Word is the Echo Park Farmers’ Market has expanded its hours from 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm, starting tonight!
Our lovely little market, located in the parking lot behind the Bank of America at Sunset and Echo Park Avenue, is a fantastic place to get fresh eggs, chicken, salmon, and has some of the best vegetables around. We’re also big fans of the teppanyaki, flan, and roasted chicken. Yumm!
Another way to keep cool this summer and enjoy some family-friendly activities is not far from Echo Park in nearby Chinatown. Chinatown Summer Nights starts this weekend, July 28, and will continue for just two more Saturdays in August.
The event showcases food trucks, neighborhood shops, restaurants, bars and art galleries, along with cooking demonstrations and other cultural activities.
It’s a pretty easy bicycle commute from where I live in Echo Park, and they even offer free bike valet courtesy of Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. This weekend, there’s a cooking demonstration, family workshop with Chinese calligraphy, food trucks (including B Sweet Mobile, Crepe N Around, Flying Pig, Jogasaki Burrito, Munchie Machine, Pigs Feet Under, Tabom Truck, Trailer Park Truck, and Tropical Shave Ice), dancing and DJs.
And what’s a celebration of summer without beer? A craft beer garden on the corner of Meiling Way and Jung Jing Road will have Eagle Rock Brewery on deck with its Solidarity & Umlaut Kolsch brews, along with Golden Road Brewery featuring IPA and Hefe, and El Segundo Brewing Company featuring Blue House Pale Ale and White Dog IPA.
Click here for the Chinatown Summer Nights website to view the event map and full schedule.
Put this on your list of to-dos for Saturday: The Warehouse, located on the East (and up-and-coming) end of Echo Park, is throwing a remodel party!
Starting at 4:00 pm, there will be a huge sale on items in the store, music, food, drinks, and a demo class by sister store The Classroom LA. Stick around for a fashion show, store giveaways and a raffle starting at 7:00 pm.
The store will close starting August 1, with the plan to reopen with a new focus on unique items like estate vintage, local designers, high-end collections for stylists and rentals, and even an art gallery and event space.
Owner Justin Warwick and staff are very involved in the community, not to mention they throw great parties. They were also featured in a recent Echo Park Patch story about Echo Park’s East end, saying, “I feel like we’ve been really well received in Echo Park. I still have people that shop with me that shopped in my first store, three years ago here, that was a hole in the wall that was literally 500 square feet. Now we’re in 3,200 square feet and it’s exciting to have those same people still come back. They’re the reason we’re still open we couldn’t do this without the community.”
And we were one of those shoppers back in the day, so it’s great to see the store grow.
Click here for the event page and for more info. See you there!
The Echo Park Film Center kicks off its Filmmobile Summer Screening Series on Friday with a silent film tribute to Mack Sennett in honor of the 100th anniversary of Keystone Studios. The Studios, which was located where the Thriftee Storage is now on Glendale Boulevard and in what was then called Edendale, was the first silent film studio in Los Angeles. The Filmmobile will project a total of six silent films throughout the summer, so what better way to kick it off than at the actual location?
Tomorrow nights “A Solute to Sennett” includes special guest Brent E. Walker, author of Mack Sennett’s Fun Factory, and features The Hollywood Kid, Mabel’s Dramatic Career and Edendale Follies. The screening starts at 8:00 pm at 1710 Glendale Boulevard (across the street from the Jack in the Box). Food, free, and open to all!
The Trailer Trash Project (a Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Fiscal Sponsorship Program) is celebrating the 100th birthday of folk artist Woody Guthrie. And because he was a resident of Echo Park, what better way to have a celebration in the neighborhood!
The celebration is an all-day event tomorrow, Saturday, July 14, 2011, with art, music, and other family-friendly activities. The schedule is as follows:
Children’s Concert and Storytelling + Sign Making + History Breakfast
Blues musicians S.S. Jones plays Lead Belly songs for children. Woody Guthrie greatly admired Lead Belly and valued his friendship. Other musicians will play some of Woody’s many children’s songs as well as some of their own compositions. Dancers help out with movement.
