The female Asian elephants, called Tina and Jewel, are coming on open-ended loan from the San Diego Zoo.

The high-end Los Angeles art scene is "an art world with its own unique structure and rules," a Wall Street Journal story says today, backed up by an on-line list of everyone who sits on the boards of directors of the Getty, LACMA, MOCA, the Hammer and the Norton Simon.

After 11 years, the monthly gathering of media and Hollywood types started by TV writer Scott Kaufer, blogger Mickey Kaus and journalist-author Steve Oney is leaving Yamashiro.

In an open letter he posted at the LA Weekly's food blog, Jonathan Gold never quite apologizes to Paula Deen for blasting her selection as Rose Parade grand marshal. But he does explain how his words came to be printed, and allows that "our mutual friends say that you are delightful."

AEG talks about football stadium plans for Downtown, Boxer goes up by eight points, Villaraigosa is in Lu Parker's home state and KTLA's Eric Spillman catches a bad guy.

The Jewish perspective on pot "is ambivalent, and observant Jews could plausibly take either side of Proposition 19," a rabbi says in the Jewish Journal. Plus: Allison Margolin.

The number one most favored brand among Democrats appears nowhere among the top ten most favored brands among Republicans. Same for the reverse: Republicans' favorite brand is not among Democrats' top ten.

This week's photo by Gary Leonard, as writer Rip Rense rightly suggests via email, might benefit from some background on Tyrus Wong.

Today's MTA vote approving the Wilshire subway route leaves out the West Hollywood detour and the politically sensitive Crenshaw station, leaves undecided the dicey political question of just where the tunnel will go under Century City and Beverly Hills, and should put to rest for now Mayor Villaraigosa's inoperative "subway to the sea" meme.

I'll be in the Bay Area on business all day.

A hideous piece of art that arrived in the Tribune Company lobby soon after Sam Zell used employee money to take control of the company has quietly vanished.

"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest," the third and ostensibly final film with Noomi Rapace playing the part of Swedish hacker-punk-heroine Lisbeth Salander, opens Friday to the approval of Roger Ebert.

The California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting at USC Annenberg has been around for a year now as a new model for health news.

An SEIU union investigation concludes that the chief executive of Central City Community Health Center has secretly used the charity's money to pay expenses of his own for-profit businesses.

Every so often, somebody rediscovers the Ansel Adams photos of the Los Angeles area on the Los Angeles Public Library website and gets excited. This time it's NPR's photo blog.

An L.A. Times editor disputes that the paper mischaracterized watchdog Michael Gennaco regarding Sheriff Lee Baca helping a donor.

An editorial in today's Financial Times urges California voters to pass Proposition 19: "the Golden State should vote to legalise dope."

Hitler finds out that Randy Michaels and Lee Abrams are out at Tribune over some naked breasts, after surviving much worse in radio...including the Macarena

Father Gregory Boyle won the nonfiction category of the Southern California Book Awards for "Tattoos on the Heart."

Here are the qualifications, just tweeted by the managing editor.

The Rose Parade's choice of food author and TV host Paula Deen as grand marshal gives LA Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold indigestion.

Robert Niles, a former editor at the Los Angeles Times who also was editor of USC's Online Journalism Review, writes at OJR that he has canceled his print subscription because continuing to pay for a copy "was an act of co-dependence for sick and troubled organization."

Whitman charges the media double what Brown does, Fiorina still in the hospital, the DA wants to get rid of Vernon, new websites, Joe Torre at the White House and more.

The latest L.A. centric video from Nowness goes inside the Los Feliz home of Jeffrey Deitch, the New York art dealer who took over this year as director of...

The city of Glendale's choice for this year's One City/One Book reading selection is Los Angeles Noir, the collection edited by LA Observed author Denise Hamilton. She will be the...

The music staff at KCRW has fallen in love with Carla Morrison, a young singer from Tecate, Mexico.

Read the email from Michael Gennaco claiming that a Times reporter mischaracterized his position and his words.

Here's the trailer for ESPN's Fernando Nation, the 30 for 30 documentary directed by Cruz Angeles that debuted tonight.

The gift store at the Los Angeles County Coroner's office has been open for 17 years now (at least) and written about often. I even did one of those stories....

No actual knowledge of what happened, but I'll assume L.A. Live lured Film Independent's last Spirit Awards Downtown with a special deal — then didn't offer it again for next...

On Monday, the national audience for Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo’s morning radio show heard President Barack Obama answer questions for 21 minutes.

Sheriff's watchdog won't investigate Baca's help for a donor, but wait until you see why. Plus women prefer Brown and Boxer, Whitman goes the litmus test route, Soros to help Prop. 19 and the county's new bike-commuting health director.

LA Observed helps to sponsor the Live Talks Los Angeles series of conversations around town, and producer Ted Habte-Gabr is offering tickets to LAO readers who want to take in Thursday night's session between actor Michael Caine and Sharon Waxman of The Wrap.

We're talking cartographically, not politically. D.J. Waldie, who wrote the foreword to Glen Creason's new book, Los Angeles in Maps, explains in a Times Op-Ed piece how Downtown Los Angeles...

The bus was carrying 54 students from the East Los Angeles Skills Center.

My column tonight on KCRW comments on the L.A. Times giving KTLA reporter Lu Parker a pass on probing questions about her animal activism.

That does buck the industry trend, as they say in the story, but the overall numbers are nothing to cheer about. The Daily News' Sunday circulation sits at 97,000; the daily average is 89.093.

Sheriff Baca's unusual investigative help for a political donor, Dems beat Tea Party in the Valley, poll numbers, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and more.