Partying at The Standard Hotel's poolside | Photo by skampy via Flickr The City of West Hollywood's Planning Commission met the other night to discuss the Standard Hotel's request to extend their poolside hours to 1:30 a.m. from the current weekend midnight closing (closes at 10 p.m. on weekdays), keeping the hotel's poolside bar competitive with other Sunset Strip nightlife options. B-Side Blog attended the meeting to support the idea, but left the meeting......

On Monday, not many people in Los Angeles knew the name Jack Chiang, a city planner overseeing a project in Valley Village. Then on Tuesday, The Daily News published the Department of Planning staffer's name. Come Wednesday, the LA Times caught on. Why all the sudden popularity? Sometimes when you pick up the phone and dial a number, you call the wrong person and leave a message.A Los Angeles City Council panel voted Tuesday......

The former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa, visited Los Angeles planners and MTA employees last week to spread some words of wisdom on transforming Los Angeles into a transit paradise.  Downtown News reported that his introduction to the group was pithy: "We [LA] were talking about [the solutions] and then Peñalosa just went and did it."  He did it with 1,200 urban parks, restricted car use in downtown Bogotá, and pedestrian-only streets (one......

Nick Pacheco has announced his candidacy for LA City Council Member from District 14 in Northeast Los Angeles. Pacheco held this position two years ago, then lost it to Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now be vacating it to become mayor. The LA Times suggests that school board president Jose Huizar and state senator Gil Cedillo are also likely candidates for the seat. What do these guys stand for? Judging by a recent interview with......

After complaints at Mayor Sam’s Sister City and the relaunched West L.A. Online blog about the lack of news (and websites) in the LA City Council District 11 race, we have a sudden spate of updates. First, current 11th District representative Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski, has endorsed Flora Gil Krisiloff to replace her. Krisiloff, former president of the West LA Area Planning Commission, is the chair of the Brentwood Community Council. Miscikowski, who is well-respected......