Industries

Q & A With Lou Amdur: Glazed Hams, Slutty Chardonnays What to Drink at Easter

See also: L.A.'s Wine Bars Are Better Than Ever. Here Are Our Seven Favorites Lou Amdur, may have sold his cozy, Laundromat-and-Thai massage parlor adjacent Hollywood strip mall wine bar, LOU, last March. But he still has that gift for being able to effortlessly hold forth on all things wine and fo ... More >>

Q & A With Rich Marcello of Strand Brewing Company: This Weekend's Bottle Release, Texts From Fans How the Beer Scene is Like NASCAR

Less than two months after Strand Brewing Company celebrated its 3rd Anniversary -- and just over a year after opening its always-busy Torrance tap room -- the foundational South Bay beer-makers are ready for another epic milestone: bottles. Starting with a two-day kickoff at the tap room this wee ... More >>

Top 6 Los Angeles Breweries to Watch In 2013

Los Angeles might have one of the younger beer communities on the West Coast, but it is certainly making up for lost time. The city that once lived in the shadow of beer powerhouses like San Diego and Portland is finally starting to come into its own with new breweries beginning to ship suds and man ... More >>

Robert M. Parker Jr. Steps Down as Wine Advocate Editor

In a stunning turn of events, the Wall Street Journal reports that Robert M. Parker, Jr., the single most driving force in the wine industry in the last 30 years, wine's most influential critic and populist, is stepping down from editing his influential journal The Wine Advocate. According to Let ... More >>

L.A. Beer Week: More Local Breweries Bring Shuttles and Tours

There are many ways in which the fourth annual Los Angeles Beer Week, which began last night, represents a major milestone in the city's craft beer scene. In addition to the dizzying number of events this year (the official calendar lists at least 20 separate events happening each day through next ... More >>

The International Pinot Noir Celebration: 300 Wines, 75 Producers, 700 Participants A Movie

While most of the city's denizens of drink were in NOLA celebrating Cocktail Tales and learning indelible lessons on what to drink when, and where, and in what century, I was in Oregon's Willamette Valley at the International Pinot Noir Celebration, an annual event now 26 years strong which does as ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Is Mad About Supreme Court's Obamacare Ruling

Who knew? Occupy Wall Street (and its Los Angeles faction) hates Obamacare. That's because, though your run-of-the-mill Westside liberal is likely to applaud the "health care for all!" initiative, the more skeptical end of the 99 percent sees it as just another victory for corporate America:

Brave Review: Pixar's Latest is the Rare Family Film that Actually Has Something to Say

With her flame-colored ringlets, Merida, the barely adolescent heroine of Pixar's 13th feature, looks like a wee Rebekah Brooks, maybe a pint-size Florence Welch. Despite these resemblances, Merida remains an original: Brave, set in the Scottish Highlands in the 10th century, is the animation studio ... More >>

California Bullet Train's Promise of Jobs is Overstated, Says UCLA

That $100 billion publicly financed bullet train that would connect Angelenos to the Bay Area for the low, low one-way price of $120 (more, in some cases, than airfare) has more problems than Jay-Z. We reported recently that Golden State voters no longer support the thing: You seem to think buildin ... More >>

A Dollar a Whale

Free Wi-Fi Comes to Los Angeles' Comcast, Time Warner Customers (Sort of)

Five of the nation's biggest cable companies today announced they're rolling out free wi-fi hotspots for customers. The markets covered including Los Angeles, New York, Tampa, Orlando, and Philadelphia. The participating companies include Comcast and Time Warner Cable in L.A. and Cox Communication ... More >>

Amtrak's Ancestors: The Huntington's Exhibit on the History of the Transcontinental Railroad

Long before studios, hippies, method actors and reality-show wannabes headed out west, the Pacific Coast was a destination for farmers, miners, prospectors and other wagon-wheeling homesteaders who were looking for a new way of life. Two years after California struck gold in 1848, it became a part o ... More >>

SOPA Supported, Apple Trusted, Internet Data Collection Feared by Californians

Strange days in the world of technology: You're afraid your information is being ripped off by big internet companies. But you support the much-maligned SOPA legislation. And you trust Apple, in recent times the most valuable corporation on the planet. Huh? Those are some of the contradictory resu ... More >>

Koreatown to File Redistricting Lawsuit Against L.A. City Council; 2 Pro-Bono Firms on Board

They threatened, and they meant it: Koreatown is taking the L.A. City Council to court over the gerrymandered land grab that was redistricting 2011-12. City Hall politicians get loads of legal threats thrown their way, on the daily. But Koreatown activists' growing rage was given a lot more weight ... More >>

