Things to Do in El Monte

If you walk into The Little Knittery and its floors and tables are neat and tidy, don't worry. They won't be for long. The knitting shop is usually abuzz with a flurry of activity and scraps of material as student stitchers learn to purl, crochet, mold felt, or even spin their own yarn in a slate of weekly classes. A kaleidoscopic selection of yarns from Wool and the Gang, Ecobutterfly, and Jade Sapphire line the walls, their neat piles often collapsing as customers grab a favorite style to start a knitted scarf, a crocheted coaster, or a likeness of their own hand, knitting as professional instructors offer tips and guidance. Project patterns developed by the shop's yarn-impassioned staffers, meanwhile, provide the basis for more advanced group or private lessons.

Erika Ikeler holds laid-back fashion design seminars at 8-Limbs each month, supported by apprenticeships and networking opportunities. The space also serves as a gallery and boutique stocked with handmade jewelry, clothing, home decor, and other goods made by independent artists and designers. As Echo Park buzzes outside, Erika infuses her funky shop with her own artistic energy, equipping novice designers with the skills necessary to fashion their own threads, home goods, or costumes for ghosts to wear to toga parties. Her hands-on classes maintain modest sizes, ensuring budding designers receive personal attention. Each student mans a provided sewing machine—or his or her own trusted apparatus—and learns the gamut of garment-creation, from sewing machine basics to the intricacies of designing successful clothing.

Many people feel an indescribable urge to follow in the footsteps of celebrities long passed—hoping that a connection to their genius or charm still lingers in the air of their apartments and favorite pubs. The guides of Esotouric understand and share this urge, though they prefer to roam the paths of history by bus. After scouring the famed neighborhoods of Los Angeles in search of interesting and outlandish locations, they share their findings on bus adventures that retrace the trails blazed by local artists, filmmakers, writers, and actors.

Esotouric's odysseys wind through haunts such as Raymond Chandler's favorite breakfast spot and the salon Charles Bukowski visited for his weekly knuckle-hair perm. Coloring their tours with anecdotes about the films adapted from his noirish stories, guides also visit locales captured in the cinematic landscapes of James M. Cain. Various tours explore Southern California’s spiritual, musical, and architectural sides, giving history hounds the chance to sniff out sinister deeds in old-time tattoo parlors, burlesque shows, and crime scenes.

For Urban Outdoor Skills staff Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich, living sustainably is more than just talk. Baudar has been sourcing his own food since his childhood in Belgium, and Wasilevich—a self-taught chef—lives off her own urban garden. Together they run Urban Outdoor Skills, teaching their students self-reliance through classes where they pickle and can their own foods or make organic soaps from wild aromatic plants. Underlying every session is a bounty of expertise in foraging from the surrounding mountain wilderness: nettles and yucca become piquant sauces, seeds become breads and crackers, and flowers become wood-sprite birthday cakes.

Experienced instructors at Billy Camarillo Cutting Horses tailor classes to horses’ dispositions and riders’ goals. Although they offer beginners lessons in basic Western-riding techniques, the staff specializes in training more advanced horsepeople in cutting, a fast-paced equestrian sport in which the rider attempts to separate a single cow from the rest of its herd. To facilitate cutting practice, live cattle graze on the premises 95% of the time, and students practice on a mechanical cow famed for its iron-flavored milk during the remaining 5%. The full-service facility also provides room and board for many patrons' steeds, and Billy himself takes in young colts in need of starting.

Reflecting their zeal and do-it-yourself confidence, the LA. Derby Dolls zip around a 100’x60’ banked oval track that they built themselves with the help of friends and family members. The track’s customized slope and elevation enables them to hit breakneck paces normally reserved for cheetahs that can afford their own cleats. Bout attendees can wander over to the factory’s Vendor Village for apparel and jewelry, food from the likes of Garage Pizza and Hot Dog on a Stick, and brews from PBR and Schiltz. Alex’s Bar also serves Jack Daniel’s ready-to-drink bottles.

Although fans keep the air moving, the Doll Factory doesn’t have air conditioning or heating, so audience members should dress according to the season. Bout attendees can park their cars for $10 at Silver Lake Medical Center or their motorcycles and scooters for $5 at the Westlake entrance.

Recognizing the opportunities that having such a large track gives them, the Derby Dolls have expanded their community involvement by offering the venue for events such as the TwentyWonder fundraiser for the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles.