Ray Bradbury will receive France's highest Arts & Letters Award, the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, tonight at 6pm in Beverly Hills for his contributions to literature all over the world. more ›

Introducing the TV Junkie Black List: While waiting for Spoon to go on the Tonight Show last night I had to endure Leno and guest Denis Leary talking about how they'd like to get cyclists off the roads and how they enjoy honking at them, etc. Both of these a-holes know* what went down recently in Beverly Hills as reported by LAist and the last thing LA needs is more SUV drivers feeling justified in... more ›

We thought we knew uber-blogger and writer Luke Ford. He's best-known for his probing stories about the porn industry (nsfw), and most recently admired for being the first reporter to state that Mayor Tony's marriage was dunzo. But it wasn't until this week's interview with the Jewish Journal that we learned how real Ford keeps it. From his 300-square-foot Pico-Robertson crib, the fact that he used to live out of his car, or the... more ›

When actress Kate Walsh (Dr. Addison Montgomery Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy) appeared on Ellen Degeneres' show last week, Ellen didn't feel like waiting for the upfront announcement of whether Walsh's spinoff would get the green light. So she gave ABC President Steve McPherson a call from her show to get the scoop. McPherson, being the suit that he is, would only say that he "thinks she's in pretty good shape." While LAist has no... more ›

We caught wind of the axing of the "Jamie, Jack and Stench" show on Star 98.7 in the L.A. Times Calendar Weekend this morning: In a news release, the station said that "Star 98.7 management decided that the show is not a long-term fit with the music-intensive, artist-driven direction that began last April…." The station said it would announce plans for the morning show "in the coming week." Jamie has always been in the... more ›

Stocking stuffer alert for the foodies on your list! When it comes time to make New Year's resolutions, oftentimes at the top of ours is "Try more restaurants!" And this is when "new" is a relative term; sometimes "new to us" is as good as new, if not better. But then as any given mealtime approaches, we find ourselves scrambling for ideas: Where should we go? How much of a dent in the wallet will... more ›

Tongues are wagging about the long-anticipated opening of Mozza, the love child of local legend Nancy Silverton and celeb chef Mario Batali, that took place early last month. We, too, had our eye on the pizzeria's progress for most of this year as the changes happened molasses-slow over on the corner of Melrose and Highland. While LAist waits for the hype to die down a bit before we belly up to the bar, we're tuned... more ›

While LAist was checking out the malls on Black Friday (Century City and Paseo Colorado were easy to navigate), we stumbled across a live performance by Incendio. The Los Angeles based Latin Guitar band was jamming in Pasadena, playing kind of music that makes us wish we could play guitar. If you want to be treated to one of their performances, check out their schedule on Myspace.... more ›

While LAist hasn't really made up our mind yet who we're voting for in the Governor's race, it looks like Jay Leno has. more ›

Rockstar: Supernova took a wrong turn down American Idol alley tonight, taping the arrival of the singers in their tricked out Honda Elements. We'll take solace that at least they didn't air commercials of the rockers riding the Elements through Hollywood like AI contestants did with the Ford Focus. So they didn't cheese out entirely. But there is one more show left.. All five of the finalists were in the bottom three at some... more ›

It's rivalry week and a cursory view of our blogroll shows the Trojan/Bruin war rages on. Boi From Troy is, obviously, almost all USC all the time this week while Loteria Chicana and Ultratart both wax nostalgic with dreams of past glory. more ›

While LAist still thinks the Angels will wind up winning the West, Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia need to be very concerned about the team's hitting. The Halos are 10th in the AL in runs scored, and 13th in both On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage, ahead of only the Seattle Mariners. It's almost embarrassing to play 18 innings against the Blue Jays and score just one run off seven of their pitchers. more ›

What kind of City Council says "no" to $500 million to fix up a facility that loses $2 million a year? The Rose Bowl is a gorgeous stadium, a true historical landmark, but it's also in need of a facelift. Hosting 5-6 UCLA football games a year, plus a Bowl game with a future that's tied to the questionable BCS, won't keep the Rose Bowl sustainable much longer. more ›

LAist thinks the Rose Bowl renovation plan is a good one for the city of Pasadena. It's important to remember Pasadena is not debating building a football stadium. The Rose Bowl is there and not going anywhere. The question is how to ensure the economic viability of a facility that loses $2 million a year. more ›

