It’s a bit of a hike up Echo Park Avenue to get to Echo Country Outpost, but it’s certainly worth the trip. The interior design and the wares they’ve got for sale set it apart from the other boutiques and thrift stores in the neighborhood. While browsing their selection of moccasins, zarapes and giant pinecones, I felt less like I was in a second-hand shop in Los Angeles and more like I was visiting a roadside gift shop off of the 395.
The store has been open since November 2009 and is owned by Erica, Brendan and Chris. According to Erica, the store is a kind of extension of their home. Many of the goods for sale are antiques and handmade objects that they collected while traveling through the desert: antique wool point blankets, all-natural fir and cedar incense, vintage literature and a really fun assortment of goods that evoke the spirit of the American southwest.
As well as a store, they also strive to be “a new neighborhood gathering place.” They’ve already started hosting events including poker every Friday night (open to everyone)! So strap on yer chaps, git on yer mount and ride on over to 1930 Echo Park Ave. They’re open from noon to 8, Tuesday through Sunday.
Click below to see more pictures!
What a treat! The storms these past couple of weeks have really brought some nice views. The rainbow just disappeared a few minutes ago, so enjoy!
The next free workshop on Time Banking will be on Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 5-5:30 pm at Williams Hall (2000 Stadium Way, between Scott and Elysian Park Ave.)
Williams Hall is in the center of the Barlow Hospital campus in Elysian Park, behind the library. Stay after or the member potluck.
Go to the Echo Park Time Bank blog for more information.
The Echo Park Backyard Bird Count is coming up this Sunday, February 14, 2010.
Meet fellow bird lovers at the Echo Park Lake Boathouse at 9:00 am (lasts about 2 hours), and discover the birds in your backyard, schoolyard or park. It’s fun, it’s free and it helps the birds. All ages and skills welcome.
Whether you are brand new to birding or an expert, your count counts! Your checklist will contribute valuable information for science and conservation.
For more information, contact Judy Raskin at judycalifornia@yahoo.com or call (323) 663-6767.
The Great Backyard Bird Count runs four days, February 12-15. To participate on other days or at home, get more information at www.birdcount.org.
Why not walk to the movies?
Thursday, February 11 – MOCK UP ON MU – 8 PM
A radical hybrid of sci-fi, spy, Western, and even horror genres, Craig Baldwn’s Mock Up On Mucobbles together a feature-length “collage-narrative” based on (mostly) true stories of California’s post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and B- (and Z-) fiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the now-mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons (Crowleyite founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L. Ron Hubbard (sci-fi author turned cult leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and “mother of the New Age movement”). Their intertwined tales spin out into a speculative farce on the militarization of space, and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time. More info:http://www.othercinema.com/ FILMMAKER CRAIG BALDWIN IN ATTENDANCE!
Thursday, February 18 – LEFT BANK FILM NIGHT – 8PM
A night of tribute to the Left Bank offshoot of French New Wave cinema. Featuring Chris Marker’s 1962 short experimental Film “La Jetee” (which later inspired Terry Gilliam’s “Twelve Monkeys”) and pioneering director Agnes Varda’s 1965 “Le Bonheur.” Curated and introduced by Rena Durrant, with Q&A to follow.
Friday, February 19 – FIG TREES – 8 PM
“Fig Trees is an extremely challenging work, absolutely innovative, both politically and aesthetically. The film scene needs this urgently: to develop the language of film, to give it a foundation and a background.” Wieland Speck, Berlinale. Fig Trees (2008) is Canadian filmmaker John Greyson’s masterful indictment of the pharmaceutical industry and AIDS policy in Canada and South Africa. Using a whirlwind of biting opera, a perverse countdown of Top-40 AIDS songs, a singing squirrel, and the patron saints of amputees, leather and soldiers, Greyson weaves together the true stories of two prominent AIDS activists, Canadian Tom McCaskell and South African Zackie Achmat. In this breathless, fantastical melange, the activists sing opera, Gertrude Stein celebrates the completion of her 1928 play Four Saints in Three Acts, and as always, Greyson turns a wicked, sharp eye on the intersection of politics, history and community. A lyrical, profoundly effective film, Fig Trees won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Berlinale. Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson has long made daring, aggressively political work that is both provocative and funny. Often incorporating song and history, Greyson works in layered forms of narrative, essay and documentary to ignite our curiosity and celebrate the ways that history contradicts itself. Greyson’s films gnash their teeth at machinated government and a complacent public in a call to action that deftly sparks laughter as often as outrage. Previous films include the lush, haunting LIILES (1996), the AIDS-musical ZERO PATIENCE (1993), as well as URINAL (1998), PROTEUS (2003), UNCUT (1997) and many short works. Greyson will join us fresh from the 2010 Berlinale, where he screens his newest film COVERED. FILMMAKER JOHN GREYSON IN ATTENDANCE!
