Photo by discarted via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Contrasting the Los Angeles City Council's vote earlier today on mansionization, affecting single-family homes, another ordinance was passed today -- one that replaces a temporary 2005 law regarding downtown residential hotels, mostly used by low-income and nearly homeless people. The ordinance protects single-room-occumpancy (SRO) and residential hotels within Los Angeles from becoming expensive lofts and condos. If owners want to convert their buildings, they must......

In an effort to bring solar power to those who will benefit from it but simply can't afford it, a new partnership created between the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners and BP donates one solar panel to a low-income residence for every solar panel purchased by a celebrity. As the Downtown News reports, Downtown's St. George Hotel, a housing facility operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust, is the first multi-unit project to receive panels through......

Just in time for spring, the LA Times is reporting on something I think would just go marvelously with that recession you've been looking at: Proposal aims to undo rent control laws Before we go any further, jut let that sink in. How pleasantly banal it sounds. Like "Proposal aims to change terms of your relationship from monogamous to yerdumped," or "Proposal Aims to replace your sweet Graphic Design Job with minimum wage position at......

Actor Brad Renfro was found dead yesterday in his Los Angeles apartment, of causes unknown, but for reasons that are no doubt both tragic and infuriating. He was the cute little kid who acted alongside huge names like Susan Sarandon, Ian McKellan, and Mary Louise-Parker, the cute little kid who grew up to be a troubled but still talented young man, the young man who spiraled downward into a diseased web of drugs and......

Yesterday the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved additional steps for Project 50, a three year pilot program that will help get some of the most vulnerable people living on skid row into permanent housing. Volunteers completed hundreds of early-morning interviews to identify the 50 people who were in the most trouble -- people living on the streets with chronic illnesses, like liver disease and AIDS, many of whom are also mentally ill. Now a......

Father Dollar Bill (a.k.a. Reverend Maurice Chase) was at it again yesterday, handing out money on Skid Row. While he often hands out money to downtown residents in need, Christmas is his no-holds-barred attempt to spread a little more love in the form of Christmas cash. Skid row residents have lined up every year for 24 years to see what luck might come their way from Father Dollar Bill on Christmas Day. Reverend Chase gives......

LAist Featured Photos contributer, mil8, went along with his neighbor and friend on "an annual trip down to Skid Row to hand-out clothes, blankets and hygiene kits to LA's down & out in hopes to spark a better next year for them." This year he brought a camera. More photos after the jump in a YouTube photo collage video.......

Craby Joe's has been at the corner of 7th and Main in Downtown LA since 1933, and earned its place in local lore as a watering hole near and dear to the well-known downtrodden of the literary scene, like John Fante and Charles Bukowski. In honor of the bar's closing night, there will be a gathering of local historians and preservationists, and anyone else wishing to hoist a memorial last drink at Craby Joe's from......

Kudos to LA Indymedia for pointing out this amazing fantasy that the LA County AFL-CIO is living in. According to the LA Union website (who are trying to fight for higher wages in LA), they believe that a single adult needs to only make $13.52 an hour ($28k a year) to "support a modest standard of living in LA". The AFL-CIO has broken it down to explain to live modestly, one would be able......

Welcome Home LA, a group of students from the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, recently hit Skid Row using performance/public/street art to draw attention to the Downtown neighborhood and its issues. "We want to utilize public art and the reproduction and documentation of public art to bring attention to marginalized urban space," the Welcome Home LA website explains. "These images, which allude to homes, human presence, security and comfort, will be juxtaposed with......

3,000 homeless plus 400 volunteers makes for a festive mood at a Skid Row Thanksgiving Dinner today. More Downtown holiday news at blogdowntown. 1.85 million. That is how many people expected to be traveling in, out and through LAX this holiday weekend. That number is almost half of Los Angeles' population! NPR gives out 9 tips on how to have a more eco-friendly Thanksgiving. Tip #3, skip the Turkey and go for native protein......

Norman Mailer, the controversial and beloved novelist and winner two Pulitzer Prizes died today in New York City of acute renal failure. The author of almost 50 books, Mailer lived a life beset by tragedy, triumph and tribulation. He once ran for Mayor of NYC and was almost stabbed to death by one of his wives. Mailer was 84. Out of the ashes of one fire in San Diego, a man sold a charred,......

"This is not. . . targeting or profiling. It is an effort to understand communities." Police Chief William J. Bratton defending a LAPD counter-terrorism program that uses "U.S. census data and other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and then reach out to them through social service agencies." [LA Times] "Over my dead body." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on any limit of his goals of expanding the LAPD. A fiscally conservative and wary City......

CIA the CIA in North Hollywood WILL BE JUMPING with Haunted Cologne, the McDaniels, and special mystery guests??? Doors open at 8pm, all ages (ps. We suspect THE RADIOACTIVE CHICKEN HEADS!!!) THE BIGFOOT LODGE will be showing scary movies, plus drink specials and DJ Lee will be spinning a scary assortment of Halloween themed records from the 50s - now. Starting at around 9:00 PM! 410 BOYD 410 Boyd (410 Boyd St) combines the......

Current Carolla co-pilot Danny Bonaduce will not be charged with felony battery for tossing "Survivor" contestant Jonny Fairplay onto a stage at the Fox Reality Really Awards Monday. Prosecutors said Fairplay "initiated contact and acted offensively." How much of a dude is Bonaduce for throwing a guy on a stage and getting the prosecutors to say the other guy was offensive? A man died today after his plane crashed into the median divider at......

