Catalina Island

(No) Fear of a Shane Black Planet: The Iron Man 3 Auteur's Career, Reconsidered

New Wine Region to Watch: China

In less than two decades, wine has gone from sideshow to main attraction at dinner parties in China. According to a The Wall Street Journal article, "China as a Vast Wine Market," wine sales grew by 20% between 2011 and 2012 -- to about $41 billion. Meanwhile, as highlighted by PRI's The World, a ... More >>

5 Best Happy Hours on the Beach

It can be easy to forget that L.A. is an oceanside city. Brutal traffic and busy schedules prevent regular visits to the coast. But having a destination in mind makes the Pacific more accessible -- and when that destination also features a happy hour discounting wine, cocktails, beer and the occasio ... More >>

Tickets on Sale for Outstanding in the Field's 2013 Tour!

Tickets are on sale for Outstanding in the Field's 2013 Tour. As is usually the case, the dates include a preponderance of stops at West Coast farms. In case you don't know much about this travelin' pop-up party, let us illuminate the vibe. A 60-year-old bus zips around to farms all over the coun ... More >>

Making Wine on Catalina Island: The Rusack Family's Santa Catalina Island Vineyards

Wine as an expression of a specific locale or terroir is what countless skilled winemakers strive to achieve. A noble goal to be sure, but one winery has taken the task a step further, specifically 22 miles further, offshore on Santa Catalina Island. Buffeted by salty ocean air, the island makes for ... More >>

Wilshire Grand Los Angeles, Tallest Skyscraper on West Coast at 1,100 Feet, Will Have a Wicked Sky Lobby for Views Across the City

By Hillel Aron Secret designs were just released of the Wilshire Grand, a 73-story, 1,100-foot-tall hotel/office tower/retail/phallic image that will be the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast and in Los Angeles, pushing out Library Tower (officially, U.S. Bank Tower) as the 10th-tallest building ... More >>

Top 10 Reasons to Love Los Angeles and Never, Ever Leave

It's February. It'll be 24 degrees and might snow tonight in New York City as frigid Canadian wind sweeps the East. It's 30 degrees in Boston, Chicago is dropping soon to 14 degrees (sweet Jesus), and even in San Francisco it's 50 degrees and oppressively gray -- naturally. In Los Angeles, it's 73 ... More >>

"Artisan" Instant Coffee? Just Add Panela

Sooner or later, a modern marriage of the current artisan and coffee crazes was inevitable. Still, when that box of Jiva coffee cubes landed on our desk, we found the idea of 'artisan' instant coffee highly entertaining (it was a long day). And, to be fair, our Folgers times have changed. Starbucks ... More >>

Dean O'Malley Plans Record-Setting Jet-Pack Flight Over Pacific This Weekend

Update at 1:37 p.m. Monday: Looks like he made it. First posted at 7:05 a.m. Friday. As much of Southern California bakes during the start of a heatwave and L.A. cowers under the shadow of another Carmageddon freeway shutdown, one adventurer will brave the outdoors to go where no man has gone befor ... More >>

The 7 Most Disgusting L.A. Beaches

See also: "Dirty Beaches? Not in L.A. (Well, for the Most Part)" Were you chin-deep in scary ocean bacteria all summer long, without ever realizing it? Now, thanks to local environmental org Heal the Bay, your blissful summertime ignorance shall be briskly swiped clean by the hard facts of fall! E ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 8/27 - 8/31

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Yes, a paleta is an ice pop, in the same way that a square is a rectangle, which is to say it's frozen and has a stick." 10 Best Paletas in Los Angeles. "We have a notoriously low percentage of passport holders. I don't unde ... More >>

Catalina Cuisine

Chef Paul Hancock of Avalon Grille has ambitions beyond beach food

A Recipe From the Chef: Paul Hancock's Cioppino From Catalina Island's Avalon Grille

If you haven't been to Catalina Island -- 22 miles out into the Pacific from the second most populous city in America and a mere 70-minute boat ride away -- lately, you might consider it, particularly now that we're having another run of triple digit temperatures. Snorkeling. Parasailing. A night-ti ... More >>

5 Scariest Shark Attacks in SoCal History

Now that we're officially in the thick of summer, you'd be a lousy Southern Californian if you didn't take your board down to the beach and get your water-sport on. (Even Lindsay Lohan's trying. Key word "trying.") But because we're part of the fear-mongering mainstream-media machine, and we can't ... More >>

