UPDATED: Carmageddon Deals and Events Around Town!

Batten down the hatches! Carmageddon is nigh! Los Angeles will be paralyzed for 53 dreadful hours as the 405 freeway is shut down from the 10 to the 101 this weekend. The sky will turn red as fire descends on this fair burg and judgment is doled out to those who dare trek to the Westside!

And in honor of this special occasion, many establishments are offerings deals for citizens looking to wile away their immobile weekend. After the jump, a revised list of deals and events around Los Angeles, with the new stuff in red.

Enjoy!

The GET UP (Sunday Brunch Throw Down)

If Carmageddon leaves you with a hangover, soothe it away with some Sunday brunch. Join the hipsters (and possibly me) in Silver Lake for The Get Up, which is “an indoor/outdoor ‘Mega-Brunch’ party that will ensure all you hip Los Angelenos enjoy your Sunday to the fullest.” There will be specialty cocktails at the event, and guess what? Food trucks too! (It wouldn’t be a Carmegeddon event without them) Along with your booze and grub, there’ll be plenty of music from a variety of bands and DJs: THEM JEANS (Dim Mak), SAMO SOUND BOY (Trouble And Bass), RICARDO CARLOS (Shake the Hand), RIGHTEOUS TRASH (Alliance), SMILES DAVIS, SUPER TALL PAUL. Don’t worry. I don’t know who they are either, but that’s part of the fun, right?

In terms of eats, the Get Up will feature food from the Border Grill Truck, Frysmith, Buttermilk, and Coolhaus. Plus, photography from Shake the Hand, painting by Lizzy Layne, and vendors such as Bowjie, the bow line by Sita Young of Housewife Hoedown!

The event goes from 11 AM to 5 PM. $10 admission / $5 with advance RSVP at thegetupla.com. FREE before noon!

Medusa Lounge
3211 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

LA Street Food Fest

How wonderful for all the food festivals to happen on CARMAGEDDON. No worries though. LA Street Food Fest takes place at the Rose Bowl, which means you can take the Gold Line to the Memorial Park Station in Old Town Pasadena and hop on a free shuttle to the event. Here’s what you can expect:

* Sample signature bites from a curated selection of more than 75 of the city’s best street food carts, stands, chefs and trucks

* Sip a cold beer in one of TWO Singha beer gardens featuring for the first time in the US – Singha cans and coozies.

* Chill with signature Sailor Jerry Rum, Leblon Cachaça and Camarena Tequila cocktails at one of the bars.

* Sample and learn about more than a dozen top shelf tequila and mezcal labels in the Tequila Tent.

* Find your inner foodie child at the Ice Cream Social featuring the city’s best frozen treats like CoolHaus, Bulgarini, Longboards and a sneak preview of Mother Moo Creamery.

* Enjoy tunes from DJ Bryan Davidson, live demos from Test Kitchen and Top Chefs, and family friendly activities like face painting for the kids.

* Strike a pose at the Oh! Snap photo booth or get a shot with your favorite chef.

* Cast a vote for your favorite bite with a People’s Choice Award in the Street Food Cook-Off led by Food & Wine’s Best New Chef, Ricardo Zarate.

There are two sessions: from 2 PM to 5 PM (all ages) or from 6 PM to 9 PM (21+). Saturday only. Admission for each session is $60, which is all inclusive. Seems a bit steep for only a three hour window, but luckily, if you want to go cheaper, you can opt for the following events, which I’ve already posted about:

ColLAboration’s July pop-up craft beer garden series

Everyone loves a biergarten, and Los Angeles is finally catching on to what Germany has known all along: communal drinking is fun! Well, on July 16th, Sunset Strip denizens will get their very own “beer garden” featuring various brands from local brewers and beyond. In fact, here’s a partial list:

Bruery, Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, Russian River, Rogue, Beer Valley, Craftsman, Green Flash, Moylan’s, Maui, Avery, Alesmith, New Belgium, Dogfish Head, Port/Los Abbey, Eagle Rock, Hangar 24, Oskar Blues, Grand Teton, Uinta, Unibroue and many more to be announced in the days leading up to the events.

The action is all going down at 8950 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 from noon to 9pm.

Admission is $10 (comes with a glass).

http://www.collaboration.la/

This event will also be happening the week prior on July 9th, and the week after on July 23rd. The latter date will include a tribute to Belgiam and specialty glasses for $15 (your $10 glasses from the previous two weeks will work for admission as well).

