Could happen if the rumor phoned into Josh from Joshcar.com holds true.  In short Daimler Benz is buying 10% of Bay Area based Tesla Motors.  This will provide them with the operating capital needed to start up production of their all electric Tesla S sports sedan.  The rumored location of this production will be the old GM Van Nuys plant shuttered some 20 years ago when Camaro production was shifted elsewhere.

I have found confirmation regarding the purchase of Tesla stock over at Edmonds.com.

Good news for the Valley and LA in general if this holds true.

I want to tell you a little bit about a tall young man I know (pictured at right during the Midnight Ridazz’ “Saftey Ride” of April 2007) who goes by the nom du bicyclette of Roadblock, but has also given other names both real and fictional to various civic committees, law enforcement personnel, census takers, and telemarketers.

Roadblock has been with Midnight Ridazz since the beginning — and I mean that very first 18-mile nightride by the eight original “mommas and the papas” way back in February 2004. He rode his skateboard the entire way.

When Midnight Ridazz blew up huge a couple years later with rides at times drawing more than a thousand cyclists, the founders decided to step back and give the once-a-month phenomenon over to the bike community. From there Roadblock opened up midnightridazz.com as something of a portal and incubator in which people could hatch and grow and celebrate their own rides. Genius.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that in this ephemeral shapeshifting storm known as L.A.’s “bike culture” Roadblock has a place in its center not just for how long he’s been involved in it, but also for his contributions to bettering and broadening it — although he would probably be the first one to roll his eyes and dismiss such a statement as ridiculous.

What I’m also trying to say is we came close to losing him to a hit-and-run motorist early this morning.

Read the rest of this entry →

I didn’t feel this one, but I keep getting IMed about it.

A light earthquake occurred at 3:49:11 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.
The magnitude 4.1 event occurred 2 km (1 miles) NE of Hawthorne, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 12 km ( 8 miles).

Did you feel it? Fill out the survey

See the Shake map

According to Wikipedia:

On the afternoon of May 18th Roderick Anthony Burton II, professionally known as Dolla was shot and killed shortly after 3:00 PM near the La Cienga Boulevard entrance of the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills, after a fight between a group of individuals broke out. Witnesses report that a woman was seen firing a handgun. Another source said a male suspect was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he attempted to board a flight.

His MySpace page has no more info than that and the most recent entry notes that he had just signed up for Twitter earlier today, about 7 hours ago from right now. I’m not certain, but I don’t recall there ever being a shooting at The Beverly Center that I’ve been aware of so this might be a first in that respect. Unfortunately, rappers getting shot and killed in LA is far from unusual. Dolla was 21.

The LA Times Blog has more info including a photo of flip-flop clad women who are clearly distressed that their shopping experience was interrupted exiting the building.

Or so everyone in my house says.

More to come!

Preliminary Earthquake Report
A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:39:36 PM (PDT) on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
The magnitude 5.0 event occurred 2 km (1 miles) E of Lennox, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).

Revision after seismologist review:
A light earthquake occurred at 8:39:36 PM (PDT) on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
The magnitude 4.7 event occurred 1 km (1 miles) ESE of Lennox, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 15 km ( 9 miles).

See the USGS Community Internet Intensity Map for this quake.

Did you feel it? (Fill out the survey)

RIP Dom DeLuise you were my favorite actor in the screwball comedies as I was growing up.  Between all the Mel Brooks and “Smokey and the Bandit” movies you added a lot of laughs to my life.  

I’ve attached one of my favorite clips from “Blazing Saddles” to bring a smile to some faces today.  I ask, what greater achievement in ones life than to bring in laughter and a smile? 

He passed away quietly in his sleep Monday night in his LA home according to his son. All the details and bio in the MSN Movies article that ran moments ago.

(Updated just for lezgull, I searched and found an out takes insanity clip for you, but you have to make the jump). Read the rest of this entry →

…that would be Commonwealth between 5th and 6th streets.

I came upon this scene biking home and was ordered by the officers manning the street closure point to get on the sidewalk if I wanted to proceed. I considered a “Bikes on the Streets!” protest, but thought better of it.

In the midst of my full compliance with the directive as issued I asked one of the 3,000 officers assembled if this was for the scheduled May Day parades he said yes and that there had been expectations of up to 60,000 protesters.

“How many were there?” I inquired.

