Occupy Wall Street

You're Next, a Slasher Flick for the Occupy Era

The Young and the Heartless: The Gronholm Method and No Love, Reviewed

VIDEO: L.A. Journalists Amber Lyon, Tim Pool, Steven Gregory Shot at by Anaheim Police

Approximately 500 protesters, majority Latino, were showered in police beanbags, rubber bullets and pepper balls last night outside Anaheim City Hall as they rioted over two recent officer-involved shootings in the Orange County town. (And the fight wasn't one-sided: Protesters reportedly hurtled bo ... More >>

Occupy, The Musical? Mr. Satan Goes to Wall Street Gets L.A. Reading

A highly ambitious theater performance dropped Wednesday night in L.A., one that has the aim of helping to revitalize the Occupy Wall Street movement. Performed in a reading by members of the Sacred Fools theater company, Mr. Satan Goes to Wall Street is a full-blown musical satire that's a wistfu ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Is Mad About Supreme Court's Obamacare Ruling

Who knew? Occupy Wall Street (and its Los Angeles faction) hates Obamacare. That's because, though your run-of-the-mill Westside liberal is likely to applaud the "health care for all!" initiative, the more skeptical end of the 99 percent sees it as just another victory for corporate America:

Trayvon Martin Gets the Shepard Fairey Treatment in Ebony Magazine

It was only a matter of time before L.A. street artist (turned international graphic-design star and Obama portraiteer) Shepard Fairey took on Trayvon. We're actually surprised it didn't happen sooner. Though there remains the sporadic rally cry for the young black Florida teen's murderer to be bro ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Survey: Highly Educated White Males Are Most Supportive of Movement

The classic conservative sneer about Occupy Wall Street (and its L.A. faction) is that the protester base is primarily white hipsters/hippies too lazy to get a job. And a new survey out of Loyola Marymount University doesn't exactly contradict the stereotype. Based on input from 1,605 Los Angeles r ... More >>

California Cops Fight Post-Occupy Stigma With Documentary on Officer Fatalities

Occupy Wall Street may have begun as a reaction to greedy banksters, but by the end, the narrative had morphed into kids versus cops. "As a cop you do not want to be that guy with the mask on, with the shield, taking on all these protesters," says Thomas Marchese, a sergeant at the Soledad Police D ... More >>

L.A. Politicians Increase Amount of Money They Can Receive From Unions, Corporations

Smack dab in the middle of an election season, the L.A. City Ethics Commission decided yesterday afternoon to raise the cap on campaign contributions that municipal candidates can collect from their sponsors. In other words: L.A.'s election system just got a little less Democratic, a lot more bough ... More >>

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 >>

VIDEO: UC Students, Occupy L.A. Protesters Shot With Rubber Bullets at Out-of-Control Regents Meeting

University of California police became iconic "bad guys" of the Occupy Wall Street movement back in fall, when an officer from UC Davis pepper-sprayed a peaceful line of protesters directly in the eyes as they sat, motionless, on the ground. (That incident has since been ridiculed, memed and Christm ... More >>

'Occupy,' 'Occupy LA' Trademark Applications Filed by SoCal Entrepreneurs

Here on the Internet news circuit, the Occupy boom has more or less settled. Don't bite our heads off -- we're not saying the movement itself is over, by any means -- but it's nearing the end of its shelf life as a meme. (The young American hive mind has a severe case of ADD, and a story can only st ... More >>

Los Angeles Has Highest Gas Prices in America Right Now

What a fine way to kick off 2012: with some apocalyptic gas prices to sucker-punch an already battered economy. Over the last three weeks, California company Lundberg Survey Inc. finds that gas prices have risen just over 12 cents across the nation. And Lundberg's president tells Bloomberg Business ... More >>

