Don Shirley: Pianists make history
Iris Schneider on Annie Leibovitz
Sen. Franken was on KPCC Friday and is talking about his new book in Beverly Hills (twice) and in Glendale.
Archive: Events
Sen. Franken was on KPCC Friday and is talking about his new book in Beverly Hills (twice) and in Glendale.
I will be moderating a journalism panel on Monday night and then, on Saturday, signing and schmoozing at the Times book festival.
Fourteen events later, CicLAvia says it's the largest open streets event in North America.
Radio reporter Steve Futterman is organizing a 20-year reunion of the media folks who covered the people versus Orenthal J. Simpson this Saturday. Videos inside.
Instead of 15 miles from downtown, Sunday's 6-mile route begins in Culver City. Here's the map and some tips to avoid bike and car congestion.
Sunday's South LA event will be held on the 40th anniversary of the first ciclovÃa in Bogotá, Colombia, and the cofounder will be on hand as an honored guest.
Gary Leonard has been documenting Los Angeles in photos since before he was at UCLA in the early 1970s. He has seen a lot, but what he hasn't done much of is talk about his photographs or the LA he sees. That ends Saturday!
They had a huge turnout last year when the route followed Wilshire and it's the same course — between Grand Avenue downtown (in front of the One Wilshire telecom switching building) and Fairfax Avenue. Here's my guide to interesting sights again.
Fun fact: the guns on the Iowa could hit downtown LA from San Pedro — that's like an hour and a half with traffic.
I will be leading the conversation with NPR's media reporter for Zócalo Public Square on Monday night in Culver City. Come to the event or shoot me an email.
The eighth CicLAvia on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. covers 7.5 miles of mostly Downtown streets. The ends of the route are MacArthur Park on 7th Street,...
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.
On Saturday morning I'm taking part in an LA Conservancy panel on suburbanization and sprawl in Woodland Hills. It's part of the Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A. series, which itself is included in Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. Info inside.
Preparations for Sunday's Ciclavia are visible everywhere along the route between Downtown's Grand Avenue and Fairfax Avenue at the west end of the Miracle Mile district. On Saturday afternoon, a city crew filled a large pothole at Wilshire and Mariposa Avenue in the Wilshire Center stretch of Koreatown.
On Thursday morning I moderated a panel on the future of Los Angeles at the Getty Research Institute's symposium, Urban Ambition: Assessing the Evolution of L.A. The participants included Christopher Hawthorne, the LA Times architecture critic.
"If budget considerations improve, JPL hopes to host an Open House at a future date, perhaps as early as fall 2013," the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
The sixth version of Ciclavia is breaking out of the central city and extending west all the way to Venice Beach. Venice Boulevard and selected other streets will be closed to cars and buses from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Los Angeles Marathon begins at Dodger Stadium on Sunday morning and ends on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Most runners will start at 7:28 a.m. Streets and freeway ramps will reopen across the cities of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, and on the federal VA campus near West LA, on a rolling basis.
Barry will discuss his new book, "Insane City," with Matt Groening at Live Talks LA on Thursday. For us he talks about Neil Diamond, Justin Bieber and the difference between Miami and LA, and he has some advice for the Lakers. Check it out inside.
A race in the streets, downtown, at night, in the middle of winter. It's a concept.
George Mann was a vaudeville performer who made color photographs of downtown's Bunker Hill neighborhood before all the Victorians and rooming houses were torn down. There is a show of his 1960s Kodachrome photos — in 3-D, with glasses provided — tonight at Central Library.
Leonard Cohen returns to Los Angeles Monday night for a show at the Nokia Theatre. Here's a taste from his London concert on July 17, 2008. I don't know who the bandmates are, but the voices of the angels are Sharon Robinson, Charley Webb and Hattie Webb.
Gary Leonard's Take My Picture gallery on Broadway is opening a new exhibit tonight of 51 paintings and drawings by Philip Stein, who was nicknamed Estaño by the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Things got a bit delayed — they are now more than 12 hours late towing the retired space shuttle Endeavour to its new home at the California Science Center. Of course that means more people have been able to see it. Here are some Sunday photos from Gary Leonard
A sampling of photos from the space shuttle Endeavour's trip from LAX to the California Science Center: 12 miles in two days.
