The name "Baldwin" shows up here and there around the City and County of Los Angeles, like in Baldwin Hills, or on Baldwin Avenue, which runs from El Monte through Temple City and into the foothills in Sierra Madre. Well the Baldwin in question is Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin, a man who made a name for himself as a real estate maven and as a bit of a wild card in the late 1800s and......

I wake up every morning with the weather and traffic reports on ABC7 Eyewitness News. (My boyfriend and I love to share a fresh pot of coffee every morning and gently guffaw at Garth Kemp's goofball antics and shameless puppy-promotion.) This morning, no joke, the weather report was one word: "Perfect." Yup, sunny, clear, and 77 degrees. When I came off the freeway this morning, I could see down the Hollywood hills straight through to......

We always hear about Improv Everywhere pulling crazy stunts off in New York City, like five-minutes of frozen time at Grand Central or no-pants on the subway. Well, after a small improvised pillow fight at the Glendale mall (video below), the new LA Chapter of the collaborative pulled off their first major mission: a spontaneous musical at Baldwin Hills Mall, starting off with the Hot Dog On A Stick girl. Eventually a cast of......

For the last ten years, state representatives from Los Angeles have dominated the role of Speaker of the Assembly, including Mayor Villaraigosa, LA City Council Herb Wesson and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. Today, Karen Bass, the assemblywoman who represents neighborhoods from West LA to Culver City to Baldwin Hills, had enough votes to become Speaker of the Assembly up in Sacramento. The job of speaker is to be the leader of the California State Assembly,......

The Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting a five-car pileup on the 101 north freeway at Barham over the Cahuenga Pass. Luckily, the three injuries are minor, but that means three blocked lanes and a Sigalert. Earlier this morning during the 5:00 a.m. hour near Olvera Street and Union Station, a woman was hit and killed by a Metro bus. The crash is still under investigation and details are pending. This is the third major......

A Metro bus collided with two cars this afternoon, injuring twelve. "Four patients transported to area hospitals with minor injuries, eight were treated and released at the scene," Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman d'Lisa Davies said in a text alert. "Davies did not immediately know how the accident occurred, and whether the injured included anyone from the small cars." according to the AP via CBS2 News. The incident occurred at 5098 W. Rodeo Rd (map)......

New Year's Day, most in LA seemed to be up in Pasadena watching either the Rose Parade or the Rose Bowl, or getting over their New Year's Eve hangover at home watching TV. Why do I think that? Because the roads were EMPTY! It seemed that no one was on the roads. My goal was to head out with a friend, with cameras in hand and hit the roads and drive around LA on......

Last night I was casually checking out what various travel websites had to say about the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Most of the summaries in Frommers sounded like this: Silver Lake, a residential neighborhood just north of Downtown and adjacent to Los Feliz (home to the Los Angeles Zoo and Griffith Park), just to the west, has arty areas with unique cafes, theaters, graffiti, and art galleries -- all in equally plentiful proportions. The......

Here are some of my favorite LAist stories from this week: Anti reviews a cd that was sent to him, he gives it a "Good", but someone from the band writes in to complain that it wasn't a good enough Peggy Archer showed us that Malibu is finding that whoring out their best beachfront homes to corporations isn't all they hoped it would be Charles Bukowski is my favorite writer, so I liked this......

There is so much more to Baldwin Hills than meets the eye. Home to the largest middle and upper middle-class African American community in Los Angeles, this hillside neighborhood ties together one of the most important strongholds of black culture in town, forming the residential nexus of the Crenshaw area. Baldwin Hills has gone through many permutations over the decades, and has been the site of some of the most significant events in the......

LAist Editor Tony Pierce has blogged here non-stop for more than a year deserving a well-earned vacation (and did he ever earn it). While out of town, we decided to have a little fun and bring some guest day editors in from around the blogLAsphere. Monday we had Green LA Girl and Tuesday saw Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA. Yesterday was Zuma Dogg and today is the official nerd him/her/itself, the LA City Nerd. 1.......

Good grief, BET. First, the Black Entertainment Television network embarrasses black college students across the country with College Hill, a show that proves a house full of black college co-eds can be as useless as a house full of white ones. Now the MTV-show-dipped-in-chocolate experiment kicks into overdrive with last night's premiere of Baldwin Hills, a new single-camera docudrama that proves that when it comes to effortlessly reinforcing stereotypes, BET still reigns supreme. Promoted......

Monday, February 5 Creative Screenwriting Magazine is sponsoring a free screening of Children of Men followed by a Q&A with writer/director Alfonso Cuaron and co-writer Tim Sexton. WHEN: Mon., Feb. 5 at 7:30 PM. WHERE: DGA Theater, 7920 Sunset Blvd. (betw. Crescent Heights & Fairfax) RSVP: Go to the Creative Screenwriting website and sign up to receive information about future events. You should then receive an email with further instructions about how to sign up......

Yari More and his Orchestra perform at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza at 7:30 PM. (323) 290-6636. The Chapin Sisters and I See Hawks wrap-up their dual Monday night residency at the echo. The show starts at 8:30 PM. For details, call (213) 413-8200. Circus Minor finish their residency at Spaceland. The doors open at 8 PM and the show begins at 9 PM. Call (323) 661-4380. Fielding take the stage at the Silverlake Lounge......

Unless otherwise noted, all shows are free of charge. All show lineups and times are subject to change without notice. SUNDAY, 11/27 Cellist Armen Ksajikian and Pianist Brian Pezzone perform for LACMA's Sunday Live series. The concert begins at 6 PM in LACMA's Leo S. Bing Theatre. For info, call (323) 857-6234. Part-Time Punks present: Japanese Motors (Rough Trade), Group Sounds and Guest DJ Jimi Hey at the echo. The show starts at 10......

The election of Antonio Villaraigosa as Los Angeles mayor continues to have a "musical chairs" effect through city politics, as the players jockey for better seats to get their issues heard. This time it's the unions aiming for the political equivalent of floor seats at Staples Center. Los Angeles Tenth District City Councilman Martin Ludlow has been nominated to head the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The labor federation has to find a......

LAObserved.com reminds us that the December 12, 2004 issue of The Los Angeles Times Magazine profiles KCRW's Frances Anderton. Ms. Anderton hosts the weekly radio program, "DnA: Design and Architecture," which focuses on LA designers and architects. The article also lists some LA landmarks that Anderton claims enrich her soul. Her list includes these gems: Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport, Pereira & Luckman, Welton Becket & Associates, Paul Williams, 1961. My first love.......

The West Hollywood "Fall Into Reading" Book Fair is this Sunday on October 3rd. Avid readers can visit with their favorite local and national authors at West Hollywood Park, 647 N. San Vincente Boulevard from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The event has attracted a pretty heady mix of talent for a one-day schedule: Local author Nichelle Tramble, will be in conversation with Susan Straight on the "Blurred Reality" panel at 3:30 PM. Actresses......