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.

Visionary David Kipen, proprietor of Boyle Heights’ new bookshop and lending library Libros Schmibros, will be talking about his ambitious plans for the space and how he made the transition from director, National Reading Initiatives at the National Endowment for the Arts to shopkeeper in one of L.A.‘s most multi-layered and intriguing neighborhoods. For a sneak peek, see the video from the Boyle Heights Book Summit featuring David, Councilman José Huizar, and 90-something blogging sensation Cutie of The OGs.

Eva Batonne is the nom de plume of LAVA Visionary “Eva Montealegre“https://www.evabatonne.com/. At the Salon, she will be talking about the creative process behind her debut Joan Lambert mystery novel, Resurrection Diva (2009), how the real city of L.A. informs her characters and their experiences, and the influence of past L.A. mystery writers on her work. Set in seamy Hollywood and Venice milieus, and featuring New Orleans fortune tellers, S&M club scenes, a dead opera singer and a high-powered producer, Resurrection Diva is a police procedural with a metaphysical twist. Signed copies will be available for purchase. For more info, visit www.evabatonne.com.

Visionaries Holly Witham and Nicholas Hosking, co-founders of The Moveable Theatre Company, will discuss the Company’s mission and projects, including their latest show, the winning play from The Zane Grey Playwriting Contest, held in May at the Western author’s former home in Altadena, and their upcoming staged reading of Yasmina Reza’s Tony award winning
Art, at LA Contemporary Exhibitions.

Stick around the neighborhood post-Salon, as later this evening, Visionary David Caldwell presents a free War Child Show in his Arts District loft.

Clifton’s Cafeteria is at 648 South Broadway, near the corner of 7th Street. There are numerous paid parking lots nearby, and the closest Metro station is Pershing Square