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Hear from the Sunset Flats developers tonight!

The Echo Park Improvement Association is finally getting a chance to speak with the developers behind the proposed Sunset Flats project, the site of the old Echo Park Community Garden on the west side of Echo Park on Sunset and Rosemont.

Tonight’s Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues meeting will not be the first time the organization (which Echo Park Now is a member of) has taken up the issue, but this will be the first time the developer has agreed to attend a meeting.

The city has scheduled a public hearing for Monday, November 22 to discuss the variances involved in the project, so this will be your last chance to hear from the developer and get yourself educated. You are also encouraged to send a letter to the City with your comments for public record, more information here.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting, taking place at Taix Restaurant in the back room at 7:00 pm tonight (Wednesday). Click here for the full agenda.

This story will continue to develop here on Echo Park Now, stay tuned as we learn more!

Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues Committee
Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 7 pm
Taix Restaurant, 1911 West Sunset Boulevard

UPDATE:

The developer is no longer coming to tonight’s meeting, but EPIA members will still discuss the project in detail.

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Yum! Harvest Beer Fest at Echo/Echoplex

We know what we’re doing this weekend!

The First Annual Harvest Beer Fest, sponsored in part by Spaceland Productions, along with Anderson Valley Brewing Co., El Prado and Malo Restaurant, will be held at the Echoplex and Echo this weekend – November 20! The fest boasts LA-based food trucks, entertainment and over 50 West Coast and national brews. Local favorite bands such as Vaud & the Villains, Shannon & the Clams, Blasting Company, and Last Round Down will provide live entertainment throughout the day, and ticket sale proceeds will benefit 826LA.

The Harvest Beer Fest is 21+ for entry; attendees must bring a valid ID for entry into the event.

General Admission: $30/person; includes unlimited sample sized pours. Food is available for purchase from food trucks at the event. Tickets are available for purchase on TicketWeb.

First Annual Harvest Beer Fest
Saturday November 20, 2010
12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Echoplex and Echo
1154 Glendale Blvd

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Tonight: Echo Curio exhibit and benefit

You may have heard already that pretty soon, the Echo Curio will be closing down for good. The owners posted the following on the Echo Curio blog just a couple of days ago:

Echo Curio has become my life for the past three years… and it has been the life of Justin, Tim and Heather for longer… I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect place to continue their eclectic egalitarian experiment and i couldn’t have imagined the response we got from you kind people.

It is with a heavy heart and a tired soul that I and Justin say good-bye to the long nights, endless emails, constant phone calls, neverending conversations and non-stop tap dancing around egos and feelings… We are now ready to have our days and nights back for awhile and to adjust our approach.

But don’t worry, tonight will be the free opening reception for a new exhibit called “Picture Con Secuencia: A Show of Exquisite Corpses.” The exhibit will go through November 29th.

The opening is free, tonight (Friday, November 12th) and starts at 8:00 pm.

DJ sets from KXLU DJ Molly

Featuring a (not so) silent auction to benefit Echo Curio

Missed Connections cassette presented by No Girls Allowed Records

Featuring music by the following artists (and members of): Moses Campbell, XBXRX, kit, No Babies. Charlyne Yi, Michael Nhat, Magick Orchids, Lola Loshkey, Big Whup, Pizza!, Heller Keller, Sugar Frosted Light Bulbs, Tusk, Peter Pants and more!

New video and animation collaborations from: walt!, Eri Hawkins, Sean Solomon, Chloe Mandel, Steven Sanchez, champoyhate, Sam Yurick, Joan Zamora, Andrew Lush, Dave Sirus, Jordan Santos, Joe Holliday, Michael Reyder, Julie Orlick, Rachel Cole, Craig Miller, Anthony Anzalone, Steven Andrew Garcia, Carla Orendorff, Vim Crony, Lillie West, Austin Wolf-Sothern

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Eco Echo Park home tour this weekend!

After a two year haitus, the Historic Echo Park Home Tours returns this weekend!

In case you missed it, here’s a quick run-down from the Echo Park Historical Society:

This year’s Historic Echo Park Home Tour highlights 10 homes and gardens that feature the lifestyles of the ecologically minded. This includes properties utilizing gray water systems, solar power, natural light and circulation as ways to reduce dependency on public utilities as well gardens that include elements of urban farming, native plants, drought-tolerant landscaping and no dig gardening. And, yes, chicken coops.

