We received an e-mail from an anonymous reader asking about a hit and run in Tujunga Village over the weekend. The reader came upon the scene just after it happened and wrote us to see if we could confirm or deny any of the info they heard from other onlookers. A casual skim of the papers turns up nothing, anyone have any info? This is what we’ve got:

 ”Tonight, Sunday night at around 8:30pm-8:45pm there was a hit and run on Tujunga right in front of Vitello’s restaurant. A mother, her daughter and their two dogs were crossing the street at a well marked crosswalk (that people wiz through all the time anyway!) and they were struck by a car. The crowd was telling me that the mother, daughter and one of the dogs died on the scene and the smaller dog ran off and is on the loose. That’s all I know and it is hearsay, I didn’t verify any of this information with the police but everyone was so shook up I believe it to be true. “

Anyone in the area know any more details on this?

UPDATE: See the comments for more information as to where this happened, and see this new post for security camera images which caught the people on film seconds before the accident.

A Venice institution branches out

Venice-based fitness center YAS (which stands for yoga and spinning) will be setting up shop in early September at 1932 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake.

The signature routine developed by YAS founder Kimberly Fowler is a combination of an intense 30-minute cardio workout on a stationary bike followed by 30 minutes of yoga.

She also developed Yoga for Athletes, a fitness routine that has pro athletes attending her classes and crediting her for their best seasons ever. And a five-senses guy like myself can’t resist Fowler’s approach: “No chanting, no granola, no sanskrit.” (more…)

Just went out to grab a tomato for my sandwich and smelled smoke in the air. A hillside along Huntington Dr. South near where it turns in to Soto St. is on fire. There doesn’t seem to be any houses threatened and the ground fire crews were out in full force, along with 4 helicopters doing water drops. The helicopter crew was also dropping water to protect the surrounding structures.

Earthquake? Check.

Fire? Check.

Gangbanging shoot out? Check back after 10pm.

It’s been an interesting day in El Sereno.

4:42pm UPDATE from LAPD Fire Alert:

2580 N Soto St* KNOCKDOWN; 110 Firefighters took 66 minutes; Held to less than 5 acres; No injury or structure damage; Cause under investigation; NFD - Brian Humphrey###

Way to go LAFD!

Seven of the ten dirtiest beaches in California are in Los Angeles County, according to new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Santa Monica and Catalina Island are home to all of them except for Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.

The filthy beaches in SaMo are located at the pier and SaMo State Beach. Test results were based on weekly water samples taken near storm drains and other contamination sources in ankle-deep water and indicated unsafe levels of fecal matter. According to today’s LA Times,

Across California, these contained unhealthful levels of enterococcus, total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria — found in human and animal waste — 7% of the time, down from 12% the previous year.

Bathers in tainted water can contract gastroenteritis, ear infections, skin rashes or other symptoms.

While the decline might lead some to think conditions have improved, officials say since rainfall was down considerably last year, they had expected more dramatic improvements. (more…)

Who needs chat rooms, craigslist, Match.com or Manhunt when a utility pole at Melrose and La Brea will do?

This isn’t a poll, just an informal survey.  Did you go or are you going on a vacation this summer?  Or are you doing an L.A. area ”staycation?”  If you’re taking a vacation, is it the type of vacation you took in years past?  Are your plans affected by economic circumstances? 

This summer, I’m staying put.  I guess I fall into the “staycation” category.  However, I’m still a relative newb to California, and one reason why I moved to an area near the beach is that it feels like a resort.  Indeed, it is a destination resort for many people.  So I might have stayed here this summer no matter what.

Nevertheless, the economy is lurking back there somewhere.  So is my perception of the hassle of traveling at the moment, whether it be the security lines in the airports, or gasoline prices and traffic.

What I did on my summer staycation, after the jump

An impulsive early evening trip to LACMA last night to finally see the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (I know– long overdue,) housed in it’s Renzo Piano-designed digs, turned into a trip down memory lane for me. As it turned out, I had seen a lot of the ’80s and ’90s pieces in their original gallery exhibitions in NYC during those decades.

In some instances I felt like I was catching up with friends quickly made on the fly who have done very nicely for themselves since our initial encounter. The fickle art market and press had taken to, anointed and catapulted them to the stratosphere of fine art museums.

