South Dakota

Washington D.C. Trumps California As Most Gay Place in the United States, Says UCLA Study

With all its gay equality laws and gay-friendly cities, you'd think California would have the gayest population by percentage in the nation. Not so, according to a new study from UCLA's Williams Institute. It appears Washington D.C. and eight other states are actually gayer. According to research ... More >>

Packaged Spinach Recalled Due to Salmonella

Can we all finally agree that bagged spinach (and lettuce) is a bad idea? Salinas-based Fresh Express is conducting a voluntary recall of 9-ounce packages of its spinach due to possible contamination with Salmonella, according to a company press release. The affected batch has a use-by date of Nov. ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! The Failings of Music Writers

[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.] A few nights ago, we took the tour bus into the massive parking lot of a Walmart in South Dako ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! Our 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.] Today: I am in Oklahoma City. Outside the tour bus, the wind is blowing nonstop, hair-dryer ho ... More >>

Gangi Makes Music From Instruments, Computers and Leaf Blowers

While the sound of the Glendale-based duo Gangi -- composed of Matt Gangi and Eric Chramosta -- has been called psych rock, that doesn't do justice to their delicate arrangement of noises and tones. It's art really, or sonic architecture (as they call it). That term might sound pretentious, if what ... More >>

DocuWeeks 2012 Preview

DocuWeeks tackles issues ranging from a gay bishop to an underwater garden in Baja

Alfonso Ribeiro's 'Carlton Dance' Flash Mob Attempts Record (For Dorkiest Moves): VIDEO

Updated at the bottom with crowd estimates. First posted at 5:30 a.m. Alfonso Ribeiro of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air might do the nerdiest, preppiest dance of all time. But that didn't stop hundreds if not thousands of followers from joining him yesterday at Universal CityWalk and other locales in ... More >>

USDA Relents on Pink Slime; Schools Can Opt Out

The people spoke, and they said, "No more pink slime!" And this time, the feds actually listened, kind of. Last Monday, we told you how the U.S. Department of Agriculture was planning on shipping out 7 million pounds of "pink slime" to be added to the lunches of unknowing urchins at public school ... More >>

California is America's Most-Hated State, According to Public Policy Polling

Don't hate us because we're beautiful. Or do. It turns out the left-most state is also America's most-hated, according to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling. And California's left-leaning politics seem to have a lot to do with it. The Golden State is the most-disliked in the union, and Hawai ... 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 >>

Invisible Skins: Aboriginal Americans Get Visible in Griffith Park

Johnny Jackson is an urban Native American. He is clean-cut, well-spoken and looks young for his 21 years. At the moment, he is sitting in a small tent with his mom and sisters, preparing to don his traditional regalia and sing and dance at a powwow in Griffith Park. Cover band Dog Day is blasting " ... More >>

American Farmhouse: A New Location, an Old Look

Barbara Hansenthe dining room at American Farmhouse​ There couldn't be a happier place than American Farmhouse Tavern & Dining Hall in Manhattan Beach. Happy hour ($4 wines, beers, well drinks and appetizers) is whenever you want to go, lunch, late afternoon or from 9 p.m. until midnight. N ... More >>

Terrence Malick at LACMA

Filmmaker gets retrospective in advance of upcoming Tree of Life

Mongols vs. Hells Angels

APPARENTLY, SOMEONE STILL GIVES A CRAP ABOUT SHANNEN DOHERTY

Comic-Con Stays In San Diego, Turns Down Los Angeles

​After flirting with Los Angeles, Anaheim and even Las Vegas, it looks like organizers of the annual Comic-Con convention will stay in San Diego for another five years. Nerds across L.A. are sighing right about now. Sorry guys, you'll have to catch Olivia Munn on G4 as usual. The good news: T ... More >>

CDC: We're Not Eating Our Fruits and Vegetables

Flickr/Kirti PoddarHow Americans prefer to eat their fruit ​ Not only are Americans not eating enough fruits and vegetables--something we've been nagged about for years--our diets are actually getting worse, according to a Centers for Disease Control report released September 9th. Not one st ... More >>

Ventura Roadtrip: A & F Country Market for Local Bee Pollen, Pickles and South Dakota Jam

J. GarbeeA & F Country Market​If you're trekking up the 101 to Ventura anytime soon for the last-of-summer surfing, fishing or general beach lounging, one of the best places to donate a few dollars to the local economy in thanks on your way out of town is at A & F Country Market, a roadside ma ... More >>

Pot Arrests For African-Americans In L.A. County More Than Four Times That Of Whites

These numbers are too high.​A look at booking stats for California's 25 most-populated areas finds that in Los Angeles County African-Americans have a marijuana-possession arrest rate that's 332 percent higher than that for whites. The report, "Targeting Blacks For Marijuana," was released th ... More >>

Juries Sympathetic To Pot Shop Owners Nabbed For Selling Weed

​If San Diego serves as an example, the Los Angeles District and City attorneys' crackdowns on medical marijuana dispensaries in recent weeks could all be for nothing: Juries in our neighbor to the south are two for two in acquitting pot-shop owners prosecuted for selling weed. In both cities ... More >>

Does San Diego's Comic-Con Want To Move Closer To Hollywood?

​San Diego's homegrown Comic-Con convention has grown from a meet-up of comic-book-obsessed nerds-in-costume to a must-stop pop culture phenomenon with influence that reaches the top echelons of franchise-crazed Hollywood. As such, there are rumblings that the summer gathering could leave S.D. ... More >>

Battle Royale

Well-Preserved: Playa del Rey, Ennio Morricone and the L.A. Burrito

Billy Jack Is Back at the Los Angeles Film Festival

LAFF restores a drive-in classic to its karate-chopping glory

LA People 2009: Cinema Enabler — Paolo Davanzo

The Crystal Method, J-Boogie, King Most and Jeremy Sole

The Friendly Hour

Theater Reviews: Red Scare on Sunset, Miracle in Rwanda

Also, Going to Meet the Man, The House of Blue Leaves and more

The Obama Moment: Who Said the Revolution Wouldn't Be Televised?

While McCain tried on the cloak of change and the Clintons avoided admitting defeat, America made history

Attacking Indian Gaming, Defending LAUSD's Superintendent

Our readers write

Best Escape From L.A.

The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

Wanderlust

Hitch Couture drives fashion home

Tweaking Bill O'Reilly

The Bastard Fairies’ new paradigm for indie promotion

Rock Picks

For the week of Jan 12 – 18

Follow Me to Certain Death: An Evening with Vanessa Renwick

Sex and the City

Leaving Home

In defense of secession

The Plainsman

George McGovern’s close-up

Leaving Home

In defense of secession

A Drop in the Ocean

Pose and Mean It

Leaves

Homo Hate

Kerry loses to Rove’s anti-gay hysteria

That Fucking Deadwood

Still no place to live, but a compelling one to visit

Aborting Abortion Rights — Then and Now

New details from Blackmun’s papers show how 1992 begets 2004

The Genuine Article

Paul Wellstone, 1944–2002

Party Animals

Gray has a blast; Dick, a sour time

The Coffee Table

Our annual capitulation to last-minute, support-your-local-bookstore holiday commercialism

Hoop Dreams

Ian Frazier on SuAnne Big Crow, Sherman Alexie and life on the rez