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Joe Mathews writes that the airline that once made getting around the state so easy is becoming a big disappointment -- and making him rethink Gov. Brown's favorite rail project.
LA Observed archive
for November 2014
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Joe Mathews writes that the airline that once made getting around the state so easy is becoming a big disappointment -- and making him rethink Gov. Brown's favorite rail project.
A five-part series in the Desert Sun will look at the history of Mafia influence, including the taint on Frank Sinatra and kids who grew up romanticizing the scene.
The man who drove Tribune into bankruptcy plans a "personal and professional memoir [with] compelling stories about his biggest deals and share tips for entrepreneurs who want to follow in his footsteps.” Snicker.
Monday is the day when new county officials are sworn in. Sheila Kuehl has tapped a veteran of Zev Yaroslavsky's office to be her chief deputy. Details of the day inside.
Sunday's South LA event will be held on the 40th anniversary of the first ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, and the cofounder will be on hand as an honored guest.
The big rain should arrive Tuesday. In the meantime, Northern California is getting a reminder of what "normal" looks like.
The beloved Los Angeles puppeteer died today of natural causes, his representatives announced. In lieu of flowers, donations are urged to support the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
Activist Jasmyne Cannick, among the arrested, says flat out no dispersal orders were given by the LAPD at 6th and Hope streets. She is tweeting about her experience.
In 1961, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer collaborated on a song for the upcoming film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." This is their demo recording.
The final numbers are bigger than they looked on the live streams I followed last night (and more than reported in the media this morning.) Most arrests were for disorderly conduct.
One in a (possibly) occasional LA Observed series.
A small group broke off from a protest in front of LAPD headquarters to run onto the 101 freeway at Grand Avenue and drop objects from the street above. Traffic stopped on the freeway without any injuries as far as I can tell.
If your Christmas shopping list includes books, here is some guidance on what others are reading. As always, the differences between SoCal and national bestseller lists are curious.
Even fans in LA can appreciate the emotion about Pablo Sandoval leaving the Giants, and a third-base coach deciding to leave the game.
New York police commissioner William Bratton, the former LAPD chief, was spattered with red paint during a protest over the grand jury announcement about the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
Co-owner and general manager Kerry Slattery told the staff last night she is retiring and turning over management of the store to Mary Williams, the events manager at Skylight.
There was no real trouble reported as of 11:30 p.m., just some blocked traffic as protesters laid down in intersections and brief closures of the 10 freeway at La Brea and the 110 freeway by the Convention Center downtown.
Michael Schneider's Great LA Walk marked its ninth year by traversing Ventura Boulevard from Woodland Hills east across the Valley to Universal City, then up to North Hollywood.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, in China on a trade mission, posed at the Great Wall with City Council members Joe Buscaino, Mike Bonin, Curren Price and Gilbert Cedillo
First-time candidate Patty Lopez has defeated Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra in a cliffhanger between two Democrats in the 39th Assembly district. Jeffrey Prang wins the Assessor race.
The Dodgers' shortstop and best hitter for the last couple of years is taking his bat to the Red Sox at $22 million a year for four years.
Former mayor says the current mayor "has a lot to learn” and is surrounded by weak people.
The LA Times veteran devotes his final column to a menu of proposed fixes, such as expanding the City Council, abolishing the school board and doing away with term limits.
Read the memo: CEO Jack Griffin's email to the staff late on Friday night rescinds the policy that attempted to strip away accrued vacation time and force reporters and editors to make a case for paid time off they used to earn.
Rain and mudslides. Trucks end strike. UC regents thrown the ball into the governor's lap. Website comments. Rare varied thrushes in LA. Plus more.
Daniel Hernandez, the former LA Times and LA Weekly reporter, is now in the midst of the Mexico story for Vice News. This has been a big day for street protests and growing condemnation of the government.
The LA journalist talked to several women who told eerily similar stories about being drugged and raped -- this was back in 2007. His story went nowhere.
Here is the video I mentioned the other day of Vin Scully's amusing send-off to termed-out county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Also: A longer video celebrating Yaroslavsky.
The director of "The Graduate" and so much more has won an Oscar, an Emmy, Tonys and a Grammy.
Look inside and turn up the sound: As I walk this land of broken dreams...
I have visions of many things.
The reporter will be shared with public radio stations in Seattle and Raleigh-Durham and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Scientists think they know now what has killed millions of starfish along the Pacific coast, though they aren't so sure why. The destruction has been quite visible in tide pools.
"I have been an openly gay man for approximately three percent of my life. I have been a professional basketball player for almost half of it."
Among the speakers were former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former supervisor Yvonne Burke and current board chairman Don Knabe, LACMA director Michael Govan, the former county CAO David Janssen and (via video) Vin Scully. Sheila Kuehl received a very warm reception.
Vice recalls the abuse that Saxon took covering the Angels and Dodgers for the Daily News when there were few women on the beat. Reggie Jackson gave her such trouble that other Angels stood up for her.
A former reporter argues that everyone should stop using the phrase and remember the tragedy that spawned it. A congressman and three California journalists were among the 918 dead in Guyana 37 years ago today.
The inexperienced candidate who appears to be unseating fellow Democrat Raul Bocanegra in the Valley's 39th Assembly district has expanded her lead to 235 votes.
Kalman Levine, one of the four rabbis murdered in an attack this morning in the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem, had strong ties to Los Angeles.
