Los Angeles Design Festival > June 14 through June 30

It's that time of year again! To help combat that pesky June gloom, the Los Angeles Design Festival lights up the city this month, with events, parties, tours, panels, and general design goodness taking over the town from June 14 to June 30. This year de LaB is once again thrilled to be a partner, and we're happily pointing the way to several festival events which feature de LaB friends and collaborators. Click the links for more information, or check the Los Angeles Design Festival website for the full schedule. Happy festivaling!

Dwell on Design Eastside Home Tour
June 16, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
As part of Dwell on Design, this home tour takes you inside five different homes on our side of town (including a few featured on our home tour if you missed it!).

Paper Gone Wild

June 20 and June 27, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Head to Ilan Dei Studio in Venice Beach for these crafty workshops showcasing the possibilities of paper, taught by architect and designer Aaron Neubert.

American Cement Building Studio Tour

June 21, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Step inside the iconic Westlake building for a peek inside the studios of eight architecture firms, sponsored by our friends at The Architect's Newspaper.

AIA LA Design Conference

June 22 and 23, 9:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Now in its sixth year, this two-day conference focuses on financial value to the built environment and enhancing well-being through the power of design.

Dwell on Design

June 22, 23 and 24

The West Coast's premiere design event includes a massive trade show at the LA Convention Center, plus panels, parties and workshops.

Cake Off at Materials & Applications
June 23, 2:00 to 8:00 p.m.
The 10th anniversary gala for one of our favorite Silver Lake institutions features an architectural bike ride followed by a raffle of cakes made by famous local architects.

Big Parade Mashup Walk
June 24, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Follow Big Parade leader Dan Koeppel on this 12-mile walk through ramps, freeways, tunnels and a few Victorians. Plenty of mini-loops for those who don't want to do the whole walk.

Andrew Byrom In Conversation
June 29, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Remember our awesome tour of the Eames Words exhibition at the A+D Museum? Meet the co-curator, typographer and experience designer behind this and many other projects.

Chinatown Design Night
June 30, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
The festival closes with a celebration in Chinatown featuring many of the studios, galleries and stores we've visited on our Design-n-Dim Sum tours over the years.

June Recap > Design-n-Dim Sum Bike Ride

For the fourth (?) year in a row, de LaBbers took to the streets for our annual Design-n-Dim Sum bike ride. With nearly 75 (!) riders this year, we were led through Highland Park by the inimitable DJ Chicken Leather and our friends from Flying Pigeon Bike Shop.

First stop on the tour was Caine's Arcade - the immensely popular DIY cardboard arcade built by nine-year old Caine Monroy in his father's used auto parts store. After a couple rounds of Foursquare with Caine and a few fun passes purchased, we hopped back on our bikes to head towards Chinatown for the second and third stops on our tour.

After locking up 75 or so bikes we walked to Alexis Readinger's studio at architecture firm Preen.  While you may not have heard of Preen, you have probably eaten in a restaurant designed by the firm, including Hatfield's, Akasha, and the upcoming Umami Burger in Thousand Oaks.

And if you live in Silver Lake, you may remember the saga of Alexis' African grey parrot Lola, who flew the coop and was covered in the LA Times.

The next stop on our tour was a visit to artist Zoe Crosher's studio in Mandarin Plaza. Taking up two storefronts, Zoe's space houses her photography studio and office. Zoe talked about some of her earlier, LA-related series, including Out the Window (LAX), a collection of photos of planes landing at LAX from every hotel on Century Blvd, and LA-LIKE: Transgressing the Pacific, a series of haunting photographs of locations where famous Angelenos (both real and fictional) disappeared off the coast.

Our final stop before heading back to Flying Pigeon was dim sum at Golden Dragon, a much deserved lunch after a few hours of riding.

Thanks to all the riders who came out on a sunny Sunday! And thanks especially to Josef at Flying Pigeon, Nirvan at Caine's Arcade, Caine and his dad, Alexis at Preen and Zoe! And thanks to the staff at Golden Dragon for getting us some dumplings post haste. See you all next year!

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.

May 10 > Subway Terminal Building Tour > Downtown

Credit: Tom Wetzel (uncanny.net) 

Given LA's ongoing commitment to public transit (can you say Expo Line?), de LaB has decided to look back on the golden age of our subway—the original Los Angeles subway.

On May 10th, we invite you to join us for a special tour of the former Subway Terminal Building (now known as Metro 417), located just off Pershing Square in Downtown. The Italian Renaissance Revival building currently houses luxury apartments (fitting, in that original architects, Schultze and Weaver, were best known for their luxury hotels), but once served as the downtown terminus for the "Hollywood Subway" branch of the Pacific Electric Railway Interurban rail line, which follows a similar route to today's Metro Red Line.

Credit: Metro Transportation Library and Archive

Built in 1925, the Subway saw its peak in 1944 - the trains carried an estimated 65,000 passengers through the tunnel each day. But as we all know, increased dependence on cars and the emergence of our beloved freeways led to the station's closure in the 1950s. The tunnel is now on the US National Register of Historic Places and the list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments (#77).

Architect John Lesak of Page & Turnbull, Evan Janney of Metro 417, and Frank Frallicciardi of Forest City Development will offer us a sneak peek of this incredible slice of LA history.

