Who doesn’t love tacos?! Satisfied taco seekers at ¡Taco Madness! 2013. Photo by Javier Guillen.

Just look at what Los Angeles has done to the venerable taco. Our city has taken this Mexican staple and turned it into a vibrant expression of our diversity and creativity. This is not an insignificant civic achievement. In Los Angeles, you can find any taco you want: high-end, mom-and-pop, wild and zany. There is no end to the variations of palm-sized tortillas, proteins, toppings and sauces.

This little handheld vessel of happiness is being celebrated this year at ¡Taco Madness!, presented by Grand Park and L. A. Taco. We will celebrate all the tacos: traditional, fancy, messy, exotic. I’m particularly excited about the reveal of L.A.’s favorite taco, being decided by method of bracketology.

Via Kogi Truck.

At this year’s ¡Taco Madness!, Grand Park’s blog will announce winners in the following categories:

• The “Alright, Alright, Alright…” Award. This taco should cause involuntary head bobbing and a concentrated feeling of ‘life is good.’ Nothing could possibly get better than this taco moment, right now.  This is the taco whose name you’ll be tenderly whispering at night in your sleep.

• The “Taco to Take Home to Meet Mom” Award. This taco will be pretty, elegant, and is well mannered enough to keep its elbows off the table.

• The “Make Your Abuelita Jealous” Award. This recognizes a traditionally inspired taco that is so warm and cozy it could have only come from the hands of a wonderful home cook.

Look out for the winners on the blog next week. In the meantime, I hope to see you all at the park on Saturday, April 5. If I’m passed out on a pink bench from all the tacos, a gentle nudge should do.

Ebner Sobalvarro, Grand Park’s resident foodie.

  Grand Park’s Downtown Bookfest, 2013. Photo by Javier Guillen.  

“I hope you’re still writing.”

Writing is like wrestling a beast every day and knowing you will never win. No matter what the form, be it poetry, plays, or prose, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to carve out a voice as a writer. Writers usually have to work alone at first then send out the work to the public space, which is not always easy.

I’m inspired every time I meet someone new who has garnered his or her livelihood using the written word. I’m twice as inspired by those who have not used writing as their source of income and continue to lay down the pen for no other reason than this:

Something deep inside compels them to communicate.

When I was given the opportunity of writing and curating the content for Grand Park’s blog, I got really excited.

I recently sent a letter to a mentor of mine telling her about the different projects I was working on at the time. She was glad to hear from me, (it had been a while,) and sent me a note, “I hope you’re still writing.”

Half the battle for new writers is just to find the time and space to sit down and churn out the work.

The other half is getting your voice heard.

So when I heard that Grand Park was having a Downtown Bookfest, presenting Los Angeles based publishers, authors, non-profits, arts organizations and performance groups, I was ecstatic! The participants of Bookfest are all devoted to cultivating literary excitement and accessibility for Angelenos.

So, what kinds of activities am I going to find at Bookfest? The list seems endless:

Photos via 826LA.

Patrons of bookfest can add a line of genius to The World’s Longest Story by 826LA, a non-profit organization dedicated to “supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.”

Abram Gomez delivering a Poem On Demand at Poesia Para La Gente in Pershing Square.

You can receive your very own poem-on-demand by Poesia Para La Gente! How cool is that?!

Zinefest 2014.

Shop the local pop-up bookshop and discover books, zines and literary gems written by L.A.’s finest!

Via Story Pirates.

Onstage you can catch Story Pirates, a one-of-a-kind sketch comedy musical based entirely on stories by children, including those written by Grand Park kids.

Grand Park Pop Up Parks from Grand Park on Vimeo.

Bring your books for Grand Park’s wee library system – the Little Libraries. Find’em, fill’em, love’em! In anticipation of Bookfest, our Little Libraries were taken for a walk around Downtown (Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, Handsome Coffee, and Grand Central Market). Check out the video above!

Excited yet? Well, that’s not even the half of it: the list goes on!

When trying to wrap my head around the amount of activities, independent publishers, artists, writers, readers, performers, and fellow super nerds I would see at Bookfest, I wanted to get some perspective. I reached out to Chiwan Choi of Writ Large Press to talk shop about the written word, literary accessibility, and a project being activated in the park: PUBLISH!: You Can To.

