We are all about the "people first" concept, which is planning for people, not cars when developing a new building or road. However, pedestrians still need to follow the law. Saturday night's traffic in Santa Monica for the Glow Festival was only worsened by the fact that pedestrians would cross streets against the walk signal's "don't cross" hand. Witnessed at just about every intersection, this left vehicles in all directions backed up and clogged at......

Photo by maxedaperture via Flickr Remember Walkscore, the website where you type in your address and the spit out a score rating the walkability of your neighborhood? Today, they released America's Most Walkable Neighborhoods and Los Angeles came out at #9. #9?!?! Well, it's not for the city as a whole, but rather for certain neighborhoods, specifically Mid City West, Downtown, Hollywood. Ahead one step of Los Angeles is Long Beach at number 8......

Although we nagged on Councilman Bill Rosendahl this morning, we had a candid chat with his office this morning afterwards. Things were overlooked and last night's meeting was not meant to be a secret, even if it was closed, they said. In an e-mail update on the meeting, among other things, sent out this afternoon (posted in full below), Rosendahl starts off his message with quite a nice vision: "I’d like to update you on......

Two years ago the community joined City Council President Eric Garcetti on the Great Hollywood Walkabout conducted by Deborah Murphy who then made recommendations which included reclassifying Hollywood Boulevard to include a pedestrian priority classification. Then and today, Hollywood Boulevard is still classified and engineered as a Major Highway. This morning, a vehicle involved in killing two pedestrians on the boulevard last night still sat in the middle of the street. The two victims were......

Shortly before 9:00 p.m., an LAPD West Traffic Division officer attempted to pull over a car for reckless driving on Hollywood Blvd. The suspect did not stop, prompting a short pursuit before hitting two pedestrians between Wilcox and Cahuenga and then crashing the vehicle. Both pedestrians, a male and a female between the ages of 35 and 40, were pronounced dead at the scene and the driver of the vehicle was treated for wounds and......

Undoubtedly, some of the best things about living in Los Angeles are our varied terrain, eclectic architecture, landmarks, and fascinating history. That's why when you've hit treadmill and Stairmaster burnout and can't take another day of watching Montel on closed captioning in your gym, taking things outside and into the city's beautiful hills can be a welcome respite from workout drudgery. One great workout walk combines the best of the city with some kick-ass cardio--and......

Then you might have some information for police. At around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, 31-year-old Vicky Noh was crossing Wilshire Blvd. in a marked crosswalk at New Hampshire Avenue when she was struck and killed by a yellow school bus that drove away. The 40 foot long bus is described as a "newer model with a flat front end" and was actually a charter bus, not one that transports children on a daily basis. The......

Photo by VirtualEm via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An Urban & Environmental Planner friend of mine in New York City believes that when you build bigger and beefier streets, all you do is build increased traffic congestion. "Build it and they will come," he would say. Today, Steve Hymon in his weekly Road Sage column explores the subject by extension of the Pico/Olympic plan, where city officials are planning to begin......

Walking away from the Mayan Theater on Tuesday night, dazed, my ears still ringing and images of brightly-colored wrestling unitards still flashing before my eyes, I was transported back through time and space to a little strip club in Montana called Shotgun Willie’s, on a hot night last August. I was sitting on the stage, handcuffed to the pole by a naked young blonde woman for what's called a "hostage dance." Out of the......

Photo by Salaam Allah West Coast Transitphotography KING! via the LAist Featured Photos pool It sounds really boring: California Health and Safety Code Sections 43845. However, within that state code is a something pretty neat: if your place of work has 50 persons or more employed for them and subsidizes leased parking for your and your fellow employees, then they must participate in the Parking Cash-Out program offering you a cash allowance in lieu......

a writer's perspective Returning to Warner Brothers to picket yesterday and today felt like a bit of a homecoming. Between Monday’s SAG unity day at Fox, and the last holiday-shortened week that saw me putting in appearances at Paramount, WGA headquarters, and, of course, Xena Appreciation Day at NBC, it seemed like I’d been working out of the office for ages. It felt good to be home. I don’t know what they’re putting in......

Sometime in the middle of last year, the Bank of America opened a branch on the SW corner of Hillhurst and Franklin in Los Feliz. The building was built on the corner with a driveway entrance on the Franklin side and an exit on the Hillhurst side. To say that the intersection is busy is an understatement. Curiously, the lot was developed, the building was built, the B of A opened shop and yet no......

A small patch of land in Silver Lake is about to learn its fate, as are the residents and officials who have been debating about what to do with it for close to ten years. At stake are six acres termed "the Meadow" by locals on the property of the Silver Lake Reservoir which is going to be opened to the public soon, but concerns are already swirling about the nature of the land's purpose,......

Pasadena ARTS Bus/Gold Line Map We are not all drivers, we are not all cyclists, we are not all transit riders, but we are all pedestrians. Every trip we take starts and ends with a walking trip. And no matter what part of the Los Angeles area you're in, walking can be, well, no walk in the park. There's always something: a bad sidewalk, ditzy drivers, driveways, the lack of a sidewalk, zero street......

