La Canada Flintridge

Bobak Ferdowsi: The JPL Mohawk Guy

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. Last year's Mars landing by the NASA rover Curiosity was a nail-biter broadcast live from the control room at the Jet Propulsion Lab in La Cañada Flintridge. Yet as the r ... More >>

Japanese Flower Arranging: Live Onstage!

See also: *Takashi Murakami's New Culver City Show *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *5 Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week The North American Sogetsu Seminar is like the Olympics of flower arranging (though, of course, only for North America). Held once every four years in a different North ... More >>

Fast Food Holiday Strategies: Fish McBites Other Limited-Time Offers

It's no coincidence that McDonald's, Carl's Jr., and Wendy's have each rolled out a new fish option on their menus around the time of Lent. In time for St. Patrick's Day, participating Micky D locations also offer the Shamrock Shake, a limited-time mint milkshake. Fast food chains are relying more o ... More >>

Sport Chalet Explosion Injures 2 In La Cañada Flintridge

Two people apparently checking out a possible gas leak in a utility closet were burned when the room exploded this morning, fire officials said. It happened at the Sport Chalet at La Cañada Flintridge's Town Center mall, an L.A. County Fire Department official told us. The two suffered "flash burn ... More >>

Summer Shakespeare Smackdown in NoHo: Respectable vs. Radical

Why the works of William Shakespeare should be associated with the summer months is anyone's guess. Beyond having written A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale, there is scant evidence to support any seasonal preference on the Bard's part when it comes to staging his plays. What is certain ... More >>

Backyard Chickens, Once Scourge of Latino Ghettos, Hip in Upscale Neighborhoods

In San Marino, one of the most upscale communities in Southern California, you can have a five-car garage, an Olympic-size pool, tennis courts and houses larger than some office buildings. One thing you can't have is chickens. Long associated with the backyard barrios of Pacoima and East L.A., the ... More >>

L.A. Theater's Most Memorable Moments of 2011

Party House Crackdown: New L.A. Ordinance Targets Notorious Ragers in the Hills

Lina Lecaro"Kandyland" at the Playboy Mansion​It's no secret: An almost institutionalized circuit of L.A. house parties has long operated in the sprawling estates above Ventura and Hollywood Boulevards. Druggy, boozy, Sheeny "privates" have become integral to city nightlife for a number of re ... More >>

La Cañada Flintridge Wants to Prevent 'Extreme' Paint Jobs on City Buildings, via Pre-Approved Color Palette

Careful there, foliage: Y'all are getting a little colorful for La Cañada.​As it stands, the outlying L.A. County suburb of La Cañada Flintridge isn't the most thrilling sight to behold. "It's kind of all browns and whites," says Ina Dan, a friend of yours truly who grew up at the mercy of ... More >>

Stage Raw: LA Weekly Fringe Award Winner

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on Salome and J.M. Barrie at PRTCuriousjosh.comThe Burning Opera​The Burning Opera: How to Survive the Apocalypse, created by Mark Nicols and Erik Davis, and being performed at Syrup Loft downtown, is among the productions being revie ... More >>

'Sopranos' Reference Sparks Fight Between Southern California Lawmakers (Video)

HBOBada Bing.​California lawmakers are usually way too busy doing absolutely nothing to fight. But it finally happened late Wednesday when two Southern California assemblyman got into a shoving match in Sacramento. It popped off as the assembly was debating a bill that would eliminate redevel ... More >>

Kirk Spiegel, Second-Grade Teacher at LAUSD's Pinewood Elementary, Commits Suicide off 210 Freeway Overpass

FacebookSecond-grade LAUSD teacher Kirk Spiegel​Updated throughout. Early this morning around 2 a.m., 49-year-old Kirk Spiegel -- a Los Angeles Unified School District employee, according to LAUSD -- jumped to his death off the 210 freeway overpass in La Canada Flintridge. "He was a second-g ... More >>

(UPDATED With L.A. Road Closures, Rain Aftermath) L.A. Readies Itself For West Coast Rainpocalypse To Rival SnowLoko

PHOTO BY TED SOQUILast Wednesday in Los Angeles​Updated after the jump: Here we go again. Pacific Coast Highway closes, the I-5 floods and more. Originally posted Dec. 28 at 8:30 a.m. We were gloating yesterday as the East Coast took a beating from the weather gods, but karma's a bitch: It's ... More >>

