Callie Miller

Actor and animal activist Robert Culp is demanding an immediate closure of the elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo and that all work on the expansion of the elephant enclosure be halted. Billy, a 21-year-old Asian elephant, is now the zoo's only pachyderm, after the departure of Ruby last spring. KNBC reports that Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider have filed a lawsuit against the city and zoo director John Lewis for allegedly...

Monday No bookish events on Mr. King's Day. Tuesday John Densmore of The Doors, Jim Henke and John McDermott present The Jim Morrison Scrapbook and Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience 7pm @ Book Soup Wednesday Sudhir Venkatesh presents Gang Leader for a Day 7pm @ Vroman's E. Duke Vincent presents Black Widow 7pm @ Book Soup Robert Novak presentsThe Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington 7pm @ Glendale Public Library Thursday Steve...

Monday Tanya Lemani presents Have Belly, Will Travel 7pm @ Book Soup Kim Sunee presents Trail of Crumbs 7pm @ Vroman's Tuesday Marc Porter Zasada presents The Urban Man: Staying Human in LA 7pm @ Book Soup Patrick Conyer presents Pasadena: A Business History 7pm @ Vroman's Elizabeth Pomeroy presents Pasadena: A Natural History 7pm @ Vroman's Muhammad Yunus discusses Creating a World Without Poverty 7pm @ Central Library Lewis Hyde discusses his books...

New York author Jami Attenberg is in town this week to read from and sign her excellent debut novel, The Kept Man which examines the life of a young woman, Jarvis, whose artist husband is in a coma. It also curiously examines the life of the"kept men" friends Jarvis meets who are able to spend their days as they please because of their wealthy wives. Attenberg's tale is intense, as any novel about a...

Bodega Wine Bar is all about making wine as unpretentious as possible. The owners opened the bar after searching high and low for "a casual place to grab a glass of wine...somewhere that didn't require us to be wine experts, spend a lot of money, or even talk about wine much (if at all)" but found nothing. Ah - a wine philosophy this wine novice can get behind entirely! So, of course, I had to...

Andy Summers will be at Amoeba Music tonight @ 6pm to sign his just-out book from Taschen, I'll Be Watching You: Inside The Police 1980-83. There are so many things we could say about this man, about this band, about this book. But all you really need to know is that Andy Summers, guitarist for The Police, is a kick-ass photographer and he's documented three phenomenal years of The Police touring the world. You could...

The week in Los Angeles bookish events from Monday, January 7th - Sunday, January 13th. Readings, signings and bookish events this week include Andy Summers, Jami Attenberg, Judith Freeman, Alice Fulton, J.A. Jance and Robert Gottlieb.

It was a great year of new books, re-discovered books, and books we meant to get to last year but didn't. The end of the year is nearly here and before we look forward, we'll take a look back. Last week, LAist Editors shared their favorite books of 2007. This week, a few LAist Contributors share their favorite book they read this year: Who: Christine Ziemba What: The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan Why:...

Officer Down: A SWAT team was dispatched late today to a Reseda home on the 11800 block of Blythe Street where it is believed an officer was shot. The gunman has barricaded himself in the home and it's unclear whether he has been apprehended. The injured LAPD officer was transported to a local hospital. The funeral was held today for 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, who died after her insurance company refused her liver transplant. Mourners...

Yesterday, we got you map-ready. Today, we'll get you float-ready. Tomorrow? Who knows, maybe we'll get you marching-band ready. A commenter pointed out yesterday that the Rose Parade floats aren't all made out of roses, but are made up of many different flower and plant-parts. Conveniently, the LA Times has a new interactive feature up today (is Tony already working his magic over there?) that details the making of last year's Once Upon a...