Do you know where it is? Have you been there, or attended any events? If not, why not? How big is it? Should the City be focusing its arts related resources in one area, or should they spread them out across the entire city? What kinds of businesses are there? What kinds of businesses, or community resources, would you like to see there?
Share your thoughts by posting them as comments.
Thanks!
I think it’s ashame that the new EVA and the old EVA cannot get along. BUT I think it will continue to improve, especially since they finally have someone (besides me!) promoting it.
Shops are advertising, they have LastSaturday.com in addition to the Second Saturday Artwalk. I’ll tell you what though – I don’t know what the status would be if OPEN was NOT in the East Village. The owners really do alot of nice publicizing with professional Press Releases, etc.
I think if the eVillage distributed their pamphlets to a wider area, it would attract more people to the events. And last time I looked, ArtwalkLBC.com was reflecting the 2005 schedule…
KaRi
EastVillageArtsDistrict.ORG
“Friends of the East Village Arts District”
ooops! I forgot to leave the most important thing out – At one time ALL art venues, galleries, studios were all open to the public on the same day. I bet George Metivier or the folks at Long-Beach-Arts.org could give more info on this! It came up during Tour Des Artistes (is that happening in 2006 or is that an “OLd EVA event”? Anyway during the bus ride to outer-area studios it came up.
YES, I think it should be CITY-WIDE!
My idea for “tour” was to use Public Transportation, the routes could still be plotted city-wide using the Transit Stop downtown, close to the eVillage as the center, or starting/ending point.
I live and play in the East Village and am proud to be a resident here. I love that I can walk to LoLa to find something cute and original to wear, say hello to their dog Cody and visit with the owner. This is only one of many boutiques that offer unique merchandise, often made by local vendors.
Every weekend (and some weekdays when I have time) you can find me at my favorite coffee house, The Village Grind. The owners Sandra and Dominic are wonderful and so is their coffee, which is individually brewed by friendly (and cute;) staff. We visit there with other locals, Fred & Brian.
The East Village is set apart from the more trendy or tourist-y areas of Long Beach, like The Pike. Instead of chain restaurants, we have one-of-a-kind eateries like Utopia, the 555 or Uncle Al’s Seafood. A great place to party is House of Hayden: cheap strong drinks and X in the jukebox. What more could a girl want?
Actually, the one thing that would allow us to never have to leave our neighborhood: a Del Taco. Why aren’t there any downtown? I think we could do away with a couple of Subways and get a Del Taco going. Who’s with me?
michelle highlighted the best thing about the EV: non-trendy. Tourists and locals can find something (along with the 4th Street Corridor shops and galleries, they should not be left out) cultural and artistic that’s unique within the city. How can you go wrong when you have the Goldie, Village Grind, Open and House of Hayden within one block? But the best thing about the EV is the PEOPLE who work, live and go there. What I think the City does not understand is that it is PEOPLE more than TRENDS that make a place worth spending money in. The PEOPLE make the art (Soundwalk, anyone? House of Hayden, anyone?). I thnk the EV attracts people who want to do more than go to Wal-Mart, who want more in life than Subway, who want more in life than Belmont Station, who want more in life than the Pike. And there is plenty of room for everyone who feels that way…or does not. They are welcome too.
Without creativity, a man, whether poor or rich, is simply an aging slave. Creativity keeps you young, and wisdom soon follows. Hopefully.
Overall, I think the Ev has developed a very stable groove. Still at the mercy of developers, but it has come a long way since 1999. And there are many people to thank for that.
I think the strength of the East Village is in its people; the residents, business owners, artists and those who frequent the Arts District. I think everyone should be proud of what has been accomplished so far and have a lot to look forward to. We try to go to both the 2nd and Last Saturday events.
We shop as often as we can in the East Village, whether clothes at Black Market, books at OpEn or our art supplies at Lyons. I think the only thing that is missing is a really good music store, though I just recently found Martian Church’s music section.
I understand the arguement against concentrating our arts resources in one area of the City but I think to create a sustainable Arts District, we must build a critical mass. There is little reason to have the Arts Council and CSULB arts facility not in the EVAD but 5 blocks away in the proposed PT Loft development.
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