Archive by Date
October 27, 2006
If I had the power, I would fly Martin Schall to Los Angeles and present him a key to the city. Herr Schall, as LA Observed long-timers know, is the...
Like most everyone else who has toured the newly expanded Griffith Observatory, Orange County Register science editor Gary Robbins was impressed by the aesthetics. "You'll want to hug the army...
Lots of political items after the jump: Admiral Brewer meets (some of) the press and goes after teachers, Mayor Villaraigosa's salary shoots past the governor and VP, Barack Obama day...
Reading between the lines, I'd guess that New York Times bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer's most painful culture shock about moving to Los Angeles this year has been parking tickets. Her...
Occidental College professor Peter Dreier, a leader of L.A.'s progressive political sphere, calls David Zahniser's story on the Miguel Contreras death cover-up "irresponsible, gutter, tabloid journalism, with no redeeming value"...
October 26, 2006
This was the day that fans of the ABC soap "General Hospital" have looked forward to for a long time: the return of the female half of Luke and Laura....
Franklin Avenue's Mike and Maria turn up on HGTV's "What is My House Worth?" LAist wants Lakers and Clippers bloggers. Dawn at Griffith Observatory. Crazy Wendy at the Santa...
By popular demand, KCRW is moving the replay of Left, Right & Center back to Friday evenings at 7 pm. The politics talk show starring Matt Miller, Robert Scheer, Arianna...
The number of college graduates who read the L.A. Times is closer to the 42% that Times columnist Tim Rutten claimed in his churlish snappish response, not the 19% that...
Times editor Dean Baquet spoke to the gathered Associated Press managing editors in his hometown of New Orleans today and urged newspaper editors not to passively accept whatever cuts the...
The timing of Mayor Villaraigosa's October trip to Asia caused some tongues to wag that he was dodging the unpleasant chore of campaigning for Phil Angelides. Maybe so, since it's...
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has made a bunch of senior personnel moves, including appointment of his first "special counsel to the City Council." That sensitive hand-holding job goes to Senior...
In most election years, the Los Angeles Times Poll would be out in the field this week with a final look at the governor's race and the other statewide offices...
LA Weekly news editor Alan Mittelstaedt was mentioned only obliquely in departed columnist Harold Meyerson's email blast last night. Mittelstaedt writes the new L.A. Sniper column, which Meyerson called a...
The biggest story of the morning actually broke last night: David Zahniser's scoop on where Miguel Contreras really died, and perhaps with who, followed by ex-editor Harold Meyerson's disgust at...
October 25, 2006
I didn't set out to post two Harold Meyerson items in a row, or three LA Weekly items. News is unpredictable, though, and they are all related. Meyerson, the newly...
Harold Meyerson sets up his final Powerlines column in the LA Weekly as a look "back and forward about the city I’ve reported on and marveled at and hectored and...
Another David Zahniser headline grabber in tomorrow's LA Weekly: When labor leader Miguel Contreras collapsed of a heart attack last year, he wasn't in his car as the quasi-official line...
Look who's sleeping at David Geffen's house. Nikki Finke has her take on why it might mean something for the LAT. Former USC quarterback Matt Leinart had his baby....
Beyond today's early News & Chatter on MTA bus service and peeking inside the mayor's private office, there's good stuff to be found across the vast LA Observed network: South...
U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ruled today that a ten-year-old legal agreement with the Bus Riders Union that prodded the MTA to spend $1.3 billion to improve service for the...
Mayor Villaraigosa met the school board's admiral today, and both came out saying the right things. "We have the same vision….This is going to be a great partnership," LAUSD superintendent-to-be...
Sure it's not the Westside stench, or even the Long Beach reek, but sensitive noses have again come through. An American Airlines 757 headed for Miami returned to LAX about...
TMZ says that a camera crew working for E! Entertainment Television entered an open gate at Brad Pitt's Hollywood Hills compound on Oct. 19 and was caught on videotape. The...
Admiral Villaraigosa and Mayor Brewer — or maybe it's the other way around — finally meet today. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as we told you yesterday, is also in L.A. for...
October 24, 2006
Invited guests streamed up to the Getty last night for the debut of "Where We Live: Photographs of America," a milestone exhibition of contemporary images donated by Village Roadshow Pictures...
A powdery substance found this evening sent everyone down to the lobby. A Los Angeles Police Department Hazardous Materials team is on the scene along with the health department. *...
LA Observed likes a good magazine cover. The New Yorker's February 27 "Watch Your Back Mountain" front today won the ASME award for the year's best news cover. The overall...
John Andrews is leaving as West Coast editor and bureau chief here of The Economist. He's heading home after a career with the magazine that has taken him to posts...
The worst is over on the southbound San Diego Freeway between Sunset Boulevard and the Santa Monica Freeway. After more than a year of orange cones and restricted flow that...
Dan Baum goes along for the ride with L.A.'s star Spanish-language radio deejay, Renán Almendárez Coello, for last week's New Yorker (with audio at the magazine's website.) Almendárez’s morning show,...
An LA Observed reader emails that KNX 1070 was off the air for about ten minutes this morning, starting at 7:15. Technical difficulties was the explanation when the station came...
Jerry Blaz says he'll soon close his BOOKie Joint on Reseda Boulevard. His post at ValleyNews.com (via The Valley Observed) talks about the book biz and some of the clientele...
Rafat Ali's Santa Monica-based news operation — a success story among the many local web startups — has completely redesigned and shifted to a new content management system. PaidContent.org originally...
Click below to see what's up here at the start of the day: more shouting over the Measure R mailers, another Daily News blog and a correction o' the day...
October 23, 2006
Mayor Villaraigosa returned to City Hall today almost giddy from his fortnight in Asia. Flanked by twenty fellow travelers, the mayor met the media this morning and talked about the...
John Shallman, the campaign consultant for Measure R on the Los Angeles ballot, will soon be receiving a letter from City Controller Laura Chick, if he hasn't aready. She opposes...
The Hollywood Reporter has joined the website redesign parade, giving the site a thorough remake. Flackage: New features include site-wide integration of The Reporter’s database, streamlined video, easier navigation and...
Kurt Andersen is a New Yorker, but as the onetime editor-in-chief of a couple of decent magazines (Spy, New York), columnist at others (The New Yorker, Time) and co-founder of...
Ross Becker's "fluid format" half-hour news show "The Local Story" ran most of the summer on KNBC, then dropped back into a new life as a web-only production. Well, after...
New campaign ads for the billion-dollar housing bond on the Los Angeles ballot debut tomorrow, on cable and broadcast TV. Here's a sneak peek on YouTube. They were shot by...
Is La Opinión spinning its coverage of the scare letter sent to Orange County Latinos by Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen? Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly raises the question...
I'm not sure that ambushing your customers with an unfamiliar product and giving the perception of less content — four front page stories instead of the usual six or seven...
There's a big Monday helping of Buzz after the jump, nicely hidden away where you don't have to see it if you don't want. But there's lots of good stuff,...
The three-year veteran was killed Sunday morning during a routine traffic accident investigation at Riverside Drive and Hyperion Avenue. He was in the street when struck by a car traveling...
October 22, 2006
Daily News columnist Mariel Garza offers newly chosen L.A. Unified superintendent David L. Brewer some sage tips on how politics works in Los Angeles. Abridged: In L.A., it's all about...
Otis Chandler's classic car collection brought more than $36 million at Saturday's auction. Video screens showed bids in dollars, British pounds, euros, Swiss francs and Japanese yen. The Screen...
