Los Alamitos

Spin Pizza Opens in Orange

You know how we said that Pieology has plans to rapidly expand yesterday? Well so does Spin Pizza, a similiar concept that's already big in Kansas City, and has franchise dreams of its own. And it starts in OC--Orange, to be exact--with its inaugural store in California.

Taco Nazo: OC's LA Fish Taco Cousin

This La Habra restaurant sells great fish tacos straight outta La Puente

[UPDATED with Victims and Property Reunited:] Julio Cesar Pachas Allegedly Had Sex with Minor, Porn of Her and Tons of Stuff Stolen from Cars Now on View (No, Not the Porn)

See the update at the end of this post detailing how many theft victims were reunited with their property at today's police viewing and how you can check if your stolen stuff remains.ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 9, 12:30 P.M.: Julio Cesar Pachas is "one of the most prolific vehicle burglars the Garden Grove ... More >>

Irvine Joins Anaheim, Placentia and Buena Park in DUI Checkpointing Saturday Night

The Irvine Police Department just announced a DUI checkpoint Saturday night at Jamboree Road and Birch Street.This is the first of eight such ops the department has scheduled in coming months.

Loretta Sanchez Cites Los Alamitos Serval Cats Incident in Push for Wildlife Ownership Ban

In light of three serval cats, who resemble small cheetahs, escaping from a Los Alamitos apartment recently, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) today renewed her call for a federal law prohibiting private possession of big cats except at facilities like accredited zoos. "This incident ... More >>

Seal Beach, Laguna Hills, Los Alamitos DUI Checkpoints Tonight, Tustin on Saturday

The multi-agency "Avoid the 38" Anti-DUI Task Force has released its winter schedule, which includes DUI checkpoints from 7 tonight through 3 a.m. Saturday in Seal Beach, Laguna Hills and Los Alamitos.Exact intersections were not revealed.

Burger Records to Unleash Wiener Dog Benefit Compilation

You've gotta hand it to the guys running Burger Records--whatever some animal activists may say about their undying taste for cow meat on a bun, they definitely do their part to help any endangered house pet they come across. This week, the Fullerton garage label/record store announced via Facebook ... More >>

Left of the Dial Closes In Seal Beach, Opens a Pop-Up Store in Los Alamitos

We recently got word that Seal Beach Record Store Left of the Dial is closing after today. Kinda. They're really just relocating to a smaller storefront. But that's not stopping them from dropping some going-out-of-business style sales. The shop is closing it's current location off Pacific Coast Hwy ... More >>

Blake's Place BBQ Expands To Los Alamitos

Blake's Place, the winner of our Best of OC category for BBQ in 2008, has expanded to Los Alamitos for their second store at 11105 Los Alamitos Blvd. For those unacquainted to Blake's, here's a little bit on what I wrote about the ribs at the original restaurant in Anaheim. They're just about as g ... More >>

Ex-California Army National Guard Commander in OC Admits He's a Scumbag Crook

A 70-year-old retired colonel in the California Army National Guard pleaded guilty today in federal court to running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 28 victims approximately $2.7 million, according to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement.Timothy Melvin Murphy, a resident of Orange and at ... More >>

[UPDATED with Plea:] Scott Evans Dekraai, Mass Murder Suspect, Indicted by Grand Jury

​UPDATE, JAN. 18, 3:38 P.M.: Accused mass killer Scott Evans Dekraai pleaded not guilty to eight murder counts at today's arraignment hearing in Santa Ana. If a feeling of deja vu just washed over you, fret not; Dekraai also pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing last year. Today's arraignme ... More >>

Pigeon Beheaded Before Blood is Smeared on Killers: Seal Beach Police Report

​Pedestrians around Seal Beach Pier were reportedly treated to a most distressing sight: people getting out of a car, grabbing a pigeon, ripping its head off and smearing birdy blood all over themselves.They are said to have then grabbed some more birds before filing back into the car and darting ... More >>

Harriett "Hattie" Stretz, Sole Gunshot Survivor From Salon Meritage Rampage, Thanks Community

DMVHattie Stretz​Harriett "Hattie" Stretz was a familiar face in the Los Alamitos-Seal Beach area before Oct. 12 thanks to her volunteerism and community involvement. Tragically, the 73-year-old became known nationally after that date as the sole survivor among people who were shot inside Salon Me ... More >>

