Yesterday it was don't buy our beef, it's linked to E. Coli and we'll be back next week with good beef. But that doesn't play out well abut one of the biggest meat-eating American grilling holidays, does it? To that end, beef is being restocked and parent comapny Kroger says beef bought with sell-by dates May 21 through July 3 should be returned to the store for a replacement.......

It's going to be about a week until ground beef can be bought at area Ralphs grocery stores. 38 people in Ohio and Nebraska have fallen ill with E. Coli that was connected back to meat distributed by Kroger Co. (distributes to Ralphs) and made at Nebraska Beef Ltd. 531,707 pounds were recalled. The last beef recall that affected Southern California was earlier this year after a massive Westland/Hallmark meat recall scandal.......

I was just in New York. I lived there for a few years in the late nineties. New York is full of great stuff, as is LA, but one of the things I miss most, on coming home, is the bread. In New York, you go to a market (usually little, individually owned markets), who get loads of delicious bread all the time. This bread is nearly anonymous, but always delicious and all different......

Before the Kroger corporation absorbed the grocery chain, making it just a small portion of the empire that also includes Cala Foods, Food 4 Less, and Foods Co., among others, Ralphs was owned by a local named George. George Albert Ralphs had been a bricklayer, but a hunting injury forced him into being an apprentice in the grocery biz. Two years into it he founded the now legendary grocery chain in downtown LA with......

When I read in Extra, Extra yesterday about the Desperate Housewives marketing onslaught at my local Ralphs parking lot in Valencia, I just had to check it out. I chuckled when I saw the parking stripes -- and I have to admit it was the first advertising that caught my attention in awhile. But I'm still not going to watch the lame show. Nice try, though, ABC. More photos after the jump.......

Don't forget to enter our Arcade Fire ticket giveaway contest for their Thursday appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. Lobster Festival in San Pedro continues through tomorrow, as well as WIRED Magazine's NextFest at the convention center. Immigrant experience, community and the "delirious noble dream." LAist Editor-At-Large Carolyn Kellogg reviews 'The Last Chicken in America: A Novel in Stories' by Ellen Litman for the LA Times. Long Beach is the first to begin mandatory water......

By week's end, LA is littered with dozens of free rags. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, let us know, or better yet drop it in the comments section below. Downtown News dedicated about half of its July 30 issue to the long-awaited opening of Ralph's at Ninth and Flower. The cover story is here with more here, here, and here. Kathleen Nye Flynn examined the......

Kermit the Frog was so right -- "It's not easy being green." Yesterday I tried buying my first Monthly Metro Pass ever. I failed. I thought it would be easy to spend 62-bucks in this town. But apparently a Metro bus pass for the month is a hot item in the Valley. My local liquor store was sold out. Same story for Ralphs. Pavilions too. Then I called a different Ralphs, this time the......

The New Downtown Ralphs: "They went — loft-dwelling yuppies, SRO dwellers, office workers and even some homeless people — for a chance to browse the aisles of the long-awaited, 50,000-square-foot Ralphs on 9th Street." Not Putting in Crosswalks Near Schools: "'Our Department of Transportation is one of the slowest, most bureaucratic departments in the city,' said City Councilman Greig Smith. 'I am constantly banging my head against the wall to get them to do......

· The 210 freeway's last 7.25 mile stretch will open Tuesday, thus completing its route. · A 17-year-old girl dinged her car when out too late with her boyfriend. Fearing her strict father and his would-be punishment, she told the police a made up story about being kidnapped from Valley College, locked in a trunk and left on a dirt road near Santa Clarita. · "Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he didn't use a penny......

Green LA Girl is walking every street in Santa Monica and she just discovered this Web 2.0 gem: Walk Score. It calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. to help people find walkable places to live. Pretty awesome, right? I've always prided myself on my part of Sherman Oaks and it's walkability. Within a 10-minute walk radius I can walk to two bars, four restaurant bars (including......