Los Angeles

The Top 10 Memorial Day Weekend Concerts in L.A.

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, May 24 Boris ECHOPLEX Japanese experimental rockers Boris have spent their entire 15-year career making sure that their fans are unable to predict what will come next from the band. One album could consist of thrashi ... More >>

Are Smart People Better Drivers?

Are smart people better drivers? Maybe, maybe not. But your own casual research on the streets of Los Angeles would suggest a strong correlation between idiots and crap motorists, right. (Just look at their vacant, zombie faces). New research published this week in the journal Current Biology says ... More >>

Los Angeles River Opens to Boaters For First Time Since 1930s

For the first time ever -- well, not really ever, but almost -- the Los Angeles River will be open to kayakers and fishermen (and women). This new era of openness starts Monday, Memorial Day, and lasts through Labor Day. This welcome mat applies to a 2.5 mile stretch of the river near downtown:

How James Turrell's Skyspaces Became a Hot Item for L.A. Art Collectors

Should Mr. Checkpoint Be Tweeting DUI Stops?

His 42,000 followers think so. MADD does not

Antonio Villaraigosa's Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth

When a 14-Year-Old in South Central Wants to Learn the Cello

When her son Jacob was barely a year old, Teresa Esquivel noticed that music powerfully affected his demeanor. Certain tunes would even make him cry. In particular, if Pokémon was on, Jigglypuff's leitmotif would reduce him to wails, even if Jacob hadn't been previously focused on the TV. Jac ... More >>

Should L.A. City Elections Sync Up With Presidential Years?

Tuesday's election was historic. We got our first elected mayor of Jewish ancestry. And our second mayor in modern times with Mexican heritage. But most of you didn't bother to vote. The L.A. City Clerk registered a low-low "ballots cast" percentage of 19.2. Meaning one out of 5 of you -- and just ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Ranks the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A.

The Los Angeles Times has released Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants today (subscription required). It's the first time the Times critic (and former LA Weekly critic) has put out a dining guide list since taking the job at the daily. And the list is ranked, 1-101. So what's the number one resta ... More >>

Why Laura Chick -- Not Wendy Greuel -- Would Have Beaten Eric Garcetti for Mayor

The wrong city controller ran against Eric Garcetti. As current Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel's run for mayor ended in defeat, one can't help but think that Laura Chick, the hard-charging, plainspoken controller between 2001 and 2009, would have mopped the floor with Garcetti. "There is ... More >>

1,000 Medical Marijuana Shops to Close in L.A. after Prop. D Wins in a Landslide

Proposition D's huge win on Tuesday was a clear message from liberal Los Angeles that it does not want more than 1,000 weed shops in virtually every business district of the sprawling city, as things stand today. The new law becomes the first tricky and controversial test for Mayor-elect Eric Garc ... More >>

Garcetti or Greuel for Mayor? Micro-Neighborhoods like South Robertson May Cast the Deciding Votes May 21

Wendy Greuel or Eric Garcetti will be the new mayor of L.A. thanks to Precinct 9001492A, a micro-neighborhood in South Robertson where voters in the March primary were about equally divided between Garcetti and Greuel, Kevin James came in third and Jan Perry trailed in fourth. In fact, the South R ... More >>

How to Beat Memorial Day Weekend Traffic

Oh boy. Memorial Day Weekend, the traditional start of summer (so soon?), is almost here. If you're road trippin,' be prepared to spend much of your three-day weekend huffing exhaust fumes from the comfort of your vehicle. Traffic data service INRIX gave us the 411 on the upcoming holiday crush, in ... More >>

Carmen Trutanich Concedes: Mike Feuer Will Be L.A.'s New City Attorney

Just before 11:30 p.m., while the L.A.'s mayor race remained much too close to call, Carmen Trutanich conceded to supporters that he'd lost his reelection attempt. It wasn't even close. With 22 percent of precincts reporting, plus mail-in ballots, "Nuch" was down 60 percent to 40 percent -- a humbl ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Week

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Monday, May 20 Holy Ghost! TROUBADOUR It's been two years since the release of Holy Ghost!'s eponymous debut. Often hailed as LCD Soundsystem's heirs, the NYC-based duo's sound falls somewhere between Phoenix's precocious li ... More >>

Los Angeles Voter Guide May 21, 2013: Mayor, Weed Measures, City Council, City Attorney, LAUSD Board and The Works

Here's a quick guide to the key races and issues on the May 21, 2013 ballot in the city of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayoral Race: Read this fascinating dissection of the five main behavioral and philosophical differences between 2013 Los Angeles mayoral candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, ... More >>

5 Los Angeles Rental Neighborhoods Under The Radar

With average rent in Venice reaching more than $2,800 according to one report, it's getting hard to find affordable housing in L.A. that hasn't lost its soul. Lucky for us there's nearly 500 square miles of space in the city alone, so there's always an up-and-coming community just around the corner ... More >>

Why Are L.A.'s Parks So Lacking in Good Food?

