A Lyft driver has been arrested after he allegedly sexually assaulted a passenger on a trip from West Hollywood to Santa Monica last year. The victim, whose identity has not been released, told the Santa Monica Police Department that 34-year-old Fernando Macias Morales of Los Angeles drove her home from a restaurant in West Hollywood on Sept. 7, 2023, police said in a release. The woman, a Santa Monica resident, fell asleep in the Lyft and "woke up to inappropriate touching," police said. "The suspect then offered to walk her to her door, which she refused," police said, adding that the woman ..read more

A massive landslide damaged and partially buried a home in the Hollywood Hills as an incoming storm has neighbors worried about more significant damage to come. The home is located on Sunset View Drive and is just above the iconic Chateau Marmont hotel. The property was undergoing renovations at the time and the owner said he was just days away from moving his family in. His neighbors called him on Wednesday night with the devastating news. Cell phone video from a neighbor captured the moment the steep hillside above the home began to crumble. "The hill is giving, oh my gosh!” the neighbor is ..read more

A woman recalls the terrifying moment she spotted a peeping Tom staring at her and exposing himself through the window of her West Los Angeles apartment. The male suspect, who remains at large, has reportedly been exposing himself to women in Mid-City, West Hollywood and West L.A., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The suspect has targeted victims in several neighborhoods from January to March. "He was full-on like this. A straight-up peeping Tom,” a female victim who did not wish to be identified recalled of the suspect looking into her home. “He would step back. Then he tried t ..read more

A suspect remains at large after a man was brutally beaten on a West Hollywood sidewalk, leaving him hospitalized. The unprovoked attack happened on March 17 as the victim, David Velasquez, was riding a scooter home from the store after purchasing cough medicine. “I was heading east and he was coming back this way and that's when, for no apparent reason, he slapped me across the face,” Velasquez said. The attack left him bloodied and with head trauma. “I was lucky to have survived,” he said. “My whole life was flashing before my eyes as he was pounding my head into the ground."  Velasquez ..read more

If you're a fan of Bird scooters, you're about to be out of luck in West Hollywood. On Monday, the City Council decided that Lime is the only company allowed to provide e-scooter and e-bike services beginning on April 1. For an 18-month period beginning in April, Lime will operate up to 200 e-scooters and 50 bicycles in the city's 1.9 square miles. Bird, meanwhile, will have to cease operating in the city after March 31. Lime scooters are seen in a file image. (Credit: KTLA) "As part of the existing contract, and with this West Hollywood City Council decision, Bird is responsible for removing ..read more

LOS ANGELES - Surveillance video captured the moment three gunmen attacked a man who was wearing a Rolex watch while walking his dog in West Hollywood. The victim, Rocco DiStefano, 29, who owns The Lab Athletic Club on Sunset Boulevard, said the incident happened on Tuesday in broad daylight at around 2 p.m.  He was walking his dog on a sidewalk outside the gym when the armed suspects spotted him. Video shows the gunmen pulling over in a black Cadillac sedan, quickly jumping out of the car and sprinting toward DiStefano.  “When I turned around, it was three masked men running up to m ..read more

A trailblazer in the Southern California cannabis scene is back after a four-year break. OG Cannabis Café at 1201 N. La Brea Ave. in West Hollywood has resumed service, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Initially called Lowell Café due to its partnership with cannabis company Lowell Farms, OG Cannabis Café closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic only a few months after its rebrand and less than a year after its initial opening. But now, the café is back like it never left. Well, pretty much. “To be honest, we haven’t changed anything — it’s exactly the same except for the cannabis me ..read more

Gayle Anderson reports on the West Hollywood Holloway Interim Housing Program, a five-year plan to address homelessness. That plan includes the Holloway Interim Housing Program in West Hollywood. The city has acquired the former Holloway Motel Property, which will become the location of the Holloway Interim Housing Program providing a safe, supportive space for people experiencing homelessness to stay 90 days, giving residents support and time to transition off the streets and into housing. The property will be managed and operated through a partnership with Ascencia, a nonprofit homeless serv ..read more

Six Los Angeles County Starbucks stores may soon reopen after the National Labor Relations Board said the coffee franchise closed about two dozen locations to halt union momentum. As reported in the New York Times, a regional NLRB office determined that 23 U.S. stores were closed "because its employees engaged in union activities or to discourage employees from doing so." At least seven of those stores had unionized, the Times added, though the company said none of the Los Angeles locations were unionized. The local stores affected are: 8595 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood (the “Santa Moni ..read more

Security video captures the frightening moment a truck crashes through a West Hollywood barbershop as customers are inside. The incident happened Thursday at Trendsetters Barbershop, located near La Brea and Fountain Avenues around 11 a.m. Video of the crash shows a large red Ford pickup truck crossing illegally through the narrow street and smashing into the glass entrance. As the truck enters the shop, the impact tips over a large vending machine that narrowly misses crushing a client as he was quickly pulled away by a barber. Witnesses told KTLA that the truck’s owner had left the vehicle i ..read more