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Flamingo Estate: Inside L.A.’s Secret Garden

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

Hidden up on one of the highest peaks in Highland Park overlooking the rolling hills with views as far as the ocean,  Flamingo Estate has long been shrouded in mystery and secrecy.  The 7-acre terraced garden that once served as a goat farm and spent 65 years as a prolific porn studio and underground hedonistic playground for L.A.’s bohemia, the pleasure garden is now ground zero for a thriving farm-inspired luxury brand that features everything from tomato-scented candles to wildflower honey and infused vinegars and oils.When advertising agency owner Richard Christiansen discovered the gated and overgrown property about seven years ago, he became intrigued and befriended the little 84-year old hunched over owner in the Rick Dalton-style robe. He made a laughable offer on the place and the owner said if Christiansen would restore the property and its crumbling structures, he would accept it. The deal was done and he opened up the Owl Bureau bookstop down the hill on Figueroa Street ...

Rachel Fewings Involved in Fatal Car Crash on 5 Freeway [Glendale, CA]

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

Tow Truck Driver Killed in Vehicular Accident near Griffith ParkGLENDALE, CA (June 15, 2023) – Thursday evening, Rachel Fewings was involved in a car crash that claimed the life of a two-truck driver.The accident occurred on May 31st, around 11:15 p.m., along the 5 Freeway near Griffith Park.According to the CHP, 33-year-old Rachel Fewings, in a Nissan Versa, struck a 41-year-old tow truck driver loading load up a vehicle onto his tow truck.Despite life-saving efforts, paramedics pronounced the tow truck driver dead from his injuries. While, the driver of the Nissan, Fewings, and the driver of the second vehicle stayed at the scene and cooperated with authorities.No other injuries were reported and it is still unknown if drugs or alcohol were contributing factors.At this time, officials withheld the name of the victim. Once available, more information will be posted.The team at Sweet James sends their warm and sincerest sympathies out to the friends and family of the victim. M...

Daliland Has Little to Show for Itself Beyond Cocaine, Lobsters and Three-ways

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

Mary Harron’s Daliland struggles to find itself, amid a predictable arsenal of biopic cliches and actor-y impersonations. Given the deliberate outrageousness that infused everything about Salvador Dali, from his performance-art-ish public stunts to his six-decade career of sui generis art-making, you’d think there’d be a movie to be made about him. But maybe there isn’t — biopics are a tricky business, dizzy with mere celebrity and often starved for dramatic justification, and if your subject was world-famous, successful, and didn’t die tragically young, there won’t be a helluva lot of protein in your trail mix. Dali was a wildly effective self-promoter and eccentric hedonist as well as a spectacularly gifted image-maker, all the way up to a few years before he died, and the only dilemma he seemed to face was that he, and the in-vogue-ness of his art, couldn’t last forever. It’s a life — one that must have been a champagne-gassed roller-coaster limo ride, certainly — but not a story...

Early morning stabbing is Antioch’s second homicide in five days

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

ANTIOCH — A stabbing early Thursday killed a 30-year-old woman and critically injured a 39-year-old man who was listed as a suspect, police said.The violence happened about 5 a.m. in the 2200 block of San Jose Drive, police said. Officers were dispatched there on reports that a stabbing had just happened and found the man and woman down and bleeding when they arrived, according to a statement from Antioch police Lt. Rick Martin.Police pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Authorities did not release her identity Thursday afternoon, citing the investigation.The homicide is the fifth one investigated by Antioch police this year, the second this week, and the fourth since the start of May.The man involved in the stabbing received life-threatening injuries and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, Martin said. Police listed that man as the suspect in the stabbing of the woman but had no other information.Martin said police believe the stabbing was an isolated incident and said ...

