We're in a blood shortage, folks. Give if you can. The old Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood is eyed by re-developers, a huge bill to fix up L.A.'s jails, sleeping on the grass at Dodger Stadium (no, not the players) and a new editor maximus at the Daily Breeze. Plus Adam Carolla slams down the phone on Ann Coulter — all this and more in the Morning Buzz. Click to continue...
Blood shortage across L.A.
Hospitals were down to an eight-hour supply of O-positive Monday.
Ravaging history on Sunset Boulevard
Add the Nickelodeon Theatre to the list of threatened-by-development Hollywood landmarks, along with the Palladium, Columbia Square and the Old Spaghetti Factory. I don't remember all the past uses of the Nickelodeon site, but I know it had been the Aquarius Theatre and the home of the Chevy Chase Show. Roger Vincent rounds up the Hollywood projects in today's LAT.
Baca wants $300 million for jails
Comes up at today's Board of Supervisors meeting, as does the sheriff's proposal to let two new reality shows follow his deputies in their jobs.
Four-year-old shot in South Los Angeles
Girl was playing in her yard at Firth Boulevard and 92nd Street when a SUV pulled up and gunfire began spraying toward a group of children.
Area code 310 plus 424
Garrison Frost at The Aesthetic argues for more outrage and says, "Clearly, this overlay is bad policy."
Must like their pasta
The move of Ventura Boulevard Italian food landmark Barone's to the former Matterhorn Chef site on Oxnard Street — in what is technically Valley Glen, but which ought to still just be called Van Nuys — rates a feature in the Daily News.
Piling on Building and Safety
An audit by Controller Laura Chick finds lax code enforcement by Andrew Adelman, but no smoking guns. Times, Daily News
New editor of the Daily Breeze
Phillip Sanfield moves up from associate editor to replace Sue Schmitt, who will become publisher of Copley's State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill.
Carolla snubs Ann Coulter
When the Coultergeist called in 90 minutes late to Adam Carolla's morning show on 97.1, the host hung up on her mid-excuse: "All right, well get lost." By the way, I forgot to give Carolla props for the softball ropes he hung up during batting practice for the "Hollywood Stars" game at Dodger Stadium a couple of weeks back. Lefty swinger with a good stroke.
Cinemocracy returns
Now a political video blog.
Daily News reporter gets an honor
Brad Greenberg (name fixed!) will participate in the 2006 Gralla Fellows Program for Religion Journalists at Brandeis University.
Sleeping on the grass
Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News joined a couple hundred fans who paid $300 each to camp overnight on the Dodger Stadium outfield. He blogs about it:
OK, so a few couples whose sole intention was to "circle the bases" inside their zipped-together sleeping bags were kindly given a refund and suggested they take it home so they might not ruin the family atmosphere. Maybe they weren't completely satisfied. Too bad. But if you were a kid able to run around and get grass stains on every part of your PJs, or a parent who wanted to act like a kid again and wasn't bothered by a soggy wet pillow by the time the sun came up over the right-field pavilion, it really was pretty cool.
Miss Universe warm-up
At 5:30 pm the Central City Association will hold a reception in honor of the Miss Universe pageant being held in Los Angeles. Wilshire Grand Hotel.
They don't care whether you enter
The 2006 Nihilist International Film Festival has put out the call for entries. Director Elisha Shapiro says, "Each year, this festival gets bigger and better. And by better, I mean sicker and more disturbing." Info
Sunny with a chance of meatballs
At 2:56 pm yesterday, AccuWeather's page for South Pasadena reported a temperature of 85 degrees and light snow.