The home tour has gotten some great coverage this year, including a segment on KTLA Morning News. The Los Angeles Times also published an excellent story highlighting the garden of Rhett Beavers, who discovered his 3,000 square foot garden behind his 1927 Echo Park home to be  the remnants of a communal orchard. That garden is one of several highlighted in this year’s Historical Society tour.

Tickets can be purchased on the day of the tour (Sunday, November 14) beginning at 11:00 am. The $20 general admission tickets will be sold at at Williams Hall, 2000 Stadium Way, or buy them online in advance and save $5. EPHS Members can buy tickets on the day of the event for $15.

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Saturday: Echo Park Library Book Sale

Flickr photo via Nickels_Photography

Sip and nibble on some complementary coffee and donuts while you shop for inexpensive books at the Echo Park Library Book Sale tomorrow, Saturday, November 13.

Books range from $0.15-.50, with specialty books under $5.00.

You can also support the library by becoming a member for only $10 per year!

Book donations are always welcome, please drop them off at the Echo Park Library Wednesdays from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Tuesday-Thursday from 12:00 noon – 9:00 pm, Friday through Sunday from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.

Check it out at the GEPENC Office and Community Center on 1572 Sunset Boulevard (behind the Bank of America) from 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm.

For more info, email jose_sigala@yahoo.com

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Weekend at the Lake: Rehab tour and a history lesson

Flickr photo by Juan Navarro

Saturday morning at Echo Park Lake will be buzzing: There’s an Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation tour led by the city, and a history lesson hosted by the Echo Park Time Bank. It’s possible that they’ll overlap, so you might have to pick just one:

Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation Tour
Saturday, November 13 from 9:30-10:30 am
Meet on the corner of Park Avenue and Echo Park Avenue at 9:20 am

Echo Park and the History of L.A. Expansion
Saturday, November 13th, 2010 at 10:00 am at Echo Park Lake.
A discussion with Time Bank member Michael Jacob Rochlin along with Art Goldberg will discuss how Echo Park fits into the overall pattern of expansion in Los Angeles.
Meet at the brown concrete picnic tables along Park Ave.
Call 323-661-2793 for more info.

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Benefit in Echo Park for Silver Lake nursery school

On Saturday, November 13, join the Neighborhood Nursery School for an art show fundraiser taking place in Echo Park at the Rec Center Studio in the Jensen’s Rec Center building.

Neighborhood Nursery School is a small non-profit preschool located in Silver Lake; it is a cooperative school, meaning it is owned and operated by parents of the students. They have put together the benefit, An Evening of Art, to help supplement the costs of operating the school.

Over 100 local artists have contributed to the art show, along with Echo Park restaurant Allston Yacht Club, which will donate a portion of your dinner bill to the school on Saturday. Just make sure to print out the flyer for your server!

Admission sounds like a great deal, actually: $20 gets you includes wine, beer, appetizers and music by DJ Mike Messex.

An Evening of Art to Benefit Neighborhood Nursery School
Saturday, November 13, 2010
5:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Rec Center Studio, 1161 Logan St.

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Charles Fleming book signing at Stories Books

This is a book that’s on our holiday wish list this year – Charles Fleming‘s Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, published in April this year. And, you guessed it, Echo Park is among the guide’s hidden stairways, and include an Echo Park Lake Victorians walk, Laveta Terrace (one of my faves), Magic Gas (the Delta Stairway, we think), Avalon-Baxter Loop, Allessandro Loop, and Fellowship Park.

This weekend, on Saturday, November 6, Charles “Dancing With the Stairs” Fleming himself will be at Stories Books and Cafe for a Secret Stairs book signing. Before the signing, however, anyone is welcome to join Stories on a Walking Tour (we’re not exactly sure if Charles will be leading the tour, but probably) of some of the hidden stairways covered in the book. The signing after the walking tour will include coffee, cookies, cheese, wine and, of course, books! Buy your copy of Secret Stairs and get it signed.

Walking Tour
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm (ish)
Meet at Sunset Blvd. and Lemoyne Street
Difficulty: “3”

Book Signing
Immediately following the Walking Tour until 10:00 pm
Refreshments served

Check out our interactive map of Echo Park stairways.

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Friday: Reading Birds #4 at Tavin

There will be wine!

