Results tagged “vannuys”

The Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting major flooding on the 7000 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, near Sherman Way. It looks like a sheared fire hydrant, but it is reportedly a water main break. Water is shooting about 100 feet into the air and LADWP crews are on scene. [Update: the LADWP confirms that it is a water main break]. Streets on and around the major thoroughfare are closed down.

When I moved to Los Angeles from Back East, I immediately heard of two magical destinations for which East Coasters darned not speak: Costa Rica and Hawaii. Apparently they’re too far from Back East, but not Out Here.

KABC-TV is reporting a shooting death in front of a Van Nuys apartment building that has left one person dead. Two suspects, one reported to be a female, were apparently seen running eastbond on Vanowen towards Sepulveda. LAPD Media Relations has few details at the moment. Also: The Los Angeles Fire Depatment is reporting the death of a man in his 60's who was apparently was killed in a trash compactor at 8201 N. Woodley Ave., near the Van Nuys Airport.

Following the arrest of Alfonzo Landa earlier this month, officials today announced the identify of 23-year-old Ricardo Hernandez. A $50,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of those involved was announced in late September, a couple days after the murder.

It was baby Andrew Garcia's baptismal celebration the morning he was shot in the head. Earlier and just a few blocks away, a large party was held for the 4-month-old child. At around 1 a.m. on Sunday on Kittridge Street in Van Nuys, Andrew, his mother and a friend, who is pregnant, were sitting in a parked car outside a friend's house. The friend, 28-year-old Anna Contreras, was feeding Andrew while the father and Eric Ramirez, 18, stood outside. Two young men walking by got into a verbal exchange with them, which escalated with several shot gun rounds fired at the family.

A shooting early yesterday morning in Van Nuys was "prompted by an argument between rival gang members," says the Los Angeles Police Department, and now they are hoping someone will come forward with information regarding the perpetrators who gunned down a four-month-old baby boy, according to the LA Times.

Earlier this month, Robert Korda's family used the internet to round up help to find a missing loved one. Van Nuys resident and Los Angeles Philharmonic veteran Robert Korda never showed up to work after suffering a heart attack the night before. But when his body was brought to the coroner's office, sans identification, fingerprint databases were used and he was erroneously identified as Robert Norda, not Korda. That prompted a manhunt over next few days until the misspelling was figured out. In an article about Korda's memorial tribute in August, the Daily News explains that Korda died while doing some do gooding:

Once upon a time, Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley boasted its own theme park. The theme, ostensibly: Beer. Well, what else would you make the central focus of an amusement park located on the property of a major brewery?

Steven Rosenberg has been a long time Van Nuys resident and neighborhood blogger for the Daily News. As of today's City Council vote, he now lives in Sherman Oaks and tells it likes it is from his perspective: "For one thing, every single person who bought into this neighborhood received a discount of sorts on their home by virtue of it NOT being in Sherman Oaks, even though it is close (and this is, for the most part, a fairly nice area). Now those who live here presently can reap a premium of many thousands of dollars if and when they sell (or rent) their home by virtue of their ability to write the words 'Sherman Oaks' in their ads and listings without the additional word 'adjacent' following. All this BS about 'feeling' like you're a Sherman Oaks resident, even though you live in Van Nuys — I didn't buy it then, I don't buy it now."

In a vote that angered some and brought extreme joy to others, the Los Angeles City Council voted to annex a portion of Van Nuys into Sherman Oaks after residents of the affected area brought forth the idea last year. During the meeting, Don Schultz stood up announcing that he and others will seek for Van Nuys to secede from the city and that by 2011, they will celebrate their independence. There have been also rumors, albeit quite possibly jokes, that a portion of Sherman Oaks will try to annex into neighboring Bel Air.

[UPDATE: Shortly before noon, the City Council voted to approve the annexation. Read more here]

Van Nuys resident Robert Korda had been missing for a few days, prompting a police and community search fueled by the media and social media tools like blogs and Twitter. Korda died Wednesday night at a home in Glendale and although the search by police included the coroner's office, he wasn't discovered until last night after an autopsy was performed--at some point, his last name was input incorrectly as "Norda," not "Korda." He died of what appears to be natural causes, but a specific cause has not been determined. Korda played for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for about 20 years and his disappearance became an issue after he did not show for a music gig on Thursday morning at Sunset-Gower Studios.

Authorities revealed this morning that missing Van Nuys resident and violinist Robert Korda, 54, "was found dead on July 12 by LAPD Missing Person Unit detectives at the Los Angeles County Coroner," according to the Daily News. However, "the cause of his death is under investigation." Korda's son Noah was actively using the internet to spread the word about his missing father, in the hopes that someone might come forward with information to help the LAPD locate the man. Late last night he posted this message on his blog: The final update for now. 7/12 11:55pm

Superintendent Ramon Cortines is going apeshit over photos of Sacha Baron Cohen with Lake Balboa high school football players published as part of a GQ magazine cover story. Cohen's salacious poses with the stars of Birmingham High's football team appear in the middle of this GQ fashion spread.

The city is looking into installing new parking meters that could potentially bring in $1 million in additional revenue to help fill the budget gap, but officials say they don’t have enough resources to do so. LADOT told councilmembers at last week’s Transit meeting the plan would not make any money in its first year because the meters would cost $1 million to install. Additionally, officials said the department is already 18 percent understaffed in maintenance technicians, making it harder to collect money and fix existing meters.

