West Hills

Daniel Martinez Arrested In Abduction Of 10-Year-Old Northridge Girl

One of two men alleged to have abducted a 10-year-old girl from her Northridge home was arrested over the weekend, cops announced. The suspect wasn't the man named by police on Saturday, Tobias Dustin Summers, who cops say is still at-large. Rather, the arrestee was ID'd as Daniel Martinez, 29:

Xposed Strip Club Billboards Subject of Takedown Effort by Mad Mom Ursula Pyland

There is a thing called freedom of speech. But do you want a stripper peering down at you longingly, right in your own neighborhood? Okay, don't answer that guys. If you're a mother, would you want said exotic dancer giving your 11-year-old boy a come-hither look from a billboard right near the loc ... More >>

Brad Sherman Accuses Howard Berman Supporters of Stealing Campaign Signs

Now that we're down to the last 10 days of the Berman/Sherman blood feud, things are getting pretty silly. First, the Howard Berman camp was high-fiving about Brad Sherman's photoshopped mailers. Sherman sent mailers to Jewish households that included a picture of his mother. But she was airbrushed ... More >>

Gavin Smith, Missing Fox Executive, Gets Twitter Campaign From Son Evan, USC Basketball Player

Updated at the bottom with some strange details about the last time he was seen. First posted at 7:05 a.m. Monday. Gavin Smith, a longtime Fox movie distribution exec, has been missing for nearly a week. His son, USC basketball forward Evan Smith, has taken to Twitter to publicize the plight of hi ... More >>

John Albrigo, West Hills 18-Year-Old, Commits Suicide off Palos Verdes Cliff After Strange Spiritual Rant

FacebookJohn Albrigo "was a great guy in every category," say his friends.​While his sister and mother reportedly looked on in horror, 18-year-old John Albrigo from West Hills flew off the edge of Palos Verdes Estates cliff yesterday morning, killing himself on the rocks 250 feet below. The D ... More >>

L.A. Heat Wave: 'I'm Very Tired of It Being Constantly Warm,' Says Ungrateful Resident

Such a drag.​Los Angeles journalists think any shift in the weather is breaking news. If it's cold, you can expect a wave of "Jack Frost possibly nips Hollywood sign!" stories or grim rain-damage estimates; if it's warm, every L.A. rag will run an obligatory "it's freaking gorgeous out" piece, ... More >>

Reza Gerami, Owner of Rave Promotion Co. Go Ventures, Sees Home, Office Raided in Coliseum Investigation

Go VenturesReza Gerami.​District Attorney's investigators raided the home and office of rave promoter Reza Gerami, owner of Go Ventures, as part of its look into alleged improprieties at the publicly run L.A. Coliseum. Authorities served search warrants at his Malibu home and West Hills offic ... More >>

Your Weekly To-Do List

Last rays of summer

Top 10 Totally Awesome Artists Inspired by the Valley, plus She Wants Revenge's Valleyheart

​ She Wants Revenge releases Valleyheart today, the band's third full length release, which sees them submerging themselves in blissful nostalgia. Not for dark '80s sounds as they are unremittingly accused of (though, yes there is still some of that), but for the breeding grounds that made the ... More >>

Jeff Stenroos Lied, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Says: Entire Shooting at El Camino High School Was Fake, Manhunt Cancelled

LAUSD's finest -- campus cops -- eff things up again.​Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck tonight accused LAUSD campus cop Jeff Stenroos of staging his own shooting shooting himself near El Camino Real High School last week, creating a fake story about a gunman shooting him -- and setting of ... More >>

L.A. Rainstorm Causes All Hell To Break Loose, Will Wreak More Havoc Christmas Day

Tricia via PBaseCHP: Don't even think about blaming the weather​We were still kind of making fun of the impending Los Angeles "weather" last Friday, when the shower head was set to wimpy sprinkle and L.A. drivers were farting around at their always hilarious (except when we have to get somewhe ... More >>

Los Angeles Gets 4G Network Via Sprint: iPhone Users Are Out Of Luck

AppleMore 'G' please.​Los Angeles is finally getting a 4G network. Yay! It's on Sprint. Pout. It's cool though. It looks like, if you're geek like that, you can buy a router and get 4G speed on your nearby iPad or laptop. But iPhones, despite being in version 4, are out of luck for now. Spr ... More >>

Talking Books Keep Visually Impaired Veterans Happy and Engaged

World War II veteran Peter Hobbs has listened to 630 talking books​ Vision impairment have become an increasingly common health problem among US military troops, 158,000 of whom are currently visually impaired or have poor vision. Such eye ailments make it close to impossible to enjoy activi ... More >>

$24 Million Pot Grow Found In Grenada Hills: Natale Gabriele Arrested In Connection With The Operation

