February de LaB > Billboards By Bus

Update: Read coverage of our adventures on Fast Company and Curbed LA.

Apologies for the unexpected hiatus (ask us to tell you the story over drinks sometime)! But we're back in action in 2010 with a very arty de LaB that's—gasp!—taking us west of La Brea: A bus tour with the MAK Center to view some of the pieces in their show How Many Billboards? Art In Stead.

This large-scale urban exhibition debuts 21 newly commissioned works by leading contemporary artists, presented simultaneously on billboards in Los Angeles in February and March.

On Monday, February 22, we'll be meeting at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at 6pm, where de LaB's own Marissa Gluck will be giving tours of the Schindler House before we go. At 7pm, we'll board a bus with MAK director Kimberli Meyer and other special guests to see as many of the billboards as we can. Then we'll finish out the night at the Andaz West Hollywood around 9:30, where a comprehensive public art program has made the hotel a destination in itself.

Monday, February 22

6pm: Meet at the MAK Center

835 North Kings Road

West Hollywood, CA 90069

7pm: Board bus

9:30pm: Meet at Andaz West Hollywood
8401 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(we'll have the bus drop us here, and it's a short walk back to the MAK Center)

We estimate the bus will be about $12 per person but won't know until we get RSVPs. If you want to take a tour of the Schindler House, please bring an additional $7 donation. Bring cash, please!

Please RSVP for the bus to hello AT designeastoflabrea.org by February 19. You do not have to RSVP for the Andaz.


Image: Kerry Tribe's piece for How Many Billboards? Art in Stead, 2010.
Photo by Gerard Smulevich, courtesy of MAK Center for Art and Architecture

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!

December de LaB > Go For The Gold!

Join us December 12th for a food tour of the new Gold Line extension! The MTA's James Rojas will be leading us on a guided tour of the metro stops through the eastside LA, and we'll explore some of the food in these diverse neighborhoods.

Dec 12th is also the Feast of Guadalupe so we'll see some of the shrines, decorations and celebrations in honor of the holiday.

Our itinerary:
2pm: Meet at the Gold Line platform in Union Station
1st Stop: ELA Civic Center. Visit the newly renovated urban center with library, amphitheater and pond.
2nd Stop: Indiana: We'll stop at the Mercado for tacos or grab the original raspadas (ice cones)
3rd Stop: Mariachi Plaza: Tacos! Mariachis!
4th Stop: Little Tokyo: Our last stop will be for green tea ice cream, and depending on how we feel, drinks at Far Bar or another nearby watering hole.

Please bring CASH for the day, and rsvp to hello [at] designeastoflabrea [dot] org if you plan on attending.

[Photo by Alissa Walker]

November de LaB > CalArtian Screening @ Art Walk > Nov. 12

This month, please join us on for a special screening of High-Energy Double Channel videos by Cal Artians, hosted at Ball-Nogues Studio in Downtown LA during Art Walk.

Organized and curated by Cal Arts educator and artist Nancy Buchanan, the special screening will feature work by Cal Artians Megyn Cawley, Kaylan George, Jacob Jones, Steven Klems, Pele Kudren, Alex Lorge, Sarah Manuwal, Natasha Mendonca, Asher Price, Jemes Raymond, William Sabiston, Kim Strouse, and Alice Wang, who will each present a total of 4-minutes of video.

Nancy's own work, which examines social and political issues, particularly themes of power and personal place, will also be featured.

Since their move to downtown LA, Ball-Nogues Studio has become both design lab and gallery. Each month during Art Walk, they open their space to the public to showcase the work of creative friends and peers engaged in their own creative explorations. de LaB hopes to collaborate with Ball-Nogues on something special very soon. For now, we hope you can join us for this visual adventure! No RSVP necessary.

Thursday, November 12

7:30pm to 11:30pm

Ball-Nogues Studio

410 S. Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

(213) 458-3673

View on Google Maps

For more information, visit this page.

