Helms Design District

Westside Urban Forum Breakfast Talk: Reviving Transit Ridership
2023-06-29 07:45 - 09:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Reviving Transit Ridership
Thursday, June 29th, 2023
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
8:30 am – 9:30 am PST
Doors open at 7:45 for registration, breakfast and networking.
RSVP Required!

Members Register Here

Nonmembers Register Here

Los Angeles County transit agencies are investing billions in new bus and rail infrastructure and services. Two new rail lines have opened on the Westside in the past ten years, with more to come. However, transit ridership is trending in the opposite direction. Ridership on the Los Angeles Metro system is down by approximately one third from pre-pandemic levels. Reasons include everything from work-from-home to increased crime and vagrancy, reduced service hours, and increased vehicle headways. And things could get even worse, as decreased farebox recovery and expiring pandemic emergency funds apply even more pressure to reduce levels of service. If Angelenos avoid the train and bus, opting for personal vehicles and Zoom, what does that mean for Los Angeles? Regionwide goals for reducing pollution and increasing transit-oriented development, walkability, and housing production are all at stake.
At WUF this month, LA Metro officials and transit advocates will survey the challenges facing Metro and other transit service providers. Join us for a panel discussion on ways to maintain transit service, attract riders, and make the most of the crucial infrastructure and civic amenity that the Los Angeles region needs.
Panelists
Steve Fiechter, Sr., Director of Metro Services, People Assisting the Homeless (PATH)
Daniel Rodman, Deputy Director Transportation, Mayor Karen Bass’s Office
Pamela Krebs, Executive Officer, Los Angeles Metro, Communications – Public Relations
Stephen Tu, Sr. Director for Operations, Los Angeles Metro
Moderator
Eli Lipmen, Executive Director, Move LA
Registration Fees
$50 Members
$65 Non-Members
$10 Student Members & Retired Members
$15 Student Non-Members & Retired Non-Members
Pre-registration closes on Wednesday, June 28th, at 4:00 PM. After Wednesday, June 28th, onsite registration will be available at the cost of an additional $10. No refunds or credits will be provided after this day.
Event Time
7:45 am – 9:30 am
7:45 am – Registration & Light Breakfast
8:30 am – Panel Discussion
Location
The Helms Design Center is located at the Helms Bakery campus at 8745 Washington Boulevard in Culver City.
Directions
Avoid the stress of rush hour and skip traffic! The Helms Design Center at 8745 Washington Blvd in Culver City is conveniently located a short, pleasant walk from a number of transit lines, including:

Metro Rail “E” (Expo) Line Culver City Station (1 block west at Washington and National Blvds), and
Culver City Bus “1” and “1C1” lines (at the adjacent Washington Blvd/Helms Avenue street corner).

Protected bike lanes along Washington Blvd. connecting to Culver City’s larger bike lane network also provide a convenient, safe way to get to the Design Center.
For those who choose to drive, parking is available in the adjacent interior parking garage at 8711 Washington Blvd (look for the red banners), or there is parking available throughout the Helms Bakery complex.
Parking Map
Sponsor Provided Tickets
Thanks to the generosity of our annual Sponsors, WUF has a small number of free tickets available to members of the community. If you are not able to join as a member or purchase a ticket for this month’s panel presentation, but would like to join us, please write us at info@westsideurbanforum.com to inquire if we have any remaining sponsor provided tickets.
Image: CartoonLover66 via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture
2023-06-29 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-06-30 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-01 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-02 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-06 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-07 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-08 12:00 - 18:00, 2023-07-09 12:00 - 18:00 and 16 more dates | Close to the Edge Exhibition, 8707 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture explores the multidimensional influence of hip-hop on our urban fabric.
Curated and designed by Sekou Cooke, and jointly presented by SoCalNOMA, the A+D Museum, and Helms Bakery District, this dynamic exhibition dives into the rich and vibrant world of hip-hop, from its fundamental elements of emceeing, b-boying, and graffiti, to its influence on the world of design and architecture.
The exhibition shows how hip-hop has been translated into the creation of innovative spaces and structures, effectively introducing a new narrative in architecture. The works on display include groundbreaking contributions from students, academics, and practitioners, ranging from experimental visualizations and innovative installations to façade studies and urban development proposals. Also on show: a wall newly graffitied by Los Angeles artist Prime.
Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture is more than an exhibition. It’s a journey into a revolutionary design movement, revealing a shared vision for the future of architecture that’s deeply rooted in the core ethos of hip hop: identity, process, and aesthetics.
Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture opens on June 22, with an opening reception on June 24th from 6 pm to 9 pm. It will be accompanied by talks and tours presented by SoCal NOMA, A+D Museum, and Helms Bakery District.
Curator: Sekou Cooke
Exhibition Design: Sekou Cooke
Graffiti Artist: Prime
Artwork above: HHA Signifyin’ project by Nate Williams, 1993.

