Results tagged “family”

It's your day off. You're uninspired and under-funded (aka bored and broke). "But I live in Los Angeles!" you remind yourself. "There's got to be something I can do that won't break the bank." Art, music, museums, theatre, workshops, gardens, and more always seem to come with a price tag, unless you're totally in the know. Well, it's not too complicated to file yourself under the in-the-know column. Free L.A. is a publication that you can keep on your bookshelf to use when you need low-cost fun on the fly, or hand off to those out-of-town couch surfers you're hosting who would otherwise spend their vacation days fondling your remote control and eating you out of house and home.

          

If you’re in the mood to get a taste of small town America, The Watermelon Festival presented by the Sunland-Tujunga Lions Club at Sunland park, with its game booths, watermelon seed spitting contest and all the carnival food a glutton can handle, is the place to be this weekend. Though today is the last day for the festivities, there’s still plenty of action left, including a watermelon eating contest, greased watermelon relay race, music by 60s and 70s cover band The Heist, and a drawing for a $500 grand prize.

Since last week's death of Michael Jackson, crowds and media have flocked to various locations related to the superstar. In Hollywood, it was his Walk of Fame star; on the Westside, his Holmby Hills rental mansion; and in the Valley, his family home on Hayvenhurst Ave., just off Ventura Blvd.

Tonight at Family, Jacob Ciocci (of the Paper Rad art collective) presents a new 20-mix of original videos and animations, and will perform 'I Let My Nightmares Go' featuring video and dance moves that “grapple with mental demons, web 2.0, G.O.D., 21st-century breakdown, real lies and fake truths, cartoon violence, and awareness bracelets.” Music will be provided by David Wightman/Fortress of Amplitude. The free screening/performance starts at 7 pm.

When you sign up for an evening with a Henrik Ibsen production, you know what you’re getting into: The drama, the heaviness, the repression oozing from the script. But what you don’t always expect is a good production with impeccable acting. But that’s exactly what LAist found with A Noise Within’s production of Ibsen’s 1891 play Ghosts.

In what appears to be a "family-on-family murder-suicide," according to one Police Lieutenant, six people, including four children, died after a shooting that took place in an upscale neighborhood in Santa Clara of Northern California, according to the Associated Press. Officers responding to the call around 8:30 last night arrived to find two adults and three children dead, and another adult and child both wounded. The child, an infant girl, died at the hospital, but the adult, a female, remains "hospitalized with life-threatening wounds." One male adult victim found on scene appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The names of the victims have not been released, and Santa Clara police are working to determine what happened inside this home, and why. In the last six months, Southern California has experienced three murder-suicides in Wilmington, Covina and Porter Ranch.

The mother who gave birth to octuplets last week has finally gone public. Nadya Suleman, 33, of Whittier appeared on NBC's TODAY for an exclusive interview revealing a lot more about her:

More details are coming out about Ervin Lupoe, who is suspected of killing himself after shooting his five children and wife at their Wilmington neighborhood home. He was at least one month behind in mortgage payments, owed the IRS $15,000 and had thousands of dollars out on credit, reports the Associated Press.

ABC7 this morning received a telephone call and a fax from the a man saying he was going to kill his family and himself. The news station in turn called police who later found seven people--five children under the age of ten, the mother and the suspected shooter, the father.

During and after the inauguration yesterday, these ads showing gay families acting like any happy family would act aired in 42 of the 58 counties in California on stations and during shows such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN and FoxNews.

Imagine heeding the call of a craving for some Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers and opening the box to find $10,000 in cash instead. It happened to a Tustin family, who had bought the box of crackers at their local Whole Foods. Instead of being greedy, though, the Rogoff family brought the cash to the cops, who thought at first it could be part of a drug drop. According to abc7.com,

Police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. The Lake Forest woman, whose identity was not released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the $10,000.

Police twice responded to a Silver Lake residence where a domestic dispute took place last night, but the second visit found deadly results.

21-year-old Robert Mendez known for his erratic behavior is being held in the murder of his father and uncle who were discovered yesterday in a shallow grave behind their apartment on the 2800 block of London Street near the 101 Freeway and Silver Lake Blvd.

Royal/T (along with Japan LA) is hosting a Lolita Halloween Tea Party from Noon-5 today. Dame Darcywill be signing copies of her new book, GASOLINE: A Rock n' Roll Apocalyptic Fairy Tale. In addition, photographer Pierre Auroux will be taking pictures of Lolitas who step into the looking glass of the Royal/T Shop window display to become living mannequins in the black rose garden and a special Halloween high tea will be served featuring seasonal snacks and a pot of tea of your choice.

