Doesn't have to be a bike

​At first Ciclavia looked like a lame "million trees" idea from Antonio Villaraigosa, but the bicycling community breathed big-time life into it. The city is closing 7.5 miles of Los Angeles streets, Sunday 10-3, for bicycling and walking. Get off your butts and go!

Here are a few answers to your burning questions. Then come back here and let us know: did you love it?

--The map is here.
--LAStreetsblog has a list of restaurants on the route.
--Chalk4Peace sidewalk art is at MacArthur Park.
--Nope, no hills. Slight inclines on 7th St. to downtown and 4th St. over L.A. River.
--To ride with Treepeople, meet at 10 am at Hollenbeck Park.
--Hell yes, wheelchairs are welcome. Tip sheet is here. And much more:

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L.A.'s masked crusaders might not be able to gather near Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue (thanks to tourist complaints and violent clashes between the characters), but they were out in full force over the weekend.

A call to arms for costumed superheroes to unite for a Guinness record-breaking gathering of the spandex-clad faithful was met by 1,580, according to CBS2, putting the day at the Convention Center downtown in the record book.

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Cute puppy

Used to be, when Fido got lost chasing a squirrel across town, you'd nail dozens of little posters with his cute dog mug on it to cluttered telephone poles, hoping someone would buzz you with the good news that your pet had been found.

Then along came those tiny tracking chips placed under the skin of the family dog. But the problem was, they cost a bit. Except this weekend in Hollywood.

On Saturday, the Zoom Room of Hollywood at 726 N. La Brea, a self-described "canine social club" whose primary business is training dogs, is offering to plant a tracking chip in your pup for $5, instead of the usual $50.

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Anderson Cooper.

LA Weekly took home several awards, including Best Website for a News Organization, at the Los Angeles Press Club's 52nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards gala, held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel downtown Sunday night.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a speech and actor Sean Penn presented the President's Award to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

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As previously reported, retired pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers Jose Lima was found dead Sunday, May 23 after suffering a heart attack. On Friday, however, the famed baseball player was front and center at Dodger Stadium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sci-Fi classic The Empire Strikes Back alongside other fans of the team and of the film franchise. We snapped this photo of Lima at what turned out to be his last public appearance before his death two days later.

Christopher Victorio

Retired Dodgers pitcher, Jose Lima, who was last seen at the game Friday evening, died May 23

View more photos in the "The Empire Strikes Back Day at Dodger Stadium, Jose Lima's Last Game" slideshow.

polyvf via Twipic: http://tweetphoto.com/17203656

Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey have come up with a name for Sunday's 7.2 shaker felt throughout the Southwest: The Sierra El Mayor earthquake. It was named for the mountain range near the temblor's epicenter on the Laguna Saluda fault.

The news came late Monday as Mexican Felipe Calderon visited the city hardest hit by the shaker, Mexicali, and announced that a possible third fatality in the area -- the victim of a heart attack -- was left in the wake of the temblor, according to La Cronica newspaper.

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Art Center

Norman Schureman.

Students, faculty and staff of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena on Monday were mourning the death of a teacher who was fatally shot over the weekend at a Persian New Year's party.

Authorities say Norman Schureman, 50, was shot to death some time before 11:15 p.m. Saturday in the 31000 block of Kentfield Court in Westlake Village. Sheriff's deputies arrested 46-year-old Steven Honma in connection with the homicide.

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After a horrible disaster in which Lindsay Lohan was told at a West Hollywood club Trousdale that should have to wait in line to enter like everyone else (we'll call this "Linegate"), Lohan indicated her great displeasure over the weekend with our fair metropolis, saying she prefers New York.

Lohan tweets that "I pick new york jus like Jay Z...... Wouldn't you?" Well, um, no. We like it here. But that's just us line-waiting hoi polloi. Lohan continues, via Twitter: "I've never been treated so poorly in my life, this is why I never come to LA. Isn't security, after I respect them and their work and tip them ... aren't they supposed to 'protect' us ... rather than man-handel [sic] and scare us (girls)."