What began as a public-private partnership bidding process to find a food vendor for a beloved urban park launched a massively successful mid-market burger chain. Granted, any business gets a leg up when an already successful restaurateur such as Danny Meyer is at the helm. Shake Shack now has loc ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Weekend

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, May 17 The International Swingers VIPER ROOM With New York's Met Gala "punk" event and exhibit dominating the media last week, it's sadly ironic that the innovators and music makers responsible for this in-your-face ... More >>

Lina's Party Pick of the Week

Photo by Amy Darling BLISS 525 525 E. Broadway, Long Beach, Sat., May 18; competition starts at 11:30 p.m. When it comes to gay club carousing and "vogueing" a la Paris Is Burning, Los Angeles has been smoldering something fierce at Los Globos' party called, yes, L.A. Is Burning. This weekend, as ... More >>

3 Great Bars For Celebrating World Whisky Day

It's World Whisky Day on Saturday, May 18, declared last year by a Scottish college student named Blair Bowman who saw the need to hold an annual celebration of the spirit. He figured it was only fair to designate one for his country's drink of choice, seeing as how there were world days set for bee ... More >>

Morihiro Onodera: The Chef Throws Pots

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. For the first decade of the 21st century, people who loved sushi in Los Angeles made a pilgrimage to Mori Sushi, a minimalist restaurant on Pico Boulevard. There, owner and sus ... More >>

The 2013 People Issue

Welcome to the L.A. Weekly's annual roundup of the city's most intriguing people

The Six Types of Transplants Ruining L.A.

Every day, hundreds (just to go with a nice round number) of hard-working, diverse, interesting people come to Los Angeles and feed our desperately sluggish economy, buying tacos and facial treatments and what have you. But let's face it. We get a lot of the wrong kind of people moving to Los Angel ... More >>

Five Dance Events to See This Week Including Speed-Dating Choreographers and Composers

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. This week's dance events include speed dating musicians and dancers, the latest from Ryan Heffington and Los Angeles Ballet continues to paint the town Bal ... More >>

Latino Vote Crucial For L.A. City Hall Candidates

With nearly one in three people in the L.A. electorate claiming Latino heritage, the city election Tuesday could be decided by the brown vote. So says the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), which notes that 29 percent of registered voters in Los Angeles are Lati ... More >>

Mahssa Taghinia: The Record Keeper

By Diamond Bodine-Fisher One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. Just blocks from where the Gold Line cuts across Figueroa Street, you'll find the latest addition to an increasingly trendy business district in Highl ... More >>

Margot Ocanas: A Voice for Pedestrians

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. When she arrived in Los Angeles as a new mom 11 years ago, Margot Ocañas joked that she got bedsores from driving so much. "I just hated being so reliant on my Thomas Gu ... More >>

Natashia Deon: Defense Attorney By Day, Novelist By Night

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. At 24, Natashia Deon thought she had her whole life figured out. Despite hanging around L.A. nightclubs while working as a teenage promoter for radio station 92.3 The Beat, she ... More >>

Asa Soltan Rahmati: The Shahs of Sunset's Persian Pop Priestess

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. What to say about The Shahs of Sunset? The Ryan Seacrest–produced show offers a look into the flamboyant lives of six Persian-Americans as they navigate life, love and the ... More >>

Unions Rally to Block Koch Brothers' L.A. Times Purchase

By Nanette Gonzalez and Sarah Fenske In just two short months, Charles and David Koch's dreams of purchasing the L.A. Times have gone from a well-sourced rumor, first reported on this blog, to the catalyst for outraged essays in newspapers across the country to a protest song by none less than Ry C ... More >>

L.A. Is Dog-Bite Capital For Postal Workers

Among our many fine distinctions, smog capital, traffic capital, douche capital, is a new one: The U.S. Postal Service this week ranked Los Angeles number one among big cities where carriers are attacked by dogs. The USPS released the list of top dog-attack cities, based on the number of incidents, ... More >>

It's Official: America Hates Hipsters, Poll Says

And you thought you were tired of those Echo Park kids in candy colored sunglasses? It turns out that the rest of America is sick of hipsters too, even as one out of every two U.S. voters ages 18 to 29 actually considers herself to be a hipster. Really:

Watch L.A. Grow With This Time-Lapse Map

In 1984 Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, Ronald Reagan was president and crack and AIDS were just starting to do damage. So much has changed since then, from the gentrification of Echo Park and downtown to the development of an actual subway system, that it seems like eons ago. Google, with the hel ... More >>

Tsujita Annex: Now Open with All-Day Ramen, Umbrellas Awesome Signage

With the dollar-yen exchange rate so good right now, you may be reading this in a Tokyo tsukemen shop. Lucky you. But if you're still in L.A., you might instead consider heading over to Little Osaka, where the beautiful noodle palace of Tsujita L.A. has recently expanded across the street. Lucky us. ... More >>

