The Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council’s “Panel Of Visionaries” led over 300 community leaders in Saturday’s “The Destiny of the West Valley” forum, challenging the community to demand walkable streets, complete and effective mass transit, park-once concepts, circulators and people movers, sustainable infrastructure, green streets, improved property values, reduced utility bills and, quite simply, greatness!......

View Larger Map Update, 3:07 p.m.: LAFD is reporting the fire as 'accidental,' sparked by a welder's torch. Earlier, one commenter points towards a sub-contractor Update, 10:17 a.m.: The fire was put out at 10:05 a.m. with 200 firefighters responding to the scene. The tentative address for the incident is actually at 21301 Erwin St., according to the LAFD. No injuries have been reported and the Daily News reports no cause has been determined yet.The......

uWink, the entertainment/dining "experience," has just announced plans to open a new location in the Hollywood & Highland complex, in the space formerly occupied by Wolfgang Puck's Brasserie Vert. The restaurant is coming to Hollywood sometime in early May 2008, and promises to bring as-of-yet-unheard-of levels of FUN!!! and FAMILY EXCITEMENT!!! to the Highland complex. From the press release, a quick primer for those of you unfamiliar with the uWink concept: At uWink, guests......

This past Saturday, the Boardmembers, stakeholders and guests of the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council met at the WH Marriott for an all-day Retreat and Board Workshop. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky opened the session with a passionate dissection of SB1818 and the LA's City Council current approach to bringing the City into compliance with State law. Calling the law "a poorly thought-out effort to create affordable housing" Zev contends that LA's proposed ordinance "places......

Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The LA Times has the latest and more details on the deadly stand-off in the Valley that left one SWAT team member, Randal Simmons, and four others dead. Okay, this is just terribly, terribly, terribly wrong: why is the city cracking down so hard on street vendors who sell bacon wrapped hot dogs? Police continue to search for three kidnappers who abducted......

KNX1070 is reporting that "a police manhunt is ongoing West of a Washington Mutual bank at Ventura and Topanga Canyon in Woodland Hills. Authorities are searching for two armed kidnapping suspects." Things were something close to touch-and-go late this afternoon on the Blue Line near 5501 S Long Beach Ave when a female pedestrian fell near the tracks as a train passed by, but did not have any direct contact with the train itself.......

We've already told you where the Patriots and Chargers fans will be taking in tomorrow's conference championship games, now we'll let you know where the Cheeseheads and Big Blue will gather to watch their teams fight for a trip to Super Bowl XLII. LA-based Packers fans have had a safe haven in Pickwicks Pub, Woodland Hills (21010 Ventura Blvd.) since 2005 when the bar re-opened after a fire burned down the original bar. Transplant Giants......

Back in November, it was announced that the West Valley would be getting an additional LAPD station in a former sex toy manufacturing plant on Schoenborn Street between Owensmouth and Canoga in Canoga Park. Tentatively called the Northwest Division, it will serve Woodland Hills, West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka when it opens this or next year. Those neighborhoods lay within Council Districts 3 and 12, both represented by LAPD Reserve Officers, Councilman Dennis Zine......

Most people have heard of Candy Cane Lane, a neighborhood in Woodland Hills that puts up elaborate holiday displays. There are a number of other neighborhoods around Los Angeles that can also deck the halls. It all started in South Redondo when a local French restaurant encouraged the neighbors to put white lights in the trees. Every year, a little neighborhood east of Prospect and south of Palos Verdes Drive threatens to put GE......

One of the best known personalities in tv advertising, Dick Wilson, better known as Mr. Whipple died today in the Valley, he was 91. The iconic character actor made over 500 commercials where he'd try to protect the precious tp from being felt up and smelled, while at the same time falling for its charms. Says the AP: The man famous as TV's "Mr. Whipple" died of natural causes at the Motion Picture &......

Can we please do the OPPOSITE of adding fuel to these fires? A Sun Valley day laborer has been charged with arson after he was caught attempting to start a blaze in the Woodland Hills area earlier this week. Do you use your cell phone? Of course you do. The future of this important device lies in the hands of visionaries, such as the ones who are attending MobileCampLA on Sunday. And you too......

Two explosions ripped through a convoy carrying former Pakistani premier and maybe the country's best hope for Democracy, Benazir Bhutto, following her triumphant return after an eight-year exile. She was not hurt, but hundreds were killed and injured. How did the White House respond? By tying it back to the war on terrah, of course, saying, "Those responsible seek only to foster fear and limit freedom." A dump truck is in a "precarious spot"......

If you don't get yourself to a festival this weekend, we're really going to question your priorities in life. Andy Sternberg lists the highlights, while Caroline on Crack narrows in on the awesome food festivals also happening this weekend. We have spent the entire month eating our way through Thai Town. We're winding down our series with Thai Town Express, Sanamluang Cafe, Thailand Plaza, and Thaitown Noodle. New Zagats are out! New Zagats are......

Who made this weekend festival weekend? There are about a million different events going on around the city this weekend, so enjoy the fall weather and get out there! One strike against pirated movies: the MPAA is filing a lawsuit against internet video sharing sites cinematube.net and ssupload.com, claiming that these sites infringe upon the MPAA's copyright. Kiefer Sutherland could be facing up to 18 months of jail time for his drunk-driving arrest. Next......

At 21 years old, less than two months new to town, living in my cousin’s back room in the deep valley, making love to a Thomas Guide every night, with zero frame of reference for my situation, I embark on a film career. My first break, an independent film, hires me to be their production secretary. What’s that? I don’t know either. Here’s what I do know. The production office is at 6th and Alameda......

