Houston (Texas)

Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity is Lightning From the Heavens

Chief Beck's Hit-and-Run Crisis

Experts pan an LAPD probe into the city's crash epidemic

Q & A with Christine Ha: Cooking Blind, Winning MasterChef Her New Project

She's a blind chef, a cookbook author and winner of the third season of MasterChef. It's safe to say Christine Ha has beaten the odds. Ha, who lived in Lakewood and Long Beach before moving to Houston, lost her vision in her twenties due to the autoimmune condition neuromyelitis optica. She took u ... More >>

My Cousin Used To Be A Rapper But Later Joined The Aryan Brotherhood

Approximately ten years ago, an aspiring rapper and cousin of mine, a several-years-younger-than-me guy we'll call Jonathon, went to prison. He and an acquaintance were breaking into people's homes and robbing them.* At first, they weren't using much more than words to subdue their victims. They'd ... More >>

Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre L.A. Restaurant Overview

On a recent episode of his podcast "Go Fork Yourself," Andrew Zimmern -- host of the Bizarre Foods series -- reveals his list of Los Angeles restaurant picks in something less sensational than we've come to expect from the Travel Channel guide to unfamiliar foods around the world. In fact, it's so s ... More >>

LOLing At Rappers and Basketball Players at the NBA All-Star Game

This past weekend, Houston was host city of the NBA All-Star Game, which means that Houston was the center of the rap and basketball universe. I live in Houston, and I was able to go to some of the things. Plenty of smarter people have already written about the terribleness of Ne-Yo's performance ... More >>

A November Roundup of Restaurant Openings and Closings

In opening news, Pizza Rev (fast-casual "craft your own" pizza concept) is coming to Woodland Hills on December 5. And, as if we need more butter and sugar to stuff ourselves with this holiday season, Georgetown Cupcakes opened in Beverly Hills and Sprinkles at The Grove, channeling Willy Wonka with ... More >>

Tea, With Music

Spirit Airlines' LAX-Fort Lauderdale Flight Lasts 19 Hours Because Blind Guy Freaked

A blind man's freakout aboard a Spirit Airlines flight from LAX to Fort Lauderdale became a vivid nightmare of a trip for some of those aboard, who waited 10 hours on a Houston tarmac over the weekend. Flight 310, normally about a 5-hour trip, ended up being an overnight, 19-hour ordeal after the p ... More >>

Camp Logan

That's The Way We Like 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 >>

Rave Drug Ketamine Eyed as Quick Cure for Suicidal Depression

The circle of life, or something like it, has come to the field of severe depression medicine. You see, while ravers often complain of depression because they use up all their happy coupons every Saturday night (often in the form of serotonin-greedy ecstasy), physicians who treat hardcore cases of ... More >>

Don Ferrarone: The Ex-D.E.A. Badass Who Finds Stories for Hollywood

In the credits he's usually listed as associate producer. What it really means is that he's the guy who finds stories. Don Ferrarone, ex-Drug Enforcement Administration agent, finds the real-life people -- the bodyguards, serial killers, narcs, dealers, soldiers, assassins, snipers, henchmen, sp ... More >>

Los Angeles, LAX Rank Among Top Places American Business Travelers Hate

What's not to like?​Among our not-so-dubious distinctions -- worst city in America for traffic, some of the worst roads in the nation -- come a few new ones today: L.A. is a Top 2 city business travelers don't want to go to. And LAX is one of the Top 3 airports they loathe. Yay! Yep. Even as ... More >>

Scarface Is Out Of Jail, Performs At Key Club Tomorrow: Excerpts From His Last Interview

​Scarface plays the Key Club tomorrow night. This is big news, considering most folks didn't even know that the greatest of all southern rappers was out of the pen. In October 2010 he began a term at Montgomery County Jail in Alabama over numerous unresolved child support cases. (There is also ... More >>

Thunder Soul Review

Houston's in Century City Closes After 20 Years

C. SoudryHouston's veggie burger and sushi items​ Residing in Century City's Westfield mall for 20 years, Houston's has witnessed the comings and goings of neighboring eateries including Dive, Yin-Yang, French 76 and Harpers, to name a few. And on October 7th the restaurant will serve its fina ... More >>

Porters of Hellgate's The Merchant of Venice

Southwest Pilot Calls Flight Attendants 'Gays, Grannies and Grandes' on Plane to SoCal, Forgets to Turn off Mic (AUDIO)

Hard out there for a horndog​They just don't make flight attendants like they used to, complained an unidentified Texan pilot on a March 15 flight from Austin to San Diego, in a recording revealed by a local Houston station on Tuesday. The Southwest employee, who totally reinforces every bad s ... More >>

Sex Survey Finds Angelenos Do it More Than Anyone Else in America

Jimi Photog​It should be no surprise that the city that's home to the porn industry, Hugh Hefner and Charlie Sheen is also the place where people have the most sex in America. The latest Trojan "U.S. Sex Census" puts L.A. the top of the horn-dog heap: We have it 135 times a year, beating ou ... More >>

owleyes: The Psychedelic Icon Maker

Rajiv Joseph's The Monster at the Door

Music Picks: Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Prince, Ricky Martin, Carrie Rodriguez, The Low Anthem, Mogwai

