Celebration Benefits Free Clinic & Thrift Store

Wow. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Very waylaid what with planning a wedding and tons of work. But here's something you should know about.

COMMUNITY CELEBRATES FAMED EAST SIDE FREE CLINIC WITH 
“SILVER LAKE STRIP ON SUNSET” THIS WEEKEND

Reopening of Beloved Thrift Store, Margaritas, Bingo and More Mark
Neighborhood Festival to Honor, Support Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic

Businesses on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake will join forces with residents from across the city for Silver Lake Strip on Sunset, a weekend of celebration and community pride today through May 2. The three-day confab is designed to raise funds and awareness for the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic and its newly refurbished HSFC Thrift Store (aka Berda Paradise, located at 3506 W Sunset Blvd.).

Among the festivities planned along the “Sunset Corridor” (between Edgecliff Dr. and Silver Lake Blvd.) in commemoration of the HSFC Thrift Store’s reopening are a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the resale shop (4/30, 11:30am); a “Feel Good to Give” open house at Body Bar Spa (4/30, 6pm); a party and social at Tarasco’s Mexican Restaurant (4/30, 7pm); the launch of lifestyle store Mercado’s “designer market” annex (5/1, 12pm), which will spotlight 10-12 new apparel and jewelry designers each season and will donate a portion of its proceeds to worthy causes (starting with the HSFC); a bingo party at furniture boutique Living Room (5/1, 7pm); a closing-night party at Where: Meet Mix Mogul (5/2, 5pm); and assorted donation drives, raffles and other initiatives at boulevard businesses, some of which will offer discounts to customers who donate to the clinic.

In addition to raising money for the clinic directly, Silver Lake Strip organizers hope to elicit donations of clothing and other used goods for resale at the HSFC.  More information is available at hsfreeclinic.org/silverlakestripevent.htm. Parking will be available on Saturday and Sunday at Micheltorena Elementary for a $2 donation.

Established in 1968, the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic, located at 3324 W. Sunset Blvd., is a nonprofit provider of health services to low-income, homeless and otherwise economically vulnerable residents of Silver Lake, Echo Park, East Hollywood and neighboring Los Angeles communities. Patients need not have health insurance to receive treatment; HSFC clocked some 85,000 patient visits in 2009. But the Clinic has been hit hard by budget cuts, with 65% of its California State Program funds slashed, and is currently struggling to survive – prompting local merchants to organize the Silver Lake Strip extravaganza.

“Long before the media frenzy about health care, our community had an institution that put human needs ahead of corporate medicine,” said Living Room proprietor Steve Melendrez, an organizer of the event.  “We’re proud to salute the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic as a model of compassionate care in the heart of Silver Lake – and we invite all of our friends, families, neighbors and customers to join us for a big block party in its honor.”

Businesses participating in Silver Lake Strip on Sunset include Abaya Alterations; Alegria On Sunset; Bittersweet Butterfly; Body Bar Spa; Casa Victoria; Dusty's; Danish Modern L.A.; ERGE; Everitt Interiors; Franky’s; Funkie Town; Gogosha Optique; The Hive; Isaac’s Orchids; Lacuna Presents; Lark Bakery;  Living Room; Madame Matisse; Maintain Skateboards; Mas Boutique; Mercado; Mesh & Lace; Millie's; Stark Waxing; Sumi’s; Tarasco's; Where: Meet Mix Mogul.