The exhibition is free and open to the public.
8707 Washington Blvd, Culver City CA 90232
Exhibition Dates: June 22 – September 17
Hours: Thursday – Sunday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

RSVP HERE

Close to the Edge Exhibition at SpringBox in St.Paul, MN.

Close to the Edge exhibition at Center for Architecture, New York, NY. Photo Erik Bardin.

Close to the Edge Exhibition at SpringBox in St.Paul, MN.

LA Metro, LADOT, Walk ’n Rollers, and BikeLA host a community-based design workshop
2023-07-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join LA Metro, LADOT, Walk ’n Rollers, and BikeLA for a community- based design workshop and provide input on the proposed MAT Culver City First/Last Mile project list. The project aims to make the 1/2 mile radius around Culver City Metro Station easier to walk and bicycle. Limited availability. Please RSVP to bit.ly/CCExpo1stLastMile.

﻿Book Signing with esteemed artist Awol Erizku at Arcana: Books on the Arts
2023-07-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join Arcana: Books on the Arts, Saturday, July 15th for a book signing with esteemed artist Awol Erizku.
“Working across photography, film, video, painting, and installation, Awol Erizku’s work references and re-imagines African-American and African visual culture, from hip hop vernacular to Nefertiti, while nodding to traditions of spirituality and Surrealism. This comprehensive monograph spans the artist’s career, blending his studio practice with his work as an in-demand editorial photographer working regularly for the New Yorker, New York Magazine, Time, and GQ, among others, and features his conceptual portraits of Black cultural icons such as Solange, Amanda Gorman, and Michael B. Jordan. As Erizku recently told the New York Times, ‘It’s important for me to create confident, powerful, downright regal images of Black people.’ Featuring essays by critically acclaimed author Ishmael Reed, curator Ashley James, and writer Doreen St. Félix, and interviews with the artist by Urs Fischer and Antwaun Sargent, Mystic Parallax is a luminous and arresting testament to the artist’s tremendous power and originality.”

Westside Urban Forum presents An Evening of Urbanism: Frances Anderton & Josh Stephens
2023-07-27 17:30 - 19:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
5:30 pm: Doors open for cocktails and viewing of Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture
6:30 – 7:30 pm: Program begins at Helms Design Center
7:30 pm – onward: Drinks and discussion to follow at Father’s Office (no host)
RSVP Required!