L.A. Road Closures, Wednesday Edition: Where Not To Drive

PHOTO BY TED SOQUI​I punish thee with hella traffic​Updated after the jump: The beginning of the end FLASH FOOD warnings until 6 p.m. (this includes downtown L.A.). Constantly updated with traffic conditions, evacuations and the best in emergency rescues. Originally posted at 8:30 a.m. ... More >>

Storm Evacuations Ordered For Some La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta Residents

It's starting to feel like Seattle around here.​This rain, rain won't go away. And how authorities are ordering 147 homes in La Canada Flintridge and 85 homes in La Crescenta evacuated. They're afraid the heavy rains in the Angeles National Forest above these neighborhoods, where brush fires ... More >>

L'il Bao Wow: Soup Dumplings at Dean Sin Noodle World

Xiao long bao -- the dish at the center of the San Gabriel mayoral mistress scandal -- is such a popular item with so many variations that in some stretches of the San Gabriel Valley, you can sample three top-tier dumpling houses in a two-block radius. On Monday, that's just what I did on an XLB ... More >>

Loan Mod Torture Defendant Takes Plea, Is Released From Jail

Eric Bowman​Mary Ann Parmelee, who was accused of torturing two loan modification consultants who had scammed her last year, has accepted a plea deal and has been released from jail.Parmelee and her partner, Daniel Weston, formed a Bonnie-and-Clyde pair who built a real estate empire in La Canada ... More >>

Smoking Rates Up In West Hollywood, South L.A., South Bay

​Despite nationwide efforts to curb smoking, a recent study released by the county Department of Public Health has revealed that rates of lighting up in Los Angeles have remained steady since 2002, though some areas, including West Hollywood, South Los Angeles and the South Bay have seen incre ... More >>

Torture, Lies and Louis XIII Cognac

A tale of falling home prices

Plate Spinning: Listings From the Past Week

Some food for thought from local, national and international news sources from this past week: -- La Cañada Flintridge Community Center attempts to build the world's largest Rice Krispie. [the 818 Now] -- A bacon alarm clock? Yup, the Wake n' Bacon. [Gizmodiva] -- The Worst Beer in the World, i ... More >>

Some Foothill Residents Evacuated (Again) Ahead Of Storms

​Storm evacuations in some foothill communities near the mud-swamp Station Fire burn area are becoming so common they almost have a rhythm. It's that time again: As two storms approach, with healthy rain forecast through the weekend, residents of 188 homes in La Crescenta and La Canada Flintri ... More >>

At Carmela Ice Cream, Jessica Mortarotti Mixes Autumn Flavors

There's no excuse to retire your ice cream spoon after summer. (65 degrees is not cold.) Sure, it's fun to crank up the oven for pumpkin loaves and Bundt cakes, but ice cream is a great medium for wintry flavors. Jessica Mortarotti, founder and flavor developer for Carmela Ice Cream (named after her ... More >>

Station Fire Update: Killed L.A. firefighter's baby due

The Los Angeles County Fire Department released two sad biographies of the firefighters who were killed when a boiling wall of flames suddenly appeared near a remote road where they were driving. Their vehicle went over the side, plummeting 800 feet down a cliff. Arnie Quinones, horribly, is expecti ... More >>

Glendale City Council: No to 710 Tunnel

One of L.A.'s great communal imbroglios is the extension of the Long Beach Freeway, also known as State Route 710. Years ago construction ended at its Alhambra terminus, so that it currently connects Long Beach directly to -- Valley Boulevard. Caltrans wants to complete it so that the highway will c ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Maywood RFD California Attorney General Jerry Brown is seeking a court order to impose and monitor reforms on Maywood's troubled police department. L.A. TimesGetting the Lead Out The Department of Toxic Substances Control has discovered San Fernando warehouses containing jewelry that has higher than ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

First '09 Downtown Murders Two men were shot and killed at Skid Row's Lamp Lodge hotel early Easter morning. They were the first Downtown murders since June, 2008. L.A. TimesNative Habit Threat Conservationists are worried about an oil-company's proposal to build 3,900 new homes in the middle of the ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

CalTrans Slammed in Flintridge Crash Laura Olhasso, the mayor of La Canada Flintridge, claimed that CalTrans has ignored her town's concerns about runaway trucks on Angeles Crest Highway. A big rig killed two people and injured 12 Wednesday when its driver lost control and struck several vehicles be ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Charter School Teachers Talk Union The L.A. Times reports that nearly 80 percent of teachers from a respected Los Angeles charter school have signed cards requesting union membership. Teachers at the Accelerated School say in the story that the school's administrative decisions have become "opaque a ... More >>

Best Views

L.A. from the top and bottom