Lawns

Actors Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott bought a house in Malibu this fall for $2.4 million. The 2,300-square-foot house sits on about 1.75 acres covered in native landscaping, organic gardens and lawn. The single-story home, built in the 1960s and since renovated, features bamboo floors, a vaulted living room ceiling, a wall of built-in book shelves, three bedrooms and 21/2 bathrooms. Custom-built sliding doors lead outside to multiple decks and sitting areas. Spelling, 38, and McDermott, 45, starred this year in the reality series "Tori & Dean: Storibook Weddings" and "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood" (2007-11)

Former "Deal or No Deal" host Howie Mandel is ready to deal. His Malibu place is listed for sale at $7.25 million. The Cape Cod-inspired house, built in 2008-09, sits on more than an acre with ocean views, an expansive lawn and a swimming pool with spa. The 5,936 square feet of living space includes an office, a theater, a gym, a breakfast area, a den and a library. Along with the guesthouse are six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. "Deal or No Deal" was canceled last year.

The Historic Highlands district is prototypical of the Pasadena-Altadena aesthetic: turn-of-the-century Craftsman homes next to 1920s Spanish bungalows across from grand colonial-revival mansions, set amid a forest of mature oaks, eucalyptus and jacaranda trees. The tidy north Pasadena neighborhood resounded Thursday with the whine of chain saws biting into many of those trees, as residents dug out after a night of howling winds turned palm fronds into missiles and launched limbs into backyards.

When Thanksgiving Day arrived at Occupy L.A. on Thursday, campers greeted the occasion in true revolutionary form: They boycotted the holiday's name. "We are calling it International Giving Thanks Day," Regina Quetzal-Quinones said. "It's a day of sovereignty and healing. " With city officials and police making plans to clear the encampment after seven weeks of protests, some demonstrators reflected on what they had accomplished, while others vowed to remain on the lawn of City Hall.

Whatever the accomplishments of Occupy L.A. when it finally decamps — or gets evicted — from around City Hall, one positive achievement is already clear: It has killed the lawn. The Times' editorial board has harrumphed about the taxpayer expense of replacing one of downtown's "rare green spaces," and it worries that the "majestic figs" are at risk. Last week, the Department of Recreation and Parks sent an aggrieved letter to the mayor about signs nailed to trees, broken sprinkler heads and compacted soil.

Some men see lawn chairs in the sky and ask, "Why?" Some, though, imagine attaching the chairs to hundreds of balloons, strapping themselves in the seat, donning oxygen masks and flying straight over Baghdad. Kent Couch, who runs a gas station in Bend, Ore., is such a man. Couch boarded a flight to the Middle East on Thursday, setting out on an adventure that involves becoming the first lawn chair balloonist to traverse the now-more-or-less peaceful skies over Iraq -- and raise money for Iraqi children.

Salary nonsense Re "Mayor's ex-aide still on payroll," Oct. 29 It's nice to see that our illustrious mayor has his priorities in order by allowing his former chief of staff to draw his $194,000 salary even though someone else has been hired to replace him. The ex-staffer is being compensated for installing security fences around Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's city-owned mansion and improving the city's golf courses, among other things....

The Occupy movement came to Los Angeles aiming for Wall Street titans, but farmers market vendors are the first to take a real hit. Two weeks ago, about 40 vendors who sell on the City Hall lawn every Thursday were forced off the property after protesters refused to remove their city of tents. The mini-businesses — produce farmers, popcorn poppers, flower sellers — were abruptly moved by city officials to a new and less visible location across Main Street. Since that relocation, profits have plummeted, vendors have pulled out and shoppers have become scarce.

The cost of repairing the increasing damage to the City Hall lawn where hundreds of Occupy L.A. protesters are camped out is becoming an issue for Los Angeles officials even as the protesters make plans to expand their demonstration to other downtown city property. The city has already incurred $45,000 in costs related to the demonstration, officials said, including thousands of dollars in overtime pay for General Services police. Eight Los Angeles Police Department officers have also been deployed full-time to monitor the protest.