Los Angeles City Hall

Wilshire Grand Los Angeles, Tallest Skyscraper on West Coast at 1,100 Feet, Will Have a Wicked Sky Lobby for Views Across the City

By Hillel Aron Secret designs were just released of the Wilshire Grand, a 73-story, 1,100-foot-tall hotel/office tower/retail/phallic image that will be the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast and in Los Angeles, pushing out Library Tower (officially, U.S. Bank Tower) as the 10th-tallest building ... More >>

Endeavour Delay For Los Angeles Flyover Means Hour Later Showtime

The Endeavour show over the skies of Los Angeles will be delayed by more than an hour this morning. The Los Angeles Police Department says that instead of the original 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. window, with an 11 landing time at LAX, the space shuttle will get a piggy back ride above Los Angeles more than ... 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 >>

Mayita Dinos: Much Ado About Water

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Mayita Dinos' soft hands belie the fact that she's dug through acres of stubborn subsoil on a one-woman crusade to mulch, harrow and hoe as much of Los Angeles as possible. She ... More >>

L.A. County Officials Hosting Design Contest for 'The Official Los Angeles Condom'

Never thought we'd see the day. The Los Angeles County Department of Health is funding a contest called "L.A.'s Next Sex Symbol," in which any old struggling artist is invited to submit a condom-package design to appear on "1 million and one" free, county-issued condoms this year. Too good to be t ... More >>

L.A. Overspends by $27,378 an Hour

Two key perks: free gas and cars

Cypress Hill Rallies Medical Marijuana Advocates for SmokeOut at City Hall (With Photos)

SmokeOut for Safe Access Rally Los Angeles City Hall 3-1-12 See also our rally slideshow Around 4:20 yesterday afternoon about 150 people marched in protest to recent federal threats to medicinal marijuana. The event was organized by Americans for Safe Access, the Music & Medicine Project and B-Re ... More >>

Prop. 8 Ruling: Los Angeles, West Hollywood to Host Celebration Rallies Tonight

Surely you've heard the good news by now: Proposition 8 was just overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And, though the religious zealots at ProtectMarriage will inevitably appeal that decision, it's definitely time to take this Internet party to the streets. LGBT advocates and city o ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa's $30,000 a Day Trip to Asia: Another Empty Gesture as 13 Percent Jobless Rate Grips Los Angeles

KCETAntonio Villaraigosa with other people's money.​Thankfully, we have CitywatchLA explaining how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spends bundles of cash on pointless gestures. His trip to Asia, which will have zero effect on the Los Angeles economy, is burning $30,000 a day. Villaraigosa says he' ... More >>

Jeffrey Ross, Comedian, to 'Roast' Occupy L.A. at City Hall Tomorrow

roastmastergeneral.comJeffrey Ross will occupy your gut.​The Occupy movement has received wide-ranging endorsements, from Democrats to Communists, Green Party leaders to Alec Baldwin. But what the campers on the lawn of L.A. City Hall really need is an endorsement that will help them endure t ... More >>

Five Fashion Street Styles of Occupy L.A.

Occupy L.A., the Hooverville-like protest that surrounds Los Angeles City Hall, is not just an anti-Wall Street movement -- it's also a fashion showcase for a street style that is far different from the stiletto and Ugg boot-loving crowd so often seen in L.A. From the aging hippie to FIDM hipsters ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: Street Musicians Reign at City Hall

So we were wondering what kind of music was popular at Occupy L.A., the anti-Wall Street demonstration the surrounds Los Angeles City Hall night and day, and took a drive to downtown to find out. But rather than people listening to their favorite bands on iPods or whatever, we soon came to realize ... More >>

Wendy Greuel L.A. Mayoral Election 2013 Antics: Why is She Acting Like a Blond Version of Schwarzenegger on 'Waste, Fraud, Abuse'?

