While it is hard for most to understand or imagine, once you have become entrenched in the archipelagic enclave of skyscrapers and bona fide mass transit that is Manhattan Island, it is difficult to leave. For a New Yorker, geographic displacement can fester into a self-induced internalized affront (even if just for a few short days). But the compelling lure of a free trip to Los Angeles to accompany my aunt on a business trip......

You know who makes a lot of sense? Michael Pollan does. If only he had the ear of the Senate as it prepares to pass a sorry, sorry Farm Bill. I love alcohol in unusual, fruit-oriented containers. Slashfood turns us on to this pumpkin keg -- yes the beer was actually brewed inside the pumpkin shell. Expect to see one of these at an LAist party near you very soon. It's good to know......

When I received my Thai One On assignment I was pretty pumped. Online Yelp reviews had unanimously agreed that Thailand Plaza has some of the best food and service around. Maybe that's why my experience at Thailand Plaza was such a disappointing one--my expectations going in were way too high. Not so say that everything about my Thailand Plaza dining experience was bad; parking was free with validation. Bonus! However aside from free parking,......

Nicole Kidman reveals details about her previous miscarriages and subsequent adoptions- Metro More Anna Nicole baby daddy drama - Explosive accusations in Rita Cosby's new tell all book of Larry Birkhead and Howard K Stern being lovers is setting off defamation lawsuits...I personally can't wait to read it - NY Post Jerry Lewis pulls an Isaiah Washington, using the "F" word during his live annual telethon for muscular dystrophy - TMZ Bill Murray explains his......

Last night we headed over to the Getty Center to check out Fridays Off the 405, a monthly offering of evening hours in the museum galleries, with live music and a cash bar to boot. We got a late start, but stuck to our routine of taking Sepulveda, even though a quick glance told us that the 405 was moving free and clear. As the sun began to fade from the sky we pulled......

Today is the day folks! Paris Hilton goes to jail, and word on the street is her fellow inmates are eagerly awaiting her arrival - Associated Press In other Paris news, her record label is being sued for ripping off the UB40 song Kingston Town for her recent single Stars are Blind - Daily Mail Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, has pulled out of her NBC slated reality show that would follow her and......

Rosie O' Donnell learned a hard lesson this week: Don't mess with the cute, ultra-conservative on The View. There's a reason why Elisabeth Hasselback was a Survivor finalist. She may look all prim, proper and meek, but say anything bad about her bf George W, and she's probably temped to take your eyes out with toothpicks and have them as hors d'oeuvres. Donald Trump be damned--Rosie O'Donnell finally met her match. Today, ABC announced......

Last night we showed you the Rosie O'Donnell vs Elisabeth Hasslebeck catfight. We felt sorta lame posting it because it was already 14 hours old and figured everyone had seen it by then, but today it was the most popular post all day on LAist. During the onslaught of traffic we got an email asking if we saw what happened to Elisabeth right after the break. Whaaaat? Apparently Alicia Silverstone, despite being a vegan......

You'd think with all the tee vee we watch, and as large as our hard drive is (nudge nudge wink wink say no more say no more), The View and their attention-starved hosts would be a show we'd have on Season Pass. But no. Therefore when we heard that Rosie O'Donnell went back on her promise not to attack Elisabeth Hasselbeck - now that she'd been knocked up again - and indeed had our......

Lindsay Lohan will finally reach the legal drinking age in a month and is planning her big Vegas bday bash sponsered by Ceasers and Svedka Vodka - US Weekly Nicole Richie reportedly checked back into rehab, reports vary on if its inpatient or outpatient - TMZ Britney Spears's impromtu lip synch performance at a Miami mansion on Saturday night did not go over well - NY Post A new kitten for TomKat? - MSNBC Former......

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone......

The inaugural EconSM conference, produced by Rafat Ali's ContentNext Media Network (parent of the excellent PaidContent site) is rockin' the Beverly Hilton with entertainment and new media heavies. EconSM addresses the present and potential economy of the social media marketplace in regards to online news, Hollywood, music, mobile media, and more. The amusing "Social Media Meets Hollywood" panel, in which Carson Daly sat alongside The L Word executive producer Ilene Chaiken, preceded lunch. Daly......

As a girl with little money and parents who love to dine out, I often find myself eating with them on a Friday night. And I often have to twist arms to get to go to place I want (cough cough: Paco’s Tacos or Hide Sushi). Well, last Friday I was unable to twist the arm that feeds me. My step dad headed out towards Marina Del Rey hoping to take us to CPK......

Being a high-stakes online journalist is brutal, brain-taxing, soul-bruising work. But every now and then you get the little bit of recognition (read: free stuff) that makes it all worthwhile. On Friday I had the chance to attend the Haven/Elle magazine pre-Oscars "gifting suite" along with LAist's own Lisa B.* We made our way to the hills of Beverly Hills and after fighting our way through a forest of monstrous Cadillac Escalades -- what......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor spending a......

Ted Haggard came out of his magical three-week excursion and today announced that he's 100% heterosexual. No more dick for him. Nope, none. Now you might laugh and think we're just teasing the good pastor, but strangely we believe him! Which doesn't frighten us as much as the ramifications of the next step, which is-- if Ted Haggard can stop being gay in just three weeks, can you become gay in just three weeks......

