L.A. is a profoundly Latin American city, with countless historical and cultural ties to the Spanish-speaking world. Those ties include a common language. Spanish is spoken by over 40 percent of L.A. residents, making it the second-most spoken language in L.A. after English.
Remember, even saying the words “Los Angeles” (or if you want to get fancy and historical about it, El Pueblo de Nuestra …

Yes, yes, we all know Los Angeles is supposed to be the Kingdom of the Car and the Fiefdom of the Freeway. But this week, L.A. cyclists are getting some love, attention and care. It’s all part of  Bike Week L.A., an annual event that celebrates bicycle culture in the region and encourages people to try commuting using pedal power.
Bike Week L.A. events include  …

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been called the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In past conflicts, combat doctors couldn’t save a soldier or Marine who had been struck in the head by a bullet or had a roadside bomb go off next to him. Now, many of those troops can be saved thanks to battlefield medicine and surgery. But what …

Earlier this morning, the California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that communities have the right to ban medical marijuana clinics from operating in their city limits using local zoning and land use ordinances. Currently, about 200 California communities maintain such bans using their zoning authority. Los Angeles, where cannabis clubs are as common as Starbucks, isn’t one of the places with a …

Yesterday, on May Day, thousands of people gathered in downtown Los Angeles to march and demand comprehensive immigration reform– reform that would would create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented people now living in the Untied States. With legislation headed to the floor of the US Senate, marchers wore T-shirts reading, the “TIME IS NOW.” We talked about family unification and …

A museum’s collection is like an iceberg- most of  it isn’t visible. For every painting hanging on a wall or mummy on display, there are dozens, hundreds, even thousands of other works in storage, rarely seeing the light of day.
That’s the case  in spades with Los Angeles’ Natural History Museum, an institution with 35 million different objects in its collection. 35 million different objects! …

If you regularly drive through Culver City, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica, you’ve probably seen all of the construction happening for what’s formally known as the Exposition Transit Corridor, Phase 2. That’s the extension of of the current Expo Line between downtown Culver City and downtown Santa Monica. When it’s completed in 2015 (although that could slide into 2016), this $1.5 billion extension …

Would you play a game where your odds of winning the top prize were 175, 223, 510 to 1? According to Caltech professor of mathematics Gary Lorden those are the awesome odds you confront if you’re trying to take home tens of millions of dollars from Powerball, the new game of chance that joins the California Lottery starting today. But when have long odds …

In the parlance of zoology, they’re called Zalophus Californianus, but you probably know them better as California sea lions. And there are thousands of these marine mammals dwelling along the Southern California coastline, announcing their presence with their characteristic barking and cavorting in the water. But in recent months, record numbers of young California sea lions have been found sick and malnourished in local waters, and …

When Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, it was gem of modern architecture, capturing in steel and concrete the cool, Kennedyesque spirit of the time. You can just imagine the cast of “Mad Men” cheering in the stands, or better yet, having a gin and tonic in the Clubhouse. The ballpark was also notable for its setting, perched on an Elysian Park hilltop with  commanding …

The next mayor of Los Angeles will get a salary of just over $232,000 a year, an expansive corner office on the third floor of City Hall, and the opportunity to live at Getty House, the official mayoral residence in L.A.’s posh Windsor Square neighborhood. The Tudor-style residence, by the way, comes with seven bathrooms… if you care about that sort of thing.
But what …

The Los Angeles County of Public Health has announced that it’s grappling with the largest outbreak of tuberculosis in the region in over a decade, one that’s centered on L.A.’s skid row neighborhood.
There have been 78 confirmed cases of tuberculosis, with 60 of those cases involving L.A.’s homeless population. Since 2009, there have also been 11 TB-related deaths in L.A. But that’s just the tip of …

Last year Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won a Best Documentary Short Film Oscar for her film “Saving Face,” which focused on the plight of two Pakistani women attacked with acid and their subsequent quest for justice. It was the first Academy Award in Pakistan’s history. “I’ve locked it in my house and we’re looking for a secure place to store it,” says Obaid-Chinoy.  She says that taking home …

Southern California is home to many outstanding museums, museums that possess some of the  world’s best known art treasures in their permanent collections. But every so often, a single blockbuster work of art comes to town, one synonymous with creative genius and known by millions of people around the world.
That’s the case now at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum. For a few more weeks, it’s displaying an 1889 self-portrait …

 
Updated Monday 9:30 a.m.  A false sighting led an LAPD SWAT team to a Lowe’s in Northridge Sunday,  as the massive manhunt continues for accused killer Christopher Dorner. In addition to the two women who were mistakenly fired on, a man driving a truck similar to Dorner’s was also targeted by police.  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced yesterday that the city is putting up a $1 million …

Yesterday, in every church in the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, parishioners were read a letter from L.A. Archbishop Jose Gomez. The Archbishop described newly released files on clerical sex abuse as “terribly sad and evil” and acknowledged that local church authorities have to confront “terrible failing” when it came to how abuse cases were handled.
The Archbishop’s apology comes two weeks after the release of some internal …

Lyndon Johnson, no stranger to the pressures and controversies of public office once said, “When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse.  I could be a mayor.” This from a guy who was wrestling with the Vietnam War and conflicts over the Civil Rights Movement!
It’s not easy being a mayor, particularly of a sprawling metropolis …

I have spent thousands of hours of my life in book stores, from quaint mom and pop independents to giant chain stores. My heart aches a bit whenever I hear about a bookstore closing its doors for good, or see someone reading from an e-reader
or tablet instead of a proper paper and ink bound book. With every novel that’s downloaded on a Kindle or …

Next Monday, President Barack Obama will raise his right hand and take the oath of office for a second term. He’ll have another four years to accomplish his national policy agenda. But what exactly should that agenda be? What issues and problems must President Obama focus on? And how much work is left undone from his first term in office?
We’re asking a variety of …

This morning the tranquility of Scripps College was broken by gun shots and police sirens. Fortunately, the shots were simulated. It was the first mass shooting response exercise in Los Angeles since the tragedy in Sandy Hook, Conn. The drill was part legitimate disaster response training and part theater for the media (see photos). Los Angeles County sheriff and fire department personnel responded to a fake …