Chango is currently hosting the art of Dale Dreiling (from March 4- April 4).
Tomorrow (Sunday, March 14) at 5:30 pm, the cafe will be featuring a special musical guest, Jack Wilson Jr.
Chango is located at 1559 Echo Park Avenue
Well both the Echo Park Beautification/Cleanup and the Elysian Heights Elementary Snow Day Fundraiser were canceled twice due to heavy rain over the past couple of weekends, but for Snow day we are back on schedule for this weekend.
The 1st Annual Snow Day Fundraiser at Elysian Heights Elementary will take place on Saturday, March 13th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Click here for more information about the event.
The Echo Park Beautification has been postponed until further notice – keep your eye out for an update as it looks like the event will take place some time in April.
Tonight is the (E.P.I.C.) Echo Park Independent Co-Op Grand Opening Party and “Post It Note” art show.
The event takes place from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. 10% of all sales this evening will be donated to Million Trees LA, but 100% of all sales of the “Post It Note” Art show to be donated to organization as well.
E.P.I.C. is located at 1712 W. Sunset Blvd.
Over 40 talented all Local Los Angeles fashion designers & artists, Jett Vodka, Food Trucks, DJ, & Raucous fun.
E.P.I.C. Brands include:
925LA, Alexandra Cassaniti, Ashton Michael, Brian Lichtenburg, Dear Creatures, Endovanera, form and fauna, Gabby Applegate, Gregory Alexander, Himiku, House Of Bare, Howl, LadyBoy Shoes, LAS Jewlery, Laura Kranitz, Le sang des betes , Luxary Jones, Maes Jewlery, Mike Vensel, Modern Lovers, Mohawk Street, Natalia Romano, Osei-Duro, Molly Keogh, Philip and Lillian bags by Alison Burns, Poppy and Quail, Prophetik, Propr, Reclaimed in LA, Skarf, Smoke & Mirrors, Sqaures , Paul Strouse, The Battalion, The Bryan Hearns Collection, Vanishing Creatures, & We As Folk.
Click here for the EPIC Facebook page.
From waltarrrrr's Flickr photostream
Perhaps some of you have noticed the sign on the corner of Sunset and Echo Park Ave. that reads “Leo Politi Square”? I myself just noticed it about a year ago and then promptly forgot about it until my roommate asked me what it was all about last week. It turns out that neither of us were completely clueless as this corner was just dedicated to him in 2008. But once I observed that Mr. Politi also had a school and an area of Elysian Park dedicated to him, I did some more investigating. So let’s take a journey into Echo Park’s past and learn a bit about one of our most famous historic figures!
Leo Politi was an artist and an author who write and illustrated at least two dozen children’s books. His most famous is Song of the Swallows which won the Caldecott Medal in 1950. He also illustrated books for other writers, drew and painted countless works of art and created a mural entitled “The Blessing of the Animals” located at El Pueblo de Los Angeles on Olvera Street.
He was referred to as the “artist of Olvera Street.” Beginning in the 1930s, Politi would set up an easel amongst the vendors and sketch tourists and the residents of the Mexican-American community that lived there. He was also an anthropologist of sorts as much of his artwork and his writing dealt with Mexican-American religious ceremonies and customs. Politi’s book Juanita and his mural “The Blessing of the Animals” both explore the traditions surrounding the Easter celebration in that community. Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street is about Mexican-American Christmas traditions.
While working on Olvera Street, Politi lived with his wife and children on Bunker Hill which at the time consisted of Victorian Homes and bungalows. In 1961, their house (along with several others) was condemned in order to make room for office buildings, and the family moved to the Angelino Heights area of Echo Park. Both of these neighborhoods served as inspiration for some of Politi’s later books including Bunker Hill, Los Angeles: Reminiscences of Bygone Days and Angeleno Heights. Created for the adult reader, these books featured Politi’s stunning watercolor paintings of historic Los Angeles neighborhoods.
Mr. Politi passed away in 1996 at the age of 88. His artwork and a couple of his rarer books are now sought after collectibles. However, one can find his more popular books for sale on Amazon, and it looks as though you can find most of them at the L.A. Public Library.
Check out more images of his work below and be sure to take a look at his entry on the Echo Park Historical Society’s website.
On Friday, March 12, Origami Vinyl is hosting a FREE show featuring Ben Harper and Relentless7.
Relentless7, composed of Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky (guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass) and Jordan Richardson (drums), released its album White Lies for Dark Times in May 2009. They also released a CD and DVD of their performance at the 2009 Montreal International Jazz Fest. A limited number of vinyl copies of the life performance as well as White Lies for Dark Times will be available for sale.
Doors open at 8:45 pm and the show starts at 9:00 pm, but since space is limited you should expect to arrive and line up early. Origami Vinyl expects to start lining people up at 7:30 pm.
Origami Vinyl is located at 1816 W. Sunset Blvd.
via andysternberg on Flickr
We recently noticed this Flickr photo in our Echo Park Now Flickr group, uploaded on Sunday, March 6. Well, thanks to the Eastsider, we think we know what this was all about. According to this post:
“…in Echo Park on Sunday afternoon, police detained some males near the intersection of Echo Park Avenue and Duane Street as part of an investigation into a potential burglary. But Murphy said the ‘investigation determined no burglary and they were released.'”
