Results tagged “santamonica”

Other big (and colder) cities get ice rinks, so what's there to stop us? Great weather might be one factor, but it hasn't stopped the likes of the cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Jared Leto and hundreds of Midnight Ridazz bikers take over the streets of LA in the new 30 Seconds to Mars video, "Kings + Queens". We like watching as they head over the Sixth Street Bridge, through the Second Street Tunnel, around Hollywood and Highland, and finally hit the edge of the Santa Monica Pier as the Ridazz show off LA's unique and growing bike culture. We think it's pretty cool that they name each rider at the end too!

The rumors floating around the interent this morning were sadly true. Former host of MTV's Remote Control died suddenly over the weekend. The cause of the 52-year-old Santa Monica resident's death is still unknown, but on Saturday evening he "complained of a headache and flu-like symptoms" to a friend, saying "he was going to take something and would see a doctor as soon as possible," according to the New York Times. The next day he was found dead.

It was just a year ago that wealthy philanthropist Eli Broad came to save the day at MOCA by offering the museum a much-needed bailout to help keep it on its feet. By summer, however, the Broad Foundation had begun to chatter publicly about future cultural endeavors, namely a museum of contemporary art of their own. At the time, "Broad said that the museum 'is going to happen' and that it's merely a matter of timing," reported the LA Times. Broad was enthused about having the space in 90210: "Our first choice is the Beverly Hills site."

The group Santa Monicans for Non-Smoking Renters Rights want their City Council to take a current no smoking law one step further. Earlier this year, the group successfully proposed that smoking be banned from common areas in apartment and condo complexes, according to the Lookout News, via LA Now. Now they want the ban to include some apartment and condo unit patios and balconies since "the smoke is pulled into neighboring units because of the difference in air pressure." In essence, this idea would make complexes have smoking and non-smoking sections. It's like a restaurant, back in the day. A Calabasas law that will go into affect in 2012 will designate 80% of units as non-smoking, notes the Santa Monica Daily Press.

As part of the large car-free photography exhibit at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, a series of panels are being run in conjnction. Tonight at 6 p.m. Green LA Girl and others will discuss how to live a car-less or car-free lifestyle. Then at 7 p.m. a panel discussion with D.J. Waldie will explore the social, spatial, and psychological aspects of walking in Los Angeles.

Tomorrow is the 83rd Anniversary of the numbered highway system that gave birth to Route 66, among others. In honor of that, the long-debated ending point of the famed auto-passage will find itself at the Santa Monica Pier in a 9 a.m. ceremony with a parade 66 vintage cars and motorbikes (it begins at Santa Monica and Lincoln) and the unveiling of a replica of the "End of the Trail" sign.

Santa Monica police today released the names of the four suspects allegedly involved in Tuesday night's murder. Patrick Dwight Birdsong Jr, 18; Norman Lovan Cole, 33; Sean Alex Mermer, 29; and a male juvenile were all booked on murder, attempted murder and "promoting of a street gang." Cole and Mermer were also charged with violating parole.

In a follow-up to yesterday's post about the arrest of four suspects in Tuesday night's Santa Monica slaying, there is some speculation that it might be connected to a murder in Venice during the afternoon hours the same day. The LA Times reports that "William Charles McKillian Jr., 19, was in the 600 block of Westminster Avenue in Venice when he was confronted by at least one attacker who opened fire about 3:30 p.m." Police are unsure if they are connected at this point, but are "aggressively pursuing the cases in an effort to make sure there was no chance of the violence escalating."

If you've been to Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills, then you know the An Family style. This week they announced a big expansion, with two new restaurants in Orange County and more locally in Santa Monica scheduled to open by the end of this year. AnQi in Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza will carry a more casual bistro environment. Tiato, located in Santa Monica's MTV building, will be a quick service restaurant, serving up traditional fare with some Asian flare. Think eggs on bao instead of Eggs Benedict or pancakes with persimmon instead of with strawberries. For lunch, one of the highlighted menu items is Vegetarian Crepe Ratatouille and the family's secret kitchen Garlic Noodles.

In its hey-day, RIDE-Arc's monthly rides would take cyclists around the city, exploring architecture, environmental efforts and Hollywood history. Compared to other group bicycle rides like Midnight Ridazz and CRANK Mob, RIDE-Arc is the smart, mature and law-abiding sibling. Over the past couple years, its leadership has gone on hiatus, only offering a ride here and there. Good news, however, came today as they announced via e-mail a Santa Monica-focused ride for Friday evening:

A shooting that left one man dead last night in a Santa Monica park led to the arrest of multiple suspects. At around 8:52 p.m. last night, two suspects approached and began shooting at a group of four people in Virginia Park on Pico Boulevard, a few blocks from Santa Monica College. Three people escaped safely, but 20-year-old Richard Juarez was killed. The Santa Monica Police Department this afternoon announced that four suspects are in custody.

