Los Angeles Design Festival: What to Do June 16-30

Standard's Tree House will be featured on Dwell on Design's Eastside Home Tour on June 25th. Photo by Benny Chan.

de LaB is thrilled to be part of the first-ever LA Design Festival. From June 16 to June 30, LA will be alive with design parties, panels, and yes, even a parade (a Big Parade walk, that is!). So to help you plan out your social calendar for the next few weeks, here's a round-up of our top picks of events produced by our friends and collaborators (and don't forget our own HOLA/BeerBelly double header on Thursday, June 17!).

SATURDAY, JUNE 18th

M&A Eastside Studio Tours - 12:00 to 4:00

An inside peek at some of the Eastside's creative studios. Westside tour on Sunday.

Big Parade Bridges & Tunnels - 2pm to 4pm

Walking tour of downtown LA with Dan Koeppel, LA's stairmaster and good friend of de LaB.

I.D Action - Public Art and Placemaking - 4:30 to 6:30

Special guest Andre Dekker will be on hand all the way from the Netherlands to share his perspective on placemaking at this panel at ATX. With Geoff Manaugh, Oliver Hess, and Edward Lifson.

Chinatown Design Night - 6pm onward

Galleries, studios, and shops will be open late hosting a mix of receptions, parties, sales, etc.

TUESDAY, JUNE 21st

Designing for Demographics - 7 to 8:30pm

de LaB's Marissa Gluck will be moderating a panel on designing for demographics, hosted by LAIAD at Telemachus Studio at The Brewery.

THURSDAY, JUNE 23rd

Architizer City Talks - 6 to 8pm

de LaB's Alissa Walker will be in conversation with ZELLNERPLUS's Peter Zellner and Architzer's Marc Kushner at the Standard Downtown.

FRIDAY, JUNE 24th

The Design Truck

Friday 6-9 pm at Stussy, 112 South La Brea

Saturday 6-9 pm at Covell, 4628 Hollywood Blvd

A mobile gallery following some of L.A.'s best food trucks. Design Truck will feature the work of 12 Los Angeles-based designers, bringing comfortable chairs, beautiful tables and designed lighting to the hungry masses.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25th

Dwell on Design - 10am to 6pm

Check out all the latest and greatest on the show floor at the Convention Center, Eastside Home Tours, and much more. On Sunday, June 26th, de LaB's Alissa Walker hosts two back-to-back panels, one on biking in Los Angeles, one on growing school gardens.

NeutraVDL Tours

Check here for exact times that this incredible house in Silver Lake which was once the home and office of architect Richard Neutra will be open to the public.

Creative Mornings (At Night) - 6:30 to 8pm

You've seen de LaB's Alissa Walker speak at this popular breakfast lecture series for creatives. Now they're adding booze and music. It's like "a Justin Bieber concert for design dorks"... how could you miss this?

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29th

Strangeways Academy - 2 to 5pm

Join your de LaB hosts at this awesome experiment in Chinatown to produce art and design for clients for $1/minute. Come "hire" our expertise for two minutes or two hours (walking tours around Chinatown? dim sum guide? personal shopping at local stores?) or offer your own skills. Basically, come hang out with us!

THURSDAY, JUNE 30th

LABC Architectural Awards - 11am to 2pm

Frances Anderton will be emceeing this annual awards show that honors the city's most beautiful and civic-minded projects.

June 16 > LA Design Festival: HOLA & Beer Belly > Lafayette Park & K-town

Photo by Nicolas O.S. Marques

As part of the first-ever LA Design Festival - a citywide series of events that celebrate our fair city's creative talent - de LaB is hosting a double-header on opening day, June 16th!

HOLA!

First, join us for a tour of Kanner Architects' Heart of LA building at Lafayette Park. Heart of LA (or HOLA) provides an oasis of safety and encouragement to under-served inner city at-risk youth. The center was Los Angeles architect Stephen Kanner's last major project.

Formerly a senior center, the newly renovated 15,000 complex boasts a light-filled gym and interconnected classroom spaces and community rooms. Originally designed by modernist architect Graham Latta, the best of the center's original features - such as the barrel arched concrete canopies - are highlighted by the remodel. The new center is the City of LA's first LEED-certified building and the result of a successful partnership between the LA Department of Parks and Recreation and HOLA. There's been no shortage of buzz about the the building. Check out these stories in the LA Times and The Architect's Newspaper.

The tour is FREE. However, we ask that you bring school or art supplies as a donation to support the work of this great organization.

Photo via Curbed LA

BEER BELLY ANYONE?

Following the tour, we'll head over to K-town to quench our thirst at Beer Belly, the new simple and slick craft beer bar designed by our friends at MAKE. Just in case you need help finding the door (or your car), owners Jimmy and Yume Han have provided some helpful signage. Mmmm, beer.

Thursday, June 16

Heart of LA / Lafayette Park Recreation Center

625 South Lafayette Park Place

Los Angeles, CA 90057

6:30pm (the tour begins promptly at 7:00pm)

Beer Belly

532 S. Western Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90020

8:00pm

The two locations are about a mile away from each other, and both are easy to reach by Metro. Just sayin'.

RSVP here so we can get an accurate headcount

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MORE ABOUT LADF

Whether you know it or not (de LaB does!), LA is a global design capital and the LA Design Festival (June 16 - 30) is meant to recognize this fact. The Festival is a citywide series events taking place over two weeks, or in other words, a moment during which we can all collectively celebrate our city's awesome creativity. Other Festival events include showroom parties, design discussions, studio tours, and the biggest design event on the West Coast. Check out the full calendar of events here.