Carolyn Kellogg

In a major step toward creating a light rail line to connect Culver City with downtown, yesterday the MTA approved $640 million to fully fund the project. We don't quite get all the back and forth about money contributed by state, federal and municipal governments, but the gist is that an above-ground rail line may extend from downtown's 7th street subway station to the intersection of Washington and National as early as 2010. After...

In today's Home section, the LA Times features an article on people choosing smaller living spaces. "A look at the shifting footprint of today's home —" writes Sean Mitchell "and why our ability to be happy within those walls is more than the sum of our square feet." Their examples of modest size? 2,400 square feet in Redondo Beach (pictured) for a couple and their 2 dogs. 2,800 in Lafayette Park. 3,400 for a...

In case you don't read Tagalog, that there is a sample ballot for the May 17 mayoral election. We've picked our horse and figure we better place our bets early, since we'll be far, far away on election day. Luckily anybody can vote absentee, and it's easy: download the PDF vote-by-mail form, fill it out and send it to the city clerk. They send you your ballot, which you can send back as late...

The Festival of Books was just like SXSW, except with books instead of music, and with scarcely any drinking, drugs or sex. Nevertheless, it was enormous, exhausting and exhilarating. LAist made it to a couple of impressive panels focused on LA: one featuring DJ Waldie, Norman Klien and Richard Rayner; the other with Steve Erickson, Michelle Huneven, Peter Lefcourt and Michael Jaime-Becerra. Some of their bon mots follow. Just for you, we managed to ferret...

After an exhausting — and possibly soggy — day at the LA Times Festival of Books tomorrow, literati of the most fun persuasion will be heading to Chinatown for the Vermin on the Mount reading series. Held at the Mountain Bar, this Vermin is co-produced by Swink Magazine, and promises to be both liquor- and literature-friendly. Readers coming in from afar include poet Alex Lemon, Steve Almond (My Life in Heavy Metal), and litblogger...

Did Emily and Tyler of Canoga Park know what they were getting into when they answered that Craigslist posting? The Discovery Channel's Monster House crew showed up and turned their innocent suburban home into "Tropical House", featuring a fire-breathing tiki god in the living room, a cavelike bedroom and bamboo galore. If you dream of Gilligan, this tropical-kitsch hideaway could be yours: it's currently listed at $515,000 on ebay. With three bedrooms and a...

We were driven to whip out the digital camera when we found this Escalade parked in the compact spaces (note the plural) at the Glendale Galleria this weekend. At 7 feet, 7 inches wide, the behemoth Cadillac SUV is measurably larger than the cars the spaces were made for: it's 11" wider than a new VW Beetle and a full foot fatter than the Mini Cooper and the Honda Insight. Even Shaq wouldn't consider...

The salacious story of frat-boy hazing that resulted in the death of Matthew Carrington run by the LA Times on March 29 was too good to be true. After printing some corrections in late March, today the Times' California section includes an editors note with detailed corrections and notice of the firing of reporter Eric Slater. But close examination shows the Times may have been working out fears of their own Jayson Blair, rather...

Daniel A. Olivas is an LA-based writer who has been described as "a master folk-teller," "enthralling" and "adept at establishing character." Is it a surprise that he has a day job as an attorney? Maybe not so much when you consider one of his titles: Devil Talk. Last week Olivas was apparently silver-tongued, winning a long fight on behalf of the Coastal Commission in securing a right-of-way to the beach next to David Geffen's...

Anybody who spent more than a few minutes watchin UPN this week saw the teasers for America's Next Top Model, which featured the always-gorgeous Tyra Banks screaming at ... someone. Turns out it was Tiffany, who seemed to stop thinking she could win and kind of stopped trying to, even though she was doing pretty well. TVgasm has the blow-by-blow, and even a video clip of the conniption. More interesting to LAist was when...