Quick Hits for the Weekend Ahead

I'll be writing soon about our latest date, a night of food and dancing 1920s style at the Cicada Club. But I wanted to post a few quick items of note for the weekend ahead. This is one of those jammed pack weekends of great events, many of them free or cheap.

I can highly recommended the third and final Chinatown Summer Nights this Saturday. Kim and I went last year and had a blast.

There will be live bands, DJs, gourmet food trucks, arts and crafts for the kids, cooking demonstrations, merchandise booths, dragon dancers, and art exhibits.


Last year, it was people watching heaven – hipsters, wannabe hipsters, middle-aged couples (we were the ones making out on the bench), and families, who were apparently mandated to buy those light up twirly things for their kids (Kim wanted one, but we couldn’t find one. Kids must have got them all). My favorite sight last year - the dad with the mohawk carrying his newborn in a baby snuggie.

Here's a slideshow from LA Weekly from a previous event: Chinatown Summer Nights slideshow

It's free. There's plenty of relatively cheap parking around Chinatown. Kim and I took the Gold Line last year, which has a stop about a block and a half away from the festivities. My advice is to go a little early and get a meal at Hop Louie. Last year we got a dinner for two that could have easily fed four or five people.

Going on both Saturday and Sunday is an event that I've been dying to go to, but missed last year and might end up missing it again this year. It's Echo Park Rising, a free music festival featuring a bunch of great local talent.

They do offer VIP passes for $20 that supposedly lets you into set aside viewing areas and allows for easier access to the bar. Here's the event website: http://echoparkrising.com/

As I said, I've never been to this. If you go, please me know how it went.

Other freebies this week include a screening of Troop Beverly Hills at Grand Park starting at sunset. Go early pack a picnic. Downtown Repertory Theater is staging Romeo and Juliet at the Pico House hotel across from Union Station on Saturday at 8 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22-25 and again Aug. 29-31.It's free, but expect them to solicit donations.

Independent Shakespeare Co. is staging As You Like It on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7 p.m. all three nights at the Old Zoo grounds at Griffith Park. These guys are awesome and definitely worth the trip. Again, go early and pack a picnic. And, again, expect them to solicit donations.

Troop Beverly Hills

Troop Beverly Hills