# Los Angeles bomb, and no official news? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821 "2005-07-10T05:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![filmyak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/1 "2005-07-10T05:03:54Z")
I work in Hollywood – the city, not the state of mind – and on Friday afternoon part of Sunset Blvd was shut down, just blocks from my office. Rumors were circulating that there was a bomb threat at a local Jack in the Box fast food joint. Specifically, a suspicious package. I couldn’t see the building from my office, but we did see the area and police cordon when we went for a coffee reak. The restaurant was across the street from the CNN building, where a friend of mine was working. Between her account and other friends talking to witnesses and the police in the area, the bomb threat was genuine and the police ended up blowing up the briefcase in a container designed to control the explosion. My friends who saw it said there was a substantial fireball, and that the police determined it was definitely a bomb. There were also rumors of a similar situation happening a few miles away, near the corner of Wilshire and Western. Which is where my question comes in: how on earth can this have slipped past the local and national news, especially a day after the London bombings? I can not find a single article on the incident. Again, it was across the street from the CNN building, and just blocks from KTLA, a local news station. That night there was no mention, and there have been no articles that I can find today either. I just sent an email to the LA Times asking the same question. All of us at work are very confused at how a story this size has gone unnoticed. We’re not sure if it has just stayed under the radar, or if it’s being kept quiet. And as someone who doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories, I’m very confused. Has anyone heard about this on any news source? Any ideas on how the story seems to have gone unreported? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/2 "2005-07-10T05:15:37Z")
A similar thing has happened in Birmingham UK, and that ended up on the BBC news. I think that since 7/7 everything is a suspect package. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/3 "2005-07-10T05:26:27Z")
> [@filmyak](#): > > I work in Hollywood – the city, not the state of mind – and on Friday afternoon part of Sunset Blvd was shut down, just blocks from my office. Rumors were circulating that there was a bomb threat at a local Jack in the Box fast food joint. Specifically, a suspicious package. > > I couldn’t see the building from my office, but we did see the area and police cordon when we went for a coffee reak. The restaurant was across the street from the CNN building, where a friend of mine was working. > > Between her account and other friends talking to witnesses and the police in the area, the bomb threat was genuine and the police ended up blowing up the briefcase in a container designed to control the explosion. My friends who saw it said there was a substantial fireball, and that the police determined it was definitely a bomb. > > There were also rumors of a similar situation happening a few miles away, near the corner of Wilshire and Western. > > Which is where my question comes in: how on earth can this have slipped past the local and national news, especially a day after the London bombings? I can not find a single article on the incident. Again, it was across the street from the CNN building, and just blocks from KTLA, a local news station. That night there was no mention, and there have been no articles that I can find today either. > > I just sent an email to the LA Times asking the same question. All of us at work are very confused at how a story this size has gone unnoticed. We’re not sure if it has just stayed under the radar, or if it’s being kept quiet. And as someone who doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories, I’m very confused. > > Has anyone heard about this on any news source? Any ideas on how the story seems to have gone unreported? Its amazing that it didn’t get any coverage. Usually the news is all over a story like that, even when it turns out that they blew up someone’s lunch. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/4 "2005-07-10T05:34:40Z")
If you are concerned, you can call the Police Department. The Terrorist Threat Assessment number is 1 (877) A-THREAT ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/5 "2005-07-10T05:37:22Z")
I searched [Google News](http://news.google.com) for ‘Hollywood bomb’, but it just gave me a bunch of stories about Nicholas Cage. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/6 "2005-07-10T09:46:27Z")
Try googling “Los Angeles” “Bomb scare”, and you get a hit from the most likely news source you would expect for this… wait for it… The Xinhua news agency of China! Apparently, prior to the actual bomb found in Hollywood, and detonated by the bomb squad, there was a fake bomb scare in a Metro station. This, an ice cooler with wires sticking out, turned out to be empty. I tell you what, now I know that the news source I can depend on for all my local news needs is Xinhua! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/7 "2005-07-10T10:08:23Z")