While LAist doesn't doubt the Angels are a great team, we'd like people to evaluate the Dodgers on more than one game against Jason Schmidt. Perhaps halo fans should be concerned that only Vlad Guerrero could muster any damage off of Texas' Ryan Drese. But then again, the Angels do have Vlad Guerrero to alleviate most of their concerns. more ›

Bettman and the NHL owners should be ashamed that they let this happen. After finally getting the players to agree to a salary cap, how could they not let it go up to $49 million? How could they cancel a whole season on being $6.5 million apart? The idea of a salary cap is 100 times more important than the actual cap number. Getting the union to agree to a cap is one of the greatest accomplishments in NHL labor history. But the owners blew a chance to save their season and their sport. more ›

Today's edition in the series, is about former 49ers and Browns executive Carmen Policy, and how he might be the savior LA has been looking for to bring us back a team. Come on! Enough already! How many more saviors can we take? Add Carmen Policy to a list that includes Jerry Jones, John Elway, Larry Ellison, Eli Broad, Ron Burkle, Ed Roski, Tim Leiweke, Casey Wasserman, Mike Ovitz, Michael Eisner, Peter O'Malley, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Al Davis (again), Ken Behring, Alex Spanos, John Moag, Jim Irsay, and countless others as people who supposedly could have brought the NFL back to LA at some point. It hasn't happened yet. more ›

LAist is feeling a little bit depressed at the current selection of new films playing at the local cineplex. We're just feeling a little bit taken advantage of, and you're about to read why. more ›

What for a second looked like the worst trade in Dodger history became absolutely nothing, as the Dodgers backed out of widely reported trade that would have brought Randy Johnson to the New York Yankees. more ›

Back in April, things looked promising for the proposed 555-acre, mixed-use development known as Las Lomas when a judge blocked the City of Santa Clarita’s attempt to annex unincorporated land in its effort to thwart the controversial development. more ›

Today in the Daily Trojan there appeared the article "Record Penny-pinching," a profile of the best record stores in Los Angeles. While LAist can't fault the need for such a list—and the conclusion that Amoeba Music is the best in LA—there are some fairly notable omissions. more ›

While LAist is on the subject of how to simultaneously spend your dollars and support micro-enterprise, job skills, artisans, and environmentally conscious practices, make sure to check out the Mercado de la Paloma if you haven’t already (it's been around for several years). Esperanza Community Housing Corporation developed and operates the Mercado, a rare example of a full-service community economic development center. In sum, it’s part of Esperanza Community Housing Corporation’s overall “strategy to revitalize our neighborhood, bringing together new economic, health, social, and cultural resources under one roof.” At 3655 S. Grand Avenue you’ll find all sorts of goodies, including an art gallery, craft shops, community space, and amazing chicken tacos. All of the above are convenient for you Downtown-based worker bees. more ›

We ought to note: tend to be hit the worst by such funding inequities. more ›

About the only thing consistent about the Dodgers this season is their inconsistencies. Two weeks ago, the Dodgers had lost six straight, were in third place, and considered becoming sellers at the trade deadline. more ›

LAist eats Papaya Dogs when he's in New York - and get this, Gothamists - those 95 cent diversions are next to nothing compared to the hunger-inspiring power of a full-on Chili Dog from Pink's. (And that's only the beginning of Los Angeles' fast-food supremacy.) more ›

Additionally, one might imagine that Six Feet Under, proclaimed by their own website to be "The World's Premier Death Metal Band," is pretty teed off by all the billboards and buzz about the show. And maybe we've missed it, but does anyone know what neighborhood the Fisher home is supposed to be in? Los Feliz or something? First commenter to respond usefully wins the LAist No-Prize! more ›

In an admirable show of editorial restraint, Kinsley spiked his very first column for the Times, in which he gave an "ironic reflection" on the decapitation murder of screenwriter Robert Lees. Kinsley's old New Republic buddy Andrew Sullivan offers some friendly comments. more ›

While Tomjanovich is no Phil Jackson, this is good news for Lakers fans. In today's NBA, there is no coaching job more strenuous and complex than the Lakers', and Jerry Buss could not get away with handing the keys to the franchise over to a less-experienced coach like Jim Cleamons, Kurt Rambis, or Brian Shaw. more ›