The only Southbay city that still allows smoking on the beach will debate the issue tonight in a city council meeting. In the past, city officials have worried about various issues including inadequate resources to enforce such a ban and infringing on personal rights leading them to take no action on the ban. But the heyday of passing no smoking in public laws is here and now in California. The council will also talk about......

Photo by tosaytheleast via Flickr As mentioned yesterday via blogdowntown, the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee is exploring two smoking related motions today. The suggested actions will not completely ban smoking like it practically is in Calabasas, but they do further the limiting of your rights or the protection of your health, depending on how you see it. The first, which is probably less controversial, is a proposed ordinance that would prohibit smoking......

After a two week break, the Los Angeles City Council is back to business. Today, they passed two motions of note. They extended the the year long moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries for another six months (remember last year when the DEA raided a dispensary in Hollywood as council voted on this?). The city is looking to draft regulations covering the facilities and the city attorney's office needs more time to create a policy "that......

A law that would let landlords prohibit smoking in apartment buildings to protect tenants from secondhand smoke passed in the state senate Thursday -- it next goes to the state assembly, reports the LA Times. "Current law is silent with respect to a landlords' ability to impose a smoking ban," said Monica Williamson of the California Apartment Assn., which supports the senate bill and represents 50,000 property owners. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), who introduced SB......

A new law states that you cannot sleep on the top of your car... just kidding | Photo by Hamed Saber via Flickr Now there's an attention grabbing quote, spoken by Dick Messer, director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, up there in the headline. With the onslaught of laws and proposed ideas for drivers of cars (there are 33.5 million registered vehicles in California), many think it's getting a bit ridiculous in a report......

You may or may not be aware of a new state law that went into effect on January 1, 2008. We were reminded of this a couple days ago, driving west on Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Effective Jan 2008 / No smoking allowed / Inside a vehicle / When a Minor is with youThis is important and effective legislation because -- why?!? It is often laughable how the term "liberal" applies to......

Photo by marcbenton via Flickr On LAist's "Contribute" page, there are three ways you can participate: submit a link, join the LAist Featured Photos group on Flickr or leave us an anonymous tip. And one reader did more just leave a tip, he submitted an entire rant. It's a good rant and it raises good questions regarding policing for sidewalk smokers, local economies and police resources: Last month I was in downtown Burbank for......

Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr DID U C OPRAH 2DAY? OMG SO GR8! OOPS G2G, PPL R B-TING SUM GUY UP TTYL! Pasadena ain't your ashtray. So tonight their city council meets to vote on a massive smoking ban that will prohibit puffers to indulge in their habit in almost any public place. Hey, what's the latest on the upcoming SAG/AFTRA contract talks? Deadline Hollywood Daily has an......

Last Thursday evening, photographer/director Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala (MySpace) celebrated the release of his Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie The Bad Luck Betties at the Redwood Bar & Grill in Downtown LA. Also in attendance, besides Bad Luck Betties' "Smoking" Mary Jane (MySpace) and Mika Tan (MySpace) and newcomers Sochee and Mika, were Vivid-Alt head Eon McKai (MySpace), photographer/director Dave Naz (MySpace) and his girlfriend Ashley Blue, and director Vena Virago (MySpace). The party was presented in......

Earlier this week, UCLA researcher and professor Edythe London had an incendiary device left on the porch of her home on the West side. London has been the target of such protest activities before, and remains as such, because of the project she is helming at the school to study nicotine addiction. The LA Times has a succinct recipe for London and UCLA's research-related woes:First, find dozens of hard-core teenage smokers as young as 14......

On Sunday, 60 Minutes updated their story from September on California Proposition 215 and Medical Marijuana in a 12-minute news report, saying the law became victim to the the law of unintended consequences.For one thing, the federal government still views marijuana, medical or otherwise, as illegal and has been cracking down on dispensaries that sell it. For another, it's clear there are legions of people buying medical marijuana for the sole purpose of getting high.......

Today's issue of LA Weekly holds their top few picks of the 740 new California laws coming our way in 2008. The law that hits Californians on the most basic level is Senate Bill 33, which bans talking on a cell phone while driving unless using a hands free device. It also bans teens from using cell phones flat out while driving. Don't worry, you don't have to spend your money yet, buying that ear......

An article from the Daily News takes a look at the toll the 6-month old smoking ban in Burbank is taking on its local workers, most of whom are flummoxed by the fact that a smoke break means breaking the law. According to the article, one local businessman "Barry Kessler, 48, owner of a downtown jewelry store bearing his family name, has led the charge against the anti-smoking ordinance. In the coming weeks he plans......

It was the day of the Mitchell Report And all through the house, Not a ballplayer was boozing, Not even Nancy, the louse The lawyers were called from Sidekicks with care In fear that St. George would soon be there. The players were all fearful on their mistresses beds, Visions of subpoenas dancing in their heads; Bud in his kerchief, and Boras in his cap Had just settled down for a post-Winter Meetings nap.......

Scattered across Southern California today, the hundreds of fans who left Staples Center well before the game was over should be kicking themselves. Hard. Some wouldn’t blame them - the Dallas Stars were smoking the Kings 4-0, and it was Saturday night so perhaps they had amazing plans for after the game. If it were the latter, I can say with certainty that those postgame appointments should have been blown off or at least......

