Zach Behrens

Mark Lacter at LA Business Observed today picks up on a piece at blogdowntown about a restaurant closing with that gem of a headline. The problem is, a planned Tony's Steakhouse for downtown Los Angeles had its lease terminated after two years and never seeing the day of light. Plans for the restaurant and others from the same owners were announced "just before and during the height of the recession."...

Attention is currently is drawn to protests in Westlake over the officer involved shooting that left a man dead on Sunday, but the fatal Thursday morning shooting of a 19-year-old man just a mile away has failed to see much attention. Celeste Fremon at Witness LA describes Irvin Panameno, nicknamed Smiley, as a reformed gang member.

Sunset and Crescent Heights | Photo by Mark Luethi via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Hello, Rosh Hashana! KPCC today checked in with Michael Chusid, "an Angelino who has taught hundreds of people to blow the shofar." An Orange County fisherman has been sentenced to "three years' informal probation and 20 days in jail" for stomping on a California brown pelican. The Mount Olympus man who sued a production company for significantly inconveniencing him...

Photo by A.C.Thamer via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Small business journal Portfolio.com yesterday released a study detailing the most and least stressful cities in the country, finding Detroit at the top of the list and Salt Lake City at the bottom. It wasn't based on personal interviews, rather it was based on data from issues that contribute to a populace's stress: Unemployment, poverty, unhealthy air, commuting and sunshine, to name a few. L.A....

Left to Right: Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura. | Photo via the Governor's Office Last month's major recall of Iowa-produced eggs has consumers wary of just about all eggs found on grocery store shelves. That's why Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (or SchwarzenEGGer -- we couldn't resist) today dropped by a Sacramento supermarket to assure Californians that eggs from the Golden State are a-okay....

via ZevWeb He's been a steady name in Los Angeles politics for decades, from the Los Angeles City Council to his current long-term spot with the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Now, he's seriously being asked -- apparently by "people you just can't ignore" -- to consider making a stab at running for Mayor of Los Angeles next year, when Antonio Villaraigosa's term is up. "I will consider it, but it's not first and...

Rodney King is reportedly engaged to a juror who awarded him $3.9 million in a civil case, reports the New York Daily News. "King and Cynthia Kelley said they first felt a romantic spark when they met in a Newport Beach pizzeria the day after the controversial 1994 jury award," the newspaper said. "Both were married at the time, which complicated the blossoming relationship." They split up before King's appearance on "Celebrity Rehab with...

A series of public hearings about the draft Los Angeles Bicycle Plan, which seeks to bring the city 1,633 miles of bikeways, have been announced. The five meetings (,pdf), including one to be held online, will take place between Sept. 25th and Oct. 2nd. "This is the third time they’ve released dates for hearings on the Bike Plan, and the last two times the meeting schedule was met with outrage from the cycling community...

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr A peaceful demonstration west of downtown yesterday took a turn to the unruly side of things as the evening progressed. Dozens of people angered by an officer involved shooting that left 37-year-old Manuel Jamines dead on Sunday afternoon had gathered Monday at the scene to protest. Four people were arrested for inciting a riot when bottles and rocks were thrown at police, according to the LA Times. Some mattresses...

Ever since Arizona passed it's strict immigration law SB 1070, immigration protests have taken Los Angeles by storm. While many were peaceful and legal, three caused street closures, forcing police to make arrests.

Location of the shooting | View map Outrage over a Sunday afternoon police shooting west of downtown that left a day laborer dead spilled out onto the streets Monday. The protest of about 50 people moved up and down 6th Street in Westlake, mainly at Union Avenue where the incident took place, and Valencia Street, outside LAPD's Rampart Division station. Police say an intoxicated man, now reportedly identified as Manuel Jamines from Guatemala, was...

Last week it was an Orange County golfer who sparked a fire last week when he swung, hitting a rock and sparking a 25-acre blaze. And yesterday it was a bobcat that ignited a five acre fire in the small town of Piru, east of Santa Clarita. “It looked like he was climbing up a pole to chase an owl or another bird,” Capt. Dan Preston told the Ventura County Star. "The animal apparently...