LA Observed archive
for November 2008

If you don't find what you want here, check another month or search below.

Where in Los Angeles am I?

Time to play the LA Observed Quiz. We'll start with an easy one. The category is street art. Five points each for who, what and where, ten points each for...

Zell's ideas 'old and rancid'

Veteran media executive Charles Warner, the former head of interactive marketing at AOL and an emeritus chair at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, blogs at the Huffington Post...

Pasadena's reporters in India *

James McPherson, the owner of Pasadena Now who fired his reporters and replaced them with cheap piece workers in India, is featured today in, of all places, Maureen Dowd's column...

How 'LA' is different than other magazines

In this month's installment of the new Los Angeles Times Magazine, editor Annie Gilbar explains: I think pessimism is a bummer. It is also kind of irresponsible, because it's infectious....

Mariachi goes to Harvard

Members of Mariachi Véritas de Harvard believe they are "the first and only 100% undergraduate student Mariachi in the East Coast." Here they are (bigger) with Mexican president Felipe Calderón....

Saturday shorts

News of Los Angeles, a little from here, a little from there... District Attorney Steve Cooley's office is looking into possible lobbying violations by former L.A. councilman Richard Alatorre and...

'Faces of Sunset Boulevard,' the book

Photographer Patrick Ecclesine's new book from Santa Monica Press, "Faces of Sunset Boulevard: a Portrait of Los Angeles," travels the length of the boulevard through portraits of people who live,...

Prop. 8 mistakes, from the inside

Torie Osborn, former executive director of Liberty Hill and adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — as well as a campaign leader against the LaRouche initiative in 1986 — has been...

Blackout period for Antonio

Because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has filed to run for reelection, his office says they can't send the media any more press releases with his name on them. (Cue loud cheering...

Maria Semple's Los Angeles

Maps or guides to mentioned locales seem to be a more popular marketing wrinkle for books set in Los Angeles. At least those from Hachette: remember the dining guide to...

Where's David Mixner?

The former king of the gay Los Angeles political strategists (a key campaign adviser to the late Mayor Tom Bradley) is now blogging on the Obama election and Proposition 8...

Suggesting Strick's exit strategy

Tyler Green at Modern Arts Notes, getting impatient with the slow movement on the Museum of Contemporary Art front, lays out a path to Jeremy Strick gracefully yielding MOCA to...

Political history lessons

Two pieces in the current Jewish Journal — by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and LA Observed columnist Bill Boyarsky — frame the Proposition 8 battle and the ascent of Rep. Henry...

Holiday Friday round-up

At least 30 state legislators (California's are the highest paid in the U.S. at about $150,000 including perks) have outside jobs, including Monterey Park assemblyman Mike Eng, whose law...

When it snowed in the Valley

In the winter of 1949, snow blanketed the floor of the San Fernando Valley and other parts of the basin. But swimming lessons must go on — it was the...

Evan Halper to head LAT's Sacto bureau

Evan Halper succeeds Virginia Ellis as chief of the Los Angeles Times bureau in Sacramento. Here's the memo sent to the troops about 5 p.m.: To: The Staff From: David...

Wednesday desk clearing

Hollywood bloggers Sharon Waxman and Nikki Finke are disagreeing about the facts of a secret A-list meeting about SAG, and squabbling a bit, so Patrick Goldstein looks into it....

Núñez finds his next paycheck *

Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, about to be termed out of the legislative high life, will join Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, as partner and co-chair. The Los Angeles Democrat will...

In Los Angeles next month

The December issue of Los Angeles has part two of Steve Oney's riveting takedown of Westside con man Craig Raywood, Patrick Kuh's visit to Loteria Grill, Mark Lacter's explanation of...

Tyrone Freeman banned for life by SEIU

SEIU President Andy Stern announced today that Tyrone Freeman, the politically connected head of the union's United Long-Term Care Workers local, would be banned for life and asked to repay...

On the scene with Mexico's death saint

Los Angeles journalist Daniel Hernandez, on extended book research in Mexico City, makes his video debut on Current TV with a story from the neighborhood of Tepito on the growing...

McCourts try out a new story line

Dodgers owner Jamie McCourt said yesterday the team isn't sure it should spend on free agents this off-season because the big bucks might turn off fans concerned about the economy....

McCabe's history on KCRW

The Santa Monica music shop has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and will be the subject of a Thanksgiving program from 9 a.m. to noon on KCRW (89.9...

