Santa Monica

Obama Coming To L.A., Still Wants Our Money Despite Election Win

Did President Obama not get the memo? The election is over. You don't need to tap L.A.'s rich people for campaign money anymore. You won. Wait, what? Ah: There are midterm congressional elections on the horizon. Democrats want to crack the alleged gridlock imposed by Republican filibusters. Friggin ... More >>

More Events: The Hungry Cat's 2-Year Anniversary, Casino Angeleno Taste of the Eastside

The Hungry Cat's Two-Year Anniversary David Lentz is celebrating the second anniversary of The Hungry Cat's Santa Monica location by offering happy hour menu and oysters at half price all day today. WHAT: The Hungry Cat's Two-Year Anniversary WHEN: Thursday, April 25 WHERE: The Hungry Cat, 100 W. C ... More >>

What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Cherimoya from Rincon Del Mar Ranch

Linda Mark, the Farmers Market Fairy, is every L.A. market's resident produce gossip. Her celebrities are generally the sessile sort -- piles of citrus or stone fruits depending on the season or farmers trapped behind scales and tables helping customers. Her enthusiasm for both is infectious and re ... More >>

Strip Mall Rat: On the Corner of Santa Monica and Highland

It seems only fitting that L.A. Weekly's newest recurring feature, Strip Mall Rat, would begin with one of the most infamous intersections in the city: Santa Monica Blvd. and Highland Ave. The corner strip mall and surrounding sidewalk has long been known as a haven for all sorts of unsavory charact ... More >>

West Hollywood Bans Flannel

After weeks of controversy and much public comment, the West Hollywood City Council gave final approval last night to its ban on flannel. This ban comes hot on the heels of West Hollywood's ban on fur sales, voted into law in 2012 and effective earlier this year. One important difference is that th ... More >>

10 Haunted (Maybe) Los Angeles Restaurants and Bars for Celebrating Halloween

Masked monsters -- or actors -- may be screaming and grunting for our attention at theme park-style events around town this Halloween, but there are plenty of places in Los Angeles for a trip into the city's past. Back in the days when "trunk murders" caught the public imagination and it was easy t ... More >>

10 Best Workouts in L.A. for People Who Hate Working Out

See also: *Our Best of L.A. issue and our Best of L.A. app *Top 10 Bars With the Hottest Women in L.A. *Top 10 Gyms in L.A. *10 Bars Most Likely to Get You Laid in L.A. Running is boring. Treadmills make me feel like a rat in an experiment. And tennis -- my racket is somewhere, and, do do I have t ... More >>

Cooking With Farmers: David West of Clearwater Farms' Mushroom Tips His Chanterelle-Corn Risotto Recipe

Hang out long enough with David West, a.k.a. "the mushroom man" of Clearwater Farms, and eventually a farmers market customer is bound to ask the "Big O" question. "Well, shiitakes are grown on oak blocks, so until someone decides to make certified organic oak trees, no, these are not organic," says ... More >>

73: Wood-Roasted English Peas at Tar & Roses

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 73: Wood-Roasted English Peas at Tar & Roses. Andrew Kirchner's Santa Monica restaurant excels at small bites -- which is saying a lot during time in which mos ... More >>

L.A. Metro Unveils New Expo Line, Approves Billions More in Rail; Gadfly in Obama Mask Isn't Happy

The inimitable John Walsh, L.A.'s favorite gadfly (unless you work at City Hall), will show up to protest the triumphant Expo Line opening at USC today, where the train will reportedly break through a welcome banner as confetti and cannon fireworks go off in the background. The Bus Riders Union is ... More >>

Alexander Merman, Russian-born Artist Stabbed To Death in Santa Monica, Was Victim of Murder-For-Profit Scheme, Police Say

Updated at bottom: police believe there may be more victims out there. First posted at 10:54 a.m. on Mar. 2. Police believe they have identified the man responsible for the death of Alexander Merman, the Russian-born artist who was found stabbed to death inside his apartment in Santa Monica in 200 ... More >>

10 Best Beer Bars In Los Angeles

With craft beer L.A.'s current unyielding obsession, it seems crazier than a 55% ABV beer that four short years ago that we were celebrating, along with dozens of tube sock-clad homebrew club sorts, the first local bars to land coveted cask-conditioned ales on tap. My how that fedora-topped draft be ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Margarita Dinner, Union des Grands Crus, Meat 101, Soba Workshop, Art Soup Night, DineLA

