Amy Inouye, designer, artist, community activist and godmother of Highland Park’s iconic Chicken Boy rooftop statue, will be the 2018 Lummis Day “Noisemaker Award” honoree.
The award will be presented at the Lummis Day Community Foundation’s annual fundraiser dinner on Saturday, April 7, 6:30 pm – 10pm at the Highland Park Ebell Club, 131 South Avenue 57 in Highland Park.
The April 7 fundraiser will feature a buffet dinner provided by many of Northeast L.A.’s favorite restaurants, beer, wine and soft drinks. A silent auction will offer the chance to bid on art, books, vintage wines and rare collectibles at bargain prices. Entertainment will include a performance by Lummis Days veterans, The Andersons. Event tickets, priced at $50, are available on the Lummis Day website, www.LummisDay.org, at Galco’s Old World Grocery and at Las Cazuelas in Highland Park. Dinner, beer, wine and soft drinks are included with admission. All proceeds from the event support the Lummis Days Festival, the only arts festival that represents all of Northeast L.A.
Amy Inouye is a book designer (over 200 books designed, several award-winning local best sellers), gallerist (organizer of over 60 art exhibits), community activist (board member of two nonprofits, an organizer of “Relighting the Historic Signs of Figueroa Street” which repaired, restored, and relit the Highland Theatre and the Mannings Coffee Store signs), Los Angeles history aficionado (president of Photo Friends of Los Angeles Public Library, the support group of the LAPL photo collection), and occasional artist (yarn bomber and public art installation creator, such as Book Booth Highland Park and Big Stick for Peace on Figueroa). She’s also well-known for bringing the 22-foot tall Chicken Boy (aka the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles) to North Figueroa Street, where he has become a beloved Historic Route 66 roadside icon. Amy’s efforts in preserving Chicken Boy earned a State of California Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2010. In 2017, Amy’s design of the “Strolling on Seventh Street: Downtown’s Historic Thoroughfare” earned a Preservation Award from the Los Angeles Conservancy. She designed the original visual materials for the Lummis Days festival and has been a frequent and valued creative resource for Lummis Days and many other community events.
This year’s Lummis Days Festival, the 13th annual event, will take place during the first week of June at multiple Northeast L.A. locations including Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Eagle Rock Public Library, the Arroyo Seco Public Library, The Highland Park Ebell Club, Lummis Home in Montecito Heights, Sycamore Grove Park, Highland Park’s historic Security Trust and Savings Bank building on North Figueroa Street and the streets surrounding York Boulevard & Avenue 50 Park. As always, admission to all festival events will be free of charge.
The “Noisemaker Award,” named for the famous entertainments hosted by Charles Lummis for writers, artists and dignitaries at his Northeast L.A. home, is presented to a person whose work and contributions to the community are consistent with the mission of the Lummis Day Community Foundation, ‘to celebrate the arts, history and ethnic diversity of Northeast Los Angeles through educational and cultural events and to promote cooperation among people of all ages and backgrounds.’ Previous honorees were award-winning author and journalist Hector Tobar, former councilmember Ed Reyes, playwright, filmmaker and actor Richard Montoya and longtime neighborhood activist Ann Walnum.
For more event information, call 818-429-8753 or email lummisdayweb@gmail.com.