Sylmar

Drunk Guy Gets Stuck In Sylmar Chimney, Calls 911

Drunk and stuck in a chimney is not where you want be when the LAPD comes rolling around. But that was the story for 27-year-old Cuauhtli Castillo Lujano overnight, who told cops he was jumping from roof to roof in Sylmar because "that's what people do." Of course ...

LAPD 'Party Car' in Valley Ready to Bust Your Backyard Shindig

Cops are spread thin in this country-sized city of nearly 500 square miles. Call one and she might come -- if you have a serious emergency. But in the San Fernando Valley, LAPD has found the cash to put police to good use dealing with the scourge known around the Southland as ... teen house parties ... More >>

Tagger Caught In Act At Sylmar Park Flees Into LAPD Party, Cops Say (PHOTOS)

This tagger must have the worst luck ever. Sheriff's officials said today they nabbed three spray-can artists after they were allegedly caught in the act over the weekend at Veterans Memorial Park in Sylmar, which was being patrolled by all-seeing deputies on horseback. That's not the bad-luck par ... More >>

Kevion Roy Hunt, Valley's Alleged 'Ear Gauge Stalker,' Charged With Attempted Rape

The man police say is the "Ear Gauge Stalker" because of the distinctive, stretched holes in the suspect's ears, is facing seven felony counts today. The District Attorney's office announced that 20-year-old Kevion Roy Hunt was hit with allegations of "assault with intent to commit a felony, attem ... More >>

LAPD Party Car Returns To Streets In Time For Halloween

The LAPD's party car is back. And while you might think, yeah, lights and sirens are kind of cool to party to -- woo-woo -- it's not that kind of party car, unfortunately. No, this is an extra patrol unit dedicated to shutting down raucous gangster parties in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. Cop ... More >>

North Carolina Man Shot Walking in L.A.

This is the sad story of why nobody walks in L.A. Police today said a North Carolina man who just moved to the area five months ago was fatally gunned down early this morning in Sylmar. And no one knows why. He wasn't a gangster, it wasn't a gang-infested area, and so far there are no indications ... More >>

Bank Robbery Suspects Toss Cash During Chase, Crowds Form in South L.A. (VIDEO)

Latest updates at the bottom. Another day, another crazy chase. This one had suspects in a Volvo SUV throwing cash out a window. That move apparently drew crowds to the South Los Angeles area near USC where the chase was going around in circles until it came to a stop and alleged bad guys were app ... More >>

L.A. Community College Chose a Watch Dog, Christine Marez, With Ties to Construction Supervisor She Was Supposed to Watch

The hot mess that is the Los Angeles Community College District just got a little messier. An audit by L.A. city controller Wendy Greuel released today found a dumb if not outright shady selection process for an inspector general who happened to have ties to a construction firm accused of shoddy on ... More >>

Top 6 Tacos in the San Fernando Valley

Following up on our list of the 10 Best Tacos in Los Angeles, we decided to look onwards and upwards, towards the San Fernando Valley in search of even more great tacos. And find them we did, especially in Sylmar and Reseda. While you're never too far from a taco truck or taqueria on any given jaun ... More >>

CHP and Copter Catch Guy in High-speed 100-Mile Motorcycle Chase -- Then Guy Makes Out with His Girl

By Andra Lim Police chased a motorcyclist for 100 miles until he ran out of gas in northern San Diego County and began making out with his passenger on Sunday afternoon. It started when the California Highway Patrol tried to pull over the bike on I-5 in the San Fernando Valley, because the motorc ... More >>

Superbowl Drunks to be Targeted All Weekend by LAPD: Here's Your Cheat Sheet

NFL​Are you ready for some ... jail? Thought so. Nothing like a few bars to make a big, football-loving brawler turn into a bawl-er. Ever the Buzz Killington, the LAPD is going balls out -- no pun intended -- for Superbowl weekend, including a "saturation patrol" and DUI checkpoints. We' ... More >>

John Puncel, Former Women's Volleyball Coach, Allegedly Took Upskirt Video at Glendale Galleria: Cops Say Underage Victims Possible

Dearest perverts: Try not to take "upskirt" videos of women going up or down escalators ... while cops are watching you! Doing so while everyone else is watching you is bad enough. But Glendale police this week said they had their peepers on Sylmar's John Puncel as he whipped out his cellphone c ... More >>

Explosion at Pacoima Commercial Building Injures Employees, Takes Out Roof

Google Maps​Updated at the bottom with news that the owner had been cited by California workplace health authorities in the past. First posted at 4:43 p.m. A large explosion seriously injured at least four people and took out a good part of a commercial building in Pacoima today, according to ... More >>

Shoichi Minesaki: North Hollywood Cyclist in His 20s Shot Dead by Possible Gang Members in White Van

ABC7The victim's downed bicycle​Update: The victim has been identified as 19-year-old Shoichi Joe Minesaki of Sylmar. Originally posted June 6 at 9 a.m. Just after 1:30 a.m. this morning, a cyclist in his 20s was fatally gunned down in North Hollywood by a white van full of suspected gang mem ... More >>

Dressing for an Earthquake

Put on your red vest for the big one

Steve Jenkins, LAPD Officer on Night Duty in Sylmar, Shot in Face by Alleged Wife Beater; Neighbor Evacuation, SWAT Standoff Ensue

LAPDK9Officer Steve Jenkins' unit​Updated after the jump: The suspect overcomes tear gas, hot gas and the claws of a construction crane to maintain his stubborn barricade against the LAPD SWAT team. A gated community in the mountainside Valley neighborhood of Sylmar got little sleep last nigh ... More >>

