Manufacturing Sector

Sorry, Echo Park: Highland Park Is L.A.'s Greatest Neighborhood

It recently came to my attention that a fellow L.A. Weekly scribe published a piece heralding Echo Park as the greatest of L.A.'s many fine neighborhoods. While I have nothing against Echo Park personally, and have spent many an evening cruising its colorful streets in search of entertainment and/or ... More >>

Her Milkshakes Bring All the Boys to the Yard

Liquid Chips? Pepsi Looks To "Drinkify" Snacks

Would you drink your Fritos? How about potato chips? Beer nuts? You may get a chance, because PepsiCo, looking to diversify it's market, is planning to turn snacks into drinks. The Financial Times reports on the remarks of PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi, who said "The fact that PepsiCo is a fo ... More >>

Lawsuit Alleges Hebrew National Products are Not Kosher

"We answer to a higher authority" is Hebrew National's slogan, but at least eleven consumers in Minnesota aren't so sure: The group is suing ConAgra Foods, Inc., the parent company of Hebrew National, alleging that Hebrew National's products are not kosher. According to Reuters, the lawsuit alleges ... More >>

Proposition 29 Cigarette Tax

Why it may fail in liberal California

Mars to Eliminate King-Size Candy Bars

Shrink-size me? Candy bar maker Mars Inc. has announced that it is doing away with king-size candy bars. The company says that by the end of 2013, it will only sell chocolate products that have 250 calories per portion, the Chicago Tribune reports. While some might see the move as a cost-saving me ... More >>

Ready Pac Recalls Bagged Romaine Salads

FDAToss your salad.​ Irwindale-based Ready Pac Foods Inc. is recalling 5,379 cases of bagged salad products containing romaine lettuce because they may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, Reuters reports. The voluntary recall includes a dozen different salad products including Caesar salad ... 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 >>

Food Ads Geared Toward Children: Gov't Waffling on "Voluntary" Guidelines

Happy Clippings​ Is Uncle Sam trying to control what the kids eat these days? Well, maybe just their sugar intake. Earlier this year, the government proposed "voluntary guidelines" for food advertising. The proposed regulations asked companies to cut back on marketing to children between ages ... More >>

Sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup: Court Battle Begins

Guzzle & NoshA little sugar in your bowl?​This morning in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, a bitter legal battle begins over identity. In one corner, a coalition of table sugar producers complaining about false advertising and attempted "food identity theft." In the other, high fructose corn ... More >>

Ben & Jerry's Releases Schweddy Balls Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry's​Back in June, those of us whose love for ice cream is rivaled perhaps only by our love for Alec Baldwin were intrigued by the rumor that Ben & Jerry's was coming out with a Schweddy Balls ice cream flavor. Too good to be true, we thought. Just like the rumor that Baldwin was goin ... More >>

Ferran Adrià Partners with PepsiCo: Your Nitrogen Tank, My Convenience Food

El BulliCan you find the vending machine in this flow chart?​ Ferran Adrià does like to play with products. And the El Bulli chef has a history of innovation and unlikely pairings. But Pepsi? Recently PepsiCo announced a partnership with Adrià, to work on procedures and techniques for new sn ... More >>

Schweddy Balls Ice Cream: Ben & Jerry's Newest Flavor, or A Very Good Joke

Mostly we try and stay away from telephone tag rumor, but this one is just too beautiful not to pass along. Gothamist reports that SNL's Ana Gasteyer has said in an interview that Ben & Jerry's, the ice cream company that has brought us Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream flavor, will be coming out ... More >>

Can John Deasy Fix Huntington Park High?

LAUSD superintendent faces his first test at a disastrous, fractured school

Yolie Flores, Departing L. A. Unified School Board Member, Got Pushback From Student Anti-Reform Pawns

Ted SoquiYolie Flores​Yolie Flores, lifelong voice for families and students, recently decided not to return to her chair on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board. Her disheartening enlightenment about the state of the district is chronicled in this week's L.A. Weekly print story 'The Educ ... More >>

School Reformer Yolie Flores Departs LAUSD to Fight From Outside

She forced through the most radical idea in recent lausd history. So why’s she leaving for a Bill Gates start-up?

