Photo by the bumblebee via Flickr Just as Banksy was hosting the Cans Festival in a London derelict train tunnel this weekend, New England artist Caleb Neelon hit La Brea near Melrose this weekend to paint a beautiful mural of leaves against a cloudly blue sky in preparation for his West Coast debut at the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art. Neelon uses leaves from beech trees. For Neelon, they are a symbol of strength......

Photo by LAist Contributor Julie Wolfson Streetartist MBW has been changing up the art on this wall on La Brea north south of Olympic every few weeks. He got into street art by making a movie on it, but he never finished-- and ended up becoming an artist while trying to promote it. Art seen at this very same spot include the Mona Lisa and Marion Cottillard pieces. Now he's gone Star Trek. Could......

Photo of Herakut in their process by Carmichael Gallery Germany street art duo, Herakut, is in Los Angeles this week and on Monday they hit up Melrose clothing store Barracuda's roof. Herakut's first U.S. art show opened Saturday night with great success at the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood. Also, regarding the Charlie Chaplin on Laurel Canyon Blvd. readers were asked to help identify on Monday has been revealed. In an......

On Saturday night, the German street art duo, Herakut, held their first U.S. gallery show at one of the most exciting up and coming local art spaces, the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood. Both Hera and Akut were there to meet fans and prospective buyers, who have bought several pieces and put many on hold. The show, titled Streichelzoo (“petting zoo” in German), runs through May 4. Gallery hours are Tuesday through......

Stuck in traffic down Laurel Canyon Blvd. this weekend on the metropolitan side of the hill, we took note of this stencil, below. We can't identify the artist, can you? It looks like Bansky, but sources say no. Blek le Rat was in town, but that's not his. Herakut just opened their show this weekend, but Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art owner Seth Carmichael says it was not them and that he noticed this piece......

Like Blek le Rat, who had his first U.S. show last week at Shepard Fairey's Subliminal Projects, more European street art comes to Los Angeles for an American debut. Tonight, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., Herakut's show, Streichelzoo (“petting zoo” in German) opens at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood and runs through through May 4. Of Frankfurt and Erfurt, Germany, respectively, Hera and Akut emerged as two of the strongest young......

Earlier this year, Shepard Fairey's design agency, Studio Number One, his company Obey Giant Art Inc. and his gallery co-owned with his wife, Subliminal Projects, moved operations into Echo Park on Sunset Blvd. (see the photos of them putting up huge Obama posters here). This Saturday, the new space's first exhibition features Parisian stencil and street art pioneer, Blek le Rat, who is an influence on street art favorite -- Banksy. The show will be......

Someone in Melrose doesn't like Hillary Clinton....

Photo by edenjet via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr After getting to know Los Angeles Space Invaders after yesterdays photo essay, LAist Featured Photos contributor edenjet submitted this shot taken last month. Rawk. Previous art found in the streets of LA -- There Will Be Graffiti -- You Rock My Life Marion -- Silver Lake Cares -- Hollywood Stars Hang Out At Liquor Stores...Just Like Us! -- Was This What She Was......

New mural of Marion Cotillard, Oscar winner, found in Los Angeles I Photo by Osmany Rodriguez for LAist> That's Marion Cotillard, this year's best actress winner at the Academy Awards. Pictured is a mural depicting a moment from her very sweet Oscar speech. Sadly my name isn't Olivier, I am at the moment providing 0.00% of rock to Marion's world. She's referring to Olivier Dahan, her director in the Edith Piaf biopic "La Vie......

I discovered this street art on 8th, just west of Grand in downtown LA last week. But where is the chair? It looks like Brooklyn chalk artist Ellis Gallagher has decided to grace Los Angeles with his presence and art. His cryptic signature, "© Ellis G. 2007" seems to be barely decipherable on the other side of the parking meter, along with "NYC". Well-known artist Michael Neff has identified it for me as an authentic......

Eight Oscar nominations, a healthy box office gross and a popular catch phrase was not enough for There Will Be Blood. Now it sports the coolest billboard in town. The altered ad, located on Melrose and Mansfield, is another great piece of art by LA's own AUGOR.......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

This unexpected Tiki God has materilized on Mildred Ave. between Pacific and Dell--steps from my weekend gig in Venice. A few weeks back when I caught a glimpse of a resident with a machete, I was a little concerned. Thankfully, this friendly neighborhood Tiki was the result! I wonder if he is meant to be Lono, the god of Peace, or Kanaloa, the god of the Sea, or just a whimsical protector of the local......

Mural of a dancing couple in Silver Lake....

Photo by Ryan Jesena......

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......

Melrose Alley Street Art...

Fire crews are optimistic, but not yet looking to declare victory over the multiple blazes that have burned over 500,000 acres and displaced millions. We agree, it's best to be sure before declaring victory too soon. One blaze that has partially kept officials from declaring an end to the madness, the Santiago fire in Orange County, is expected to be contained by Friday. But it could take years to rebuild charred neighborhoods. Seven people......

Stumbled across some great artwork by Chase....

One of the big kahunas from Gothamist, LAist's publisher, is in town for a very sad reason. So since we know that he enjoys street art, we went out today and took some pictures of some sweet stuff... just in case he dials up LAist for a pick-me-up. After the jump enjoy a dozen big images from Echo Park right behind Alvarado near the Jack in the Box near the 2.......

Day Two of the Sunset Junction was even hotter. Hot Hot Heat, Buzzcocks, and She Wants Revenge continued the heat on Sunday. There were plenty of indie hipsters, shirtless gay men, junk food, amazing street art, cheap carnival rides, and of course photographs from me.......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

spotted in Hollywood on Gower at Franklin ... before someone calls 311 and gets it abated. I'm a big fan of graffiti art. But I'm also a big fan of getting rid of it. How can I contradict myself like that? To me it is like a game and I'm always going to win. I enjoy some of graffiti, but it's still illegal. Artist enjoy making it and partly because of the lure of......

The New Downtown Ralphs: "They went — loft-dwelling yuppies, SRO dwellers, office workers and even some homeless people — for a chance to browse the aisles of the long-awaited, 50,000-square-foot Ralphs on 9th Street." Not Putting in Crosswalks Near Schools: "'Our Department of Transportation is one of the slowest, most bureaucratic departments in the city,' said City Councilman Greig Smith. 'I am constantly banging my head against the wall to get them to do......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

"I'm not trying, nor would I want to, to bring down the entire Hollywood filmmaking system or all of capitalism. And if I did, I'd probably get assassinated long before then," says Matt Hanson with a laugh, as he shows me around the gallery space for The Creators Series, a multi-media and performance event that visits Los Angeles this weekend. Unlike a traditional art exhibit or film festival, The Creators Series serves as a showcase......

Billy Corgan got the band back together, sorta, and the Smashing Pumpkins are really going to have a new record this summer. James Iha probably won't be on it, and our girlfriend D'arcy or our other girlfriend Melissa Auf der Maur will probably also be replaced, but Billy and Jimmy Chamberlin didn't do us wrong on Zwan, and that rhymes with bring it on. LA street art pioneer and Obey founder Shepard Fairey's official......

When Sam Zell, the soon-to-be new owner of Tribune Corp., parent company of the LA Times, was quoted as saying this on Saturday, we called him a ridiculous old man: "If all of the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content, how profitable would Google be?" Zell said during the question period after his speech. "Not very." And the consensus from the blogosphere this weekend? That he's a ridiculous old......