Department of Motor Vehicles

When a 14-Year-Old in South Central Wants to Learn the Cello

When her son Jacob was barely a year old, Teresa Esquivel noticed that music powerfully affected his demeanor. Certain tunes would even make him cry. In particular, if Pokémon was on, Jigglypuff's leitmotif would reduce him to wails, even if Jacob hadn't been previously focused on the TV. Jac ... More >>

Disabled Fakery at L.A. City College Escalated to 60 Percent of "Handicapped" Placards

An intense investigation and sting by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation apparently struck fear into the hearts of hordes of students faking a disability to score free parking on meters near Los Angeles City College.A ticket for being a wank starts at $363 and will change the behavior of j ... More >>

Using Google Maps On Handheld Phone While Driving Ruled Illegal By Calif. Court

Yet another example of California's stupid texting-while-driving-related laws has reared its head this spring: A panel of judges ruled that using a handheld smartphone's GPS function while driving is against the law in this great state:

5 Essential Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles

Our 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants issue came out last week, and we're highlighting a few categories drawing from the list. Today: Mexican restaurants. This isn't every single Mexican spot on the list (there are a ton!), so make sure you check out the whole thing, but here are five of our favorites ... More >>

Chichen Itza: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

Unlicensed Drivers Three Times As Likely To Be Involved In Fatal Crash In Calif.

Unlicensed drivers and those rolling on revoked or suspended documents are nearly three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident, according to a recent DMV look at 23 years of crash data in California. That stunning statistic has some calling for a reevaluation of the state's denial of ... More >>

How To Find A Smog Check Facility That Will Pass Your Car

How to find a smog-check station that will cheat and pass your rickety ranfla? The brilliant researchers at USC seem to have figured this one out. In a study of 28 million tests conducted by 11,000 smog check facilities, the Trojan academics came to this conclusion:

Forget Texting While Driving; Some L.A. Motorcycle Cops Get Laptops

We love the double standards when it comes to law enforcement in L.A. Cops these days can get you for texting while driving (and L.A.'s Superior Court referees often back them no matter what) even though the law makes the infraction almost impossible to prove: " ..Selecting or entering a phone numb ... More >>

Self-Driving Cars Are Party People's Dream Come True, But Party Buses Face Crackdown

So this week California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that would make self-driving (a.k.a. "driverless") cars partially legal by 2015 while he approved another bill that cracks down on so-called party buses, which have actual live designated drivers. Wait, what? First of all, let's just say it for ... More >>

L.A. May Turn Library Cards Into IDs, Bank Cards for Illegal Immigrants

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck's dream of granting special drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants -- which would largely clear up the impound debate, by giving illegals a fighting chance of making it through the DUI checkpoints alive -- still has a few hearts to win over in the Legislature. And although s ... More >>

Illegal Immigrant Drivers Licenses in California Back Under Obama Amnesty Program?

A window has opened for undocumented workers to obtain drivers licenses in California. The practice, once legal but outlawed for nearly 15 years, could return under President Obama's program that gives work permits to illegals who came to the United States as children. The California DMV has been ... More >>

DMV Computer System Goes Down For Hours

Updated at the bottom: The DMV's system is back up. First posted at 11:42 a.m. California Department of Motor Vehicles office computers were down this morning, making a day at the DMV even more of a clusterf--- than usual. To top things off, the DMV was urging people to try to resolve their issues ... More >>

What's a DUID (Driving While High) in California?

Weed lawyers Allison Margolin and Daniel Perlman explain the rules for drivers

R.I.P. Los Angeles Red-Light Camera Tickets: What This Means for the Rest of the County

The wait has paid off for all us rebels who refused to pay our red-light camera tickets! LA Weekly reassured you of the good news all through 2011. In July, "L.A. City Council Says You Don't Have to Pay Your Red-Light Camera Tickets." In September, "Are You Sure I Don't Have to Pay My L.A. County R ... More >>

LAPD Chief Wants to Give Special Driver's Licenses to Illegal Immigrants

Getty ImagesChief Beck, mayor's pet.​Get mad, Arizona nation: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, known to side loyally with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on all politics Latino, says he has a pretty great solution to the illegal-immigrant impound debate. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, t ... More >>

