This summer I backed a project on Kickstarter called Thank You For Coming, a collaborative and participatory restaurant/meeting space in Los Angles, CA “where everyone can be a cook.” The vision is for participants to be actively engaged in the space in various forms including by cooking the meal themselves, foraging or harvesting their own ingredients, or by eating with a new tool.
Thank You For Coming raised money through Kickstarter to cover start-up costs for renovations, permits, materials, and equipment to get the space up and running. The space is designed to be able to hold events and to be a restaurant. Container gardens will be near the kitchen at the 3416 Glendale Blvd. location in Los Angeles.
Behind the project is a four member team consisting of Laura Noguera, Jonathan Robert, Jenn Su Taohan, and Cynthia Su Taopin, who will oversee the residency program and general operation of the space. The space will open in June, and an ongoing residency program program will give “citizens with varying interests, desires and skills, an opportunity to cook for the public, be a farmer, play with a space, and experiment.”
Recently the Thank You For Coming space got approval from the city to operate as a restaurant. They also bought some equipment (refrigerator, freezer, induction ranges, shelves, etc.), built furniture, removed 5 layers of paint from the cement floors of the space, and began work on plumbing and electrical upgrades.
A call for proposals for the residency program went out earlier this fall and everyone (Artists, Cooks, Plumbers, Park Rangers, Moms + Granddads, and others) have been invited apply to do a project and explore new and old ways of sharing food with people in the space.
All residents would be able to use the kitchen and space as a platform for public engagement and creative experimentation and presentation. To start, Thank You For Coming plans to be open from Wednesday-Sunday for Lunch & Dinner.
If you are interesting in being a resident, you can email them at hello@thankyouforcoming.la and read more about the application guidelines on the Kickstarter update page.
Image Source:
http://thankyouforcoming.la/
Links:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1406166588/thank-you-for-coming/posts