Last week, the coupon website Living Social featured Echo Park’s own Beauty Box salon on its website as the “Best place for a quick manicure” for the website’s “365 Things To Do” Los Angeles series.
We couldn’t agree more! There are a lot of great salons in Echo Park, and Beauty Box deserves a nod.
Check ’em out at 1498 West Sunset Boulevard.
The CCAC, photo from EPIAn Ways October 2000
Summer is a busy time for the Central City Action Committee teams as they raise funds for youth summer programs – beaches, museums, movies, camping, and all things that will keep kids off the streets. Three days of each week during the summer, the youth also actively participate in graffiti removal and community clean-up/beautification projects.
An easy way to support the CCAC is by stopping by their location this week at the old fire station for their rummage sale for some great items including a greenhouse.
The rummage sale takes place at 534 East Edgeware Road from 10:30 am – 7:00 pm through Friday, July 8, 2011.
We have a bit of a July 4th tradition now after living in our Echo Park pad for a few years: A little barbecue party in the yard, and then a walk around the ‘hood for some crazy fireworks action. Our street used to be like a war zone – teenagers darting into the middle of the street between cars to set of some obnoxious spinner or rocket, and plumes of smoke constantly hanging in the air. This year, our street was pretty tame, but there’s a few around the bend that ALWAYS put on a good show.
First up, Dodger Stadium had fireworks following a loss against the Mets, so we walked up the hill to a little viewpoint where a few locals sat in their beach chairs with the kids and enjoyed the show. Next up, that street around the corner that never fails to wow us with their fireworks (where the heck do they get those?!). They had some chrysanthemum-shaped ones that thankfully didn’t set fire to any of the tall palm trees. This street was pandemonium, kids running around, teens lighting their own little firework bombs, and an all-around good time.
Speaking of pandemonium: The finale, the one thing I’d promised all our friends will never fail to amaze and awe, something you have to see it just once – Fourth of July at Echo Park Lake. And the best word to describe it is indeed just pandemonium, because every year at the Lake are crowds of people lighting roman candles, bottle rockets, spinners, even home-made bombs. You name it, the firework was there, big and small. Last year, dozens of parachute shells lingered in the air while we watched a roman candle launched straight into a palm tree on bird island, lighting it on fire. Every direction you looked was some spinner or sparkler going off, and there was definitely a lot of questionable parenting going on as young kids ran rampant and lit some pretty dangerous stuff. But that aside, it’s kind of fun!
This year sadly, the Lake lacked fireworks and any crowd at all. It was deathly quiet, and strange – a small group of residents who live just up the street told us cops had come by about an hour before announcing the closure of the lake, ordering everyone to leave.
A quiet Echo Park Lake
But that’s happened before – cops come and over loudspeakers tell you to leave. Everything goes on as usual until they show up in full force. But this year they must have done something different, perhaps? Echo Park Patch writes officers had a strong presence (we didn’t see any when we arrived), and “according to officers on duty, there were no incidents at all of people using fireworks in the park.”
It’s a strange contrast to previous years, and with the upcoming rehab project shutting down the lake for two years, we’re wondering if 2010 was the last time we watched the incredible illegal fireworks show at Echo Park Lake.
2006 Festival Photo via LA Taco
This is a re-published article I wrote for the latest EPIAn Ways, which you can view by clicking here.
The Echo Park Lotus Festival is an annual tradition that celebrates, for two days, the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Los Angeles and the greater area. This is the 33rd Lotus Festival we’ve had – but we didn’t think it would return this year.
The Echo Park Lake rehabilitation project was initially planned to begin in Spring 2011, with construction fencing going up around April. However, the city pushed back the start date to later this summer, and so it was announced the Lotus Festival would indeed return.
Highlights of the festival include music, dance and food – all of which celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander culture and traditions. This year’s focus is on the culture of Thailand. There will be a Health Fair, community groups offering information, and boutiques for shopping. One thing that won’t be part of this annual tradition will be the dragon boat races – which have been absent since 2008 (the Lotus Festival was canceled in 2009, and there were no boat races in 2010).
