Native Intelligence

It's debatable which came first, the insatiable desire to document the famous or the need for the masses to see endless images of celebrities caught acting like normal people. But the Internet, the money to be made and the ease of picture-taking technology have changed everything. Thus a panel discussion at the Getty in conjunction with the exhibit, "Portraits of Renown," celebrity portraits dating back to the 1800s.

Back in the day, before his curly top turned white, Simon Rattle was an enormously gifted principal guest conductor of the LA Philharmonic. That was an earlier golden era — well before this one headed by the spirited, infectious Gustavo Dudamel. We cannot forget any of those from the '80s.

The traffic forecast for people coming Downtown this weekend is "crowded" — although fans of the Kings, Lakers, Clippers, and Dodgers may not mind all that much.

If we had a prize for Most Celebrated Business Hero in America, it would have to be Steve Jobs, the late founder of Apple. But Apple's vaunted founder's business practices are starting to sound retrograde, and, worse, bad for American workers, students and local governments. How...cool.

Even the authorized get towed in LA. Plus: a land of extremes, and some road signs are just plain wrong.

In advance of Mother's Day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are on high alert for bad guys hiding in the flowers. Los Angeles is the number two port of entry for flowers imported during the Mother's Day season.

Chances are, the recent passing of author and biographer Charles Higham escaped your notice. He left no survivors. I felt a twinge of sadness when I read about his lonely death, and it's mostly about Orson Welles.

Over the past decade, the American obesity epidemic has provoked a wide range of possible solutions, from soda-pop bans in elementary schools to salad bars in high school cafeterias. Here are some better ideas for LA from visiting blogger Greg Critser, author of "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World."

Steve Harvey's slightly bent observations on the city around us. This time: must be a good burger in the Grand Central Market, the bias against actors never fully goes away, and at home with two right feet. Plus much more.

Carol Wells began collecting political posters on a 1981 trip to Nicaragua. She has amassed an impressive collection of works that chronicle labor and political movements filtered through the prism of art and activism. "Posters are a very efficient and powerful way of teaching history," she says.

The L.A. County Natural History Museum looks forward to opening its public field site in time for the museum's centennial celebration next year. Here's an early glimpse inside the 3½ acres of fauna-hosting flora reclaimed from a parking lot in Exposition Park.

Scenes from Saturday's release of dozens of new vinyl recordings at the Amoeba Music store on Sunset Boulevard.