Andreanna Ditton

Performing for one of KCRW's Berkley Street Sessions(think small studio session opened to about 175 "friends" in Bob Clearmountain's Apogee studio in Santa Monica), the intimate show on April 5 featured the L.A.-based band's new album, Here, which will be released in May.

The Red Carpet Rosie packs quite a punch. Photo by Kelly O Photography. If you’re participating in the craft cocktail movement—as an observer, as an imbiber, or a practitioner—you know one thing: gin is in! Nothing solidified that fact better than the Gin Master Class, followed by a gin pairings dinner, held at Hollywood’s Eveleigh in late February, and hosted by the English Gin Company. Importers and ambassadors of Beefeater London Dry Gin, Beefeater...

The Queen of Semi-Homemade eating and entertaining knows that we’d all like to throw award-winning Oscar parties. Pulling up lawn chairs and ordering pizza just doesn’t cut it in a city where everyone knows someone who knows someone who actually gets to go to the show (at least as a seat filler).

Richard Parks' short film "Music Man Murray," premiering this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, opens on a vast warehouse of record albums, with one little old man smack dab in the middle of them, surrounded and barricaded, somewhat happily, in the claustrophobia.

There are only four more sleeps before Christmas. You don't have to be Semi-Homemade Sandra "I'm Freaking Terrifying" Lee or your great Aunt Tamanay to create a cherished (or at least wanted) homemade gift for your friends and relatives in a short amount of time.

Got a passion for all things motorized and two-wheeled? Then the Progressive International Motorcycle show being held this weekend in Long Beach is just the ticket. The show, running through Sunday at the Long Beach convention center is the place for those of us on the West Coast to see the debut of new motorcycles, learn more about riding and see some of the bikes that transcend the idea of mere transportation to become art.

As part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Project Ethos will hold its annual L.A. Fashion Week event this Friday, October 14, to benefit the Stand Up To Cancer Foundation.

A cocktail is four things: a spirit, a sugar, a bitter and water. Sounds easy, right? So why are $15 cocktails suddenly the norm? Because a great drink is about more than putting some crappy flavored vodka in a shaker, pouring it in a glass and adding Sprite. A great cocktail is a work of art, a tip of the hat to another age, and the science of hand-crafting a drink is largely about taking those original four components and adding a personal spin to the mix.

Valerie Confections' seasonal preserves (Photo by Megan Westerby/used with permission) It's June, and while sultry summer weather has yet to make an appearance, we're more than ready for the tastes and treats of the season. Farmers' markets are full of strawberries and stone fruits, gorgeous cucumbers, succulent squash blossoms and bright berries. It's impossible to resist the temptation to overindulge. So what do you do when your larder overflows and these fresh fixings look...

Vintage Vespas line up to show off (Andreanna Ditton/LAist) What’s more iconic of the 1960’s mod era than a sleek little Vespa bearing a stylish couple riding two-up through the heart of Rome or along the beach in Southern California? Or maybe that’s just my own retro fantasy. But more and more, I'm clearly not the only one grooving on that fantasy. Scooters are winding their way through L.A. traffic on a regular basis....

The first modification Emily made to her bike was adding the cup holder (Photo by Andreanna Ditton/LAist This is the first in a series of Do It Yourself efforts trending Around Los Angeles. Some are purely hobbies that have taken off in unexpected ways, but most are projects and places built around a combination of necessity, ingenuity and frugality that often give people new skills and new approaches to various parts of their life....