Charlotte (North Carolina)

Three Days Antonio Villaraigosa Slacked Off the Most in 2012

Read the scathing L.A. Weekly cover story "Antonio Villaraigosa's Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth." Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sure knows how to live it up on other people's money and the taxpayers' time. Elected in 2005 to be the chief executive officer of Los Angeles -- ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa's Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth

X Games Leave Los Angeles

When the summer X Games started out in cities other than L.A., we were frustrated:WTF? This is where half those sports began. This is the action sports capital of America. This is the biggest media market for this stuff. And then, in 2003, they came, and we were like, Yes! And now? Not so much. Aft ... More >>

Moms Take on Dye in Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

A couple of U.S. moms with extra time on their hands (and perhaps a little self-promoting to do) perused the ingredients list for that all-time favorite kids food, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, and noticed that it contains the dyes Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, which give it its distinctive cheesy-orange hue. ... More >>

Lee Baca Named America's 'Sheriff Of The Year' Despite Jail Violence

In a middle finger to all those journalists and civil libertarians in town who have accused the L.A. County Sheriff's Department of allowing unjust beatings of jail inmates to persist during the last decade or so, the National Sheriffs Association has named Lee Baca its Sheriff of the Year. Baca ha ... More >>

Villaraigosa's DNC God Flap Subject of Campaign Ad by Allen West

The flap over L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's disputed approval of including references to God and Jerusalem in the Democratic party platform is proving to be ample ammunition for the enemy. As chair of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week the mayor made three calls for an a ... More >>

California Democratic Drunks Make a Scene at DNC in Charlotte

Props to our California delegates who made drunken fools of themselves in Charlotte even before the Democratic National Convention started there today. While Mitt Romney's prom had Clint Eastwood lecturing an empty chair in Tampa last week, the Golden State's own Dems were prepping for Obama's seco ... More >>

Nearly One Out of Every Ten Delegates Will Be Gay at Democratic National Convention

Guess Alfred Kinsey -- the famous sex researcher who said approximately one out of every ten people is gay -- was right... The National Stonewall Democrats, an LGBT political organization, announced today that 8.15 percent of the delegates at next week's Democratic National Convention in North Caro ... More >>

Villaraigosa Wants to be Governor of California

As mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa gets a D. Maybe a C. Blame constant multimillion-dollar deficits, a do-nothing City Council, the specter of municipal bankruptcy, corruption in Building and Safety, increased taxation through parking and traffic tickets, and the worst roads in America. ... More >>

Alfonso Ribeiro's 'Carlton Dance' Flash Mob Attempts Record (For Dorkiest Moves): VIDEO

Updated at the bottom with crowd estimates. First posted at 5:30 a.m. Alfonso Ribeiro of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air might do the nerdiest, preppiest dance of all time. But that didn't stop hundreds if not thousands of followers from joining him yesterday at Universal CityWalk and other locales in ... More >>

The Fried Dill Pickle Chips at Short Order: Secret Pickles, Ranch Dressing A Bottle of Tabasco

What is a fried dill pickle chip supposed to taste like? If you have been to The Penguin Drive-In, a circa 1950's roadhouse in the Plaza-Midwood district in Charlotte, NC, you know that there are four steps that elevate this crispy Southern-style snack food with zero nutritional value to total great ... More >>

Black Friday: How the Feds Shut Down Online Poker

$2.5 billion industry cut off, taking livelihoods with it

James Beard Awards 2012: Semifinalists Announced

Los Angeles chefs made a strong showing among the semifinalists for the 2012 James Beard Awards, which were announced today. Local nominees for the Best Chef, Pacific award include Josef Centeno (Lazy Ox Canteen), Michael Cimarusti (Providence), David Feau (The Royce at the Langham), Matt Molina (M ... More >>

Obama's Speech at Holmby Hills Mansion: President Admits 'It's Not Quite as Cool to Be on the Obama Bandwagon' as in 2008

While Occupy 90210 protested along Sunset Boulevard, Obama wooed a crowd of celebs and big Hollywood money at a $40K-per-plate fundraiser last night, hosted by some soap opera producer at his gorgeous mansion in the Holmby Hills. And, though we're generally on Occupy's side -- re: this whole corpor ... More >>

Villaraigosa to Chair Democratic National Convention: First L.A. Mayor To Do So

Mayor V.​If President Obama is reelected, he might have to put L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on his list of people to thank. Villaraigosa is taking the high-profile position of chair of the Democratic National Convention this summer, which will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, accor ... More >>

Frank Gehry Calls Eli Broad a 'Control Freak' on National Television

Gehry's Disney Hall.​The star of the 60 Minutes feature on L.A.'s own billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad was ... architect Frank Gehry. Seems like he's the only person in town who had the balls to say what others have uttered off-the-record: That Broad, while infinitely generous, is a pain ... More >>

Food & Wine Best New Chef 2011, The People's Edition: Ricardo Zarate Wins Pacific Region

​ The results are in for Food & Wine magazine's "The People's Best New Chefs" awards, and Ricardo Zarate has won for the Pacific region. Congratulations, chef. Hope you're back from Peru for the party. Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa in Boston is the overall winner. Zarate and the other finalists ... More >>

Los Angeles Takes A Wimpy 162nd Place In National Violent-Crime Rankings

LAPDUnlike the St. Louis PD, the LAPD gets to just chill with dogs​We like to think it's pretty rough out here on the streets of Los Angeles. It seems like every hour we hear about another murder or robbery at gunpoint. So why, in this year's annual CQ Press crime rankings, does the City of A ... More >>

Is L.A. Deserving Of Being Ranked In Bottom Half Of America's 'Smartest Cities' List?

