Top 5 Westside Stories: Huell Howser, Possible Getaway Car Found, LAX Ghost Town

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:

• A car that matches the description of the getaway car used in an armed robbery at the Westchester Nordstrom Rack was found parked at the Culver City mall Friday morning. Police are still searching for two male suspects who made off with an undisclosed sum of money. The robbery at the store at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center was reported just after 10 p.m. Thursday by a spouse or boyfriend of an employee of the store. LAPD SWAT officers eventually rescued 14 people who were hiding in a storage room at the Nordstrom Rack store in Westchester at around 3:30 a.m.

• Join the conversation: Huell Howser, an icon of local television in Southern California, died earlier this week in Palm Springs. He was 67. All this week, fans of his long-running programs, such as "California's Gold," have been sharing their favorite local segments and Huell Howser sayings ("that's amazing!"). Tell us what you'll miss about Huell right here.

• The California Coastal Commission decided this week to restore a patch of unused land west of LAX to its native condition. The land was formerly a neighborhood called Surfridge but as LAX grew and expanded, the community was demolished. The restoration project may begin as early as August.

• The Santa Monica Pier is attempting to lure locals back to the landmark with art, music and film. A deal with Film Independent is in the works for the Front Porch Cinema film festival, and the will book the pier's popular summer concert series.

• A man tumbled down the steep bluff onto Pacific Coast Highway around 11 a.m. Tuesday. The extent of the man's injuries was not immediately known. A Santa Monica Police spokesman said it appeared the . "A lot of people sleep in the bluff from time to time," he said, noting it was unclear how the man wound up tumbling to the highway.

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
Westwood-Century City Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Culver City Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
Beverly Hills Patch: Daily newsletter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter