…and as far as I know, jaywalking, taking photographs, or riding without a bicycle license are not among them.

Earlier today, Sean wrote about the cyclists who were handcuffed during a Saturday night ride. Per Zach Behrens at LAist, “the LAPD is allowed to handcuff detainees in two situations.”

One is when officers are responding to a call with weapons. The other is at an officer’s discretion, based on how cooperative a person is or if they think the situation could turn violent. “Everything is done is to keep it from escalating to the next level,” explained Officer Sam Park, noting that handcuffs can be used in any situation including minor ones like traffic stops and jaywalking. “You never really know who you’re dealing with on the street.”

Alas, one can only hope that our well trained men in blue found these cyclists to be a threat, and weren’t simply abusing their authority and trying to keep anyone from documenting the situation. Or possibly just have it out for cyclists. Read the rest of this entry →

The mercurial Massive Attack contributor and iconoclastic solo artist Tricky is swingin’ thru the Left Coast stateside, and this is a rare opportunity to check him out live. He’ll be playing at the Fonda this Wednesday with Echo Park locals and openers We Are The World (which are themselves a fantastic group of performers, so get there early). Wanna win tickets? Tell me your favorite piece of music by Tricky and why you love it so much. We’ll pick a few winners…and if you use Seemsic to post a video response, below, you’re WAY more likely to win. I’m just sayin’.

Info on the show is here.

Earlier this month Jason was talking about LA Author Neil Strauss’ new book Emergency, which is basically an instruction manual for survival should society fall apart around you due to political, economic, or natural disaster. While writing it, one of the people Neil learned from (and featured in the book as well) is Kevin Reeve from On Point Tactical, a New Jersey based scout, tracking, and survival school. The book talks about their Urban Escape and Evasion class and last weekend a few of us were lucky enough to take that course right here in Los Angeles.

More about the course after the jump, but here’s a quick (and shaky, sorry!) video that I shot of Kevin showing off one of the things we learned in the class -making lock picks out of paperclips and safety pins!

Read the rest of this entry →

Remember back in January when when the City Council suspended the bike license program after LAPD Chief Bratton recommended discontinuing the program all together? You might recall that since the program was suspended and no more licenses are being issued, the Chief issued a moratorium on the law until and can be officially removed. Well, turns out some officers don’t seem to care about that.

This photo shows LA cyclist Alex Thompson being handcuffed Saturday night for, get ready for this, walking in a cross walk while there is a red hand showing. He was in cuffs for 20 minutes, but he wasn’t trying to cross when they grabbed him. He was trying to take a photo of another cyclist who was being cited by Officer Schube for not having a bike license. More details on West Side Bike Side -as you can imagine this one will be going to court. On the list of the worst people in the city to give a bike license citation to, the people who were actively involved with getting the law suspended 3 months prior are probably towards the top of the list. This one is going to be interesting…

[Photo of Alex Thompson in cuffs by Gary Se7en, used with permission]

Dry creek bed in O'Melveny Park, Granada Hills by Jodi 02/01/09

For the third consecutive year, California is experiencing a drought, which led to the Governor to declare a state of emergency on February 27th. The proclamation contains several directives for reducing water consumption. The deficient water supply is taking a devastating toll on our agriculture industry and increasing the risk of another significantly destructive wildfire season.

The city of Los Angeles already has a conservation ordinance in place, which includes such rules as no watering the lawn between 9am and 4pm and no automatic service of water to restaurant patrons. To comply with the new state government regulations, the L.A. DWP is implementing “shortage  year water rates,” beginning June 1, 2009.

DWP charges are based on allocations for the amount of water households and businesses use. Every customer’s allotment is being cut by 15%. If you conserve and stay with reduced limit, you might see a decrease in your bill. If you exceed the limit, a premium price is charged for the overage. The L.A. DWP offers more information on rates and  tips for saving water on their website.