The space shuttle Endeavour was scheduled to leave the field at LAX about 2 a.m. and begin rolling east toward Friday night's crossing of the 405 freeway. A couple of major viewing spots are planned for Saturday before the shuttle reaches Exposition Park.
Weather is forcing NASA to delay by a day the arrival of Endeavour over Los Angeles. I talk about the meaning of the shuttle's move to LA, and the excitement generated, with host Steve Chiotakis in my weekly segment on KCRW at 6:44 p.m.
Basically USC to Chinatown, with feeder legs from MacArthur Park and Boyle Heights.
The Brentwood 5k/10k Run on San Vicente Boulevard had become a Memorial Day tradition after 35 years. An email notice on Friday reminded runners and Westsiders who lined the route that "regretfully, the Brentwood Run has been cancelled for this year due to a loss in financial sponsorships."
The grand opening to unveil the new Expo Line light rail train is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at the 7th Street/Metro station in downtown. That kicks off a weekend...
The California Women's Conference started by the wife of Gov. George Deukmejian in 1985, and made into a big event by Maria Shriver, will go on in September — under new organizers and without Gov. Brown.
Mayor Villaraigosa and Lu Parker plan to ride in Sunday's CicLAvia. At least, that's what her tweet says. Here's the latest route map and street closures.
Saturday is the official last day of the Pacific Standard Time extravaganza that began last fall.
Next month there will be a major conference at USC and a star-studded concert at L.A. Live of Guthrie's music, all for the centennial of his birth.
Zócalo Public Square has added an event this Friday evening with Josefina Vázquez Mota, the former secretary of education in Mexico who beat out President Felipe Calderón's handpicked candidate to become the nominee of the National Action Party.
I'm in the midst of a fun project extracting photographs from the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of 3,000 pictures from the morgues of the old Valley Times and Hollywood Citizen-News newspapers.
Video from the only rehearsal of the local tradition at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
This amazing photograph of the old Plaza downtown, and showing La Placita and Fort Moore Hill in the background, is one of the 19th century treasures by photographer Carleton Watkins.
Harry Belafonte will engage in conversation about his life as an entertainer and his new memoir, "My Song," with Tim Robbins on Monday night at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
Live Talks Los Angeles is offering LA Observed readers tickets to see NBA legend Jerry West talking about his life (and new autobiography) with producer and author Peter Guber.
Live Talks Los Angeles has Tuesday night tickets for LA Observed readers.
Here's a quick guide to Sunday's closure of ten miles of streets around Los Angeles.
Tonight at MOCA, I'm on a panel where the question is posed by Zócalo Public Square and the USC-Huntington Institute on California and the West.
See the Eames living room, furniture by Neutra and Schindler, Dick Van Dyke's Studebaker Avanti and more.
LA Observed readers can take their pick of events next week through Live Talks Los Angeles.
Los Angeles did not have a public exhibition space devoted to art until 1954.
Live Talks LA has made tickets available for a few LA Observed readers and their guests to see Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson on Thursday at Track 16, in Santa...
I'm taking part in a panel discussion Tuesday at the Cal State Northridge library.
President Obama will be in West Hollywood on Sept. 26 for two entertainment-themed fundraisers. The return of Obamajam will be on a Monday night.
But don't buy any advance tickets, and if you're a band, cash the check quick and get out of town.
Food trucks will be kept outside the core area of this Thursday's Downtown Art Walk, the first to be held since the death last month of Marcello Vasquez when a car went up on the sidewalk.
This one sounds like fun - a walking tour along the stretch of Wilshire Boulevard that was designed to rival the great boulevards of Europe.
Professor and author Leo Braudy will be the special guest, and I'll be the not-so-special interviewer and moderator, this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Central Library in Downtown. It's for the ALOUD series.
Live Talks Los Angeles is presenting a conversation between authors Ann Patchett (her new novel is "State of Wonder") and Maile Meloy with tickets set aside for LA Observed readers.
Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, Gidget herself, will be a guest of honor at Saturday's Santa Monica Pier Paddleboard Race and Ocean Festival.
KCET is devoting the 8 to 11 p.m. block on Tuesday night to a live show raising money for Japan. All proceeds will go to tsunami and quake relief efforts...
I guess we'll get some clues about the mayoral aspirations of developer Rick Caruso this afternoon.