ladailyblog.blogspot.comWendy Greuel's image is getting fuzzy. ​Is Wendy Greuel running for Los Angeles mayor by acting like a blond version of the failed Arnold Schwarzenegger, decrying waste, fraud and abuse? She's fired off an election-aimed press release asking the City Council's inept Au ... More >>

Hall of Justice Downtown Sees Key Renovation Starting This Month: L.A. Sheriff Ready to Move in

​Downtown's iconic Hall of Justice is coming back to life, with "primary renovation" starting up this month. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which will occupy the 1925 Beaux Arts building that was the backdrop for TV's Dragnet and Get Smart, is champing at the bit. But it'll have to wai ... More >>

Lowe's Home Improvement Fiasco

A ruined working-class neighborhood in Mid-City demands answers

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

City Council clueless about vast, hidden costs in Villaraigosa's $6.9 billion budget

Lobbyist John Ek

L.A.'s $350 Million Deficit Explained: City Employees Spent Years Collecting $215 Fine from Franklin Hanock. But He'd Already Paid.

An employee mans Los Angeles City Hall's state-of-the-art collections system.​Valley Village resident Franklin Hanock, featured in an L.A. Daily News column by Kerry Cavanaugh, says "Where [LA] is heading scares the hell out of me." He got a $125 fine for a malfunctioning burglar alarm that ... More >>

California Governor Jerry Brown's Plan to Abolish Redevelopment Agencies: 1601 Vine Street in Los Angeles is Exhibit A

City Hall ​Los Angeles City Hall watchdog Jack Humpreville is making the case that Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to wipe out Community Redevelopment Agencies has an "Exhibit A" in the dubious money pit at 1601 Vine Street. City activists uncovered a hidden appraisal that shows the CRA overpaid by $1.4 ... More >>

Hollywood is missing 30,300 people. Antonio Villaraigosa's "elegant density" plan says they'll appear

New, improved Hollywood Boulevard​Los Angeles City Hall produces padded "population growth estimates" for L.A., an over-jammed city now driving away more humans than it attracts. Now, Antonio Villaraigosa and Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner are using the junk data to further remake Hollywood. Cit ... More >>

L.A.'s Light-Rail Fiasco

Reader Letters

L.A. Marathon Changes 'Stadium To The Sea' Route To Include Chinatown, Little Tokyo

Ghost TheoryBack in the day, hardcore L.A. Marathoners took to the 6th Street Bridge​The ever-glammer L.A. Marathon just keeps on picking up new tourist-friendly detours. Last year, it snubbed the downtown-centric route it had modified only slightly over many years, instead directing runners t ... More >>

Perhaps L.A. City Leaders Need To Appoint A Second Set Of City Leaders To Do Their Jobs

Walter Moore.​In the silly, bureaucratic tangle we call Los Angeles City Hall, where there's much more tussling over the nearest TV news crew than there is actual problem solving, the solution to many a major problem, even when there is zero gravy to go around, is to hire a big gun to take car ... More >>

Several Thousand Union Members Rally in Downtown L.A. To Bring Jobs Back To California

Steve La​At least 1,000 people gathered at Los Angeles City Hall Friday to rally for job growth in California. Among the masses were members of several labor unions from L.A. and from across the country. "We're here because presence has power," said Steven Pasillas, 31 of the International B ... More >>

L.A. City Union Will Get A Re-Vote After It Turns Down Deal To Pitch In For Health-Care

Paying five percent of your health-care premium when you used to pay zero doesn't sound like such a good deal. But if you're represented by the city's engineers and architects union, it might be the best deal you're going to get, especially at a time when Los Angeles City Hall is trying to hold toge ... More >>

If It's Lakers vs. 'Los Suns,' Does L.A. Boycott?

