"The neighborhood surrounding the Watts Towers presents a stark contrast to the well-maintained aesthetics of this national monument, and currently the residents have limited means to capitalize socially or economically on this cultural currency," reads a pamphlet about the Watts House Project, which self-describes themselves as an an artist-driven urban revitalization project that hopes to be a catalyst for solutions and change in the community. Leading the charge is Los Angeles artist Edgar Arceneaux who......

Saturday morning in the parking garage of The Hollywood | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist LA Goldrush is an international exchange of Graffiti artists from Italy visiting Los Angeles this week. Now in it's second year, organizers Raptuz (Milan) and Man One/Crewest Gallery (Los Angeles) have created a series of events throughout the city, one that many witnessed on Winston St. at the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday. Yesterday and today, in an event closed......

It's hard to imagine someone surreptitiously making off with something that's 7 feet tall and made of bronze, but it seems that's what has happened in a park located in the Mid-City neighborhood of Carthay Circle. Last week, residents discovered that the statue honoring a miner that had stood in their small neighborhood park had gone missing. The initial fear of the community was that the statue was snatched for scrapping, since currently there is......

In 2004, artist Peter Schulberg learned that literally tons of advertising billboards were being dumped into landfills every month. His solution to dealing with all this waste was rather novel: recycle those billboards into art. On Saturday night, the newest exhibition of these pieces is unveiled at Eco-LogicalART. Fifteen local artists have created pieces that will eventually be mounted as billboards across the city. Based on existing traffic patterns, it's estimated that 750,000 people......

Welcome Home LA, a group of students from the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, recently hit Skid Row using performance/public/street art to draw attention to the Downtown neighborhood and its issues. "We want to utilize public art and the reproduction and documentation of public art to bring attention to marginalized urban space," the Welcome Home LA website explains. "These images, which allude to homes, human presence, security and comfort, will be juxtaposed with......

Who knew that for nearly a decade, newly appointed Poet Laureate Charles Simic’s work has been on display in the unlikeliest of places in Downtown Los Angeles? At 7+FIG to be more precise. Yep. You read that right. On the plaza above the bustling food court and the retail stores stands “Portals to Poetry” (1989), a collaborative effort between Simic and artist George Herms. The piece is one of eight works commissioned for a......

So, you remember when the City had an issue knowing who the mayor of LA was back in November? Well, it appears there are still remnants of the Jim Hahn term of office on the LA City Website. As if the other issues affecting the Mayor's office aren't enough, now Villariagosa has a website that still has images of his predecessor (literally) floating around. As you can see in this screenshot, behind the "ONE" is......

LAT tells us what L.A.'s top 25 "culinary bargains" are (find more Foodie news from today here). Did you know that a Louis Vuitton store also qualified as a public art gallery? Sex, scandal and assault at the Playboy Mansion: oh my! The Walk of Fame's stars have been temporarily "displaced" to make way for the construction of the new W Hotel. City Beat pleads L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's case. A woman in......

While you were praying to your assorted gods, the City of Santa Monica was giving back to the community. Yesterday Santa Monica cut the tape at Euclid Park on the 1500 block of Euclid Street between Colorado Avenue and Broadway. Designed by the team of Rios Clementi Hale Studios and artist Abbie Baron, the park is the result of an extensive community design process that included a survey, several community meetings, two Recreation &......

- According to the LA Times, people who live next to trains and subways do not use them. - Eek! "From July 1 of 2006 to June 30 of this year, only 3.21 inches of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles — the lowest precipitation level since records started being kept in the 1880s." - After 80 mph driving and weaving on the Hollywood Freeway in March, actress Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill, Independence Day)......

New York City has won the honor for America’s Top Arts Destinations in AmericanStyle Magazine for the past three years. This year, let's change that. Vote Los Angeles because... 1. Musicals really aren't that great anyway. Small 20-seat theatres rock. 2. Barnsdall Art Park. 3. We don't destroy our murals. Wait, shit, that's us. 4. Festivals, festivals, festivals. 5. Green Umbrella Series. 6. Public Art everywhere. 7. Street Art. 8. Otis, Art Center, CalArts.......

MONDAY • Outpost Art/Temporary Services begins work on "Construction Site," " a socially interactive environment that will develop spontaneously and collaboratively in Echo Park for two weeks" based on the participation of kindly strangers and friends of public art, as well as the donation of cast-off materials. The site is open from 11 AM – 6 PM everyday, at the empty lot on Sunset between Alvarado and Park. Daily 5 PM potlucks will begin......

The Architecture and Design Museum continues to showcase Los Angeles’s finest with "34 Los Angeles Architects." The exhibition opens tomorrow with a reception at 7:00 PM, 8560 W. Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood (exhibition remains on view through February 22, 2005). According to the A + D Museum, the exhibition contains "a wide representation of an open-ended view of modernist architecture in the fertile architectural ground of Los Angeles – a cutting edge 21st......

According to a press release, the Port of L.A. has announced that four open houses will be held to present plans for the new San Pedro Waterfront Promenade. Visitors will have a chance to check out new designs and express their views directly with Port staffers and the project designers. Additions to the promenade could include dining and shopping options along with play areas for children and public art installations. Artists should check out this......