{"id":472641,"date":"2026-09-23T03:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472641\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T03:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:42:16","slug":"artists-show-love-for-their-neighborhood-at-the-frogtown-artwalk-annenberg-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472641\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists show love for their neighborhood at the Frogtown Artwalk \u2013 Annenberg Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the sun dipped behind the hills along the Los Angeles River, artists flung open their studio doors, and neighbors dragged lawn chairs to the curb for the 15th annual Frogtown Artwalk. For one night in Elysian Valley, Frogtown belonged to itself again.<\/p>\n

Frogtown is a small strip of land nestled between the Golden State Freeway and the Los Angeles River, named for the frogs that once lived on its grassy banks. While it\u2019s home to fewer frogs nowadays, it fosters a thriving community of artists through its biennial artwalk, which takes visitors into studios, workshops and a series of pop-up galleries hosted by businesses in Elysian Valley.<\/p>\n

Erica Goedef began painting local scenes in Silver Lake, \u201cthat were starting to get redeveloped,\u201d she said. She took her love for painting to Frogtown, hoping to capture its unique, yet fading beauty. From beloved dry cleaners and laundromats to the river itself, \u201cIt\u2019s a struggle as we find the compromise to change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"painting\"A painting of the LA River by Erica Goedef on display at the Frogtown Artwalk. The river and its surrounding neighborhood are recurring subjects for local artists, who document the area’s rapidly evolving landscape. (Photo by Kate North). <\/p>\n

Through the Frogtown Artwalk, \u201cpeople have recognized that the L.A. River is a river, and we should treat it as such and try to rehabilitate it into Mother Nature as opposed to concrete,\u201d said Goedef.<\/p>\n

Michelle Thomas draws on Frogtown\u2019s natural surroundings at her Silver Lake studio, Cobalt and Clay. \u201cI\u2019ll make mugs inspired by the L.A. River, or jellyfish inspired by the ocean here,\u201d she said, \u201cbut there\u2019s a central theme of just being able to escape reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Frogtown Artwalk provides a unique opportunity for artists to sell and showcase their work. The artwalk charges no booth fees for local artists, Thomas noted \u2014 unusual in Los Angeles. \u201cEveryone from all of the neighborhood comes out. Everyone is so kind. I always meet the funnest, quirkiest people. Last time I was here, there was like a guy taking his parakeets on a bike ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond ceramics and painting, the artwalk draws creators of all kinds. This year was Eryn Young\u2019s first at the Frogtown Artwalk. She is a rugmaker who was asked by the event organizers to do a live demonstration of her process. Without a doubt, she chose to work on a frog rug.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is fast fashion, fast everything. So it\u2019s really awesome to support other people who are, you know, keeping crafts alive,\u201d said Young. The Artwalk isn\u2019t just an event, it\u2019s an example of the way the neighborhood values its community.<\/p>\n

\"man\"Obed Sanchez, a floral designer from the San Fernando Valley, thoroughly examines a painting at an artist’s booth. Sanchez said he discovered the event on Instagram and was drawn to the artwalk’s strong sense of community involvement
\n(Photo by Kate North). <\/p>\n

Obed Sanchez came to Frogtown after seeing the Artwalk on Instagram. As a florist, Sanchez came searching for inspiration for his floral design studio. Compared to other art crawls he has attended around L.A., Artwalk \u201c involves the community a lot more,\u201d he said. \u201cI can see people were posted up outside their homes, so it seems like the community\u2019s very in on this, which is cool.<\/p>\n

Though Erica Goedef describes herself as a local, she\u2019s excited to see the crowd that the Artwalk draws. \u201cIt\u2019s great for people,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I start asking people, \u2018Where are you from?\u2019 They\u2019re not all local. They didn\u2019t know L.A. even had a river itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"banks\"Residents gather along the banks of the Los Angeles River in Elysian Valley, Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, for the 15th annual Frogtown artwalk. (Photo by Kate North) <\/p>\n

To her, the river is the beating heart of Frogtown, and the art that lines its banks is how the neighborhood keeps it alive. <\/p>\n

Goedef recalls Louis MacAdams, a poet, former local and one of Los Angeles\u2019 most passionate conservationists, who passed away in 2020. \u201cHe said, \u2018No, no, I kayaked in here. This is a treasure. We should start trying to rehabilitate it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Art alone may not be enough to save the river or Frogtown from the forces reshaping them both, but on a Saturday night in September, it comes close.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a special place,\u201d says Goedef, \u201cI don\u2019t want it to just turn into another commercial thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the sun dipped behind the hills along the Los Angeles River, artists flung open their studio doors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2308,1942,146023,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-472641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-art","tag-artwalk","tag-frogtown","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}