Tours
REGULAR TOURS ARE ON HOLD DURING THE PANDEMIC CRISIS:
NOTE: Reservations required: 213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org
Tour only: $10 (self-selected sliding scale ok; cash or checks made out to “CRSP” accepted at the door)
Saturday, March 21, 2020 from 10:30am to 1pm CANCELLED
Sunday, March 29, 2020 from 10:30amto 1pm CANCELLED
Sunday, April 12, 2020 from 10:30am to 1pm (Easter Sunday) CANCELLED
Sunday, April 26, 2020 from 10:30am to 1pm – CANCELLED
Date or Time Changes: Do check back regularly because sometimes these dates and times change. If you make a reservation and the date or time changes, we will also notify you.
Sometimes, a vegan or veggie lunch is provided if there is at least 10 lunch reservations two days prior to the tour. Let us know your interest. Veggie or vegan lunch: $15. Tour and lunch: $25 per person (no sliding scale on combination tour and lunch).
We will email you a tour confirmation a day or two before the tour, and let you know if we can confirm any lunch reservations.
You are also welcome to bring a brown bag and join the lunch discussion after the walking tour, or continue dialogue at one of the nearby inexpensive restaurants.
- RESERVATIONS REQUIRED*: crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254. Please include your phone number and zip code, and a note if you are requesting a lunch reservation.
- Special Tours can be arranged by appointment. Minimum charge is $50 or $10 per person, whichever is more. Special tours that include lunch can be arranged for $25 per person.
- Location: Tour starts at 117 Bimini Place in L.A. Eco-Village, Los Angeles 90004
(On google maps or see directions page). - PLEASE NOTE:
– Please do not bring your pets on the tour. We love dogs and cats but do not allow them on our main property.The tour covers the following:
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- Introductions and interests among members of tour group.
- History and context for the L.A. Eco-Village
- Definition of an ecovillage and our place in the international movement for more sustainable communities.
- Walking tour to observe actual conditions, actual and planned changes to the neighborhood as well as visionary possibilities.
- On-going questions and answers throughout the tour with Eco-Village guide(s).
- Problems and progress in healthy development of an intentional community.
- What you need to know if you are considering entering a process with us or starting ecovillage processes in your own neighborhood.
- * For “what else you will see and hear about on the tour,” scroll toward bottom of this page.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS, PLAN TO STAY FOR THE “AFTER-TOUR” DIALOG FOR ANOTHER HOUR OR SO.
o Introduction to Permaculture concepts.
o The Ecological Systems of L.A. Eco-Village: water, energy, wastes, housing retrofits, transportation, food production, land use.
- The Economic Systems of L.A. Eco-Village: Urban Soil/Tierra Urbana Limited Equity Housing Cooperative, Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, Ecological Revolving Loan Fund, Arroyo Seco Network of Time Banks, Green Business Development.
- Our membership process.
- The Social Systems of L.A. Eco-Village: meeting processes, committees, communications, decision making, conflict, education and training, community meals, work parties, housekeeping, children, art, social activities.
- Working with the Public Sector: Housing Department, Neighborhood Councils, School District, Council Office, Mayor’s Office, Health Department, Congressional Office.
Let us know of your particular interests.
If you have already been on a tour, you are welcome to attend the “after-tour” dialog starting at 1pm on any regular tour day at no charge. Let us know if you are planning to attend.
SOME GROUPS THAT HAVE TOURED L.A. ECO-VILLAGE
Colleges and Universities
– Antioch University, Masters Program in Urban Sustainability
– Azusa-Pacific Student groups
– Cal Poly Pomona Architecture class
– Cl Poly Pomona School of Landscape Architecture
– Cal Poly Pomona Lyle Center Green Team
– Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 4th year Architecture class
– Emerson College Environmental Urbanism class’
– Free School of Architecture
– Golden West College class on culture and zero waste
– Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) – Japanese student group
– Institute for Postmodern Development of China (IPDC) at Claremont
– Loyola-Marymount Womens’ Studies class
– Loyola-Marymount Student Sustainability Group
– Montreal Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre urbanisation, culture et société
– Mira Costa College
– Occidental College: Urban & Environmental Policy Institute
– Princeton Architectural Field Trip class
– Santa Monica College – Sustainability Systems & Technology
– Soka University
– UCLA Faculty in Residence
– UCLA class on Social Sustainability
– UCLA School of Landscape Architecture
– UCLA Sustainable Community class
– UC Irvine Environmental Health & Sustainability Alternative Break Group
– USC Impact group
– Vancouver University, Environmental Aesthetics class
– Woodbury College, Dept. of Marketing
Public Sector Tours
– City of Burbank staff
– City of Los Angeles Planning Dept. staff
– Council General of Thailand and staff
– National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
– Rampart Village Neighborhood Council
– Taiwan EPA staff
– U.S. State Dept. Sister City Youth Ambassadors
K-12 Schools
– Armenian Sisters Academy Middle School, Montrose
– Camino Nuevo charter high school
– Camino Nuevo charter middle school
– Flintridge Preparatory
– Frank del Olmo 4th grade kids
– Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) — MEMS High School students from Japan
– King Middle School kids
– Hale Charter Academy
– Oakwood school
– Port of Los Angeles High School Charter
– South High School charter AP Environmental Science class
– Virgil Middle School
– West High School, English and TV Production class
Organizational Tours
– Alexandria House
– American Planning Association, Calif.