Metro Transportation Library and Archive

For the full experience, we challenge you to meet us there via rail! After the tour, we'll go for drinks and nibbles at the new Umamicatessen on Broadway, before heading into the streets for the Downtown Art Walk.

Thursday, May 10
4:00 to 5:00pm Tour of Subway Terminal Building
417 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

5:30 to 7:30pm Drinks at Umamicatessen
852 Broadway Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Downtown Art Walk on your own

RSVP via Eventbrite. The event is free.

May 2 > LA Bloom and Little Tokyo Happy Hour > Little Tokyo

As the saying goes, showers in April bring blossoms in May.  This month we head to Little Tokyo for a special tour of the Japanese American Cultural Community Center's iconic Noguchi Plaza which has temporarily been transformed into a resplendent ecoartspace for the first-ever LA Bloom Festival.  Our guide will be LA Bloom co-curator, acclaimed performance artist, Shingon Buddhist priest, master archer, and all-around modern day zen master Hirokazu Kosaka.

The concept for LA Bloom stems from a 16th century painting of a traditional Japanese fair.  Based on this depiction of a community bound together by simple, shared activities, Kosaka has curated an eclectic mix of over 120 artists, designers, and performers to bring Japanese culture to life.  The underlying theme for the festival is the blossom, or Hana, and the centuries-old Japanese spring time Hanami or "flower viewing" tradition.

Kosaka will lead us on a tour of the grounds, including a closer look at the ten-thousand-thread colorful Mare Nubium rainbow which is being installed during the opening night performance of LA Bloom. Mare Nubium is an abbreviated reprise of Kosaka's much-lauded Kalpa performance that kicked of Pacific Standard Time back in October, not to be missed if you missed it the first time.

We'll all end up in the zen garden just in time for Little Tokyo Happy Hour @ LA Bloom.  The grounds and exhibitions will be open to all for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, May 2nd

6:00pm to 7:00pm Tour with Hirokazu Kosaka

7:00pm to 10:00pm Little Tokyo Happy Hour

LA Bloom

Japanese American Cultural Community Center (JACCC)

244 S. San Pedro Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Meet in Noguchi Plaza

RSVP via Eventbrite.  Admission is free.

View Larger Map

April 28 > Obscura Day > Tile House

It's back! Last year, a group of de LaBbers headed to the hills - the Hollywood Hills, that is - to tour octogenrian Geoge Ehling's amazing home for Obscura Day (an international "day of expeditions, back-room tours and hidden treasures in your hometown"). George has poured over four decades of sweat equity in the home, tiling much of it by himself. The house, built in 1927, was bought in 1967 and George has been designing and creating intricate tilework ever since.

Join us once again, as George generously leads a tour through his amazing home, with generous support from furniture showroom Ford & Ching. Learn how George has used found materials ranging from wine and beer bottles to old discarded tiles, cut down to create hand-made tesserae for these mosaics.

The tour is limited to only 35 people, and will likely sell out quickly. We can only take a limited number of vehicles to the site, so when you RSVP through Eventbrite (no Facebook rsvp's will be honored), you'll receive more detailed information about where to meet and what to do.

This year, we're asking participants to carpool to the home, and will be meeting at El Paseo de Cahuenga Park as a group prior to the tour.

Saturday, April 28
12:30pm Meet at El Paseo De Cahuenga Park for carpooling
3300 Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90068


Park across from Oakcrest Market on Cahuenga and Oakshire Road. We'll organize carpools and give directions from here.

Tour begins at 1pm


Buy tickets here. Cost is $5 and space is extremely limited.

Please note, the house has some very steep stairs. Children under 12 not allowed. Thanks for understanding!

And many thanks again to our friends at Ford & Ching!

April 25 > Sunset Triangle Tour > Silver Lake

If you've passed through Silver Lake in the past month, you've no doubt noticed Sunset Triangle, a brand-new polka-dot plaza that's become a lively gathering space for the neighborhood. L.A.'s first street-to-plaza conversion project was created by temporarily closing one block of Griffith Park Boulevard to cars for one year, and adding amenities like moveable chairs, tables, and planters. Sunset Triangle Plaza was created by a group called Streets for People, which is an initiative of the City of Los Angeles City Planning Commission in partnership with the County Department of Public Health. The plaza was modeled after the successful pedestrian plazas in New York City and was designed by Frank Clementi of Rios Clementi Hale Studios. Check out more photos of Sunset Triangle.

On Wednesday, April 25, Clementi will be joined by Streets for People's Margot Ocañas and Anna Peccianti, who will lead a tour of this incredible transformed space, which is being used by people of all ages and physical abilities for everything from coffee-sipping to bike-riding to basketball-playing to bike-tuning. Then we'll walk across the street to Cliff's Edge, which has also seen a transformation of sorts: The addition of celebrity chef Ben Bailly and a revamped cocktail menu.

Wednesday, April 25
5:30pm Meet at Sunset Triangle, corner of Sunset Boulevard and Griffith Park Boulevard
6:00pm Tour and talk with Frank Clementi, Margot Ocañas and Anna Peccianti
7:00pm Drinks at Cliff's Edge, 3626 Sunset Boulevard (right across the street)

Free, but please RSVP so we can get a headcount.

RSVP here.

See who's going on Facebook.


Sunset Triangle Plaza from Streets for People on Vimeo.