La Brea

Work is underway on a $105-million apartment and retail development at the crossroads of two major Los Angeles thoroughfares, Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. The six-story complex called Wilshire at La Brea is being erected by San Francisco apartment developer BRE Properties. It will house 480 residential units and fill the block at the southeast corner of the intersection. “Through careful planning, this project comes to market at the right time and provides much-needed housing in an area already rich with valuable amenities and easy access to mass transit,” BRE Vice President John Selindh said.

Two luxury apartment buildings under construction in West Hollywood are aimed at mobile, creative tenants who make a living on the go, often tapping on their laptops in coffee bars and other hangouts. The goal of developers Essex Property Trust and the Monarch Group is to rethink apartments for people who don't work 9 to 5 in a traditional office - a generally younger demographic found in abundance in West Hollywood. Named the Huxley and the Dylan, they are being built on two busy intersections on La Brea Avenue at a cost of more than $150 million.

Two luxury apartment buildings under construction in West Hollywood are aimed at mobile, creative tenants who make a living on the go, often tapping on their laptops in coffee bars and other hangouts. The goal of developers Essex Property Trust and the Monarch Group is to rethink apartments for people who don't work 9 to 5 in a traditional office - a generally younger demographic found in abundance in West Hollywood. Named the Huxley and the Dylan, they are being built on two busy intersections on La Brea Avenue at a cost of more than $150 million.

The smell of barbecue has hit La Brea Boulevard. The highly anticipated Bludso's on La Brea is set to open this month, bringing Kevin Bludso's Texas-by-way-of-Compton barbecue to Hollywood. "Presently we are shooting for an opening next week," says co-owner Jason Bernstein. "Might not be Monday but pretty locked into the week of the 11th. "  Bernstein and James Starr, owners of the Golden State on Fairfax, have teamed with Bludso and transformed the former Tar Pit space to accommodate barbecue-eaters and beer-drinkers.

Have more than a dozen new stores made La Brea Avenue a shopping magnet once again? For more than two decades, a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of La Brea between Melrose Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard arguably has been the city's most diverse and densely packed district for Old World antiques, vintage furniture, contemporary décor and urban fashion. Other destinations (La Cienega, Beverly, Abbot Kinney) have challenged it, but La Brea keeps bouncing back. PHOTO GALLERY: New shopping on La Brea Avenue Although much of the change this time centers on the burgeoning District La Brea   development between 1 st  and 2 nd  Streets, stores have been opening, almost monthly, along the blocks to the north.

The smell of barbecue has hit La Brea Boulevard. The highly anticipated Bludso's on La Brea is set to open this month, bringing Kevin Bludso's Texas-by-way-of-Compton barbecue to Hollywood. "Presently we are shooting for an opening next week," says co-owner Jason Bernstein. "Might not be Monday but pretty locked into the week of the 11th. "  Bernstein and James Starr, owners of the Golden State on Fairfax, have teamed with Bludso and transformed the former Tar Pit space to accommodate barbecue-eaters and beer-drinkers.

Cisco Home is moving only a few blocks down La Brea Avenue, but the Los Angeles-based sustainable furnishings manufacturer is consolidating inventory and discounting select pieces through October. The moving sale will include furniture, artwork, lighting and accessories. New furnishings will be added to the sale as time goes on. Discounts spotted over the weekend included pillows made from vintage quilts, regularly $195, now $75 to $100. An Atar armchair upholstered in blue linen, regularly $3,625, was reduced to $1,450.

A + R, the Venice store widely regarded as one of Los Angeles' top destinations for modern home design, is expanding with a La Brea Avenue store that officially opens Saturday. The new A + R will be twice the size of the Venice shop, with enough space to showcase upholstered furniture, large bookshelves and storage units as well as quirky accessories and gifts. Among them: the Chick-A-Dee , an adorable Dutch smoke detector ($75) that chirps its alarm at 85 decibels. The Pik vase ($98)

Whoever takes the $250,000 La Brea Stakes today at Santa Anita will have to go some to match the accomplishments of last year's winner. Got Koko went on to win the El Encino Stakes and La Canada, becoming only the third filly to sweep the three-race La Canada Series. Elloluv, a contender for the Eclipse award for 3-year-old filly, is the 2-1 morning line choice against nine others in the seven-furlong La Brea. Elloluv, a daughter of Gilded Time who is trained by Craig Dollase for owner J.

When Gerard Santana was a bass player in an English rock band called Zodiac Mindwarp, he used to shop at British designer Lloyd Johnson's signature men's store on London's Kings Road in search of iridescent silk suits and ruffled "Vegas" shirts that would give him a mod look all his own. Over the years, Santana became enthralled with Johnson's retro fashions, which have been sold to rockers such as Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones under the La Rocka label.

The new La Brea Bakery is now open in the Rita Flora building at La Brea Avenue and 6th Street. The bakery has relocated from its original spot inside the erstwhile Campanile, which has been taken over by chef Walter Manzke . In a rush move after the closure of Campanile, the bakery, which was founded by Nancy Silverton and later sold to Irish food company IAWS, has set up shop with "new and old elements that will be temporary in nature," the...

There were trainer Richard Mandella, veteran owner and mogul B. Wayne Hughes … and KISS frontman Gene Simmons in the winner's circle after the $300,000 Malibu Stakes on Wednesday at Santa Anita Park. Posing, pictures and polite chatter. What did Mandella and Simmons have to talk about after Hughes' stubborn chestnut colt named Jimmy Creed won the Grade I race for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs? "I wanted to sing a little bit and see if he might pick me up for the band," joked Mandella, Jimmy Creed's trainer.

Have more than a dozen new stores made La Brea Avenue a shopping magnet once again? For more than two decades, a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of La Brea between Melrose Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard arguably has been the city's most diverse and densely packed district for Old World antiques, vintage furniture, contemporary décor and urban fashion. Other destinations (La Cienega, Beverly, Abbot Kinney) have challenged it, but La Brea keeps bouncing back. PHOTO GALLERY: New shopping on La Brea Avenue Although much of the change this time centers on the burgeoning District La Brea   development between 1 st  and 2 nd  Streets, stores have been opening, almost monthly, along the blocks to the north.

With a cockatiel perched on her shoulder and her brown hair flowing nearly to her waist, Patricia Morison looks elegant and at ease beneath a portrait of herself. The former Broadway star of "Kiss Me Kate" and "The King and I" stares out her ninth-floor window at the rest of Park La Brea. She is 97 now and, having lived in the same tower for more than 50 years, is one of the last representatives of the demographic that once dominated the apartment complex. "It was more homogenous, I have to say. Most of the population was actors, actresses, artistic folks and businesspeople on the top floor," says Morison, who negotiates her flat with the aid of a walker.

Cisco Home is moving only a few blocks down La Brea Avenue, but the Los Angeles-based sustainable furnishings manufacturer is consolidating inventory and discounting select pieces through October. The moving sale will include furniture, artwork, lighting and accessories. New furnishings will be added to the sale as time goes on. Discounts spotted over the weekend included pillows made from vintage quilts, regularly $195, now $75 to $100. An Atar armchair upholstered in blue linen, regularly $3,625, was reduced to $1,450.

EVENTS Get sticky at the 10th annual La Brea Tar Pits Tarfest Music and Art Festival featuring the formidable sounds of Blondfire, So Many Wizards, the Makepeace Brothers, Steelwells, Helena and Soft Swells. In addition, an exhibition of work by 36 artists will be on display. La Brea Tar Pits, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sat. Free. http://www.tarfest.com.

It was that quiet time before dawn. The neighborhood was La Brea and 9th avenues. The driver stole up to the trash bin and, in the dark, unloosed his hydraulic-driven prongs, seizing and emptying the container in one noisy, window-rattling motion. But by then, it was already too late. Patrolling the area were two members of the LAPD's Noise Enforcement Team (NET), diligently watching for violations of the city's anti-noise ordinance.

Would that every neighborhood could have access to a bistro that is as personable and unpretentious, yet serious about food, as Louis XIV. The site on La Brea Avenue near Melrose was formerly occupied by an engaging little restaurant called Options. That restaurant's bright contemporary look has been reworked into low-budget medieval French.

A + R, the Venice store widely regarded as one of Los Angeles' top destinations for modern home design, is expanding with a La Brea Avenue store that officially opens Saturday. The new A + R will be twice the size of the Venice shop, with enough space to showcase upholstered furniture, large bookshelves and storage units as well as quirky accessories and gifts. Among them: the Chick-A-Dee , an adorable Dutch smoke detector ($75) that chirps its alarm at 85 decibels. The Pik vase ($98)

Work is underway on a $105-million apartment and retail development at the crossroads of two major Los Angeles thoroughfares, Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. The six-story complex called Wilshire at La Brea is being erected by San Francisco apartment developerBRE Properties Inc.It will house 480 residential units and fill the block at the southeast corner of the intersection. "Through careful planning, this project comes to market at the right time and provides much needed housing in an area already rich with valuable amenities and easy access to mass transit," BRE Vice President John Selindh said.