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Echo Park resident geared up for AIDs LifeCycle ride

Tomorrow (Sunday, June 5, 2011), Echo Park resident Katherine Gladwin will embark on a seven-day, 545 mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The ride is in support of AIDS/LifeCycle, where participants raise money to help support the organization that provides HIV testing and treatment.

The timing for this event is perfect and purposeful: The start of the fund raising/informational tour on Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of HIV/AIDs. Also, June is national LGBT month, and Los Angeles is kicking off the first ever LGBT Heritage month.

Katherine works at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center doing HIV testing and counseling, so it’s a very important cause for her. “I’ve been working in the field of HIV Prevention for over a year and I’ve been an avid cyclist for 7+ years now, so doing this ride is an awesome opportunity to raise life-saving money while doing something I love,” she says on her AIDS/LifeCycle profile page.

The ride ends in Santa Monica on June 11 for the closing ceremonies.

You can donate to our fellow Echo Park resident’s cause by clicking here. Also check out her fundraising video sent to us by director Car Nazzal. Notice all the great Echo Park shots!

KATHERINE AIDS.LIFE.CYCLE FUNDRAISING VIDEO from Car Nazzal on Vimeo.

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Submit your theme ideas for the Echo Park Community Parade

Local school performs at the 2010 holiday parade

As were are upon the end of May, I’m reminded that the deadline is approaching for everyone to submit their theme ideas for this year’s Echo Park Community Parade (aka Holiday Parade).

The parade will take place on Saturday, December 10th, 2011 from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm along Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park.

Last year’s theme was “Echo Park: We Are the World.” The deadline for your recommendations and creative ideas is Friday, June 17, 2011. Tell your ideas to: Cindy Ortiz at (323) 664-2412, Maryanne Hayashi at (213) 241-0908, Robert Aguayo at (213) 483-6335, ext. 101.

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Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium smoked out

So we’re at the Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium on the Reserve level, enjoying talking to locals like Bennett Kayser (who just won a School Board seat the other day), neighbors, and other EPIA members when all of a sudden this plume of smoke comes barreling down on us. Not too long after, an officer announces to our section that we should all move seats toward the other part of the stadium.

As it turns out, a “cinder block storage room away from public” on the upper level had caught fire, according to the LA Times. Thankfully, there was a helicopter nearby to shine its big bright light on the smoke. Soon thereafter, firefighters arrived – but at the 7th inning, the crowd was distracted, confused, and the Dodgers were losing 6-1 to the Marlins.

According to the announcement at the Stadium (just before we left due to the choking burnt plastic smell), the fire was under control. Thankfully, no panicking, no evacuation, but the Dodgers couldn’t pull it through. Hopefully the next Echo Park night out will be more successful!

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Long-time Echo Park/HiFi bar closing its doors

Flickr photo via mikeywally

A long-time Echo Park/Historic Filipino Town establishment has just recently announced it will be closing it’s doors in June after 24 years of service to our neighborhood. If you’re a late-night kind of person, you’d be here (and I mean LATE) amongst a mixed crowd of hipsters and long-time neighbors for jazz and well-known DJs. Know the bartender and you might be able to stay after they “turn off the lights.”

Founded in April of 1987 by jazz singer Miki Saito and her sister Maya, it’s not necessarily an attractive frontage (shady renters peering at you through curtains of the Knights Inn, and some unwelcoming patio furniture probably as old as the establishment out front), but inside is some surprisingly attractive 80’s decor you’ll enjoy as you sip an $8 cocktail from a plastic cup. It’s those little details you’ll probably miss a little, so make sure to get in some good times before the doors close.

Closing party is on June 8, check out the Dinner House M website for more details.

h/t LA Times Daily Dish

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Last chance for tix to Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium

Last year’s Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium (aka Community Night) was a lot of fun – we got to meet new friends who live in the community and watch a Dodgers game. This year’s community night is coming up fast – Saturday, May 28 at 7:10 pm.

Hosted by the Echo Park Improvement Association, Community Night is an annual tradition you shouldn’t miss out on! Plus, half of the proceeds to the Echo Park Historical Society to aid in the restoration of the Jensen’s Recreation Center sign.

Tickets are just $10 for reserve seats.

Click here to contact the EPIA to reserve your tickets, or email epiamail@yahoo.com. You can also call the message line at 877-860-EPIA.

Please provide your full name, phone number, email address, and the number of tickets you’d like to purchase. The EPIA will follow up with directions on how to pick up/receive your tickets.

See you there!

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Climbing some big stairways at the third annual Big Parade

We didn’t get a chance to tell you about this ahead of time, but the Big Parade III is going on right now and through the rest of this weekend.