​If the they beat Utah Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers could complete a rare postseason sweep for the squad, matching the purple and gold against ... Arizona's pro team in the Western Conference finals. That's the state that enacted a controversial law empowering police to ask people they ... More >>

L.A. County Ponders Layoffs Too

William Fujioka.​Los Angeles City Hall isn't the only place facing budget problems and layoffs: The county of L.A.'s CEO on Monday proposed 131 layoffs as part of a belt-tightening measure to keep the county's books in order. As with the city of L.A., county revenues have been hit by the rece ... More >>

Anti-billboard "renegade sign bandit" speaks about the fools at Fuel Outdoor

Editor's note: Our colleague at laist.com, Zach Behrens, published a post on January 29 about "renegade sign bandits" -- so dubbed by a city official after a mystery activist slapped real-looking "illegal sign" warnings adorned with the City of Los Angeles seal onto tacky mini-billboards placed all ... More >>

Good money after bad: Should L.A. taxpayers pay $40,000 to steal $20,000 jobs from South Gate?

L.A.'s Medical-Weed Wars

How the potheads outwitted Antonio Villaraigosa and the L.A. City Council

L.A. Medical-Pot Shops Peddle to LAUSD Pupils

As kids flood weed outlets, Ramon Cortines admits there's no plan

City To Spend $7.2 Million On Free Email

The Los Angeles City Council today approved a $7.2 million deal to transition its internal-server-based email system to Google's free email services. The move was designed to save the city money, and apparently it will, but why is the council paying more than 7 mil to use the kind of gmail services ... More >>

Paving Over Playa del Rey

The last L.A. beach town and dunes still standing have a developer drooling

Medical Pot Is Bringing L.A. Together

In the increasingly acrimonious pot wars, all sides agree City Hall is incompetent

L.A. City Council Blinks, Public Wins

A controversial plan to more than double planning department appeal fees was set aside today by the Los Angeles City Council.Los Angeles City Hall​Today's city council vote came after homeowner groups, neighborhood councils, and environmental groups crammed into Los Angeles City Hall and protested ... More >>

Long Knives Slice Up Bratton

As it overspends by $1 million daily, the City Council goes after the departing chief

Annenberg's Showcase for Pictures of the Year International

Photojournalism at Its Best

Update: Trutanich may conduct criminal probe of Michael Jackson/AEG memorial costs

UPDATE: I missed this really funny Los Angeles City Council agenda list published today by Mayor Sam blog's Petra Fried, showing the council's time today is being dominated by post-Jackson explanations, probes and studies. One interesting agenda item: trying to explain how the city spent a fortune o ... More >>

L.A. City Council Clings to Stunning Perks and Pay

They can't bear to give up those record-high $178,898 salaries

Today in Photographs: May 6, 1957

Straight Outta Compton!  The Comptonettes cheerleading squad and Compton High School's marching band pose on the Los Angeles City Hall steps.Photo: LA Times/UCLA CollectionClick image to enlarge

Human Rights Watch: L.A. County has U.S.'s largest rape kit backlog

Los Angeles County has the largest rape kit backlog in the United States, according to a report released today by Human Rights Watch. More than 50 reporters, rape kit advocates, city workers and cops gathered today at a 40-minute press conference outside Los Angeles City Hall to hear the bleak ne ... More >>

Measure B fine print: DWP's scooter and wind power debacles

By Daniel HeimpelThe battle over Measure B, City Hall's solar plan that sped through Los Angeles City Council at the speed of light, is heating up like a photo-voltaic panel under summer sun. During a special hearing at City Hall early this week, Council member Tony Cardenas pressed DWP bureaucrats ... More >>

Shutting Down Public-Access TV

AT&T and L.A. City Hall quietly lead a national push to silence the little guy

Branding Griffith Park: Heirs of Land's Bequeather Fight Commercialization Plan

Griffith J. Griffith's great-grandson: "It’s not a theme park. It’s not a movie studio. People don’t want to see it turned into Disneyland ..."

Groove Armada: Rum Runners

Voter Guide: the Pros and Cons of the Initiatives, February 5 Ballot

Making sense of the issues

The Big Picture

Patrick Ecclesine shoots like a boy

City Hall’s Unwelcome Mat

The message to visitors is just stay home