Chiwan Choi at Bookfest 2013. Photo by Jason Gutierrez. 

Here’s a little of what he had to say:

MC: So tell me more about PUBLISH!: You Can Too. Can you break down what patrons of Bookfest can expect to experience?

CC: At the Bookfest, we will have multiple typewriters set up. We will also have a writing prompt or two. We will ask patrons to sit down and write to the prompt for 3 minutes.

Once that’s done, we’ll invite everyone to come back at set intervals, where they will then change hats and become the editors, as each person selects a handful of different writings from the day (including their own if they choose), then change hats again by becoming the publisher and assembling the books that are called “You Can Too”.

We will have book covers made. The books will be blurbed. And each book that each person makes will get an official Writ Large Press and Kaya Press stamp of approval, making it an official publication.

MC: Do you think placing the project in Grand Park will affect the writing?

CC: Of course. Physical space always affects writing. The weather. The noise. The size of the crowd. It will all have an impact.

MC: Can we expect to see more literature centric events in public spaces around Los Angeles?

CC: Yes. Definitely. That is one of the driving passions for Writ Large Press. To turn the entire city into a literary playground. We have a few things brewing that are incredibly challenging and exciting. Keep an eye out.

We’ll be on the look out!

You can experience PUBLISH!: You Can To and so much more at Grand Park’s Downtown Bookfest tomorrow, March 29th from 12-5pm. #homegrownlit Click here for more info!

– Mitchell Colley, Grand Park’s resident super nerd.

In the age of the Kindle, the Nook and all things electronic, I really thought the end of the paperback book was near. It seems so easy. I can have digital versions of all my favorite books and save a lot of space. I was beginning to think this was the new way of the world, but this does not seem to be the case, especially downtown. In fact, the exact opposite seems to be taking place. A literary revolution has begun.

Our beautiful Central Library has now gone back to operating 6 days a week, and our beloved The Last Bookstore isn’t showing any signs that their ginormous store will stop growing anytime soon. It is quite comforting to see that turning a page is not only still cool, but it is an ever-growing obsession. We love to read! Even if we don’t, at least those unread books are a great design aesthetic in your bookcases! You’ll get to them eventually.

As many know, there are more and more people coming downtown as time goes on. Tourists, workers and residents have filled the buildings and filled the streets with electric energy. With a growing comes a demand for services such as our library and bookstore. We then desire an urban oasis to pause, relax and dig into our latest novel. I am so excited that we now have both, and Grand Park has managed to create a one-stop shop for this literary revolution. Little Libraries are what you call them, and they have been added all throughout the urban oasis. Intrigued? Little Libraries are these ridiculously adorable pink dollhouses that have been filled with a variety of books for all ages. You can find these pink dollhouses near Starbucks, on Olive Court, near the Metro station, and across from City Hall. Some things just don’t need much fuss in life. Lending libraries are one of them. They operate on 3 basic principles:

1. You take a book…or…You leave a book
2. You read the book  (preferably on some park furniture or under a leafy Grand Park tree)…then
3. You do it all over again

Find’em, fill’em, love’em!

Little Libraries are meant to be a never ending cycle of discovery. Whether you have one in your neighborhood, are inspired to put one in your front yard, or passing through Grand Park to drop off your newly cleaned bookshelves, it is about sharing, connecting and learning with other people. If there is anything that I have come to find out over the years, it is that Angelenos are more connected to each other than ever before. We learn from each other and we grow every day. This is the essence of our city and it begins downtown.

–Joshua Levi, special to Grand Park, Downtown With Me

Ahhh! The 4th of July is just two days away! I have been hard at work planning the ultimate Los Angeles vacation for my family when they arrive this week. Of course, when you think of 4th of July beaches and barbecues come to mind. However, unlike years past, we are doing things a little differently this year.  We are spending 4th of July downtown. Grand Park will host a extravaganza for the entire city to enjoy, offering tons of great music, numerous food trucks, a little relaxation and a nighttime spectacular. I love a good show, and I was fortunate enough to learn a few things about from the man leaving you in awe at the park this Thursday.