Four-bedroom home sells in Milpitas for $1.5 million

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

2160 Sepulveda Avenue – Google Street ViewA 1,675-square-foot house built in 1977 has changed hands. The property located in the 2100 block of Sepulveda Avenue in Milpitas was sold on May 30, 2023, for $1,540,000, or $919 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a garage, as well as a pool in the backyard and two parking spaces. The unit sits on an 8,024-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:A 1,502-square-foot home on the 2100 block of Pedro Avenue in Milpitas sold in August 2022, for $1,549,000, a price per square foot of $1,031. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In February 2023, a 1,755-square-foot home on Lacey Drive in Milpitas sold for $1,510,000, a price per square foot of $860. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Edsel Drive, Milpitas, in September 2022, a 1,856-square-foot home was sold for $1,610,000, a price per square foot of $867. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Months after tossing one plea deal, Alameda County judge approves new offer for accused killer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

An Alameda County judge approved a plea deal Thursday for an Oakland man accused in a deadly murder-for-hire plot, even as the judge refused to say whether he’d back prosecutors’ proposed sentence of 12 years in prison.Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon appeared more amenable this week than he was earlier this year to the deal for Delonzo Logwood, 33, who has been in jail on numerous murder charges since 2015. It came just three months after the same judge torpedoed another offer from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price over concerns that the county’s new top prosecutor was being to lenient for someone who — back then — faced murder charges in three separate killings.Specifically, Logwood pleaded no contest to a single voluntary manslaughter charge, as well as a firearm-related sentencing enhancement. Logwood also acknowledged being on probation at the time of his arrest.McCannon, who recently survived a bid by Price that sought to remove him from the cas...

SF man who attacked girlfriend's mother with machete convicted of assault with deadly weapon

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A San Francisco man who assaulted the mother and sister of his girlfriend with a machete has been convicted, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced Thursday. Andrew Kuhaiki, 37, was found guilty in a trial by jury of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, two counts of witness intimidation, and two counts of false imprisonment.Kuhaiki attacked the 74-year-old mother and sister of a woman he was dating with a machete in an incident the DA called "brutal and harrowing." The women were arguing because they had asked Kuhaiki to move out of the mother's house where they were all living together in Visitacion Valley, the DA said. Cinemark and Westfield abandoning downtown SF just the latest in string of bad news In the attack, he threatened to kill the victims in the home if they tried to leave or call for help. The mother secretly texted a friend who called 911. Police arrived and Kuhaiki was arrested.Following the arrest, the wom...

‘Abbott Elementary’ star Chris Perfetti feels at home with ‘King James’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Chances are you won’t find Chris Perfetti fiercely debating on social media if LeBron James is indeed the GOAT, nor will you find him waiting hours outside of hotels, hoping to get an autograph or selfie from the basketball legend — but you wouldn’t know it from watching his latest play, “King James.”“I grew up in a very heavy sports household. But I knew early on that that was not going to be my thing … it’s why I want to be an actor. I want to do things that are that are different from me,” the 34-year-old thespian and “Abbott Elementary” star said in a recent interview.“King James,” a Manhattan Theater Club production in New York closing Sunday, is a two-man play written by Pulitzer finalist Rajiv Joseph that co-stars Glenn Davis. It revolves around a friendship born from a fanaticism over the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Directed by Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon, the off-Broadway production — which previously played in Chicago and Los Angeles with both actors — ...

Pregnant woman, man shot inside car in DC

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

Police in D.C. say two people were wounded — including a pregnant woman who was critically hurt — after they were shot inside a car Thursday morning.The woman and the man were parked in a car on 37th Street in Southeast when another car pulled up and two men armed with assault rifles jumped out and opened fire, said Andre Wright, interim executive assistant police chief during a news conference.The shooting happened about 11:20 a.m.“This is a brazen act,” Wright said. “It happened in the middle of the day.”Both the woman and the man suffered several gunshot wounds. Police said the woman is in “critical condition.” The man, who was the driver of the car, has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.Wright said police believe the shooting was targeted.While police believe the shooting happened in the 300 block of 37th Street SE, the victims’ car traveled several blocks after the shooting before coming to a stop in the 3700 block o...

Minnesota paid Whalen buyout after ex-coach opted not to stay in admin role

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:15:43 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Lindsay Whalen has decided not to remain in an administrative role at Minnesota following her dismissal as women’s basketball coach.According to the release agreement between the university and Whalen, first reported Wednesday by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and obtained by The Associated Press, she received a $215,000 buyout that was in her contract for termination without cause.When the university announced the change on March 2, athletic director Mark Coyle framed the decision as mutual. “Together, we just felt like now is the right time for her to step down,” Coyle said then. “She’s still going to be part of our program.”The release agreement language referred to it as a firing: “The University determined it was in the best interests of the University to make a change to the head coaching position.”Coyle said at the time the plan was for Whalen to work as a special assistant on fundraising and name, image and likeness opportunities for the Gophers at the s...