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The quarterly magazine from UC Press devotes its entire fall issue to water, the aqueduct from the Sierra Nevada and the Mulholland legacy. The issue will be a keeper for anyone with an ounce of water geekdom in them, and for many others who just like LA's layered backstories.
LA Observed archive
for September 2013
If you don't find what you want here, check another month or search below.
The quarterly magazine from UC Press devotes its entire fall issue to water, the aqueduct from the Sierra Nevada and the Mulholland legacy. The issue will be a keeper for anyone with an ounce of water geekdom in them, and for many others who just like LA's layered backstories.
"Due to a lapse in government funding, this account will not be active until further notice."
Fifty years ago, the death of boxer Davey Moore after a match at Dodger Stadium was a big story in Los Angeles. His opponent, Sugar Ramos, traveled from Mexico City to Ohio for a statue unveiling recently.
Mark Benjamin and his son Luke were on board the Cessna Citation that crashed and burned Sunday evening at Santa Monica Airport, according to Morley Builders, the longtime Southern California construction company.
County workers to rally downtown. Grand Avenue project teetering. Garcetti petition pushes an LA River alternative. The mayor admits voting for stuff he didn't understand. Tom LaBonge to turn 60. Is LA a bike town? LAPD's Special Order 7. SoCal book awards and more.
The Dodgers don't look like the best team in the National League playoffs, but they did reel off a 42-8 record and have shown they can get hot and romp.
Fire officials called the crash and fire "unsurvivable" for people on the plane, but they have not said how many crew and passengers, if any, were on board. The Cessna Citation business jet came from Hailey, Idaho, near Sun Valley, and can carry eight.
Historian Michael Beschloss posted this image to Twitter and said it was Venice in 1947. It looks to actually be in Santa Monica. Inside: UCLA under construction around 1928.
The Wheel Inn truck stop beside Interstate 10 has abruptly closed. The giant dinosaurs remain, though their future might be uncertain.
Brian Rooney, the former Los Angeles correspondent for ABC News (for 23 years), is now doing The Rooney Report, a daily news digest he will email you. Just ten bucks a year.
John Kissell writes about his heart stopping at work, and Andrew Youssef discloses that his colon cancer has worsened.
Lobbyist joins City Hall staff. Tribune cuts coming to LAT. Science writer moves to government desk. Variety editor jumps to NYT. El Mandril is #1 in LA. Book on Rhino Records. SF murder is no Brian Stow incident. Zagat names Bestia best LA newcomer. And much more.
Garcetti's plan to modernize. DWP non-profits were in the news in 2005. Hitler in Hollywood questioned. Dodgers fan killed after game in SF. Reporter groped by baboon. Curbed LA is hiring. Bottega Louie doing well. Banksy returning? And more inside.
Jay Roberts describes for the first time his motel room encounter with Randy Kraft, who is now on Death Row. But is is true? Orange Coast Magazine's editor took steps to find out.
The cyclone out of the Pacific is the only recorded tropical storm to make landfall in the Los Angeles area. It came ashore in Long Beach.
The long-time restaurant at the end of runways 25R and 25L plans to close by the end of the year, the Daily Breeze reports.
Brown signs anti-paparazzi law. Hundreds of pro athletes file worker's comp claims in California. LA County to send some inmates to Kern County. Pressure mounts on DWP non-profits. The city ignored an earthquake fault under a Century City tower too. "Bleeding Edge" is the new local bestseller. And more.
This year's 24 MacArthur Fellows receive $625,000 strings-free over five years. That's more than in the past.
I haven't been to enough Writers Bloc events to know if a standing ovation is usual when the author simply comes on stage, but that's what happened tonight in Santa Monica.
Shereen Marisol Meraji gets inside the furnished corporate apartment in downtown that Puig shares with his cousin. They play a lot of Play Station.
Garcetti's slow commission appointments. Illegal immigration rising again. Oliver Stone to present at PEN. A judge's memoir. Truthdig adds a columnist. Plus more for a short stack Tuesday.
The Westside is starting to slowly wake up from its long traffic nightmare around the 405 freeway construction, known officially as the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project.
Working for Rep. Brad Sherman pays off. Two councilmen junket to Armenia. Mayor Gacetti's "worst" appointments. Weekend violence claims ten lives. Luxury condos two blocks from MacArthur Park. The trouble with big box stores. Cliff's Books to close Thursday. Plus Emmy winners and more.
When she was growing up in South Central, no one she knew attended or worked at USC. That has changed, but the students still don't know the South Central she does.
