Thursday, August 01, 2013

This Year’s Best Los Angeles Art Walks

"Art...Walk." Photo by Charity Tran.
If you’ve never been on an art walk, you’re missing out. Art walks are a great way to take in some of the city’s culture, see some of latest and greatest art works, and have fun with people in the community. These events typically focus on a particular theme or location where local galleries or vendors showcase their art. Los Angeles, being the vibrant, creative city that it is, hosts a lot of cool art walks that happen year round. Here are some of this year’s best LA art walks.


1st Thursday San Pedro Art Walk
This art walk takes place in downtown San Pedro between 4th and 8th Streets. It’s a free, monthly event that features open galleries and studios, all kinds of street vendors, and fun live entertainment. The art walk here is practically an institution; it’s been held since the late 1990s. Over 40 galleries and studios are involved in the art walk, which means there is something for every artistic sensibility. The First Thursday San Pedro Art Walk also includes historical architecture, like the Warren Grand Theater. Although the official tour takes walkers through three or four different galleries each month, visitors are welcome to explore on their own.

Downtown Art Walk
This monthly, self-guided art walk features commercial galleries, public museums, and non-profit and grassroots artists. The goal of the Downtown Art Walk to is bring the community together over a love of art and to enhance and revitalize local businesses. The Downtown Art Walk is held on the second Thursday of every month between 2nd and 9th Streets on Spring and Main. This art walk is an all-day event, running from noon to 10 p.m, although individual galleries’ hours may vary. People here do more than just take in the unique, local art, they also meet up with friends, dine at local eateries, and take part in any number of cool art walk-related events held here.

Pomona Art Walk
The Pomona Art Walk is held on the twice monthly on the second and last Saturdays. Featuring over three dozen galleries, this art walk draws a lively community of art lovers who want to support and interact with a community of local artists. The Pomona Art Walk is another event that encourages all-day participation; it runs from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The shops, restaurants and studios here like to stay open late to make sure that everyone can get in on this local art goodness!

ARTrageous Art Walk
This family-friendly art walk is held on the third Thursday of the month from May-September. Featuring music, artists, vendors, and food trucks, the ARTrageous Art Walk brings fun and excitement to Downtown Canoga Park! ARTrageous is a part of the Canoga Park 100th Celebration and it takes place within the Canoga Park Historic Old Town Center along the Sherman Way Corridor. This art walk highlights the Canoga Park/West Valley Arts District and includes artists—of course—as well as performing artists, live theater, and festive venues. Over 30 artists are showcased at the ARTrageous art walk and there is also food, music, and wine.

Leimert Park Art Walk
The Leimert Park Art Walk is held on the last Sunday of every month in Leimert Park Village. This art walk might be considered a bit more exciting by some: it has DJs, rappers, and spoken word poets along with the traditional artists that one would expect to find at an art walk. The art walk also has a legendary drum circle that seems to get bigger every month! The art walk can be found along 43rd Place and Degnan Boulevard from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and it has plenty to do for both kids and adults.

Sara Collins is a guest blogger for ExperienceLA.  She is also a writer for NerdWallet, a personal finance site that helps users stay informed about subjects like how to find the best CD interest rates and tips for saving money on travel.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Northeast Los Angeles Arts (NELAart.org) second Saturday of the month 5pm – 10pm.

LOS ANGELES CARNIVAL said...

I loved Leimert Park Art Walk this past June. It featured the 3rd annual Day of the Ancestors Mask Festival and wonderful performances by Adunni and Nefretiti, a fabulous singing group from Nigeria. Looking forward to seeing the Mask festival again next June!