Friends of the Los Angeles River Partners with Frogtown Artwalk and the Blake Lofts for New Clean-up Site on May 9th Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) is pleased to announce that they are partnering with the Blake Lofts and the Frogtown Artwalk for a new clean up site along the Los Angeles River behind the lofts, 1839 Blake Avenue, in the burgeoning Elysian Valley neighborhood, often referred to as Frogtown, after the frog population that once thrived in the adjacent LA River.
Frogtown became a clean-up site after Blake Lofts resident and noted local photographer Paul Redmond ran into FoLAR founder Lewis McAdams walking along the river. They determined that the Frogtown area was a perfect clean-up site as the area is bordered by the river and many of the area’s artists, business owners and residents are concerned environmentalists. Redmond is now the site captain for the Frogtown river clean-up taking place from 9am – 12 noon on May 9th.
The Frogtown clean-up will take place in the Blake Lofts parking lot adjacent to a portion of the river's natural bottom in the heart of Elysian Valley. All neighbors, the Frogtown Arts Collective and green minded businesses are invited to make the cleanup, both rewarding and informative.
The Green Committee from the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce will be on site informing the public on green issues, along with their giant plastic bag ball. Local environmental arts collective Grenememe along with photographer Paul Redmond will collaborate on “Trashy Art” a map and storytelling project around the clean-up, on a 12 foot graphic of the river from Fletcher to Riverside. Along with clean-up volunteers, they will document weird and not so wonderful trash through physical collection, photography and narrative. Redmond will set up the Frogtown Fotobooth on site, documenting the event through portraits of volunteers and their "river finds". At the end of the day Greenmeme will take the mural and translate it into a graphic illustration. The “Trashy Art” project will be shown at the next Frogrown Artwalk, other local events and online.
Participants are encouraged to wear clothes they can get dirty and sturdy shoes. Work gloves, sunscreen, and refillable water bottles are also recommended. The Frogtown Clean-up will supply water for your bottles from a cooler, snacks, music and more. This event will be a great learning experience and fun for kids of all ages. There will be a limited number of free FoLAR 20th Anniversary River Clean-up tee shirts for volunteers and every volunteer will receive a free tote bag. There will also be a fundraising raffle for FoLAR.
To volunteer please contact Paul Redmond on info@paul-redmond.com or 323.660.6366.
