Adrienne Crew

Over at the TEV book blog, Mark Sarvas spreads the rumor from Publishers Weekly that Steve Wasserman, the Los Angeles Times Book Review editor, may be leaving. Sarvas pretty much echos our feelings about Wasserman's editorship of the section. He writes: Now, since Wasserman's apparently only "likely leaving", we'd like to urge Wasserman in the strongest possible terms to follow your impulses and skeddadle. We'll even help you pack your books. Really, the door's...

Pico Union massage parlour busted for prostitution after 2 employees rub undercover cops the wrong way reports the Ocean Park Gazette. A police raid on a massage parlor in the Pico Neighborhood resulted in two employees being charged with prostitution. Santa Monica undercover officers visited the Tokyo Health Studio, 817 Pico Blvd., on Jan. 21 to investigate complaints of profligate behavior at the site. A little after 6:30 p.m., a male undercover officer visited...

NBC4 TV.com reports that a paralyzed man in a wheelchair accused of robbing a woman and attempting to mug a teenager pleaded not guilty to charges that could send him to prison for 117 years. Juan Romero Robles, 36, of Valinda, also known as Miguel Angel Corlione, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of robbery, attempted robbery and dissuading a witness, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported. Robles is accused of using a plastic handgun...

This item in the Los Angeles Times about Restaurant Weeks (a week of discounted dining programs and special fixed-price menus to raise money for charity organized amongst restaurants) in DC, San Francisco and New York reminds us how hard life is for the gourmand who has to pinch-pennies. New York concludes 2 weeks worth of dining discounts on January 31st. Makes us wish LA Dine Out were scheduled earlier in the calendar year--it's not...

After much whining and pleading, LAist's inner child persuaded us to call USC and obtain a pass to the "Ready to Share: Ownership of Creativity in Fashion" conference on 1/30 sponsored by USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center's Creativity, Commerce & Culture project, Center for the Public Domain and The Fashion Institute of Desgin & Merchandise/FIDM. (Norman Lear and Michael Patrick King) We're happy to report that the conference was a smooth blend of style...

The LA Weekly reviews the new HBO series "Unscripted," and we're glad. We'd caught a few episodes and found it fascinating and kinda disingenuous. The series fascinates because it finally reveals the audition process that's hidden from the average Angeleno, except for glimpses witnessed via a roommate, neighbor or new friend hellbent on becoming a working actor. The series is disingenuous for its inabilty to cop to the influence of George Clooney on the...

Mark Ganek, a transplant from Illinois, is a playwright in LA and writes a column called "The Cultured Savage" on Orkut. He's overcome his boredom with LA long enough to develop "The Los Angeles Universal Conversation Generator (patent pending):" Person 1: So, I like went to [shopping establishment] to find [trendy item]. But when I got there, they were totally out. So instead I got this [comically ugly trendier item]. Don't you love it?...

Yesterday's Womens's Wear Daily reports that former Gucci fashion designer Tom Ford will join legendary television director-producer Norman Lear as a speaker Saturday, January 29th, at the first annual "Ready to Share: Fashion and the Ownership of Creativity" conference, a daylong event at the University of Southern California. Inspiration, creativity, piracy, counterfeiting and other issues involving the creative process in fashion, as well as film and music, will be explored. The by-invitation-only guests will...

The Los Angeles Wave reports that Leimert Park residents are protesting the presence of a gun dealer in their neighborhood. Contributing Editor Betty Pleasant provides intimate details: LEIMERT PARK -- The black community has a gun dealership in it. Botach Tactical is a state-licensed and city-contracted bulk gun supply business in operation on the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and 43rd Place, it was learned this week. The gun dealership, owned by Bartochba Botach, was...

At last, a Roy's restaurant is finally coming to LA Chef Roy Yamaguchi is opening another of his Hawaiian fusion restaurants in California. Gayot.com reports "the cookbook author and television host/star has restaurants named after him in Hawaii, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Washington and Nevada." The new Roy's in Woodland Hills will be the first in L.A. County. Chef/partner Tom Voss will handle the LA operation; he has worked with...