![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776016398_60_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nFor Fatmah Muhammad, Astralab is a home away from home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The community space sometimes feels safer than the confines of her home, where she sits alone watching the constant reports of violence and death flash across her screen \u2014 reminders that her homeland of Palestine is being torn apart by war. <\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t much she can do from thousands of miles away, so she and hundreds of others find solace in the refuge that Astralab provides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the space is at risk of closing.<\/p>\n
Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n
After nearly two years in the Westlake neighborhood, the founders of Astralab say they\u2019ve been told to leave. The news arrived abruptly as the founders said they were in talks to extend their lease with their landlord JMF Development.<\/p>\n
The building manager had even thanked them for bringing life into the studio and creative office space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been great tenants and kind neighbors. We\u2019ve really built a space for people to come and to gather and not just grieve, but also joyfully be together,\u201d said Yusuf Misdaq, co-founder of the third space venue that borders Koreatown.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they just took it off the table and gave us no response since then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For Fatmah Muhammad, Astralab is a home away from home.<\/p>\n
(<\/p>\n
Hanna Kang<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
The LA Local<\/p>\n
)<\/p>\n
Located in the Granada Buildings \u2014 a block-long Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival complex on La Fayette Park Place with open courtyards and greenery \u2014 Astralab sits as a kind of refuge in an otherwise blighted stretch of the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In February, Astralab received a 60-day notice to vacate. Co-founder Christina Lila said they are now working with a pro bono lawyer to challenge the landlord.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When reached by phone, a person at the real estate office declined to provide his name and questioned why anyone was asking about the notice to vacate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is this a story? I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m even entertaining this conversation,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said Astralab\u2019s tenancy ends April 19 and that they would need to vacate the space. The real estate company did not respond to requests for comment via email.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Community is medicine’<\/p>\n
While all are welcome at Astralab, the space was created to provide refuge with a specific community in mind. <\/p>\n
Lila is half Iranian and Misdaq is originally from Afghanistan. The community space was meant to cater to people from Southwest Asia and North Africa, or the SWANA region, who often feel unmoored away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really saw the lack of cultural centers in America, frankly. And while working in the SWANA region, I saw the vibrant cultures and the community love and how powerful it was,\u201d Lila said. \u201cIt feels like there\u2019s almost a psychological torture in America, and you can\u2019t get the medicine. Community is medicine, and we just don\u2019t have it as much here.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776016399_346_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
For Fatmah Muhammad, Astralab is a home away from home.<\/p>\n
Muhammad said that sense of community is what drew her to Astralab.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids have performed cultural songs and dances there. That place just reminds me of who we are and it just gives me that comfortability of being there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Muhammad, who owns Knafeh Queens, a dessert shop based in Rancho Cucamonga, has also hosted workshops at Astralab, teaching people how to make the dessert and sharing its history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve rarely been able to find spaces like this that I barely have to put effort into. I always show up as my full self, but there\u2019s something really special about Astralab and how welcoming they are to everyone regardless of background and faith,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Shortly after opening, Astralab quickly started hosting a steady rotation of gatherings, drawing people from across Los Angeles and beyond. Some nights are quiet, with poetry readings or small group discussions, Lila said. Other nights spill into the courtyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe host regular bazaars where we open our courtyard, and there\u2019ll be 30, 40 creators and so many people, artists, musicians, healers \u2014 we have a \u2018Silk Road\u2019 type of space where people will come and put their creations \u2014 all sorts of different medicines and jewelry and things like that,\u201d Lila said.<\/p>\n
More than 200 artists, musicians and small business owners have participated through those events over the last two years, according to the founders. Astralab is sustained through event-based income and the bazaar, Lila said, but most paid events include sliding scale or free tickets for those who could not otherwise afford to attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776016399_685_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
For Fatmah Muhammad, Astralab is a home away from home.<\/p>\n
Misdaq can tell that people often visit carrying the weight of what\u2019s happening back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Iran being so prominent, people are coming in tears. We\u2019ve had a lot of grieving events where people can just come and just be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But \u201ca lot of dance happens here, a lot of celebration happens here. It\u2019s not all sad. In fact, it\u2019s mostly joyful, actually,\u201d Misdaq adds.<\/p>\n
‘A drop of solace’<\/p>\n
Parisa Nkoy, an Iranian-Congolese organizer, had been following Astralab online before visiting earlier this year. She has used the space to host workshops connecting struggles across the world, including Congo and Palestine.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, she led a teach-in on Congo, inviting Congolese organizers who do advocacy work for refugees and immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a little presentation and a workshop, and then we were able to connect to Palestine as well. It was a fundraiser as well to raise money that we donated to folks on the ground in Congo and I just don\u2019t know that I could have found another space that would have been as comfortable for me to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that that\u2019s super important and we need more of that, not less of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors say they haven\u2019t seen similar action taken against other tenants.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I know, no one else here has gotten something like this just randomly. I mean, most people will move out on their own accord if they can\u2019t pay rent. We\u2019ve only really had positive interactions with them,\u201d said Eric Gorvin, who runs a branding agency next door.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time they\u2019ve had an event, it\u2019s been really respectful people. It\u2019s always community-driven,\u201d he added. \u201cI didn\u2019t know much about that community until meeting them, and it\u2019s been really refreshing to have them around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The founders say they haven\u2019t been given a reason for the notice to vacate, but they believe it\u2019s due to their pro-Palestine stance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve basically been speaking a lot about the genocide in Palestine, and we\u2019ve used our platform to try and not shy away from that too much, but we also do a lot of other things besides that,\u201d Misdaq said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just had a Passover [seder] led by a Jewish mystic, and it\u2019s a testimony that we feel the world needs right now where there can be an alliance of all these different people,\u201d Lila said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can share the beauty of our uniqueness together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The founders said they invested most of their personal savings into creating Astralab and had only recently moved beyond breaking even. Lila said that milestone would have allowed them to begin offering new programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve become a home to so many people separated from their families during these wars, our space gives people a drop of solace while watching their homelands being bombed,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have to, we\u2019ll be nomadic, which is kind of appropriate maybe in some ways for our people. So maybe we\u2019ll take it on the road for a little while before we find a space if they do kick us out,\u201d Misdaq said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Astralab will host HAYAT, a Middle-Eastern\/Persian celebration of dance and music on April 18. More details can be found on their Instagram page, @astralab_la\u00a0<\/a>.<\/p>\n