Here to make your Saturday more absurd is a video lunch by the legendary Los Angeles public access personality, Francine Dancer. Fair warning to the modest or underage, she shows a lot of tush during these exuberant dance sequences. Despite her clear display of dexterity Ms. Dancer was often seen wheelchair-ing around Hollywood when not in the studio making variety show history. more ›

LA Weekly nicely profiles activist and public-access television star Zuma Dogg who is running for mayor on the March ballot. But the story is much more than just Zuma, it's about shutting down public-access. "If everything unfolds as planned, on January 1, Time Warner, which owns more than 90 percent of the cable-television market in Los Angeles, will walk away from operating 12 public-access studios in L.A, which help everyday people to create hundreds of hours of content on 11 freewheeling, neighborhood-based public channels." During former Mayor James Hahn's administration, a needs assessment produced by the city supported public-access saying it fostered "participation in the democratic process.” Mayor Villaraigosa's Office, who produced their own study, said “we will cease to use the public-access studios as pursuant to the law." more ›

Guest Day Editor Zuma Dogg will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site as well as Mayor Sam where he contributes. He also wrote an article in the current edition of the LA Weekly This where ZD got his start! Public Access Adelphia/Time Warner! Whoooooo!... more ›

The good thing about Chicago is that the beach that lines its Eastern border is all public beach. That's not so true about the city's suburbs. And in Malibu, it's tricky at best (remember the whole Geffen debacle?) But there are workarounds and if you want to get your sexy nerd tan on, the Los Angeles Urban Rangers have announced their "Malibu Public Beaches" Safari: The "Malibu Public Beaches" safaris will show you how... more ›

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously last week to sell billionaire David Geffen a 10-foot buffer zone of the public beach that abuts his Carbon Beach-front property in Malibu. For about $140,000, the Trip-C supposedly put to rest a decades-long debate over Geffen's property rights (Geffen finally granted access to the beach in 2005). We visited Carbon Beach to assess how this deal might work out and found only about a dozen or so... more ›