El Centro Del Pueblo
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Afternoon Picnic + Street Art + Writing Session + Song Writing
El Centro Del Pueblo
12:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Concert / Art Activities
El Centro Del Pueblo
12:30 pm – 5:03 pm
Second Line Parade
El Centro Del Pueblo
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm
An Evening of Music, Dancing & Activism / Skid Row Fundraiser:
The Echo
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
$10 suggested donation
Echo Park is on the radar for a new “high-concept coffee bar,” reports Eater LA. Behind the concept: Intelligentsia’s former VP of Strategy Kyle Glanville, and current lead trainer for the Intelligentsia Venice location.
The two told Eater LA that they “have a strong preference for the Eastside, in an underserved locale such as Echo Park.”
While the coffee bar doesn’t have a permanent location yet or even a name, it will focus on using NO disposables – including napkins, cups, coffee filters, etc. We certainly like that! And we really don’t mind the whole coffee trend Intelligentsia represents in the area – as a coffee snob myself (but a realistic and budget-conscious one), that coffee is really, really, really good and is a nice treat every once in a while.
For now, the duo will be soon opening a pop-up shop for a few months, but no indication of where as of yet.
Last February, the Hot Knives guys (the ones behind the super awesome Salad Daze cookbook) sold over 100 falafels in just three hours – and it was clear Los Angeles needed more falafels.
Tonight, the late-night falafel popup returns to Elf Café in Echo Park to serve the buzzed and hungry. In case you missed it last year, Hot Knives describes their falafels as the following:
Our falafel balls are crackly crunchity on the outside but moist inside thanks to a fresh handmade batter of chickpeas and chickpea flour studded with fresh parsley, mint and cilantro.
The warm pita and falafel comes with hot sauce, garlic-tahini, homemade smokey hummus, and a tapenade of green olives, turnips and pickles. One sandwich, no options, no seating, totally vegan.
So be sure to head over on the early side, sales start at 9:30 pm and go until 1:00 am – or until sold out. Bring cash, falafels are $5 a pop.
Despite confirmations in April that the Lotus Festival was going on even without Echo Park Lake as a backdrop, the final word is there’s definitely no Lotus Festival for 2012.
Planned for July 14-15, the festival was supposed to be a scaled-back version with vendors and stages set in the nearby parking lot. The festival organizers recently confirmed this with the office of Council District 13, which released the following information:
We have been in contact with the lead agency that has historically, organized, coordinated and fundraised for the annual Lotus Festival year after year for 15+ years. The group, the Lotus Festival Inc., informed us that due to the lake being closed this year for rehab/renovation work, they are not planning on putting together a Lotus Festival for this year but they do plan on being back in full force for next year.
Through this communication, we have ascertained that there will be no Lotus Festival this year as the lead organization that has been in charge of it, is saving it’s time, energy and fundraising efforts for when the lake is back.
With the grand opening of the Lake still looking like Spring 2013, we expect there to be a Lotus Festival next summer. And while there won’t be lotus blossoms for some time (which will replanted in the lake), there will be, at least, a lake, and hopefully dragon boat races and fireworks again.
For those of you looking for more information on vending and performing at the next Lotus Festival, please know Echo Park Now is not an organizer, nor are we affiliated with the festival. Please stop emailing us about it and click here for contact info!
Mark your calendars! Two crawls in Echo Park this week will take you on a tour of craft beer and vegan pizza along Sunset Boulevard.
The first is the Echo Park Pub Crawl with Golden Road Brewing on Wednesday, June 27. Starting at Sunset Beer Company at 7:30 pm, the crawl is led by Golden Road Brewing beer lovers and brewers, taking you through Echo Park’s craft beer establishments to sample Golden Road’s own brews.
The tour will finish up at Mohawk Bend, with the promise of dancing. Click here for the Facebook event page and for more info, or here for the map.
Also don’t miss out on the first ever Echo Park Vegan Pizza Crawl on Saturday, June 30. The brainchild of vegan blogger Quarry Girl and sponsored by Chicago Vegan Foods, the all-day event is a self-guided tour of Echo Park’s fine restaurants that offer delicious vegan pizza (and other tasty stuff!). Even if you’re not a vegan, I suggest you give it a try. And don’t forget to pair it was some delicious, local craft beers provided by each of the participating restaurants.
