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The UC Santa Barbara researchers who dissected tissue from the mysterious 18-foot oatfish that washed up last month on Catalina Island found some interesting parasites along for the ride.
LA Observed archive
for October 2013
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The UC Santa Barbara researchers who dissected tissue from the mysterious 18-foot oatfish that washed up last month on Catalina Island found some interesting parasites along for the ride.
Clifford V. Johnson steps out for the afternoon to draw.
She lets Kingsley Smith off easy, I think -- but his eyes might be bleeding anyway.
"Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!"
Or is it Wendy Greuel? Just kidding.
You might remember a couple of years ago when we posted a video featuring two throwback businesses that have survived in the Westlake neighborhood: McManus and Morgan, purveyor of fine art papers, and its neighbor on 7th Street, Aardvark Letterpress.
The newest northern white-cheeked gibbon — born Monday at the Santa Clarita center — will be on display at this Saturday's open house and fundraiser.
I'll be posting later in the day.
Al Jazeera America calls its scoop on a sealed FBI affidavit that accuses State Sen. Ron Calderon of taking more than $60,000 from phony Hollywood producers in exchange for legislation on better tax credits "an investigation that could become California’s biggest legislative scandal in more than two decades."
Forty-five minutes before landing, the pilot asked the cabin to remain seated when they reached Los Angeles so the military escort could deplane first. He also warned passengers not to be alarmed by the fire trucks. The LAFD, he said, greets all fallen soldiers with a water cannon salute.
Huizar accuser sues to prevent testimony. Garcetti's Washington report. Pushing for LAX transportation center and people mover.Bill Moyers to end show. New SoCal bestseller. Ex-NYT editor takes over at Mashable. Nasty Gal HQ in downtown. And more.
Mark Berry was 17 when he and a friend stole some dynamite and, in Sept. 1976, blew up the Alabama Spillway gate on the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the Owens Valley.
Brazilian extreme surfer Carlos Burle may have successfully ridden the biggest wave known to have been surfed — estimated at about 100 feet high. But first he saved top female surfer Maya Gabeira, unconscious and drowning after a wipeout.
Days of backstage political drama end with the district's top official and the school board agreeing that he will continue to run the place until 2016.
The announcement this afternoon by Fox 11 general manager Kevin Hale that Smith had resigned to pursue that magical career path — other opportunities — ends a 20-year association with Fox stations. It also smacks of being pushed.
It's Deasy day at LAUSD. Sheriff deputy survives gun shot thanks to cellphone charger. California to coordinate global warming policy with Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Garcetti, Greuel, Santana, Noguez, Fleischman, Oney and more.
Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives are working to solve the homicide of a woman that took a macabre twist on Monday.
Mountain lion photographed during the day in the San Gabriels. More on Griffith Park's P-22. And it's tarantula mating season, so step lively.
LA writer and political blogger Mickey Kaus was the instigator of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performing in 1968 at a student assembly. He recalls the day.
Erica Jong is out marking the 40th anniversary of "Fear of Flying." The tickets are for Wednesday evening.
Installment number eight gazillion in a series, but not unamusing. From a writer at Gothamist.
Well done — nails a minor scourge of our time. From XKCD: The comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language.
The way the online world, the media and local institutions abuse both the subject of LA history and the generally lazy news trope of anniversary stories, it's surprising this doesn't happen more.
Lou Reed tributes. City of LA's highest paid employee. Greuel's new gig. USC not all happy about Villaraigosa. Gawker outing falls flat. LAPD officer hurt in late-night crash. LAT film writer leaves. Texting penalties state by state. And more.
Murray served two years of his four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.
Harvard-Westlake is the tony private academy that produced Eric Garcetti. Westlake High School is a public school.
David Allen, the columnist for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, recently went on vacation in Northern California. For him, nine days on the road means stops at record stores and bookstores.
Nikki Finke is "miscast as the victim in this drama," Deadline's senior actual adult, Hollywood trades veteran Michael Fleming, writes in a post on what used to be her site. He refutes several of her core claims and says "Nikki" has turned a personal feud with buyer Jay Penske into "a public spectacle."
Lakers and USC legend Bill Sharman died today at age 87. Plus mentions of Hal Needham, Supt. John Deasy, John Emerson, Wallis Annenberg, the Koch brothers, A.J. Ellis, the county's first flu death and more.
This just in: Villaraigosa has been hired to replace Dodger manager Don Mattingly and will also take over as West Coast adviser for Cheetos.
I guess this is what happens when you sell your website to a guy with money, then challenge him openly.
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 (since lowered to 7.1) struck about two hours ago off the east coast of Honshu. There is no Pacific-wide tsunami activity expected.
One of Villaraigosa’s first projects will be to lead the newly-formed USC Villaraigosa Initiative for Restoring the California Dream.