February 20 – 3RD ANNUAL GI JOE FEST – TWO SCREENINGS: 7 PM and 9 PM
The GI JOE STOP MOTION FILM FESTIVAL is the nation’s first festival dedicated to screening works by stop-motion artists who use GI Joe figures (12″, 8″ -sigma 6- and 3 ¾ sizes) as main characters or “actors.”GI JOE Film Festival highlights up and coming filmmakers, as well as masters of the craft and has already attracted award winning films in the past years. Under the direction of festival president Gio Toninelo, the GI JOE FEST has became one of the hottest and fastest growing stop-motion festivals in the country! More info: http://www.gijoefest.com/
Wednesday, February 24 –- CONSCIENTIOUS PROJECTOR PRESENTS TAKING CHANCE – 7 PM
The Silver Lake Chapter of Neighbors for Peace and Justice returns with their Conscientious Projector film series featuring thought-provoking films and community discussion. This month’s feature, Taking Chance, chronicles one of the silent, virtually unseen journeys that takes place every day across the country, bearing witness to the fallen and those who, literally and figuratively, carry them home. A unique non-political film about the war in Iraq, the film pays tribute to all of the men and women who have given their lives in military service as well as their families. More info: http://www.neighborsforpeaceandjustice.org/
http://www.hbo.com/movies/taking-chance/index.html#/movies/taking-chance/synopsis.html
Thursday, February 25 – SISTER AIMEE DVD RELEASE PARTY – 8 PM
Please join us for the dazzling premiere of SISTER AIMEE: THE MUSICAL! In the big dreams/small budget Depression-era tradition of “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” this free EPFC youth filmmaking class introduced three dozen students ages 12 – 19 to the musical genre as they learned about one of Echo Park’s most dynamic historic figures. “Sister” Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 – 1944) was a pioneering evangelist and media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s who presented religion as a form of popular entertainment. Angelus Temple, the 5300-seat home of the Foursquare Church built by McPherson in 1923, still stands right around the corner from the Film Center at the edge of Echo Park Lake. Students created original sets, costumes, songs and choreography in bringing the story of Sister Aimee to the silver screen. Project made possible in part by grants from the California Council for the Humanities and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. This event is FREE and open to the general public… Q& A and refreshments to follow screening. EVERYONE WELCOME! FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!
It took a moment to notice something was different while driving up Scott to Glendale Blvd around 11pm Sunday night. All the power was out up until the traffic light right before the 2 as well as in the surrounding blocks. Be careful tonight!
The Eastsider LA has the scoop. Apparently it was caused by a traffic accident. Can’t blame the rain for this one 😉
I know, I know. We were supposed to be a little bit further into this series by now than just two posts, but don’t we all have projects that get put on the back burner for just a tad too long? Well, I’m back, I’m bad and I’m unemployed, so let’s do this!
This time we’re going to be telling you a little bit about those three little but awesome places that occupy the strip in between The Echo and the travel agency: Future, Origami Vinyl and Two Boots.
Future just moved into their current spot at 1814 Sunset this past November. I really can think of no better way to describe this place than to use the owner, Will’s, own words: “good times and cool clothes.” When I went in they had a screen and a projector set up with which to watch skate videos. They gave me two free Bill & Ted’s trading cards. They have a bench out front emblazoned with lines from 80s films for their friends to skate on. They have an impressive selection of VHS for sale. And in their store I found the most mouth-watering (maroon, leather, Jordache!) jacket I have ever seen.
Check out their blog and their online store. Or, if you would like to actually go there, they’re located at 1814 W. Sunset Blvd. They’re open from noon to 1 am, Monday through Sunday.
There isn’t much to say about Origami Vinyl that hasn’t already been said. Every person I spoke with before going to visit them told me about Neil and how his and Sean’s store made the neighborhood an awesome place to live. They exclusively sell new vinyl and re-issues, so don’t go there looking for second-hand or vintage records to hang on your wall. To paraphrase Neil, there are just too many great new releases and re-issues to fit anything else into their small space. But he obviously adores every square foot of his little store. They get new stuff in once every couple of days, and there are shows there about once a week. Be sure to check out what’s going down on their blog.