Arsenic Found in Organic Brown Rice Syrup Baby Formula

Arsenic is totally bad for you. Even if it doesn't kill you a la the classic "old lace" cocktail, small amounts have been associated with raising the risk for cancer and heart disease. Chronic arsenic ingestion in the young appears to result in dumb children (low IQ and "poor intellectual function") ... More >>

McDonald's Introduces Fatty, Salty Little Chicken Bombs

McDonald's Corp. The "snack size" McBites contain 310 calories. ​Taking on KFC's popcorn chicken, McDonald's is introducing a new fatty, salty treat: Chicken McBites, "poppable pieces of premium chicken breast seasoned to homestyle perfection," according to the Mickey D's website. The snack si ... More >>

Uptight Mom Group Protests Schweddy Balls

Ben & Jerry's​Have you been looking long and hard for your Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls, only to go home with ice-cream blue balls instead? Us too. Last month, we told you about the official launch of the limited-release flavor. The B&J scoop shops always seem to be sold out, and we've never s ... More >>

Villaraigosa's 'Clean Truck' Plan for Port of Los Angeles Fails in 9th District Court of Appeals: Greenwashing Failed to Impress

Sparkling clean truck: Los Angeles greenwashing almost worked.​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's controversial "clean trucks" plan to squeeze independent truckers out of the Port of Los Angeles as a favor to the Teamsters -- a green-washing plan he sold as merely a wholesome effort to r ... More >>

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

More L.A. Craft Beer News: Enegren Brewing Company

Steven ArmstrongJoe Nascenzi and Matt Enegren at Enegren Brewing Co. ​ As often happens in life, collegiate eccentricities lead to post-baccalaureate vocations. For one Harvard dropout, late-night computer programming led to multi-billion dollar "facebooking." And for three Loyola Marymount gr ... More >>

Support Your State: Drink California Wine During CA Wine Month

Kathy A. McDonaldLearn more about wine this month at a wine tasting seminar​These days, every foodstuff or drink gets a day in its honor. Did you know there's a National Pecan Cookie day (September 21)? One guess on how to observe either National Guacamole Day (September 16) or National Beer D ... More >>

Backwards Beekeepers, L.A.'s Bee Rescue Service

​ Modern talk of bees tends to dwell on their deficiencies more than their benefits. Colony Collapse Disorder. Fatal bee-sting allergies. Killer bees both Africanized and Saturday Night Live. But honey is a food that keeps indefinitely, much like the Metro trains that buzz incessantly on this ... More >>

Federal Court Rules California Council of the Blind Can't Sue JetBlue

... unless you're blind​Blind people just can't seem to get a break. First of all, they're blind, which is never easy. And now, thanks to a California federal court ruling, they won't be able to book a flight on JetBlue's website. Where's the humanity.

Crying Over Spilt Milk: Rawesome Volunteer Speaks Out on Yesterday's Raid Protest Rally

Tambako/Flickr​More details are emerging about yesterday morning's raid on Rawesome, a members-only raw food collective whose owner was arrested and jailed for the heinous crime of peddling raw milk. Most absurd and appalling is the fact that the raid was the result of a year-long undercover o ... More >>

Double Take: Humane Society Partners with United Egg Producers for Chicken Welfare

Felicia FriesemaEggs from Kendor Farms at the Hollywood market.​ In a surprisingly unprecedented move, the nation's largest egg farming cooperative, representing, according to their website, "95% of of all the nation's egg-laying hens," has partnered with the Humane Society of the United State ... More >>

Jesse Marquez: Thorn of Industry

Q & A With Amber Huffman: Bourbon Blunders, Derby Cocktails Cooking For Jess Jackson At His Kentucky Racehorse Farm

AHuffmanHuffman's Backyard View Yesterday (Literally)... Yeah, We're Jealous ​This weekend's Kentucky Derby may mark the beginning of summer mint julep season, but for Amber Huffman, the private chef at two Lexington, Kentucky thoroughbred racehorse farms, Saturday is all about wine. "Mint jul ... More >>

Where NOT to Go To Dinner Tonight: President Obama Has Booked Tavern

Tavern's websitethe dining room at Tavern​ As you probably know already -- hopefully, if you're going to be in a car anywhere on the Westside later today -- President Obama is in town. Why? Why do you think: the man is fundraising in a place that has historically been very kind to him. So, the ... More >>

