The charred remains of structures on the Universal backlot are not too far from the Gibson Ampitheatre | AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian Universal Studios opened to the public early this afternoon, is expected to open tomorrow despite the blaze that destroyed portions of the local landmark and darkened the skies with thick smoke. With concern for the well-being of many iconic and well-known parts of the decades-old theme park on the forefront of many minds,......

Photo by highervision via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This evening a public viewing will be held for slain LA High football star Jamiel Shaw, with funeral services to follow tomorrow. Shaw's tragic murder has prompted many LA residents to refocus on the senselessness of gang-related violence. Go, stop, go, stop: Commuters northbound on the 57 and the 605 transitioning to the 210 westbound this morning were greeted by the new traffic......

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here's this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the......

Live, from in front of our television set, it's LAist's Oscar night liveblog extravaganza. I've spent the hours preceding tonight's telecast half-assedly getting ready by drinking beer, making brownies, and marveling over how few movies I actually saw this year (yet again.) I've stocked the larder with movie-going snacks, like popcorn, junior mints, and Twizzlers (sorry, this Canadian cannot do Red Vines; they taste like candles). Last night some amped up pitch gal with a......

Is this the best seat in the house? | Photo by neonspecs via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr TV: WATCH THE OSCARS LAist's own TV Junkie has already given us the deets (and some alternatives), but in case you missed it, the 80th Annual Academy Awards are tonight, live from our very own Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Settle into your favorite spot in front of your tee vee and tune in along......

Looks like the Academy Awards don't have the same in with Mother Nature and the big meteorologist in the sky the way the Tournament of Roses Parade does. It's a wet Sunday morning in the city known around the world for its perpetual sunshine, and when everyone's tuned into the 80th Annual Academy Awards this afternoon, the ugly truth will be revealed: It rains in Los Angeles! And it's probably going to keep raining. Cbs2.com......

Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr It might be Oscar season here in LA, but it's also still rainy season. LAist Featured Photos Pool contributor Jonathan Alcorn (aka Sundogg) caught some shots of the setup going on at the Kodak Theatre in preparation for Sunday's big night. Think Mother Nature will dare to rain on Hollywood's most glamorous red carpet parade tomorrow?......

Rollin' out the Red Carpet |Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr The 80th Annual Academy Awards are this weekend and it's time to break out the ballots and play the at-home game, which is probably second only in fun to making booze-enhanced color commentary from the couch for the red carpet arrivals. (We'll leave you to your own devices on that one.) So let's......

The Key Club in West Hollywood hosted the The Roots Jam Session, Saturday night As we mentioned in our interview with Questlove, LAist was on the red carpet for the 5th Annual Roots Jam Session at the Key Club in West Hollywood. While we were hoping that this post would serve as a review of the best live band in the world jamming the night away with a little help from some of their......

That's Chanell, from Riverside County, who graciously let us photograph her tattoo last night at the Beverly Hilton. Causing the most commotion on the red carpet was Eduardo Verastequi, the star of "Bella," who would shortly walk off with The Grace Award for Most Inspirational Movie Acting in 2007. A small group of women in front of me swooned and reached for their cameras, grabbing him before he even made it on to the carpet......

Questlove on the red carpet last night at the Key Club in West Hollywood host of The Roots Jam Session | Photo by John Wayne Maioriello Last night, LAist had a spot on the red carpet of the Key Club in West Hollywood, host of The Roots Jam Session sponsored by Rock the Vote, Okayplayer and Keldof. The Jam Session has become a Grammy weekend tradition, for the last five years, the Philadelphia-based influential......

The Super Bowl isn't just the center of the universe for the sports business, but also for anybody working at E! or People. Even TMZ had a giant mobile billboard just outside the stadium in Glendale -- probably reminding party-goers to send them any interesting photos. While the teams were sequestered away under heavy guard (a cop only seemed to half-joke about shooting me when I pulled into a wrong driveway near the Giant's hotel),......

Unless you've been in a coma for the past few weeks, the Super Bowl is on Fox tomorrow afternoon around 3ish. But we heard an annoying tidbit the other day and just needed to ask, "Why?" As in "Why is Ryan Seacrest drawn to red carpets like my dog is to the patch of grass at the end of my street?" Yup, the KIIS-FM DJ and American Idol host will be doing the pre-game......

Bright Umbrellas in Chinatown for a Less than Bright Day Crews are still working to restore power to some 3,600 Edison and DWP residents that lost power due to heavy rains and winds over the past two days. North Hollywood, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, Pomona, Torrance, Stevenson Ranch and - gasp! - Beverly Hills residents were affected. Candles, people. More rain is on the way so gather ye umbrellas while ye may. Tons of......

UPDATE: Looks like the forces of Truth, Justice and the Irishican Way prevailed everyone - It's not hard in here for a Once after all: "The Academy’s music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of 'Falling Slowly' as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of 'Falling Slowly', the writer-director of Once and Fox Searchlight." So there you go - The good guys......