Caruso appointed to Coliseum Commission *

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named unwilling mayoral candidate Rick Caruso to the joint agency that oversees the Memorial Coliseum. Rick Orlov at the Sausage Factory says there's no word yet which...

L.A. freshman lawmaker class

Capitol Weekly has put together capsule summaries of what there is to know about the newly elected Los Angeles-area politicos who will be swarming into Sacramento on Dec. 1. Here's...

Morning Buzz: Wednesday 11.26.08

The DWP union's solar rooftop measure slammed through by the mayor causes Tim Rutten to write, "if some serious rethinking about all this isn't done soon, the only difference...

L.A. billboards 'perhaps worst in the nation'

Kevin Fry, the president of Scenic America, was interviewed in The Planning Report about the Los Angeles billboard situation. Excerpt: The city of Los Angeles has surrendered its built environment...

Kuehl lands cush job

Termed-out L.A. state Senator Sheila Kuehl hasn't lined up that next political gig yet so today she was appointed to a $132,178 per year post on the state's Integrated Waste...

Ethel Bradley, wife of mayor was 89

The wife of the late Tom Bradley died of pneumonia today at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. She lived for many years in the View Park neighborhood after...

News and media shorts

Mark Ridley-Thomas will resign his Senate seat on Sunday, in time to allow for a March 3 special election. Sausage Factory Russ Parsons returns as food editor at the...

Claire Hoffman on mags, sex, religion etc

Magazine writer Claire Hoffman, who did the recent New Yorker interview with Prince talking about gay marriage, discusses that Joe Francis piece she did for the old L.A. Times magazine,...

Morning Buzz: Tuesday 11.25.08

An unidentified LAPD officer was shot in the leg in Venice overnight in what is being called a "negligent discharge of firearm" incident. Breeze wires The state will look...

Nicole Kidman poses

Shooting Nicole Kidman for the Washington Post was all in a day's work for L.A. photog Jonathan Alcorn. "She was very peaceful and serene, and extremely easy to photograph. A...

Bastide shuts down, abruptly

Owner Joe Pytka locked the doors on the staff Monday to "re-conceive" the West Hollywood restaurant....

SPJ's journalists of the year

The Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will honor Paul Pringle of the Times, John Schwada of Fox 11, Frank Stoltze of KPCC and Terri Vermeulen Keith...

When cars really were king in L.A.

Pat Saperstein at Eating L.A. has some fun digging through the newly released Life magazine photo archive on Google for some prime Los Angeles images. She hit a trove of...

Hannity goes Colmes-free

Alan Colmes, the liberal half of "Hannity & Colmes" on Fox News Channel, will leave the show at the end of the year. Colmes will remain as a commentator on...

Terry Christensen gets three years

It's not often you see Hollywood lawyers the prominence of Terry Christensen go to federal prison. He was sentenced today to three years, plus a $250,000 fine, for conspiring with...

Today's interviews today

From around the local media: Sam Rubin talked to SAG president Alan Rosenberg on the KTLA Morning News. "We've made monumental moves in their direction...and they have not moved one...

Today's L.A. weather, from David Lynch

The director's daily weather report on camera from his home in Los Angeles. Because I hadn't linked to it before. Lynch's website...

Sam Zell 'has few easy options'

Several of the biggest corporate buyouts in recent years are in trouble, says Breakingviews.com, especially Sam Zell's highly leveraged take over of Tribune. Tribune looks to be the megadeal most...

Register to pay $42 million for carriers

Attorney Daniel Callahan announced that the Orange County Register has settled with his clients, 5,000 delivery carriers who filed a class-action suit five years ago over their employee status. The...

Erin Aubry Kaplan responds

As Sara Catania points out at Native Intelligence, Erin Aubry Kaplan has posted a followup to her Salon piece on Michelle Obama's ass and the ensuing furor. When all is...

Time for public works projects

Our own Bill Boyarsky, writing at the L.A. Times Op-Ed page, says the crashing economy and the voters' approval of so many funding measures on the November ballot provides an...

Morning Buzz: Monday 11.24.08

Mayoral adviser Ace Smith has close ties to new Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. Plus, Chick v. Delgadillo and Nick Patsaouras asks to write the ballot argument against the...

Turning out for MOCA

The Times estimates that about 450 people showed up Sunday at the Geffen Contemporary, answering the call to show their support for MOCA. Some also wanted to know WTF is...

