The other day we asked WTF is with that new wall sticking out from the restaurant and retail space at Sunset Junction, and we learned it's an expansion of Café Stella that will feature a full bar for all your drinking needs. But that doesn't mean locals, and frequent visitors to Silver Lake alike, will actually like the wall. more ›

If you've been along Sunset Boulevard in the well-known area of Sunset Junction, you might have noticed a few strange changes at the intersection. In case you were wondering WTF is happening with the Sunset Junction sign, and why on earth there's a concrete block wall up on the corner, the Eastsider LA has provided some much-needed answers. more ›

One of the founders of Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance is firing back at a piece by LA Weekly that delved into the tax records of the organization. Reporter Amanda Becker concludes that the high-profile fight over jacked-up city fees aren't what killed the festival this year and its youth programs — it's the high overhead for a mismanaged program. more ›

Sunset Junction organizers are firing back at city officials, who said they spent the entire year trying to hammer out negotiations over last year's bill before they voted to call the whole thing off. more ›

Before the fence and the admission fees, the jet-setting bands and even jet-setting fans, the Sunset Junction Festival was all about the hood. Wes Joe, a longtime resident of Silver Lake, dug up some archives from the inaugural event in August 1980 that The Eastsider has posted. more ›

Woe unto those who bought their tickets to the Sunset Junction Festival ahead of time. It looks like they might have trouble getting refunds from the organizers of the canceled event directly, according to the letters that are being sent out to irate ticketholders through the ticketing agency Flavorus.com. more ›

The Echo and Echoplex are opening their doors this weekend to several bands originally slated to rock the cancelled Sunset Junction Festival. If you haven't heard by now, the L.A. Board of Public Works denied the festival's permit on Wednesday. more ›

After the Board of Public Works decided without contest today to uphold Monday's decision that a permit not be issued for this weekend's scheduled Sunset Junction festival, the organizers have come forward with a statement. more ›

After a morning of testimony from the public, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works has voted to uphold their decision to deny the organizers of the Sunset Junction Festival their permit for this weekend's event. more ›

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works delivered quite a blow to the organizers of the Sunset Junction music festival and street fair when they denied them their permit, just days ahead of the weekend event. One problem: The event has a $250,000 tab with the (broke) City of L.A. from last year's event more ›

Yesterday, L.A.'s Board of Public Works voted to deny a permit for Sunset Junction. The decision was made based on the fact that the organizers hadn't coughed up $142,000 to pay for this year's city services, including police, fire and transportation services. But organizers for the festival, which is scheduled to take place this weekend, aren't giving up just yet. more ›

Your chance to see Hanson take the stage at the Sunset Junction Festival could be hanging in the balance if organizers don't cough up fees from last year's festival, according to the Los Angeles Times. Organizers are already selling tickets. But the city is withholding permits that would allow the show to go on, until the festival pays back $267,000 in fees for police staffing and police closures from last year's event. more ›

Sunset Junction Street Fest is adding a sixth stage this summer to feature some of L.A.'s finest local bands. The Locals Only stage will actually be off-street, inside everyone's favorite mariachi/punk rock/Mexican restaurant/dance club El Cid. more ›

A lot of the music at this weekend's 30th annual Sunset Junction Street Festival was off the hook, but problems from the past persisted. Perception wise, things got off to a rocky start Friday night when the Twitter account for vegan restaurant Flore bemoaned that their employees, save for a few, would have to pay the $20 entrance fee to get to work. more ›

It's day two of the Sunset Junction Street Fair. It may have been hot yesterday, but tens of thousands, if not around hundred thousand, showed up for five stages of music and everything between. Below is a little slice of what was seen yesterday. The festival goes on tonight through 10 p.m. with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes closing the place down. Here's LAist's guide to the fest. more ›

Alrighty, it's Sunset Junction weekend. Now in its 30th year, the two-day festival that puts Silver Lake on the map will attract throngs of Angelenos with its five music stages, food, vendors and, of course, excellent hipster gawking. more ›

When the inevitable Hardcore Hall Of Fame hosts its opening ceremonies at the Huntington Beach Quality Inn’s main ballroom in spring of 2014 (even as debate over the eventual location of the actual Hall is still being debated in the letters pages of Maximum Rock And Roll), Bad Brains will be among its first inductees. From the time of their first recordings in 1979, the influence these DC Rastafarians held over a swath of pimply white teenagers was equivalent to any band of their era: Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat, DOA, anybody. Their sheer other-ness, the fact that they didn’t look or sound anything like the other bands, their ability to bust into a reggae jam at any moment, served notice that this scene could be expanded in any direction its participants wanted to take it. more ›

30 years ago former Beverly Hills hairdresser Michael McKinley did something different, something police said wouldn't work. He said he would produce a festival to ease tensions between the gay community and latino gangs with rival gangmembers working as security. What happened was that some 250,000 people came out to the Sunset Junction Street Festival in Silver Lake. No incidents were reported. more ›