For 66 Years, Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School Dads Have Put On L.A.'s Weirdest Annual Drag Show

See also: *10 Best Drag Clubs in L.A. *Our Latest Theater Reviews The year was 1947. Headlines announced the establishment of the Cominform and the formation of the CIA that marked the non-declaration of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In suburban Glendale, meanwhile, a differ ... More >>

Esther Gutierrez: Mother of the Thrash Scene

By Jason Roche More than 1,000 fans are expected at this year's Thrasho de Mayo festival, drawn by rising upstart local metal acts and some of the genre's heaviest hitters. But no one expected it to get so big. Particularly not Esther Gutierrez, a housewife who put the first one together at the Wh ... More >>

Law To Stop L.A.'s Broken-Meter Parking Tickets Moves Forward

The city of Los Angeles always seems to find creative ways to tax that ass, from $234 moving violations to broken-meter parking tickets. An area state Assemblyman, Mike Gatto, is working to block the city from issuing the latter. Previous state legislation outlawed broken-meter tickets, but it allo ... More >>

Best L.A. Novel Ever: Less Than Zero vs. A Single Man, Lost Souls Regional Final

L.A. Weekly is determining the best L.A. novel ever by holding a tournament featuring 32 of our favorites in head-to-head matchups, until there's only one novel standing. If you're looking for sparse depictions of lost men wandering through their own spiritual crises with Los Angeles as the backdr ... More >>

Geisha Video That Disrespects Asian Americans Made With L.A. Tax Money

Of all thing things the city does with your tax dollars -- writing unnecessary tickets, letting workers drink and go to strip clubs, sending the mayor to Washington every other week -- this has to be the worst. CBS Los Angeles' David Goldstein this week uncovered a video in which a man dresses as a ... More >>

Marijuana: L.A. Police Union Says No Dispensary Is The Best Dispensary

See also: L.A. Voter Guide to Medical Marijuana Measures D, E and F on May 21 Ballot. The fight over the future of L.A.'s marijuana dispensaries has made for some strange bedfellows. After trying to shut down all weed retailers in town, the Los Angeles City Council devised ballot Measure D, a law t ... More >>

Five Dance Shows to See This Week, Including Balanchine's "Rubies"

This week's dance events include Los Angeles Ballet with Balanchine Festival Red, visitors from Canada, and a last chance to meet Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre at the Oasis. See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Thing ... More >>

Koch Brothers' Interest in Los Angeles Times Met With DTLA Rally

People are starving on Skid Row, children go without parents in South L.A., and immigrants will work for practically nothing in this town. But a couple of rich conservatives threaten to buy the Los Angeles Times and -- whoa! -- opponents will hit the streets like anarchists in Seattle:

L.A. Voter Guide to Medical Marijuana Measures D, E and F on May 21 Ballot

Medical marijuana measures D, E and F on L.A.'s May 21 ballot are incredibly high-stakes, and we do mean high. More than 1,000 dispensaries exist in L.A., taking in tens of millions of dollars annually and attracting 100,000-plus clients. Success at the polls will determine which of them get to stay ... More >>

5 Great Cooking Classes In Los Angeles

Few things in life are as rewarding a well-crafted home-cooked meal. No worries if you aren't a master chef; there are plenty of classes out there to help you perfect your techniques -- whether that might be fashioning sushi at home or honing your pasta-making skills. We've rounded up our five favo ... More >>

Porn's Condom Problem Extends To Ventura County Now

The porn industry has threatened to leave L.A. over two mandatory condom laws here. And it has appeared to have shut down much production in L.A. county, with speculation putting porn shoots in neighboring Ventura County, where doing adult video al fresco -- sans Jimmy Hat -- was still legal. No lo ... More >>

Cobalt Cranes Step Out of the Garage

When Cobalt Cranes caught our ear in 2010 with their In Media Rez EP, they'd conjured an appealingly dirty melange of the Stooges and the Vaselines. Now, after the release of their debut full-length LP, Head in the Clouds, they've stepped out of the garage and into a world of pop that's as sweeping ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensary Ban Possible In L.A. After High Court Ruling

Could the city of Los Angeles try to ban all pot shops in town again? It's possible. Supporters of a May 21 measure that would let more than 100 marijuana dispensaries in L.A. survive warned voters this week that the City Council could see enough turnover in the election that cannabis opponents cou ... More >>

When Dancers Take Over Your House

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *5 Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week At first glance, the scene in the terraced backyard with striking views of Los Angeles resembled any other casual house party at dusk. People in comfortable clothes milled around a deck, engaged in chit chat, ... More >>

The 2013 James Beard Chef Awards: Los Angeles Gets The Shaft

The James Beard Chef Awards have just wrapped up in New York City, and Los Angeles took home zero awards. It's hard to resist feeling kinda whiny when looking at the list of winners and considering that New York City got 7 awards and accounted for 50% of all the non-region-specific awards (as well ... More >>