Miley Cyrus Is Hipper And More Liberal Than You. Oh, And She Hates Rick Santorum

She's just being Miley.​Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana is one of the easier Disney shows for adults to sit through. Her voice and wide eyes aren't totally unlike a young Lucille Ball. Still, that might not be enough to make an adult investigate her music. But her surprisingly not-overplayed cat ... More >>

50 Craziest Occupy Movements of 2011

Twenty Eleven has been a year of occupies. Occupations. Occupitudes. You get the idea. Sure, the Occupy Wall Street movement has only been around since September, but since then we've been occupying all manner of whatnot like there's no tomorrow (thanks to the Mayans, there actually might not be on ... More >>

Pepper-Spraying Cops 'Occupied' by Hot Models in L.A. Fashion Shoot by Tyler Shields

Tyler ShieldsOWS porn.​After the Occupy Wall Street raids, and especially one pepper-spraying incident at UC Davis, cops around the country are getting flak in many forms: Anonymous leaks. Twitter wars. Brutality blogs. Christmas sweaters. Memes for days. Actual punishment (sort of). It's off ... More >>

Shepard Fairey Based TIME's 'Person of the Year' Cover on Occupy L.A. Image by Ted Soqui, LA Weekly Photographer

TIME Magazine​Update: The covergirl's name is Sarah Mason. Details below. It's ironic enough that TIME Magazine chose L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey to design today's "Person of the Year" cover, which depicts an anonymous protester peering from between her beanie and bandana. Fairey is the ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Eviction: Is LAPD Restricting Coverage With Last-Minute 'Pool Media'?

[Update, morning after: Awesomely, the "pool" reports turned into a sort of crowd-sourced feed; LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus says he received constant email updates throughout the night from news outlets with soldiers in the pool. So it seems the chosen ones didn't adhere to the LAPD's silly, une ... More >>

'Occupy' Encampment at East L.A. City College Allowed to Stay Until at Least January

Alhambra Source​As the bedraggled Occupy L.A. encampment slowly drains (on its own accord, but under well-planned pressure from the LAPD and City Hall), and attempts to Occupy UCLA have been uprooted by the increasingly despised UC Police Department (did you see that militant line of riot poli ... More >>

Shepard Fairey Designs 'Occupy Hope' Poster, Replaces Obama's Face With 'V for Vendetta' Mask

Updated after the jump: Fairey changes the "Occupy Hope" poster to please occupiers. "Anonymous" hackers, who also rep the Guy Fawkes mask, are likely still unsatisfied. Originally posted November 18 at 3:50 p.m. Here we go again. L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey has released a second original de ... More >>

LAPD Arrests 23 Occupy L.A. Protesters in Downtown Financial District for Civil Disobedience

John Cádiz Klemack via TwitvidCops in riot gear swarmed the financial district this morning.​Update: As of 10:30 a.m., Figueroa has been reopened for cars and foot traffic. The first real arrests of the two-month Occupy L.A. demonstrations just went down at Fourth Street and Figueroa, where ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Clashes With LAPD at Midnight OWS March: Are We Next in Line for Eviction?

ABC7LAPD officers face off with protesters.​Updated at the bottom: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is negotiating with protesters, hoping Occupy L.A. will voluntarily dismantle "without confrontation." Last night was a long one for uprooted protesters at Zuccotti Park in New York: Hundreds of cops re ... More >>

'Occupy the Rose Parade' Plans to Form Human Float, Slip Into Parade Lineup

OWS got puns.​Ah, the Rose Parade. That fresh, floral, ferociously American march of Girl Scouts and City Councilmembers and high-school tuba nerds -- who, every New Year's, make Pasadena's main drag into a 1950s-era celebration of tissue-paper patriotism, and the center of the televised natio ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street Considers Moving to L.A. for Cold Winter Months

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles TimesWill OWS thaw its toes out west?​SoCal's famously bland winter weather is looking mighty appealing to the frozen campers at Occupy Wall Street right about now. The roughly 200 tents occupying New York's Zuccotti Park are facing a long season of snowstorms and fre ... More >>

