Subject: Beverly Hills (California)

• 17th Time ain't a charm

  This morning, we noted that the man known as the "Irreconcilable Differences" bandit robbed his 16th bank out in Newport Beach. Now, CBS reports that a guy who matched his description was arrested in Glendale shortly after robbing a Wells Fargo. They got him in the parking lot of the local McDonald's. Some background info: "He got his nickname from his first bank robbery on Dec. 22 in Beverly Hills, when he told a teller he was going through a divorce and needed help wiring money, requesting

  June 5, 2007

• Sunday's Headlines & Surprises: The Shame of Wayne Gross

  Dana Point Gets a Celebrity! Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his wife, Cookie, have purchased a $7.6 million gated-community “vacation” home in Dana Point, according to the Times. Though “Hot Property” reporter Ruth Ryon didn’t share more details about the location, you can assume it’s at the oceanfront Headlands, property owned for decades by the Chandler family, longtime owners of Ryon’s employer. Anyhow, real estate agent Shelley Brown told the paper that Johnson, who lives most

  November 18, 2007

• LYT's Film Pick of the Weekend 11-30-07

  Ooooh yeah, dig it...THE SAVAGES. The name of the movie is one of those insufferable cutesy puns – these characters have the surname of “Savage” and they behave poorly! Why, that's ironic! -- but don't let that deter you from the rest of the movie, a film that achieves the rare balance of being both hilarious and tragic. It begins with a lovably surreal musical number in the suburbs of Arizona, with elderly chorus girls, before rubbing our faces in shit, literally – Dad Savage (Philip

  November 30, 2007

• Because You're Ugly: WESC Warehouse Sale

  December 21, 2007

• Resentencing for another Sheriff Carona felon/pal

  In May 2006, OC Weekly broke the news that then-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona had allowed fellow con man Joseph M. Medawar to film the county's top secret anti-terrorism training procedures three years earlier. (See "Department of Homeland Stupidity.") A native of Lebanon, Medawar used the footage and personal endorsements from Carona and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Skipped Vietnam combat duty, pictured), to bilk more than $5.5 million from unsuspecting Republicans and religious conserv

  March 15, 2008

• Benley is Vietnamese food with an asterisk

  First things first: if you are Vietnamese or otherwise familiar with the culinary terrain and back alleyways of Little Saigon, stop reading right now. If you do not heed this warning, I will not be responsible for the damage your spit-take will do to your computer screens. The restaurant I'm about to review is not meant for you. It's cut from the same cloth as The Slanted Door in San Francisco, and Crustacean in Beverly Hills; places that charge $8.95 for a bowl of pho without batting an eye,

  July 13, 2008

• Apartment owner loaned $500,000 by city of Stanton settles state discrimination suit for $614,000

  Owners of the Plaza Court Apartments in Stanton agreed to dish out $618,000 to settle a fair housing lawsuit with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), it was announced today. After investigating numerous complaints that management at the 120-unit complex was discriminating against tenants with children and families, the Fair Housing Council of Orange County filed a formal complaint with the DFEH against Plaza Court Apartments. The state agency conducted its own pro

  August 15, 2008

• Update: Tokyo Table Opens Wed. Sept. 17 (and Special Offer)

  Tokyo Table, the first restaurant of many at the new Diamond Jamboree in Irvine, will have its grand opening tomorrow, Wednesday, September 17, at 5 P.M. The restaurant's already got two outlets in L.A. County (Beverly Hills and Arcadia). Other than the usual roster of rolls, teriyaki and tempura, this is a Japanese restaurant that looks like it wants to do EVERYTHING. The menu is as voluminous as those at Jerry's Deli -- but hopefully, better with the execution. A few things on it caught my

  September 16, 2008

• Balboa Trailer Park Weekend Manager

  June 1, 2000

• You Think This Is a Game?!

  August 2, 2001

• Conceptual Cacophony

  February 14, 2002

• Teen Drama Soundtrack Recap: Week of Nov. 17

  Radio is dead. MTV, as you have no doubt heard by now, doesn't play music videos anymore. The best bet for bands these days is to get their song played on a TV show or commercial, as crass as that might sound—just ask Sia, whose "Breathe Me" became a hit after appearing in the series finale of "Six Feet Under," or any number of artists (Caesars, Feist, The Ting Tings) anointed with the career bump that comes from appearing in an iPod commercial. Doug Wallen recently wrote in the Weekly about

  November 19, 2008

• Spying Charlie Palmer's & Complaining About Crustacean

  I don't shop at Bloomingdale's, but I like going through its front entrance to get to the mall. Why? In the store's entryway, you can see into Charlie Palmer's kitchen through this eye-slit of a peep-hole. From it, you can spy all the cooking action and the Top Chef dreamers doing it, and that's exactly what most of these bright-eyed kids look like: Marcels and Hungs. It's fun to watch what goes on in there, even if it does get a bit boring without the QuickFire Challenges. Next to Charli

  December 11, 2008

• Hit List

  WEB EXCLUSIVE! The top movies of 2007

  December 27, 2007

• Incoming: Camera Obscura, Ben Lee, More, Coming to The Glass House

  Shows, shows, showy show show shows. So many concert announcements lately! And a bunch of neat stuff, like Camera Obscura (pictured), is coming to the Glass House in Pomona, making that long, lonely drive worthwhile.

