Free Opera Recitals for Moms

Pacific Asia Museum
46 N Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, 91101; (626) 449-2742
Sunday, May 8, 2011
2 pm – 3 pm
Ages: All
Cost: FREE
Website

LA Opera presents “25 Recitals for 25 Seasons: LA Opera’s Young Artist Celebration,” a series of community recitals featuring members of the Company’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program that will take place from April 3 through May 15, 2011. These recitals will not only honor LA Opera’s 25th Anniversary Season, they are also intended to serve as a musical “thank you” to the many community members and institutions with whom the company has worked during the quarter-century since LA Opera’s inaugural production in 1986.” In partnership with the hosting venues, which include museums, libraries, schools, hospitals and concert halls, most recitals will be offered to the public free of charge.

Folk Art Walk: East Hollywood

Hollywood/Western Metro Red Line Station
Saturday, May 7, 2011
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Ages: All
Cost: FREE (Must rsvp to RSVP@cafam.org – tour limited to 25)
Website

Explore culture, art and walking in East Hollywood! The tour begins outside the Hollywood/Western stop along the Metro Red Line (right on the SE corner of that intersection), and includes a visit to our Folk Art Everywhere partners, Panos Pastry and Thailand Plaza Fine Thai Cuisine. Look at different examples of public and folk art, including murals, shrines, sculptures and beyond.

Also learn a bit about the two very different ethnic communities that sit side by side—Little Armenia and Thai Town—along the less-known but no less fascinating stretch of iconic Hollywood Blvd.

The tour will end at the top of the hill at Barnsdall Art Park, where tourgoers may enjoy a picnic with fabulous views of LA, or opt to take the Vermont/Sunset Metro back to Hollywood/Western.

Transportation and lunch not included. Total mileage: 1.5. Wear comfortable shoes.

Local Museums to Celebrate Arroyo Culture May 15, 2011
Free Admission, Exhibits, Events, Crafts and Family Fun

Do you and your little fashion-hounds want to check out hats throughout the ages; get “locked” inside a real jail cell, discover more about LA’s oldest neighborhood, Boyle Heights? You can do all this and more on Sunday, May 15th at the 22nd annual Museums of the Arroyo (MOTA) Day.

Taking place on May 15, 2011, MOTA Day features five museums located along the celebrated Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles and Pasadena that open their doors for a free day of music, storytelling, art, crafts and entertainment. With so much to do and see – and only a few hours to do it – you’ve got some planning to do!

This year’s MOTA Day theme is “Hats” and guests are encouraged to wear crazy, fashionable and sporty hats as they tour all five museums.

Museums of the Arroyo Day

Five Museums along the Arroyo–The Gamble House; Heritage Square Museum; Los Angeles Police Historical Museum; Lummis Home and the Pasadena Museum of History
(click through for complete addresses and schedules) (213) 740-8687
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Noon – 5 p.m. (last entry at each museum at 4 p.m.)
Ages: All
Cost: FREE
Website

The Gamble House
4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena; 626-793-3334
Tours of the 1908 historical landmark will be available throughout the day; children can do special hat-themed crafts in the backyard.

Heritage Square Museum
3800 Homer Street, Los Angeles; 626-796-2898
Visitors can tour the current exhibition “Boyle Heights: Images and Essays: 1850-1900” in the William Hayes Perry Mansion which features photographic panels, historical photographs, prints, drawings, maps, documents and artifacts regarding one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods. Guests can also watch traditional woodcarving and blacksmith demonstrations and listen to historical storytellers as well as enjoy music. Children can play with Victorian toys and do crafts. Costumed docents will be on hand to answer questions.

The Los Angeles Police Historical Society Museum
6045 York Blvd., Los Angeles; 323-344-9445
Visitors can tour the current exhibition relating to the 1970s Symbionese Liberation Army which features information, unique artifacts and recovered weapons from the LAPD and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s decades-long investigations. An interactive video helps tell the story of the collaborative efforts that brought all SLA members to justice. In addition, guests can view other historical memorabilia dating back to the late 1800s. Kids can climb into a retired police helicopter, try on police gear and get “locked” in a real jail cell where adults can snap their own free police booking photos. Vintage police uniforms will be modeled throughout the museum.

The Lummis Home and Garden
200 East Avenue 43, Los Angeles; 323-222-0546
Tours of the Lummis home and gardens will be available along with entertainment and a special exhibit of historical military cannons.

The Pasadena Museum of History
470 W. Walnut Street, Pasadena; 626-577-1660
Guests can tour the museum’s current exhibitions “Mad for Hats!” which explores 100 years of hats, both as fashion and as a reflection on our changing society from the 1880s to 1960s. More than 70 hats and related photographs, selected from the Museum’s collection, will showcase the various materials, styles, and shapes of ladies hats. Kids can do hat-related crafts. The Finnish Folk Art Museum will also be open for visitors.

Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock

McCabe’s Guitar Shop
3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 828-4497
Sunday, May 15, 2011
11:00 a.m.
Ages: All
Cost: $10
Website

That little guy from the Sun has plans to land in the L.A. area on the national tour of his all-new, out-of-this-world, multimedia show! Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock will come to McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA on Sunday, May 15, at 11:00 a.m.

Groovy Gustafer Yellowgold is a small, yellow, cone-headed fellow, who came to Earth from the Sun and has a knack for finding himself neck-deep in absurd situations as he explores his new life in the Minnesota woods. Illustrator/songwriter/musician Morgan Taylor developed the “musical moving book” Gustafer Yellowgold experience as equal parts pop rock concert and animated storybook.

Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock is the first Gustafer Yellowgold show to have a storyline, which follows our hero as he embarks upon an hilarious, mind-bending musical journey in search of the toe-end of the longest sock in the universe. Gustafer learns much along the way, as he encounters a Band of Bees performing at their late night hangout in the chime-and-timpani drama of ”Beehive,” joins in the Broadway romp “Wisconsin Poncho” (set in an all-cheese clothing store), and comes upon a pterodactyl’s unusually calm cat in the Fleetwood Mac lushness of “Cheddar,” all the while learning that everyone has a use for The Sock. The Bacharach-esque “Sock Of Ages” brings the show to an uplifting close, providing Gustafer and friends with a one-of-a-kind look at the interconnectivity among all life on Earth.

Kids ROCK Free Concert and Nature Festival

Children’s Nature Institute
LACMA / LaBrea Tar Pits
5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90036; (213) 746-2966
Saturday, June 11, 2011
11 am – 5 pm
Ages: ALL
Cost: FREE
Website

Listen and play at the 3rd Annual Kids ROCK Festival, the free concert to benefit the Children’s Nature Institute.

Along with a wide variety of activities that teach the importance of environmental awareness, eco-art booths, animal exhibits and healthy cuisine from the food truck scene will be performances by outstanding family music artists Rhythm Child, Randy Kaplan, David Tobocman, Renee & Jeremy and Ozokids (the family music alter-ego of the band, Ozomatli).

The Children’s Nature Institute opens young minds to the wonders and joys of nature. Since opening their doors in 1985, CNI has provided hands-on educational programs tailored specifically for the children of Los Angeles, reaching more than 15,000 kids per year and underserved youth at over 100 inner-city schools and shelters.

Where: The park situated between LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits (known as Hancock Park)