Silver Lake Sunset Junction

Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?
Hooking up coffee and stinky cheese and French cuisine with super hipsters.
I don’t care if my pants are too skinny and my free-​trade-​cruelty-​free coffee costs too much. It’s as close as I can get to a cultural experience most weeks, so I’ll take it.

The SUNSET JUNCTION was created by GAYS and LATINO FAMILIES over 3 decades ago. You will find none of them there as of 2012. Straight, white, wealthy vegan hipsters (the offspring of the yuppies of yore) have invaded– and invaded heavily. It is tragic. I have watched it change before my eyes. I protested much, but money talked, and TRUE diversity was driven out. Rents that were once a fabulous $ 375 a month (in 1999) are now $ 1,200.
Now you can find a $ 95 Xanadu t-​shirt («vintage» you know!) and $ 8 coffee (with a «shot» of lemon grass). The PURPOSELY unkempt, brown corduroy wearing, horn rimmed glasses with no glass in them wannabe hippies… will accost you to sign petitions against racism, because they feel they are *now* a part of the «urban experience.» LITTLE DO THEY REALIZE they destroyed it.
It is gross. It is tragic.
The Sunset Junction brought gays and Latino families together in 1982 when they both lived in the same neighborhood (for our great rents then) and didn’t quite understand each other well. The famous street fair BEGAN to bring them together. And it DID. It was a beautiful thing. There were many punks and goths too. It was the real deal for decades. We were a great and diverse mix with NO OVER-​TAKE or infestation of any one race or type.
But since then, vintage buildings have been torn down, gay clubs turned straight or turned into insipid vegan restaurants, and Latino families could no longer afford to live here. I GUESS… everyone moved further east or scattered in ESCALATING HORROR, in all kinds of different directions to escape what now looks like a Free Credit Score .com commercial.
I am still here only due to rent control. I am dying to leave to be with real people again. By 2020, you can be sure the Sunset Junction will be totally Asian. That always happens after everyone else paved the way to make a place great – after the battles have been fought by those who lived there when the place was a joke and NO ONE came this far east, have made it «safe» or «trendy.»

Cute little corner!

$ 20 bucks and all those concerts? Amazing!
I know, I know, I’m a little late in writing this. I’ve been busy and out of the country, but I have to say that my trip to the Silver Lake Sunset Junction Street festival was a surprise hit on my radar. Attending this was not at all what I had planned for this day in August this year, but after a last minute cancellation, I was honored to have a spontaneous invitation to spend the afternoon & evening with a fun-​loving, flirty, fellow adventurer. Thanks to friends who were opening up No Jodas Cuban Food Truck, this festival was on my radar, so he agreed to join me. I was impressed with the options of booths, free giveaways, games, and music that made it easy for us to get in a few sways and dances together. Plus, they do allow ins and outs from the festival. So, we slipped out and had some drinks at Malo (one of my favorite Tequila bars).
The parking is a bit of a madhouse, but you can pay $ 10 at the City College and take a school bus in. So, we also were able to nuzzle a bit on a bus. It took me back to the Victorian-​like romances of high school. Come on people, when was the last time you snuggled on a school bus? :)
This is also an excellent date idea for those of you stuck in «let’s go to the movies» mode. Lots of time to walk around, chat, get to know each other, and have fun too.
All around a great experience!