NPR debuted its newly envisioned afternoon show this weekend from Culver City. It means more LA content for the network and less quiet around the studios, underused since the demise of "Day to Day."
Vin Scully doesn't get to do national TV any more, and every game will be on Fox or TBS. He will do the first three and last three innings on radio, per ESPN.
The five-acre estate on Moorpark Street where Bob and Dolores Hope first moved in 1939 is officially on the market. It's the last big intact Valleywood estate. With pictures.
McCain plays the sore loser again...
It feels like the Pasadena bookseller Cliff's Books has been in liquidation mode all year. But Steve Barkan noticed a new level of signage today.
DWP can't explain $40 million to two internal nonprofits. One LASD deputy involved in seven shootings. Campaigns will have to report paid blog posts. Garcetti takes to the curb. More on Swisher and Mossberg. No pants at Fox News. LAT looking at standards after GTA ads. Plus behind the scenes at LA Opera and more.
Mossberg and Swisher say they will continue writing about tech after the contract for AllThingsD runs out at the end of the year. No details, however.
The Dodgers clinched first place in the National League West and a spot in the postseason by beating Arizona 7-6 today. Some Diamondbacks were unhappy about what happened next.
New state senator from LA. Spring Street's green bike lane going away. Nikki Finke is talking. HIV-positive porn performer vs. Kink.com. Sheriff Baca in Sherman Oaks. NFL teams talking to Hollywood Park. Why a writer is leaving Venice. Artist Cecil Fergerson, RIP. Plus the Dodgers lose again and cockroaches in City Hall.
The New York Times keeps its web ads in the usual ad places and still looks like the NYT. Compare to what the LA Times lets its ad execs get away with.
Egger arrives in October from The Weather Channel to take over as the meteorologist on "Today in LA" on NBC 4. She's a UC Santa Barbara grad from Grand Terrace in the Inland Empire.
It has been a big week for the blue-footed booby since last week's sighting. "A bevy of boobies," quips the website SoCal Wild.
Actually, for a limited time all the sports columnists are free. Simers aims a couple of zings at the LA Times in his OC debut.
Loved the headline on this morning's Los Angeles Times story about Elinor Otto, who began working as a wartime Rosie the Riveter in 1942. The kicker of the story is that, at age 93, she's still working in an aircraft plant.
"Hey Joe" at the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix died Sept. 18, 1970.
The largest gift ever to Georgetown, his alma mater, will establish the McCourt School of Public Policy.
Tommy Gelinas, the prolific collector of memorabilia, photos, signage and documents related to the San Fernando Valley, plans to put some of his collection on display in Chatsworth on October 12.
Plesko, the Budapest-born author "known for Beat Generation-inspired novels," died on Monday morning after jumping from the roof of the building where he lived in Venice, the authorities said.
This is from last week: Los Angeles Times editor Davan Maharaj and his number two, Marc Duvoisin, lavishing their praise on the emotional Sunday piece by Christopher Goffard and Rick Loomis.
Nature writer Jackson Landers had his encounter with a black widow spider in Virginia, but since we are lousy with black widows here too and his story is kind of gripping, it's worth a read.
Insipid web listicle omits the inconvenient truths that Garcetti is married and a father.
All big newspapers face financial challenges, but only one turned the top of its page over to a video game bikini babe — on the same day the reporters are busy filling in details on a mass murderer who was obsessed with video games.
The Broad opened its doors to the media today for a hard-hat tour of the still under-construction museum and made some news.
The annual southbound migration of traveling Vaux's Swifts is underway — they are not using the chimney of the Chester Williams building at 5th and Broadway, but the nearby Spring Arts Tower. The first Audubon watch party is Saturday.
Herbalife's formidable foe. Delaying the merger of Planning and Building and Safety. Sheriff's brass allowed to fade into retirement. The LAPD's after-hours ghost hunter. DiCaprio picks up Scott Berg's Woodrow Wilson book. More blue-footed booby news. Plus Jackie Lomax, Philip Berg and more.
Cruise was the first to arrive when the Museum of Tolerance invited two dozen Hollywood VIPs to preview the upcoming Anne Frank exhibit.
Garcetti muzzles City Hall's taxi official. And he lunches with Maria Elena Durazo. Koretz's family at City Hall. Times can keep Coliseum Commission emails. Cecily Strong moves up at SNL. Music industry veteran hurt in machete attack. Critiquing Pacific Standard Time Presents. Sitting next to women. And more.
After losing three straight at home to the (no longer) last-place Giants this weekend, the Dodgers have now lost 8 of their last 11 games. And the big stars are nursing injuries.
An unusual piece of heartwarming news out of the Los Angeles County jails.
