Question
I live in the northern portion of Los Angeles and seem to have some sort of fungus growing in my lawn.  

The growth is in the soil and coming out of the soil about 1/4 to 1/2 inches, it's kind of bulb-like or ball-like, brownish/pinkish in color, and varies in size (as small as a pea and as big as a walnut.  It's about the same softness/hardness as your typical store bought mushroom and smells similar when broken open.  

I've uploaded a few pictures at: http://photos.yahoo.com/jerbae

I am wondering if anyone knows what this is?  Is it dangerous? to humans? dogs? what can be done to get rid of it?

Thanks,
Jay

Answer
Jay,
your descriptions and pictures admittedly have me a bit puzzled.

It does not look like any mushroom or fungus growth.

It next thought of worm casting, but they generally do not smell if opened up and they seldom becomes this big (typically smaller pepple sized depots on the lawn).

My only other thought are one of two things:
- we had dogs visiting our lawn. The dog feces ended up rotting (I suppose by some composting baterial breakdown) and it smelled horrible when kicked. They ended up as small balls as you describe which seemed to "fuse" into the soil.

- The only other think I can think of is some kind of decomposing matter which is being broken down in anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions. This typically makes such process smell horrible. If the organic matter is enclosed in some kind of membrane where air is excluded, it can stink horribly. This can happen if very fresh (green) organic matter with high organic contents keep moisture trapped so air can not penetrate the decomposition process. You can experience this in a compost pile if you drop a lot of green grass clippings in large clumps. My only thought here is if you mowed the lawn and grass clippings did not fall evening down the lawn, but fell in small clumps (because the grass was very wet when mowed). However, it certainly does not explain the almost woody look of the material.

My guess is probably that this is related to decomposing dog feces, but that is only a guess based on my own past experience and fact that it appear to be happening along the sidewalk where people may take their dogs for a walk (I am guessing based on your pictures).

Sorry that I can not be of more help here.

I would continue to remove it.
I don't think you have something serious to worry about (e.g. actually dangerous) but it certainly is not pleasant and I would probably wash hands after handling nevertheless. I would probably continue to dig and discard the small balls, and if it does not pass in another few month, then consider contacting your local county extension office (maybe even mail them a sample).

Regards
Kenneth