Zach Behrens

Actress Camila Belle poses for photos at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live for the premiere of Sony Pictures 2012 | Photo by Eric Richardson/blogdowntown No, downtown does not have a bunch of crunchy cheezeball souvenir shops, superheroes or stars embedded in the sidewalk. It does, however, have a convenient spot for movie premieres along the relatively unknown Georgia Street. Such an unremarkable name, but one that means less impacts to neighbors, traffic and, well, a...

He's been called a hero, even a stud, and now he's the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade. Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was the man at the helm when his US Airways jet with 155 people aboard landed in New York City's Hudson River earlier this year. He has nearly 600,000 fans on Facebook and gave Hugh Jackman a good run for his money in a TMZ "Who'd you rather do" contest. And despite his fame out East, he's actually from California.

What a crazy story! Via the LA Times: "When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago."...

ABC7 and Citysearch got together and made a top 7 cupcake shop list. Auntie Em's Kitchen in Eagle Rock took the top spot with Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank and Famous Cupcakes in Valley Village in spots 2 and 3. The list is rounded out by Susie Cakes, The Cobbler Lady, Violet's Cakes, French's Cupcake Bakery, Cupcakery and Dolcissimo. Who didn't make the list? Sprinkles and Crumbs. Oh, snap!...

The Gold Line's Eastside Extension is opening on November 15th, but how does one get to the light rail line? Other than the big connections at Union Station (Red Line, etc), what other bus lines connect to it? According to a new map by Metro, some 35 bus lines will connect to the extension's eight stations. Two of them are DASH buses, seven are from Montebello's bus system and the rest are Metro-run buses....

At L.A. Live | Photo by La Citta Vita via Flickr In an attempt to attract the thousands of USC students ready to spend money in downtown, AEG is funding a free weekend shuttle between the campus and the entertainment complex. The shuttle departs every 30 minutes from The Lab Gastropub or The 901 Bar and drops passengers off at the new Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14. The schedule is as follows: Friday:...

In a follow-up to yesterday's post about the arrest of four suspects in Tuesday night's Santa Monica slaying, there is some speculation that it might be connected to a murder in Venice during the afternoon hours the same day. The LA Times reports that "William Charles McKillian Jr., 19, was in the 600 block of Westminster Avenue in Venice when he was confronted by at least one attacker who opened fire about 3:30 p.m."...

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr A shooting that left one man dead last night in a Santa Monica park led to the arrest of multiple suspects. At around 8:52 p.m. last night, two suspects approached and began shooting at a group of four people in Virginia Park on Pico Boulevard, a few blocks from Santa Monica College. Three people escaped safely, but 20-year-old Richard Juarez was killed. The Santa Monica Police Department this afternoon...

Thousands of rape kits still remain untested, finds a follow-up to a year-old audit that revealed some 7,500 rape kits sat untested on the shelves of LAPD labs. City Controller Wendy Greuel plans to release the the full findings tomorrow morning. Her office said today that the backlog has been reduced to 65%. However, Greuel says the Department’s record keeping is inconsistent, making it difficult to give entirely accurate numbers. In early October, it...

There was no such luck for San Francisco this year, but the Abbey Food & Bar in West Hollywood beat out popular gay spots in Rio, London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Montreal this week in a contest put on by MTV's Logo Channel. Other winners in the TripOutGayTravel awards include New York City (best U.S. destination), the Wynn Las Vegas (best ultimate luxury/hotel resort) and the W Hotels (best hotel chain). Party on, WeHo....

We've got a former eBay CEO and conservative Meg Whitman running for Governor and today we find that another tech CEO from the right is making the move for public office. Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina will announce this morning her run for the Senate, according to the LA Times. She will face Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) in the Republican primary. The winner of that will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in...

The moonrise over the Verdugo Mountains | Photo by Curiouser via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Again? The reopening of King hospital may be pushed back to 2013. We've seen the loss of mailboxes, but will L.A. lose 19 post offices? Today was the busiest day for the free L.A. County H1N1 clinics. A welcome addition for the Westside: Bul-Gogi to is prepping to open in Culver City A nice small touch for Pasadena:...