On Saturday, Beverly Hills hosts a "public art party" to celebrate the work of Yayoi Kusama. I’ve experienced a Kusama installation before at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh. It was cool and wacky. This event’s free and the Paley Center for Media will be free as well that day as part of the festivities.
http://www.publicartparty.com/
Combine this day with a visit to the Renegade Craft Fair (also free) and you’ll have a great, creative Saturday.
This sounds great!
http://www.renegadecraft.com/los-angeles?site=la
And it’s free!
Learn how to make a linoelum block print and other arts/crafts for free! There will be bands too. And it all takes place on the penthouse level of California Market Center with 360-degree views of downtown L.A.
**** UPDATE***
We went to this. It was very cool to see all the great craft-y stuff people made. Creativity was everywhere. It was nice to see that there were people who weren’t technologically obsessed and still making things by hand. Practically everyone was a hipster there in a craft-y sense and no grandma dollies or doilies were around. Most of the vendors were quite shy and that was cute to see, though that probably doesn’t help their businesses. One of the coolest things I saw was The Weekend Store which made vintage recycled jewelry from old typewriter keys. Pics to come.
These bloggers have nice posts about the event:
http://apatchworkworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/renegade-swap-o-ramarama-recap.html
http://milkandeggsco.com/index.php?_a=viewBlog&blogId=34
Tonight kicks off the Levitt Pavilion’s free outdoor concert series in Pasadena. http://www.levittpavilionpasadena.org/summer-calendar-2009.html
And this Friday begins Free Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park. http://www.independentshakespeare.com/box-office/box-office.html
You can picnic at both of these places. When I first started this blog, I was majorly enamored by both these events and wrote about them here and here. The Levitt Pasadena is the Hollywood Bowl without the Bowl. Both series are a great way to have fun on a dime.
Mark your calendar - August 21 is Bollywood Night at the Levitt!!!
Ever since I was little, the story of Pompeii intrigued and haunted me
From LACMA’s email newsletter:
Special Offer: Free Admission to Pompeii and the Roman Villa
LACMA is pleased to offer one day of totally free access—June 9—to its blockbuster exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa and the entire museum!
KCRW exclaims that you simply can’t afford to miss Pompeii and the Roman Villa’s sculptures, frescoes, and glass vessels that have never been see outside of Italy, and the L.A. Times hails the show as “absorbing, well-considered, and beautifully installed.” Now is your chance to experience it all for free!
_____________________________
*TWO WAYS TO RESERVE YOUR TICKETS
To reserve your free tickets to Pompeii and the Roman Villa, you may visit lacma.org or stop by a LACMA Welcome Center. Tickets are not avaliable by phone. Tickets are limited to four per reservation.
Along with the Police Historical Museum. I went on this day last year - great fun! We took mugshots at the police museum and ate free hot dogs there. :0)
From Pasadena Now:
|
Free Admission Event:
“Museums of the Arroyo Day” Six museums in Los Angeles and Pasadena located along the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena will open free to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17. Participating museums are
Heritage Square Museum, The Gamble House, Los Angeles Police Historical Museum,
the Lummis Home and Garden, the Pasadena Museum of History and
the Autry National Center’s Southwest Museum of the American Indian.
Various Locations Six Museums along the Arroyo | (213) 740-8687 |
Can a cheap meal be had at Whole Foods? As I get to know its second floor eating area better, I think I can say….Yes. The breakfasts, tacos, and Middle Eastern food all seemed reasonably priced. Then I saw this on WF’s (Arroyo Parkway location) calendar:
Saturday March 21st and Sunday 22nd
Whole Lotta BBQ!
12pm-3pm $5 per plate
Join us at the Demo Station both days to get your loaded down plate of BBQ, chips/cookies, salad, and drink for only $5! And all the proceeds go to the Whole Planet Foundation. Help end poverty and end your hunger all at the same time!
____
Get your plate "loaded" with BBQ for only $5? This I have to see and maybe I will see it twice.