The 35-mile, two day excursion covers 100 stairways of beautiful Echo Park, Downtown, Silver Lake and Los Feliz, and is led by Bob Inman, nicknamed the “stairway god.”

While the tour has started as of the publication of this post, the tour is organized by “loops” and you can join in at any time. The best part? You can find out where they are, real time, by checking out their Twitter page (right now they are on the Downtown LA segment).

Some of the highlights for today’s tour include an Echo Park loop, meeting at Fix Coffee at 3:00 pm for a 5.5 mile historic stairways loop. At 6:00 pm is the final loop of the day in Angelino Heights, meeting at Lot 1 Cafe for a two mile tour of the Victorian architecture of the neighborhood and Echo Park Lake. Check out the map below and visit the website for more details on timelines:


Sunday’s tour covers Silver Lake and Los Feliz, all the way up to the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign.

Along the way, you’ll discuss historical points of interest, nature, and architecture – all things which make our neighborhoods awesome!

Big Parade III
May 21-22, 2011
Follow on Twitter
Visit the website for timetables and more info

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Marion Harlow Grove cleanup Sunday

Flicker photo by A.C.Thamer

Help maintain this beautiful memorial garden by pulling weeds, tagging native plants, and picking up trash in the area.

Meet at the Marion Harlow Grove on Sunday, May 22 (tomorrow!) at 8:30 am to noon.

RSVP by e-mail to Sallie Nuebauer at beachy2004@yahoo.com, or call 323.666.9651 the day of event.

The Grove is located at the top of the hill by the DWP Water tower and Horse Corral off Park Drive and Avon Terrace.

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Big weekend on the calendar for Echo Park

There’s a lot going on this weekend, like A LOT. The Echo Park PDA (Public Displays of Art) Art Walk and the Echo Park Shop Hop on Saturday, lots of Big Sunday events on Sunday, and the first annual Taste of the Eastside also on Sunday.We’ll try to make sense of it all in your following to-do list (of which there are MANY):

Friday:

EPCAP party:

Tonight is the opening party for the Echo Park Community Art Project. Bring your checkbook if you’d like to purchase some awesome artwork made by local high school students and artists, but don’t forget your dancing shoes. In the totally incredible backyard Origami Vinyl is curating the sounds, with DJs Chris Ziegler (LA Record), Mahssa Taghinia (Finders Keepers), Sean Stentz (Origami Vinyl), and Matt Eagleson (Origami Vinyl). See you at Sancho Gallery (1549 Sunset Blvd.) from 7-10:00 pm.

Saturday:

Echo Park PDA Art Walk

When: Saturday, May 14 from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm

Where: Echo Park Ave. from Curran St to Sunset, and along Sunset to Alvarado. There’s a PDF map, click here to download.

What it is: A one day sidewalk celebration to connect, inspire, and create community through the arts. Local businesses, galleries, and neighbors of Echo Park are coming together to showcase art, music, performances, workshops, special promotions, and sidewalk chalk art. This is a FREE event, open to the public, for all ages.

Click here for a list of participating vendors, but there are some notable highlights:

Feeding Birds: 1825 Echo Park Ave.

The Eastsider LA is giving out screen-printed shopping bags, and Feeding Birds will be screen-printing your shirt (bring one in) with the “Echo Park” logo or “The Eastsider LA” logo for just $5.00 per shirt.

Music lineup includes: Mo Bel, Hayley Taylor, Soundmasons, Tinylittle, and LA Font

Giveaways, prizes, snacks, drinks, sales and much more going on at Feeding Birds! (PS: Creator of the Echo Park Art Walk, Heather, will be there and she was once a Feeding Birds intern!)

826LA and the Echo Park Time Travel Mart

They are unveiling a brand new interactive window display at 12:00 pm. David Barnes, the art director behind Of Montreal, will be reading from his new book, What’s Weird?, at 4:00 pm at 826LA.

REWIND The Recycled Electronics Store

Live music refreshments, door prizes & discounts all with a neighborhood vibe.

Tavin Boutique

On site machine knitting & spinning wheel, colorful organic knits by Kerry Regan, shear aplaca wool by Anna Schwartz, live piano music by Nathan Stein, and sales on merchandise. From 12:30-6:00 pm.

EPCAP Workshops

Free animation workshops led by Echo Park Film Center on Saturday from 2-5:00 pm

Interactive Exhibit Tours led by Negative Space Curation on Saturday from 1-4:00 pm

Echo Park Shop Hop

Participating businesses will be offering discounts throughout Saturday, including Masa, Two Boots, Origami Vinyl, Stories, and more!

Click here for the flyer!