Occupy L.A. to March in Financial District Downtown For Bank Transfer Day

Alexis Tejada​L.A. has played second fiddle to Occupy Wall Street, where the American movement started, and Occupy Oakland, where it has exploded. But on Saturday the spotlight could finally be on us. That's because National Bank Transfer Day, which has roots here, will be highlighted by the ... More >>

Occupy L.A.'s Dilemma

Protesters share enthusiasm and disenchantment, but need unity to survive

Henry Rollins: The Column! Sleep is the Cousin of Death

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] I have spent well over half of the last 30 years living on the road, all over the world ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including Jeffrey Vallance on Blinky, the Friendly Hen

Courtesy Marc Foxx William Daniels' "Untitled" oil painting, on view at Marc Foxx Gallery through November 12​ My agenda includes a couple risks -- eight hours of United Nations-style debating and a visit to a temporary hotel room. Then there are the sure bets -- a lecture by an inimitably cle ... More >>

Plenty to Occupy in L.A. as Area Ranks Near Top of List of Wealthy Cities in Amerca

L.A. to the bone.​Occupy L.A. is often cast as an offshoot of the epicenter of the movement -- Occupy Wall Street, where protesters are shining a light on the mess bailed-out big banks have made of the nation's economy. But there's plenty to Occupy right here in Southern California. As we not ... More >>

Cheating Charter Schools

Henry Rollins: The Column! Occupy America

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] My editor contacted me the other day and asked if I had an opinion on the Occupy protes ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Sees Casting Call For Young, Hot Protesters Who Want to Join the MTV Real World Movement

​MTV has made an industry this year of recycling its vintage content, from Beavis & Butthead to Liquid Television. Now the network appears to be updating or at least remixing its Real World franchise with a tip of the hat to the Occupy generation. Casting calls in Los Angeles and New York th ... More >>

'Occupy Long Beach' Campers Arrested for Refusing to Vacate Lincoln Park

Occupy Long Beach via Facebook​As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads worldwide, it's also filling itself out here at home -- building slowly but surely in small towns and communities surrounding the big urban hubs. (Occupy Venice, Occupy Northridge, Occupy Irvine, Occupy Riverside, etc.) ... More >>

Shepard Fairey, L.A. Street Artist, Designs Party Invite for Occupy Wall Street

theoccupationparty.comA West Coast legend does his part.​Yup. This just happened. Right after receiving the victorious news from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that Occupy Wall Street doesn't have to move out of Zuccotti Park after all, protest organizers learned they'd been blessed with a S ... More >>

The Thursday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

Flickr/dubh​ What's the country reading today food-wise? Here's a roundup of some of the food-related stories from other newspapers, many of which print their food sections mid-week. And remember, even if you don't actually buy papers these days (or not; this paper is free), it's where most of ... More >>

Some 'Occupy L.A.' Campers Say They've Officially Changed Their Address to City Hall (200 North Spring Street)

Courtesy of Patrick Range McDonaldYou can't foreclose a tent!​L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti might have spoken a little soon when he told hundreds of Occupy L.A. protesters last week to "stay as long as you need." What Garcetti perhaps didn't realize is that Occupy L.A. doesn't wan ... More >>

Tom Morello Speaks On #Occupy: "Check the historical record -- you don't win unless you've got an excellent soundtrack."

