Friday, April 23rd
8:00 pm
Origami Vinyl will be premiering ‘Together’ by The New Pornographers
Free drinks and goodies.
Stop by for your chance to win tickets to see the New Pornographers at the Music Box on July 20th.
RSVP: gettogetherla@gmail.com
Wednesday, April 28
7:30 pm
$15
18+
featuring:
Mayaztek
LA Fog
Chango
Chicano Batman
Allan Ides with DJ Phatrick
100% of the proceeds go towards keeping Eviction Defense Network
To Purchase tickets, or for more information, please call 213.385.8112 or email info@evictiondefensenetwork.org
The Eviction Defense Network (EDN) is a network of trial lawyers, advocates and tenants dedicated to defending the right to affordable housing and ensuring access to justice in housing matters to tenants in Los Angeles County. EDN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance and representation to tenants facing eviction. – EDN website
Today, April 22, marks the first day of the CA Cash for Appliances rebate program. If you buy an eligible appliance during the rebate period, recycle your old appliance with a certified recycler, and fill out the rebate form, you get $200 for refrigerators, $100 for clothes washers, and $50 for air conditioners. If you’re interested in the program, get started soon – it continues through May 23, or until the rebate funds run out. Just about anyone is eligible, just be sure to check out the website for details to make sure you’re one of them.
The LADWP also offers rebates through the Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program when you apply online. The rebates will help you get high efficiency clothes washer units, residential drought resistant landscaping, high efficiency toilets, weather-based irrigation controllers, rotating sprinkler nozzles, and synthetic turf. Click here for more information on what the rebate offers.
An LADWP press release last week announced February’s water use was the lowest recorded water use in 32 years, also marking 31 consecutive months of reduced water use.
“In a time when water resources are scarce throughout the state, Los Angeles is taking the lead and setting an example on how to conserve water and maintain a sustainable water supply,” said James McDaniel, LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager – Water System. “The more we can rely on our City’s available water resources, the better prepared we are to get through this water crisis as a state.”
The department claims Angelenos have cut water use by 30 billion gallons over the past nine months, and 50 billion gallons since July 2007.
But it’s almost summer, and soon enough those heavily landscaped areas will need watering in the hot desert sun. As a reminder to our readers, Los Angeles county water restrictions start June 1, after which it is “illegal” to:
- Use sprinklers on any day other than Monday and Thursday
- Water landscaping, including lawns, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm
- Water using sprinklers for more than 15 minutes per watering station, 10 minutes for other irrigation systems
- Use water on any hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways, driveways, or parking areas
- Allow runoff onto streets and gutters from excessive watering
- Allow leaks from any pipe or fixture to go unrepaired
- Wash vehicles without using a hose with a shut-off nozzle
- Service water to customers in restaurants unless requested
Click here for the full list in PDF form.
There are a bunch of business in Echo Park that offer eco-friendly goods and services. Here are just a few:
- E.P.I.C (Echo Park Independent Co-op) sells locally-made fashions and one of it’s co-founders, Rhianon Jones, is a huge supporter of eco-fashion.
- Warwick on Sunset is all about recycling household items and re-styling vintage clothing.
- Tavin boutique offers vintage collectibles and new local eco-designs. And through the end of the month, they’re offering free shipping on all Etsy orders.
- Feeding Birds Boutique is a vintage store in Echo Park that carries unique clothing (including organic tees), accessories and decorative objects.
- This week at Vons, they’ll deliver your groceries for free if you buy five earth-friendly products online.
- Masa uses lots of organic, local produce in their foods, and they’ve started to use eco-friendly packaging and doing away with plastic bags for take out (unless you’re desperate).
- The Echo Park Time Bank conserves energy in a very unique way: by getting rid of the middle man and the use of currency.
- Aisling Walsh is the Maid on a Moped. She’s got both an online local vintage store and she offers eco-friendly cleaning services.
- The Echo Park Film Center has an eco-friendly option for film education – the Echo Park Film Mobile is an old school bus transformed into an eco-friendly mobile cinema and educational facility, providing free documentary film screenings and filmmaking workshops in non-traditional venues.
- Delilah’s Bakery recycles all of their food waste through a Los Angeles-based company called Athens Waste Management. The company also supplies Delilah’s with its compostable packaging for take-away orders, and offers an oil waste collection service as well.