Yesterday, I had WF’s Korean spicy chicken bowl and I was pleased with it; the spinach and brown rice with it were great. It’s not that cheap though at a little over $8, but it was good and the health factor makes me like it more than other Korean fare. It’s what I would call Healthy Korean Cuisine.
Whole Foods affordable in a recession? It just may be possible. Plus they have free Wifi.
Whole Foods
465 South Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA 91105 USA
Phone 626.204.2266
is Friday, March 13, 2009.
Here are the deets.
The new Samurai exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum is free on this night too.
The Pacific Asia Museum is hosting a free family day this Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 12 - 4 pm. The exhibit is "The Samurai Re-Imagined: From Ukiyo to Anime" and features samurai, manga comics, armor, and robots. The day includes free admission to the galleries plus crafts, performances, demonstrations, and more fun.
Also part of the exhibit are a series of related events; one about game design.
Saturday, March 21, 2-5pm
Discussion, Games People Play
Join game designer Alexei Othenin-Girard as he discusses the history and development of game design. The event is followed by a workshop on the fundamentals of game design.
Pacific Asia Museum
46 N. Los Robles Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 449-2742
Just take the Gold Line to Memorial Park.
Go here and enter in some text. Hit submit and out comes your wordle, word art. Click on Wordle.net’s gallery to see some samples. Words that are repeated will appear larger. If this makes no sense to you, please just go to the site and play around. It is super cool! If you’re a teacher, this could be a fun classroom activity. If you fetishize words and fonts, you’ll be in heaven here. This site is great too for those who are challenged in the graphic design area but want to make cool looking signs.
See a wordle of this blog entry at unhipla’s wordle gallery. This one’s my favorite unhipla wordle so far.
826LA, a non-profit writing and tutoring center, is having its First Annual Winter Ball on Saturday, February 14, 2009, from 9 pm to 2 am, at the Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Though the day is Valentine’s, the invite stresses this is not a VD-themed event. Singles are welcome. The $30 admission (in advance; $40 at door) goes to fund 826LA’s educational programs. This is a formal event; floor-length gowns, tuxes, gems, and coiffed do’s are all encouraged, but be creative about it. "Please don’t worry, this is a fun modern Ball. No old timey’ music and you do not have to ballroom dance."
What a great title! LACMA is hosting a free lecture on looking at art. Here’s its blurb:
"Milton Esterow, editor and publisher of ARTnews, talks about the international art scene, the art market, art journalism, art criticism, and changes in taste and fashion, followed by questions from the audience. Born in New York City, Esterow was a reporter for the New York Times and specialized in cultural affairs. He has lectured extensively both in the United States and abroad and is the author of The Art Stealers. Since he bought ARTnews from Newsweek Magazine in 1972, Esterow has guided its growth into the most widely circulated art magazine in the world. Under his direction, ARTnews has won most of the major journalism awards presented to magazines; ARTnews editors and reporters have been honored thirty-two times for excellence in reporting, criticism, and design."
Free, no reservations needed.
February 5 | 7:30 pm | Bing Theater,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90036
tel 323 857-6000
tel 323-857-0098 (TDD)
www.lacma.org
Check here for more free talks and screenings at LACMA. Get an art history education for free! Some of my favorite moments in college were sitting in an art history lecture, with huge slides of art before us, and hearing the professor discuss them.
The Riverside Dickens Festival is this weekend, February 6-8, 2009. Have tea with Queen Victoria, enjoy a Victorian Era fashion show, performances, and much more.
LA’s Chinatown is having its first Art Night on Saturday, January 24, 2009, from 7 - 10 pm. This will be a quarterly shindig featuring contemporary art, clothing, furniture, music, performance and design.
Sounds like fun and it’s free!
UnHip LA roamed around the South Bay, vowing not to use Google as a resource. We decided to use our eyes and ears and become human Googles instead. Look what we found:
By following good ol’ street signs, we wound up at the South Coast Botanic Garden, which is "one of the first gardens to be developed over a sanitary landfill." That doesn’t sound too appealing, but the gardens were nice. The day was drizzly and a tad gloomy, so the ticket taker let us in for free! Normally it’s $7 for adults; $5 for students and seniors; $2.50 for children 5 - 12 years old; and free for kids 4 and under. I enjoyed the small lake, pretending I was in a bayou.
