Adrienne Crew

Tamara Eden, a teacher in LA, blogs about Mayor Villaraigosa's visit to the Open House at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz on August 4th. He made a good impression. Ms. Eden writes There was a meeting in the auditorium for students and their parents if they students have a problem with habitual absenteeism. The mayor and other LAUSD admin. were there. I came in at the end of the meeting, just in...

Downtown loft dwellers and SRO apartment advocates can stop wringing their hands over the impending conversion of favorite historical structures because, according to the 8/8/2005 LA Times article "Downtown Housing Demand Feed a Bloom in High-Rises" by Cara Mia DiMassa (what a name, btw), it looks like the yuppies threatening to over run downtown LA may all be warehoused in skyscrapers, high above the hoi polli, leaving the street to the masses once again. 32...

Drugging and driving is never a good idea. Especially for the hapless folks who become targets of out of control vehicles driven by apparent tweakers. That's the lesson we take away after reading about this heinous bus stop incident in Van Nuys on Sunday. We're sad to learn about this because we encourage people to take mass transit as much as possible, but this incident gives even this LAist pause. NBC4.tv reports that a...

We weren't impressed by "The Comeback" when it debuted earlier this summer. The constant humiliation of the lead character, Valerie Cherish, was mean-spirited and unfunny, and we found the show so unwatchable that we couldn't be bothered to parse out the LA-esque bits. But friends kept insisting that it was worth our time so we kept tuning in. We must admit that we've been wrong. We don't know whether the writing team had time...

Nothing says summer like food festivals. Check out the 17th Annual Taste in San Pedro this Saturday and Sunday, August 6th and 7th. Pt. Fermin Park, on the waterfront, will be the site of many food booths and games events. If you can't travel that far south, stay in town and browse Culinary Historians of Southern California's annual Used Cookbook Sale at Hollywood Farmers' Market, Ivar & Selma Avenue between Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard on...

UCLA Film and Television Archive's tribute to filmmaker Don Siegel continues this weekend with a screening of "Madigan" and "Private Hell 36" on Saturday, August 7, 2005. LAPD Chief William Bratton will be on hand to introduce these two police procedurals and testify to their versimillitude. We wonder if he'll make the connection between "Madigan's" tale of a cop on the edge searching for a gun lost during an unauthorized raid and Officer Jim...

Tamara Gregory is an LA native who enjoys all the perks that our metropolis has to offer. She is a film producer and author. Her first novel, Passport Diaries, which brings an African American perspective to the Chick Lit genre, goes on sale tomorrow. A perfect beach-read, the novel follows LA-based assistant District Attorney, Kia Carson, as she embarks on a European vacation that also becomes a journey of self-discovery about global culture and...

We hate saying good bye. No, really, we'd rather just turn our head rather than watch loved ones depart. So we're in denial about the news that several of our favorite spots in LA are slated for closure (and we bid adieu to Southern California retail institutions, the Robinson-May stores-our first job was working in the linen department at Robinson's Pasadena). Two of which will close their doors after July. The Good Karma yoga...

We've learned, via Peggy Archer's blog, Totally Unauthorized," that someone has posted a rant about the mall of the moment on the restaurant worker blog, Bitter Waitress (scroll down to find the story, #6 in the queue. The post details The Grove management's policy of charging mall employees for parking in the mall's parking structure. Due to this policy, many workers park for free outside the lot and face long walks to their cars...

Still making up your mind about what to do with yourself this weekend? There may still be tickets left to hear "Incredibles" director, Brad Bird. speak at "The Animated Performance: Art Meets Technology" lecture tonight Friday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. $5. Bird joins the director of "Ice Age" (2002) "Aladdin" Genie animator and animation branch member Eric Goldberg, Academy Award winner Jan Pinkava ("Geri's Game") and "Lord of...