El Centro

L.A.'s Booming Indie Improv Scene

Why Two Celebrated Theaters Have to Leave Their Hollywood Homes

A Laugh a Minute

Los Angeles Has America's Most Polluted Air?

L.A is the capital of many things. Few of them are good things. At least not lately, it seems. A day after it was announced that Los Angeles is America's traffic-congestion Mecca once again (breaking news, that), we bring you the American Lung Association's annual "Most Polluted Cities" list:

Ila Packman: Hollywood Marijuana Dispensary Robbers, Murder Suspects Sought

A marijuana dispensary robbery in Hollywood ended with the gruesome stabbing death of a bud-tender, Ila Packman. It happened more than two years ago at a store called Hollywood Holistic in the 1600 block of North El Centro Avenue, but cops don't seem to have any leads. And so the LAPD today is ask ... More >>

DUI Crackdown For Late Summer Includes Hollywood Checkpoint Tonight

We're not sure why the end of summer is DUI crackdown season, what with all the other wonderful times of year to find drunktards on the road -- St. Patrick's Day, Cinco De Mayo, New Year's Eve, at. al. It just is. We've got a boatload of info for you in our latest edition of LA Weekly's DUI checkp ... More >>

An Astral Dick, Some Hair and a Compleat Female Stage Beauty in This Week's New Theater Reviews.

A three-person series of sketches about Laotians in America, Regugee Nation is this week's Pick. Click here for all New Stage Reviews, or go to the jump. Also, check out this week's stage feature Wednesday eve on Hands on a Hardbody, a new musical developed at and presented by La Jolla Playhouse, ... More >>

Radar L.A. Festival

Lina in L.A.: Can't You Take a Joke?

LAPD Officer Shoots Man Outside 'A Day to Remember' Concert at Hollywood Palladium After Being Stabbed in the Hand

Jeffree Star via Twitter"ADTR are slaying LA..." Tweeted drag diva @JeffreeStar at last night's concert​The real punk shit went down outside the mosh pit at last night's A Day to Remember concert (opened by Bring Me the Horizon) at the all-ages Hollywood Palladium. Though Tweeters told of ten ... More >>

Stage Raw: LAWEES on Monday

NEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on L.A. theater's moment of truth this coming summerStage FEATURE on Norm Foster's The Motor Trade, and Thornton Wilder's Our TownL.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEESLAWEES ON MONDAY The 32nd annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards take place on Monday night. Doors open at ... More >>

Stage Raw: Gertrude, Alice, and David Mamet

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Edward Antony's Wish I Had a Sylvia PlathL.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEES                          &n ... More >>

Theater Reviews: The Hyacinth Macaw, Locked and Loaded, Gigi

Also The Sonneteer, Wrinkles and more

Stage Raw: Furious Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse part ways

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON SPIDER-MAN, ON BROADWAYFURIOUS AND PASADENA PLAYHOUSE PART WAYSFor reasons having to do with Pasadena Playhouse's needs to lease its second space, The Carrie Hamilton Theater, and the need of Furious Theatre Company for a space with h ... More >>

Stage Raw: Back Yard Discoveries

NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON PUZZLER AND ADDING MACHINE: A MUSICALCOMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNote: Due to glitches in a new computer system, no capsule new theater reviews appeared in the print edition this week or last. This is not a change in policy. All capsule ... More >>

Stage Raw: Fairy Tale Theatre: 18 & Over

NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Circle Mirror Transformation and Me, As a PenguinCOMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSPUZZLER​Padraic Duffy's noir drama of East German Spies opens this weekend at Sacred Fools Theater Company. Photo by C.M. GonzalezFAIRY TALE THEATRE: 18 & OVERJ. Michael Feldman's ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Chinese Coffee, Daddy, Love, Sex and the IRS

Also, Fatigued, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Greedy and more

Creep Show, Peep Show

Heavy Metal Parking Lot, photography at Hotel de Ville Eyewear and the Paul Smith anniversary party, plus saying goodbye to some of our fave haunts

Hollywood Sleaze Palaces Closing Down, Part XIV: The Mau-Maus at Paul Picasso's Peep/Art Show

Lina LecaroThe Maus Maus' Rick Wilder still lives up to his name.​ Hollywood's upscale clubsterfuck evolution continues to claim more casualties. Buzz on the streets (and blogs) is that gay stalwart The Spotlight on Cahuenga is in serious danger of closing end of this year. Crane's Hollywood T ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Cinderella, Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett

Also, Sweet Mama String Bean and more

Stage Raw: Sweet Mama String Bean

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on Randy Newman's Harps and Angels, and NET's L.A. Micro-festSWEET MAMA STRING BEAN​Ethel Waters is celebrated in the "two-person, one-woman show" Sweet Mama String Bean: A Celebration of Blues Woman Ethel Waters, opening this weekend ... More >>

Los Angeles Is One of the Worst Places To Live, According to Web Site For Geezers

​ Los Angeles is ranked the 6th worst place to live in the country, according to a study by AOL's Wallet Pop. The website compiled a list of the top 10 worst cities to live in the country and using factors such as unemployment rate, pollution, crime, health data and other factors that would ma ... More >>

Dance Club Pick: All in the Family

Stage Raw: Springtime for Lawees

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS AND NEW REVIEW FUNCTIONS WILL RETURN SHORTLY. 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSYeah, we know, there was apparently no glue in the frames, so recipients who held their coveted Lawee prizes on the stage of the El Rey Monday night frequently suffered the indignity of ... More >>

Jerry Brown Announces Successful Prosecution Of Mexican Mafia Cell

​State Attorney General Jerry Brown on Thursday announced the last of a series of successful prosecutions against a Mexican Mafia cell that worked in Imperial and San Diego counties. Imperial County resident Patrick Ralph Ponce, 44, pleaded guilty this week to drug, weapon, kidnapping and ext ... More >>

Stage Raw: LADCC Winners

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on gay politics in Halam Iran and Salam Shalom THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS coming March 29! Nominees RSVP now to (310) 574-7208. Public tickets available at http://laweekly.comTHE 41ST ANNUAL LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE AWAR ... More >>

Today In WTF: Man Serving Time For ID Theft Does It Again From Behind Bars, Graduates To Federal Prison

​An identity thief got an extra 102 days behind bars Monday, this time in federal lockup, after he was caught taking out credit card lines in other people's names as he served time in a state prison in El Centro, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Authorities say he even obtained persona ... More >>

Bob Dylan at the Palladium, Night Three: Hollywood Swinging

Bob Dylan & His Band at the Hollywood Palladium, Thursday, October 15 After the unexpectedly smooth vocal performances and the many sublime moments at the first two shows of Bob Dylan's three-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium, it's understandable and perhaps inevitable that there would be a s ... More >>

The Great Music Save: Dark Night of the Soul Opens at Michael Kohn Gallery

Untitled (Little Girl #2) David Lynch, 2009Last Saturday's Dark Night of the Soul opening at LA's Michael Kohn Gallery, featuring the work of David Lynch, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, wasn't just the hot event ticket of the weekend, it was one of the greatest save's in music history.

Stage Raw: L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards recipients

PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE 30TH ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS ON MARCH 30TH; HERE ARE THE NOMINEES 40TH ANNUAL L.A.DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS LAST NIGHT Vicki Lewis and Wenzel Jones co-hosted with considerable charm an awards show last night that was sweet, simple and too long -- probably due to ... More >>

Stage Raw: Awards, Awards on Every Corner

Minsky's Photo by Craig Schwartz MINSKY'S The world premiere of Charles Strouse, Susan Birkenhead and Bob Martin's new '30s musical opens to the press tonight (Friday) at the Ahmanson. Director-choregographer Casey Nicholaw took The Drowsy Chaperone from the Ahmanson to Broadway, and has much ... More >>

The 30th Annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards

The Arts Crisis Edition

Stage Raw: L.A. Weekly Theater Awards Nominees

Light up the Sky is this week's Pick of the Week. Light up the Sky Photo by Maia Rosenfeld THEATER PICK Moss Hart's sharp, hard-boiled 1946 farce, Light up the Sky, is the quintessential backstage tale of the mid-20th century. His characters are often based on real people: fast-talking produ ... More >>

Jay Diola

Hair apparent

Jep’s Hit List

Jep’s Hit ListFil-Am club nights you don’t want to miss

Soleful Saturday

Best Parking Lot for Hollywood Hydes

Attention, Ball Lickers!

Gaming guides come of age

Greed Runs Through It

One man’s journey to the end of the Colorado River

Clubland

Ghosts in the Machine

When you're lost in El Centro's immigrant detention center you may be lost for good

A Doctor in the House

The asylum case of a Pakistani physician that no one wants to touch

Dangerous Liaison

Curtain Calls, Stage Frights

The year in theater

Field of Wet Dreams

Build it and they will cum

Fair Questions

Troubling silence on Sunset Junction finances

Troubled Help

Gang program hits low point in Echo Park

INS-Style Justice

Plea bargains approved, but future remains unclear for the El Centro Five

Clouds Over Sunset

Street fair may have outgrown its community roots

Black and Blue on the Border

Inmates allege reprisal beatings by INS guards