Some of the latest temperatures as of 3:00 p.m. 98 - Downtown 83 - LAX 72 - Marina Del Rey (bastards) 91 - UCLA 108 - Van Nuys 97 - Long Beach 109 - Santa Clarita 108 - Woodland Hills 100 - Fullerton 79 - San Pedro 88 - San Diego 99 - Tijuana 99 - LAist Photo of melted lollipop by Zach Behrens/LAist......

Ever feel like you're cramped in a bus of 100 people? Imagine a bus where 100 could fit comfortably. As reported last week, the Orange Line in the Valley got a new bus to play with today. The gigantic 65-foot bus that will be in service for a one year pilot began taking passengers back and forth between the NoHo Arts District and Woodland Hills late this morning. To alleviate the high usage of......

Ohhh, that was a nice 20 to 30 second rumbler too. Tonight's 4.5 earthquake, minutes before 1:00 a.m., comes on the heels of last night's 7.5 quake in Indonesia, Southern Japan's 6.4 earthquake and a Earthquake Conference, sponsored by SCAG, that took place yesterday morning in Ontario. The epicenter is in the Santa Susana Mountains north of the intersection of the 118 freeway and Topanga Canyon Blvd. near the split of the San Fernando and......

Even if you can't marry a Spice Girl, you can still treat yourself like soccer royalty at Alpha (8625 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, 310-855-0775). The high end men's store has gone out of their way to welcome LA's newest star, creating this window display and sending David Beckham a housewarming package including: "Los Angeles" (Coffee Table Book) Gravis Flip Flops "Cool Spots Las Vegas" (Book) Surfer Magazine's Guide to SoCal Surf Sports Andrew Christian Underwear......

Dear Laist, I just moved to back home to Los Angeles after spending thirteen years in San Diego. Now that I'm experiencing L.A. from a new "30-something" perspective instead of the oblivious-to-the-world late-teens perspective, I'm noticing a common building facade design that seems to be prevalent throughout the region. I remember it being around in the 80s when I was growing up in Woodland Hills but still see it all over the place today. For......

- LAX: After 15 years of little more than occasional face lifts, efforts to find common ground on an airport modernization plan are on hold again. - Three Years Later: Paul was one of the students standing at the bus stop in front of Taft High in Woodland Hills after school on Sept. 9, 2003 - six days in to the new school year - when three gangbangers drove by and fired a semiautomatic weapon.......

It was about time we visited Malibu Creek in Calabasas! 25 miles from Downtown LA or a quick drive from Woodland Hills, this is an LA treasure we must visit much more often. We went in blind, without any research, excited to see this talked about park. Given a map, we looked and found a very short hike to start off with. It had a cool name too: Rock Pool. Little did we know,......

If your lips are chapped, you know it must be a City of Los Angeles Red Flag Day. Welcome to yet another one in this unusual season. In other LAFD news, black ice gave them quite a scare when one of their own got pinned by a vehicle that went slippity slip! Maybe now government officials will no longer laugh at this writer when he makes complaints over unruly sprinklers. Pshaw! And please, do......

There's nothing like an over-elaborate Christmas lawn display to get us in the spirit of the season. Unfortunately, it seems that this year there has been some neighborly discord regarding a particular display in Hancock Park. You see, a nice Jewish lady in this nice Jewish neighborhood appears to have more of a sense of humor than her neighbors and, among other things, has erected a large Santa in her yard that asks rhetorically,......

There's a lumpy, farting, gum-chewing thing in the art world called outsider art. Outsider art can be many things - art by the disabled or merely unschooled, art in the eye of the beholder, or just art out of fashion. Here in ultra-sophisticated, un-bumpkinish Los Angeles, it seems that outsider art might be something of an endangered species. Thankfully, that just ain't so. You see, once upon a time there was a man named......

Co-founder of In-N-Out Burger, Esther Snyder, has passed. We salute you with 4x4s and Grilled Cheeses. Steve Lopez visits Hillary Hauser, former Santa Barbara News-Press reporter and Ocean Environmentalist/Activist. Lopez's column comes after last week's five part series - Altered Oceans. The Warner Center in Woodland Hills might become more of mini-downtown for the Valley. Former music industry producer, Mark Steele, wants to build a $100 million dollar event center to produce events from......

We know. It's hot. And The L.A. Times makes sure you know it with about 10 billion heat/fire related articles in today's paper: Hot? Yes. Global Warming? Maybe. Heat Hits Deadly Levels In Woodland Hills, It's Just Too Darn Hot Fire Threatens Hillside Estates in L.A. Canyon Firefighters Are Priced Out of the City They Protect Cut Energy Use, Mayor Pleads How to Avoid Heat Dangers Despite all those articles, Daily News has an......

Interested in getting some cheap day labor to help you move a couch, or clear out the garage, or repair a fence? Not so crazy about picking up random "illegal aliens" who swarm your car at the Home Depot and then sweating it out as you drive them to your home? LA County has a handful of regulated alternatives where you can get the help you need at a reasonable rate (about $10/hr), and......

In case you haven't noticed, the World Cup championship started Friday. This LAist plans to watch the Footballers Wives marathon on BBC America this weekend in preparation (did you know that Tanya has a blog?). A reader asks where Angelenos rooting for teams from countries outside of the Americas and the Caribbean can watch the games. Here's a list for starters. Where will you watch? 1. Hollywood Football hosts the World Cup Breakfast series......

too cool The LA Times takes a special interactive look back at real estate hotspots and starts with the Pacific Electric building at 6th and Main. While the tour guide notes the building now has loft-dwellers who share rides to Coachella, he entirely skips Cole's PE Buffet on the ground floor. Cole's serves both a mean dip sandwich and fantastic beer on tap — between you and us, it's one of the best bars......