Bel Air

Elon Musk Thinks His Westside Commute Is L.A.'s Top Problem

L.A. has its fair share of problems, from the nation's most torn-up roads to one of the America's worst unemployment rates. Southern California is an epicenter of home foreclosures. The gap between rich and poor here is bigger than the Angeles National Forest. There are Angelenos who are having trou ... More >>

Top Zip Code For Top-Dollar Home Sales Includes City Of L.A?

Beverly Hills real estate is often overshadowed by pricier digs in Holmby Hills, home to the Playboy Mansion, Bel Air, which boasts of many 10,000-square-foot-plus abodes, and Pacific Palisades, where Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other celebs live. But the gilded city is back in its rightful plac ... More >>

Westside Mansions' Power-Use Gluttony Confirmed By Awesome UCLA Electricity Map

An awesome new electricity use map created by UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities shows what you probably already suspect. Those righteous Prius drivers and aficionados of all things "sustainable," a.k.a. rich Westsiders, have some of the highest power usage figures in town:

Million-Dollar Home Sales In California At 5-Year High; Somebody's Ballin'

This economy's got you down, you say? You're still worried about buying that next house, car or even smartphone? Ah, if you were a rich man ... While the rest of us suffer, the wealthy have just added to their cash piles during the Great Recession and its aftershocks. Proof that the upper crust fe ... More >>

Crime's Up In One Westside L.A. Neighborhood: Del Rey

Despite news out of City Hall this month that crime was down in 2012 for the 10th-straight year, there's a felonious hot-spot of ill behavior right in the middle of the Westside. The community is called Del Rey. And while it has never been a crime-free neighborhood on a par with Bel Air, we were su ... More >>

Kim Kardashian & Kanye's New Bel Air Home Has A Real Housewives Connection

As if the prospect of Kim Kardashian wooing East Coast rapper Kanye West to L.A. for an explosive super-coupling not seen since Beyonce and Jay-Z first hid their love, they're buying a house from another celebrity crush. The $11 million, 10,000-square-foot Bel Air abode (with plenty of room in the ... More >>

Dr. Phil's Stolen '57 Chevy Found Safe And Sound (Sort Of): PHOTOS

Sheriff's deputies said late yesterday that they have recovered the apparently beloved 1957 Chevy of one Dr. Phil. His personality, however, was no where to be found. (Pa-dum-pum). But seriously, cops indicated the Bel Air was found as part of a ring that has seen multiple recoveries and arrests:

Bel Air Bar & Grill to Reopen After 18-Month Closure

After an 18-month hiatus, Bel Air Bar & Grill will unveil its completely remodeled space in early November. Purchased by Susan Disney Lord (Walt's niece and Roy's daughter) in 2007, the restaurant will have 50% more space, a new kitchen, a three-story building next door which houses the Roy Disney F ... More >>

Xposed Strip Club Billboards Subject of Takedown Effort by Mad Mom Ursula Pyland

There is a thing called freedom of speech. But do you want a stripper peering down at you longingly, right in your own neighborhood? Okay, don't answer that guys. If you're a mother, would you want said exotic dancer giving your 11-year-old boy a come-hither look from a billboard right near the loc ... More >>

The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time: 5-1

See also: *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All-Time: 20-16 *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All-Time: 15-11 *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time: 10-6 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time 5. Radiohead Go ahead and turn on VH1 right now. You know those bands playing in the background of your favor ... More >>

Beverly Hills Real Estate Sparks Bidding Wars: The Rich Are Buying Again

After years of declining and flat-lining, Beverly Hills home prices are going up. This could either be a good sign that this Debbie Downer of an economy is turning a corner, or it could be another example of how, even in tough times, the rich are getting richer while the rest suffer. We're going t ... More >>

Foie Gras-loving Chefs Fight Ban With Last-ditch Petition

When the ban on foie gras takes effect on July 1, Californians with a taste for foie will be reduced to copping the creamy tan stuff in little, perfect slugs squeezed into wax paper packets like opium. They'll slip from hand-to-hand on public transportation. Liver-laden trucks will trundle from ne ... More >>

1914 Cyclone Motorcycle Worth $1 Million Taken in Bel Air Home Invasion

When you have $1 million worth of vehicle, try to make sure no one's tailing you. The owner of a million-dollar, one-of-a-kind, 1914 twin-cylinder Cyclone motorcycle thinks that crooks might have followed him home after its showing at the annual, open-to-the-public Beverly Hills Concours D'Elegance ... More >>