Obama coming back to LA. Deasy may or may not resign at LAUSD. City Hall asks Berkeley for concrete building data it should already have. Nikki Finke rags on Jay Penske some more. Lucy Noland reportedly out at NBC4. Moves at the LAT, Politico, ImpreMedia and Twitter. Plus a new president at CalTech. And more.
On her Twitter feed, Nikki Finke has been posting in the past hour on what sounds like the beginning of a final break from Jay Penske, the investor who bought her Deadline.com some years back.
I am otherwise engaged this morning. No posting by me until later today.
The City Council president quietly formed a panel several months ago to look into allegations against an unnamed council member, probably Jose Huizar. Now Wesson makes nice — very nice — in front of a political insiders crowd.
The Times updates its style guide to the use of tech terms and more. The stylebook itself may become public.
Filmed at Venice High School in the summer of 1998, the music video that added sex to the image of 16-year-old teeny bopper Britney Spears changed everything forever. Kinda.
The VP and deputy general counsel has been so tied to the newsroom and sensitive news projects for two decades that she was given one of the paper's editorial recognition awards.
Jeffrey Fleishman is coming home to a new beat in Calendar as a senior reporter covering film, TV and the arts.
Brian Sumers, who covers Los Angeles International Airport for the Daily Breeze, continues to cover the heck out of LAX both in the paper and on his blog, LA Airspace. Today: shipping a Corvette to Europe.
Staking out the Huizar fundraiser. Garcetti gets private tour of Turrell exhibit. Galperin to launch "transparency portal." Video from inside the morgue. Judge charged with battery. Remaking the Valley in a more pedestrian-friendly way. Leonard Maltin comes to YouTube. New bestsellers, some media moves and more.
Conditions out in the Pacific add up to a third straight off year for rainfall. But you never know — normal is such a squishy concept here.
The first webcam to stream live video of wild California condors — the largest land birds in North America — warns that the feeding scenes from the Big Sur wilderness can be graphic.
Vanity Fair works some fun biographical facts into its November issue. Included are details on how he maintains his haircut, his Navy aviator roots and what he drives — and what time he gets to work.
Huizar spoke to Times reporter David Zahniser — in a stairwell — before today's City Council meeting.
LA's former mayor joins public relations firm Edelman as a senior advisor with no specific role disclosed. That's at least four gigs that we know about.
Vilma Martinez, until recently President Obama's ambassador to Argentina, is among the five appointees of varying political background who will guide things for the mayor at the Port of Los Angeles.
Studio heads pay up for Jerry Brown. Keeping quiet about cost of downtown streetcar. Garcetti speaks at KPCC forum. Homeland writers owe le Carre. KCSN pops a Latin alternative channel. Buzzfeed hires again. Stephen Glass still trying to become a lawyer. Warner Bros sues Harry Potter themed store. And two tweets of the day. Plus more.
A tentative deal between the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency and its two largest unions will end the latest transit strike there after four days.
It will cost you $279 per seat to sit on the loge level at Dodger Stadium for the Kings-Ducks game in January. The cheapest seat: $89. I'll wager there won't even be any snow.
The Dodgers manager contradicts his boss and says this morning he might not return without a multi-year deal and assurances they want him. At the end of the day, Sue Falsone announces "with a heavy heart" she is stepping down as the first and only female head trainer in the big leagues.
Yellow fever mosquito near Fresno could change life in California. Garcetti is no Antonio Villaraigosa. California's mapping of quake faults slow. New ethics commissioner. Another NYT name leaves. The Wrap denies a backer is selling. What's wrong at First AME. Another oarfish washes up. And the Dodgers have a media op this morning with Colletti and Mattingly.
"I just couldn't resist," Garcetti posts on Facebook. Check it out.
City Council President Herb Wesson is billed as the "special guest" at a fundraiser on Tuesday to launch Councilman Jose Huizar's reelection campaign. Awkward timing, eh?
The editors of Boom: A Journal of California asked writer Bob Sipchen and his son Rob to defend LA’s right to exist. Which they did.
The suit says that Englander himself made offensive sexual comments and allowed the culture to permeate his office. Englander said he was "surprised" by her allegations.
The LAFD sent a massive presence to a fire that broke out this morning on the 11th floor of the Brentwood Plaza residential tower at Wilshire Boulevard and Barrington Avenue.
BART strike on. Garcetti considers "concrete steps" for quake safety and names an ex-aide as protocol officer. Special Order 7 back on for now. Baca hit with punitive damages. Q&As with Larry Levine and Damian Newton. Designs for Union Station. Southwest Museum reopens. How to piss off LA in 47 seconds. And World Series tix go on sale.
Hours after former deputy chief of staff files job retaliation lawsuit, Councilman Jose Huizar admits having "an occasional and consensual relationship" but denies her allegations.
Roger Smith will be the managing editor of the California HealthCare Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting at USC Annenberg.
