Zach Behrens

Photo by Gary Winterboer via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr "This has officially gotten out of control," tweeted Angeline Vuong, a Citysearch community manager, in reference to LAist's growing list of designer food trucks that Twitter. That list, which was updated yesterday, includes 23 trucks plus six more, like the grilled cheese truck, that are coming to Los Angeles streets soon (add in this fact: a 2006 estimate has the number of taco trucks...

Officers write a citation to The Green Truck in August | Photo by Koga/LAist Once again, workers along Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile are witnessing an LAPD crackdown on the popular trucks that populate the area throughout lunchtime. One tipster, calling it a "raid," describes the scene in an e-mail: But the cops are downstairs again giving tickets to the food trucks. They not only cited the fruit vendor, but they rolled his cart away...

Past air quality alerts regarding Station Fire pollution stated that the air quality was unhealthy for "sensitive individuals," such as the elderly, children and those with respiratory problems. However, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health toda said air quality is "unhealthy for all individuals" in the San Gabriel Mountains and Valley. Air quality in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys remain "unhealthy for sensitive individuals." Officials urge residents to call...

Photo by Sklathill via Flickr Without too much discussion last year, the L.A. City Council raised parking meter fees citywide to at least $1 an hour at all meters. Times were also extended, angering some businesses, especially theatres in the NoHo Arts District where patrons potentially had to leave during intermission or in the middle of the show to refill a meter. A year later, some businesses still see a drop in business with...

Labor Day weekend at Rock Pool in Malibu Creek State Park | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist State Park officials said today that a closure list will not be released today and will likely come next week. "There is a list and it's being reviewed," explained Sheryl Watson, an Information Officer with California State Parks, over the phone. Amid a mass budget crunch this summer, the legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed the department's budget...

Do you know which way onshore and offshore winds are going? The confusing nature of the subject has one local professor frustrated with KNBC's weatherman, Fritz Coleman. "Melanie Patton Renfrew, a Harbor College teacher, wants KNBC-TV's Fritz Coleman to change references to onshore and offshore winds. She says the terms are confusing because people don't know which are coming and which are going," reported the Associated Press. Apparently, Renfrew's insistence on the terminology has...

The Station Fire may be 56 percent contained, but its smoke is still affecting air in the San Gabriel Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains. "Air quality may reach Unhealthy levels, or higher, due to high concentrations of fine particulates in smoke-impacted areas," the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced this afternoon. "All individuals are urged to exercise caution and avoid unnecessary outdoor activities in any area directly impacted by smoke. This includes...

Prepping food at Hollywood's Loteria Grill | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist After opening a second location in Hollywood last year, Loteria Grill is readying a new one in Studio City, according to a land use committee agenda (.pdf) with the Studio City Neighborhood Council. This Wednesday, the group will discuss and possibly make a motion in regards to the restaurant's application for a full line alcoholic beverage license. Loteria, which has a space on...

Photo by ashleighb77 via Flickr This is news to us: "there are twenty-two wild horse and burro herd management areas located throughout Southern California," according to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department, which sells licenses to those planning on having one at home (but you've gotta live in an equine district, we believe). Every year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounds up the animals from public lands in California, Nevada and Arizona,...

Didn't this burn last year, like twice? A small vegetation fire reported to the fire department at 12:48 p.m. burned a half-acre inside O'Melvany Park, just south of Sunshine Canyon in Granada Hills today. The park is located at the eastern end of the Santa Susana Mountains, site of the 14,703-acre Sesnon Fire from last year October. The Los Angeles Fire Department deployed not only ground crews, but an air attack, snuffing out today's...

A stream in the San Gabriel Wilderness | Photo by grabadonut via Flickr President Barack Obama proclaimed September as National Wilderness Month yesterday on the 45th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which protects pure land from being touched by any hint of development. Even areas within protected National Parks are declared as wilderness to stop government agencies from building roads, hiking paths or visitor centers. "This pioneering law created a framework for bringing Federal...

We don't know many details at the moment, but a guy named Paul apparently started swimming late last night from the western portion of Catalina Island to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That's nothing too unusual, as the San Pedro Channel is a popular place for marathon swimmers, but what's pretty cool is that it's being tracked in real time on a Google Maps application. Back in August, 24-year-old Jen Schumacher Cal State Fullerton grad...