Proposition 8 and the Mormons

Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor of The New Yorker, calls Proposition 8 "a fight that should have been won" and credits some in the gay community with rightly self-critiquing what went...

L.A.'s new luxury hotels

Today's New York Times notes the opening of the SLS Hotel and the Montage in Beverly Hills, and January's scheduled debut of the redone Hyatt West Hollywood as the chain's...

Ry Cooder's & Mister Jalopy's L.A.

Here's the best thing I read all day. The New York Times has a marvelous Travel section story with Ry Cooder visiting spots in the Mojave Desert, accompanied by an...

Is strike SAG's doomsday scenario?

Variety editor in chief Peter Bart blogs that the Screen Actors Guild decision to call a strike vote can be summed up this way: "Its other strategies having failed, SAG...

Scientology guard kills man with sword

Police say a security guard at the Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood shot and killed a man who brandished a sword in the parking lot about noon today. LAPD...

Mr. KABC KFI KTLK KGO

Marc Germain, the radio talker formerly known as Mr. KABC, Mr. KFI and Mr. KTLK, turned up this weekend on the Saturday night shift at San Francisco's KGO-AM. "It was...

Dodgers' Billingsley breaks leg in fall

Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch blogs that Billingsley suffered a spiral fracture of the left fibula (his landing leg) when he slipped on ice at home in Pennsylvania on Friday. A...

Prince at home in L.A.

Prince has lived in Los Angeles since last spring — that is, if you consider the rarefied gated nouveau complex of Beverly Park to be part of the real L.A....

Downtown to Santa Monica

As many as a couple hundred hoofers walked Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards — from downtown to the bluffs in Santa Monica — today in the latest of Michael Schneider's...

MOCA mobilization on Sunday

Cindy Bernard and other artists are calling on friends of the Museum of Contemporary Art to show up tomorrow at 3 p.m. to hear an update on the financial crisis...

Turnover at jazz beat...we think

Don Heckman has been the unofficial jazz critic of the Los Angeles Times since hall of famer Leonard Feather died in 1994. But Heckman blogs today that he thinks he...

Salinas at peace

Mirthala Salinas tells La Opinión that she has adjusted to her new job as the morning host at Spanish-language AM 690, is past that whole episode with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,...

Lessons on digitizing the LAT newsroom

Eric Ulken, who recently left as editor for interactive technology at LATimes.com, shares some lessons learned with USC's Online Journalism Review. His main case study is the project to develop...

Eli Broad offers $30 million to save MOCA

The philanthropist and art collector writes in an L.A. Times Op-Ed piece that with the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown reeling financially, "the time has again come for this city...

Villaraigosa wants 'emergency' cuts

Facing a $110 million gap in this year's city budget, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for 3% cuts in most departments — 1% in the public safety departments. "It is no...

Crest Theatre put up for sale

Owner Robert Bucksbaum, who saved the Crest Theatre on Westwood Boulevard and turned it into one of the most fun movie venues in L.A., has listed it for sale after...

Reading 'The Maltese Falcon'

Los Angeles' participation in the national Big Read program has been to encourage reading and discussion of "The Maltese Falcon," the classic Dashiell Hammett noir novel from 1930 that the...

NYT's White House team

The New York Times dedicates five staffers to covering the Obama White House, including for the first time a video journalist. Former LAT reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg remains on the...

New prez at Police Protective League

Sergeant Paul M. Weber takes over as president of the LAPD officers' union. He has been a VP and replaces Tim Sands, who will retire from the department next month...

City Hall budget announcement

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti have summoned the media for a 1:30 pm "major announcement regarding the financial status of the City."...

Last night at LATimes.com

Longtime L.A. journalist (and former LA Weekly media columnist) Marc Cooper was disappointed last night to find that the Los Angeles Times website's main story was a feature rather than...

Mike Downey out at Chicago Tribune

Mike Downey, the former Los Angeles Times sports columnist (and featured California columnist on page A3 for awhile in the 1990s, when state and local news still ranked ahead of...

Morning Buzz: Friday 11.21.08

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo sued Controller Laura Chick in his continuing effort to block her from auditing the City Attorney's office. LAT, DN Steep and urgent budget cuts proposed...

Obama's real Hollywood friends

Politico's Jeffrey Ressner compiled short bios on the seven insiders who he calls Barack Obama's real friends in Hollywood. "Obama’s tightly knit circle is mostly Chicago-based, but there is a...

