Downtown L.A. Artwalk

On the second Thursday of every month, downtown L.A.'s Art District is alive and packed with people on the streets and in the galleries for the Downtown Art Walk. There are free shuttles around the area and various "party buses" to help people on foot get around the various areas or art and entertainment.

The last art walk was on September 11th. The streets were full of people and entertainers, as well as street artists and vendors. On the corner of 5th and Main was a reggae ensemble, meanwhile across the street at the Regent, bands such as We Barbarians and Bloodcat Love performed while guests enjoyed pieces in the likes of Pop Art.

Many galleries featured work by emerging artists addressing issues of the inner-city such as homelessness and poverty of low socio-economic groups. There was also a wide array of art in the public space. Many of the signs on street lamps and outside galleries were signs produced by artists. Most of them had witty phrases regarding the war, economy and even the inner-self.

My favorite find of the night was the Lost Souls Cafe. Hidden away in the back corner of an alley, the cafe is a very pleasant getaway for a cup of coffee and a snack. That night they had "make your own art" and offered markers, paper and coffee cup sleeves for decoration. All art made would be hung up on their walls the next day or placed on the cups.

The art walk was very fun with the variety of art, street shows and venues. It was definitely worth the drive from Orange County and is a definite must-see for locals. I highly recommend it and I can't wait to go out there again. And in case I didn't mention it enough, it's all FREE (except for maybe 5-8 bucks on parking if you can't find anything on the street).

http://www.downtownartwalk.com/

Some of the photos I took that night...

-- DES