An animal rights group will be gathering in front of Santa Monica City Hall this afternoon to protest the killing of a mountain lion near the Third Street Promenade last week. The group In Defense of Animals are demanding better tactics that they say would have prevented the death of a 3-year-old female mountain lion. more ›

My one stop was at the Apple store located along Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I'd read tweets claiming the store promised they had ordered ample supplies to last the entire day and that there were only 80 people in line. Only 80 people. I arrived at the store at 10:45am, my heart dropping when I noticed the line had vanished. "The line's right over there," said a helpful Apple employee, pointing me towards a feasible line of cattle hopeful consumers. more ›

Man v. Bar presents the perfect opportunity to day drink for a good case this Saturday, September 10, at Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Beginning at The Yard at noon, drinkers will imbibe to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training. more ›

How far would you go for free clothes? Would you, say, disrobe and stand in line in a bustling tourist hub in Santa Monica? or some shoppers, the answer to that question is "yes," and they had the chance to prove it today, reports KTLA. Desigual, a Spanish company that sells men's, women's and children's clothing, promoting the opening of their newest store on the promenade by offering the first 100 people who showed up in their undies a free top and bottom. more ›

We're not in line to get the world's largest Apple Store, but we're about to get one with a glass roof. more ›

There's an elegance to Locanda del Lago's cuisine that makes it a solid spot to experience Northern Italian. They do it so well that it's a beautiful representation should you be conducting a study in The Differences Between Northern and Southern Italian. more ›

Sorry shoppers, there are several stores on the Third Street Promenade who've lost power, reports CBS2, and "they could remain without electricity until as late as 2 a.m. Tuesday." An initial outage in Santa Monica due to "underground equipment failure" cut power to about 2,000 customers. Now about 50 customers in the vicinity of the "mall area in the vicinity of Fourth and Second streets, Santa Monica Boulevard and California Avenue" has remained affected by the outage. more ›

Like the bears in Yosemite, shopping center thieves in Los Angeles are especially prolific in their pursuit of stealing goodies from your car. Sometimes they steal the car itself. With this phenomenon on the rise at holiday time, CBS ranked 50 malls and shopping centers in Southern California for vehicle thefts and burglaries. more ›

Nike’s latest Southern California foray opened its doors last Friday to the large crowds gathered in Santa Monica for the grand re-opening of the renovated Santa Monica Place shopping center. If you are thinking this is just another Nike store, think again. more ›

Apple's iPad launches today, and that means serious enthusiasts have been in line at local Apple stores for hours already, waiting to get their hands on their new toy. Notices were sent out to those who reserved their $499+ webby machine thing, and many opted to get out of bed before the crack of dawn to take their place in lines. more ›

Jamba Juice has decided it's time to give hot drinks a go, and today they're hoping people will hop on not only the bandwagon, but a stationary bike powering a blender to make their own free organic chai latte. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, they're setting up on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica to give away a free hot tea drink blended by your pedaling, and will be offering the new hot drinks in their stores (priced for a limited time at $2). Jamba's CEO says what they're serving up is a "breakthrough, " and that "building on the spin of the blender and taking it from cold smoothies to hot beverages is something that hasn’t been done before." On the new hot bevs menu: Three tea lattes (Original Spiced, Green, and Chocolate), Hot Chocolate, and a selection of whole leaf teas. more ›

"This is very new for us as a method of fundraising, but we are thrilled to have been selected to be the beneficiary of the proceeds of the event," said Becky M. Olson, Co-Founder of Oregeon-based non-profit, Breast Friends, of Through the Rabbit Hole, a comedy-based variety show happening this Thursday in Santa Monica. more ›

To kick off the second season of ABC's TV show "Pushing Daisies" the TV network's Mobile Pie Hole truck is down at Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade today handing out small apple, cherry and peach pies til 3pm. Not familiar with the Emmy-nominated dramedy show about a pie maker who has the ability to resurrect the dead? Footage of it will be playing on plasma TV screens during the giveaway. Yum! more ›

As some of you may well know, I am embarking on Malingering's Marvelous March Madness Sports Bar tour, so I thought I'd hit up one of the usual spots: Barney's Beanery in Santa Monica. more ›

In all the many, many years I have been trolling Santa Monica's Promenade, in search of shopping and people-watching and places to eat, it had never occured to me to stop in at Locanda del Lago, an Italian restaurant right in the thick of Santa Monica's shopping mecca. I was invited out to try some of their house specialties; it's Italian cuisine in the Lombardy style, which emphasizes ingredients like fish from Lake Como, veal, butter (rather than olive oil), and risotto (rather than pasta). more ›

MUSIC: The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs Handel's Messiah tonight at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. But the audience has a part in this fun sing-along. So get your "hallelujah" ready. 7:30 pm // Walt Disney Concert Hall // 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles // $16-$69 (Cheaper tickets are getting scarce). OUTDOORS: Santa Monica pretends its Pershing Square with an ice rink of its own. It’s a stone’s throw away from the Third Street... more ›

