826LA just announced their upcoming writing workshops for kids and teenagers. Over the next month and a half, kids can learn to do things like write a screenplay, create a piece of fantasy writing and re-imagine Valentine’s Day (jealous!). Check out the listing on their website for more details and to sign up!

826LA is also working on a project called High School Students – Talk Back! In their own words:

“You, this generation’s high school students, know so much about education—and yet you’re rarely asked. 826LA is working with other 826 chapters nationwide to produce a sequel to 826 Valencia’s Talking Back: What Students Know About Teaching. Come to the 826LA writing labs and work with 826LA tutors to write essays for this book, for possible publication by Edutopia and The New Press!”

Click here for more info.

I’d like to welcome the weekend with two very different pictures from Flickr.

Echo Park Lake as a rainstorm passes by. From Newsphotog2's flickr.

Have You Seen My Dignity? From Pixx of Nixx's flickr.

There is a lot going on at Echo Curio this month! For those who don’t know, Echo Curio is located at 1519 Sunset Blvd. Echo Park, CA 90026 on the intersection of Laveta Ter and Sunsent Blvd. They open their doors 1 hour before shows start. Since the list is long I’m going to add one of those helpful read more links! Click below to see the list of February shows. Remember sometimes shows change at the last minute so check out their website to stay informed. Events are all ages and their is always art on the walls (a lot done by Echo Park residents).
Read more

A few days ago, we received some comments on our Echo Park Art Hop post regarding the galleries that AREN’T being featured during said event. We tracked down the writer of these comments and found what turned out to be a really cool guy and an awesome gallery that we never knew existed.

Artillery & Ammo is owned by Henry, a long-time Echo Park resident, and the shows are curated by Deryke. The reason that they don’t get a lot of press is because they’re tucked away in that strange spot on Glendale underneath the Sunset bridge. I’ll be writing more about them in another post dedicated to the stores and galleries in that little strip.

In the meantime, you should check out the group show that’s up right now.  It’s called “Friends of Ours…” and features three local artists: Bill Donovan, Maureen Sheilds and Patrick Haemmerlein. They’ll be having a hard closing (read: wine and cheese) for the show on Saturday, February 6th around 7 p.m.

I went to here for the first time a few weeks ago to see Black Church and it was great. They got the sound right. The girl working the door was very nice, the bathroom was clean and it wasn’t crazy packed. You can park on Glendale in that far right lane after a certain time at night. It was byob when I was there but I can’t say if that’s an official thing for the venue or not. Wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble 😉

Leonard Gonzales of the Ear, Eye, Nose Candy blog will be collecting donations for Haiti at El Cid in Silverlake on Saturday, January 30, 2010.

Former Sunday’s Best drummer and Kite Eating Tree guitarist Tom Ackerman, will be playing with his new project, Star Part (Margate is also on the bill). The band will be donating the proceeds of the sales of their record “What You Bleed is What You Get” to the cause. A $5 donation will get you a copy of the Star Parts album and sticker.

All donations will be taken on behalf of the Los Angeles Chapter of The Red Cross to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti.

Spitfire Girl, Pull My Daisy, Dusty’s Bistro, and Dangerbird Records have all donated items for a raffle as well.

Doors open at 9:00 pm and the show starts at 10:00 pm, $10 at the door.

Click here to check out the Ear, Eye, Nose Candy blog post and more information about the event, donations, and the raffle.

When: Thursday, February 04, 2010 from 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Where: 826LA East (Echo Park)

Purchase tickets here ($25.00 + service charge) and soon! Tickets are limited.

Event Description:

Join us for a panel discussion featuring some of the best hired hands in the business. Four freelance writers will share stories and advice about writing for various publications including newspapers and magazines. They will discuss their inspirations, how to turn an idea into a story, and how to get hired.

Joshuah Bearman is a former editor and writer at the LA Weekly. He has written for Harpers, McSweeneys, Wired, Rolling Stone, and contributes to This American Life.

Claire Hoffman works as a freelance writer for a number of national magazines, including Rolling Stone, GQ, and the New Yorker. Claire is also an Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Riverside. Before going freelance, Claire worked for Condé Nast Portfolio and the Los Angeles Times, where she covered everything from Hollywood and polygamist Mormons to the adult entertainment industry.
 Claire has two masters degrees—one in religious studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School and another from the Columbia School of Journalism. Before coming to California, Claire worked as an intern and a freelance reporter for the New York Times.