The IRS investigation at the All Saints Episcopal Church over a 2004 "anti-war sermon" has been dropped, the church announced today at a press conference. The church is now asking for an apology and some clarification. Remember all those pot-house busts in the Inland Empire? It appears that all these drug homes in high-end areas are funded and employed by gangs from China. Aren't hospitals always in trouble? "Nearly two dozen private hospitals in......

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......

KCBS and its KCAL affiliate picked up seven awards at the Los Angeles Emmy Awards last night, with the award for live coverage of an unannounced event going to the team for the Esperanza fire. Let's all share in a joyous chorus of "Hell yeah!!": teen drivers may be barred from using cell phones while driving, under state legislation passed today. And while we're at it, give another whoop of joy for the resignation......

See the 1995 60 Minutes segment about the horrendous Red Line subway construction. Apparently, in democracy you cannot run against your boss' political allies without getting fired. That's what happened when city councilman Ed Reyes fired his office manager after she lost the 2005 election to Jose Huizar. She sued. She won. All the Wilshire Blvd. bus lane info you could want. The Zaca wildfire has been going for a month and now Governor......

All eastbound lanes between Sepulveda and La Cienega boulevards on the 105 Freeway will be closed from 3 AM to midnight this weekend and next for filming. L.A. 11st District City Councilman Bill Rosendahl introduced a resolution today to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. An ideal way to find all the farmers' markets in the L.A. region: LA Farmers' Market Mapplet. Jamie Foxx is shooting for another Oscar with......

I have never in my life thought that the following words would ever escape my lips: "Wow! That Flock of Seagulls song is AWESOME!!!" But that day has come: and so too has Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the Eighties, the latest installment in the worldwide gaming phenomenon/franchise. You now have thirty more classic songs to RAWK OUT on, including such favorites as Skid Row's "Eighteen and Life," White Lion's "Radar Love," and of course,......

Last month an LA jury agreed that Chester Turner should suffer the death penalty. The 40 year-old Turner had been found guilty of killing ten people including one woman who was 6 1/2 months pregnant. Today Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders agreed with the jury. [Turner] was convicted April 30 of 10 counts of first-degree murder, plus one count of second-degree murder for the death of one victim's fetus. That victim, Regina Washington,......

Here are the five productions opening this weekend that are currently piquing LAist’s interest: 7 Glimpses of Utopia Tonight only, the Skid Row-based theater group LAPD (Los Angeles Poverty Department) presents a picture of utopian possibilities in downtown L.A. LAPD'ers and others were asked to identify and invite someone they knew who was doing something "laudable, and important, something that represents the best of the current and future downtown." National Center for the Preservation......

- Pod Killer: 4 dolphins have been shot to death and discovered between Carlsbad State Beach and Oceanside Harbor between May 29 and June 5. - Tweaked: More police officers, extra cones, Scott Avenue, a lane on the 110 Freeway = better Dodger Parking? You be the judge. - Finally: The disputed Union Rescue Mission, which will serve more than 200 women and children off skid row and into transitional housing, can finally open its......

So I heard it first tonight via the hot lips of G4TV's Olivia: the new Guitar Hero III (slated to be released on all "next generation" platforms - that means the Wii, the PS3, and the XBox 360), will include songs by Weezer, Muse, Heart, Tenacious D, The Rolling Stones, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Joystiq confirmed the dirty details, and we will get to RAWK on songs like "Barracuda," "Cherub Rock" and even Living......

Last night's Midnight Ridazz was a blast, but those not on bikes probably did not think so, including the LAPD. One thing you have to know about the Midnight Ridazz is that the route is almost never announced until you arrive. In last night's case, the only map we received was of Zürich, Switzerland. It didn't make sense until you realized that the ride was dubbed Dada. Others tried to figure out acronyms like......

- Huge Pine Tree falls in Sherman Oaks. - LA Times' Steve Harvey basically writes the same thing as LA Observed adding a few more pictures and lines of text. - We're seeing the highest gas prices at the same time public transit fares face a possible and significant increase. - LA is No. 93 in Cities Ranked & Rated: More Than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. & Canada. Here's how. -......

- 9,000 people a month turn in their California driver's licenses for Arizona ones - LAT - LA coach builders + Mini Coopers = Mini Cooper limos - bornrich - The only thing worthwhile in the holier-than-thou feature about author Roger Kahn who wants to pretend that there's something wrong with betting on your own team, is this quote by Jim Murray about Pete Rose: "Did Rose bet on the game?" Murray once asked......

According to a recent study by the neighborhood blogging aggregator Outside.in (backed by Netscape and Ning cofounder Marc Andreesen, among others), Downtown LA is #3 on the list of "America's Top Ten Bloggiest Neighborhoods": "The common themes are real estate prices and local politics," Outside.In CPO John Geraci told CNET. "People also post reviews about restaurants and other local businesses." Well-earned congrats to our friend Eric Richardson for being singled out per below:3. Downtown......

The ACLU of Southern California has charged the LAPD with creating a “police state” in downtown’s Skid Row and seek to extend a 3-year-old injunction that declared arbitrary searches on Skid Row illegal. The ACLU argues that the 4th amendment protection from arbitrary searches has been violated by LAPD officers who have been searching through the pockets, possessions and encampments of the homeless since Skid Row sweeps began last September. The LA Times reports:“Police......