New Jazz Bakery In Jeopardy; West Side Jazz Scene Hurting

Tom MeekThe Ron Jones Orchestra at the Jazz Bakery, 2008​The Jazz Bakery, L.A.'s major jazz non-profit organization, is in turmoil because of the pending shutdown of the Culver City Redevelopment Agency. Jazz Bakery president Ruth Price had been working with the agency to reopen Jazz Bakery's ... More >>

Beverly Hills Casting Call Wants Rich People And Their 'Help' For Reality Show

Bravo​Oh boy. If you think The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is disgusting, have we got a show for you. Well, actually, we don't. All we know is that this proposed Real Housewives poseur will focus on the relationships between the Westside's super rich and their help. Let's just hope they ... More >>

Christmas in Los Angeles: Why Do Our Xmas Lights Suck so Bad?

It's not always easy being a New York transplant in Los Angeles. I defend you a lot, LA, to everyone back home who hasn't eaten at your taco trucks, felt your gleaming afternoon sunshine or appreciated the sweeping vistas mid-hike through your urban mountains. But this holiday season I chose to stay ... More >>

Q & A with Wolfgang Puck: The Hotel Bel-Air Interview

For anyone who's lived in Los Angeles longer than a decade, it's impossible not to feel caught in some sort of time-warp pulling up to the recently reopened Hotel Bel-Air. The swans still float serenely on the pond and wander the lush grounds, but the first thing you notice aren't the Cygnini, it's ... More >>

Santa Ana Winds Usher in L.A. Fire Season

The winds are upon us.​It may feel cooler and more wintery outside (OK, still in the upper 60s and 70s; sorry Denver), but don't be fooled: What has the potential to be SoCal's worst fire season ever is only just now settling in. We had a few scares back in the beginning of September -- inclu ... More >>

Union Workers Picket Hotel Bel-Air, Favorite Haunt of Hollywood Celebrities

Picketers outside the Hotel Bel Air​Several hundred union demonstrators picketed outside the Hotel Bel-Air this evening, calling on managers to rehire workers who were laid off when the hotel closed for renovations."They say go away! We say no way!" the protesters chanted. After a march down to Su ... More >>

The L.A. DWP Wants You to Drink Recycled Sewage -- and Pay $20 a Year For It

Stuck in Customs via FlickrDelish.​Updated with a sewage endorsement from the L.A. County Sanitation District. The California drought may be temporarily on hold, but that doesn't mean Department of Water and Power problem-solvers have stopped scheming up new ways to keep your taps gushing and ... More >>

Michelle Obama Charges $10K for Photo Op, 'Private Time' at L.A. Campaign Fundraiser (Unless You're J.J. Abrams)

This could be you, for 10,000 dolla!​The first lady landed quietly in Los Angeles this morning, avoiding another #ObamaTraffic nightmare with an early arrival at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. There to greet her were director J.J. Abrams -- basking in "Super 8's" critically acclai ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Street Food, Is Donald Trump Drinking Too Much Willy Wonka, Molecular Gastronomist

-- Time to Boycott French Toast, French Fries Again. (See: burqa laws.) [The Awl] -- Gordon Ramsay moves to Bel Air ("12 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a summerhouse"). [Digital Spy, via Eater] -- New Farmworker Report Paints a Big, Grim Picture. [Civil Eats via @SlowFoodUSA] -- The wonderful world o ... More >>

Bed Bugs Getting Stronger as a Result of Our Attempts To Kill Them: Check Your Bed, Scratch Your Head

Sit 'n SleepYou're itching me, Larry.​First we hear that bed bugs are invading Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills. Now comes news that they're the new roaches -- as in, they won't die, no matter how much you gas them. Great. In fact, one of the reasons the critters are in the news, besi ... More >>

L.A. Rainstorm Causes All Hell To Break Loose, Will Wreak More Havoc Christmas Day

Tricia via PBaseCHP: Don't even think about blaming the weather​We were still kind of making fun of the impending Los Angeles "weather" last Friday, when the shower head was set to wimpy sprinkle and L.A. drivers were farting around at their always hilarious (except when we have to get somewhe ... More >>

Elon Musk's Super-Green Hawthorne Company SpaceX Gets $45,600 EPA Fine For Mishandling Hazardous Materials

