LA Observed
LA Observed
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LA Observed covers the week's top stories in LA media, politics and culture, sharing breaking news when it's available and tying up loose ends on the topics that Angelenos have been discussing all week.
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
RECENT SHOWS
Tales of Gavin Newsom
This past week I managed to break free of the Los Angeles gravity for a few days and travel among our fellow Californians who live north of the Tehachapi Mountains. Writers through the years have already described very well how we southern Californians stand out from the northerners. And vice-versa. No need to go there again...
Eyes on L.A.
We didn't plan it this way, but earlier this week on the LA Observed website we had two posts back to back about photographers from out of town casting their eyes on Los Angeles. Both artists are resolute in their pursuit of L.A. as subject, yet completely different in what they bring to the task. As you'll see...
Betting on Beck
The William Bratton era is officially over at the Los Angeles Police Department. And any day now, the Charlie Beck era will begin...
The Mayor's Day
Every evening, Mayor Villaraigosa's office sends out his public schedule for the following day. It goes by email to journalists and assignment desks at the TV stations, and gets posted on the wire at City News Service...
Defending Harvey Levin
Remember back about three years ago when Mel Gibson, the actor, was arrested in Malibu for driving under the influence? There's a new controversy swirling around the aftermath of his arrest. And it's one that actually matters more than the gossipy details of another actor getting busted...
The McCourt's Messy Divide
Ordinarily, the breakup of a marriage isn't the stuff of public conversation. Usually, it's none of our business. But every so often there's a marriage either so public or so infused into the culture that when it falls apart it becomes fair fodder for discussion...
New Yorker and Nikki Finke
As if we needed any more proof, this week brought fresh evidence of the ways that the media picture is changing, in L.A. and in the geography-free, wild wild world of the web...
Inner Sanctum
One of the services we like to provide at LA Observed is to take listeners and readers behind the scenes in Los Angeles, to give a glimpse, where we can, inside the doors that usually stay closed to most of us. Today we're going inside a true bastion of old-school Los Angeles privilege and power...
Little Water Wars
Some wise observer whose name I don't remember once said that everything in the West is about water. Who has it, who wants it, who controls it. Los Angeles these days is sort of in the lull between water wars...
German Lessons
The favorite civic catch phrase in Los Angeles lately has been livable city. The goal of making LA more people friendly has been used to justify all manner of urban planning decisions, good and bad...
Friends from France
Labor Day has come and gone. The kids are back in school, or getting ready. Pretty soon, the foreign visitors will fade from Hollywood Boulevard and the 3rd Street Promenade, returning the city to its year-round owners. I've talked before about how I enjoy the summer tourist invasion. It's fun and sometimes a little enlightening to see what they choose to do in L.A. This summer, I was able to conduct my own personal focus group. Friends of friends showed up from Paris. We set out to show them a good time, and to pick up on how they saw L.A...
Week of Fires
A cooling trend in this weekend's weather forecast is the first real piece of good news since fires began to dominate life here more than a week ago. The fire still sweeping through the Angeles National Forest has been a monster, atmospherically and historically...
City Hall Reboots
When your computer become sluggish and glitches start to pop up, it's usually time to reboot. Give it a fresh start in hopes that fixes the slowdown, and you don't have something more seriously wrong...
Time Travel
Last weekend I rode Amtrak up to Santa Barbara. Just a little day trip to visit the art museum, walk along State Street and commune with the pelicans. Any travel that takes me out of my daily routine helps to de-clutter the mind. This trip made room for some observations about the city that sped by outside the train window...
Lily Burk Murder
The week's subject is the kidnapping and murder of a 17-year-old Los Angeles girl. If you don't feel like going there today, you might want to turn down your radio for four minutes...
Program Details
Host
Editor and Publisher of the website LA Observed and a writer for Los Angeles magazine; former reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
Schedule
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