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Watch the moon rise at Vista Hermosa Park

2008 Flickr photo by Pixelflip

Last night I noticed the moon was crazy huge as it rose over Echo Park right around Sunset. Families have an opportunity check out this phenomenon close up – bring everyone out to Vista Hermosa Park for Double Delight: Sunset and Moonrise on Friday, September 24 at 6:30 pm.

Meet at the Grotto Amphitheater for the FREE 1.5 hour program. You’ll get to look through a telescope to see the differences between the sun and the moon right as the sun sets and the moon rises.

Sponsored by the Santa Monica Conservancy and presented by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

For information contact Judy Perez Soto at (213) 250-1100 and judy.perezsoto@mrca.ca.gov

Vista Hermosa Park is located at 100 N. Toluca Street (near Glendale and Beverly Blvd.)

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Echo Park’s Hidden gem: Spiraling Orchard park

Spiraling Orchard is one of those hidden secrets you never knew existed. Its colorful entryway stands out amongst the compact residential homes along Court Street in Echo Park, but what is it?

What used to be a big empty lot is a park once owned by LASUD, it was taken over and in 1996 made it into an outdoor classroom, and generally a place where kids can go to do homework, arts and crafts, and other programs through ACLA (Arts… Community… Land… Activism…). According to its website, “ARTScorpsLA (ACLA) projects teach people to care for their places: by actively engaging the parks – making them and then using them – people attain a genuine connection with these urban places.”

Some residents might remember Spiraling Orchard as the site where four-year-old Roberto Lopez was shot and killed while standing in front of the park in January of 2009. But things are still going on at the park, and we thought we’d update you on a few things to keep your eye out for.

Every Tuesday from 2-5:00 pm, kids can stop by for the graffiti club or homework help. This fall, ACLA started hosting art and drawing workshops led by Ayumi “SANO” Chisolm. Though the first workshop started in September and ends in November, the second section of the workshop starts in January and ends in the beginning of May. The workshop “utilizes elements of classical drawing methods with contemporary elements of Hiphop style graffiti art for at-risk youth and young adults.”

Fall 2010 will see the return of Lisa Nuñez’s “Food Justice & Culture” workshops for elementary school-aged kids. They also have an annual Dia de los Muertos dinner and celebration in October, but no date has been scheduled yet. This fall they also hope to dedicate the mural that Spiraling kids along with families from all over California have been painting for almost a year under lead artist Wenceslao Quiroz, located on Court and Bixel.

And of course, anyone can always use the space for youth bands to practice, or to host your workshops.

I really recommend going and checking it out, it’s a really interesting part of town and the park itself is just an incredible gift to Echo Park.

For more information about anything I mentioned above, you can contact the ACLA at ACLA213@gmail.com or (323) 474-6905.

Spiraling Orchard is located at 1246 Court Street.

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From our Neighbors: LA Archives Bazaar

I will definitely be marking my calendar for this event – the Fifth Annual LA Archives Bazzar is on Saturday, October 23 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

L.A. as Subject and hosted by the USC Libraries will host the FREE event at the Doheny Library at USC, and will feature 70 collections of “rare and unique archived materials” related to LA history.

This year’s highlights include: screenings of Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race and the Legend of Pancho Barnes (a legendary stunt pilot from the early days of California aviation) and panels on L.A. newspapers, blogging, and the legacy of muralist David Alfaro Siquieros. Patt Morrison from KPCC will also be a guest speaker.

See you there!

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Echo Park has a winery?!

With all this talk about beer with the Sunset Beer Company moving in and Tony Yanow’s Mohawk Brasserie, I haven’t been thinking too much about wine. But after reading yesterday about D’Augustine Vineyard on The Eastsider LA and Chicken Corner, I really want on in this grape pickin’ and wine drinkin’!

Joe and Heather D’Augustine bottled their first wine (a Syrah) in 2006, and even won a bronze medal at the California State Fair. They don’t sell their wines, but each year rely on the help of volunteer laborers consisting of family and friends to pick and sort the fruit (in 2008 they picked 500 pounds of Shiraz grapes).

Sunday was the annual grape picking and crushing, and laborers were treated to fresh oven pizza and some 2008 wine; the 2009 harvest was hampered by the Station Fire smoke.

I don’t know exactly where in Echo Park the winery is located, but I will be keeping an eye out on those hills to see if I can find it!

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Get inspired: Novel writing class in Echo Park

Flickr photo by Menetnashté

Echo Park resident and novelist Tempany Deckert is offering a Beginner’s Novel Writing Class on Wednesdays, starting October 6. While the class isn’t free, you will get to:

Learn to write your very own novel in this fun, informative and inspiring class. Taught by eighteen time novelist, T. Deckert, you’ll learn how to develop characters, plot, structure and most important of all, have the discipline to complete your very own work of art. Anyone can write, but not many people can navigate their way through the entire novel writing process. In this class you’ll not only learn the tricks of the trade, but you’ll complete your very own book over the course of 8 weeks.

