• Nite Jewel, Sugar & Gold, Luxxury at The Echo. 8pm. $10. 18+. The Echo is located at 1822 Sunset Blvd.
  • Heartless Bastards, Hacienda, Amy Cook at Echoplex. 8:30pm. $16. 18+. The Echoplex is located at 1154 Glendale Blvd.
  • Gift Horse Project feat. Rain Phoenix, Antony Langdon, Ane Diaz and Royston Langdon, Norm Block, Kirk Hellie, Dave Palmer, Dermot Mulroney, A.J. Mason, Chris Tucci and very special guests at Bootleg Theater. 10pm. $20. 21+. The Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd.
  • Tarlton, The Paddleboat, Foot Foot, Wires in the Wall at Echo Curio.$5. All ages. Echo Curio is located at 1519 Sunset Blvd. 9pm.
  • I Heart Lung, Cue The Moon, Rare Grooves, his Orchestra at Pehrspace. 9pm. $5. All ages. Pehrspace is located at 325 Glendale Blvd.
Thanks to LAist.

Twitpic photo via ritzy_p

Could it be the real General Lee at the Vons parking lot in Echo Park? Discuss.

While Silver Lake, Highland Park, and some other neighboring areas are having some recent crime, Echo Park seems to be pretty quiet according to the most recent Northeast newsletter on recent crime events.

According to the email, Echo Park is reported as having “No trends or patterns over the past 28-day period. A few property crimes over the past week.”

The rest of the email reads as follows:

Read more

This week’s H&M fashion video features Echo Park fashion designers and businesses, including Olga Nazarova from Them Atelier, Andrew Selna of The Clinic of Echo Park, and David Hershberger of Front Street. Check it out!

Andrew Selna

Looking for something new to do on Sunday night in Echo Park? Check out the newly formed Echo Park Chess Club, meeting for the first time this Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 5:00 pm, on the back patio of Stories Books and Cafe. Bring your own chess board if you have one!

Stories is located 1716 Sunset Blvd

CitySip is hosting a class slash tasting on home beer brewing on Saturday, May 15.

The cost of the class is $45, which gets you the home brewing lessons, beer trivia and tasting, and pizza.

It’s going down in the super secret employee parking lot behind CitySip LA. We’ll be brewing beer, tasting beer, talking about beer, and eating Two Boots pizza! Expect to taste about 6-8 commercial beers… and there might be some extras “not included in the price.”

We’ll be starting out with a pretty basic extract brew this time, so you’ll learn all you need to know to get started making your own!

The class takes place from 1:00 pm – 4:00pm, and they advise that you wear clothes that can get dirty or wet.

To make a reservation, call City Sip at (213) 483-9463 or email for your spot.

CitySip is located at 2150 W. Sunset Blvd, click here for the website.

This tickles me, because so many people chastise The Eastsider LA for covering areas like Echo Park under the “eastside” guise. Well, Curbed LA editors have apparently had enough themselves, citing a recent post where commenters argued whether or not the areas included in the video post, titled The East Side of Los Angeles on a Sunny Day, are indeed the “eastside.”

So Curbed L.A. has decided to rename everything east of Western and west of the Los Angeles River, leaving the name suggestions to a public vote:

…because it’s just too cumbersome to get all those neighborhood names out every time you want to say something condescending about hipsters, we’re giving the area a new collective handle too, with the help of the Curbed army. Leave your suggestions in the comments or send them into the tipline, and the best will be put to a vote. The winning name will designate the area from then on out and no one will ever refer to East Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, or Echo Park as the eastside ever again for the rest of time.

So far, suggestions include North Central L.A., East Westside, Uptown, and more. View the Curbed LA article and maybe even post your suggestions here.

Granted, LA neighborhood boundaries are consistently… inconsistent. The neighborhood of Echo Park itself more often than not includes Angeleno Heights, Elysian Heights, and even sometimes Historic Filipinotown. But the eastside debate is another entity entirely, with those like the LA Eastside blog passionately arguing for the true eastside being “east of LA River,” others, like in this LA Times article, argue it’s not just a geographical issue but also a cultural identity tied to the Chicano movement, adding, “The newly gentrified area started to collectively call itself the Eastside – as in east of the riches of the Westside.” Other arguments outline a few different historical viewpoints, an arena we will be covering in a later post.

For us at Echo Park Now, there’s hopefully no question about the areas of Echo Park we cover. But one thing’s for sure – even if Curbed LA renames this area, the eastside debate will never end.

Related articles you should check out:

  • “A title bout between two Eastsides.” May 31, 2009, LA Times
  • “The Big Move.” April 1, 2010, LA Eastside
  • “‘Eastsider’, My Ass!” January 9, 2009, LA Eastside
  • “Mapping LA Neighborhoods.” LA Times
  • “An Eastsider by any other name.” September 26, 2008, The Eastsider LA
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/04/very_fast_very_tiny_los_angeles_goes_about_its_business.php

Basic Tee

Lady's Babydoll

Now you can announce how much you “Luv” Echo Park everywhere – on your shirt, with your coffee, and even on your car bumper. Local artist Bill Rangel is 16-year resident of Echo Park. According to his website, “The light, the physical beauty, the people, and the diversity of Echo Park all play a role in the paintings of Bill Rangel… Now you can have a slice of Bill Rangel’s life in Echo Park on a canvas print or poster, a mug or a t-shirt.” Remember, Mother’s Day is fast approaching!

Click here to buy your I Luv Echo Park t-shirts and other goodies online.