​Los Angeles police on Wednesday said they discovered $24 million worth of pot plants in O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills. The sophisticated grow, which used pumped irrigation from a local stream, was discovered via aerial surveillance, police said. Last weeky 49-year-old West Hills resident N ... More >>

Michael Silva, L.A. Homicide No. 126: Man Found Stabbed to Death in Canoga Park [Update: Suspect Identified]

The Los Angeles Police Department is searching for a 32-year-old Canoga Park man who allegedly fatally stabbed Michael Silva on June 5. According to detectives, Jerry Wizar pulled a knife and stabbed 39-year-old Silva multiple times in the head, back, neck and chest. Wizar and Silva were long time a ... More >>

LAPD Shot Bean-Bag Round At Suicidal Suspect Who Was On The Edge Of A Cliff

MySpaceStephen Hill.​The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday admitted that at least one "bean bag projectile" was used on a porn star who was threatening to kill himself as he engaged on a Saturday stand-off on the edge of a cliff that ended in his death. Stephen Hill was wanted for the al ... More >>

Alleged Porn-Star Killer Dies After Police Shoot And He Falls Off A Cliff

The suspect with porn actress Sasha Grey.​[Updated throughout at 10:20 p.m.] Alleged porn-star killer Stephen Hill died Saturday night following a day-long standoff with police that ended when officers used what they said was a stun-gun/Taser against him -- although at least one other cop appe ... More >>

Porn Star Interruptus: House Surrounded In Hunt For Alleged Porno Killer

Stephen Hill.​Police on Saturday surrounded a West Hills house where a porn star charged with the murder of a fellow adult actor was believed to be holed up. A Los Angeles police SWAT team was outside the home in the 8000 block of Azul Drive, police said. Stephen Hill, the 34-year-old actor k ... More >>

The Mad Men of Los Angeles

Living the good life, thanks to the big profits from illegal outdoor advertising

VANS ARE NOT ALWAYS SNEAKERS

What Up My Ginger? The Healing Officially Begins

NBC​After the middle-school hate crime that was "kick a ginger" day, an area student promoting follicle (and freckled) diversity has started to get the pendulum moving the proper direction. Andrew Cohen, a senior at New Community Jewish High School in West Hills, is organizing the official " ... More >>

Unregulated Medical Marijuana: Could Pot-Brownie Bake Sales Help?

Jesse James Hollywood: Penalty Deliberations Begin

Today the same Santa Barbara jurors who last week convicted former West Hills drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood of kidnapping and murder began deliberations over his sentence. He could be sent to the death house in San Quentin for his part in ordering the abduction and execution of 15-year-old Nicho ... More >>

Jesse James Hollywood Trial: Closing Arguments

Jesse James Hollywood's six-week murder trial is winding down in the blink of an eye, when compared to the five years during which he was on the lam before being apprehended in Brazil. Hollywood was a 20-year-old West Hills marijuana dealer in 2000, when Nick Markowitz, the adolescent half brother o ... More >>

Sweeping Dirt Under the Carpet

Indentured servitude; toxic-land development

San Fernando Valley's Galaxy of Chemical Goo

City planners make a slick zone change to allow easier building on troubled land

Middle-Class Flight From San Fernando Valley

Will taxpayers who are leaving “America's suburb” behind doom L.A.?

Digital Billboards Become a Bohemian Blasphemy

Silver Lake, Hollywood, the Valley and Westside take on City Hall's anti-green transformation of LA

Tia Maria Torres

Underdogs

Goodbye, L.A. Gangs

If that smart Connie Rice is right, we just need to change society and spend $1 billion

Welcome to Gentrification City

Teardowns. Evictions. Investment. Rebirth. And the significance of that new gelato stand. The perils and pleasures of gentrification

Flat Line, Bottom Line

Is a hospital chain cutting corners for profit?

Compton's Crash Course

Connecting the doubts about the failure of a community college

A Coroner's Cross Section

Twenty-three people who died on December 13

A Race for Life

Adventure racer Louise Cooper

The Secret Lives of Boys

Inside the old spirits, indie fucks, gay best friends and outlaws

Sharing Tookie’s Day: A Coroner’s Cross Section of December 13

Letters

Tehran Nights

Heroes on the Boulevard

Undone by Debt and Negligence

Bills, not bullets, killed the community center that survived a racist attack. Other centers are trying to hang on.

Sam and His Pals

L.A. is a Wal-Mart town. Get used to it.

Letters

A Pet Peeve

Bill to protect pets gets amended into near oblivion

Letters

Letters

Guerrilla Drive-In: Film on the Wall

Letters

Taix French

Barrio Logic

Immigration will revitalize Fortress L.A.