The West Coast premiere of artist Christian Marclay's "The Clock," a 24-hour montage of thousands of scenes from films and television depicting the passage of time, will run in LACMA's Bing Theater from 11 a.m. on Monday, May 16 until Tuesday at 11 a.m.
The Dalai Lama had two sold-out appearances scheduled Monday in UCLA's Royce Hall.
he Dalai Lama was supposed to speak at 2:30 p.m. at the Long Beach Terrace Theater. A sore throat has delayed his travel from Japan, where he was visiting with earthquake victims.
The first day of the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC on Saturday had nice weather, brisk book sales as far as I could tell, and a decent sized and mellow crowd.
I'll be signing books and having great conversations at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books from noon to 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Look for me at the Angel City Press booth.
Click on the map above to see the street closures for Sunday's second CicLAvia.
They're at Live Talks Los Angeles in April. Plus: Michael Connelly and James Gleick.
Author T.C. Boyle will talk about his new novel, "When the Killing’s Done" — the one set in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara — on Thursday, March 3 at 8 p.m. at Track 16 Gallery in Bergamot Station.
Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Milken and a bunch of Hollywood types came out to the home of Peter Chernin Thursday night for a discussion of discuss global health issues.
T.C. Boyle lives up near Santa Barbara and his upcoming novel is set out on the Channel Islands, which sometimes seem to loom so close to the shore from up there.
Writers Bloc is making five pairs of tickets available to LA Observed readers who would like attend a conversatiion between Hollywood veteran Peter Guber and David Ulin, the Los Angeles Times book critic.
On gun violence, signs of life in the economy, Boyarsky on redevelopment and schools, and the return of Angeleno Datebook.
There were several events listed today on the calendar for Los Angeles Arts Month, but the opening media moment is a lunchtime show on Wednesday by David Hidalgo and Louis Perez of Los Lobos in the Music Center Plaza.
Live Talks Los Angeles is offering tickets to a select number of LA Observed readers wishing to see author Anne Rice in conversation with her son, the author Christoper Rice,...
One of the existing copies of the Magna Carta, the charter of rights presented to England's King John at Runnymede in 1215, will be displayed at the Los Angeles County...
Writers Bloc is offering five pairs of tickets to LA Observed readers for the Dec. 7 conversation between Cavett and Brooks.
Councilman Tom LaBonge, with a football in the orange jacket, and organizer Michael Schneider posed for a pic this morning before kicking off the Great Los Angeles Walk on Wilshire Boulevard.
"James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons" debuts Jan. 19 on the Investigation Discovery channel.
There are still some tickets available for the Live Talks Los Angeles event with author Simon Winchester ("Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean") in conversation with Patt Morrison on Thursday at Track 16 Gallery at Bergamot Station.
We have a limited number of tickets available for upcoming author events around Los Angeles.
Public radio spoken-word icon Joe Frank will make a rare public appearance at a KCRW event on Nov. 13.
LA Observed helps to sponsor the Live Talks Los Angeles series of conversations around town, and producer Ted Habte-Gabr is offering tickets to LAO readers who want to take in Thursday night's session between actor Michael Caine and Sharon Waxman of The Wrap.
Crowds are already forming, and streets already closing, in the USC area for President Obama's campaign rally this afternoon. But some new plans to be aware of: the White House...
f you were thinking of coming on the Neon Cruise this Saturday night, come on down.
With all the notoriety, of course people were going to show up.
CicLAvia on Sunday, Zocalo on Saturday, Liz Phair on Friday.
Here's the 7½ route of city streets that will be closed to cars on Sunday for the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. event.
Actually, the folks at Live Talks L.A. are making ten pairs of tickets available to LA Observed readers to catch P.J. O'Rourke in conversation with Judy Muller.
Abbot Kinney Boulevard's sidewalks were packed for tonight's monthly First Friday extravaganza — with pictures — plus an exhibit for L.A. Times photographer Carolyn Cole.
Jonathan Gold — the enthusiastic fish gourmand — and his brother Mark Gold — the head of Heal the Bay — will be on the same panel tomorrow night talking about the sustainability of seafood. It's sort of a rermatch, if you remember their 2008 blog throwdown.
You've got them. Chronicler of all things modern Chris Nichols has put together a quick web guide to 33 local eateries that fit the criteria.
