Vegans and vegetarians, and their veg-curious and veg-loving carnivore friends, will have a new upscale dining destination to call their own in West Los Angeles. Venice's Seed Kitchen's chef and owner, Eric Lechasseur, will soon open Seed Bistro, where he aims to provide diners with a high-end fine dining experience serving vegan and macrobiotic fare. more ›

Over the strong objections of my girlfriend, who had asked me to stay at her house on the East Side to miss the traffic this weekend, I was headed for the abyss. What began on Thursday as idle musing—"what if I took on Carmageddon?"—had become my must-do bucket list quest by Sunday more ›

The Bluest Eye is coming to Santa Monica for a three week run at the Miles Memorial Playhouse this Friday. The Toni Morrison book, adapted for the stage by Lydia Diamond, tells the story of an African-American girl facing an identity crisis in 1940s Ohio. Protagonist Pecola equates whiteness (and blue eyes) with beauty, an unreachable standard that drives the story's narrative and Pecola to madness. more ›

Did you know that West Los Angeles is home to nine consulates? We didn't, but thanks to the latest newsletter from the community's Neighborhood Council, we do now. They say eight national consulates are on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard, between the 405 Freeway and the Santa Monica border: more ›

It appears these two have struck apartments in Van Nuys and in North Hollywood and now West Los Angeles, where they were caught on tape. On August 13, at around 4 p.m., the two suspects entered an apartment building located in the 1600 block of Barry Avenue in West Los Angeles. Once inside the complex they allegedly forced their way into the recreation room, removed a television and fled the location, according to the LAPD, which is asking the public's help in IDing them. more ›

These days we're all a-Twitter about food on wheels. From comforting classics like ice cream novelties to tacos with an Korean twist, we seem to love the idea of finding food on our own two feet and the vendors' four wheels. But before Los Angeles was a tangle of freeways and cars getting food items from a truck was actually a way of life. While some of us may still live in neighborhoods frequented by produce and grocery trucks issuing familiar beckoning musical calls, beeps, and horn toots, once upon a time in L.A. our city's bread and other baked treats could be found driving around SoCal 'hoods in the form of the Helms Bakery Coaches. more ›

Two buses traveling on the 405 Freeway North collided at approximately 9:40 this morning near the Venice exit. According to abc7.com, "at least 10 fire paramedic units were sent to a parking lot just off the 405 Freeway, at the National Boulevard offramp, following the crash," to treat "24 children with minor injuries." A steady stream of emergency vehicles moving from the scene of the rear-end collision to the parking lot of Ross Dress For Less continued for more than an hour afterward, as paramedics worked to treat the many kids who suffered injuries in the incident. To deal with the traffic chaos on the streets, "Los Angeles city transportation officers were sent to that intersection to direct traffic." more ›

This is last Friday as reported by LAist Featured Photos contributor Jonathan Alcom: "A gallon of regular gasoline priced at 3.99 at a Unocal gas station on Pico Bl and Barrington in West Los Angeles on Friday March 7, 2008 as surging oil prices jumped to a new record above $106 Friday. This gas station was about 40 cents higher than other gas stations in the area." more ›

So many events, so little time. Concete Frequency's latest installment is tonight and there's always Disney on Ice (skaters, not Walt), but here's a sampling of the other good stuff to be done in LA tonight. more ›

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The very popular (and rightly so) Museum of Tolerance is pissing off its neighbhors. Since the museum opened 14 years ago, it has steadily gained worldwide mentions. Yet, all the visitors that arrive because of those those international mentions have the residents who live near the museum in a tizzy, claiming their West LA neighborhood has become a nightmare of big bus traffic, blocked streets and stolen parking spaces. more ›

It was a sunny morning when I decided to stop by Jamaica Cakes on Pico. I’d heard good things, and I was ready for something sweet. They had some great looking chocolate espresso cupcakes, looking almost like muffins, with just a dollop of cream cheese frosting, and red velvet, but no others. Still, there was a pleasing assortment of cookies and a number of breakfast pastries. I wanted that chocolate espresso cupcake, but went against... more ›

Everyone's favorite Fugee is coming out with a new cd, and before he does, he's gonna sit down at the Nissan Live set (on the Fox lot, we believe) and record some live tracks for Yahoo! more ›

