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One of the LA’s most powerful officials, Fire Chief Brian Cummings, has been chopping vegetables and cooking for the homeless to fulfill 120 hours of self-imposed community service. Photo Credit: Feed Loader Here is the original post: Fire Chief Starts Self-Imposed Punishment
After offending all kinds of Hollywood sensibilities for the past two years, Ricky Gervais is coming back to host the Golden Globes for a third time. The awards show is scheduled for January 15 of next year. NBC Los Angeles reports that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which oversees the event, had this to say about re-extending the invite to Gervais… more › Go here to see the original: Ricky Gervais Will Host 2012 Golden Globes
The Walt Disney Concert Hall was packed to the brim on Sunday night for a concert by the Los Angeles Master Chorale . The evening’s main draw (for the mostly Baby Boomer and older audience) was a performance of post-minimal composer David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion , but the evening also featured the U.S. Premiere of renowned jazz flutist James Newton’s Mass . more › Link: LA Master Chorale Tackles a ‘Mass’ and ‘passion’
http://www.youtube.com/v/Y1SxBrOKUu8?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Amara Miller talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Rome at the LA premiere of “The Descendants.” Read the original here: Amara Miller at the LA premiere of “The Descendants”
In an effort to support small businesses across the country, American Express is asking consumers to shop local this month in honor of Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26. And just in time for the holiday season, buyers can find shelves full of trendy and unique toys, games and trinkets at Tom’s Toys in Beverly Hills, a popular destination for residents and visitors alike. As an independently owned small business, the North Beverly Drive location boasts staff who “will guide you to find exactly what you need,” said Steve Meynig, the shop’s manager since it opened in the summer of 1998. “Our employees speak Spanish, Farsi and some French.” With the store entering its 14th holiday season in Beverly Hills, Meynig said he expects to see some familiar faces. “Certainly one advantage of being a local business is that we get a lot of repeat business,” he said. “People have grown up with the store and while they may have grown out of playing with toys, they will still come back or refer their friends to the store.” Unlike Betty Crocker, there was actually a Tom. Tom Williams was the proprietor of the first Tom’s Toys located in San Luis Obispo. Ted Frankel purchased that shop from Williams in 1986 and went on to open stores in four other cities. Aside from the San Luis Obispo and Beverly Hills shops, there are Tom’s Toys in Montrose and Redlands that both opened in 1996, and also a store in Santa Maria, which opened in 2009. Why have a location in Beverly Hills? Frankel grew up in Westwood and had a paper route through Beverly Hills as a kid. The landlord made a very attractive lease arrangement to encourage Frankel to open a shop here, Meynig said. Tom’s Toys is an entertaining place for people of all ages. Families stroll down Beverly Drive, have dinner, stop at the store and have a good time. Fair warning to parents: come stocked with quarters. Once the mainstays of old-school stores, there’s a gum ball dispenser and a mini car ride machine. On a recent Sunday morning, Mark and Kelly Shulman were at Tom’s Toys with their three children: Jack, 11, and Ryan, 8, who attend El Rodeo School, and preschooler Ava, who is almost 5. “I love the big Lego sets,” Ryan said while Eva pleaded to ride the quarter-powered mini car. Recently relocating to Beverly Hills from Beverlywood, the Shulmans like to support local businesses, adding that they can walk to Tom’s Toys from their home. Kelly Shulman, a former first-grade teacher, said she appreciates that the store stocks alternatives to electronic and plastic toys. If you worry about giving your little ones plastic products that could contain chemical phthalates, Tom’s Toys offers a variety of wood toys. For the eco-conscious buyer, the shop carries the “Green Toys” line, which is made from recycled plastic. Trying to keep your purchase simple? Pick up a set of jacks. In a hurry to grab a gift for a birthday party? Store employees will wrap the item for free. And what does Meynig think about the efforts to recognize small businesses this month? “We honor American Express,” he said. “As a part of the Small Business Saturday campaign, we encourage people to make purchases with their card.” Tom’s Toys is located at 437 N. Beverly Drive. Store hours are Mon-Sat: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sun: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 310-247-9822 for more information. Parking is available at the city lot at 345 N. Beverly Drive. Metered street parking is also available. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Excerpt from: Tom’s Toys Is the Spot for Holiday Shopping
http://www.youtube.com/v/N07FclD8xkE?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Matthew Lillard talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Rome at the premiere of “The Descendants” The rest is here: Matthew Lillard at the LA premiere of “The Descendants”
http://www.youtube.com/v/XBnmSsM7bQs?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Nick Krause talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Rome at the LA premiere of “The Descendants” View post: Nick Krause at the LA premiere of “The Descendants”
