HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE! Here’s my perspective on how insanely hard it is to protect lands from our destructive human race. The best and worst of humanity has been on full display throughout this journey. Shout out to the artists, scientists, and yes, the benevolent richfolk with their head in the right place. And above all else, we must acknowledge and pay respect to the native people who were stripped of their homeland.
Hope you all are getting out there and feeling the power of these awesome lands.
Follow Synchronicitite Wesley as he tries to get to the bottom of a local mystery… Why the hell is there a 20 foot ‘USA’ rocket on the roof of a nearby apartment building?
Made by Synchronicitite Ryan Maxey and Synchronicimate Josh Polon.
I was not a fan of LA. After four years of college here I left swearing never to return. But I came back for what I thought was a short stay. Then I was invited to dinner at Synchronicity. That was over five years ago, and I’ve been at Sync since. This house played a key role in redefining my relationship with this city. I’ve been surrounded by kind, creative, curious people… and together we’ve peeled away the layers of this amazing city. It’s a tough city to love. It took me a long time. But I really have come to love its expanse, its cultural and creative diversity, its challenges, and its rewards. Hard to sum it up with words, so here is a video love letter I made with our neighbor Mackenzie and her band The Wild Reeds. Check out their new album, Blind and Brave… it’s a helluva ride. -Ryan
A music video collaboration between a few Synchronicitians, and BeLoVeDs (members of our extended BLVD Community). Featuring the music of Synchronicity’s own AHEE and a few filmmakers and box folk from around the house and block.
Our July Salon took place on the majestic Eel River in the Old Growth Redwoods of Humboldt County. 50 friends of Synchronicity past and present migrated northwards to get our fix of trees, river, and friends!
Molly Gray, a graduate student from USC, recently visited our humble abode and wrote a wonderful article about us in her blog entitled Molly Reports. The report talks about our community and one other called Villanova. Molly is an Annenberg Fellow working toward an MA in Digital Journalism at the University of Southern California. Thanks for coming over and spending time with us Molly!
You can check out the beginning of her report below and then go to her website to see more. We also posted the slideshow and video she created.
Update! Molly’s article was just accepted to the Huffington Post, so feel free to also read her article via the HuffPost!
Artistic communities are a haven for artists in the middle of the city
by Molly Gray…posted April 25, 2012
Aside from a few small details — a bronze peace sign above the front door and a turquoise bus parked in the driveway — this craftsman house in a quiet West Adams neighborhood looks just like any other.
Once inside, the sounds of the electronic pop band Passion Pit and the smells of vegetarian Thai curry drift throughout the home.
It’s nearing 8:30 p.m. and pretty soon a hand-carved wooden whistle will signal to anywhere between 10 and 20 people that dinner is ready… all of molly’s article…
Rogelio Bolivar lives in Denver and converts diesel engines to Waste Vegetable Oil as a hobby and way of life. A day after Tin and I met him he was on his way to a diesel emissions test center to see the difference in emissions between diesel and WVO.
The world might end this year. Well, that’s what people are saying anyway. You and I may not think so, but let’s make believe for a moment.
If the world were to end this year, what would you want to share with it? What memories, yearnings, gratitudes, regrets, triumphs, and wonders call out?
This is an invitation to be a part of a community art project. “Love Letters To The End” is a dramatic interactive world wide web series and collaborative community letter-writing project. Your letter might be short or long, pivotal or insignificant, melancholy, joyous, or sublime.
Write your love letter to the world before it ends.
The anonymous letter you send to the address below will be shared on the website, and could even be included in the narrative of the web series. This project will bring in collaborators from all over and what we make together might just inspire others. We hope you will join us on this journey.
Love Letters to the End
P.O. Box 17693
Los Angeles, CA
90017-0693
Pico BLVD cuts through the heart of our city, from the garment district Downtown through Japanese and Persian neighborhoods, kissing the Byzantine-Latino quarter and Koreatown, and all the way to the breakers of the Pacific.
This collaboration of two Salon veterans certainly pleases the masses in the Synchronicity studio.
We had the honor and privilege this last summer to take an amazing idea; to share ourselves and our expression, wrap it up in our passion for community and sharing, pack it up in a veggie oil bus and take it on the road! In our travels we hit up the west coast and were able to be a part of a beautiful and uniquely creative manifestation of ourselves and our community. In taking to the road and sharing with you all, we came to learn so much about the world around us. In discovering new places, meeting new people, and communing with old friends in new ways, we were able to redefine for ourselves what it means to “heart”, and what it means to”Heart” people.