This year's parade to celebrate the Lakers' NBA championship is scheduled to begin Monday at 11 a.m. at Staples Center, according to media reports.
The series of conversations starts with Catherine Keener and Elvis Mitchell and will take place before an audience at NPR West in Culver City and be posted later on the web.
The Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee is raising money this week with a Wednesday screening of "Visual Acoustics, the Modernism of Julius Shulman" at the Egyptian Theatre and a Saturday bus trip to the late photographer's home in the Hollywood Hills.
I'll be signing "Wilshire Boulevard" and "San Fernando Valley" on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Angel City Press booth. LA Observed authors will be all over the place, including on a bunch of panels.
Journalist/author Charles Bowden will discuss his new book, "Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields," tonight at Aloud at the Central Library. KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez will...
A statue honoring the late broadcaster Chick Hearn will be unveiled outside Staples Center before tonight's game 2 of the Lakers' playoff series with Oklahoma City.
Today was the annual Blessing of the Animals procession, in which a long line of pets with their owners line up to be received by Cardinal Roger Mahony just off the Old Plaza. If you have never been and want to catch the flavor of the event, here's our LA Observed video from last year.
The fundraiser we told you about awhile back for Sen. Barbara Boxer and the Democratic National Committee will be held April 19, with President Obama the headliner. There will be...
Marathon organizers are advising runners to get out early Sunday since getting to Dodger Stadium could prove difficult: "ARRIVE EARLY! We suggest you be there by 5:30am.," says an official tweet. Plus street closures, bus changes and more.
Adrienne Crew has posted her latest Angeleno Social Diary, listing some upcoming events of interest. Find it at Native Intelligence. In addition, an event on my calendar: Frank Gehry will...
LA Observed contributor Adrienne Crew is an entertainment attorney by day. At night she goes to interesting places, and wants you to know where you can go too. Her Angeleno...
Video of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, which performs at UCLA's Royce Hall on Wednesday night, traveling and playing at the Auditorio de Madrid, set to the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
The annual lecture series at UCLA in memory of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl continues at 5 p.m. with author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
The Society of Professional Journalists of Greater Los Angeles is branching out, subject-wise and geographically, for a free panel discussion tonight.
The Dalai Lama is staying in the presidential suite of a Beverly Hills hotel and sat down for interviews with the Associated Press and L.A. Times, at least.
The Food Network chef cites problems with the concert promoter.
Looking for some smart things to do around town over the next week? LA Observed contributor Adrienne Crew, the creator of L.A. Brain Terrain, offers her suggestions.
Writers and photographer Nick Ut on the calendar.
The LA Observed contributor gives an advance preview of his new novel at an SPJ event this evening Downtown.
L.A. journalist Alex Ben Block was the lead editor on the the new book, "George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-By-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies." Block, now at the Hollywood Reporter, will...
Koufax is seldom seen at Dodger Stadium, let alone in Los Angeles. But on Feb. 27 he will sit on stage and chat with Dodgers manager Joe Torre and T.J. Simers at Nokia Theatre.
The kickoff media op for year two is Tuesday morning at 9 at REDCAT Downtown. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Councilmember Tom LaBonge, actor Alec Mapa, LA Opera mezzo soprano Ronnita Nicole...
Three dozen local food bloggers are pooling their talents Saturday to raise money for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. The menu has cookies, pies, cupcakes, scones, tarts — even butterscotch...
PEN Center USA's annual awards dinner and LitFest is tomorrow night at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It's always chock full of local authors, journalists and interesting people. (Tickets are still...
The Urban Land Institute's local council has created the Los Angeles Real Creativity awards and will hand out the first four at a dinner on Saturday in the lobby of...
The little West Hollywood Halloween strut along Santa Monica Boulevard has grown up. "What began as a primarily gay and lesbian event," says the official website, is now calling itself...
The fourth annual gathering at USC of local historical organizations and archives is Saturday at the Davidson Center. The featured panelists this year include authors Alex Moreno Areyan, Jenny Cho,...
Zócalo Public Square took over the grand ticket hall at Union Station Saturday night for its first fundraiser, featuring the LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold, who praised Zócalo as an essential...
