Archive by Month
October 31, 2007
What will come first: a writers strike or a deal with Joe Torre? Perhaps neither. What seemed like a nearly...
So what exactly did the folks from Sacha Barron Cohen's production company tell those people who appeared in the movie...
It's Martin Smith, who leaves his senior editor post at the LAT magazine for the top job at Orange Coast...
As if the two-joint Nancy Silverton/Mario Batali/Joe Bastianich creation needed additional acclaim. Now you won't be able to get in...
What recession?: We're looking at 3.9 percent annual growth rate for the third quarter, which is way more than most...
October 30, 2007
The LAT reports that a Torre deal could be announced tomorrow. The former Yankee manager has apparently agreed to contract...
It's still more than a week before the official launch of the much-awaited British grocery chain, but MetroBlogging posts that...
The Daily News essentially gutted its biz section today. Instead of having its own section front, as has been the...
That's Virgin America, the start-up airline launched by British billionaire Richard Branson and offering service from L.A. to NY and...
To cut or not to cut: For several days it's been assumed that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates...
October 29, 2007
The leader of Teamsters Local 399 is advising members that they should honor WGA picket lines, even if the local...
All right, it's a shameless plug - my piece in the November issue of Fast Company on police surveillance cameras...
The Union Square store is apparently among the highest grossing locations in the chain, with 5,000 daily customers and sales...
The weak dollar, Middle East tensions, weather-related production cuts in Mexico - all the usual culprits were behind today's jump...
The NBC/Universal CEO said it's looking "more and more likely." Speaking at a meeting sponsored by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School,...
Writers prep for deadline: They'll meet tomorrow with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers - this time joined...
October 26, 2007
Considered one of the most powerful players at City Hall, General Manager Ron Deaton said he was leaving "with a...
Earlier this week we got into a little back and forth with our friends at DealBreaker about whether this week's...
Here's another example of the wacky world of Wall Street. This morning, Countrywide Financial, the troubled Calabasas mortgage lender, reported...
That's according to the Times of London, which reports today that the Time Warner CEO is ready to hand over...
California's third-quarter numbers are crazy high, of course, with a record 72,571 Notices of Default filed in the July-September period....
Countrywide's good/bad news: The Calabasas mortgage giant reported its first quarterly loss in 25 years, the result of $2.27 billion...
October 25, 2007
The studios and networks presented what Variety is calling "a streamlined proposal" to jump-start the contract talks. "The proposal lays...
The idea is to gradually phase out the oldest, dirtiest trucks, starting next year. The schedule would run all the...
Here we have another case of apparent misinformation from this week's wild fires. Early reports that a third of the...
I just have three words for you: Revenue Anticipation Notes. And yes, it could turn out to be a big...
Reality checks: The media mob back east is still saying that this week's fires forced almost a million Californians to...
October 24, 2007
Now here's one that might make you gag. When celebrity chef Tom Colicchio began receiving complaints about service at Craft,...
Economists starting to assess the impact of this week's fires are pointing out that this kind of event can actually...
Please tell me that David "Consumer Confidential" Lazarus didn't actually begin his column this morning with the words, "If past...
Socal fires: This should be the turnaround day, as winds die down and temperatures (slowly) begin to moderate. In San...
October 23, 2007
Expect a bunch of stories over the next few days about how San Diego was not prepared for this week's...
Talk about a nice return on your investment. The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association is selling the landmark Ritz-Carlton...
A Boston jury ruled today that Roche’s new drug, Mircera, infringed 11 Amgen patent claims - a very big deal...
Already they're serving pancakes at Qualcomm Stadium and buying air time on KNX. The message is we're here for you,...
MySpace is beefing up its games component through a deal being announced today with distributor Oberon Media Inc. (THR). The...
Perhaps sensing some movement from Washington, the Calabasas-based mortgage lender said it would help its subprime borrowers who face huge...
Socal fires: It's hard to focus on anything else. At last count, more than 1,000 homes and businesses had been...
October 22, 2007
Both seem to be operating in different orbits. In the latest government survey, the average price of self-serve regular in...
He's checked into a hotel in Anaheim, along with his wife and dog. "Totally surreal to be here with people...
While only a small percentage of Socal's housing stock is being threatened by the fires, this might be a good...
That's how MarketWatch columnist Herb Greenberg described the intensity of this morning's fires across San Diego County, where more than...
Fire impact: It's still way too early to know. But in case you're wondering about the economic effects, it's worth...
October 20, 2007
September's employment numbers were kind of quirky because of stepped-up show biz hiring in preparation for a possible writer's strike....
October 19, 2007
It's nice to see there are other folks out there who avoid biz breakfasts, lunches and by all means, dinners....
This was the day we were supposed to reflect on that scary Monday 20 years ago. But there are more...
Stocks are sinking: This is a joke, right? It's the 20-year anniversary of the '87 market crash and the Dow...
October 18, 2007
That's what Staples Center owner AEG is charging for top-of-the-line luxury suites, per year ($250,000 on the low end). Five...
Crude prices flirted with $90-a-barrel today and you have to believe that the century mark is not far off. That's...
I mean besides LABO? MarketWatch took the honors last month in the number of minutes per person per month, followed...
This time, it's a proposed marine research facility on the 28-acre site that has been home to environmentally unfriendly Westway...
Strike vote deadline: The WGA will start counting ballots for a strike authorization, which gives guild officials the power to...
October 17, 2007
It's an informal investigation into stock sales by Countrywide’s CEO, according to the WSJ. The news comes just a week...
This wouldn't be worth mentioning if it weren't for all the bluster some months back about the astronomical salaries that...
Claire Hoffman propelled her career last year with a much-discussed profile in West magazine on "Girls Gone Wild" mogul Joe...