Wednesday, April 28 at 7:30 pm – Julie Kausner reads from her new book I Don’t Care About Your Band. It charts a distinctly human journey of a strong-willed but vulnerable protagonist who loves men like it’s her job, but who’s done with guys who know more about love songs than love. This is the girl’s version of High Fidelity. By turns explicit, funny, and moving, Klausner’s debut shows the evolution of a young woman who endured myriad encounters with the wrong guys, to emerge with real-world wisdom on matters of the heart.

Saturday, May 1 at 7:30 pm – Reading/Signing Party for Record Store Days. Stories celebrates independent record stores and the release of authors Gary Callomar and Phil Gallo’s book, “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again.” We want it to be party and want you there! Independent pop culture was born in indie record stores and book stores across the country and we want you to hear about it! Complimentary beer and wine and snacks while they last. Special dj set from Neil from Origami Vinyl.

Professor Calculus is playing Echo Country Outpost on a Friday, April 30th, as part of a solid week of shows promoting their new album.

Friday, April 30th

9PM

Free

BYOB

Bands:
Verb The Adjective Noun

Professor Calculus

Echo Country Outpost is located at 1930 Echo Park Ave.

Here are some new workshops and panels hosted by 826LA. For the grown-ups they’ve got…

826LA Adult Writing Seminar Series: Comedy Writing on Monday, May 3 at 8:00 pm with Bob Odenkirk, Jen Kirkman, Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, and Jill Soloway! Moderated by Marc Evan Jackson! Our panelists will discuss comedy writing: how they got started, what inspires them, and the dark, dark place comedy comes from. We will also be screening some shorts written by our panelists. Takes place at Busby’s East (5364 Wilshire Blvd.). Click here to buy tickets.

And a couple of youth workshops…

Advertise! – Saturday, May 1 from 12:00 – 2:00 pm Students will receive a brief primer on the components of print advertising-layout, copy, and graphics-and immediately put their knowledge to work. The products at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart need to be advertised. Working with volunteer instructors from the worlds of advertising and television, students will write copy and lay out the graphics for the Time Travel Mart products of their choice, creating actual print advertisements. Taught by ad folks from TBWA\Chiat\Day and TV folks from “Deadliest Catch” and “Mad Men.”  For students ages 8 to 12. Takes place at 826LA East (1714 W. Sunset Blvd). Cost is FREE. Go here to sign up!

Improv: Comedy and Character – Sunday, May 2 from 12:00 to 2:00 pm This workshop introduces participants to the core concepts of improv comedy: group mind, space work, character, and, of course, fun! Participants will play games, write character monologues, and create scenes using their characters. For students ages 8 to 13. Takes place at UCLA’s Armand Hammer Museum. Cost is FREE but PLEASE NOTE: this workshop is full. If you’d like to be included on a waiting list, email julius(at)826la.org

Throughout this week, Echo Park Lake is amongst other Southern California and Eastern Sierra waters to be stocked with rainbow trout by the Department of Fish and Game. Rainbow trout is generally stocked during the cooler months of winter through late spring, while catfish are stocked during the summer, and will join other fish like bass and maybe even some perch.

I personally enjoy rainbow trout – growing up, my family and I caught them in the mountain lakes in Northern California. My mother would wrap the fish in foil and cook them on our campfire, making some incredibly fresh dinner for our camping trips. But this isn’t the High Sierras – this is Echo Park Lake, which is considered a catch-and-release site for recreation only. Poor water quality keeps me from imagining anyone enjoying fish from the lake as a meal – the lake is in fact a flood control basin that catches all the urban run-off in the area, along with a collection of pollutants like ammonia, copper, lead, trash, and more that have accumulated in the lake.

However, I have been reading that the fish are safe to eat – the CA Department of Fish and Game told the Eastsider LA in November last year that most are caught within 1-3 months and are safe. I personally expect someone to discover a three-eyed Simpsons fish any time now, but I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you’ll be dining on some Echo Park Lake delicacies.

Taix
1911 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026-3288
(213) 484-1265
www.taixfrench.com

Monday-Thursday: 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Friday: 11:30am – 11:00pm
Saturday: 12:00pm – 11:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm – 9:00pm

Make a reservation online.

Read more

Denise over at Echo Park Yoga just started teaching yoga classes for kids every Sunday from 5:00 to 6:00 pm.

I began this class at the beginning of April because I love Yoga and love working with children. I  got certified in teaching Kid’s Yoga last Fall and decided to provide my community (I live in Echo Park) with an outlet for kids to have fun and learn something new.

Echo Park Yoga’s studios are located in the Jensen Rec Center at the entrance on Logan (1161 Logan Street).


Opening reception for a new show entitled “Cigar Box Beauty” tonight Saturday, April 24 from 7:00 to 11:00 pm at Miss Scarlet in the Parlor.

They have style, they have face. Drawing influences from fashion and propaganda, the art of Cigar Box Beauty explores the concepts of style and appeal with aplomb. The exhibit features an international group of young guns, including Jeremy Forson (US,) Eliza Frye (US,) Naja Conrad-Hansen (Denmark,) Soey Milk (US,) Yana Moskaluk (Russia,) and Mateu Velasco (Brazil.) Suave, complex, and admittedly fetishistic, the pieces in Cigar Box Beauty engage in a conversation exploring the exploitation and exaltation of beauty.

Admission is free and “seraphic” (light? sweet?) refreshments will be served. Miss Scarlet in the Parlor is located at 1282 W. Sunset Blvd.