Thank You for Another Amazing Year! Here's What We Did in 2012

We've already said goodbye to 2012, but wanted to take a few moments to say thank you for all your love and support. This was a pretty big year for us, as we officially became a non-profit! In 2012, we also continued our schedule of hosting about two events every month, seeking out the most interesting, innovative and inventive design across this great city. And we hosted our very first home tour in Echo Park and a tour of LA's old subway tunnels, events we hope to repeat this year. We're so grateful for this community and can't wait to see what 2013 brings! 

Here are some of our favorite people, places and things we saw this year...

• We started the year surrounded by the words and products of the Eames. We also toured the landmark Hollywood Tower and visited the historic Best Western across the street, after both had a little work done—just like any other Hollywood beauty. 
• In February we headed way east again, to Palm Springs for Modernism Week for a curator-led tour of Backyard Oasis at the Palm Springs Art Museum. 
• In March, we hosted our inaugural home tour, a look at four homes in Echo Park that exemplified efficient infill for the neighborhood. We also took a tour of Burbank's DWP EcoCampus to see innovative drylands design. 
• In April (due to high demand from 2011) we again visited George Ehling's amazing self-made Tile House in the Hollywood Hills for Obscura Day, and visited Sunset Triangle Park, LA's first street-to-plaza conversion, in Silver Lake. 
• In May we gathered in Little Tokyo's iconic Noguchi Plaza, which had been transformed for LA's Bloom Festival. We also ventured underground—literally!—for a tour of LA's abandoned subway tunnels. And yes, we'd like to host another tour but these things take time to plan...patience, friends! 
• In June we held our fourth annual Design-n-Dim Sum bike ride, this time with a stop at Caine's Arcade, and participated in LA's second annual Design Week.
• In July we partnered once again with the LA Forum to support the opening of Unfinished Business, (which features one of our projects, John Chase's West Hollywood Map) and also partnered with our friends at the Noun Project for an LA River-themed Iconathon. 
• In August we saw the future of LA's unused alleyways, in the remarkable transformation of East Cahuenga's alley in Hollywood and visited LA's first distillery since Prohibition in downtown LA at Greenbar Collective. 
• In September we once again celebrated Park[ing] Day, this time with the incredible park designed by recent Art Center grads The Rare Studio in front of LOCAL. We also were the first group to tour Highland Ave's recent transformation as it evolves beyond post-production and prostitution to becoming LA's next art epicenter with visits to Perry Rubenstein and Redling Fine Art. 
• We love planning Halloween-themed events! This year we learned the fine art of silkscreen printing at Frogtown's NOMAD Studio to make masks on old vinyl records. Did we also mention we attended the AIA|LA Awards (with fellow architecture enthusiast Moby) and were honored to present the Next LA Awards? 
• In November we hosted another workshop, this time at Lala Press for an exclusive letterpress class. 
• And in December we ventured into Skid Row for a tour with Michael Maltzan, Skid Row Housing Trust and several resident ambassadors of supportive housing project, New Carver Apartments. We also wrapped up the year with some holiday cheer, making our own lasercut snowflake mobiles with our friends at Knowhow Shop and 2ndwnd.  

And we can't wait to start planning 2013, starting with a tour of the newly opened Expo Line! Stay tuned for details on that and many other exciting events coming this year. 

Thank you again for a great 2012!