Check out the following businesses that are helping bring Echo Park together through food, film and more!
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Budding Steinbecks and Woolfs hone their craft at 826LA, a nonprofit (founded by author Dave Eggers) committed to teaching creative and expository writing to local children ages 6 to 18. Through after-school workshops and tutoring, kids learn all types of writing and receive one-on-one attention from dedicated volunteers. All community members are also invited to attend monthly Dead Author readings, release parties for newly published magazines and books, and benefits, which often feature celebrity guests. And no mention of 826LA would be complete without the Time Travel Mart, the quirky gift shop/convenience store that serves as the face of 826LA’s Echo Park location on Sunset Blvd. and Lemoyne Street.
When Echo Park music lovers want a healthy dose of rock and roll, they congregate at the Echo, and, just below the Echo’s floorboards, the Echoplex. Both performance venues, located at 1822 W. Sunset Blvd., host an eclectic array of solo musicians and indie bands. For sometimes as little as $5, attendees can see several bands in one night. The Echo also co-hosts Echo Park Rising, Echo Park’s annual music and arts festival that includes performances by close to 100 groups. Upcoming performances include Strictly Social, Julia Holter, Pinchers and Shlohmo.
If you thought Chicago was the only place you could get a decent deep-dish pizza, think again. Echo Park’s Masa Bakery and Café has been serving up Italian and bistro comfort food since 2004 and is famous in the neighborhood for its homey, welcoming atmosphere. The building has stood since 1922 and Masa still uses the revolving oven first brought to the restaurant in the 1930s by Van de Kamps Bakery and passed down to Carmelo’s Cuban Restaurant and Bakery in the same location (1800 West Sunset Blvd.) in the 1970s. Families, young couples, grandparents and businessmen alike can be found in Masa’s colorful dining room, listening to jazz music and enjoying a meal in Echo Park.
Fact: Everybody loves movies. So what better way to bring people together than through the silver screen? At the Echo Park Film Center (1200 N. Alvarado Street), locals can connect with other film lovers and get involved with dozens of cinematic opportunities, from screenings and filmmaking classes to equipment rentals. The Filmmobile also takes EPFC’s mission on the road, bringing film education and workshops around Los Angeles in an eco-friendly bus. Sure, locals could just watch DVDs alone in their living rooms. But with EPFC just around the corner, there’s no reason movie-watching in Echo Park should ever be a solitary activity.
Courtesy Chris Kokiousis
Lucy’s Laundromat is an Echo Park establishment and a perfect place for diverse Echo Park locals to loiter together. The iconic neighborhood locale caters to both the Hipster and Hispanic communities who come to clean their clothes and eye one another over a latte from the Starbucks conveniently located inside. Housed on Sunset, it is close enough to Silverlake to attract the indie kids who continue to spill eastward into Echo Park, and it maintains its authentic historical dignity that appeals to regulars. It connects two communities without pretension and emphasizes the eclectic connections that can be made in Echo Park.