GIGA GRANADA HILLS

Frozen yogurt purveyor to the stars Menchie's has finally opened shop in Granada Hills. The self-serve frozen yogurt shop with more flavors than Pinkberry (not too tough there) just opened its brand spankin' new doors yesterday, and will be doing business from 11am to 11pm. They're located at 17840 Chatsworth Street, on the SE corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah.

It's surprising to think that a street named after a humble 3x5 card could be so ostentatious, but drive along Index Street between Louise and White Oak on any December evening and you'll be dazzled by the number of houses with elaborate, twinkling Christmas light displays. The show continues as you wind through the neighborhood on Donmetz, Lahey, Encino, "Candy Cane" Lasaine, and Jellico streets. This density of decorating can't be an accident, I assume; it looks like an agreed-upon, coordinated effort. And in fact it is, but only in part. This neighborhood light display grew somewhat organically -- one house started up, and then the house across the street from them, and so on, and so on. And ground zero for this explosion of Christmas cheer is Cheryl Ford's house on Jellico Avenue -- the one with the Ferris wheel. "My husband and I moved onto Jellico avenue in 1977, so this is our 32nd Christmas here," Cheryl says. "When we moved in, th...

Sure, you could get all Martha-Stewarty about your Christmas decorations, go the tasteful and elegant route, but to me, Christmas is something you buy at the drugstore. Besides, the less you spend on decorations, the more you have for what's really important: gifts. Here are a few of the choicest selections from Granada Hills drugstores, all less than five bucks a piece. You can't beat tinsel garland on bang for the buck -- 18 feet for $2.99! CVS on Balboa and Devonshire has garland that's die-cut and shiny! Deck the halls, and deck yourself -- Walgreens "Jingle Bell Jewelry" bracelets are two for three bucks: keep one, give one. Nothing says elegance like a glitter-covered mini-chandelier for your tree. $3.99 at CVS. The 99 Cent Store has sequins on their balls... and how many people can say that? This place has got walls of balls.... But Walgreens has the biggest balls of them all. Sorry Santa, but it's true.

Dec. 15, 2009

Recent complaints about an increase in "odor events" (translation: stink-o-rama) around Sunshine Canyon Landfill have led South Coast Air Quality Management District to file a petition for an "Order of Abatement" (translation:quit it!) with the AQMD Hearing Board against Allied Waste in an attempt to make them bring their dump into compliance with California Health and Safety Code. The AQMD Hearing Board will meet to discuss the matter on the evening of Thursday, December 17, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. at the Van Gogh Elementary School. Van Gogh Elementary is located at 17160 Van Gogh Street in Granada Hills.

On a chilly night last week, just outside of L.A. Pizza, I ran into two guys on bikes, selling their self-produced hip-hop CDs out of a tote bag. Can you tell me your name? My name's Andrew, a/k/a Makdro , and that's my right hand man Zaybo. You gotta put Boogie Man too, because Boogie Man's been helping me since day one. And what's the name of your project? It's My Destiny To Make It. Do you live in Granada Hills? Do you always sell your stuff here? We I live in Sylmar, and I go where the wind takes me. I've been doing it for about maybe 6 years, I have maybe 80 songs floating around, and this is my fifth volume. What do you mean floating around? On the Internet? We've sold actually seven volumes of this type of music; we do two different types of music. We do kind of a Christian hip-hop, and hip-hop for the kids. So what inspires the music? I just wanna do something that nobody could have done. And what really inspires my music is me losing my mom b...

For the remainder of this weekend, the former Mann Granada Hills 9 theater is having a "Grand Re-Opening" as part of the Regency chain, and will be offering free popcorn, $1.00 soda, and $1.00 hot dog, and trust me, movie theater soda for a dollar isn't going to happen again any time soon. Today's movies and showtimes: 2012 (PG-13) 11:50 | 3:20 | 6:50 | 10:10 Armored (PG-13) 11:00 | 1:20 | 3:30 | 5:40 | 7:40 | 9:50 The Blind Side (PG-13) *12/16 at 1:10pm and 12/17 at 6:45pm Showings will be Captioned* 10:30 | 1:10 | 3:55 | 6:45 | 9:30 Brothers (R) 11:40 | 2:10 | 5:00 | 7:50 | 10:20 ...