It was only a matter of time before hipster boys and girls grew up to have boys and girls of their own, and were left with the dilemma of how to reconcile a live music obsession with a dearth of available babysitters. Presto chango diapero! Kidrockers to your rescue! Beg, borrow, or reproduce - all you need is a little one and a sense of adventure to enjoy a family-friendly afternoon of music (not necessarily kid-specific jams) tomorrow afternoon at The Echo. Past bands of this New York staple include Los Campesinos!, Pela, Rogue Wave, Ra Ra Riot, Harlem Shakes, and Bishop Allen. Come join funny man Patton Oswalt (better known as Rémy to your Ratatouille-loving four year old) and co-host Seth Herzog to kick off the West Coast-incarnation, featuring LA’s The Deadly Syndrome. LAist’s Tom Lewis heralded 2007’s The Ortolan as “rollicky melodies of xylophone, organs, jangly guitars, and pleasantly thrashed drumkits” and liked it so much he put it on his Best of list. With openers Afternoons. This ain’t The Wiggles, my friend.

Candace Bushnell discusses and signs One Fifth Avenue 7pm @ Vroman's

              

The Los Angeles County Fair is in town at the Pomona Fairplex from September 5th thru the 29th. Lots of fun, food, and farm for the whole family! More than just milking cows and eating pies, there are a number of activities ranging from animal amusement to educational to just get out and eat! The usual rides and games are scattered throughout plus there is shopping, dancing and just about anything you could want to do. Plenty of parking: $10 general, $15 reserved and $20 VIP (the VIP is worth it if you go when its hot) and stay 'til late! The fair is open Wed - Sun generally from 11am to 10pm. Adult admission is $17 ($12 weekdays) and kids get in for $12 ($7 weekdays). There are also group rates and season passes. Here is a little of what we saw this weekend...

It's that time of year again--time to pack everyone in the car, gas it up, and trek out to the Fairplex in Pomona to get your LA County Fair on. You may have been seeing those ads that play on current events for this year's 18-days of fun and counting the days, or maybe you've never been. Either way, it's a fun outing, and, if you go today, admission is only $1 until 5 p.m. The fair boats hundreds of attractions, rides, booths, and shows, ranging from exotic animals to home improvement, prize-winning crafts and baked goods on display, horse racing, parades, concerts, and competitions galore.

FESTIVAL*: The first ever Downtown Film Festival – Los Angeles began yesterday and continues through the weekend with 23 feature and 180 short films at venues throughout Downtown L.A., from the historic movie palaces on Broadway Avenue to Barker Block and SCI-Arc in Downtown’s Arts District. Featured tonight are A Beautiful Life at the Laemmle Grand and Audie & the Wolf at the Los Angeles Theatre.

The streets of Sherman Oaks recently got plastered with signs announcing a new Thursday night Farmers Market coming to the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square property starting on August 7.

It's the last day of the Southern California Indian Center’s (SCIC) Annual Pow Wow at the Autry National Center, which will give visitors the chance to celebrate the country’s diverse American Indian cultures through drumming, songs, and dance. The festivities last until 6 tonight.

From 8:30 p.m. until dawn (seriously) in the One Colorado Courtyard in Old Town Pasadena the Old Pasadena Film Festival will be blowing things out Middle Earth-style with back to back to back screenings of the whole Rings trilogy, followed by a sunrise Hobbit Breakfast.

Fans of deep-fried anything rejoice! The Orange County Fair opened its gates yesterday and will be welcoming crowds in Costa Mesa until August 3. There's tons of stuff going on there from Tuesdays through Sundays, including live performances, kids stuff, carnival games, animals, exhibits, and did we mention the food? The theme this year in the OC is "Say Cheese!" so some combination of cows, photo ops, and dairy products is sure to be in abundance. Die-hard fair-goers, consider this a primer for the LA County Fair, which runs September 5-28 this year.

Say Aloha to the the 50th state with a taste of the food and fun of Hawaii. Lots of Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, vendors with all sorts of goods, fresh floral leis, loads of food (shaved ice!!!!), and beer. Luckily it won't be a grillion degrees out in Northridge, but put on your Hawaiian Tropic just in case--that California sun still burns through the fog.

If the rain doesn't deter you from heading out today, there are some weekend-long festivals that might make it worth your time... Or you can hedge your bets and hang tight today and wait for Sunday--or in some cases Monday--to get in on the fun.

This annual fundraiser is focused on the legendary Ventura County strawberry, and has lots of food, crafts, and entertainment from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Strawberry Meadows of College Park (3250 South Rose Avenue, Oxnard). Tickets: $12 Adults; $5 Youth (Ages 5-12); $8 Seniors (55+); $8 Active Military and Dependents with ID; Children 4 and under are free

"Why is this night different from all other nights?" you might ask. Well, it's the first night of Passover, and even folks who will be sitting down to a seder somewhere in the Southland tonight will also be asking the same thing, because it's one of four questions that are posed in the traditional pre-dinner ceremony.