You want to know how lousy the newspaper industry is? A unit of Morgan Stanley that's held a 7.2 percent...
Twist in writers talks: Never try to figure out labor negotiations when you're sitting on the sidelines. You'll usually be...
October 16, 2007
The nation's biggest mortgage lender is looking at pretax restructuring charge of $125 million to $150 million to cut operations...
Progress at getting more women into the state's board rooms and executive suites continues to be glacial. The UC Davis...
If you want to be technical about it, 49.5 percent - just 4,361 homes sold in all of L.A. County...
Housing endangers economy: That's what Treasury Secretary Paulson is saying this morning (you mean he just found out?). "I have...
October 15, 2007
Already, there are no shortage of discussions about then and now. In this week's Barron's, Andrew Barry lays out the...
It's not official yet, but Seymour Lazar, a former Milberg Weiss client accused of receiving illegal kickbacks, appears ready to...
The Skadden Insider, which provides tidbits on powerhouse law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, finds some grumbling...
What's weird is that prices keep going up despite signs that the U.S. economy has been slipping. That's not supposed...
I-5 reopens after all: Talk about a story that's been tough to figure out. The main traffic lanes on both...
October 14, 2007
As for the tunnel, where that fiery chain reaction killed three people, repair work is expected to take a couple...
October 12, 2007
Our esteemed assembly speaker hardly offered a full accounting of his crazy spending, but at least he coughed up a...
The tight-wad Tax Foundation has come out with its annual ranking of business friendly and unfriendly states. And guess what?...
Perhaps one of these days the folks at Vitesse Semiconductor will be able to focus their attention on making telecom...
NBC sprucing up?: It's a decent bet that sooner or later GE will unload its entertainment property, and what better...
October 11, 2007
Call Wall Street reaction underwhelming. Shares of the Bev Hills concert promoter - and now record company - fell 3.7...
Good luck. Nikki Finke had posted last week that Warner production head Jeff Robinov told three different producers that the...
Here's another example of why companies have no business dealing with people’s health care coverage. Employees who smoke (and/or family...
NBC leaves Burbank: Talk about breaking up an act - the network that made beautiful downtown Burbank a cultural icon...
October 10, 2007
Who knows for how long, but at least a federal district judge in SF had the good sense to issue...
The LAT publisher will be writing about "things going on at The Times and in our industry." He's inviting comments,...
Well it's not official yet, but the WSJ is reporting that she's close to signing up with Bev Hills concert...
One of the many arguments for universal health care has been a practical one: Folks who don't have coverage don't...
Well, you knew this was bound to happen. A Michigan pension fund filed a shareholder suit accusing the El Segundo-based...
October 08, 2007
An outside deadline will keep me away for a couple of days....
October 05, 2007
The tiny Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska was minding its own business when along came the big bullies at the...
That's according to the WSJ's M&A reporter, Dennis Berman, who concludes that the chances of the Sam Zell deal falling...
OK, all you sleepy Hollywood beat writers out there - time to wrap up your Friday flack lunches and follow...
Employment rebounds: Not only did payrolls rise a healthy 110,000 in September, but August's horrible numbers - what many say...
October 04, 2007
They either keep moving or they're dead (borrowing shamelessly from the old Woody Allen line). With the private equity boys...
After a summer of fundraisers, she's winning over a bunch of show-folks - at least according to a breathless LAT...
New worries?: A shortage of air-traffic controllers at LAX helps explain the 55 runway incursions reported since October 2001, according...
October 03, 2007
Let's just say she wasn't that wild about a lengthy Fortune profile of CAA (her post is headlined "Fortune CAA...
There's nothing like pissing off a food editor of the LAT to get the attention of L.A.'s snooty restaurant crowd....
Here's an amazing number to ponder: A whopping 61 percent of IndyMac stock available for trading had been sold short...
FCC leaks: Companies and trade groups are being tipped off to confidential information about when regulators plan to vote on...
October 02, 2007
That would be David Hans Schmidt, the Phoenix agent who tried to shake down Tom Cruise for $1 million in...
The Santa Monica-based chain lost $2.3 million for the first six months of the year, while same-store sales fell 10...
Now that I've got your attention, let's turn to the on-air talent that’s ready and eager to launch the Fox...
The L.A. billionaire says in an interview with Bloomberg that it will be "quite a while before we have a...
Judge delays worker crackdown: U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said that the Bush administration's effort to track down illegal immigrants...
October 01, 2007
It's still a long way off from a walkout (remember the supermarket workers), but seeking member approval to call a...
This week the average price of a gallon of regular is $2.961, up just a penny over last week. But...
It came up during a wrongful termination suit brought against Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden, which owns...
That's the title of Citigroup analyst Stephen Kim's report on the homebuilding industry that came out this morning - and...
Just when you think advertisers have run out of space to advertise, somebody comes along with an idea that’s stunningly...
What, us worry?: Wasn't it just a few months back when the Dow topped the 14,000 mark for the first...
© 2003-2008 • About LA Observed • Contact the editor
Forget plastics, the real action these days is arranging going-out-of-business sales.
More From Mark Lacter:
Without referencing its recent layoff, the Ventura County Star's editor says the suburban LA paper is now "more streamlined and, in many ways, much more efficient."
We stripped the Indians of their ponies, and now we're doing it to ourselves.
When the sun looks like that, there's a big fire somewhere regardless of whether we see or smell smoke.
After 22 years of loyalty, Baylor is unceremoniously shown the door.
Lee Abrams, Tribune Company's chief innovation officer, doesn’t seem too impressed with the Los Angeles Times. That’s the feeling I got when he appeared at the Los Angeles Press Club.
Seven or fifteen minutes from now I can definitively say I didn't hear the sound of sirens.
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