Parking at Santa Monica's 3d Street Promenade might get a little more expensive under a plan the city council is exploring, says the Santa Monica Daily Press:

Hello, People's Republic! Santa Monica this week passed a new law banning cat declawing within city limits, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press. When it goes into effect in December, the city will be the second in California with such a ban. West Hollywood already has the law on the books and as of January 1st, 2010, a state law will go into effect restricting cities from making such a ban.

Talk about burger explosion. After opening the original Umami Burger last year, owner Adam Fleischman this summer announced two more locations in Los Feliz (now open) and in Santa Monica (not open yet). And now Los Angeles Magazine finds that a fourth location will go inside the former Snack Bar space at Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood. That's killer, but, hey, Adam, how about some downtown and Valley love? Thanks!

The wind yesterday afternoon came in strong, running amok through Southland streets, making a mess of palm fronds and zapping the power our for tens of thousands.

It's time to get into the winter spirit. Beginning this afternoon, an 8,000 square foot outdoor ice rink will open to the public in Santa Monica with the unveiling of a 45-foot ice sculpture in promotion of the Blu-ray disc and DVD release of Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Supposedly, the 133,000-pound sculpture of the character Scrat will break the Guinness World Record for Tallest Ice Sculpture.

       

On Saturday, over 5,000 groups from around the world gathered for the International Day of Climate Action in an effort to bring attention to the Copenhagen Climate Talks ,scheduled for December when the Kyoto Treaty will be replaced (big question, will the U.S. sign it?).

You know the feeling: It's when your stomach lands in your mouth at the apex of a rollercoaster. Watching the two guys work the “Wheel of Death” at Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza in Santa Monica on Thursday night elicited the same exact sensation.

                     

High-class imbibers were out in force for Whisky Live at the Santa Monica Civic Center last Monday. Whisky Live is an international tasting and sampling event, taking place "from London to Tokyo, Paris to Glasgow". Billed as “Southern California’s Finest Whisky Experience,” attendees had the opportunity to sample the wares of twenty-seven companies, some familiar (Glenlivet, Dewar's, Macallan), some (such as Japanese manufactureres Hibiki and Yamazaki) not even available on American shelves yet.

If Metro's regional connector project is built, passengers will be able to commute between Pasadena and Long Beach without transferring from the Gold Line to the Red Line, then the Blue Line. Likewise, those traveling between East LA and Culver City (and maybe someday Santa Monica) will be able to skip a similar transfer process. That means faster travel times and more accessibility car-free.

       

Santa Monica’s Pourtal Wine Bar and Playboy.com’s Imbiber Dan Dunn have teamed up to present The Imbiber’s Ultimate Playboy Fantasy Wine Tour. A flight of eight wines has been inspired by eight of Playboys classic Playmates. At the October 6th launch party, winosseurs sipped, swirled, and mingled with Dan and his Playboy ‘mates’. Pourtal showed the lineup on their high tech Enomatic Machines. The wines remain available by the taste, glass or bottle at Pourtal through the end of October.

Although Santa Monica's outdated bicycle license appears to directly contradict state law, officials recently have been promoting the city's bicycle licenses because of a rise in thefts in the Southbay. "We do try to get people to get licensed because it makes the return of stolen bikes easier," explained Don Patterson, the manager who oversees the division that issues bicycle licenses.

Under current written law, Santa Monica police are able to throw any cyclists, whether a city resident or not, into jail for not having a bicycle license. Fines can range up to $1,000. The 1995-created law directly contradicts a 1996-written California Vehicle Code section, which states the law shall apply to residents of a city issuing bicycle licenses.

A long summer of hot-hot-hot heat means lots of beach days for Southern Californians. Now that the season is wrapped up, Heal the Bay has released their annual Summer Beach Report Card [PDF]. The non-profit group graded nearly 500 beaches statewide based on bacterial pollution levels monitored from Memorial Day to Labor Day this year, according to their release, and the news is generally pretty good.

After celebrating their grand opening in Santa Monica this weekend, Pizza Fusion also quietly opened their new Hollywood location on Tuesday. "The response we received at our soft opening on Tuesday was wonderful", owner Michele Orlando said. "Hollywood residents are really warming up to our organic and socially conscious approach to restaurant service."

              

To go along with our wordy look at the 100 years of history of the Santa Monica Pier, our LAist Featured Photos pool just happens to be brimming over with images of the iconic landmark that we couldn't keep to ourselves.

Today Pizza Fusion, a fresh, organic, and vegan-friendly pizza chain will celebrate the grand opening of its new location in Santa Monica. The chain boasts hybrid delivery cars, in-store recycling, LEED certification, wind energy offsets and organic kid's classes (Yum! They serve children? Bet that's not on the vegan menu).

On September 9th, the Santa Monica Pier celebrated its Centennial. Fireworks lit up the sky and thousands of people gathered to honor a landmark that seems to be synonymous not only with Santa Monica, but with Los Angeles, and our love affair with having fun at the edge of the Pacific Ocean

Just a quick reminder, tomorrow is the pier's 100th birthday. Wish it well or join the festivities tomorrow night beginning at 6 p.m.