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Halloween Events around Echo Park

Friday:

Echo Park Farmers’ Market Pumpkin contest

Starting at 3:00 pm when the market opens, children will have two hours to decorate pumpkins for a Pumpkin Decorating Contest! Judging starts at 5:00 pm – The Eastsider LA‘s Jesus Sanchez will be a judge.

Monster Mash Masquerade & Costume Contest at Echo Country Outpost

9:00 pm – 2:00 am. Music, dancing, drinks, and more. $5 cover; all proceeds benefit Brimmer Street Theater Co. and their upcoming season
1930 Echo Park Avenue.

Saturday:

Vista Hermosa Natural Park Fall Festival

Dunk for apples, make your holiday mask, or compete in a pumpkin rolling race, it’s all part of getting into the fall spirit. We’ll finish off the day with a roaring campfire just for fun. Meet at the Grotto Amphitheater.

12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
100 N. Toluca Street.
Meet at the Grotto Amphitheater.

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Sunday:

LAB (Local Artisans Bazaar) at Fix Coffee:

From 1:00 – 6:00 pm: Some amazing new vendors have joined in and African Cowboy will be playing from 3-5:00 pm. Bring the kids and dogs for some Halloween day time fun and photo ops! Raffle tickets for sale will help Elysian Heights Elementary School pay for a music teacher, which they are still searching for. The prizes are gift certificates from many local and generous business and vendors. labazaar.blogspot.com

LAB just got voted “Best Li’l Artisan Market” by LA Weekly’s Best of L.A. 2010!

Trick-or-Treat with Stories Books, 826LA and Allston Yacht Club:

4:00 pm at 826LA/Time Travel Mart: Join bestselling author Karen Essex (Dracula in Love,  Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-Up Legend, Stealing Athena), actress/director/bestselling author Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Drones, Chance) and friends for a performance of the short play “Asylum” from Karen Essex’s Dracula in Love. Also, get any Halloween costume pieces like mustaches, etc. at the Travel Mart!

5:00 pm at Stories: Music, dead authors, pumpkins, cookies and surprises.

6:00 pm at AYC: Food and cocktails!

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Halloween Beer and Zombie (Book) Pairing at City Sip

5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, $35 per person

7 Killer Beers, 7 cheeses, and Ben Tripp will be reading a few passages to make you want to drink… and possibly eat some offal meats for those who eat flesh! RSVP to Alex@citysipla.com or call (213) 483- 9463. Read more.

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Echo Park Film Center

7:30 pm – 10:00 pm: Haunted Films in Haunted Places with the Echo Park Film Mobile. Follow the Film Mobile on Twitter for screening locations (@EPFCFilmmobile).

Friday, Saturday AND Sunday!

Friday from 5:00 pm – 11:30pm, Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm – 11:30 pm: Halloween Carnival fundraiser for the Rampart LAPD Station Youth Programs. Located on Vermont between Santa Monica and Monroe. For bulk ride tickets or volunteer info, call Officer Covington at (213) 484-3072.

Did we forget anything? Share more info about this weekend’s Halloween events in the comments section below!

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Neighborhood Council meeting tonight

If you’re curious about what’s going on in Echo Park and the greater area, there’s a GEPENC meeting tonight at 6:30 pm at the Rosemont Avenue Elementary School Auditorium, located at 421 N. Rosemont Avenue.

Why go? Besides being involved in your community, there are some items posted in the agenda that have been of particular interested to the Echo Park community:

  • May be voting on supporting the new Sunset Beer Company’s application for a Conditional Use Permit (CUB) and a Mitigated Negative Declaration (ZA 2010-2048 CUB/ENV-2010-2049 MND). Those permits will allow for on-site sales of wine and beer for their 14-seat tasting room, as well as the sale of beer and wine for off-site consumption.
  • 64-unit complex on Sunset Blvd. and Elsinore: Will review without committee recommendation. If you want to know if there are any updates to this project, this will be the time as the developer has been working with the Neighborhood Council on design plans.
  • Discussion/possible allocation of $2,500.00 dollars to the Echo Park Historical Society for the repair and maintenance of the Jensen’s Recreation Center sign. This is great as the sign has been left unlit for quite a few years now, and the money is coming in from GEPENC as a matching grant.
  • May vote on authorizing a letter to the bidders of CRES #14 (EPN wrote about this issue recently) emphasizing the support of parental and community involvement in the process, and GEPENC’s role in outreach to the community.

You can review the full agenda here.