Swiftboat Veterans for Fruit: An Event in Support of Archi's Acres

​ The evils of Monsanto and its big produce brethren are well documented (just type "the evils of" into a google search bar), but the good things that small, organic farms are doing often fly under the radar. In the spirit of righting that wrong, the art gallery Chalk Los Angeles will host Ar ... More >>

UCLA's Millionaire Doctor David Feinberg

How Feinberg got $1.3 million amid tuition hikes, budget cuts and a recession

Wilshire Grand Hotel: Los Angeles Digital Skyscraper Goes to a City Council that Has Little Idea What It's Approving

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Wilshire Grand Hotel rendering done at such an extreme angle it's nearly impossible to see light effects.​Update: The City Council has approved the top-to-bottom lighted Wilshire Grand Hotel project.  The vote will read as "unanimous" officially, yet one co ... More >>

Digitally Ad-Wrapped Skyscrapers Coming to L.A.?

Jan Perry opens a new front in the Los Angeles billboard wars

Nuclear Crisis in Japan: Time to Reconsider the Safety (And Sanity) of Atomic Energy in the U.S?

FoxA d'oh in the real world can mean hundreds of thousands displaced.​Nuclear power has had a good run in the last 20 years or so. With 9/11 inspiring Americans to think more about how to ween the nation off Middle Eastern oil, atomic energy maybe even had a hey day in recent times. After all ... More >>

MTA Staff Wants to Cut 10 More L.A. Bus Lines by June, Shrink 16 Others

So much fuglier than a subway​The cuts just keep coming for the lurchy, unglamorous Los Angeles bus system. In fact, if Metropolitan Transit Authority officials keep goin' like they're goin', we're unlikely to have any bus system at all a few years out. Then again, maybe that's the point. Of ... More >>

Is the Essential Character of L.A.'s Landmark Union Station in Some Kind of Danger?

Union Station in downtown Los Angeles​Nothing is certain yet, but we can already see a major brouhaha brewing over the future plans for Union Station if it's sold to the California High-Speed Rail Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The much-beloved Union Station is actu ... More >>

Frozen Tamales Made in California Recalled

phil_g/flickr​Put down that frozen tamale and back away slowly. KTLA reports that a recall of 144,000 thousand pounds of frozen tamales made and sold in California is in effect. Homestead Pasta Company is the source of the faulty food, as the meat and poultry within the tamales has been found ... More >>

Schwarzenegger's Chemical Romance

Angering environmentalists, Arnold rewrites his Green Chemistry initiative in his final days in office

AIDS Activists Call On Porn Industry Health Clinic To Shut Down After California Denies Its License

Ted SoquiDerrick Burts at a news conference Wednesday.​The L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation on Thursday called on the porn industry's health-care clinic to shut down after the state of California denied its community clinic license this week. All this comes amid allegations by an HIV-pos ... More >>

L.A.'s Light-Rail Fiasco

How rail service to the Westside jumped the track

New L.A. City Rule Would Allow 180 Pot Shops To Stay Open

Kind For Cures: Best pot-shop retail concept ever.​At least some of the hundreds of pot shops that were outlawed by the L.A. City Council are probably out of the woods: The body on Friday voted to start a process that will amend its dispensary ordinance so that about 180 cannabis retailers wou ... More >>

Porn Industry Group Finally Reports HIV Case To L.A. County Health Officials

The porn industry took its time reporting an HIV-positive actor.​The porn industry's main health-care organization caved and sent the results from a positive HIV test to the county, as mandated by state law. The Adult Industry Medical (AIM) Healthcare Foundation turned the results in Tuesday ... More >>

Los Angeles Politicians Who Never Use Buses Wipe Out Eight Metro Bus Lines: "On Backs Of Poor" Say Furious Riders

By Leilani Albano Bus Riders UnionHigh-paid politicians didn't hear them​Just when Los Angeles bus riders thought Metro couldn't be any worse, the MTA board -- politicians who've been outed for rarely taking a bus -- declared they'll wipe out five Rapid bus lines, three local lines and slash ... More >>

The Birth of Coffee

Medical Marijuana Entrepreneurs Aren't All For Legalizing Weed Via Prop. 19: For One Thing, It Might Take Them Out Of The Game

​You would think that Prop. 19, the November ballot initiative that would fully legalize marijuana possession, would find some of its most ardent backers among the medical-pot trade, which relies on people coming to dispensaries and possessing weed, sometimes at their own peril when it comes t ... More >>

The Immovable Feast: Deep Roots and Lofty Dreams

Town Hall Meeting at Grammy Museum

Craft and Folk Art Exhibit

Flux Screening Series at the Hammer

Hanna-Barbera Exhibit

Bowled Over