Zach Behrens

Universal City's Cafe Tu Tu Tango was shuttered back in December, yet is surviving in Orange County and... Orange County, Florida (okay, specifically Orlando). Cruising the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control's website, an LAist tipster found that Samba Brazilian Steakhouse is taking the cafe's place. Unclear if they are connected, there's a restaurant with the same name at the Mirage in Vegas and a similarly themed one in Redondo, too. But inquiring minds...

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a northbound Blue Line train at about 2:30 p.m. in South Los Angeles. The man, estimated to be approximately 50 years old, was crossing at a marked crosswalk, but it is unknown if he was doing so legally, according to the LA Fire Department, who gathered the information from witnesses. The 47-year-old train operator was shaken and asked paramedics to evaluate her condition, but she declined treatment...

Damage after the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, which was on the same fault line as Tuesday's 4.1 shaker | Photo via Nathan Callahan via Flickr After some of them spent two nights in a Red Cross shelter, the 18 residents of an earthquake damaged apartment building in Long Beach will return home today. The city is checking to see if there are possible code violations because Tuesdays 4.1 aftershock from Sunday's 4.7 quake were...

Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A Tuesday night CBS 2 News report that featured LAist (they described as "a Web site where people vent about issues like parking tickets," and pronounced us as LA-List, hehe) exposed the hundreds of thousands of tickets that drivers have fought and won. In total, over a two and a half year period, they found that more than 124,000 tickets were overturned. An...

When all the ballots were counted from precincts early Wednesday morning, just hundreds votes separated the two candidates for Council District 5, now held by Jack Weiss, who lost a bid for City Attorney during the same election. Former West Hollywood Councimember and former Assembly Paul Koretz leads lawyer and community organizer David Vahedi by 335 votes. Around 3,000 ballots, a mix of mail-in and provisionals, remain to be counted and the LA County...

For the second time this year, a bus making a turn has fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the street. It was about 7:25 p.m. at Temple and Spring when the woman, believed to be in her 30s, crossed the street correctly on a green light, but seemingly at an angle, a Metro spokesperson told the LA Times. Earlier this year, a DASH bus making a turn killed a woman at 5th and Flower near...

Since the recession and a new ordinance began, business for a family selling food out of a taco truck in Palos Verdes Estates is down by half. It started last summer, as LA County tried to unsuccessfully enforce a similar, but more relaxed, ordinance that was struck down as unconstitutional. In an article about trying to curb taco trucks nationwide, the LA Times explains: "No longer could loncheras set up for hours at parks...

Taken this morning | Photo courtesy of the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority Driving on the 5 freeway this morning in the Newhall Pass between Los Angeles and the Santa Clarita Valley, a Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority ranger spotted a dead mountain lion on the center divider near Calgrove Blvd. Presumably, it was hit trying to cross the freeway. The National Park Service, which tracks some mountain lions within the Santa Monica Mountains...

A 6.3 quake in 1933 was caused by the Newport-Inglewood fault killed 120 people | Photo by Jan Bruce via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Oh, the terrible Newport-Inglewood, you've yet to forsake us. Yesterday's mild 4.1 earthquake caused 18 people to be displaced at the Locust Avenue apartments in Long Beach. "Firemen found a 10-foot by 70-foot section of wall on the second floor peeling away at the roof line," reported the Long...

An empty pack of cigarettes and a plastic coffee cup cover caught by a catch basin screen cover | Zach Behrens/LAist Speaking of LA County's terrible water quality ranking that was announced today, have you seen these along Los Angeles' curbs? These catch basin screen covers prevent litter larger than ¾ of an inch from entering the storm drain system that brings water to the ocean via the LA River and Ballona Creek. Over...

After hearing about the unfortunate death of a mountain lion on the 5 Freeway this morning, we found another puma photo via the National Park Service. This time, it's good news. She, named P6, was tagged awhile ago by the Service, but her radio collar stopped working two years ago.

It always felt like an obvious thing to do, but now we know the potential. According to state's Flex Your Power program, "if you use air conditioning, a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort. And here’s the best part: most ceiling fans use less electricity than a light bulb. Remember to turn fans off when you leave the room, since they work by...