Also, Gutbucket Chamber Orchestra, Pegi Young, Mike Stinson and others

Endeavor Space Shuttle to Get Permanent Home at California Science Center in Exposition Park, NASA Says

NASAEndeavor.​Updated after the jump with reaction from Exposition Park-area county leader Mark Ridley-Thomas. As NASA retires its space shuttle program, L.A. will get a piece of that history -- permanently. The space agency announced today that the California Science Center in Exposition Pa ... More >>

More Fun with Food & Rap: Fat Tony's "You Ain't Fat"

He calls himself Fat Tony, and he's not fat. But just to let everyone know that, the Houston-based rapper wrote a song and made a video. As the protagonist of "You Ain't Fat" exercises and struggles with temptation, hallucinating that the grocery store clerk has spaghetti for hair, that his waite ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 2/28-3/4

Flickr/Lauren Manning​ In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "The lime-and-salt thing is for beginners." The Cocktail Issue: Border Grill's Sangrita A Recipe. "It looks a bit more like an 18-wheeler crossed with a Che Guevara T-shirt shop." [Updated] Jam ... More >>

Open Container Airport Laws: Houston Has To-Go Beer, Why Not LAX?

J. GarbeeHouston May Have Foggy Skies, But It's Got Gate-Side Beer​Houston, we've definitely got a problem. LAX does not sell bottled beer to-go. Houston does -- and at George Bush Intercontinental. This is L.A., and we don't even have a local craft brewery in our 747 vicinity like Portland In ... More >>

Dance Club Pick: Witch House, Shmitch House

Los Angeles Chihuahuas Being Abandoned Like Ed Hardy; Rest Of Country Adopting Trend

No longer the "it" pup in L.A.​Does anyone else find it ironic that in this self-absorbed bastion of PETA-loving celebutards yesterday's top dog for Hollywood types -- the Chihuahua -- has been kicked to the curb like trash? Really, L.A? We reported this week how the Society for the Preventi ... More >>

Not Hot: L.A. Continuing To Ship Unwanted Chihuahuas Out-Of-State

​Dear fellow Southern Californians: Sometimes we can be real idiots. Maybe we can be forgiven for going through that Hummer phase, where every neighbor's SUV had to be bigger than the next. Or for buying that 4,000-square-foot house we couldn't afford and abandoning ship when those "balloon p ... More >>

Rehearsal-Dinner Dining

Get a taste of your relatives-to-be at Tavern

Ask Mr. Gold: Wedding Bell Bonding, or Places to Eat For Pre-flight Consideration

Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menu​Dear Mr. Gold: I'm getting married and in dire need of a legit rehearsal-dinner spot. My fiancée and I would gladly eat anywhere you recommend, but our families' tastes are a bit more conservative than bossam or pig ear. Any ideas for a spot (ideally W ... More >>

Miami-Area Doctor, Arturo Carvajal, Sues Beverly Hills Restaurant Chain Because He Ate An Artichoke ... Whole

Artichoke porn.​You know how to eat an artichoke. We know how to eat an artichoke. Apparently Miami-area Dr. Arturo Carvajal did not know how to eat an artichoke. And for that reason, he's suing Beverly Hills-based Hillstone Restaurant Group, which owns the North Miami Beach Houston's, where ... More >>

Country and Soul: Honky Tonk Hero Mike Stinson on Leaving Los Angeles, Adjusting to Texas, and Why You Can't Manufacture a George Jones

​Country singer-songwriter Mike Stinson, the consummate indie underdog, spent the better part of two decades in Los Angeles quietly churning out a slew of uniformly first-rate original honky-tonk ballads. While beloved by local fans (and music journalists), Stinson enjoyed few other rewards an ... More >>

Number Of Pot Shops In L.A: 583

​Houston, we have a number: After ad nauseam reports about Los Angeles' 1,000-plus pot shops, which some news organizations stated was a number greater than a count of the city's Starbucks outlets, we finally have a number, and it's 583, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Hyperbol ... 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 >>

Weed Takes Root

Marijuana's steady march toward legalization nationwide

The Henry Clay People to Convene A "Mustache Circus" Featuring Fol Chen, Flying Tourbollin Orchestra

Timothy Norris Last Thursday we got a note from Andy Siara, he of the Henry Clay People, to inform us of an upcoming HCP show at the Echo and Echoplex that has the potential to be a great event: A Mustache Circus, slated for Friday, August 14. Says Siara: We're callin it the "Rock n Roll Mustache ... More >>

The Moviegoer: The Incredibly Useful Westside Tavern

Cocktails and grill food across from the Landmark Theaters, ground zero for subtitled cinema in West L.A.

How L.A. City Council Got Those Huge $178,789 Salaries

Proposition T: The Most Divisive

Things get absurd between slow-growthers and pro-growthers in Santa Monica

¡Ask a Mexican! Bottom Line on Anchor Babies

Plus, are Mexican men good in bed?

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 >>

Hare Today…

ant eggs tomorrow

Getting Out

Scenes from the overture to a modern reconstruction

What in Tarnation

Will success spoil filmmaker savant Jonathan Caouette?

Letters

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Letters