Shamelessly lifted in it’s entirety from a Machine Project email: “So, last weekend while we were out in the desert our neighbor Paolo from the Film Center called and said there was some flooding at Machine. It turns out that our (perhaps negligent) landlord let another hot water heater fail in the apartment above us (yes, this has happened before), which flooded our office and destroyed a bunch of stuff…continue reading.”

Shawn Hubler’s story about internet darling Cory Kennedy in last Sunday’s LA Times has been getting some buzz all its own, but one detail that I haven’t seen addressed much is the age difference between her and her once boyfriend Mark “The Cobra Snake” Hunter, a relationship her mother, Jinx Kennedy, condoned.

“We were just glad that she was happy,” Jinx says. And when it became apparent that the almost-21-year-old photographer was dating her not-quite-16-year-old daughter, she says, she insisted that the couple spend their time together at the Kennedy-Levin home, where she could watch them.

“I said, ‘Mark, I love you dearly and I’d hate to put you in jail, but I’d do it in a New York minute,’” she remembers. In truth, though, she and her husband felt that Hunter was good for their daughter: “I thought she would be protected because Mark is a great guy.”

(Noted: Kevin Roderick commented that the Santa Monica teen and her mom “come across as less than stable” in the piece.”)

A couple weeks ago, Mayor Sam wrote of me, “David Markland is an idiot.”

Yesterday morning, Kevin Roderick at LA Observed called Joseph Mailander (a Martini Republic and Mayor Sam contributor) “the least respected blogger in L.A.” This was followed up by Alex at Martini Republic calling Roderick a “clueless eunuch tool“.

Wanna share in the love?

Next week, fellow bloggers can step away from their keyboards and meet each other face to face and share some alcohol at Bar Lubitsch in West Hollywood.*

As previously mentioned, Media Bistro and Metroblogging are throwing “The Blogger Party” on Tuesday, March 6th, from 7pm to 9pm. You need to be a blogger to attend – this way, everyone can complain about the “cash bar”.

To RSVP and for more info, click here.
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Time flies, huh? Certainly the bullets did on the morning of February 28, 1997, when more than 1,100 alone were fired from the AK-47s of Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu after the heavily armed and armored robbers turned the area around their botched heist at the BofA on Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Vanowen Street into a war zone and one of the most violent and terrifying shootouts with police in history. It certainly was one of the bloodiest as 12 LAPD officers and two civilians were wounded, yet to this day I never ceased to be amazed that the only people to die were the robbers.

A low-res Quicktime video clip of a CNN report on the events can be viewed here; a WAV audio file of the 42-minute scanner recording of LAPD radio communication during the gun battle can be heard here. The Illustration of the area and events above was lifted from the North Hollywood Shootout Wiki page.

I’ve heard wild speculation that in some places in the world, and even some places right here in Los Angeles, that when it rains for more than 5 minutes at a time the power doesn’t go out for the following 12 hours. I don’t believe it, as once again blocks and blocks around my house are powerless this morning, but that’s the nasty rumor circulating right now anyway.

…Anne Cusack’s image appearing on todays L.A. Times front page of a youth tagging an MTA bus carrying the mayor and the LAUSD superintendent during a media event to announce a new bus stop that would allow students at a South Los Angeles school to bypass a gang-infested neighborhood (embiggenable if so desired):

Accompanying story here.

Pictured (bottom): Tristan Prettyman & Anya Marina

Fresh off her performance with G. Love (MySpace) on Friday’s edition of Late Night With Conan O’Brien, San Diego-native and singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman (MySpace), who’s been referred to as the female Jack Johnson (MySpace), returned from New York on Saturday to headline an acoustic set at Twiggs Coffee and Tea‘s Green Room, with fans reportedly flying in from as far away as San Francisco, Chicago, and Connecticut.

Opening for her at Twiggs were Chris Torres (MySpace), Melissa Larkin (MySpace), and Molly Jensen (MySpace).

Prettyman is fascinated by celebrity tabloid gossip, so when I suggested beforehand that she perform her cover of “Toxic” as a tribute to Britney Spears’ recent most erratic behavior, she happily obliged. Speaking of newsworthy pop starlets, Prettyman also debuted the live version of “Lindsay [Lohan] Goes to Rehab” (as originally heard on Prettyman’s MySpace page and Stereogum), which was sung with song co-writer Anya Marina (MySpace), who just happened to be sitting in the audience.

More, including three photos, after the jump.
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LA-Underground has been at Fiona Apple (MySpace)’s shows lately, continuing a ten-year relationship that originated from a meeting at Spaceland.

So leave it to them to beat me to the punch in mentioning that Apple is doing two shows next week, to benefit Friends of Gungi, at Largo in the Fairfax District:

Gordon “Gungi” Paterson is a legendary figure in the music industry, having been a highly respected engineer, tour and production manager. From his early days in the UK with acts such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, he was a mainstay of the 80′s touring scene with bands like Megadeth, and continued through the 2000′s with bands such as Live, System Of A Down, Tears For Fears and most recently Fiona Apple. Gungi’s easily recognizable physical stature is only overshadowed by his immense heart, personality and positive attitude. Last summer, Gungi was diagnosed with cancer – A large lump was discovered in and around the lymph nodes in his neck.

