It Came From Under L.A....

Sounds like the title of a 1950's horror flick, but it's actually going on in a neighborhood in L.A.:

A mysterious black blob attacked downtown Los Angeles on Monday with a tar-like goo that oozed from manholes, buckled a street and unmoored a Raymond Chandler-era brick building, firefighters said.

About 200 residents were forced to flee as a hazardous materials team and dozens of firefighters worked throughout the day to identify what was first deemed "a black tarry substance" and later morphed into a "watery mud."

While outside temperatures struggled to break 60, sidewalks in the vicinity steamed at 103 degrees, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers said.

"It's worrisome in the fact that it will keep the street closed and residents will be evacuated till the building is considered safe," Myers said.

Firefighters were alerted at 3 a.m. by complaints of a sewer-like smell at an apartment house at 1220 S. Olive St. near Pico Boulevard, but found nothing.

They returned at 1 p.m. to find a Slimer-like ooze lurking beneath central Los Angeles.

"We were called back because there was a gooey substance, a tarry-type substance, coming out the underground electrical vaults, out of manhole covers in the street, through the sidewalks and possibly in one older apartment building," Myers said.

Of course, in L.A. we have the La Brea Tar Pits where many a prehistoric animal met their gooey demise. This whole thing reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy routine where he describes taking his brother to the tar pits museum. After learning that dinosaur bones had been discovered, his brother said:

"You wouldn't think dinosaurs would come this close to downtown".

Could they be making a return? Stay tuned....