Zipcar, the world's largest and most popular car-sharing program, is setting up spots in West Hollywood next week. WeHo will welcome the fleet to the city on Wednesday, February 15. more ›

When California-based rental and streaming hub Netflix announced upcoming pricing plan changes, investors were delighted, while consumers were irate. Under the new plans, subscribers who now want to get discs by mail and access content online for streaming will have to purchase two plans for a combined cost that reflects a 60% price increase from what they currently pay for the same services. more ›

Your days of enjoying a combo plan of getting a disc or two via those red envelopes in the mail and streaming content from California-based Netflix are numbered, kids. Starting September 1, the popular site is implementing separate plans for streaming and physical disc borrowing. more ›

Gentlemen (and ladies) take note: Los Angeles has been ranked by Rent.com as the 6th best city in the country for mixing and mingling. L.A.'s "exciting nightlife and urban appeal" is great for our 50/50 mix of single men and women, says the rental resource via an email release. more ›

Sorry smokers! Pasadena is working on an ordinance that would slowly phase out the ability to smoke in apartment buildings and units. The Pasadena City Council instructed the City Attorney's office to "draft a ordinance that would ban smoking in common areas of apartment buildings by the summer; ban smoking in all proposed multi-unit housing; require a disclosure of the law in rental, lease or purchase agreements by January 2012 and ban smoking in apartment units by January 2013," according to the Star-News. more ›

It probably won't come us a surprise to many that Blockbuster, once the market leader in home video rentals, is preparing to file for bankruptcy. "Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a 'pre-planned' bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks," reports the LA Times. more ›

Think it's more expensive to rent a place to live in New York than here in Los Angeles? Think again--at least according to national rankings released this week by the Center for Housing Policy. more ›

We once heard someone say finding a new apartment every year or so is a "Los Angeles thing to do." True or not, apartment hunting is a big business here--from Westside Rentals to various other pay websites to the free Craigslist where free rent can be found, provided you're willing to throw in some spanking and leather here and there. more ›

Tenants who enjoy puffing away in Santa Monica may soon have to butt out if Santa Monicans for Non-Smoking Renters Rights has their way. Local self-proclaimed "tree hugger" Jerry Rubin is leading the call to put in place "what would arguably be the country's tightest restrictions on smoking -- a ban on the practice in apartments, condos, duplexes and any 'multi-family units' in the city," according to the LA Weekly. Rubin and the renters' rights group believe that tenants shouldn't suffer the effects of "third-hand smoke" and are endorsing the kind of ban first proposed in SaMo by Santa Monica Rent Control Board member Robert Kronovet; they don't govern such legalities, however, and it remains to be seen how far Rubin and the Non-Smoking Renters will get with the city council, who do. more ›

There's been a lot of bicycle talk on LAist today and here's one more: the idea of bicycle sharing in Los Angeles has been mulled over about quite a bit and next week, a city panel will examine (.pdf) using a site near Olvera Street and Union Station for a variation that theme--bicycle rentals. From a motion introduced last month: more ›

This house is so big, it has its own website. Too bad they claim it's in Beverly Hills when in reality, it's in Los Angeles's 5th District... but we digress with zip code minutia. This more-than-9,000-square-foot home has nine bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a six car garage, four bars and six fire places. more ›

Neverland Ranch is now someone else's problem. Michael Jackson gave the Santa Barbara County pad earlier this year and has moved into the Playboy Mansion neighborhood of Holmby Hills. He didn't buy a new home, though, he's renting... for the reasonable price of $100,000 a month. The $38 million home has seven bedrooms, 13 baths, 12 fireplaces, a screening room a wine cellar, garden, swimming pool and guest house, finds TMZ. more ›

• In part to honor the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and in part to "increase the peace" a 40-hour moratorium on violence goes into effect for the City of Los Angeles starting at 6:01 p.m. tonight. Do your part!
• Because "You can't fire me...I QUIT!" lacks that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, perhaps? An employee in the midst of getting the boot today in Industry stabbed his boss with a pocket knife.
• 31-year-old Keven Lee Graff was sentenced to two life terms in prison today for two murders he committed in June 2004. Graff, a former Marine who is homeless, beheaded a 91-year-old screenwriter then murdered his 69-year-old neighbor.
• The mother of the dead baby found earlier this week near a home in Santa Ana has been arrested by US Marshals after a short stand-off in Henderson, NV. 20-year-old Michelle Pedroza used to reside in one of the houses near where the infant's corpse was discovered by a resident.
• A crowd of about 4,500 gathered today to honor firefighter Brent Lovrien, who died on the job last week in an explosion. His services were held downtown at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and he was remembered as a man with "a true sense of loyalty."
• Actor Chris Rock took the stand for about 15 minutes this morning to testify in the trial of pro-snoop Anthony Pellicano, who allegedly used some shady methods to do is generally shady job. Rock hired the private dick to dig up dirt on a model who claimed the comedian knocked her up.
• Ever wonder if renting a garage is legit in the city? CurbedLA reminds us about housing and tenancy laws in their Ask Curbed column.
• In the days before WeHo, there was grub The Gay Way... EatingLA gives us a culinary chuckle and throwback with a photo of a 1940s era downtown eatery.