A Sports Field Evaporates

Missing 13-Year-Old Karina Valencia Found Safe After MySpace Scare

LAPDKarina Valencia.​A missing 13-year-old girl was found safe Wednesday night about an hour after a news conference on her case was held by the Los Angeles Police Department. Karina Valencia was spotted riding in a car in Sylmar by officers on patrol who decided to take a closer look when the ... More >>

LAPD Fears MySpace Rendezvous Behind Case Of Missing 13-Year-Old Sylmar Girl

LAPDKarina Valencia.​Updated with upcoming news conference about possible connection to a gang-related shooting. Originally posted at 10:08 a.m. Police this week were searching for a missing 13-year-old girl who they fear might have met a male on MySpace and possibly fled with him. The girl's ... More >>

Libraries Can't Be Used As Cooling Centers Sunday -- Budget Cuts Are Closing Them

​ So the city sends out a press release today with a heat wave notice, warning residents of temperatures downtown in the mid 90s, up to 106 in the valley and up to 110 in the mountains. (Given that we were told that East Coast snowstorms "proved" global warming is a myth earlier this year by ... More >>

Today In WTF (Part 2): Siblings Arrested For Allegedly Injecting Patients With Plastic Butt Implants

​Now, specializing in booty implants is strange enough (it's a particular, Latino taste -- don't ask). But cops say two San Fernando Valley siblings -- not recognized doctors in the United States, mind you -- allegedly specialized in butt and face implants that were not, apparently, made of me ... More >>

Child Killed By Vehicle Being Pursued By LAPD

​A child about 4- or 5-years-old was struck and killed by a vehicle that was being chased by police, and the driver remained at large, authorities said. It all started at 6:19 p.m. Thursday near Foothill Boulevard and Terra Bella Street in Sylmar when police responding to a call about a man wi ... More >>

LAPD Chief Beck Agonizes Over Death Of Girl After Police Pursuit

​Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck Thursday night went to the scene of the death of a 6-year-old girl who was killed when a vehicle chased by patrol units hit her, and his comments made it clear he agonized over her demise. He said it's always a tough call to make on whether or not to call ... More >>

Loan-Mod Agents Get Faces Modified

Not to blame the victims, but this was bound to happen. The home-loan modification business has been filled with so many sharks that state Attorney General Jerry Brown has called the entire statewide industry a "shadowy world." The source of his ire are those companies that take cash up front from h ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide No. 178, Man Killed in Sylmar Gang Shooting

A man who was gunned down July 31 in what appears to be a gang-related shooting in Sylmar has been identified as 35-year-old Antonio Arenas. View Larger Map The three suspects are currently on the lam. The 10:30 a.m. shooting occurred at Roxford Street and San Fernando Road. According to police, t ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Gang Ban An L.A. judge has okayed a D.A.-proposed injunction preventing Glendale's Toonerville street gang members from congregating in an area totaling 5.75 square miles. City News ServiceTicketmaster Scalped West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster lost $1.07 billion in its 2008 fourth quarter. The compa ... More >>

Today in Photographs: February 9, 1971

An LAFD ambulance crew removes a dead man near downtown's Midnight Mission following the Sylmar earthquake, which claimed 65 lives. A second man nearby was injured.Photo: Bob Steiner/LAPL Collection

Bollywood Goes East — Far East — for Chandni Chowk to China

Kung fu pandamonium

Sylmar Fire's Lady Looters

They stole Gucci baubles and embarrassed L.A. globally, as 500 homes burned

It's Only Rock and Roll but I Like It: Music as a Soundtrack to Life

Music is exceptionally - my wife may say irrationally - important to me. I can walk into a store, determined to spend hundreds of dollars, only to turn around and walk right back out if something horrible is playing inside. Music has never been disposable background noise; it's defined me, inspired ... More >>

Update on Sayre Fire in Sylmar: Biggest Arson Investigation in Los Angeles history?

Updated at 4:53 pm and revised number of homes burned Los Angeles police and fire officials are now floating the chilling possibility that they may find bodies inside the Oakridge Park mobile home neighborhood once they get a handle on the Sayre Fire, still only 10 percent contained. By their calcul ... More >>

Sylmar fire in Los Angeles could become a "siege"

NOTE: This post is about the Sylmar fire in October of 2008. For news on the Sylmar fire of November 15, 2008, click here. Note: 10:41 a.m. update regarding the Martin Mars amphibious craft capable of dropping thermogel. With a wall of fire hundreds of feet long in places, wind-driven smoke billow ... More >>

A Pasadena Author Researching Jogging Trails Cracks an Old Serial-Killer Case

Weston Dewalt's amazing year

Peddling Smart Growth

Call your project “smart” — even when it isn't — and get millions in public funds.

a Few of Our Favneighborhoodbookstores A&m Book Cellars Alias Books Counterpoint Records and Books t

Music Picks

For the week of July 13 - 20

Running Man

Streets of Intervention

William “Blinky” Rodriguez

Big Man On Campus

Taking Down the Vineland Boyz

Another Valley raid targets gang named in two cop killings

Bad Night for the Vineland Boyz

Huge raid could be a mortal blow to notorious Valley gang

These Are the People Who Died

2004 flier-party body count

Happy Balloons and Homicide

Entering the dangerous world of flier parties

Stageworks

Breaking into L.A. theater on, off and around the stage

The Mayor Blinked

And for L.A. it came just in time

Barrio Logic

Immigration will revitalize Fortress L.A.

Jersey West

Why create a Garden State in the Golden State?

Black Magic, White Funk

A Broadway hit and a pair of new plays