KCRW's L.A. Observed

Betting on Beck

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:44:00 EST

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

podmaster@kcrw.org (Kevin Roderick) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:44:00 EST

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...