Callie Miller

Photo by lars 5 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The season of thanking others and spending time with your family - whether you'd like to or not - is upon us once again. While it'd be easy to get snarky and eye-rolly about trudging off to spend Thanksgiving with family and all the potential weirdness that might ensue, chances are that if you're reading this, you have it far better than...

Downtown LA's Central Library was just included on Flavorpill's list of the Ten Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the U.S. While we didn't need a list to remind us that the Richard Riordan Central Library, designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, is a gem to treasure, we'll take this chance to celebrate it anew. Not only does the library house over 6 million volumes making it one of the largest publicly funded libraries in the world,...

Design geeks can stop drooling over the monthly videos from Creative Mornings in New York and Zurich, wishing they could attend a live event and fill out their own witty name tags because Creative Mornings has launched in Los Angeles.

Despite protests, petitions and Facebook groups, the Encino Barnes & Noble bookstore is set to become a CVS drugstore, according to Daily News. Though the Encino location will close on New Year's Eve, an official statement from Barnes & Noble indicates plans to open another store nearby and urges Encino residents to remember that the Calabasas Commons location is still open.

Photo by Robbie via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr As tuition fees are set to increase significantly at UC and CSU campuses next fall, students are cutting back to part-time status, enrolling in less-costly community colleges or quitting school altogether, according to the LA Times. A review of student dropout rates at UC schools was prompted after officials heard that students were dropping out of school or interrupting their studies because of...

Photo by Jason Rojas via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr It's accepted that regular surf sessions are responsible for mellowing many a dude, but can serious surf time make you happy too? Manhattan Beach native Ryan Pittsinger has studied the link between surfing and mental health and has found that just 30 minutes of riding waves can significantly decrease negative feelings, according to the Hermosa Beach Patch. After polling more than 100...

In 2008, a group of river activists kayaked the 51-mile L.A. River in three days to prove it was navigable | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist River activist George Wolfe and his L.A. River Expeditions team have won the American Canoe Association's Green Paddle award for their "outstanding contribution to paddlesport by protecting America's waterways." Wolfe is best known to LAist readers for his gutsy travels down the L.A. river to advocate for Clean Water...

Hugh Hefner gets all the entertainment reporter attention at the PEN USA Literary Awards Photo by Lindsay William-Ross for LAist PEN Center USA's annual awards were held at The Beverly Hills Hotel on Wednesday night and many luminaries were honored for their work, including Hugh Hefner who received an Award of Honor for his editorial prowess and the First Amendment Award for his ongoing efforts to fight censorship. It was an odd evening of...

A Carnotaurus specimen, remounted for the exhibition. Photo by Karen Knauer. The new Dinosaur Hall is set to open at the Natural History Museum next summer and it promises to be twice the size of the old dinosaur galleries and rival some of the best dinosaur exhibits in the world. What makes this dino hall so special? It will feature the world's only T. rex growth series, over 300 fossils, 20 full body specimens,...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has formed a 26-member committee tasked with making LAX safer while reducing passenger wait times, according to Daily News. The new committee is comprised of city employees and outside experts, including security experts from Israel's famously safe Ben Gurion airport. The committee will focus on counter-terrorism, law enforcement, fire protection and emergency management.