This Los Angeles loving, transplanted vegetarian Valley boy got his West Coast start at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the School of Music. Though, he was quickly snatched away by arts administrators at City Hall in Santa Clarita where he fell in love with local LA politics and city services. No sooner was he writing those city observations for this blog, combined with his love for the arts and performance scene in town. When not editing LAist, he’s an elected Neighborhood Councilman in Sherman Oaks… but wait, he might just be blogging that last motion the council passed.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Toronto, Lindsay William-Ross has lived in LA since 1990, when she moved to the sleepy foothill city of La Crescenta and was voted “Girl Most Likely to Be Discovered by A Hollywood Agent” by the Class of ’94 at Crescenta Valley High. After flirting with careers in acting, anthropology, retail management, coffee making, accounting, and low-fire ceramics, she finally saw the proverbial light bulb and got a BA and an MA in English from Cal State LA, where she is currently a Part-Time Lecturer in Composition. Lindsay loves LA and its lore--so much so that she teaches the city’s history and literature as part of one of her writing courses. When she’s not hooked up to the internets, she’s probably on an urban adventure, watching bad television, taking pictures of flowers, baking cookies, or searching for the city’s best sushi—although it’s hard to top her visit to Urasawa. Lindsay has been writing for LAist since February 2005.

Andy Sternberg is hopelessly devoted to music and the Internet. He grew up in Chicago and escaped for LA, to qualify his passions with a Master's degree. Sternberg is a connoisseur of potato products and most alcoholic libations. His first stage appearance was on The Bozo Show, where his face was painted as The Incredible Hulk. He also got to play the Grand Prize Game but didn't make it past bucket number 3. Still, he reluctantly shared his consolation box of Twinkies. They weren't french fries, after all.

Christine is one of those transplanted Northeasterners (go Sox and go Eagles!) clogging up the 405, but has lived in the Los Angeles area for the past 10 years. She works for the man by day in corporate communications and feeds her soul freelancing on nights and weekends. When not working, she can often be found on the nearest golf course trying to work on that nasty slice. Have an event you'd like us to cover or list? Send it via email.

Carrie can cook a three-star scrambled egg and boil the perfect al dente pasta, but pizza dough eludes her. She has recently moved to North Hollywood, not ten miles distant from the Tarzana-Encino hospital where she was born. She can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue and can parallel-park a stick-shift on a hill. In heels. She went to the Best School in the Universe, located in Westwood Village, for many many years. She is now employed at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood where, much to the terror and dismay of her cohort, she does a mean Werner Herzog impression. You can also find her in her kitchen, concocting savory menus inspired by her local farmer's markets. Also, bacon. Bacon always.

Some might call her a “curious george” or just plain nosy. Either way, Sloane enjoys digging around LA for the best nooks and crannies. Living in Venice for the past 2 years and more recently in Santa Monica, Sloane does actually know her way around east of the 405. You’re as likely to find her in a yoga class as you are picking songs from a jukebox in a dive bar. She believes LA traffic can be outsmarted and dislikes cookie-cutter everything. Slightly nomadic, she is always up for a road-trip adventure – especially one that would include a stop in one of the 7 states she has left to visit.

There is nothing to know about Jimmy. He is a filthy whore who has ODed on every drug possible. The fact that he has the will to wake up every morning is a miracle unto itself. His love for the Dodgers came back in 2001 when catcher Paul LoDuca hired him for a blowjob. He aspires to be that lady in the anti-smoking PSAs who smokes through her tracheotomy hole. He’s an Aries who enjoys crossword puzzles and calculus problems.

Tomdog watched them build the 210 right in front of his Pasadena bungalow and then migrated to NorCal. College brought him back South with many dalliances in and around LA studying film. He watches a lot of TV and movies but is a cheapskate who refuses to pay for premium channels. He also enjoys the outdoors like any other canine but doing more hiking, running, biking, skiing, canoeing. DJing, music-, and art-making is also part of his repertoire, when he isn't marketing software.

