Paul Davidson

LAist is proud to point out what sucks in your town. In fact, it's our responsibility. That's why, today, when we became in-the-know about a certain situation that went down at Cynthia's Restaurant (West 3rd Street, Los Angeles), we felt it was time to dust off the Bottom of the Barrel yet again. The story begins something like this... Last Saturday, at the traditionally-decent Cynthia's, a party of twelve descended upon the restaurant for...

Here in Los Angeles, they say you should write about what you know. Which gets us to thinking about the whole Raiders of the Lost Ark scenario where a movie presents a classic sequence involving a dirty, unshaven college professor who is running for his life as an unwieldy boulder chases after him, threatening to end his life once and for all. And that, of course, makes us think about the Topanga Canyon folks...

NBC4 and The Los Angeles Times and CNN and Weather.com are all reporting that, yes, it is still raining in Los Angeles. Good god, our lives have come to a complete stand-still. This is not meant to make light of, make fun of, or make moisture-filled jokes of the current wet/damp/slippery situation currently plaguing the greater Los Angeles area. This is not meant to be satirical or funny. This very serious piece of news...

As Willy Wonka might have said at some point throughout the course of his fictitious life, "A town without an exceptional toy store is a town that has yet to be exceptional." Ain't that the truth, Willy me' boy. And such seems to be the case here in Los Angeles where few entrepreneurs believe that there is a difference between "a toy store" and "a good toy store" which has been illustrated by the...

NBC4 reports today that Alias' star Jennifer Garner has surprisingly become infected with some kind of "viral infection" just as she was set to do publicity for the upcoming stinker Elektra. The viral infection, which has caused strange-colored excretions to flow forth from her upper extremities are, as NBC4 points out, not typical for an actress who "normally looks pretty damn hot." However, other Hollywood insiders point out that the sudden "viral infection" may...

Researchers announced today that "radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in laboratory conditions" according to a new study funded by the European Union. The study, which was conducted in seven European countries (where cell phone usage, surprisingly, exceeds that in the United States) did not prove that mobile phones are a risk to health but concluded that more research is needed to see "if effects can also be found...

Hey Lindsay -- glad to see you back again this week. LAist knows that you've had a crazy week and all with the release of your new CD, your somewhat mediocre cameo appearance on last weekend's SNL and you turf war with Hilary Duff. We know that with the holidays coming up and no Wilmer Valderrama to share it with, that the lonliness might be setting it. We're humans too, Lindsay -- we all...

With the holidays all around us, LAist has noticed that some people aren't fully embracing the "treat your fellow man respectfully and with love" concept. And so, we decided to take advantage of the stress and the chaos and the ill-will around town by seeing just how many annoyed dashboard notes we could elicit by parking in two spaces at once, too close to the driver's side doors, at awkward angles, double-parking and a...

What can LAist say about the trendiest, most-ego centric, annoying, crowded, attitude-y coffee shop in all of Los Angeles? Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf #17 8591 Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood, CA 90069 Hours: Monday - Thursday 6:00 AM - 11:00 PM Friday 6:00 AM - 12:00 AM Saturday 7:00 AM - 12:00 AM Sunday 7:00 AM - 11:00 PM Conversations at the flagship "you must be seen here" Coffee Bean almost always center around...

LAist has noticed lately that all types of publications bend over backwards to tell you about the Best of this and the best of that, and personally, we're getting a little tired of hearing about it. The reality is this -- if you live in Los Angeles there are more "great places" to go (i.e. restaurants, clubs, bars, malls, et al) that you'll probably never have to waste your time in the bad places....