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LAPD

Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger practically apologized after the shooting.

The family of an unarmed, autistic man fatally shot by police in Koreatown over the weekend has secured legal representation, according to CBS2 News.

The shooting on South Vermont Avenue near James M. Wood Boulevard, on the southeastern edge of Koreatown, happened shortly after midnight Saturday. Two Los Angeles Police Department gang officers confronted the man, who was on foot, and he failed to comply with their orders.

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A Virgin America flight from LAX to New York's JFK over the weekend turned out to be a 16-hour "fight from hell," some passengers told the New York Post (spotted at LABizObserved).

The drama on Saturday happened when the weather at JFK was too poor for the plane to land. It circled above New York before being rerouted 90 miles north to Stewart Airport in Newburgh, the paper reports. That added almost two hours to the 5 hour, 20 minute scheduled flight time. But wait, there's more ... Once in Newburgh, passengers claim they were forced to wait inside the plane as it sat on the tarmac for nearly seven hours (Virgin says it was more like four-and-a-half).

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The Four Seasons.

A Florida sugar baron who was in Los Angeles last week for Oscar-related festivities said he and his wife were robbed -- reports stated perhaps "millions" worth of jewels were taken -- at the Four Seasons hotel near Beverly Hills.

The robbery of Jose "Pepe" Fanjul and wife Emilia reportedly happened Friday at the hotel at 300 S. Doheny Dr. Police said a man dressed in a tuxedo -- to appear as one of the hotel's workers -- carried out the crime. A source told the New York Post the robber took the woman's jewels, thought to be worth millions.

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Midnight Ridazz

Midnight Ridazz outside Staples Center.

The hardcore cyclist community in Los Angeles is abuzz with anecdotal reports that a pair of officers tried to take down several bicyclists during a community tour downtown over the weekend.

The Critical Mass events usually attract hundreds of riders. In Friday night's trek, witnesses said the peloton, so to speak, was heading down Los Angeles Street when it ran into a black-and-white facing in the wrong direction. Officers reportedly got out and allegedly started pulling riders off their bikes.

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Ted Soqui

A vigil for Lily Burk, who was allegedly killed by a parolee.

Crime is down, particularly in Los Angeles, but if you wore a badge, you wouldn't be breathing easy right now. In a strange paradox, attacks on officers are up across the nation. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, noted on Monday that "66 officers died in the line of duty between January 1 and June 30, 2009, compared with 55 deaths during the first six months of 2008."

It's a bad omen. The union took the weekend slayings of four officers in the Tacoma area to highlight the brazen disrespect that officers often confront. The Lakewood, Wash. cops, three men and a woman, were doing paperwork via laptop, preparing for their morning start to their shifts, when they were confronted by a suspect who opened fire, killing them all Sunday around 8 a.m.

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Tiger Woods Foundation

Rachel Uchitel, the woman reported in tabloids to have had an affair with Tiger Woods, came to Los Angeles over the weekend to meet with attorney Gloria Allred. "We're going to meet and at some point we'll decide what the next step is," Allred told reporters at LAX Sunday.

What they're meeting about is hanging in the air like a Woods drive on the 18th hole. The golf star had a bizarre accident outside his Florida home Friday when his SUV sheered a fire hydrant and hit a neighbor's tree. Woods was found by first responders outside his vehicle with cuts and abrasions to his face. His wife, who reported that she had rescued him by busting out a window with a golf club, was standing over him.

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Halloween in Los Angeles can be overwhelming; so many parties to attend, so many elaborate costumes to catch our eyes. While the costume party madness began for us over a week before the big day, the festivities didn't kick into full gear until Thursday night. Read on for what we did and who we saw...

