bookstore at the corner of Ocean Park Boulevard and 17th Street in Santa Monica. The shop was opened in January by Andrew MacDonald and Irene Coray, who moved here after running the store in downtown Washington D.C. for 20 years. I went in there... more ›

Domenic will be discussing "Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece" at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena next Saturday, July 23, 2005 at. 3:00 PM. He'll be joined by Van Dyke Parks, Danny Hutton & Wilson collaborator Tony Asher at the reading. Go early, the reading at Book Soup last week attracted a large crowd. more ›

A police raid on a massage parlor in the Pico Neighborhood resulted in two employees being charged with prostitution. more ›

Gawker.com informs us that an upcoming profile on Damon Dash in Details includes several anecdotes about Dash and his posse driving the streets of LA while toking copious amounts of potent weed (indeed, the writer sacrifices "journalistic objectivity" for the sake of winning his subject's trust by inhaling with the gang). more ›

Sunday 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM more ›