Meet Ron Smith, pyro extraordinaire. Ron has worked on special events such as the opening and closing ceremonies for the Atlanta Olympics, Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Athens Olympics, 14 of the last 18 Superbowl Halftime Shows, The Oscars, and the grand opening of one of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles – the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Are you seeing a trend here? He’s good.

“I just kind of ‘fell’ into the fireworks industry,” Ron told me, explaining how he began his career in pyrotechnics after owning construction business with his dad in Santa Barbara. One of their team members took some time off work to start working on fireworks shows in Los Angeles. After Ron noticed his colleague was becoming frequently absent, Ron spoke with him about the effects it had on their business. The response Ron got was that he should try it, and that it was the biggest adrenalin rush his colleague had ever had.

“I did just that, and it was. I wound up selling the business and going out on the road with Pink Floyd for 7 months doing the fireworks for them.” He has been hooked ever since.

For each minute of the 4th of July show in Grand Park, Ron has spent  2 hours of work synchronizing the pyro with the music. “I begin with the music selection. Once the music has been decided and put together in sequence, it is then converted to a wave file that I can put into my scripting software to be played through my computer.”

Every time Ron wants an effect to happen he simply hits the space bar, and that then gives a timing mark in his script. Once he has placed all the proper timing marks in the script (to the music), Ron goes back through and inserts the different type of effects into each “timing mark” in the show, so that it “flows” between the colors and the different timing in the music.

Ron will bring a team of 5 to execute the show at the park Thursday. The show begins just after Sunset and can be seen all throughout the park, with the best viewing areas on the fountain terrace, Performance Lawn (between Grand and Hill) and the Event Lawn (between Spring and Broadway).

If you’re coming down to the park this 4th, think about taking the Metro. Grand Park has a station dedicated to servicing all park guests (Red and Purple Lines at Civic Center/Grand Park). In addition, Metro is launching a great art tour on the 4th of July called Metro Art Moves_DTLA. I got a chance to test out the tour a few weeks back and I must say I loved every minute of it. Docents begin at 7th Street/Metro Center Station and explore the many works of art in this station, Union Station and wrap up at Civic Center/Grand Park Station (just in time for the block party!). I take Metro quite frequently, but what was interesting was that half the time I am in such a rush I never got a chance to simply stop and take a look at the artwork at each station. It is quite impressive and very well thought out. The tour begins at 5:30 on the Figueroa Street side of the 7th Street/Metro Center Station.

–Joshua Levi, special to Grand Park, Downtown With Me

Grand Park looking for projects from LA County based dance/movement artists/ensembles for presentation in the park on the following days:

November 8, 15, and 22, 2013. An honorarium is provided. Applications are due and must be received at Grand Park by 9:00 AM on August 1, 2013.

DETAILS & INSTRUCTIONS: Call for Submissions — November 2013 Dance at Grand Park

Good luck!

Julia Diamond, Programming Director, Grand Park

Goooood morning Baltimore! Errr…..Los Angeles!

It’s official! Summer is here! If your calendar didn’t tell you then the high energy around our central city will. Word on the street is it is going to be one busy summer packed with special events all around downtown. I cannot wait! With so many events planned for the months ahead it is tough to experience them all, but I guarantee you this Friday’s event at the park is not to be missed. Here is a little hint: Baltimore, 1962, the heyday of hairdos and hair don’ts.

Yes, It’s Hairspray! Friday night’s big event will bring Baltimore 1962 to Los Angeles 2013 with a screening and dance along under the stars celebrating the 25th anniversary of John Waters’ 1988 cult classic, Hairspray. My friends and I will be there, doing “the bird” and “the bug” out on the performance lawn. Don’t leave us hanging!

Though it’s 2013, that doesn’t mean we cannot relive those Tracy Turnblad/Link Larkin glory days. This is my perfect excuse for a 60s throwback. I’ve got out the perfect 60s fashion ready to be topped off with the perfect hairdo. My friend Rebekah and I went downtown to visit another friend of mine, emmy award winning hairstylist Curt Darling. He recently opened his brand new dry cut salon on Main Street, between Winston and 5th. We wanted to learn the perfect vintage hairdo for Friday night, and Curt was gracious enough to give us some tips along the way.