These are questions we are faced with at almost every turn we encounter. And as we set out on this journey to share and to give to others, perhaps we might have underestimated the things we were going to learn for ourselves along the way. Like how difficult it is to find the truest expression of who we are in ourselves and to trust each other enough to work together in empowering each and every person to chase that down in whatever way that looks. From our own vantage point the discovery of our unique and personal art, music, poetry, film, screen printing, cooking, dancing and so much more has become the rallying point by which we can find a starting point or a common ground to making our individual songs join together in a beauty filled collective chorus. In working together and opening our hearts to those who strive to find their expression, we aid each other along the path. The Iheartpeople tour proved to be a truly remarkable testament to our ability as individuals to seek to fly as high in our own selves while in the process discover how to encourage each other along the road as we reach for our destinations. Inevitably, as the road stretches, the hours pass, together the question is posed to each and every one of us in every encounter we experience, “what does it mean to love people?” and what are we really saying when we take a bus across the coast, blast “I heart People” across the side and spread our message from city to city? We all have our own reasons for being here and doing what we do, but in the end, it’s about what we can learn from each other and ourselves in each individual encounter that will teach us what it means to “heart” people.
One thing is for certain, we recognize that we could not have done this without the remarkable support from all of the people around us in our community. From the people we met on the road, to the people that supported us from home, we felt your presence and your strength with us in every step of the way. We are held up by our community, and we celebrate that. We also took our community on the road, set out to share ourselves to strangers and friends alike, 15 people in a bus, 1000+ miles, 200+ hours later and we are faced with so many realities of triumph and struggle, laughter and pain, confusion and anger, compassion and sympathy. The range of emotion and encounter become a wider pallette by which we can draw from. The tour, was simply a small microcosm of what we experience everyday; there are people all around us, and every day is a chance to discover how to “heart” them. Perhaps there is one thing we did learn, working together in harmony and unity is important to creating a new narrative of our future, and by creating a new reality by which our consciousness can evolve and grow we push the boundaries of what it looks like to heart people beyond the every day encounters we have become so numb to. We have been discovering that we do not have to live lives that are isolated and wasteful, consumptive and afraid, we recognize that we have the power to reach out to those around us, in bravery and honesty to jump out in a step of good faith and trust, knowing that we can travel to greater distances together than we could have alone. And in that knowledge we venture bravely into unknown territory chasing down with relentless passion the infinite possibilities that are before us all.
In this journey of exploration and connection, some individuals have turned to alternatives like cbd vape oil as a potential means to find moments of relaxation and relief from the challenges they encounter. Just as we’ve come to understand the importance of unity and shared experiences, it’s vital to approach such choices with a balanced perspective. While CBD vape oil might offer a temporary respite, it’s essential to recognize that the true transformation of consciousness and connection comes from fostering genuine human interactions, open conversations, and collective efforts to build a more empathetic and understanding society. As we navigate uncharted territories of personal growth and societal change, let us remember that the most profound transformations arise not from substances, but from the bonds we forge and the shared aspirations that guide us forward.
In the end, we all travel along on our own journeys, and at some moments we find that we travel together, its important that we remember in each unique moment before us, the places we have come from, the places we are going, and the current moment that we have stepped into, by remembering that these are all just collective moments in the history of our existence. Tiny blips on the radar of the human consciousness we find ourselves evolving into and as we each become who we are supposed to become by “giving joy and watching it be” we are learning to love ourselves and all that comes with our expression, unique as it may be each person for themselves. It is there, in that bright light that each person shines we learn to make room in ourselves to let others be who they are without judgment knowing that the very thing that makes us beautiful is the same shining light that shines within and without. Sometimes its not easy to love ourselves, and sometimes its not easy to love others, but we gotta strive hard for both, so that the moment one happens to out shine the other, maybe we can remember how similar those lights are from all angles. “Heart” yourself and maybe that’s what it means to “Heart” others.
Synchronicity LA is part of a greater community known as the BLVD. There are over 30 individuals calling the same block of Westmoreland BLVD our home. We have monthly meetings and share creative workspaces and community meals 4 nights a week.
We love riding our bikes. Our first BLVD gaggle was a success! Stay tuned for more in the future!