Cost of the class is $260, and class size is restricted to so sign up fast!

To reserve your spot, email tempanydeckert@gmail.com

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Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium – Get your tickets now!

Support the EPIA and the Chamber of Commerce and enjoy a Dodgers game with your neighbors!

The annual Echo Park Night at Dodger Stadium is coming up on Saturday, October 2 at 7:10 pm, the Dodgers play the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Tickets are ONLY $11 each (for $18 seats!)

Get your tickets today! Email the EPIA at epiamail@yahoo.com with your name and the number of tickets you are committing to purchase, and instructions about delivery/pickup and payment will be emailed back to you. If you see the above flyer in the window of a business (like Masa!), inquire there as well! You might be able to buy tickets with your dinner.

Go to www.epia-echopark.org for more info or to download the event flyer.

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Echo Park Historical Society Lake Walking Tour

The Echo Park Historical Society is hosting its Echo Park Lake Walking Tour on Sunday, September 26 (originally scheduled for September 25). The tour starts at 10:00 am and will include some of the neighborhood’s most prominent landmarks, such as Jensen’s Recreation Center, Angelus Temple and, of course, the Lake.

The tour takes about two hours to complete and includes several stairways. Building interiors are not included. Reservations required, and are free for EPHS members but we ask a $5 donation for all others. For more tour information, please call (323) 860-8874 or click here to e-mail your reservation. Include your name, the number of people in your group, your phone number and the name and date of the tour.

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Echo Park’s Week in Music

For the week of Monday, September 20 through Sunday, September 26

Monday
Monday Night Residency: Vanaprasta, Pacific Hurt, Cue The Moon, The Hundred Days @ Echo
New Music Monday With Young Mammals, Atomic Zeus, Deaf @ Echo Curio
Sean Carnage presents Captain Ahab, Narwhalz of Sound, W.H.I.T.E. Hosannas (formerly Church from Portland) @ Perhspace

Tuesday
The Parson Red Heads, Red Cortez, The World Record @ Echo
KROQ Locals Only presents The Funeral Party, The Belle Brigade, Italian Japanese @ Bootleg Theater

Wednesday
What Laura Says, Skybox @ Echo
The Dø (Finland), Mia Maestro, Paul Dempsey, (Something For Kate) @ Bootleg Theater
Neo, Tribraco, Glass Goblins, plus guests @ Echo Curio
Live Jazz every Wednesday Night at 7:00 pm @ Downbeat Cafe

Thursday
Dub Club @ Echopex & Echo
Jim Jones Revue, The Bellrays, Coasting @ Echo
Down and Derby Roller Disco @ Echoplex
Wet & Reckless @ Origami Vinyl
Cassorla, Strangers Family Band, Slang Chickens @ Echo Curio

Friday
Unidentified Tasting Object @ Echo Patio
Club Underground with Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits @ Echo
Cantora Live and The Fold present: Rumspringa, (Debut Record Release), Gamble House, Superhumanoids @ Bootleg Theater
Swagger Sticks, The Shakers, Z/schnee & The Bleeding Livers, Mad Planet @ Echo Curio
Hydroplane, Khalija, Knobgoblin, Wake @ Perhspace

Saturday
Waved Out II: Dungen, Entrance, Sharon Van Etten, The Fresh & Onlys, Shannon and the Clams, John Carpenter, So Many Wizards, Summer Darling, Young Prisms, Gestapo Khazi, Victoria Noll, The Zig Zags and more @ Echoplex & Echo
Funky Sole @ Echo
Heather Woodbury’s As The Globe Warms, Halloween Swim Team Release Party with Laco$te And 60 Watt Kid @ Echo Curio
Torches in Trees, The Fay Wrays, The Record Year @ Perhspace

Sunday
Grand Ole Echo @ Echo
Part Time Punks With Frankie Rose [Slumberland Records LP Release Party], Hunx & His Punx @ Echo

For more information on weekly musical events like club nights, see our community resource pages.Visit the venue website for more information on the cost and times of shows. This list may not represent all the musical events happening in Echo Park this week – feel free to add more events in the comment section. All events listed are subject to change at any time. New events announced for the week after this posting may not be included.

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Will the pigeons win this time? Find out at the Echo Park Lake Bird Count

Flickr photo via BlackDaffodill

Last Christmas, pigeons trumped coots 240 to 239 at the annual Echo Park Lake Christmas Bird Count. Will they win this round?

The Autumn Echo Park Lake bird count takes place on Saturday, September 25 at 9:00 am (meet at the Boathouse!). Bird lovers in Echo Park have identified over 70 species of birds over the last ten years. You can expect to find species such as mallards, great-tailed grackles, robins, American coots, sparrows, finches, great egrets, black-crowned night herons, green herons, blackbirds, hawks and various gulls and doves, and more.