The Lotus Festival website provides a reason for the cancelation: “…due to lack of participation and funds we are unable to host the Dragon Boat Race and will be cancelled. The Lotus Festival will still take place and we encourage you to still come and participate in the festivities.”
Opening ceremonies start on Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm. Festivities will go on until 9:00 pm (no word yet on whether or not there will be fireworks that night).
The Lotus Festival continues on Sunday, July 10, 2011 from 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm.
Please visit www.lotusfestival.org for more details.
The Department of Public Works just announced the launch of a new website, www.echoparklake.org, specifically for the upcoming Echo Park Lake rehabilitation project, scheduled to start later this summer. There’s a photo gallery (before and after shots), updated news, and contact information as well as resource links. The website purpose will hopefully serve the community by updating everyone on the project before, during and after. According to the website:
The City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works project team is committed to keeping the community updated on the latest information about the Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation project. We encourage you to bookmark this page, and tell your neighbors about it! It’s the easiest way to know what’s going on with the City’s plans to improve and beautify the lake. You can also submit your questions about the lake improvements to the project team at bpw.pao@lacity.org. We will do our best to respond to you as soon as possible.
The week after the Lotus Festival (July 9-10, 2011), the 18-24 month construction will begin. There wasn’t a whole lot of specific information being circulated about the final project details, but we knew a few Echo Park residents/Echo Park Improvement Association members (Echo Park Now is also a member) had been meeting with the Bureau of Engineering project managers and CD13 reps to hammer out those final details. The EPIA’s June-July 2011 newsletter, EPIAn Ways, actually just published a nice, comprehensive article about the rehabilitation project. Here’s an excerpt from that article with details about the project:
You may be familiar with the tragic closure of my favorite Echo Park laundromat on Sunset Boulevard and Lemoyne Street. Well it looks like yesterday may have been the day it reopened – we snapped this photo of the grand opening sign announcing a Thursday, June 29 re-opening under new management.
Hopefully the new “managment” can spell better than the makers of this sign – I’ve never heard of “Echo Friendly” laundry!
We’ll check it out and let you know how it goes!
Beer connoisseur and restaurant owner Tony Yanow’s Echo Park venture, Mohawk Bend, started construction last year in the old Ramona Theater, and the restaurant is just about to open. Having remained vacant for about two decades, the 6,000 square foot, 1914 building has undergone quite a transformation – and we got a peak inside!
A couple of weeks ago, a very friendly Paige Reilly (whose email signature casually claims her role in the scheme of things as the “Beer Champion” for Tony’s Darts Away) took me on a tour Mohawk Bend and gave me a full run-down of what’s going on behind those theater doors:
A non-smoking outdoor patio is the first space you’ll notice (where you would, for instance, buy your movie tickets when it was a theater). It will be treated almost like a lounge area with cocktailers.
The Quad is just past the hostess station, where two- and four-tops plus booths (totaling 48 seats) will occupy the space. It’s a seat yourself deal, and while you can order at the bar there will be cocktailers as well.
There’s this really cool concrete community table with high-top seating as you move into further down into the pub/bar area (they had to build it right there, it’s so bulky). Along the right side is the row of bar stools facing a total of 72 taps for beer and six taps for wines. With a focus on California/local brews, wines, and even spirits, they’ll also be making their own juices and even sodas.
Along the left side are also high-top seats, this section facing an open kitchen where you can watch the chefs in action. There’s the “Cadillac of pizza ovens” along with multiple stations – since they will be offering a variety of vegan dishes, they’ve actually duplicated stations so that vegan meals are prepared separately from meat dishes. That means they have two of each: cold tops, fryers, griddles and pizza stations.
The menu isn’t entirely vegan because they are really driving home that they have an “inclusive” menu – so that there’s something for everyone.
