Subject: El Monte

• Artist Shizu Saldamando Brings LA Style to Texas' Girl in a Coma

  Shizu Saldamando There is a lot about San Antonio-based Girl in a Coma that will appeal to Angelenos: the faint hint of '50s nostalgia in the track "El Monte"; the way Nina Diaz's voice floats across songs like a huskier Hope Sandoval; the fact that the trio is named after a Smiths' song and toured with Morrissey. But if the cover of the band's just-released album, Trio B.C. rings familiar, it might be because the artwork come courtesy of L.A. artist Shizu Saldamando. Shizu SaldamandoThe Holy

  June 3, 2009

• A Place for Us?

  November 22, 2001

• At El Monte’s Birrieria La Barca Jalisco, spicy transcendence comes in a molcajete

  June 4, 2009

• Oh, Christmas Tree!

  Keeping wood-be robbers at bay

  December 27, 2007

• Town Might Ban Overnight Parking

  Call it the ultimate Get Off My Lawn shout, but El Monte's city council is considering a ban on overnight parking. According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the proposal has two things going for it: crime reduction and new revenue. The theory is that fewer cars on the street equals less crime. And the new revenue part? That comes from all the grateful citizens who get to pay $50 annually to park each of their vehicles in the street. (Apparently locals don't commit crimes, even when their cars

  February 2, 2009

• Where Are Our Landmarks?

  A new L.A. Conservancy report card (actually, an update to its 2003 survey) scolds San Gabriel Valley cities -- not only for not having ordinances to protect historical landmarks, but for not even having any landmarks to protect. While giving A's to Pasadena, South Pasadena, Long Beach and Whittier (basically, Trader Joe's towns), LAC scolded the El Montes, Monterey Parks and La Miradas as "preservation truants." The San Gabriel Valley Tribune quotes a number of upset local officials who claim t

  February 9, 2009

• Dumpling Quest: The XLB Factor – Beyond Din Tai Fung

  Giang Nan, Shanghai Mini Town, J&J, Dragon Mark, Mei Long Village and more

  February 26, 2009

• Underworld USA

  May 3, 2001

• Blood & Dumplings Crime Bus Tour

  January 10, 2008

• It's a Brand-New Year, so Let's Protest the War, and Drink Solar-Powered Beer

  What to do in LA this week

  January 17, 2008

• Where To Eat Now

  August 23, 2007

• Bonds Over Chavez Ravine

  “He should try for a year to play without steroids. If he can’t, I think they should put him in jail for two years.”

  August 9, 2007

• Italian L.a.

  The 20 Best

  February 8, 2007

• Ask Mr. Gold: Pot Stickers

  October 12, 2006

• ˇViva Border Volleyball!

  No changing sides allowed

  July 27, 2006

• Let's Roll

  March 2, 2006

• Pregnant Pauses, Toys in the Crawlspace

  October 6, 2005

• Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio

  September 8, 2005

• Highs and Lows of L.A. Rail

  August 18, 2005

• Ask Mr. Gold

  July 21, 2005

• Flower Power

  July 14, 2005

• In Occupied Territory

  May 19, 2005

• Shades of Violet

  November 11, 2004

• Letters

  May 27, 2004

• Trouble in the D.A.’s Office

  April 15, 2004

• Ask Mr. Gold

  January 16, 2003

• Lowrider Ergo Sum

  November 21, 2002

• The Great Pig in the Sky

  December 27, 2001

• Letters

  February 1, 2001

• Brain Food

  May 18, 2000

• Robespierre’s Follies

  May 18, 2000

• Fashion Victims

  May 18, 2000

• Fried and Convicted

  February 24, 2000

• From Spaetzle to Saimintosoda

  February 17, 2000

• Sweating It Out

  February 3, 2000

• Test on Trial

  August 12, 1999

• ¡Echale Salsita!