In the news today: Jerry Brown, the UC Board of Regents, Charles Manson, Bill Cosby, Austin Beutner, the Lakers and some media moves, plus more.
Charles Champlin wore a lot of hats on the Los Angeles arts and entertainment journalism scene: LA Times arts editor, film critic, book critic, columnist, author, host of TV programs and more.
Getty House uses a lot of water. Live Nation at Grand Park costs the city, it turns out. Marlborough School head to step down. Plus Bill Cosby, Pierre Omidyar and more.
Tribune Publishing calls it Discretionary Time Off, and says employees may actually get as many paid days off or even more. But to get even a sick day, you may have to convince a supervisor your performance merits it -- and no more banking vacation days. Read the memos.
I first wrote about negotiations between the Owens Valley and Los Angeles over the noxious dust that blows off of Owens Lake 25 years ago. So it seems a little bizarre that they finally have a deal both sides can live with.
By Santa Monica, they mean Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood.
Drought gardener and blogger Emily Green wants people to remember that they need to deep-water their trees or the drought can have a worse effect than necessary.
Daum writes that her recovery from a near-death illness has brought a responsibility she didn't expect. Plus: Joe Mathews sees a generation gap in California.
A homeless encampment on Saturday on Virgil Avenue, beside the Hollywood Freeway in what the blue signs call Wilshire Center.
After getting dropped after one column by the LA Times, Heisler will now cover the NBA for the competition. His column in the Times, by the way, paid all of $200.
They are both Democrats so there is not a whole lot at stake politically, but the still-continuing race in the Northeast Valley's 39th Assembly district is intriguing. Incumbent Raul Bocanegra could lose.
It's Christmas season already on KOST, and next week venerable KHJ switches to all-Catholic radio.
The Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles chapter names its honorees for the year. Banquet in the spring.
Dorian Paskowitz was a Stanford-trained doctor who raised nine children on the beach in Orange County, surfed the world and even tried to make peace on the Gaza Strip. He "lived the ultimate surfing life."
Bob Sipchen returns to the LA Times as senior editor in the California section. He has been communications director for the Sierra Club and editor of the advocacy group's magazine.
Reston will stay in LA and cover politics and the 2016 presidential campaign for CNN's digital side and the TV network.
Book selling giant Amazon and publisher Hachette announced this morning that they have signed a new multiyear contract, ending their bitter public dispute over book pricing.
Nice Lisa Napoli interview on KCRW with Harvey Kubernik, the author of "Turn Up the Radio: Rock, Pop, and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972."
Any web content creator or headline writer who posted that Kardashian's nude pics broke the Internet is a shameless tool. Nice exposure, though, for Amanda Fortini.
Gustavo Arellano's column in the OC Weekly began humbly -- and now it's a freakin' empire and he's the editor of the whole paper. He celebrates in this week's column.
I'm reposting this Gary Leonard photo from 2011 of the artist Richard Duardo, who died Tuesday.
Tributes to the Los Angeles printmaker and artist Richard Duardo are filling my social feeds. Duardo has been referred to as the "Warhol of the West" for his prints of pop-culture icons.
Elizabeth Warren visits with LA and Hollywood progressives. City Council races start to take an interesting shape. Still counting in that Valley assembly race, possibly "the biggest political upset of the year" in LA. Monday columns and much more.
I haven't yet read former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan's autobiography, but Jim Rainey of the LA Times has. Rainey covered City Hall when Riordan was mayor.
If you missed last year's rare opening of the gates to the historic Cascades in Sylmar, the DWP is allowing visitors on Sunday.
After 20 years on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Zev Yaroslavsky is getting ready to leave his offices in the Hall of Administration.
The OC Business Journal reports that two of the investors who helped Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz finance the purchase of Freedom Communications in 2012 say the company is 'insolvent.'
This news from the state geologist won't be good for the developers of the proposed Millennium Hollywood tower or their friends in City Hall.
On the same day that LACMA introduces donor Jerrold Perenchio, the Getty announces it acquired a Manet painting at a record price.
Hikers found the remains of the missing Fox distribution executive in the rural high desert near Palmdale last month, according to officials. He disappeared May 1, 2012.
The museum has summoned the media on Thursday morning to announce what the release calls the largest gift of art in the museum's history. The donor is Jerrold Perenchio.
Kuehl got 52.8 percent of the vote and will form, with Mark Ridley-Thomas and another newcomer, Hilda Solis, a majority of public union-backed supervisors on the board.
Election results are coming in slowly despite the abysmal turnout. Sheila Kuehl and Ted Lieu are leading, McDonnell elected sheriff, more inside.
Hilburn profiled Simon for the LA Times during a 1987 stop in Zimbabwe on Simon's tour for "Graceland." Simon & Schuster acquired the book at auction.
Heisler, laid off sort of famously in 2011, wrote one NBA piece last week then was dropped. He says he wasn't told why.
Siegel was the co-creator and writer of the original Superman comic books. He purchased his Royal portable in 1938.
The Republicans will control both houses of Congress for President Obama's final two years in office.
A new report concludes that LA "has among the slowest, most expensive internet services in the industrialized world."
The polls close in LA County today at 8 p.m. and mail-in ballots need to be received by today or dropped off at a polling place. A roundup of news items.
Tom Magliozzi and his younger brother Ray, hosts of Car Talk on NPR since 1987, were both MIT graduates. Tom is the one with the garrulous laugh.
The New York Times fashion and style section is back with another of those lightly reported Los Angeles cultural pieces.
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.