Cold nights don’t stop burglars from taking to the streets in Beverly Hills. Builder’s bummer Sometime between Oct. 28-31, someone burglarized a secure residential construction site on the 700 block of North Alta Drive. Equipment, lighting and tools were stolen. A loss of $7,770 was reported. Big break-in Shortly after midnight on Oct. 31, a store was burglarized on the 400 block of North Rodeo Drive. A male suspect used an unknown object to smash open the front window to gain entry. The victim reported a loss of $91,925. Stolen merchandise At about 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, someone stole from an open business on the 9800 block of West Olympic Boulevard. Described as a 60-year-old male, 5-feet 8-inches tall, weighing 175 pounds with black hair, the suspect entered the location, took property and fled. A loss of $2,400 was reported. Four-on-one At 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, a robbery occurred on the 100 block of North Oakhurst Drive. Four men used physical force to restrain the victim on the ground, took the victim’s personal property and then fled. A loss of $950 was reported. Wrong haircut Between 8-10 p.m. on Nov. 1, someone was accosted on the 9900 block of North Santa Monica Boulevard. The suspect—described as being a 30-year-old male, 170 pounds and bald— offered the victim a free haircut, then made unwanted sexual advances toward the victim in a locked bathroom. It’s in the bag Between 3-3:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, someone stole merchandise from a store on the 400 block of North Bedford Drive. The suspect entered the business carrying a plastic bag, collected and concealed items inside the bag and then exited without paying. A loss of $108 was reported. Bikeless Between 4 p.m. on Nov. 2 and 1 p.m. on Nov. 3, two bicycles were stolen from the 200 block of South Gale Drive. Someone cut the cable locks that were securing the bikes. A loss of $2,800 was reported. This information was provided by the Beverly Hills Police Department. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Read the original: Police Blotter: Stolen Equipment, Merchandise and Bicycles
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The self-described right-hand man of cult leader Charles Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the Tate-LaBianca slayings 42 years ago, has his latest parole hearing scheduled Wednesday in a California prison. Charles “Tex” Watson, 65, has been denied parole 13 times but will try again during a hearing at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, in the Sierra foothills 50 miles southeast of Sacramento. Four relatives of Watson’s victims plan to ask that his parole be denied for killing actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, and four others at her Beverly Hills home on Aug. 9, 1969. The next night, he helped kill grocery owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. “There’s no question these were some of the most horrific crimes in California history in terms of the brutality, the multiple stab wounds, the gunshots, the large number of victims over a two-day period,” said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira. “For a group of people to just slaughter strangers in hopes of igniting a race war is extremely horrifying.” Watson’s attorney, Cheryl Montgomery, did not return repeated telephone messages. The website says he was raised in Copeville, Texas, north of Dallas, and headed to California in 1967 after dropping out of college. A brief biographical sketch on the site said Watson believed Manson “offered utopia, but in reality, he had a destructive world view, which Charles ended up believing in and acting upon. His participation in the 1969 Manson murders is a part of history that he deeply regrets.” A book he wrote while in prison is titled, “Manson’s Right-Hand Man Speaks Out!” In the past, Watson has argued that he is a changed man who has been a model prisoner and no longer is a danger to the public. He did not attend his last parole hearing in 2006 but was portrayed in a psychiatric evaluation at the time as “a very devout fundamentalist Christian … a young, naive and gullible man (who) got into drugs and bizarre company without appreciating the deviance of the company he was keeping.” Anthony DiMaria, a nephew of victim Jay Sebring, planned to contest that view of Watson and other Manson disciples. “They’ve often been portrayed as these victims of Manson, and they are killers. They’re mass murderers,” DiMaria said in a telephone interview before the hearing. He planned to attend the hearing with his mother and sister. Debra Tate also was expected to speak to the two-member panel of the California Board of Parole Hearings on behalf of her late sister, Sharon, who at the time was married to film director Roman Polanski. Watson was convicted in a separate trial after Manson and three female followers were found guilty of the seven murders. Their death sentences were commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court briefly outlawed the death penalty in 1972. DiMaria said his mother has considered it her mission to speak out on behalf of her brother. “I know that our family, myself included, feel no hatred, anger or vengeance toward them. We actually go out of love for the victims, and we also go out of justice. This is calculated, cold-blooded mass murder in which bodies were desecrated,” DiMaria said. “We want to bring the memories of the victims into the room as the commissioners deliberate on whether to parole the inmate.” Go here to see the original: Manson Follower Seeks Parole In California
Fashionistas, are you looking for a little inspiration to wear your bold and playful spotted and polka-dotted clothes, hiding shyly in your wardrobes? Here are a few ladies in the limelight who stood out as they donned theirs: Elisha Cuthbert was spotted wearing her spotted LBD at the People’s Choice Awards 2012 on 8 November 2011 in Beverly Hills, … (more) Read more here: Trend spotter: dotty over spots and polka dots