Image: Kaylan George Film Teaser

October Hiatus

Yes, we know it's very Hollywood to say we're going on hiatus, and then never return, but in this case we mean it. Work, travel and other obligations mean October has gotten away from us, but we'll be back with another great event in November.

In the meantime, enjoy our pics from September's Park[ing] Day on Facebook (psst, have you joined our group yet?) and check out some of these other great events going on in the next few weeks:

• If you haven't got a ticket to this week's sold out Rock-n-Platinum Party at the Cherokee Lofts, perhaps you'd like a tour?
• See it before it closes Nov 1 - the Richard Neutra Sketches and Drawing exhibit at the LA Library downtown. It's free!
• Check out LACMA's cross section of twentieth-century design at "From the Spoon to the City: Design by Architects from LACMA's Collection."
• The MAK Center is mounting an exhibit on little-known Austrian sociologist, Otto Neurath (1888-1945). Opening Nov 3rd.
• The Sixties are hot again. As part of the LA Conservancy's "Sixties Turn Fifties" initiative, they're putting on a one-time only self-driving tour of some of the cities best architecture from the 1960's.
  
• The Great LA Walk is back! Join Franklin Ave and friends for their annual urban hike. This year, they're meeting at the Shrine for a walk down Washington and Adams - all the way to Venice.
  

And we're always looking for great ideas for future events. Got one? Hit us up at hello [at] designeastoflabrea [dot] org.

Save the Date! Sept de LaB> Park[ing] Day LA Sept 18th

We are teaming up with our friends at Curbed LA and Greenmeme for Park[ing] Day LA! Come join us as we work together to transform a parking space located in front of LOCAL restaurant into a sustainably designed pocket-park.

Come by, enjoy a lemonade, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. More details on our future pocket-park and what you can do to help to come.



in the meantime, here's more on Park[ing] Day:

Too often, when people think of Los Angeles they envision a maze of asphalt, smog and traffic congestion. The automobile reigns supreme and as a result one’s ability to navigate through the City becomes compromised with the burden of too many vehicles clogging the road. Sidewalks have been narrowed and opportunities for open space, parks, civic plazas and public places have been sequestered into the hills, which unfortunately are often inaccessible to anyone without an automobile. Despite being home to one of the largest urban parks in North America (Griffith Park), Los Angeles significantly lacks adequate & accessible open space, urban parks, plazas and civic centers.

In 2005, the Rebar group, a small group out of San Francisco, opened eyes worldwide by transforming a metered parking spot into a park-for-a-day in an effort to make a public comment on the lack of quality open space in American cities. Their goal was to reprogram the urban surface by reclaiming streets for people to rest, relax and play and to:

• Promote a critical dialogue among artists, designers, activists, citizens, corporations, and government regarding the need for urban open space and they way in which streets are currently used.

• Energize civic life by questioning basic assumptions about urban space while offering provocative and meaningful alternatives.

• Connect artists, designers, and activists with ways to permanently reclaim the street for people.

August de LaB > Picnic In the Park @ Vista Hermosa Aug 29

You asked for it and we answered. Many of you asked for a landscape architecture event, so we went to one of the best - Mia Lehrer.

Take a tour and bring a picnic! Landscape architect Mia Lehrer is giving us a tour of the Grand Prize-winning 9.5 acre park Vista Hermosa Park located near downtown.

The park features walking trails, streams, meadows, oak savannahs, picnic grounds, and a nature-themed playground amidst native Mediterranean vegetation. We're meeting at 4pm on August 29th by the grotto and waterfall for a walk through the park, followed by a picnic. Bring a sandwich, salads, and drinks. Our friends from Coolhaus will be on hand for ice cream sandwiches with a special Mia-themed flavor!

Address: 100 N. Toluca Street
The park is on First Street west of the 110 (Harbor Freeway) between Beaudry and Glendale Blvd.

Parking is available in the park. Enter the West Gate on Toluca, or the South Gate on 1st Street. From both, walk north across the Upper Field to reach the grotto.