Forget the “fiscal cliff” that has dominated political and financial discussions since President Obama’s recent re-election. Imagine instead that you are standing atop the Eagle Rock—or Eagle Rock City Hall—surveying the business landscape along the boulevard after which our neighborhood is named.
On Saturday, Nov. 24, from 12 noon through 9 p.m., as many as 18 independently owned retail businesses will come together to host the 2nd Annual Eagle Rock Boulevard Block Party, a commercial event almost equidistantly scheduled between post-Halloween Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Led by Leanna Lin Fong, the owner of Leanna Lin's Wonderland, and Traci Green of Green Bean, the driving forces behind the event, the 18 stores are teaming up with “Small Business Saturday,” an annual event launched in 2010 by American Express OPEN. That’s the name of the credit card company’s small business unit, which created a retail movement supported by more than a dozen public, private and advocacy organizations.
The block party’s slogan, “Shop Small,” encourages Eagle Rockers to do as much of their holiday shopping as they can locally instead of patronizing corporate chain stores that will be spearheading Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Each store in the block party will be hosting its own festivities, along with holiday foods, drinks, live music performances, designer trunk shows, a "family zone," one-day discounts, plus raffle prizes and gifts with purchases.
Buying local not only keeps your dollars within the neighborhood, thereby helping keep it alive, it also offers shoppers a chance to find goods out of the ordinary. Instead of corporate logos, gifts purchased locally carry the figurative fingerprints of the craftsperson who made it.
As in last year’s block party, Wildwood Ovens will make available a lounge area on its premises, where chef Michael Gerard will offer complimentary small bites and Eagle Rock Home Brew Supply, located just across the road, will provide beer tastings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to adults 21 years and older.
Here is a list of the 18 participants in the Eagle Rock Boulevard Block Party:
- Bubble Cuts
- Cactus Gallery
- Cuculapraline
- Double-O Salon
- Eagle Rock Home Brewing Supply
- Kumquat
- Lady
- Leanna Lin's Wonderland
- Letters From LA
- MediaNoche
- Ohana Style L.A.
- Owl Talk
- PIE-EYES Vintage Boutique
- Read Books
- Sniveling Sibling
- The Green Bean
- Toros Pottery
- Wildwood Wood Fired Ovens
Click on the event blog and its Facebook page for more information.