Callie grew up in the Bay Area and of all the cities she thought she’d live in, Los Angeles wasn’t one of them. She’s a San Francisco girl at heart, yet she’s been here for five years and has no intention of leaving. It’s safe to say that LA has won her over. It might be the unique culture, but it might also be the excellent (most excellent) Mexican food. What better way to convert the masses than write for LAist? Callie lives downtown. She loves books and someday hopes to write them. She loves dogs and so has three. When she isn’t walking the dogs or reading a book, she is busy making sure downtown becomes a place all Angelenos can enjoy.

Elise was born and raised in the great city of Los Angeles. A never-ending parade of visiting relatives insured that she was permanently warped by going to Disneyland way more often than any child ever should. She also joined her dad whenever he gave their visitors a personalized tour of favorite attractions - like Olvera Street , the Griffith Observatory, the San Antonio Winery, and Mohammed al Fasi's Beverly Hills mansion where all of the statuary's genitalia was painted bright red. In the early 80s, the vibrant punk rock scene encouraged further exploration into the city. A full-fledged food, music, art, and culture-loving Angeleno, this perennial tour guide wants to turn everyone on to the best and weirdest that Los Angeles has to offer. Current goals include meeting Alice Cooper, revisiting GE's World of Tomorrow and owning a Hot Dog on a Stick uniform. You can currently find her pushing her way up to the front of the stage.

Anti was raised by hustlers and gamblers, and his dad once lost him in a bet to a Saudi Arabian Prince. He holds down the time honored tradition of the local cliche stoner, a la Sean Penn, Pauly Shore, et al. He writes things with a jaded, tell it like it is, approach. Anti doesn't like you, he prolly HATES you. Unless you think he's dope. then he doesn't hate you, he just thinks you're an idiot. If you want to beat him up, the line starts in the South Bay.

<--This is NOT Kemp. It’s his son, Mingus. Kemp’s away from his desk right now, probably covering something for some news organization, or writing something for some magazine, or working on some screenplay. You need answers? Ask the kid: “Daddy doesn’t like the freeway. Daddy said he’s takin’ me fishing. He likes to cook for me. He cooks chicken noodle soup. And gumbo sometimes. I like Spider-Man. I wanna Spider-Man cake on my birthday. And Venumb’s a bad guy. What's your favorite flower? Ummm…I gotta go poop.”

Hailing from the land of snow and Mormons, both of which he is not, Joey Maloney moved to Los Angeles in the winter of '04 to attend film school at the Los Angeles Film School. Now living the glamorous life of 14 -15 hr. days on the sets feature films, television and commercials as Camera Assistant and Director Of Photography, he finds the time to take a picture or two...thousand. Shooting mainly concerts and fashion, on any given night you will find him in the photo pit of some of the biggest shows in LA trying to get that perfect photo. A self-proclaimed music and film snob, nerd, gadget freak, sports nut and proclaimer.

Considered by many cineastes to be the world’s foremost authority on early 1980’s jiggle flicks, Josh balances his time between attending movies, carousing with the infirmed and curating museums without permission. Josh is a Texan by birth, a German by blood, a Tar Heel in spirit and a New Yorker in his heart. He is also, interestingly, a changeling. Josh has lived in Los Angeles since 1999 when his ex-wife, Circe, tricked him into leaving his beloved loft on Park Avenue. He has since grown to love his adopted city, however, and now only rarely screams himself hoarse at the moon in frustration.

Carolyn's first car in Los Angeles was a shit-brown Pinto that she bought off a roommate for $100, plus the promise to pay off its parking tickets (sorry about that, Tanya). The first place she lived was an honors dorm at USC; she saw her first punk show at the Anti-Club. She first fell for Thai food at a place on Vermont near Shatto 39 Lanes, where she once thought she saw Matt Dillon, although she was very drunk and cannot say for sure. Now she is a graduate student in creative writing at the far-away University of Pittsburgh, and wants Matt Dillon to know that he can email her about bowling anytime at laistcarolyn (at) gmail.com.

