Harbor Freeway

The pilot who died after crashing his helicopter on the Harbor Freeway late Friday was flying too low and hit overhead power lines shortly before the accident, California Highway Patrol officials said Saturday. The man was flying alone from El Monte Airport to Torrance Municipal Airport and was not talking to air traffic controllers when he crashed about 11 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

A female motorist was fatally shot early Thursday on a Harbor Freeway offramp in South Los Angeles, police said. The attack occurred as Samantha Padilla, 19, of Los Angeles was getting off the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway at West Slauson Avenue shortly after midnight, police said.

No doubt seeking some privacy, action star Sylvester Stallone listed a home telephone number in the name of Johnny Friendly. It's ironic, then, that his nom de phone didn't keep him from a severe invasion of privacy, according to testimony Thursday in the criminal trial of private investigator Anthony Pellicano. The private eye allegedly wiretapped Stallone's line to monitor his phone conversations with one of his lawyers, according to evidence offered by assistant U.S.

Prepare for congestion -- even more than usual -- on the Harbor Freeway this morning. Beginning at 8 a.m., a convoy of 100 diesel trucks plans to travel southbound in one lane of the freeway from South Los Angeles near Exposition Park, and then cross the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the Port of Long Beach, a trip expected to take about two hours. The convoy will be led by a hearse, which symbolizes premature deaths caused by pollution emitted at the port. "It could cause traffic headaches.

Los Angeles has seen demonstrations on streets, in parks, on hilltops and even in trees. But civil disobedience on an L.A. freeway is tough, as truckers learned Wednesday. Their effort to have an intimidating convoy roll down the 110 Freeway from downtown Los Angeles to the Port of Long Beach didn't seem to faze motorists used to bad traffic.

Police are investigating a shooting on the Harbor Freeway early Monday that left a man hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the jaw. Investigators did not have a motive for the shooting, which was reported about 4 a.m. in northbound lanes near Vernon Avenue, said LAPD spokesman Kevin Maiberger. Police said the shot was fired from a black sport utility vehicle, and they had no description of a suspect. The victim was hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

A crash on the Harbor Freeway on Thursday left one person dead and four others injured, authorities said. Traffic was backed up through much of the morning rush hour. Four men were heading south on the 110 Freeway just north of El Segundo Boulevard when their compact car became involved in a multiple-vehicle crash about 5:20 a.m., said D'lisa Davies, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Five people were taken to hospitals, Davies said.

A 29-year-old Los Angeles man was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder for his part in the March 2005 freeway shooting death of a Long Beach college student. Prosecutors said D'andre Keyshaun Moorer was driving when an accomplice shot Michael Livingston in the head as he drove north on the Harbor Freeway. Livingston lost control of his 1998 Chevrolet Camaro and crashed into the center divider. Moorer is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21.

A 1.1-mile section of the Harbor Freeway between 3rd Street and Olympic Boulevard opened to traffic. The Times described it as "a modern maze of 'on' and 'off' ramps for almost all of the east-west streets feeding into -- or out of -- the downtown district" and said it was "expected to do much to alleviate traffic congestion in the business district." The elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremony included an appearance by model Ann Bradford as Miss Freeway Link.

Watts is not Montreal. The latter is where I thought I would be about now, squeezing a week of Euro-esque travel out of my handful of vacation days and Euro-unfriendly budget. Those plans, however, were derailed by the onset of an acute bout of joblessness. And so my unplanned summer stay-cation began with a midday trip down the Harbor Freeway. An Angeleno who has never toured Watts Towers is the urban equivalent of a New Yorker who has never bothered with the Statue of Liberty.