Los Angeles

So after reading about how even stubbornly car-driving Angelenos are finally making the switch to public transit, I thought that maybe I could attend my Friday 7 pm show at the Glasshouse in Pomona by taking some sort of public transit out there. After all, it’s two blocks from the Pomona Transit Center/Amtrak station. Ok, so how would this work? Ride Metro Rapid 704( DOWNTOWN LA – UNION STA) heading east From: SANTA MONICA BL/26TH ST(SW corner) Lv: 03:57PM To:…

Amigos, I’ve finally put together an online reference as to the precise legal nature of California and LA County law as applicable to taco trucks, and have provided some excerpts from last month’s LA County Board of Supervisors meeting whereby things got a bit more difficult for trucks in the unincorporated part of the county. Viva los taco trucks!

Associated Press: LOS ANGELES (AP) — California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent. ”It basically guarantees it’s going to happen,” said Ned Field,…

Owners of lunch trucks blast parking time limit: A county ordinance targeting food vending trucks took some heat Tuesday when a couple dozen truck owners and their lawyer came to the Board of Supervisors meeting to oppose it. The supervisors had given the ordinance tentative approval last week. But after the vendors’ protested Tuesday, the supervisors put off a final vote, which now could take place next week. One vender vowed to sue the county unless changes are made to…

AP: By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 6:14 p.m. ET FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — A hunger for carnitas nearly led to some carnage after a Fontana man was robbed of a bag of tacos at gunpoint. Police Sergeant Jeff Decker said the 35-year-old victim had just bought about $20 in tacos from a street-corner stand Sunday night and was bicycling home when the suspect confronted him and said ”Give me your tacos.” Decker said the suspect grabbed the bag of…

LA Times: Much of the opposition to Villaraigosa’s plan emanates from the Pico-Robertson area, a heavily Jewish enclave that features a mix of auto body shops, dental offices, bakeries by the dozen, Israeli and Persian markets, Thai eateries, Catholic churches, synagogues and Chinese restaurants, including a kosher place with mezuzas on the doorways. The elements of this urban hodgepodge have set aside any cultural and ethnic differences to battle City Hall with a united front. “The opposition is across the…

So on Wednesday, when I drove from Oakland to Santa Monica — a drive that I’ve made since I was a kid easily over 100 times — I decided to spice things up a little bit. I-5, as most people know, is California’s most boring section of highway, and it serves exactly one purpose: getting people from the north to the south and vice versa as fast as possible. However, some research on Chowhound turned up the presence of a…

So in case you didn’t already hear, SoCal, from Santa Barbara to the border is basically aflame. Here’s the other fun bit — on Wednesday I’m scheduled to fly into Ontario Airport, and then drive up Highway 15 to Victorville for a story I’m working on. The Victorville Daily Press reports: Interstate 15 was completely closed again through the Cajon Pass by 5 p.m. Monday, after gusting winds and fires led to intermittent closures beginning Sunday. . . . At…

The New Yorker has an awesome piece this week on “The Wire,” the best TV show ever. In addition to detailing why the show is generally awesome, there’s these two fantastic bits from the show’s creator, David Simon. The New Yorker: “The Wire,” [David] Simon often says, is a show about how contemporary American society—and, particularly, “raw, unencumbered capitalism”—devalues human beings. He told me, “Every single moment on the planet, from here on out, human beings are worth less. We…

Wow, Street has done it again: Daniel Hernandez: I’m leaving L.A. for a little bit, a year, maybe more, for Mexico City. I’m sealing a deal with editor Colin Robinson at Scribner to write a book about the underground, basically — youth and subcultures. I’m gonna do a lot of writing, a lot of reading, a lot of drinking and eating, and a lot of walking. My boots are my best friends. Participation does a body good. Gustavo Arellano says:…