The second edition of last weekend's sold-out LA Street Food Fest (see previous LAist coverage) may be but a distant memory, but with many of the thousands of attendees wielding cameras, there is an abundance of content to wade through. Besides the vendors outside and inside the Rose Bowl, there was Unique LA's Marketplace as well as live performances from DJ Bryan Davidson and LAist favorites The Deadly Syndrome and Warpaint. more ›

The Silver Lake Jubilee has come and gone, but Silver Lake's other major music festival is coming in August. The people behind the Sunset Junction Street Fair (now in its 30th year!) have been rolling out their line-up piece by piece and most recently added some bigger name acts, including Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Other notables include Fitz and the Tantrums (LAist predicts them as the next up and coming band), Meshell Ndegeocello, Shiny Toy Guns and Saint Motel. The event is on August 21st and 22nd. more ›

Sunset Junction: A Personal Musical "is a story of guitars, dance shoes, laptops, lattes and the people in between" (Is this your Silver Lake?). The low budget feature film, touted as an indie-musical, from the locally based director Jesus M. Rodriguez uses music from a few local bands, such as Maleco Collective and Jail Weddings, and was shot on a Canon 7D, which is originally intended for still pictures. Interesting concepts all around, so we're curious how this movie will turn out. A preview can be seen below. more ›

No, the insanely popular Sunset Junction Festival is not going away (dates for this year are slated for August 21st and 22nd), but Silver Lake will soon be home to two major festivals with the introduction of the Silver Lake Jubilee come this May. And by what's been announced so far, it's looking like a killer event. more ›

A last-minute community meeting yesterday in response to Monday's shooting and slow LAPD response times in Silver Lake's Sunset Junction district brought out the crowds. About 50 concerned stakeholders attended and were left with hopes that the neighborhood's fear of an upward crime trend would soon be reversed. more ›

Local indie band (and LAist favorite) Castledoor tweeted yesterday that "No easy way to say this... tomorrow at Spaceland will be the last show for Castledoor as we know it. Spread the word." Once branded in 2008 by Buzz Bands' Kevin Bronson as a "Band to Watch" alongside The Airborne Toxic Event and The Deadly Syndrome, the band self-released a full-length album last year ( in 2008). more ›

"Drama in Sunset Junction. Police line up and lots of cop cars racing in circles up and down the streets," twittered Jeff Nicholas about his Silver Lake neighborhood last night. That's because around 7 p.m., a man's body was found in the middle of the 1100 block of Manzanita Street with a gun laying 15 feet away from him. It was first reported that he was possibly shot in the head, but ABC7 confirms "that the injury was not a gunshot wound." Nicholas later twittered "no gunshots heard around here." more ›

There might have been a pornstar (or just some naked chick) fingering herself in front of photographers behind the walls of Sunset Junction (link is a video taken from afar), but over in Venice Beach, there was a parade of topless Raëlians protesting the 14th Amendment. Xeni Jardin at boingboing captured some video and describes the group as "a religious cult that basically gets you in the door with promises of free sex, then brainwashes you with a bunch of garbage about UFOs and cloning and giving all your money to the church, hosted a 'topless rights' parade in Venice Beach [on Sunday]." more ›

As Sunset Junction Day 2 starts to wind down, everyone gets a relief from the sun with a slight breeze and some cloud cover. Bands like Build an Ark and Arrested Development make the corner of Santa Monica and Sunset Boulavard just a bit more cooler with their east coast brand of funk.
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Tonight marks the second night of the 29th year of the annual street fair that we all hold dear to our hearts: the Sunset Junction Street Fair. Legendary San Franciscan psychedelic rock band Jefferson Starship are poised to grace the Greek Theatre for Heroes of Woodstock. And, lastly, LA-based rock outfit the Widow Babies will be ringing in their latest disc at the Echo. But we strongly suggest heading over to Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock to catch Brooklyn-based experimental pop act High Places. more ›

Sun-drenched hipsters meet local families as they collide onto Sunset Junction for indie music and danger dogs. Day one photos. more ›

Tonight Nashville-bred alternative rockers Kings of Leon will be taking on the Forum with Athens' own garage rock revivalists the Whigs. Seattle's own alternative rock outfit Harvey Danger will be performing at Largo at the Coronet. And, lastly, Oakland-based pop punk act the Matches will be performing their final show as a band in Los Angeles to a sold-out crowd at the Troubadour. But we strongly suggest heading over to Sunset Junction to catch the 29th year of the annual street fair that we all hold dear to our hearts: the Sunset Junction Street Fair. Local favorites Miss Derringer, War Tapes, Warpaint, Rumspringa, Dengue Fever and Nico Vega will be performing today, as well as prominent, national acts like the Submarines, The Delta Spirit, Islands, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Sa-Ra, Sly & Robbie. more ›