Zach Behrens

He may not currently live in Los Angeles, but he represents a good chunk of it. State Assemblymember Paul Krekorian is rumored to be running for LA City Council District 2, currently seated by Wendy Greuel who will be the city's new Controller in July. If true, most people believe the popular Burbank politician will clear the field and be a sure shoe-in. A Krekorian spokesperson does not deny the possibility of this outright,...

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr Around 6 p.m. last night, two men, reportedly in police uniforms, stormed into a Sherman Oaks apartment killing one man in his mid twenties. Police at a regularly scheduled local neighborhood watch meeting soon after the incident told the audience that it also may have been drug related. "The call did come out that the suspects were possibly impersonating an officer," LAPD Capt. Kelly Mulldorfer told reporters at the...

Photo by lastminuteracer via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A very large skate park is opening this afternoon up in Santa Clarita with professional skaters like Christian Hosoi and Chris Gentry taking some of the first grinds. The park features a capsule riding surface, 10 and 11-foot bowls, grind ledges, a half-pipe, snake run, stairs, skate-able planters, rails and more. Down at Venice Beach, a new 16,000 square foot one is under construction and...

Put up an illegal billboard in New York City and officials will keep fining you, even if the price sours to nearly a million dollars. "We will not tolerate any individuals or companies who disregard the law to make a profit," a department spokesman told the New York Daily News. In Los Angeles, it's a different world. Try to regulate them and you'll be stuck in court for years and years....

Inspired by street foods from around the world, Susan Feniger's Street in Hollywood will serve you up such items as Malaysian black pepper clams, Egyptian style baked fish and Cuban stuffed potato cakes. "The food pushes people a bit," Feniger told the LA Times earlier this month. "The idea is to experience something new without having it be risky. . . . I love to have people learn about things that they've never eaten...

Photo by Marshall Astor via Flickr Every so often, we get e-mails in the middle of the night asking why an LAPD helicopter is circling above and shining a light down on their street. If you've lived here long enough, we all know this is a common experience. After all, the LAPD, who boasts that they have the "largest municipal airborne law enforcement operation in the world," has 17 helicopters and one twin engine...

Alex Thompson in handcuffs for not having a bicycle license | Photo by GarySe7en via Flickr On Saturday night, two cyclists were given tickets for not having a city of Los Angeles bicycle license, something that has not existed since January when Chief William Bratton and the City Council shot them down. One of those cyclists, who was put in handcuffs for 20 minutes over the incident, went to the police commission to discuss...

It's always sad to hear when a paper totally goes away. "It is with great regret that as of the March 26, 2009 issue, Southland Publishing, Inc. has decided to discontinue publishing the Los Angeles CityBeat alternative weekly publication," company President Bruce Bolkin wrote in a memo to staff and others about the closure. Citybeat started in 2003 and was a blast this summer when Alan Mittelstaedt got on the transportation and water efficiency...

Photo by dtaylor123 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr There was actually was some real drama regarding last night's Dancing with the Stars. A 34-year-old Florida man overzealously looking for Olympian Shawn Johnson was arrested after he allegedly tried to jump a security fence at the studio where it was being taped. Today he was slapped with a temporary restraining order from Johnson and charged with three criminal counts including stalking and...

It's not just in Hollywood where it's about who you know and the connections you have, it easily translates over to local and state politics. The LA Times investigated who gets paid for jobs appointed by politicians and found that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's daughter, Marisela Villar, is paid $68,000 annually as a field representative for Karen Bass to to arrange community meetings and handle constituents' calls. The hardest working city council field deputies who...

Found earlier this week near the Poppy Reserve | Photo by tomsaint11 via Flickr There are some new locations within the immediate Los Angeles area with wildflower reports on this week's Theodore Payne Foundation wildflower hotline including the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA and Debs Park in Boyle Heights. Eaton Canyon in Pasadena continues to grow as well as viewing, but over at Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley, things are a...

Photo by jeffkingla via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Mayor Antonio Villariagosa today appointed two heavyweights--Councilmember Jose Huizar and LA Department of Transportation General Manager Rita Robinson--to the Metro's Board of Directors. “With our passage of Measure R, our effort to aggressively build a modern public transportation system in Los Angeles County demands strong leadership,” Mayor Villaraigosa said in a statement. "It is an honor to join the Metro Board of Directors,”...