Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Attracting tourists to Los Angeles has never generally been a problem. The appeal of eternal sunshine, movie star sightings, and well-documented destinations means folks come here without much enticement besides a copy of US Weekly and a dream. Of course, parts of the city have more stigma than widespread appeal for out-of-towners, including the much-maligned San Fernando Valley (see: Clueless, Swingers, et al).......

Back in March, LAist contributor Julie Wolfson interviewed Design*Sponge's Grace Bonney. Among the questions was... Soon you will be in LA for the first time. What are you looking forward to doing while you are here? Oh man, first of all I'm looking to get out of cold, grey Brooklyn and get into the sun. But mostly I'm just looking to soak up a new city, new culture and take in as much as possible.......

Since the recent opening of LACMA's Broad Contemporary (BCAM) a flurry of international eyes have been on Los Angeles, and an ensuing flurry of words have issued forth in review. It seems irresistible to review the Broad without also reviewing the city that houses it, which was precisely the tact taken by Chris Haslam in London's Sunday Times today. It takes Haslam seven paragraphs into his article to even mention the precise reason he......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Remember when there was that big freak out in the Santa Clarita Valley? Six Flags Magic Mountain was going to close and quite possibly become torn down for more housing. Not good. The "extreme" roller coaster theme park is the single largest employer in the area, it fills up the hotels with tourists, adding green to the local economy and hey, it's an institution of the little Valley that could......

Fairfax Avenue is the Bomb!!! Declining enrollment and rising costs means less expansion and construction to help relieve overcrowding in LAUSD schools. The LA Times reports that "since the fall, the school system has canceled plans for 19 new schools and additions to existing campuses in South Gate, Bell, Van Nuys, San Fernando, Sun Valley and central Los Angeles, among other areas, citing new enrollment projections." Kids, you don't mind sharing that book, do......

This week, Fodor's online published a little Q & A with editor Jennifer Paull who recently spent a long weekend in our dear city. She wanted to catch up on all that's been recently new to her as a frequent(ish) tourist. Among that was the Griffith Observatory, The Getty Villa, restaurants Osteria Mozza and Röckenwagner Café in Venice and Moss, the high-design housewares store on Melrose. What caught our attention the most, though, was her......

Is it already spring break? Once out of college, we have no concept of that weeklong holiday. Truly unfortunate. Today, Metro is encouraging those spring breakers (most notably the little ones) to use their $3 day passes for self-tourism in our own city. They list off a number of things to do along the Red, Gold and the 720 down Wilshire (the new Purple in XXX many years). However, it struck us odd that......

See, this is why we only email trusted friends, and trust no one. The other day AP reported that Britney and KFed want to bring their new offspring into the world at the pregnant-celeb-friendly Namibia (know your customer), and the next day they tell us it could have been a hoax. Is this what hoaxes have stooped to? LAist remembers when hoaxes were far more interesting than that. Bigfoot was a good hoax. Britibia,......

The California State Assembly must have plenty of free time on their hands. Otherwise, how else would Tom Umberg of Garden Grove get to introduce the "Truth in Sports Advertising Act"? The bill was unanimously approved today, by the state assembly's Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media (say that six times fast), and will now come to a vote before the full assembly. The bill would require all California teams named......