Carolyn Kellogg

The James Beard Foundation award nominations (the Nobel Prizes of food) are out today. And two out of three nominated cookbooks "From a Professional Point of View" are from chefs who've made their names in Los Angeles: Nobu Now from Nobu Matsuhisa and Sunday Suppers at Lucques by softspoken Suzanne Goin. Together the books total just about $50, which is less than you'd pay to eat in either place. In fact, those two chefs get...

Three people died today in a shootout at a Denny's in Pismo Beach, including the suicidal gunman who stormed in and fired at strangers. Two others survived with injuries. The shooter was an as-yet unidentified elderly man who carried "confusing" identification. In Culver City, a teacher was killed and several students were injured by a car that jumped a curb onto a crowded sidewalk. Early reports say a couple was in the car arguing...

Capitol Records doesn't want to move back into its iconic building: instead, it hopes to go condo. Not so fast! LA has been throwing money at the company to get it to stay in Hollywood and the LA Times reports that critics are displeased. Curbed LA doubts city leaders will let the lucrative sale go through. We'll never know if there are enough condo buyers who recognize that the building is meant to evoke...

The MTA has bumped into a gravesite of Chinese immigrants in construction of the Gold Line in Boyle Heights. It dates back to the late 1800s, when the Chinese in California had no rights — they were even charged to be buried in their own Potter's Field, while poor whites were buried for free. This isn't the first time relics of Chinese history have been unearthed by the MTA. When subway and light rail...

Every week in Living in Sin, Jen Sincero provides advice for LA's sexually curious. e-mail Jen your question, which will be posted anonymously. Dear Jen - My boyfriend and I have been together for five years, and lately things have been slow in the bedroom. It's been two weeks since he's touched me in a sexual way, and now I find out that he's been watching porn on his computer while he's "working." Why...

The Philharmonic plays there. President Clinton speaks there. Now The Orb will be making ambient love in the Disney Concert Hall house all night long, starting just before midnight this Saturday and not packing up until 6am. They'll be ably helped by Dntel, Boom Bip, John Tejada, dublab and you. Because you can win, from us (or losanjealous) a pair of tickets. It's all to kick off the Minimalist Jukebox music festival, which runs...

LAist Editor-at-Large Jason Toney was among the fantastic Blogging While Black (Revisited) panelists at SXSW Interactive. In a conference that pays a lot of attention to tools, this was a rare, welcome session devoted to content. Hooray! LA bloggers Jason and Tony Pierce were engaging, funny, thoughtful and smart, and the rest of the panel (Lynne, Tiffany and George) were, too. Just don't say they were well-spoken, which is not the way to compliment a...

Federal prosecutors begin their case against the scary-as-shit Aryan Brotherhood prison gang this week in Santa Ana. The lawyers declined to be interviewed by NBC-TV, probably because the gang is known for taking vengeance outside prison walls. Have we mentioned LAist is run from plush offices in the Flynt Building? The ugh, ugh, ugh story of the day: 10 people in OC were arrested for gang raping a 23-year-old woman because they disliked her...

Today effusive guitar-playing wiggler Charo is either 55 or 65, depending on which story you believe. Songwriters Neil Sedaka ("Love Will Keep Us Together") and Mike Stoller ("Hound Dog") are 67 and 73 today. And U2's bassist Adam Clayton is 46. Who knew that Danny Masterson and William H. Macy had anything in common? The "That '70s Show" man-about-town turns 30 today, and Fargo star, who'll next be seen in Thank you for Smoking, is...

Should an earthquake come our way, California bridges will be falling down. The LA Times reviewed official records and found that 600 bridges don't meet earthquake safety standards. Snow days! Some schools in Lake Arrowhead and Hemet will be closed due to snow today. Cool. UCLA students want the UC system to divest from companies with business operations in Sudan. The UC trustees are expected to vote on the issue when they get together...