​We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried: Elon Musk, the love-him, hate-him chief of electric-car company Tesla Motors -- the Bay Area automaker with the green-friendly halo over its head -- is also the leader of a Hawthorne company that just received a slap on the wrist by federal official ... More >>

Missing Pennsylvania Student Was Victim Of 405 Freeway Hit-And-Run

​Authorities this week were searching for the driver of a black Ford Mustang with likely windshield and front-end damage in connection with the hit-and-run death of 20-year-old Jamie O'Connell, a Pennsylvania college student. O'Connell's body was found early Saturday morning on the northbound ... More >>

'The Hangover,' Or Something Worse? College Student Jamie O'Connell Disappears After Being Seen At Bel Air Party

​Hopefully this is just another hangover gone a little sideways: A 20-year-old Pennsylvania college student went missing over the weekend after he attended what appears to have been someone's graduation party at a Bel Air residence near UCLA. Family and friends have distributed a flier with h ... More >>

Student Missing After Bel Air Party Idenfied As Victim Fatally Struck On The 405 Freeway In Sepulveda Pass

Google Maps​That missing Pennsylvania student we told you about apparently is the same person who was fatally struck on the 405 freeway near Getty Center Drive over the weekend, ABC7 reported Monday afternoon. Twenty-year-old James Daniel O'Connell, a.k.a. Jamie, was last seen at a Bel Air gr ... More >>

Brick's Picks: An Embarrassment of Jazz Riches

Brick's Picks: Horns of Plenty

The Price of Shooting Stars

L.A. Council Rejects Home Buffer Zone For Pot Shops

​Considering its long-awaited ordinance to get a grip on 545 largely unregulated medical marijuana retailers in L.A., the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday rejected a proposed 500 foot buffer zone between the shops and homes and instead drafted language that would prohibit the businesses f ... More >>

Reader Photo of the Day: Mountain Lions in Bel Air

L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photographer, Brian Swanson, snapped this striking picture of a mountain lion in Bel Air on October 9 using his trusty Nikon. File under: don't try this at home (or in your backyard). Brian Swanson

High Tea at the Langham

All-Star Gamers

Jazz in L.A., February 27-March 5

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Sheriff to Close Jails? Going far beyond the early release of county inmates, Sheriff Lee Baca may also close a jail or two to cope with a massive budget shortfall that his department faces. L.A. TimesCandidate Boycotts Own Press Conference L.A. City Councilman and City Attorney candidate Jack Weiss ... More >>

Neverland Moves to Bel Air

The King of Pop's New FortressPhoto: Leahcim506 Forget Bahrain. Forget Europe. Santa Maria? -- a distant memory. The trainwreck-in-progress known as Michael Jackson has taken a lease on a mansion in L.A.'s very own Bel Air. The Associate Press reports that the King of Pop has been ensconced in  ... More >>

Queer Town: A Prop. 8 Town Hall Meeting at Young Israel

On Monday evening, three and a half hours after Variety reported that movie director Steven Speilberg had donated $100,000 to the "No on Prop. 8" campaign, Rabbi Elazar Muskin turned over his synagogue, Young Israel of Century City, to supporters of the anti-gay marriage ballot measure. Under Muskin ... More >>

Weiss' Summer Jamz 08-G'Z Up, Prose Down

Summer Jamz '08: G'Z Up, Prose Down http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4NBDRWLQ 1.Parliament-“Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) 2.N.W.A.-“Alwayz Into Somethin’” 3.Dr. Dre-“Nuthin’ But a G Thang” 4.Above the Law ft. 2Pac & Money B-“Call It What U Want” 5 ... More >>

Movie Reviews: Doomsday, Drillbit Taylor, Under the Same Moon

Also Shutter and Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns

(Powdered) Sugar Walls

The Grammy parties and the pod people

Sure Thing

Rocco Somazzi

Whip It Good

How To Cure Hollywood’s Summertime Blues, The Sequel

A Beer-slugging, Flag-waving, Double-Wilder Week of Fun

The Green Menace

The best of Sitegeist

Sex, Success and Joyce Carol Oates

A visit with Judith Krantz

The Green Menace

Why You?

Writing about race

Cannabis Connection

Clinton's campaign against California's California's medical-marijuana movement

Rumble on Rodeo

Beverly Hills meets the new labor movement