5 Design Things To Do This Week

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Some DnA event picks this week: An iconic LA outdoor theater reopens, examining a changing downtown LA (now with bike share!), the legacy of the Chicano/a Arts Movement, and landscape photographers then and now.

dtla 1) Big City Forum: Los Angeles Revival – Downtown LA’s Many Changes

Downtown Los Angeles is going through intense upheaval. Development is moving at a breathtaking pace, with thousands of new residents filling the newly-built luxury lofts, and empty storefronts being taken over by gastropubs and high-end boutiques and galleries. Author Jeremy Rosenberg and publisher Heyday are working on a new oral history book project about the rapidly changing area. They’ve organized an event in relationship to the book-in-progress, “Los Angeles Revival: An Oral History Archiving Project Exploring Change to Downtown LA.”

Rosenberg will moderate a panel discussion with some key figures helping to shape DTLA’s present and future. Panelists include Clare Fox (Executive Director, LA Food Policy Council), Marcel Porras (Chief Sustainability Officer, LA DOT), Tanner Blackman (a partner at Kindel Gagan Public Affairs Advocacy), and Naomi Iwasaki (Program Director, Great Streets Program, LA Mayor’s Office).

When: Wednesday, July 6 from 6 – 9 pm

Where: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N Main St, Los Angeles, California 90012

Tickets: Free, register for tickets here.

metrobikes

2) Metro Bike Share Launch Celebration & Ride Off

This week marks the launch of bike sharing in downtown Los Angeles. Starting this Thursday, July 7, Metro Bike Share will have on hand 1000+ self-service bikes and up to 65 stations available round-the-clock in downtown L.A. Planned locations include Union Station, City Hall, Grand Park, the L.A. Convention Center, South Park, Chinatown, the Arts District, the Fashion District, Little Tokyo and more. There are twice as many bike parking spaces — or what they refer to as “dock points” — as there are bikes. There’s an app in development that will show real-time bike and dock availability and an online station map.

The city is marking the launch of Metro Bike Share with a party, featuring Mayor and Metro Board Member Eric Garcetti and incoming Metro Board Chair John Fasana. There’ll be snacks and live music, and will culminate with a bike ride.

When: Thursday, July 7 from 11:30 am – 1 pm

Where: Grand Park, 200 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, California 90012

Tickets: To RSVP and reserve a bike, click here.

3) Ford Theatre Re-opening with TAIKOPROJECT + Quetzal

An iconic Los Angeles theater closed last year for upgrades and will reopen this Friday, July 8. The historic John Anson Ford Theatres is set into the side of a canyon in the hills of the Cahuenga Pass, across the 101 Freeway from the Hollywood Bowl. The venue has been in need of a remodel for decades. Architect Brenda Levin has overseen the transformation of the theater, with a new stage, lighting, sound insulation, catering and other amenities. The 2016 season kicks off with internationally-acclaimed Japanese drumming group TAIKOPROJECT and Grammy Award-winning Chicano rock band Quetzal, who are blending live taiko drumming and son jarocho music.

When: Friday, July 8 at 8 pm

Where: John Anson Ford Theatres, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd East, Hollywood, CA 90068

Tickets: VIP: $50, includes premium seating; Tier 1: $38, Tier 2: $25. Buy tickets here.

Richard Misrach, Salton Sea (With Campers), 1984, Ektacolor print. © Richard Misrach, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Richard Misrach, Salton Sea (With Campers), 1984, Ektacolor print. © Richard Misrach, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

4) The Autry Presents “Revolutionary Vision: Group f/64 and Richard Misrach”

Over the course of a four decade-long career, Richard Misrach has captured environmental devastation in the desert of the American West and the polluted swamplands of the South. Some of Misrach’s prints are on display at the Autry Museum of the American West, along with those of an earlier generation of photographers. Half of the exhibition “Revolutionary Vision” features work by five leading members of Group f/64, an informal faction of 11 Bay Area photographers led by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. The group was founded in 1932 and named for the large-format camera aperture, which captures a maximum depth of field, and viewed nature as a template by which to experiment with a camera’s mechanical possibilities.

When: Through January 8, 2017

Where: The Autry Museum in Griffith Park, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462

Tickets: Adults: $10; Students (with current ID) and Seniors (60+): $6; Children (3–12): $4. More information here.

chicana 5) Troubling Chicana/o Art

The Chicana/o Art Movement began in the 1960s as a way for Mexican-American artists to create their own artistic identity in the U.S., while challenging social norms and stereotypes. Their work draws inspiration from pre-Columbian art as well as European painting techniques, and engages in political discourse that reflects post-Mexican Revolution ideologies as well as the issues facing Mexican-Americans in politics, economics and society.

This Saturday at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, Karen Mary Davalos, a scholar of Chicana/o Studies at ‌Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, will read from her new book “Chicana/o Art Since the Sixties: From Errata to Remix,” and will lead a discussion with painter and muralist John Valadez, artist Sandra de la Loza, and curator Sybil Venegas.

When: Sunday, Jul 10 from 2 – 5 pm

Where: Avenue 50 Studio, 131 N Avenue 50, Los Angeles, California 90042

Tickets: Free. More information here.