“Song for Echo Park” screening on Wednesday

Public screening of: Song for Echo Park
Featuring Performances by: Judson, The Digs, nav/attack, Human Mind Automobile
Taix Lounge, 1911 W Sunset Blvd.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 9:30 pm

From the event organizers: 

Directed by Dick Thompson of Wilcox Session, and written/performed by song-poet Judson McKinney, Song for Echo Park is s an epic snapshot into the heart of a mysterious and influential urban district of ECHO PARK. The film follows the verse of a vagrant musician in the fight for his career, docked and stranded in the place where “no one ever cries.” In his quest for individual artistic vision, the narrator paradoxically becomes an “everyman” who unwittingly becomes an invisible fixture of his environment. The spirit of Homer and Woody Guthrie converge with modern film to create art which transcends the mere immortalization of place, but rather reveals itself as a signpost for clues to times and seasons present.

Click here for more information and to RSVP.

A new shade of blue for Echo Park’s Little Joy

Little Joy on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Portia has undergone many exterior paint jobs over the years. From green to black, and covered in colorful murals, the dive bar now dons a purple-ish blue shade.

The exterior facelift is just one of the new changes that new owners Joaquin Reyna-Donaldson and Donald Andes have been working on since closing the doors in November. We’ve reached out for some more info, but for now it’s not clear whether or not the dive-bar vibe will be a thing of the past.

Beer Gelato? Echo Park’s Musical Beer Crawl on Tuesday

One benefit of celebrating LA Beer Week 2012 is doing it in your own neighborhood! (No one has to be a DD when you get to walk there.) This year’s annual Echo Park Musical Beer Crawl takes place on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 all along Sunset Boulevard and beyond.

The event combines some tasty craft beers with some ear-tickling music around Echo Park. All you have to do is get a “passport” (think of it like your Musical Crawl coupon) to take advantage of some great discounts and give-aways. Also, you have to be 21, and it’s recommended that you carry some cash for those cash-only venues, as well as for the Hot Dog Lady the meat-eaters will likely visit at the end of the night.

El Prado will have special brews on tap, while Pazzo Gelato is serving up “beer-infused frozen treats” like Golden Road’s Hudson Rye Imperial Porter, Hefeweizen and Wolf Among Weeds. Other participating venues include Backside, iam8bit, Lot 1, Mohawk Bend, Masa, Taix Sunset Beer, Two Boots, and more. There are also (gasp!) non-Echo Park venues like Golden Road, Eagle Rock Brewery, Gobi Mongolian BBQ and Los Globos. Click here for the full list of venues and events.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter as we explore Echo Park’s beer and music events on Tuesday night!

Echo Park’s Week in Music

For the week of Tuesday, August 14 through Sunday, August 19

Tuesday
Antibalas, Very Be Careful, DJ Jeremy Sole @ The Echoplex
Whitey Morgan and the 78′s, Rainbow Jackson, Ben Reddell @ The Echo
Kelly Paige, Rene Breton, Divine Fits, Abe Vigoda @ Bootleg Theater
BUZZBAND’S.LA second tuesday with Fort King, College Kids, Doom & Gloom @ Lot 1 Cafe
Open mic @ Tribal Cafe
So Many Wizards @ Origami Vinyl

Wednesday
Ivan & Alyosha, Coby Brown, The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers @ The Echo
Dub Club @ The Echoplex
Mike Andrews, Lavender Diamond @ Bootleg Bar
Metal Hour @ The Short Stop
Vaudeville Comedy Show @ Sancho Art Gallery
Open mic @ Tribal Cafe

Thursday
A Celebration for Believer magazine’s music issue compilation cassette, Love Songs For Lamps With Laura Leif & Amber Phelps, The Memories, the Shivas, Mom, Katie & the Lichen, Calvin Johnson, Happy Noose, Sewn Leather @ The Echoplex
Cold Specks, RT N’ THE 44′S @ The Echo
BIG SIR featuring Lisa Papineau and Juan Alderete (Mars Volta), Alpine Decline, In The Valley Below @ Bootleg Bar
Free Show with Always Press Record, The Zermatts, Heart of Gold @ Lot 1 Cafe
Ghosts of Echo Park @ Taix Lounge
Open mic @ Tribal Cafe