Since we were there for the final 90 minutes of a LACMA day, there were very few people about. Wandering alone through the undulating and disorienting paths of the massive Serras and under Robert Therrien’s giant dining table and chairs in their pristine settings was akin to exploring a quiet cathedral.

Jeff Koon’s shiny, blue Dog sported a thin layer of dust. The Baldessaris clinically articulated their intent. A museum guard enthusiastically provided a wealth of information about the enormous Barbara Kruger elevator and the few LACMA-owned pieces scattered throughout the Broad collection. Jonathan Adler ceramics were 50% off in the gift shop. The book store clerk was only too happy to answer questions about the shop’s contents.

We drifted through the still galleries, then out into the dusk and rushing Wilshire traffic, trailing a church-like calm the honking horns could not penetrate.

Apple’s MobileMe snafu continues to roil the tech media and blogs. Over the years, the Cupertino company has had disappointments with products not taking off with the public, but the ones that do far outnumber them and have changed the world for the better. Not since the roll out of iSync in 2003 has Apple had a crash-and-burn of this magnitude, and this one seems to be burning brighter with everything from tales of .mac users losing 4 years of email and Apple tech support allegedly taking the phone off the hook, to rumors of Steve Jobs imminent succumbing to pancreatic cancer feeding the flames.

As we Angelenos are a tech savvy, style-conscious, Macbook-loving, Nano-clutching, iPhone-slinging bunch if ever there was one, does anyone have a MobileMe experience/rant to share?

Thanks to Robert.

This broke in the Sack-town Bee last night:

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week intended to temporarily reduce pay for 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash until lawmakers reach a budget deal, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.

The governor’s order also would terminate about 22,000 retired annuitants, temporary workers and seasonal employees, as well as impose a hard freeze that blocks the hiring of roughly 1,700 new employees per month.

Administration officials said the Republican governor expects to take the action Monday, when the budget will be four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over how to resolve a $15.2 billion shortfall. 

“The administration is looking into many different options to preserve cash to ensure we have enough to cover our costs,” said Matt David, Schwarzenegger’s communications director.

But a spokeswoman for Democratic state Controller John Chiang, who pays the state’s bills, said he would ignore the governor’s order and continue paying full salary, likely forcing a court battle.

‘He will pay state workers the salaries that they have earned, and that’s full salary,’ Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said of Chiang.”

Note that $6.55/hour equals $262.00 for a 40-hour workweek. In a month, that’s $1,048.00.

Gasoline alone, at an average of $4.50/gallon, is costing most folks about $200-$300 a month. I can’t fathom how anyone will be able to pay rent or eat on this wage.

Our friends up in SF became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores, and now Los Angeles will be following suit.

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday banned foam food containers from city buildings [and city-sponsored events], beginning July 1, 2009, and ordered plastic bags to be pulled from store checkout counters by July 1, 2010.

After July 1, 2010, consumers will have to use their own canvas bags or pay 25 cents for a paper or biodegradable bag. Of that fee, 3 percent would go to the retailer, 3 percent will go to the state, and the rest of the money will go back to the city to fund an education campaign.

Consumers in the city of Los Angeles use 2.3 billion plastic bags a year. [full story]

Elsewhere in the nation, Seattle is considering a ban of foam containers at restaurants and grocery stores (not just city buildings and events), and impose a 20-cent fee for each disposable paper and plastic bag used in the checkout line at all grocery, convenience and drugstores. The proposed Seattle ban would even extend to plastics such as little sauce containers and food utensils like forks, knives, and spoons.

Ann Arbor may even join the no bag party.

But the folks in Baltimore, for now anyway, have decided they want their paper and plastic bags; their attempt to enact a ban failed last night.

Despite these baby steps forward of city-initiated bans, as a nation, the U.S. is lagging way far behind on this, with nations like Australia, Taiwan , Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, South Africa and even China already banning plastic bags.

Anyway, you can practice not getting a bag now by bringing your own re-usable bag or just by saying “no”… take a cue from The Abe Lincoln Story, a A 10-piece LA band who turned the phrase “I don’t need a bag” into a song.

h/t: greenlagirl