On the last Sunday of the month starting in March 2010, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton’s Cafeteria in Downtown Los Angeles (noon-2pm), for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. We also recommend the shortbread.

12:30pm-1pm: A live fashion presentation from Visionary A. Laura Brody. Remake, redo and reuse. While it may sound a little cliché today, it was necessary for survival after the Great Depression and became a catch phrase during the rationing of WWII. Pushing consumerism during the ‘50s made this notion unfashionable, and it has only recently come into fashion again. Unfortunately, it is often just that- fashion and a notion, not actual re-purposing or re-use. Here’s a way to experience actual, non-damaging to the environment re-purposing firsthand- on your body.

Visionary A. Laura Brody will demonstrate live draping on a willing volunteer or volunteers, showing methods of creating clothing from existing scraps, fabrics and old clothing. The materials used will be the donated, left over and found remnants from her live draping Hollywood Fringe Festival event, Presque Prêt a Porter. The lucky mannequin/person will get a custom draped piece of clothing created just for him or her draped on him or her. Warning: scissors will be used close to the body. So will duct tape and staples. If this makes you very nervous, you may not be a good candidate. Perhaps 2 people can be draped within the 1/2 hour timeframe. She’ll also show you examples of her own re-purposed art and jewelry.

ABOUT OUR FEATURED VISIONARY: A. Laura Brody is a professional costume designer and maker. Working for the entertainment industry exposes her to a disgusting amount of waste. To counter this (and as a matter of personal belief) she regularly re-uses material, notions, scraps and ideas in her designs, jewelry and art. If you’d like to see more, you can find her jewelry site on Etsy (the handmade lifestyle web site).

1:15-2pm: A table discussion hosted by Visionary Manny Pacheco, the award-winning author of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History, which tells America’s story through the eyes of character actors. His paperback was recently added to the prestigious libraries of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Film Institute, and the Writer’s Guild Foundation. Pacheco is a 30-year Southern California radio and television personality who has appeared on Emmy-winning programs including NBC‘s “Santa Barbara” and KCOP‘s “In Studio.” At the LAVA Salon, he plans on sharing fascinating stories about Hollywood’s long and sometimes forgotten past during its Golden Age. Talking about character actors such as Lionel Barrymore, Van Heflin, Walter Brennan, Claude Rains, and Basil Rathbone, one can see that America’s story became an essential topic in the movies during the studio era of Cinema. Manny will also share his travels on what it took to get his book self-published. He will motivate you to start writing about your passions (whatever they may be). He will provide a step-by-step outline for bypassing the traditional East Coast elite in the publishing industry to get your inner-author out and into the hands of an eager public looking for new things to read. Whether you are a first-time writer or established scribe, you will want to listen to his motivating approach to the most traditional of businesses. You won’t want to miss a chance to meet the friendly and approachable Manny Pacheco, and check out his new book Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History!