This past week, an international exchange called LA Goldrush brought graffiti artists from Italy to Los Angeles. Now in it's second year, organizers Raptuz (Milan) and Man One/Crewest Gallery (Los Angeles) created a series of events throughout the city, one that many witnessed on Winston St. at the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday. Over the weekend, the artists hit two spots. On Friday and Saturday, they created permanent murals at The Hollywood condo development near......

Saturday morning in the parking garage of The Hollywood | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist LA Goldrush is an international exchange of Graffiti artists from Italy visiting Los Angeles this week. Now in it's second year, organizers Raptuz (Milan) and Man One/Crewest Gallery (Los Angeles) have created a series of events throughout the city, one that many witnessed on Winston St. at the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday. Yesterday and today, in an event closed......

A man suspected of a DUI (influence of heroin that is) was driving on the 100 block of Washington Blvd. last night where officers on patrol witnessed him hit up to ten parked cars near the intersection of Strongs Drive. When officers approached the vehicle, the man resisted attempts by the officers to take him out of the van by allegedly poking them both with a syringe, according to KCBS. The officers then subdued the......

Friday As part of First Fridays on Abbot Kinney, Altered Space Gallery in Venice hosts an evening with Master Craftsman Richard Patterson. Patterson’s artistic furniture made with hand made dowels, and other joints (not a single nail!) along with many other hand crafted tools is functional, modern, and a little surreal. An impressive Dali meets Herman Miller interpretation on practical pieces. Invitations for this one night only exhibit of Patterson’s one-of-a-kind works are available by......

The event has been going on for a couple years now, although a bit under the radar. Like Echo Park's First Saturdays, it's more of a neighborhood event with lots of locals. The concept: local merchants open up their doors a little later than usual for a Friday night and invite musicians and supply wine to those perusing the store -- it's all in the name of community and making the boulevard a more popular......

Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Getty has its first fridays program. So does the Natural History Museum. However, there's a smaller First Friday in Los Angeles, one with a less grandiose budget, little advertising, but is worth a look at. For the past couple years merchants of Abbot Kinney in Venice stay open until 10pm and often host art gallery openings, live music, or in store events. And if you......

Can you re-imagine the LA Riverfront? Then checkout tonight's lecture at SCI-Arc. / Photo by Lush.i.ous via LAist's flickr pool. FILM* A classic Japanese double feature plays at the New Beverly tonight and tomorrow. While these films were made more than 50 years ago, the themes are timeless: Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) focuses on a housewife who’s sick and tired of her boring life with her business-minded husband as her niece......

As we lamented in February, Beyond Baroque was in danger of losing its lease and Venice was in danger of losing one of the most unique places for poets to gather and perform their work. Mere hours before their lease was to expire, L.A. City Council voted to extend the lease for 25 more years - at only $1 a year! What could be more exciting than Beyond Baroque getting a stay of execution? The......

You know how the saying goes when it comes to traffic in Los Angeles, "take Fountain." And somehow, it seems to still hold true. Yesterday in an LA Times interview with Brian Chan, the city's traffic engineer in charge of the Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control (ATSAC) system, he tells them what could possibly debunt the city adage. Q] What are the fastest-moving east-west streets in the city? A] Adams Boulevard. Or Venice Boulevard. If......

Don't be angsty like this lady...go out tonight! / Photo by Plankton 4:20 via LAist's flickr pool. FILM “Animation Nite: From Halifax with Love” is a program at the Echo Park Film Center that features short animated and semi-animated films by women who’ve all lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, eh. The screening includes work by host Siloën Daley and six others. Music by local band Foot Foot follows. 7:30 // Echo Park Film......

Many LAist staffers, contributors and readers were deeply troubled by the news of Dutton's closure. We all have a favorite memory of Dutton's - a particular book we discovered there, an admired author we met at a reading, a certain afternoon spent browsing. We'd like to honor the many unique memories of Dutton's that we all share with a series of posts about what Dutton's meant to us and what it meant to you. Our......

With the near completion of the Central Los Angeles High School #9, or the LAUSD High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, on Grand Avenue more folks are talking about the architecture stylings of Coop Himmelblau and the monument to the arts that they’ve created. Driving along the 101, people have speculated as to the meaning and purpose of the tall structure that creates an entry along with the Cathedral bell tower across......

One of L.A.'s most unique and important centers for poetry, literature, and art, the non-profit center Beyond Baroque, may be in danger of losing its lease. According to an email sent out by the group's Board of Trustees, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo would like to begin the auction process for the building, offering it up for other non-profits to bid on. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl had promised to extend Beyond Baroque's lease for another......

As far as live variety shows go, it doesn’t get much better than the 826LA Book*Smart events at Largo. The event, which usually takes place once a month, features an author, a comedian and a musician. Saturday’s event centered around headliner Zooey Deschanel, who blew the audience away with her vocal chops and helped raise funds for 826LA with sewn duck heads (it’ll make sense as you keep reading). ...

Love is in the air tonight. / Photo by lush.i.ous via flickr. Ahhh luuuurve is in the air. Need some last-minute ideas for the Hallmark-inspired holiday? Yes, tonight’s Valentine’s Day and here are a few different ideas that will beat flowers and candy any day. ART To coincide with the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at LACMA this weekend, “Women in the City” selected to exhibit four prominent contemporary artists (Cindy......