Prep: (24 hours in advance) To get that greasy messy look, create texture and massage the hair up. Add liberal amounts of Hairspray. Get the hair on top of your head as if it’s an updo. Swirl the hair around and clip with one pin.

Step 1: Divide your hair in half. Do a low side part for a “Donald Trump” like combover. Tease the back half of the hair. Then make a low pony tail. Twist the pony tail tightly and twist up, holding your thumb on the inside of the twist. As you pull the twist up, release the grip for less tension.

Step 2: Bring the top of the twist back down and tuck it inside the twisted hair. Have a few clips handy to lock it in tight.

Step 3: Use an air cushioned brush to smooth the surface of the front of the hair. Grasp the middle portion of the hair (or upper part) brush over and clip tightly.

Step 4: Take the left lower part of the hair and sweep over to the right over the forehead and around, and clip.

Step 5: Swoop, clip, spray lots of hairspray and voila! Mama, welcome to the 60s!

There you have it, Ms. Hairspray Spectacular!

I recommend you finish your look with the cool new Grand Park pink sunglasses, free for you when you take Metro to Friday night’s event! See you Friday!

–Joshua Levi, special to Grand Park, Downtown With Me

Curt Darling Salon, 440 S. Main Street, Los Angeles 90013, 213.426.4000

It isn’t difficult to diagnose when I began to fall in love with downtown Los Angeles. It began over 3 years ago. I was living in Orange County, bored and ready for a change. I sought to discover LA’s somewhat undiscovered core. General consensus from colleagues was that there was nothing for me to see. However, consistently the truth was that they had never been. It was what they were told. I begin making frequent trips up to what is now my home, and I could not believe the amount of life and energy that was here. Not only that, but I quickly realized the potential. There was this “city” that many Angelenos yearn for but had yet to discover its existence. In my mind, DTLA (yes, downtown LA has it’s own acronym) had the potential to be known as the true center of Los Angeles again.

After moving here, I immediately described myself as an adopted Angeleno and felt the desire to share the magic of downtown with outside friends and colleagues. I quickly realized I obviously was not alone. Some “downtowners” as we like to call ourselves, have lived here since before I was born. That is loyalty, but whether they are new or old, it is easy to feel the amount of love that lives here in the heart of our great city. There is an overwhelming amount of pride and passion to continue to make this community great for the entire region to enjoy. Beautiful parks and parklets are sprouting up, girl scout cookies have arrived, numerous farmers markets are giving us our apple a day, and fun-filled events pack our neighborhoods weekly. All these great things have been established to connect our city and the downtown community. I can barely walk a block down the street before stopping and catching up with a nearby neighbor.

Not only do I know the people I walk by, I have discovered so many great things in our central city along my walks. Since moving here 3 years ago, hundreds of businesses have opened up. Vibrant bars, restaurants and shops are transforming the aesthetic and energy of our streets. Month after month, the visual landscape of each street evolves.

Every day, I walk around downtown and think the same thoughts to myself. There is something excitingly strange happening down here. That “something” is completely recreating the fabric of all of our notoriously sprawling city. What was old is now new again. Living downtown is enjoyable, and coming downtown is a treat again. There is a lifestyle erupting where walking to work, biking or taking public transportation are outnumbering the traffic-infused commute. This lifestyle brings LA’s beautifully diverse cultures together seamlessly. Where Friday night includes a train ride into downtown for dinner at one of DTLA’s many culinary establishments, followed by a performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall or a screening at the Los Angeles Theatre. Where the locals must turn their cars on every few weeks just to make sure their battery hasn’t died, if they even have a car!

Combining this newfound lifestyle with the energy that is here and what is on the way is incredibly exhilarating. I walk down Grand Avenue and keep my eyes on the Broad Museum’s construction progress while constantly photographing the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I walk down Broadway in excitement of new shops and the return of a streetcar, while looking up at the gorgeous architecture that that has remained in tact. I watch the Wilshire Grand come down in anticipation of the world’s tallest building east of Chicago and west of Taipei.