Change you can buy into

The Obama inauguration committee is offering a cool package of tix — and it only works out to $12,500 per person! From: "Yolanda " Cookie " Parker" Date: Thu, 20...

Fairchild killing DNR

Men's fashion news and trends previously reported at DNR will be folded into Women's Wear Daily. The issue dated Monday is the last one for DNR. Memo: WWD Staff: A...

Metrolink and freight train 'scrape' in Rialto

There are said to be a handful of minor injuries, plus some disruption of Metro Link service in the Inland Empire. L.A. Now...

Times rakes it in on Obama merchandise

The Los Angeles Times, which never had trouble making gobs of money until very recently, is loving the Obama phenomenon so far. The paper's hawking of front pages and other...

Signing off at Ventura Star

The Ventura County Star copy desk had a blog, until Patricia Marroquin was laid off. The former L.A. Times copy editor posts her farewell: Two years ago on Nov. 30,...

Rep. Linda Sanchez is having a baby

The news, according to Patt Morrison, is that it's not news that Sanchez isn't married to the father. Morrison writes on the LAT Op-Ed page: You're practically the first to...

Mourning LAT's Washington bureau

Retired USC Annenberg professor and CBS News correspondent Murray Fromson writes at the Huffington Post that Sam Zell has gotten off too easy for destroying the Los Angeles Times Washington...

Open letter to MOCA trustees *

Times critic Christopher Knight today calls out the financially flailing Museum of Contemporary Art for mishandling its future. I read with interest in Wednesday's paper about the fiscal calamity plaguing...

In praise, or not, of Michelle Obama's butt

Former L.A. Times columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan may or may not have been looking to scare up a little controversy with her piece in Salon celebrating the soon-to-be first lady's...

Morning Buzz: Thursday 11.20.08

Rep. Henry Waxman ousted John Dingell to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. AP, Reuters The Times editorializes against Eric Holder as Obama's Attorney General, saying...

No deal yet on May Day Melee

Tomorrow's Daily Journal will report that the City Council did not approve the proposed settlement of legal claims for victims of the LAPD's misbehavior in MacArthur Park last year. The...

State supremes take Prop. 8 case

The Supreme Court in San Francisco announced today it will hear arguments in March on the validity of Proposition 8, and asked the litigants to include in their written submissions...

Daily Bruin goes to China

Credit to the UCLA student newspaper, which sent a reporter and photographer to China for two weeks for a series of stories that began today on UCLA's presence there as...

Reporting by press release

The Los Angeles Times features — not in the good way — in a Columbia Journalism Review critique of science reporting that makes too credulous use of news releases written...

May Day Melee could cost city $10 million

Actually, $10 million is just the reported amount of the settlement between victims and the city of Los Angeles that is being brought today to the City Council, says the...

Reggie, is that you?

A two-foot-long alligator was captured this morning on 4th Avenue in Venice. It's being held at a city animal shelter. That's a long way from Reggie's old prowling grounds, and...

New commissioner for transportation

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today appointed Stephanie M. Rodriguez to the city Board of Transportation Commissioners. Rodriguez, director of public affairs at KCAL/KCBS, fills the unexpired term of Paul Kim. Also...

Jury duty today *

After a couple of delays, this one I have to do. I'll be at the downtown criminal courts. * Update: Freed after a couple of hours, to return another day....

Wilshire Boulevard Temple sanctuary closed indefinitely *

When a foot-long chunk of plaster fell from the dome over the sanctuary, temple officials decided to suspend services, says a Jewish Journal story that raises the specter of possibly...

Sign of the (L.A.) Times: Homicide Report

The depleted Los Angeles Times has suspended publication of the Homicide Report, which at this time last year was one of the breakout hits among the paper's blogs. Its success...

Books of the week

For a couple of years I've been anticipating the biography of Isaias Hellman, who had a hand in so much early Los Angeles history as the power behind Farmers and...

Burke won't be charged for residency

Now that she's the lamest of political ducks, the DA's office has decided not to prosecute Supervisor Yvonne Burke for allegedly living in Brentwood — outside her district — while...

The San Diego news model

Voice of San Diego could be the future of Los Angeles journalism: small, independent, online, aggressive and above all smart — content with value trumps attitude, and there are no...