- The Green Beacon Foundation, located in Elysian Heights, focuses on environmental educational, teaching you how to lead more sustainable lives through workshops and lectures. The next workshop called “Intro to Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy” is in May, visit the website for more info.
“Are you an avid cyclist or looking to ride your bike more often?” Google Maps took a step in a more bike-friendly direction about a month ago when they added biking directions as a transportation option. One can both get directions for traveling via bike and view which streets are safest for cycling. The project is still in the beta phase, however, and the directions and the suggestions for the best biking streets are not definitive.
Click on the image above to view the interactive Google map
But, as you can see from the map above, Los Angeles is not exactly Amsterdam. The green lines translate as follows: a dark green line indicates a bike path with no cars, a light green line indicates a street with a bike lane and a dotted green line indicates a street without a bike lane but which is less busy and safer for cycling. Google Maps also takes into account changes in elevation and suggests routes that don’t feature very steep streets.
There are several other resources out there for fans of two-wheeled transportation:
- LADOT has both a bike blog and a guide to biking in Los Angeles in PDF form that features rules, regulations and suggestions.
- LA Metro has a guide to biking routes in LA (pdf).
- Gmaps Pedometer is a great resource for cyclists who are also on a mission to burn calories. Just click on the map to create your own route. It will tell you how many miles you’ve traveled, how many calories you’ve burned (really?) and changes in elevation.
- On the second Friday of every month (along with a variety of other rides throughout the month), Midnight Ridazz organizes a night-time bike ride throughout Los Angeles.
- LA Streetsblog follows news and events in all things bike riding.
- Echo Park Cycles is, you guessed it, a local bike shop where you can get new gear or a tune-up. Prices are reasonable and the staff friendly!
- Thursday April 22nd – Earth Day at Environment Furniture: Want to get pampered? Then head over to the Environment Furniture show room for some earth-friendly fashion and makeovers There will also be a silent auction benefiting Brand Aid Haiti. The event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. at 8126 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90048 (map).
- Thursday April 22nd – LA Green Drinks Present I Heart Earth: Join up with the local LA Green drinks crowd as they combine forces with all of the chapters to create one be Green Drinks event at the New LEED Cheroke Lofts in the Fairfax District. Meet and greet with lots of local organizations doing good green work. More info at http://lagreendrinks.blogspot.com/
- Thursday April 22nd – Pledge For The Planet: Join local business owners and community members pledge to make eco-friendly changes in their lives. Independent music collective Dublab will be there spinning live and come via public transportation or your bike. The event starts at 12 p.m. Learn more at Sustainablesilverlake.org
- Thursday April 22nd – Global Home Tree Benefit: Celebrate Earth Day with James Cameron and the crew behind the film at the Nokia Live event in downtown Los Angeles. Enjoy live music, see eco-highlights of the film and participate in a Q&A with cast and crew. Get complete details and tickets (that benefit local at risk youth) email EarthDayHomeTree@gmail.com
- Thursday April 22nd -Valley Water Expo: Did you know you could receive up to 2,000 from LADWP? Learn about this and more ways you can be “Water Wise” at the Valley Water Expo. Get complete details at http://valleywaterexpo.blogspot.com/
Via Your Daily Thread. Visit their site for weekend earth day events and other eco friendly stories and tips.
Tonight is the monthly Echo Park Improvement Association’s Neighborhood Issues Committee. The meeting takes place at 7:00 pm at Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital (2000 Stadium Way). Here’s the current agenda for the meeting:
- Introductions and sign-in
- Schools:
- Van De Kamps/LACC-LACCD Update (Garsten)
- Land Use:
- Barlow Hospital-Proposed Entitlements and Development Update (Garsten)
- Jenson’s Sign Update (Hubert)
- Durbin project and Morton Village complex Update (Garsten)
- Filming Committee (Garsten)
- City Policies on News Stand Removals (Lassen, Garsten)
- 6 New SRF on Rosebud Ave in Echo Park – Community Members
- Four-Square Senior Housing Project – MND
- New Items: LAUSD Parcel Tax
- Parks:
- Echo Park Lake: Restoration Project (Raskin) and Illegal Flea Market (Garsten)
- Elysian Park (Peters)
- New business
- Public Works:
- Route 2 Terminus Improvement Project Updates (Lassen, Raskin)
- Mural Projects-EPIA Committee Progress? (Lassen, Meksin)
- Walkable Streets-Streetscape and pedestrian amenities (Meksin report on forming working group)
- Dodgers traffic issues (Hubert)
- New Business
- EPIA Policies & Procedures
- Standing Rules, Membership Dues. (Hubert discussion on Dues)
- EPIAn Way newsletter discussion / internet presence
- Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items
- Future Agendas Items
- Next Meeting
- Adjourn
From WeiNeverSleeps Tweetphoto
At around 4:00 pm today, a fire broke out in a median near the corner of Douglas and Sunset Blvd. The Eastsider LA is reporting that firefighters do not yet know what caused the fire.
Photo by Misha Gravenor for Dwell
I think sometimes it’s easy to forget that our politicians are also our neighbors. Therefore, I thought I’d share some pictures of the beautiful and earth friendly home councilman Eric Garcetti shares with Amy Elaine Wakeland. Their home was featured in the 2008 July/August issue of Dwell magazine. The house was designed by Daniel Dworsky (who designed the Bradley terminal at LAX!) in the early 1950s. It was then adapted by architect Elissa Scrafano when Garcetti and Wakemen purchased the home. You can see more pictures and read about all of the ecologicaly friendly renovations on Dwell’s website.
We figured that Earth Day week would be a good time to address the subject of community gardens and urban farming in and around Echo Park.
First, if you are interested in finding a community garden near you, I suggest consulting the Los Angeles Community Garden Council website. There aren’t any LACGC-affiliated gardens in Echo Park itself, but there are a few located pretty close to us. The closest one is Jarden del Rio located in Elysian Heights.
The LA Community Garden Council also uses a site called GrowFriend that helps link up growers who need land with those who have land and don’t garden. If you go to the website and create a profile, you can view a map of what and who’s available in your area.
Second, some exciting news just came to us from Tara over at Silver Lake Farms. Since 2003, Tara has been growing flowers, herbs and vegetables in her backyard and selling them at local farmer’s markets. In 2009 L.A. City’s Department of Building and Safety told her that she would have to stop or pay a fine/serve six months in jail. They told her that what she was doing was illegal because it wasn’t “Truck Gardening.” This means that it’s illegal to sell anything grown in residential gardens unless it’s a vegetable. Read more
Join Warwick vintage store tonight for Echo Park Hospitality Night, starting at 8:00 pm. Warwick is launching a few new lines of vintage wear, including jewelry by Dark + Dawn and Birds of a Feather. In addition to the new lines, the store will feature art by Cody Comrie and music by Patrick Melcher.
Click here to view the Facebook event page.
When I first moved to Echo Park a few years ago, one of my primary questions had to do with recycling in the neighborhood. I was concerned about some pretty basic stuff, like what to recycle in the blue bin, but I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t throwing away items that didn’t belong in either bin.
General Recycling in your blue bin:
- Styrofoam: This was my biggest surprise about L.A. County recycling. The Styrofoam containers and cups you get to-go from a restaurant are recyclable – just rinse it out so it’s nice and clean and you’re good to go.
- Clean, dry paper
- Cardboard Boxes and Chipboard (even your frozen food boxes that aren’t heavily coated in wax.)
- Flattened metals such as aluminum, tin, cans, etc. Rinse them out or clean them off. Empty paint and aerosol cans are also recyclable when you remove the caps.
- Glass bottles and jars
- Clean plastics 1 through 7
- Plastic bags and film bags such as grocery bags and clean film plastic.
- Miscellaneous plastics like coat hangers and even plastic swimming pools.
Click here to view the Bureau of Sanitation’s full list of do’s and dont’s for blue bin recycling.
In celebration of Earth Day, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Cleanup Project is hosting an Echo Park Cleanup Day on Sunday, April 25 at 10:00 am.
Donuts and supplies will be provided, and anyone in the community is welcome to join. The group will be meeting at the Walgreens parking lot at 10:00 am.
Click here for information about the L.A. Neighborhood Cleanup Project and its cleanup efforts around the city.
Celebrate Earth Day with L.A. Works with a revitalization project at Elysian Park on Thursday, April 22 from 8:00 am – 12 noon.
“We are honored to restore and preserve the beauty of this park for our city,” says the website. “Project activities will include: weeding, mulching, raking, trimming, trail maintenance, trash pick up, graffiti removal and park bench refinishing.”
So far, 29 people of 150 spots are signed up to volunteer, and you can register here (you’ll receive specific directions once you sign up).