For over six months, since the last trailer before downtown Los Angeles was obliterated in Transformers, there was a preview for an untitled movie. It was intense, we knew was we wanted to see it and it came out on 1-18-08. That day is here. Our film editor loved it. Matt Reeves gave us an awesome interview. And despite Paramount's lack of organization after coming to us to cover their red carpet, we still......

Held at Paramount Studios, last night's Cloverfield Premiere drew out all kinds of celebrities from big names like Lindsay Lohan to MTV-reality-scum Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt. Due to some confusion, I was confirmed for video media coverage and NOT still photographs. Instead of challenging the Paramount Studios Staff to a duel, or flipping out on them because, "How am i supposed to shoot video with this Nikon SLR?" I chose to put the Nikon......

With yesterday's revelation that all 72 actors nominated for the upcoming Golden Globes are expected to not attend the January 13th ceremony, the appeal of the telecast comes sharply into question. The decision was made by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in order to show solidarity to their fellow strikers, and was announced by their union president Alan Rosenberg, who said: "After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the......

MTV's The Hills Season Finale pre-show, live after party took place tonight at AREA Nightclub in West Hollywood, which seemed to be the perfect spot for a soiree such as this. Walking the Red Carpet (or shall I say Blue Carpet) were Lauren, Brody, Audrina, LOD, Frankie, Katie and Heidi. And apparently the personal trainer. Surprise, suprise, Heidi Montag showed up on the carpet briefly, alone and without a wedding ring. it seems that......

When you find yourself sitting around the house (your house, your parent's house, your friend's house, the house of the weird person you met on the Goldline last week) over the long holiday weekend, you'll probably be too full of beer or wine or turkey or stuffing or pumpkin pie to do much of anything besides sit on the couch and stare at whatever's in front of you. Which is fine - if you're into......

While waiting for the premiere of Project Runway, I came across the list of designers that were participating this season. One name caught my eye. This is a name I already knew. He lives in LA. I had noticed several of his designs in photos from red carpet events. His dresses were always the ones I'd put in my 'if I could ever buy' category. Here was his name on the list of designers......

Monday Dave Isay, from StoryCorps, presents Listening Is an Act of Love 7pm @ Vroman's Johan Lehrer presents Proust Was a Neuroscientist 7pm @ Dutton's Nigella Lawson presents The Domestic Goddess 7pm Borders, Torrance Tom Brokaw presents Boom! Voices of the Sixties 7:30pm @ Temple Emanuel Tuesday Clive Barker presents Mister B. Gone 7pm @ Vroman's Gregory Rodriguez presents Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans & Vagabonds 7pm @ Central Library Susanne Daniels presents Season Finale 7pm @......

For Joe Wilson, joking is a part of everyday life. After all, he is a comedian. But, one day, some casual joshing lead to an experiment: would people pay money for celebrity air? Joe put his plan into action, started an eBay auction, and found himself swamped by media attention, enemies with Jay Leno, and with enough material for a one man show that he called A Jar of Celebrity Air, which he'll be......

This past weekend, adult website XFanz held the Erotica Film Festival, billed as "L.A.'s Dirtiest Film Festival," at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. Besides Saturday night's Red Carpet Gala Event, the daytime activities included screenings and panels. More photos, and don't worry, they're SFW, after the jump.......

Last week when we were at the MTV VMAs we got to spend a quick minute with Common backstage at the Palms. We not only got to ask him about what he thinks is the reasoning behind his single "The People" making it to the top of the charts, despite it being nothing like 50 Cent, but we also got to ask him about Britney Spears' opening performance. What's interesting is we also got......

The 80th Academy Awards (host: Jon Stewart) aren't until February 24 but starting today you can register for a chance at a bleacher seat overlooking the red carpet. Thousands applied for 300 spots last year along the 500-foot-long red carpet, but you're feeling lucky, right? The chosen voyeurs will be randomly selected next Monday at noon, and notified in March. Submit for up to four tickets per person. http://www.oscars.org/bleachers/ Dangerous Liaisons devotees look for......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

Sunday MTV had some pretty memorable Video Awards out in Las Vegas. Britney Spears allegedly made a fool of herself, Kid Rock allegedly clocked Tommy Lee in the face, and Kanye West got pissed that he was shut out of winning any awards and swore never to work with the music network again. Before all of that took place, many of the musicians and stars walked past the gauntlet of press on the red......

About the above photo: Painting by local artist John Schlue who will be showcasing his newest work at Truxtop Gallery with the opening reception on Friday Sept 7th. The International Space Station, Jupiter, Mars, Venus all viewable from LA this week according to today's release of the The Griffith Observatory Sky Report. 274 homicides so far this 2007. LAPD released the latest crime statistics today showing that violent and property crime is down compared......

We're not even gay and we love Kathy Griffin. In fact of all the people who have tried to fill the shoes of Joan Rivers on the Red Carpet, we believe that Kathy did it better than all of them combined. And what was her reward? E! put her way up as far off the red carpet as they could so as not to fluster the celebs. Poor babies. And poor viewers. Kathy has......