Revelations Listen closely. DJ, producer, and owner of De La Playa Records Eusébio Akasa wants to tell you a story. “That’s what a DJ really offers, is being able to blend and mix songs and kind of tell a story with it,” Akasa explained. “My favorite part of DJing is bringing a wide array of sounds over time periods and landscapes and bringing it all into one and having it play like one long song. I want people to learn, I want each person to walk away with something.” Akasa hopes to offer his listeners what he calls “revelations,” those moments when people discover new music and hear connectors to music they've already enjoyed. The Los Angeles native has...
A bit of you in the product When you hand make every article of clothing that carries your name like L.A.-based Garments for No One, it’s natural to feel like a little bit of you goes into each piece. For Creative Director Dennis Lopez, each piece is personal and honest. Although he grew up in the streetwear culture that brands like Supreme dominate, now that Lopez is in his thirties, he didn’t feel like they were for him anymore. “I still wanted to dress fresh, you know, and so I decided to try to start making stuff that I could wear,” Lopez recalled. When Lopez was growing up, he claims the streetwear brands he supported were relatively inexpensive. Their rising...
A Place for us As an L.A. girl, Noelle Reyes has used all the influences growing up in a culturally rich and diverse community as inspiration to guide her lifestyle apparel brand Mi Vida. And chances are, if you’re an Angelino, you’ll immediately be inspired by Reyes and Mi Vida’s extensive offerings of Latino culture-inspired art and fashion. Inspiration has steered Reyes well for 13 years, as Mi Vida has grown from being a vendor operation to a brick-and-mortar location in South Pasadena, to the shop’s current incarnation as a thriving online store and cultural hub in Highland Park. Reyes’ long-term goal for Mi Vida to be an established community space with longevity, not to mention the opportunity to build...
“Create your own sound, Write your own story” The soundtrack to the first moments of Oishi Barrio will be DJ’ed by community music historian and “Chicano Soul: Recordings and History of an American Culture” author Ruben Molina. Molina’s book, released in 2007, is the first-ever in-depth exploration of the rhythm and blues and soul music released by Chicano bands in the 1950s and ’60s. It is also pivotal in understanding the diverse array of influences on the genre, real or imagined. It is now considered one of the most important works on Latinx music and culture released, being referenced everywhere from NPR to being used in numerous schools as an essential guide into the history, evolution, and tragically forgotten Latinx...
Love Yourself Deeply Liz Garibaldi never could have guessed when she quit her job in the Summer of 2017, that her clothing brand La Sirena would be prospering three years later. The 33-year-old has made it her mission to spread the message of self-love on her shirts and sweaters, because “Tees are for everyone.” She never would have gotten there if she hadn’t loved herself and followed her passion first, however. Garibaldi knew that the leap of faith was necessary because she wasn’t happy or fulfilled in her nursing role. She knew that she wanted to help people, but didn’t think it was the right place for her to do so. “I didn’t want to make money off of people...
