by Tracy Cruz
photos by Nikki DeVries

Despite the downpour of rain the previous night and morning of the event, the Echo Park Art Walk went on as scheduled with a few minor adjustments due to weather constraints.

Art enthusiasts, friends, families and pets roamed the streets of Echo Park Avenue – Sunset Boulevard to Champlain Terrace as boutique shops, galleries and neighborhood venues opened their doors to welcome all. My adventure started at Feeding Birds Boutique who had suffered a mild flood from the rain but kept on trucking throughout the day. Equipped with a live guitarist and offering special discounts as well as freshly baked cookies to all patrons it was a great place to begin my day. Vintage glassware, jewelry and casual threads filled the store and drew quite a crowd especially with the Calbi Truck right out front cooking up their delicious street tacos and burritos served up with a splash of asian flair. I couldn’t resist and ordered two scrumptious morsels washed them down with a diet coke and went on my way to my next stop. (With all the LA food truck craze, I decided to embark on my first experience of true street food and there’s no wonder why they draw such crowds…it was deeeelish!)

Walking up and down the street, I ran into Heather Mendoza of Art Needs Freedom – the gal to credit for this neighborhood shindig. Armed with her “Kiss me, Im a Yelper” pin she was certainly dressed for the occasion in her green galoshes, and pea coat. An artist herself, with a passion for creating art and handcrafted goods her idea behind hosting such an event was to “connect and create community” and to share the local culture and art with natives and visitors alike. With support from Echo Park businesses, local artists, musicians and friends Heather put together the first ever Echo Park Art Walk with a unique vision for a true sidewalk art hop.

Volunteers and friends illustrated the streets with chalk art to guide and direct art goers to the next destination. Across the way from Feeding Birds, Evil Monito was selling $5 t-shirts – quite a steal in this economy while the boys from the Grill ‘Em All truck were preparing piping hot delectables for the hungry crowd outside. I made my way down to Tavin, an amazing vintage boutique of clothes, shoes and accessories and my colleague, Jenny Blake (with no prior intention of spending a dime) ended up leaving with some great and reasonably priced pieces. Outside a live pianist tickled the keys with some lovely beats to Kerry Regan demonstrating some live knitting. We stopped into Chango for some warm java and outside live painter, Josh Talbott was showcasing his work. Talbott, a self taught artist relying more so on trial and error, natural talent and his imagination to create dramatic paintings of a variety of subjects ranging from landscapes to hands to a deck of cards offered a warm and friendly chat.

With mother nature finally cooperating, the afternoon received a good amount of sunshine with hints of crisp clean “just after the rain” smell that I love so much. For a good 2 hours, the weather was completely sublime and a bunch of four legged friends were having a ball prancing up and down the streets with their owners. Further down the way, Blue Collar, a pet lover’s dream offered a special 15% discount on all pet products and hosted an interactive sculpture by Christina Pierson, Vicki Tao and Yoshie Sakai.

Other Highlights of the day:

* Art showcased by Cody Lusby @ Fix Cafe
* @ Echo Park Cycles – bike race and live graffiti artist
* Showcased art @ the Ronin Gallery
* Ceramics, sculpture and other various art was on display @ the Peter Shire Gallery
* @ Evil Monito – Local Band Dengue Fever Music Documentary
* $1 silkscreening @ Feeding Birds
* Outside of Silverwood Properties – Cartoonist Mike Jasorka offering to “cartoon” passing art goers for free

Even with the light drizzle, all in all it was delightful afternoon of art, music, food and shopping – an afternoon of true community and creativity in the neighborhood of Echo Park. Be on the look out and save the date – Heather is planning to host another art walk under more sunny and warm circumstances. Check back in with us to get the info. We hope to see you there!