Share in the comments any actions you are currently taking to save water. Aside from taking shorter showers, I’m pretty sure I’ll have to do a lot more to see a significant difference in my bill.

Prickly Poppy

This weekend we ventured out to the desert, Palm Desert to be precise,  for basketball tournaments and marveled at the wild flowers in bloom no matter where we went.  Like Tammara we enjoyed a spectacular show of what nature gives us in spring in terms of wild unabashed color.  I even managed to get out and do a little shooting.

Some links to places to see desert wild flowers and of course chime in with your favorites too!

1. Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.
2. Pipes Canyon Pygoras.
3. White Water Canyon.
4. BLM Western Mojave.
5. Desert Flowers USA. Read the rest of this entry →

While paying a visit over at nbcloangeles.com I couldn’t help but find in the midst of their Top Stories column these two items so beautifully juxtaposed atop one another. Not only do the two together suggest embattled Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as a ptoential victim of genetically faulty math skills, but in addition to all the other troubles he’s dealing with he apparently suffers from Entirely Exposed Brain syndrome. Poor guy.

Today was probably the windiest, hat-blowingest (I lost my prized Zermatt Switzerland cap) day that I have experienced here.  I walked over to Venice Beach to check out our version of a blizzard.   Few people, far less than the usual Sunday throng, were out.  Sand was everywhere, including in my eyes.  Sand drifts were piling up.  The stinging sand gave my face a nice dermabrasion.  Visible sand clouds could be seen down towards Palos Verdes and up towards Point Dume.  The surf was extremely choppy. Birds flew sideways, if at all.

Today’s sand blizzard was another of Mother Nature’s somewhat regular reminders that, no matter how much we in the Los Angeles area may surround ourselves with homes, roads, cars, and other material objects, she is in charge.

Now, if you’re located in Manhattan Beach, or San Diego, or Maui, and you happen to see a black Zermatt Switzerland cap wash up on the shore, please contact me.

More photos after the jump

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For some of us grilled cheese is a comfort food with a type of built-in response that harkens to a safe time in our lives.  It’s up there with the scent of vanilla or coffee in the morning with regards to a cultural Pavlovian response.  So it is no surprise that two different restaurants are serving it up as a kind of ‘stimulus plan.’

Over at The Edison, grilled cheese, tomato soup and 35 cent cocktails have been part of their ‘Soup Kitchen’ every Friday from 5-7 pm.  All proceeds for that cleverly tailored happy hour type promotion go toward the Midnight Mission – the oldest operating human services organization in Los Angeles.

Recently, Ivan Kane’s Cafe W as added a slew of promotions from discounted flask service (offered in paper bags) to the grilled cheese with fries.  Granted, it’s $10, which seems a bit out of touch with the spirit of giving people a break.  You can get a grilled cheese at Denny’s for $6.15.  But, unlike Denny’s, a Cafe W as grilled cheese and fries (only served on Mondays) is presented in a brown paper bag.

So, there I was at around 1 pm this afternoon taking a nose dive onto the Red Line after nearly falling down the escalator in an effort to not miss it.  Like most Angelenos I try to be nonchalant and utterly unimpressed by everything no matter how odd.  However I failed completely as I was already managing my unceremonious entrance onto the metro.  It was too much to process that and the fact that there were a couple of girls dressed up like candy ravers out way past their bedtimes (assuming the club closed at 6 am).  I thought it was a sorority hazing or something until another couple came on board sporting racing numbers.  The only words I could make out were ‘urban race.’  

Throughout the rest of my trip I saw all kinds of wildly costumed people with a sense of urgency dashing about.  It looked like fun.

It turns out they were all participating in something called the Great Urban Race – a city wide scavenger hunt.  Teams of two were challenged to brain teasers, riddles and clues with the caveat that they may only travel about on foot or using public transportation.  (You can read more about it here on Yelp.  The main website doesn’t seem to work for me.)

I would have loved to do it but I didn’t hear so much as a peep about it.  Perhaps next time!

