If you haven't got your New Year's Eve plans nailed down yet (and you know who you are), you might want to consider joining Councilmember Tom LaBonge and a passel of your friends and neighbors on the annual end-of-year, sunset-viewing hike to the summit of Mt. Hollywood.

There, with the city grid laid out before you in all it's halogen-illuminated glory, you can bypass the dreary booziness of a traditional champagne-soaked New Year's in favor of a potluck dinner amongst the sage brush and horse puckey - just like the cowboys of yore (the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" kind of cowboys as opposed to the "Brokeback Mountain" kind; not there's anything wrong with that!).

If you're interested, the group will gather at the Griffith Observatory parking lot at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. If you can't make it up the mountain under your power, fear not: transportation will be provided. Also, if water makes you melt, you might want to skip this year - looks like a storm's a brewing.  ¶ 11:18 AM