So this was my first year attending so I feel compelled to mention a few random things:
— Parking: This festival was originially supposed to be for the neighborhood. If you’re not from the neighborhood, at least put in the effort to understand it– it’s the least you can do. Enough of the «I just want to drive to this hip festival, get wasted, and not get out of my car because I don’t want to walk though the surrounding neighborhood» mentality. Walk or bike. Take the red line– it’s a quick 10 minute walk from either the Vermont/​Santa Monica or Vermont/​Sunset stop. Lastly, there’s a shuttle from LACC.
— Sunday DAY at the Hoover Stage was SEN-​SAY-​SHUN-​AL.
Locals Fitz and the Tantrums tore it up and my $ 15 admission (pre-​sale at Tsunami Coffee) to watch them from less than 50 feet away followed by Mayer Hawthorne an hour or so later was sooo worth it. Some people thought that it was way too hot, but I think the bands were just bringing some HEAT. DAYTIME HOOVER STAGE= 5 STARS.
— Beer was $ 5 a cup for a refreshing summer ale. Much needed when it was a trillion degrees outside. I didn’t find this unreasonable considering you’d pay this at a bar, let alone a temporary festival which probably has more insurance requirements and whatnot.
— I’m glad we were able to get some decent carne asada nachos and churros amongst all the frou-​frou organic stuff.
— I’m not fat by normal standards, but the swarms of gay dudes walking around shirtless made me feel like a ton of lard. OK, no more nachos or churros for me… =(
— Tried to watch Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on the Bates Stage instead of watching The Whispers at the Hoover Stage. BIG FAIL. Way too crowded, started way late, and couldn’t see a damn thing except floating beach balls and blown-​up condoms, sloshed trendoids grinding on each other, throwing trash on the ground, and jerks trying to climb over us to get closer when there was obviously no room. The fiancée and I left mid-​set cause it was just too annoying to stay.
Judging from the pictures on the website, what we experienced and saw at the Bate Stage is what happened all day Saturday. No thanks. If people want to make this festival into Woodstock or Coachella, they should move it out of someone’s front door and into the desert.
For all the neighborhood folks– sorry about the inconvenience this festival has caused your lives. I enjoyed certain parts of the festival and did not enjoy other parts. I hope the organizers can find ways to make this less of a disruption to your lives and bring this festival back to its neighborhood roots.

This festival is super fun — lots of live music, fatty fair food, great people watching. Getting the discounted $ 15.00 tix on line worked out and we got to see Fishbone — a band we have really liked for 20+ years! I definitely want to go back and spend some time in this neighborhood.

overly WAY 2manycops. Not 2manydjs
Great food selection
Lots If bands n djs
Massive beer n food selection
Lots of pretty n ugly ppl
A gang of young kids, 1 n 2 yr olds
Which makes for a great combination:
Massive beer selection and young kids
AND COPS ! Never ending cops
Rock The bells is also today,
Shouldn’t they b over there ???
Well it was a blast
Got 2c The following:
Hyphy crunk
Jeremy sole
Miles Davis with J Rocc
Big daddy Jane with a supercool 5 yr old kid that rapped!
B-​side players
Orgone
Ohio Players
Shiny toy guns
And our overall fave: speaker junkies
They were crackrave. My fave!
Towards The end of d day,
It seemed like there was 5000 ppl.

Rude, rude, rude, They cut off our streets. Cannot leave my house unless I plan to leave for 2 days. Parking Nightmare. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
«In harmony with our neighbors» is the motto on their website.
If they would pay a bit of attention to the residents of this neighborhood and post guards so we could drive in and out, then, I would not despise the fair.

Just got a chance to get on Unilocal this week so i know its a few days late. I went on Sunday ⁸⁄₂₃ and had a blast. Went to the Cantina bar before going in and loaded up on the Sangria. That wasn’t such a good idea because of the hot sun, but who cares. Went to the 4100 bar and got some beers and kept cool before we ventured back out to the inferno. Walked and ended up at two gay bars and danced for awhile with all the men with no shirts. It was raining men hallelujah! So basically seen a few bands perform, drank, threw up, danced, ate and didn’t pass out, I have to say that it was a good day overall.
Only complaint is the damn sun.

I know it sucks that it is $ 20 now to get in… But, we still do it. Bummed that I didn’t go on Saturday which meant that I missed the Islands not bummed because I got to see Nortec Collective, Built to spill and Arrested Development. So, for $ 20 it’s not bad at all. Plus many of the boutiques are open for business. Like Replay. My fav. little vintage boutique shop in Silverlake. Anyhoot. So much food to choose from, those bacon wrapped hot dogs cooked on the sidewalks smell all so tempting. The small selection of carnival rides and game booths are great for the children. The overly drunk dancing wolves are not so much fun. Other than that I love it here. Everyone is just out having fun.
Last year I learned my lesson from eating the papusas that this year we skipped out on eating at the fair and wondered out to Malo for dinner.