Dennis Hedgecock: The Oyster Is His World

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Dennis Hedgecock wants to breed a better oyster to feed the world. Since 99 percent of the biosphere's volume is sea water, it's time to put it to work. Oysters are a nearly ... More >>

Natalie Wood Murdered? Husband Robert Wagner 'Not a Suspect,' Says L.A. Sheriff

Trouble in paradise?​Could Hollywood darling Natalie Wood's fatal drowning in 1981 have been darker than the simple accident it was once ruled to be? Wood and her husband Robert Wagner (truly L.A.'s royal couple at the time), along with their actor friend Christopher Walken, were night-boatin ... More >>

50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best Effing City in America

Timothy Norris​John Lennon once said of Los Angeles, "That's just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for the trip to San Francisco." Pretty rough stuff from a supposedly nice guy. Clearly, the Eggman (or was he the Walrus?) missed the endless taco stands, the pupusas, the pho, the don ... More >>

Bas Jan Ader, Zoe Crosher, and the Art of Disappearing People

Bassist Mark Tulin, the Missing Link Between Psych Legends the Electric Prunes and the Revamped Smashing Pumpkins, RIP 1948-2011

​We received news from the Smashing Pumpkin's camp that their friend and collaborator, bassist Mark Tulin from 1960s psychedelic garage legends the Electric Prunes, passed away this weekend. Here's a moving tribute by Billy Corgan, courtesy of StudioDog Kerry Brown: A Few Thoughts on the Pa ... More >>

What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Winter Fennel

Felicia Friesema​ Summertime is to warm basil and heirloom tomatoes as wintertime is to fennel and oranges. But there's so much more. If you find young and slender fennel bulbs, braise them whole. If you have larger, bulbous (and slightly tougher) bulbs, slice up and carmelize like an onion ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

For Whom the Road Tolls L.A. County is considering charging solo drivers for the right to use high-occupancy lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways. Tolls would range between 25 cents and $1.40. L.A. TimesDowntown Protest The Coalition of L.A. City Unions, an umbrella group representing some of L.A.'s 22, ... More >>

Heal the Bay's "Top Ten Beach Bummers"

Heal the Bay's 19th annual report card on 10 terrible shorelines is out -- and so, apparently, are the waters around Catalina Harbor, Cabrillo Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. All but two of the guilty beaches are located in Southern California, with Pismo Beach Pier and Campbell Cove State Park tak ... More >>

Neil Strauss' New Game: He Survived the Pickup-Artist Scene, Now He Wants to Survive the Apocalypse

But will he be thwarted by cute raccoons and stubborn goats?

Trutanich Crime Ad: Tempest in PC Teapot

Until last Sunday, many if not most Los Angeles voters had probably only heard of one of the City Attorney candidates, the somewhat annoying Westside City Councilman Jack Weiss. But then the Los Angeles Times endorsed Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich and we suddenly realized a race was on. The Times assu ... More >>

10 Uniquely Noteworthy Posthumous Performances on Film

Dodos, Akron/Family, Natural History Musuem, 5/2

Akron/Family, The Dodos, Natural History Museum First Fridays May 2, 2008 By Mark Mauer For the past couple of years, one of the best venues in town to see excellent live music has been the Natural History Museum. The Submarines, Plaid, Deerhoof, Matmos and others have played sets in the NHM's "La ... More >>

Airborne With the Flyboys of Los Angeles Helicopters

Blades of glory

California Fire Whisperers

Facing down region's wildfires by divining where the flames will spread

Griffith Park $50 Million, Catalina Zero

Denuded by fire, the island’s long-suffering and unique ecosystem could be reborn — for a price

Murder On the Last Turn

Mickey Thompson was a renowned race-car driver and promoter. Mike Goodwin was the brash, egocentric creator of motocross. They became business partners. Then all hell broke loose.

Best Place to Party Like a Pirate

Outlaw Grub and Vision Boards

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Remembering the stinging lungs of an L.A. boyhood

A Life in 10 Cars

Light and Open

The Schindler House searches for a perfect neighbor

Port in a Storm

Dealing with the polluting ways of world trade

Broken Hearts Club

Beat Freaks

Dance clubs L.A.: a forbidden world beckons

Troubled Help

Gang program hits low point in Echo Park

Hollywood, Straight Up

The craps-shooting cop, the hungarian brawl and other stories from Steve Boardner's bar

Radio Radar

L.A. Times Who Knew? Department

Homage to Catalina