[UPDATED with Booking Photo:] Memorial Day Weekend DUI Enforcement Countywide

​UPDATE, MAY 31, 6:39 P.M.: The Irvine Police Department this evening released the booking photo at right of Austin Jeffrey Farley, the alleged drunken driver with a past DUI conviction blamed for causing the crash that killed 14-year-old Ashton Sweet.The Northwood High School freshman cheerleader ... More >>

Long-Stalled In-N-Out Opens Friday in Costa Mesa

Edwin Goei​You may have not realized it, but there was a long hard slog to get the In-N-Out that replaces Kaplan's Deli off the Harbor exit of the 405 approved through the proper authorities.  It opens on Friday.As the Daily Pilot reports, "The approval process was lengthy, requiring both the ... More >>

A Trend That Needs To Go: Charged-Admission Food Truck Festivals

Christopher Victorio​When the food truck phenomenon first started, parking and setup were very much a fly-by-night operation: a single truck would find a spot, park, then Tweet its location to hungry fans. There was a sense of stealth to it; it was almost like electronic samizdat.When the first tr ... More >>

Alert To Minors: Don't Be Out Past Curfew on Nov. 18

​Kids, here's some advice. The night of Thursday, Nov. 18 is a very good time to stay indoors. Police departments will conduct what they're calling the "largest-ever Orange County curfew sweeps." Cops in nearly every city--Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Garden Grove, ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Celebrate Your Freedom at a DUI Checkpoint

​UPDATE: Irvine PD reveals location of its checkpoint (detaIls after jump) . . .Is there a better way to celebrate your freedom than involuntarily stopping for a government enforced sobriety checkpoint?

Veterans Affairs Officials Should Get an Earful

​The California Department of Veterans Affairs holds a town hall in the Joint Forces Training Base's Liberty Theater in Los Alamitos at 6 this evening. (Anyone interested can also tour the base's Veteran Services Center from 5-5:30 p.m.) After an hour overview of programs offered and questions fro ... More >>

Watermelon-Loving, Totally Non-Racist, Los Al Ex-Mayor Staging a Comeback

The aesthetics are hilarious!​The act that brought about Dean Grose's very public resignation from the Los Alamitos mayor's seat last year may not have been the most racist thing any politician has ever done, but it may rank as one of the most stupid. He sent out an e-mail featuring the Obama ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Juri Julie Kibuishi and Samuel Eliezer Herr, OC Homicides No. 19 and 22: Both Executed, He Was Also Dismembered

UPDATE: They have found Sammy Herr's head (details after the jump) . . . Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police DepartmentDaniel Patrick Wozniak has been arrested for Juri Julie Kibuishi and Samuel Herr's murders.​Samuel Eliezer Herr's father went to his 26-year-old son's apartment in Costa Mesa Saturday ... More >>

Racehorse Trainer Faces Animal Cruelty Sentence

​A trainer who in 2002 was accused of failing to care for a racehorse that suffered a fractured knee at Los Alamitos is scheduled to be sentenced today for felony animal cruelty in connection with a 2008 offense at the Pomona Fairplex. This time, 58-year-old Swedish citizen Zvi Kriple could be dep ... More >>

Youth Shelter Embezzler Pleads Guilty, Must Pay Back More Than $400K

​"'Tis the Season to Bone Nonprofits, Fa La La La La, La La La La," which dealt with a spate of inside thefts from Orange County charities lately, included the case of 48-year-old Lydia Kathleen Fitzgerald, the former Casa Youth Shelter executive assistant accused of stealing nearly $450,000 over ... More >>

'Tis the Season to Bone Nonprofits, Fa La La La La, La La La La

​Above is the logo on boxes like those stolen this past Thanksgiving weekend from the United Labor Agency of Orange County in Garden Grove, where 20,000 pounds of food, more than $25,000 worth of donated toys and other items for the benefit of underprivileged families were taken. Total estimated l ... More >>

Recipe of The Week: Celery Root and Sweet Potato Cakes

Cooking locally and in-season can be difficult at times. At the mercy of the sometimes work-conflicting schedules of area farmers' markets or faced with lots of label-reading at the grocery store in order to discern between what was grown in California versus some far away place--C ... More >>

This Saturday: 9th Annual Taste 4 Los Al (Alamitos, That Is!)