**Spectre of Pithecanthropus** : Google News is great, isn’t it? 😉 Yeah, this is odd. Maybe because it’s still very _very_ early on a Sunday and everyone in the newsroom is asleep, passed out, or nursing a hangover. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/8 "2005-07-10T13:13:51Z")
I’m not trying to make excuses for a cover-up or something of the sort, but applying a little common sense to the situation: Suppose this bomb is in fact real, as **filmyak** describes, but is no more connected to Al Qaeda or terrorism generally than was the drunk driving arrest outside Blue Earth, MN, last night. Something like revenge from a former owner cheated in the deal that transferred the franchise, or an attempt at extortion – you invent a scenario not involving international terrorists. But both authorities and press realize that immediately after London and with 9/11 fresh in people’s minds, extensive coverage could lead to panic – which would be especially nasty in the L.A. Metro area. So without trying to do an actual cover-up, they simply agree to downplay it, not make it a major news story, not put it on the Internet, in order to avoid scaring people unnecessarily. I’m not saying that is what **did** happen – but it would make sense to me if it were the case. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/9 "2005-07-10T15:11:01Z")
The story was just on CNN Headline news. Google news has a number of stories from Los Angeles news sources, and none of them say the second object was a real bomb. [http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3575381](http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3575381) > [@](#): > > That object – a plastic bin with a duct tape handle – was later determined to be a makeshift suitcase. They also say that the police were expecting copycat hoaxes, so it’s plausible they would play the incidents down to avoid panic. Still, you’d think that after the fact more news could be found. ---
**Author:** ![filmyak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/10 "2005-07-11T02:49:59Z")
thanks for the links. Scary that even with the 2 stories there, the one I saw wasn’t mentioned. Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![youngdrodeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/0ea827/32.png) [@youngdrodeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/youngdrodeau)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/11 "2010-10-14T03:53:25Z")
Wow.This is freaky.I live on 6th & Harvard,a few blocks from Wilshire & Western.In the summer of 2005,around 4th of July,I remember,hearing & feeling this HUUGE explosion.I’m not talkin like a loud sound in the distance.I mean a ginormous,deafining sound that lingered for 30-60 seconds,shaking my apartment.I could feel the blast’s energy raining down on the building & vibrating through my whole [body.Me](http://body.Me) & a relative ran from my bedroom to the balcony (which’s view is toward Wilshire/Western) expecting to see a huge chunk of the neighborhood destroyed & ablaze…but there was nothing.Nothing at all.From the sound,we first thought a jet had dropped a bomb near us.Or a generator/s at the nearby DWP had exploded.But there was nothin.We turned to the local TV stations waiting for Breaking News.Nothing.We kept looking out the balcony & listening for cop cars,firetrucks,sirens,helicopters,etc.Nothing.Didn’t hear a single siren all night.It was the weirdest thing ever.Eversince,I’ve wondered what it was.And I always wrestled with one explanation…“Was it a DISEASE BOMB or something like that?” I mean,I did start growing a nasty rash all over my body shortly after that,that I still haven’t gotten rid of…Now,tonight while I was researching 9/11 & the Bush Administration,I found an article from 9/04/01 about a government Program called “Clear Vision” in which the govt was researching GERM BOMB technology created in Russia.The article says,that the govt assembled a germ factory in the Nevada Desert.And they’ve been performing tests.WTF? Yo,if anybody from LA who lives near Wilshire/Western reads this,and has a similar story,PLEASE let me know. Peace ---
**Author:** ![filmyak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/12 "2010-10-14T04:01:06Z")
If your dates were just a little bit off – first week in August of 2005, instead of 1st week in July – then what you most likely heard was the sonic boom caused by the space shuttle landing at Edwards AFB. It’s a huge boom, rattles windows for miles around. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/los-angeles-bomb-and-no-official-news/311821/13 "2010-10-14T04:08:42Z")
Since we seem to have a rip in the space/time continuum, let’s shut this down. You can follow it in the next dimension. **samclem** , Moderator. To our guest, if you still have a question, feel free to start a new thread.