The Knitting Factory's conditional use permit was challenged last month and if they lost a Conditional Use Permit hearing, they could have been forced to close their doors. Someone at the Scientology building next door allegedly started a petition complaining about the music venue which started this whole matter. "The hearing went pretty smooth," explained Bruce Duff of the Knitting Factory in an e-mail to LAist. "It opened with Zoning Administrator Lourdes Green announcing that......

On Thursday, the Hollywood music venue, Knitting Factory, will be at a morning hearing that could revoke the Conditional Use Permit that allows the space to operate. The hearing was prompted by a petition circulated by an employee of the neighboring Scientology building and signed by a total of 31 people, according to a Knitting Factory spokesman. The two complaints listed say that the venue is a nuisance to the community and challenges their adherence......

Taking a cue from the themed Writers Strikes (in order to keep the protests fresh and less hackneyed), Anonymous once again took to the streets to protest Scientology this weekend, pirate style (and this time with children in tow). Here's some of what happened in Hollywood on Saturday.........

On Saturday May 10th, members of Anonymous took to the streets all over the world in protest of Scientology. Here in Los Angeles, Anonymous staged their gathering at 6331 Hollywood Boulevard at one of the many Scientology buildings in the city. LAist photographer Tom Andrews was on the scene this week, just as he was last week, to capture the events on camera.......

Update: View photos from the May 10 Protest hereAs Anonymous launches their third big protest around the world, the local group of "legion" begin at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in Hollywood near the Metro Hollywood/Vine Red Line Station. At the March 15 protest in Hollywood, an LAPD officer was praised worldwide after LAist took this video of an officer being friendly to protestors. However, as the protest moved to another Scientology site on Jefferson Blvd.,......

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Beautiful_Photos_of_Anonymous_at_Hollywood_Courthouse'; While a worldwide Anonymous protest is scheduled for Saturday, May 10 (Update: see photos from May 10 here), a small group of hardcore Anonymous protestors took to the streets Monday both in Hollywood at the Church of Scientology Office of Special Affairs and then Downtown at the United States District Court, Roybal Federal Building. Downtown, Anonymous lawyer Graham Berry was the subject to a deposition by Scientology lawyers. According to Anonymous......

So what DOES Rick Astley think of his accidental role as star of the viral Internet prank that keeps on never giving up? Despite rumors of a possible Super Bowl halftime appearance and the pining of journalists and geeks around the world, the Rick behind the Rickroll has remained mum. Or perhaps nobody bothered to call his management. But in a breakout week for the Rickroll that included a nod from the Gray Lady, David......

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 level......

I have examined a large file of this picture, and only the blurred-out address appears to be photoshopped. The rest of the poster looks legit. -Tasha For months, a group calling itself Anonymous has been running giggling circles around the Church of Scientology. At the same time, caution is always advised - masks are worn, everyone is named Anonymous. People are advised to park far away or take public transit, and use the buddy......

One commenter on Digg asked "Was that jesus?" | Filmed by Zach Behrens/LAist At last Saturday's Anonymous protest in Hollywood, LAist took this above video. Before we could even got a chance to post it on LAist late Saturday afternoon, it had already been found on YouTube and dugg on Digg.com, garnering over 12,000 diggs under an appropriately written headline, "This is how police SHOULD react to protesters." It has not even been 48......

A new website posted this video documenting the alleged actions and threats taken by Anonymous against the Church of Scientology. The site, created two weeks ago, does not explicitly state an affiliation with the CoS but it documents what it alleges are "Religious Hate Crimes and Terrorism Directed at Church of Scientology."......

"Happy Birthday L. Ron Hubbard" | All Photos by Zach Behrens/LAist digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Anonymous_Scientology_Protest_March_15_Hollywood_PICS'; Today was the second worldwide Anonymous protest organized via March15.org, the Anonymous website dedicated to the founder's birthday, two days prior. A few hundred protestors hit Hollywood Blvd. at L. Ron Hubbard Way in the East Hollywood area. The Scientologist center had a film permit and they were doing some kind of filming. Also their TV billboard was playing inspirational-like......

Taken around 12:00 p.m. PST, March 15th, 2008 Today at the Anonymous protest in Hollywood, the LAPD arrived to let the protestors to just be careful of themselves and not get hit by cars. Other LAPD on the scene seemed to be retired officers there for an on-location film shoot the Scientology center had going on. Very surreal. More of Anonymous on LAist -- March 15 Protest Photo Essay -- February 10 Protest Photo......