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 >>

Scientists Crack Genetic Code for World's Best Cacao

GastronomyCacao Sampaka, Madrid​An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome for criollo, a cacao variety that reportedly produces some of the best chocolate in the world. The results, published in the latest issue of Nature Genetics, could eventually lead to new and improved v ... More >>

Schwarzenegger's Chemical Romance

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

Kids in the Courtyard

Best of Artisanal LA: Compartes' Peanut Butter Spread

I'm not sure what to call the peanut butter concoction Compartes Chocolatier was selling at this weekend's Artisanal LA fest. Paste? Filling? Frosting? What I do know is that it was the first time the Brentwood chocolatier packed their peanut butter cream into jars and offered them for sale. Imagin ... More >>

Meeting Your Makers: Locally Made Mozzarellas

D. GonzalezBurricotta from Angelo & Franco​ The first time, it took a bit of nerve. A roadtrip down the 10, then the 60. The exchange was quick but friendly. The fresh mozzarella and burrata was worth it. But now burrata has become easier to find both at markets like Whole Foods and on r ... More >>

Peru Day

L.A.'s Best Chocolate Shops: Because Nothing Says I Love You, Mom More Than A Sea Salt Fudge Truffle

Since we're on a tight budget (hey, the recession might be letting up but we're in no position to splurge) chocolate is our go-to Mother's Day gift. There's only a few days left until the big day so if you're in the last-minute "I need a present for Mom ASAP" predicament, we've created a neighborhoo ... More >>

U.S. Seeks $16 Million-Plus Fine From Toyota

​The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is seeking the maximum fine of more than $16 million against Toyota Motor Corporation for remaining silent about acceleration problems four months even though it allegedly knew about its "sticky pedal" issues, the U.S. Department of T ... More >>

After SoCal P.R. Victory, Toyota On Counteroffensive (But Still Secretive)

​We're hard-pressed to think of any other facet of life where a company that might have caused accidents worth possible millions in liability and lost sales is able to investigate itself. But that seems to be the case as Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. gets another crack at a runaway ... More >>

L.A. Lost Nearly 57,000 Manufacturing Jobs In The Last Year

​The Los Angeles region lost 56,681 manufacturing jobs -- more than the population of Culver City -- from February 2009 to February 2010, according to Manufacturers' News Inc. data cited in the San Francisco Business Times. The job losses represent the bulk of California's shrinking manufactu ... More >>

PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE BAND AND BLOW IT

Industry Titans To Discuss Fossil Fuel Alternatives For Auto Industry

Ahead of this week's Los Angeles International Auto Show, a select group of industry titans is gathering at the Hammer Museum in Westwood Tuesday to discuss alternative fuels and new technologies for the auto industry. Scheduled attendees include Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive, John Krafci ... More >>

Chocolate Wars: Kraft Lauches Hostile Takover Bid of Cadbury Chocolate

Can you wage war over chocolate? Sure you can. Just ask the Aztecs. But it seems kind of funny to have candy companies launch hostile takeovers of each other, as if a lunchroom battle had suddenly turned very ugly. But that's just what's been happening with Cadbury, the 185 year-old English chocolat ... More >>

Mattel Uses Own 'Barbie Labs' to Test for Lead

The Associated Press reports that El Segundo-headquartered Mattel Inc. has been granted an exemption from a federal law requiring that toy makers have their products tested for lead ​content at third-party laboratories. Instead, the makers of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels will be allowed to test its ... More >>

Auto Design Discussion

New York Times Gentrifies Highland Park

There's nothing purer than the anger of someone whose neighborhood has been praised by the wrong people, for the wrong reason. A case in point is blogger Chimatli, who relates a story in L.A. Eastside in response to that Sunday New York Times piece on Highland Park ("few would ever confuse Highland ... More >>

Toymaker Claims Smackdown Win Over WWE

Jakks PacificThe L.A. Business Journal quotes Malibu-based toymaker Jakks Pacific Inc.'s claim that a U.S. appellate court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. The wrestling-promotion outfit had accused Jakks "of bribery and other actions," according to LABJ. The ... More >>

Lonnie Kane

In a land of sweatshops, Karen Kane Inc. stands out by paying its workers full medical benefits even in hard economic times

Comedy Director Richard Quine's Desperate Characters and Lonely Hearts

Beyond screwball

Mathew Cullen and Javier Jimenez

Heart and soul

Fuel's Gold

While Bush and Schwarzenegger rush to market biofuels, the fact is that not all ethanol is created equally.

Y'all Don't Come Back

Country music, aerospace manufacturing and the white working class leave town

Better Mileage On Ice

Why refrigerators are more efficient than cars

Clean Air vs. Cancer

A federal judge re-affirms California's authority to fight pollution

Dirty Prices

Governor and Barbara Boxer push ethanol

Kissing Up to Arnold

A blatant picture of influence peddling in the Governor’s Office

Losing Our Shirts

An unhappy New Year looms for American apparel makers

Out of Gas

Auto industry cancels plans to kill anti-global-warming bill at ballot box

It Was a Doll Revolution

Set Em' up, Buddy

No-Tell Mattel

Censorware maker slams the censor busters

Down the Tubes

U.S. balks at European rule that manufacturers recycle toxic computers

The Scream of the Hard Drive, the Roar of the Fan