Celebration

It's hard to be a tree in the city, even one planted for peace. Three times the Children's Tree of Life has been destroyed - twice by vandals, once by a city vehicle that accidentally backed into it. Three times, through replanting, it has been resuscitated. Now a fourth New Zealand Christmas tree has been allowed to grow into young adulthood, standing strong and tall in front of its small plaque. Every day in Palisades Park, people walk by and bike by and run by its home just east of the cannon, just north of the Santa Monica Pier.

Buick, the General Motors nameplate, is celebrating 110 years, dating back to 1903, when the first Buick was hand-built in a small barn behind Scottish-born David Dunbar Buick's Detroit home. "Consistency, longevity, reliability. Those are the words that come to mind when you talk about Buick," Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum, said in an interview. That's apparently still true. In the latest J.D. Power & Associates survey on customer service, announced last month, Buick finished third, behind GMC and Mini.

A delightful new entry in the Celebrities Behaving Badly file comes to us this week from Atlanta, where the Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, 37, arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, apparently confused the traffic stop with an audition for an American Express commercial: “Do you know my name?” she asked the cop who arrested her after she interfered with her husband's drunk driving arrest. “You're about to find out who I am.” Sunday, the chastened actress apologized: “I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said.

May 1 may be Lei Day in Hawaii , but in Las Vegas , it's May 4 and 5 -- at least in downtown Las Vegas at the California Hotel Casino . The California Hotel will host a weekend of island-style activities from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Musicians and dancers will perform virtually nonstop, and vendors will be selling arts and crafts. Attendees also can sample traditional island food and drink. Among the dishes for sale: kalua pig, lau lau, a pork dish wrapped in taro leaf; and hot malasadas, a sweet pastry.

Did you know California has its own state vegetable and fruit? Well, it does now. Apparently, while Gov. Jerry Brown was on a weeklong trade mission to China, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom used his acting authority to deputize the artichoke and avocado, respectively, as the state's official vegetable and fruit. As The Times' Anthony York reported: "But Newsom didn't stop there. He used his broad powers to declare the almond as the state nut and rice as California's official grain.

The everyday handbags of choice for Hollywood this spring, as seen on the arms of Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts, Emma Roberts and Kate Bosworth, aren't by Louis Vuitton, Hermes or Dior. They're by Paris-based Jerome Dreyfuss, who shares his laid-back, bohemian design sensibility and his home with another hot-in-Hollywood designer, Isabel Marant. Parker has been photographed running errands with Richard, a colorful, perforated patchwork leather bag, Roberts has fallen for the black leather drawstring Alain, and Watts has been spotted out and about with Igor, a black python cross-body style.

Three people were wounded when gunfire erupted at a Denver marijuana rally Saturday afternoon, authorities said. The incident occurred about 5 p.m. at  Civic Center Park during a celebration of the so-called 4/20 holiday, the first anniversary of Colorado's  legalization of marijuana for recreational use. A man was shot  in the ankle and the leg, and a woman was shot in the ankle, Denver Police Department spokeswoman Raquel Lopez said....

Despite getting distracted at the beginning of the race and missing the start, television personality Rutledge Wood won Saturday's Toyota Pro/Celebrity charity race at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Actors Brett Davern and Michael Trucco were second and third, respectively. In the pro category, comedian and radio host Adam Carolla took the checkered flag. Wood edged out Davern by about a second and a half, and Trucco was roughly an additional four seconds back. Woods, who began the race in the first position, said he missed the start.

Since background-check legislation was voted down in the Senate on Thursday, Adam Winkler, author of "Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America," expects a "lively" conversation at his panel on guns in America at the 18th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. "This is a hot-button issue, and we have a collection of some of the leading scholars on guns and gun politics on this panel," he says. "Sometimes things can get heated. But I find that people are really hungering for a balanced, non-emotional discussion.

Wanda Sykes has one goal for the weekend: Don't catch on fire. The comedian and actress is one of 21 people participating in this weekend's Toyota Pro/Celebrity race at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The actress joined her fellow drivers Friday morning in Long Beach for a final practice session on the course before the afternoon's qualifying race. The final is 11:40 a.m. Saturday. Photos: Behind the scenes at the 2013 Long Beach Grand Prix Sykes said that although she'd like to do well in Saturday's race, it's not her main concern.