Update, 3/15/08: Here's a video of the LAPD at the Anonymous event and a photo essay of all the craziness. Also, here's a video from the Anti-War March.If you're walking the streets of Hollywood this Saturday, be prepared to march or take in the sights -- two protests are planned and both could be crazy. March 15th is the second of worldwide protests against Scientology planned by Anonymous. In the video below, 22 rules are......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

Scientology centers around the world were targeted by a mass protest yesterday organized by an anonymous group called, simply enough, "Anonymous". Members refer to themselves only as "Anon" or "Legion". Protests were reported in Boston, Toronto, Europe and Australia. Here is an LAist photo essay of the protest at the Celebrity Center. Blogger Bandergrove has provided additional photographs and a first-hand account of the events in Hollywood yesterday. People showed up in droves —......

For background and a photo essay on this protest, see our story from yesterday. "There was NO old media, anywhere, that I saw. And we spent an hour in front of the damned CNN building. Creepy," said Teague Chrystie (guy in pink hair in video), one of the hosts of the above LA based podcast called Geekza. "We don't represent Anonymous or Scientology, we're just some industry cats of various niches who dig activism,"......

'V' ran amok through the streets of Hollywood today as hundreds of picketers descended on the Church of Scientology complex at Sunset and L. Ron Hubbard Way. | All photos by Tony Pierce The global day of action was initially announced last month after a video attributed to "Anonymous" coincided with an online effort that managed to temporarily knock out Internet servers belonging to the Church of Scientology. Another speech by "Anonymous" appeared this......

As was reported today on LAist, the writer's strike, which cost the city about $1 billion, is nearly over. We all know how involved Mayor V has been nudging the two sides back together. Oh, wait. But at least he weighed in today: "This agreement is a blockbuster for the Los Angeles economy. It will put thousands of writers, set designers, caterers, and behind-the-scenes workers back on the job this week." Blockbuster! HA! Election......

Square One Dining on Fountain Avenue, tucked behind the Scientology Center that extends from Sunset to Fountain in East Hollywood, is a restaurant of little pretension and noble purpose: it serves one of the finest breakfasts in Los Angeles. Although two years ago, LAist had careless service at Square One, despite the great food (it even made a staffer’s top ten list), the service on this and previous visits was attentive and polite –......

the parody video Tom Cruise WANTS you to see! on FunnyOrDie.com Jerry O'Connell is hilarious in this sendup of Tom Cruise's recently unearthed Scientology video. I like the insane laughter the best. O'Connell really has that down. He must kill at cocktail parties. Hahahaa!!! Hahahaa!!! Hahahaa!!! Hahahaa!!!......

Apparently a Scientologist can be defined by a single question: "Would you want others to achieve the knowledge you now have?" The music, the insane laughter over abbreviations I had to look up (and are provided for you below), the conviction of "knowledge" that most of us do not have. Cue lights. Why it's Tom Cruise in a video made especially for the Scientology community! And even better, it was leaked out to the......

Beck - "Where It's At" If you were one of the lucky 700 who packed the Echoplex last night you were treated to Beck's only North American tour date before he head off to Europe to open for a little band called the Police. For the rest of you, here's a nice video of one of his biggest hits. Yes, you're welcome. If this doesn't quite quench your thirst, however, may we recommend checking......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

Who are these people who credit the controversial religion Scientology for changing their lives for the better? One of them is tv's Jerry Seinfeld who told the typically worthless Parade magazine that the church helped him communicate early in his career so that he could control his audiences. I last really studied, oh, it’s almost 30 years ago. But what I did do, I really liked, in terms of it’s very...it was interesting. Believe......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Suicide is a place we have all imagined, but it’s not a room any of us have really been in, other than a foot, a glance, a daydream. It’s no stranger to Los Angeles, a city with perhaps more than its fair share of broken dreams. But when not one, but two people die, when they have all that the city appears to offer – fame, success, beauty and each other, that’s when people......

- According to the LA Times, people who live next to trains and subways do not use them. - Eek! "From July 1 of 2006 to June 30 of this year, only 3.21 inches of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles — the lowest precipitation level since records started being kept in the 1880s." - After 80 mph driving and weaving on the Hollywood Freeway in March, actress Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill, Independence Day)......

A Memorial Weekend BBQ in East Hollywood was my destination yesterday. And since my recent habit has been to use public transit mixed with the bike, that's what I set out to do from my Sherman Oaks flat. First, I was off to Ralphs Fresh Fare at Ventura and Coldwater to pick up some food. I shop, exit and head to my bike. Right then, an escalade pulls up and parks in the fire......