On the back of a classic Los Angeles address on 7th Street, visible only across a parking lot, is a reminder of the once popular Clifton's cafeteria empire.
For the first time since the Rim fire was at its peak, travelers can drive between the Eastern Sierra and the heart of Yosemite National Park.
Democrats who were disappointed they didn't get to see President Obama in Hancock Park last week will get the chance to open the checkbook for First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Orange County Register put the story about T.J. Simers jumping from the LA Times on the front page of this morning's sports section — and outside the website paywall. No word on whether the columns themselves will disappear behind the wall.
Los Angeles Times staff writer Anna Gorman posted her job change on Twitter.
Blood tests in Vernon. Villaraigosa and Herbalife made for each other? Final C-17 delivered in Long Beach. Speedreading Samantha Geimer’s memoir. Hitler in Hollywood. SoCal bestselling books. LA's love-hate relationship with helicopters. Patt Morrison on Cal Worthington. And more.
In 1969 and '70, Vin Scully hosted a short-lived game show on NBC called "It Takes Two." The Dodgers were pretty mediocre in those years. This looks worse.
From a long night of posting on September 12, 2008: "Channel 5 just wisely advised parents to keep the children of possible victims away from the television for awhile."
The Legislature's flurry of last-minute approvals includes measures to raise the California minimum wage to $10 an hour, let undocumented immigrants obtain a legal driver's license and allow immigrant lawyers to practice law.
Dolby revolutionized the recording industry with his noise-reduction system in the 1960s and transformed the way we hear movies starting in the 1970s.
In the bird world, I guess this is exciting news. The species rarely seen around here was spotted in the ocean off Gladstone's in Pacific Palisades.
Vin Scully will be the grand marshal of this coming Rose Parade, but it won't be his first brush with getting up early on January 1.
Garcetti and labor. NYT bungles Greuel. Cultural Heritage Commission visits Der Wienerschnitzel. Yahoo's CEO says releasing classified information is treason. John Hambrick RIP. Prosecutor blows case by talking to juror Tom Hanks. And more.
With the Dodgers heading to the playoffs, the former City Council member who helped get them to LA gets an award. Garcetti chief of staff Ana Guerrero is also dubbed one of ten LA women of the year. Here's the list.
Marty McMorrow is an independent author who took a different tack to market his memoir of life in the 1960s and beyond. He bought space on a billboard along Interstate 10 outside Blythe.
Kelly von Hemert wrote about food and restaurants in Orange County for more than 14 years before the assignments stopped coming.
Photographers are asked to report when they see a blue-banded pelican who was released by International Bird Rescue in San Pedro. There's even a contest.
With a headline like that, you have to watch.
After the Kings won in 2012, the organization took care of a special piece of business. Despite the presence of the most famous trophy in sports, onlookers kept a respectful distance. "Everybody understood why they were there," the Kings' Dean Lombardi said.
From his initial comments, it sounds as if Soboroff intends to be heard from in the post.
Nna Alpha Onuoha, arrested for allegedly making threats after being suspended from his TSA job, is the screener who shamed the 15-year-old daughter of LA journalists in June.
No new power for Coastal commission. City Hall vs. Venice treehouse. New AP film writers. More LA Times earthquake robo "news." Some media and casting news. And Rapoport returns to Chicago and the Billy Goat Tavern. Plus more.
A national search led the Heal the Bay board to Ruskin Hartley, a veteran environmentalist who most recently headed the Save the Redwoods League. He’s a Cambridge-educated geographer by training.
This morning's memo to the staff from the top editors of the Los Angeles Times explains nothing about the past three months of official silence regarding the T.J. Simers situation. It's noted that the sports editor is not one of the editors to sign the memo.
Brown signs rape bill. Garcetti does jury duty. Huizar's DTLA streetcar gets expensive. Amy Ephron profiles Compton's Aja Brown. Bill Plaschke roots for Uribe. Jill Soloway on her "Afternoon Delight." Selling off more of Bob Hope's stuff and a new group for SoCal historians and architects. Plus more.
According to USA Today, the acerbic sports columnist said he had an offer to stay at the Los Angeles Times, but likes better what he's hearing from the Register in Orange County.
Soon after work wraps up in January on the new freeway ramps where the 405 crosses over Wilshire Boulevard, crews will begin tearing up Wilshire all over again — this time to add a dedicated bus rapid transit lane west of the freeway.
The Dodgers' chunky journeyman third baseman had himself a career game tonight. He slugged three home runs off the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium — and when he came up with a chance for his fourth homer and the home crowd roaring, Uribe beat out a grounder to third for an infield single.
