Last night, north of Silver Lake was the annual Frogtown Artwalk, which is where a bunch of artists who live in loft spaces by the LA river opened up their studios. One of my new classmates was DJ’ing there so I went meet him and see the studios. The work was okay, mostly photography and 2D work. And there was the occasional sculptor and steel worker. For me though, the highlight of the night was hanging out at Brand Name Label, a group of fabricators/artists who seemed to work mostly with steel and other industrial materials.
They had built this incredibly fun “swing” that is counterweighted at the top so that the participant makes smooth 360 degree rotations. The seat also rotates 360. Riding it was like living that childhood fantasy of swinging so high you go over the top bar. This was excactly that sensation but on a much larger scale (and with a more secure harness). It was really great fun. Check out the video:
Filed under: bike
I finally got a bike. Well it’s not exactly *new* but now it’s mine all mine. Picked it up in West Hollywood yesterday afternoon; another successful craigslsit purchase.
Her name is Taka, because the brand is Takashiri. Internet sleuthing revealed almost nothing on the brand name, which leads me to believe it is some obsolete Japanese make…I don’t really care about the brand, as long as it gets me around the west side and to my studio. It rides just fine, but needs tuning up: new hoods and tape, a good cleaning & de-rusting, minor seat and brake adjustment and possibly a true-ing of the back wheel. Next week I think I will take it to the bike kitchen/Orange 20 and put a solid days work into it.
The only lame thing is that the bike kitchen is too far away to ride to. So i’ll need to load it up onto a Metro bus and ride out there with it. I had to do something similar in order to get it home. I would have ridden it but then I figured it would be an intelligent move to tune it up and make sure it’s secure before bombing down Sunset Blvd.
Scoops is also right by the Bike Kitchen, so if things aren’t going well i’ll treat myself to some Guinness ice cream.