If you become a member of this garden, starting at $25 for seniors, you get free admission to 15 other botanical gardens in Socal, such as Descanso Gardens, the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia, and a slew of UC gardens. Unfortunately, the Huntington Gardens is not part of this hit parade.
South Coast Botanic Garden
26300 Crenshaw Blvd.
Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274
(310) 544-6815
www.southcoastbotanicgarden.org
This Saturday, November 15, the City of South Pasadena will be hosting its Fall Arts Fest, featuring artist open houses, holiday boutiques, art-making workshops, music performances and much more. Check out the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce’s site for details. Mission Tile West (853 Mission) will host a free tile-making workshop from 2 pm to 5 pm. Woopie!
Location: Mission Street between the Meridian Iron Works Museum Plaza (at the Gold Line Station) and Fair Oaks Avenue.
Today, October 5, 2008 from 1- 5 pm, is the closing reception of the Chair Show at the Howeeduzzit Gallery in Alhambra. I went to a reception here last month and it was just dandy: an eclectic display of artist-made chairs with tasty food and jazz playing in the background.
HOWEEDUZZIT GALLERY
821 S. Raymond Ave., #27
Alhambra, CA 91803
(Corner of Mission Road and Raymond, 3 blocks east of Fremont)
More recession fun -
On October 4 and 5th, many museums in Los Angeles County will be open for freesies. Typically a museum free day means way more crowds, but still it’s a fun way to hit a bunch of museums at once. Here’s the list from www.MuseumsLA.org:
MUSEUMS FREE-FOR-ALL
Free Admission Days October 4 and/or 5, 2008
In a joint effort to welcome diverse communities across Southern California, the Museum Marketing Roundtable announces the fourth annual “Museums Free-For-All” during the weekend of Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, 2008. The following 24 institutions—exploring art, cultural heritage, natural history and science—will offer free admission to all visitors on one or both dates
Participating Museums:
I know there are a few art galleries in Alhambra, but I just wind of a few more. Could Alhambra be becoming the next hip artist spot? Will gentrification rear its ugly ahead in the SGV? Honestly, I think Alhambra is big enough that it could take it and still retain its ethnic charms. From http://www.yolandagonzalez.com/homepages/events.html
2008
I found out about this via an enewsletter I get from the artist Carol Es whose work I dig.
**** UPDATE *****
I moseyed on down to this and it was a great show. I was impressed by the art at both galleries and the abundance of food and drink. The vibe was very laid-back, cool, but in an SGV-way, not pretentious. People were nicely, artistically dressed. I’d say the age range was late 30something and up with a majority being Latino. Not too many young hipsters milling about. The galleries are in an industrial park of sorts, alongside clothing and computer manufacturers, and a Mexican restaurant. I was really surprised that Alhambra had this semblance of an artistic community and was really happy to not have to drive past downtown to get a dose of art. You could say it was Bergamot Station-light, very light, with two galleries within walking distance of each other. A jazz band entertained at Howeeduzzit while patrons sat on the grass and enjoyed them. The weather was beautiful. Yay Alhambra!
This sounds like it could be interesting and a fun date option. From Yelp:
The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is proud to announce its summer event, the museum’s first ever multimedia celebration: 8eight8. This night of music and art will take place on Friday, August 8 (8-8-08), from 8 o’clock until midnight on the museum’s rooftop terrace and will feature three DJs, custom light and graphic shows and a cash bar. The evening will also include gallery viewing on the second floor of the museum.
