Lindsay William-Ross

Photo by gtall1 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Planning to drive on the 405 to or from the 101 later tonight? Plan on another route. Closures abound from 10 p.m. until dawn. A blind woman in Dana Point has filed a lawsuit to try to keep the medical marijuana dispensary she buys from open. Slate takes on the NY Times' "Stoner Cuisine" story and calls it bogus. Don't worry, no actual...

If tomorrow you feel like taking on the old adage "There's no such thing as a free lunch," our word of advice is to head to Westwood's BLVD 16. That's because tomorrow they're launching Chef Simon Dolinky's new 'Wich Way To-Go menu, which "features $10 gourmet sandwiches, and other items designed especially for diners looking to incorporate both speed and taste into their lunch break," they tell us. Okay, okay, we're getting to the...

Nancy Salas Authorities in Merced are considering reversing their initial decision to decline to file charges against 22-year-old Glendale resident Nancy Salas, reports the News-Press. Salas, who faked her own disappearance last week, contacted the Merced Police Department from a carpet store and claimed she'd been kidnapped, and did not reveal her story to be a hoax until she was escorted home by members of the Glendale Police Department. Locally, the Glendale PD mounted...

Free ice cream, anyone? To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Haagen-Dazs' retail locations are giving away free scoops of their original flavors of all-natural ice cream. Here in Los Angeles that includes the location at the Beverly Center, where from 4-8 p.m. today guests can have one free scoop of either Chocolate, Coffee, or Vanilla. There are also Haagen-Dazs shops in Glendale, Burbank, and the OC. Give the shop a call before heading over, since...

The Purple Line extension, as mapped along Wilshire (Metro.net) Tonight, residents of homes and condominiums in Westwood and Century City who may be affected by construction for the Westside's "Subway to the Sea" will have an opportunity to hear "how homes, businesses, water lines and other structures will be protected" during the course of the drilling for the project, according to the Daily News. Based on current route plans, most of the tunneling would...

Police in El Monte followed up on a tip and arrested a pair who were cultivating almost 1,000 marijuana plants inside their home, according to abc7. Phan Tran and Hung Doc Trinh were both arrested as they each "left the house within an hour of each other," last night. The El Monte PD had been tipped off about their suspicious activity by a "concerned citizen."

Photo by Gary Smithson via Torontoist Torontoist went Banksy crazy, after the street artist showed up for the first time in Canada, and then disappeared just as quickly. Which leaves one big question: what does it all mean? Houstonist reveled in the new album from Sara Van Buskirk, played around with the oil spill in the gulf and pondered Hunter Pence's future. LAist watched as the City Council vote 14-1 in favor of a...

Photo by okarol via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A San Gabriel man was arrested last night for allegedly stabbing two men at a real-life "fight club" in Montebello. The plot thickens in the former Food Network chef murder case: Did Juan Carlos Cruz hire a homeless man to murder his wife? Authorities in Paramount are investigating the circumstances surrounding a woman's body that was left on the side of the 105...

This isn't exactly the kind of "movie magic" spectacle Universal Studios is known for: The Los Angeles DWP had a second significant water main break on their hands this morning after a line "that feeds Universal Studios sent torrents of water into the Los Angeles River," according to LA Now. It was a passerby who reported seeing the water gushing over an embankment, which alerted a response crew to go to the scene at...

Photo by R.E.˜ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Summery, sweet, and chilled out... An ice cream cone goes just about perfectly on a gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon. LAist Featured Photos pool contributor R.E.˜ recently ventured to the new Sweet Rose Creamery inside the Brentwood Country Mart (they just had their grand opening on May 12th). This is Salted Caramel Ice Cream in a Waffle Cone, and the verdict was straightforward: "Very...

Photo by casualtimetravel via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A new apartment complex in Pasadena will soon be one of the largest in Los Angeles County to be entirely smoke-free. Blast from the past had its last launch yesterday: "The Space Shuttle fleet's main engines were all built in the early 1980s at the North American Rockwell company's Rocketdyne plant on Canoga Avenue," says the Daily News. A teenager did some impressive...

Left: Working on the panels (Photo by denisetaylor☼) Right: Painting the towers (Photo by Doug McBride for LAist) With thousands of volunteers working over several weekends, three of the Portraits of Hope Lifeguard Towers are scheduled to be revealed this Wednesday morning in Santa Monica. Painted in segments--the panel pieces, then the towers themselves--Portraits of Hope is a large-scale public art project tagged the "Summer of Color" that aims to boost civic pride and...