Read the rest of this entry →

Or Westlake Village.  Or Thousand Oaks.  Take your pick.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake, which occured at 6:11 p.m. local time, preliminarily measures 4.4, a number that will likely change slightly after review by USGS seismologists.  Here is a USGS map of where the quake struck.  Strangely, USGS always locates earthquakes by their proximity in four directions to nearby cities and towns, instead of just pinpointing exactly the area where the quakes hit. A local and apparently jaded friend of mine calls these less-than-catastrophic quakes “massages,” but since they unsettle my balance and/or my gut, I don’t take them so lightly.

Monrovia Unified started a robo-dial campaign earlier this afternoon on the topic of the swine flue concerns.  And a little rumor control was added in for good measure in terms of confirming no one in the district has been diagnosed as having the swine flu.

You can read the full text after the jump, short version is no one in MUSD has been diagnosed with the flu.  Nor has anyone in LA County.   The district is taking measures to ensure there won’t be a problem and asks we talk with the kids to remind them what to do.  Basics like don’t sneeze or cough on anyone and for gawd’s sake wash your grubby little  mits often.  (Emphasis on the latter added by me).

Anyone else in the LA Metro area have their schools contact them on the topic yet? Read the rest of this entry →

Allegiant Air opens service from LAX to 14 small (as in Sioux Falls, SD) airports around the country.  What makes them special?  

Dirt cheap airfare, absolutely no frills (not even a bag of peanuts tossed in your lap) non-stop flights to small markets around the US.   My folks have used them for years out of Las Vegas  and swear by them for being cheap and on time.  The challenge is that an Allegiant flight to a given destination is on only a couple of days a week.  You have to be flexible with your timing to take advantage of the cheap fares.

For kicks and giggles I ran a quick fare check to Branson/Springfield MO.  I came up with a fare of 238 round trip.  The best fare to a major airport was $308 but would have required renting a car and driving the final 4 hours to Branson.  A nice savings in terms of fare and time.

Allegiant Air isn’t for everyone, but for those of us having a need to be in some of the smaller markets it will be a huge savings in fares and time.

A Japanese woman who flew from LAX to Japan’s Narita international airport has tested positive for swine flu and was sent to a hospital, according to Breaking News On and Xinhua.net.

Xinhua adds, “some 10 other passengers sitting around her would be transported to another medical institution for further examinations.”

Based on a search of the Northwest Airlines website, the related flight appears to be #1 that departed Los Angeled International Airport  on Wednesday with a scheduled departure of 12:35pm (with an actual departure at 12:24pm). The flight arrived in Tokyo 12:45am PST (3:45pm local).

If you haven’t been paying attention to the news today you might want to google swine flu. Take a few minutes and read that. OK, back now? Good. Now you might be interested in this google map which is showing confirmed and suspected cases in Mexico and SoCal. There aren’t any in Los Angeles yet, but there weren’t any in San Diego jut the other day and now there are several. It seems to be moving pretty quickly so a LA case is bound to pop up shortly. For more info you can also follow CDC Emergeny on twitter and check out this Mashable post with more pointers. More news when I get it.

Alex Thompson has done the legwork pulling all the details together on this and has a post up on Westside Bikeside that he’ll be updating as more news comes forth. At this point it seems that a black Hummer with no license plates ran into a group of cyclists in downtown LA on Friday morning around 2am. At least one cyclist was sent to the ER and several others bikes were totaled. The Hummer initially tried to flee the scene only to be stopped near by by LAPD (apparently there was still a bike stuck under the vehicle at this point). According to Alex’s report:

The occupants of the car fled on foot, and though LAPD caught the driver, several of the passengers escaped. Those passengers returned later to threaten the group of cyclists, saying that if they spoke with police, they would return “60 crips deep.”

After a large group of police officers interviewed the witnesses and the suspects they released the driver, who drove off without a ticket. Officer Cho, the officer in charge at the scene then approached the cyclists. He first told the group:

Get everyone together because I don’t want to say this twice. If anyone says anything I’m gonna walk away and I’m not going to talk to you guys. Based on the evidence right now it looks like the cyclist hit the car, not that the car hit the cyclist.

Cyclist then argued with him, pointing out that the driver of the Hummer was dislodging a bicycle from underneath his vehicle when the police pulled him over. Officer Cho then responded, saying “if it had been me with my family in that car, I’d have done the same thing, and I carry a gun in my car.”

Not much else to say… Photo by Mr. Rollers.

It’s great to know we can always count on Diane Edwardson to cover Silver Lake news!

Check out her latest blog post, about the grass fire on Fletcher yesterday. We love you Diane!