Tibby Rothman

L.A. Press Club Announces Awards Finalists; LA Weekly Gets 21 Nods

LA Weekly and its journalists comprise 21 finalists in the Los Angeles Press Club's 55th Southern California Journalism Awards. The finalists were announced today and include Gene Maddaus for Journalist of the Year and Hard News story and Simone Wilson, Hillel Aron, and this writer for Hard News as ... More >>

Related California Breaks Ground on Grand Avenue after Years of Delays and Controversy

Read "Grand Avenue Drenched in Misdirection" by Tibby Rothman. It's been promised for years, but developer Related California finally broke ground for the first private component of the multi-billion-dollar Grand Avenue Project in downtown Los Angeles, with mayoral candidate and City Councilwoman J ... More >>

Why Antonio Villaraigosa, Barack Obama's Top Cheerleader, Has Been Deemed a 'Failure' in Los Angeles

With the Democratic National Convention now over, it's clear that President Barack Obama has chosen, of all people, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be a high-profile cheerleader for his 2012 re-election campaign. That decision has caused a lot of head scratching in Los Angeles. He was, a ... More >>

WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, Which Celebrated Hot Tubs as a Metaphor in '70s Venice, Gets a New Book (NSFW)

It was in 1977, in a bathroom in Berkeley, that architect Mark Mack put his body on the line for his fellow man. As a photographer stood by to record the action, a naked Mack gingerly lowered himself, ass first, into a bathtub. The shoot had a simple objective: Demonstrate how a man could enter a b ... More >>

Chasing Humbert Humbert

If Everybody Had an Ocean

$109,000 Salaries to 'Redevelop' The Ghetto? L.A. Leaders Abandon Overpaid City Agency

Despite its whining about Gov. Jerry Brown's successful move to wipe California's local redevelopment agencies off the face of the earth, City Hall wants nothing to do with the remnants of its own "CRA." No life vests here. The City Council just voted 9-3 to just let the thing die instead of becom ... More >>

From Marina del Rey to Skid Row

Larry Bell Gets a Restaurant, Larry's, Where the Opening was a Pacific Standard Time Reunion

Tibby RothmanThe man himself, artist Larry Bell (l.) and art critic Peter Frank (r.) at the recent artists' party for Larry's, a new restaurant in Venice​ Almost all you need to know about artist Larry Bell is written on a wall at Larry's, the recently-opened restaurant that bears his name, li ... More >>

Ed Moses: I'm Not Creative. Really

Barbara T. Smith: How Divorce Causes Performance Art

Michael Govan: To Understand L.A. Art, I Went to Italy

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

Beach Bathroom Bingo: Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects Gives Santa Monica Surfers A Privileged Place to Pee

Rendering courtesy the City of Santa Monica.The setup at each bathroom is unique, with the intention of creating a welcoming place.​ Crowded in your bathroom in the morning? Can't get your girl outta the shower? Try sharing sink time with millions -- and you've got the setup at the City of Sa ... More >>

Helping the Rich

Steve and Alex Olson, Skateboarding Father-Son Team, Hit the Paint in Venice (Video)

Tibby RothmanAlex Olson on deck.​ If skaters in Venice, California, now have a skatepark to themselves, it's still illegal to hit the decks in Venice, Italy. But on June 6, the iconic skateboarder Steve Olson, a pro-skater since he was a teenager in the 1970s, and his son Alex, whose low-key r ... More >>

Jesus Hates Skater Kids: 'Lincoln Ramp' Half Pipe in Venice Torn Down by Fun-Killers at United Methodist Church

Juice MagazineThe Lincoln Ramp in better days​Updated after the jump: Photos of the Lincoln Ramp being dismantled, set to be U-Hauled -- in sad little strips -- to various parts of the Valley. Plus, the reverend's defense. The riff-raff who frequent the Lincoln Ramp in east Venice Beach are f ... More >>

Ed Ruscha, L.A. Pop Art Legend, Forced Out of Venice Studio for City's 'Parking Good'

Gone, 1992​Sorry, Los Angeles: Ed Ruscha has left the building. The saddest part is, we hardly heard him go. Two years after an initial media storm revealed the City of L.A. might be trying to push the pop-art master out of his Venice studio shack for the sake of a parking lot, he exited quie ... More >>

Flawed Science

Wilshire Grand Hotel: Los Angeles Digital Skyscraper Goes to a City Council that Has Little Idea What It's Approving

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Wilshire Grand Hotel rendering done at such an extreme angle it's nearly impossible to see light effects.​Update: The City Council has approved the top-to-bottom lighted Wilshire Grand Hotel project.  The vote will read as "unanimous" officially, yet one co ... More >>

Jerry Brown Redevelopment Alert: Wealthy Eli Broad Gets $52 Million for a Garage; the Entirety of South L.A. Gets $32 Million

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Mitch Handsone Jerry Brown goes after Community Redevelopment Agencies. Do they have bigger guns?​In a move that California Gov. Jerry Brown might see as L.A.'s "let them eat cake" moment, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency has set aside $5.5 million i ... More >>