Members Register Here

Nonmembers Register Here

Los Angeles was built imperfectly, at an imperfect time. Now it is trying to reinvent itself. Into what?
That’s Topic A for authors Frances Anderton (Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles) and Josh Stephens (The Urban Mystique) when they sit down to talk about Los Angeles, community and urbanity today – from the house to the megalopolis.
As “home” moves from the suburbs to thoroughfares and backyards, Frances considers how to sustain the region’s vaunted easy living – by adapting LA’s legacy of innovative, bucolic and socially centered multifamily housing. Meanwhile, Josh tries to make sense of the cultural, political and real estate interests that make “shoehorning a new city into the old” so frustrating, and so fascinating.
They will take on the struggles over housing, the clash of scales that shape LA’s cityscape, the arterial development that offers the chance for enlivened streets, and the “zoning, floor-to-air ratios, density, NIMBY-ism, YIMBY-ism and all manner of arcane, acronym-laden planning ideas” that, in Josh’s words, shape our idiosyncratic Southland.
Please join the Westside Urban Forum on the evening of Thursday, July 27, for a discussion between Josh and Frances to explore the ways that design, planning, policy, and culture intersect — and reveal ways Los Angeles can learn from its past.
The event will open with refreshments and viewing of Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture, an exhibition co-presented by Helms Bakery District, SoCal NOMA and A+D Museum.
Moderator
Nick Maricich, Principal City Planner in the Housing Policy Division, Los Angeles City Planning
Registration Fees
$10 WUF Members
$15 Non-Members
Pre-registration closes on Wednesday, July 26, at 4:00 PM. Onsite registration will be available at the cost of an additional $10. No refunds or credits will be provided after this day.
Copies of books will be available to purchase, courtesy of Arcana Books
Event Time
5:30 pm: Doors open for cocktails and viewing of Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture
6:30 – 7:30 pm: Program begins at Helms Design Center
7:30 pm – onward: Drinks and discussion to follow at Father’s Office (no host)
Location
The Helms Design Center is located at the Helms Bakery campus at 8745 Washington Boulevard in Culver City.
Directions
Avoid the stress of rush hour and skip traffic! The Helms Design Center at 8745 Washington Blvd in Culver City is conveniently located a short, pleasant walk from a number of transit lines, including:
Metro Rail “E” (Expo) Line Culver City Station
(1 block west at Washington and National Blvds)
Culver City Bus “1” and “1C1” lines
(at the adjacent Washington Blvd/Helms Avenue street corner)
Parking
For those who choose to drive, parking is available in the adjacent interior parking garage at 8711 Washington Blvd (look for the red banners), or there is parking available throughout the Helms Bakery complex. Parking Map
www.westsideurbanforum.com

Unearthing a Black Aesthetic: Conversation with Demar Matthews & Kevin Sherrod
2023-07-27 17:30 - 20:30 | Close to the Edge Exhibition, 8707 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
SoCal NOMA hosts a dynamic conversation with Los Angeles-based architectural designer and theorist, Demar Matthews, Principal of OffTop Design and adjunct faculty at Long Beach City College, and Kevin Sherrod, Arts and Culture Practice Area Leader from Gensler, LA and design faculty at USC. Matthews and Sherrod will discuss OffTOP’s work in the development of a Black architectural language, how their visions align, as well as their collaborative work, which investigates the power of architecture as a cultural signifier and vehicle of traditions, values, and identity for Black communities.
Unearthing a Black Aesthetic: Conversation with Demar Matthews & Kevin Sherrod, will take place within the critically acclaimed exhibition Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture at Helms Bakery District.

RSVP HERE

Demar Matthews

Kevin Sherrod

Ruth E. Carter and Julia Koerner: A Conversation about Design
2023-08-06 16:00 - 17:30 | Close to the Edge Exhibition, 8707 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us for a conversation with two-time academy award-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, and her Black Panther collaborator, and UCLA Faculty, Julia Koerner. Carter and Koerner will discuss their collaborative process, design inspirations, methods, and creative techniques!
The conversation will be moderated by Erika Abrams, the Executive Creative Director of the LA Design Festival. Q+A with the audience to follow the conversation.
Following the conversations and Q+A, there will be a fashion show of emerging diverse streetwear designers, produced by The Bucketlist Society (@bucketlist.society), with collections inspired by Hip-Hop!
Jointly presented by Helms Bakery District, SoCal NOMA, and the A+D Museum, as a part of the Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture exhibition.
Photos above (left to right): Erika Abrams, Ruth E. Carter, and Julia Koerner

RSVP
