15 fun things to do around NELA this weekend and beyond

By Pablo Nukaya Petralia and T. A. Hendrickson

Whether you’re into food, theater, music, dance, art or books, there’s something for you in and near Northeast L.A. this weekend and in the weeks to come. Here’s a rundown:

FOOD

Tickets are on sale now for the 5^th Masters of Taste food and beverage festival at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, Apr. 3. This year’s festival has a big tie-in to Eagle Rock: All proceeds will benefit Union Station Homeless Services, the nonprofit that will run Eagle Rock’s tiny homes village for the homeless, slated to open this spring. Masters of Taste includes unlimited tastings from L.A.’s top master chefs and restaurants, craft cocktail bars, wineries and local breweries. General admission is $135; the festival runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (If you bought tickets to Masters of Taste 2020, which was cancelled due to the pandemic, your tickets will be automatically reissued for the new date and time.) At the festival, you can also purchase raffle tickets for prizes from local businesses and restaurants; tickets are $10 apiece and $50 for six; you don’t have to be present to win. The festival is for those ages 21 and up.

The Foreign Air Supper Club comes to Checker Hall in Highland Park on Tuesday, Mar. 29. The supper club pairs a live performance by Foreign Air, an electro-indie/alt-pop duo, with a menu curated and prepared by Checker Hall chef Stella Alvarez. Tickets, available here, are $100 apiece and includes the performance, three-course meal, complimentary first-round drinks and an exclusive merch item. Ages 18 and up only. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Power of 10 Initiative, a charity to help restaurants recover from the pandemic.

Scrumptious Sunday brunch awaits you at Checker Hall, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and at several other local restaurants recently named “best” for Sunday brunch by the Infatuation restaurant guide, including Salazar and Spoke Bicycle Café in Elysian Valley, Café Birdie in Highland Park and Lemon Poppy Kitchen in Glassell Park.

THEATER

There’s still time to catch Chicanas, Cholas y Chisme, a program of new Latina-driven productions at Casa 101 in Boyle Heights. One of the programs 13 short play is “Something Exciting,” written, associate produced and directed by Doreen Sanchez, a former  Director of Arts for the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. March 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27. Tickets, $22 for students and senior; $25 general admission, available here. 

With acclaimed actress and Eagle Rock native Tania Verafield in a leading role, A Noise Within theater group of Pasadena presents Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Anna in the Tropics:” Previews are Sunday, Mar. 20 and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Mar. 23 to 25; opening night is Saturday, Mar. 26 at 8 p.m. followed by a matinee on Sunday, Mar. 27 at 2 p.m., and a mix of 15 more evening performances and matinees from Friday, Apr. 1 to Sunday, April 17. Tickets range from $25 to $93, depending on seating and date. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.

MUSIC

The Nation of Language, a Brooklyn-based synth trio, will be at the Lodge Room in Highland Park on Saturday, Mar. 19 and Sunday, Mar. 20, along with DJ and KCRW host Travis Holcomb. Doors open at 8 p.m., performance at 9 p.m. Tickets, available here, are $21.  As of this posting, the Saturday performance is nearly sold out.

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), ranking among the world’s top musical ensembles, will present a concert at Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium on Sunday, March 20 at 7 p.m., conducted by Roderick Cox and featuring violinist Randall Goosby.  Tickets start at $29. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for seniors 65 years of age and older and for students. For tickets and information about the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, please call (213) 622-7001, or visit laco.org.

DANCE

You can dance and party for free at Zebulon in Elysian Valley on Friday, Mar. 18 and Saturday, Mar. 19. Friday night, starting at 10 p.m., is Reverberation Radio DJ Night, with tropical boogie, international disco and other spaced-out dance floor favs from the ‘70s. You can listen to some Reverberation Radio mixes here, including a ‘Live from the Zebulon’ mix. Saturday, Mar. 19, from noon to 5 p.m., is the Mehmooni Persian New Year Party, a dance party for all ages, as well as dance performances, vendors, a film screening of Persepolis and food by Tahdig Tacos.

Dance Production (affectionately known as Dance Pro), a student-run, student-choregraphed and student-danced club at Occidental College, returns to Thorne Hall for its 74^th performance on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 19, at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Dance Pro showcases dance from all over the world, from hula to hip-hop to Bhangra/Bollywood and more. Tickets, $15 general admission/$10 students, can be ordered here.

EXHIBITIONS

This month, Bermudez Projects in Cypress Park is launching FAST FORWARD | The Future Is…, an ambitious 5-part series of works by key figures in Black, Latinx, Women, and Queer art history alongside works from a select group of emerging artists. The series begins on Saturday, Mar. 19 with an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for FAST FORWARD | The Future Is Brown, featuring works by long-established leaders of Chicano art, including Carlos Almaraz, Salomón Huerta and Linda Vallejo, juxtaposed with works by next-generation artists, among them,  Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriquez, Ana Serrano and newcomer ARTST UKNWN.  FAST FORWARD | The Future Is Brown runs through Apr 9.

Highland Park artist Carol Colin will have one of her pastels exhibited in Spring into Art, the sixth juried Fine Art Exhibition and Sale at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino on Saturday, Mar. 26 and Sunday, Mar. 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sponsored by the San Marino League, the exhibition features notable painters as well as artists who work in glass, ceramics and other media.  Half of the proceeds from the sale of works goes to the artist and half to scholarships at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and to the upkeep of the Japanese Garden at the Huntington. Advance reservation for general admission to the Huntington is required to view the show. To reserve and purchase admission, visit: tickets.huntington.org.

“Afterglow,” an exhibit of works by five women painters working with encaustic (hot wax), is at the Roswell Space gallery in Glassell Park now until Saturday, March 26, with a closing reception the same day. Featured artists include Ann Mitchell, Brenda Hurst, Caryl St. Ama, Karen Ruth Karlsson and Nicole Fournier. To arrange for a private viewing of the exhibit, email the gallery.

Seventeen nocturnal landscapes by Eagle Rock artist Julika Lackner are on display now through May 1 in a solo exhibition at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale. Entitled “Evening Mile: The Paintings of Julika Lackner,” the exhibition focuses on landscapes Lackner painted during the pandemic shutdown, when she turned her attention to her immediate surroundings. The landscapes include views of Eagle Rock, Silver Lake and Debs Park transformed by natural and artificial light. “Evening Mile: The Paintings of Julika Lackner” is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free.

READING

The latest book club selection of the Arroyo Seco Regional Library in Highland Park is “A Gentleman in Moscow,” by Amor Towles, a novel of the life and times of the fictional Count Alexander Rostov in revolutionary Russia. You can stop by the branch to pick up a paper copy to read. If you prefer ebooks, visit Overdrive/Libby (https://lapl.overdrive.com/library/available/media/2624799). All readers all welcome to join the discussion of the book on Saturday, Mar. 26 at 3 p.m. via Zoom. Email ayosco@lapl.org to receive the meeting link.