Happenings List: August 2016+

This is our curated roundup of maker/artist/explorer events!

Angle brackets (>>) point to related info on our site.

Chiricahua National Monument

U.S.

National Park Service Centennial

Aug 25. There are programs throughout the United States to celebrate the Park Service’s 100th birthday.

  • Now – 2017. Art Quilt Tour: 13 art quilts created in celebration the National Park Service Centennial are touring the National Parks they depict now through 2017.
  • Read on to find out about celebrations in Arizona, Hawaii, and Massachusetts!

Barn at Windmill Winery, Florence

+Arizona

Tucson Movies in the Park

Aug 19 at Reid Park, Demeester Performing Arts Pavilion, Tucson. Free admission.
>>Ongoing Phoenix-area movie events.

CraftHack

2nd Mondays, 6pm at Gangplank Chandler. Free monthly meet-up of artists and crafters. Learn something new or bring your own project to work on!

  • Sep 12: Project TBD

Road to flagstaff

National Park Service Parks in the Pines Birthday Bash

Aug 20, 10am-5pm at Flagstaff City Hall Parking Lot. Celebrate the National Park Service’s centennial with a free park fair, photo booths, and cake.

Blended Conference

Sep 15-16 at Windmill Winery, Florence. Blogging conference with workshops, speakers, and networking.

>>Our visit to Windmill Winery.

Pasadena

+California

Pasadena Summer Concert Series

Now – Sep 25 at Levitt Pavilion band shell in Memorial Park, Pasadena. Free concerts featuring both emerging and established musicians of many genres.

  • Thursday through Sunday evenings.
  • Thursdays are children’s nights.
  • Festival opens two hours before music starts.
  • You can picnic on the lawn.

>>Our drive to Pasadena in one minute.

Balboa Park San Diego Summer Events

  • Now – August 29, Mondays, 7:30pm at Spreckels Organ: 2016 International Summer Organ Festival. Free outdoor concert series.
  • Now – Sep 2, Fridays: Balboa Park After Dark. Extended musuem hours, food trucks, and entertainment.
  • Now – Sep 5, 3:30pm at San Diego Zoo: Nighttime Zoo. Artisan demonstrations, movies, live music and other performances to celebrate the San Diego Zoo’s centennial.
  • Now – March 3, Sundays, 2pm at Spreckels Organ: Sunday Organ Concerts. Free weekly concerts at one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs.

Junk Show, Los Angeles

The Junk Show

Aug 14, 8pm at Copper Still, Los Angeles. A monthly comedy-focused variety show at the bar inside Jaraguá Salvadoran restaurant.

sculpture by Ken Newman

+Colorado

Animalia exhibition

Now – August 21 at Loveland Museum/Gallery, Loveland. Art with animals as the subject, which explores their complex relationship with humans.

  • “The Rat Race” sculpture (and photo) above by Ken Newman will be included in the exhibit.

volcano art center

+Hawaii

Return of ‘Alalā: Restoring The Voice Of Hawaii’s Native Forests

Sep 3 – Oct 9 at Volcano Art Center, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park campus. Juried exhibition of multimedia artwork featuring depictions of the Alalā, Hawaii’s native crow, in anticipation of its reintroduction into the wild this September.

 

Sailboats on Lake Michigan.

+Illinois

Cuz I’m Fancy

Now – Aug 31 at The Arts of Life North Shore studio, Glenview. Exhibition of new work that examines the ways we interpret “fancy,” at the intersection between elegance and tack, refinement and kitsch.

+Massachusetts

Bring the Park to the People!

Aug 20, 1-4pm at Eagle Park, Lowell. Interactive pop-up museums with crafts and informational materials, neighborhood tours, and a community weaving project in celebration of the National Park Service’s 100th birthday.

http://www.edibleeastend.com/event/great-food-truck-derby/

+New York

Point of Vision: Celebrating Women Artists in Fantasy and Science Fiction

Now – Aug 20 at Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrators, New York.

