When the original owner of Griffith Park, Don Antonio Feliz died of small pox in 1863, he left his extensive land holdings to Don Antonio Coronel. Subsequently, his blind, destitute 17 year old niece, Dona Petronilla, cursed the land -- great misfortune would come to whoever owned it. One by one, Coronel's family died from misfortune and disease. He left the land to his wife, who married again only to have her husband try......

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......

Angels fans can be quite snooty. They find Dodger Stadium to be dirty and violent. Thanks to the Gwendolyn Driscoll of the Orange County Register, I can now refute one of those claims. In the last 2 1/2 years Orange County officials found 118 vermin violations at stadium kiosks and restaurants. Of those reports, 33 represent "major" violdations, in which "rodent activity" was observed by health inspectors in a "critical area" of 18 stadium......

(+44) - When Your Heart Stops Beating (Interscope) Ali B - Ali B Presents ... Air Breaks (Air) And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - So Divided (Interscope) April Wine - Roughly Speaking (April Wine) Bad Astronaut - Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment (Fat) Johnny Cash - At San Quentin (two CDs and one DVD; Columbia) Cassettes - 'Neath the Pale Moon (Buddyhead) Cee-Lo - Closet Freak (Arista/Legacy) Depeche......

After anesthesiologists delayed this morning's execution due to medical ethics, the execution was then set to happen tonight at 7:30 p.m. Once again the execution has been delayed until further discussions happen in May. Listen: NPR Read: L.A. Times Article Read: CNN.com "Developing Story" Watch: CBS 2 Read: Daily Breeze Article Listen: The On-Again Off-Again Execution of Michael Morales on Which Way, L.A.? on KCRW (show taped before announcement of execution) Photo by Daniel......

Stan Tookie Williams was pronounced dead at 12:35 this morning in San Quentin, after being executed by lethal injection for the deaths of four people in 1979. The Los Angeles Times website has extensive coverage on Williams' death. One article headline reads that "Williams Accepts Execution Quietly." (On the other side of town, the Daily News lead story notes that Brokeback Mountain leads all Golden Globe nominations. (Is it us, or is there something......

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Crips founder Stan Tookie Williams this afternoon. A last-minute reprieve for Tookie is considered a longshot, and unless something dramatic happens in the 11th hour, Williams will be put to death by lethal injection just after midnight in San Quentin. If it happens, Williams will be just the 12th person to be executed in California since death penalty was re-established in 1977. Williams was convicted in 1981 of......