Sunday:

Big Sunday with GEPENC:

The Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council is partnering with Big Sunday, parents and students of Logan Street Elementary School, along with neighbors and friends, for a day of service at Logan Street Elementary and neighborhood clean up in Echo Park.

The event is scheduled for Sunday, May 15th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

There will be a number of projects at Logan, including the painting of a mural, the building of vegetable gardens, the planting of flowers and landscaping.

Cleanup and garden boxes with Garcetti and friends:

Eric Garcetti’s office has partnered up with Assemblymember Gil Cedillo’s Office, Senator Kevin de Leon’s Office and Kaiser Permanente for some events on both Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers will building small boxed community gardens on Saturday, and delivering them on Sunday to some our neediest families, schools and organizations. They will also be leading a community clean up on Sunday, May 15th around Echo Park Lake.

The box construction project will be taking place Saturday, May 14th and the delivery of the boxes will be taking place Sunday, May 15th.

Meet at El Centro del Pueblo located at 1157 Lemoyne St. Both days will start promptly at 9:00 am and will wrap up at 12 noon. Lunch will be provided.

Taste of the Eastside

Lots of Echo Park restaurants participating in this event on Sunday from 1-5:00 pm at Barnsdall Art Park, located at 4800 Hollywood Blvd. Click here for the full story we published the other day!

EPCAP Workshops

Creative Writing with Contemporay Art with Lauren Strasnick (YA Fiction author) from 1-2:00 pm

Exploring Light and Photography with David Starkopf (official photographer for Mayor Villaraigosa) from 2-3:00 pm

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Echo Park German Shephard Adoption Event

Blue Collar Supplies is hosting a German Shepard adoption event in Echo Park this weekend. Adopting your new furry friend from this event also means that the animal is already spayed/neutered, up-to-date shots and microchipped, so you really can’t lose!

Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 12:00 noon – 3:00 pm

BlueCollar Supplies is located at 1533 Echo Park Avenue

Here are just a few of the dogs available for adoption. If you’re interested, come to the event to meet the one you’re interested in! Visit sheprescue.org to view more photos and fill out an application.

Click here for the full flyer.

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What’s up with the Cuban Music Festival at Echo Park Lake?

Flickr photo by Max Santa Cruz, May 2010

My answer is simple: We have no idea!

But we’ve been getting a LOT of emails about this – like, a LOT. So we’ll try and clear things up for everyone excited for a day of congas and Cuba!

First off, the Cuban Music Festival is an annual event at Echo Park Lake – this year marks the 17th. It celebrates Cuba’s Independence from Spain on May 20, and Cuban poet José Martí (you may have notice his statue at the corner of the park).

The festival is usually held on the closest Sunday to that May 20th date – making this year’s Cuban Festival maybe on May 22, 2011. I have not gotten this confirmed by any event organizers, but would love to hear back from them soon and will let everyone know as soon as I know!

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Echo Park parking lot begins renovations, maybe…

Parking on a week night seemed unusually difficult recently in the lot located behind Stories at Lemoyne, lot number 662 to be exact. Not a sinlge open stall – something you’d expect on a Friday or Saturday night around the Echo and the Echoplex. But parkers seemed to be taking advantage of a huge number of free parking spots, as the city appears to be renovating how you park in lot 662.

Last September, parking meters along Echo Park streets were replaced with the new, fancy schmancy ones that accept credits cards (no excuses – no more free parking for broken meters). A couple of years before, neighboring lot 643 near Echo Park got park and pay installed. While we haven’t nailed down exactly what’s going on back there, with the city’s constant battle against broken meters in lot 662 we think they might just be ready for an upgrade.

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Elysian Heights fundraiser promises EP stories and treats

Join the Friends of Elysian Heights and the Echo Park Improvement Association for an Elysian Heights fundraiser on Saturday, May 7, 2011.

“Echo Park Stories and Enchiladas” is a free event with an enchilada plate costing a mere $5, stories are free! There will also be live music, a silent auction, and is open to everyone.

Elysian Heights Elementary is located at 1562 Baxter Street
4-8:00 pm on Saturday, May 7, 2011

Click here to donate to Elysian Heights via Paypal.

More information, provided by the event organizers:

The Friends of Elysian Heights (FoEH) and the Echo Park Improvement Association (EPIA) are excited to present “Echo Park Stories & Enchiladas,” a fundraiser to be held on May 7th, 2011 to benefit Elysian Heights Elementary School. FoEH is a group of school and community members that provide financial, material and volunteer support to Elysian Heights Elementary, an award-winning, Title I public K – 6th grade school in Echo Park. FoEH is committed to providing students with programs and opportunities that promote their academic and individual development and thanks the EPIA for sharing in this mission.