The event is co-organized by the PMCA, Poo-Bah Record Label of Pasadena, and dublab, the web radio collective. Poo-Bah Record Label artists Matthew David, Take, Ras G, and Sacred & Nobody, will perform under the summer sky and visitors can explore the galleries from 8pm-10pm. The current exhibitions on view at the PMCA are the acclaimed Kori Newkirk: 1997 - 2007 and Tales from the Strip: The Hot Rod Comics and Drag Racing Cartoons of Pete Millar
FREE FOR MEMBERS $5 FOR NON MEMBERS
When: Friday, August 8 2008, 8:00pm - Saturday, August 9 2008, 12:00am Where:
based on 2 reviews 490 East Union St
Run, don’t walk, over to the Alhambra Public Library as they are currently checking books out for 10 weeks. This is great geeky fun! The long time span covers the library as they move over to their new building opening September 13. Woopie! Summer reading for the rest of the summer! This includes books on tape too, but not DVD rentals.
ALHAMBRA PUBLIC LIBRARY WILL BE
CLOSING ON AUGUST 11, 2008.
Starting July 21 we will begin checking all books, audio materials and educational DVD’s out for 10 weeks, so they will be due on October 1, 2008 at our new site.
The New Civic Center Library will open on
September 13, 2008
101 S. First St
Alhambra, CA 91801
To see the new library plans, visit here.
You know times are bad when Starbucks starts closing down - 600 shops have been given the boot and 12,000 jobs will be lost, according to LA Observed. Now I am not a big Starbux fan at all, but my sister is - big time, so this post is in honor of her. To soften the blow, Starbux will be introducing new Pinkberry-esque drinks:
"Along with the lost jobs and store closures is the introduction of something called the Sorbetto. It’s a Pinkberry-inspired drinkable yogurt that comes in three flavors - Tangy, Citrus Ice and Tangy Citrus Ice - and is being pushed as a mid-afternoon snack (keep in mind that foot-traffic slows by the afternoon). The Sorbetto makes its debut today at 313 stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties. The company is also rolling out a protein-and-banana smoothie called the Vivanno."
Also Starbux is now offering FREE wifi to those who join their rewards program. It’s a free program but you have to pay for drinks with money you put on their card. There are more perks too such as free drink modifiers, refills, and beverages.
So if the economy has got you down, you can still have that Starbucks treat but just milk it for all its worth. I wonder if they’ll be bothered if I just scoot in there to use their wifi, escape the heat, and drink water out of one of their nice clear cups. Starbucks has never been stingy about giving out water, I’ll give them that.
Here’s an LATimes article on the new drinks.
*** UPDATE ***
I’ve tried the Vivanno - the banana chocolate flavor - and I love it! I’ve also tried the Sorbetto and think I liked it. It’s a kind of an odd drink - a Pinkberry-slushie of sorts. I think the Sorbetto has more dairy in it than the Vivanno. The Vivanno is very filling. I wonder if it could be considered a meal replacement - if it’s healthy enough for that. There’s been a lot of blogosphere ruckus about how bad the Vivanno is and that it pales in comparison with a Jamba Juice. Personally, I love the Vivanno because it’s not as ovewhelming as a Jamba Juice drink and not as sweet. I’ve never been a fan of JJ.
This sounds interesting and it’s in a little town called Fawnskin near Big Bear. It’s the Fawnskin Victorian Festival on July 5th and 6th. From their website http://www.fawnskinvictorian.com/:
The Big Bear Valley Renaissance Society, Inc. is delighted to announce our first Victorian Festival on July 5th and 6th, 2008, at our permanent site on the north shore of Big Bear Lake!
 |
Hosted in the lovely little town of Fawnskin, the Victorian Festival is a day in Charles Dickens’ London – a city filled with lively and colorful characters from both literature and history. Come join us for an adventure in this elegant era with hundreds of costumed players in music halls, pubs and dance parties. Explore our winding lanes, finding trinkets and treasures while surrounded by enticing aromas of hearty foods and the joyous sound of music in the air. |
Some of the activities will include a Victorian Tea, Tea with the Queen, and readings by Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and other literary artists of the 19th century. We will have demonstrations of the Gatling gun, cannon, and a battle of the Queen’s Royal Army! Entertainment will also be provided on five stages throughout the day. And, for the younger set, we will have the children’s craft & game area.
| While not all visitors come in costume, a great many do. The highlight of the event, the Grand Masque Ball under the stars on Saturday night, is a costumed affair, although a non-costumed gallery is available, if you would like to witness the glamorous spectacle. |  |
More info on their site. Fawnskin, sounds like a magical place. Perhaps this could be another staycation of sorts.
