It’s not just any mall. Sure, the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade has more than its fair share of overpriced bookstores, blindingly lit window fronts filled with back-to-school halter-top specials, and an entire army of hairsprayed preteens ready at a second’s notice to shoot up that flirtatious right eyebrow. But the mall also has something that lures even the broke, the anti-social and occasionally, the police, night after night, mainly between the hours of 6 to 10 p.m. Read more...

Starting off the new Geffen Playhouse season is Stephen Jeffreys’ “I Just Stopped By to See the Man,” a three-person play about the power of the blues. Read more...

UCLA is undeniably one of the most diverse and dynamic college campuses in the country. It plays host to Nobel Prize-winning professors, Division I sports teams, a happening social scene and even an on-campus museum ““ the last being the least obvious. Read more...

The lights go down, the curtain goes up, and for the next few hours you are transported out of your ordinary life. The theater can be a magical, even life-changing experience. Read more...

Why rice? According to Fowler Museum of Cultural History curator Roy Hamilton, the starchy grain is the one commonality on a continent that makes no sense as a single unit. Read more...

This past Sunday, HBO changed the world; or at least its marketing department convinced me it did. With an old episode of “The Sopranos” leading into the summer season finale of “Sex and the City” and series premieres of “Carnivàle” and “K Street,” the premium cable network redefined must-see TV, largely through its aggressive (to put it modestly) ad campaign. Read more...

FILM & TV: ManiaFest Laemmle Monica Theater Sept. 21, 10 a.m. to midnight The last day of this sci-fi, fantasy and horror extravaganza finds the likes of Stan Lee, Guillermo del Toro, and Chuck Russel serving as panelists on a day featuring films inspired by comic books. Read more...