Top 5 Westside Stories: Earthquake, CicLAVia, Crossing Guard Hit, Contaminated Soil, Bomb Threat

Close out your weekend with a recap of the newsiest and most popular Patch articles from last week. Here are the five stories that topped the headlines on Westside Patch sites:

• Some shook, some rattled, some rolled when a 3.2-magnitude earthquake located about two miles south of Marina del Rey jolted California communities from Simi Valley to Long Beach on Friday. @DavidViola tweeted: "That earthquake's epicenter was in Marina del Rey so call your divorced dad to make sure he and his new girlfriend are okay." @JoeyD203 sent this zinger: "LA Earthquake didn't work. Lakers still asleep. Losing by 12 at the moment." Authorities received no reports of injuries or damage, the Lakers excluded. 

• CicLAVia, the "no-car" parade of bicyclists, skaters, walkers and others on various modes of transport, made its way from downtown L.A. to Venice Beach last week Sunday without a major hiccup. Events in Culver City and Venice kept the crowds entertained while restaurants and other businesses saw their trade spike. Not everyone was happy, however; the closing of streets along the route and the resulting traffic caused headaches for Westside drivers. Nonetheless, organizers declared the event a success and police and firefighters reported no major injuries and no arrests, a notable feat given that the crowd topped 100,000. Next up: CicLAVia along Wilshire Boulevard on June 23.

• Los Angeles police are looking for a woman in a Landrover who struck a crossing guard twice in Brentwood at Sunset Boulevard and Barrington Avenue, Brentwood Patch reported Tuesday. The guard was just doing his job when the woman drove up in her vehicle and demanded he move. When he didn't, she struck him with the vehicle, and when he refused to move a second time, she hit him again — then fled. There was no immediate word on his condition.

• Emerson LaMay Cleaners on Swarthmore in Pacific Palisades left more than a memory when it closed in 2001. Turns out it also left behind the  It's been detected in the air and soil, creating a need to clean up the property that the Palisades Village Ownership Group planned to sell to Rick Caruso, who owns the Grove shopping center. A spokesman for Caruso's company issued a statement about the pending sale: "Pacific Palisades is a wonderful community and the Palisades Village has significant potential. We are under contract to acquire the property from its owner and we are in the process of conducting our due diligence."

• Hundreds were evacuated from the Santa Monica College campus quad on Tuesday after a bomb threat. Campus police brought in bomb-sniffing dogs and Santa Monica firefighters stood by. After a search turned up nothing, students and staff were allowed to return to the quad, where a college fair had been underway. “With what occurred in Boston last week, we had discussed this issue in-house, so everyone was really on top of it today, said Santa Monica College Police Chief Albert Vasquez.

Don't want to miss a single story? Want to be the first to know about news in your neighborhood? Click the links below to follow your local Patch sites on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for our free daily newsletter.

Santa Monica Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Venice-Mar Vista Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Marina del Rey Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Pacific Palisades Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Brentwood Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Culver City Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter