This is Academy Awards weekend, but there’s a whole lot more to focus before the big Hollywood party on Sunday night.
First, running both today (Friday) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. is a big estate sale at 608 Lillian Way in Hancock Park. Items for sale include antique and vintage furniture, Chinoiserie decor items, jade statues, mens and women’s clothes, merry-go-round horses, and much, much more.
Starting at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday treat your kids or return to your own memories of Saturday morning cartoons with a Celebration of Classic Animation at the New Beverly Theater, 7165 Beverly Blvd. The theater says, “This month’s special edition of Cartoon Club features a simply irresistible selection of rare, original 35mm film prints of some of our favorite love-themed ‘toons!” The program includes “a feature-length assemblage of classic shorts, including rare gems unearthed from the vaults and other animated antics lovingly assembled from our large archive of film treasures.” Tickets are just $8; all ages welcome.
Next, after all the cartoon love, bring the little ones over to the Miracle Mile Toy Hall, 5464 Wilshire Blvd., from 11: a.m. to 4 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday, for the Second Annual BRIO Train Weekend. Says the store: “BRIO has given us huge trunks filled with every single thing they make for our friends to play with!” You can drop in any time during the event hours, and attendees will also get 15% off any BRIO purchases.
For more fun and family-friendly shopping, the Friends of the John C. Fremont Library, 6121 Melrose Ave. will be hosting its monthly book sale today (Friday) from 12-4 p.m., and and Saturday from 12-5 p.m. Most items are $1 or less, and even if you don’t buy anything, you can also join the Frieds for just $10 per year. All funds raised support the library’s free programs – including the Mindful Awareness Drop-in Session, French Conversation Class, and Needle Arts Circle – as well as all the snacks that are provided at the events.
Starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, you could head back to the Miracle Mile, where the Petersen Museum will celebrate Black History Month with a special “Jenkins Bus Panel” discussion. According to the museum, “This 1966 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus is a piece of American civil rights history. The Jenkins Bus, as it’s known, was used by Esau and Janie B. Jenkins to help fellow African Americans on Johns Island, South Carolina, by transporting them to Charleston in the search for better education, better jobs, and the chance at truly living the American dream.” The event is free with Museum General Admission.
Starting at 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, it’s back to the New Bev for this week’s kiddie matinee: “Harry Potter and the Chambr of Secrets.” The theater’s blurb says, “As Harry, Hermione, and Ron enter their second year at Hogwarts, they soon discover something strangely amiss. Students are turning into stone and writing on the walls exclaims “The Chambers of Secrets has been opened.” The trio will have to summon all their courage and use their ever-growing magical abilities to solve the mystery and save the school in this exhilarating follow-up.”
Just an hour later, starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, in Pan Pacific Park, will hold a special screening of the film, “Before They Die,” followed by a Q&A session with filmmaker Reggie Turner. The film tells the story of a 24-hour period on May 31, 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where “a white mob bombed, burned, looted and destroyed America’s most prosperous African-American community, known as “The Black Wall Street”” and “a conspiracy of silence covered up the loss of more than 300 lives and the displacement of more than 10,000 law-abiding citizens.” To make the film, Turner spent 10 years following Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. and his team of lawyers around the country documenting the stories of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot survivors and their quest for justice.
For art lovers, the LaunchLA gallery, 170 S. La Brea, will host an artist dialogue related to the current exhibit, “Contemporary Identities,” starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, featuring participating artists Shula Singer Arbel, Carla Jay Harris, and Christina Ramos. If you can’t make it to the talk, but would still like to see the show, regular gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday from 1-5 p.m.
Moving on to Sunday, starting at 10 a.m., you can join folks from the Mid City West Community Council for a neighborhood cleanup along Wilshire Blvd. between Curson and La Brea Avenues. Meet at the gazebo at Wilshire Green Park, behind the Wilshire Courtyard complex at 8th and Sierra Bonita, if you’d like to join in.
If you live in the La Brea Hancock neighborhood, the annual meeting of the La Brea Hancock Homeowners Association will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, in the 3rd floor conference room of the Beverly Hills BMW dealership showroom at 5070 Wilshire Blvd. The agenda will include information about the new voting system for next month’s big elections, disaster preparedness, updates from City Council Member David Ryu and LAPD Senior Lead Officer Hector Marquez, board member elections, and more.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to get a head start on helping people have a great Valentine’s Day, you should attend the 8th Annual Valentine-Making Community Brunch at Big Sunday headquarters, 6111 Melrose Ave., from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. Participants will “make cards and goodie treat boxes for thousands of shut-ins and people who are ailing or facing a tough time.” There will also be a great community brunch, a colletion of unexpired non-perishable food items, and a great time for all ages. Everyone is welcome, and official community service hours are provided for students who need them.
Starting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and appropriate for even the youngest members of your family is the Westside JCC’s big annual Tu B’Shevat Festival. The event, celebrating the universal birthday of the trees, includes a silent auction, carnival games, music, food, a bounch house, face painting…and free tree giveaways from City Plants. Funds raised support the Early Childhood programs at the JCC.
For some more adult fun, the American Cinematheque, at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., will host a screening of the classic film, “All About Eve” at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the 1950 diva-fest stars Anne Baxter as a young actress who schemes her way into the life of Broadway mega-star Bette Davis. A winner of 6 Academy Awards, it’s just the thing for a little pre-Oscars fun.
Meanwhile, back on the Miracle Mile, the Craft Contemporary will host its own Oscars-day tie-in: a “Winning! Clay Trophies and Sculptures” Craft-Lab Family Workshop, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Participants will “learn basic hand building techniques to create your very own clay trophy, award, figurine, or sculpture.” The cost is $10 for adults and $7 children (free for museum members), including materials and clay firing. (Fired pieces can be picked up at a later date.)
If you’d like to share Academy Awards night with a few hundred new friends, you can join the Los Angeles Historic Theaters Foundation for its “Hollywood’s Biggest Night 2020” event at the historic Chaplin Theater at Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Ave. Gates open at 3:30 p.m. for the red carpet telecast, pre-show dinner and tours, with the live Awards Telecast starting at 5 p.m. Tickets are $65 and include an Italian dinner, a drink at the bar, and a tour of the historic studio lot. Note that LAHTF Members receive a $15 discount…and members of the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society can also receive a $10 discount. Additional drinks, sweet treats and more will be available for purchase.
And finally on Sunday, if you’d prefer something besides the glitz and glitter of Hollywood, the LA Museum of the Holocaust is hosting a screening of “The Labyrinth: The Testimony of Marian Kołodziej” at 4 p.m. The film tells the story of Marian Kołodziej, a Catholic Pole, who was on one of the first transports to enter Auschwitz. He survived five years of imprisonment, but never spoke of his experience until after a serious stroke in 1993. As part of his rehabilitation, however, he begain doing pen and ink drawings depicting his horrific experience. The drawings and art installations, which he called The Labyrinth, now fill the large basement of the Maximilian Kolbe Church near Auschwitz. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Fr. Ron Schmidt, the film’s producer, a Jesuit priest and award-winning international documentary filmmaker, and Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute and Professor of Jewish Studies at American Jewish University.
Have a great weekend!