Colin Young-Wolff

Photographer Colin Young-Wolff headed down to La Cita on Thursday night where Dance Right brought in super-hip Ed Banger DJ So-Me and locals Acid Girls for a pre-holiday bash that was highlighted by a surprise set from Drop the Lime (Trouble and Bass). Check out his slideshow here.

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Is it just the anticipation of Halloween, or has LA been a little more whimsical lately? This weekend was filled with spectacular creatures on stage, in the clubs, in the museums and even in a cemetery. Here's what we did.

Timothy Norris

The spaceship has landed.

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So much for our brief Fall fling with rainy weather, this weekend was hot in more ways than one: L.A. Weekly battled Z-Trip in Las Vegas for DJ Hero, got kicked out of a downtown warehouse party by the fire marshal, and indulged our (wo)man vs. wild tendencies at the Serendipity party. Read on for more of what we did and who we saw...

Colin Young-Wolff

It's human nature

Yeah, yeah, we know. Partygoers in L.A. love any excuse to hit the town in costume. Treetop Productions calls Serendipity "the most unique party experience in L.A." The interactive multimedia event took place downtown on Saturday and featured aerial dancers, music by Carlos Niño of Dublab and Anthony Valadez of KCRW, costumed fashions by Threadbare, stilt walkers, and more. View more photos in Colin Young-Wolff's "Human/Nature Party @ Serendipity" slideshow.More »

No matter where you went over the weekend -- a restaurant, bar, or even a friend's house -- there were more baseball-crazed Angelenos glued to the television than normal as the Dodgers finished off the St. Louis Cardinals in the postseason throwdown. Looks like Francis Slay is going to be sending a Build-a-Bear and a Twitter T-shirt to Villaraigosa after all. In between marathon sessions in front of the boob toob we also checked out the first (and perhaps last) L.A. Oktoberfest, metal legends Motorhead at Club Nokia, and Chromeo's electrifying DJ set at 740 Club's Discotechque.

Colin Young-Wolff

On Friday Chromeo performed a DJ set at Discotheque, NITRUS & MFG's new weekly night in downtown L.A., to celebrate the release of their first full length mix album, DJ Kicks. Check out photos in Colin Young-Wolff's slideshow and read Dennis Romero's interview with Chromeo.More »

Over the weekend Los Angeles seemed obsessed with one thing and one thing only: Radiohead's Thom Yorke, who, after a surprise DJ gig at the Roosevelt on September 15, L.A. Weekly learned would play an exclusive gig at the Echoplex on October 2 in addition to two gigs at downtown's Orpheum Theatre on October 4 and 5. The shows sold out quickly and if you couldn't afford a $3,500 ticket on eBay, look to our photo and video coverage for what you missed. In news unrelated to Thom Yorke, we also spent some time this weekend at the Long Beach Comic-Con, Eagle Rock Music Festival, Man One's "Graffiti Spirits" opening at Crewest Gallery, and more.

Timothy Norris

So. There was a lot of hype surrounding this show. That's inevitable when you toss Los Angeles, Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich, and two percussionists into a 600-capacity club in the middle of Echo Park. This whole Flea and Thom Yorke thing was the musical equivalent of Mickey Rourke doing a buddy comedy with Jude Law. Read more in Randall Roberts' "Thom Yorke, Flea, Godrich, Waronker, Refosco at the Echoplex: Strictly Rhythm" and check out photos in Timothy Norris' slideshow from the Echoplex and Orpheum.

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We sat perhaps 100 to 150 feet away from Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl last night, watching as he whipped his wiry, pale-skinned little body around the stage like dancer whose DNA somehow got mixed up with Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek.

I wanted to snack on my brie-and-figs picnic, but you almost couldn't take your eyes away.

The most amazing moment last night, by far, was when YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), who were recruited from tough areas including gang-ridden South Central, performed Beethoven. Dudamel almost physically dragged these gifted-but-clearly-a-ways-to-go neophytes through the piece. It was incredible to watch him -- and them.

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