Does it feel just a little too hot and schvitzy in your Bikram yoga class? You're not the only one. The city has charged Bikram Choudhury, proprietor of the super-hot (literally) Bikram yoga studio with 10 criminal safety violations, including "overcrowding, failure to maintain emergency exits and obstructing exits in the converted warehouse." All misdemeanors, each with a penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. As a result, Bikram is bidding adieu to LA as his world headquarters and off to the greener pastures of Honolulu, where they apparently care far less about stuffing 160 people into a studio with a maximum occupancy of 49.
· L.A. says yoga studio violates safety laws [Yahoo News]
Sushi is so 2005. Now its all about izakayas, or so declares the New York Times, who takes a mini-tour of Japanese pubs in LA, providing further evidence that the writers of the Times, are reliably 6-12 months (or more) behind the rest of the world. And of course, they can't resist a dig at LA's car culture, even in an article about stewed pork. Arigato gozaimashita!
· A Challenger Arises for King Sushi [The New York Times]
When does an 11,000 square foot house feel cozy? When all of your neighbors are building houses 30,000 or 40,000 square feet. The New York Times pays a house call with the Medavoys (she of the bad botox lawsuit, he of The People vs. Larry Flynt), whose 11,000 "east coast style" home in North Beverly Park is a tiny jewel box compared to the estates of their neighbors, including Eddie Murphy, Barry Bonds, Reba McEntire, Rod Stewart, Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington, and Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone.
· Paradise Bought in Los Angeles [The New York Times]