This week you can attend virtual performances, screenings, beer events, and panels about facial recognition technology, but if you’re itching to get out of the house and do something more exciting than just another walk around the neighborhood, there’s something for you too. Plus the L.A. Zoo has reopened for in person visitors with new COVID safety protocols.
Arts & Culture
On Saturday, February 20th at 4:00 p.m., join Neo Ensemble Theatre for “a fun and fast-paced show kicking 2020 into oblivion.” Hindsight: 2020 features eight pieces, including two by Laura Foti Cohen – the Larchmont Buzz’s very own theater writer – “that sum up the year and leave you wanting NO MORE!”
Angel City Brewery is launching a new panel discussion series focusing on “highlighting diverse perspectives, experiences, and careers of members in our craft beer community” and is kicking off on Sunday, February 21st at 2:00 p.m. with Crafting Conversations: Black in Beer. Speakers include Josie Becker of Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, Robert Scott of LA Ale Works also in Hawthorne, Tyler Sadler, a homebrewer and host of the Brew’d Up Podcast, Cait & Britne of Beers A’ Go Go, and Samuel Chawinga of Boomtown Brewery Downtown.
From Saturday, February 20th through Sunday, February 28th you can watch the films of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Film Festival. Presented by the the UCLA Film & Television Archive and UCLA Asian American Studies Center, these films feature “powerful imagery and poignant commentary about meaningful issues facing Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Audiences will hear from filmmakers and actors on their creative journeys, as well as from scholars, artists and community leaders on themes that apply to today’s world.” It’s free to watch, but RSVP is required.
Community & History
I’ve been going on many walks and hikes through Griffith Park over the last year, so I’m very excited to add a new soundtrack to those journeys with SOUNDWALK. The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA presents “a free, GPS-enabled work of public art that uses music to illuminate the natural environment of L.A.’s Griffith Park. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and sound artist Ellen Reid, the experience is guided by the listener: the path you choose dictates the music you hear, and no two visits will be exactly the same. After downloading the free app and putting on your headphones, you can explore the park, triggering musical cells that are carefully crafted to harmonize with the park’s landscape and attractions.”
While you can’t visit one of Griffith Park’s best attractions, the Autry Museum, right now, you can join them virtually on Saturday, February 20th at 11 a.m. to celebrate Black History Month and learn about Delilah L. Beasley, a journalist and historian who “advocated for the rights of Black people from her Oakland Tribune column announcing the everyday activities of her community. In exhaustively documenting the histories of Black Californians at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, she told the stories not only of her contemporaries, but of the generation that preceded her 1910 arrival in California.”
The Autry has also teamed up with FILM at LACMA for a screening and live Twitter watch party of Los Angeles Plays Itself on Saturday, February 20th at 4:00 p.m. The film, by Thom Andersen, “takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis’ real and cinematic history, spanning nearly 100 years, from the silent era to modern times. With extensive research, and an abundance of clips, anecdotes, and analysis, he adroitly peels back layers of fiction to reveal the real city and the actual lives of its denizens beneath the glaring lights.” It’s presented in conjunction with LACMA’s exhibition Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera, and event is free with RSVP required.
Another film screening and discussion happening this week is a presentation of Coded Bias and a panel discussion on how facial recognition may be used by law enforcement to target individuals, hosted by the Los Angeles & Pasadena League of Women Voters, as well as the ACLU of Southern California and Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University. With a donation you can receive the link to the film viewable through February 21st, and then join the panel discussion on Sunday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m.
Local Government
To address the need for accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine and its safety, the Mid City West Community Council has arranged with the Los Angeles County of Public Health to host a webinar on Monday, February, 22nd at 4:30 p.m. You’ll hear from Armen Ter-Barsegyan, MPH, CHES,Health Educator/ Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (SPA 4) about COVID 19 basics and prevention, vaccine safety, school updates and COVID-19 Resources. He’ll also answer questions from the audience.
The City of Los Angeles’ Bureau of Street Services is hosting its second outreach event about the Melrose Avenue Pedestrian Improvement Project on Wednesday, February 24th at 6:00 p.m. This event will include new information about the project, which will provide pedestrian and transit improvements on Melrose from Highland to Fairfax. You can listen to the recording of the first Virtual Community Outreach Event, and register for this week’s event, here.
The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee meets on Tuesday, February 23 at 6:30 p.m. and the GWNC Quality of Life Committee (a brand new committee) meets on Wednesday, February 24th at 7:00 p.m. Agendas, meeting links and other materials will be posted at the committee links above at least 72 hours before each meeting.
