Photo by Fire Monkey Fish via flickr. Forget medical marijuana storefronts, the feds have found a new kind of place to storm into -- museums. Today, four Southern California museums, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, were raided in an attempt to bust an "alleged illegal smuggling of Southeast Asian......

I didn't want to just do a "best of" list. So this year, I've decided to take a years worth of personal New Year's Resolutions, ask around for those of friends and put a call out to readers (email me here) about things you've always wanted to know, always wanted to do and then take those requests and ask an expert, an insider to help out. The result? Here goes... Today's Resolution: "I am......

Monday Edmund White presents Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel 7pm @ Central Library Patricia Hampl presents The Florist's Daughter 7pm @ Dutton's Red Hen Press poets read their work 8pm @ Boston Court Main Stage, Pasadena Tuesday Oliver Sacks presents Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain 7pm @ Central Library Roger Director presents I Dream in Blue 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble, The Grove Francisco Goldman presents The Art of Politcal......

Monday Anne Fadiman presents At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays 7pm @ Vroman's Susan Kandel presents Christietown 7pm @ Book Soup Lori Andrews signs The Silent Assassin 7pm @ Dutton's Tuesday Todd McCarthy presents Fast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing 7pm @ Book Soup Lauren Kessler presents Dancing with Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's 7pm @ Central Library Wednesday Armistead Maupin presents Michael Tolliver Lives 7pm @ Central Library......

A decommissioned air raid siren outside of City Hall - City says avoid downtown on Tuesday. We say attend the march. - Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2 1/2 hours by train has not so bright future. - The hundreds of air raid sirens around LA will not be turned back on. - WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at MOCA is a multiple trip exhibit. - It's about time to visit the Pacific......

Monday P.J. O’Rourke signs On the Wealth of Nations 7pm @ Book Soup Adam Gopnick reads Through the Children's Gate 7:30pm @ Skirball Cultural Center Tuesday David Mamet signs Bambi vs. Godzilla 7pm @ Book Soup Edward Humes signs Monkey Girl 7pm @ Vroman’s Norman Mailer discusses Castle in the Forest with David Ulin 7:30pm @ Writers Guild Theater Daveed Gartenstein-Ross presents My Year in Radical Islam 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble Santa Monica......

"They're giving it away free? It must be good!" Put on your best pair of ripped jeans and a collared shirt (floss it, of course). It’s time for all the broke posers of LA to pretend they’re cultured! You can’t miss with the second annual "Museums Free-For-All" day on Sunday, October 1. Of course, those broke non-posers will probably realize that most of the 20 participating museums are normally completely free (Getty Center, California......

Tonight is Art Night in Pasadena, and several museums and gallery spaces will be opening their doors to the public for free from 6-10 p.m. with free shuttle service between venues. Participants include the Armory Center for the Arts, the Student Gallery at the Art Center College of Design, the Norton Simon Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Pasadena Museum of History, and many more. At the Norton Simon you can......