Tag: venice beach
You Know You Love LA

You Know You Love LA

If you’re one of the 40 million visitors to Los Angeles this year you’re probably going to want to blend in and not look like a tourist or business traveler. Of course everyone knows you’re not going to need the parka or down mittens, but if you really want to go native CNN has some tips on how best to pull it off. Here’s a sample.

“Be discreet about celebrity sightings. If you’re eager to see someone famous, that defines you as a non-Angeleno. But if you really want a celebrity story to take back home, you can get one a lot more discreetly than by hanging around Nobu or Chateau Marmont and gawking at the patrons. Instead, go to the fancy Pavilions grocery store on Heathercliff Road in Malibu. On a Saturday morning, you can’t throw a rock without hitting someone who’s at least been a regular on a network TV show. But you might not recognize him or her — because at Pavilions, unlike Nobu, the celebrities aren’t wearing copious makeup.”

“In Venice Beach, don’t be nonplussed by anything. If every day is like an R-rated variety show overseen by an LSD aficionado — and in Venice Beach it is — you deal with it. You don’t go slack-jawed when you see a five-legged dog relieving himself on a square of grass while mustachioed women and men with elaborate facial tattoos full of typos look on.”

“Don’t mention the weather. The wonderful monotony of not-too-hot, low-humidity days and mild nights is taken for granted. Weather isn’t a topic of conversation — unless something really weird is happening, like, you know, rain.”

Photo: Wikimedia

Freak Los Angeles Lightning Strike Kills One, Injures Several

Freak Los Angeles Lightning Strike Kills One, Injures Several

Los Angeles (AFP) — At least one person was killed and up to eight others injured when freak lightning struck the bustling Venice Beach of southern California, officials said.

The fatal victim, an unidentified man in his 20s, died as he was being rushed from the beach to the hospital after the lightning struck on Sunday, Larry Dietz at the Los Angeles Coroner’s Department told AFP.

Dietz however cautioned that examiners from his office had not yet seen the body, so the exact cause of his death was unknown.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Main earlier told AFP that seven adults and a 15 year-old were rushed to area hospitals after the lightning stuck, but would not confirm any fatality.

A second adult was listed in critical condition, Main said.

Five other people were treated on site at the beach but did not need hospital care, Main added.

According to the National Weather Service, thunderstorms struck the busy area around 2115 GMT Sunday.

Witnesses on the beach described scenes of panic as the sky darkened and lightning erupted seemingly out of nowhere, accompanied by thunder and rain.

“You could hear everybody screaming,” Angelica Roquemore told The Los Angeles Times.

Roger Davis told the newspaper that his home shook and that he heard explosions. When he ran outside, his neighbor — a doctor — was administering CPR to a victim.

In a separate incident on Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles, lightning struck a man and set off brush fires.

The 57 year-old victim did not suffer threatening injuries, police told The Times.

AFP Photo/Robyn Beck

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