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Some appetizers:
• Marc Cooper of the LA Weekly and the Nation will be the guest host on KCRW's Left, Right and Center, today at 2:30 and 7 p.m. It's his first time.
• The LA Weekly's Ben Ehrenreich kicks off a new series called The American Character with a piece on anti-immigration militant Glenn Spencer.
• Fixtures and memorabilia from the Ambassador Hotel will be auctioned off on Sept. 10 on the hotel property.
• Mary Nichols tells the Times why she has come back for a second stint on the DWP board: "I feel there is unfinished business." She isn't asked about the agency's salaries or Jeffrey Anderson's story in the LA Weekly reporting that a whistleblower got the shaft.
• The Times' Patrick McGreevy predicts Mayor Villaraigosa's appointees to the planning commission and CRA board. Meanwhile, Corina Villaraigosa has been nominated to serve on the First 5 L.A. commission, which oversees $209 million in annual funding for early childhood development, health and education programs.
• California Connected will illustrate the state's water system on tonight's show by following a drop of water from the slopes of Mt. Shasta to a car wash in San Diego County. KCET, 8:30 p.m.
And a little blog business...
At the end of the month, I typically review the status of L.A. Observed if there's something to say. This time there is. August smashed records in every traffic category they give me, and not by a little. For the first time, the visitor count for a month soared above 200,000. Sometime in August, LAO passed a million visitors for the year and is approaching three million pages. I'm honored that you keep coming back. I guess this means I should think more like a publisher and adjust ad rates, so if you're thinking of taking an ad now is the smart time to do it. Also, most visitors here are regulars, but there were many newcomers. Here were August's top referrers, a much different lineup than last month due to the Dodgers collapse and enduring interest in the canoodlings of Derek Lowe and Carolyn Hughes (which I haven't mentioned since Aug. 3): Romenesko, ProSportsDaily, SportsbyBrooks, LAVoice.org, Hugh Hewitt, SportsJournalists.com, 6-4-2, RadioBlogger.com, Modern Art Notes and Dodger Thoughts.