FILM SCHOOL VS. FARMERS MARKET

BEST PICKLED MEMORY

Malibu Lagoon Dredging War Erupts Between Heal the Bay and Wetlands Defense Fund as Coastal Commission Decides Fate

Tibby RothmanStart your bulldozers​ Updated Wednesday afternoon with unanimous vote by Coastal Commission. When Heal the Bay waded into Malibu Lagoon to devise a way to "restore" the rebuilt-by-man lagoon, they probably weren't thinking their blue chip environmental credentials might get bogg ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa ticket scandal: Fair Political Practices Commission orders thousands of California politicians to post freebies on Internet to fight corruption

Now I see the light.​Thanks to Antonio Villaraigosa's practice of ignoring anti-corruption laws, angling for $50,000 to $100,000 in freebies, then failing to tell the City Ethics Commission, the Fair Political Practices Commission has just enacted a strict rule forcing California politicians ... More >>

John Chase: Memorial Planned for West Hollywood Urban Planner

Photo via Gelato Baby​The memorial for John Chase will take place tomorrow 4 pm to 7 pm at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood. Chase was West Hollywood's urban planner for fourteen years. He died Friday, August 13 at his home in Los Angeles. LA Weekly contributor Tibby Roth ... More >>

Broad Museum One Step Closer To Downtown

​ A museum to house Eli and Edythe Broad's significant modern art collection moved one step closer to a downtown location Friday, as the City Council approved a plan to make it part of the luxury hotel and condo Grand Avenue Project. Councilwoman Jan Parry said construction could begin as soo ... More >>

Twist and Shout

The Front-Row Mayor

FOURTH UPDATE Exclusive: Antonio Villaraigosa free tickets are worth $50,000 to $100,000. Full list here of 80 free events; corruption laws ignored

By Tibby Rothman and Jill StewartDid the mayor lose, misplace -- or destroy -- his records? ​ L.A. Weekly is publishing below its exclusive ticket price list for the 80 events to which Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accepted free seats.But first the hot news from City Hall moments ago. The below is a ... More >>

Lawyer: "Antonio Villaraigosa is above the anticorruption laws; public has no right to know who gave him free tickets"

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart He's very, very special​ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's attorneys, after promising the public they would divulge his extensive acceptance of free tickets, meals, alcohol, parking and other goodies that he failed to report under anticorruption laws for the past five ... More >>

Villaraigosa "finds" his 5 years' worth of missing free-ticket docs, then cops defiant attitude toward ethics laws

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Nobody can tell him what to do​ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that he has found -- and on Friday will release -- five years worth of documents showing who gave him free seating, tickets, meals, liquor and parking for dozens of sports and cultural events ... More >>

Cry for Yelp

The popular Web site stands accused of acting like a "modern-day Mafia"

First Rule in a Flood: Save the Louis Vuitton

VANS ARE NOT ALWAYS SNEAKERS

Anti-billboard "renegade sign bandit" speaks about the fools at Fuel Outdoor

Editor's note: Our colleague at laist.com, Zach Behrens, published a post on January 29 about "renegade sign bandits" -- so dubbed by a city official after a mystery activist slapped real-looking "illegal sign" warnings adorned with the City of Los Angeles seal onto tacky mini-billboards placed all ... More >>

HOLY SEVERANCE PAY, BATMAN!

Under the Influence: Did L.A. Weekly Inhale?

Trutanich Probes Pot Backer Duncan

Having done little homework, the City Council prepares to approve a medical pot law

Staples Center Owner To Kick In For City's Jackson Memorial Costs

By Tibby Rothman and Dennis Romero Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owner of Staples Center and the organizer behind the controversial Michael Jackson memorial there in July, will pay to defray at least some of the city's costs to police, direct traffic and clean-up during and after the event, acc ... More >>

"Shady stories” Come Out

Earl Krugel, Irv Rubin: Silenced?

L.A. Weekly News Editor Responds to L.A. Times Hit Piece

LA Weekly News Editor Jill Stewart responds to LA Times' Jim Rainey

Here's the letter I sent out early this morning to friends and colleagues about the attack column published in the LA Times today and written by James Rainey. On the following page, you'll see some of the support I've received today from writers and others. I've emailed this letter to James Rainey a ... More >>

Bill Rosendahl Unexpectedly Votes for LAPD Hiring Freeze

Over the course of Bill Rosendahl's run as L.A.'s 11th District councilman, he has been called a lot of things by friends and foes alike: eccentric, opportunistic, someone who knows the issues and gets the job done. Few people have ever considered calling the politician courageous, but as a member o ... More >>

On City Officials: Useless and Overpaid? Or Just Weekly Hyperbole?

Ella Taylor, a Jewel Revisited

Also, the Germs: What We Do fails to impress

Gang Crackdown or Police Overkill

Delgadillo spun a Venice raid as a success. Suck and excess might be closer, residents say