Poketo » Los Angeles

Go BIG…

Poketo — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:03:36 +0000

The other day, I decided to put giant POKETO letters in the storefront window of the new Poketo store (soon to be open). Every once in a while I’ve been mixing it up with some fun little dinosaurs and rearranging a bit. Go check it out, 820 E. Third Street, Los Angeles… next to Wurstkuche and Apolis Activism. If you are there, post it on Instagram or Facebook… we’ll be doing some fun giveaways for posts we see!

Art, all of the time…

Poketo — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:00:36 +0000

A stroll around the Arts District, new art happening, endlessly it seems…

Poketo crew, Joe and Charlie…

LA goodness…

Poketo — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:00:08 +0000

Hanging with our friend, Nayoung, owner of Proof Bakery in Atwater Village. This bakery is blowing up. In the quick chat we had with Nayoung, every single customer that came through knew her by name and she in turn knew each one… there is no doubt as to why her bakery is so successful. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s a must go… not only because it’s a very friendly neighborhood spot, but, they have the best almond croissants among many, many other delicious treats. They also serve Handsome Coffee, which you know we are huge fans of.

Then, from Atwater to Highland Park, a quick meeting with our friends Kagan and Justin of the Knowhow Shop LA. These architects have opened up a design studio and custom fabrication shop in a cool little residential strip of Highland Park. We are brainstorming store signage for the new Poketo retail store! Can’t wait! In the meantime, check out all of their projects at knowhowshopla.tumblr.com.

That cat’s out of the bag… LA I’m Yours has got the scoop…

Poketo — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:00:42 +0000

If you haven’t heard yet, we’re opening up Poketo’s first brick and mortar retail shop here in the Arts District of Downtown LA! This has been a dream forever, we are super excited, and will be posting more as things develop. But, we gave Kyle and Bobby of LAimyours.com and thefoxisblack.com the scoop on the construction and plans. Kyle of LAIY did an interview with us, check it out here… and stay tuned for the BIG party… hopefully by early Summer!

Poketo’s new retail and gallery will be at 820 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013… Right next to Apolis Activism, Wurstkuche, Pie Hole and all the fun stuff in the Arts District.

There have been some funny instances along the way too… like, Joe Poketo here trying to chase a bird out of the space with a handmade bird catcher. I felt like I was in an episode of Survivor or something…

Love this shot of Charlie Poketo here going through details of the buildout with our GC Matt Cole…

And here is the design/build/GC… man who can do it all, Matt Cole of Delta… going through the plans and checking things off his list.

Golden years of public transport…

Poketo — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:32 +0000

LA is heading into a boom time for public transport… or so I hope. The opening of the Metro Blue Line this weekend was a good step. It got us East (Downtown LA) to West (Culver City) without a car and with ease. Actually, we biked From Echo Park to Downtown LA, hopped on the Metro and got off at Culver City’s Syd Kronenthal Park. It’s at the park entrance that the dedicated Ballona Creek Bike Trail begins. From there, it’s a totally open, car free ride straight to the ocean. It was pretty amazing getting to the beach without the car.

Blue line will eventually extend all the way to Santa Monica, plans are to have that completed by around 2015.

Extremely helpful and friendly Metro staff made sure we got where we were going.

We had heard some good things about Pinche’s Tacos in Culver City, so, we stopped in for their goodness. It was pretty darn good.

… and finally… the beach. Aaaahhhhh.

It’s in the Arts District LA: District Millworks…

Poketo — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:35:32 +0000

This is one of the many upcoming profiles of our neighbors in the Arts District of LA. It’s an area of Downtown LA that has seen a huge explosion of growth recently. Residents, creative business’, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs have been moving into this once sleepy district. Everyone living and working here are naturally bonded, there is a strong sense of ownership, a sense of looking out for each other and supporting each other here to make sure our community thrives. Once an area that was mostly manufacturing and warehousing, it’s now a mix of artist studios, restaurants, coffee roasters, bars, cafes, boutiques, lofts and a renowned architecture school. We are seeing it grow and it’s nothing but exciting.

Poketo has been operating from a loft here since 2007, right before many of the current business’ moved in, right around the time change was happening…and if you may or may not have noticed on our Instagram, Poketo will be opening its first brick and mortar right here in the heart of it all. But, more on that later.

This is Jeremy of District Millworks. He runs a custom fabrication shop here in the Arts District, specializing in acquiring and breathing new life to reclaimed wood from across the country. Whether it’s wood from railroad depots in Alabama, old barn siding, bowling lanes in Nebraska, or old homes that no longer have a life… that wood ends up here at District Millworks. It’s right here in this seemingly cavernous, endless warehouse that he and his team design furniture and objects for homes, retail, restaurants, and commercial properties. Their latest endeavor, that newly opened, much talked about UMAMIcatessen in Downtown LA.

We got a rad tour of District Millworks… or rather, we ended up walking aimlessly and getting lost in the myriad of rooms in this huge space.

A view into the open sky courtyard…

We stumbled into areas most people won’t see. If you do go and visit (and you should), you’ll walk through their storefront showroom and will be instantly surrounded by beautiful, handcrafted furniture, tables, beds, and even a playful swing hung from 20 + foot tall ceilings. District Millworks designs and fabricates all their pieces here. You can pick what you like from their showroom, or you can come in with an idea… they’ll help you envision it… they’ll make it come to life.

More at DistrictMillworks.com.

It’s happening in the Arts District…

Poketo — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:16 +0000

For real, vibrant, decaying, colorful, different, beautiful, growing, forever, ever changing… here in The Arts District.

Our talk at Otis College of Art and Design…

Poketo — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:00:23 +0000

We got an invitation from our friend and designer, Tanya Aguiniga to give a talk to her class at Otis College of Art and Design. We’ve worked with a handful of artists from Otis and have had many interns coming from this school who just rock our worlds. It was an honor to finally visit the campus and meet the students face to face.

Aftwards, we took a little tour of the industrial design and fashion departments. Always an inspiration to be immersed in student life…

The gentleman here was showing us one of his works in progress.

Angie checking out a bag exhibition.