I have no idea why so many people are complaining. This year’s Sunset Junction was fabulous. Most of the people causing a fuss are those that don’t understand that we are in a horrible economic climate and everyone needs to make ends meet, even the Sunset Junction Street Fair. I think $ 20 was a more than fair price as the festival had an awesome set of live music, exhibits, carnival rides, and of course the parade of colorful residents. Watching all the flamboyant hipsters and rockers waltz around was great. Sunset Junction is a vivid place to people watch. You get all sorts of characters including the celebs. We saw Keifer Sutherland on Saturday night and Jared Leto on Sunday. Good to see them out there enjoying the tunes and the cultured Sunset Junction area.
In terms of music, The Sonics were absolutely shredding with their original 60’s garage soul. Nothing but rock n’ roll baby! Mika Miko played an awesome set. Those chicks rule! I was amazed at how young Tiny Masters of Today were. They were like 10 years old (well maybe not)! But it was a pleasure seeing them out there and rockin’ out, even if they did sound monotone in their awkward tween years. Other stand outs were Islands and Fool’s Gold. They both played amazing sets that got your body moving and grooving.
The 4100 bar was going off once the fair ended! Talk about a hedonistic hipster ho-​down! That sheet was off the hook! Total fun times and we met some great people.
The lil girl in me came out when I begged my buddy to go on the carnival slide and Funhouse with me. I was dying of glitz and giggles! The Funhouse kinda sucked but we did see a couple getting’ jiggy with it in the maze of mirrors. The slide was really fun! Although I lost speed once or twice. They need to make those potato sacks longer so our exposed legs don’t touch the slide and slow us down.
Mmmmm! The Cajun Prawns! OMG! So damn good. I just about cried when I dropped a mondo prawn in the gutter. That cup cost me $ 20! But well worth the pleasure to my taste buds!
PS — They were giving away FREE wrist bands to SJ residents.

Total douche fest. Last time I went I swore NEVER AGAIN. That was ’07. Maybe it’s changed. I hear it sucks even more.
The fucking western entrance was AT THE FRONT OF THE FUCKING STAGE! BRILLIANT you asshat organizers!
So, I stay to watch Blonde Redhead, and my friends go get drinks. They wait in line for like half an hour, but are told they need «drink tickets», so they need to wait another half hour to get the stupid fucking ticket, then a half hour AGAIN to get the shitty overpriced, watered down drink! Sweet!
Crowded, hot, sweaty, stinky FUCK THIS. We all go to «Ye Olde Rusticke Inne» and get drunke.

I originally was going to give 5 stars, but then I realized I wasn’t Unilocaling about the black keys amazing performance… I was Unilocaling the festival in itself.
I should be generous, and give it another star, just because if you’re going to a festival/​carnival… you know it will probably be kinda shitty… and when its in LA on Sunset, you should expect it to be even more shitty because it will be overly crowded.
First off, I hadn’t been to Sunset Junction ever before, and when I saw the Black Keys on the lineup, as well as Menomena, I was willing to only pay 15 bucks for them. (Not knowing it cost nothing previous years) Plus, it was free parking with a shuttle bus and free stuff from the vendors.
We also saw !!!(chk chk chk) and the bass was overpowering the rest of the instruments and vocals at times. Howeverrrrrrrrr when the Keys were up, the kick drum was too loud. The quality wasn’t bad except for that. It was then that I was having fun. And I was handed a free lightbulb and American Gangster DVD. tiiight.
Another negative was that the many huts of margaritas and maitais and beer was so god damn expensive (as expected) and we spent like 30 bucks to get not even buzzed. Yay.
All in all, I’m only coming back if a band I like is playing. And I’m free that day.

How disappointingggggg :(:(:(
i was really looking forward to this, even though i went in knowing what to expect. Way too many drunk people stumbling around and being loud and obnoxious. Now, i wasn’t exactly sober. But i could at least walk on my own.
Sound quality sucked, but it’s an outdoor event so naturally it’s going to suck. But there were other technical problems throughout the show and no one who worked there seemed to be available to help.
Broken Social Scene was wonderful, as always. But 80% of the drunk idiots around me didn’t even know who they were and were just being loud and obnoxious and ruining it for the rest of us.
I doubt i’ll come back again next year. Not worth it. Unless someone AMAZING is playing.
Haha, and people, if you knowwww that drinks are gonna be 8 dollars each and that you’re going to have to wait in line for an hour for one, drink before you come and take the metro! that’s what we did. Or stop by a bar somewhere else on Sunset outside of the festival. Some advice for next year. You’re welcome.

Remember how cool something was when you were a little kid. Then you went back and did it as an adult and it sucked ROYALLY?
Behold: my experience at Sunset Junction.
It just wasn’t as fun this time around. Broken Social Scene was good but you could hardly hear them over the sound system.