At the end of the building, broken up by an enormous wall of glass panels, is the sort-of “formal” dining area. It’s here you can really get a sense the old theater space – the expansive walls of exposed brick give off the original flavor, and they plan to have ivy or some sort of greenery to help make it feel more like an outdoor space. They also installed quite a few beautiful skylights and scaffolding to help that outdoor feel.There’s also a massive fireplace centering the far wall.
Back to what’s really important, more about the booze:
Back when this whole project started, I was a little worried about big names like Spacecraft leading the design of the new restaurant, fearing it would turn into some over-exaggerated, Hollywood design that wouldn’t fit well with some of the more homey establishments in the community. But I’ve warmed up to Tony, the restaurant, and the concept as a whole (despite a few neighborhood objections when they moved in).
We are all anxiously awaiting the final touches to be made for the grand opening. Actually, the restaurant was supposed to open today, but as with any restaurant opening there are permit delays, final deliveries, and just some last minute details to be sorted. They now expect Mohawk Bend to open in early July, we’re crossing our fingers!
UPDATES:
Eater LA reports the opening will be delayed even more to late July due to some problems with gas pipes or gas lines.
For the week of Tuesday, June 28 through Sunday, July 3
Tuesday
The Echo & Future Sounds presents: The Postelles, Kitten, Pageants, Pan Am @ Echo
J Scott Bergman, Holly Gleason, Nightmare And The Cat @ Bootleg Theater
Jack Littman, Nikki Lang, Dez Hope, Elas & Celeigh Chapman @ Lot 1 Cafe
Open Mic Night @ Fretted Frog
Wednesday
Alela Diane, Parson Redheads, Yukon Blonde @ Echo
Dub Club @ Echoplex
Sarabeth Tucek, Twilight Sleep, Magic Mirror @ Bootleg Theater
Live Jazz Every Wednesday night at 7:00 pm @ Downbeat Cafe
Thursday
Johnny O’donnell, John Carpenter, Corridor, Residual Echoes @ Echo
Heavy La @ Echoplex
Vandaveer, Cheyenne Marie, Luluc @ Bootleg Theater
Paleo @ Origami Vinyl
Los Angeles Loves @ Lot 1 Cafe
Sister Rogers Residency @ Taix Lounge
Emily Lacy, Claire Cronin, Adrian Tenne, Folk Ladies @ Echo Country Outpost
Friday
Echo & Club Underground Present Jessica 6, Love Grenades, Vice Cooler @ Echo
Echo & Check Yo’ Ponytail2 Present: Blonde Redhead, The Luyas, Bass Drum Of Death, Turquoise Wisdom @ Echoplex
Dan Bern With Common Rotationc @ Bootleg Theater
Sunshine Factory, El Camino Real, The Health Club, Morose @ Lot 1 Cafe
The Functionaries, Abe Lincoln Story @ Taix Lounge
Saturday
Bootie La @ Echoplex
Funky Sole @
Venus Illuminato, Sabrosa Purr, Amusement Parks On Fire @ Bootleg Theater
Gwendolyn and friends @ Taix Lounge
Southern Tornadoes Benefit: Sue Scrofa and Friends @ Echo Country Outpost
Sunday
Grand Ole Echo @ Echo
Trannyshack La @ Echoplex
Part Time Punks – David Bowie Nite with guest DJ Jose Maldonado @ Echo
Man Your Horse @ Origami Vinyl
Visit the venue websites 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.
We allllmost missed this on the radar, but this is the last weekend for the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival, and there are still quite a few amazing films still scheduled for screenings.
One of those films is Mamitas, which has gotten some pretty rave reviews and awards since its release in 2007, was filmed all over Echo Park. Directed by Nicholas Ozeki, the film is about a young casanova trying to teach his friends how to hit on girls. Here’s the synopsis from the LA Film Fest website:
“At school, Jordin is a cocky but charming Latino firebrand; at home he is a doting grandson who can’t seem to please his perpetually cranky father. On the day he’s suspended for insulting a teacher, Jordin meets Felipa, a bookish, no-nonsense New York girl who sees past the swaggering facade. The two immediately embark on an unlikely friendship that inspires Jordin to find out who he really is.
