Neighborhood

Devon Toews sold his 6,000-square-foot Belcaro mansion last month for $240,000 under its list price. The $3.75 million sale closed on Feb. 12. Last year, Towes signed a seven-year contract extension with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He listed the mansion on Jan. 11 for $3.99 million. Toews and his wife, Kerry, bought the mansion on the 800 block of South Steele Street in March 2021 for $2.9 million. The six-bedroom, five-bath home, constructed in 2020, has two fireplaces. The first-floor open floor plan includes a…

You know what – the creators of comics probably knew something, because in our culture there are so many villain organizations whose names are an abbreviation where the first letter is H. Organizations whose goal is to harm ordinary people as much as possible. Don’t believe me? Let’s list them: HYDRA, HAVOC, HIVE, and HOA, after all…And it’s damn true – no HYDRA has caused as much harm to people as all these entitled HOAs across the whole world. At least we know quite a few neighborhood drama stories having an HOA as…

The fire that broke out on Franklin Avenue last month was, by some measures, a modest one.But with winds blowing in the Cahuenga Pass that night, it had the potential to be destructive. Embers from the fire, which started at a homeless encampment, landed on a nearby apartment building, Fire Department officials said. By the time the blaze was out, it had scorched a nearby tree, destroyed two cars and sent smoke into nearby homes.“It smelled like burning fuel, burning plastic,” said one Hollywood resident who lives…

While journeying through the far reaches of the solar system, the New Horizons probe picked up a dusty trail of icy fragments that may indicate that the Kuiper Belt—home to former planet Pluto and countless other objects—is way bigger than we thought.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?New observations from the NASA mission suggest that the massive donut-shaped outer zone of the solar system, also known as the Kuiper Belt, could extend billions of miles farther than current estimates. There even might be a…

It's February 5th, so Apple has already shipped tens of thousands of Vision Pro units. It also started in-store sales and demos. Estimates say Apple sold some 200,000 units during the Vision Pro preorder period in the US. That figure might already account for half of the available capacity for this first-gen device's maiden year. And Apple has yet to launch the Vision Pro internationally. But in the early hours of February 5th, the first Vision Pro ads went up from scalpers close to where I live in Europe, advertising a…

Researchers have captured a pseudoscorpion hitching a ride on a true scorpion, and it’s the first time this interspecific rideshare has been observed anywhere in the world.Pseudoscorpions, also known – perhaps a little unfairly – as ‘false’ scorpions, are tiny arachnids that half-resemble their larger namesakes. They have scorpion-like pincer-like claws (pedipalps) but lack the distinctive stinging tail. And, at just 2 to 8 mm in length, they’ve also developed some inventive means of travel.In fact, it’s believed all of…

Electric scooters have become a pretty common sight on city streets, as they transport people from place to place… but what if they could do more? The cargo-hauling Scootility "utility scooter" was designed with that very question in mind.E-SCOOTERS ARE GAINING POPULARITY AS GAS PRICES SOARA versatile cargo solutionCurrently, in functional prototype form, the Scootility is being developed by a Vancouver-based electric mobility startup of the same name. The vehicle's most prominent feature is its 140-liter lockable…

For the month of December, some residents of a South Torrance neighborhood can’t order a pizza or Thai food from DoorDash or UberEats and it’s not because of budget constraints.It’s because of their neighborhood tradition of elaborate residential holiday light displays on more than 300 houses and lawns that thousands of families across the city travel to each year to enjoy.Every year for the last 39 years, hundreds of houses in the Seaside Ranchos community of Torrance participate in the Seaside Holiday Lights event by…

'Tis the season for squirrels to supplement their winter stores — and for some, that appears to include Christmas lights.Some East Vancouver residents say they're losing bulbs on their outdoor lights to the thieving rodents, who experts say also enjoy gnawing on the chewy cables. Hastings-Sunrise resident Karyn Lam says she caught squirrels in the act on her surveillance camera last Saturday, after noticing about a dozen bulbs from her outdoor string lights had gone missing. Lam and her husband had just purchased a new…

A city with a rich history and continued legacy, commercial eateries are a defining feature of Tokyo's urban life. This study, focusing on a culinary neighborhood in Tokyo, showcases the various ways in which local restaurants support their communities for social sustainability. Credit: James Farrer from Sophia University, Japan Studies on sustainability inevitably touch on food-related topics like food security, culinary…