As part of the unified command set up yesterday in Los Angeles to combat the Sayre Fire, the LAPD had 150-200 officers on hand to assist evacuees and to patrol the evacuated areas once the fire was out. In Porter Ranch, at least one homeowner reported looting, as he returned to his property to check on his doors, and found two women taking his belongings from his home. According to the LAPD officer who spoke......

Photo by pepewk via Flickr June 3rd is not going to be a very popular day for Californians to come out to the polls when compared to last February's Super Tuesday primary. Nonetheless, among electing state and congressional politicians, there are only two propositions on the ballot and they are stirring up controversy. Prop 98 and 99 are like good cop, bad cop, depending on how you feel about the issues, or maybe better......

The Cuban Cowboys, who were profiled on NPR last October, play tonight at the Temple Bar | Photo from their MySpace page Last Friday when A-Trak and Kid Sister played at New York City's Natural History Museum, Kanye West made a surprise visit. Neither Flavorpill or the Natural History Museum list Kanye for tonight's version of the NYC event, First Friday, but rumors are afloat, as they're bound to happen. Nevertheless, the evening looks......

The fountain at the LA Central Library is rather strange and fantastical "I'll have a footlong Subway club on white, hold the mayo, and GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" Police are looking for the man who held up a Subway sandwich store at gunpoint Monday on Beverly in the Wilshire area. The owner and manager of a Burbank apartment building was found liable for their role in the murder of one of his tenants, who......

This sounds fun... or not: the Apartment Owners Association Convention is this week at the convention center downtown. Here's another fun fact: they will be discussing how they can get the California rent control laws abolished, according to a number of housing advocate groups, including the locally based Coalition for Economic Survival and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, in a press release this week: Dozens of seniors, elected officials, mobilehome tenants and tenants’ rights......

Away From Her is one of the best movies I never want to see again. As if getting old and losing your mind weren't depressing enough! Still, Sarah Polley (already a superb actor) is now a director I'm planning to watch. Are you like me? Were you deeply in love with Barbara Crampton as a young lad? Has The Graduate aged well? I think not so much, but find out for yourself with this......

Guest Day Editor LA City Nerd will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read the introductory interview here and check out the nerd's blog. As most citizens know, the taxes they pay support the services the government provides. On April 15th, people line up to pay Uncle Sam and the State with income taxes that support things like the FDA and Caltrans, respectively. But when it comes to the City, the......

USC Free Culture is hosting a panel discussion this evening on reinvigorating Los Angeles' open space. What we can do with artistic expression, do-it-yourself technology and the public domain to preserve and enhance LA's 500 square miles of diverse culture before our greatest spaces are swallowed up by thinly veiled corporate interests? What type of “knowledge ecology” is possible in a city devoted to fame, celebrity and image? USC's Taper Hall, Rm 301 3501......

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously last week to sell billionaire David Geffen a 10-foot buffer zone of the public beach that abuts his Carbon Beach-front property in Malibu. For about $140,000, the Trip-C supposedly put to rest a decades-long debate over Geffen's property rights (Geffen finally granted access to the beach in 2005). We visited Carbon Beach to assess how this deal might work out and found only about a dozen or so......

The Associated Press is speculating that would-be homeowners waiting for that market to cool are pushing up rents around LA by doing stupid-ass shit like using the Internet. By frequenting sites like BidRent.com, prospective renters are virtually screwing each other by overbidding on vacant apartments. Property investor Rachel Morton recently listed a one-bedroom condo in the trendy Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for $1,750 a month. An auction on BidRent involving at least seven......

Ever buy the New York Times in New York City? If you have, you know that the best section in the whole paper is actually the locals-only City Section. Its where the masters of 43rd Street put their youngest, hippest and usually most-talented writers. The City Section is the pitch perfect read for a New Yorker, because it practically defines the city. So what about for us in Los Angeles? Well, for one, we......