  July 1, 1999

• Fast Track

  January 14, 1999

• From Liberty Hill to the Living Wage

  October 8, 1998

• Inside Agitators

  October 8, 1998

• Eastside A-Sides

  September 17, 1998

• Block Party

  February 19, 1998

• Das Boot: El Monte in Spotlight Over Kicking Cop Video

  There's actually no mountain in El Monte, but that hasn't kept the city from striving for greatness: "El Monte is home to Longo Toyota, the number one auto dealer in the United States by sales and volume," crows the city's Web site. "Other major retail businesses include Home Depot, Sam's Club, and Sears Essentials." "End of the Sante Fe Trail," reads El Monte's legend on the city seal, whose iconography juxtaposes a covered wagon with what appears to be a shopping mall. The town has been gettin

  May 14, 2009

• Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

  Is Home Shuling Next? L.A.'s Jewish day schools are facing big problems as the economy continues to teeter. L.A. TimesPrick Up Your Ears City officials are accusing mercenary dog rescuers of "cherry picking" their pound purchases based on later, lucrative resale value. L.A. Daily News Arboretum Suicide A man apparently hanged himself from a tree inside the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia Saturday. The 54-year-old Baldwin Park resident was discovered by visitors in the arboretum's south par

  May 18, 2009

• Fashion Statement: El Monte's Kicking Cop Has T-shirt Sideline

  George Fierro, who has been ID'd by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune as the El Monte police officer who kicked a suspected gang member after a high-speed chase last week, owns a clothing line specializing in gang-  and prison-themed attire.Torcido Clothing advertises itself as featuring "some of the hardest authentic jailhousethreads for the streets. Straight from East L.A., Califas . . ." The name Torcido is takenfrom Spanish street slang for "busted." The company's T-shirt and denim jacket

  May 18, 2009

• Today in Photographs: June 22, 1948

  Publicity stunt photo for El Monte's Pioneer Days celebration. LA Herald-Examiner/LAPL

  June 22, 2009

• FBI Joins Kicking-Cop Probe

  According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examiningRichard Rodriguez the actions of an El Monte police officer caught on video last month as he seemingly kicked a suspect who lay surrendered on a lawn. The suspect, Richard Rodriguez, is an alleged gang member and had been in a car with another man as the two were pursued by El Monte officers. TV-news helicopter cameras followed the high-speed chase as the suspects drove through stop signs and, at one poi

  June 26, 2009

• Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

  Don't Call Him "Padre" Sheik Qazi Asad has become the LAPD's first Muslim chaplain. The Pakistani-born cleric had previously worked as a Sheriff's Department liaison to the county's Islamic community. L.A. Times Time to Pay Los Angeles County's sales tax jumps half a percent to 9.75 percent on July 1. L.A. Daily NewsEl Monte Thinks Chapter Nine Hit by rising costs and sinking sales-tax income, El Monte's city council will discuss filing for bankruptcy at its Tuesday meeting. San Gabriel Valley T

  June 29, 2009

• Gangster Metamorphosis: Richard Rodriguez's Big Makeover

   It had always been hard to keep a straight face when typing the words "alleged gang member Richard Rodriguez." The only distributed photograph of Rodriguez, after all, is a police mug shot showing him with the name of an El Monte gang tattooed on his upper lip, along with other tell-tale markings just below his throat. Mr. Rodriguez became famous last May, when TV news footage showed him being kicked, as he lay surrendered on the ground, by a police officer. (That officer, George Fierro, h

  July 24, 2009

• Blood, Dumplings, & Nicotine Gelato: Esotouric's Unusual LA Tours, With Food

  It still feels like summer vacation, and whether you have guests, or just feel like exploring a bit, Esotouric isn't your cookie-cutter tour company and promises an "intelligent, unpredictable ride into the secret heart of the city we love." The tour's themes integrate literature, rock and roll, architecture, classic film noir and true crime--"Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA, focused on Bukowski's passions--writing, screwing, and Los Angeles," or "Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Wa

  August 11, 2009