Friday
Three Mile Pilot, Dramady @ The Echo
Papermade (TBA) @ Pehrspace
The Be Good Tanyas, Leftover Cuties, Willie Watson (Old Crow Medicine Show) @ Bootleg Theater
Morris Tepper, Tramp for the Lord @ Taix Lounge
Art show and music @ Tribal Cafe
Ugly Winner, Spaceships @ Origami Vinyl

Saturday
Shiner @ The Echoplex
Funky Sole @ The Echo
Hot TV, Le Cos, Traps PS, Whirlynn Pop @ Pehrspace
The Henry Clay People, Jail Weddings, Sanglorians @ Bootleg Bar
BalconyTV LA and MT Productions Presents: Wise Cub, Empire of One, King Washington, Armada @ Lot 1 Cafe
Belvedero @ Taix Lounge

Sunday
Grand Ole Echo with Dan Janisch
Jeremiah And The Red Eyes, Drunken Prayer, Cap Gun Hold Ups @ The Echo
Lee Fields & The Expressions, Boogaloo Assassins @ The Echoplex
Part Time Punks Presents: Seapony, Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike, Sweater Girls @ The Echo
Joy Kills Sorrow, The Well Pennies, The Dough Rollers, Busy Living @ Bootleg Bar
French Toast Comedy @ Taix Lounge
Open mic @ Tribal Cafe

Visit the venue websites for more information on the cost and times of shows. Feel free to add more events in the comment section. All events listed are subject to change at any time, and new events announced for the week after this posting may not be included. Visit our Weekly Events page for more neighborhood events, shows and specials.

Where to celebrate the holidays with Santa and light displays

Christmas in Echo Park. Flickr photo via Alex de Corboba

With all the sewer construction going on in Griffith Park right now, the traditional holiday lights put on by the LADWP were canceled this year. But there are a few options in the Los Angeles area still worth checking out!

Train Rides and Santa at Travel Town Museum

Take a Holiday Train Ride and visit with Santa Claus himself at the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park, where they’ve got the train route decorated with all sorts of holiday lights. The train rides go through December 23, leaving around 5:00 pm each night until 8:00 pm.

Tickets are $7.00 per person (infants 18 months and under are free) – which you should probably purchase ahead of time online. While you can purchase them at the Travel Town ticket booth, things might get a little crowded!

Digital photographs with Santa are available for $5.00 each. Kids will also get a candy cane!

Click here for more info.

Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena

So you’ll have to get on a freeway to get there, but it’ll delight the kids to see a real pretty Christmas Tree Lane. A bonus: It goes through January 1! Click here for more info and for directions.

For other holiday lights and events around Los Angeles and as far as Orange County, check out this Santa Clarita web page.

Where will the desire for twinkling holiday lights take you this year?

The lunar eclipse and Los Angeles sunrise from Griffith Observatory

Saturday’s lunar eclipse ended up being probably the coolest thing I have ever done in Los Angeles.

Despite the 4:00 am wake-up call, I managed to grab some coffee and a few layers of clothing before heading off to Griffith Park to witness a complete lunar eclipse from the Observatory. It was, of course, PACKED with people, so parking was pretty crowded and I ended up lugging my tripod, camera, and all the other necessities about a mile up the windy road before arriving at the Observatory lawn. News crews, Angelenos, and tourists crowded the area, but I some how managed to find an okay spot to test out my new Nikon DSLR.

Somehow, I managed to catch a few decent shots – although I am by no means a professional photographer (in fact, I’m hoping to sign up for a class next spring). Although it was frustrating I couldn’t get a great shot of the shape of the actual moon as it was eclipsing (the clouds diffused the light and I didn’t have much of a lens for it), I had to try and not condemn the point-and-shoot photographers for using their flash when taking photos of the moon (yep), thus interrupting my own images.

The crowd and flash photography aside, this was one of the coolest things ever. By around 6:00 am, you’d seen everything the eclipse had to offer, so it was time to move to the other side of the Griffith Observatory to snag a good spot on the balcony for nighttime Los Angeles skyline photos, and to watch the sun rise. I am happy to report that I now officially feel like a true Angeleno. And if you haven’t done sunrise at the Observatory yet, better put that on your LA bucket list because it is a required activity.

Click here to check out the full Flickr set (including shots from the sunrise) from our early morning adventure!