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[JessyLou22]

I find my self a lost young artist in a lonely studio apartment in korea town, l.a.  And i'm watching that youtube documentary on the Cloud Club in Boston.  What an amazing place, if only i could find a place like that, i could learn and grow, expand, collaborate, and create all kinds of new art.

And the rent would be cheep.

But this is l.a. isn't it? everything is here.  There must be something similar, does anyone know how to go about finding a place like this?  I've searched through the internet, found nothing... but i'm not that great of a googler...

[Kenny Wisdom]

I find my self a lost young artist in a lonely studio apartment in korea town, l.a.  And i'm watching that youtube documentary on the Cloud Club in Boston.  What an amazing place, if only i could find a place like that, i could learn and grow, expand, collaborate, and create all kinds of new art.

And the rent would be cheep.

But this is l.a. isn't it? everything is here.  There must be something similar, does anyone know how to go about finding a place like this?  I've searched through the internet, found nothing... but i'm not that great of a googler...

You won't find it and doubtful too that you'd just be able to knock on the door and find it that way either. It doesn't work like that.

It's about people though, of that I'm sure. People who have committed themselves to taking a risk and the possibility of a fall. What I mean is...

Don't try googling it. That's relying on the safety of your current sanctuary whilst still clinging onto the notion that a few wrist strokes will have you hooked up into some kind of arty bohemian mythical Xanadu, (without the risk).

Take the risk and make your own. Squat. Take over the downtown boarded up coffee shop, or whatever. Find people like you. Create a buzz. Take your art onto the street. Don't ask for money. Ask for kindred spirit. Tell 'em what you're doing. Get them to commit. If they don't commit, smile, look them in the eye and tell them, "Not this time, sweet pea, but see you around..." wink, and leave. They're not for you. You don't have time for sentiment. You're on a mission. You need an army, some Generals behind you, not plebs. The easel is your battlefield and performance is your gun. Make it happen, the time for revolution is now.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.


Or if that seems like too much trouble, wait a few years until you're ready.

For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

[JessyLou22]

it is something like that though.  I wonder through places like Veince alone (so many people but such a lonely city...) and i see all the artists, there all there, walking around, painting on the street, selling stuff in stores.  I don't know how to approach  them.  I guess back home people just always approached me, because in my little pond i was the cool fish everyone wanted to know.  Now in the ocean of Los Angeles i feel lost, i'm a mino no one cars about.... also, my rent is getting too expensive and my neighbors hate my late night ukulele playing.


There just has to be a house or a place, or a group or something like the Cloud Club in L.A.  In fact i'm sure there are plenty.


Its finding them.  I know google isn't going to help me, i hoped it would.  But sadly the revolution does not seem to be pod cast...  I need to find an underground heart beat to tune my rhythm too, but i just can't hear it.

Any advice?

[CeeGBee]

Open yourself to the sense of the place.

If the place is willing, you will find it.  If it could be found simply by searching, it wouldn't
be the place you seek.

Think of it like the Grail, or Tanelorn, or (as The Esteemed Gentleman above so astutely
mentioned) Xanadu...  or Brigadoon. 

[mitrepeak]

Network with as many people as you can, and get to know artists or people with similar morals, thoughts or whatever. It's doubtful you'll find a place and just move in - I think it's one of those things like 'who you know', because you'll surround one another, and I think you'll have to be trusted or whatevs for them to let you in.

As for approaching people.. well, guess you should just think of how you'd like to be approached. Also, if you want it bad enough you'll be able to do it.  Good luck!

[Domestibot]

I used to lived in LA for a period of university, and the city didn't actually do much for me.  I mean, don't get me wrong, it's the place to be for many since the whole city just reaks of opportunity, but as an artist, I found myself getting crushed there.  LA was a big city of broken dreams, and I felt the city had its own wave length apart from the rest of the world. 

I hope you do find some place like the cloud club out there.  Here in Canada, things seem much more chill... I've toyed with the idea of starting some kind of artsy collective that focuses on making projects just for the sake of their own boredom.  When I'm older, I'd love to turn a whole house into a giant cafe that employs only artists... half the people on duty would serve customers, and the other half would be painting, drawing, doing pottery, singing.... whatever their art is.  It could be one of those cafes that doubles as a place to sell art, and would get my employees out there in the world... aaaaah, dreams are nice. 

[CeeGBee]

I used to lived in LA for a period of university, and the city didn't actually do much for me.  I mean, don't get me wrong, it's the place to be for many since the whole city just reaks of opportunity, but as an artist, I found myself getting crushed there.  LA was a big city of broken dreams, and I felt the city had its own wave length apart from the rest of the world. 