Henry David is wildly creative and has been known to enthusiastically over-hype things. When he’s not busy conjuring up meaningless arguments to write about, he enjoys traveling, cycling, and taking pictures. He used to wait tables and admits that it’s honest work, but doesn’t understand what makes it “tipworthy” (as Mr. Pink so put it). You can always find Henry at his apartment in Westwood, studying or hollering at sorority girls from his balcony.

Despite his best efforts to mean mug, Ryan is in reality a suburbanite with far too many bourgie habits to earn any street cred. Though he enjoys golf, sailing, and scuba, he's also fond of noshing at the roach-infested hole-in-the-wall eateries that make LA so great. Ryan made stops in each of the four time zones over the last few years while chasing the cheddar, but found his way back to SoCal when he realized that you can't put a price tag on year-round 75-degree weather. His professional expertise resides in business and technology, but his interests span a wide range of subjects from sports to music composition to reading biographies. Just don't ask him to tell "Yo Momma" jokes.

Malingering's family came to Los Angeles in 1909 and has been here ever since. It wasn't until she went to New England for college, however, that she realized the joy and hilarious nature of LA's absurdities. Since her return in 2000, she has been avidly documenting images of Los Angeles that make her giggle or smirk. Her goals include bringing world peace, de-stigmatizing mental illness, ending starvation, and teaching uptight people to laugh at themselves. She is one of Flickr's most loved and hated users and makes it a point to collect insults. She does have a real job which keeps her rather busy, but in her spare time she likes to go to Dodger games, take photos, and play with her cats. But you knew that already.

Jessica lived in Chicago, Hawaii, Ann Arbor, Ecuador, the Czech Republic and Thailand before coming to LA for graduate school. She is a firm believer in the church of baseball. And basketball, football and college hockey. All her sports allegiances are geographic, meaning she's a Chicago fan in all pro sports and a Michigan fan for everything collegiate. Now that school is over she's trying to see how long she can live without getting a real job or her own apartment. And how many LAist readers she can anger by dissing Kobe Bryant.

Adam Rose was born in Los Angeles but grew up in NorCal. He wasn't enough of a hippie, so was deported back to LA and became a frat boy. Since college he's lived in Downtown, Redondo Beach, Venice/Mar Vista, Santa Monica, and even spent a couple months in Encino. Chances are his posts will cover something related to soccer, why the the two-party system is a train wreck, or crazy current events. He likes to run, loves to eat, and agrees with Seneca that "nemo risum praebuit, qui ex se coepit." What a dork.

During visits to New York, Chicago, Boston, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, London, Rome and Athens Julie learned that she was destined to be a city dweller. After a childhood in the suburbs of Northern California, she moved to LA to study Theater Arts at UCLA. Julie has lived in Westwood, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Hollywood. She has worked literally all over town, directing plays and teaching students throughout LA County. Favorite teaching assignments include teaching playwriting in Watts, Compton, East LA, Downtown, Norwalk, and South Central. She mentors at The Police Activities League in Santa Monica. Most days when Julie is not in rehearsal or teaching a class you'll find her out and about enjoying city life in LA, often with her young daughters leading the way. Julie 'hearts' LAist and loves to write about the amazing people in our crazy town.

Simone is a singer/songwriter and short story writer, originally from Louisiana. Armed with a highly impractical degree in Creative Writing, she has run the gamut of day jobs, from substitute teaching to working in a lingerie shop. She currently works at a record label, sings in The Fast Sails and goes to lots of shows. She loves indie rock, folk, punk rock, new wave, fantasy/sci fi (especially 80s-era with puppets), gin & tonics, Facebook, Virb, and animals.

