June 3 > Design-n-Dim Sum Bike Tour > Chinatown

It's back! Get ready for our annual Design-n-Dim Sum bike ride with Flying Pigeon on Sunday, June 3rd for another day of studio visits, biking and bao. This year, if it's open, we'll be stopping by Caine's Arcade to play a couple of Caine's handmade arcade games. We'll be meeting at bike shop Flying Pigeon in Highland Park at 11am and will be on the road by 11:30am. Our itinerary for the day:

Meet at 11:00am at Flying Pigeon LA (note NEW address)
3404 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90042

1st Stop (If it's open): Caine's Arcade
3538 N. Mission Rd Boyle Heights, CA 90033

2nd Stop: Artist Zoe Crosher's Studio
970 N Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90012

3rd Stop: Preen Inc.

931 Chung King Rd. Los Angeles, CA  90012

Final Stop: Golden Dragon Restaurant for dim sum

RSVP here.

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.

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.

January 24 > Falls Fever > The Falls, Historic Core Downtown

Forget about post-holiday detox. This month, we're heading back downtown to relative newcomer The Falls. Joining us will be owner and designer Michelle Marini, who had previously made her mark on LA nightlife with the Lava Lounge and The Woods.

The Falls' design, shades of amber and orange, is meant to complement the 70s rock spun by DJs. Michelle commissioned Downtown artist MATTEO to design the bar's "waterfall" a video sculpture inside of hundreds of acrylic "ice cubes." Michelle will walk us through the space and explain the design concept, and has kindly offered to create a special cocktail for de LaBbers.

We'll start gathering at 7:30pm, and Michelle will give us the rundown promptly at 8pm. DJs begin spinning at 9pm so stick around and enjoy The Falls' vintage cocktail menu.

Monday, January 24
7:30pm Cocktails
8:00pm Tour with designer-owner Michelle Marini

The Falls
626 S. Spring St., Downtown LA
Between 6th and 7th Streets


View de LaB's Falls Fever in a larger map

Thanks For A Great Year!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our very wet Go For The Gold event and especially to James Rojas for leading our transit and culinary explorations along the Gold Line Extension.

And a special thanks to everyone who has made it out this year to any of our events - we appreciate your support and encouragement as we plan more events for 2010. Have an idea for an event? Let us know.

And what else did we do this year?
In November we joined our friends at Ball-Nogues Studio in Downtown LA during Art Walk for a screening of the High-Energy Double Channel videos by Cal Artians.

In October, we were "on hiatus" but missed you too much!

In September teamed up with our friends at Curbed LA and Greenmeme for Park[ing] Day LA! de LaBbers and neighbors stopped by as we transformed a parking space located in front of LOCAL restaurant into a sustainably designed pocket-park.

In August, we braved the heat to tour Vista Hermosa Park with landscape architect Mia Lehrer and explored the park's walking trails, streams, meadows, oak savannahs, picnic grounds, and a nature-themed playground. Our friends from Coolhaus stopped by with specially-themed Mia-inspired ice cream sandwiches.

In July, we headed east - way east, to explore LA's thriving Tiki culture. Joining forces with Popsicles for Everyone, whose most recent project, Tikitown, USA looks at the rise and fall of Tiki culture in Los Angeles, we embarked on a three-stop Tiki Trek.

In June, we took to the streets for our first (but hopefully not last) annual Design-n-Dim Sum bike ride. Adam and Josef of Flying Pigeon guided a large group of cyclists through Lincoln Heights to Chinatown, stopping along the way to visit Fung and Blatt in their studio, and Fifth Floor Gallery and LOC, ending at Ocean Seafood for dim sum.

In May, we learned the ancient art of origami with Studio 1060, including our friends Bo and Hisako at Bunch Design, Catherine Garrison Architect, Debi Van Zyl and Design Garage Inc. Not only did they provide us with a great space in Boyle Heights, and a fantastic Butter Bar, but they also kindly taught everyone how to construct paper modules for our three-dimensional origami wall, now gracing Studio 1060.

In April we hosted a Garden Party. On top of the Flat Building rooftop, architect Alexis Rochas schooled us on the challenges of urban agriculture as we toured SYNTHe. Afterwards we filed downstairs into the swanktastic Blue Velvet and sipped Champagne and lemon-spiked Hefeweizens while a brunch with produce snipped from that very rooftop was brought out in three beautifully-plated courses.

In March we combined two of our favorite things - cocktails and preservation at Cole's. Restaurant group 213's designer Ricki Kline gave us a tour of the restored space, including their speakeasy The Varnish, in the back room.

In February we headed to Lincoln Heights for a tour of the Daly Lofts, architect and writer Joseph Giovannini’s first major LA project. Formerly a telephone trucking garage, this 23,000 square-foot structure now houses a series of trippy, sculptural modern live-work lofts.

Last Jan we took a break to recover from City Listening, a gathering of several local design and architecture writers to read stories about LA in the performance space at the former office of GOOD magazine.

What does 2010 have in store? Stay tuned here and on Facebook as we announce our next events.

Happy holidays to all!