Two singer/songwriters (Johanna Chase and Tin Santos), an Illustrator (Andress Yourself), a filmmaker (Ryan Maxey), and friends are taking to the road on The I Heart People Tour, a tour with stops at 7 cities along the West Coast that aims to share music, art, and spread the word on urban intentional community living!
“On a veggie oil/solar powered bus, our crew will depart from our home in Los Angeles: The BLVD, a community of more than 30 friends in 5 houses, including Synchronicity LA. Recently featured in an article in GOOD Magazine, Synchronicity LA is part of an intentional community in LA that focuses on ‘generating community through hospitality, intentionality, artistic action, and a dedication to the reduction of harm.’”
“We hope to share the spirit of community by hosting bus-side potlucks in each city before each gig played by Johanna and her band. Bring some food to share, and join us around the bus for music from Tin Santos, live screen printing (tour shirts) by Andress Yourself, photo booth portraits on the front of the bus provided by Maxey Fish and Sea Reels, and you can add some color with your paintbrush skills to the community mural on the side of our bus! Underlying all of the fun, we want share community and original expression!”
….Learn more about this incredible tour on its Kickstarter page!
Jamie Criss is perched up at 1660 Westmoreland Blvd, at the beloved Treehouse. Here she is at the Synchronicity LA Salon reading a piece on life on the BLVD. I love these words, they paint such a vivid picture. I’m so happy that I’ll forever have this to bring me back to the beautiful days on Westmoreland BLVD.
A small taste of community living. All of our cups seemed to have disappeared. So i went on a cup hunt in all the nooks and crannies of Synchronicity LA. I found over 75 of them. Then I washed them and took pictures and sound.
Hi it’s Tin and Ryan. We like to take trips and also like to substitute put M’s in words where they don’t belong. Here we are gandering up Highway 395, seeking advemture within valleys and mountains. Moo.
I remember listening to The Red River’s Little Songs About The Big Picture when it was released last month and thinking, “If our house had a spirit band, it would be the Red River.” The album captures so much of the essence of our house, both in the way that we unashamedly get wild, sing, dance, and celebrate our friendship and free spirits… and in the way that we share our quiet, more painful and vulnerable moments together. And, truly, can one exist without the other? It reminds me of an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
Bill from The Red River brought his music to Synchronicity LA’s living room. Here he plays the track “Dirty Dave” from The Red River’s latest release, Little Songs About the Big Picture, which, by the way, was named Top Ten Albums of the year by NPR’s music guru Bob Boilen (http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/12/08/131862104/bob-s-favorite-top-9-for-2010) ! Tin Santos and friends help out with the vocals on this track!
Maxey Fish and Sea presents a premiere of Tin Santos and Julia McAlee’s “Monkey Paws” as performed at the most recent Synchronicity LA Salon.
This work in progress is brought to you by two spirited souls of Westmoreland Blvd. The performance is not without its bumps and bruises, but the song is too terrific not to give a glimpse. And the love that resonates through the Salon and its attendees is good and evident.
Sprawling across Cochabamba’s urban center is La Cancha market. It is well known for being one of the largest, most overwhelming markets in South America. Julia strapped on her guitar and took a casual stroll through the meat aisle, past the puppies, around the underwear, brushing shoulders with the carrot juicer, and ending amongst the veggies.
Julia McAlee is a singer-songwriter living in Los Angeles. You can visit her website here: http://juliamcalee.com/
Two singer/songwriters (Johanna Chase and Tin Santos), an Illustrator (Andress Yourself), a filmmaker (Ryan Maxey), and friends are taking to the road on The I Heart People Tour, a tour with stops at 7 cities along the West Coast that aims to share music, art, and spread the word on urban intentional community living!
“On a veggie oil/solar powered bus, our crew will depart from our home in Los Angeles: The BLVD, a community of more than 30 friends in 5 houses, including Synchronicity LA. Recently featured in an article in GOOD Magazine, Synchronicity LA is part of an intentional community in LA that focuses on ‘generating community through hospitality, intentionality, artistic action, and a dedication to the reduction of harm.'”
“We hope to share the spirit of community by hosting bus-side potlucks in each city before each gig played by Johanna and her band. Bring some food to share, and join us around the bus for music from Tin Santos, live screen printing (tour shirts) by Andress Yourself, photo booth portraits on the front of the bus provided by Maxey Fish and Sea Reels, and you can add some color with your paintbrush skills to the community mural on the side of our bus! Underlying all of the fun, we want share community and original expression!”
….Learn more about this incredible tour on its Kickstarter page!