Neal Pollack is the author of several acclaimed books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling memoir Alternadad and the satirical cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology Of American Literature, originally published by McSweeneys. His freelance writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, GQ, Men’s Journal, Maxim, Details, Slate.com, Salon.com, and many other publications. His next book, STRETCH: The Unlikely Making Of A Yoga Dude, will be published in August by Harper Perennial. He lives about ten miles away from here, with his wife and son.

Joel Stein grew up in Edison, N.J., went to Stanford and then worked for Martha Stewart for a year. After a year of fact-checking at various important publications (okay, Readers Digest Books and TV Guide), he got hired as a sports editor at Time Out New York, where they paid him to write sentences. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world. Two years later he lucked into a job as a staff writer for Time magazine, where over seven and a half years he wrote a dozen cover stories on subjects such as Michael Jordan, Las Vegas, the Internet bubble and — it being Time and he being a warm body in the office — low-carb diets. After teaching a class in humor writing at Princeton, he moved to L.A. at the beginning of 2005 to write a column for the Los Angeles Times and work as a sitcom writer. In addition to working for the failed show Crumbs, he has already had two failed pilots at ABC and hopes to expand into failed pilots at other networks. He still contributes to Time and whatever magazines allow him to. He just sold a book proposal to Grand Central about learning how to be a man.

Moderated by Zach Frechette, Editor in Chief of GOOD.

Stand With Haiti—LISTEN! DANCE!

From the Tropico De Nopal website:

A night of readings and music to benefit Partners in Health, providing medical care for Haiti’s poor before, during, and after the earthquake.

Please join us and help raise urgently needed funds for medical relief efforts in Haiti.

Proceeds will be donated to PARTNERS IN HEALTH

Music sets: CECI BASTIDA, DOMINGO SIETE

Poetry and prose: Will Alexander, Gloria Alvarez, Tisa Bryant, Percival Everett, Ben Ehrenreich, Sesshu Foster, Veronica Gonzales, Jen Hofer, Doug Kearney, Chris Kraus, Maggie Nelson, Abel Salas.

Dj sets: Glenn Red, Concise, Gomez Comes Alive

The Tropico De Nopal Gallery/Art space is located at 1665 Beverly Blvd. (click for map)

Click here for the LA Times blog article about the event.

Flyer design by Dale Dreiling

Echo Park Art Hop will feature over 20 artists plus fun workshops around Echo Park on Saturday, February 6 from 12 noon – 6:00 pm.

From the Art Needs Freedom website:

A one day event that will turn the neighborhood of Echo Park into a fun, playful and engaging artistic landscape! Imagine, gathering with your group of friends on the corner of Echo Park Ave. and Delta St.  Bundled up in L.A. winter gear, not quite sure what adventure you’re about to get into, you’re handed a map.  On this map you discover the sites of chain link fence galleries, driveway theaters, a hands on crafting station, performance art, intersection musical performances, outdoor movie screenings, sculptures, parking lot mini concerts and other various creative & mind stimulating public displays of ART. Before the adventure begins, you and your friends head into Chango for a hot cocoa or latte, with a side of scone.

If you’re an artist, musician, an Echo Park Ave.  business owner or resident, neighbor, friend, all of the above (or none of the above) and want to get involved or support this community event please email me! heather@ArtNeedsFreedom.com
To add yourself to the Facebook guest list, click here.

Free fruit and citrus trees will be handed out today (Friday, January 22) at the Echo Park Farmers’ Market. TreePeople staff will provide information on proper tree planing and care of the trees, some of which include apple, apricot, grapefruit, lemon, peach, tangerine, and more.

3pm-7pm, at the Echo Park Farmer’s Market, rain or shine

For more info please call (323) 463-3171

Sponsored by TreePeople

Join Warwick and others for Echo Park’s monthly Hospitality Night, tonight starting at 9:00 pm.

The event begins west of Alvarado, and continues east towards Dodgers stadium. Finish up the crawl at our good friend’s vintage shop, Warwick, for some good merchandise and good company.

Click here for a list of participating businesses.

We arrived at Delilah’s Bakery SUPER early to nab our own citrus tree at the EPIA Fruit/Citrus tree giveaway. Thank you EPIA for our very own Margarita tree…err Lime tree!

There will be another give-away so make sure to reserve your tree and arrive early.

And don’t forget the next EPIA Neighborhood Issues Committee meeting is Wednesday, January 20 from 7-9:00 pm at Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital.