Community Services

We offer a variety of services in our community, and invite you to participate in any way.

12-Step Ministry - We support and host the vital work of the recovery community which gathers here.

Community Garden - Gardening plots available nearby, on a first-come-first served basis

Community Schedule - Weekly and monthly schedule of events

Community Directory - Here are helpful services in the surrounding community.

Hollywood Call Back -- is up and running again.  Next industry networking/mixer is in September.

Hollywood Food Pantry - Food is available to needy households on an emergency basis on Tuesdays from 11 to 2 pm

Los Feliz Art Walk - we host new art exhibits, operating out of the Courtyard Studio/Gallery, the First Friday of each month in cooperation with other area galleries, studios and exhibit spaces.

Homelessness: in Memory of Rosemary Gecse - a Lenten meditation of the passing of one of our long-time neighbors.

Pet Care Resources - an outgrowth of the Blessing of the Animals, held every October in conjunction with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi..

Weddings - For resources and planning tips, please see www.HollywoodWedding.org

Also see other Community Organizations at www.HollywoodChurch.info.

 

Community News

A look at Juvenile Detention: The Silverlake Children's Theatre opens "Jail Birds" 

In its tenth year in our community, the Silverlake Children's Theatre Group stages its new musical production May 13-23 at the Bootleg Theatre on Beverly Blvd.  For details, open full-size poster.

Fall 2009:  Youth Safety Seminars for Teen Girls

A 17 year-old Los Feliz girl was tragically murdered in July, and her death has shaken our community.  Because many of the kids in the Sivlerlake Children's Theatre Group knew her personally, the SCTG's Artistic Director Broderick Miller came to us and asked to put together a series of seminars for teen girls to learn some "street smarts."

The first Youth Safety Seminar will be held Thursday, September 17, 2009 in Durkee Hall (downstairs).  There is no cost, but a freewill donation will be accepted to defray costs.  Several LAPD officers will speak.  The Seminar begins at 7:00 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GGPNC), a follow-up session is also scheduled for Thursday, October 16, when Kathleen Baty, "The Safety Chick" will be the featured speaker.  Baty is the author of "A Girl's Gotta Do What a Girl's Gotta Do: the Ultimate Guide to Living Safe & Smart."

Hollywood-Los Feliz Kiwanis Club to Host Dental Clinic

Hollywood Lutheran Church will offer its parking lot and other facilities to the Hollywood-Los Feliz Kiwanis Club in hosting the UNS Mobile Dental Clinic in October 2010.  More than 100 young people in the community who cannot afford dental care will find it at the week-long mobile clinic, in a series of state-of-the-art equipped trailers in the HLC parking lot.

Present for kick-off rally on August 11, 2010 were about 25 Kiwanis members including high school Key Club members from local schools.  Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge presented the customary acknowledgment for community service.

Above, Kiwanis President Rob Menz, Julian Calvin-Harris (assistant to Mr. LaBonge), Alan Nuñez and Councilmember Tom LaBonge.

Kaiser/Barnsdall Farmers Market Opens

Kaiser Permanente is taking the nutritional “high ground” by encouraging healthful eating through farmers’ markets. You may have caught the feature in the Los Angeles Times recently. Now Kaiser has teemed up with Barnsdall Park to host a Los Feliz–area farmers market, on Wednesday afternoons, until 6:00 p.m.

The Farmers Market will be held in the lower Barnsdall Park parking area, where there should be sufficient auto parking as well as room for fruit and vegetable stands. Or, you can park at Hollywood Lutheran Church and walk the half-block down to the Farmers Market. The exercise will do you good!

Owners of Vermont Hand Wash face criminal charges

Recently you may have heard that the State of California is trying to clean up the car wash business, and wants to close about 11 car washes in Los Angeles. The issue is much deeper than a coat of mud on your car fenders.

Los Feliz seems like a wonderful, idyllic place to live. But less than two blocks from our church is the Vermont Hand Wash, one of four local car washes owned by brothers Benny and Nisan Pirian, who were indicted by th4e Citry Attorney’s office in February on 176 charges involving labor wage and hour violations, working conditions and the like. You can find a good summary article in the on-line Jewish Journal here.

The carwash issue came to our church when Pastor Dan Hooper became active with a local interfaith clergy group organized by CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) last year, which seeks to draw attention to the plight of car wash workers who are being treated unjustly and illegally by their employers. Pastor Dan participated in an interfaith prayer vigil at the Hollywood Vermont Triangle Park, opposite the Vermont Hand Wash facility, last fall. Since drawing attention to the terrible working conditions and illegal wages and labor practices, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works has issued citations against car wash owners.

When Pastor Dan reported his participation in the CLEAN Carwash Campaign, the Church Council voted to be supportive. Later this summer, an alternative volunteer car wash will be held in our parking lot as a gentle protest on behalf of exploited carwash workers ("carwasheros").

Among the specific goals of the CLEAN campaign are:

• to support the right of carwasheros to form a union and to bargain collectively for better wages and conditions.
• to improve working conditions, including labor standards and workplace practices.
• to demand environmental clean-up to prevent pollution of our rivers and oceans with dangerous chemicals.

After appearing in Superior Court in early May, the Pirian brothers settled one citation three weeks ago, brought last year by Cal/OSHA by agreeing to pay a $20,000 fine. But according to this news story:

Two weeks ago, the California Labor Commissioner filed a lawsuit to close nine carwashes operating illegally, including six washes in Los Angeles. The lawsuit coincided with a vote by the California Assembly to re-authorize the law that requires carwashes to register with the state.

You can learn more about the CLEAN Carwash Campaign for justice and the environment at www.CleanCarwashLA.org.

 

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