Day of the Dead LA

The weekend of October 27 we (Kerry, Andrea and Kerry’s boyfriend, Mark) traveled to "loverly" Los Angeles to find artists and photograph the Day of the Dead festivities in the area. We are working on a book, Day of the Dead Crafts, that has a quickly approaching deadline. This trip was all-important in making the book a success and LA didn't let us down.

We arrived on Thursday night and turned the 25 minute drive to our hotel into an hour and a half tour of metro LA (humming theme to Gilligan’s Island). After some sushi and a couple of drinks all was well and we plotted our strategy for the Dia de Los Muertos weekend.

If you have never experienced a Day of the Dead celebration mark your calendar NOW! It is a must for anyone interested in crafts and fun. We will spare you all the details and share with you the highlights of our trip. First you’ve got to visit the best original folk-art store in Southern California, http://www.folktree.com/homepage.htm. For local color and many Day of the Dead happenings stop by Olvera Street, http://www.olvera-street.com/ and the street festival held on the 6th Street bridge in downtown LA. Both events have lots of great arts and crafts, food, music and terrific people watching.

The grand finale is the amazing celebration at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, www.ladayofthedead.com/. The cemetery opens to the public in the late afternoon with a procession. Scores of artists from all over the world have created Ofrendas (altars) along the palm-tree-lined streets of the cemetery. These Ofrendas are a visual feast. In addition artists have booths with Dia de Los Muertos crafts for sale. There are also two stages that feature traditional and nontraditional music and dance. Oh and the food is also terrific. People come decked out for the occasion and it goes on into the night. We came back to Denver amazed and craving more.