“Beautifully shot in Echo Park and against Los Angeles’ downtown skyline, this beguiling coming-of-age romance introduces two phenomenal young actors in EJ Bonilla and Veronica Diaz-Carranza and a remarkable new talent in first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Ozeki.”
And Echo Park looks gorgeous, as always!
You can still get tickets for the two remaining screenings at the festival for tonight’s 10:20 pm showing and tomorrow’s 12:00 noon showing. Click here for tickets and more info.
We managed to track down a trailer for your sneak peak!
Related articles:
“Los Angeles Film Festival: ‘Mamitas’ continues a coming-of-age tradition.” LA Times, June 22, 2010
This cutey caught our eye on the Echo Park Animal Alliance Yahoo! group. His name is Patch, he’s 10 months old, and was surrendered by the owner to the North Central Animal Shelter because they had no time – unfortunately he’s been there since April 30, so he needs to get adopted or fostered ASAP.
His shelter ID number (which you can search here) is A1208851.
Patch is an unaltered male, white and yellow brindle German Shepherd Dog and American Staffordshire Terrier. Good with kids, needs some help socializing with other dogs, and isn’t aggressive “just barky.” There’s a video of him to show you just how cute he is!
UPDATE:
Patch has been fostered! But he still needs a permanent home. Contact us if you’re interested in adopting and we’ll get you in touch with the right people.
Today marks the start of the annual Dwell on Design conference in Downtown Los Angeles – it’s a pretty cool, inspiring event if you have never been! As part of the weekend-long event, they are hosting an Eastside Home Tours on Saturday, June 25 that covers architecturally significant homes around Echo Park, Silver Lake of course, and even Mt. Washington.
The Echo Park house featured in the tour particularly caught our eye because it’s been a mystery to us for some time now – it’s an oddly shaped concrete house on Lake Shore Avenue that started going up years ago, and I never got a close look thanks to some menacing guard dogs. Apparently it’s the work of Norman Millar Architects and is named “ArkHouse.”
The new structure replaces a 1904 “weekend cabin.” It’s described by the architects on the Dwell website as the following:
“Based on the idea of a mini mall, the project has repetitive concrete shear walls and repetitive spaces served by centrally located plumbing.
“All of the spaces are the same. The use of each room is determined by how it is furnished by its inhabitants. Floor to ceiling glass doors slide open on the outside of the building blurring the lines between indoors and the garden. The house has a narrow footprint allowing most of the site to be given over to vegetation and sunlight and providing easy flow through ventilation. The green roof provides insulation and plenty of food for most of the year.”
Not exactly my cup of tea – I’m more of an old-school California bungalow type of gal, even with natural ventilation and lighting. But we are definitely curious for a peak of the inside, photos of which you can find on the Dwell Eastside Home Tours page.
Tickets are sold out, but you can check out photos of the featured houses on the website.
A very happy first anniversary to Xoia Vietnamese Eats, located along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park.
The restaurant opened up late last June, offering up a nice, cool patio area to enjoy your meal and an affordable menu. A fan of the tofu Pho, I’ve also heard great things about the bold directions they’ve gone with non-traditional menu items such as the Pho Beef Tacos.
And, speaking of Pho Beef Tacos, they are giving one away for free when you purchase an entrée on Saturday, June 25 (while supplies last). You can also get a few Vietnamese Iced Coffee (soooo good)!
If you’ve never met the owners, Jose Sarinana and Thien Ho, they are incredibly pleasant and great for a community like Echo Park. In an email, they told us about celebrating their first year with Xoia:
“It has been an awesome adventure in creating and recreating food this past year! More importantly, this past year allowed us to meet and stay in touch with so many great people who have embraced us in their food community.”
