GIGA GRANADA HILLS

The DWP has been encouraging L.A. residents to replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants for several years now; the utility company even began offering rebates last year to further prod L.A. residents into reconsidering their landscaping. Homeowners are offered $1.00 for every square foot of grass in their yard or parkway (the strip of city-owned land between sidewalk and street) they replace with low-water-use plants. Granada Hills resident Kris Schmidt, however, wasn't eligible for a rebate. An early adopter, he had already torn out his lawn well before the program began—three springtimes ago—replacing it with low-water plants and California natives such as California Black Sage, Wooly Blue Curls, Hummingbird Sage, California Yarrow, Deer Grass, and California Poppies. For all of his trouble, Schmidt has enjoyed substantial water savings—and received a violation notice from the City of Los Angeles. Schmidt had recently done some tree trimming and had left those branc...

Last night the Flying Pig; tomorrow, the Scooby-Dooish Munchie Machine. Both trucks hit Granada Hills at what is fast-becoming our town's food truck corner: Zelzah and Chatsworth. Munchie Machine's mostly got grilled sandwiches and s'mores (here's their menu ); Flying Pig serves up Asian-style pork dishes and also has chicken and tofu options menu here ). Yay, more food trucks! Now all we need is a few more decent restaurants that will stay here on a more permanent basis.

Pump Top TV, the company that seeks to bring us one step closer to a world in which television commercials occupy your every waking moment, just got a little bit more annoying. You've probably seen the video monitors atop gas station pumps, such as those at the Shell on the corner of San Fernando Mission and Balboa, blaring BUY MORE STUFF messages while you, a captive of the gas pump, are already, in fact, engaged in the process of buying something at that very moment. Pump Top TV's next move is to also blare DO MORE EXERCISE messages to helpless pump prisoners, in videos such as the one above. Hey, I'm all for exercise, but do they really think a 30-second burst while filling the tank is going to do anything but make people feel guilty, inadequate, frustrated, or just plain dorky? This afternoon, to kick off their campaign, Pump Top TV will be pulling the "funky, wacky stunt" of posting Body By Jake exercise instructors at a Shell Station in Burbank to enforce t...

LAUSD is closer to completion of the new high school being built on Balboa Boulevard north of Devonshire, and there'll be a public meeting providing residents with a construction update and a forum for addressing questions about the new school on Tuesday, May 25 from 6:30-8pm. The construction will cause sidewalk and lane closures along Balboa Boulevard, San Jose, and Genesta throughout July and August and some nighttime construction work in May. In other words: Yay! More traffic on Balboa!

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 30th anniversary of Pac Man, and features a playable version of the game. Visit http://www.google.com today to check it out.