It's war on Mulholland

The two halves of Beverly Park, the exclusive gated community tucked between Beverly Hills and Mulholland Drive, have gone to court against each other over blocked access and unpaid fees....

Morning Buzz: Tuesday 11.18.08

Thanks to Veronique de Turenne for jumping on the fires while I got out of town for a few days. Now here's a mix of today's headlines and some catch-up...

Own a piece of L.A. media history

President Harry Truman spoke to the Los Angeles Press Club on June 14, 1948 — yes, the Press Club was apparently a bigger deal then — and he received a...

Pete Newell, ex-Lakers GM was 93

As general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1972 to 1976, Pete Newell made the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks. Newell's mark on basketball also...

Burned out in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara and Montecito residents who lost their homes in last week's wildfire include actor Christopher Lloyd and retired Los Angeles Times Senior Editor Noel Greenwood, who oversaw the coverage...

Merci!

That's it for me on the front page of LAO. Kevin comes back tomorrow and will, no doubt, fill in the gaps in things I missed. Thank you all for...

Carbon footprint

Here's NASA's shot of SoCal's fires as seen from space. No wonder the South Coast AQMD wants us all to stop breathing so hard. Oh -- and from LAist: A...

Just a few more things *

And now, some stuff I missed because I was actually working. Let's start here at LAO: Today's biz headlines (Japan is in recession) and an answer (hah) to the subprime...

Jason Bentley named music director at KCRW

It's official -- Jason Bentley's the new music director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic at KCRW, taking over for Nic Harcourt, who announced his exit earlier this month. (Here's...

Good morning -- here's what's happening 11.17.08

Oh no -- LAO Lite again? Not to worry, Kevin gets back tomorrow and things return to normal. Meanwhile, there's news: Of the three wildfires now burning in SoCal,...

Milo the (really big) dog needs a (really good) home

We're not in the habit of running adoption notices here at LAO, but since I can't even begin to count the number of times Gustavo Arellano has made me...

Some media moves

First, some good news. Remember Lauren Beale, who edits the Times' real estate section? Though her name made the list of the 75 editorial employees cut from the newsroom last...

The fires so far

The worst of SoCal's many fires are in Orange County (above), where more than 150 homes have burned and 1,000 more are in harm's way. OC Register Lots of first-person...

When smoke gets in your eyes

Dear Glendale, Not enough smoke in the smoke-choked air for you? Not to worry! Those fireworks we planned for the Christmas tree lighting on Saturday night which, in a burst...

A fire wrap-up and an anti-Prop 8 rally update

Why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because PCH to Santa Monica, where I was supposed to meet friends for dinner and a movie, is a parking lot. An...

At least one more hour of big winds

That's the word from the National Weather Service, which expects high winds in LA County to last until 2 p.m.. Meanwhile, fires now burn in Montecito, Sylmar, Corona and Brea....

Lee Abrams: Still not impressed with the LA Times

Chief Tribune innovation honcho, Lee Abrams, was in town this week for a Press Club event and, in addition to this YouTube video, left a flurry of news stories...

Fire pix on Flickr, LAFD on the web

Between the Times' photogs and picture editors, they've got some great fire photo galleries on the site. But just as remarkable are civilian shots like this one. Here's a link...

Oh no -- another fire

The strong smell of smoke woke me and we've got another fire. In Sylmar this time, driven by what the LAFD called near-hurricane-force winds. At least 2,600 acres burned and,...

A quick fire update: more homes, more acres and the first fatality

The latest stats on the Tea fire in Santa Barbara County stand at 2,500 acres burned, more than 100 homes destroyed, and more than 1,800 news items that mention Oprah...

This, that, and another thing

Oops -- the NY Times' travel section on Sunday will have a piece about visiting Santa Barbara, our own Mark Lacter points out. One week from tomorrow: the Great Los...

OK, but does John Rabe really exist?

Martin Eisenstadt, who has a blog but doesn't actually exist, is a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy, which also doesn't actually exist. None of which...

Think piece

There's a cottage industry of black humor and killer irony at the Times thanks to Lee Abrams' smug memos, with their hefty helpings of hubris tinged with Tourettes. Here's one...

LA Times' DC bureau turns -30-

Talk about a power vacuum. The LA Times Washington bureau is no more. What we get instead is a Tribune Washington News Bureau which, as Kevin blogged earlier, will feed...