David spent eighteen years being born and raised in Mid-City, Carthay Circle to be precise. Raised by a family of media-controlling Jews, he's pretty proud of his ring tone. He's a university student, so, ya know, he does all that cool indie stuff that college students do- these things include heavy drinking and seeing many movies and bands, even though he doesn't have a a job. You'll probably see him on the street sometimes, because he likes walking. He's also got a pretty big crush on open-source software, and he doesn't care how geeky that makes him sound. His favorite places in LA include Amoeba (despite that it's the place responsible for the death of Aron's Records), Dodger Stadium, Pico Kosher Deli, and the little park where the tar pits are. If you had to know one thing about David, make sure that it's the fact that he can rock an air-guitar harder than anyone you know, including you. He knows right know you're probably thinking, "Oh, I bet I could rock harder than he does". You really shouldn't think that, because you can't. Just accept it. If any of the female cast members of 30 Rock want to find David, they can email him. Oh yeah, and that ring tone? Wu-Tang, C.R.E.A.M. Pretty badass, right?

Jeremy was born on a cool day in December, smack in the heart of Van Nuys, California. His proclivity for taco trucks was fomented early on in the barrio and cemented through 12 years of public school education. He has spent all but two of his 27 years in Los Angeles, taking a brief hiatus to live in Washington, D.C. There, he solidified his love/hate relationship with politics, formed a deep and everlasting love of indie-rock, jazz and blue-grass rap and embarked on a journalism career that, in 2005, brought him back to the greatest city west of the Sun. He has a soft spot for Vin Scully and, at any given time, you'll see Jeremy reading the news, talking about the news, or rocking out. To the news.

An LA born and raised WeHo kid, Ali was born with an Atari in one hand and a Casio in the other. After a prosperous and drunken 4 years at USC Annenberg, she played her way through various jobs in the video game and entertainment world, ultimately settling down as a music supervisor. When she's not stumbling around the Sunset Strip looking for new music or prowling the porn scene for some good interviews, she's probably swinging her Wii-mote around or ramping up Xbox Live achievement points. A Guitar Hero or Street Fighter challenge is always welcome; just don't call her a n00b.

Jessica Pauline moved to Los Angeles from Boston via New York City. Arriving in Hollywood with nothing but a station wagon, a big dream, and a relatively useless degree in music, Jessica found out the hard way that the fame, fortune and fur aren’t quite as easy to come by as 1940’s publicity shots make it look. After a scandalous foray into the seedy underbelly of L.A., Jessica now lends her talents to the pursuit of justice, equality and fair pay in the glamorous world that is non-profit.

KevCheng was born in Taiwan, came to Los Angeles when he was 11, and has really fallen in love with the city and its diverse food scene. Kevin loves to eat and loves hard core deviant food that brings a sense of danger. Between keeping a day job, running his own food blog and a photography business, he manages to contribute to LAist with his photo-centric restaurant reviews. Drop him a line if you know a kick-ass place to eat.

Years ago, Heath made a conscious decision to love Los Angeles, and has been trying to spread the love ever since. Raised in The Slums of Brentwood when Brentwood was still known as Westwood Adjacent, he now lives in the glamorous foothills of Glendale. When he’s not writing or stuck in traffic, you can find him making a fool of himself on stage at Mr. T’s Bowl, throwing tennis balls at the dog park, walking aimlessly around downtown, polishing his Satanic beer bottle collection, or driving to Monterey Park for the spiciest damn Chinese food he can find.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Donna Lethal has lived in Boston, New York, and London, before settling in LA just five years ago. She now considers herself a bona fide Angeleno after meeting Huell Howser at Musso & Frank's and having Skip E. Lowe sing her Happy Birthday. When she's not on the red carpet with her sidekick Elise Thompson, or sampling beauty products and treatments "so you don't have to," she is hosting "bad movie nights" at Chez Lethal or lolling in a hammock on a ranch in the high desert with her devoted pit bull, Chester.