Congrats to Jose, Thien, and the staff – see you soon!
The North Central Animal Shelter is having a “Chip-A-Thon” on Sunday, June 26, where you can get your pet chipped for very, very cheap!
Bring your pet from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm on Sunday to the shelter and pay just $15 – includes the chipping and the registration (trust me, this is very inexpensive!).
Getting your pet chipped is very important – if they lose their collar or escape from the house, this is the best way to get your loved one home!
The North Central Shelter is located at 3201 Lacy Street.
The Chip-A-Thon is sponsored by Southern California Veterinary Medical Association (SCVMA), HomeAgain and Avid.
Last Sunday (June 19, 2011), area residents and bird-lovers met up bright and early at Echo Park Lake for the final bird count before the lake construction begins this summer. A total of 26 species were counted, all of which we’ve listed below.
Jenny Burman of the Chicken Corner noticed the number seemed a little low compared to last January’s count, which noted 42 species at Echo Park Lake. So she asked bird count leader Judy Raskin, why the large drop? Here’s her answer, from Jenny’s column:
Hi, Jenny. The number of species at any time will vary. For example, the winter migrations are over, mostly, except for the occasional bird here and there. Most of the birds at the lake now either are resident or find their food and shelter within a swath that includes the lake. I’m surprised by the number of Canada geese here now, but I bet they will move on within a few weeks, maybe to the river, maybe to another lake. Most of the wild mallards are gone, as are virtually all of the American coots — I noticed only two yesterday. On the other hand, there were loads of bushtits, a species that we didn’t see much of in recent years.
Now, if you’re not giggling at the word Bushtit – it’s not a typo but an actual bird species (thank you, Wikipedia) – this should answer that question about spring/summer migrations at Echo Park Lake.
Raskin is hoping to do a Christmas Bird Count in December or January, which is an annual tradition for not just Echo Park Lake bird-watchers but also the National Audubon Society. We’ll see how the construction goes!
Here’s the list of birds counted at the lake last Sunday:
Free puppet shows, magic shows, music, storytimes, crafts, and lots of books to read!
When you join the free 2011 Summer Reading Club, you will receive a game board. See if you can “read around the world,” 30 minutes at a time! After you read 2 hours, you get a sticker and a chance to win a prize. After you read 8 hours, you get a free book to take home. If you read 15 hours, you might win a Grand Prize!
New this year – a special game board just for kids ages 0 to 4 and their parents! Young kids and parents do fun activities together, such as reading books, going to library storytime, and making animal noises. After you finish the game board, the child gets a free book to take home and is eligible for a Grand Prize.
In the Summer Reading Club, you get to read whatever you want – for fun! And the more you read, the better you get at it.
Flickr photo via Nickels_Photography
Echo Park Branch
Flickr photo via indigo imposter
Edendale Branch
ELFS Used Book Sale: Wednesdays at 2:00 pm. Join the Edendale Library Friends Society for their weekly used book sale. All sales support the library.
For Children
Infant & Toddler Storytime: Wednesdays at 10:00 am and 11:00 am. Children 1-3 and their special grown-ups join the children’s librarian for nursery rhymes, songs, finger plays, and books. Get ready to read and have fun in the library!
One World, Many Stories: June 25 at 10:00 am. Drop by the library anytime today for games and crafts from around the world and to sign up for the summer reading club: One World, Many Stories. Read great books this summer and get a free book to keep and a chance to win other prizes.
Puppet making & Storytelling: June 30 at 3:00 pm. Artist and puppeteer Leslie Gray leads a puppet-making and storytelling workshop, part of our Summer Reading Club, One World, Many Stories.
For Teens
Teen Summer Reading Kick-Off: June 30 at 5:00 pm. Let’s get together with Marcella Kroll, Mistress of the Tarot, to kick off this year’s Teen Summer Reading Program.
Click here to download the full PDF of summer events at the libraries (which contains both English and Spanish).