The land where our buildings are is the property of a special kind of non-profit organization called a “Community Land Trust”, this LAist article by Zoie Matthew offers a good explanation and includes other examples of Community Land Trusts and some comments by one of our residents.
A delightful short video by Samantha Bode. Just look at these wonderful creatures we get on our yard every year.
This article by Thomas Curwen is called Coronavirus has turned once-bustling downtown L.A. into a ghost town. Can it recover? And it’s structured by following Jimmy as he works as a bike messenger and taking detours into other business and downtown residents. It’s a slice of the life we are living in the middle of a pandemic.
This video was made by one of our members, Samantha Bode, also known for directing the documentary The Longest Straw (on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thelongeststraw/). It’s very sweet and to the point. Enjoy!
Jimmy is a powerhouse. Voyage L.A. did an interview with him recently, you can read the whole thing here, but I’m going to leave you with my favorite quote:
My legs are pumping, face in my wind, the sun shining down upon rays of pure joy and adrenalin. 10 minutes later I’m at Hollywood and Wilcox and wouldn’t you know it: a third fucking bus and I was 10 minutes early. I had just taken the bicycle red pill.
A light-hearted collection of vignettes and an introducction to the concept of “Giraffing“. It was published last year but the production dates a few years back. Thank you urbantreehouse.tv!
It isn’t easy to predict what people will like. I’m used to this by now as a practicing artist. Yet, the popularity of this post caught me by surprise. I had been posting work in progress pictures of a flipbook animation I was working on, when I finished assembling the frames I wanted to test it and the easier thing was to chuck it in a drill. It looked cool so I posted it on my Instagram . The next day I got a request to be featured on the awesome Doodlers Anonymous blog, there is a lot more information on that post so if you are interested you should check it out. And after that, it was DesignBoom, and BoingBoing (BoingBoing!) and Laughing Squid and even a one minute feature on a morning show on ABC.
It has been fun and I’m grateful for the attention. If you want to see more of my work head over to my website wolfCatWorkshop.com or follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
These two shorts were lovingly produced by one of our members, Jessica Ruvalcaba.
You might think: “what is a password generator doing on the Eco-Village blog?” But I’m here to tell you we get to play with all sorts of things. I had the privilege to be a guest on episode 8 of the Opposable Thumbs podcast and among other things we talked about getting a beehive on one of our buildings and a little bit about the history of this place. If you have taken a tour in the past few years you probably saw the shared tool shop where the item pictured above was made. Give it a listen or check out this blog post on my website for more details.
Really nice article on BBC-Mundo, the Spanish language section of the BBC. Written by Beatriz Díez, the article places the L.A. Eco-Village in the context of cohousing and the current housing crisis in Los Angeles. Check it out here: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-40023183
Episode 3 of the Sohana web series focuses on Eco-Villages. In this episode they visit the Los Angeles Eco-Village and the Avalon Organic Gardens and Eco Village in Tumacácori, Arizona.
a gray water irrigated landscape
In this Los Angeles Magazine interview Laura Allen from greywateraction.org answers some common questions about using and installing gray water systems in Southern California. Reading this will give a better understanding of some of the systems we have currently installed at the L.A Eco-Village and the systems you could use on your own home.
by Rebecca L.
New species found in L.A. Eco-Village
What is the Bioscan project?
The Bioscan project is an outgrowth of looking in my backyard and seeing what I found there that was so interesting and unexpectedly diverse, and we started looking at other people’s backyards and finding things that were crazy and diverse, species from different continents such as Africa, Europe and species that were new to science, that had never been described before. We say the need to survey, the need to record what’s in LA related to the density of housing, income level of an area, types of plants and whether or not there is watering, location, how close to other natural areas. We call these the variables of urbanization and these things effect the biodiversity that surrounds us. So as an outgrowth of looking into my backyard we decided to look into 30 backyards across a wide swath of Los Angeles from the Natural History Museum (NHM) north to the Verdugo Mountains and record plant life, hard scape, etc.
Photo by Ted Soqui for the L.A. Times
Reusing water can be really simple, but that’s not the way the Department of Water and Power (DWP) sees it. This article on the L.A Weekly features several comments by one of our members Laura Allen who is a cofounder of greywateraction.org and the writer of The Water-Wise Home, check it out.
Lois Arkin – Photo by Alex Brook Lynn
This article written by Alex Brook Lynn and titled “A Stay At This Sun-Drenched, Eco Oasis In LA Is Cheaper Than A Hostel And More Peaceful, Too” features some beautiful photographs (also by her) and a very good description of todays Los Angeles Eco-Village. It’s really nice to get these snapshots that capture brief moments in time, moments that will pass as our project evolves. Thank you Alex!
You must watch the pilot episode of Mindful American. Erika Hart is making a series of short documentaries that highlight sustainable and joyful living. For the first episode she chose Los Angeles and it features the L.A. Eco-Village and the bicycle kitchen among others.
photo by Yuki
This is a really cool feature on CBS featuring Laura Allen from GreyWaterAction.org, follow this link for a video and a short article.
A short video featuring L.A. Eco-Village member and Pacific Electric Worker Co-op founder Somerset Waters.
I’m 2 years late on posting this article by George Villanueva but we are in it for the long run. So here it is: http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/engaging-spaces/la-eco-village-20-years-as-a-model-of-sustainable-living.html
Thank you Mr. George Villanueva and KCET!
This half hour video filmed by Johnny Sanphillippo (his blog at Granola Shotgun) is a great little tour of our Eco-Village. The video had 15000 views in the first 5 days (and climbing) and there are a ton of comments on YouTube (that are perhaps worth checking out). Check out other popular videos by faircompanies.com on Kirsten’s youtube channel.
Also, thanks to our very inspiring friends at RootSimple for sharing this video on their website. Johnny also made a fantastic video about them that you should go watch right now.
