Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. Saying the name ‘Park Avenue’ evokes images of wealth, of tony living, of elegance and class (or of crappy Buicks if you’re into cars). Kinda like Rodeo Drive. It’s the antithesis of the working class, the regular everyday lifestyle that most of us experience.... more ›

This weekend Echo Park is hosting its annual Lotus Festival, featuring a variety of entertainment, booths, and food vendors. The event encourages a sharing of the cultures of Asian and Pacific Island communities, and is timed to coincide with the blooming of the lotus blossom. Festivities continue Sunday from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, California, located on Park Avenue between Glendale Avenue and Echo Park Boulevard, just north... more ›

If you’ve missed all the bright orange book ads and have ducked all the media coverage (New York, The New Yorker, Vogue), you’re one of the few readers who hasn’t heard of The Manny, alleged to be this summer’s Devil Wears Prada: chick-lit for the beach, right-coast division. It’s a simple story: Glam Park Avenue working wife juggles her high-powered network news job, her sullen, money-obsessed lawyer husband, and three adorable children. She hires... more ›

Ken Layne is the West Coast editor of Wonkette.com. Each week he makes another ridiculous claim about his LAist feature: This week, it's apparently a real-estate column or something! How about paying $1,500 a month for 30 years for a no-bedroom loft over a single-car garage in a cramped corner of Echo Park? With six grand per year in property taxes and insurance and maintenance, that's $24,000 a year for three decades -- $720,000 in... more ›

We all know that Los Angeles is changing, and it’s changing fast in more ways than LAist can count. Media attention is generally focused on L.A. as global city containing immigrants from all over the globe and where Anglo residents are no longer the majority. This commentary by Gregory Rodriguez in the points to another interesting fact—that the urban “core” from Hollywood to Downtown might be experiencing “a quiet Anglo reconquista.” LAist won’t take on the pro- vs. anti-gentrification debate now, but the piece will get you thinking about the many implications of demographic trends, particularly vis-à-vis some of our most beloved neighborhoods. more ›