If I lived closer to LACMA, I’d join this, but right now my heart belongs to the Huntington.
 |
||
|
||
|
This special rate is only available from June 20–30—and only when you join in person at the museum. Simply visit a LACMA Welcome Center and mention this sale to receive this special offer. Please note, the museum is closed on Wednesdays. If you have any questions, please call 323 857-6151. LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036, www.lacma.org |
I was a Shakespeare fiend last summer. Click on my Theatre link for all the madness. Here’s the Bard line-up for this summer. A few of the productions have already started!
http://www.shakespearebythesea.org/calendar.html
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony & Cleopatra. Venues all throughout Socal.
http://www.independentshakespeare.com/box-office/box-office.html
Excellent theatre company with attractive actors. Probably the best Shakespeare ensemble in L.A. At Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood. Picture below and my previous post here with tips.
Woops! I put the wrong Levitt Pasadena Link here. It doesn’t look like the Levitt is doing Shakespeare this year. What a shame. When I hear otherwise, I’ll post it. Sorry! *** UPDATE *** The LATimes has a listing of Shakespeare productions this summer. There are free performances in Culver City, Downtown, and Long Beach, and in Orange/San Diego Counties. Woopie! Click here. Also, the LATimes has an article about Summer Shakespeare in L.A. If you’re overwhelmed by all the freebie Shakespeare offerings, I recommend just checking out the Independent Shakespeare Co. at Barnsdall.
Not free, but a beautiful venue. Macbeth’s on the line-up.
http://www.theatricum.com./ Topanga Canyon.
I had a great time at this last year. Click here to see my pics of this mongo living history festival. If you like festivals, this is the festival of festivals, and it’s a good walking day because it covers a lot of ground and is right next to the ocean. It’s worth the $10. If you want to save some money, bring your own grub and avoid the food lines and prices.
http://www.ftmac.org/OFMD2008.htm
(From their website)
Old Fort MacArthur Days 2008
Sponsored by Associated Foundations Inc.
Welcome to the home page of the west’s largest continually running re-enactment and living history timeline event!
For more than twenty years now the Fort MacArthur Museum has sponsored what has turned into the west’s largest multicultural celebration of world military history. What began as a small gathering of cannon enthusiasts has blossomed into a truly spectacular event showcasing the history of military activity from around the world and across time.
When & Where?
Saturday & Sunday
July 12 - 13, 2008
10am - 4pm both days
The Fort MacArthur Museum
3601 S Gaffey St. San Pedro
California, 90731
310-548-2631
Admission:
$10.00 Adults
$ 5.00 children under 12
Your admission fee helps support the Preservation,
Restoration, & Interpretive programs of the museum
The Los Angeles Urban Rangers are pleased to announce:
MALIBU PUBLIC BEACHES SAFARIS—SUMMER 2008
Tired of Zuma and Surfrider? Want to find and use the other beaches in Malibu? The twenty miles that are lined with private development? The "Malibu Public Beaches" safaris show you how to find, park, walk, picnic, and sunbathe on a Malibu beach legally and safely. Each safari visits two different beaches. Skills-enhancing activities include a public-private boundary hike, sign watching, a no-kill hunt for accessways, and a public easement potluck.
We are offering five safaris this summer in west and east Malibu:
SAT June 14, 11:00am-2:30pm (East Malibu)
SUN June 15, 11:00am-2:30pm (West Malibu)
SUN July 27, 9:00am-12:30pm (East Malibu)
SAT Aug 2, 3:00pm-6:30pm (West Malibu)
SUN Aug 3, 3:00pm-6:30pm (East Malibu)
Safaris are free. Spaces are limited. To sign up, e-mail info@laurbanrangers.org w/name, # of people and preferred date. For further information on the safaris and the Los Angeles Urban Rangers, please visit http://www.laurbanrangers.org/.
A downloadable "Malibu Public Beaches" guide is available on our website.