Here’s the low-down from the event Facebook page:
On Saturday night only, Echo Park gallery iam8bit will be hosting a charity art show with Adult Swim TV show Robot Chicken.
The event will benefit Steven, the brother of Robot Chicken crew member Lindsey Gilbert, who fell ill from a rare and deadly bacteria. All proceeds from this show will go to aid Steven’s medical expenses and rehabilitation.
“Robot Chicken and Friends Presents: An Art Show for Steven” is an exhibit of artwork from Robot Chicken artists and various artists from Los Angeles and beyond. Up for auction are custom, one-of-a-kind puppets sculpted to the likeness of the highest bidder.
The event takes place tomorrow night, Saturday, June 23, 2012 from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm. Admission is free, beverages will be provided. Click here to RSVP.
iam8bit, located at 2147 W. Sunset Boulevard
h/t Echo Park Online
The stabbing of two long-time Echo Park residents on May 24 have sparked not just community-wide concern over safety, but also condemnation after the LAPD announced it was considering the crime a hate crime.
On Tuesday, June 26, the Echo Park United Against Hate Crimes have organized a town hall meeting featuring community groups, elected leaders, and LAPD representatives to address the hate crime issue.
The town hall is co-hosted by El Centro Del Pueblo, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721, Assemblymember Gilbert Cedillo, Los Angeles Councilmember Eric Garcetti. Captain Murphy of the LAPD Northeast Division will also be providing a special report.
The LAPD are categorizing the incident as a hate crime, and, as the town hall flyer states, “we are calling on the Echo Park community to declare that a hate crime against any one member of our community is a hate crime against the entire community.”
Echo Park United Against Hate Crimes Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, June 26 from 6-7:30 pm
El Centro Del Pueblo, located at 1157 Lemoyne St.
Please RSVP to conradoterrazas@roadrunner.com or 213.200.6161
Dinner and childcare will be provided.
From The Echo Park Stories Festival:
Friends of Elysian Heights Elementary invites friends and neighbors of the school, residents of Echo Park, and anyone else who has an entertaining story to tell, to participate in what promises to be a fun community event.
Storytellers, writers, poets and performers to share their stories of life in Echo Park and Los Angeles to help raise money for the after school enrichment program at Elysian Heights Elementary.
The festival will take place on Saturday, June 16 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the school, located at 1562 Baxter Street.
This Saturday June 16, 2012 there will be a clean up in Angelino Heights starting at the Old Fire Station 6, located at 534 E. Edgeware Rd., from 8:00 am- 1:00 pm.
Coffee, goodies and lunch provided by Councilman Ed Reyes of CD1.
There will also be bulky items pickup in the Angelino Heights neighborhood – put your items out on the curb on Friday, and the trucks will pick them up on Saturday morning.
Meet your neighbors and CD1 reps, and help clean up Angelino Heights!
Cupcake lovers rejoice! Delilah Bakery reopened softly today after the renovation, repainting, and rethinking of the Echo Park Avenue bakery.
Echo Park resident and owner Genevieve Ostrander has partnered up with realtor Darren Hubert of Urban Hillsides to rehab the look and the business model of the nearly six-year-old bakery. Known for its amazing cupcakes like the Jack Daniels flavor (here to stay, by the way) and incredible bread pudding, there will be slight menu changes including an expanded weekday breakfast menu. They will also focus on expanding the business’ catering services.
The new and improved, and certainly re-energized, Delilah Bakery hours are now 8:00 am – 4:00 pm daily, and closed Mondays.
Delilah Bakery will be finalizing more later this month when it has its official grand reopening.
Guess what you’re doing on Saturday? It’s the annual Echo Park Art Walk!
Click here to download the map!
Maps will also be provided at participating vendor locations. And you’ll need one as this seems like it’s the biggest one yet – there are over 70 participating vendors and businesses up Echo Park Avenue, Glendale Boulevard and along Sunset Boulevard. Activities (apart from shopping and discounts) include Art Chalk, live bands, food trucks, art shows, live art, and more art! Be sure to mention “Echo Park Art Walk” to receive discounts at participating businesses.
After the jump – check out the list of the over 70 participating vendors (may or may not include some recent additions or updated events).