The largest mass of sand dunes in California just became more accessible with the opening of a new road today. The Bureau of Land Management opened the newly constructed Wash Road in the Imperial Sand Dunes near the southeastern corner of the state. The 15 MPH corridor, which leads to camp sites, parallels a road on a Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way no longer accessible to the public.
In early August, Manhattan Beach officials closed the popular Sand Dune Park for maintenance after a busy Summer with a high rate of visitors. About a month later, it was ready to be reopened, but didn't.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget-saving threat to close 80% of state parks for two years has the federal government raising a red flag. Numerous parks, including a handful local to Los Angeles, are under stipulations to stay open to the public because the land was fully or partially federally funded or transferred to the state from federal ownership.
The Los Angeles region has many secrets and Channel Islands National Park is one of them. The group of islands off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara are easily seen from the crowded beaches of Malibu, but most of those beach goers have never been on the other side. And while it is one of the closest National Parks to the millions who live here, it is also one of the less accessible ones. Boats don't run as consistent as the ferry's to Catalina Island and the sometimes the costs (around $50 roundtrip and up, depending on which island you visit) stop many.
Get ready to splash! Come Saturday, 34 pools will open to the public for the summer season, including the new family Aquatic Center at Jackie Tatum (Harvard) Recreation Center in South LA. Additionally, 16 year-round pools will begin their summer schedule.
It's been closed for a handful a years, but the Downey Pool between Chinatown and Lincoln Heights has begun construction and is expected to open next year June. The $2.2 million project includes a 3,000-square-foot lap pool, an 1,800-square-foot splash pad, and a 500-square-foot structure that will house new pumps and filter equipment, and chemical rooms. A pool in this park was original built in 1919, according to city documents.
The state parks that are proposed to be cut are quite beautiful and very popular--still, if they close, it's not like there's nothing left. State parks make up 23% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, leaving a good amount of acreage to the National Park Service and another state park agency local to Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (note that there is a considerable amount of private land within the Nat. Rec. Area, too).
Once upon a time it was the beachfront estate of silent movie starlet Marion Davies, built for her by her lover, the infamous newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. It was definitely a "party house" where a who's who of Hollywood's golden era would frolic in the pool and on the shore. On the 5-acre site was a mansion designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan, boasting 110 rooms.
Age does not preclude an eco-savvy lifestyle. That's at least for the seniors who will use the city's newest Senior Center for the East Valley, slated for Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park. The East Valley Senior Center just broke ground this morning and when it opens, it's sustainable design will include energy saving systems, waste recycling, and an environmentally friendly air conditioning system that should help the building fall under one of the LEED categories, according to Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's office. The building will also be efficient in another way: it merges programming and services from Recreation & Parks and Aging under one roof.
The pool at Ritchie Valens Park in Pacoima closed last springs for repairs, which was not exactly good timing for the summer season in a not-so-good neighborhood in a city traditionally known for little recreation space per capita. Councilman Richard Alarcon's office said that "due to the age of the City’s pools, the Department of Recreation and Parks is unable to fully discern the condition of the pool until the Spring when the pools are filled and cracks and leaks can be discovered." The good news today is that the pool re-opens this morning to the public.
They did it. Geroge Wolfe and the gang kayaked, from end to end, the LA River, proving that claims by the Army Corps of Engineers that the river was not navigable, thus not a river, were wrong. Looking at all of these photos says something to us. It says "we need this river for the people!"
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 functional use and takes up plenty of real estate in a city that is in desperate need of urban parkland, why not make some changes? USC journalism teacher and blogger Sara Catania has an idea:
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.
What will Hike The Geek do?!?!
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.
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.
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.
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...
UCLA Students Take Over Building in Protest of Fee Increase Vote
Jason Segel Sings His Phone Number at the Swell Season Last Night
BART Cop Murder Trial to Move to Downtown L.A., Lawyer Predicts More L.A. Riots
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Bouchon Amuses Our Bouches
John Kerry's Daughter Arrested in Hollywood for DUI
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