Photo by Jamie Cochran Photo+Design via Flickr digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Nude_Beach_in_California_Shut_Down_by_Gov_t'; As of July 1st, Trail 6 at San Onofre State Beach will no longer by "clothing-optional." A few problems have caused this, one of which, is the popularity of the beach (which includes regular beaches). "It's no longer one of those remote beaches that is out of sight and out of mind, that few people go to," State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns told the......

Photo by An Tran/LAist The Silver Lake reservoir has been drained for sometime now due to rare photochemical reaction that created carcinogens. In June, the Department of Water and Power plans to fill it back up, but its use as a place to hold drinking water is being phased out -- it will now become purely eye candy by 2015 (as well as the nearby Ivanhoe Reservoir). So if the water aspect has no......

32-year-old Dionn Semaj Holton was taken into custody on Thursday at noon in relation to accusations by a 15-year-old male who claims he was sexual assaulted by him. Holton, a substitute teacher who came into contact with the student while working at Long Beach's Cabrillo High School, has been "charged with two counts of oral copulation of a person under 16 years of age." Allegedly, Holton had the student perform oral sex inside a Cabrillo......

View Larger Map Closures have been announced for some areas of Griffith Park due to excessive flooding and debris. The closures are Zoo Drive to Griffith Park Drive, Outbound Griffith Park Drive, In and Outbound Crystal Springs Drive and the Bird Sanctuary “The park has experienced some minor to moderate debris flows and flooding on several of its main roads and the Department will be implementing hard closure of some of areas of the park......

What will Hike The Geek do?!?! In order to face up to budget-balancing woes and a state-wide financial crunch, Governor Schwartzenegger has proposed to close 48 different national park sites, as well as cut funding to many school, health care, and criminal justice programs. Parks in the L.A. area like the Will Rogers State Historic Park, Topanga State Park, and Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier will all be shut down, affecting many......

Here is a self-portrait of Watt braving the frigid January waters off of San Pedro in the 37th annual Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears Plunge on New Year's day. As far back as anyone can remember, an informal New Year's day swim has been led by lifeguards or the Dept of Parks and Recreation at noon off of Cabrillo Beach. In 1953, John Olguin and Jack Cheaney started the Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears. John's wife, Muriel......

Don't know what to get for the gun toting rifleman who has everything? In San Francisco, turning that rifle in to authorities will net you a cool $100 gift card. Eh, you say? OK, how about $200 for AK-47s? I wonder how that conversation might go at home: Honey, where is my gun? Oh, I turned it in sweety, for $100 worth of movie rentals. You did what? Guns don't kill people, gift cards......

Now that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas Tree shopping is in order, it's a good time keep in mind that when it comes time to get rid of that tree, you can recycle it. If you have a green yard trimmings container, then you can the tree up and place it in there. If not, it's a good thing the Department of Public Works is already pushing their Christmas Tree Recycling Program that will be......

The LA Times is reporting today that the city has a near $77.5 million unspent in Quimby fees that it has been collected from developers for park space and improvements. The fees, from the California 1975 Quimby Act (not that quimby folks), require developers to help mitigate the impacts of property improvements and new development by paying a fee that goes into a city parks department fund or set aside land on the development.The......

In early September, 104 years ago, in a hotel in Santa Monica, the immigrant mining millionaire, Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith, aimed a pistol at his wife during a fit of rage and shot her in the head. Because she survived, and thanks to his political connections, Griffith only did three years in San Quentin. After he emerged from prison he still had a wild streak, but he also had an extremely generous side to......

Recent major events for the LAFD include last night's apartment fires in North Hollywood and Westchester. Busy day on LAPD's blog: a drive-by shooting yesterday, a labor day homicide, Congressman Xavier Becerra's office burglarized, two fatal Skid Row stabbings, a Carl's Jr. robbery and a fatal shooting this morning in South LA. Sparked by the recent heat-reated power outages, Matt Littman at the Huffington Post asks if Los Angeles is in permanent decay: "It......

Last year Kaiser Permanente donated $1.2 million to the city to help keep 15 city swimming pools open an extra two weeks at the end of the summer. This year Kaiser cut their donation by 90%, and still, magically the city announced that thanks to the HMO, 14 city pools will remain open two weeks longer than originally scheduled. Because of a $121,000 donation from Kaiser Permanente, 14 swimming pools operated by the Los......

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 &......

All fireworks in LA are illegal. Any time you drive over the speed limit, that's illegal too. Any time you drink a few more beers than you should and get behind the wheel, that's illegal. And any time you lie under oath and obstruct justice when a Special Prosecutor is trying to figure out if the Vice President of the United States authorized a leak of classified information so this administration could continue to......

Yup, it's what you were thinking -- razors. The baron of a clean shave himself, King Camp Gillette, bought this land off of the now Mulholland Hwy in 1926 after making a fortune in the early 1900s off of the safety razor. Today, his home and ranch are open to the public for the first time. Near the entrance of Malibu Creek State Park, the 588-acre park was collaboratively purchased for $35 million by......

As of next Thursday, the Summer Solstice, it will be a little more than 6-weeks since the Griffith Park fire. What better way than celebrate the longest summer day by hiking into the night with city councilman Tom LaBonge through his district's treasure - Griffith Park. "I seem to be hiking Griffith Park more than ever now. Every day I see something else surprising," writes LaBonge in his weekly newsletter. "This week, there are......

Parks and Recreation (RAP) has a blog dedicated to the Griffith Park Recovery. Yesterday afternoon, they updated the blog to list new areas that are open. Now we can get our Apple Pie at Trails Cafe. Yay! Oak Canyon Trail Lower Skyline Trail Rattlesnake Trail Amir's Garden Bicycle Rental Merry Go Round Mineral Wells Picnic Area Shane’s Inspiration Trails Cafe Upper Ferndell Area/Section 9 In the news: More areas are opened to public at Griffith......

After yesterday's citizen forester training, we decided to join a tree planting up in Lake View Terrace in the Northeast Valley to see a citizen forester in action. A teenage girl led it for her Girl Scout troop, planting 25 trees at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center. Supported by TreePeople, the morning was a cinch. It began with sign-ins and registration, followed by opening remarks and training. Then groups spread out to plant......

Starting this Thursday May 3rd, our little bohemian neighborhood that could, Silver Lake, will be holding its nine day long, 7th annual Silver Lake Film Festival, complete with indie movies, indie music, and even indie darling Parker Posey accepting the “Spirit of Silver Lake” award. Right in the shadow of the bright lights, doctored scripts and smarmy agents of Hollywood, SLFF, dares the big studios to F with them. 2007’s SLFF kicks off tomorrow......

Now that the 2008 race is underway, the young idealist masses are flocking to grassroots campaigns and meetings- one of which is being held tomorrow, Tuesday night, when the Los Angeles Barack Obama for President group will have its February meet up. In what started in early December, the momentum of this group has continued to escalate. Tomorrow night will be just the second meeting in an effort to build a solid infrastructure to......

It is a shame that it took us a year and some months after the Orange Line's opening to bike it from end to end. So we braved the chilly weather today and did it. We even did it from the Clybourn St. Burbank border on the Chandler Bike Path that connects to the City of Burbank's 4-mile bike path. One way, the Orange Line ride is 14 miles (add 1.2 miles for the......

Before motions come to City Council for discussion, they hit the committees. Next Wednesday, the Arts, Parks, Health & Aging Committee Meeting will discuss two interesting items we might see hitting the newsstands in months to come: Motion(Huizar - LaBonge) relative to Chief Legislative Analyst and City Administrative Officer to report with recommendations on how to restrict the prevalence of trans fat in foods served in dining establishments in the City. Motion (LaBonge - Perry)......

Pershing Square has once again transformed into a frozen wonderland of twisted ankles and bruised tailbones. This lovely, downtown park spends most of the year as a grassy knoll and concrete potty, but for a few brilliant weeks during the deep freeze of our LA winter, it becomes a glorious, outdoor ice skating rink for the entire city to enjoy. Hockey clinics, open-air movies, community and family events and live music make this a......

We just go into reverie when thinking of picking apples in orchards out in Illinois or cherries in Door County, Wisconsin. Transplant? Yes. When in LA... pick oranges and grapefruit. Twice a year, folks can head over to Orcutt Ranch in Canoga Park to pick fruit: oranges in the summer and white grapefruit in the fall. This Saturday from 7am to 2pm, it's $2 for each shopping bag you fill up and $1 to......

Well... sorta. Everyone's been having a pretty great summer, right? Dodgers are in first place, "Snakes on a Plane" didn't suck, and the heat hasn't been competely unbearable. So to add to the sweetness of the season, Kaiser Permanente and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks have joined together to keep the city swimming pools open for 13 additional days. According to CBS-2, the $1.2 million donation by the HMO creatively called......

We love Echo Park's Sea Level Records for many reasons. It's easy to find parking near the historic Jensen Recreation Center Building in which it's housed, it's small enough so we don't get that overwhelmed "oh shit, what did I come in here to get?" brain erase that happens to us at Amoeba, and they regularly have great in-store performances. They also aren't afraid to take chances. Tonight they're hosting a visual art exhibition......

If you happen to be in the area of the Greystone Mansion tonight, looking for something to do and have $75 burning in your pocket, check out the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank’s Wine Tasting and Silent Auction. Great wines are being featured from boutique wineries around California and there will also be (according to the press release) “fine chocolates and gourmet cheeses” too. Now, here at LAist, we are all for doing good......

This weekend was the 28th Annual Lotus Festival around the lake in Echo Park. The LA Department of Recreation and Parks along with the Lotus Festival Advisory Board presented a celebration of Asian culture replete with the requisite food, crafts and art vendors along with health and pet booths. The festivities this year focused on, but were not limited to, Korean customs and culture. We ate some food and took some photos and the......

There's so much to do this weekend...if you can wedge one more thing into your overcrowded calendar, please consider: REMEMBER, DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME STARTS ON SUNDAY, APRIL 3RD SO SPRING YOUR CLOCK AHEAD ONE HOUR ON SAT NIGHT. 1. The Los Angeles Book Arts Center's annual Edible Book Tea Party on Saturday, April 2, 2005. Everyone who’s interested – book artists, book lovers, foodies, children – is invited to participate by cooking up a......

The Soto Street Bridge at Mission Road and Huntington has been deemed functionally obsolete (PDF). The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks plans to remove it and replace it with "green space" and a sculpture by Los Angeles artist Stephen Glassman. Judging from Glassman's work in West Hollywood, we bet the piece will include poles made of natural material indigenous to the area and be very, very tall. We just hope......