L.A. Live

Czech and Mexican Film Fests: Your Weekly To-Do List

See also: *More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage Friday, May 10 The second annual touring Czech That Film Festival makes a pit stop at Los Angeles, bringing seven films over five days between today and June 3. Starting off the festival is writer-director Zdenek Jiráský with his first feature, Flower B ... More >>

Crowdfunding Site Wants Money To Prove L.A. Desires Return Of NFL

Some powerful forces in Los Angeles want to bring the NFL back to town. Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns Staples Center, L.A. Live and concert promoter AEG Live, had its dreams for a downtown L.A. stadium green lit by the City Council in record time in fall. And Majestic Realty, which helpe ... More >>

AEG Sale Off; Tim Leiweke Steps Down As L.A.-Based CEO

The for sale sign outside the door of Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of Staples Center, LA Live and London's 02 arena, has been taken down, the company announced. Not only that but Tim Leiweke, the company's L.A.-based president and CEO and the architect of plans to build a $1.5 billion stadiu ... More >>

Downtown Los Angeles To Get New High Rise -- Yet Another Marriott-Related Hotel

The local economy isn't exactly rockin.' But you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at downtown's skyline, which is starting to resemble an instant city in China. The latest high rise planned for downtown Los Angeles will break ground early next year and take the form of a Renaissance Hotel, devel ... More >>

Dodgers, NFL Talk Football At Chavez Ravine

Despite big plans and grid-iron dreams in downtown Los Angeles, the NFL has held talks with the new owners of Dodger Stadium about hosting football there in the future. That according to SportsBusiness Daily, which says that, after no teams expressed interest in moving to the nation's second-larges ... More >>

Writers Guild Awards 2013: Behind the Scenes

Last night, men and women who are more used to working at home in their pajamas donned black tie attire for the 2013 Writers Guild Awards at the J.W. Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live -- and it seemed like a surprisingly number of media didn't really care. (Except us, of course.) With a red carpet th ... More >>

Icon Ultra Lounge Stabbing After Show By Rapper YG Sends Victims To Hospital

At least two people were stabbed early this morning at Icon Ultra Lounge, a relatively new club near LA Live downtown, police tell the Weekly. Police could not elaborate for us when we asked about the extent of the injuries. But City News Service reports that there were four victims, with three hos ... More >>

Twilight Fans Freeze In LA Live Tent City As They Wait For Premier (PHOTOS)

Despite a "freeze warning" overnight Twihards camped out for days for a chance to see tonight's premier of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 at LA Live. Weirdos People came from as far away as England to pitch tents and geek out in the cold. Estimates had ...

The Shrine Used to Host the Oscars. Now it Hosts Steve Aoki Parties

The Shrine Auditorium, once home to the Academy Awards, hosted countless landmark concerts in its prime, but now is less in the spotlight than its rival up Figueroa -- LA Live. Still, the Shrine has found a second life as a hub for L.A,'s rave scene. See also: *Jack White at The Shrine, 8/10/12 *St ... More >>

Your Oktoberfest Round-Up: Beer, Brats, Pretzels More Beer

L.A. Oktoberfest -- October 20-21: Bust out the lederhosen for this one, because it's likely to get a little crazy. This two-day festival at the Vanguard in Hollywood sounds like a scene from the movie Beerfest: busty Bavarian babes, beer song sing-a-longs, roving accordion players, stein-holding co ... More >>

'Farmers Field' Plans Pushed Forward by L.A. City Council, Despite AEG Sale

See also: "Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?" and "Farmers Field's Fanciful Green Promise." There was never a doubt in anyone's mind that the L.A. City Council, completely obsessed with the idea of integrating an NFL stadium into the L.A. Live complex downtown, would approve the Anshcutz Enter ... More >>

3-D Film Fest, The Exorcist and Cinerruption: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Our weekly list of special event movies to check out this week: Thursday, Sept. 20 Our holographic ambitions may have hit a little bump on the road when the company behind Tupac's resurrection at Coachella filed for bankruptcy. But if Baz Luhrmann is right, at least 3-D is here to stay. Don those ... More >>

AEG, L.A. Parent of Coachella, Staples Center, For Sale

Updated at the bottom: AEG confirms that it's looking to sell. L.A. based Anschutz Entertainment Group, the downtown powerhouse behind Staples Center, LA Live, the proposed Farmers Field football stadium, and the world's second-largest concert promoter, Live Nation, might be for sale. Several outl ... More >>

Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival: The Wine Part of the Equation

The second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival concluded Sunday, a slickly produced, three-day debauch mostly held in and around the capacious digs of L.A. Live and its Marriott property -- though neither conference room nor rooftop exhibition tent could adequately contain the assemblage of whit ... More >>

