LA LIFE INSIDERS GUIDE: Tailgate Jam, Halloween Fun, CicLAvia, Oil Spill Help
The beautiful Stinky Flowers now blooming are welcoming you today, Tomatoes. Help rebuild Paramount Ranch by having a blast at the “Tailgate Jam” Music Fest. “Boo at the Zoo” on the eastside of town and “Nights of the Jack” out in Calabasas are hauntingly good fun. Ever wish some of our streets were car free? Well, that wish is granted with “CicLAvia’s Heart of LA”. And as Southern California faces an environmental crisis along our beautiful coastline, “Sea and Sage Audubon” is there to help, Gals.
October 9. Tailgate Jam
Sponsored by Tiny Porch Concerts and Topanga Banjo Fiddle Festival, “Tailgate Jam” is an Americana music festival to help raise funds for the restoration of historic structures at Paramount Ranch destroyed by the Woolsey Fire in 2018. Pack up a picnic and your fiddle or banjo, Tomatoes and head to the Ranch.
If you’re an instrument playin’ Tomato, you can jam with others and attend workshops as well. A few of the bands that “Tailgate Jam” will feature are “Dustbowl Revival,” as the headliner, and “AJ Lee & Blue Summit” along with “Abby and the Myth.” Paramount Ranch is the only National Park Service site that tells the story of movie making in America. It’s also been a home for music for many years. With fun filled fundraisers like “Tailgate Jam”, the hope is that a rebuilt Paramount Ranch will once again be a place for live music and movie making, Tomatoes!
Through October 31. Boo at the Zoo
Boo at the L.A. Zoo 2016
“Boo at the L.A. Zoo” has returned and is full of the Halloween spirit with a spooky stroll with photo ops, an extinct-animal graveyard, and other weird and wacky happenings. It promises to be a howling good time for you and your friends and family, and don’t forget to wear your Halloween costume, Tomatoes.
Zoo animals are provided novel enrichment every day, but during fall, pumpkins are a highlight. Weekends include special animal feedings, merry-not-scary entertainment, take-home crafts, and, during the last two weekends in October, trick-or-treat candy stations scattered throughout the Zoo grounds. I hope that includes chocolate, Tomatoes.
Till November 1. Nights of the Jack
The “Night of the Jack” walking trail is back and brighter than ever! Expect to see larger than life Halloween themed installations that will knock your socks off. Thousands of hand carved and illuminated jack o’lanterns will welcome you through the mesmerizing trail at King Gillette Ranch. An amazingly wonderful way to immerse yourself in the Halloween, Tomatoes.
It truly is a Halloween wonderland! Angelenos will have the opportunity to watch a live pumpkin carver at work and experience the “Nights of the Jack” gift shop as well as enjoy top LA food trucks and “The Spookeasy Bar”. Time to make special Halloween memories, Tomatoes!
October 10. CicLAvia-Heart of LA
Tomatoes can once again pedal down open streets through Downtown L.A. and into Chinatown, Boyle Heights, and MacArthur Park during the 11th “CicLavia’s-Heart of LA” event. You can all stroll, bike, skate, tricycle some of LA’s most iconic streets car-free! Or skateboard as this Tomato has chosen to do in the past. Ain’t she something, Tomatoes?!
And ain’t it great CicLAvia has returned?! The whole point of temporarily closing streets to autos and all motorized vehicles is to give us all a joyful feeling of freedom allowing us to explore, socialize and exercise in neighborhoods we might not otherwise enjoy so freely. So, mark your calendars and take advantage of the freedom Tomatoes!
Oil Spill Help
The catastrophic oil spill off the Coast of Huntington Beach is so heartbreaking that it renders me speechless. I find hope, though, because of the dedicated, experienced and well-trained experts that are working their butts off dealing with the multi-layered devastation of this environmental crisis. If you are feeling helpless, “Sea and Sage Audubon” of Orange County have a way you can help, Tomatoes.
The full extent of the damage and impacts to wildlife and birds will not be known for a long time, but it is expected to be significant. At this time there is very little that any of us can do on the beaches as volunteers. People with “Spill Response” training and special safety gear are the only ones who can work with oiled and effected wildlife. The rehabilitation and clean-up organizations, some of which are already working to rescue and treat oiled birds, will need financial assistance. Oiled Wildlife Care Network, the International Bird Rescue, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Laguna Beach, and the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach are diligently working to address this huge emergency, all of whom rely on donations. To help with the emergency, “Sea and Sage Audubon Society” has set up a 2021 Oil Spill Bird Response Fund to raise donations that they will pass along to groups doing the important work with birds, other wildlife and habitats. Your donations are very important and will be deeply appreciated, Tomatoes.
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The Three Tomatoes LA Life editor, Debbie Zipp is your friendly guide to the best of everything in LA with a tomato style perspective. Debbie is an actor, producer, and writer. She is best known for her recurring role as Donna on the CBS series "Murder She Wrote" starring Angela Lansbury. She has had many other TV and stage roles and has starred in over 300 national TV commercials. As head of In The Trenches Productions, Debbie produced, directed, acted in many short films for her company. Her book, The Aspiring Actor's Handbook: What Seasoned Actors Wish They Had Known was recently published.
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