  March 26, 2009

• [CD Review] The (International) Noise Conspiracy, 'The Cross of My Calling' (Vagrant)

  November 27, 2008

• Historic $618,000 Settlement Was Money Well-Spent for Owners of Low-Income Stanton Apartment Complex

  September 4, 2008

• Monster In a Box

  September 2, 1999

• Savage Love

  Testing the limits of familial bonds, one nursing-home application at a time

  November 29, 2007

• The Sweet Art

  At Cafe Blanc, Tomi Harase makes desserts worthy of a gallery

  August 16, 2007

• Diary of a Mad County

  July 13, 2006

• Skater Boyz N the Hood

  July 6, 2006

• Steak Out!

  December 15, 2005

• Calling All Billy Kids!

  November 3, 2005

• Wherever We Make Our Home

  July 14, 2005

• Oh, the Nora, the Nora

  June 23, 2005

• The Only Canvas That Bleeds

  June 2, 2005

• Whatever floats your boat

  March 17, 2005

• Hail the Hesitant Hero

  November 11, 2004

• The Car Crash Set

  June 24, 2004

• Less Sugar, More Spice

  April 29, 2004

• Tax Shelters, Riding Crops and Grand Marnier

  November 27, 2003

• Sweet Dreams

  October 2, 2003

• Art of the Fields

  September 25, 2003

• Each year, its a little less wonderful

  May 29, 2003

• Letters

  December 19, 2002

• Diary of a mad county

  October 10, 2002

• I Know Where You Lived Last Summer

  July 25, 2002

• Great Moments in Rock & Roll History

  June 6, 2002

• Diary of a mad county

  April 25, 2002

• What a Riot!

  March 14, 2002

• Bad Hair Day

  October 4, 2001

• July-September

  January 7, 1999

• Dad Must be So Proud

  September 17, 1998

• Carrie Brownstein Calls Weezer the 'Ultimate Novelty Band'

  Former Sleater-Kinney singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein has a blog on NPR called Monitor Mix (stick with me), and yesterday she called out Weezer for being "the ultimate novelty band." Specifically, she targeted two of their new songs, "I'm Your Daddy" and "The Girl Got Hot," which the band debuted last week in South Korea.Here's the awful(ly catchy) "I'm Your Daddy":The problem is this: people are just catching on now that Weezer are a novelty band?

  July 28, 2009

• Trabuco Canyon's Lila Rizk Guilty in Massive Real Estate Fraud

  ​A federal jury this afternoon convicted a licensed real estate appraiser from Trabuco Canyon of conspiracy, bank fraud and numerous loan fraud charges related to a massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $40 million in losses to federally insured banks, the FBI announced.Lila Rizk, 42, had stood trial for five weeks alongside prominent Beverly Hills real estate agent Kyle Grasso,

  August 12, 2009

• Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises

  Top U.S. Secrets to Crooks, Idiots and Dopers: The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., reports this morning that the Pentagon, the guys running the Iraq War, now want Congress to allow national security clearances for government employees who are “ex-convicts, drug addicts and mentally incompetent.” Congress currently bans the practice. But Pentagon brass say the restriction “unduly” handicaps the Department of Defense and note that people should be forgiven for their sins—unless, of

  July 10, 2007

• Live Nation's Latest Promotion: 'Twitter Scavenger Hunt'

  ​The folks behind Beverly Hills-based concert promoters Live Nation have been promoting the heck out of themselves lately, with the company unleashing a variety of P.T. Barnum-esque stunts to drum up attention for their events in this flagging economy.

  October 6, 2009

• The Jakes, Shiny Toy Guns Set For 'Aldrich Park After Dark'

  ​When the Jakes announced their big-time major label deal with Roadrunner (a subsidiary of Warner) last month, their official comment advised that a couple of LA shows at Spaceland and the Viper Room would likely be their last area shows before holing up in the studio, working on their full-length album (the follow-up to EP Shake My Hand, featuring catchy tunes like "Schizophrenia" and "Cough Syrup" that got them all that attention they're currently benefiting from).

  September 22, 2009

• Last Night: Blink-182, Weezer at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

  Andrew YoussefNo, you da man.​Last Night: Blink-182, Weezer, Taking Back Sunday, Asher Roth at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine; September 17, 2009.Better Than: Growing up.Hostile Territory: Blink-182 is doing a huge promotion with the T-Mobile Sidekick, and advertisements were plastered all over the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Blink-182 and Weezer both released their first albums in 1994. They're both two of the most successful "alternative rock" bands of the last couple decades.

  September 18, 2009