​Orange has its International Food Fair, Irvine has its Global Village, Newport Beach has not only one food fest, but two (more on that later), and this Saturday, October 17th, Los Alamitos will have one. It will mark the 9th year for the Taste For Los Al, which takes place at The Shops at Rossm ... More >>

Big Week for the ADA and the Disabled

Eddie Rea, 21, an emerging disability rights leader from Fresno, is the youth speaker at the Sacramento forum's luncheon.​It's a big week for the disabled in Sacramento--and, no, that was not a timely dig at the governor and legislature.Well, not this time.The 18th annual Youth Leadership Forum fo ... More >>

No Teeny Wiener Menu At Mustard's

Mustard's, for those of you who don't know, is a down-to-earth sports-themed (in a good way) café at 3630 Katella Ave. in Los Alamitos. Its claim to fame is authentic Chicago-style dogs, which it does very well, but, really, what's with the ridiculously long repertoire? From pork chops to chicken s ... More >>

Missed National Ice Cream Day (Yesterday)? Don't Worry, There Are Still 12 More Days of National Ice Cream Month

Yes, it's weird that the powers that be-in this case, Ronald Reagan-saw fit to declare a NICD during NICM (isn't every day of July NICD?) But I'm not complaining. Not when there are one-of-a-kind places like Quinn's, in Los Alamitos, to satisfy my urges. Open since March, the cute parlor sells Fosse ... More >>

Los Alamitos Meeting Might Help Fight Racist Rep

The Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Anti-Defamation League have arranged a meeting with Los Alamitos residents tonight, to figure out how to be safe in light of hate activity in the city. The meeting's at 6 p.m., 4000 Farquhar Ave. The incident spurring the meeting is the vandalizin ... More >>

It's a Quick Read Three-Three

Orange County Register: An Adventure City security guard shot and killed an Inland Empire man who'd roughed him up around 11 p.m. Tuesday, long after closing time. Ed Gomez, a 14-year employee of the Stanton amusement park, was taken to a hospital and treated for a gash on his head. . . . ... More >>

It's a Quick Read: Sweet 16

Orange County Register: OMG, these Los Alamitos middle school Noobs were busted passing around nude photos of an eighth grader on their cell phones. LOL! Remember when Brittany did the thing with the thing in the thing? EG. . . . Ew, why are they letting someone's mom write about ... More >>

It's a Quick Read 12

Orange County Register: It's all cars, all the time! The driver killed in the early morning Newport Beach crash that severed and mangled a $140,000 '04 Ferrari is identified as "Mask," Huntington Beach's 45-year-old mixed-martial arts promoter and TapouT clothing company founder Cha ... More >>

Bottle Up and Explode!

2008 Fireworks Spectacular

To Do Tonight - 01/14

“LOCAL ANESTHESIA”: AN EXHIBITION OF EMERGING ARTISTS, until 9pm On display at OC’s “anti-mall” The ARTery at The Lab, 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa “JUNGLE BOOK” AUDITIONS, 6:30pm Know any 7-17 year olds who have that acting bug? Liberty Theater at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Traini ... More >>

Monday's Headlines

History for sale: Items salvaged from the dismantled Pride of Newport riverboat are on eBay starting today - the proceeds will go to the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. Pieces up thus far: a door to the riverboat's restaurant, the grand staircase chandelier (pictured), several smaller antique table ... More >>

Art Chrisman

The septuagenarian hot rodder shares some of his favorite things

Get Out!

Deep Wet Tongue Kiss
March 30 - April 6

Los Alamitos

Burger Safari

Ground beef well-done with a side of amnesia

Whirlybird Brained

LA Sheriffs plan to PLOP air fleet in OC infuriates locals

We Are a Legitimate Military Target

If you think only Saddam places civilians near military targets, visit your local military base

L

Diary of a Mad County

Los Alamitos

Home of the meat pie

35 Great Things About Summer in Orange County

When Pigs Fly

Camp Dick

Good Times

Remembering the days when gay clubs were cool with everybody!

Scott Presant, Publisher of Skratch Magazine

Realist/Pessimist Whose Beliefs and Opinions are of No More Value Than the Next Persons (He told us to say that)