A motion that is likely to pass in the City Council will take a chunk of Van Nuys and plop it within Sherman Oaks' boundaries. This will be the second time that Van Nuys has lost parts of its neighborhood--Valley Glen and Lake Balboa are also post-Van Nuys 'hoods.

One of LA's best ideas is about to get a little more pricier. Beginning August 1st, LAX FlyAway one-way tickets between Union Station/Van Nuys and LAX will raise one dollar to $7 to further close the gap between revenues and expenses. Westwood to LAX and back will remain at $5 each way.

Okay, what was in the air yesterday? At approximately 4:36 p.m., a 60-year-old male driver ran into a bus stop, injuring three others and himself, according to Devin Gales at the Los Angeles Fire Department. Everyone was transported to area hospitals in minor condition except one 25-year-old female who was left in critical condition. The bus stop was located on the 14300 block of Vanowen near Van Nuys Blvd. Earlier. Earlier in the day a few miles away, a bicyclist was killed by a LADWP contractor. In Venice around the same time, a man was dragged under a bus leaving him dead.

Three small power outages have knocked out approximately 1500 customers total in or near Van Nuys, Koreatown and Hollywood. Spread evenly across the three neighborhoods, all outages were due to rain. Crews are currently out working to restore the power, which is expected to happen by this afternoon, weather permitting, according to Stephanie Interiano of the DWP. In Van Nuys, the outage is affecting an area near Van Nuys and Burbank; in Hollywood, near Edgewood and Highland; in Koreatown, by Wilshire & Crenshaw. There are also a few isolated smaller outages near the bigger ones.

       

There's nothing fancy about Nat's Early Bite at first look. It's another hole in a the wall, tucked in a small strip mall off Hazeltine on Burbank Ave. Look closer, especially on a weekend, and you'll see a line out the door. And that's the first good sign.

California Highway Patrol has said that the two victims in this morning's crash on the 10 Freeway were a Culver City police officer and a 21-year-old male from Van Nuys, according to ABC7.

       

What was a solution to prevent graffiti tagging on soundwalls became a problem as transients moved in. When Metro's Orange Line opened in 2005, the bike path walls had little growth around them, leaving them as a blank canvas for graffiti. Landscaping was planted to discourage tagging and it was a success for the most part, but when you have space and shrubbery, it also become shelter. As seen here, many have made it their home.

It's all in an effort to get a good night's rest in the Valley. The Daily News sums the aviation battle up nicely: "Burbank eventually wants to send 32 flights a day to Van Nuys to ease congestion. Van Nuys officials don't want any of Burbank's air traffic, but they want to divert their noisiest aircraft to Burbank and other airports." Both airports ultimately would like to cut nighttime flights except for emergencies, but that's up to the FAA to impose a curfew. And to make it through their process could take up to months or years. And well... Burbank is ahead in their application process with the feds.

As part of their annual neighborhood and community concert series, the LA Philharmonic will be visiting Van Nuys, Inglewood and Pomona next month. It's all about their goal of making "music accessible to the widest possible audience." To that end, the three concerts are free (well, the Pomona show is an easy $5) and will feature Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on “Greensleeves,” Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Suite No. 1. To get in, you must reserve a spot. Also: The orchestra released a live concert recording for purchase on iTunes today. The concert from the Shadow of Stalin series features works from Shostakovich and Mosolov.

An alleged body covered with sheets was seen by an Amtrak train passenger who was near the Van Nuys Station this afternoon. LAPD Media Relations could not immediately confirm anything, but Francisco Oaxaca at Metrolink said the tracks were closed for about an a hour and a half due to "police activity." Around 4:45 p.m., one track was opened allowing trains to operate on the single track. There were a few delays and one train cancellation in Moorpark, but Oaxaca said the rest of the scheduled trains should operate on time.

This curious bit of info came to us via our tipline, and may merit the curious (or the foolish) to check it out: "Volkswagen made a car so bad, that Jennifer Boswell wants to take it out to a field and charge a dollar swing. Fortunately, NPR's famous Car Talk radio Tapert* [sic] brothers convinced Jennifer on air not to kill her car, but instead give away her green 2001 beetle to the most deserving stranger."

1st Annual Lake Balboa Music Experience happens this Saturday, Oct. 11th, from 4pm to 10pm.

The always convenient FlyAway buses that whisk passengers from Van Nuys, Union Station and Westwood Village to LAX and back is not making its revenue back and some city officials would like to see that happen. Although ridership increased 30% in 2007 with some 1.3 million passengers, the system lost $9.5 million in the last fiscal year. Therefore, the Board of Airport Commissioner may vote to increase the fare a dollar or two from the current $4 to $6 price (fare dependent on where you're coming from). Earlier this summer, the morning service schedule from Union Station was bulked up due the popularity of the buses.

Valley Glen got a boost in neighborhood pride last week when the US Postal Service finalized the official recognition of the neighborhood by designating all or part of 91401 (Van Nuys), 91405 (Van Nuys) and 91606 (North Hollywood) to be Valley Glen, according to Mark Kellam's neighborhood blog at the Daily News.