JIA-CHI

The Silver Lake Picture Show is a new community group that puts on public outdoor movie screenings.  They’ve taken over the Sunset Triangle Plaza this summer for movie screenings themed around Los Angeles.  The inaugural movie was my favorite Who Framed Roger Rabbit w/ Victoria Vu, Cole Stephenson, and Donald-Bradley Urquidez.

Eddie Valiant: You crazy rabbit! I’m out there risking my neck for you, and what are you doing? Singing and dancing! 
Roger Rabbit: But I’m a toon. Toons are supposed to make people laugh. 
Eddie Valiant: Sit down! 
Roger Rabbit: You don’t understand. Those people needed to laugh. 
Eddie Valiant: Then when they’re done laughing, they’ll call the cops. That guy Angelo would rat on you for a nickel. 
Roger Rabbit: Not Angelo. He’d never turn me in. 
Eddie Valiant: Why? Because you made him laugh? 
Roger Rabbit: That’s right! A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have. 

Doom: Several months ago I had the good providence to stumble upon this plan of the city council’s. A construction plan of epic proportions. They’re calling it a freeway.
Eddie: Freeway? What the hell’s a freeway?
Doom: Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, safe, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past.
Eddie: So that’s why you killed Acme and Maroon? For this freeway? I don’t get it.
Doom: Of course not. You lack vision. I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on, all day, all night. Soon, where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food, tire salons, automobile dealerships, and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see! My God! It’ll be beautiful.
Eddie: Come on! Nobody’s gonna drive this lousy freeway when they can take the Red Car for a nickel.
Doom: Oh, they’ll drive. They’ll have to. You see, I bought the Red Car so I could dismantle it.

Ms. Victoria Vu of Paper & Type and I held our 28th Annual Joint Birthday Social at the newly christened Sunset Triangle Plaza in Silver Lake.  Look who came!

Albert Chiang of Andrew Figueroa Chiang and the Blazing Rays of the Sun!

Designer Graham Keegan!  He brought us urban wild flowers…. and his tent!

Courtney Cady of Shallow Fashion.

Lulu of mydogscuterthanyours.tumblr.com.

Scott Goldberg of Astronauts and Indians and Ian Horner brought their slackline.

Jill Yee, designer of Jill Aiko Yee tried slacklining.  Not bad.

Ryan Upton and Airi Isoda of wrk-shp brought 2 custom-made pinatas: one for him and one for her.

Justin Lerner, Estefania Marchan, and Megan Costello stopped by as well before heading off to Journey to the End of the Night.

Cat Campion and Orchid Velasquez of Orquidia Violeta hung out on our hammock. 

Even John Isaac Watters of Coyol came out.

The Artsy siblings came too: Avishay & Elinor.

Autumn Rooney & Eric Brightwell of Brightwell Men’s Store stopped by too.

Even the Silver Lake 5 Dollar Guy came by to wish us a Happy Birthday.

Nikos Eliot Flaherty-Laub of Girls In Suede wished us a happy birthday at the after-party on the piano at Bar 1642 in Echo Park.  

Overall, a grand day activating a newly minted public pedestrian plaza in our very own neighborhood, with the generosity and creativity of our friends and neighbors.  Thanks everyone for the food, the fun, and the company.  To many more!

As part of the Echo Park Time Bank’s Fun & Games Committee, I helped to plan the latest Saturday Social.  With CicLAvia coming up the following day, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a small bike workshop to get people (and their bikes) ready for the big day, while also socializing.

It was suggested that we should hold the social at the new Sunset Triangle Plaza in Silver Lake.  The plaza was originally the tail end of the two-lane vehicular Griffith Park Blvd as it curved into Sunset Blvd, usually posing a threat between cyclists, pedestrians, and cars.  But with some green paint, big planters, chairs, tables, and umbrellas, the city through the Streets for People program has created a car-free zone for this small stretch of streets which serves a local coffee shop and vegan cafe, as well as the previously underutilized Triangle Park, which was essentially a glorified traffic island with a fountain on it.

Since its opening in March, the plaza has been getting a lot of positive - and negative - attention in the media and by community members.  One thing people noticed was that it wasn’t being fully utilized.  Most of the time, the plaza was empty.  So we decided to hold our Saturday Social there, as a way to activate - and occupy - the space.  

Sunset Triangle Plaza.

As part of the Streets For People movement that has taken place in NYC and SF, Los Angeles has now received its first project: The Sunset Triangle Plaza!  Streets for People “inexpensively repurposes underused portions of streets, changing them into vibrant public spaces, and turning streets for cars into streets for people.”

Silver Lake Farms returns to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market

Orquidia Violeta and her awesome ponchos, baby onsies, and dresses.  Organic!

Doug Tiano in the Seas of Science : Photosynthesis.