You know Spring has arrived when you drive up the 5  from LA to San Francisco and you think you’re in Ireland.

Usually, the route  is a brown dismal landscape.  Not this weekend!  My fabulous Man Dan and  I took a trip up north and everywhere you looked,  the land was a riot of color.  Orange bursts of  California Poppies were layered with soft violets from all the lupine.

The hills, usually craggy and rocky, are now covered with soft grass, rolling hills as far as your eye can see.  Further north, the fields are covered with peach and almond trees drenched with pink and white blossoms.

The only downside was the carnage we created as we zoomed by at 70 MPH.  Our windshield became a butterfly death ray.  Nevertheless, it was an awesome ride.

Have you voted for Classic Eats #4 yet? April 4th is the date, you get to choose the place.

As of Friday morning, Classic Hollywood Cocktails and Pasadena Bound were neck and neck.

Click here to go to the survey and make your choice.

UPDATE: As of 4:30 pm on Saturday 3/21, Hot Dog Death March is in the lead, followed very closely by Hollywood Cocktails.

Click past the jump to get more details on all the choices.

Read the rest of this entry →

Starting tonight and running through May 3, the Fountain Theatre is presenting the West Coast premiere of Anna Ziegler’s scientific smackdown of a play, Photograph 51, directed by Simon Levy.

In this corner, with a combined total of two X chromosomes and two Y chromosomes, are molecular biologists James D. Watson (Ian Gould) and Francis Crick (Kerby Joe Grubb), the duo whom history has dubbed the discoverers of deoxyribonucleic acid — or DNA if you’re into the whole brevity thing.

And in this corner, with a total of two X chromosomes, is English biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin (Aria Alpert), whose X-ray diffraction images were used by Watson and Crick to formulate their hypothesis.

So, what’s the major malfunction? Rather than receiving credit as a co-founder of DNA, Franklin’s
findings were simply viewed as evidence that supported Watson and Crick’s hypothesis.

Among the questions the production raises are whether Franklin was relegated to history’s footnote because she was a woman and whether Watson and Crick stole Franklin’s data and took all the glory.

No fair looking up the answers!

Anna Ziegler recently won the third annual STAGE (Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration) award for Best New Play about Science and Technology for this play.

Image: Graham Norris and Aria Alpert in Photograph 51. Photo by Ed Krieger.

Today’s NY Times recounted medical marijuana dispensary owners in Los Angeles greeting this week’s announcement by the new US Attorney General, Eric H. Holder Jr., that the Justice Dept. has no plans to prosecute the pot dispensaries if they are running their businesses legally according to state law in CA.

The back-and-forth about CA’s ballot initiative process in the comments section of my previous post notwithstanding, I’m assuming a good deal of our readers are happy about the 1996 passage of Prop 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Twelve other states have similar laws. In my view, it’s a backdoor way to begin decriminalizing pot, which has been long overdue.

Other countries have made marijuana legal and have not become unhinged as a result– although I will concede the point that, as a nation, the US seems pretty unhinged already, even when it’s stone-cold sober. Maybe a little pot now and then would take the edge off of the likes of hedge fund managers and financial analysts, mellow them out a bit and make them realize there’s more to life than making money. I’m not holding my breath, but I will be inhaling. (Groovy LA pot map after the clickoris.) Read the rest of this entry →

I love it yeah, yeah, yeah…not the real deal but the band Imagine who does a pretty nifty Beatles song book repertoire is playing at the Descanso Gardens this Sunday at 1PM in La Canada.  The concert is free but you do need to pay the usual admission to the gardens which are pretty cheap to start with.  The perfect way to start your first Sunday of spring- Beatles and beetles in the nicest garden sanctuary in LA.

Details: 1PM Sunday 3/22/09.  Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada CA 91011.  818/949-4200  MAP HERE.

(Pic by me of a daffodil in my own garden and does get bigger with a click).