Cal Worthington might arguably have been the most recognized Southern California car dealer from his decades on television pitching his Worthington Ford dealership. Worthington "and his dog Spot" —which could have been an elephant or tiger or hippo — sold cars here starting in 1950 in Huntington Park.
More jail troubles for Baca. Change coming to Board of Supes. Is there a cheesier job for Villaraigosa? Vanity Fair chafes Hollywood. Plus Kathleen Brown, Bill Bratton, Tina Fey and Miley Cyrus, Jon Wiener, PBS NewsHour, Denise Hamilton, Serena Williams and more.
Just because LA is not a desert doesn't mean it's not getting hotter. Tim Rutten surveys the climate picture in his weekend column.
Peck is the New York City Ballet principal dancer who LA Observed featured in two posts last year. She has had a busy several months since.
Event at 2 p.m. at Central Library goes into the Adams photos of 1940 Los Angeles and environs that were donated to the library.
Sources have erupted with gossip that Simers has been seen at the Orange County Register and will become a columnist there. He hasn't written at the Times since June, without explanation to readers.
Heal the Bay has been hearing from so many people concerned about reports of radioactive contamination in the ocean here that it posted some questions and answers.
The company has been battling allegations that it operates an illegal pyramid scheme and criticism from a national Latino group.
Sarah Silverman met Duck at a Van Nuys no-kill shelter 14 years ago. They became best friends.
LA Times pop music critic Randall Roberts is blown away by some isolated tracks making the rounds on Facebook and YouTube. Before you click, he warns, "it will be virtually impossible to abandon it once you start listening."
McDonald, the LA Weekly staff writer who recently co-authored a book with former mayor Richard Riordan, is leaving to write a book about AIDS.
"One of the most noble things Jay Penske could ever do would be to give me back Deadline," Nikki Finke says in an interview with the WSJ's Ben Fritz. Plus: Finke notes still no correction by Sharon Waxman.
The reporters and editors at the OC Weekly are old school: they keep booze in the desks. After some unexplained drainage, they set up a video camera to catch the culprit.
The president was to speak at the AFL-CIO national convention here and appear at yet another Hollywood fundraiser. Discussions over Syria take precedence, apparently.
USC gets the Coliseum and its revenue. Long Beach police video controversy. BuzzFeed's plans for video in LA. Business tax amnesty. An update on Zoey Tur. More women working in TV — and what are those pink blobs at Echo Park Lake?
The good news about the latest new tsunami study, says Lucy Jones of USGS, is that three quarters of the California coastline is cliffs. The not so good news is that the remaining, low-lying coast is home to a lot of people and some of the most valuable land in the state.
Let the reviews begin. Mark Swed says the acoustics are great and "tourists take pleasure in merely touching the building's shiny surfaces. Yet Disney Hall is not what it could be."
Garcetti listens in Van Nuys. Republicans do well at local level in California. CBS beats Time Warner Cable. Bezos era begins at the Post. KBIG widens ratings lead. Hugh Hewitt remembers Martin Burns. Patt Morrison and Allred talk Filner. Greg Packer video-profiled. Mexico's Diana, huntress of bad bus drivers. And The New Yorker profiles Claire Danes but gives away Homeland spoilers. Plus more.
Garcetti was taped for YouTube while floating in a kayak on the Los Angeles River.
Frantz was the Los Angeles Times managing editor who served as the top deputy when Dean Baquet was the paper's editor. Frantz followed Baquet out the door after a public dust-up with staff writer Mark Arax over the handling of a story on Turkey's genocide of Armenians.
The new BuzzFeed office is on Beverly Boulevard at Fuller Avenue. That's in the El Coyote neighborhood.
Diana Nyad talks about her swim. Handcuffed woman who fell out of LAPD car sues. LA to give up parking pay stations in favor of meters. Villaraigosa aide runs for City Council. Plus more.
It's not clear in Monday's LA Times story about the controversy over Airbnb rentals in Silver Lake that the editors realize that the neighborhood isn't a legal entity and doesn't have its own "officials."
Nyad addressed her crew before entering Key West waters. "I am about to swim my last two miles in the ocean. This is a lifelong dream of mine..."
Forget P-23. Robert Martinez's trail camera caught a lion stashing a newly killed deer just minutes before he got there. His cams have caught local cougars, bears, foxes and more — but this time, he says, "I'm almost certain I was being watched."
Here's the latest fact sheet from the incident command post, posted about 20 minutes ago.
Clinton fundraises in LA
Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
The natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Performing arts with cheer
Donna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