New California Law Would Allow You to Show Proof of Insurance, Registration Via Smartphone

California drivers should be able to store proof of insurance and vehicle registration on their smartphones, says Mike Gatto, a state assemblyman for Los Angeles, in his proposed Assembly Bill 1708. Which really makes us think: How does this not exist already? Gatto feels the same way. "It only m ... More >>

Mystery of The Mean DMV Worker Solved by USC Researchers

Day at the DMV.​Long the subject of deep academic research and study, it looks like the mystery of the mean DMV worker has finally been solved. The USC Marshall School of Business, with the help of Stanford University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, have concl ... More >>

Chosen Few Black Biker Club's Demise?

City considers seizing a drug-riddled, violent South L.A. clubhouse

Clarification: Are You Sure I Don't Have to Pay My L.A. County Red-Light Camera Ticket?

This is your brain on red-light camera tickets.​In the month-and-a-half since we published "L.A. City Council Says You Don't Have to Pay Your Red-Light Camera Tickets," we've received dozens of panicked emails from drivers who were caught red-handed, squeaking an L.A. intersection. "I wanted ... More >>

New California Whale Tail License Plate to be Unveiled Today

Don't sue us.​Updated at the bottom with a statement from the Wyland Foundation, which suggests the new plate is a "poor imitation" of the artist's original. First posted at 8:09 a.m. Tuesday. In typical Hollywood fashion, California's iconic whale tail license plate has been retired for a ho ... More >>

'Organ Donor' Now a Required Field on DMV Driver's-License Apps

Decide -- or else.​Kind of a freaky new requirement for those conspiracy theorists who think emergency responders are less likely to save them from a fiery car crash if they're a declared organ donor: NBC LA reports that the California DMV's driver's-license application was revised on July 1 ... More >>

Feds Catch Chosen Few Motorcycle Club Members Selling Guns & PCP

Chosen Few MC Website​From cocaine and PCP to guns and illegal driver's licenses - the Chosen Few Motorcycle Club had their hand in it all. The mostly African-American band of motorcycling enthusiasts, formed in LA in 1959, apparently had much more than big engines and leather jackets on their m ... More >>

Elderly Santa Monica Woman Plows Through Crowd of Children at Fourth of July Parade

Perez HiltonThe Affleck children, just out of harm's way.​If you didn't hear about the near-disastrous car crash during Santa Monica's otherwise idyllic (bike traffic notwithstanding) Fourth of July parade last Monday, it's because the old woman behind the wheel, and the group of children she ... More >>

How to Pay Off Your Parking Tickets And Get Your Car Towed in L.A. Anyway: A True Story

The victim: A 2008 Toyota Highlander.​Question: When is it okay for authorities to have your car towed even after you've paid all your parking tickets. Answer: Pretty much any day in L.A. (Yay). It actually happened last week to Angeleno Chris Fitts, who told the Weekly he paid off all his p ... More >>

7 Ways to Make Recipes Work

Flickr/mollyali​ If you've ever spent hours in the kitchen, your cookbooks open or -- more likely these days -- your recipe printed out from an online source, only to find that your dishes do not turn out exactly how you'd expected, keep reading. That maxim not to believe everything you read a ... More >>

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Bombshells?

bravotv.com​Last night's episode kicked off with a little humiliation, as we so love when they do. Kyle and husband Mauricio were getting ready for a trip to Napa for a 69-mile bike race that would raise money for cancer research. Kyle's preparation included hardcore training with an Olympic ... More >>

10 Beaters Belonging To Car Hoarder Mark Shoff Towed From Covina Neighborhood Streets

JalopnikThese lucky bastards scored a spot in the driveway​Call it a midlife crisis: 51-year-old Covina resident Mark Shoff owns 48 cars. Which would be cool, in a creepy A&E kind of way, if Shoff also owned a 48-car parking garage. Instead, he lives with his 81-year-old mom Barbara in a sub ... More >>

Vertical California Driver's Licenses For Drivers Under 21? What About Oversize Ones For The Senior Set?