Eat Real Festival

This one will be super cool. The Eat Real Festival started up in Oakland and has now made its way down to Culver City, CA. The event will feature many local vendors as well as a variety of food activities that look super cool. Best of all, it’s free! Well, the food isn’t free, but admission is. Here are some highlights:

· A kraut-a-thon from Ernie Miller’s Master Preserver Class – the first class in 10 years
· Chickens in the City – meet the Dare2Dream chicken farmers, learn how to build coops and tend to urban chickens
· Growing food in small places with “Life on the Balcony’s” Fern Richardson
· Goat Cheese making with goats from Soledad Farms
· Tomato sauce making with KCRW “Good Food’s” Evan Kleiman
· Pretzel making with Aida Mollenkamp
· Solar cooking
· Pantry cook-offs from LA Top Chef former contestants and other local chefs
· Cookbook swap all day on Sunday
· Kimchi for All class with Lauryn Chun (of Mother in Law’s Kimchi)
· Foraging in Southern California – Learn some of the wild and abundant food that grows in SoCal
· Urban bee keeping demo and installations
· Beer and Wine gardens
· A community oven for freshly baked bread
· Multiple garden installations and tours for small and large living spaces
· “The Future of Food Writing” panel at Room & Board moderated by OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano with noted LA food writers & bloggers:
o Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times
o Amy Scattergood, LA Weekly “Squid Ink”
o Eddie Lin, Deep End Dining blog
o Hazel Quimpo, Yelp

Plus — and this is very state fair-y — food competitions! Here are the categories:
o Canned Heat – Salsas or spicy condiments
o Sweet Spread – Jams, jelly, conserves, and syrups.
o Puttin’ It Up – All things pickles, chutneys and relishes
o Breads – Bake ‘em if you’ve got ‘em

Some of the vendors present will be:
o Coolhaus
o Flying Pig
o Nom Nom
o Komodo
o Vizzi
o Global Soul
o The Hungry Nomad
o Slap Fish
o Mothercluck
o Lindy and Grundy
o Shortnin’ Bread
o Crème Caramel LA
o Pop-ups from: Santa Monica FM and Hollywood Farmers Kitchen

The event will take place on both Saturday and Sunday of Carmageddon (the 16th and 17th) from 10:30 AM to 9:30 PM at 8800 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90034
http://www.eatrealfestival.com/

Restaurant deals

Santa Monica:
Xino:
Dishes for $5. Crab Rangoon, Chili Glazed Pork Spare Riblets, Seafood Spinach, Shrimp, and Mushroom Dumplings, Crispy Chili Calamari, and more. 395 Santa Monica Place Suite 308, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Drago Santa Monica:
20% off the entire bill (excluding tax and gratuity) with mention of the code “Car-mageddon” when placing your reservation. Offer is valid Friday, July 15 – Sunday, July 17 for dinner only (not valid with any other offers; management reserves all rights). 2628 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403

Wilshire:
From July 16-18 the restaurant will offer a four-course “405 Sig Alert” dinner for $40.05 per person. Dish choices include a miso black cod with tamarind glaze, braised short rib with glazed cipollini onion, truffled half chicken with sweet onion potato puree, and panko-crusted tofu. 2454 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403

Culver City

Rush Street:
From their press release: “For those who can’t bear the thought of a beach-less summer weekend, Rush Street will bring the beach to you. Enjoy a seafood clambake downstairs or sip on summer drink specials at the “Carmageddon Beach Party” taking place in the sand-filled patio upstairs on Friday and Saturday. Rush Street’s staff will be decked out in beach attire and welcomes you to do the same. Forget all about all your (freeway) troubles Saturday and Sunday at the “F-the-405” Beach Brunch with $20 bottomless Bloody Mary Bar and Endless Mimosas.” 9546 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232

Downtown:

Drago Centro:
4 samples for $5 gelato sampler, featuring flavors such as salted caramel and tomato gelato. (Gelato flavors are subject to change by day.) 525 S Flower St. Suite 120, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Pasadena:

Yujean Kang’s
Chef Yujean Kang is celebrating Car-mageddon by offering his special $20 “Sunday” sino supper all weekend long—July 16-18. 67 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103

Vertical
Vertical will be offering 4 for $5 beer and wine flights. Beers hail from Morretti, Italy: “Hitachino Rice Ale”: Ibaraki, Japan: Rice Beer; “Barbar”: Quenast, Belgium: Honey Ale; “Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen”: Bamberg, Germany: Smokebeer. And wines from South America: 2009 Filus Torrontes Argentina; 2009 Terra Noble Cabernet Sauvignon Chili; 2008 La Flor Malbec, Argentina; 2008 Santa Carolina: Carmenere, Chili. 70 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103

Studio City:

Raphael:
Car-mageddon Creations: Chilled Karma tequila with a salty lime foam served with bitter orange sangrita, and Nolet Gin with muddled cucumbers and house made limoncello (I’ve had the limoncello, and it’s awesome). 11616 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

Entertainment

Nuart and Regent Theatres:
Patrons of Landmark’s Regent and Nuart Theatres (in Westwood and West LA, respectively) will receive free popcorn in honor of Carmageddon! Of course, this means you’ll have to travel perilously close to the 405 to reach these movie houses, but hey… free popcorn! Landmark’s Nuart Theatre , 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of the 405 Freeway, in West Los Angeles / Landmark’s Regent Theatre, 1045 Broxton Avenue (between Weyburn & Kinross) in Westwood.

Lodging

Terranea Resort
If you’re stuck all the way down in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Terranea Resort is imploring you to stay away from the highway and instead relax with a “405 Freedom Room Package.” The package allows guests who book a resort stay on Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16 to add additional room nights on July 13-14 and/or July 17-20 for 40.5% (get it?) off the published rate. Reservations can be made at www.terranea.com or by calling 866-802-8000. Mention code 405FWY. 100 Terranea Way
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275