Do you like pizza? Do you live in or near Echo Park? Well, then you should be eating at Two Boots on a regular basis!! This goes double if you’re an east coast transplant and crave the kind of pizza that you find everywhere on the right side of the country. Oh, that delicious cornmeal-coated crust (not the type that you have to dip in ranch dressing)! Hurray for their carefully-planned-out topping combinations! Behold the pizza angel that adorns their wall! It’s not as cheap as La Pizza Loca, for example, but it’s worth every penny. And they’re open until midnight every night and 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays. You can order online here.
wild Up music collective is, in their own words, “a modern music collective, comprised of young Los Angeles area musicians, committed to creating eclectic, vibrant art.”
Tonight they will do just that at Jensen’s Recreation Center (1710 Sunset), one of Echo Park’s coolest historic landmarks. The concert, entitled I See It Coming: songs after Radiohead, will include musical masterworks from the last two and a half centuries. It begins with Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3” and ends with songs from Radiohead’s “In Rainbows.”
I’m actually a little sad that I already have plans for tonight because this concert looks as though it’s going to be really rad.
Tonight (Friday, February 5) at 8 pm. Tickets available at the door. $15 for students and $20 general admission.
From the Echo Park Historical Society
Another kind of beautiful stairway in Echo Park:
Happening Saturday, February 6 from 12 noon – 6:00 pm.
- Live music, chain link fence art gallery, and 1-2 artists showcased inside
- Bike Race
- 1932 Echo Park Ave.
- Live performances by Nathan Xander & Witchouse, among other artists.
- Works by Alex Heilbron (opening is February 5th from 6-11:00 pm)
- Event day discounts
- 1930 Echo Park Ave.
- Art and food truck
- 1924 Echo Park Ave.
Evil Monito
- Dengue Fever Music Documentary
The Dahlhouse
Peter Shire Gallery
- Valentine’s Day Pet Photo shoot
Feeding Birds Boutique
- Driveway Film Screenings, Screen printing workshop, in store discount, music
Delilah’s
- Live jazz music and painter
Magic Gas Station
- Interactive Improvisational Dance Troupe
Chango
- Artist showcased inside
Flounce
Silverwood Properties
- Interactive Sculpture
Tavin
- Live piano Music, and live knitting
Blue Collar
- Interactive sculpture
Iko Iko Presents
Self Improvement & New Hobbies
“Gardening accessories, wool for weaving, rocks/minerals, vintage art books, salts, herbs, Japanese teas & brushes, handmade toys, African jewelry and more things to start a collection or inspire a new hobby.”
Opening: Saturday 7-10 p.m.
Store hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 1-7 p.m.; Sunday: 1-5 p.m.
1298 W. Sunset Blvd.
See the Iko Iko blog to learn a little more about what’s happening at this concept store.
… or works here or hangs out here, or you know one of them through a friend or through a friend of a friend. Perhaps that’s why it feels less like a store and more like someone’s home. But you never feel as though you’re intruding. The front of the space is a second-hand store; “But it’s also my living room,” says Whitney (resident/photographer) who happily showed me around her home.
The Clinic is both a living space for several artists and a space in which they’ve set up shop or studios. There’s a custom framing shop, Ballard’s Artwork Framing, run by Aaron Ballard and focused on personalized and sustainable framing. Adriana Rodriguez, a professional hair stylist, has set up a one-chair salon in the back of the space where she does work by appointment. And local band Pity Party (Have you heard of them? If not, check them 
out. They’re super.) does “design, layout and printing on 100 percent trash.” And it just seems to keep going. It’s less of a store than a living entity. Or an artists co-op, if you wanna get technical. Perhaps I’ll let the man that helms the whole operation, Drew, explain what it is.
Now for the hard data. The Clinic is located at 1832 W. Sunset Blvd. It’s on the south side of the street just east of the Sunset bridge that goes over Glendale. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday) and by appointment.
After the Echo Park Art Hop (aka Echo Park Public Displays of Art), stop by Feeding Birds Boutique for their 1 year anniversary.
February 6, 2010 from 6-9:00 PM
According to their Facebook event page, “Festivities will include live music by Miles Moore, snacks & drinks, and varied sales throughout the store!”
Bring your wallets as one of those sales includes 50% off all original organic print t-shirts, and free t-shirts with purchases over $100.
Click here to RSVP on their Facebook page.
Feeding Birds Boutique is located at 1825 Echo Park Avenue, Suite A