Christine N. Ziemba

Malibu sunset on Christmas Eve | Photo by nicadlr via LAist's flickr pool. THEATER Celebrate the holidays Vegas style without the long drive. The show A Vegas Holiday is at the El Porta Theatre in North Hollywood featuring the stars and songs from Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara with Jake Broder as Louis Prima, Vanessa Claire Smith as Keely Smith with Luca Ellis as Frank Sinatra. The vocalists are backed by a...

Still a little quiet on the events front, but we've found a few interesting things to do in LA tonight. STORYTELLING The Moth StorySLAM provides a stage and a microphone, and people are selected to tell--not read--their five-minute stories. Tonight at the Air-Conditioned Supper Club in Venice is the monthly story slam. The theme is “cars.” Doors open at 7 pm and the stories start at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $7.

A Christmas house along the Venice canals. | Photo by lmiyake via LAist's flickr pool. It's Christmas Eve, but there are still a few events worth checking out. Happy holidays! HOLIDAY ARTS BASH This afternoon’s the 50th annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion from 3-9 pm. The free event features music and dance of the season from the many neighborhoods and cultures of LA. The lineup includes more than 40...

If you need a break from shopping or the bustle of December, then here are a few of tonight's options: SCREENING Tonight at 8 pm, the ArcLight Hollywood screens the Billy Bob Thornton heart-warming holiday classic Bad Santa. Thornton is a conman who as a cussing and vile mall would rather steal (and drink) the good cheer of the holidays -- until he meets a pudgy kid that he nicknames the Kid. 8pm.

We love THESE Black Eyed Peas (and the photo) by Renee Rendler-Kaplan via LAist's flickr pool. SCREENING* Tonight as part of the latest Flux film and music series at the Hammer Museum, there will be a world premiere screening of Mia Doi Todd’s new video “Open Your Heart”, directed by Michel Gondry (who'll be in attendance). The evening also includes videos for Grizzly Bear, Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck, and Ramona Falls among others. Filmmakers...

We just got a heads up that the comedy event, The Wong Sans Wheel Chronicles, happens tonight at 7 pm at the 18th Street Gallery in Santa Monica. Irreverent comic Kristina Wong takes the audience on her carless journeys of LA (by foot, bus, and piggyback) after her vegetable oil-run Mercedes catches fire on the 405. The performance is in conjunction with Diane Meyer's photography exhibit Without A Car In The World that features...

Photo by stephenfalk via LAist's flickr pool. SHOPPING Moods of Norway on Robertson has treats planned for Black Friday shoppers today: Complimentary champagne and waffles and 15% off purchases. FILM This is the final weekend for Hitchcock: The British Thrillers series at LACMA. Tonight’s double feature includes The 39 Steps and Number 17. The films in the series were directed by Hitchcock between 1930 and 1939, the year he went to Hollywood to make...

TC Boyle at the WTF!? Festival tonight. LIT TALK As part of the Actors’ Gang WTF!? Festival, PEN Center USA hosts a conversation with author TC Boyle. He’s written 20 books of fiction and more than 60 short stories and won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. Bar opens at 7PM. Show at 8 pm. Tickets: $20. ART The Getty Center...

Pacific Wheel VIII by el daverino via LAist's flickr pool. ART The exhibit Melting Point opens today at the El Camino College Art Gallery in Torrance featuring the art of Marshall Astor, Angie Bray, Bill Brody, Richard Carter, Michael Davis, Daniel Du Plessis, Mineko Grimmer, Rebeca Mendez, Tom McMillin and George Geyer (collaboration), Margaret Pezalla, Victor Raphael, Greta Waller and Tal Yizrael. Each of the 14 Southern California artists approach “melting point” from a...

Yes, we spotted this lion this morning. | Photo by Christine N. Ziemba Early this morning as we were driving out of an Albertsons/Starbucks parking lot in Valencia, we spotted an animal pacing in a trailer in front of us. At first, we thought it was a horse or a pig. But noooo. Even before the coffee kicked in, we spotted the king of the jungle checking us out. So we snapped this photo....

Downtown Art Walk tonight. | Photo by nadiakovacs via LAist's flickr pool. Tonight's the second Thursday of the month, meaning that it's time for the Downtown Art Walk in LA's Historic Core. Dozens of galleries and arts venues participate into the wee hours of the evening, but there's much more than art happening, tonight. Two salons are being held at Clifton's from 5:30-7:30 pm: One on writer John Fante hosted by biographer Stephen Cooper;...

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is hosting an opening reception tonight for a new solo exhibit by LA-based artist and sculptor Sean Duffy. Can't Stop It presents works and installations that explore the relationship between original and copy. The exhibit includes a disco bucky-ball made from flashing fans, Buckminster Fuller inspired reading chairs made comfortable with pillows from Duffy's old T-shirts, a painting of a car engine on a car engine, a triple turntable...