Dave Isay will be at the 3rd Street Promenade Borders today at 2pm to discuss StoryCorps - the ambitious project that toured the country in search of stories. Your stories. Our stories. Your great-grandmother's buried stories that you knew nothing about and then, suddenly, you did and nothing was quite the same again. more ›

This is why we do all of our Christmas shopping online: first the FBI reported possible terrorist threats to Chicago and Los Angeles malls this holiday season, then took it back. Hey kids! You too can grow up to be a pervert with a social conscience! Dov Charney just signed on for a deal with American Apparel's partner company that could net him millions per year. A Small World it's not: Disneyland is remodeling... more ›

Starbucks is currently in the midst of doing a free Song of the Day promotion (see the complete list of 37 songs here), and last night, Hear Music, located on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, hosted an in-store performance by the LA-based indie Bitter:Sweet (MySpace) since their song "Heaven (Nicola Conte Remix)" was yesterday's giveaway. more ›

On today's LAist poll, over 80% of you readers are willing to pony up for a subway to the sea. Is anybody at City Hall listening? Or does Zuma Dogg have to get all wacky on their asses? The LAT names two new managing editors. To whom do I write to protest the axing of West Magazine? About 200 employees were evacuated from UCLA today after a basement explosion; no injuries reported. 16-year-old Victor... more ›

Sonic Youth continue to push the envelope. Two weeks ago they let it out that they're going to be working with Starbucks on a cd that will only be sold there, and today we learn that they are going to play a free gig at the Urban Outfitters on the Third Street Promenade. Is that where the Teenage Riots happen these days? Anyways, they're Sonic Youth and because their music has stayed pure throughout... more ›

Following up on a news item we told you about on Friday, apparently the residents of Venice are in alignment with those in Mar Vista who are pissed that Santa Monica has passed a law that only allows dogs with SM tags to legally play in their new park on Bundy and Airport Drive which is right next door to Mar Vista. In the letters section of yesterday's Times were two correspondences that we... more ›

David Mamet & Howard Norton sign their new books 7pm @ Dutton’s Brentwood more ›

Now that the weather is more normal we can go back to enjoying the fact that we live in LA and do Southern Californian things like skating, surfing, and editing movies on our Macs. more ›

There are many great photographers in Los Angeles. LAist isn't afraid to pick favorites, and our two favorite photographers right now are The Cobra Snake and Malingering. We enjoy both of these artists because they celebrate LA fashion in a unique and sometimes hilarious way. The Cobra Snake uses fancy cameras and glamourous locations, whereas Malingering uses inexpensive equipment and photographs in very mundane places like Venice Beach and Third Street Promenade. While Cobra... more ›

Okay, so Los Angeles magazine doesn't update its web site -- or , it seems, even employ a halfway-decent webmaster. But the January issue does a big about the new-and-improved Westwood Village. more ›

Music is the best elixir to kick the proverbial autumnal malaise. Don't let
the shorter days or dipping mercury get you down. Check out these free local
gigs instead.

SATURDAY, 10/1

• DJs Michael Stock and Benjamin White of Part Time
  Punks continue their residency at
  MOCA. The show
  starts at 6pm. It's free with general museum admission. Call (213)
  621-1734.
  
• The Groovy Rednecks play at S.W. Hill Country at 6pm. Call (323) 256-2500.
  
• Sean Newhouse performs the Overture to Verdi’s La Forza
  del Destino, Bloch’s Schelomo with cello soloist Elizabeth Willey,
  and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. at Glendale's Alex Theater at 7pm. Call (310)
  859-7668.
  
• Concert organist Yoon-Mi Lim performs works by Bach, Duruflé, Widor,
  Brahms and James Hopkins at the Pasadena Presbyterian
  Church at 7:30pm.
  Call (626) 793-2191.
  
• Enjoy live music with DJ Chocolate Cassanova at the Apple
  Store on the
  Third Street Promenade. The DJ spins tunes from 8-10pm.
  

SUNDAY, 10/2

• Mews Small & Her Fabulous Females take the stage at the Unurban Coffeehouse
  at 1pm. For details, call (310) 315-0056.
  
• The Luckman Jazz Orchestra
  performs at the Luckman Fine arts Complex at
  6pm. Call (323) 343-6600.
  
• The legendary conguero Poncho Sanchez performs
  live with is Latin jazz ensemble at Amoeba
  Records at 2pm.
  
  For information, call (323) 245-6400.
• Carlos Guitarlos plays at The Liquid Kitty
  at 10pm. Call (310) 473-3707.
  
• Pianist James Boyk and clarinetist Margaret
  Thornhill plays
  at the LACMA Sundays
  Live Series.
  The show starts at 6pm. Call (323) 857-6234.
  
• The Eagle Rock Music festival starts at 7pm in the Center for the Arts.
  Call (626) 795-4989.
  
• DJs Michael Stock and Benjamin White spin post-punk, mutant disco and
  indie 80s-90s at the echo at 10pm.
  For info, call (213) 413-8200.
  

Belmont. Fafi. Kid Robot. more ›

Get a chuckle in at Borders on the Third Street Promenade when George Carlin makes an appearance to sign his new book, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, at 7:30 PM. more ›