The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills unveiled its fall schedule, starting tonight with Wayne Gretzky, Bruce McNall and a showing of "Kings Ransom," a documentary by Peter Berg...
Saturday is Coastal Clean-up Day, the 14th annual, if anyone's counting. Heal the Bay and the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors are taking the lead in our...
Hugh Garvey, features editor at Bon Appetit magazine here and a food blogger, has a new cookbook out called "Gastrokid Cookbook: Feeding a Foodie Family in a Fast-Food World." Self-explanatory...
State inspector general Laura Chick, the former City Controller, will be interviewed by KCBS' Dave Bryan at today's lunch gathering of the Current Affairs Forum hosted by Emma Schafer. Besides...
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will appear together on stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Feb. 22 as headliners in the American Jewish University's Public Lecture Series....
Mark Lacter has ten tickets for Thursday morning's appearance by Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson to talk about his book, "Free: The Future of a Radical Price," at the ALOUD Business...
There's a big event July 18 at the Coliseum to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the last Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. This is the logo that has been...
Bottega Louie, Chaya Downtown and The Conga Room won jury prizes at tonight's AIA/LA restaurant design awards that are part of the Dwell on Design event this weekend. The Lab...
When you're woken up by a downpour in June, the same week that Los Angeles imposes mandatory water cutbacks, the subject of today's commentary became almost a no-brainer. It airs...
Found some nice photos from last night's Santa Monica vigil in support of the Los Angeles reporters for Current TV who went on trial today in North Korea. They...
Hey everybody, this month — meaning May — is our sixth anniversary. In post #1, I said I didn't know how active the site would be. Well, this is post...
Cool event on Saturday for lovers of the city and its roots: MYhistoricLA, the public kickoff to SurveyLA, the first-ever comprehensive survey of L.A.'s historic buildings and resources. Time constraints...
Zócalo and the New America Foundation are hosting the founder of craigslist at the Arclight tonight at 7:30. Reservations are only available for the waiting list (and the Zócalo website...
In addition to the previously reported round of media events on Wednesday and Thursday, the White House has added what it's calling a "town hall" with President Obama at the...
Poring over a century's worth of old L.A. newspapers, you see certain issues recur. Billboards, for one. Another perennial is what to do with the public space downtown that was...
Newly powerful Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman are the key draws at a Sunday gathering at USC of the Jewish Federation's New Leaders Project. They will be honored along...
The big day is here. Barack Obama becomes the 44th U.S. president a few ticks before 9 a.m. Pacific time. Most TV networks will be live from Washington, D.C. at...
A few miscellaneous items: Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein is scheduled to speak with Warren Olney tonight at 7:30 p.m. on "Which Way, L.A.?" on KCRW. He's also on KPCC's "Patt...
Ken Gonzales-Day, a photographer and Scripps College professor, wrote the book "Lynching in the West: 1850-1935." He has traveled California trying to locate the actual trees used by lynch mobs....
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...
Los Angeles is fortunate to have as many historical archives as it does. For the third year, dozens of them are strutting their stuff today for the enlightenment and entertainment...
The Women's Conference created by Maria Shriver and hubby returns to Long Beach on Oct. 22. The program includes MSNBC’s Chris Matthews moderating a conversation on leadership and the economy...
Eric Lynxwiler and I will be the featured speakers in Westwood today at 4 pm at the inaugural literary salon of the Friends of the Westwood Library. It's a benefit...
"Moguls, Millionaires & Movie Stars: Hollywood Between the Wars, 1920-1940" will be at the Huntington Library in San Marino on Friday and Saturday. Panels will explore the rise of the...
We're getting back on the bus in honor LA Observed's fifth (!) anniversary. There have been a couple of thousand posts since the last time we teamed up with the...
An add to yesterday's item on the tale of two ex-editors: current Times editor Russ Stanton also gets out on the town Thursday night, appearing as the featured guest at...
Never thought I'd see this disclaimer on an invitation in my email box: Views and opinions expressed by the Consulate General of Azerbaijan are not necessarily shared by the Ronald...
Denise Hamilton sits in at The Elegant Variation today and guest-interviews author Nina Revoyr about her new novel, "The Age of Dreaming." Excerpt: "The Age of Dreaming" recounts the story...
My panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books ("California: The Great Experiment") was well-attended by an enthusiastic crowd that asked many provocative questions, provocatively answered by Bill Deverell,...
