June 2 > Design-n-Dim Sum Bike Tour > Chinatown

It's back! Get ready for our (fifth?) annual Design-n-Dim Sum bike ride with Flying Pigeon on Sunday, June 2nd for another day of studio visits, biking and bao. This year we have a stellar lineup of studio visits, including furniture maker Stefan Bishop, the live-work studio of architect Astrid Diehl and artist Eddy Sykes, and master ceramicist Tracy Wilkinson. We'll be meeting at bike shop Flying Pigeon in Highland Park at 11am and will be on the road by 11:30am for a quick trip up to Glassell Park, then roll over the river to Frogtown before heading south to Chinatown. Total distance for the day will be about 9 miles (you can ride one mile or take the Gold Line from Chinatown if you need to ride back to Flying Pigeon to return your bike or get to your car). 

Our itinerary for the day:

Meet at 11:00am at Flying Pigeon LA 

3404 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90042

1st Stop: Stefan Bishop's Studio

3420 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles CA 90065

2nd Stop: Astrid Diehl and Eddy Sykes Studio

2841 Marsh Street, Los Angeles CA 90039

3rd Stop: TW Workshop

931 Chung King Rd. Los Angeles, CA  90012

Final Stop: Golden Dragon Restaurant for dim sum

960 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012

RSVP here so we can get a headcount

The logistics:

If you have a bike, please bring it. We have about 15 bikes available for rental from Flying Pigeon, for $15 for the day. Bikes are on a first come, first serve basis via RSVP.You can let us know if you need a bike when you RSVP (it's a little checkbox at the end of the form).

Please bring water and sunscreen. It can get hot out there!

Please bring CASH only for the dim sum. We estimate the cost will be about $20 per person.

RSVP here! We need a headcount to reserve the restaurant so if you need to cancel your reservation, please let us know as soon as possible.

And finally, if you want to join us for part of the day, follow us on Twitter. We'll be updating our location throughout the day.

View de LaB Design and Dim Sum 2013 in a larger map

May 20 > A New Blue: Behind the Scenes at Dodger Stadium > Elysian Park

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Daniels and Curbed LA

SOLD OUT: We're very sorry but space is extremely limited for this tour and the event sold out in about 20 minutes. We do have a short waitlist that we will use if people cancel their orders. We'll try our best to plan another tour, but the AIA is hosting a breakfast and tour at Dodger Stadium on May 16 that you might be interested in attending.

You may have read about it. You may have seen it on TV. You may even have gone to a game at the newly renovated Dodger Stadium. But how much do you know about the $100 million off-season renovation that was just completed? With widened concourses, expanded restrooms, new kids' play areas and modernized clubhouses, it's a whole new game. According to Curbed LA:

All told, the team spent $100 million constructing seven new buildings and three entrance plazas around the stadium, reconfiguring the loge and bleacher areas, pulling out rows of seats to widen the walkway in front of concessionaires, and building an entirely new clubhouse for the players. Throughout the winter, crews totaling 700 workers were working 24 hours a day to complete the construction. The team exceeded the industry standard of $1 million a day on construction on more than one occasion.

Join us for a very special behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium with Dodgers SVP of Planning and Development Janet-Marie Smith, who brought her expertise working with the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles to LA. Also joining us is architect Brenda Levin, who led the integration of the new construction with historic elements of the ballpark.

Space is EXTREMELY limited for this tour and will book quickly.

Dodger Stadium Insider's Tour
Monday, May 20
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Reserve your space here

Parking and meeting information will be emailed to attendees.


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May 18 > Raise the Roof Party at the Neutra VDL Residence > Silver Lake

The view of the Meadow and Reservoir from the Neutra VDL roof

Join de LaB on May 18th for a special "Raise the Roof" party on (yes, on) the newly finished roof of the Neutra VDL Residence, which is owned and managed by Cal Poly Pomona. The much-anticipated restoration work, guided by local firm Marmol Radziner and Neutra VDL Residence Director and Cal Poly Pomona Architecture Chair Sarah Lorenzen, is finally complete and we think it deserves a proper toast!

As some of you may remember, we hosted a fundraiser at the historic home back in September 2011, where we helped raised more than $800 to aid the roof restoration work. Other contributors to this effort were Friends of Heritage Preservation, Marmol Radziner, and Friends of VDL. 

