No additional details were immediately available.

At least 12 homicides have been reported within two miles of the shooting scene since January 2007, according to the Times Homicide Report database.

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Mother of L.A. arson suspect Harry Burkhart says he's mentally ill

-- Robert J. Lopez

twitter.com/LAJourno

Graphic: Map shows homicides reported since 2007 within two miles of Tuesday's slaying.

Credit: Times Homicide Report

Temple Isaiah
10345 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Save Money By Learning Solutions to Today’s Greatest Environmental Challenges!
*Workshops meet for six sessions at the same location and time.*
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With the help of the Sustainable WorksBook, participants review and take action on ten related solutions.

The 6 week workshop is FREE to residents of Council District 5
Funding provided by LADWP through a grant from the US Dept of Energy

Workshop Participants can:
• Receive Resource Saving Tools
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To sign up go to: www.sustainableworks.eventbrite.com

RELATED

1. Sustainable Works 6-Week Los Angeles Green Living Workshop
2. Sustainable Works 6-Week Los Angeles Green Living Workshop
3. Sustainable Works 6-Week Los Angeles Green Living Workshop

Even though it will likely never compete with the South Bay for Japanese food supremacy, Sawtelle has managed to compile a decent enough collection of lunch options to make those of us who live and work on the Westside less likely to make the drive down the 405. If you want a decent katsu curry, there’s Hurry Curry of Tokyo or Curry House.  Japanese fried chicken?  Furaibo has great lunch specials. Cheap hot bento boxes to go?  Tempura House it is. Sushi?  Kiriko if you’ve got money, Hide Sushi if you don’t.  And now that Tsujita is open, West L.A. could reasonably lay claim to serving the best ramen and tsukemen in all of Southern California.

But as much as I enjoy lunching on Sawtelle one place has never enticed me: Sawtelle Kitchen.  I don’t know if it’s the valet parking, the disproportionate number of white people who eat there (yes, I’m a self hating gaijin), or the fact that you could plop the place down on Doheny, and it would fit right in.  Thanks, but no thanks.  That is, until a trusted (read: Japanese) friend told me they have a decent hamburger/meatloaf and their salad dressing is amazing.  Amazing, as in they closely guard the recipe and won’t you give you any extra in a to-go cup, amazing.  No salad dressing could be that good… but I’m down with Japanese hamburger!

Once you walk in, it’s pretty clear why there are so many white people. If you were going to take your non-Japanese co-worker to lunch in West L.A., Sawtelle Kitchen is the least intimidating restaurant on the strip.  From its all english menu to the ”this used to be an Italian restaurant” decor, it’s the one place on Sawtelle that could legitimately be a non-adventurous business lunch spot.   And, in addition to Japanese standards like katsu and pasta with caviar and seaweed, there are a good number of seafood and meat entrees that wouldn’t be out of place at a Cheesecake Factory.  And in L.A. one can never underestimate the soothing power of a good salad with renowned salad dressing.

While much of the menu is over $10, there are a small number of lunch specials that fit in the Midtown Lunch budget.

Like the fried chicken wings in a light teriyaki sauce.  For $8.95 you get 8 plump little “wings”, plus a miso soup, rice and the *drumroll please* salad!  The chicken had the same light glaze as what you get at Furaibo, but here they were way more moist.  I could see some people would like this slightly more refined version, and head to heat in a blind taste test Sawtelle Kitchen would probably easily win out.  But when I’m in the mood for this kind of fried chicken I’ll probably still hit up Furaibo instead.  (Crispy thigh FTW!)

And the salad dressing?  I probably wouldn’t have noticed its awesomeness if it hadn’t been pointed out to be me by a far skinnier person with more refined salad dressing palate than I. Then again, I did ask for more on the side (they’re pretty skimpy with the stuff) and proceeded to pour it over everything and anything that we ordered. So there’s that.

The chicken thigh katsu curry ($9.95) was also incredibly well cooked, but the curry itself was a bit too much like soup for me.  I like my curry to be a thick chunky sludge.  And you have to pay an extra $1 for the salad… which I imagine would be a deal breaker for some.  The katsu was nicely cooked, and tasty.  But if I want curry on Sawtelle I’m probably going to still hit up Hurry Curry of Tokyo.

As promised, the best dish was the hamburger meatloaf which is served as a lunch special for $9.95.  The meat was perfectly cooked to a nice medium pink in the middle, and the demi grace glace sauce is far better than the curry.  But why get hamburger meatloaf when you can get deep fried hamburger meatloaf!

