William Stranger’s “Second Life” uses reclaimed wood from a local LA bowling alley to create a number of different works including a coffee table, a bench and a diptych.

Australian airline V sends 3 participants from LA to Sydney to capture their 72-hour trip via Twitter.

Founded on the belief that fruit should be a commonly shared resource, art project Fallen Fruit began with the idea to map all the fruit trees growing on or over public property in Los Angeles and other American cities (see maps here). But since that time, the project — created by David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young — has expanded beyond its initial scope to include planning fruit parks in areas that lack such natural resources, and other multidisciplinary initiatives.
For example, back in 2006, the group participated in Civic Matters, a two-week residency project at Los Angeles Contemporary [...]

Culture site Flavorpill has always hung its hat on curation—culling cool urban to-dos and telling people about them. Last week, they relaunched their site with a new invite-only listings hub—the Flavorpill 50—that reinforces this tack and adds a new twist.

How to save a drought ridden state? Well, in California they are handing out free rain barrels. A rainwater harvesting pilot program in Los Angeles is testing out whether this small step might prove an simple solution for the state’s water shortage and the environmental harm cause by urban runoff as the sewage system overflow at heavy rainfall.

To publicize their new fragrance Only the Brave, Diesel has set up a microsite called Is Brave to house their various online presences, including their latest tweets and blog mentions. It also displays videos around the central theme of bravery, titled Heart, Mind and Nerve, and features a shout box for users to convey what they think bravery means to them. Last but not least, they have tied up with artists and icons they think represent bravery, and will be hosting art-related events in New York on April 30th, Miami on May 7th and Los Angeles on May 9th.
While there [...]

In a new approach to private space, LOHA Architects designed an eleven unit housing project in West Hollywood that emphasizes the need for a central, communal space for both the residents as well as the community at large. Instead of creating an internal courtyard that only residents could enjoy, the building is surrounded by a park that is operated by the city and will be open to the public.
By shifting the building to one side of the property and spacing the houses lineally, each resident is granted a ‘park frontage’ and cross ventilation. To separate the private and the public [...]

In an effort to reduce traffic and congestion, the city of Santa Monica instituted a bike valet for their weekly farmers market.  Operating more like a coat check than a fancy valet, riders can drop off their bike for safe storage while they grab their veggies.  While the free service has been going on for the past two years, we were bit surprised that we haven’t seen more brands stepping in to operate similar services – particularly with the current hoopla surrounding bike culture and the eco-conscious.

[via Treehugger]

We wrote last month about the city of Los Angeles winning a court appeal to uphold their ban on new billboards but despite the legislation, many advertisers continue to try and skirt the wording of the law by putting up supergraphics signs instead.  Supergraphics are essentially enormous advertisements made mostly out of vinyl that are unfurled and strung over multistory buildings. If any form of advertising can claim to be more obtrusive than a billboard then this might be it. The images which can be bigger than the largest billboards often lie across the face of buildings which can cover windows, [...]

In move that will likely effect offsite advertising across the country, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Los Angeles’ 2002 ban on most new billboards, overturning a lower court’s decision that it violated advertisers’ First Amendment rights. The injunction specifically targets product signage being placed on buildings or spaces where that product is not sold, effectively eliminating advertisers from purchasing any new real estate and further cluttering the skyline.  
The most recent challenge came from Metro Lights LLC, who claimed these regulations were unjust, given that Los Angeles continues to sell advertising on all [...]