Looks like Saturday’s the big day for events this weekend, though at least a couple span multiple days, so you could also catch up with them on Sunday if you miss day one.
Before we get to the entertainment-related activities, however, we also have a community donation request this week: Angelia Harper, a homeless advocate featured in a recent Buzz story, and who has been helping the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles for nearly 20 years, will be doing a “Hot Dogs and Hygiene“-themed distribution on Skid Row this weekend, and could use donations of any of the following items: hand sanitizer, wipes, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, travel size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, and feminine hygiene items…as well as hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mustard, relish, chips, tuna, mayo, crackers, small bowls, food service paper (sheets that comes in boxes of 300-500), water, Capri Sun pouches, charcoal…and money to buy ice just before the distributions start. If you would like to contribute, contact Harper through her Facebook page, or at [email protected]. Items can be dropped off Friday evening after 5, Saturday before 1 p.m. or after 6 p.m, or Sunday before 3 p.m. And volunteers are, of course, welcome, too. (Also, please note that while this distribution event will take place on Skid Row, Harper says she will be doing another in Koreatown during the first week in October.)
And speaking of Koreatown, there will be a Welcome to Western Community Festival starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the HK Market, 124 N. Western Ave. The event is celebrating the installation of unique new pedestrian amenities on Western Ave., and includes free music and dance performances from diverse local artists, and a variety of participatory activities, including a scavenger hunt that will introduce you to local businesses. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Community Partners, City Council Member David E. Ryu, the Koreatown Youth and Community Center, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles City Council President Herb J. Wesson.
Moving outward and south a bit, the 12th anniversary edition of the Leimert Park Book Fair will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvds.) The fair, under the motto “I read, therefore I am,” has been voted one of L.A.’s Best Annual Book Festivals. There will be books, author and poet talks (with Morgan Parker, Alison Rose Jefferson, Eric Jerome Dickey, Mildred Pitts Walter), live music (the Los Angeles Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America + “Just Us” Gospel Troupe, and Bernie Pearl & the Franklin Bell Blues Workshop), and even a presentation by two local restauranteurs (Greg Dulan and Jeanette Bolan) on “Southern Cuisine: Yesterday and Today.”
For your younger family members, though not really local (it’s at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St. in Pasadena), it’s always worth mentioning the annual Brick Fest Live Lego Fan Experience, which is “filled with hands-on attractions and activities engineered to inspire, educate, and entertain.” Or in other words…come play with more than “a million Lego bricks.” Other attractions include a “Glow Gallery” (“a dark, mysterious world of intricate and elaborate Lego creations you’ll see in a new light”), the Brick Fest Speedway (build and race a custom Lego derby car down a 35-foot long track), collaborative building activities, “Inspiration Stations,” a Lego video game arena…and more. It’s from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, so plenty of time for even the most hardcore fans to indulge their Lego passions.
A convention for fans of another kind, and a bit closer to home at the LA Convention Center, provides a big pre-season taste of Halloween in August. ScareLA also runs both Saturday and Sunday, and will feature more than 200 Halloween-themed vendors, thousands of fans, “haunt enterntainment” professionals, top scare event designers and operators, makers, filmmakers, and artists…with attractions, classes, industry panels, “haunt tours,” screenings, cosplay, games…and the “first-ever Dark Convention and Halloween Pop-Up Theme Park.” See the link above for full schedule and ticket info.
For those in a more sedate and much less scary mood, Annie Cipola, the multi-talented librarian at the John C. Fremont Library, 6121 Melrose Ave., will be conducting an Orchid Care Workshop at 12 p.m. on Saturday. Said Cipola in a recent e-mail: “Of all the programs I give as a Master Gardener, this is one of my favorites because it helps to de-mystify the mysterious and now ubiquitous orchid. Everyone has one, but most ditch them after their bloom is spent. In this workshop, you will learn how to care for your bare orchid to encourage its re-bloom in the decades ahead. Yes, that’s how long they last. Bring your orchids and a pruner.” It’s free, and there are no advance sign-ups required.
Finally on Saturday, the American Cinematheque, at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd.), is offering three fun vintage film screenings. The first, starting at 2 p.m., is part of a program called “Fashion & Film: The 1960s/Two for the Road,” which starts with a discussion of “The Style Essentials: History of Fashion in Film: The 1960s,” featuring Kimberly Truhler, founder of GlamAmor and an author, educator and frequent guest speaker on the history of fashion in film. Following Truhler’s illustrated presentation, you can stay for the 1967 film, “Two for the Road,” staring Albert Finney and 1960s fashion icon Audrey Hepburn as a husband and wife who can’t stand each other yet can’t stand to be apart…with mod fashions by Mary Quant and Paco Rabanne.
The second Cinematheque event on Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m. and also at the Egyptian, is a screening of the 1984 sci-fi epic Dune, directed by David Lynch. The first big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi best-seller stars Kyle MacLachlan as a potential messiah caught between rival factions battling for control of the planet Dune, where the empire’s most valuable substance is mined. Starring Max von Sydow, Jose Ferrer, Jürgen Prochnow, Patrick Stewart and rocker Sting.
And last but not least at the Cinematheque, and also at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Egyptian, you could also opt for “A Night at the Show with Charlie Chaplin, a special presentation of some of Chaplin’s finest early shorts. From Chaplin’s Essanay Studios period there will be, “A Night at the Show” (1915), which reprises much of his stage work in the play “A Night in an English Music Hall,” which toured from 1910 to 1913 and led to his discovery by Mack Sennett. Then the Essanay/Broncho Billy Anderson short “His Regeneration” (1915) features Charlie in a surprise cameo appearance. There will also be another outstanding Chaplin film from 1915, “Police”…and then Chaplin’s two-reel solo performance in the Mutual production “One A.M.” (1916). All with live musical accompaniment by Cliff Retallick.
On Sunday, for early risers, check out the August Breakfast Club Cruise-In at the Petersen Museum, from 8 to 10 a.m. on the third floor of the Museum’s parking structure. Fans of all stripes will gather for a morning of conversation, laughs and some truly amazing performance and classic cars. Enjoy strolling through rows of classic, custom, exotic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more, with complimentary parking, coffee and bagels. The Petersen store will also be open for those hoping to go home with something special to remember the day…and museum members will have early access to the museum from 9am–10am.
Finally on Sunday, the Cinematheque lights up again at the Egyptian, with a screening of Sam Peckinpah’s “magnificent, ultra-violent Western,” “The Wild Bunch,” featuring a live introduction by Katy Haber, a longtime collaborator to Sam Peckinpah, along with author and editor Paul Seydor, and location manager and actor Chalo Gonzalez. The 1960 opus stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates and Jaime Sanchez as a band of doomed outlaws trying to outrun history.
Have a great weekend!
