Photo Credit: the1point8 (mural by Cyrcle)
Echo Park music hub Bedrock.LA is closing forever, with its current building slated for demolition.
In October 2021, more than 100 rooms in the 40,000 square-foot complex were evacuated due to a building structure issue, with a promise to re-open in six months after the issues were fixed. The landlord, Echo Park One/The Standard Oil, subsequently decided not to make the necessary repairs in favor of the demolition of the building. It’s unknown when the building featuring the 12,000 square foot ‘Magic is Real’ mural (pictured) by the art collective Cyrcle is scheduled for demo.
“To say the least, we are devastated,” says Bedrock.LA. “Real estate developers consistently market arts culture to sell and rent properties in neighborhoods like Echo Park, only to simultaneously extinguish these very communities in favor of their bottom line.”
Bedrock.LA helped establish a new standard in multi-use music facilities that included hourly rehearsal, monthly lockouts, equipment repair, musical product retail, and recording studios. To its final day, Bedrock.LA continued to maintain a $10/hour rehearsal room, ensuring accessibility to emerging musicians.
On Saturday, December 17 from 12 pm to 6 pm, Bedrock.LA will be selling hundreds of drum kits, guitar amplifiers, keyboards, cables, and accessories from its historic inventory. The venue is also selling iconic merchandise like t-shirts on its official website. You can stop by the location 1623 Allesandro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 to purchase any of the equipment available for sale.
Bedrock.LA was founded by three musicians will the goal of providing a better creative environment for musicians. The 40,000-square foot space quickly became a one-stop shop for all things music and hosted over 2,500 working local and touring musicians per week in its rehearsal rooms, recording rooms, and more. It’s unfortunate that another iconic hub for live music will be bulldozed rather than renovated. The space was used to record Weird Al Yankovic’s Mandatory Fun album.