Low reservoir levels a worry in Montecito fire

Even as water-dropping aircraft dip into low reservoirs in the Santa Barbara area, residents have been asked to cut their water use to near-zero. Wash your face and brush your...

Good morning -- here's what's happening 11.14.08

The fire in Montecito, now called the Tea fire, has burned 1,500 acres and destroyed at least 80 homes in the high-priced enclave. (Insurance execs are losing serious sleep right...

Homes evacuated as fire burns near Santa Barbara *

Mandatory evacuations as a wildfire races through the Santa Barbara area, tears through Montecito. Winds gusting to 50-plus mph. Power out in parts of the city. Stories from LA Times,...

Mormon temple in Westwood closed due to white powder

First more than a thousand anti-Prop 8 protesters gathered at the Mormon temple in Westwood. Now, after employees reported receiving an envelope filled with white powder, the temple has been...

Virginia Ellis, Sacto bureau chief, to leave the Times

Here's another body blow for our hometown paper -- Virginia Ellis, the Times' Sacramento bureau chief, is retiring. She'd been planning to leave last year but, when asked to please...

Red flag warnings issued throughout SoCal

Here we go again -- more hot and windy weather on the way. Guy McCarthy at Watershed News gathers the details: Just a few days after a cold front contributed...

Mt. Wilson telescope turns 100 years old

One of my favorite assignments ever while at the Daily News (pre-web so I can't link) was a profile of Robert Jastrow, the brilliant physicist who, in addition to helping...

Celeb designer Anand Jon: guilty of rape

Anand Jon, the Indian-born fashion designer who has dressed celebutante Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson (big photo gallery on his still-live web site) faced a jury on multiple charges...

A man and an alligator walk into a bar

OK -- man, alligator, bar. The patrons freak out, the Huntington Beach cops get called to Johnny's Saloon, and even though this all happened on Saturday night, word about the...

Repeal Prop 8? The wheels are already in motion

Did anyone really think the same-sex marriage issue in California was over? According to a new story in Capitol Weekly, the move to repeal Prop 8 is already taking aim...

Did you feel that?

Yeah, me neither. But the Great SoCal Shakeout just got started so millions of our fellow Californians are role-playing the disaster, Metro trains are slowing down and, this being the...

Good morning -- here's what's happening 11.13.08

Kevin's taking a break and here I am, doing my best not to break the blog while he's gone. See any bad links or (I do not have the copy...

I'm outta here, briefly

I'll be vacating the virtual premises through the weekend and into next week. If there's posting to be done — and there surely is — Veronique will be doing it....

Variety Tower joins the skyline

The Variety name went up in giant letters today on the former People's Bank tower in the Miracle Mile stretch of Wilshire. The Hollywood trade moves into the top floor...

Schoenkopf out as CityBeat editor

Without any inside info, I did wonder if Rebecca Schoenkopf would be staying on as editor of CityBeat after new publisher Will Swaim — her former boss at OC Weekly...

El Coyote presser 'goes horribly wrong'

The El Coyote manager who donated to Proposition 8 through her church probably should not have been invited to the press conference....

Book title others will wish they grabbed *

Los Angeles-born Olympic wrestling champion Henry Cejudo will write his memoir, "The Americano Dream," for Celebra. It's about growing up Mexican American in South Los Angeles, being moved to New...

Change of plans at LAT

Assistant national editor Millie Quan will become the new Column One editor at the Los Angeles Times, not the senior editor in Features as announced in August. Of course, the...

Today in Prop. 8

Anger — and the resulting finger pointing — continues apace over the passage of Proposition 8, which appears to have added a ban on same-sex marriage to the California Constitution....

Morning Buzz: Wednesday 11.12.08

Back from the holiday...here are some news notes. The Supreme Court rules that the Navy's interest in conducting sonar tests whenever it wants trumps concerns about the damage to sea...

Jay Fiondella, Chez Jay founder was 82

Jay Fiondella moved to Los Angeles to act, roomed with Leonard Nimoy, and opened Chez Jay near the beach in Santa Monica in 1959. It became a showbiz hangout for...

Gawker to Obama: No Villaraigosa

For a writer at a New York gossip blog, Gawker's Alex Pareene seems to have a strong opinion that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa should not be advising the president-elect....

L.A. Marathon moves to Memorial Day

The race's new operator finds the last Monday in May preferable to the President's Day holiday in February, so runners get three extra months to prepare — and a greater...

