It's not true that Southern California is seasonless. There are those almost-annual disasters that mark the passage of time in chaparral territory: late summer fires followed by mudslides. And then there's the blooming of the jacarandas each spring. more ›

What's going on in the local food scene? Chew on this: Grilled Cheese Month at The Counter, a sad farewell to a Glendale favorite, more ways to get properly cocktailed this spring, and more. more ›

Nature lovers, science geeks, and families, mark your calendars for April 8, which is when the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) opens up their annual Butterfly Pavilion. more ›

It's the third day of 80 degree-weather in Los Angeles and you may be feeling like we missed spring. Spring is planting time and that takes the right seeds. I've written about companies that offer really great product, but nothing is better than the experience of friends. Their favorites might be your favorites too. Seeing that there is no "Yelp" for backyard gardens, I rely on my cadre of gardeners, garden writers and twitter cohorts to aide my planting decisions for the 2011 Season. I've leaned over the virtual fence of the internet to ask for advice from my community of gardeners. I've asked a dozen of stellar plant geeks to share their favorites with you. more ›

We're having wild weather, indeed, and with winter's arrival, it doesn't seem right to be thinking about cheery purple blooms dotting our greenspaces, and yet at Los Angeles State Historic Park they're already getting a preview of the lupines that will blanket the park come spring. more ›

April, among other things, happens to be National Garden Month. And what an ideal time--it's spring, and it's the right time to get your planting done for the months ahead of garden goodness. But this isn't just about people with yards to dig up, or with seasoned green thumbs. The great thing about gardening is that you don't have to be a pro to give it a go, or even do the gardening where you live! In fact, you can celebrate National Garden Month, we say, without even setting foot in a garden. Here are 7 things you can do. more ›

Springtime is here, and one very beautiful sign of its arrival full-force is to see the cherry blossoms that seem to explode in their lush, pink glory all around Lake Balboa. Here's a look thanks to LAist Featured Photos pool contributor Robbie. We can't help but agree with the caption she offers: "Yay!" more ›

It's been weekend after weekend of rain or cold cloudy days, but things should change this weekend. "We're looking at a pretty decent weekend, really," said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "We're in for a nice dry trend here." more ›

Wildflower season is about to begin, and to keep apprised of where you can see what around Southern and even Central California (for you road trippers) the Theodore Payne Foundation will once again run their Wildflower Hotline. more ›

LAist's own Green Thumb is here to help you get into gardening...So, as he says: "Get down on your knees and start planting." more ›

In the next few days and weeks, cherry blossoms are about to blanket the branches of local trees with their gorgeous blooms. Last weekend LAist headed out to Encino to the Lake Balboa area to see some early blooms, and today the Daily News has a listing of other places around town where you and yours can enjoy the cheerful springtime sight of cherry blossoms, take a stroll, snap some picks, and get outside. more ›

Forget June Gloom... for one major section of Descanso Gardens in La Canada it's all about June Bloom! more ›

Spring is here in Los Angeles! To celebrate, I give you a series of Haikus. more ›

In celebration of World Pillow Fight Day, hundreds of spring-fevered revelers duked it out in Pershing Square 'til they were "ankle-deep in feathers." more ›

These flowering blossoms remind us that today, March 20th, is the first day of Spring. The first day of Spring is also known as the Vernal Equinox. It is one of two days a year (The other being Autumnal Equinox) when there are 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of night. Equinox = equal night. Why? Most descriptions are a little overly complicated, so let's try not to get too Mr. Science about it. more ›

• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

Like many coffee shops, Polly's may just be a great place to take your grandma. Maybe the menu isn't very interesting beyond breakfast, their exotic chicken salad sandwich (ooh, are those cashews?), and the chicken pot pie. And yes, they are in an unholy alliance with the Colonel ("it's a well-known fact he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly"). But if there was only one Banberry Pie left in the world, I would fight you to the death for it. more ›

more ›

He already served a month of jail time when he was convicted last Spring, but today, sleazy wannabe slumlord Darren Stern, who also goes by Henry Shalom, was ordered to pay millions back to rent-control tenants that he mistreated in order to get them to move out so he could raise rents, eventually selling the buildings at "inflated" prices, according to CBS2. more ›