Margarita Dinner This four-course dinner from executive chef Alex Moreno features a different margarita (made with Don Julio tequila) to complement each dish. The menu includes lobster ceviche, braised pork belly with an artichoke sunchoke ragout and arroz con leche. WHEN: 7 p.m., Thu. Jan. 19 WHER ... More >>

The World in Dumplings: Or, Not Living By XLB Alone

Dear Mr. Gold: I'd like to do a tour of the world's cuisines through dumplings. Xiao long bao [Chinese soup dumplings] may be my favorite food on Earth, but one does not live by XLB alone. So far I've got momo, gyoza, shui jiao, samosa and piroshki on the list, even though the latter two are perhaps ... More >>

Drink Your Veggies: Farm-Fresh Cocktails

A ArmstrongMichael's Mix​4 out of 5 doctors agree*: One should eat at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Most everyone else* agrees: That seems ambitious. Let us toast to the health of our local publicans, the men and women who scour the weekly farmers markets to source fr ... More >>

Occupy L.A: As City Debates Cost of Occupation, Port Spends Nearly $200,000 on Party

Moet & ChandonDrink up, City Hall.​As the skies of tolerance for Occupy L.A. are getting gloomy (both Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and city Councilman Bill Rosendahl have expressed that there are limits to how long demonstrators can camp out next to City Hall), our own tolerance for bullshit gro ... More >>

Art Gallery Food Files: The Evolution of Exhibition Opening Food

jgarbeeNew Opening Night Diversity: Heels Chef Clogs At Gallery KM​There was a time when art gallery openings typically featured a cubed cheese platter and the sort of cheap wine that made even die-hard red wine drinkers switch to white for the night. (The chill helped mask the unpleasantnes ... More >>

L.A. City Hall Offers Gensler, Wealthy SaMo Architect, $1 Million in Community Grants to Move East

Funny how L.A. City Councilmembers are acting all sympathetic toward the 99 percent camping on their front lawn -- then making sweet deals with millionaire companies so the well-off don't have to pay a dime. When as far as we can tell, that's pretty much exactly the type of behavior Occupy is spitti ... More >>

One-Time Use of a Leaf Blower in Manhattan Beach Could Land You in Jail

Photo courtesy of the Manhattan Beach Anti-Leaf Blower Association (ALBA). Really.​Ah, Manhattan Beach. Where celebrities sick of paparazzi camping outside their Santa Monica/WeHo/Beverly Hills mansions go to live their lives in peace -- a sea-breeze neighborhood just gorgeous and classy enoug ... More >>

Eat This Now: Churros at Churros Calientes

T. Nguyen​ We love Salina's Churro Truck and Mr. Churro and other wonderful places that offer Mexican-style churros, but every once in a while, our sweet tooth gets a hankering for the type of churros you'd find served in parts of Spain and Venezuela. These are a smaller, a bit more delicate ... More >>

Grazing for Grass-Fed Beef at the Hollywood Farmers Market

We eat hamburgers rarely.  That is, we eat them cooked rare and not very often, maybe once every few months.  Why so infrequently?  Because commercial ground beef, recalled, it seems, nearly as often as it is not, scares us more than serial killers.  We don't want to end up a sad feature in th ... More >>

Bite Bar Closes in Santa Monica

Bite Bar​Bite Bar in Santa Monica has closed, as of yesterday -- though chef Elizabeth Goel plans to revamp the concept and introduce "a new format" i.e. catering and special events. The small restaurant and bakery, which opened in March of 2010, was known for its baked goods (especially the ... More >>

The New York Times: Los Angeles on $100 a day

chotda/Flickrmorning glory salad at Jitlada​ People choose to travel in ways that reflect their values. We know a well-heeled dentist who refuses to pay for a hotel in Los Angeles because his daughter has a comfortable couch. We know threadbare food fanatics who splurge on Korean barbecue b ... More >>

More Santa Monica Place Market Vendors: N'Ice Cream, Venokado, Etc.

N'Ice Cream co-owner Christian Toxboe​ The Market at the new Santa Monica Place, the totally renovated Frank Gehry-designed Santa Monica mall that reopened (huge crowds, mall food, some slightly better mall food, etc.) in early August, is slowly adding more and more shops to the list of those ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: Lasagna to Go? Try the "Cupcakes" from Heirloom L.A.

Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menu​Dear Mr. Gold: This weekend, we're having some fellow parents over for a playdate with our 2-year-olds, and then dinner. With all that 2-year-old energy going on, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to buy a lasagna, so I don't have to slave away in th ... More >>

Yes, Anisette Brasserie Is Open: Changes Coming, Stay Tuned

Anisette Brasserie is open today, and will be open tomorrow. If you were wondering, given conflicting news to the contrary. A press release today announcing that the Santa Monica restaurant had closed was followed shortly afterwards by another one announcing that it is still open, but that there wou ... More >>

California Getting $149 Million From U.S. For Distressed Properties: City Of L.A.'s Cut Is Nearly $10 Million

TheTruthAbout ... via Flickr​It was really nice of the Obama administration to dedicate another $149 million to California communities torn by housing foreclosure. But we wonder if the money could be better spent. In announcing the cash influx Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urba ... More >>

Music Picks: Circa Survive, Joanna Newsom, El-P, Roots Roadhouse

Also, Scorpions, Viza, the Park and others

Mark Ruwedel: "Now it is Dark" at Gallery Luisotti

Live in L.A.: At the movies with Isaac Brock, Band of Horses, Angus & Julia Stone, Peter Himmelman, the Airborne Toxic Event

​Think of it as an indie rocker with extra butter. Modest Mouse main man Isaac Brock is in town tonight to perform a short set after a screening of a documentary to which he (along with James Mercer, Jack Johnson and others) contributed music. The film is "180º South," which retraces a 1968 t ... More >>

'Dad' Who Used Cash To Lure Boys Pleads Guilty In Sex Tourism Case

Sex tourism in Thailand.​A 75-year-old who dropped money in a Cambodian town as a ruse to attract boys to molest pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Friday to federal sex charges as part of a plea agreement, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Jack Louis "Dad'' Sporich, a former Santa Monica r ... More >>

Where Can a Girl With Attitude Take a Guy on a First Date?

More BBQ love heating up around town: Nick Stef's Thursday, Rustic Canyon on the 4th, Ford's Filling Station in July

Photo credit: TheBittenWord.comBBQ madnessMore restaurants are piling on the barbecue love we're seeing so much of this year. Add Rustic Canyon to the list. Owner Josh Loeb is turning the casually genteel Santa Monica restaurant into a hub of smoky action on Saturday, July 4 only, starting at 4:00. ... More >>

Today in Photographs: June 8, 1976

Jane Fonda and husband Tom Hayden, with their son Troy, en route to vote near their home in Santa Monica in the California primary. Hayden had challenged incumbent Democratic Senator John V. Tunney but lost. Tunney was defeated the following November by Republican candidate S.I. Hayakawa.LA Times/UC ... More >>

GO LA: Dead Poets, Dead Writers and Denis Leary

Plus lots more to mourn and celebrate in town (not necessarily in that order), April 3-9

Grammy Grumblings, Jon Hassell, the John Heard Trio and others

Jazz in L.A., February 13-19

Nightranger Catches the Party Bug at BPM

Vapors and Filter mag's holiday parties, and getting sicko on disco at Shits & Giggles too

A Changing of the Guard at the Westwood March

Fore more photos, view Ted Soqui's Westwood protest slideshow. Related Posts: Patrick Range McDonald's "The Last, Passionate Rant of a Long Night in West Hollywood" Patrick Range McDonald's "The Long March to the Mormon Temple" Joe Donnelly's "Election 08: What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Prop ... More >>

Seeking the Rage: Among the Protesters at the Democratic National Convention

The group Recreate '68 tries to ignite the passion of another generation

The Mission (Accomplished)

The Big Picture

Patrick Ecclesine shoots like a boy

That's the Spirit

Zealots on Parade

Bush backers stare down their nemesis in Santa Monica

The American in the French Kitchen

Love is Blonde

Edited by Kateri Butler

The Farmers Market School

Soul at Sea

Santa Monica’s lust for dollars may cost it dearly in charm and character

Deirdre O’Donoghue, 1946–2001

Murder in a Santa Monica Squat

The death of 14-year-old Shevawn Geoghegan

Love Among the Ruins

A Long Island delight, a Santa Monica snore