CSUN student freed in Iran *

Esha Momeni, a 28-year-old Iranian-American working on a documentary about the women's movement in Iran, has been held since being arrested on Oct. 15. A friend of her family says...

Nic Harcourt leaving KCRW post

Harcourt has been music director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic for ten years. He'll leave Nov. 30 to pursue independent projects and host a three-hour show on Sunday evenings...

Morning Buzz: Monday 11.10.08

Gov. Schwarzenegger hopes the state Supreme court overturns Proposition 8 and urged the Republican Party to move away from some of its core conservative principles and embrace spending on...

People's L.A. bureau looks for volunteers

Volunteers to leave, that is. Time is asking staffers in its magazines to raise their hands if they want to get bought out before the axe falls. At People magazine...

Rick Tuttle nuptials

Congrats to former City Controller Rick Tuttle, who was married tonight to Rebecca Rona. I'm told the festivities at UCLA's Faculty Center attracted, among others, Reps. Howard Berman and Brad...

March races take shape

Noon on Saturday was the deadline for candidates to file their declarations of intent to run in the March 3, 2009 primary election in the city of Los Angeles. No...

LA Observed on KCRW

My segment today is about the remarkable rush of emotion at the Century Plaza on Tuesday night, and me grumping that by the next election in March Los Angeles voters...

Day after election big for LAT.com

The LATimes.com website set a traffic record for itself on Election Day, then broke it the day after. The site also set a new monthly high in October, when the...

Daily News loses another reporter

Rachel Uranga is the latest to escape — er, depart — the shrinking Daily News of Los Angeles. City editor John Miller sent this email to the staff today: I'm...

Arrested Prop. 8 protester blogs about it

The two anti-Proposition 8 demonstrators arrested in Westwood yesterday are employees of Buzznet.com. One of them, Mark Oshiro, blogs about his experience while in LAPD custody and his befuddlement at...

While the LAT cuts in DC...

The Washington Post is doubling the size of its White House beat and including a web person, "The Fix" online columnist Chris Cillizza. Romenesko Meanwhile, today's naming of Cissy Baker...

Antonio gets some face time

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is on stage for Barack Obama's first press conference, as part of the economic advisers. Live on every TV channel in Los Angeles except 13....

Shoe falls at LAT Washington bureau

As expected, Tribune just announced that it's merging the Washington bureaus of the Los Angeles Times and its other papers and placing the bureau under Cissy Baker, vice president/news operations...

At least Tribune learns from some mistakes

Tribune has decided to stop outsourcing its computer help desk overseas. Because as anyone at the L.A. Times or KTLA could tell them, it w-a-s-n't w-o-r-k-i-n-g. From: Tribune Communications Subject:...

Carina Chocano's replacement *

The lead movie review in today's print Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times isn't by lead critic Kenneth Turan (his review of Stranded gets second billing.) Or Carina Chocano,...

Morning Buzz: Friday 11.7.08

An LAPD officer is in surgery at UCLA after being shot in Watts. The officer is expected to survive, but a name has not been released. LAT The City...

Caruso says thanks, but no thanks

Developer Rick Caruso has been saying for a while that his running for mayor is only a question of when, not if. Well, it won't be this time, he announced...

On pro-Obama media bias

Politics reporter John Schwada blogs at Fox 11 about studies showing that many people found the news media too blatantly favoring Barack Obama during the campaign. Actually, I find all...

Joel Stein on the L.A. Times and being Jewish

Tongue-in-cheek Q-and-A with the Jewish Journal. Excerpt: JJ: How does it feel to write for The L.A. Times when they're so publicly crumbling? JS: It's not a happy place. It's...

Protest photos from Westwood

TJ Sullivan roamed among the anti-Proposition 8 demonstrators who gathered at the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Boulevard, a couple of days too late to sway the election. Photos over...

Thursday round-up

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gets a seat on President-elect Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board, which will meet Friday in Chicago. Talking Points Memo Controller Laura Chick is volunteering to...

Traffic snarled by protests in Westwood *

Demonstrators upset by the passage of Proposition 8 began at the Mormon temple on Santa Monica Boulevard and have moved to Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, closing both streets. They're targeting...

Away from the computer

I'm out doing some things this morning. Back later....

Call him Judge Hahn now

Former Los Angeles mayor James Hahn was appointed a Superior Court judge today by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So were 16 other lawyers, six of them deputy district attorneys. Here's an...