Sunset Junction used to be one of my favorite times of the year. It brought together the cornucopia of people who lived in Silverlake, which, for years, was a neighborhood that was famously diverse. There was a suggested donation of something like $ 5 or $ 6, good music, interesting people being as freaky as they felt like, and tasty food stands.
Over the past couple of years, the crowd seemed to get less and less diverse. As a random white chick, I can’t really complain, but I will admit that part of the appeal of this festival was seeing so many people from all strokes of life hanging out and getting along. What I can complain about, however, was that it seemed to get increasingly more expensive each year. Then, last year was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Last year didn’t include a ton of acts that I was that interested in, but a few of my friends’ bands were playing a $ 3 show at El Cid. So a group of us took the bus to the Sunset Junction stop and tried to get into El Cid.
They built this colossal fucking WALL around the whole intersection and moved it down, so you can’t really duck in and out of those shops like you used to be able to.
Where there used to be a little break in the sawhorses and caution tape with a woman who’d take your donation, there was no admittance unless through a kiosk where you HAD to pay $ 15.
Then, in our attempt to get around the fenced-​off area and into El Cid, we were HARASSED by some asshole LAPD cop who backed us into a corner and started yelling «No! No! You were trying to break in! Just admit it!» when we told him we were just trying to get to our friend’s show.
That experience would have been souring whether or not I had years of good experiences at SJ… but you better believe after that, I will never, ever go back.

After Sunset Junction, Michelle B. said «we’re like little ants carrying half our body weight.» I worked the street fair, representing Unilocal with Michelle B. and our Queen Ant, Stephy S. Despite the 100 degree heat (and that doesn’t even include the heat coming off of the asphalt), there were tons of folks out and about (and lots of Unilocalers!).
The carnival rides were a little scary, especially since I watched them put them together in the morning. Parents — please don’t let your children ride carnival rides. There were a nice collection of street vendors; I bought a couple of shirts, and if I had more free time, I’m sure I would’ve also bought some jewelry too. I was surprised to find out that they charge a $ 15 admission fee — what? I thought street fairs were free…

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be an ant?
You know, having to carry more than your own body weight as you and your little ant friends follow each other in a little line to your destination?
Well if you ever have, then I highly suggest getting a booth at this festival and tearing down early on a hot ass Sunday as you carry your very heavy tent, chairs, tent weights and boxes through mass amounts of drunk n sweaty people. An Ant’s Life… no thanks!
Anyhoo, Year Two for LA Unilocal at the Junction was this past weekend and all I can say is, «God Dammit, it’s fucking too hot.» Why not have this festival in October or in the Spring? Why have it in the dead of Summer?
As for the rest of the festival, I have to say that I was a bit bummed this year. For one thing, they shortened it. Meaning, it wasn’t on that nice mile long stretch of Silverlake turf. Instead it seemed like far less vendors, far less people and just an overall, «Meh» kinda attitude. Granted this may have been the near 100 degree weather and it being out in the blazing sun, but it just didn’t have that same zing that it’s had over the many years I’ve been coming to it. They also upped the ticket prices and upped the price of the booth space and considering it was less value for the money, I was definitely bummed.
What SJ did have were the freaks and if anyone knows me, they know I LUHB ME SOME FUUUREAKS! There were the toofless black eyed sportin carnies, the assless chap wearing gay menz, the West Hollywood cheerleaders (and these «girls» really know how to strut in a pair of 6 inch heels, lemme tell ya!), the dude with spikes jetting out of his chin (whoa!) and the usual array of hipsters in bandanas, gold belts and purposely mismatched 80’s esque attire. Welcome to Silverlake folks.

Supreme fun! What a great time I had hanging out (and working) with the SF Unilocal crew! And meeting fellow LA Unilocalers! I finally got a Unilocal Stick and a Unilocal Nail File! Woohoo!
JayChan has a new title: Unilocal Promoter Extraordinaire! I am in awe.
Silverlake street fair is the best people-​watching! Come on down and check it out… we have one more day to play!
(Er, can we go back again today, Jay?)

I would’ve given this place a one star for making us wait outside for a good 40 mins. We arrived at almost 11am and were told that due to some pipe problems which the city was fixing the opening was to be delayed for god knows how long. I was already sweaty and hungry and just NOT in the mood.
However, after getting in and FINALLY locating the Unilocal booth it was sooooooooooooooo cool to meet all the Unilocal homies that I soon forgot about it so there ya go, 5-​stars! I’m so glad I got to meet everyone and help out at the booth cuz we just had an AWESOME AWESOME DAY!