Paul Davidson

The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday "unanimously approved fees for false burglar alarms, agreeing to charge residents $115 the first time police respond." LAist can't help but call foul on local Los Angeles police departments, who should be charged $100 themselves for every hour it takes them to show up in response to a real alarm. Just this week, LAist talked with a local LA police...

LAist has nothing against fast food and the cholesterol-clogged arteries it produces simply because, well, it tastes damn good. But the recent trend of two fast-food powerhouses (in reality, one taking over another for their lack of success) joining forces and combining under one roof makes us question which food items are safe to eat. Take the Carl's Jr./Green Burrito merger. All across the country, where Carl's Jr. and/or the Green Burrito once stood...

It would be beneath LAist to deny the fact that every so often we've fantasized about hijacking an ATM machine to assist us in our monthly woes of debt. Unfortunately, it seems as though another group of well-organized hoodlums have beat us to it. According to the Los Angeles Times, "...an automated teller machine was stolen from a gas station early Sunday, the third such theft in Orange County since mid-August." The machine, which...

When art, technology and style meets coffee, you can only imagine the kinds of people that come out of the woodwork to take part in such a hybrid experience. And today is no different, as LAist continues our travels across Los Angeles county, using an innocent little generic coffee store in an innocent way so that we may see the innocent people living their innocent lives with said innocent little generic coffee shop as...

NBC4 reports this morning that a Hispanic woman "allegedly" running south in the northbound lanes of the 605 Freeway was struck and killed by an off-duty police officer. Although not categorized as a suicide, LAist can't help but wonder who exactly would choose to end their life purposely, let alone on the 605 Freeway -- a less than stellar way to go. I mean, sure -- the 405 or the 10, but the 605?...

LAist could feel the buzz building a few months ago for Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow — a retro Metropolis meets classic dog-fighting genre story with stars Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie — when the trailers started to hit movie theaters and TV screens everywhere. Since then, the advertising has taken a turn for the worse, dubbing it as the film that "everybody is talking about" and then...

LAist is sick and tired of hearing people say that there are no genuine people in Los Angeles. That people are so self-absorbed and self-important that if you were getting beaten by a group of hooligans outside Chin Chin on Sunset, that people would simply watch without helping. But when your dog gets loose and you're chasing it down the street at high speeds, and your dog runs past twelve people who stand and...

LAist is always happy to know that sometimes, local pressure by hard-core chess enthusiasts can bring about change. As was the case with Glendale's brand new chess park (227 N. Brand Boulevard) which is now the new site for speed chess tournaments every Friday evening. Open every day and night for non-crazy, no-pressure, normal chess games — the location is fortunately not one of those intimidating locales where a chorus of "experts" will laugh...

The LA Times reported yesterday that Comedian Jay Leno, host of TV's "The Tonight Show" called Assemblywoman Sally Lieber's office earlier this year and "delivered a monologue that wasn't funny at all." Although LAist isn't surprised that Leno's monologue wasn't funny, we were surprised when we heard just what he was monologuing about. Apparently, Leiber was sponsoring legislation to end a Calfornia exemption that spares many old cars from smog checks. And since Leno...

When LAist began it's quest to bring you the sights and sounds of people gathering their morning buzz by using the backdrop of a particular coffee establishment, we never thought we'd endure such chaos and criticism by some jealous LA sites who had wished they'd thought of it themselves. The evidence? This week's subtle post over at LA Observed, in which they criticize LAist's The Coffee Buzz as "more unbilled product placement." Even more...