Leimert Park celebrates

Here are some photos and videos from last night in Leimert Plaza, center of the largely African American neighborhood where Barack Obama's election was a cause for a public celebration....

Sacto Bee seeking investigative reporter

Hey, somebody's hiring. From Poynter: The Sacramento Bee is the leading news organization in the capital of California, a state boasting one of the world’s largest economies. We're looking to...

LAT adds 100,000 Obama papers *

Newspapers across the country are selling out today and in some cases going back to press. Kudo email to the staff from Tribune chief Randy Michaels says the Los Angeles...

The gay marriage gap *

Californians who voted: For Barack Obama: 6,194,012 Against parental notification before teen abortion: 5,071,449 To retain same-sex marriage: 4,806,595 Proposition 8 to define marriage as only between a man and...

Michael Crichton dies at 66 *

The author and creator of "ER" died yesterday in Los Angeles "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," his website announced. His books included "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost...

Century City goes for Obama

The Hyatt Century Plaza was rocking with so many Barack Obama supporters last night that long lines formed outside, before the polls closed, just to get in the hotel. Those...

Times flinches on Doonesbury, twice

Los Angeles Times editors had decided, weirdly, not to run Garry Trudeau's vantage point on the election in tomorrow's Doonesbury strip because he assumed a victory by Barack Obama. Editors...

Lines everywhere

TJ Sullivan is checking out polling places and found this line outside the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. More locales at Native Intelligence....

Scratch another Hamburger Hamlet

Sign on the Sepulveda and National Hamlet on the Westside cites loss of the lease, but skeptical Chowhound posters suspect "loss of customers" is behind the closure. "We'll certainly see...

Around LA Observed

Adrienne Crew writes at Native Intelligence about prepping to be a poll worker today at a precinct in Culver City. On the theme, Mark Lacter has Election Day headlines at...

Yma Sumac, singer with 5-octave range

You've got to hear Peruvian-born singer Yma Sumac go from baritone to super high notes in this clip from last night's report on NPR's All Things Considered. Sumac was a...

Morning Buzz: Election Day 11.4.08

The voter turnout just counting mail-in ballots and early voting — 14% in L.A. County, or 625,000 votes — is better than the turnout in many city of Los...

Election Day freebies

Free eats and beverages all over town, from Daily Grill to Starbucks. Eater LA provides a roundup. Also, an LAT story....

Content squeeze at Daily Breeze

Monday and Tuesday papers will be cut in half, per this memo to the South Bay Daily Breeze staff from executive editor Phillip Sanfield. All, A heads up to a...

Morning Buzz: Monday 11.3.08

Arts organizations led by the Los Angeles Opera today will announce Ring Festival L.A., a 10-week festival in spring 2010 inspired by the upcoming production of Richard Wagner's epic...

Rondelli's follow-up *

I asked readers to update me on what's in the Sherman Oaks space at 13359 Ventura Blvd. where mafia hangout Rondelli's was located in the 1950s. Le Fondue Bourguignonne recently...

Ladies and gentlemen, X! *

This video of the band X performing "Los Angeles" has a lot of early 1980s footage of the city, including the original Hard Rock Cafe downtown, an RTD bus advertising...

Sign of the (L.A.) Times: ProPublica on A1

There were two prominent stories at the top of Sunday's Los Angeles Times front page, but only one of them was reported by Times staffers. The other — the one...

Careers in Scientology

Fear for your job? Looking for a safe haven to sit out at the recession? The Church of Scientology is hiring. And offering a free personality test. Spotted on Sherman...

Bill Stall, editorial writer was 71 *

Word from Sacramento is that Bill Stall, the Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer-winning editorial writer, died today after suffering from emphysema. The Times is working on an obituary, and colleague Karin...

End near for LAT Washington bureau

The Los Angeles Times Washington bureau, one of the last pre-Tribune strengths of the paper still mostly intact, has been told that Chicago will announce this Friday that the bureau...
Clinton fundraises in LA
kermit-la-brea-closer.jpg Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
porter-ranch-sign.jpgThe natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Wet coyote
wet-coyote-vdt.jpgSpotted between the storms at Here in Malibu.
Performing arts with cheer
guys-dolls-kevin-parry.jpgDonna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
Junkyard down
upick-firetruck-560.jpgAfter 53 years, Sun Valley's Aadlen Brothers and U-Pick Parts cleans out. Photos