L.A. Food & Wine Festival: Rosé, Ribs, and Summer Heat

After a weekend filled with many bottles of rosé and short rib sliders, the second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival wrapped up Sunday afternoon at L.A. Live after four days of chef-driven tastings, demos, samplings and other events that featured some of the top culinary talents in the countr ... More >>

Streetcar for Downtown L.A.? Council Creates Special Voting District So Residents Can Decide

What a romantic day for downtown: Dreams of a streetcar loop from Broadway to 11th to Figeroa to Hill (see map below) have a chance of becoming reality, now that the L.A. City Council has created a special voting district in the area it would service. Residents will be given the option to pay a sma ... More >>

Los Angeles Chefs Discuss Downtown L.A. at ALOUD

"We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares and go downtown ... everything's waiting for you!" When Petula Clark sang this line in 1964 -- albeit about New York -- who could have known she was she forecasting the future of downtown Los Angeles as a culinary destination? Numerous chefs have ... More >>

Michael Voltaggio Homeboy Industries at L.A. Film Festival Wednesday

This year's L.A. Film Festival kicked off on June 14 with an eclectic lineup of programs and screenings, albeit scant on food films. Luckily the festival's two food-centric films both screen Wednesday night at L.A. Live, so you can make a night of it, save a few bucks on parking, gas, etc.

L.A. Kings' Parade Thursday: How to Get Your Free Tickets to Special Viewing And Rally

The L.A. Kings' parade is happening Thursday on Figueroa Street near Staples Center, venue officials announced last night. The event will celebrate the Kings' 6-1 Stanley Cup championship victory over the New Jersey Devils Monday at Staples. There will also be a fan rally at Staples Center followin ... More >>

98: Chichen Itza's Cochinita Pibil

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 98: Chichen Itza's Cochinita Pibil. You know the drill. Wind your way down the 110, past the concrete universe of downtown L.A., LA Live and USC, and into the ... More >>

Jonathan Waxman Serves 'Foods of Baja' at Rosa Mexicano

Baja California is very hot right now. Just ask Anthony Bourdain, The New Yorker, or Dwell. Now chef Jonathan Waxman, cookbook author, chef/owner of Barbuto in NYC, and culinary consultant for Rosa Mexicano, is debuting his "Foods of Baja" menu at the restaurant's West Hollywood and L.A. Live locat ... More >>

Farmers Field NFL Stadium Downtown Could Be Slowed By Serious Legal Challenge

If you were a gamblin' man, and a good one at that, you'd probably put your money on Farmers Field getting built, or at least getting every approval it needs by the soft-spine L.A. City Council. The owner of Staples Center and LA Live, Anschutz Entertainment Group, has steamrolled over City Hall, s ... More >>

How Green Was My Downtown

VIDEO: Hundreds of Fitness Dorks Turn Out for Massive 'Zumba' Flash Mob at L.A. Live

What appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands, of Zumba® fans in their finest Latin-flavored workout getups crowded the Nokia Plaza yesterday afternoon, forming the most chaotic mob at L.A. Live since the Lakers riots. If you haven't heard of Zumba yet, here's what you're missing: It describes it ... More >>

Marriott Hotels to Be Erected Across From L.A. Live -- and Subsidized by Taxpayers

The new Courtyard and Residence Inns (right) will sit directly across from two more Marriott hotels.​A double Marriott hotel project that will occupy the lot across from L.A. Live just got a huge boost from you, the Los Angeles taxpayer. You have the L.A. City Council -- and downtown Councilw ... More >>

Future Fugly: Wilshire Grand Development at 7th & Figueroa, Downtown

Feast your eyes on the future. By 2015, the bustling, glowing corner of 7th & Figueroa downtown will have replaced the just-shuttered Wilshire Grand hotel with this concoction of stores, ads and vague glowing glass volumes.

$109,000 Salaries to 'Redevelop' The Ghetto? L.A. Leaders Abandon Overpaid City Agency

Despite its whining about Gov. Jerry Brown's successful move to wipe California's local redevelopment agencies off the face of the earth, City Hall wants nothing to do with the remnants of its own "CRA." No life vests here. The City Council just voted 9-3 to just let the thing die instead of becom ... More >>

Legendary Hollywood Venue the Music Box Shuttered

UPDATE: Goldenvoice has released an official statement. See the bottom of the post. Say it isn't so. The Music Box at The Fonda seems to have been shuttered overnight. As our very own Lina Lecaro's blog LA Slush reported this morning, the legendary music venue on Hollywood Blvd. was packed up ea ... More >>

Metro Studios@Lankershim Cancelled: The Death of NBCUniversal's $3 Billion Project Equals Serious Traffic Relief

Angelenos who drive between downtown, Hollywood and San Fernando Valley dodged a bullet with the cancellation of Metro and NBCUniversal's bizarre plan for a skyscraper at the Red Line subway stop near Universal City -- a $3 billion project dubbed Metro Studios@Lankershim. News stories yesterday lef ... More >>