Beginning birders, including children, are welcome to the free bird walk. Binoculars are strongly recommended along with a bird guide if you have one.

For more information contact  judycalifornia@yahoo.com, or call (323) 663-6767.

See you at the bird walk!

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Cars of Echo Park: Sweet Malibu ride

Flickr photo via A.C.Thamer

Oh-so-shiny and love those Chevy Malibus!

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Peace Day Picnic at Rec Center

The Echo Center (formerly the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting) is holding a Peace Day picnic at the Echo Park Recreation Center on Sunday, September 19 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

The International Day of Peace “provides an opportunity for  individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on  a shared date. It  was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly.” The picnic is an opportunity for Echo Center families to connect.

At The Echo Center, we will comemorate this special day of peace and nonviolence by having a super fun Peace Day Picnic this Sunday!  This is a fun-filled, casual way to connect with other Echo Center families.

The picnic will take place at the Echo Park Recreation Center at 1632 Bellevue Ave.

The Echo Center/CNVEP will provide water, games, art activities provided by the Art Zone, and “empathy.”

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“Paradise and Lunch” at Echo Country Outpost

Spend part of our final summer days this weekend at Echo Country Outpost’s “Paradise & Lunch” even on Sunday. Here’s all the info:

Sunday, September 19th, 3:00pm
$5 at the door
$5 unlimited refreshment
$2 Burgers and Dogs
Live Music All Afternoon

Walter Spencer at 3:30 pm
Freaky Mountain at 4:20 pm
Matt Van Winkle at 5:30 pm<
Cave Country at 6:30 pm
The Driftwood Singers at 7:30 pm
RT N’ The 44s 8:30 pm

Echo Country Outpost is located at 1930 Echo Park Ave

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Schultztember art show opening at DIY Gallery

The opening reception for DIY Gallery’s next art exhibit starts tomorrow (Saturday, September 18, 2010). Stop by after 7:00 pm for “Schultztember,” a collection of new work by the Schults Brothers, an art and music duo based in Los Angeles.

From the DIY Gallery website:

The Teller of Lore speaks of images … Speaks of dreams … Speaks of sights and sounds of this world and others. Some understand the messages in the symbology represented on these visions , while others seek the knowledge hidden in them. Some fear the gifts they are given while others embrace the responsibility at hand. There are those who see the light as a beacon to guide them through the darkness and others who embrace the shadows knowing the blinding dangers of the light. Water to quench the summer thirst, fire to warm the winter hearth. Nor summer nor winter, Schultstember is upon us.

Closing reception is October 16, 2010.

DIY Gallery is located at 1549 West Sunset Boulevard

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LA Beyond Coal Campaign coming to you

Park[ing] Day LA is tomorrow, so we’re feeling very eco-friendly lately!

This Sunday, if you live in Echo Park you might be visited by someone from the LA Beyond Coal Campaign. They are canvassing the neighborhood to reach “10,000 Angelenos to ask them to support a coal-free LA.” It doesn’t look like they’ll be asking for donations or anything, but each door-knocker will have a postcard to City Council, “asking them to make sure the City goes coal-free.” If you get a knock at your door between 11:30 am and 3:30 pm, you’ll know who it is.

After the canvassing, they’ll be holding a coal-free BBQ at Elysian Park, meeting at the picnic tables near the corner of Stadium Way and Scott Avenue. If you have questions about LABeyondCoal.org, want to help canvass, or join in some other way, contact Evan.Gillespie@Sierraclub.org.

If you’d like to attend this event, you can RSVP online.

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“Pocket parks” to take over parking spots on Friday

The fourth annual Parking Day LA will be taking over a few of the city’s parking spots all day this Friday, September 17. The goal? To transform our parking spaces into small pockets of parks, and to change the landscape of LA from one day from a car-infested city into a sustainable (and pretty!) public space. The Parking Day LA website further clarifies: “Additional parks will help reduce the heat-island effect of the City by converting our over-abundance of concrete and asphalt into green spaces that will inevitably promote the civility of the City by offering more spaces for the public to converge.”

In Echo Park, the Echo Park Time Bank Park will be at Echo Park Avenue and Delta (near Chicken Corner, the Durbin project that has been left vacant for so long) from 10:00 am – 7:00 pm. They will be “PARK(ing)” front of the lot they hope to some day be, instead of condos, a public park. Time Bank members, Aaron Kuehn and Orchid Velasquez will be offering “‘PARK(infusion)’ – the ‘steepest’ park ever! Assorted aromatic blends of wild flora for you to experience, just add water and your own cup.”

Stop by and hear live music and celebrate time bank member, Alicia Beach’s birthday!

Parking spaces are being transformed all over Los Angeles – click on the map below to find a location near you:

Click on the map for more

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