Hollywood has always loved a good story about a horseback journey, and that's been true for Karin Hauenstein, who I caught riding down Sunset Boulevard through traffic on Tuesday. more ›

"2011: The Adult Industry in Photos" is a candid look back at the past twelve months at a business that is headquartered in the San Fernando Valley. more ›

Two July bank robberies link to the Safari Bandit - U.S. Bank Redondo Beach on July 1 and Montecito Bank & Trust Santa Barbara on July 8. According to victims, the Safari Bandit's mustache and sideburns are fake. He is further described as a white male between 35-45 years old, 6' tall, 180 pounds and having a medium build with brown hair. Thanks to his shades, the Safari Bandit's eye color is known. more ›

A trio of Santa Barbara organizations has teamed up to launch a balloon into near space this weekend, just for kicks. Santa Barbara's Natural History Museum, Amateur Radio Club and Hackerspace have partnered to launch a high-altitude weather balloon to 100,000 feet on Saturday. more ›

Investigators now believe Ramona Price, a 7-year-old girl who went missing 50 years ago in Santa Barbara, may have been a victim of serial killer Mack Ray Edwards, who is thought to have killed as many as 20 children. more ›

On Sept. 2, 1961, 7-year-old Ramona Price went missing as she walked to school in Santa Barbara. The case has never been solved. Investigators came across information four years ago that led to "the 101 Freeway's Winchester Canyon Road overcrossing, a structure that was being built at around the time Ramona vanished," according to the L.A. Times. more ›

A six-count indictment was filed against 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards by a federal grand jury Friday morning and it ain't pretty. An arrest warrant was issued charging the former senator for conspiracy and false statements in association with illegal campaign contributions and he's expected in U.S. District Court in North Carolina Friday afternoon. more ›

Officials say a family of four, including a baby and a dog, were rescued by the Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol after their sailboat broke free of its mooring early Sunday in Santa Barbara, reports KTLA. more ›

Utility crews are continuing to restore power around Southern California this evening. The most recent updates from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Edison indicate that some 30,000 customers are still without power this evening. As of 5:30 p.m., fewer than 5,000 LADWP customers were affected. Neighborhoods suffering the most impact include Los Feliz (938 affected customers), North Hills (800), Bel Air (372), Mount Olympus (356) and Cheviot Hills (349). more ›

Three people, including a young child, have been killed "after a big-rig hauling gravel slammed into a home in Santa Barbara, destroying the building," reports KTLA. more ›

The news last week was abuzz with how the massive oil spill in the Gulf would impact President Barack Obama's plans for offshore drilling. There's no final word from the White House on the issue yet, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his today. more ›

The paparazzi must be having a field day in the courts. Down in Orange County, mixed martial arts star Tito Ortiz was arrested for allegedly "beating up" his live-in girlfriend and mother of his children, Jenna Jameson. The porn queen was apparently seen bruised today and she says a restraining order and charges are sought. The alleged incident happened today at their Huntington Beach home around 10 a.m. more ›

Playboy has named UC Santa Barbara as one of the country's Top 10 Party Schools of 2010. The only California campus to make the cut, at UCSB their #8 ranking is credited to their "perfect mix of sun goddesses, sand and studying." Of course, being included in this 5th annual list isn't purely academic. Okay, so it's not really academic at all. Notes Playboy: "UCSB grads go on to do great things after their six years in college." So who's summa cum laude for the 2010 party class? It's the deep thinkers of the University of Texas at Austin. One LA school earned an honorable mention: USC, for the "hottest cheerleaders." Trojan pride, indeed. Previously: UCSB Ranked 10th Best Party School in the Nation (2008). more ›

Few hotels celebrate the beauty and history of California as well as the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore. LAist was invited to take a road trip to Santa Barbara and tour the hotel. We found that the historic building has been lovingly restored by a talented team of architects, designers and craftsmen assembled by owner and stuffed animal magnate Ty Warner. The care and attention to detail in the renovation makes it one of the best places to see classic California design. more ›

Last Fall, we visited Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island. Some 90 miles west of downtown Los Angeles in the Pacific Ocean, many believe this is the largest sea cave in the world (you can fit a whole catamaran inside it!). But back on the mainland across the Santa Barbara Channel is another cave with the same name. more ›

As expected, the North American West Coast is seeing some tsunami activity following this morning's deadly 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Chile. At around midday those in beach communities in Southern California began to see a change in the Pacific as a series of surges hit the shoreline. The activity is hard to uniformly predict, however we're largely looking to experience 2-4 foot surges for a period of about two hours. more ›