The City of Los Angeles is collecting socks for the “Make the Homeless Count Sock Drive.” According to a press release, the socks will be distributed throughout the city “as part of the effort to count homeless men, women, and children for the U.S. Census.”
The press release continues, “This community is one of the most challenging to accurately count. The Los Angeles Housing Services Authority estimates there are nearly 25,000 homeless in our city on any given night. Getting an accurate count is important because census data is used to determine, among other things, Los Angeles’s allocation of state and federal dollars for programs that help people in need.”
You can donate a new pair of sicks in any size for men, women or children before March 14 at the Echo Park Family Source Center at 1824 Sunset Blvd., or any LA fire station.
For more information, please contact Sindia (ext. 116) or Anna (ext. 112) at (213) 483-6335.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1824+Sunset+Blvd.+los+angeles&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.22949,53.789062&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1824+W+Sunset+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+California+90026&ll=34.077616,-118.26117&spn=0.009864,0.011373&z=16
From Jaime on the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council forum:
I saw Federal officials this morning at Magic Gas… looks like they finally got busted for mixing water in their gas. There have long been whispers that their gas is not 100% gas. I haven’t filled up there for a while because the last time I did, my car did not run well and my tank emptied in less than 3 days! Several neighbors have been complaining about their gas for some time.
Does anyone know if this is for sure? I asked an officer but he said he could not comment. When I asked if it had to do with water in the gas, he replied the same but with a bit of a smirk on his face as if saying, “You got it.” Anyone?
You heard it here first, folks. This Saturday, March 13 at 7:00 pm, Artillery & Ammo will be holding an opening reception for their BEST GROUP SHOW EVER. The show will feature over 25 artists from LA and elsewhere and will be up until April 6. At Artillery & Ammo, an opening reception pretty much equals a party, so I suggest strollin’ on down to 1162 Glendale Blvd. this Saturday to check it out.
Join Erin Tavin & Stefie Nelson at Tavin for Little Birds #2 on Friday, March 12 from 7-9:00 pm.
Featuring: Actress & Artist Grace Zabriskie (“Big Love”) reading from and signing copies of her new book, “Poems.”
Author & Filmmaker Jessica Hundley reading & showing slides from “Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967”
A special appearance by “I’m With the Band” author Pamela Des Barres
Wine courtesy of Bear Flag
Tavin is located at 1543 Echo Park Avenue. Click here to read the store’s website.
Abe Vigoda, Lovvers, and The Black Apples will be playing tonight The Echo at 8:30pm.
“Along with Women, Dirty Projectors and Wavves, Abe Vigoda is chipping away at our expectations of how a 21st century rock band should function.
“Reviver doesn’t simply take the concepts laid down in Skeleton and give them a novel new twist. Instead, this is the sound of a completely different band, barely recognizable from the fumbling, itchy and trebly guitars that prickled through tracks like “Dead City/Waste Wilderness” from the preceding record. They’ve undergone a process of attrition, of paring down the Abe Vigoda sound until it represents something totally new. All the energy and ideas poured into their music have been un-learned and spewed out into a different musical space.” – Prefix Mag
About Abe Vigoda || Listen || Watch video
About Lovvers || Listen
About The Black Apples
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of show, and is 18 and over. Click here to purchase tickets.
The annual INRIX National Traffic Scorecard has been released for the year 2009. Once again our sweet Los Angeles tops the list. LA has held on to number one every year since 2006 with NYC in second place.
What is the worst hour of the week according to INRIX? Thursday at 5pm.
The worst place and time? The Harbor Fwy/CA-110 NB @ 8th Street/Exit 22, Thursday 5-6 PM. [6 mph average speed / 0.35 mile segment]
Find out how the scorecard was created and see the numbers at the INRIX website.
Is anyone actually surprised by this?
The Echoplex is hosting a FREE, all ages screening of The White Stripes Under the Great White Northern Lights, a film about the band’s 2007 tour of Canada. Click here to watch the trailer.
Doors open at 7:30 pm, and the free screening starts at 8:00 pm. The film will be projected over the stage with seating and peppermint candies provided. Click here to RSVP
The Echoplex is located at 1154 Glendale Blvd.
The Komen Los Angeles County Affiliate raises funds to support local breast cancer services and national breast cancer research programs. A major focus is to help women who have symptoms of breast cancer but cannot afford diagnostic work or treatment – either because they do not have health insurance or because their insurance company will not pay. Of all breast cancer foundations, Komen is the only organization where 75% of the net proceeds stay in the communities where they are raised. From www.komenlacounty.org
This Sunday, March 14, thousands of people (including one of the writers of this blog…) are going to be running a 5K around Dodger’s Stadium in order to raise funds for women with breast cancer in L.A. County. The race starts and finishes at Dodger’s Stadium and winds through the area surrounding it. It doesn’t look as though any roads are going to be closed off, so traffic shouldn’t be a problem.
If you have any interest in running the race, it’s not too late to sign up! Click here to learn more or to make a donation!