The funds realized from this event will directly support the Elysian Heights School & Community Garden. The school garden enhances the academic achievement of our students by having an outdoor classroom. School gardens improve performance in math, science, writing and social studies. They promote healthy lifestyles as well as an environmental stewardship ethic. The garden encourages community and social development and instills in students a real sense of place in our neighborhood. The school also has recently installed a new California Native Garden on campus which will also benefit from this fundraiser.

Community volunteers are welcome.  Please contact friendsofelysian@yahoo.com if you are interested in helping the day of the event or have something to donate to the silent auction, have an interesting Echo Park story you’d like to share, or if you have any questions about the event.  Join us on Facebook.

FoEH and EPIA welcome you and we look forward to sharing a wonderful evening with you on our the charming campus.

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Saturday: What’s your vision of Echo Park’s future?

Our CD13 rep Eric Garcetti is quite busy these days! (Perhaps gearing up for a mayoral campaign…?) Tomorrow (Saturday, April 2, 2011) he and his team will be hosting a “visioning summit” for Echo Park and Historic Filipinotown.

Called the “Los Angeles Neighborhood Dreams (LAND),” the community forum is a chance for Echo Park residents to voice their opinions about the future of Echo Park.

What do you see in the future of Echo Park? Perhaps more transparency when big developers want to build in Echo Park? More community input? A serious look at the Community Plan and removal of rules that give developers rights to build high-density projects that don’t fit in with the community?

Okay, maybe those are my recommendations. Yours might be a little different – so share them at tomorrow’s forum!

When: Saturday, April 2nd from 9:00 am to 12:0 pm

Where: Angelus Temple, located at 1100 Glendale Blvd.

RSVP using the following methods:

call the Hollywood District Office at 323-957-4500
email Alejandra.Marroquin@lacity.org
or CLICK HERE

See you there!

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Your guide to Dodgers promo days

A Dodgers "sleeved fleece." Yes please!

Now that opening day is over, we’re looking forward to a new season of McCourt-divorce-drama-free baseball! (Pretty please!) Here’s your season lineup to all the freebies (aka promos) at the Stadium:

Friday night fireworks are back, so you can expect all the oohs and ahhs of fireworks every Friday evening when there’s a home game. This starts at tonight’s game (Friday, April 1 vs. Giants).

Dodgers Sleeved Blanket: Sunday, April 3 at 5:00 pm vs Giants

Lakers Tribute – Purple and Gold LA Cap: Thursday, April 14 at 7:10 pm vs Cardinals

Jackie Robinson Night: Friday, April 15 at 7:10 pm vs Cardinals

Fernando Valenzuela Fleece Blanket: Tuesday, April 19 at 7:10 pm vs Braves

Half-Price Food & Drink: Thursday, April 21 at 12:10 pm vs Braves

Retro ’81 World Series T-Shirt: Sunday, May 1 at 1:10 pm vs Padres

Cooler Bag: Tuesday, May 3 at 7:10 pm vs Cubs

Half-Price Food & Drink: Wednesday, May 4 at 12:10 pm vs Cubs

Kids James Loney BP Jersey: Sunday, May 15 at 1:10 pm vs D-backs

Clayton Kershaw Bobblehead: Tuesday, May 17 at 7:10 pm vs Brewers

Bark in the Park: Saturday, May 28 at 7:10 pm vs Marlins

$1 Dodger Dog Day: Monday, May 30 at 5:10 pm vs Rockies

Don Mattingly Bobblehead: Wednesday, June 1 at 7:10 pm vs Rockies

Hong-Chih Kuo Bobblehead: Tuesday, June 14 at 7:10 pm vs Reds

Half-Price Food & Drink: Wednesday, June 15 at 12:10 pm vs Reds

Read more

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Go by foot: DUI Checkpoint in Echo Park on Friday

Just in time for baseball season, the LAPD will be conducting a DUI checkpoint in Echo Park on Friday, April 1 from 8:00 pm – 2:00 am.

Now in March, the LAPD changed the rules regarding impounding cars of unlicensed drivers – a rule that immigrants rights advocates have said unlawfully targeted undocumented immigrants. According to an article in the LA Times:

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said that police would be required to try to contact the registered owner of a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint. If the owner is licensed and can arrive in a reasonable amount of time, the car will not be impounded. If the owner is unlicensed, but a licensed driver is in the car, that person may be permitted to take it.

The article continues: The Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found that of all the cars impounded during a three month period in 2009, 55% were impounded for unlicensed drivers, versus 14% impounded for an actual DUI and criminal warrants.

We’ll see if the new policy does it’s job – keeping drunk drivers off the road!

The checkpoint will take place on Sunset Boulevard between Portia Street and Sutherland Street (near the Little Joy/Short Stop).

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