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.

July de LaB > Tiki Trek on Thursday, July 23!

It's summer. We're hot, you're hot, and what else is hot? Tiki! From the new outpost of Trader Vic's downtown to the throwback palapas of Luau in Beverly Hills, Tiki is seeing a resurgence all over town. So we're joining forces with Popsicles for Everyone, whose most recent project, Tikitown, USA looks at the rise and fall of Tiki culture in Los Angeles and the remnants it has (or has not) left behind. So what is Tiki? And what does Tiki mean beyond torches and kitsch? We're gonna find out with a three-stop Tiki Trek on Thursday, July 23. Grab your Hawaiian shirts (grass skirts optional) and meet us anywhere along the way:

6:30-8:00pm Join us in Rosemead at a well-preserved gem of the Tiki era, Bahooka, where there are over 100 aquariums and any drink can be served flaming. Tiki scholar Mirta Viviane Gilson will school us on Tiki history and Kyla Fullenwider will fill us in on the rest of the events planned for Tikitown USA. We can order Polynesian-inspired grub and, to help you recover from your drive, everyone gets one free Mai Tai!
Bahooka
4501 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
View on Google Maps

8:30pm-9:00pm We'll drive a few blocks away to Kona Kai Apartments, an amazing example of the Tiki buildings that are found in high concentration in this neighborhood. A resident will let us inside this apartment complex to show us some of the original details, and what was changed during the 1988 renovations.
Kona Kai
6415 Rosemead Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91775
View on Google Maps

9:00pm-'til close Then we'll head west and have a nightcap with anyone who couldn't make it out to Rosemead at the Tiki Ti, the Silver Lake Tiki institution. Hear more about the Tiki Ti's unique connection to LA's Tiki culture while you have a Ray's Mistake (but if you have more than one, we recommend taking public transportation home).
Tiki Ti
4427 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
View on Google Maps

Let us know if you can make it on Facebook so we can get a rough headcount. And use the messaging abilities there to find carpools and share rides. For our intrepid Metro riders, the 489 Express bus leaves from 1st and Hill downtown and pretty much drops you off at Bahooka's door (you can hitch a ride with someone back to LA). The Metro Red Line and 2 bus are close to Tiki Ti. Plan your trips at Metro.net. We look forward to seeing you!

Design-n-Dim Sum Ride> Links and Learn

There's been a few articles/posts recently about some of the sites we'll be visiting this Saturday on our Design-n-Dim Sum Ride:

• Check out Fung + Blatt's Mount Washington residence, now front page on Dwell.com.
• So timely...check out this little ditty by David Keeps on Fifth Floor's new "Looking for Work" exhibit, opening this Saturday night. Come on the design-n-dim-sum ride for a sneak peek and maybe stick around for the opening night party! (Note that Ali Jevanjee, whose Chung King Alley loft we'll also be seeing on Saturday, will be debuting his new line of laminated plywood furniture as part of the exhibit.)
• Yet another cool post about one of the design labs we'll be visiting this Saturday!