Anchor Alycia Lane arrived from Philadelphia in 2009 with such hoopla — and a lot of baggage. Her legal cases have concluded back there, and now her time at Channel 4 here as well.
The United States reopens. Garcetti grapples with the politics of quakes and concrete buildings. LAX runway contractors sued. DWP lets non-profits audit themselves. Ronan Farrow to MSNBC. Ex-Timeser Agustin Gurza adds his own LAT allegation. New top editor at LAist. New SoCal bestsellers. StoryCorps back in town. More free Getty images. And more.
Heal the Bay says the female Stejneger's Beaked Whale was covered in shark bites, but there was no apparent indication of how it had died.
The other shoe has fallen in T.J. Simers' move from the Los Angeles Times to the Orange County Register — and his allegation that Times editors told him to stop mocking Frank McCourt so much. Plus he fills in details about his summer absence from the paper.
I am otherwise engaged this morning. Back soon.
U-T San Diego photo from court by John Gibbins. Filner is at left. Disgraced former San Diego mayor Bob Filner appeared in court there this morning to plead guilty to...
Yes, you may have seen a person in a bear suit promenade on the Cardinals dugout toward the end of last night's Dodgers game. Then security moved in.
Filner charged with felony. Is Speaker Perez's dating life fair game for reporters? Two councilmen play the follow-up role on concrete buildings. Merger of Planning and Building and Safety may be off. Arianna Huffington's haul from sale to AOL. KCET airs Linda Ronstadt tonight. Plus the editor leaves Studio City Patch and an 18-foot oarfish on Catalina, plus more.
Philanthropists and classic car enthusiasts Peter and Merle Mullin have donated $15 million to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Another plastic bottle filled with dry ice erupted in an employee area at LAX on Monday night. Two other of the bottle bombs were found unexploded.
The Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu got some pre-game advice to air it out from the start of last night's game. It worked.
"It’s the way I’ve watched Dodger playoff games for as long as I can remember,” Kevin Fagan says of his cartoon about turning down the TV and listening to Scully on the radio.
New York Times video says that Mayor Eric Garcetti "connected with Mexican-Americans at a recent celebration in the city."
Concrete buildings issue revived. Garcetti making rounds of business groups. McMansions in Beverly Grove. Sweet deal on Coliseum. Changes at Politico, PBS News Hour, International Herald Tribune and the Argonaut. "Water and Power" on film. And more.
They take their time about it and appear to be settling in for a long night or perhaps two. Robert Martinez sure has a knack for putting his trail cameras in the right place.
The former longtime basketball writer for the LA Times joins T.J. Simers on the Orange County Register sports pages.
The federal government shutdown means no information has come out about whether this was one of the lions the National Park Service is tracking in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The current Los Angeles Fire Chief, Brian Cummings, will retire in February, Mayor Eric Garcetti just announced. An acting chief has been named.
Of the 84 people chosen by Garcetti to serve on boards and commissions, at least three-fourths are friends, former staffers, campaign backers or relatives of campaign backers.
Who John Perez dates and running for controller. The City Council wants an NFL team and may want rail to LAX. Alice Munro wins Nobel in literature. Film critic Stanley Kauffmann dies. Why the LA Times won't publish climate change denier letters. Capparela and Svejda together on KUSC today. David Ulin on the tug of New York. An interview with Banksy? Plus more.
Nahai alleges that USC and the head of the Master of Professional Writing program have “derailed [her] career, livelihood, and spirit” and that she has been “systematically discriminated against because she is an Iranian Jew.” USC says the case is "wholly without merit."
For the rest of the post-season, parking will be free for carpools with four or people in a vehicle. I don't recall the Dodgers ever doing that before.
USC professor wins Nobel for chemistry. School board president admits he does have civility issues. Garcetti met with CAA about rebranding Los Angeles. More on the mayor's first 100 days. Deadline's Mike Fleming moving half-time to Hollywood. A new hire at the LA Times. Stephen King has the SoCal bestseller of the week and Jon Christensen interviewed by Patt Morrison. Plus more.
Dowie is the former Daily News managing editor who went to federal prison in 2011 on charges arising from the overcharging of the DWP for PR work during the Hahn Administration. Dowie ran the LA office of Fleishman-Hillard.
First President Obama dropped his plans to come to Los Angeles when the Syria crisis heated up last month. Now the pinch hitter, First Lady Michelle Obama, has also cancelled....
KCAL's weathercaster is almost five months pregnant, she announced on the air tonight. They pretty much had to say something.
All three are expected to be OK. The church built in the 1890s is located within the 27th Street Historic District in South Los Angeles.
Firefighter falls through burning church roof in South LA. LAX chief to stay. Garcetti profile in NYT. Villaraigosa signs on with DC think tank. Brown vetoes non-citiens on juries. Vladovic denies allegations of sexual harassment. New green on the Spring Street bike lane. Buyouts at the LA Times. Tom Hanks announces diabetes. And more.