This could be an album cover. Really, how does Bowie manage to never look uncool, ever? He is constantly styling, even in the jail cell. I would totally be his prison bitch. Not to rip off The Smoking Gun once again, but this one called out to me. I am going to hang it over my bed.......

Injured Lamar Odom, who has been a huge disappointment to the Lakers, totaled his Mercedes Benz in Hawthorne yesterday, t-boning a woman in a Geo Prism who had to be removed via the jaws-of-life. The small forward sustained a concussion from the accident but was healthy enough to watch the Lakers lose to the Rockets last night. Odom, who is inactive for the Lakers because of left shoulder surgery in the offseason, was on......

Brangelina are going into business together- the two have signed a deal with HBO to produce a drama series about, what else, international aid workers - Hollywood Reporter Iggygate isn't even close to being over - sources say Iggy wasn't the only pup Ellen Degeneres has passed along to staff members over the years - Page Six Soap star Nathaniel Marston was hospitalized after attacking three people with a crate, breaking one's leg this weekend......

Hope you caught the season finale of Mad Men - it was excellent, especially the final pitch to Kodak (the finale will repeat tonight at 10:00pm on AMC). Am still bummed over the death of Deborah Kerr, of the King and I and From Here to Eternity fame (yeah, that was her rolling around in the surf with Burt Lancaster), she will be very much missed. We also lost the last remaining member of the......

No sex in the champagne room. No crying in baseball. No place like home. No alcoholic beverages served after the 7th inning. Add another to the list: No smoking in multi-unit, multi-story residences in Belmont, California. That’s right, when the law takes effect it will be illegal to smoke cigarettes in your home if you share common floors or ceilings with other units. John Locke would be fuckin pissed. Located between San Jose and......

When your husband is in four bands, you become kind of selective about going to his gigs. But when a show is going to be at Safari Sam's, I always say yes. Because I know I'm going to have a good time and leave well-fed. I really like the club's layout. There is a large hall for watching the bands, and the outdoor smoking area is like being at a cocktail party. My favorite......

The cultural diversity that exist in just about every nook and cranny of this country sometimes blinds people of the ignorant, immature, and, in some cases, overtly racist actions of our more idiotic counterparts. We, Americans, like to think that we’ve come a long way since the 1960s and that the battles to destroy prejudice is somewhat obsolete, but every so often high profile cases, like that of the Jena 6, comes along and......

George Bush issued the fourth veto of his presidency today, nixing a bill that would have provided insurance to poor children. Bush said the program was too costly, apparently cool with the fact that the Iraq war now costs over $455-billion. That's B for billion. And B for Bitch. Curbed LA takes a gander at a new development planned for West LA. In as much as the structure looks like a monument to cubism,......

Welcome to October! Metroblogging wants to know how you and your neighborhood will celebrate the run up to All Hallow's Eve. Kobe "I can't live with you, I can't live without you" Bryant was in a jolly mood today as the Lakers greeted the media at its El Segundo practice facility. Construction on a proposed child-care facility, once touted as the centerpiece to Panorama City redevelopment, is hampered by political and building delays. I......

We bought this from a dude sitting on a bean bag chair watching a plasma. Afgooey is a well known strain that has been circulated in Los Angeles for years and can be found with regularity at many dudes living rooms and medical clinics. Pre-Smoke Examination: The nugs are small, no larger than a Nickel in circumference, are extremely dense. It smells pungent like a Christmas tree in a freshly painted room, and when......

One part Greek tragedy, one part Shakespeare's Henry IV, one part hip-hop concert Clay, a one man show written and performed by Matt Sax and directed by Eric Rosen, rocks the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Chronicling the life of a young man who "comes of age through the theatricality of hip hop", Clay has an unexpectedly moving quality about it. Raised in what can only be described as suburban hell, Clay's lead character, Clifford, is......

It's starting to feel a little like Fall: an "unseasonably strong and cold storm system" is headed our way. Bundle up! How green was Burning Man this year? Elsa Wenzel from CNet's News.com explains her perspective: "As a first-time Burner, I've finally shaken the playa dust from my shoes and mind to conclude that it was perhaps the most and the least eco-friendly mega-event I've attended." With a name like Inland Empire, you deserve......

Our feet can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that this one is behind bars! And our eyes can rejoice at what may possibly be the winner of the greatest mugshot ever! The amazing Smoking Gun has done it once again: SEPTEMBER 11--Meet Carlton Davis. The Minnesota man, 26, is facing felony charges for allegedly stealing a cell phone and purse from a woman he mugged on a St. Paul street early Saturday......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

LA Weekly's inaugural Detour music festival rocked downtown last October, with frenzied dancing, drinking, and dope smoking on the downtown streets, City Hall lawn, and even St. Vibiana's Cathedral with the likes of Beck, Blonde Redhead, !!!, Queens of the Stone Age, Basement Jaxx, and Nortec Collective. The second Detour is a day-long music extravaganza that's set up to be quite the, um, party, with headliners: Bloc Party, Satellite Party, Justice, Celebrity Skin, and......