Photos by Kevin Weis/LAist Fans of Bravo's highly successful reality program "Top Chef" were in for quite the treat last Thursday evening, when two contestants from previous seasons, CJ and Antonia, participated in a friendly cook-off at The Grove. The event was sponsored by the Sherry Council of America, and featured sherry tastings and gourmet bites from a few of The Grove's top restaurants. The evening began with demonstrations from chefs representing The Whisper Lounge,......

There's an awesome free event (yes, FREE! for those who RSVP) going down at The Grove at Farmers Market this Thursday, Sept 25th at 7pm. Top Chef contestants Chris "CJ" Jacobsen and Antonia Lofaso (who is also executive chef at WeHo hot spot Foxtail) are scheduled to appear, thanks to Los Angeles Magazine and the Sherry Council of America. CJ and Antonia will be facing off against each other in a "friendly" cooking competition,......

Unless you've got a 6-11 year-old girl in your life, you've probably managed to avoid the notorious American Girl Place at the Grove (and you consider yourself lucky, indeed). Oh, you've heard tell of their ostentatious parties for little darlings and their little darling dollies (that's around $90 a pop to sip tiny cups of tea and get matching hairdos for each girl and her girl doll) but you've steered clear, right?* LAist Featured......

MUSIC Heralded pianinst Otmaro Ruiz and his band headline at the valley's jazz hotspot The Baked Potato. Ruiz' music is a unique blend of classical rhythms ranging from Chopin to Piazzolla with some Latin American flavor in between for good measure. 9:30 pm // The Baked Potato // 3787 Cahuenga Blvd West., Studio City // $15 FILM The Grove presents two classic Pixar films this month to close out its Movies in The Park......

Photo by breesays via Buzznet "Ohhhhh, the trolley at the grove ran off the tracks! Someone was ambulanced away," reported breesays via Twitter as she snapped the above photo. At 9:39 p.m., the trolley at The Grove/Farmer's Market lost its brakes hitting a large planter at the end of the tracks near the clock tower. It did not come off the tracks or strike anyone, according to d'Lisa Davies of the Los Angeles Fire......

Even though the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax isn’t really a farmers market at all, Loteria! Grill alone stands out among the labyrinth of tchotchke-filled stores and food stands that make up this misnomer (and trend setter?) as a viable reason to brave the parking lot at the Grove. Named after Mexico’s answer to Bingo, Loteria!’s Zagat-rated and highly lauded open-air stand seems to belie its moniker; consistently excellent food here seems anything but......

Photo by Dave Schumaker via SFist via Flickr Update: For the most recent info on the Pillow Fight, they made a dedicated webpage for it. Check pillowfightlosangeles.comBYOP(illow) to Pershing Square on Saturday afternoon, March 22nd because it's time to have some fun. It's World Pillow Fight Day and the LA Burners are hosting the downtown, transit accessible, event. And yes, there are rules: Soft pillows only! Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at......

Bob Saget will perform at 4th & B in San Diego on March 7, The Grove of Anaheim on March 8 and The Joint at The Hard Rock in Vegas on March 21 as part of his national theater tour and we're lucky to have another chance at him. Bob Saget is known to most people for all the wrong reasons.The cookie-cutter personas of "Full House"'s Danny Tanner and the "America's Funniest Home Videos" host......

Get Your Lit On: The Week in Bookish LA includes some outstanding readings this week from some fine, fine writers including Maggie Nelson, Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Toby Barlow, Amy Hempel, Peter Carey, John Rechy, Martha Grimes and Russell Banks....

Monday Michael Pollan and Barry Glassner discuss In Defense of Food 7pm @ Central Library Cindy Pierce and Edie Thys Morgan presents Finding the Doorbell 7pm @ Book Soup Tuesday Traci Slatton presents Immortal 6:30pm @ Metropolis Books Joe McGinniss and special guest Bret Easton Ellis present The Delivery Man 7pm @ Book Soup Terri Cheney discusses and signs Manic: A Memoir 7pm @ Vroman's Gary Goldberg presents Sit, Ubu, Sit 7pm @ Dutton's......

The Grove's new neighbor is considerably less trendy than an outpost of Abercrombie & Fitch, but also far more important. A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held yesterday in Pan Pacific Park (pictured) for the new permanent facilities of Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. The Museum is a development of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, and will be the only museum in the city to focus exclusively on the Holocaust. Yesterday's ceremony also marked......

The week in Los Angeles bookish events from Monday, January 7th - Sunday, January 13th. Readings, signings and bookish events this week include Andy Summers, Jami Attenberg, Judith Freeman, Alice Fulton, J.A. Jance and Robert Gottlieb....

So, there I was on a Thursday evening having just walked out of a movie at The Grove's Pacific Theater when the top of the buildings began throwing up a white, watery substance all over the ground, all over the shoppers, all over everywhere. The "snow" was welcomed by children who raised their arms closer to the sky and parents who snapped pictures of the glee. I stuck out my hand, eager to feel the......

Apparently I am the only one who hasn't finished her holiday shopping. I went to my three prime people watching spots this weekend, and they were dead. Here I am, armed with camera, bills for parking, extra batteries, a ton of memory cards, a notepad and my walking shoes, and I show up and no one's around. I felt so abandoned. I paid $11 to park at Citywalk thinking I would see something truly amazing.......

Yesterday's citywide public relations blitz, "A Day Without a Bag," to bring awareness to our bad habits of using and and ditching paper and plastic bags in the trash was a quaint effort by city and county leaders -- a step in the right direction, as it were. Though, in a nation where the average household consumes 750 plastic bags a year, one day, or two bags, is hardly habit forming. And habit is......