Failing on two bunt tries, Juan Uribe instead clubbed a two-run home run to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead and the series. Next up is the Cardinals or the Pirates.
Gray Davis ten years after being recalled. Garcetti after 100 days. A new try at transit tax brewing. Nielsen will try to measure Twitter chatter about TV shows. Riordan and Broad revisit Disney Hall. Why Bob Hope was a dumb name for an airport. Hollywood loves the Biltmore. Plus much more.
Jon Christensen and Mark Gold are both respected observers of the environmental activism and policy scene. They will be writing together as Christensen & Gold — and like all LAO columnists, with no interference from a pushy editor.
Shopping center developer Rick Caruso told Los Angeles magazine that he was all set to run for mayor last year until his family hesitated. No longer a Republican, he says he still may run someday and he hopes that Eric Garcetti is bold enough to risk his job every day.
UCLA Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin announced at her annual Saturday night gala that the the Westwood galleries will switch to free admission in February. Hammer donors Erika Glazer and Brenda Potter are making the change possible.
I like Santa Ana conditions, especially these kind with little wind, but I recognize that many don't. For you, the National Weather Service warns breathlessly that it's going to cool to the 70s — maybe even the 60s — with less than half an inch of rain on the way by midweek.
The La Tijera Boulevard standby had been around since 1949.
Sunday's "heart of LA" CicLAvia route drew a good crowd. The Metro trains in and out of downtown were certainly hopping.
The Dodgers lead the series 2 to 1 and could clinch tomorrow at the stadium.
The eighth CicLAvia on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. covers 7.5 miles of mostly Downtown streets. The ends of the route are MacArthur Park on 7th Street,...
The plan is apparently to freshen things up a bit and reopen on December 1, according to Eater LA.
This author event from LA Talks Live comes with an extra treat: a pre-talk performance on the temple's renovated organ.
Santa Ana winds coming. Garcetti going to New York for the weekend. Geraldine Knatz out at the port. Gov. Brown signs drivers license bill for illegal immigrants. Nikki Finke takes another hiatus. LA Times Calendar moves. And more.
The Life photographer took the most remembered image of Robert Kennedy in a pool of blood on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel pantry on June 5, 1968.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy said she will sentence Rizzo to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 12 years in state prison.
Britain's Times Higher Education magazine has put Caltech in Pasadena at the very top of its list of the best universities in the world for the third year in a row.
Photographers (mostly) wait outside the Stanley Mosk courthouse in downtown Los Angeles for the verdict clearing Anschutz Entertainment Group of liability in the death of Michael Jackson.
"I wasn’t making a declaration. I guess it was misconstrued," Vin Scully says of KPCC report. Why does it feel that something deeper is going on. Plus: Vinnie rips John McCain.
After starting in Chicago, Don Cornelius migrated "Soul Train" to Los Angeles and national syndication. This clip with the theme from "Shaft" is from Oct. 1971.
The Bucket at 4541 Eagle Rock Boulevard was small but lively, says Eagle Rock Patch. Lost its lease.
The Los Angeles jury ruled that AEG did retain the services of Dr. Conrad Murray to take care of Michael Jackson, but also ruled that Murray was a competent physician.
The ex-chief of staff to mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Richard Riordan talks about not getting late-night calls from City Hall anymore, her last traffic ticket and the dearth of women at the City Council horseshoe. Plus Alice Walton too.
KPCC reports that in a recent interview, Scully said that he's leaning toward retirement after the 2014 baseball season. He will turn 86 next month.
Tom Clancy dead at 66. Revenge porn now illegal in California. Santa Monica crash probe suspended by government shutdown. Dealing with Starbucks stakeholders. This week's Southern California bestsellers. Praise for LAT quake fault stories. Steve Lopez on Grand Central Market. A THR freelancer sues. Plus more.
The video is a bit graphic, but I wouldn't say gory. Your mileage may vary.
Layoffs and retirements have left no one on staff to repair woodwinds. More than 2,600 broken instruments of all kinds sit on shelves, KPCC says in a story.
Old-timey Los Angeles lawyer Joseph Scott appears to be holding a presser for phantom cameras outside the Stanley Mosk courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. It's actually the sticks set...
County workers to rally. City appeals ruling on unlicensed driver impounds. Councilman says daughter has leukemia. Baca pitches for nutritional supplements. LAPD testing electric motorcycles. Glenn Greenwald to be on Reddit. A valet parker who diagnoses car troubles. Plus more.
Only one holdover from the Villaraigosa planning commission — plus two key Wendy Greuel backers in the last election and some more Garcetti contributors.
Clinton fundraises in LA
Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
The natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Performing arts with cheer
Donna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