In the spirit of the home's ongoing restoration, this event will also support the next phase of restoration work. To date, restoration of VDL, which began in 2008, includes restoration of the interior of the Garden House, full electrical rewiring, restoration of the roofs, new paint, new fences and site walls, and garden replanting. The next phase for Cal Poly Pomona will include restoration of the interior finishes. 

Though the VDL Studio and Residence is open to the public every Saturday from 11am to 3pm, our "Raise the Roof" party will offer a rare glimpse of the house at dusk with all of the reflecting pools filled. We'll also receive an overview on the history of the house, details on the roof restoration project, and the artist-in-residence program from Neutra VDL Residence Director Sarah Lorenzen. 

We look forward to seeing you on the roof with a glass of (white) wine in hand!

Neutra surveying Silver Lake, photo by Julius Shulman

Neutra VDL Residence "Raise the Roof" Party
Saturday, May 18
4:00 to 7:00 pm
Wine and snacks will be served

BUY TICKETS HERE
$20 per person
All proceeds benefit the ongoing restoration work at the Neutra VDL Residence.

Neutra VDL Residence
2300 Silverlake Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Our Making LA Initiative Is Awarded an Art Works Grant from the NEA!

We are beyond excited to announce that de LaB is the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts! The funds will support our Making LA initiative, a new event series we'll be producing over the next year that will include... drum roll... the first-ever de LaB conference!

As part of this round of funding, the Art Works program awarded 817 grants totaling $26.3 million to projects across the country, according to their press release:

In August 2012, the NEA received 1,547 eligible applications for Art Works grants requesting more than $80 million in funding. Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The 817 recommended NEA grants total $26.3 million and span 13 artistic disciplines and fields. Applications were reviewed by panels of outside experts convened by NEA staff and each project was judged on its artistic excellence and artistic merit.

We're so honored to be in such great company! You can read more about the Art Works program and see the list of grantees [PDF].

Now, we need your ideas for how to make Making LA!

This special event series will feature ten important and inspiring community-focused projects located across the east side of Los Angeles, where you'll have the opportunity to learn from the designers, architects, and artists who completed and/or fostered these projects. The series will culminate in 2014 with the Making LA conference, a one-day conference hosted on the east side of L.A., that features local creatives covering the elusive act of implementation for socially focused design ideas. The Making LA conference will also significantly highlight each of the creatives featured within the year-long Making LA event series, in addition to effectively educating hundreds of local creatives on how to move forward on their own projects for Los Angeles.

So let's hear it! What designers and projects should we feature? How can we produce the most dynamic, inspirational (and fun) events and conference you've ever attended?

Let us know in the comments or send us an email at hello@designeastoflabrea.org

And we know we've been saying this a lot lately, but we really are so honored and humbled by your ongoing support as we grow* together. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

*And while we're talking growth, we should mention that the newest member of the de LaB family was born today, a baby boy to our co-founder Haily Zaki and her husband Brian Tuey. Welcome Rowan Phoenix Tuey!

Vote for de LaB's "Making LA" at LA2050!

Fellow de LaBbers—we need your help!

We've submitted a proposal to the Goldhirsh Foundation's ambitious My LA2050 initiative, a program that plans to give away 10 $100,000 grants to local organizations and projects that will shape the future of LA. The initiative looks at the health of this city across eight key indicators: arts & cultural vitality, education, environmental quality, health, housing, income & employment, public safety and social connectedness. Our project Making LA, can be found under the arts & cultural vitality indicator.

A grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation would allow us to continue to offer amazing design programming through the next year. Making LA, a special event series, would feature ten important and inspiring projects located across the east side of Los Angeles (maybe you!). Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from the designers, architects, and artists who completed and/or fostered these projects. The series will culminate with the Making LA Conference, a one-day conference hosted on the east side of LA that features local creatives instructing attendees on the elusive act of implementation for socially focused design ideas.

Angelenos are a creative bunch—we want to enable and empower all creatives and help them implement their vision for the city of the future!

But we need YOUR help to make this a reality. We need to be listed in the top 10 here to even be considered for a grant, so please vote for us! Voting opens April 2nd at noon and runs until April 17th at noon. Tell your friends, your family, help us spread the word!

We've always been humbled by the generosity and enthusiasm of our fellow de LaBbers—we can't thank you enough for the support you've shown us as we grew from a small group of design nerds to an official non-profit with more than 3,000 dedicated de LaBbers.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Vote here for our LA2050 proposal: Making LA!

