Results tagged “northerncalifornia”

Just in case you need a good laugh today... (thanks Rory!)

In 10 days, 30 homes have been lost among the 1,500 fires that have blazed through around 400,000 acres of land. "All my life I knew it might burn -- and it finally did," said a Big Sur resident who lost her home. "But when you live in a place like that, you have to take the consequences." If there ever was a warning not to do your own fireworks this week, this would be it. It's a fragile time and Southern California has been lucky.

Southern California may be getting the extreme heat, but NorCal has it worse with fires -- over one hundred by the Associated Press' count.

What do you do when you're a gearhead with lightning-quick MacGyver fixes, $500 to spare and the need for speed? Most likely you're racing a junker you rebuilt with zip-ties and duct-tape at the 24 Hours of LeMons in Altamont Motorsports Park located between Livermore and Tracy in Northern California. That's where I spent this past weekend, tagging along with one of the LeMons veteran teams, Eyesore Pimpin (formerly known as Eyesore Racing) from Long Beach. This was their fourth LeMons race.

Edward Weston. One of the most brilliant photographers of the 20th Century. Viewing the LACMA exhibit many years ago, I was enamored instantly. The buildings, the nudes, the everyday objects, and his link to Los Angeles stirred up emotions in me that I’ve never forgot.

Earlier this month, the LA-based and green-minded The Ditty Bops (MySpace) completed their six week Summer Farm Tour (which began at the Henry Fonda Theater) with a performance at Farm Aid at Randall's Island in New York, complete with an introduction by actress and fellow environmentalist Daryl Hannah.

The Swerve Festival is taking place at Barnsdall Park on Friday, Sept. 28th and goes till Sunday the 30th. There will be movies, music and art for all three days.

He opened the first Peet's Coffee & Tea in 1966 on a rundown street in Berkeley. He mentored the founders of Starbucks letting them work in his store. And even though he sold the coffee business in 1979, Peet's Coffee & Tea still serves their high quality roasts for many addicted coffee lovers. Peet died yesterday in his home in Ashland, Oregon of cancer. He was considered a connoisseur of gourmet coffee: "Peet was known...

Once while driving down the freeway from Santa Clarita into the LA over the Newhall Pass, I came upon a boat. No, not some truck pulling a boat. But a speed boat sitting in lane one (that's the furthest left lane). It obviously became detached from a vehicle. But where were they? There was no one pulled over looking distraught. DID THEY NOT NOTICE?!!? So I called 911 because that is what you are...

At least one Southern California city has the courage to step it up and say "no" to Washington D.C. politicians according to the LA Times. "West Hollywood was the 80th city or township in the nation to pass such a declaration, following similar actions in Michigan, Ohio and Vermont as well as six cities in Northern California, including Arcada and Eureka." Peter Thottam, executive director of the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center, brought the idea...

Thomas Suriya of Taos, New Mexico had never painted a mural before, or even a portrait. and yet in 1983 he busted with an iconic Hollywood mural on his first try. Now 24 years later he has returned to LA to give "You are the Star" a touch up. Thanks to a grant by the Hollywood Arts Council, 59-year-old Suriya is back in town to put some life back into a mural that has been...

In the classical music world, Los Angeles has something to brag about. It's the LA Phil series - Green Umbrella. The colorfully named series (there is no reason why the umbrella is green) is dedicated to new music, rather, contemporary classical, or if you will, music by composers who are not dead yet (or may have passed post 1950). At last night's performance, the LA Phil celebrated Green Umbrella's 20th Birthday (25th for LA...

They're called the Redwood City Twirlers. They're about a half dozen little girls with batons. They were kicked out of the 2006 Fourth of July Parade in Redwood City because they were allegedly too slow, causing delays of three minutes or so making attendees of the Northern California town think the famous parade was over.

music for a Valley high American Idol top 3 finalist Katharine McPhee visited Notre Dame High School, her alma mater, and got an official welcome from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. She also drove some high school boys to the brink when she sang "God Bless the Child" (check out the guy on the right).

Over the weekend fine diners were invited to a special downtown event: immune globulin shots.

There are plenty of ways to scare yourself silly this weekend in LA. If you're
too old or wary for trick-or-treating, then why not head to the local cineplex?
Here are five movies playing around town that range from frightening to fun.

• Doom - The Rock returns in this sci-fi/horror flick set in a futuristic Mars research facility. Predictably, the facility loses communication and is quarantined. The Marines discover the source of the trouble: the researchers opened a portal to hell. Rock and company battle with a slew of otherworldly demons and denizens. [ trailer | local showtimes ]
• Saw II - The sadistic serial killer "Jigsaw" is back. This time he makes eight victims play a sort of "reality" game to see who, if anyone, survives. The tagline is "oh yes, there will be blood." Consider yourselves warned. Surprisingly, squeaky-clean Beverly Mitchell makes an appearance in this flick, along with Tobin Bell, Franky G and Shawnee Smith. [ trailer | local showtimes ]
• The Fog - Tom Welling, Maggie Grace and Selma Blair star in a remake of John Carpenter's classic movie. Century-old ghosts roll in with a creepy layer of fog, wreaking havoc on the local Northern California town. [ trailer | local showtimes ]

In a landscape of copycats and safe bets, Birdmonster pride themselves on taking as many musical twists and turns as possible. Continue reading to discover the band's biggest pet peeve about LA clubs, to see which bandmate is reading Faulkner and to find out how they came up with their band name.

Lisa Teasley is a successful fiction writer living in Los Angeles. Her first book, "Glow in the Dark," won the 2002 Gold Pen Award for Best Short Story Collection and the 2002 Pacificus Literary Foundation Best Short Story Writer award for fiction. Bloomsbury USA published her first novel "Dive" in 2004. The novel is a romantic thriller set in Los Angeles and Alaska. Bloomsbury will publish her latest novel "Heat Signature" in 2006.

One of the most interesting parts of NPR's (well Northern California's KQED really as all these pieces come from their California Report show) expose on the conning of old people is that the "over-80" crowd is the largest growing population in America. We really can live forever. What the elderly are finding, however, is that extending our lifespan has major pitfalls.

Coincidently, Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for killing his wife and their unborn son in Northern California.

One of the treats of living in Los Angeles is sighting wee, crooked little houses with peaks shaped like witch hats.

LAist did a double-take while scanning the seafood counter at Whole Foods on Fairfax last night. Crab was in season and the store signs offered the treat at $5.99 a pound, which is pretty good considering how overpriced items are in that store. That means it's CRAB SEASON!

Mediabistro.com, the online professional skills outlet for writers, recently introduced a new service for its visitors: a Freelance Marketplace where new or seasoned journalists display their talents for sale. Interestingly, in the current database of 29 writers residing in California, more writers live in Los Angeles than San Francisco. Eighteen live in Southern California while ten live in Northern California. One writer lives in Dobbins, CA and LAist is too tired to track down a map.