Zach Behrens

Olympic and Grand | Photo by BanyanTreeProductions via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Weather Reporting Wins: Was the ski-mask armed robbery at the Tiffany's in Century City on Tuesday underplayed in the media? asks LA Observed. All that damage to to Long Beach this week came at the price of $3 million. Beverly Hills and Santa Monica have been discussed, but is downtown on the plate for Eli Broad's anticipated art museum? Pop art-inspired...

The LADWP is reporting 4,100 without power and SoCal Edison has 31,338 without power with the hardest hit areas, as follows: Westlake Village, 2,591 customers; Wildomar, 2,353 customers; Lake Elsinore, 2,009 customers; Blythe, 1,745 customers; Norwalk, 1,752 customers; Corona, 1,560 customers; Pico Rivera, 1,441 customers....

"I choose to insist on the integrity of the judicial system that he appear. The motion is denied," ruled L.A. Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza today in court about a request to sentence director Roman Polanski in absentia. A lawyer for Polanski said Espinoza's ruling was media influced. "Why should he show up? For what -- a show? ... The case gets down to one question: Should a promise of a judicial officer of...

A view of Glendale | Photo by SevenPhoto via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The California Supreme Court struck down limits on medical marijuana possession today, meaning patients can possess as much as they reasonably need. Plans for a new gastropub and a Hooters are afloat for the South Park neighborhood, across from the Staples Center, in downtown. New places to eat! The restaurants at the new W Hotel Hollywood are expected to open...

Photo: James Herman/LAist Featured Photos The worst of the storms have passed, but rain continues to put a damper on utility service. Between the L.A. Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison, over 16,000 are without power. In Los Angeles, the LADWP is reporting 2,600 without power. For Edison, 13,835 customers are without service. One of hardest struck areas is Blythe, where 2,216 customers are affected. "More than 80 power poles were...

It's nice when a city understands that the chaos of a storm severely affects people and that moving your car to avoid a ticket might not be the reality. This morning, the city of Long Beach's media officer sent this out: "The City of Long Beach is requesting that you post this information online as soon as possible, in the hopes of still reaching people. No Street Sweeping Tickets will be Issued on Friday,...

From Radiohead's website: "We're doing a show this Sunday (24th January) to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. The venue is The Music Box Theatre at The Fonda in Los Angeles, doors at 7pm. All proceeds are going to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund. We're trying to raise as much money as possible, so tickets will be sold by auction at this site from 8pm [PST] tonight until 11am Saturday (PST). We're...

Photo: rawkblog4 No joke, via Craisglist via Curbed LA & @takesunset: "A new Reality Show is casting Silver Lake's rich, wealthy, hipster GUYS and GIRLS 21-30 whose personal style is homeless chic: Guys with beards, ratty hair and raggedy yet stylish clothing - and Girls dressed in fashionable, vintage hippie-type garb accessorized with large sunglasses and oversized tote bags. You must be incredibly involved in the Silver Lake social scene, enjoy a sensational nightlife...

A view from the top of Sandstone Peak in the Santa Monica Mountains (more photos here) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Relevancy makes for the best kind of blog post. And that concept is not lost on Modern Hiker's Casey Schreiner, who today gives us L.A.'s Best Post-Rain Hikes. That's because the best time to hike is after a winter storm, he says. "The rain has a lot of effects on SoCal trails. Obviously,...

Maybe this will make your rainy day a bit better: 21 Choices, an LAist favorite, is giving away their delicious homemade frozen yogurt at the USC location today, according to an employee at the USC location. Come on in and get a free tre small (that's the small size) of their yogurt, they say. Chai Divinity and Bluberry Muffin are among the six flavors at the USC location today. Over at the Old Pasadena...

Photo by Omar Omar via Flickr If going to the DMV wasn't enough of a headache, it got worse today when the system went down statewide. "We had connectivity issues," said Jan Mendoza, a public information officer with the agency. "It could be something with the phone company, it's all we know at the moment." "Not one person has been served yet," said Rob Franz, who had been waiting at the Culver City office...

Photo by James Herman via LAist Featured Photos Ongoing power outages continue across the Southland this afternoon as the worst of the storm hits. As of the last updates released by utilities, about 13,000 customers are without power between the L.A Department of Water & Power and Southern California Edison. 2,000 LADWP customers are without power the LADWP twittered around 2:30 p.m. And some 11,000 Edison customers are in the dark, as of a...