Selected quotes from another Wilshire gridlocked story in the LA Times ("Signal fixes get the green light" by Ron Gong-Lin II):Last month, [Councilman Jack] Weiss asked the city Department of Transportation for its master plan and list of top needs, and found out there were none. "It's municipal malpractice," Weiss said. "We have a strategic plan for other important aspects for our city, but the one most vexing issue, traffic. . . there's no... more ›

A few weeks ago, a YouTube video popped up called "Car Bomb In West Los Angeles" in which it appears that some sort of crane-like robot (an extra Transformer that didn't quite make Michael Bay's cut?) pulls an unidentified object out of the trunk of a car. At about the four minute mark in the video, the robot sets the thing off to the side of a building, and a loud noise is heard, as if something was detonated. more ›

One of Indie rock's rising stars, Ferraby Lionheart, is out with his new full length eleven song album Catch the Brass Ring and is playing Hotel Cafe tomorrow night. Before we go see this folksy pop singer songwriter, LAist interviewed Ferraby about his name, his love for Judy Garland, and where he hangs out in LA. more ›

Thanks to our buddy, the LA City Nerd, for pointing out the newest hot blog on the scene -- Militant Angeleno. The anonymous blogger first started posting a week ago Friday and we like this rule of thumb for living in Los Angeles: Yes, I own and drive a car, but I'm not obsessed with it. In order to save money, gas, congestion and wear and tear on my car, I walk to places... more ›

You know that beautiful corridor between Westwood and Brentwood on Wilshire - all that grass, and lack of skyscrapers, and what's the word: open space? It belongs to the Veterans. It's called the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus. George Bush and the feds want it, they want to be able to build on it, and lease or sell it to Big Business. And when it looked like the $120 billion Iraq War spending bill... more ›

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I think we can all agree that food does much more for the body than fill it with nutrients; food can nourish the soul, thrill the senses, and sometimes transport us to faraway lands faster than a Concord jet. Koutoubia, a little Moroccan restaurant in West L.A., serves food that does just that. You could drive by this place for years, as I have, and never take much notice to the small, slightly embellished,... more ›

I love Mexican food, and really who doesn’t? I’ve met few people who don’t love the flavors of our neighbors to the South. That being said, not everyone likes the same types of Mexican food. By types I don’t mean Tex-Mex or Oaxacan—I mean that there are several different culinary categories of Mexican food to be found here in our fair city. There’s taco truck Mexican food, which on a good day can be... more ›

Being a high-stakes online journalist is brutal, brain-taxing, soul-bruising work. But every now and then you get the little bit of recognition (read: free stuff) that makes it all worthwhile. On Friday I had the chance to attend the Haven/Elle magazine pre-Oscars "gifting suite" along with LAist's own Lisa B.* We made our way to the hills of Beverly Hills and after fighting our way through a forest of monstrous Cadillac Escalades -- what... more ›

How can't you delight in the glee of a young man meeting one of his celebrity heroes? Yesterday a teen from West LA went to his local Best Buy on Friday and stood in line for hours with his friends. He pre-ordered the cd, as was instructed, and after 6 hours of waiting, he got to meet the heiress, and thanks to MySpace, we now have this report. I walk up in disbelief and... more ›

So when myspace and buzznet (and youtube and tagworld and..) run into each other on the mean streets of West Los Angeles, do you think gang wars break out Ron Burgundy style? more ›

It is no secret that whomever stepped up to the plate after the departure of LAist's great sports mind, Phillip Wallace, had huge shoes to fill. We've gone through several false starts with a few different people attempting to tackle (writer's note - do you love how we're running with the football metaphors on Championship Sunday?) the daunting challenge of covering the endless number of sports teams and sports stories of the Southland. more ›

While carnivores might not have plans for Thanksgiving, there's always a nearby Denny's with roast turkey and stuffing on the menu. Procrastinating vegans have a bit more of a challenge. But here's an option that's free (kind of) with no RSVP necessary. more ›

When the Veterans Administration asked for public comment on what to do with the prime piece of West Los Angeles real estate that is Veterans Park, it stirred up plenty of passions, but most of the debates argued selling off bits of the land to pay for improvements to the rest versus keeping the place as quiet as usual. more ›

The battle over the Orange Line continues unabated, as Valley NIMBY's have now accused the MTA of cooking the numbers in their court-ordered EIR on potential Orange Line alternatives. more ›