Ed Carrasco​See also: Occupy L.A.: Street Musicians Reign at City Hall Music has historically played a strong role in social movements, including those led by Los Angeles artists N.W.A. and Rage Against the Machine. The latter's guitarist -- and longtime activist -- Tom Morello did a little r ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Graphic Design: Six Awesome Signs From the Downtown Protest

Last weekend, along with thousands of other cyclists, I clambered off my bicycle at the intersection of 1st and Main, and joined the crowds surging through the Occupy Los Angeles campsite in a public park off City Hall. Occupy L.A. was just one stop on the CicLAvia route, so demonstrators, perhaps ... More >>

VIDEO: Occupy L.A. Serenaded by Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine Guitarist

The disgruntled campers on L.A. City Hall's front lawn -- suffocating grasses and inspiring driversby since October 1, like it's their job -- got some inspiration of their own this sweaty Saturday. Occupy Wall Street's much larger crowd may have been blessed by badass spoken-word from Brooklyn rapp ... More >>

Faces of Occupy L.A.: The Student, the Actor, the Addict, the Vet

Walking through the tent city out front L.A. City Hall last night, spirits were high. A man in a ragged suit balanced on a fire hydrant, waving a sign with "Join us, don't be scared!" magic-markered in Spanish. Another man, in dreads, lit up some sage on the lawn next to him. Little kids with "99 p ... More >>

'We Are the 53 Percent' Claims Middle Ground Between Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, Tells Protesters to 'Suck It Up'

See also: "Occupy L.A. Now Allowed to Camp on City Hall Lawn: Why Are Politicians Sucking Up to Protesters?" Our very own Gene Maddaus created an enlightening similarities chart between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party yesterday. In short: Same approach, opposite ends of the spectrum. But ther ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party: The Search For Common Ground

Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street slogans. Both like yellow.​Two and a half years ago, the streets overflowed with Tea Party demonstrators. Nowadays, the streets are filled with the ranks of the Occupy Wall Street movement. At Think Progress, Lee Fang argues that the OWSers are the "true" heirs of ... More >>

'Occupy Colleges' Campus Walkout Today Has L.A. as Epicenter: UCLA, Cal State Northridge, Santa Monica College Participate

We had a little fun with the two-man "Occupy USC" operation yesterday. Perhaps the rich kids' school identifies more with the 1 percent of billionaires that is the ire of the Occupy Wall Street movement that started in New York a few weeks back and branched out to L.A. this week. It looks like the ... More >>

'Even Kobe Got Outsourced,' Reads Picket Sign at Occupy Wall Street

J. Larson via LA Taco"A Kobe Bryant themed sign from lower Manhattan."​Amid the Occupy Wall Street crowd of a thousand causes, today, came one non-cause we can totally get behind: Losing Kobe Bryant to Italy. Just in case the Occupy L.A. protesters were forgetting the finish line, what with a ... More >>

Powerful Unions Back Occupy L.A.'s Class Warfare Downtown

Those rabble-rousers that have been stirring things up downtown L.A. in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement just got some powerful backers. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO) said hell yes to Occupy L.A. in a statement released last night. Lest you forget the federatio ... More >>

Occupy LA: Pizza Party Protest

If an army marches on its stomach, on what do social activists march? Pizza, apparently. The puckish protesters of Occupy Wall Street and its West Coast offshoot, Occupy Los Angeles, are hungry, and they want your help fueling this case-study of situationism in the age of the monoculture. They're a ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Demonstrators Plan to Stick Around City Hall Area All Week

Look alive people. The Occupy Wall Street movement that swept New York over the past two weeks finally gained a foothold in L.A. over the weekend. And now participants of Occupy L.A. are marching on the financial district downtown at traffic hour (5 p.m.) today -- and they have events lined up thro ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: Wall Street Protesters Hit L.A. City Hall

​See more photos in "Occupy L.A." The Occupy Wall Street movement came to L.A. today, as several hundred protesters marched on L.A. City Hall. The crowd gathered at around 10 a.m. at Pershing Square, then marched up Broadway to the north lawn of L.A. City Hall. Crowd estimates varied, but it appe ... More >>

Occupy Los Angeles: More Class Warfare Downtown This Weekend

The folks who are fighting back against a conservative onslaught of class warfare (no taxing the rich the same way working class folks are taxed?) are taking over City Hall this weekend. Well, maybe "taking over" is a bit of an exaggeration. After all, this is L.A., and, 1992 not withstanding, our ... More >>