You can't escape the holidays this weekend. No matter how hard you try. So wanna play? Go with the flow? Check these events out: SING-ALONG: The Music Center’s annual Holiday Sing-Along happens tonight. Don't know the words? Songsheets will be provided. The singing takes place outside, so bundle up – or spike your personal egg nog stash. 6:30 pm // Music Center Plaza // 135 N. Grand Ave. // Free. FILM: To get Westsiders......

Photo taken at The Grove by Peggy Archer......

"The ghost of Stephen Foster" - Squirrel Nut Zippers Flogging Molly, The Bouncing Souls, Dead to Me, Punk Rock Karaoke @ The Avalon Dead Sara @ Knitting Factory Fuel @ The Grove of Anaheim Squirrel Nut Zippers @ El Rey Theatre Blues Traveler @ Galaxy Concert Theater Eilen Jewell, Rich Wyman, Evan Stone & His Translucent Ham Sandwich Band @ The Mint Pete Yorn, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Donavan Frankenreiter, Phantom Planet, Peter......

Monday Maggie Nelson presents The Red Parts: A Memoir 7pm @ Pomona College, Claremont Rich Eisen presents Total Access 7pm @ Book Soup Sue Grafton signs T is for Trespass 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble, 3rd Street Promenade Tuesday Sue Grafton signs T is for Trespass 6pm @ Vroman's Steve Schapiro presents Schapiro's Heroes 7pm @ Book Soup Christine Pelosi presents Campaign Book Camp 7pm @ Book Soup Deborah Landis presents Dressed: A Century......

Three people were injured and dozens evacuated after an apartment fire in Sherman Oaks gutted at least two units at 2 a.m. this morning. It was cold last night, but there are better ways to stay warm people. Australian police arrested a man in Melbourne who threatened to attack The Grove Friday. There is no evidence the man, who has never been to the United States, intended to carry out the attack. Still, days......

Did you know that residents of Los Angeles County use 6 billion plastic bags a year, and only 5% of bags in the US are recycled? In the state of California the average person uses 552 bags, according to the environmental organization Heal the Bay. These bags are then left to choke up our waterways, landfills, streets, and urban landscapes, causing harm to animal life and our ecosystem. This is why Heal the Bay, along......

Before we all start shaking in our Ugg boots, rest assured that the mecca of trend and materialism known as The Grove has been spared from international threat. The LA Times is reporting that 20 year-old Jarrad Willis of Melbourne, Australia, has been arrested by authorities in his home country for allegedly threatening on a blog to cause some kind of harm to The Grove. He's been charged with something called "creating a false belief"......

Need for food donations is increasing, while food available for those in need is on a downturn. The good folks over at SOVA in the Valley are scrambling to provide for hungry families this holiday season; rising energy and food costs are partly to blame. So why do I still see people checking the coin slots for loose change? AT&T is selling off their pay phones to "independent" operators; will the machines be kept......

Monday Keith Gessen & Chad Harbach discuss the latest issue of n+1 7pm @ Book Soup Jay Inslee & Bracken Hendricks presents Apollo's Fire 7pm @ Vroman's Jenna Bush signs Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope 7pm @ Barnes & Noble, The Grove Robert Hass presents Time & Materials 7pm @ Central Library Tuesday John Leake presents Entering Hades 7pm @ Book Soup Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg present Superbad: Seth's Drawings 7pm @......

"Steven" - Voxtrot VHS or Beta, Foreign Born, Afrobots @ The El Rey Voxtrot @ The Music Box @ Fonda Dia de Chango @ Temple Bar Soulsavers, Spain @ The Troubadour Tom Paxton, Dan Crow and JP Nightingale @ McCabe's Guitar Shop Cake @ The Grove of Anaheim Summer Darling, You Me and Iowa, Loverlee, Oso @ Spaceland Damon Dae & Burning Wagon @ Jerry's Flying Fox The Locust, Upsilon Acrux, Yip-Yip, Sleeping People......

Monday Eliot Tiegel presents The Latinization of America 6:30pm @ Book Soup Judith Freeman discusses and signs The Long Embrace 7pm @ Vroman's Roz Chast discusses Theories of Everything 7pm @ Central Library Robert Kuttner in conversation with Arianna Huffington about The Squandering of America 8pm @ James Bridge Theater, UCLA Tuesday Cesar Millan presents Be the Pack Leader 7pm @ Borders, Pasadena Frank McCourt presents Angela and the Baby Jesus 7pm @ Borders,......

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 @......

Monday Shalom Auslander presents Foreskin's Lament 7pm @ Vroman's Valerie Plame Wilson presents Fair Game 7pm @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach Barbara Firestone presents Autism Heroes 7pm @ Dutton's Slash presents Slash 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Lawrence Wright presents The Looming Tower 7:30pm @ UCLA Tuesday David Plante, with host Mark Danielewski, presents ABC 7pm @ Book Soup Michael Lent presents Christmas Letters from Hell 7pm @ Vroman's Tommy Lasorda & Bill Plaschke......

Bruce Springsteen & Neil Young - "All Along the Watchtower" We can't recall a more star-studded Tuesday night in rock in LA in a long time. We realize that many of you might be preparing to head out tomorrow night, but friends, tonight is the night to rawwwwwk! And Neil if you're reading this... if you feel like recreating this moment from 2004, the Sports Arena is just a freeway away from the Nokia.........

What's your best costume? Who needs slutty costumes and overwhelming, overhyped street parades when you've got one of the most original voices in music today? Regina Spektor is playing the Grove in Anaheim on Halloween night, and because LAist loves you so so so much, we are going to give away a pair of tickets to one lucky lucky reader. What do you have to do to get the tix? Just leave us a......