The Great Food Truck Derby

Aug 19, 4pm at Hayground School, Bridgehampton. At least 15 New York City and Long Island food trucks serve food and drink during the Community farmers market. Event benefits Hayground schoolyard projects providing culinary arts training for local kids. (Graphic via Edible East End.)

+Oregon

Native Fashion Now

Now – Sep 4 at Portland Art Museum. Exhibition of Native American fashion designers from the 1950s to today.

image

+Virginia

Virginia Craft Brewers Fest

Aug 20 at Devils Backbone Basecamp Brewpub & Meadows. Celebration of Virginia’s craft beer industry.

>>Over 60 participating breweries, including South Street, which we visited in Charlottesville.

seattle

+Washington

Graphic Masters: Dürer, Rembrandt, Hogarth, Goya, Picasso, R. Crumb

Now – Aug 28 at Seattle Art Musuem. Exploration of how six historical artists used prints and drawings to express personal sentiments.

National Mall, Washington DC

+Washington DC

Cooking Up History

Monthly at National Museum of American History Demonstration Kitchen in Coulter Performance Plaza. Food history demonstration and talk by a guest chef and a Smithsonian host. Each month they will prepare a different recipe that ties back to the Museum’s exhibitions, research, and collections.

  • Aug 12, 2pm. Julia Child in the 1970s
  • Sep 17, 2pm. Hispanic-American Culinary Heritage
  • Oct 15, 2pm. Harvest Season

Peru, Indiana and Other Perplexing Place Names

It seems to me that Indiana has an unusually high concentration of places named after other places. When I tried to ask my aunt about this, she didn’t think it was weird that her state has cities named things like Kokomo and Brazil. She brought up the fact that a lot of states have places named after presidents, for example.

Madison county, indiana

But I’m not talking about the various Madison Counties or other places named after notable people or landscape features. I mean the ones named for a very different and far away place for no obvious reason. In Arizona, we have Miami and Florence. Indiana, however, has cities named Peru, Rome, Warsaw, Mexico, Cairo, Dublin, Paris, Alexandria, London, Manhattan, Jordan, Holland, Versailles, Shanghai, Milan, in addition to those above.

Florence, AZ benches
Does that seem unusual to anyone else?

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

L.A. Photo Hunt during #BlogHer16!

The first year I went to BlogHer, I challenged myself and fellow attendees to a photo scavenger hunt. It was just a fun way to share what we were seeing of the city and connect.

This year, BlogHer is in LA, and I thought a SoCal photo scavenger hunt would be in order.

Downtown LA

If you’re in Los Angeles this week, see how many of the things on the list below you can spot. Tag photos #LAphotohunt16 on Instagram and/or Twitter.

  1. Palms
  2. Hollywood
  3. Sunglasses
  4. Stars
  5. Traffic
  6. Theme parks
  7. Studios
  8. Waves
  9. Santa Monica
  10. Your choice!

#10 is for whatever else you think belongs on the list.

Since conference schedules tend to be really packed, feel free to take some creative license! (Like I did the last time.)

Hollywood sign

The list has some room for interpretation. “Waves,” for example, could be in the ocean or your hair or when you’re saying hello to friends.

If you’re not going, feel free to post whatever you’re doing this weekend and tag it #notinLAphotohunt16.

Disneyland Anaheim
Afterwards, I’ll share some of the scavenger hunt results here. Can’t wait to see what you find!

Anaheim Resort District Dining 2016

Hotel Indigo Anaheim

I got a little obsessed hunting for local food options in the Anaheim Resort District (where the Disney Theme Parks and Anaheim Convention Center are located) ahead of Star Wars Celebration last year.

Anaheim

I talked to frequent Disneyland-goers about their favorite spots, exchanged emails with the Anaheim Convention Center and their concessions-provider Aramark, and even tried sorting through online business license records.

Ecogrounds coffee anaheim

Once I was in Anaheim, I walked into restaurants I hadn’t been able to find information for to ask questions and pick up take-out menus.

Alertos Sabrosada

In the end, I had this list of restaurants that are some combination of unique to the area, highly recommended, and/or offering something local, as well as being walking-distance from the Disney Parks and Anaheim Convention Center – without requiring admission.

So here it is, updated with current information and grouped geographically. I marked up a map to help you visualize it all.

Anaheim resort map

1. Downtown Disney and Disneyland Resort Hotels

Located between – but outside of – the Parks, Downtown Disney includes shopping, restaurants, and live music.

While this is not the place to find indie eateries, there are plenty of unique spots that are true to their location in Mickey’s backyard. (I mean, it’s not like every city has an Enchanted Tiki Bar.)

Disneyland Anaheim

Find character dining, menus, accessibility, hours, etc. on Disneyland Resort’s site.

Anaheim resort

2. East of Disney

We walked by a lot of the places listed below en route from our hotel to the convention last year. We tried a few and liked breakfast at Chambers (and were guests of Hotel Indigo Anaheim), lunch at Tanor, late-night take-out from Sabrosada/Alertos.

We ran out of time to try the Pizza Press while we were in Anaheim, but the Pasadena location hosted us for lunch on our more recent trip. Summary of the upcoming review: it was super good!

Anaheim

tanor-kebab

Anaheim Resort Centre

In another post, I called this “Anaheim’s Local Food Corner,” because one unimpressive-looking strip mall contained 5 different non-chain restaurants.

  • California Pizza Place (menu) – narrow dining room with walls crammed with retro paraphernalia serving pizza, burgers, and pancakes. Delivery is also available.
  • Tanor Mediterranean Grill (menu) – Mediterranean/Persian food with delicious chicken shawarma.
  • Star Burger (menu) – fusion of burgers, kimchi, and bulkogi (Korean-style grilled beef).
  • Sabrosada (menu) – formerly known as Alertos Mexican Food, family-owned taqueria with five Southern California locations. We liked the al pastor and pollo asado mini tacos.
  • Panda Kitchen (menu) – American Chinese food. You can call ahead to pick up your order or dine in.

Anaheim

Anaheim GardenWalk

This is a bigger, newer shopping center populated mostly by chains, including the Cheesecake Factory that the German Big Bang Theory fans we met last year were so excited to visit.

  • Kip Barry’s Cabaret – Cafe, magic gift shop, and performance venue. Formerly Houdini’s Hideaway.
  • House of Blues – Restaurant and music venue, opening at the GardenWalk this fall. (Moving from their previous location at Downtown Disney, which has already closed.)

Anaheim Convention Center

3. Anaheim Convention Center

The Anaheim Convention Center is across the street from the Disneyland Resort. I was pleasantly surprised to learn they are serious about sourcing local and sustainable food and beverages. If you’re attending a conference or convention there, you can check out ecoGrounds / Java City Fair Trade coffee in the lobby. They may also have the Hearst Ranch Grill open with all-beef hamburgers from the Convention Center’s own herd of free-range, grass-fed cattle.

Anaheim convention center

If you don’t have an event badge or just want to get out of the crowded Convention Center halls for a minute, here’s what’s right next door:

  • Anaheim Marriott on southwest side of Convention Center has a bar/restaurant called nFuse that serves local craft beers and seasonal microbrews. There is also a nice lobby with lots of seating. I believe there is also wifi and outlets. (Otherwise, there’s also a large Starbucks off the lobby. They handled the extra long line like it was child’s play.)
  • Hilton Anaheim on west side of Convention Center. In the food court…
    • Just Grillin’ Express – Burgers, salads, and fries (spicy or not) made from ingredients delivered daily. Based in Alhambra, California.
    • Submarina – a Southern California based sub sandwich chain.

Anaheim

– More info –

A big thanks to Sarah Woloski of the Skywalking through Neverland podcast, Genevieve Eldred, Paul Barrie of the Window to the Magic podcast, and Whitney Drake for sharing their favorite spots!

The map is a screenshot from Apple Maps I modified in Skitch. Other photos by Phillip and me.