Hotel Art in L.A.: A User's Guide

Housing Authority Spent 14,000 of Your Tax Dollars at Harold & Belle's Lots of Steak

Guzzle & Nosh/FlickrHousing Authority executives were reimbursed for expensive meals at Pacific Dining Car​In what pretty much sums up the state of the economy over the last few years, executives at the The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) spent a good chunk of taxpayer cha ... More >>

The Yellow Sea Review

Korea's submission for the Foreign-Language Oscar is an ultraviolent illegal-immigrant gangster flick

Occupy L.A: Top 5 Would-be City Giveaways That Might Inspire Occupiers to Give up The Lawn

Leave it to L.A. leaders to make a half-assed offer to Occupy L.A. in an attempt to extract demonstrators from the City Hall lawn. The city said occupiers could take over the old old B. Dalton Bookstore space in the nearby, subterranean L.A. Mall if they gave the lawn a permanent break. Occupiers pr ... More >>

8 Places in Los Angeles That Might as Well be Occupied

​ The reports that the mayor wants Occupy L.A. to leave City Hall raise the question: if they do have to leave, where would they go? The occupiers have already expanded to obvious places like UCLA and Bank of America Plaza. L.A.'s own Wall Street has been slightly occupied for years now (it i ... More >>

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1: What They Were Eating at the Premier

Kathy A. McDonaldRobert Pattinson at the Twilight premiere​As every schoolgirl -- the presumed reader of The Twilight Saga books -- knows, vampires don't eat prepared food. A bit of a challenge for Monday night's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 premiere organizers. Why? Because a f ... More >>

Maxi Pad Stadium Design Has Wings: New Farmers Field Illustrations For Proposed Downtown NFL Venue Released

AEGGensler's new Farmers Field design.​In architecture, form should follow function. Our friends at Anschutz Entertainment Group have probably been agonizing over how to use design to make the best use of a small space, attract football's core, male demographic and, at the same time, really ... More >>

Twihards vs. Occupy L.A: Which Downtown Encampment Has Strength in Numbers?

Breakadawn.​Occupy versus Twilight: Both are camped out in tent cities downtown. Both have a love-hate relationship with blood suckers (Wall Street, vampires). Both, apparently, are comprised of jobless nerds with enough free time to hang out in tents for days on end. (We kid, sort of). So ... More >>

Beware: Thousands of Republicans in Downtown L.A. This Weekend

Take a deep breath: They're not as bad as they seem.​The GOP's getting pretty edgy with its Convention plans this year, setting up shop among the hobos and flaming liberals of downtown Los Angeles (albeit at the least edgy, most "manhattanized" location in L.A.). On top of that, for the first ... More >>

307 Restaurants Participate in dineLA Fall 2011 Restaurant Week

Anne FishbeinSpicy chicken pops at Lukshon.​Ever wanted to try the Lukshon's squid stuffed with fermented ground pork or spaghetti at Scarpetta but can't afford it? dineLA, which returns for 12 days in early October, might be your chance. The restaurant promo returns October 2-7 and 9-14, and ... More >>

Farmers Field Downtown Stadium Deal Approved by L.A. City Council

Dennis RomeroWoot-woot.​With reporting from Simone Wilson. The downtown stadium dreams of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owners of Staples Center and LA Live, are coming true one spineless bureaucrat at a time. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a deal, negotiated mostly beh ... More >>

NYC Thinks L.A. Wants to Be 'Manhattanized'

NYC wannabe?​Well! This is insulting. And so very in line with New York media's ridiculous attempts to pin down Los Angeles after spending one night in a downtown hotel with a notepad and a smog mask. TIME Magazine runs a big out-of-touch feature today on the alleged "Manhattanization" of dow ... More >>

X Games Inspire LAPD to Crack Down on Underage Skaters in Downtown After-Hours

Naoki Tomino​The buzz killingtons at the LAPD don't stop this week. They snuffed out a flash mob rave on Hollywood Boulevard, prepared for Lady Gaga fans to get out of hand yesterday (the didn't) and now they're targeting underage buggers who are illegally on the street past curfew (after 10 p ... More >>

1st Generation at Club Nokia, 7/23/11

Ian Cohen​1st Generation Club Nokia July 23, 2011 Better than: Compton High School's annual talent show, but possibly not. It's been said that you can instantly judge the economic health of a neighborhood based on the prevalence of barriers: fences, security systems, especially speed bumps. ... More >>

Los Angeles Film Festival 2011 Preview

Car-Free Eating

Nondrivers should look to downtown

NIGHTRANGER: THE GIFT OF GABBA

Nightranger Looks Back at '09 Fashion and Music

New Guac City: Rosa Mexicano at L.A. Live

Trader Vic’s Picks

Pupu platters and nostalgia at L.A. Live

Wolfgang Puck’s Bar & Grill Export at L.A. Live