And there’s the money order: Meat loaf katsu ($9.95).  It doesn’t get better than this at Sawtelle Kitchen. The key is to ask for some of the demi glace on the side, and it’s the perfect Sawtelle Kitchen lunch.  The meaty perfectly cooked hamburger, with the crispy katsu shell and the rich brown demi glace sauce?  Delicious.  It also comes with potato salad, and you get some of that salad dressing poured over your shredded cabbage.

So if you’re having lunch with a salad lover or a Japanese food newbie who might appreciate a bit of refinement, Sawtelle Kitchen is the perfect crowd pleaser- even for a cheap fatso like me.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Imagine that… a place on Sawtelle that actually uses quality ingredients and knows how to cook their food properly?  Will wonders never cease.
• Love the outdoor patio and the valet parking!
• I’m a big fan of Japanese salad dressings, and this one is pretty great.
• I really hate places that have dried out fried food… this place manages to keep everything nice and moist.
• Hamburger katsu with brown gravy FTW.
• Japanese enough for me, white enough for my boss and co-workers. The perfect lunch meeting spot!
• Did I mention I love patios and salad dressing?

THE – (What somebody doesn’t like this place would say)

• If I wanted to eat a place that looked like the Urth Caffe I wouldn’t be eating on Sawtelle
• The salad dressing did not change my life.
• For curry katsu or fried chicken I’d probably rather eat at Furaibo.

Sawtelle Kitchen, 2024 Sawtelle Blvd. 310-473-2222

Five thefts have occurred in the area since November, including two reported this week.  Items stolen range from small hand tools to heavy duty equipment like chainsaws and jackhammers.

The most recent incidents took place on the same street Sunday, between the 100 and 500 blocks of Mapleton Drive.  Bandits entered the vacated residential property late at night, using lock cutters to break through chain-link fences and then pry open locked storage boxes.

A total of $15,000 in construction tools were reported stolen on Monday, said Det. Greg Davis.

Police said they believe the items are being re-sold on the street. 

The burglars are "just trying to make a quick buck," he said.

Davis advises residents who are renovating their property to install motion-activated lights, security cameras and high-security locks.

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Fire breaks out at Universal Studios backlot in Universal City

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-- Angel Jennings

The blaze began at about 5:25 p.m. Saturday at the store on the 2200 block of South Barrington.

"It was very fortunate that the store employees and management took appropriate action to evacuate when the fire started," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

More than 100 firefighters fought for more than an hour to extinguish the blaze, keeping it from spreading to nearby businesses, including a swimming pool supply store containing chemicals that could have produced noxious fumes.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by LAFD's arson division.

— Abby Sewell

It isn't the cozy Shop Around the Corner — the indie bookstore of "You've Got Mail" movie fame — but it is the multilevel behemoth on the corner of Westwood and Pico boulevards that shoppers have browsed since 1995. And, now that Barnes & Noble has confirmed the unprofitable store's closing at year-end, lovers of things literary are bemoaning the demise of yet another Westside book merchant.

A 96-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his elderly wife in West Los Angeles, police said Saturday.

Police said that they had no motive for the slaying and that the man, Milton Weiss, suffered from dementia. 

They were called to the apartment in the 3100 block of Sepulveda Boulevard at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and found the woman, whose name was not released, dead of blunt force trauma. 

Weiss was arrested and faces murder charges.

Neighbors told KTLA News the couple was having health problems recently.

"She had said she was having a lot of trouble with him," neighbor Sharon Queen-Ford told KTLA. "He was getting confused about things and would be angry about something that wasn't real."

Raiders-Chargers game marred by stabbing, 2 assaults

Aircraft carrier Carl Vinson turned into NCAA basketball court

Occupy Oakland: Fatal shooting brings new push to close camp

--Victoria Kim

Photo: Couple's apartment. Credit: KTLA News

Thanks to the good ol' U.S. postal service, Midtown Lunch sounds the alarm that Hokkaido Seafood Buffet is opening for lunch tomorrow in West L.A.. The news is somewhat bittersweet; welcome because we love gorging ourselves on all-you-can-eat sushi, sausages, ribs, ice cream, and crab legs that make the grade under one roof for a nominal fee, bad because the next time you see us, you may very well fall under the impression that King Kong Bundy has been named the new editor of Grub Street L.A. Bring it on Hokkaido! [Midtown Lunch]

Read more posts by Hadley Tomicki

Filed Under: openings, empire building, hokkaido seafood buffet, japanese, west l.a.