Disneyland might earn that title if people actually lived in the castle, but a recent happiness study, based on the "life evaluation" of cities--job opportunities, personal finances, physical health, moods, emotions, and communities--has concluded that the West is the best. No major big cities like Los Angeles made the top ten list, but four California ones did: Oxnard-Ventura (#10), San Jose-Sunnyvale (#7), Santa Barbara-Santa Maria (#6) and Santa Rosa-Petaluma (#5). Honolulu came in third and Boulder, where in Stephen King's The Stand the good people were told to go, came in first. more ›

The storm today has knocked out power to thousands throughout Southern California, from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to Orange County and beyond. Here's the breakdown of the latest. more ›

Five minor earthquakes rattled the southern end of the Salton Sea this afternoon; this, after a series of quakes in the last few days. The mini quake swarm, of sorts, began 2:25 p.m. and continued through 3:07 p.m. near Obsidian Butte. Three of them were over 3.0 magnitude. Nothing to freak out about, but always a good reminder to be prepared. Also: A 2.1 microquake was felt off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura at 2:47 p.m. more ›

Our sister blog Chicagoist is reporting that Oprah might be moving her show to Los Angeles. That's via Deadline Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, who doesn't name a source. If true, then Oprah could be here by 2011 and the show would air on her own channel, ending syndication. But Oprah's people say no decisions have been made yet. This would also mean she'll be closer to her Montecito home near Santa Barbara. more ›

The swine flu-releated death of a 4-year-old boy in Santa Barbara over the weekend has some worried as large shipments of vaccine has yet to arrive to the coastal county. This comes as the CDC today announced statistics about the age populations most affected by H1N1. 53 percent of the hospitalizations are people 25 years and younger while 39 percent are people aged 25 to 64 and 7 percent are 65 plus. Today's catch phrase is that this is a "young persons disease." more ›

A fire that broke out near Vandenburg Air Force Base has burned through some 300 acres and was 50 percent contained this evening, according to the Associated Press. The Lompoc-area base, about 60 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, employs up to 10,000 people on any given day. 25 buildings with non-essential personnel were sent home early. more ›

An 8.0 earthquake in American Samoa this morning prompted a tsunami watch in Hawaii and a tsunami advisory for coastal areas of Southern California, including Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. [Update: Beaches in LA County will close at 8 p.m., more info here] more ›

Survey says, Santa Barbara is a favorite day-trip for LAists. It turns out, like their large southern neighbor (us,) they have delicious mobile food vendors who are on Twitter. VendrTV gnaws into the meaty offerings of SB's Burger Bus. This video makes me so hungry that for a change, I wouldn't be ashamed to take the shortbus. Track these meals on wheels on their website, or Twitter. more ›

On Monday night, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and Spirits in the Sky -- germinated from the recent Sky Saxon tribute at The Echoplex, whose lineup includes guitarist Dave Navarro and 19 year old drummer Mike Byrne -- performed the final show of their mini tour at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. more ›

Authorities in Santa Barbara County have confirmed that a wildfire which has currently scorched over 75,000 acres was set within a Mexican drug operation's cooking area, according to LA Now. The blaze began on the pot farm, and it's believed "the assailants are still in the forest area trying leave the forest by foot," as the fire rages uncontrolled. The "La Brea fire" started on August 8th, but is only at about 25% contained right now. Although firefighters are working to deprive the blaze of new fuel to burn through, hot temperatures, low humidity, and difficult terrain have made this battle a challenge. Over two hundred homes remain on evacuation. more ›

Los Angeles has had some hazy and reddish smoke layer in some parts yesterday. That usually leads to brilliant sunsets, but they are a sign of nothing good. The two wildfires burning north in Santa Barbara and Shasta counties have grown to be "out of control," as characterized by the LA Times. Since last Saturday, the fire burning in the Los Padres Mountains 26 miles east of Santa Maria has burned some 40,000 acres prompting about 150 evacuations. Winds and inaccessible terrain has hampered firefighter efforts. Further up north north of Santa Cruz, a 2,800-acre blaze that began on Wednesday has pushed 2,000 from their hillside homes as officials mostly attack from the air. more ›

As they always do with major fires in Southern California, NASA released a photo showing the burn scared mountains from the Jesusita Fire from May 10. The photo "shows the northern part of the burned area, which stretches from the outskirts of Santa Barbara (hidden beneath clouds) into Los Padres National Forest," says NASA. "Many valleys throughout the burned area appear to have been spared; green vegetation lines them like the veins in a leaf." more ›

After destroying 80 homes, burning through 8,733 acres and injuring 29 firefighters, the Jesusita Fire that began 10 days ago is close to being fully contained. The last mandatory evacuation orders for about 100 residents were lifted after what the Santa Barbara Independent is calling the the city's "most threatening natural disaster ever." more ›

The Jesusita Fire that began last week Tuesday is expected to be contained within another seven days as winds continue to whip through the area's canyons. As of today, the fire is 80% contained. more ›