In her new travel guide "Great Escapes Southern California," Donna Wares describes author D.J. Waldie's ritual for the weekend of the L.A. Times Festival of Books. He takes the bus...
Actor Charles Durning landed on Normandy's Omaha Beach as a 17-year-old Army Ranger in June 1944. Before leaving Europe, he was wounded three times and awarded three Purple Hearts and...
Councilman Bernard Parks and State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, the candidates for county Supervisor in the June primary, are scheduled for their only televised debate on Thursday at 6:30 at the...
Russ Stanton, the editor who has the job of reinventing the Los Angeles Times, will speak Thursday night at the L.A. Press Club on Hollywood Boulevard. The club says Stanton...
This year's L.A. Times Festival of Books is the weekend of April 26-27 at UCLA. I'm moderating a 3 pm Saturday panel called "California: The Great Experiment," with a distinguished...
I recently visited the Gibbon Conservation Center in a wild corner of Santa Clarita's Bouquet Canyon. It's home to 33 gibbons, the small tree-swinging apes native to Southeast Asia, and...
Zócalo, the lecture series that LA Observed helps to co-sponsor, has some good ones coming up. Tickets are available and free, of course. Monday, April 7, 7:30 pm at Barnsdall...
Doug Davis broke in as the Downtown News editorial cartoonist by lampooning the insular concerns of downtown bloggers. He ruffled feathers, but "when I saw that reaction, I said, 'I...
Interesting lineup at noon today at the Loyola Law School Entertainment & Sports Law Society symposium. Topic: "The Paparazzi, Celebrity Bloggers...and the Lawyers Who Represent Them." Speakers: Michael Amir, legal...
Alert YouTube. Sam Zell makes his first public appearance in Los Angeles Thursday since all that foofah over his demeaning language — and the launch of a new era at...
By coincidence, an alumni group from the campus where a gunman killed five students and wounded sixteen others is having an event tonight at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica....
As I mentioned down below, I'll be out of town all week. In addition to fewer posts from me it means I'm going to miss a couple of events I...
Zócalo, the public lecture series that LA Observed helps co-sponsor, has just added an evening discussion with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. It will be at the Walt Disney Hall's BP Hall...
Free wine and eats! For Saturday evening's Extravaganza of the Senses on the 20th Century Fox lot, benefiting the Los Angeles Free Clinic, we can provide a couple of pairs...
Zócalo has added a new speaker for September: author and Angeleno James Ellroy. They say he'll discuss "60 years of the secret history of Los Angeles in raucous, freewheeling and...
Couple of interesting sessions coming up at Zócalo, the public lecture series started by Gregory Rodriguez that LA Observed helps sponsor. Next Tuesday, Dec. 12, "L.A. vs. New York: Who's...
She's back and she looks marvelous. Closed since Jan. 6, 2002, the restored and tastefully enlarged Griffith Observatory reopens on Nov. 3. Mayor Villaraigosa announced the date before almost a...
Billionaire George Soros, one of the right's favorite bogeymen of the moment, is in town tonight for a chat at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He'll be questioned on...
This weekend's festival will have a "first-ever VIP hospitality lounge." It will be at the Cliff's Edge restaurant on Sunset, where the flakkery says that "headliners from the street fair...
El Mirador: Alan Pavlik of Just Above Sunset captures S. Charles Lee's classic apartments on Sweetzer in West Hollywood. Liquids on a plane: Tabloid Baby catches Homeland Security chief Michael...
They are going to blow up San Pedro's first high-rise this weekend. About 6 am on Sunday, wind conditions allowing, the stripped-down former Logicon building at 55 W. Fifth St....
By David Davis For those keeping score at home, it's been a banner year for Terry Cannon's Baseball Reliquary. In February, Cannon and his merry diamond pranksters debuted Ben...
Author, Emmy nominee and longtime LAT columnist Al Martinez is giving his literary archive to the Huntington Library. The library will fete him Thursday at 7:30 pm when he will...
The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases opens today at the Getty Villa, a rare showing of 2,000-year-old pieces from the Getty's collection, the British Museum, the Louvre...
Later this week the American Institute of Architects floods downtown 23,000 strong for AIA's annual convention and design expo. Here's the overview and schedule-at-a-glance. They don't crank it up officially...