​As if being a young person isn't hard enough, the California DMV is now making motorists under the age of 21 carry around vertical drivers licenses that immediately identify you as underage -- and unable to purchase alcohol. Can you imagine being pulled over while on a date, with the cop ask ... More >>

Most California Public Worker Retirees Receive Modest Pension

Rich pensioners? Most of them aren't. ​The talk of bloated public employee pensions is everywhere, both here and nationally, not least because of the salary scandal in the city of Bell, where the recently retired city manager Robert Rizzo is set to take home millions of dollars during his...go ... More >>

Car Breathlyzers Now Required For Los Angeles DUI Offenders

mrjorgen via flickr​Beginning on Thursday, DUI offenders in Los Angeles County will have to install ignition-locking breathlyzers in their cars. If the breathlyzer detects alcohol in their breath, the car will not start. The law starts on an experimental basis for five years in Los Angeles, A ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Hollywood Fringe Festival

IH8U: Digital License Plates Could Help You Send A Custom Message To The Jerk Tailgating You

​A bill by Los Angeles state Sen. Curren Price that was scheduled to go to the assembly's transportation committee next week would authorize the Department of Motor Vehicles to study implementation of customizable, digital license plates, a spokeswoman from his office told the Weekly. Althoug ... More >>

DMV Employees Arrested For Allegedly Selling IDs To Undocumented, Brokering Fraudulent Vehicle Titles

​Four Southern California-based DMV employees were arrested as part of an alleged scheme to issue false driver's licenses and titles for people, including the undocumented, who otherwise shouldn't otherwise have them, the department announced Thursday afternoon. The investigation involved "st ... More >>

County Parking Tickets to Jump

Taxes may not be going up during the rest of 2009, but those reliable tax surrogates, parking fines, are. At least in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, whose Board of Supervisors voted to up the ante on drivers who lose the foot race to their cars' expired meters to parking enforcement ... More >>

Lily Burk Death: Paperwork Snafu, or Steve Cooley Screwup?

Critics say the D.A.'s approach to the third strike makes him less vigilant

Sticker Shock Treatment: Fake Governor to Pay Real Sales Tax

At the stroke of midnight Angelenos will get hit by a double dose of sales-tax increases that will bring our county's up to 9.75 percent -- tying us with Alameda County for having the state's highest countywide tax. (Some individual cities, such as Pico Rivera and South Gate, will be even higher -- ... More >>

Grim Sleeper's Sole Survivor

Relishing life, a tough churchgoing mom is at the center of the Los Angeles serial-killer mystery

The Day the Muzak Died

Muzak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- but it doesn't put the blame on illegal downloads of its marzipanny melodies. Instead, the company pointed to longstanding debt and the cancellation of contracts by companies put out of business during the recession. A New York Times notice men ... More >>

Wale-"Nike Boots" Video

Give Wale credit for knowing how to fall back. The D.C. rapper/Mark Ronson bid for street cred has laid low since The Mixtape About Nothing led the blogosphere to declare him "real and spectacular." Now with every Internet dork hunkering down to craft their year-end lists, flagon of Merlot and c ... More >>

Luring Cougars, Wooing Audiences

And more from our readers

Thousands of Drunks Beat the California DMV

Drinking boaters lost their driver's licenses. But it was the DMV that broke the law.

Guilty As Charged: Anthony Pellicano trial ends with prosecution victory

Anthony Pellicano, onetime “P.I. to the Stars,” was convicted today of 76 of the 77 counts he faced for racketeering, wire fraud and identity theft. As Judge Dale Fischer began reading the first of the jury’s guilty verdicts at 12:15 p.m., Pellicano displayed the stoic bravado he showed throu ... More >>

New Laws 2008: Arnold's Orderly Guide to Living

No more driving while holding a cell, and other unpleasantness

The Divining Hour

Best psychic portal into the murky future

Hiking With Schechner

Sail Away

Imperfect Recall

I�m okay, the problem is my cheap car

Stamps.com

Is there an easier way to send snail mail -- online?

Bright Lights, Pig City

Chinese barbecue in Alhambra

Spying on Justice

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