Correct me if I've got this wrong, but the perception I have of the difference between arts
in LA and just about anywhere else is this:

At some level, any artist wants  his/her  art to be recognized  and  praised (including the praise that
comes from having some people absolutely loathe it), and with a few exceptions, (people I like to call
"pretentious idiots who believe their own BS") to make shloads of dollahs...

In LA, the art is produced (MGM logo notwithstanding) with the intent of reaching huge audiences.
Failure to do so is failure-period.  Even if you're making "artsy movies" that won't ever create huge
revenue streams, you want a whole lot of people to see them and to say artsy things about them.

The sort of artists one might find in a Cloud Club setting would probably love to have those shloads
of dollahs, but if they can keep the lights on and food on the table, while retaining the time and the
resources (not just physical resources, but passion and attention-span) to do justice to their art,
they'll feel, at some level, successful... Further, the sort of art they conceive may not be aimed at
a large audience, or even comprehensible to the 'average consumer', and that would be ok. 

No?

[Domestibot]

Pretty spot on, CeeGBee.  LA is the place that makes art into a business. 

[JessyLou22]

Pretty spot on, CeeGBee.  LA is the place that makes art into a business. 

i know its sad....


but hey, shepherd fairly painted something around the corner from my apartment... so i feel a little cool...


I've been in l.a. for a year now.  All the near misses of making connections are piling up.  I have a deep love for this city, the beach, the hills, all the amazing places.  But i just can't find anyone.  Witch seems to be a common problem.  I don't understand how a city can be full of lonely people.  Shouldn't all the lonely people just be with each other?  Its like we are all stuck in our own little boxes.  Everyones ready to pass out a call card, or have a friendly conversation, but no relationships are ever formed.  Everything is business.

I think i'm wilting here... but i love the sunshine.  If that makes sense...

[Domestibot]

I feel for you... I think LA will always have a place in my heart because it is somewhat magical in its own way. 

and I remember this one time when it did rain there, and people were pathetically seeking shelter under store fronts, while I was just so deliriously giddy at something DIFFERENT that wasn't predictable SUNSHINE, that I was running through the streets and puddles like a maniac. 

Wilting is a rather good word to describe how I felt there as well, and everyone pretty much is lonely there.  I think more so than most big cities.  Everyone's just trying to be something huge. 

[Briar La Boheme]

I don't have anything constructive to add, really, except that living somewhere like the Cloud Club is basically my dream in life. So good luck, I hope you find something.

For me, it's going to start with a musicians and artists flat when I get home, probably. And I'll go from there.

[buttercup.]

I'm building my own. But in Northern CA, and more of a back to the land than a cloud club. That's my dream anyway. It'll be all artsy, farming, hippie people.

[imaginary friend]

I'm building my own. But in Northern CA, and more of a back to the land than a cloud club. That's my dream anyway. It'll be all artsy, farming, hippie people.

this is the best answer.

#@!

[J_Beck]

I'm building my own. But in Northern CA, and more of a back to the land than a cloud club. That's my dream anyway. It'll be all artsy, farming, hippie people.

You are about 40 years late on that one....but I'm sure theres lots of documentation about all their problems now

[JessyLou22]

I'm building my own. But in Northern CA, and more of a back to the land than a cloud club. That's my dream anyway. It'll be all artsy, farming, hippie people.

You are about 40 years late on that one....but I'm sure theres lots of documentation about all their problems now

its never too late to be a hippy farming person.

i'm so in.

[tonic pancake.]

start your own!  get a group together and buy a house and make your own.
(anyone remember the days of talk of a shadowbox'ers house?!)
things like the cloud club have to start somewhere.  in today's economy (god i hate that phrase) you just may have to win the lottery first, though.

[CeeGBee]

start your own!  get a group together and buy a house and make your own.

...tell the new neighbors it's a group home.   

[lentower]

buy a house and rent rooms to artists

check craigslist for apartment shares with artists

[Paul Jon]

I've been in l.a. for a year now.  All the near misses of making connections are piling up.  I have a deep love for this city, the beach, the hills, all the amazing places.  But i just can't find anyone.  Witch seems to be a common problem.  I don't understand how a city can be full of lonely people.  Shouldn't all the lonely people just be with each other?  Its like we are all stuck in our own little boxes.  Everyones ready to pass out a call card, or have a friendly conversation, but no relationships are ever formed.  Everything is business.

This sounds like it should be the opening of a novel, or at least the voiceover at the start of a film noir movie...