Angelyne is L.A.'s poet laureate.​Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the nation and home to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the home of true rocket science), Caltech, UCLA, USC and President Obama's alma mater, Occidental College. Our entertainment industry, high-tech hubs and Pacific ... More >>

Los Angeles Ranks Among America's Dumbest Cities

Does L.A. belong in the dumb half of America?​We like fake-bake tanning, pet yoga and the Real Housewives of anywhere. But come on -- is L.A. really that dumb? And getting stupider? (Yeah, anybody who uses "stupider" in a sentence must be from here, right?). The latest "Smartest Cities" in Am ... More >>

Road Trip: Pimento Cheese Fries at The Penguin Drive-In A Recipe

Denise Tristan-Abelepimento cheese​ A few years ago, we discovered that the secret to why the crusts of the fried pickle chips at The Penguin Drive-in in Charlotte, NC are lighter and crispier than ones in Los Angeles eateries is that the tangy, fluted pickle rounds soak in a buttermilk batter ... More >>

2010 James Beard Finalists Announed: Suzanne Goin, Matt Molina, Michael Cimarusti, Jonathan Gold, Patric Kuh Nominated

James Beard​Twitter is at it again. The 2010 James Beard Award Finalists were announced this morning via the foundation's Twitter account. L.A's Suzanne Goin, of Lucques, AOC Wine Bar, Hungry Cat and Tavern was nominated for Outstanding Chef, while Matt Molina of Mozza and Michael Cimarusti of ... More >>

James Beard Semifinalists Announced: The L.A. Edition

James Beard​This morning the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for its 2010 James Beard Foundation Awards. Judges will vote to determine the final 5 nominees in each category, which will be announced on March 22nd. The winners will be announced at the Foundation's award party, ... More >>

Just Pho Fun: Top Ten Phở Restaurant Names

Phở might be the fastest, cheapest, most exotic, late-night fix that you can't order at a drive-thru window (not in L.A., at least). It also might be the most frequently mispronounced three-letter word. We rounded up some of our favorite phở restaurant names. Broward Palm Beach ​

Taking a Page From North Carolina: Get Off Your Phone When Ordering Fried Chicken

M. RochlinJust put the phone away.​The fried chicken at Price's Chicken Coop -- often called the best in America - has golden, crunchy skin and meat so mind-bendingly moist that I suspect brining is involved. The 40-year-old Charlotte, NC-based restaurant also has a mysterious handwritten sign ... More >>

American Apparel T-shirts Under Attack

Perhaps it's not as iconic a still life as the cop-shattered storefront window with the big Huey Newton poster in it. But the image of an American Apparel shop's plate glass, smashed because it displayed a pro-gay marriage T-shirt, should give us  pause. The incident happened this week at a sub ... More >>

Drink And Tweet: Twitter Taste Live, or Why You're Not Drinking Alone if You're on Twitter

What happens when you cross a wine geek with a tech geek, then turn them loose on Twitter? You get wine tasting across time zones and even continents, lots of passionate oenophiles, and happy winemakers. It's called Twitter Taste Live and it's a place where the online community can purchase, taste ... More >>

Updated: Craigslist Declassified

Besieged by politicians and media, the founder of the popular online classifieds site finds an unlikely ally: a victim’s family

More bands added to Coachella. But their names don't start with Radio and end in head

Ordinarily announcing a SoCal date for Aphex Twin would be pretty damn cool. In fact, I was just wondering recently if the guy was ever going to come out of his shell, or if he was going to get all Chinese Democracy on us. In fairness, Aphex Twin hasn't been exactly unproductive since his last pr ... More >>

Radiohead not playing L.A. until late summer at the earliest

The bad news: we're gonna have to wait until the fall. The good news: we've got frequent flier miles. RADIOHEAD CONFIRMS MAY 2008 U.S. DATES & VENUES RADIOHEAD has confirmed the dates and venues to be visited on the first segment of its upcoming North American tour. They are: May 5 - Cruzan Amp ... More >>

L.A. Gangs: Nine Miles and Spreading

More codeless, arbitrary and brutal than ever... and coming to a neighborhood near you

Great World of Sound: The Music Men

For these record producers, exploiting the American dream is all in a day’s work

Stirring the Other L.A.

How the media and immigrant advocates got 500,000 people to protest

Stiff Competition

They Don’t Make 'Em Like That Anymore

Chicks With Wit

Have you come a long way, baby?

Made in the USA, Part III: US Company Listings N-Z

Letters

Boarding Games

People-watching at LAX security checkpoints

Another Side of Sundance

Working Films’ “meaningful marketing”

Top of the Class

The inside story of how Roy Romer got the job

Heathen

Chocolate-flavored sex-drugs and more!

Back to the Country

Randy Travis comes full circle (almost)

Days of Plunder

The life and fast times of Don Simpson