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Upcoming at Feeding Birds in Echo Park

Feeding Birds is a cool place, not just because it’s in Echo Park and just down the street from us, but everything in the store is super cute and actually affordable. I’m looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping there along with collecting some trinkets to decorate our house.

They also host some cool events coming up in October, including:

Starting tomorrow (October 26) all sale clothing is $20 in celebration of their 100th week open.

Read more

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Canceled: Echo Park Lake tour

The weather report calls for a cold and cloudy day tomorrow morning (no rain), but the tour of Echo Park Lake tomorrow has been postponed just in case. Community Outreach rep Olga S. Morales just sent out this email:

I am sorry to inform you that  due to the unpredictable weather and for everyone well being and safety. The team has decided to postpone tomorrow’s Saturday, Echo Park Lake Tour for another day. Please stay tune to more information. You can also go to: www.LaPropO.org to get updates.

While there is no date set yet for October, there are two other tour dates: November 13 and December 11. The English tour will start at 9:30 a.m. and the tour conducted in Spanish will begin at 11:00 a.m. Sign up by emailing Olga.Morales@lacity.org or calling (213) 978-0329.

We were looking forward to hearing about any new updates since the EIR was released, but now we can sleep in tomorrow.

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Reminder: Eastside Eco Tour on Sunday

This is your official reminder about the second annual Eastside Eco Tour taking place this Sunday, October 24 from 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm.  Hosted by the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council Green Committee, the tour highlights eight green homes, three community
gardens, and two green exhibits. This is a self-guided tour, so you can visit all or just one.

Eastside or not, the tour looks amazing, is free, and functions just like an open house. The homes on the tour all feature some sort of eco theme, including an architect’s own Leed certified/grey water/beekeeping/composting home, the Green Beacon House, a 1920s craftsman home owned by a greywatercorps.com architect, workshops at Silver Lake Farms, and more!

The event is free, but with a $5 donation you get a free stainless steel water bottle. Proceeds go to Thomas Starr King Middle School’s new environmental studies magnet program, starting Fall 2011.

In addition, the LA Conservation Corp who will be donating 5 gallon shade trees to the community. The pick up location will be at The Milagro Allegro Community Garden in Highland Park, located at 115 S. Avenue 56.

Visit the website for a downloadable map or email tomasogrady@sbcglobal.net with questions.

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The Stadium gets dirty: Motocross and Monster Car shows coming soon

Noel E. Pallais of the Dodgers announced a couple of days ago that Dodger Stadium would be host two brand new (and frankly, a little unexpected) events early next year – Motocross and Monster Car shows. The Stadium has never before hosted such an event, and with a seating capacity of 56,000 people, it’s going to be big.

According to a Supercross press release, they will cart in 550 truckloads of dirt onto the actual Stadium floor. Eric Hansen, Assistant Director of Turf and Grounds at Dodger Stadium, talked about the challenges of replacing a beautiful major league field with all that dirt: “All we have to worry about is replacing the actual grass once the dirt is removed and from what I’ve been told, (Feld) is the best in the world at what they do so my anxiety level is extremely low.” Here’s a little preview of what the course map will look like on the field at Dodger Stadium:

Supercross Course Map

The Motocross press release mentions a site visit to Dodger Stadium one year ago, and we are aware that the Community Advisory Board (made up of residents surrounding Dodger Stadium) flat-out rejected the proposal to bring these events to Dodger Stadium earlier this year. There was talk, however, of the event being held in the parking lot at that time, but the Board was concerned with noise levels.

If you’ve ever been to a Moster Jam or Motocross event, you’ll know how incredibly loud it can be (youngsters have to wear those big sound-deadening head phones). Mr. Pallais of the Dodgers doesn’t expect the noise levels to be any more than a baseball game, and for traffic LAPD and LADOT officers will be present like they would be at any other game or event. No word on how many patrons they expect to attend. Because we’ve never had an event like this at Dodger Stadium, it’s difficult to determine what noise levels will be like for nearby residents – though thankfully the event ends early in the evening.

The Monster Energy Supercross at Dodger Stadium will take place on January 22, 2011, and prices range from $40 all the way to $230.

The Monster Jam event takes place on February 19, 2011, prices range from $32-75.

It’s a pretty big deal to bring these events to the Stadium, and, I’ll say it because we’re all thinking it (you know you are), we’re sure the team needs to bring in some extra cash with McCourt’s messy divorce and a disappointing season.

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