The Japanese Food Festival, a one day event being held at The New Otani Hotel, will be occurring this Saturday, October 27 from 11AM to 3PM. Tickets are 50 bucks but that includes all-you-can-eat-sushi as well as all-you-can-drink sake and beer (yay!). Hosted by the Japanese Restaurant Association of Southern California, there will be a best sushi chef contest, demonstrations of how to fillet a tuna, Jazz, and sake and beer tasting (drinks!). Do you......

Photo by Henry David for LAist.com The 6.5-acre Japanese Garden in Van Nuys is open 5 days a week. It was opened to the public in 1984 and has since served as an ideal place of rest and meditation. It is conveniently located close to the 405 freeway in the Valley -- we encourage you to take a visit. It usually has only a handful of visitors and offers more than enough space to......

Photo: The Japanese Garden with the Administration Building (which looks like a 70's monorail station) This is one of our city's hidden gems and if you were looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon or a weekday, here it is (many pictures after the jump) When the Federal Water Quality Act passed in 1965 came about, so did the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant (after some embattled years and a consent......

It's been a FleetBank tradition since 1998, as mentioned by our sister site Bostonist, but Bank of America has brought its annual "Museums on Us" promotion to Cali for the first time. Throughout the month of May, you'll be able to get into many Southland museums for free by showing your B of A ATM, check, or credit card, or MBNA credit card. So for once, the card that typically drains your bank account......

Beck, Queens of the Stone Age, Redd Kross, !!!, Blonde Redhead, Of Montreal, The Like, The Blood Arm, others @ LA Weekly Detour Fest, Downtown LA Monsters Are Waiting, AfroBeat Down, The Japanese Motors, Jesca Hoop, others @ Eagle Rock Music Fest, Center for the Arts The Killers @ Wiltern Paul Simon @ Santa Barbara Bowl E-40, Too $hort @ Orange Pavilion Saccharine Trust @ Mr. T's Bowl Margaret Cho @ Largo Willie Clayton......