Everything is happening here, and in my posts to come I look forward to giving you the full scoop on my favorite DTLA places to experience along with sneak peek at what is on the horizon. Come visit!

–Joshua Levi, special to Grand Park, Downtown With Me

Today marks the 52nd free yoga class at Grand Park.

At the first class last November, I stood on the Performance Lawn stage with Christel Joy Johnson, the resident Grand Park yoga guru, and we nervously waited. One by one, first a trickle, and then a gush, they came! They came from offices, courtrooms, and lofts, on foot, metro, and bike. On our first day, we had near 40 yogis attend Grand Park’s free class. And ever since then, a wonderful, devoted group of about 50 has come back every Wednesday and Friday to stretch their bodies and calm their minds. We have even had some adorable mini junior yogis come to learn. Participants have come to enjoy being outdoors, to take in the rushing sounds of the fountain, to feel the green grass, to laugh with Christel as she leads them through their paces, and to be together.  I have taken some of the classes myself and felt how special it is to be in the heart of our amazing thriving, thumping city, in the oasis that is Grand Park, looking up at the blue sky, taking deep breaths in and out with the grass underneath me feeling truly part of a this place.

Tree pose amidst the city

Today is the last class until we get into the cooler months later this year. I would like to thank all of the Grand Park yogis who made this program such a success because of their dedication, and good humor. Thank you for spreading the word. Thank you for making time in your busy schedules. Thank you for making Grand Park your own! As a parting gift, Grand Park asked Christel to make an audio recording of a yoga class that you can access below. On cooler summer days or evenings, please make your way to the park, pop your headphones in and take yourself through the class. Movement and relaxation are two of the best ways to enjoy Grand Park. And yoga class or no, we hope that when you are here in the park with us, that you will always feel that sense of calm and respite that Grand Park brings to our madcap, beautiful, bustling downtown, in the heart of yours and my L.A.

A big thanks to the Grand Park yoga team: Christel Joy Johnson, Rachel Scandling, Matt Saltzman, Tati Simonian, Cody Kopp, Ronnie Clark and Keith Barletta. See you on November 6, Yogis!

DOWNLOAD zip file to your computer and take Grand Park’s Yoga reTREAT with you forever / STREAM MP3 – also a great option to practice the breathing, stretching and thriving on your own time until reTREATs begin again in November.

– Julia Diamond, Director of Programming, Grand Park

While some of you may have left town or even the country this past Memorial Day, Grand Park brought the world to you with the first of many Sunday Sessions this summer! Beats, eats and jams. Yes, just call us the Global DJs. We don’t mind. Both local and international artists brought their beautiful beats to our performance lawn, offering an experience for the whole family to enjoy. Families and hipsters (and hipster families!) packed the park with their pets, bicycles and dancing shoes. Guests of the Music Center filtered in and quickly discovered that after enjoying their favorite shows across the way, there was more fun to experience here. Wolf & Lamb, No Regular Play, Garth, Wiseacre, Jeniluv and Eduardo Castillo (of The  Eclectech) brought their beats and some of LA’s popular food trucks brought the eats! Border Grill, Crepe’n Around and Green Truck were there for the entire day; serving up the perfect grub for our happening hub. Top it off with a two-story ice cream sandwich, (yes, we went for it) from the Cool Haus Ice Cream Truck and we were in Sunday Session Heaven.Meanwhile at the Fountain Plaza, families came in herds to get a little wet. When we asked 7-year-old Maddox from Sherman Oaks his favorite part of the park, Maddox responded, “Well, I really love water!”… Splash Pad it is Maddox!Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions will continue on the last Sunday of the month through August, jammin’ again June 30th with Audiofly, Droog, Eduardo Castillo and more! No need to be jelly, we’ll jam, jam, jam again!

View photos from our first Sunday Sessions HERE

UPCOMING SUNDAY SESSIONS:

JUN 30 / Audiofly / Droog / Eduardo Castillo / … and more.

JULY 28 / Scissor + Thread Showcase with Francis Harris / Bob Moses / Gry and Eduardo Castillo … and more.

AUG 25 / The Leverage Agency Showcase with Acid Pauli / NU / Eduardo Castillo … and more.

–Joshua Levi, special to Grand Park, Downtown With Me