Hope to see you at the beach!
Los Angeles Urban Rangers
www.laurbanrangers.org
The Los Angeles Urban Rangers is a collective of artists, writers, architects, and urban designers. We adopt the park ranger persona – friendly, knowledgeable, direct, and a tad gee-whiz mobile – to explore the workings of our home megalopolis, and to give people the interpretive tools to do the same.
**** This is a totally great time! Click on my Beaches tab to see my pics from last summer when I was obsessed with the beaches. ****
You gotta check out the new Broad Contemporary Museum at LACMA. It has an excellent, huge, three floor collection of modern art - a Cindy Sherman room, Jenny Holzers, Basquiats, and installation art by a young British artist whose name I can’t remember. The first floor has these huge spirals that you can walk through (picture below). I love installation art and BCAM is an awesome fun house.
 |
|||
|
Target Free Holiday Mondays |
|||
|
We saw Of Mice and Men at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was short and sweet (in a devastating way), probably the best play I’ve seen at the PP. The play was the book almost verbatim, with Spanish thrown in, and the acting was fine all around. Lenny was exactly what I pictured Lenny as. The sets, as usual for PP, were great to look at. Most of the plays I’ve seen at the PP have had okay acting and seemed to last way too long. I think one of reasons this worked was because how short it was.
….is BOOKEXPO! It’s coming to the L.A. Convention Center, May 29 - June 1st. It’s a book publishing trade show. Tons of book publishers come out and give out FREE copies of their new books. There is also a HUGE authors’ petting zoo, where you can get autographed copies of new books for $1. BookExpo is primarily for publishing industry professionals and costs $50 - 65 per day. You can also buy 3-day passes.
http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/
The last time BookExpo was in L.A. was about 6 years ago. It was massive fun and I almost got a hernia from all the books I lugged out. This is like the L.A. Times Festival of Books but all the books are freeeeee!
I visited the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library and Gardens this weekend. OMG, it is so heavenly - a huge lake with bridges, a cafe, ducks, pavillions, outdoor seating, poetry, art…. It really is grand and a great escape. Taking a few walking laps around the Chinese Garden will be my new exercise routine. Forget LAFitness, go to the Huntington!
Membership is $100 for the year and includes lots of specials such as night time strolls around the Huntington (they usually close at 4:30 pm) and invitations to art openings. Also with a membership, I can stroll around the gardens at my leisure instead of feeling rushed to cover the grounds in a few hours because I can just come back the next day.
I will be posting pictures soon. Come back and see the leaf-shaped windows, really purdy! When I get my membership, I can take one person with me for freesies. The Chinese Garden is my new favorite place in the SGV. The Crowell Public Library in San Marino is also really great (it’s a library that looks like a resort spa). Both places have a huge list of Asian donors. My hairdresser told me that the Ritz Cartlon was bought by some Chinese investors, paying $150 million in cash (a good journalist would fact check all this, but right now I am short on time). Anyhow, these three significant Chinese moves really show the large, wealthy Chinese presence in the upper SGV.
UPDATE:
Beautiful pictures from the Gardens press office: http://www.huntington.org/Information/ChineseGardenPressKit.htm
I went back to the Chinese Garden today 4-26-08. The day was murderously hot and miserable. The gardens were beautiful but the weather and crowds just made me very cross. The pond water looked murky. I did have fun winding around the Japanese Garden’s narrow little paths and walking through the bamboo forests. I want to visit the gardens when no one else is there, but that would involve me becoming a higher priced member - they get to enter at 8 am. I cannot wait till the members’ only evening strolls this summer. Yes, unhipla has become an elitist. I want my Members’ Only jacket. I just find the Huntington Library and Gardens so peaceful; it’s like a little retreat. If only it wasn’t the SGV summer of hell heat. I shall try again next weekend. My goal is to know every inch of that place and find the neat nooks and crannies.
Can you believe it’s $20 to go in on the weekend and $15 on the weekdays? That’s nuts!
Get free blog up and running in minutes with Blogsome | Theme designs available here
