Zach Behrens

The pier at Hermosa Beach | Photo by Andy Kennelly via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Two people were found dead this morning after a tire shop fire on the eastside. Medical marijuana in Beverly Hills? No, said the city council last week. Sad news: back to back blog posts on the LA Times detail the deaths of four marines from California in Afghanistan. Dodgers Stadium and Staples Center were among the list of...

When you hear Oxnard, what do you think of? Maybe strawberry farms, maybe Channel Island Harbor or maybe a sleepy beachside town. But officials of the 112-year-old city are not too happy with the name anymore because it doesn't conjure up images that attract tourists. So now a branding firm has proposed the name Oxnard Shores, already a name given to a neighborhood within the city. "It's meant to add a physical picture," a...

Photo: Gelatobaby via Flickr Just a day after hundreds walked in his honor, the L.A. County Coroner officially announced that Dr. Marc Abrams' death was a suicide, according to the LA Times. The news confirms speculation heard throughout the weekend. Abrams, also known as Silver Lake's "Walking Man," was reportedly under investigation following an overdose death of a patient. Abrams was found dead on Wednesday evening, shocking the community because he was a daily...

In addition to voting on a sales tax increase that would raise it to 10.25%, Santa Monica voters will be asked on the November ballot about tenant rights. Approved Thursday by the city council, the measure would extend some rights...

What an odd story. A Covina family on Sunday was shopping in Azusa when an announcement came over the store's intercom asking for the owner of his car to step outside -- there was a surprise waiting for him. Witnesses said a seven-foot boa constrictor crawled into his engine and when 25-year-old David Morelli opened the engine hood, he could see the snake wedged in there, according to the San Gabriel Tribune. He touched...

Just like in last week's episode, "Entourage" on HBO continues to comment on local L.A. news topics, most notably the prospect of bringing a NFL stadium to Los Angeles. In Sunday evening's episode, Hollywood power agent Ari Gold brings together high rolling potential funders to back his stadium proposal in downtown Los Angeles, next to L.A. Live. Seen in the group is Casey Wasserman, who in reality is actually proposing a stadium in that...

Downtown L.A., as seen from Vista Hermosa Park | Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The LADWP and L.A. City Council are duking it out again, this time over a $600,000 bill the utility's board is refusing to pay. The U.S. House has passed a ban on animal cruelty videos. L.A.'s new head of city planning is said to be the city's chief zoning administrator and Long Beach resident Michael LoGrande....

It's Friday, which means the LAPD is out in force. While the department doesn't announce all checkpoints, they do announce some. Those include in Venice at Venice Boulevard and Walgrove Avenue and in Studio City along Ventura Boulevard somewhere between Eureka Drive and Fruitland Drive. Summer months are notoriously known for drinking and driving incidents. Statewide, 7,801 people were either injured or killed during June, July and August in 2008....

Following a surgery and reports that she was doing well earlier this week, Zsa Zsa Gabor's publicist is saying that she's in critical condition and not responding to human contact, even though her eyes are open. Last Saturday, the 93-year-old Bel Air resident suffered a broken hip after falling out of bed when trying to answer the phone. Doctors fear Gabor may have suffered a stroke, something she went through in 2005. She's been...

At the top of the stream is Millard Falls | Benjamin Page/LAist Featured Photos A stream that serves rare wildlife in the San Gabriel Mountains dried up this week after a local utility company diverted the water away for a pipe test. That prompted the U.S. Forest Service to send a cease and desist letter to Lincoln Avenue Water Company, according to the Pasadena Star-News. The stream tends to dry up in the Summer,...

Photo by guamafro via Flickr The suspect who apparently fired a gun during an argument Wednesday evening, wounding a young boy in a nearby park in Norwalk, has been arrested, the L.A. Sheriff's Department announced. At about 11 a.m. on Thursday, 21-year-old Charles German Vera was arrested during a surveillance when he was driving with his mother on the 5 Freeway. On Wednesday evening, the 7-year-old boy was riding a bicycle with his father...

Venice | Photo by Mark Luethi via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr "Los Angeles is not a desert!" Here's why, according to L.A. River maven Jenny Price. Gov. Schwarzenegger's nominee for Chief Justice of California is Tani Cantil-Sakauye. If approved by a state commission and then by voters, she would be the first Asian-American in the job. A changing of the guard of sorts. As blogdowntown prepares its inaugural print issue, another downtown paper,...