Marvin Herrera, 36, and Julian Herrera, 23, are suspecting of entering an unlocked garage in the 100 block of South Bentley Avenue, near Sunset Boulevard, in Westwood, and stealing two high-end bicycles, police said.

Activists toured the shuttered park with Councilman Rosendahl's staff earlier this year. Photo by Carter Rubin.

For those just joining the discussion, a group of activists in West Los Angeles has been working with the office of Los Angeles Dist. 11 Councilman Bill Rosendahl since April to re-open Bundy Triangle Park. This rare swath of green space in dense West LA sits at the intersection of Bundy Drive, Santa Monica Boulevard and Ohio Avenue.

The inviting spot, however, has been fenced off since the 1990s thanks to a shortsighted move that sought to place a band-aid on the perceived problem of the neighborhood’s homeless residents. Consequently, the thousands of Angelenos that pass by the park every day on transit, bike and foot are bereft of a calm shaded green space.

In a city so glaringly lacking in vibrant public space — and short on funds to create new ones — Bundy Triangle Park remains the lowest of low-hanging fruit. While there is strong support for re-opening the park — from the city of Los Angeles as well as from neighborhood groups — the process has been slow going.

There’s good news, however, on both the political and the design front. First, landscape architecture firm AHBE has generously drawn up five conceptual renderings for what a re-opened Bundy Triangle Park could look like.

Bundy Park Concept 2011-10-06

Second, to jump-start the political process, park advocates went before the city of Los Angeles’ Recreation and Parks Commission to urge that Bundy Triangle Park be included in the city’s plan for 50 new parks in under-served communities.

Below is the testimony from Joel Epstein, a leading Bundy Triangle Park supporter:

I am testifying today to urge you to adopt Bundy Triangle Park at Bundy Drive and Santa Monica Blvd as one of 50 new city parks serving park poor and under-served communities.

Troubled by the sight of the long shuttered West LA park, a group of concerned area residents has been working since April to get Bundy Triangle reopened.  The park was fenced off in the mid 1990s following the death of a homeless man there.  Local business owners concerned about the park being a magnet for the homeless and drug activity paid for the fence.  With its mature shade trees, lawn and benches the park is today a temptation forever out of reach of those who walk past or live nearby.  Census data for the zip code surrounding the park suggest that the area is sixteen percent Latino, twenty percent Asian, just under sixty percent Caucasian with African- and Native- Americans making up the rest of the population.  Many young families, the elderly and area workers will use the park when it is reopened.  Stoner Park is not close by enough to serve these residents.

The reopen Bundy Park group is committed to opening up the park so that the general public may again enjoy it.  One idea is to put a Metro service kiosk in the park that would sell TAP cards and offer the public information on existing transit options and the coming Expo Line.  The park sits at an intersection that is served by a half dozen Metro and Big Blue Bus lines and the nearest Metro Service Center is quite far east at La Brea and Wilshire.  Pocket parks like this next to public transit function well throughout the country and the world.

The park group has met a number of times with Councilman Rosendahl’s office and the Councilman is supportive of our effort if we can identify an active use that will prevent the park from again becoming a magnet for transients.  We have also met with local police about the location.  Developing a plan that maintains the park and addresses the needs of homeless men who “live” on the sidewalk outside of the fence are among the project’s challenges.  Please see the following link for more about the park: http://bit.ly/lxymft.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.  West LA will greatly benefit from the park’s reopening.

As efforts to re-open the park continue to press forward, we’ll be sure to keep Streetsblog readers posted on ways you can get involved. In the mean time, please consider sending an email in support of Bundy Triangle Park to the Recreation and Parks Commission at rap.commissioners@lacity.org or to Councilman Rosendahl’s office at via online form.

Photos: Jonathan Weiss

When Jonathan Weiss emailed me two weeks ago announcing that Sharrows placeholders appeared on Motor Avenue, I didn’t think too much of it. After all, stencils marking a place for bike racks have been on the ground next to my Big Blue Bus stop for almost five months.

However, apparently LADOT contractors were working overtime again, because yesterday morning Weiss grabbed the above pictures while out on a Sunday morning Constitutional. He was greeted by these views cycling Southbound on Motor Avenue.  New Sharrows have already been spotted on Arden Ave.,  Fountain Avenue, Yucca Street and Vine Street in the Mid-/K-/Downtown areas.  If you see more Sharrows on the street, drop us a line and let us know.