Zach Behrens

How about this for a change? Numbers are surprising analysts who thought unemployment would still be stepping up--instead, November saw a minor change from 10.2% in October to 10% in November. "... employers shed a net 11,000 jobs last month, a statistically insignificant change and the best showing since December 2007," said the LA Times. "By contrast, the U.S. economy started this year with a loss of 741,000 jobs in January, but the pace...

For little over a month now, DASH buses in downtown Los Angeles have been enabled with GPS. The results are two-fold: it helps drivers space out their distance to the bus before them (so two buses don't arrive at the same stop at the same time) and it gives riders the edge of knowing when the next bus will arrive (or where exactly is the bus I'm waiting for at?). Today, Eric Richardson at blogdowntown points out a useful tip, now that the city is printing transit stop identification numbers on DASH stop signs.

Although the Hollywood & Highland area lost the Knitting Factory, it will soon gain a new club, of sorts. Rolling Stone Magazine this summer will open a two-tiered nightclub and restaurant. It won't be a music venue, however, as it will be more DJ-based (though they say live events will happen time to time). How will the 10,000 square-foot space work? The top floor, which will open up into the Hollywood & Highland outdoor mall will be a bar and restaurant, meant for tourists and locals a like. On the street level, the vibe gets more exclusive and will include heftier prices and the like.

Lake Balboa | Photo by Robbie via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Water & Power officials today announced the successful results of the first five months of water conservation efforts in Los Angeles. Since the inception of new water-use laws in June, 17.6 billion gallons, or 18.4%, of water has been saved. Here's how the customer-type break down in terms of water savings: Single-Family Residential: 23.2% Multi-Family Residential: 11.7% Commercial: 15.2% Industrial: 2.9% Governmental:...

The LA Times warns of military flight training that will be taking place over downtown Los Angeles today. When it will begin, when will it end? No one knows. The LAPD is just saying not to freak out. Capice?...

Ouch! The California Highway Patrol put out an urgent message this afternooon announcing the "long term, hard road closure" on the northbound 710 transition to the eastbound 91, which will remain in effect until further notice. According to the preliminary report, a big rig from Knight Trucking was hauling an un-permitted, oversized load of two 16,000 pound U-shaped metal objects. Upon going under the transition road, the metal objects hit it, leaving it damaged....

Metrolink says they are in a pickle. They've either have to raise fares, cut more than 50 trains or some combination thereof. Now that Wednesday's announcement as settled a bit, Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA has collected the thoughts from experts on the issue. Some say that Metrolink usually serves as one-part of a passenger's trip, therefore making all public transit useless to them. Add to that a comment from economist Zach Gutierrez which could mean more cars on the road...

Photo: porcupiny In an LA Times article about the Key Club shutting its doors--apparently for remodeling--neighbor and owner of The Roxy Nic Adler talks about the scene going on further east on Sunset: "The Eastside is a strong market... Their community really participates. The artists live there. The clubs are down the street, and people don't have to worry about parking. Our community in West Hollywood moved out. We've been battling that." The upcoming...

How Bay Area-based artist Michele Pred spent her Black Friday, via her website: "On Black Friday I shopdropped 10 hand signed prints of my artwork at IKEA in Emeryville, CA. Shopdropping is the opposite of shoplifting where merchandise is covertly placed in a store for display and sale. The prints are available for sale at IKEA for $8." By Saturday, they were all sold. The art is an image of a mobile phone interactive 2D Barcode--called Mobile Tagging--in IKEA's color scheme.

The answer is to do the work first, then ask for permission later. Or at least that's the example Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appointed heads of Public Works are showing us. In a Curbed LA investigation, an East Hollywood resident hired a crew to make a second driveway for her home on the 1100 block N. Westmoreland Avenue. There's two problems here: 1) She had no permit; 2) The street is apparently crowded with few parking spaces available to others in the neighborhood.

Lots of transporation news is coming out these days, from the new Silver Line and 902 Line, a car-free art show and now this new motion, via Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl's office: "The City is working to improve the quality of bicycling in the City and encourage more people to travel by bicycle. Unfortunately, as more people use bicycles, there has been an increase in the number of clashes between cyclists and automobiles. Bicyclists report that they have been bumped off the road, screamed at by drivers and had objects thrown at them..."

Reader submitted photo Although they even fooled one LADOT representative, further research has shown that Tow Zone signs put up yesterday on the 5700 block of Wilshire Boulevard were not placed by city workers. "Our temporary sign posting folks reported those are definitely not our signs," explained spokesman Bruce Gillman. "We log all postings by LADOT personnel." Gillman said they would be picked up and office workers tell LAist were already gone this morning....