Here's how to vote:

• Visit our project page at http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab
• Click VOTE
• Log in with your GOOD account. If you don't already have one, you'll need to create one. It's free and all you need is an email or Facebook account. You'll be emailed a link to verify your address.
• Once you've voted, you'll see a verification on the top of the page that your vote has been counted. You can only vote once, however, you can change your vote if you've already voted: simply click vote on the project you want to vote for, and you'll be asked if you want to change your vote.

How else can you help? We're glad you asked!

• Post a link to our project page on your Facebook page or send a Tweet with a link to our project page. Here are some examples you're free to use:

I voted for @de_LaB's #MakingLA in @LA2050 because I support creatives working to make a better Los Angeles. http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab  

Vote for @de_LaB's #MakingLA vision for @LA2050 and support free design events in Los Angeles! http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/delab

• Email your contacts to encourage them to vote. Feel free to copy this entire blog post, or forward our recent email newsletter. 
• Add a comment under the project description adding why you support Making LA, it helps give us more visibility on the site!

Vote now!

Thank you again!

April 14 > Culver City Architecture Tour with KCRW's "DnA: Design and Architecture"

Join us for a walking tour of Culver City in partnership with our good friends at KCRW's DnA: Design and Architecture as part of an exciting full day of events celebrating the Getty's Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A at the historic Helms Bakery.

Our two-hour guided tour will focus on contemporary design and architecture, stopping by the area's newest buildings, studios and stores, and meeting many of the creatives who are transforming the city into one of the most exciting pockets of L.A. We'll check out the new digs of Morphosis and Clive Wilkinson Architects, hear from Eric Owen Moss about the legacy and future of the Conjunctive Points and Hayden Tract developments, and peek inside the beautiful Arcana Books space, designed by Johnston Marklee. Plus, we'll be joined by Culver City planner Joshua Williams, who can answer all your burning questions about the smart urban design and planning that makes this city shine.

The tour will end at Helms Bakery at noon, just in time for you to grab a bite at one of the food trucks before an afternoon of design and architecture events hosted by DnA's Frances Anderton. There will be two panel discussions, live music from KCRW DJ Liza Richardson, a pop-up gallery of design curated by DnA's new "DJs" (design journalists), food available for purchase by Let's Be Frank, and more! Tickets for the afternoon events are available at KCRW.com

Culver City Architecture Tour
Sunday, April 14
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Buy walking tour tickets here for $10 each

Meet at 10:00 a.m. in the pedestrian plaza named Helms Walk near the corner of Helms Avenue and Washington Boulevard. (Link on Google Maps to location.) We'll start and end where the KCRW event is taking place.

Free parking is plentiful in one of several lots (view map here), or the Expo Line is only a few blocks away.

Please note that this ticket only includes the walking tour. To purchase tickets for the afternoon panels, please head over to the event page at KCRW.com

Top image: The new Arcana Books store, designed by Johnston Marklee

April 6 > Oxy Solar Array Tour > Eagle Rock

You've likely spotted it as you've sailed by it on a nearby freeway, or perhaps you caught a glimpse in the distance during a hike on an adjacent hill: Occidental College's Solar Array is one of the largest ground-mounted arrays in L.A. The 4886 panels will provide an estimated 11% of the power on campus and could save the school as much as $250,000 a year. We'll be getting a tour of the array with Kara Bartelt of Lettuce Office, who will demonstrate how her firm worked with the school to create the curving design of the panels based on a mathematical formula, resulting in a sustainable, aesthetically pleasing installation that's more akin to public art.

Oxy Solar Array Tour

Saturday, April 6

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

RSVP here. The event is free, but space is extremely limited.

Hameetman Science Center at Occidental College

1600 Campus Road

Los Angeles, CA 90041

Meet at the Hameetman Science Center (Building #39) in the lobby by the pendulum. 

Parking: You can park on Campus Road by the Science Center or you can park in the Upper Campus Parking Lot (#19) where it's about a five-minute walk to the Science Center, but you'll be parked closer to the array for when the tour is finished. To park in this lot, you'll want to enter on Ridgeview Avenue, take a left on Gilman Road and a right on AG Coons.

For reference, view and download a campus map.

What to wear: The hillside is steep, rocky and sunny (obviously!), please wear sturdy shoes that are good for hiking and bring a hat or sunscreen if you're worried about exposure. Our apologies, this tour is not good for people who have limited mobility.