– Bresee Youth
– BuroHappold Engineering
– Camp Balboa Harbonam Dror
– Camp Helping Hands
– Christian Community Development Association
– Community Corporation of Santa Monica
– Echo Park Time Bank
– Girl Scouts, So. Pasadena
– Harbonim Youth
– IKOR Group
– Institute for Post Modern Development of China at Claremont
– Japanese student tour from Tokyo
– LATCH Collective (Los Angeles Tiny Co-Building Haven)
– Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, SoCal Leadership Network
– Making Housing Happen
– Mount Hollywood Congregational Church – garden
– National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
– Neighborhood Youth Alliance
– On the Move Riders Club
– Perkins & Will Architects
– PSJM (Canary Islands Performance Group)
– Rampart Village Neighborhood Council
– Silverlake TimeBank
– Sustainable Living Tour
– Thai Trade Commission
– Turning Points Foundation
– TWG Architects Inc.
– US-China Business Training Center
– Verde Concepts

On the Move Riders Club Tour Jan. 2018
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*WHAT YOU WILL SEE OR HEAR ABOUT ON THE LOS ANGELES ECO-VILLAGE TOUR
The LAEV neighborhood consists of the two blocks of Bimini and White House Place in the north end of the Wilshire Center/Koreatown area of Los Angeles, about three miles west of downtown LA. LAEV is a place name.
The LAEV Intentional Community consists of approximately 40 persons who have moved to the LAEV neighborhood intending to demonstrate more ecological and cooperative living patterns: socially, economically and ecologically. We’re about reinventing how we live in the city in ways that can expand public options for a higher quality of life at a much lower environmental impact. Here is a sampling of how we’re doing it so far:
SOCIALLY
- Weekly community meetings where decisions are made by consensus, along with many standing and ad hoc committees
- Shared meals one or two times each week attended by 15 to 25 members.
- Celebrations of holidays, birthdays, equinoxes and solstices
- Shared art projects
- Community work parties
- Conflict resolution team that mediates conflicts, as needed
- On-going public education, training and outreach activities to expand public awareness about sustainable urban living patterns via the internet, public talks, fairs, conferences and the media
ECOLOGICALLY
- Permaculture approach to land use, demonstrating the integration of social, economic and ecological systems
- Grey water systems
- Solar energy and water systems
- Developing and caring for gardens and orchards
- Beekeeping and chickens (we don’t eat them)
- Primarily human transport via bikes rather than cars
- Composting of kitchen and green wastes
- Organic vegetable gardens and orchards
- Energy and water conservation consciousness and practices
- Radically reducing conventional consumption patterns by sharing and exchanging material possessions
- Emphasis on use of local, recycled, least polluting, least toxic building materials
- Development of multi-school learning garden on northeast corner of Bimini and White House Place
ECONOMICALLY
- Development of the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust for stewarding land in the neighborhood, currently owns land under three multi-family buildings.
- Development of the Urban Soil/Tierra Urbana limited equity housing cooperative, whose members own two adjacent multi-family apartment buildings consisting of 45 units of permanently affordable housing
- Development of a local produce and bulk foods cooperative known as the Food Lobby
- Development of ecological revolving loan fund for green business development and land and building acquisitions and retrofitting within the Los Angeles Eco-Village
- Incubating of small businesses: the original Bicycle Kitchen, Cafecito Organico (now has five cafes), Relampago Wheelery (battery free lighting for bicycles), Tool Shoppe, art and sewing studios
- Providing a fiscal umbrella for the Arroyo SECO Network of Time Banks (now its own nonprofit organization), LAEV Family Childcare Center, the Food Lobby co-op.
- Training of LAEV residents in building management and building trade skills
- North corner at Bimini/W.First Street of auto shop and café property we are transforming into mixed use, car-free, permanently affordable co-op oriented businesses and eco-co-op hostel.