The other day, LAist received an inquiry via email about our picks for the restaurants that have something inedible (but, perhaps indelible) on the menu: A great waterfront view. We did a little culling, and have come up with the following lowdown. Our favorite spot for drinks and light appetizers is Splashes Lounge at the Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach. We loved watching the sun go down and having the waves pound......

The Guitar Center Drum-Off Grand Finals starring +44, Street Drum Corps, Hellride @ Henry Fonda Theater B.B. KING @ Kodak Theater Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks @ El Rey The Ditty Bops @ McCabe's Glen Phillips @ Largo My Morning Jacket @ Wiltern Blues Traveler @ The Canyon The View @ Spaceland Billy Vera & the Beaters @ Rusty's Surf Ranch Hed (PE), Needlemouth, Avava @ Key Club Bastardass, Dirty Fucking Commies, Dohrn @......

The below piece is in reference to Keith Olbermann's closing statement from his January 2nd show. Get the full transcript here; just scroll to the end for his 'special comment about sacrifice' and watch the clip after the jump. Full disclosure: I am admittedly a fan of Keith Olbermann and his P.O.V. The above-referenced clip is not his best work, and LAist Editor-in-Chief Tony Pierce said it felt "forced" and ran far too long,......

You can call it the People's Republic of Santa Monica, but you can't call it a land of godless heathens. While Walmart tries to pick a slogan and Larry the Cable Guy laments PC holidays, Santa Monica has no problem setting up a Christmas nativity scene in Palisades Park (facing Ocean Avenue near Arizona). They even bag the parking meters so cars won't obstruct the view. Yes, political correctness got in the way for......

Before there was gold, there was traffic... Gold Line construction has made it out of the tunnel boring phase and onto the streets. Watch out on Third Street, between Herbert and Eastern avenues and on the south side of First Street, between Utah and Gless. This is the kind of traffic we like. Cheer for Gold! Oceanbound For about 8 weeks in Marina Del Rey, the Culver Blvd. on-ramp to eastbound 90 will close......

She: I love a gray day. I forgot how much. He: Me too. She: I hope we dont move out there and miss this gray. And the view from here. He: The view from here is great, yeah. She: Like you said, remember? "Sometimes, nothing beats standing in the shadow of a tall building." He: Yeah. I couldn't be more pleased with the state of Los Angeles theatre these days. 365 is showing us the......

Ahahahaha! Oh Rosie you are so funny...and racist. It's OK though, making racist jokes about Chinese people is still P.C. in America, right? And the crowd even laughed. What if she had instead joked "The View is big in tha' hood. N******, n******, n****** love this show!" Still funny, right?......

Monday we posted a video clip of Kelly Ripa and special guest host Clay Aiken. While Kelly was interviewing "Dancing with the Stars" winners, Aiken covered Ripa's mouth so he could ask a question. Ripa objected and told Aiken that she didn't know where his hand had been. Most people, including Rosie O'Donnell, assumed that Ripa was referring to Aiken's alleged penchant for "fisting" men... whatever "fisting" is... Yesterday Ripa called into "The View"......

One sentence roundup: And I’m sure Bedrockist.com is where the Flintstones would point their, um, rockputer to see what the mayor said in his latest news conference about all those layoffs at the quarry. - Ironic Sans The Los Angeles District Attorney charged a pregnant Burbank woman with involuntary manslaughter Monday for allegedly fatally assaulting a 75-year-old parking attendant over a $5 parking fee. - Burbank Leader Over the next two decades, neon signs......

Nine years we've put up with Star Jones on "The View". Now that Elizabeth Hasselbeck has assumed the role of The Annoying One, Star and her fat salary are expendable. Barbara Walters tells everyone who will listen that ABC did not renew Jones-Reynolds' contract at the begining of this year. However, that contradicts what Walters said just two months ago: "Rosie will be there. And if Star wants to continue to be there, she......

Last night, while the rest of you were resting up for Hollywood's onanistic ode to itself (aka The Golden Globes), LAist was getting some culture in the form of David Foster Wallace, who read from his new collection of essays, Consider the Lobster at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. Amid college cuties and L.A.'s limited literati, the long-maned California transplant (he teaches at Pomona College) read an essay on his September 11th experience called......

If you have time tonight, take a look at the moon. We noticed a slight halo circumscribing it at 6pm. According to NASA, "Halos form when the sunlight or moonlight is refracted or bent by ice crystals associated with thin-high level clouds, like cirrus or cirrostratus. Often, a halo around the moon or sun is an indicator of cloudy or rainy weather as high level cirrus and cirrostratus clouds that cause halos tend to......

That's the view from the front door of koganuts's house. It's also the view we had while trying to drive up the 101 to Woodland Hills last night. Traffic was abysmal. There's a risk of things getting worse today: With shifty and unpredictable winds expected to gust to 25 mph today, firefighters were hoping to prevent the blaze from spreading. In particular, they hoped to contain one end of the blaze from moving into......

At outdoor events in downtown Los Angeles, such as the Grand Performances series that included Friday night's Ozomatli concert, or the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival's summer performances, part of the fun is people-watching, and much of what you see people doing is turning their heads side to side and murmuring, "This is so cool. I've never seen downtown like this." California Plaza, where the Grand Performances concerts are held, can be a lovely scene......