Two fairly large, but non-deadly crashes in the Valley, first on the southbound 405 in Sherman Oaks, ">then on the westbound 101 in Tarzana, snarled morning commuters today. Needless to say, traffic backed up to the 101/405 interchange which is the busiest freeway interchange in the United States. This brings up the question: where are the alternative options to traverse the 8.5 mile Sepulveda Pass between the Valley and metropolitan Los Angeles? There are currently......

MTV's The Hills Season Finale pre-show, live after party took place tonight at AREA Nightclub in West Hollywood, which seemed to be the perfect spot for a soiree such as this. Walking the Red Carpet (or shall I say Blue Carpet) were Lauren, Brody, Audrina, LOD, Frankie, Katie and Heidi. And apparently the personal trainer. Surprise, suprise, Heidi Montag showed up on the carpet briefly, alone and without a wedding ring. it seems that......

On November 27th, the striking members of the WGA held a rally on Hollywood Boulevard. As I walked towards the rally from my car, I could feel the sound of the helicopters beating down around me. It was one of those silver fall afternoons, the sky distant like winter, but it was still warm. Walking up a side street, all the different Hollywoods crowded up around me – each taking its turn in a......

Back in July, LAist and you, our dear readers, had some fun with Walk Score, a site that lets you punch in your address and spits out a walkability score for your neighborhood. Some Los Angeles neighborhoods earned a very respectable "walkers paradise" rating and some just plain sucked (that's what you get when you live on Quakertown Ave. in the northwest Valley). A recent Brookings Institute study finds that Los Angeles ranks 12th......

Hearts of Darkness is such a perfect complement to Apocalpyse Now that it's hard to watch one without thinking of the other. Though it's not the greatest print, the former is finally available on DVD. Now that the year is coming to an end, people are starting to talk about Oscar contenders. Why is the superb Rescue Dawn being left out of the mix? Live Free or Die Hard doesn't play like a Die......

We told you they were coming to speak on global warming, now here's what happened at yesterday's Presidential Forum in West LA. For the second time this month, fire officials are preparing for more wildfires as dry winds approach. Mission Viejo in Orange County is dubbed safest city in America. Sorry Detroit, you're back at the bottom of this list. However, these numbers came from a private research group and people, including the FBI,......

Last night some of my friends got together to watch the season premiere of "Project Runway". With a very tall surprise up my cap sleeve, I showed up to the viewing party with the one and only Santino Rice. Santino and I had met this summer at the Project Angel Food party backstage at the Rufus Wainwright concert. I thought who better to give us the inside scoop on all things "Project Runway"? First......

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......

Pixar's long streak of superb movies is starting to feel vaguely satanic, but I'm willing to keep embracing evil as long as it's this rich and funny. Ratatoille is the latest and resides in the very top tier. Michael Moore's Sicko didn't rouse as much rabble as Fahrenheit 9/11, but it's a better movie. Interesting that Seinfeld: Season 9 is dropping on the same day as Flight of the Conchords: Season 1 since Murray......

Last December, I embarked on a mission to find a solution to a problem in my immediate neighborhood. Trying to cross Moorpark St. on foot (or left turns in a car) during rush hour is a nightmare. There is just too much constant flow and you really have to have a brave moment to cross at the unmarked crosswalk because as we all know, there is about .001% of drivers in the city who......

What's your best costume? Who needs slutty costumes and overwhelming, overhyped street parades when you've got one of the most original voices in music today? Regina Spektor is playing the Grove in Anaheim on Halloween night, and because LAist loves you so so so much, we are going to give away a pair of tickets to one lucky lucky reader. What do you have to do to get the tix? Just leave us a......

I have a list of things I want to do in Los Angeles pages long. It changes by the season, by the year and most certainly by recommendations given to me by friends. One thing remains constant, exploring Los Angeles and all of its nooks and crannies makes me appreciate this town so much more than I ever could have imagined. For all of the hoopla and stigmas attached with being in LA, it's thrilling......

Ever wonder how your local news anchor could read the horrifying details of the latest terrorist attack, natural disaster or political scandal without breaking down and screaming their head off? Playwright, Kyle T. Wilson did, and penned a very funny play in the process, “Walking Into Traffic.” Directed by Chris Covics who was recently named one of the top ten artists to watch in Los Angeles by L.A. Stage Magazine, “Walking into Traffic” is......

Did you know today is the 226th birthday of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles -- aka L.A.? The old bitch is looking pretty good for her age! Although the city did not incorporate until 1850, September 4th, 1781 is the date that 44 Mexican pobladores set out from San Gabriel with a military escort to settle alongside a great river -- then called the Rio de Porciuncula, later to......

Republican officials have announced that Senator Larry Craig of Idaho will be resigning today in the aftermath of his August 1st guilty plea. He was arrested June 11th during a lewd conduct police sting and pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeaner charge. Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, said the senator would be announcing his "career plans" but did not elaborate. Craig was busted during a police sting in a men's airport bathroom. On Tuesday at......

Lace up those tennies and grab that trusty iPod! Our good friends over at Metro and LADOT in conjunction with the Confederation of Downtown Assoc. are now offering free podcast tours of downtown L.A. through the program Downtown LA Walks. Downtown LA Walks describes itself as an urban “way-finder”, and was designed to help people navigate their way around via new signage noting landmarks, and historical facts. The fun and informative podcasts offer several......