Jessica Ritz

The commencement of the school year typically generates all types of education-related news and anecdotes. This year they sadly range from the tragic to the bizarre. NYU was shocked by the suicide of 23-year-old grad student Joanne M. Leavy, the second Tisch School of the Arts student to die within a week and the seventh death of an NYU student in a year. Fortunately, however, a local recent case involving a missing UCLA undergrad...

Some Angelenos assert that the 88 disparate municipalities that make up Los Angeles County serve to further fragment the region. This might be the case, but this huge number of independent cities also creates friendly small towns within the metropolis, and sometimes provides us with idiosyncratic drama. Not to mention gambling venues, the presence of which has stirred up trouble in the sleepy City of Commerce. City of Commerce, located off the 5 freeway...

Some Angelenos assert that the 88 disparate municipalities that make up Los Angeles County serve to further fragment the region. This might be the case, but this huge number of independent cities also creates friendly small towns within the metropolis, and sometimes provides us with idiosyncratic drama. Not to mention gambling venues, the presence of which has stirred up trouble in the sleepy City of Commerce. City of Commerce, located off the 5 freeway...

As if you didn't already know that. Bubble vs. no-bubble talk continues to swirl around the topic of Los Angeles residential real estate, and now the rental market is following suit. Alas, the evidence further supports that Los Angeles continues to lose its status as the much cheaper alternative to New York and San Francisco. Make no mistake, the Los Angeles area rental housing market remains quite robust according to the latest Los Angeles...

As if you didn't already know that. Bubble vs. no-bubble talk continues to swirl around the topic of Los Angeles residential real estate, and now the rental market is following suit. Alas, the evidence further supports that Los Angeles continues to lose its status as the much cheaper alternative to New York and San Francisco. Make no mistake, the Los Angeles area rental housing market remains quite robust according to the latest Los Angeles...

Yesterday's LA Times explores the intricate relationship between LACMA’s biggest benefactor, billionaire Eli Broad, and the plans to revamp the most visible art establishment in Los Angeles. Broad selected the architect (he chose Renzo Piano's plan after Rem Koolhaas’s tear-it-down-and-rebuild-it approach was scrapped) and organized a new board to manage acquisition monies and supervise construction. This decision-making power was granted in exchange for his pledge of $10 million to support LACMA’s collection and $50...

Yesterday's LA Times explores the intricate relationship between LACMA’s biggest benefactor, billionaire Eli Broad, and the plans to revamp the most visible art establishment in Los Angeles. Broad selected the architect (he chose Renzo Piano's plan after Rem Koolhaas’s tear-it-down-and-rebuild-it approach was scrapped) and organized a new board to manage acquisition monies and supervise construction. This decision-making power was granted in exchange for his pledge of $10 million to support LACMA’s collection and $50...

The field of forthcoming weekend events is quite crowded, but why stop inundating our readers with activity suggestions now? Before you completely fill your Filofax pages or Palm appointment functions or whatever you use to keep track of your busy lives, add the open house on Sunday at the Breed Street Shul (formerly Congregation Talmud Torah) in Boyle Heights. Sunday’s event showcases the progress made on the ceiling and windows in this significant vestige...

The field of forthcoming weekend events is quite crowded, but why stop inundating our readers with activity suggestions now? Before you completely fill your Filofax pages or Palm appointment functions or whatever you use to keep track of your busy lives, add the open house on Sunday at the Breed Street Shul (formerly Congregation Talmud Torah) in Boyle Heights. Sunday’s event showcases the progress made on the ceiling and windows in this significant vestige...

During the past week since we posted about culinary legend Julia Child’s passing, LAist has been angrily stewing (so to speak) over a local issue related to the woman who transformed the way Americans perceive and experience food. What a loss that the Pasadena native was never featured as Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade. Ideally this should have happened in 2003, in commemoration of her 90th birthday year, but any point...