Cellos take center stage at the Colburn School tonight | Photo by Lachlan via flickr. FILM Before Alan Alda brought the character Hawkeye Pierce to homes everywhere in the M*A*S*H television series, Donald Sutherland (Keifer’s dad) played the role on the big screen in the Robert Altman-directed film (MASH). In both, though, the plot remains the same: the men who lived in “The Swamp” didn’t care much for military decorum during the Korean war.......

Jacob Soboroff takes to Venice Beach telling locals the Superbowl was moved to Tuesday to make a good point.......

A few months ago I noticed a nekkid lady’s torso perched on a plinth in the middle of the Windward Traffic Circle in Venice. Considering the calle vida thereabouts, this shouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. Yet, the utter incongruousness of a slick, black, metal, larger-than-life sculpture in the midst of "don’t harsh my mellow" Bohemia, made me stop and gawk. Regardless of yellow caution tape, I sprinted across to the island, which is roomy enough......

Move a strip club into a neighborhood full of single family homes and you're looking for a big freak out. Skin is set to open at 3388 S. Robertson Blvd. (that's where Robertson, Exposition and Venice all meet) pending a police permit hearing set for tonight. A well organized South Robertson community effort has delayed the opening of the new local amenity at the border of Los Angeles and Culver City. "SKIN may have been......

Perez Hilton on the "no" carpet LAist had the opportunity to attend Twiistup 3 last week in Venice at the Air Conditioned Supper Club and it was a geek fest you didn’t want to miss! Tech startups, their employees and followers were joined by Venture Capital firms, bloggers, news crews and even Perez Hilton to enjoy a night of hands-on demos by 8 pre-selected local startups called “showoffs” for the night all while mixing......

It may be a holiday, yet Mondays are always a guaranteed good night for music with all the residencies in addition to tonight's appearance of Venice local Harry Perry (pictured right) in WeHo We Barbarians, The Morning Benders, Rio Bravo @ Silverlake Lounge Idyllists, The Movies, Light FM, C.R.A.F.T. Club @ Viper Room Radar Bros., Tigers Can Bite You, Kárin Tatoyan, Holloys @ The Echo The Parson Red Heads, The Shaky Hands, Francisco The Man,......

Twiistup is hosting its third event tonight at the Air Conditioned Supper Club on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. What is Twiistup? It's the brainchild of Mike Macadaan who was seeking to fill a need for a fun, tech-focused event that would showcase up-and-coming companies, while providing a casual environment for discovery and networking. Geeks are cool. Southern California tech company startups are hot and Twiistup is the place to be to bring those elements......

If you want to do something else tonight besides the mind-numbing seventh season opener of American Idol, here are a few options: WORDS Nobel Prizewinner Mohammad Yunus has a conversation with Rick Wartzman, director of the Drucker Institute, Claremont Graduate University (and former editor of the Los Angeles Times' West) on "Creating a World without Poverty." The evening will focus on questions like: "What if you could harness the power of the free market......

I didn't want to just do a "best of" list. So this year, I've decided to take a years worth of personal New Year's Resolutions, ask around for those of friends and put a call out to readers (email me here) about things you've always wanted to know, always wanted to do and then take those requests and ask an expert, an insider to help out. The result? Here goes... Today's Resolution: "I want......

Rainy days and Mondays may get you down, so check out these events tonight to make the first night of the workweek no so ho-hum. FILM As part of the LA Phil's Concrete Frequency series, the Arclight Hollywood gets into the game with screenings of films that are "designed to examine and celebrate the elements that define a city, and how they are affected by, and reflected in, music." On tap tonight is Fritz......

This unexpected Tiki God has materilized on Mildred Ave. between Pacific and Dell--steps from my weekend gig in Venice. A few weeks back when I caught a glimpse of a resident with a machete, I was a little concerned. Thankfully, this friendly neighborhood Tiki was the result! I wonder if he is meant to be Lono, the god of Peace, or Kanaloa, the god of the Sea, or just a whimsical protector of the local......

Taken today in Venice at Lincoln and Venice Blvds., the above picture shows a billboard that has kicked the bucket. Did it finish its "bucket list" too? Three people were shot and injured today in Lincoln Heights near Daly and Mozart streets at 1:22 p.m. *UPDATE, 7:43 p.m.: LAPD is confirming to LAist that one died at the scene, making this the fourth murder for 2008. More police dog news from San Diego, this......

If tonight's slim pickings in the music scene had an official theme, it would fall into Western/Country. In mid-country, House of Blues, Sunset Strip, is hosting a night of insane Psychobilly (punk, meet rockabilly). The Southlands of Long Beach finds the baritone country rock sounds of Brad Johnson at Cowboy Country and to the north in the Valley, the straight ahead country rockabilly Jeffrey Michaels visits The Cowboy Palace Saloon. Of other interests and......

A frequent City Hall visitor and community activist, Zuma Dogg of Venice, is rallying up the troops once again -- this time to fight Proposition S, otherwise known as the Phone Tax, that we will be voting on in the February 5th Presidential Primary election. Zuma Dogg was a special guest editor to LAist back in July. Check out his introduction interview.......

A simple description for a simple moment from LAist Featured Photos contributer Jonathan Alcorn: "A man watches the glow of dusk from the sand berms at Venice Beach on December 23, 2007." In what can be a rather harried and stressful time of year, it's nice to remember to take a moment to be calm, indeed. Photo by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr......