Art Walk Preview for April, 2009

also the Atrium at the Douglas Building will be open tonight from 5 to 9. Five artists are showing their works, and DJ Sleeper will be at spinning at Lot44. The bar at Origami will be open, and Lot44 has a "Happy Hour", and Ma Petit will be offering specials.

Hello, Art Walk street vendors and loud musicians-- Word is that the LAPD Central Division will be asking you to pack up and move on unless you have a permit.

I understand there have been many complaints from residents re: the loud music, and from businesses and art walk patrons about there not being room on the sidewalk.

I have also heard that lots of folks love the mix-- so let's see if we can keep working together to make Art Walk a great community event.

See everyone at the Art Walk tonite!

It is true that the police will be moving along anyone who sets up on the sidewalk starting today. Last month the street vendors were given a written notice that they set up at their own risk (it is illegal in Los Angeles, there is no such thing as a permit to set up on the sidewalk).

The Downtown Art Walk welcomes anyone to organize the vendors on private property, and we would be willing to list the location as a stop on the map, but it cannot be on a public sidewalk.

This is a decision of the police, who have been willing to look the other way until it became a safety hazard, which it is quickly becoming with the large number of vendors setting up.

The Art & Craft Walk crowd isn't really really an art crowd, you have to admit.

I can see why those who find it thrilling to come downtown to walk around would be more apt to buy the crafty shit on the sidewalk.

The "safety issue" is just an invention by some local gallerists who find that they're not being taken seriously. Don't be surprised if there were some calls to made to LAPD about the beaded purse vendors hogging all the attention from the "art."

The police don't want this to be a successful event for EVERYONE because it's more trouble than it's worth. Free booze, visitors and locals all stirring. I can hear them now, harassing people on the loudspeaker. The Downtown Art Walk has become about so much more than Art, when are we going to start realizing it?

At the Art Walk tonight the vendors all agreed to move onto the parking lot on Main at 5th, next to the Genesis. Skid Row Housing Trust generously offered the use of their lot for the night. The sidewalks were clear, the vendors had a large crowd, and everyone involved was satisfied.

Whatever nonsense some bitter trolls want to bliovate about, the issue IS solely about pedestrian safety. The police don't want it to be successful? The galleries are involved in some vast conspiracy? WTF? Anyone who says this does not know the people or the issues involved. The community, which includes the Art Walk group, the galleries, the Neighborhood Council, the HD BID, and the LAPD have been working together on this for weeks, at the request of the police. A peaceful and satisfactory solution has been found.

The Art Walk is visited by about 6,000 people between 12 noon and 9 pm. It is more of an an art crowd earlier in the day, but less so after 7-8 pm, when the crowd gets younger. There's something for everyone.

I was at Art Walk last night and I can not say enough about how well it went. The community was great, the sidewalk displays and sales that were an issue last month was successfully dealt with last night thanks to the community. For someone to say that LAPD does not want this to be successful has not been talking to the people that have been working tirelessly to make it a success.

Downtown LA needs this event, the City needs downtown. This group of public and private organizations, which include LAPD, HDBID, NC and the art walk group and others will continue to make this event successful because we will make Downtown LA the focal point of the City.

I thought Art Walk was great, for the first time you didn't have to walk into the street to get around the craft vendors. Putting them on private property was a great idea, also not having any bands performing on the sidewalk also a great idea. I appreciate the coordination between LAPD, the Bids and NC. Maybe now more locals will come out for Art Walk, lots of people I know stay in because it's just too crazy.

If I lived above 5th and Spring, I would have launched some water balloons upon the lady tunelessly singing jesus songs.

Jesus Christ, it was even more irritating than the Spring Street postal worker who displays her jesusy books just behind the bullet proof glass.

This was my 2nd Art Walk since moving here 2 months ago. What a difference from the first one. I thought it was better having the street vendors in the parking lot. You could see all of them at once and not have to bump into them or walk around them on the street. I thought it was orderly considering the huge crowd and everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves. I didn't notice any bad behavior. And we owe most of this to our Captain Chow of our local Central Division police department and his fabulous team of officers that were out there. It appears that starting next month we will all be invited to be involved as a community and have a voice in our neighborhood when Captain Chow starts to reach out by inviting membership in the Central Community Police Advisory Board. Look for the membership tables at the next Art Walk. Then you can really have a say and put your mouth where it appropriately belongs and will be heard.