Zach Behrens

It's late, you're tipsy and you just pricked yourself with a safety pin to write a contract in blood on a napkin. "Sir, please forgive me. Because of my deeds you have suffered financially. I will repay you to the best of my ability." Then some language was added in pen. That's what Stephen Son did for his friend Jinsoo Kim in October 2004 because he was owed $170,000. Kim then used that to...

If you are into urban foraging, beware of the consequences if you are not savvy to what you pick. A man in Santa Barbara died last week after chose the wrong mushrooms in a park to saute with his steak. "The man had picked poisonous amanita ocreata mushrooms, which are common in the Santa Barbara area, at the Douglas Family Preserve above Arroyo Burro Beach," reported the Associated Press. Six hours after eating his...

Photo by time stands still via Flickr Via CurbedLA, an opinion piece in the Visalia Times Delta weighs the positives and negatives of having a high speed rail stop in their Central Valley city. They question if they want to become another city's bedroom community, thus adding sprawl and losing precious farmland as people flock to the town with it's cheaper housing stock. On the otherside, it could be a two hour ride to...

Photo by kla0467 via Flickr Former Daily News Editor turned grassroots activist Ron Kaye last week took an in-depth look at the preliminary election results district by district. He came to some interesting conclusions and one thing that surprised us most was that five of the fifteen council districts--in the Valley and on the Westside--hold nearly half of the city's voting population: The mayor got less than half the vote in the districts of...

The Santa Monica Daily Press digs into city council minutes from 1989 finding that Bergamot Station, now a large art gallery complex and cultural center, was bought by the city of Santa Monica to be a future rail storage and maintenance yard for the Expo Line, which is now under construction in its first phase from downtown to Culver City. "Expo officials examined more than 40 sites from Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica...

The supergraphic saga continues and the LA Times is taking numbers. The CIM Group is beginning to take down five illegal supergraphics that they thought were legal, even though the company signed a contract stating they couldn't put up supergraphics. The real estate group has been given $28 million in taxpayer subsidies for redevelopment projects in Hollywood and other neighborhoods and is seeking permission for 11 supergraphics on a large new shopping center project...

At the top of Inspiration Point Trail | From 28 Things to do in Los Angeles in the Dead of Winter by Adam Rose/LAist Now in its second week, the California State Parks Foundation's podcast series about Californians' favorite hikes in state parks comes to the Los Angeles area. Hiker Brandon Lloyd talks about the 3-mile looped Inspiration Point Trail at Will Rogers State Historic Park near Pacific Palisades: &righticonhover=0x333232&text=0x333232&slider=0xF2F2F2&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0xFFFFFF&loader=0x838383&soundFile=http://www.calparks.org/podcasts/podcast/2009/cspf_best_trails_-_lloyd.mp3"> Last week, rocker Sammy...

Via an in-house digital magazine--we had no idea these still existed--Coachella announced five new bands to the already existing line-up: The Chemical Brothers, The Orb, Devandra Banhart, Murder City Devils and Etienne de Crécy. That makes for a strong 125 acts to be enjoyed in the desert come April 17-19. Earlier today: Amy Winehouse drops off line-up list....

The sign at Hollywood/Vine this morning | Photo by Rick Tait No bombs or explosives were found this morning during a random bag check at the Hollywood & Vine Metro station, but one young male was arrested for impersonating a peace officer by carrying fake police IDs and carrying a replica gun. "Though we may be looking for one type of criminal element, we have a tendency to find something else," Sgt. Leo Bauer...

From LA International Airport's Public Information Office: "At approximately 10:38 a.m. rap star “Coolio”, real name Artis Leon Ivey, Jr., 45, was taken into custody for possession of illegal substance in Terminal 1. He is en route to the Pacific Division station for booking." More details will be forthcoming. Update: He is actually en route to Van Nuys Division station for booking. Update #2: "The suspect will be booked for 11350 H&S for possession...

Photo by moria via Flickr Whether your a bicycle advocate or a someone who hopes Los Angeles could be a smarter planned community, tomorrow's all day (and free) LA Bike Summit will hold a good number of workshops and panels including ones with local bloggers of note such as Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA and Siel at Green LA Girl. For Newton, this is a really important step for the LA community. "People don't...

Meet Spirit The Santa Ana Zoo has a bunch of new animals including the aptly named bald eagle, Spirit, who "omes to Santa Ana from a rehabilitation facility in Alaska due to a wing injury that precluded her from being released back into the wild," according to a zoo statement. Last month, the zoo's monkey population increased to 52 when twin red-handed tamarin monkeys were born. The two will be available this weekend at...