Eric Lynxwiler and I will be signing and talking about Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles this evening In Pasadena at Vroman's Bookstore, "Southern California's oldest and largest independent."...
Budget day for the mayor, bad news in the LAT for Cardinal Mahony, the LA Weekly profiles half of Los Angeles and Dean Singleton closes in on three Norcal newspapers....
♦ Longtime L.A. radio reporter and anchor Hettie Lynne Hurtes is joining KPCC as mid-day anchor. Her film credits include roles in Terminator and Throw Momma from the Train. ♦...
Turn the page for items on Dean Singleton's California strategy, Sheriff Baca's Compton strategy, a Saudi prince gets booed at Town Hall Los Angeles, celebrities at the fashion shows and...
That means traffic hiccups between downtown and La Cienega Boulevard (from 3rd Street down to Martin Luther King, but see the map below for details) all morning—and sightings of lean,...
The L.A. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has abandoned downtown's Figueroa Hotel as the venue for its monthly schmoozefest. They are trying out the Cat & Fiddle on...
Jack Weiss makes his ambition more or less official, Anthony Pellicano comes back to town, the Ambassador gets a proper send-off, Channel 13 News adds a comic, more bad news...
Looks like there's finally a new head of LACMA, Tom LaBonge finally makes it in Column One, County Health finally comes clean about the hepatitis A outbreak, Nikki Finke finally...
In the news this morning, the FBI looks at that videotaped shooting by a deputy in Chino...misreading Los Angeles...quitting James Frey...buying off Stuckey...and Hollywood's gay thing analyzed from a couple...
Joel Stein's going to get letters [finally?—ed.] for writing that its wussy to "support the troops" if you oppose the war. Also if you fly a yellow ribbon. And don't...
The mayor draws a crowd in Sherman Oaks, the UCLA controversy, bunch of reporter moves at the Times and Long Beach cops still can't find their shotguns...that and much more...
On Thursday at 6:30 pm, author Donald H. Wolfe will talk about his new book, The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles,...
Four people were found dead on one day in different places on Skid Row, none of them due to crime. The City Council got the news just before creating a...
The board of directors met today and decided on a split vote to let me start roasting their turkeys a few milliseconds early, provided I make up the time later....
Former LAT Editor John Carroll has been invited to spend a semester at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. There's a good chance...
♦ City Hall lobbyists now have to disclose online their clients, the issues they advocated and how much they got paid every three months. Daily News ♦ Hollywood waits and worries over...
USC has in its archives some precious copies of a noteworthy Spanish-language newspaper in Yankee Los Angeles. El Clamor Público began publishing in 1855, five years after California became a...
Mayor Villaraigosa today named an "independent peer review panel" to look into the idea of a Wilshire Boulevard subway west of Western Avenue. He wants a report in November. The...
Judith Miller has just been added to the Saturday lineup at the California First Amendment Coalition Assembly on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. The New York Times reporter who spent...
I have a lot of distractions this Friday, so before it turns into an off day I'm declaring it a day off. No postings unless something big happens. For those...
♦ Tempers flared during the ten hours the city council locked itself in to finally select Gerry Miller as the CLA to replace Ron Deaton, Rick Orlov reports in the Daily...
♦ The school board picked up Supt. Roy Romer's option for another year. ♦ The state medical board opened an investigation of the St. Vincent's physicians who sold a liver transplant to...
Some of the female voices who shaped L.A. music radio will be on hand at the Knitting Factory tonight to talk about the good old days and the scary new...
Posting will be light today... • Mayor Villaraigosa safaris out to Tujunga this morning to unveil his appointees to the Fire Commission. If you don't know where that is, well, it's...
If you have a spare thou lying around, you too can dine with William F. Buckley and the editors and publisher of The National Review next week. Here's the invitation...
Still catching up to the backlog... • CityBeat's current "Real. Best. LA" theme issue is the largest yet at 108 pages. Fun tidbits include the revelation that some King Tut treasures...
• Mayor Villaraigosa plans to announce his appointments to the airport commission Monday morning. They will be introduced at a photo op at Lincoln and Sepulveda—good for visuals, not so much...
