Things to Do in Bell Gardens

"One man's trash is another man's treasure" may be an overused saying to some, but to Art Rebel's crew of painters, it's a mantra. The instructors believe in dreaming up creative solutions to help the environment, and that includes teaching their students how to transform discarded items into masterpieces during eco-art classes. Nontoxic, eco-friendly paints grace paper and canvases in a variety of sessions with different themes, from graffiti-art to cartooning. Elsewhere, beautification meets youth outreach when Art Rebel's team teaches children how to paint public works and encrust their favorite foursquare court with bottle caps.

Student-created artwork lines the white walls of Hands-on 3rd's two studio spaces, the second of which belongs to partner company Art Works. The organizations share talented instructors, filling up the schedule at each location with drawing, painting, and sculpting classes from Art Works and yarn-work and sewing classes from Hands-on 3rd's staff. Whether a project requires a fresh stick of charcoal or a darning needle, an ample inventory arms students with the supplies needed to finish their projects, such as sketching a mustache on a dozing deskmate.

A pumpkin can pep up a pie, transform into a jack-o'-lantern, or fill in for you at work, and each fall, Toluca Lake Pumpkin Patch stocks an ample supply of this versatile squash. The staff also celebrates the harvest season with a maze in which monsters and spooky displays chill visitors' spines. Once fall transforms into winter, the patch turns its attention to selling Christmas trees such as douglas firs and custom wreaths to hang on doors. Regardless of the season, visitors can meet goats, rabbits, and sheep at an onsite petting zoo or pick up a bouquet from Toluca Lake Florist, which has supplied cut flowers for more than 60 years.

Zuri Wine Tasting's wine enthusiast Tuanni Price and her staff travel far and wide to introduce groups to their new favorite vintages. During in-home tastings, customers can create candy-cane-colored lips with the help of reds and whites such as pinot noir, syrah, and riesling. After setting up a wine bar with the night's choices and glasses, specialists offer information about each selection along with pours. Light snacks such as crackers, cheeses, and chocolate cleanse palates between sips and intertwine delicately with the nuanced wine flavors.

In the past, Zuri Wine Tasting has also organized special events such as blindfolded wine tastings and tastings paired with movie screenings. Wine tours chauffeur groups on a motor coach from Los Angeles to Solvang, where they enjoy a mimosa brunch followed by a tasting at Rideau Vineyard.

Since its foundation in 2003, Los Angeles International Fencing Center’s coaches—some of whom have competed at the Olympic level—have enhanced the repertoires of novices and recent Olympians alike. In the studio’s supportive learning environment, fencers of all ages and skill levels don protective leather gloves and masks before learning to wield weapons such as the lightweight foil and the hefty épée. The complementary curriculum places heavy emphasis on strength and footwork, ensuring that pupils can deliver parries and thrusts even while sparring against square dancers armed with fiddle bows.

Featured on Gizmag and UrbanDaddy, SkyTechSport Ski & Fit’s interactive skiing and snowboarding simulators let users hone carving techniques in ideal, virtual environments. The simulators' panoramic 3-D screens can display either endless slopes or finite downhill stretches, complete with optional slalom flags and cheering sections populated by selfless yetis. Onsite trainers oversee sessions, correcting technique as cyber skiers practice holding skis parallel, edging skis, and maintaining their balance in the face of lifelike g-forces.