1812: A major earthquake struck Southern California, destroying the church at Mission San Juan Capistrano and damaging the San Gabriel Mission. 1873: J. R. Toberman, Mayor approved a franchise for a street railway which have a run "commencing at Temple and Spring Streets, and along Spring to First; First to Fort Street, (now Broadway); Fort Street to Fourth Street, Fourth to Hill Street, on Hill to Fifth Street; on Fifth to Olive Street; on......

The folks at Omni Hotels realize that many of you are still hungering for an Apple iPhone, and they have two cool ways to feed you this week. First, each hotel location will be giving away a brand spanking new iPhone, and there is no purchase necessary. All you have to do to be entered in the sweepstakes is to get yourself down to our local Omni Hotel, which is located Downtown in California Plaza,......

Though we don't necessarily love fatty fowl liver and absinthe, the idea of chef Robert Gadsby's Outlaw Dinner is appealing simply because of controversy. We love controversy. On July 27th, Chef Gadsby will present a seven-course dinner at his downtown LA restaurant Noe in the Omni Hotel featuring foods that are a little bit, well, taboo. The menu is inspired by recent attacks on delicacies like fois gras, morel mushrooms, absinthe, hemp seeds, and......

The Olive Street blob is still a mystery, the LA Times reports. While the hot-water flushing of a nearby oil well seemed to be the source of the problem, stopping the flushing hasn't stopped the oozing goo. Maybe there's a leak. Maybe a long-stopped oil well in a parking lot on Olive Street has come alive. Only the blobmaster knows for sure. Patrons of the now-dead Al's Bar used to park near the streets......

That there black goo bluging streets and seeping through manhole covers in downtown seems to be oil, indeed. Workers at a nearby oil well were flushing old lines with high-pressure water to get any last drops of oil out — and started wrecking havoc on Olive Street. And havoc continued online. It's craziness in LA blog world this week! Blogging.la redesigns, embracing gray! LA Voice re-appends, from .org to .com! What could be next?......

At 2am officials got a call of stink in downtown LA but found nothing. But 12 hours later a "black tarry substance" was coming up through the ground, manhole covers and sidewalks along Olive Street. Oozing. Bubbling, even. 120 feet of Olive St has cracked and risen about 18 inches. An apartment building was evacuated; it may not be able to withstand the shifting ground. Exactly what the smell or substance is, where it's......

Summer in LA is so frequently associated with sunny days and balmy nights that bring the masses out for gatherings and celebrations. We gather at outdoorsy events that serve to bring us together, and let us get a little lost in the spirit of the city, and all it has to offer. Downtown's Pershing Square is banking on this sentiment, as this week they've launched their 2005 Summer Concert Series. Themed concerts on Tuesdays......