Late entries are tacked on to the end... • Wonkette Ana Marie Cox comes to town Tuesday to chat at 7 p.m. with Mickey Kaus at the Central Library. It's part...
• Police on Monday revised the facts in that fatal weekend shootout in South L.A. First, it was in Watts. The name of the dead father was changed to Raul Peña....
The Times is converting a seat on the editorial board into a three-month visiting fellow slot, as a way to bring in more thinking from academics and foreign journalists. The...
• Bob Hertzberg, chairman of the Villaraigosa transition team, will be on KPCC's Talk of the City Friday at 2 p.m. with guest host Jon Beaupre. • Mayor-elect Villaraigosa has signed on...
Here are some items from the week. Posting over the weekend will be sporadic at best. • Los Angeles magazine celebrated this month's comedy issue last night with drinks, schmoozing and...
• Pierce College out in Woodland Hills is offering a course this summer that could be the answer to high gas prices. Fundamentals of Mule Driving, also known as Equine...
* Fresh items are at the bottom, as usual... • This is anniversary week (the second) for L.A. Observed, a fact that the Downtown News dug up and turned into a...
Michael Yamaki, the appointment secretary when Gray Davis was governor and former L.A. police commissioner, has been hired as senior adviser to Sheriff Lee Baca, the Daily Journal says...The Times...
The LAT today joins the media pack on the Huffington Post, with an arch quip from ex-Timesman Tom Rosenstiel: "Is this a new kind of communication: a unique, elite blog-salon?...
FishbowlLA threw its Mediabistro-sponsored launch party tonight at Pearl in West Hollywood. The blog's Michael Sonnenschein posted his thanks at 10:40 p.m., apologizing for some "rough patches" and passing along...
That's the name of a documentary about foreign correspondents being screened tonight by the Los Angeles Press Club and the American Cinema Foundation. It was filmed on location in New...
Updated through the weekend Lesbian chic: Screenwriter and "L Word" creator Ilene Chaiken is profiled in Sunday's NYT Arts section. "In 1999, after writing a magazine article about same-sex couples...
John Beard: The Wall Street Journal devotes most of a TV column to the Fox 11 anchor's cameo appearances on series such as "24" and "Arrested Development." Tim Iacofano, a...
"Daily Show" rantist Lewis Black does his angry thing at the Wiltern Theatre this Friday night. He sold out in Irvine last year, so to prepare for his arrival Jewish...
Short items for a new week: WeHo mayor: BoifromTroy comments on West Hollywood mayor John Duran buying a share of Frontiers, which bills itself as "California's gay biweekly." Hewitt book:...
The Zócalo lecture series is asking the question on January 27: "Does the American Middle Class have a Future?" Given the topic, the speakers are a surprise. The question wil...
KPFK and the nation's other Pacifica stations are preempting normal programming on Thursday to raise money for preserving the Pacifica radio archives. From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., KPFK will...
• Milton Bradley did it again. The volatile Dodgers outfielder was cited for disorderly conduct after allegedly interfering with a police traffic stop near Akron, Ohio. The winter baseball meetings are...
The Mexican writer and man of letters is the subject of a piece in today's L.A. Times by Reed Johnson, and he also will speak tonight at the Central Library...
Prompted by the gay media speculation about Rep. David Dreier and other recent events, the local chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association will hold a panel discussion...
The Jane Austen Society of North America sweeps into the Biltmore downtown today for a weekend-long conference. Among the day's events are a subway outing to Phillipe's, a guided tour...
A couple of change-of-pace baseball items. Today, the Burbank Central Library opened an exhibition called "The Times They Were A-Changin': Baseball in the Age of Aquarius." It's about "the impact...
KCRW music meister Nic Harcourt (left) is profiled Friday on KCET's "Life & Times," which airs at 6:30 p.m. Tonight the show visits with retiring pastor Chip Murray. Also tonight...
The L.A. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has figured out a sure way to get their monthly cocktail mixers mentioned here: invite me to come as the special...
A conversation with Times editorial and opinion editor Michael Kinsley will be first up when Zócalo returns to the Central Library on Sept. 7. This week's program at California Plaza...
Mediabistro has put up pictures from the site's July 7 TV party in Hollywood. There are revelers from KTLA, KTTV, NBC, Bravo, E! and others. A Mediabistro photographer also worked...
New at LA Observed
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.