The Monday, March 3rd show teams Apple with producer Jon Brion, who worked on the original version of Extraordinary Machine that was leaked onto the Internet, while the Friday, March 9th show teams Apple “and Friends” (according to the Largo website).

More after the jump.
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Not exactly sure of the story behind this photo by “onerebelgun”, except that the title is “lifiting a car that had parked badly so we could fit ours in the parking spot in los angeles.”

MetroRiderLA advises this Sunday’s marathon runners and spectators to avoid the buses and stick to the trains.

Justin Levine pays tribute and condolences to sound mixer Kevin O’Connell,  whose father passed away shortly after the Academy Awards. O’Connell also holds the distinction of having been nominated for an Oscar 19 times without winning, including on Sunday.

Sherman Oaks Councilman/LAist co-editor Zach Behrens kicks off “a new series of posts of pertinent local meetings where your surroundings might be affected” called “Get Involved”, starting with info on a meeting to discuss traffic crippling roadwork along Lincoln Blvd. in Westchester.

Wanna be a mascot or announcer for the Boston Red Sox? Well, you can’t… but the Sox’s farm team in northeast LA County, the Lancaster JetHawks, is looking for someone who can fill the suit of KaBoom, their purple feathered mascot, as well as two field announcers to pump up the crowds during homegames at Clear Channel Stadium. (via ValleyNews.com)

Atwater Village Newbie has been keeping up with the on again/off again elections and potentially shady happenings surrounding his local neighborhood council.

If you still haven’t gotten your fill of Oscar coverage, head over to Citizen of the Month who liveblogged the Academy Awards… from 1987.

Los Angeles is a magnet for conspiracy theories, celebrity rumors, hoaxes, curses, and anything else that might fall into the catch all term of “urban legend”.

Yesterday, in fact, was the 65th anniversary of “The Battle of Los Angeles”, where a supposed UFO hovered over Santa Monica even after being showered with gunfire from nearby military batteries. The incident made front page headlines in 1942, but with the official US goverment story dismissing the UFO as a “weather balloon”. (watch NBC’s Today Show segment on the legend)

Almost every neighborhood has a local boogeyman, and everyone’s heard the one about Richard Gere having a gerbil extracted from his rectum at Cedar’s Sinai. There’s supposed “gravity hill” at Rose Hills Cemetert in Whittier, and as written about here, an actual “bridge to nowhere” in the San Gabriel Valley.

And I’m not even scratching the surface. In fact, there are so many local legends that next week, Metroblogging Los Angeles will be counting 20 of our personal favorites. To help us assemble a comprehensive list, I wanted to reach out to you, dear reader, for your help.

It could be a curse that extends to the Southland, or a tale that never ventured past the cul-de-sac where you grew up. Maybe its a rumor about a celebrity, or a conspiracy theory about a historical event in LA’s past (or future!). And sometimes, the best legends are ones that are far fetched, but actually true…

What’s your favorite local legend?

Part of the challenge of living in an old house is that things which have worked forever, suddenly go kaput. My old furnace seems to be dying and since it’s been cold lately… I don’t think I can last til Spring. I’m trying to find someone who is competent with old ducting and furnaces who can fix it. I will check out the yellow pages and google the area…. but I’ve always found that referrals work best.
Does anybody out there know of a good heating repair guy/gal? I’d be forever grateful for any suggestions!

The last Tuesday of every month the American Cetacean Society hosts a free public lecture, this month’s is probably of more interest to the general beach and marina-going public than many:

Monica DeAngelis: “The Pinniped Problem: Non-lethal Deterrence of California Sea Lions and Pacific Harbor Seals”

Tuesday, February 27, 7:30pm
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
3720 Stephen M. White Drive in San Pedro
Sponsored by the American Cetacean Society (Los Angeles Chapter)

(Free to the public and free parking.)

So if you have a boat down at the marina and want to know what you can do to keep sea lions from sinking it, come on down.
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My wife is a runner, but I am not. She ran cross country (not literally) in High School and went to college on a track scholarship. She has been quite busy as of late with nursing school and work and hasn’t had much of a chance to get out and run as she would like. She has yet to run a marathon, but I know that is one of her unspoken goals in life.

This Sunday the LA Marathon is taking place, and due to a change in routes to allow easier access to churches for churchgoers, it is going right though my back yard. I am pretty excited that I will be able to perch atop my roof and take photos of the runners on their home stretch. Look forward to some photos of the Marathon posted up here sometime soon.

There was, briefly, a restaurant at Rowena and Glendale called Flor Moreno. I know it got mixed reviews on places like Chowhound, but the lady and I really liked their food and were looking forward to seeing how they settled in. Unfortunately, they seem to have closed up one night and never reopened. There’s not out of business sign or note in the window, and it looks like all of the equipment and furniture are still inside. Anybody know what happened to them?

After reading Will’s vanity plate post on Friday, I decided to hunt down the CA DMV page on “special interest plates” to see how the whole thing works. It turns out they have a vanity plate generator that let’s you build and preview your very own custom plates. You can’t save them or share them via the site, but that’s nothing that a simple screen capture can’t solve!