• Newly elected state speaker, a Democrat named Karen Bass who was raised in Los Angeles, has made friends on both sides of the aisle, the LA Times said. She is the first African-American to assume the top spot and has some pretty lofty goals, including providing healthcare and improving education. Wait, those are things EVERY politician should be doing.
• Of course, by now you know all about the L.A. Marathon. But you may not have heard that the Los Angeles Fire Department treated 73 participants; transporting 23 of them to area hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening, they said.
• What's one of the best part about Spring Training? Rumors! The Daily News reports that Nomar could play a "handful of games" at shortstop this season. Just four more weeks until Opening Day.
• The blood in my veins is Dodger Blue, but the color of my face when driving to games is sometimes red. So, I applaud the City Council for at least broaching the possibility of public transportation to Dodger Stadium late this week.\
• An El Segundo woman warded off an attacker last night with pepper spray as he pinned her to the ground straddling and fondling her. She reached for the pepper spray and ran away, gagging and coughing.
• But her weapon of choice would not have worked if she was a reporter at the Daily News. Yesterday, we told you that the Daily News laid off 22 staffers earlier in the week. Today, the list of the fireds was published. The deceased includes Alex Dobuzinskis, a great reporter who covered Glendale and Burbank and the News' lone Washington D.C. reporter.
• The newspaper business is not the only one hurting these days. Nearly 1,600 teachers could lose their jobs as Orange County's 28 school districts scramble to find ways to cut from their operating budgets amid a mounting state budget crisis.
• Is Hillary Clinton being subversively endorsed by Saturday Night Live? Last week, SNL feature a skit parodying the media's "love affair" with Barack Obama and last night, they had Clinton on the show getting two minutes of free campaign air time. SNL has not officially endorsed Clinton, but should media outlets allow candidates a free shot at advertising? If NBC allowed Obama two free minutes, don't you think the Clinton camp would be the ones needing a pillow?

• An investigation by the Daily News found that, as the DWP has increased rates they continue to issue cars to more than 100 employees who are free to take them home. Proponents of the program say the cost of the vehicles is offset by the tax breaks the department receives from the hybrids they drive. Other people say, You're shitting me, right? Stop wasting my money.
• The LA Times had their own investigation party too. The paper found that about 33,000 state inmates served longer than they should have because they were not given all the time off they earned for good behavior and for working in prison. Hey, those license plates don't make themselves.
• In a scene straight out of "Ferris Beuler's Day Off," a valet crashed a Corvette during a joy ride Friday night in Van Nuys. Uh, what country do you think this is?
• A dead body was found on the 10 freeway this morning. Authorities say the body was already dead when they arrived and there is no truth to the rumor that it was Hillary Clinton's campaign.
• Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training last week and position players are due to arrive at camp soon. Let the season of sports writing begin. Tony Jackson shows you why you shouldn't mind the fact that the Dodgers don't have Don Mattingly as their hitting coach and Bill Plaschke writes lovingly of Matt Kemp: "He gets a plate full of catfish nuggets. I get a side dish of insight." How many days of this crap will we be forced to endure?
• Tomorrow is Presidents' Day. How will you celebrate? It won't be at these places, which will be closed tomorrow.
• Also closing tomorrow is the Kanye contest on LAist. Enter to win tix to what could be the second best show of the year (Radiohead is reportedly coming to L.A. in August).

Sometimes, the most fun in life comes in surprises. Last night, that surprise came in the form of a random marching band appearing out of nowhere at the corner of 5th and Spring playing a hybrid of New Klezmer Afro-Brazilian Tango during last night's Downtown Art Walk. We followed the free-jazz, experimental, all-genres-equal Killsonic for about an hour throughout Gallery Row intruding upon art galleries and people's peace and quiet. At one point, we found ourselves with the band of around 20 musicians on a city DASH shuttle. What a trip... in more ways than one. more ›

more ›

TALK more ›

While much of LA stayed home watching movies Saturday night, the real action was in Historic Filipinotown, where a sold out crowd of 2,000+ ventured out into a meteorological maelstrom to watch the L.A. Derby Dolls season-opening bout. more ›

If you're looking for something interesting to do this weekend, tomorrow night from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., a group of young women under the name Fetus are organizing the first of a planned monthly event at the INMO Gallery, in Billy's Coffee Shop, at the historic 1920s Rosslyn Hotel building. more ›

Even more restaurant news is coming down the wire -- earlier today, we checked out some early reports on Bond St in Beverly Hills, and now we hear that developers The Valencia Group will be transforming Downtown's historic Union Bank building into The Union Restaurant & Lounge (it's all about the restaurant-slash-lounge concept nowadays, isn't it?). So, yes, Downtown will have another fancy-schmancy dining space; the website is promising "2 Floors of Entertainment, Upscale Dinning [sic] and Cocktail Bar, The Vault Lounge & Bar." more ›