Craft Night

I came across this little gem known as Craft Night on the Not for Tourists website. (If you don't have the Not for Tourists' guide for LA, I highly recommend it. It's an indispensable supplement to the Thomas Guide. The NFT has maps by neighborhood and lists the locations of tons of grocery stores, banks, shops, restaurants, etc.) Anyway, while browsing the site, I came across a review for Craft Night and was intrigued.

We went to Craft Night not sure what to expect. All we had to go on was that blurb on the NFT website and the description on the official Craft Night website: adults doing crafts (yes, like crafts that you did in elementary school art class or in Cub Scouts) in the back room of a bar at night. We reluctantly entered the back room of Akbar and were promptly greeted by the self proclaimed "Craft Captain," Julianna "JP" Parr. Just over a dozen people (all in their 20s or 30s I would guess) sat at tables chatting, drinking, and most importantly crafting. The craft of the night was paint your own fashion rings. I can't say that my ring gets any use, but I did have a fun time painting that bulbous piece of plastic. My friend had so much fun, she painted not one, but two rings. As we sat there painting and gluing an excessive number of googly eyes to our rings, we chatted with JP and some fellow crafters. We learned that Craft Night goes back a number of years and has had several homes through its history.

Things like Craft Night are what make LA truly unique. Anywhere else in the country people spend their Wednesday nights watching "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader," or whatever the hot show of the moment is. But not me. I go crafting.


Craft Night held Wednesday nights 9pm-midnight at Akbar
4356 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
visit www.crafthead.com for schedule